“Kindy” Does Kyoto—Parts II & III

This post is very long. When I realized how long it was going to be, I thought maybe I could break it up, but since the draft had been saved for a while, and I have posted since, it would have been all out of order. ごめん。

Day 2

With many places to visit on our itinerary, we started early-ish and grabbed breakfast at a café on a corner with many other tourists. Places that serve breakfast in Japan are few and far between, limited mostly to fancy hotels and coffee shops. After indulging in some waffles, we hopped on the bus to Nijo Castle. During my last visit to Kyoto in January, the castle was closed in observance of the New Year, so I was very eager to see it.

Nijo from the outside...
...and looking down from the inside.

Nijo-castle isn’t really a castle in the traditional sense—it isn’t a multistoried fortress, but rather a residence of the Imperial family. The main building is impressively large though, especially considering it was built in the 1600’s. The most notable feature of the castle is its “nightingale floors,” a security feature installed by a paranoid shogun to alert him to the presence of ninja attackers. The squeaky floors still work, and during one’s tour of the castle, it sounds like there are many peeping birds under the building. The main building also houses impressive screen paintings in each room, which are now starting to be restored. All the screens around the exterior of the castle are closed now to protect the screen paintings, keeping the castle in the dark, but with all the gold leaf, the screens must have been quite impressive in their day. The main “castle” building is surrounded by a moat and nice Japanese style gardens, which we took in before hoping on another bus to our next destination.

Stop 2 was Kinkakuji, which was just as crowded, if not more so than the last time I was there. It is quite impressive to see the glowing, gold pavilion on the lake, but it would also be much nicer with fewer people. We did a brief tour along the garden path (mostly because you have to in order to find the exit) and stopped for a snack before heading back to the bus stop.

Snack Time!!! ソフトークリム　for me, and chocolate covered mochi, or だんご for Kim-chan.


The next place we intended to visit was Toji Temple, the highest pagoda in all of Japan. We eventually got there, taking the long way around on the loop bus (whoops!) Like so many old structures built of wood in Kyoto, Toji Temple has been reconstructed several times due to fire. Toji differs in that four of these fires were caused when the pagoda was struck by lightening. How smart do you have to be to build the tallest structure for miles around out of wood? Over and over and over and over again? I trust that now they have taken special precautions (i.e. a lightening rod) to prevent it from happening again. Toji is quite impressive, and is a symbol of Kyoto. The actual site is made even more lovely due to the fact that it is in a rather shabby, industrial looking part of the city.





After doing our tour, we got on the last bus of the day and headed east towards Tofuku-ji. Like the hostel, it proved a tad difficult to locate. Just when we had gone under the big gate, we were kindly asked to leave because they were closing. Rather disappointed, we asked how long the walk was to our last stop of the day, Fushimi Inari and set out.



Fushimi Inari is a shrine located on the south eastern edge of Kyoto city. It is dedicated to the fox, considered to be the messenger of the gods. Fushimi Inari is best known for its miles and miles of red torii gates of all sizes, lined up through the forest. It would have taken hours to hike through all of them, and Kim, Karl and I agreed that our 40 minute foray among them in the dwindling daylight was sufficient. Back to Kyoto proper for dinner and an early night.

Front entrance of Fushimi Inari. Can you see the fox statutes standing guard on either side of the gate?

They go on and on!!

Day 3

Another full agenda for Kim and me; the first item was to check out of the hostel and accompany Karl to the station to see him off and put our bags in a locker for the day. That accomplished, we got some nourishment at Starbucks, and got on a bus headed towards the eastern side of Kyoto.

The four-bite sandwich I ate for breakfast.

The first official stop was Sanjusangendo Temple. The name refers to the 33 columns that hold up the roof of a very loooooooong building which houses 1,000 statues in the image of Buddha. This was another stop my family didn’t get to during our trip—we arrived just minutes after the last entry of the day, which is why Kim and I thought we should hit it first. In addition to the seemingly never-ending collection of statues, highlights at Sanjusangendo include mentally trying to recreate the annual archery competition held there, and omikuji (paper fortunes)written in English. We deposited our 100 yen into the box and chose a folded up strip of paper from the bin. We both drew “good” fortunes, which we decided to keep instead of tying them to the strings and leaving behind at the temple. A good start to the day.

The loooooooong building. Unfortunately, no photos of the statues inside. :-(

From Sanjusangendo, we walked up the hill to Kyomizudera. While it was impressive when I saw it with my family, bright sunshine and the first cherry blossoms of the season made it more lovely the second time. It was also just as crowded, but not so crowded as to discourage Kim and me from waiting in line to drink some of the “holy water” thought to fulfill wishes. We also disposed of our “relationship challenges” by writing them on a special piece of paper and watching them dissolve in a bucket of water. So interactive!!


Kyomizudera's pagoda building through some budding sakura trees.


The station where Kim and I watched our troubles disappear!

Getting them out on paper.

Watching them disolve. Quite therapeutic actually.


Waterfall where we sipped magic water.

From Kyomizudera, it was more walking, this time in a northerly direction to get to Heian Shrine. The entrance to Heian Shrine is the largest red torii gate I have ever seen…it spans four lanes of traffic and is visible from very far away. The shrine itself differs from the many others I have seen and confuse in my mind because it was built in a very Chinese style, with a huge, bare gravel expanse in front. Behind the shrine is an extensive and beautiful Japanese garden, which took a good half an hour to meander through.


Big gate. We must be getting close.



There it is! Heian Shrine.
A picturesque sakura tree in the garden.

Heian was our last major stop of the day. We started the trek back to Kyoto Station by way of Gion, the geisha district. Gion was a bit like Hollywood, very romanticized, yet when you get there it’s full of ugly tourists. As we walked down the main street, groups of people with cameras were just standing around on the corners, looking as though they were waiting for something to happen. We did happen upon a very pretty street near Gion which had cherry trees starting to bloom on one side and willows on the other…pink and green together. Along another quieter street, we did get to see a geisha on her way to work, which was pretty exciting, but also had the effect of turning us in to paparazzi-ish stalkers.

With the sun setting on our time in Kyoto, Kim and I returned to the station, got our bags from the locker and after spending about 20 minutes walking around in circles in the underground shopping area, found some suitable souvenirs and some dinner. We got on the train, relieved to be off our feet. Yes, I am getting old.

“Kindy” does Kyoto--Part I

While there are many perks associated with my job here, one of the best ones is not having to give up the school break schedule I have become accustomed to since starting kindergarten those many years ago. The breaks in Japan are slightly different from the ones in the U.S.—the most noticeable disparity being the length of summer vacation (6 weeks vs. 3 months). Spring break in Japan is two weeks long, and is all the time the students and teachers have in between grades. But two weeks without classes is two weeks without classes, and since I am sort of an auxiliary member of the teaching staff with no clubs to supervise, I am free to take time off.

Spring Break 2008 started off with a brief visit from my friend Monica, a fellow Arizonan who I met at orientation so many months ago. She stayed in my apartment with me for a few days and did her own traveling while I finished up teaching at school. We checked out a few of the sights of Kurume, Narita-san, the Chikugo River and the Ishibashi Art Museum before I sent her on her way. Originally, Kim, my roommate from college, was scheduled to arrive about 40 minutes after Monica’s flight left, so I was going to go hang out at the airport, but instead, Kim’s flight was delayed a whole half a day, and she had to spend the night in Tokyo. So I ended up meeting her on Monday afternoon.


Wendy, Narita and Monica

After the initial set back, the rest of the Kindy adventures were carried out without too many problems. The ones we did encounter (the Shinkansen tickets not working in the station gates, bad directions to our hostel) were pretty easily overcome. Half of Kim’s trip was spent in Kyoto, where we packed more into 2.5 days than I ever thought possible. By the time we boarded the train to return to Kurume, we were both exhausted and I had a couple blisters from our miles of walking.

Day 1


Getting ready to leave Kurume

We left Kurume around 10 AM and arrived in Kyoto a little before 2 PM. We grabbed lunch at Kyoto Station and left the main exit to look for our hostel. I had copied down the directions from the website, and it seemed easy enough to walk there: take big street to Shichijo-dori, turn right, walk past three stoplights and turn left. The hostel would be a large yellow building on the right side of the street. Apparently, since the website was last updated, an additional stoplight was installed. We turned left after the 3rd stoplight and found nothing but private homes. After a few trips around the block, we decided to go one more light, just to see and BAM! There on the right side of the street was a huge, new, yellow building. When we checked in, the clerk at the desk told us that we were some of the first guests in their new addition. Not too shabby. Not that we spent a lot of time there. Later when Karl came in, he also got lost in search of the hostel, so I didn’t feel so bad about the lousy directions.


You know you are in Kyoto when you see this.

Once we finally located the hostel and dropped our bags off, Kim and I caught a bus to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine to partake in the last few hours of the monthly flea market held there. The wares being offered seemed pretty typical; Kim bought the first of what was to be many pairs of no-show socks and I bought a hand towel, since I forgot to bring one and felt very unprepared without it. We did a quick tour of the shrine, and took some pictures of the last few ume blossoms before getting back on the bus and heading toward Shijo-dori and the main shopping area for some dinner and browsing. Most of the stores closed at 8, and then we decided to go back to the hostel for some showers and wait for Karl.


Kitano Tenmangu's impressive gate.


Enjoying some satsuma imo fries at the flea market.

Catching Up

I guess it’s been a while. I don’t can’t remember the last time I updated (graduation sounds about right.) Since I am sitting in the office all alone due to a glitch in the scheduling, I have no internet access that would allow me to check. But I do have seven hours stuck in the same desk without any other pressing business. As soon as I wrote that, I was informed of the office-wide gardening hour! My supervisor told me I didn’t have to participate, and frankly I wasn’t dressed for it, but why sit inside breathing a bunch of recycled air, when I could be outside, up to my elbows in scratchy plants? I couldn’t think of a good reason either. Too bad I didn’t have my camera to capture the ultimate in Japanese office cooperation.

“Spring” is a busy time in Japan. One school year ends, and rather shortly there after, the next one begins. The cherry trees bloom in full force, and there is a frenzy of parties before the blossoms fade a mere week or so after they appear. While many people organize their own parties with a small group of friends, there are some larger ones too, like the one in the park behind my apartment which involved a loud speaker, karaoke and a raffle at some un-godly hour on a Sunday morning. Now, all of the leaves on the cherry trees have come out, obliterating the last few flowers and students are back in school, so the quasi-relaxed state the cherry blossoms inspired has come to an end.

Spring It On!!

[Although I hardly think that my blog has the power to change the weather, I am a bit afraid to announce that spring has arrived for fear that the mere mention of it might make it change back to winter. At least now it's officially "spring" on the calendar, no matter what the weather says. I guess I can proceed]

Last Sunday, the ladies of the Wednesday night shodo lesson spent the day in Yame, doing a variety of activities in honor of spring. Our first stop was a "craft center" for the lack of a better description where we got to try our hands at making our own washi, or Japanese paper. The first step was to pick the size paper you wanted to make (postcard, business card, tall and skinny etc) and dip the appropriate frame into the bath of pulp. Once your screens are adequately covered, you can use tweezers and a small stryofoam tray to pick dried flowers/leaves to add to your paper.

Kendra, Allison and Jamie getting ready to decorate.

Carefully so as not to spill your tray of very light petals (as I did...whoops. Thankfully it wasn't a major crisis and I was able to pick everything up using the handy tweezers), you arrange the petals artfully on your wet paper. Then you pour some thinner pulp on top to seal them in. So far, everything was done quite traditionally, apart from the collecting and mashing of the pulp which was kindly done for us. The next step, which was to run your screen over a vacuum to suck out the extra moisture, did not exactly follow the "traditional" trend. But with several other activities on the agenda, who has time for "traditional" anyway?

My postcards, pre vacuum.

After the vaccum, we handed our pulpy squares over to the paper master, who put them on a hot metal wall to set. He carefully rolled out any lumpy patches and peeled our paper off the metal when it was done.

After we finished trying our hand at paper making, we browsed the other goods for sale, and while rest of the party had some tea upstairs, Jamie and I were lured outside by the sun and food tent. We ate some sweets besides the world's largest stone lantern. Sitting below it, it was quite big, but it grew by at least a 1/3 when I went to stand by it for a picture. Holy cow.

ランチ タイム Logically, after all the snacks, it was time for lunch. Naoko-sensei took us to a buffet where everything was made from local, organic ingredients. I can't say it tasted any different from the other buffet lunches I have had in Japan, although there were slighly more vegetables perhaps. It was quite a deal for 1260 yen though. And it had great plates with 9 little spaces for you food, allowing you to try almost everything without it touching!

After lunch we spent nearly two hours getting a very thurough tour of a sake brewery. Unfortunately for me and the other non-native Japanese speakers, the whole thing was in Japanese, but our tour guide was a very happy chap who made it quite entertaining. We started by watching a video about the sake making process. This too had Japanese subtitles, but all of the numbers were numerals, so at least I could understand the quantities, grades of rice, temperatures and times. From what I can remember almost a week later, the rice is delivered and then washed and boiled in the tanks below. There are different grades of rice, but even after looking at the grains through the magnifying glass, I couldn't tell the difference.

Next the rice is "massaged" in a very hot room. This is when they add the malt, which makes the rice start to ferment and turn into alcohol. Then the rice and the malt is stewed in more large tanks.

And that's about all I got. Clearly, since our tour lasted 2 hours, there is a lot more involved. After the alcohol is drained from the tank above, the remaining rice mush is crushed to extract every last drop of alcohol. Then the solid part is saved...もったない...and bagged and given away at the end of the tour as a snack? My bag is sitting in the kitchen, unopened. I have no idea what to do with it.

The end of the process. After starting out really really hot, the sake has to cool down. By this point, its nice and clear, and smells like, well alcohol.



The pine ball below is the traditional sign of a sake brewery. The one we visited had several different ones hanging around.

The collection of fashionable rubber slippers we wore inside. They came in both M and L sizes, and several faux textures, the moccasin, quilted and woven.

After the sake, we did our own soaking in an onsen before grabbing the last snack of the day, macha soft cream and getting back in the car for the journey back to Kurume. We got stuck in some traffic and saw some of my students on their bikes, and it took me about 3 minutes to actually recognize them without their uniforms on. :-/

Since Sunday, the weather has been mostly good, with a few cold, rainy days. And some insane wind. I had to peddle my bike downhill to actually get anywhere. What?!?! The next day, Allison's glass bathroom door shattered in the gale force winds. I hope mine isn't next.

Strange weather aside, it is now officially spring break!!! No more school until April 8th!!

卒業 おめでとう

[Happy Graduation]

At 10 AM, Saturday, March 15th, the 61st class of 3 年生 [nensei, or 9th graders] graduated from 荒木中学校[Araki Junior High School]. The ceremony was very Japanese, minus the outpouring of tears from the students (boys and girls alike) and some of the teachers. So much emotion!!!

Being highly efficient, the Japanese start their ceremony by handing out the diplomas. The students went onto the stage by homeroom, were called by name by their homeroom teacher, responded with a はい, or yes, and then walked up to the principal for their special piece of paper. After all the students recieved their diplomas, there were speeches, songs and presentation of gifts. The student body president passed the torch onto the class president of the 2年生. Many important old men and a few women came to graduation and were each asked to say a few words, mostly to honor their presence I presume. They all had to stand up, and said pretty much the same thing; "sotsugyou omedetto" or happy graduation. You may work hard to become an important person in Japan, but once you get there, it seems like a piece of cake to me.



While I helped the 2 年生 clean up the gym and stack the folding chairs, the 3 年生 returned to their homerooms to give their teachers presents and do some last minute bonding. All the parents stood in the hallway watching through the classroom windows.

When that was over, everyone gathered outside for many, many photos. One of the English teachers described the ordeal as "endless" and the no longer crying (thank goodness) graduates had to be shoo-ed off campus so the teachers could go eat lunch. The photo shoot was much happier than the actual ceremony and more closely resembled the graduations I am accustomed to.

3の2, probably my favorite class. Shhhhhh don't tell.

Happy students. We are all looking fabulous in our navy blue blazers. Graduation was pretty formal. The principal, one of the English teachers and several mothers were wearing special graduation kimonos. The VP was wearing a suit and jogging shoes as usual.



Some of the boys and the math teacher (right side of the picture.) Many of the girls wanted pictures with their favorite boys, who would sort of stand off to the side while all the girls would huddle together in the middle. For the picture below, one of the boys wanted his bicycle included, front and center, but the teachers and some parents objected, so it was put off to the side instead. This is much more the kind of behavior I would expect from them, none of the crying stuff I witnessed inside.


At the teacher's party later that night, there was a lot of reminiscing. Many of the teachers were sad to see this class go, but apparently it hadn't always been that way. As 7th graders, this class was sort of a hassle, but it's a testament to the teachers at my junior high how well they turned out. I am too a bit sad to see them go, but I am excited for the 2 年生 to move up. I have taught them the most, and feel like I know them better than I knew any of this year's graduates. I didn't cry this time, but might next year.

Mission hilarious

Watch this video. Laugh and be glad it wasn't you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0TshnSDADo

The Japanese are crazy.

T.G.I.F.

I've been waiting for what seems like forever for Friday. It's rather inconvenient that they only come once a week.

I don't even have anything particularly exciting to look forward to this weekend, aside from the absense of teaching elementary school. Today was the 10th consecutive work day I have spent at elementary school, and it was a doozie. While elementary school has its perks, like shorter hours and the ego boost from having an entire classroom crowd around asking for your autograph, they kids are walking germ dispensers and it is incredibly exhausting to keep coming up with new and exciting games utilizing English. I don't know how the full time teachers do it.

Aside from getting my ass kicked by elementary school, what have I been up to recently? The weekends since the Snow Festival have been full; celebrating Jamie's birthday, hunting for ume blossoms/any signs of spring, and experiencing some "firsts" in Japan--like my first Japanese haircut, my first Japanese movie theater experience on my first Japanese date, my first Japanese lesson and first "Japanese" cooking class.



Jamie's birthday was good fun, celebrated in the typical Jamie/Allison/Wendy fashion with lots of food and equal amounts of gossip. We lunched at the local Pietro's (Japan's Olive Garden, more or less) and Allison made an amazing chocolate moose cake in her microwave oven. I helped stick candles in it. We went over to deliver the delectable dessert and rang Jamie's doorbell hoping to surprise her, but alas, her music was up too loud and the great doorway unveiling was thwarted after about 5 minutes of ringing the doorbell and banging on the door went unanswered. The door was unlocked, so we just let ourselves in, but the great cake reveal wasn't nearly as dramatic as we were hoping it to be.

I had to leave the movie watching/cake eating celebration a bit early so I could get my beauty sleep for my hot date the next afternoon. The day dawned bright and sunny, which I took as a good sign, and proceeded to get dressed as if if was going to be a balmy 65 degrees out. Alas it was not; it snowed while I was on my way to catch the train, and again while I was on the train. I was mildly consoled however, when I arrived to find my date wearing a similar "date but not exactly weather appropriate" outfit. We even coordinated...black and tan on top, jeans and brown shoes. Another good if not slightly weird sign? But the very best sign in my opinion was that in the middle of dessert, he said he was still hungry and the only thing that would fill the void in his stomach was two large size scoops of ice cream. A very excellent sign indeed.



The date was good (and since, there has been a second, and potentially a third, if I actually manage to get myself out of bed at some point tomorrow). We ate lunch, ice cream and browsed the foreign music section at Tower Records before catching a showing of "American Gangster" at the movie theater. It was my first Japanese movie theater experience, and it was a tad different from the ones I am used to in the U.S. In Japan, you pick your seat when you buy your overpriced ticket (around $18), so even though there were probably only 20 other people in the theater with us, we were all concentrated in the same middle area. Hmmmmm. No Japanese person would ever think about sitting in an empty seat to which they had not been assigned. Second difference was that the floor of the theater was amazingly non-sticky. I guess Japanese people don't spill things either. Other than the Japanese subtitles at the bottom of the screen, the rest of the experience was pretty much the same. No moveable arm rests though.
:-/

The next weekend was haircuts and ume blossom hunting. My hair desperately needed a trim, since it hadn't seen scissors since before I left the good ole U.S. of A. in the end of July 2007. I paid a visit to Yasu, hair artist/antiques dealer who cut some much needed layers and made it amazingly curly using just his fingers and a blow dryer. You can check it out on his blog: http://blog.nakamura-biyoushitu.com/?day=20080223 or in the picture below. It's not really noticeable, but a few people, including a very observant 2nd grader I last saw in October or November, have noticed.



Allison and I eating some ume soft cream from the place with 25 flavors at Dazaifu (see earlier post.) The actual ume blossoms were not quite out in full force. It's been pretty cold (snow on dates, and then this week it actually rained and snowed at the same time, gross) so only about 2/3 of the blossoms had opened. There was a nice variety in the color though. Some blossoms were white, and others ranged from pale pink to dark magenta. Mostly, the ume has just made me even more excited for the sakura or cherry blossoms that come out in April and inspire entire hanami, or flower viewing parties.

Hot pink ume bonsai tree!

Maybe the first week in March is still a bit early to wish for full-fledged "spring," especially since Puxcatawney Phil did see his own shadow when he crawled out of his hole thousands of miles away from here. But there are a few signs that winter might actually come to an end within the foreseeable future such as the ume blossoms, daffodils and later sunsets.

My favorite place to observe these changes is the forest-y area just behind our apartment. Allison introduced me to various pathways through the trees just after we returned from winter vacation, and I have since taken several walks back there, enjoying the quietude, especially after elementary school.


And while ume soft cream is delicious, strawberries are by far the most delicious harbinger of the change in seasons. I swear the strawberries I have eaten in the last few weeks have been some of the most delicious strawberries I have ever eaten. Most of this is probably due to the fact that I am really sick of mikan, or the small oranges that are about the only fruit available from October onward until the strawberries hit the shelves in late February. I am not entirely sure why strawberries are a late winter/spring crop in Japan, but I don't really care. All I know is that they are delicious!


What better way to eat them than on a puff of cream on top of a golden-y delicious sugar cookie? Combining our love of eating sweets with a need to get out of our cold apartments on weekends, Allison and Jamie signed all of us up for a cooking class at the local mall. It was hardly cooking, and more just mixing all of the pre-portioned ingredients in a bowl and then listening to the sales pitch while we waited for the cookie part to bake. Whatever, it only cost $10 and was a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Not so enjoyable that we signed up for one of the expensive course options that would require us to spend every weekend for next few months at the mall, but good times nonetheless. Here we are with our creations, which sadly collapsed on the bike ride home.


The cooking school required you to bring your own apron. I bought mine from the amazing West Coast. Now that I have one, its a great excuse to go back for another class. I mean, I really do need to get my $2 worth out of it, and then some.


Now it is time to feed my bad television addiction with an episode of The Hills, another reason Fridays don't come nearly often enough.