New Adventure in Kyoto

It has been raining a lot lately in Japan, more so this year as opposed to previous years, according to my Japanese friends. The rain was coming down especially hard this past Thursday, which made sight-seeing in Kyoto rather difficult. However, I had a reservation at an "exclusive" temple (it has a delicate moss garden, and tourists are kept to a minimum to avoid damaging the abundance of moss species present), so despite the pouring rain, I ventured to Saihoji Temple in western Kyoto on Thursday afternoon to see this famous garden.

I was led into a small room with the other tourists who had reservations for the one p.m. tour. We all sat behind small, wooden calligraphy desks. There was a black stone basin to the right side of each desk with a wooden calligraphy brush and some black ink inside of it. After the Buddhist priests entered the room, they instructed us to chant with them some Buddhist prayers, all written in Japanese (I sat silently and politely listened). Then we were told to use the calligraphy brushes and write on a wooden plaque we had received at the reception desk. On one side we were supposed to write a wish, and on the other side we were supposed to write our names and addresses. After completing the writing on the wooden plaque, we were taken out to the garden and, after receiving a brief explanation of the garden, allowed to wander through it at will. There was a beautiful pond in the middle of the garden, and the moss looked so lush from all the rain. Walking around this moss garden at Saihoji is said to cleanse one's heart, and I did feel quite serene after my walk.

Sapporo Snow Festival

I took my first trip up to Hokkaido, the northernmost main island in Japan, this past weekend to view the beautiful creations of the Sapporo Snow Festival. Held annually in early February, this week-long festival celebrates the chilly, snowy Hokkaido winter with many snow and ice sculptures, some mammoth in proportion, set up in a central area of the city near the Sapporo train station. There are sculptures of popular Japanese animation figures, such as Chibi Maruko-chan (a girl cartoon character), Anpanman (red bean paste-filled bread man), and Doraemon (a futuristic cat). There was a sculpture with Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters, as well as a sculpture with a bunch of animals such as an eagle, a bear, and a leopard. There were also sculptures of beautiful buildings with Far East-style architecture.

It was snowing pretty much the entire forty-eight hours I was in Sapporo, Hokkaido's largest city, so it was quite cold, and the wind was strong too. On Saturday afternoon I wandered through the park area and viewed the snow sculptures. After warming up with a nice fish and vegetable lunch in a restaurant located in a seafood market, I returned to the festival area and viewed the ice sculptures, which were in the shapes of animals and mythical creatures such as dragon-like water spirits and mermaids. I also went to the Sapporo Bier Garten for dinner on Saturday night and completed my weekend with an order of Gengis Khan lamb. The weather in Sapporo reminded me of Chicago's bitterly cold winters, and as fun as my trip to Sapporo was, I was relieved to return to the warmth of Kobe on Sunday evening.

A Little Lesson on Shrine Entryways

I apologize for the long absence, I've been busy traveling the country!

When I first came to Japan, I was really excited about seeing shrines, because I don't believe that there are very many in the U.S., at least not that I know of. After a while, though, I had visited so many shrines that I couldn't keep them all straight, and my interest began to wane. However, after learning this interesting information this past week, my interest has been renewed!

The toori is the big, stone gate that stands at the entranceway to a shrine. Some are made out of stone, but others are made out of wood and painted vermillion. That vermillion color is used to show the sacredness of the shrine area and the power of the Shinto gods. If you make a wish and place a stone on the toori gate, the wish is supposed to come true, which is why I've seen a lot of stones placed on top of toori gates this past week. However, the toori gates are sometimes very tall, so people who can't reach the toori gates will place rocks on stone lanterns lining the shrine area. Also, next to the toori gate are two stone dogs that look like lions. These are mythical dogs called komainu, and they are said to guard the shrine. These dogs exist outside shrines and other buildings in China, too. There is always one dog with its mouth open in the shape of an "ah" vowel and another with its mouth closed in the shape of an "mm" consonant. The "ah" vowel is the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, and the "mm" consonant is the last letter, symbolizing that the komainu guard the shrine from beginning to end.

One thing that many Japanese people are curious about when it comes to me is my ability to speak English. Japanese people who are really confident with their English skills will speak English to me no matter whether I respond in English or Japanese, but those people are few in number. Most people use English as a conversation starter and from their proceed to ask where I'm from and what I'm doing in Japan. Many people also tell me it's considered "cool" in Japan if one can speak English. Then again, most of the people who are telling me this are young people. People who are older than I am, working-age people, don't tend to want to practice English with me, but they like to share with me their past experiences with studying English. My host mom tells me how she despised studying English as a child, but now she enjoys it despite how difficult it is, and she wishes she had studied English more when she was young. And tonight, she requested that I practice some English with her in the form of reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I thought was a fun experience. Her accent isn't perfect, and it makes me giggle at times, but she can understand much of what she's reading, which is especially impressive with a book such any of those from the Harry Potter series due to the made-up works and unusual names that often pop up.

One thing that I am curious about when it comes to Japanese people is the choice of school uniforms. Elementary school boys seem to always be wearing shorts, no matter the time of year. Most girls from elementary school through high school wear skirts, and sometimes they wear knee socks, not tights, which leaves their legs exposed to the cold. I feel that this is bad for the children's health, but it's the decided uniform, and there is no way to change it. Still, I feel cold myself just looking at the school children walking around with bare skin on January days when the temperature sometimes stays below forty degrees Fahrenheit!

Okaasan's Birthday

Tonight was Okaasan's birthday, and she spent the day in Kyoto sight-seeing with Otousan. For dinner, she ordered Domino's pizza, which surprised me. For my birthday and Otousan's birthday, she prepared scrumptious Japanese meals. But I guess Okaasan wanted to go light on the food preparation for her own birthday, and I don't blame her. Besides, no one else in the household cooks, so if Okaasan doesn't cook, we can't eat food prepared at home in that given evening. Therefore tonight we ate Domino's pizza.

The Domino's pizza here does not have as much sauce as its counterpart in the U.S. However, there are rather unusual toppings on the pizza here, including corn and shrimp. There was even a small section of a mixed-topping pizza that had cream cheese and blueberries on top of it! I wasn't feeling that adventurous, so Otousan and Yoko sampled it, and sure enough, they both confirmed that that sort of topping is not meant to be on a pizza.

For dessert tonight, instead of the usual cake and whipped topping with strawberries that Okaasan prepares, she served maccha, Japanese green tea, with traditional Japanese sweets bought in Kyoto earlier that day.

I think Okaasan likes the opal necklace I gave her. One of my friends definitely said she would buy the necklace from me if Okaasan didn't like it, so judging from the all-around good reception to this necklace, I think I made a nice choice.

Second Semester Has Begun

Due to my infrequent posting of new blog entries, it is probably easy to tell that I am quite busy right now. This is due to the start of my spring semester here in Japan. Everyone keeps telling the foreign exchange students how quickly the year is going by and how much we need to savor every moment of it, but I'm well aware of this and I'm doing my best. However, it's difficult now that Japanese classes are in full swing. It's the same weekly schedule (two hour classes every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, three hour classes every Wednesday and Friday), but I'm trying to be extra diligent this semester and really stay on top of all my class work. I went out and bought an electronic dictionary today that I can use when studying kanji. This means I don't need to ask a Japanese person for the proper kanji reading every time I encounter a new kanji. However, the machine is designed for use by a Japanese person, so all the labels, directions, and explanations are in Japanese. I'm going to need some serious help figuring out how to work my new toy.

I'm also enrolled in a Japanese literature class, which begins this coming Wednesday, and a class called Japanese Society and Law, which has already met three times. So far we've been assigned parts of the Japanese Constitution to read (in English) for homework, and we've discussed the role the Emperor has played and does play in ruling Japan. We also did a little comparison between how the legislative branches of government function in Japan versus our home countries (we have students from France, Germany, the U.S., Canada, and England in our class).

Japanese Puppet Theatre

There are no pictures to accompany this entry, but I had a really exciting cultural experience at the National Bunraku Theatre of Japan this past Saturday. My host mother had asked me a month or two ago if I wanted to see a bunraku, or puppet theatre, performance in Osaka, and of course I said yes.

Since the new year was celebrated quite recently, the inside of the theatre was decorated with small, delicate pink and white balls hanging from the ceiling. Many women came in kimono, and I even saw a few men in the male version (I do not know the Japanese word). The theatre was absolutely packed, but it seemed rather small for a "national theatre," it had only one floor. Hanging from the ceiling above the edge of the stage were two large, red fish, faces pointing toward each other. Below the fish there was a screen for supertitles, which were presented in Japanese.

To the right of the stage, a しゃみせん (shamisen - traditional Japanese instrument) player sat and strummed the three-stringed instrument. In between the shamisen player and the stage is the narrator. There maybe anywhere from one to eight narrators, depending on how the performance was written. The narrators sing in a chant-like way, and the plays were all written hundreds of years ago, so the narrators sing old-fashioned Japanese.

A single puppet, which is probably one and half to two feet in length, is operated by three men. When the puppets come out on to the stage, they are held on the right side by one man in hakama (wide-legged, loose clothing for the lower body that resembles pants) and a happi, a shirt that is folded left side over right side like a kimono. The puppets are operated from the center rear and on the left side by two men who are clothed completely in black with their faces covered, called kuroko, black children. The faces of the kuroko are hidden so that those puppeteers' facial expressions do not distract the audience from watching the puppets' movements. The men without covered faces who operate the puppets show almost no expression on their faces.

The plays reminded me of European operas that I have seen performed at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago. One play was about a foiled plot to assassinate a young successor to a family clan, and another was about a young couple, deeply in love, who had to sneak around behind their parents' backs and overcome various obstacles such as arranged marriage propositions in order to finally live happily ever after. I am not surprised that this art has flourished so much in Japan, a country that seems to show appreciation for the subtle nuances in life. Truly, bunraku, which involves intricate plots told in artful ways, also relies on the audience's attention to the detail in the puppet movements to appreciate the dedication it takes to master this art form.