a clear day

My bike was stolen! Well. It would be more accurate to say, I can't find it. So I had to buy a new one. Apparently the "turn-over" rate for bikes is pretty high here. I have to admit I wasn't upset though for the excuse to go back to the bike seller down the street and attempt at conversation. *sigh* But, as new roommate A pointed out, it would never work -- two different worlds and all that.

The weather's been nasty these past few days. Rainy and chilly and with even more of the yellowy smoggish tint to the atmosphere. But today it finally cleared up and I had the lovely experience of looking up on my bike ride to school to see the mountains in the distance. It's easy to forget that anything exists outside of the city when you literally can't see past the city most of the time. I haven't decided if it was refreshing or depressing.

Back home furniture has been re-arranged and the icky rug that was in my room has somehow found it's way down to the front entrance of the building where it will no doubt start sprouting something soon what with all the rain and mud getting trecked all over it now.

Also, I'm making a concerted effort to stop going to Western-style restaurants/cafes as a crutch. There, now it's written down and there's no backing out.

Some advice ~ If you ever decide to post an add on a website for English tutoring, some people may interpret that to mean you are looking for a date, and if someone responds to your add calling himself an odd name like, oh I don't know, "Joker," and says he wants to be your "friend," do yourself a favor and don't think that he might actually just want an English tutor and agree to meet with him. It will turn out that he is just creepy. Seriously, it's not a good idea.

Kucinich 2008!

The only presidential candidate (with the possible exception of Mike Gravel) worth listening to. Click here to see a speech he gave back in January -- sure he could use a speech delivery coach at moments, but ultimately his message is important. A candidate who actually says something when he talks. And backs it up with action -- read example here.

Here is an interview he did with Maher in April. I'm not sure if the video will work or not since as I mentioned before, I can't view this blog. Someone let me know...

me and my bike

So I've traded in my metro card for a bike lock and sore legs. It's good exercise and honestly it seems like the fastest way to get around (if you know where you're going and it's not all the way on the other side of the city). Imagine New York city traffic but with less attention to detail -- and by detail I mean red lights and stop signs and driving on the correct side of the road, that kind of thing -- plus a bike lane -- and by bike lane I mean bikes, cabs, the occasional bus -- and you get the morning/evening commute picture. It is rather chaotic at times but people seem to make do and while there is an excess of honking, it seems more ornamental, a gesture perhaps, just letting everyone know you're there. So far I haven't seen any fists shaking or people yelling at each other.

I've made the trip over to Chao Yang, the Northeastern part of the city, twice now, the first time it took 2 hours to get there (see above note re knowing where you are going) and the second time it took about an hour and twenty minutes. It is an eventful ride though. I get to bike past a bunch of Olympics-related construction (is it really possible that it will all be finished in less than a year??), including this, the National Stadium, which just so happens to resemble a spaceship. Vaguely reminiscent of the space transporting machine from Contact. Anyone?

Something new to get used to -- getting stared at all the time. When complaining about this to a friend here the response was a good-natured, well at least you're not blond. Getting looked at so much wouldn't be as bad I guess if it weren't for the fact that half the time I get the distinct impression that I'm being looked at more as a funny lab experiment gone wrong than anything else -- what is wrong with her hair? What's with all the spots on her face?

a night owl in beijing

After about 3 days here in the city where the sun shines but you just can't see it I've spent more time awake in the wee hours than during the day. That is to say, I broke the cardinal rule of waiting until the evening hours to go to sleep and thus avoid major jet lag. My first day here I was silly enough to think I could take a "nap" at 2:30 in the afternoon and the next thing I know it's 1am and I'm wide awake.

So I've made good use of the early morning hours unpacking, cleaning, reading, and attempting to re-learn Chinese characters. Re-learn because at CU we were taught traditional characters, which are used in Taiwan and Hong Kong but not in China, so I now have to go through the tedious process of re-learning characters in their simplified form. I suppose I could rant a bit more about just how tedious it is but the truth is I do get a weird kick out of learning characters. They have a term for that here -- "shu daizi" (book nerd).

I found out that classes don't actually start for me until the 13th so now I've got a couple weeks to explore. I bought a new bike yesterday on the street. Actually, my roommate B and another friend J haggled for it while I watched and tried to follow along. It turned out to be 215 kuai, lock included (less than $30). Not too bad. Also I just have to mention it because I still can't get over it -- yesterday at lunch I had a big bowl (more than enough for lunch and dinner) of noodley soup with egg and tomato that was 5 kuai, which is like 60 cents. !!

Had a chance this morning to upload more recent photos from home. Hope you enjoy looking at them because I can't. For some reason (perhaps the same reason that I can post on my blog but can't seem to look at it?) I can upload photos and organize them but can't look at them.

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)

雅楽家がめずらしい

ほとんどの日本人は雅楽のことを聞いたことがないそうだ。だから、聞いたことがある人は面白いと思う。例えば、先週ゆかたを買うために100円の店に行った。そこでは困っていたから店員に手伝ってもらった。彼女は私の「雅楽」が書いてあるティーシャツを見たら、彼女が竜笛を勉強したことがあって娘が竜笛を勉強していることと言った。びっくりだね。彼女は私がゆかたをきてもらいたいぐらいうれしかった。とても楽しんだ。

雅楽の先生や学生が少ないのに、私が知っている雅楽家はほんとうにすばらしい。プログラームが終わってさびしい。とうぎ先生がリードの作り方を教えてまらった。三つぐらいやぶんでしまったのにとてもおもしろかった。もとはし先生とおくぼ先生が琴の吹き方を教えてもらった。でも、一番大きい影響は中村先生だ。彼女は篳篥のレッソンをしてもらって舞も教えってまらった。ほんとうにいい先生でありがたい。

My lovely teacher Nakamura-sensei -->

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 ->