Robot Tour!!!

Having only two weeks off for Christmas vacation isn't quite what I'm used to, but I made sure to make that time count this year! With the help of one of my best friends, Gina (we would have brought you with us if we could have, Anna Sophia), I got to backpack across Japan in the "Long-awaited, Cross-country, Pan-Japan, Caffeine-infused, Giant Robot Tour of 冬休み2010". Special featured performances by random bus friends, McDonald's lady, Miki's family, helpful direction givers, Nagoya Hoststay family, and the Japanese train system.

"Was it epic?" you may ponder. "What about Giant Robots is ever un-epic?" I would respond.

The exciting saga is airing on my blog as of March! Stay tuned for more!

Thank You for Your Patience

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Long time, no see!

I just got back (lies - I actually got back yesterday) from my winter vacation trip. Maybe you have heard of it? No? Well, it is just a little thing we like to call the Long-Awaited, Cross-Country, Pan-Japan, Coffee-Infused, Giant Robot Invasion of 冬休み (winter vacation) 2010, sponsored by Lawsons 100 Yen. Phew! Did you get all that? On we go then: I took over a thousand photos in those 10 days and kept an ongoing travel log, but I can't write about anything just yet since Gina has almost all of the pictures and we all know that is the more interesting section of my blog. This short post is just to let you know that I made it home alive (although there were a few close calls) and I'm back into school. I feel like it has been a month since I last logged onto my blog, but I updated almost all my photo albums before I left *hint hint go look hint hint*, so those of you who noticed had something to read while I was gone. Hopefully there will be more frequent posts (once I get those photos!) since my New Year's resolution is.....wait for it.....wait for it.....don't procrastinate!! But I'll worry about that later.

I will say this, we did this trip in what may be a record low budget. Considering the cost of living is so high here, and the dollar is currently the same as Monopoly toy money, Gina and I made sure to stay on the cheap side of everything. Maybe not the best idea for some things, but it all worked out. We still had fun, don't get me wrong, and even spent time lounging in various spa baths for 3 hours, but it was all dirt cheap: 3 hours at the spa was $10 - New Years Special Pricing!!!

On a more serious note, I think that my spoken Japanese has just plummeted since I was so busy being with Gina that I forgot to use Japanese during most of my time. I do, however, have a higher kanji count now thanks to all of the place names and frequent train rides; always a positive side to things. But all things considered? I wouldn't have traded a second of this experience.

Blessed New Year, everyone!

Going to the Park

Woah, this is actually reaching back into my memory bank about two weeks. Bear with me folks, I’ll probably be a little hazy on the details. Here we go:

The OYRangers wanted to spend some time together, but Tokyo doesn’t have many places where people can just “hangout”. No, there seriously isn’t. You have restaurants, houses, businesses, temples, and ramenyas, but no one spends extended periods of time there. There is Starbucks, but they are so small, you can’t fit many people at the same table or be there for the whole night. In order to have some open space to ourselves, we decided to do some exploring and go to a park instead. Someone had heard that there was a lovely park in a nearby city, but once we actually got to the city and looked at the local maps, we noticed that the park was only as big as someone’s front yard. We were hoping for something a tad more spacious or at least big enough for a picnic. So we walked ALL THE WAY to Shinjuku (see photo album) where we heard that there was a national park. We spent more time on trains and on foot than actually at the park. Not “national park” like Yosemite, but more like "national garden" I guess. It had lots of organized garden areas, chrysanthemum beds, a tea house, lots of lakes and fish. Now, in theory, we went to the park to study together, but although we did open up our textbooks, not much studying got done. Instead we ate a lot of junk food, talked, and had a great time. CJ even had some fun.

The good times came afterwards, though. Typical Japan, the park closed at around 5, so we were left with nowhere to go. So we decided to head back to Kichijoji to one of the boy’s houses for dinner. After stoping at Tokyo Hands® in Shinjuku (see another post) we all hoped the train to Derek’s. On the train, we were debating the fastest way to get to Kichi, when a Japanese salaryman jumped into our conversations with some helpful advice. He spoke surprisingly good English, actually. He asked where we were from, if we liked Japan, and what we thought of the people. After, he told us what planes to use and what types of bus tickets to buy if we wanted to go up to Hokaido. Our group had a great time talking to him, and Jorren (our Dutch Ranger) was shocked that a Tokyo man would be so friendly to foreigners he just met on a train. The reason that guy was so nice? Maybe it is because he’s not from Tokyo at all, but from Hiroshima, just like Yuki-chan/sensei. People from the western part of Japan are supposed to be louder, funnier, and friendlier than people from the eastern shore.

That was a little off topic. Anyway, we bought a bunch of food from the local grocery store, went to Derek’s house and cooked up a storm! The only problem was that he lives in one of the Sakura Houses. Sakura House is a company that rents rooms to foreigners who are planning on staying in Japan short term and don’t want to invest in a long-term lease. There was a Korean girl who had moved in the week before and, even though she was in her pajamas and in the middle of making her own dinner, was kind enough to let us use both the stove burners, so we gave her a heaping plate of food and talked with her for the rest of the night. We had to communicate in Japanese (which went….well, I guess) since no one knew Korean and she didn’t know English. Well, that’s a lie. Jorren actually did know how to count to 10 in Korean from his years in Tae Kwon Do and Sarah could go as far as 20 because…she just…knows…that’s not the point! We ended up becoming her best friends and even gave us all adjectives: Derek and Jorren were “interesting/funny”, Sarah was “cute”, and I was “pretty”. She was such a sweetheart and asked us to come back to talk with her sometime. Which we never did. Um, maybe we can still make it back before Derek moves out? Ugh! Now I feel like I’ve wasted time here.

I'll just have to fb everybody to get over to the Sakura House soon for a final cooking party with Derek's housemate.

By the way, the food was great. Cheap and quickly made, but great. In the end, I had to get back on the 11 pm train so that I could get back to my place in time for good-‘old curfew. Great story, right? Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something better.

Exploring Noodles

My favorite Ramen shop (not the one that makes me sick, but the one right next to that one) is kind of expensive, and I was thinking that I should go out to different places every now and again. Not that I don’t love my Ramen shop (they give people free curry and rice, and girls get free dessert, yum!) but other places have different items on the menu. Gutara Ramenya, it isn't you, it's me. No, on second thought, it is you. Sorry.

So coming back from church, Saturday night, I stopped off in a side street, and squeezed myself into one of the many tiny, tiny ramen shops. There was only one old man working, but you could tell that he had everything down pat. I got some soba noodles, concentrated miso soup and a few gyoza to top things off. Just to make sure I knew how to eat it, the man was nice enough to explain the noodle/soup combo to me. I still don’t think I was doing it right, but I tried my best. It was surprisingly spicy, but that was fine by me. I used the gyoza to absorb the last of the sauce and soup. Very tasty!! I’ll have to try a different store next time. Haha, but probably not the one where the salary men sing traditional Japanese enka.

I Went to Vigil!!

I have been soooooo Orthodox deprived, it is not even funny! But I had a free weekend for once and a set of directions, so I made my way to the closest Orthodox Church for a strong dose of Vigil (vespers and matins one after the other). Yet, by “close” what I really mean was…..not….close. The not-so-close-church was the Russian-Japanese Cathedral of Tokyo (score!!) and is an hour and a half away from my dorm. If I ride my bike to the train station, it would only cost me $4.50 to ride the train from Musashi-sakai to Ochanomizu. I was pretty worried about finding my way there, though. I knew how to get to the city, but the Japanese aren’t too big on street names so once I arrived, I would have to just go by arrows and city maps. Also, the Japanese Christian population is only around 1 or 3 percent, so if I stopped for directions, would anyone even know what I was talking about? And the church was 200 meters away from the station; that sounded so far off! Would I make it in time for the service?!

Luckily for me, I don’t know a thing about the metric system! All my worries were unfounded. It turns out, 200 meters is about 1 city block. As for directions, someone stuck this helpful sign up in the train station’s main exit and the street was covered in arrows pointing me towards the church. And, even in Tokyo, a cathedral is still a cathedral, so once I got close, the onion dome and iconography gave it away. Yahoo, Orthodoxy!!

(Side note: I got in a bicycle accident on my way to the station. But it wasn’t my fault! Anyway, I’m fine, just a few scratches on my right arm, but my basket is this really funny shape now. At first I was a little miffed, but it actually holds stuff better now, so all is well.)

The church was actually in a complex, but the main building wasn’t hard to spot. The Japanese man who went in before I did was obviously a little lost and seemed to be exploring for the first time. One of the stewards noticed, though, and was able to help him out. Now, I’m pretty foreign looking, so most people would guess that I’m Ortho, but I decided to not take any chances, put my veil on outside, and walk in like I was a regular.

This. Church. Was. Stunning! In true Russian style, everything was intricately carved or molded, decorated in gold and silver, there were hardly any chairs, and there were candles everywhere. The icons were big and all in the older, Russian style (a lot different from the Greek, Jerusalem, and Antiochian ones I’m used to). The dome itself was plain white, but in the center of the dome hung a huge chandelier right above a raised platform where the bishop would stand. Besides having the main iconostasis, there were two smaller ones on either side, each with a set of royal and deacon’s doors. In front of one of these smaller iconostasis is where two of the priests held confessions between the vespers and matins parts. The choir stood on the other side and contained mostly sopranos and tenors, I feel. The songs were all the Russian ones I knew, but were done in Japanese, sung high-pitched, in an echoing room, so I couldn’t really catch the words. The main alter-man (I’m guessing 25 at the youngest) was also the designated reader and, let me tell you, he knew his stuff! He just read those psalms like it was his job, which it was, but went so fast that, once again, I couldn’t catch the words. The main priest’s Japanese sounded so much like Chinese to me that I couldn’t understand what he said either.

“Um, Alexandra, if you didn’t understand what was being said, what was the point?”

Good question, I can see why you’d ask that. All orthodox services are the same in any language. The priest does the exact same thing at the exact same time in an English service as every other priest does in a Greek, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Ethiopian, Spanish, etc. service. The actions, equipment, songs, and prayers are all the same, but the style and language is the only difference. So even though I didn’t know exactly what they were saying, I knew, “At this point we are doing a litany and praying for there to be peace and prosperity.” Also, I knew what I was supposed to do because protocol for the laity is the same everywhere as well. So, I knew what they were doing and what would come up next, it was just that they were doing it all in code. Not only was it Japanese, but it was honorific keigo Japanese! Go back a few posts for a short rant about keigo, or just wait for a few more posts after this; I will complain about it again.

Anyway, there were a few things I’d like to point out about. 1) There are a lot of foreigners there! Besides my wonderfully exotic, America self, there were several other foreigners and one of the three priest that night was Caucasian, too. So, if I need a priest who speaks English (which I’m pretty sure he does), I’ve got one in Ochanomizu. 2) There is a strict no camera rule inside Orthodox Churches in Japan. When I was first researching about them, I couldn’t find any YouTube videos or internet photos of a typical Japanese-Ortho service or the interior of a Japanese Church. It turns out that for some reason or another, the Japanese-Ortho are really protective about taking photos/videos inside the church. Outside is fine, but not inside, so I won’t be able to show you what the inside looks like, I’m afraid. 3) They were training a new altar boy! He wasn’t young, but he was clueless – probably his first Vigil, I think. He kept getting in trouble for not placing the candle where he was supposed to, how he was supposed to, or when he was supposed to. Also, he kept forgetting to kiss the priest’s hand. Every time he messed up, he’d just do a lot of little bows and the older altar guys would give him this understanding look. It was very cute and I’m sure he’ll get it right the next time. Do your best, Alter Lad!

For more information about this particular church, you can visit this website. Or this website. It is your choice, really.

Japanese TV

Oh, boy. Here we go.

I’ve been talking with my new Japanese friends and one of the things they keep telling me to do is watch more TV. As a kid, I was never told that. In order to be more fit in high school, I was also not told that. But in college in Japan, people suddenly want me to watch as much TV as I can in my spare time. I can see why: it would expose me to overhear real Japanese conversation without being creepy, it is available all the time, even when everyone else has gone to bed or is busy, there are pictures and video recordings to help me understand what is going on, and many Japanese shows now throw colorful and large subtitles at the bottoms of the screen for added emphasis on something funny or interesting. But I hardly watched TV in America and, besides, Japanese TV has some very strange topics that I don’t know the vocab for and it all goes so fast! But I have been giving it a try recently and here is some of that I’ve found.

Of course you have the news, but Japanese news is more colorful, trendy, and young than American news. The only problem? Japanese news reports are given in keigo, an honorific language in Japanese that gives us such humorous translations as “I meekly suggest that you honorably shut up before I humbly punch you in your great and wonderful face.” Don’t get me wrong, I love a good bout of keigo as much as the next foreign student, and it is much easier to hear than to use, but it is rather tiring, so I can only do it for a little while before I need to change the channel. Next are dramas! Every country has them, but Japanese dramas can be as typical as Days of Our Lives, as far-out and unbelievable as Star Treck, or as historically inaccurate as Memoirs of a Geisha (which is an entirely different rant). I like to watch dramas on my computer (with subtitles to help catch words I don’t know yet), but watching a drama on TV? I’m just not ready for that. Then, I thought that I’d be safe with a children’s program. They are cute and easy to understand, and one that I was watching tried to teach kids the difference between the trashcan and the toy box. It is a very important difference! However, my television is in the common room, and I’d get a lot of looks if that were all I watched.

I was finally saved when I realized that versatility of variety shows. Let me just say, they are varied! You can find anything on variety shows: art/history education, world travel, famous actors/singers/comedians, pranks, quizzes, stories, music, live performances, games, and fun acts. Also, no matter which variety show you pick, at least one other person on the floor will like it, too, and want to watch it with you. I usually stick with variety show with famous people I recognize or like (Johnny’s Entertainment members like Nikishido Ryo and Tegoshi Yuya, for instance). If none of those are on, I’ll pick one whose rules I can understand within the first 3 minutes. Usually, they all end in a batsu (punishment) for the loser or a prize for the person who gets the most points. All in all, very fun, but be careful because they get more strange and less understandable as you near the early morning hours. Then, somewhere in the TV broadcasting waves, something trips and everything turns back to news. Peculiar…

Middle Eastern Culture Center

Ah-ha!! I found it! You thought you could hide behind your deceptively friendly, tattooed hippopotamus, simple maps, and street names that don’t exist, but I found you none the less!

Actually, a Japanese girl gave me directions (which I forgot), so I was going to look back at that map (but I didn’t feel like walking to the bus stop), so I started wandering around the outside perimeter of the school. Luckily for me, the Japanese really like organizing things, so a whole bunch of institutions were all lined up neatly behind my school. There was another college, a theology seminary, a chemical research lab, and the Middle Eastern Culture Center!! This place right outside of ICU’s western gate, so no extensive searching was called for, nor did I need the bus. However, and this is the BIG however, the Center is closed for maintenance and renovation for the foreseeable future. I think that it is through the end of the month. :S I was hoping that sometime during the break, I’d be able to go and see the exhibits, but now I have to wait until everything is opened again. I couldn’t even find out how much the entrance fee was or learn about what it is they actually show. It was a total zannen.

Yasukuni War Shrine

For my 300-level history course, the teacher requires that we all visit Yasukuni War Shrine and write about our experiences. Last night I spent about 5 hours walking around the shrine. Well, not the shrine itself, but the museum attached to it. I was going to skip the museum all together because it seemed like the exhibit was going to be small, but my traveling-buddy wanted to go in and it was only 500 yen, so why not, right? Wrong. Actually, right, but maybe I should have seen the floor map before going in. Then I would have realized what I was getting myself into!

Most of the Shrine was pretty basic (purification center, hondai, and torii gate), but there were other odd things at the shrine; a theater stage, white doves, and flower competitions.

Rather than explain, let's take a look: at BIRDS!

After practicing taiko that morning, walking to and around the shrine, then going through the museum-that-never-ends, I went back to my city and decided to drop by a local shop for some dinner. My sushi place was packed (and, I mean, I say it is "mine" but I've only ever been there once), so I went to another place and was seated pretty much IN the kitchen. There is no such thing as personal space here, but Japan is small, and I'm getting used to it. As I try to sit down, squeezing through an impossibly narrow separation in the chairs, I turn the wrong way and twist my knee!! Oh no! I'm sitting there, get the knee back in place, and am about to start sobbing into my napkin, when I look to my left: there, sitting hunched over what I am sure to be his weekly bowl of soup and gyoza, is a classic, little Japanese grandfather type who has decided to start talking to me. I responded at first, but then I noticed that "we" weren't having a conversation, "he" was having our conversation in his head, but just saying it all out loud. I couldn't smile big enough, he was just sooooo cute! He was just so fun to listen to because not only would he talk about me like I was his niece or something ("Oh good she knows how to use chopsticks, but a bit messy with the soup, huh? Hehe, she'll learn. Ah, got some gyoza too? Good choice, good choice.") but he also read the menu about 5 times and commented one the prices ("500 yen! What a deal! But 450 just for rice? What are they thinking? It isn't even good rice"). And the waitress acted like she saw him come in all the time. I didn't even care that my knee hurt and that I still had to bike home. That little man made my night!

And the soup was good, too.

Where Did That Come From?!

While walking to the Japanese-version of Marc's, I decided to go on the opposite side of the street, just for kicks. It is just the other side of the street right? WRONG!! Hiding on that side were 3 totally new places!

1. A grapevine field; I wasn't sure if I was seeing properly at first or not. I just got done telling a friend of mine yesterday that they don't have grapevines here, and I had stopped looking for them, actually. As I was going along, There was a wall of ginko trees forming a barrier to a small farm and I thought, "That's strange... I wonder what's behind the trees. (looks inside) Those seem like ivy. (stares for a while) Really familiar ivy. GRAPES!!" Sadly, these grapevines are made for making grapes, so the leaves were (you know, besides inedible) smaller than I was used to. But, lo and behold, the sign says they are grapevines. I wonder if they are going to have a wine making event or grape-squashing day...I wanna go if they do!!

2. Greeks; this was actually on my way back. I was walking underneath the pedestrian bridge, and glanced up at a sign. It was in Japanese, sure, but it was in katakana, which meant that it was for a foreign word. The foreign word was right underneath the Japanese. I wasn't going to bother reading it, but one of the letters didn't look right to me. Because it was Greek!! I found a Greek company here! I don't know what they do or who they are, but they're Greek by gum! This calls for some investigation at a later date.

3. A Shrine; I was told that shrines and temples were everywhere in Japan, so I was very disappointed in the lack of both in my town. I wasn't expecting anything large, just a little shrine to Amaterasu, that's all. Well, going along the sidewalk, I had to pause and let a swarm of little, old, Japanese women come past me. "Where are they all coming from?" I wondered. So, curious as I am, I went down the side street they had just come from and found a stone torii gate! The entrance to a Shinto shrine!! It was soooo cute and little with it's little summoning bell and stone inscriptions, but I didn't want to take a picture of it, seeing as the women were still kind of right there. But now I know where it is and I can go back and get a few pictures (any more than a few and I'd be getting duplicate images - that is how small this shrine is).

I also want to get photos of my Fruit-Stand Grandma, or at least her garden and flags so that you can see what it all looks like. I swear, she's there in her little nook everyday, so hopefully she gets more customers than just me.

Also, I update various photo albums, so even if you think that you've seen one, check the last few photos in the album to see if I have added to them or not. And I moved Campus & Heya 2 up to the top for my little sister to see better. This is all mostly for you, Phia.

Zelkova House, the Basics

One of the main problems when I first got to ICU's campus was finding my dorm.

"Do you know which dorm is yours?" Mr. Spengler asked.

"Um...I think it is called Zelkova." I replied. "Excuse me, Mister Entrance Guard, do you know where Zelkova House is?"

"Hmmm. I'm terribly sorry, but I do not think we have a dorm by that name."

Well isn't that just tanoshi?

Actually, ICU does have a dorm called Zelkova, but th

e Japanese name for it is Keyaki. In Japanese, keyaki is the name of a specific tree known for growing in the area, and in English we call that tree a zelkova (not that I have ever heard of such a tree before - maybe the Russians named it first?).

Anyway, when I found out this little bit of information, I got really excited! I wanted to find these keyaki trees and send a picture home to my nature-loving sister. But everyone I asked said the same thing. "Oh, yes, those trees are everywhere! But I don't know what they look like."

So, they are everywhere. You know they are around. You have named a dorm after them. You have named restaurants after them. The local elderly home is named after this tree, too. But no one knows what they look like?

Correction: one person does. I sought out one of the older professors on campus (such an adorable and knowledgeable old man!) and he gave me three clues to finding the mysterious, but abundant, keyaki tree.

1. It's core-middle (aka trunk) is of a medium size.

2. The branches grow upwards.

3. It gives anyone who looks at it a "round feeling"

.....um....yeah....thanks, sensei.

My only other clue was a picture of the keyaki leaf that is drawn on my dorm key. But armed with these pieces of information, I set out on a tree search the other day, and I think that I found the keyaki! But I'll let you all decide. Go to my "Campus and Heya 2" photos to see what became of my Great Tree Trek!

Matsuri in Kichijoji

I know that I am making everyone wait in between posts, and I've got another one coming. Here is a small something to tide you over, though. This was a group of musicians playing at a main stage in Kichijoji. You can't see the main taiko drummer, but you can hear it, and (at the time) you could feel it, too.

Kichijoji Festival!!!!

Okay, so I thought that I loved Kichijoji before. But I was wrong. I LOVE KICHIJOJI!! It is so artsy, filled with interesting shops, and has all these little secrets that you have to snoop around to find! It is so a great place to explore, and if you get bored with the main streets, take a back road, or go underground. It's a blast!

I went this Sunday night with a friend named Shin from my dorm. Shin helped me buy a bike in the afternoon, and asked if I had time to kill during the evening. We rode my new bicycle all the way to Kichijoji (taking back roads and hidden paths to avoid the police - two people riding one bike is illegal in Japan), and got there in about 20 minutes. For free!! I didn't have to buy a bus or train ticket! He showed me how to get to the park, zoo, basement shops, washoku (Japanese cuisine) restaurants, and we even caught the tail end of the matsuri! I told you that there is a festival going on everyday in Japan; this past weekend was Kichijoji's matsuri, and I got to be right in the middle of it!

I'm so in love with that city, that I've made a photo album for it.

Anyway, after all of that excitement, I was thuroughly lost and couldn't have gotten back to my bicycle if Shin wasn't there. I guess living in a city is the best way to know how to get around in it, but I'll just have to visit Kichijoji in order to do more exploring. On the way back to the parking lot, we bought steamed buns (soooooo delicious~~~) and Taiyaki, which was warm, adorable, and tasty.

I really need to get back to Kichijoji soon, but maybe I should practice riding my bike first. I know that people never forget how to ride, but I don't completely remember. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back by this weekend to get more steamed buns!

Taiyaki

Taiyaki (literally “baked sea bream”) is a Japanese fish-shaped cake. The most common filling is red bean paste that is made from sweetened azuki beans. Other common fillings may be custard, chocolate, or cheese. Some shops even sell taiyaki with okonomiyaki, gyoza filling, or a sausage inside.Taiyaki is made using regular pancake or waffle batter. The batter is poured into a fish-shaped mold for each side. The filling is then put on one side and the mold is closed. It is then cooked on both sides until golden brown. Taiyaki was first baked by a sweet shop Naniwaya in Azabu, Tokyo in 1909, and now can be found all over Japan, especially at food courts of supermarkets and Japanese festivals. They are similar to imagawayaki (今川焼き?), which are thick round cakes also filled with sweet azuki bean paste or custard.

Camera Video Test 1 - "Apples?"

Kichijoji with Mr. Spengler

It's a small world - no joke!

I go to a pretty small university in southern Ohio, but for some reason, there were enough alumni from my university in Japan to create the Wittenberg Alumni Tokyo Group. Isn't that cool!? Oh, come on, it is a little cool. No? Fine, whatever.

Lucky for me, the group is based in and around Tokyo (with ICU very close by), so the president of the Group has been able to help me get my footing here in Japan. He met me in Shibuya, gave me a ride to my dorm, and has even been able to give me advice about ICU since he went there in the 80s!

The other day, he was generous enough to take me out to diner in Kichijoji to make sure that I was adjusting well and getting enough to eat. We went to a lovely restaurant that focused mainly on one thing: chicken. Except for the last two pages of the menu (desserts and tofu) everything was made out of or included chicken, and tasted amazing! Let me explain: The shop door was supper small and we had to open the sliding door, then go under the hanging red flap in order to get in (Mr. Spengler is quite tall, so this was the awkward part for him). When we entered the narrow restaurant, there was a bar on the right and small tables on the left. The shop owners/workers greeted us and led us to another space upstairs. Can I just say that I love stairs by the way? They are great! And these stairs were small with dark brown boarders. At the top of the stairway we had tables with large, hanging, blank scrolls that helped divide the areas. *Interesting fact* Japan doesn't have a strict "no smoking in restaurants" rule yet. They have it in classrooms, covinience stores, government buildings, and trains, but not restaurants. However, shop keepers use those little "air-purifier fans" to eliminate all the smell. Good show.

Anyway, we ate a bunch of chicken themed dishes, but halfway through the meal I realize that I could have been taking pictures of these beautiful and tasty foods. I quoted my friend Gina Gray and said, "Can I have a gaijin moment?" He completely understood and even helped me move the food into the light for the best picture. These two pictures are of chicken croquet with various grilled veggies, chicken haru maki (spring rolls), and a great dish called Oyakodon (親子丼) or "parent and child bowl". There is a bowl of rice and on top is chicken and eggs (the parent and the child). It is a great dish with a weird name, but very popular. I used this as an example in Japanese class today and my teacher was shocked that I and the other students knew what it was. Apparently it is one of her favorite dishes (bonus points?).

And have I said how much I love, love, love Kichijoji yet? Because I do. You'll definitely see more stories about this town, and its food, coming later!

Matsuri, Japanese Festivals, the Basics

While I'm in Japan, I'll be mostly on campus, but I'd like to venture out and about to get a taste of the famous and fun matsuri!! For all of the stereotypes that Japanese people are strict, self-controlled, meek, and well behaved, during a festival they will live it up with city-wide parades, dancing in the street, traditional costumes and music, alcohol (of course), and big spectacles for everyone to enjoy. Some matsuri are based on religious exercises, but most have become more like all-out-block-parties (similar to the old Marti Gras celebrations in New Orleans). These festivals can be for the whole nation, a single village, or even just a little shrine. Rumor has it that at any given moment there is a matsuri going on in Japan. I've studied about matsuri for two years now, and I'm dying to get a chance to see what Mitaka and Tokyo can do!

As it so happens, one of the reasons I booked my ticket for the end of this month is so that I would purposefully avoid a festival called Oban. As a Japanese travel site explains:

Obon is an annual Buddhist event for commemorating one's ancestors. It is believed that each year during obon, the ancestors' spirits return to this world in order to visit their relatives.

Traditionally, lanterns are hung in front of houses to guide the ancestors' spirits, obon dances (bon odori) are performed, graves are visited and food offerings are made at house altars and temples.

At the end of Obon, floating lanterns are put into rivers, lakes and seas in order to guide the spirits back into their world. The customs followed vary strongly from region to region.

Obon is celebrated from the 13th to the 15th day of the 7th month of the year, which is July according to the solar calender. However, since the 7th month of the year roughly coincides with August rather than July according to the formerly used lunar calender, Obon is still celebrated in mid August in many regions of Japan, while it is celebrated in mid July in other regions.

The Obon week in mid August is one of Japan's three major holiday seasons, accompanied by intensive domestic and international travel activities and increased accommodation rates.

I'm not sure what the next matsuri in my area will be, but hopefully I'll be able to go and not be overloaded with homework! By the way, this is the post is the start of my 1 week countdown!!

Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, the Basics

So that I can try to reset from jet-lag, I will be arriving in Mitaka about a week before my classes start. As far as I know, there isn't a major orientation for the September Students (so dubbed, because we all just show up in September), so I can wander around the city for a little bit. Hopefully, I can find my way back home, too. I could aimlessly stroll down the streets and jump on random buses to find something interesting, but I'm not that spontaneous. Wouldn't it be more fun to have Japanese Scavenger hunt?! Of course it would!!

Here are the things I need to find, photograph, and visit in my first week (I don't know what sort of batsu to give myself, but I'll think of something).

1. Locate a Lawson convenience store. I figure that this shouldn't be too difficult, since it is the second largest convenience chain in Japan with 1255 stores in Tokyo alone. Originally, it started in Ohio (my mother's family has fond Lawson memories) but now they can only be found in the land of the rising sun. Why is locating a Lawson also important? That is the ONLY place in Japan where you can buy tickets to the Studio Ghibli Museum!

2. Ramen shop. No, guys, I'm serious. A for-real-make-their-own-broth ramen shop. If you understand my need to find one, then you have probably already eaten at one before. I have only heard wonderful and great things about these places. Maybe I won't get some on the first day, but once I find it, I'll know where to go.

3. A dojo, maybe even THE dojo, I haven't decided yet. Every year, my dojo (at least, my teacher) goes to Japan to train with men and women who have been practicing Taijutsu for most of their lives. Our guys work with people (good and bad, skilled and .... lacking)from around the world. If I went with the dojo guys, they could show me how to get to a good Japanese dojo. But hopefully, I can spend a day to make it there on my own. I don't know how often I'll get to train in Japan, but I have to make the effort.

4. A second hand store. I'm told they are around, you just have to find them. And I'm not spending 10 months in Japan unless I can find some kind of Goodwill-look-alike.

5. The ocean. It is an island. Sure, I know that it isn't rivaling the surf of California or the beauty of the Bahamas, but I love water regardless. "Do they have any beaches in Japan?" - Silly blonde girl from New York

6. Cell phone company & Embassy. I'm not sure in which order I'll find these in, but they both need to get done.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know! I'll post the pictures to prove I've found the items in my list.