photos

Back in New York and have finally opened a flickr account and uploaded pics from the trip. I tried very hard to weed this time around. I think I did a pretty good job considering I have around 700 pics total. Ok I got a bit camera-happy. But the pics on the flickr account are all labelled and sorted so I think it's pretty manageable. Hope you enjoy.

For now I'm crashing at Theresa's (and aparently still recovering from jet lag). Listening to Billie Holliday, reading reading reading, and picking up my violin now and then (contemplating a recital in O-land in August...). Lots of things to do before Beijing but for the moment I just want to catch up on sleep and visit with friends. I plan to keep up with the blog in China but until then I'll try to post a few more times. Meanwhile, keep in touch and let me know if you're in NYC before the end of the month or OH after that.

kyoto

Riding a bike is my new favorite mode of transportation. Despite sore calves and several near collisions, biking around Kyoto these past couple of days has been a really refreshing change from the hours spent on the train every day in Tokyo. It's quick, cheap, good exercise and lets you explore more than you could walking or taking a bus.

Last Thursday caught an afternoon shinkansen ("bullet train") to Kyoto. The hostel we're staying at is conveniently located right across the street from the station so we were able to find it and get settled in pretty quickly. (Side note: found out tonight that super friendly Izumi-san at the front desk's younger sister graduated from OSU last year. She was drinking tea from an OSU mug.) Although a bit crowded, the hostel has been really great -- cheap, great location, free internet, friendly staff. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone planning to travel through Kyoto. The last several days have been a blur of temples, shrines, green tea "soft ice," and last-minute souvenir shopping, but here are some highlights.

The Rock Garden at Ryoan-ji. There are 15 boulders set in a sea of pebbles which are raked in straight lines except around the boulders themselves where they curve around like ripples in a lake. Supposedly you are only supposed to be able to see 14 from any given perspective (except above) and to be able to see all 15 means you have attained enlightenment. Either I'm a regular bodhisattva or the slightly raised viewing platform gave me an advantage.

Me mimicking the Japanese tourists (always pointing or giving the peace sign with stoic expression).

Kinkakuji, "Golden Pavilion Temple."

Boys throwing coins at Buddha statues.

Kamo River. Major river in Kyoto that runs past the front of the hostel.

Biked up the Kamo River on Sunday to see Shimogamoji (left), the ancient protector shrine of the Imperial Court when the capital was in Kyoto, 794-1869. Then backtracked down the river to see the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Turned out it's closed on Sundays. Oh well, the park was really peaceful, including this 300+ year old tree (right), and the gate surrounding the palace was pretty imposing.

Today I biked to the western side of the city to see the "monkey park." After climbing a path up the side of a mountain you arrive at a plateau (with a beautiful view of the city) covered in monkeys. Up close and personal. You could feed them from a "rest house" or just stand outside and hang out. I sat on a bench for awhile and at one point two monkeys came up and sat next to me and started grooming each other. It was pretty wild. They seemed pretty oblivious to the presence of people, except when offered food or if they felt threatened (as when some asshole tried to touch a baby that was nursing today and the mom flipped out).

Tomorrow I head back to Tokyo and then back to NYC on Wednesday. I can't believe how fast it's all gone by. I'm excited to get home and see friends and family and share stories but I also wish I had more time in Kyoto. Such a beautiful city pocketed between mountains and filled with constant reminders of its ancient history; so far removed from loud and flashy Tokyo. If I have a chance to come back to Japan I would love to spend more time here.

fun signs, part III

They know how to treat the moss at Ginkakuji, the "Silver Temple" (Kyoto).

This poster was hanging in the entrance to the Center the whole time we were there, raising metaphysical questions of time and space on a daily basis.

not exactly PC...

"Freak: Hobby Advisor" or, alternatively, "Hobby Advisor: Freak" (yes, I decided there was a colon in there somewhere)

captain santa

The fourth of july is one of my favorite holidays – fireworks, family parties, parades with marching bands, and when I was a kid we always went out to my uncle mike and aunt marilyn’s house on Buckeye Lake – but I always seem to be away from home for the holiday in recent years. This year was no different but we did manage to have our own festivities in Kita-Urawa.

After lighting sparklers and setting off some fireworks at the local playground we headed to a local bar appropriately called “USA Bar.” It lived up to all our expectations. Run by a middle-aged, partially deaf Japanese cowboy/surfer, the tiny bar was covered in American license plates, flags and posters, as well as all kinds of paraphernalia bearing the logo “captain santa.”

Here is our bartender friend posing for the camera. Note “santa island” polo -->

We sat around chatting with the bartender, his friend/fellow bartender and another patron who was a bit sloshed (he kept asking me why American women aren’t attracted to Japanese men and then wanted to talk about the war – a bit beyond my language capabilities, let alone his own intoxicated state). We of course sang some karaoke and Ben gave the guy another one of his Texas flags (which he said made him “so happy” that he kept kissing it).

All in all it was a fun night of unexpected amusement. Not your typical july 4 celebration but then again, those are the ones that stick with you I guess.

"just enjoy!"

Hired by IMJS to arrange our housing, help us get settled, provide detailed instructions on how to get to our lessons and rehearsals and just generally help us with whatever problems may arise, Terumi-san has been a godsend here in Tokyo. Besides the official escorting, translating, etc. though, she's just a fun person to hang out with. So, when the four of us decided to stay out all night in order to go to the fish market at Tsukiji we of course called her at 12:30am from Shibuya station to see if she wanted to come hang out.

Tsukiji is the biggest and busiest fish market in Japan, handling 87% (according to this site) of the fish and other marine goodies that get shipped to the rest of the country. Since all the action takes place starting around 4:30am and, as previously noted, public transportation conveniently stops running around midnight, we decided to make a night of it. Shibuya was supposed to be one of those areas of the city that caters to the late-night crowd but when we arrived it seemed pretty dead. Then we remembered that Terumi lived in Shibuya. We were understandably hesitant to call in the wee hours on a wednesday night but I'm glad we did because not only did she come out to meet us but she invited us back to her apartment to hang out until it was time to go to the market.

Terumi insisted on introducing us to a variety of Japanese specialties that evening, including umeboshi (pickled plums), sake and nattou (fermented soy beans). Nattou is notorious for its unusual flavor and consistency, as well as its generally unfavorable reception by gaijin but I was nevertheless curious to try it. Ruth took a rather amusing picture of my reaction to it - a little green in the face and looking like I don't know whether to cry or laugh. I will spare you for the moment. Terumi simply laughed and implored us to "just enjoy!"

4:30 rolled around surprisingly fast and we stumbled down to the station to catch the first train to tsukiji. It turned out to be a really interesting experience. Rows upon rows of stalls filled with every kind of marine animal, dead and alive; tuna being auctioned off and then carted around individually or in pairs on mini-flatbed carriers; unusual delicacies such as gigantic tuna eyeballs sold for 100yen a piece. We wandered around for a bit taking pictures and then had sushi for breakfast at a nearby shop. Now that was some fresh fish!

<-- Some of the larger tuna here were aparently worth more than my grant to get to Japan.

Eating sushi for breakfast after exploring Tsukiji. Note zombie-like expressions due to lack of sleep -->

A couple days later it was Ben's birthday and it just so happened that it was was Terumi's birthday as well. We celebrated by going out for some Karaoke. I didn't know what to expect as I'd never been before but the place we went to had individual rooms (designed for groups but we did see a guy singing his heart out by himself in one room..) with booths and karaoke machines and a remote control for ordering food and drinks. Japanese are serious about they're karaoke. Terumi later admitted to practicing with her Cher and Maroon 5 CDs at home before coming. I heard that this is pretty common though and I even heard that proving your karaoke abilities at a company outing can make or break your boss' impression of you. Pretty intense.

Here is Terumi holding her new ryuteki (our birthday present to her) and her husband displaying the Texas flag Ben gave them ->

fun signs, part II

Food theme this time around. Below we have Blendy coffee, Delicious Party cheese and dried squid strips (I don't know if I would go with delicious but it was a party of sorts for my unsuspecting taste buds), and of course, Crunky chocolate.

a great idea

Before coming to Japan I did not eat *real* sushi. In other words, I stuck to avocado, cucumber and shitake -- all yummy and harmless enough. I'd always been curious but also somewhat grossed out by the idea of raw fish but I figured, no better time than now to try it. I'm still pretty unadventurous -- so far I stick to salmon, tuna, shrimp and crab -- but I've definitely developed a taste for it.

You hear all the time that Tokyo is so expensive, and this is true in many ways, but at the same time it is definitely possible to eat high quality food for relatively cheap. And by high quality food I mean sushi. (There are also lots of soba, udon and ramen shops where you can eat very cheaply and it's a good bet that the noodles and other ingredients were locally produced.)

My new favorite places to eat are kaiten ("conveyor belt") sushi bars. Customers sit around a circular bar, one or two sushi chefs stand in the middle and sushi travels around the bar on a conveyor belt. You take whatever looks good (and in my case, watch in fascination as colorful, tentacled and slimy things go by, waiting to see who will eat what), make your own hot tea and can take as much wasabi, pickled ginger and soy sauce as you like. Pricing is based on the plate colors so when you are done the cashier just adds up your plates. My favorite is yaki-saamon (pan-seared salmon). Never thought I would feel about sushi the way I do about say, cookie dough ice cream but, mmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it...

At 100-300yen per plate, most kaiten sushi bars are a very inexpensive way to enjoy really good quality sushi. Well, "really good" is a relative term considering how new I am to the world of sushi. But, I do know that the fish is super fresh (it seems the difference in quality here is between fresh and more fresh) and really tasty, so that is good enough for me.

More to come on just how fresh the fish are later.

city impressions

Some (admittedly superficial) first impressions of Tokyo after a couple weeks...

People line up for everything. On the escalators everyone stands to the left and walks to the right. People even line up to get on subway trains or to cross a busy street.

Everyone waits patiently at street corners for the light to change; no one J-walks. This has been one of the hardest things to get used to. I have to stop myself every time from walking out into the middle of the street to wait for a break in traffic. If you so much as step off the curb it elicits strange looks.

There are almost no public trashcans, and yet, hardly any litter.

It takes forever to get anywhere. I spend on average around 3 hours a day commuting. Seems most people have fairly long commutes to get to work or school. Lots of people spend the commute playing games or texting on their cell phones. Yes, there is cell reception on the subway but few people make phone calls, and when they do, they usually cover their mouths and speak quietly.

One apple costs around 300yen at the local supermarket. That's about $2.50.

There are these places called "Pachinko and Slot" everywhere whose primary costumers seem to be salarymen and little old ladies. However, gambling is illegal in Japan so apparently the way these places work is through a system of "prizes" which can be exchanged for money at nearby shops.

Train and subway stations have convenient electronic signs telling you what time the next train will be there and they are usually on time, if not early.

People wear masks covering their nose and mouth in public if they are sick.

shinjuku

Walking around Shinjuku this past Saturday night was like something out of a movie. I stuck out like a sore thumb in my t-shirt, jeans and flip-flops, which, by the way, I have hardly worn since we were all warned that showing your toes in public is a no-no. (I was surprised to see that for the most part this seems to be the case -- open-toe wearers most times wear stockings or knee-high socks.)

The crowds of teenagers and 20-somethings had crazy poofy hairdos, colorful make-up and big jewelry, snazzy suits and short short skirts with billowy, lacy tops. Like they'd all been pulled off the runway of some important fashion show.

In my wanderings I happened upon a movie theater and because I love movies and thought it would be a good opportunity to *study* Japanese I decided to check it out. They were showing a lot of American movies, although none that really appealed to me (mostly blockbuster-types like Pirates III, etc). I decided on 大日本人 (Dainipponjin), which literally means "Big Japanese Person." Turned out to be a good choice. I would say I understood about 60-70% of what was being said but got enough of it to know it was pretty great. Imagine Clark Kent meets the Dude and throw in some anime scenes with eccentric *monsters* tearing up familiar buildings in downtown Tokyo. The craziest part was at the end when a troupe of American superheroes come to save the day and take Dainipponjin with them to their house in the sky for dinner. Fantastic!

Afterward I found myself part of a human stampede in Shinjuku station. The trains do not run 24/7 like in NYC, even on the weekends, so around midnight everyone has to make the big decision -- go home or stay out til the first trains start running again around 5am. I was not particularly keen on the latter so I found myself running to find the correct platform.

Side note on Shinjuku station: it is ridiculous. I can think of no good analogy. The station itself is enormous and depending on which side you exit from, you can find yourself in a completely different neighborhood. Inside the station itself there are department stores, food courts, bookstores, restaurants, at least one mall, and not to mention platforms for several different subway and train lines. My teacher, Nakamura-sensei, who has lived in Tokyo for over 20 years, said that it is difficult even for her to find her way around Shinjuku station.

I'm just happy that I can remember the names of the lines I need to take and what direction to take them. I'll save trying to figure out Shinjuku station for another trip.

nikko

This past weekend we were given 3 days off so I went with fellow hichiriki player Ben to Nikko, an area a few hours northwest of the city. The closest analogy I can think of is going from NYC to the Catskills in upstate NY, except even more scenic and beautiful, not to mention it's the home of several major shrines and temples. Also apparently the home of the famous monkeys (the ones that don't see, hear or speak the bad stuff), although we never did find them.


It rained all weekend but was beautiful nonetheless. We agreed it was the most beautiful place either of us had been. Mountains everywhere, waterfalls, hiking, shrines, rivers, every imaginable shade of green. Also went to an Onsen for the first time and loved it, very relaxing.

It finally cleared up on the last day so I could take some pics. Above are the Ryuzu Falls and below is a view across the Yutaki Lake.

visit to the imperial grounds

Last Friday the four of us went to the Imperial grounds to observe a gagaku rehearsal and tour some of the gardens. The Imperial grounds are separated from the rest of Tokyo by a moat. The medieval feeling of it was reinforced when we had to walk across a bridge and climb through a mini-door that was part of a huge wooden gate. Here is a view of the moat separating downtown Tokyo from the Imperial grounds-->

<--And the door we had to climb through.

The gagaku stage there had the biggest taiko drums I have ever seen. In this picture the taiko is to the right of the smaller kakko drum. You can see the people standing in the background to get an idea of the scale -->

Before and after the rehearsal we met with Togi-sensei, the Head Court Musician (indicated as a "Human Treasure" on his business card) and played for him. Not sure if it's the novelty thing or if he actually thought we sounded good but he invited us back sit in on some of his classes.

After the rehearsal we had a chance to tour some of the gardens. Very beautiful and totally removed from the city that surrounds it. It reminded me somewhat of Central Park, albeit much cleaner, very well-kept and minus all the people.

fun signs

why i am in japan

Since several of you have asked, and "asia" is quite an ambiguous and all-encompassing term (working on a better title for this blog, ideas welcome), I thought I'd take a minute to explain just what exactly it is that I am doing in Japan.

Over the past year I took an ensemble class called "World Music: Gagaku." Gagaku is the imperial court music of Japan, featuring instruments like the ryuteki, sho, koto, biwa and my personal fav, the hichiriki. The hichiriki is a double reed instrument that is loud and hard to play, but is also basically the diva of the gagaku stage.

After a year of study I can play 2 1/2 ish songs and am still trying to figure out the written system for reading music. Part of the problem on that front is that it is not always consistent and so I came to learn mostly from ear. Now I need to really know it though in order to learn at a quicker pace and to practice on my own.

In addition to learning how to play in a completely foreign and somewhat esoteric music tradition, after the year had passed I found myself with a free ticket to study Gagaku in Tokyo for 6 weeks this summer. The program was created this year and is called the Mentor/Protege Gagaku Summer Initiative. For any of you who haven't graduated yet -- take the class next year and apply! only those taking the class are eligible and this year 4 people were chosen out of a class of around 10 people.

Since the program is in its first year it seems we are all finding out what it entails together. We have lessons around 3 or 4 times a week at different places in the city -- very convenient for sightseeing -- and will be attending several Gagaku concerts. Also, this Friday we get to attend a Gagaku practice inside the Imperial Palace, which is apparently a very big deal. Unlike the White House, the Imperial Palace is off-limits for most Japanese -- no tours, etc.

So far our schedule has been pretty laid back. Plenty of time to adjust to the time change, explore, excercise, and generally do my own thing, which I of course love. Only set back so far has been trying to get an adapter for my computer. Probably should have looked into it before leaving the States but, oh well. Until I get one though I have to use the computer lab, which makes it harder to upload pics... I have heard that for Dell computers all you need is a plug that accepts a three-prong and plugs into a two-prong outlet and that since the voltage here is pretty close to the US you don't need an actual *adapter.* Anyone know more about this?

Arrival at Nihongo Kokusai Center

Arrived in Tokyo yesterday afternoon around 1pm. I somehow managed to get a cell phone and find the right train to take me to Nippori station. I was completely zonked and not looking forward to trying to find my way to the Nihongo Kokusai Center on my own. Lucky for me, Terumi-san was waiting at the station to take me there. Talking with her and walking from the station to the dorm gave me a second wind so I did a little exploring on my own later in the day.

The part of the city where we are staying is called Kita Urawa. It seems to be a mainly residential area with a little "down town" area near the station, kind of like a suburb I guess. Much different feel though than New York or Columbus suburbs. Cleaner, less cars, lots and lots of bicycles. It seems most people walk and use public transportation.

I noticed as we were walking to the dorm that all the bikes lining the sidewalk did not seem to be locked up. Terumi seemed amused by my question and said that no, they don't usually lock their bikes. I guess Miho and others were right when they said that people don't steal here. (Recalling that she claimed to have lost her wallet several times in Tokyo and every time it was returned to her with nothing taken from it!)

The place we are staying is the Nihongo Kokusai Center. Most of the other people staying here are studying to be Japanese teachers. The facilities are really great -- computer lab, lounges,

convenience store, a cafeteria, free bikes to borrow, etc.

While searching for some dinner last night came across this display that reminded me of Taiwan. It's all plastic representations of the food they serve put into a display case so you can just point. How convenient for the dumb foreigner! It made me laugh remembering the same oddly practical displays in Taiwan so I took a pic. More interesting pics to come, I promse.

unexpected delays

Things just don't always work out like you expect them to. Learned that one the hard way this time around.

I was supposed to leave from JFK Monday afternoon on a flight to Tokyo. When I was waiting in line at the airport to check in I discovered that I did not have my passport. "Any way I can do this without a passport?" I ask. Response was something along the lines of, not a chance.

I don't know what happened to my passport. It seems to be one of those mysteries that will either never be solved or will turn up years down the road under the backseat of my parent's van or something and everyone will laugh. Not too much laughing for the moment.

So I've spent the week with Theresa, my cousin here in the city. Which has been good. Lots of time to read, talk, play with kittens (see pics), and set this up. Kittens have a way of distracting and engaging you that lifts the spirit.

After several days of stressing, staring at the computer, running up my cell minutes and spending more money than I actually have, I'm scheduled to fly out Saturday morning. You wouldn't believe the trouble and expense involved with getting a new passport super fast. I'm having a hard time understanding how this is going to work out in the end but for now I'm trying to listen to the voices of assurance in my life right now that say, I know it may be hard or impossible to see right now but good things will come of it and you just have to make the best of it.

Crossing fingers till Saturday and enjoying my extra time in the city. Lots of walking, sore calves, time to stretch, time to think and write.