京都 Kyoto!

Last weekend, I spent the weekend in Kyoto with a bunch of my fellow foreign students. We took a bus Saturday morning and tried to get right to the fun stuff, but the rain made Saturday a really terrible day.

Kyoto Station

Merry X-mas

After dropping our stuff off at our hostel, we headed to a popular Buddhist temple called Kiyomizudera to see some Autumn leaves. The Japanese love to go out and enjoy the red leaves (called kouyou 紅葉） in the Fall season. I thought it was a little strange how excited they were about some trees... that is, until I actually saw them for myself. It's incredible how red these leaves get! It's really beautiful. I also heard that the leaves only get this bright once every 10 years, so we're very lucky.

Kiyomizudera was nice, but at this point we were already pretty soggy, so we didn't really stick around and see everything.  We decided to head to Gion for some lunch and try to find some geisha. We didn't see any geisha, but we did find a nice noodle restaurant to help us warm up. After lunch, we tried to find some indoor activities, but it was already getting late, so museums were closing for the day. We eventually decided to go to Nishiki market because it was covered. The market was huge, with lots of traditional food vendors as well as modern groceries, clothes, and souvenirs. We stopped in a cafe where our small group met up with some others, and we basically spent the rest of the evening wandering around that area until we went back to the hostel.

We didn't spend much time at the hostel, but it was very nice. The staff was friendly and tried to explain everything to us in English or simple Japanese.  And, the bunk beds were tatami with futons! I am glad I can say that I've slept on traditional Japanese-style bed.

Sunday was infinitely better than Saturday. The rain stopped, and we were able to do and see a lot more. We got up early and went to a place just outside Kyoto called Arashiyama (嵐山）to see some more Autumn leaves.  There, we went to Togetsukyo Bridge, which was really, ridiculously beautiful. The water, the bridge, and the mountains were just amazing to see.

Walking to and from the bridge, we saw many rickshaws being pulled around. It seems like riding a rickshaw around Togetsukyo Bridge is kind of like the Japanese version of riding a horse-drawn carriage in the U.S.; it's not a practical way to get around anymore, but it's nice for tourists or for special occasions. The rickshaw runners were very impressive. I saw one stop and point out some interesting things to his customers. He was running around carrying full-grown people in a cart, but still had enough energy and breath to be a tour guide, too.

Next, we took a scenic train ride through the mountains. It was really lovely. The crew was very silly and fun. The train would stop at spots that were particularly beautiful, and when something especially  perfect would happen (like the breeze gently blowing red leaves as they fall above the river) the conductor would point out that it is a special service they provide. 「特別サービスです」And, at one point, a guy with a demon mask walked through the aisles, taking pictures with people and cracking jokes. Random.

The train dropped us off at a cute farm area where we walked to the real train station to head back into Kyoto.

Next up was Kinkakuji (金閣寺, Temple of the Golden Pavilion). Also amazing.  The temple is actually painted gold, and with the water and red leaves, it was absolutely beautiful.

After wandering around in the gardens of Kinkakuji, we headed back to Gion district. We still didn't see any geisha, but did get some yummy green tea ice cream parfaits before hopping on a bus back home to Nagoya.

Saturday was pretty miserable, but Sunday more than made up for it. I had a wonderful experience. I am already planning to come back once or twice for hanami (花見）which is the viewing of the cherry tree blossoms in the Spring. Seriously, before coming to Japan, I've never been so into trees.

風邪をひいてしまいました。Caught a cold.

I am loving Japan. My body, however, does not seem to get along as well. My face is breaking out with zits, my hair gets greasy faster, and I get sick more often. Back home, I rarely get sick. This week, I got sick for the 2nd time in 8 weeks!  Some people blame it on the climate, but I think it is actually my own fault for trying to do too much. This weekend, I stayed out late dancing on both Friday and Saturday night. I studied most of the day on Sunday. On Monday, I was feeling a little under the weather, but decided I was going to test out Archery Club and stood around shooting arrows in the cold for over 2 hours. On Tuesday I was sick.

I decided to take a "When in Rome" approach to being sick and wore a medical mask. On any given day, you can see several Japanese people wearing these masks around. I think they're mainly worn to try and keep from passing your sick germs on to those around you, but I've also heard that healthy people sometimes wear them in order to avoid getting sick. After using them for a few days, I realized it is a brilliant idea. I look gross when I'm sick. My nose is red and runny and my mouth is always agape because I can't breath out of my nose. Masks hide all of this. The Japanese really know what they're doing.

So I spent the past few days sleeping and testing out the French cure for colds (drinking entirely too much grapefruit juice), and now I am feeling like myself again, just in time for my weekend trip to Kyoto!

Good Times, Good Fun

I’ve been working hard lately, but I’ve also been (trying) to play hard (for me). On Wednesday, I skipped class to take a trip to Nara. It was an excused absence for foreign students, so it wasn’t terribly rebellious, but I was still excited about it. Nara was beautiful, and I finally got to see some mountains and rice paddies as our tour bus drove through the countryside.

Nara was the capital of Japan from the year 710 to 784, and it has a big park with lots of shrines and temples. The main purpose for the trip was to see Todaiji Temple (東大寺 “Great Eastern Temple”) which houses the Daibutsu ( 大仏　“Great Buddha”). It is a HUGE statue of Buddha.

Nara Park (奈良公園) was lovely, and the weather was perfect. The Japanese even have a word for nice Autumn weather: akibare (秋晴れ), so there’s your language lesson for the day. An interesting thing about Nara Park is that it is home to many tame deer that wander around being friendly and using their cuteness to get food from the human visitors.

In Shinto, deer are believed to be messengers of the gods. These deer are very important to Nara, and they have become an icon of the city. There are many deer-themed souvenirs, and even the city’s mascot sports a fancy set of antlers.

In other news, Halloween was this week. Japan doesn’t really celebrate Halloween…actually, it seems that the U.S. is pretty much the only country that does. It is starting to catch on, though, and we had a few costume parties this week. I made myself a pretty sweet flamingo mask with things I bought at the 100yen shop.

The parties didn’t seem to go quite as I expected them to. The first party was on Monday, and was actually just people wearing costumes, eating cookies, and playing bingo for an hour and a half. The party was only from 7pm to 9pm, and most of us agreed that we should spend more than 2 hours in the costumes everyone went to the trouble to obtain, so we grabbed some drinks from the convenience store and headed to the other dorm where there was hanging out, ping pong, and overall good times.

The second party was on Friday, and was supposed to be more of (what the Western students consider to be) a party. There was music and drinks and another chance for us to wear our costumes. At least, that’s what I heard. I didn’t actually get to see any of this because I went out to an awesome dinner first (which I will describe below), and by the time my friends and I got to the party, there was an ambulance in front of the building and everyone was leaving. Apparently, a young Mongolian had too much to drink and either fell or jumped out of the first floor window. I guess young people making bad life decisions is a universal phenomenon. From what I hear, he is ok, but had to be hospitalized because of his injuries. We were really disappointed, and thought it was an early and abrupt end to an otherwise awesome night, so, once again, we grabbed some drinks from the convenience store and headed to the other dorm where there was hanging out, ping pong, and overall good times.

So, about that awesome dinner. Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) is something everyone should try. It is a life-changing experience. “Okonomi” means “preference” or “as you like it”, and “yaki” is “fried” or “grilled”. You can make it yourself or have the pros do it for you. Here’s how it works:

Receive ingredients.

Mix.

Grill.

Put on the toppings: sauce, dried fish, seaweed, and mayo

Nom!

It’s a great social activity. As much fun to make as it is to eat!

Also, on the way to and from dinner, we got to ride in car! They drive on the left side of the road here, so everything feels backwards and wrong. My friends let me ride shotgun, and I immediately tried to get into the driver’s seat because that would be the passenger’s seat in the U.S. For such a mundane activity, I found it incredibly entertaining.

But wait! There’s more! On Saturday night we went out for dinner and karaoke to celebrate the birthday of our French friend, Delphine. We had a huge group, and Japanese restaurants are small, so we had to split up and go to different restaurants. I went to a place called Sukiya that is a type of Japanese fast-food chain. The food was cheap, but delicious. I went with a dish called gyuudon (牛丼), which is beef on rice. Very yummy.

Then it was karaoke time! Japanese karaoke is far superior to American karaoke. You get your own room, so you’re only singing with your friends. Plus, there’s unlimited soft drinks and ice cream! You can also pay extra for unlimited alcoholic drinks, too. 

Getting into karaoke was a little challenging since we’re very unorganized, but once we got settled into a room we took turns picking songs, and sang most of them together. I’ve learned that songs in English are pretty popular around the world. On the other hand, whenever people got shy, I had to sing all of the songs. “You’re American, so you should know all the words, right?”… it’s a good way to overcome my stagefright, I suppose.

A lot of late nights and great experiences made this an exciting week.