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 ->

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.

~私のまじめさ~

日本語を練習したいから、機会があったら日本人と話す。いろいろな面白い人が会った。

例えば、北浦和駅の前にある「たこ焼きスタンド」で年をとっている男の人が毎日のようにいる。ある日、私が興味があったそうだから、彼は一つを与えてくれた。おいしかったけど、なにかがわからなかった。それはたこが味があまりないから、なぜ人が食べるのが好きか分からないということだ。（たこ焼きのおいしさはほかの材料のためにと思っていたのが。。。）

とにかく、たこ焼き人と話している時に、彼はたばこを提供したが、私は「たばこをすうのが体に悪いよ」と言った。彼は笑って「そうだよ」と言った。それで、「まじめよ」彼は言った。私はその言葉が分からなかったけど、好運にも辞書があった~

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.