It is 8:01 on a Sunday morning. The snow shows no sign of stopping its descent. In 59 minutes, I will be running the Kyoto City Half Marathon. My uniform consists of a hand-decorated T-shirt with anit-war slogans, Japanese phrases, my name and school, and my number. Despite the chilly weather, I will also be wearing shorts. If my legs are still attached to my body when I am done, I will be happy.

My friend's parents are coming to visit her next week, so she is trying to make a list of places to go, things to see, and restaurants to eat at. The first two are fairly simple tasks, the third is very difficult. When family members come to visit you in Japan, you want to take them places that are distinctly Japanese and that are an experience of the culture. However, when my friends and I go out to eat, we almost always go to foreign food restaurants. We all get plenty of Japanese food at our homestays. Last week we had Thai, the week before was Mexican. This week we went to a wonderful Indian restaurant that had all you can eat nan.
It isn't that we don't like Japanese food. It's that the food served at home and in restaurants can be so entirely different. To me, Japan has two different food cultures: the fancy expensive stuff, and the stuff you eat regularly. Udon, okonomiyaki, ramen, donburi, tako yaki - these can all be eaten for a relatively low price, and are often made at home. But tempura, sushi, shojin ryori, and the 6 course dinners, are seldom eaten regularly. They are more about style and presentation than taste and eating. It is difficult to say which is better, or which is more representative of Japan. They are both very good to eat.

I have discovered one of Japan's versions of Saturday Night Live or Kids in the Hall. It is a half-hour of making fun of famous actors, singers, and politicians. It paradies commercials, rewrites pop songs, and dresses up characters in spandex. Add this to the fun of it being in Japanese, and I have another lovely TV program to take up my studying hours. Others include: the top 10 music countdown, a drama about a bookstore, a drama about a school, any show involving people traveling to spas and eating food (available at any time), and American movies dubbed into Japanese. I love Japanese television.

It appears that the World Water Council is holding a forum in Kyoto. There are banners and signs up all over the downtown area. The largest of these is actually a huge banner placed in the Kamo River. It is staked into the river parallel to the ground, about one inch under the surface. In the morning, when you walk over the bridge you can read the announcement and see the lovely design. However, when you walk past in the evening, the banner has been completely covered by the dirt a debris flowing down the river. I find this to be somewhat ironic.

Today is the Hina Matsuri, which is Dolls' Day. This is a day that celebrates girls. Grandmothers and mothers bring out elaborately dressed dolls and set them up on tiered shelves. There are the emperor and empress dolls, three ladies-in-waiting, three musicians, and two footmen. In addition, there are often carriages and miniature utensils and such. On this day girls traditionally acted as hostesses of the house, taking over the role of their mothers. It was sort of an elaborate form of playing dress-up. This holiday originated in an earlier Shinto belief that dolls protected the bearer and soaked up all the bad things of the year. At the end of the year, the dolls were thanked and often set afloat in a boat into the river or ocean. Today, dolls are still treated with reverence. They are not thrown away when they get old, but are often placed at a special doll cemetery-type place, so as to not offend their spirits.

I was aware that electricity and water cost a large amount of money in Japan. However, it was not clear to me exactly how expensive these are until last night. My host mother tells me that she pays from 3-4man yen ($275-375) a month for electricity. Add another 2man yen ($175) for water. During the summer it is even more because of using the "coolers." Add this to the monthly and minute fee for the telephone, and living in Japan is definitely not cheap.

We have a final Japanese presentation to prepare. My friends are doing their's on the Black Forest. This isn't the scary place in Germany, but in fact, is at the base of Mt. Fuji. In this forest compasses and cell phones don't work. Consequently, people go here to commit suicide. The police go in once a year, being careful to tie ropes around themselves, so they too do not get lost, and they collect the bodies. Last year, they pulled 117 corpses from these woods. It could have been more: in their patrolling of the area during the year, they stopped another 80 people from entering. And my friends are going to try to go in...

Another after-dinner chat with my host mother yields another Japanese stereotype of Americans. This time, we were talking about comfort levels and public speaking. My host mother was very strongly under the impression that Americans are never ever scared to speak in public. She thought that she could put any American on a stage in front of thousands of people and their hearts would not beat out of control, and they would feel perfectly at ease. I told her that that according to surveys, the thing that Americans are most scared of is public speaking. (I think this is still true, isn't it?) She didn't believe me. She was 100% sure that Americans are never scared of being in public and that they love to talk all the time. She said that the host student they had last year told them she didn't like to speak, but they thought that was a very rare occurance. She asked me "honto?" (truly?) about 15 times after I told her this. I wonder where this idea came from?

The ojiisan (grandfather) who lives two houses away died. His soshiki (funeral) is today, and the preparations have been going on for the last 2 days. The front of their house is covered in a huge white cloth with the symbol of the temple he is affiliated printed on it. There are two tents on the street in front of their garden for when people come. Visitors must sign their name and give an "incense offering," a monetary donation, to the family. Along with the tents there are banners declaring his name, status, and other such things. Down the road and around the corner is a sign saying "This man's funeral place" and an arrow pointing the way to his house. Japanese funerals are almost always done at the home, and they are just the start of the memorial services at the family butsudan which continue to take place up to 100 years after the person's death.

Last night my host mother and I were talking about manners. Namely, parents who are strict in the upbringing of their children, and parents who are not. She was saying that contrary to most Japanese parents, hers had been very strict and demanding of manners and rules. I said that mine had too. She asked in what way. So I described American table manners and such. She was suprised. She said, "I thought that Americans didn't have manners! I thought that American children weren't taught how to eat properly at a table, or that they weren't scolded for bad behavior." It's just another interesting view of Americans from outside the country.

I just realized today that it has been approximately 6 months since I have eaten a bagel. In fact, it has been 6 months since I have eaten french fries, a hamburger, cauliflower, cupcakes, ranch salad dressing, crackers, ketchup, a burrito, a taco, hummus, chili...the list goes on. There is so much food that you think you need, but find you can easily forget.

I made a wonderful purchase at a Japanese sweets shop yesterday. I bought two small things, one which I was familiar with, and one which just looked awfully interesting. The first was mochi filled with anko and topped with a strawberry. The second was green and looked like a ball of spiky icing. In reality, it was kintoku, another form of sweet bean finely ground to the texture of icing and formed accordingly. It almost tasted like frosting too. If I hadn't known anything about Japanese cuisine, I wouldn't have even guessed a legume was the main ingredient. The Japanese are amazing at making the most tasty things out of beans. It is ridiculous.

Yesterday, I believe I experienced one version of what people imagine hell to be. I returned from school early due to an upset stomach and subsequent throwing up, and spent the whole afternoon either laying in bed or running to the bathroom. This I could have handled without too much stress if it weren't for one thing - Mondays are oil days. Because there is no central heating in Japan, everyone has oil heaters, and Monday is the day when the man with the oil truck comes around my neighborhood. His truck plays a little song, very loudly, continuously, to warn the housewives that they should set their oil jugs out to be filled. I listened to this song from 1pm to 5:30pm. I tried shutting my window, I tried covering my ears. If I would have had a gun and the strength to walk outside, that sound machine would no longer exist. There are no laws in Japan about noise pollution. There is always some truck with a loudspeaker cruising the neighborhood. But they usually leave before long. I think I will make sure not to ever be sick on a Monday again.

A lesson in linguistics:
Have you ever heard the phrase "just a skosh.." meaning "just a minute" or "just a little"? Ever wondered where the word skosh came from and what it really means? Well, yesterday I found out the answer to this question. It is Japanese. The word skosh comes from the Japanese sukoshi meanining "little," It was brought into the English language by soldiers stationed in Japan during the Occupation who picked up a little Japanese and took it home with them in various forms. A more surprising Japanese-derived English phrase is "hunkey-dorey." Literally, it is the name of a street in the Red Light district that was famous for its prostitutes. Honke is the street name and dori means "street." Who would have thought that such an innocent phrase would have such a colorful background?

Today is Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day!!
Valentine's Day in Japan is pretty much backwards from Valentine's Day in America. Here, in addition to that "special someone," it is the duty of all females to give chocolate to all their male friends and co-workers. This is called giri choco. The department stores start stocking up on the most wonderous varieties of chocolates at the beginning of January. I stopped by Takashimaya the other day and sampled no less than 10 completely different kinds of chocolate. Amazing.
In the 60's a Marshmallow company decided that the women were being treated unfairly in the Valentine's Holiday scheme, and so they invented a new holiday just for female chocolate consumption. "White Day" takes place on March 14, and is so named because on that day, males give white chocolate to whomever they recieved sweets from on Valentine's Day. I am waiting expectantly for this holiday.

This past weekend was my so-called "spring break." Since my semester is finished on April 12, we don't have time for a week long holiday. Instead, the school pays for an outing and then gives us two days to do whatever we want. This year we went to Ise Shrine. It is probably the most famous shrine in Japan. After two days of fine dining, walking through forests, playing around (and in) the ocean, I moved on to Mt. Koya, the center of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. An equally peaceful and almost as well known religious site, Mt. Koya is also home to one of Japan's largest cemeteries. It was a lovely relaxing weekend.
I also found two new signs whose English could be a little better. Have a look.

McDonald's has just introduced a new burger here in Japan, maybe the states too...It is called the "cheese chicken burger." This new invention involves a breaded chicken patty filled with cheese sauce. Just the thought of eating this makes me feel sick. I don't know how the people on the commercial can still smile and say "Oishii!" (delicious). On a side note, I have not yet actually eaten at a McDonald's in Japan. I hear that the servings are extra small and the prices fairly high.

My favorite Japanese snack-type food is anko. What is anko? Literally, sweet bean paste. Doesn't sound very appetizing, does it? But put it inside mochi, pancakes, manju, or spread it on bread, and it becomes a most delicious treat.
On a similar note, my host mother set a jar of jet black cream out on the table with breakfast the other day. The label said "goma kureemu" which is sesame seed creme. So, I toasted my bread and spread it on. Delicious! Slightly sweet and not at all sesame-seed tasting. I think is the darkest black food I have ever eaten.

Yesterday I attended the beginning of the Setsubun activities at Yoshida Jinja by Kyoto University. The oni (ogres) paraded through the shrine scaring little children and harassing foreigners (me and my friends). They are symbolic representations of the evil of the prior year. Today, people will throw beans at them to drive away the evil.
Walking around the festival, I once again enjoyed some yummy Japanese food, but in addition, there was also a stall from Turkey! These guys were selling wonderfully tasty meat shaved right off of the hunk on a stick right in front of me. For the only non-Japanese food stall available, they were doing pretty good business.

I have just discovered the Japanese version of the burrito. It is called temaki-zushi. You take a large piece of thin nori (dried seaweed) and put onto it sushi rice, lettuce, cucumber, fish, egg, or whatever you want. Then you roll it up and eat it. Very tasty, and healthy too.

Many Japanese companies think that naming their products in English makes them more desirable and "cool." However, many of these names make no sense, and in fact, many sound quite unappetizing. There is a sports drink called "Pocari Sweat," a diet drink called "Love Body" and a beverage company named "Calpis." The last one is my favorite; say it out loud with very little emphasis on the L and think of a barnyard animal.

Last night was my frisbee team's shinnenkai (New Year Party). We went to this place called "Ninnikuya" which literally means "Garlic Restaurant." So I'm thinking, it's just the name, something interesting - "Garlic." I was wrong. Every dish on the menu, including the dessert, had garlic in it. I'm sure that as we walked down the street afterwards that at least one random person wondered what was the odor that emanated from this group of chatting girls...

When I got home from this pleasant evening out, another suprise awaited me. My host mother told me that Wada-san, the woman in charge of all home-stay matters, had called earlier in the day. She does this periodically to check up on things from the host parent perspective, so I was not suprised about this. However, my host mother continued, Wada-san called at my Japanese teachers' request. It seems that they had had a meeting and discussed me. That is, they have decided that out of all the students, I am the one that has made the most progress from the beginning of the program to now. And they wanted to let my host family know that whatever they were doing to help was definitely helping. It is good to know that I have made progress, but it is sad to have true confirmation of the fact that my Japanese wasn't worth anything when I got here, although now it is decent. But I am happy anyway, knowing that my teachers think I have definitely improved, and my host mother is happy because she knows it is all the talking to her that made my speaking skills better. Everyone is ureshii! (happy)

I just returned from a field trip to a Japanese Middle School. We sat in on their English class and "helped" them study. In other words, they stumbled through questions like "What is your name?" "Where are you from?" and "What are your hobbies?" and we gave them one word answers. The Japanese education system is quite different from the American. For one thing, the teachers do not have control, nor do they attempt to take it. If a kid doesn't want to participate, he can go to the back of the room and do what he wants. Likewise, if it is noisy, or kids are rude, the teacher does nothing. Makes for a hectic time - I would not want to be a teacher in a Japanese school.
After this classroom experience, we got a special treat. Today was the day that one of Japan's Living National Treasures came to this middle school to start reintroducing traditional Japanese music into the curriculum. She brought with her about 30 kotos and taught everyone to play "Sakura, Sakura," a very famous folk tune. I already knew it from my lessons, and all the kids were impressed when I could play it so easily. The Living National Treasure woman was also impressed that I was taking koto lessons.

The Japanese are very conscious about the change of seasons. Little kids are not allowed to wear their long sleeved uniforms until the official first day of fall, if they wear them before that they get in trouble. However, there is one thing that does not change with the seasons: the skirts. Japanese schoolgirls have this horrible fashion of rolling up their knee-length skirts to a length where leaning over to button the last button on your coat will reveal your undies. And this is not only in the humid summer months, but also in the cold of winter. In addition, the 80's knee-high leg warmers are present year round, despite the schools' attempts at banning these out of fashion socks.

While watching TV last night, I once again noticed what I considered an overuse of the identity-concealing circles and voice changers on what would be regular television. So I asked my host mother about it. This is what I understand: In the US, most of the time that those are used it is for the protection of the person you can't see. Either the would get in trouble for being identified, or they don't want to be identified. In Japan, it is the opposite. The TV stations cover up the identity of someone who did bad things, or someone connected with someone who did bad things, to protect the viewers from what my host mother calls "the horror" of life. They block faces, whole bodies, voices, and even bleep out names of people who have committed crimes. Instead of seeing crimes scenes on TV, you will see only the building or the intersection near where it occured. You will never see the perpetrator. This could be considered as an attempt at rejection of the fact that there is crime in Japan, but I don't think so. My host mother says it is because Japanese people are so peaceful that they don't want to see violent things.

Visit number 2 to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in southern Kyoto yielded a few surprises for the unsuspecting religion class field-trippers. Firstly, the teacher decided to take us to each of the Seven Mysteries of the Mountain. But she couldn't find one. And none of the people who worked there new what it was. So I guess the Seven Mysteries have, over time, become the Six Mysteries.
Secondly, and most surprisingly, was the snack we had after climbing around the mountain. There seems to be a somewhat wierd food tradition of the Fushimi Inari Shrine being associated with sparrows. That is, eating sparrows. So we stopped at a little shop where they had grilled sparrows-on-a-stick for a little bite of this tiny bird. I would have to say it isn't the tastiest fowl I have eaten, but it wasn't bad. Not much meat, but what do you expect for such a little bird? Despite the fact that the head and brain are supposed to be the most tasty part, we all left the skewered skulls right where they were, and decided that if we ever came back we might try that too, maybe.

I went to Osaka yesterday to change my airline ticket, and was once again reminded of two very important things:
1. My religion teacher says, "Always call before you go anywhere in Japan, they change things without telling you." This is the truth, for when I arrived at the place where the office was supposed to be, it had moved to Tokyo. I am a baka (idiot).
2. When you want a garbage can, you can never find one. That's right, the public garbage cans in Japan are few to none. It is an old taboo that still continues today that you don't eat or drink while walking. So no one has wrappers or cans or paper to throw away. Or maybe it is because there are no trash cans that they don't eat while on the street. It is surprising, this attitude toward trash. The Japanese try to make it out that they are very environmentally smart, they separate burnables and recyclables and such, but the amount of packaging they use is ridiculous. Hence, after grabbing some onigiri (rice and seaweed triangles) from the conbini, I had to carry the plastic wrapper around in my pocket for the next 3 hours.

The Japanese language is full of "loan words" from English, Dutch, French, German, Portugese, and many others. The list of words, which are written in a form of the alphabet called katakana is increasing every day as new terms in business and pop culture make their way into the language. The Asahi Shimbun (Newspaper) recently published a list of some of the newer ones which few people, Japanese and English alike, could barely recognize. They also made a sentence in "Japanese" made almost entirely of loan words. I am going to type it here in phonetics. Read it aloud and see if you can get some of the words. I bet you can. "Aidoringu sutoppu basu de shukkin shi autososhingu no wakingu gurupu de shinku tanku no anarisuto no puriezenteshon wo kiku." (italics are loan words) Did you catch "idling stop bus, outsourcing, working group, think tank, analyst, and presentation"? Imagine how hard it would be if we just started putting foreign words into our vocabulary these days. In Japan, the older generation can barely understand the younger's speech because there are so many loan words dropped in.

My host brother is getting married sometime soon. So he came down to Kyoto this weekend with his fiancee and her mother to pick out the wedding dresses. Yes, dresses. Weddings in Japan can be very lavish and most include at least two dresses, the norm is three. There are several styles of weddings, Western church style, where the bride wears a beautiful white gown and walks down the aisle (regardless of religion), the Shinto wedding, where the bride and groom wear traditional Japanese kimono and you spend long amounts of time sitting on your knees while the priest invokes the kami, or a small affair with friends and family. All of these, however, include an extravagent reception afterwards. It is at this time that the bride will change her dress or kimono up to three more times, each one equally as gorgeous and expensive as the original wedding dress. She is then paraded through the hall to show everyone how beautiful she is. The guests clap happily, as they should with a wonderful meal, liberal amounts of alchohol and the gifts that are given to them by the families of the newly married couple. I hope I am still here when he gets married, because I want to see all this first hand. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when the special day is..

I hope that by now all of you baseball fans out there will have heard of Hideki Matsui "Godzilla", the newest big hitter for the New York Yankees. He hails from over on this side of the ocean, and is the biggest baseball star these days. The Japanese really love to follow the careers of their sports stars overseas. Everyday in the sports news there will be a highlight from some game in the States or in Europe which involves a Japanese player. Matsui has been in the news consistantly every day for at least the last 3 weeks. At least. Before that, if it wasn't him, then there was a clip of a random hit by Ichiro, or a kick by a soccer player in Germany. The Japanese are very proud of those representing their country in athletics.

Snow, beautiful snow. Yesterday was the first day that Kyoto had any significant amount of snowfall this year. I believe we accumulated 1.5 inches in about 4 hours. Soon after which, the sun came out and the warm air drifted in, reducing the shimmering whiteness to puddles of cold water and globs of slush falling from trees. Luckily, I was free with enough time to go next door to Nanzenji Temple for some lovely "temple in the snow" pictures before it all melted away. The trees in this picture almost looked like they had sakura (cherry blossoms) on the branches - an ironic contradiction to the icy snowflakes they really were.

Yesterday was Seijin no Hi, or in English, Coming of Age Day. It is a national holiday which celebrates the people who will become adults (age 20) during this coming year. Walking along the street you see all of the girls in elaborate kimono and the boys in suits and ties. There are ceremonies all over the country with famous speakers and tearful testimonies. The TV stations broadcast parts of the ceremonies and comment on how lovely the dressed up young people look.
From what I gather, you don't have to actually wait until you become officially 20 years old to be considered this age. Therefore, you could still be 19, but be considered 20, and therefore be able to buy alchohol anytime during this year, prior to your birthday. A nice convention for uniformity, and an easier way to check ID's, I think.

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Saturday, January 11

Last night, on the way home from a sukiyaki party, I was passing by Gion (the famous old entertainment district), when I saw two Maiko-san.
Maiko-san are Geisha's in training. This is a special occupation requiring large amounts of studying of all the traditional Japanese arts, such as traditional instruments, tea-ceremony, dance, and exquisite manners.
They were wearing beautiful kimono, tall geta (wooden sandals), white faces, and elaborate hairstyles. I was lucky: most people who live in Kyoto have not actually seen one. They are rare and hard to get a glimpse of. I would have taken out my camera, but alas, I did not have it with me. And I think it would have just added to the commotion of everyone else stopping and staring.

My host mother asked told me an interesting story last night. She said that her daughter's friend from Australia came to visit Japan once. This friend came to stay in their house and in the course of the evening, she became comfortable enough to ask this question, "How often do you eat cat for dinner?" My host mother, being the respectful Japanese woman that she was, was appalled by this question, and offended that anyone would ever think that any Japanese person would eat a cat!
And so let this be a lesson to you: please do not confuse such significant food traditions, such as which Asian country eats what Americans would consider pets. I believe I would refer you to China for that recipe, however, if you are interested in a tasty horse dish, I may be able to provide some pages from a rural Japanese cookbook.

In continuation of the New Years theme, I wish to share another event which was recently on television as New Years purification ritual. It is the yearly purification of automobiles for the safety and protection of all who drive them. Everyone drives to a big parking lot and parks their recently washed cars, inluding some city garbage trucks, grocery store semis, and deli minibikes. They are then blessed by Shinto priests or Buddhist monkes (depending on where you go) who perform a little ceremony and give each owner an omamori (protective amulet) to hang from their rearview mirror or put in their glove box. This protection is good for one year, after which the amulet is returned to the shrine to be burned (getting rid of the evil it collected), and a new amulet is bought. It is said that if you keep an omamori for longer than a year it gives you bad luck.

Yesterday was the 7th of January. Not necessarily a special day in most people's eyes, but in Japan it has a special funtion. And as with many Japanese special function days, it is connected with food. The New Year's holiday lasts for quite a few days in that the Japanese eat only certain foods for New Years. These foods contain lots of rice and sweets, but very little vegetables. So, when those days are over (around the 6th) they have the day for eating vegetables (the 7th). So, yesterday we had two kinds of beans, 4 kinds of green grass-like veggies, potatoes, plus fish. A healthy meal to balance the not so healthy week prior. Too bad for the kids who don't like to eat their vegetables.

I have often jokingly (I hope) been asked when I am going to get a Japanese boyfriend. And I have always answered "never." Although some may doubt, this is the truth, for several reasons. Primarily, because I don't want one. However, if I did want one, the chances are very slim that I could get one. Walk down the street in Kyoto and every once and a while you will see a few mixed couples all snuggly, and you will notice one important factor - it is always a Japanese girl and a foreign guy. Never is it the other way around. There have been several theories on this phenomenon. One is that foreign women are taller, and Japanese guys have a little complex about dating tall women. Another is that foreign women are much more independent, and Japanese guys can't handle a woman who isn't completely under their control. In any case, my dream of marrying a Japanese guy and having a daughter named Haruko are completely shot. Ha.

The New Year in Japan is the most important time of the year. It is a time to get rid of the old, the unclean, and all the bad stuff of the year before and start the new year on a fresh note. During the three days of celebration (at which time everything shuts down), everyone does at least three things: goes to a shrine and/or temple, eats traditional Oshogatsu food, and cleans the house from top to bottom. It's a bigger event than spring cleaning. As a result, when I returned to my homestay, I found a perfectly clean room with new curtains, a small rug, and the biggest, fluffiest comforters I have ever seen. Which is good, because it was negative degrees last night. Anyway, I decided to join in the Japanese tradition of making things new and renovate my website. You can now find all of my winter adventures, including Christmas, New Years, Nijo Castle, Kiyomizudera, and more things, including a page of Random pictures. Check out the tanuki and see if you find anything slightly offensive about this woodland creature...

I have returned again to school. Not yet for classes, but I once again have internet access. In the next two days I will be updating with all the fun places I went during Winter Break, and at the same time I will be moving out of my apartment and back into my homestay. I am sad to lose the freedom of doing whatever I want and being right in the city, but I will be glad to be back where really good food is cooked for me and I have people to talk to all the time. I hope everyone's winter breaks were also very nice and relaxing.

I only have one week left before school starts back up again. I have been trying to do as much as I can: visiting lots of temples and areas of Kyoto that I don't know very well. The other day I went to Chion-in, a temple not far from my school. I was lucky enough to come on the day they were practicing the New Years bell-ringing. They will be ringing the biggest bell in Japan 108 times on New Years to scare off the unlucky spirits. It takes a lot of effort to do this: approximately 12 monks. And they had to practice in order to get it to ring loudly. It was pretty cool. I took lots of pictures, which will be up later when I get my ethernet access back!
Until then, I am going to wander some more places and see some more random things.
Happy New Year!

For Christmas I went to a festival/fair/flea market at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine. It happens every 3rd Wednesday of the month, which happened to be Christmas this year. There were lots of old things like kimono, and dishes, and coins. There was lots of food like pototoes, okonomiyaki, anpan, and other goodies. It was lots of fun, especially because I was wandering with my friends, and afterwards we had a party. Good times.

Christmas in Japan: a secular holiday, not a national holiday, a 'date' holiday. Christmas music, Christmas decorations, a running race where everyone is required to wear a Santa suit, pimps in reindeer outfits, Christmas trees with Hello Kitty shaped lights, Christmas cakes (they think it is an American tradition, I don't know where it came from), no Christmas cookies, no snow, no Christmas movies, Kobe's Illumination-the biggest display of Christmas lights I have ever seen, and there's more, but I don't have time to write it. Merry Christmas!!

I don't know how I forgot to mention this, but I did. My koto lessons are given free by the nice Japanese lady. She, however, is involved in what is called a New Religion. Americans might call this a cult, but that might be a little harsh. A few weeks ago, she invited the three of us taking lessons from her to a little video session put on by her religion. Because we were getting free lessons, we felt obligated to go. So she took us to this building near Kyoto Station, and we went upstairs and watched a 1.5 hour long sermon by the "savior" of the religion. Then we sat and talked about it. The religion is based in Buddhism, with a belief in reincarnation and a goal toward uniting with the supreme god. But it also incorporates aspects from Christianity, Judeaism, and other world religions. I don't think that the religious notions themselves were all that wierd or new, it was just the presentation of them that was a bit intimidating. That and the fact that their savior's previous incarnations had been Siddharta Gautama (the historical Buddha), Hermes, the King of Atlantis, and some others. Interesting stuff, however, I don't think I'll be converting any time soon.

Two of my friends decided to go hitch hiking from Kobe to Hiroshima this week. They packed up their bags, made some signs, and starting walking on the highway. Four rides, multiple restaraunts, and 2 days later they were halfway there. 1 ride later, they were stranded in the middle of Okayama Prefecture walking along a highway in the middle of the night. After walking for 6 hours, they gave up and took the train the rest of the way to Hiroshima. After making up for the sleep they couldn't get in a bus hut, convenience store, and video arcade, they saw the A-bomb museum and took a train back to Kyoto. And where to go since they couldn't get into their housing yet? Of course, my lovely apartment. I am being reimbursed with a pancake dinner-a fair trade for two nights of floor space, I think.

I highly respect the Japanese tradition and social rule of taking off your shoes before entering the house, doctor's office, and sometimes places like libraries and restaurants. It keeps things cleaner, and makes you feel more relaxed. However, I decided to take advantage of the Kyoto University weight room this morning, and once again realized the number one reason I did not like going there: you have to take off your shoes. Now, please tell me how many sweaty people walk across this floor in their socks and leave odors and dirty foot things behind? And this phenomenon occurs throughout the gymansium building. Only if you are going to play basketball do you put your shoes back on when you get to the courts. It wouldn't be so bad if the building was new and kept up well, but it is old and emits a horrible stench of decades of sweaty bodies and the piles of equipment sitting in the hallways. I think that next time I go, I am going to bring an extra pair of socks, just for protection.

As I was walking along the Teramachi shopping street today, I was priveleged to finally see one of the trademarks of the Japanese Christmas season. It was Colonol Sanders all dressed up in a Santa Claus suit. In the US, even the presence of a Colonol Sanders slightly-larger-than-lifesize-statue would be cause for a double-take, but in Japan they are in front of 95% of all Kentucky Fried Chicken Stores. In addition, the Christmas holiday is the chain's biggest season; it provides Christmas dinner for a majority of Japanese families.
And so, as a recognition of all things Japanese and Christmas, I have placed a picture of the Santa Colonol in the corner of this page. If you click on him, you can see him more clearly in larger form.

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Monday, December 16

Because there is very little parking in Kyoto, the best way to get somewhere quickly and cheaply is to ride your bike. Hence, there are thousands of bikes everywhere. The City of Kyoto constantly has teams of people driving around in trucks picking up illegally parked bicycles and taking them to a far corner of the city. This is easily done, because in Japan, you don't lock your bike to anything, you only lock your wheels so that they don't move. I recently bought a bike from my friend who was returning to the US at the end of this semester. I told her she could still use it until she left. Sadly, it got towed last weekend, and in order to get "my" bike back, I had to venture to the outskirts of the city where no bus goes to pick a bike I had only seen once out of approximately 4000 towed bikes in a huge parking lot. The only saving factor was the New York Mets sticker on the back of the bike. But I guess that despite having to pay 2300yen ($20ish) for the bike, and having to ride an hour and a half back home, the future convenience far outweighs the prior experience.

Last night I went out with a bunch of my friends to celebrate the end of the semester, and to say goodbye to those leaving. We had a nice Italian dinner and then headed off to do some serious partying. This involved a lovely place called a nomihodai. Approximately literally translated, this means 'the way to drink a lot'. You pay about $10, and for 2 hours it is all you can drink. We followed this up by a small bar, and then spent the rest of the night going from one 24 hour coffee shop to another. The first train in the morning is at 5:01am. Just for future reference.

Owatta!! It's over!! The semester is done. I have taken all of my tests, turned in all of my papers, and thrown away all of the notes I will never need again. Tonight I go out to celebrate with my friends, two of whom will sadly be leaving and not returning next semester. And after that...free!! Tomorrow I move into my apartment and learn to use a rice cooker. Sunday I begin my half-marathon training schedule, and Monday..well, we'll see when Monday comes around. Yay for Winter Break!

Apparently, it snowed yesterday. I however, was oblivious to this weather, as I was holed up in a classroom memorizing names and dates for my Arts of Japan final. But I guess it didn't last, because when I left last night there was no snow anywhere, and no sign that there had even been a flake.
This morning on TV "Eigo de Paturiku," an American named Patrick who goes out on the streets and has random Japanese people try to translate a phrase from Japanese into English, was talking about the first snow of the season. But he was holding an obviously fake large snowball, so I really don't know what's going on with the snow situation here.

My school is located in what is considered the "cultural district" of Kyoto. We are only two blocks from Okazaki Park which is the home of approximately 6 museums, the Kyoto Handicrafts Center, and the Heian Shrine. We are also right next door to the Zoo. The Kyoto City Zoo is a sad place. It is 2 blocks long and 2 blocks wide, surrounded by a 7 foot tall cement wall. I look in the gate when I pass, and it looks like a run down kiddie land with a few tired animals. Occasionally we can hear the music from the ferris wheel during class, and after it rains, the smell of manure wafts across the wall. There is a break in the cement wall across the canal on one corner and sometimes I see an emu or two, but more often we just hear the barking of a seal or the roar of some feline. I keep hoping that some animal will escape and make its way into our parking lot or garden, but as of yet, I've had no such luck.

When walking down the street in Kyoto, it is fairly rare to see another gaijin (foreigner). Occasionally you may pass one in the shopping arcade, or if you are near a famous temple, but generally, they seem scarce. However, this is not the case on a Friday or Saturday night in the entertainment district. Walking along Kiyamachi with bars and love hotels on either side, there are masses of gaijin business men and tourists. My policy is to try not to stand out as much as possible. While this is slightly unrealistic, I feel that being surrounded by ten other foreigners just makes it that much worst. So when my friends took me to "The Hub" I was slightly taken aback by the fact that there were more foreigners in this bar than there were Japanese. Somehow, I would like to separate myself from the random tourists, and I think that going to gaijin bars is not the best way to be doing it.

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Sunday, December 8

Today was "clean up the street" day in my neighborhood. Everyone got up at 8:30am to wash out their section of the water drainage canal that runs under every street. In America we have huge drainage pipes whose presence we only notice by the grates on the corners that the water runs into. In Japan, there are small square canals covered by movable sections of concrete and grates that run along both sides of every street. Today everyone made sure that the section in front of their house was not blocked by leaves or mud, so that all the water would move easily. It was an organized effort, and everyone was back in their houses for breakfast a half an hour later at 9am.

It is almost Christmas vacation. One week left before I am free to do whatever I want in Japan. Because my room and board only pays for housing and food during the semester, it was necessary for me to find alternative housing during the break. I am going to be staying in an apartment, training for a half marathon, and biking all over the Kansai area for winter break. It will be great! However, the apartment where I will be living does not have a mailbox, and my school is closed from December 20 to January 4. So, if anyone is planning on sending me anything, you should get it done soon, or know that I probably won't get it until January. Also, during this time, I will have minimal internet access, i.e. if I can find an Internet cafe. But feel free to send me little emails on my cell phone (keitai) (address is on the side of this page).
Consequently, I will be sending out New Years cards soon, and if anyone wants a card, but doesn't think I have their address, tell me so I can send you something, eh?

Thirsty? No worries. In Japan there are vending machines selling your favorite beverages on at least every corner, and most of the time more frequently. The selection is wider than you can imagine: there is always something you want. For instance, in a Coca-Cola machine you can find Coca-Cola, water, milk tea, green tea, flavored juice drinks, coffees, and much more. On top of this, the beverages that you would want to be hot, are hot. The same machine that gives you an ice cold can of pop will serve your canned coffee and tea piping hot. And when your tastes are leaning toward alchohol, more than likely there is one of those machines nearby too. From cans of Chu-hi and beer to small bottles of sake and larger bottles of beer (approximately the size of a 40), there is no need to worry about the store closing, because vending machines are open 24 hours!

When I signed up to live in a homestay my two hopes for the experience were to learn about the average Japanese person's lifestyle and to drastically improve my Japanese by having to speak it all the time. Both of these expectations have been fulfilled, which is great. The funny thing is, I didn't realize how much my living with a host family would effect the family. I often tell my host mother stories of how things are done in America that are different from Japan, and we laugh at her trying to pronounce America names for vegetables and such. But the shocker came yesterday when my host mother says to me, "Recently, when I am talking to my friends, I keep messing up some little grammer points, like when to use wa and ga (easy to mess up when you aren't a native speaker). I realized that I am talking like Laura!" It is very sad when your bad usage of language influences someone else to use their own language improperly.

Last night my host mother breaks out some omiyage she brought back from Toyama. It was this cute little box with some cartoon squid on it. She says to me, "I think you will want to eat this. It is very tasty." She opens it up and inside are miniature squid marinated in salt and shoyu. She puts one on a plate and gives it to me, and then procedes to slurp a few down herself. I stare at the small sea creature lying in front of me. I note its eyes, the little fringy tentacles, and its deflated body. I pick it up with my chopsticks and wonder if I will taste its brain and intestines when I eat it. Gathering my courage, I quickly slurp it up, take one or two chews (in which I feel gritty eyeballs) and decide if I do not want to spit this back out, I better just swallow. So I did. And I did not ask for another.

A tip for future advertisers in Japan: it's all in the shopping bags. Everywhere you go in Japan, people use and reuse the nice paper shopping bags with handles. For lunches, purses, and to carry random things-they are everywhere. People save them and use them over and over. Everyday on the train I see "adverstising" for department stores, grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants..I even participate occasionally when I take my frisbee stuff to practice in a bag from Takashimaya. Paper bags are a key item.

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Sunday, December 1

Today my friend Anna hosted a Christmas party. Yes, it is only December 1st, but her mom sent her a small Christmas tree with decorations and the makings for rice crispie treats. So we all celebrated with a little party. I made vegetarian chili cheese dip that was very yummy, altough I had to go to the Western food store to get kidney beans. You would think that with all the bean products in Japan that there would be kidney beans, but apparently not. I continued the tradition of eating large amounts of food by merrily partaking in rice crispie treats, cookies, pie, chili dip, cookie dough, chocolate, and some hot chocolate. We decorated the tree and exchanged small presents all to the sounds of a Disney Christmas CD. Good times.

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Saturday, November 30

Last night I singlehandedly disproved the notion that girls don't eat very much. The food for Thanksgiving was amazing: 4 turkeys, 1 tofu-turkey, lasagna, numerous versions of broccoli, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, banana bread, tiramisu, rolls, pine nut bread, and stuffing. I helped myself to 3.5 plates of this wonderful feast, and afterwards was very hard put to walk without throwing up. But it was worth it.

This weekend my host family has gone north to Toyama to have a meeting with their son and the girl he is going to marry and her family. They have left me in charge of the house, and more importantly, the dog. He is an old dog, and set in his ways. He goes out three times a day. He follows the same path. I feel sorry for dogs in cities. There is no grass for them, and no interesting places to go. There are numerous dogs in this neighborhood, and everyone walks them in the same area. Consequently, there are an astounding number of corners of buildings, lightposts, and fences that are permanently stained with the urine of many a male dog who must remark his territory every time he passes. Let's just say that a half an hour walk with Shinosuke includes more stops than it does steps.

Today is Thanksgiving. Well, not really. Yesterday was officially Thanksgiving, but because it is not any sort of holiday at all in Japan, we all had school, so there was no celebration. However, tonight we are having a feast. There are several turkeys in several ovens across the city of Kyoto, there are delicious odors of cooking sweet potatoes coming from the kitchen, and I know that numerous pies were cooked last night. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to this food! We are planning on feeding 60 people tonight-students, teachers, and staff. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

My host mother once told me that my host father is very yasashii, which means he is a nice, easygoing, likeable person. I thought this was a good thing coming from her, seeings that being the wife of a man who leaves at 7am and doesn't come home until 11pm seems to be difficult. But they get along so well. However, I never realized just how well they get along until this morning. Every morning, my otosan eats breakfast, but he always leaves something on his plate. I think, "He's always in a hurry and doesn't get to eat very much. Poor man." But today I figured it out. He leaves half of his breakfast for my okasan, who is out walking the dog. He leaves half of his tasty pastry from the bakery, and the fresh fruit so that she can have some too. I am not a sentimental person, but I think this is so sweet.

One of the toughest things about applying for anything is asking teachers to write recommendations. Now add the fact that it must be done in Japanese, and for me, it is a slightly nervous experience. The simple phrase of "Would you please write a recommendation for me?" becomes "Chotto onegaishitai koto ga arundesu kedo..suisenju o kaite itadakenaindeshou ka?" But I managed to get all of this out, plus some regular conversation, without too many blunders, and Japanese teachers are forgiving of grammer mistakes, anyway. So now I have two recommendations being written for internships in Japan for the summer. Good stuff.

It has come to my attention that some people are reading this site and getting certain "ideas" about how my life in Japan really is. Is it really necessary to put a disclaimer on this page? What I write are my thoughts, how you read them are your interpretations of my thoughts. However, these little blurbs are exactly that - little snapshots of what is going on here. It is not possible for anyone to get the full picture just by reading these little stories. If you have questions about the whole truth of what's happening here, I would be overjoyed to receive emails...

The Japanese kitchen is filled to the brim with dishes. Small ones, big ones, plain, fancy, bowls, cups, bigger bowls, smaller cups, spoons and forks of an inumberable variety...The Japanese are very specific with their use of tableware. Hardly ever will you see more than one kind of food on a plate at a time. Each plate or bowl has its specific function. Do not use the rice bowl for cereal. Do not use the cocoa spoon for curry. Never put kocha (black tea) in the ocha (green tea) cup. As if this were not enough, everyone has their own dishes. My ocha cup and rice bowl match: pink with white flowers. My chopsticks are squared with red on the ends. My cocoa/kocha mug has a little dog on it saying "I looked the star over a bottle of wine." I don't know what would happen if I used the wrong dishes. I don't think I want to find out.

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Sunday, November 24

I believe that my favorite Japanese food is sukiyaki. I say this because I just ate the largest amount of it that I possibly could, and it was amazingly tasty. Sukiyaki is made is a pot right in front of you. You put some strips of beef, tiny white mushrooms, big mushrooms, lettuce, special noodles, bean sprouts, and tofu in the pot with some sake and shoyu and let it cook. When something you want to eat is done, you just grab it with your chopsticks and dip it in the raw egg in your bowl. It is so delicious. And as my okaasan says, "If it's hot and has lots of vegetables, it is good for you." So both she and I had no qualms about stuffing ourselves to the extreme. "Tabesugita!" I ate too much!

I have recently begun taking koto lessons from this nice lady who will teach me for free. Today is my second lesson. In the first lesson I learned how to sit properly to the side and how to press, not pluck, the strings. This is more difficult than it sounds. The koto is the Japanese version of a harp. It is about 6 feet long, and lays horizontally on the floor. It has 13 strings of equal length, which are tuned by placing bridges underneath at different intervals. The scale is not an 8 tone scale, but a 6 tone. Do, Mi, Fa, La, Ti, Do. I often mess this up because when the music jumps an interval, I want to jump strings, but it is actually just the next one over. Today I get to practice the song "Sakura, Sakura," a famous Japanese tune.

In order to learn Japanese, we often read Japanese newspaper articles. Our last lesson's subject was on the consequences of giving children their own bedrooms. It compared the Western emphasis of individual privacy with Japan's close parent-child connection. The most interesting concept, however, was the method of punishment and reinforcement of family rules, which related to individual rooms. In America, we use "Go to your room!" as a barrier from letting the child do what they want. In Japan, they use "Get out the house!" as a barrier from the family they are part of. My teacher says that he was punished this way several times as a child. He would sit outside the house and plead for them to unlock the door. After a couple of hours they would let him back in, and he would promise not to misbehave again. If I ever have kids, I would be tempted to see what would happen if I kicked them out of the house at age 5 or 6. How much effect does the emphasis on individuality have?

The Japanese salaryman has a tough life. He leaves home early in the morning for the usual hour commute and doesn't return until possibly 11pm at night. Why such lateness? It is not necessarily what you would call your normal overtime, but rather it is obligatory and often crucial meetings held in the friendly setting of a bar. If you don't drink, it is considered rude and could cost you an important deal. As a result, many of these late night commuters come home a little tipsy. I have the fortune of getting off work at the same time many of these men are returning home. As with many commuters, the most frequently used mode of transportation from the train station to home is the bicycle. There is something faintly amusing, and yet somewhat scary, about a slightly intoxicated 50 year old man in a business suit swerving back and forth across a narrow street on a green bicycle with a basket on the front.

Alrighty. Because I hate leaving things not done, I fixed the pictures pages for the time being. All the links work. All the little pictures can be seen as big pictures. And thank you geocities for giving 15MB of free space, even though I needed to use two web addresses. And now, I am off to write the paper I should have started writing an hour ago.

And there are lots of new pictures of beautiful fall leaves.
I would like opinions: Do you think that the Japanese autumn colors are more beautiful, less beautiful, or you can't tell in comparison to the trees in America?

As previously mentioned, it is peak leaf season. On Saturday I went hiking to see if I could get some good views. I must not have been in the right place. However, on Sunday morning my host family took me to Komyoji Temple at 6:30am to beat the crowds to the red trees. We were late. There were already about 100 people there. Craziness. It is said that Japan has some of the best autumn colors in the world. I think that maybe this is true, but maybe it is not necessarily the extrodinariness of their trees, but the extent to which they really appreciate the beauty. How many Americans would get up early on their only day off just to watch catch a glimpse of the early morning sun through the red fingers of a momiji leaf?

Okay, I realize that my website is strange looking, and that many of the links don't work. I apologize. While trying to fix it I ran into more problems, and now I don't have time to fix them. Give me a week, or two or three, and maybe I will get it all working correctly again.
In the meantime, I must go try to find apple cider in Japan. Which suprisingly, is hard to do.

It is peak season for leaf viewing here in Kyoto. Many of the trees are bright red, providing a wonderful contrast to the otherwise subdued colors of the buildings in this area. As part of the study of Japanese gardens, my art class went to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion) to experience the well planned landscape of this Edo Period Stroll Garden. I caught a great picture of the pavilion (truly plated in real gold) against the bright red of a momiji tree. Lovely.

My host mother says it was the wind, my host father says it was the wine I drank with dinner. In any case, the earthquake that I was sure had occurred, apparently did not. How very disappointing.

Yeah for cool friends! I was very sad last night when all the people I invited to my birthday dinner did not show up. However, they made up for it by getting me a cake with Pocky candles today. How very nice of them!

New experience: waking up at 2am to the feeling of your house shaking. I will never cease my amazement at random earthquakes.

According to my host mother, I have recently made many mistakes against the "Japanese way" of doing things. The first is that I left my futons outside airing for over three hours. This is bad because "they'll get cold inside." The second is that I was studying while watching television. If I do this "the TV will be too distracting to concentrate properly." Well, now that I know these oh so important pieces of information, I will be a better Japanese person. Yeah...

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Sunday, November 10

Happy Birthday to Me.

I celebrated the eve of my 21st birthday doing what is appropriate for this occasion with a couple friends from frisbee and some random Japanese people.
The important items:
1. Squid is good to eat sugared and dried.
2. According to some Japanese friends, apparently, I look like some doctor from the TV show ER.
3. Japanese cabs have a maximum charge of 1600 yen. ($16)
4. Takoyaki (an octopus snack) is good, but not as great as everyone makes it out to be.
5. It is possible, though difficult, to shotgun a double-size beer.

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Saturday, November 9

The cities of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe pretty much run together in a neverending jumble of suburbs, connected by at least three different train lines, for your conveneience. I had never really stopped in Osaka or Kobe to do anything other than pick someone up or get on a boat, so when I went to Osaka today, it was my first time actually being there. And despite looking the same as everywhere else from the train, in actuality, Osaka is a big busy city. There is Denden Town where all the stores in a six block radius sell exclusively electronic items. There is the shopping district, which has the most covered streets that I have ever seen. And there is the Osaka Station, which changes its decor from train station to supermarket to shopping to hotel lobby as you walk through. Osaka is supposedly known for its wonderful food, but since I really didn't know much about it, and my friend was craving chicken, we went the complete other direction and at KFC. Contrary to in the US, KFC in Japan is actually tasty and popular. Who would have thought..

It has all been one big lie - the smiles, the "konnichiwa"'s, letting me pull all the time...My frisbee team ordered new jerseys and I was not included. Despite playing massive amounts of defense, teaching them American offense, and always bringing back omiyage (souveniers) from my trips for them, I was not even asked if I wanted a uniform. It was a sad, sad day on the ultimate field.
I just hope that my team back home hasn't forgotten me, or at the very least the dues I paid last year still count for something.

It's a foreigner paranoia thing, I think, that whenever I am out in public, I am constantly listening to see if I can catch people talking about me. I mean, it is obvious that I don't fit in, and this is made evident by the glances of adults and blatent stares and loud whispers of small children. But I want to know what they are saying about me. Most of the time, I just catch the word gaijin (foreigner), but I am straining for more. What makes me want to know? They could be commenting on anything from why I am here to how large my feet are. Am I looking to be insulted? No, I think that it just gives me a quiet sense of power in the fact that I may look like I haven't got a clue, but secretly, I understand what is going on. It's like I'm a spy, but not really.

There is more help in Japan than you will ever need. For instance, I went to the library the other day to look up the conversion of ounces to grams. I asked for an internet computer, and they didn't have one. When I explained what I was looking for, three librarians all ran to different parts of the library to find something that would have that information. When I say "ran,"I do not mean they hurried. I mean they were actually running. It happens quite frequently in big stores or customer oriented places. Waitresses will run to place your order, store clerks will run to find your size, and postmen will run to get you stamps. You can tell them that it's not a big deal, but it never works. They will run for this thing, and then wait to see if you are satisfied, and run for something else. What a shame that American salesclerks aren't trained in Japan.
By the way, thanks to a dictionary, a science book, and cook book (3 librarians yields 3 answers), I now know that one ounce equals 28.4 grams.

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Monday, November 4

Lately, Ultimate Frisbee practice has been pretty much a waste of time. The freshman and sophomores have a tournament next weekend, so everyone has been helping them practice, by playing defense over and over, and then standing around and tossing for the rest of the time. Today, however, we played a few games. The best part, though, was Andrew. He is an American teaching English here, and he has the wonderful excuse of not being able to speak any Japanese. So he can do what he wants, including breaking up their horrendously slow turnover time by picking up the disc and hucking it to people looking for a fast break that usually never comes. i.e., me. It was great fun, and I actually feel like I accomplished something, besides the fact that one of my pulls went in the river...

Today is my Otosan's birthday. I didn't know that until about a half an hour ago.
Last week we were watching a television show all about ramen in the Kansai area. There are always shows that send someone to find 'all the best kinds of ___ food in ___ area.' I noted that I had not had Japanese ramen yet. So tonight for dinner we went out to Yokoso Ramen, and I ate the largest bowl of ramen imaginable. Afterward we stopped at a cake shop and got little cakes. When we came home my host mother says, 'And today is Otosan's birthday.' I feel bad that they went somewhere for me on his birthday. But the ramen was delicious!

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Sunday, November 3

Many of the National Treasures in Japan are not in museums, nor private collections. They are tucked away in temples behind closed doors and only shown to the public every third year for two weeks. This is that time. One of these, Toji, opened its five storied pagoda with elaborate paintings still bright after 700 years, and several hundred school children came to see them. Luckily, I was able to sneak past while they were waiting for tickets. Everything smelled old, which is a nice smell, but was wonderfully preserved, due to the limited viewings allowed.

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Saturday, November 2

A few weeks ago, I promised my host mother that I would make an "American meal" for dinner one night. And so I contemplated what food we Americans eat that could possibly be considered distinctly American, and that most likely had not already been imported into Japan. So I thought, hamburgers, then I remembered McDonald's. And there's pizza, but that too is an international food. Finally I settled on the classic Macaroni and Cheese. My host mom had not heard of it, and Japanese people eat very little cheese anyway, so I thought it was a good choice.
Last night I made the dish, compliments of my mother's recipe, and using a microwave for the baking process. It came out slightly burned, but still full of cheesy goodness. Add to that plain green beans (they always add something to them here), and a Waldorf salad, and I think I did a pretty good job. They enjoyed it anyway. I just hope they don't ask me to do it again, because I can't think of any other distinctly American food�E

After dinner we went to the Mukomachi Take Matsuri (Bamboo Festival). The highlight was a walk through a bamboo forest in the dark, with the path being lit by candles placed in cut bamboo. We got there at the end, so as we were leaving they were putting out the candles. I asked my host mother what they did with the left over cut bamboo, and one of the workers heard me. He gave me two large pieces of cut bamboo with the candles still inside. They are now an integral part of my bedroom decor.

Happy Halloween! Unfortunately, Halloween is not a big thing in Japan. The people who celebrate it most are the gaijin (foreigners) who have Halloween parties and dress up as if they were little kids again. Although trick-or-treating does not occur in Japan, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to let you know about some of the Japanese candy eaten at all other times.
Japanese candy is generally called wagashi. The ingredients most used are rice and beans. Now, this may not sound very candy-ish, but there are some very sweet beans in Japan. Here are some favorite wagashi:
Mochi: Mochi is a special kind of rice beaten into small glutenous globs. From there it is used much like we would use a bread/cake. Mochi is filled with mame (sweet beans) of all sorts, jelly, chocolate cream, or just eaten plain. There are also specialty mochi which are grilled or covered with sauce.
Beans: Instead of fruit snacks, the Japanese have little packets of dried, sugared beans, which serve basically the same function. Good stuff.
Manju: These are little snack cake-like treats made of a light custard, but I think they taste like sponge cake. On the inside is once again sweet beans.
Dango: I am not quite sure of the difference between some dango and mochi, although I guess they are made of something different. Dango are filled more often with other things like, wine or milk cream, chocolate, or jelly.
Pocky: This is not a traditional Japanese candy, but it is one of the most popular. It is sticks of a pretzel-like substance covered with all different flavors of chocolate: strawberry, dark, green tea, milk, white..the list goes on and on.
All in all, wagashi is very tasty. It has a distinctively different kind of sweetness, but a very yummy one. If you ever have a chance to have some, I highly recommend it, especially anything with mochi.
Happy Trick or Treating!

The seasons in Japan change suddenly. Two days ago fall was in full swing with light breezes, warm days, and cool nights. Yesterday, we hit winter. It is suddenly cold all the time, the skies are overcast, and it is snowing in northern Japan. Now, this would normally not bother me, because I usually do not mind the cold. However, Japanese houses have no central heating. That is correct. Even when I am in my house, I am cold. The living room is heated only to the temperature that we do not freeze (my toes get close to frostbitten), and I am only allowed to use my heater when I sleep. So, presents of long, warm socks, and comfy sweatshirts will always be appreciated. Somehow I will manage to not freeze myself in the morning on my trip from the second story to the shower and back. At least the toilet seat is heated.

It has recently come to my attention that my birthday is quickly arriving. And at the request of a few of my readers, I will print a list here of things that I wouldn't mind receiving... (my address is on the left hand side of this page)
1. FOOD. specifically, American sweets, like cookies, cakes, icing (or mixes), or snack foods.
2. thick, warm socks. There is no central heating in Japanese houses.
3. light reading materials. magazines, short books
4. DVDs and CDs (anything, really, but special requests: Pride and Prejudice DVD, 'The Piano' Soundtrack)
5. money is always welcome...
6. just a card saying 'hi' would make me really happy

So, I am back. I had an amazing time. Beautiful mountains, insanely nice Japanese people, and relaxing hot springs.
I have updated all of my pictures and adventures webpages, however, BU has not provided me with enough space for all of my pictures in a large form. So, you will have to make do with the thumbnail versions for a little while until I can beg some more space of them. I'll let you know when you can see the full beauty of a sunrise over the mountains.
Enjoy!

Tonight is the beginning of aki yasumi - fall break. I am packing and gathering the final things for my week long hiking trip in the mountains of Kyushu. Here's to green trees, tall mountains, hot springs, and one change of clean clothing!

Last night I finally ate the infamous Japanese natto. It is a bean, with an extremely strong smell, of the nasty variety. I guess that natto is something that you either like or don't like. People either gag or want more. I ate it, didn't throw up, and had a little more. But it is not something that I would ask to eat again. It tastes like a combination of coffee, spit, and bean paste. There is nothing like it anywhere else, I think. But I don't really want to find out.

This weekend was another holiday weekend. I love Japan, they have holidays for the Aged, for Equinox, and yesterday for Sports. I took full advantage of the weekend by spending it doing anything other than schoolwork. Saturday I experienced a traditional Japanese party with my frisbee team, which involved two hours of all you can eat and all you can drink in a tatami room at short tables. Sunday I went to with my Art class to Daitokuji Temple where they had a yearly airing of the hanging scrolls. This is a literal airing, because the scrolls are stored for the entire year and only taken out once to make sure they are not being eaten by bugs and such. Then we went to the Kyoto National Museum to learn about tea, and then we went to Sanjusangendo, a temple with 1001 statues of Kannon. Very impressive.
Monday was the 13th anniversary of my host mother's mother's death. In celebration her family members came over, and a priest from the local Pure Land Buddhist temple came over and chanted her mother to the next level of Paradise. This celebration only occurs on certain years, until 50 years after the ancestors death, at which point they are completely free of the worldly attachments. I helped to serve tea and pretended to be a good Japanese Buddhist. It took at least 3 hours before my legs returned to normal after sitting on my knees for an hour.

Things I learned last night:
1. Foreign language proficiency increases with alcohol consumption.
2. The world 'chotto' (technically meaning 'a little') can actually mean anything you want it to depending on how you say it. If you use it frequently, you start to sound like you know what you are talking about.
3. Japanese students love to ask the same three questions of American students. What school are you from? What state are you from? And how many years have you studied Japanese? No matter the answer to the last one, they are always impressed, because you at least answered the questions in Japanese. Which makes you 'jouzu' (skilled).
4. It's good to have friends who are fun to party with and willing and to help with the clean up.

A little bit ago my mother sent me a wonderful care package which included one of my favorite foods ever: icing. I had been saving this lovely sugary substance for the day when I could bake cookies and pile it on. That day finally came. However, we'll just say that the icing turned out better than the cookies. People don't bake in Japan, so there are no ovens, and, in the kitchen I was using, nothing that measured in cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons. So imagine cookies made by guessing amounts and baked in a toaster oven. It was not all a loss, though. Having used up most of the icing, two of my American-sugar starved friends proceeded to turn the baggie inside out and lick up every vestige of left over icing. (Japanese sweet substances are made primarily of sweet beans, a slightly different kind of sugar). Many thanks to my mother who provided this wonderful treat!

Every morning there are men who stand on the platforms at busy train stations directing people in and out of the trains. However, I rarely notice them except at one station. There is always this one man with a distinctive voice yelling, "Omiya! Omiya de gozaimasu!" (The name of the station is Omiya). Funny little man.

If you haven't noticed, I have put some pictures up on adjoining pages. They include pictures of my house, where I've been going, and my frisbee team. I'm a little behind, but after midterms I will be adding quite a few more...

All in all, the trip to Okayama was a very pleasant one. Saturday evening we drove to a nearby park in Hiroshima Prefecture to watch the hanabi (fireworks). Not spectacular, but lovely. My host mother packed a wonderful bento dinner with all sorts of delicious food that I couldn't name, because it was so dark I couldn't even see what I was eating.
Sunday we watched the beginning of a local matsuri (festival) where young people dressed up traditionally and had a parade of taiko drums and dragons. And then it was time to go. All of the host families lined up next to the road to wave the bus goodbye. It was very nice. My host family gave me omiyage to take back home, like manju, motchi, and soba snacks. Good Japanese candy things.

It is 1:15pm on a Saturday afternoon, and I am sitting in the brand new library of Tessei, a town of 3000 people. I just finished making my own soba (a Japanese noodle) and eating it next door. Although it wasn't perfect, at least it was thin enough to get thoroughly cooked. I think that getting it thin enough was the hardest part.
This weekend I am in Okayama prefecture, a 5 hour bus ride from Kyoto. It is a rural area, hence the small town with a one room train station, and the fact that when I walk out onto the street, everyone who sees me knows where I am from. Also, the rice I ate at dinner was grown by my host father.
Yesterday when we arrived we were greeted by the Tessei Junior High School, who lined up in front of their school waving American and Japanese flags. After the welcome ceremony, we spent the day in their classrooms, and playing games with them. Last night and tonight I am at a homestay with Emiko, a student, and her family. I think I ate enough last night at dinner to see me through for the next week.

Japan has a tree called a kinmokusei which releases a very fragrent odor in early fall. Although this is my first time to Japan, I recognized its pungent aroma at once, however, with a slightly different connotation. It is the sickeningly sweet scent used in almost all American public toilets and restrooms as an air freshner.

There is nothing like perfectly orchestrated umbrella usage. A group of people stand at a crosswalk under an overhang. The light changes. Immediately, all umbrellas go up. Six seconds later the group has crossed the street and entered another overhang. Immediately, all umbrellas go down.

Japanese drivers are very polite and consciencious. No matter the circumstance, they always put on the parking brake when they stop, even at a stoplight. At night, they dim their lights when stopped at an intersection, so as not to blind the person across from them.

I attended my first tournament as a member of the Kyoto University Breeze Ultimate Frisbee Team this weekend. We did not win, which upset many of my teammates, but I had a good time. It was the first time I had played on grass since arriving in Japan, and I took full advantage by making a horizontal layout catch into the endzone. I will have some good scars from that. However, I also learned that Japanese ultimate is much more serious than American ultimate when my teammates began talking in low voices before warm-up because (as it was explained to me) "some people get very nervous before tournaments."
Anyway, here are some pictures of my team. We are the ones in pink.

It has become fall in Japan, and the nights are now chilly. It must be for that reason that when I came downstairs this morning to go to the bathroom, the toilet seat was heated. A pleasant surprise in the early morning.

Japanese schools have no school buses. However, this is remedied by the mandatory wearing of bright yellow hats by any child in elementary school. You can't miss a stream of stream of yellow bobbing heads walking across the street.

Holiday Weekend #2: Fall Equinox

9/21/02
My host family took me up to Nagaoka-tenmangu Shrine tonight for the moon-viewing celebration. The matcha (Japanese whisked green tea) was wonderful, the dancing was traditional, and the moon was bright, though veiled in clouds. However, I feel there was something inherently wrong with playing “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Camptown Races” on the koto, a Japanese harp.

9/22/02
Conversation on the train with a Japanese lady, in English:
Her: Where are you from?
Me: The United States.
Her: How long will you be in Kyoto?
Me: One year.
Her: Can you use chopsticks?
Me: Yes. Yes I can.
I hear that the chopsticks question is the question most asked to foreigners in Japan.

Bing Cultural Event:
Fucha Ryori: A meal based on the Buddhist doctrine of vegetarianism and simplicity. All of the food is made from vegetables, tofu, and rice, without any added seasonings.
Having toured a Zen temple of the Obaku sect, we proceeded across the street to experience a fucho ryori meal, although, unlike the monks, we were afforded the luxury of a high-class restaurant, Hakuunan. The presentation of the food was beautiful, and the variety of tastes was marvelous, but don’t ask me to tell you what I ate, because I have no idea.

Taiko: A Japanese drum; Often played by men wearing next to nothing.
It must take an awful lot of training and muscles to continuously beat on a very loud drum using fairly large sticks for a half and hour without pausing. I appreciate those in the company of Kodo who did this for two hours, because the performance was amazing. Huge drums, big drums, little drums, a flute, and a biwa can make lots of noise, but when the rhythms are perfectly coordinated, it becomes simultaneously exuberating and lulling. The thrill is when you can feel the reverberation vibrate through your whole body. When the show was over I felt inspired to hit something.

Thank you Helen Bing, our benefactress for a lovely meal and cultural performance.

Today my Japanese class took a field trip to Nishiki Market, a narrow street filled with shops selling raw fish, live eels, lobster-on-a-stick, Japanese bean candy, $150 mushrooms, bumpy cucumbers, pickled anything, and many more unusual or usual things.
My personal favorite, however, were the tofu donuts. They almost have the taste a carnival funnel cake, and yet they are much better. They are light, yet they have substance. My assignment was to interview a shopkeeper and learn about their store, so I chose this extremely delicious one.

A short introduction to the Kyotofu Tofu Shop:
-It is the first store of three, founded in Nishiki market 10 years ago.
-Their primary food offering: tofu in all shapes and sizes.
-The most popular item(s): tofu donuts (8 small donuts for 150 yen (~$1.25)) and tofu soft (ice) cream (low in calories).
-They make all of their tofu at the store, and you can watch the machine make the donuts.
If you make it to Kyoto, I suggest you stop by this little shop frequented by many wandering school children and hungry adults. Sit down on a nearby bench and lick your tofu ice cream while munching on some yummy tofu donuts. It is a wonderful combination.

I am now officially a member of the Doshisha Breeze Ultimate Frisbee Team. This occurred yesterday, and was accompanied by detailed explanations on both sides of the differences between American and Japanese ultimate frisbee strategies. It is going to take me a few weeks to get used to an opposite side force and no hucks.
Again, I must emphasize the fact that Japanese ultimate players are dedicated. It is still summer vacation for them, so they practice at noon. And what time do they stop? Sunset. Yes, 7 hours, 3 times a week during vacation. Because of family obligations, I skipped out 3 hours early, but I was assured that it was okay, this time.
I am greatly looking forward to my first tournament, which will be in 2 weeks in Kobe. The only unfortunate thing: their jerseys are pink.

This weekend was a yasumi, a vacation. Monday was Respect for the Aged Day. However, my weekend was much too busy for it to be called a break.
Saturday my host family took me to Yoshimine Temple on the top of a nearby mountain. It had a lovely view of all of Kyoto and a good portion of Osaka. They took lots of pictures of me doing Buddhist things such as ringing the bell that scares away the 108 evil spirits, lighting incense for good luck, and standing in front of the altar. Religion in Japan is as much of a tourist event as it is a spiritual ritual.
Sunday my friend from Boston, Jason Moore, who is doing the Semester at Sea program, docked in Kobe. So I went down to that lovely city and found him and brought him back to Kyoto. We toured around and saw the Byodo-in Temple (famous for its Phoenix Hall and 52 Bodhisattva statues), Nanzen-ji Temple, Chion-in Temple, part of the Imperial Palace grounds, and ended up on the ever pleasant banks of the Kamo River where I introduced him to Japanese sake. A lovely day, all in all.
Monday my Japanese Art class went down to Nara to see Horyo-ji Temple and Todai-ji (famous for the Daibutsu, an enormous statue of Buddha, a small child can fit in one of his nostrils). Along with this is the Nara Deer Park, where the deers are sacred and wander around at will. You buy little deer food things and they bow to you and you feed them. Its like a large petting zoo, only its a city park.
I have decided that the best things to see in the Kansai area really are the temples and shrines. They combine the old history of Japan and its religions plus the popularity of tourism. Its always crowded at temples on the holidays.

I broke down. I gave in .. I ate pizza.
Three weeks without those lovely layers of dripping cheese and that thick warm crust was just too much for me. A few of us from school made the journey to the nearest Dominos Pizza and indulged ourselves in the American Style pizza - pepporoni and cheese. It was wonderful. It is quite unfortunate that the Japanese food tradition does not realize the absolutely delightful potential that cheese in any form has to offer.

On another digestive note, my Okasan (host mother) makes wonderful Japanese breakfasts consisting of interesting things such as salad with ham, sausage with mayonaise and ketchup, and bread with almond butter. However, today's fare was by far the best: a hot dog, complete with bun and ketchup, with an additional cole-slaw-ish filling. It took me 20 minutes to explain the concept of cereal.

The things that make me smile:
-The little obasan (grandmother) dressed in a kimono and geta (wooden sandals) riding down a busy Kyoto street on a motor bike, complete with helmet and sunglasses.
-The post office is also a bank.
-When walking down Kawaramachi Street during rush hour, you begin to blur together all of the shop fronts selling clothes, fast food, kusuri (medicine), and ketai (cell phones), until out of the corner of your eye you catch a patch of darkness and realize that the flat surface to your left is not a glass door nor a sign, but a simple wooden Shinto shrine set between Nice Claup and Mos Burger.
-The ever present "Irrashaimase!" ringing out from every store clerk in sight whenever a customer enters their store.

As an avid ultimate frisbee player, one of my major goals in coming to Japan was to find a frisbee team to play with. On Saturday I found one. I am now an honorary member of the Kyoto University and Doshisha University Ultimate Frisbee teams. They do things a little differently here and they have different words for different areas, but at the same time they use lots of english expressions. They stall count in English and many of the basic terms are English-ish. Backhand=Bakku; Forehand=side-uppu.
The major difference is their dedication. It was Saturday, right? Practice started at noon and did not end until sunset. Sunset is around 6ish. That is a long practice. My muscles are very sore.

May I suggest not getting sick in Japan. I have a bad headcold, and I wanted it to go away, so I went to a doctor. Here is the conversation:
Dr: Why are you here?
Me: My throat hurts a lot, my sinuses are stuffed up, and my head hurts.
Dr: You have a temperature too.
Me: Okay.
Dr: Let me look down your throat. (proceeds to do so)
Dr: Okay, you have a cold. Let me give you some medicine.
End of visit.
My host mother says that Japanese doctors never run tests. They don't need to know exactly what's wrong with you, just generally. I said, but what if you can't see what is wrong. She says, that's the way Japanese people do it. Okay.
But the medicine is working, so Japanese doctors must be really good guessers.

It has recently come to my attention that I have been in Japan for one week. It seems like longer. I have settled into my family, I have ceased becoming lost when going to and from school, and I have fallen in love with the food. And it only took one week.

Last night I was showing my host family pictures of friends and family from home. In one picture you could see a bit of our backyard through the window. My host mother says, “Oh, you have a little garden!” It took me about 15 minutes to explain to her that we had an acre of grass surrounding our house. It is a concept quite foreign to a city-dwelling Japanese person. There is barely enough room for roads here, let alone grass. I think that the street I live on is about 4 inches wider than the car we drive. And it is not a one way street.

Ah! Jishin!! I have just experienced my first earthquake. My host mother did not notice it at all. I was just sitting on the floor typing, and the ground moved back and forth about four times. For a second I wondered if someone had just shut the door really hard, and made that part of the house shake. But that is impossible, because the doors all slide, they don't shut. The television just said that there was a small quake farther north, and we just got the tail end of it. How very nice.

A short introduction to the Kishida family:
Otosan (father): a commuting postmaster who loves to golf
Okasan (mother): an enthusiastic housewife who cooks amazing food; her favorite English phrase-"Please eat a lot."
Shinnosuke (border collie): I am convinced that he knows more Japanese than I do.

My host family is exceedingly nice. I am their fifth student, and they have definitely figured out how to be the greatest host family. My room is the second story of the house, and it is quite large. The house is a mixture of Japanese and Western styles: tatami floors, kitchen table, sliding doors, air conditioning. I live in Nagaokyo, which is an area of south-east Kyoto. My commute (walk, then train, then bus) takes about an hour.

Back to the food. I was going to complain about the lack of variety in Japanese food, but that was before I moved into a home. I have now had sukiyaki ("Japanese cassarole" but not really), soba (buckwheat noodles), ika (boiled squid), all sorts of vegetables, and lots and lots of tea. I think that I will not mind the diet here at all.