Leaving Japan

At last, we have reached the day I leave Japan. I'm currently in the Centrair International Airport in Nagoya. Brad's flight left at 8:00 so I got up early to see him off(thus, the sunrise pic. I've been up since 4:30 and at the airport since 6:15). My flight's not until 11:30 so I'm just hanging out here until boarding time. This past week and a half has been a few bad days sandwiching some really really good ones. Today is one of the former…I'm trying to think of the silver linings to this (meeting Amanda in Narita, spending 4 days with Katie), but it's not easy. I'm not ready to leave, because I have so much more I want to do here: so much to see and experience, a semester to finish, and all of that. And it's getting cut short.

Let’s go back to happier things, shall we? I’ll start where I left off, on Monday. Monday was our recharge day from 2 days of traveling, and it was very relaxing. It was Vernal Equinox Day, which apparently qualifies as a national holiday. XD I went to breakfast with Jade before she left, and hit Sapna for lunch and Cainz for a bit more shopping. Other than that, though, I stayed in my room and cleaned. It was really odd going into Beisia...some of the shelves are completely empty because all of the instant food is being shipped north for the earthquake victims.

On Tuesday, Brad and Addie and I went back to Osaka. The first half of the day was pretty much a repeat of my last trip – we had kebab sandwiches from the same restaurant and then went to the aquarium. It was still awesome, even after having been just a few weeks ago. Have some more pictures and a video! :)

After that, we went to a shopping mall area close to the aquarium, where I had gelato! It was yummy. We also found a traditional shop that had fans and really pretty wall-hangings. I got one with goldfish on it! There was also a Hello Kitty store. :3

We wanted to go see the Osaka Science Museum, but we were unable to. All Japanese museums are closed on Mondays, or Tuesdays if the Monday of that week was a national holiday. Therefore, all museums in Osaka were closed. So, instead, we went to Shinsaibashi for some browsing. Shinsaibashi is one of the more famous shopping districts in Osaka – it has lots of stuff! What I found interesting is that in addition to modern clothing stores and flower shops, they had kimono shops! You could see fabrics in the back and all sorts of designs and people working on yukatas and kimonos.

For dinner, we went to Shakey’s Pizza, a pizza buffet. It was a really nice place! If IKEA decided to make a pizza buffet, it would look like Shakey’s. They even had Swedish meatballs! It was definitely not American pizza, but beggars can’t be choosers. :)

Our last stop in Osaka was Book Off in Shinsaibashi. Book Off is a huge book and music and videogame resale shop. This one was 4 stories tall! One floor was entirely devoted to manga, another to music and video games. On the top floor, I found the cooking section. Guess who now has a dessert cookbook in Japanese? :D

Yesterday I checked out of my room and went to Nagoya. Checkout was a piece of cake! I just had to finish cleaning the kitchen, check in my bike, take out the trash and have Iga-san come by (our student services coordinator) to do an inspection. Then, I turned in my key and we took a quick trip to Vidal before hopping on the bus to Hikone Station.

Our trip to Nagoya was not nearly as smooth as we had planned. We decided to take a train to Maibara, ride the shinkansen to Nagoya and arrive around 12:30. We’d then rent a locker to put our suitcases in, head out to The Little World Museum of Man (more about that in a minute), then on the way back pick our bags up and check into the hotel to go to bed early. The Little Museum of Man is about 50 minutes outside of Nagoya, and requires a train ride followed by a bus ride to get there. It’s an open-air anthropological museum that is basically like the Epcot World Showcase on steroids. There are 22 countries represented, and they all have cool displays. I really wanted to go.

Of course, on the one day it mattered life did not go our way. Due to some weird circumstances I don’t really understand, the train out of Hikone was 20 minutes late and the one we wanted was canceled. So, we waited at the station for half an hour. Luckily we got there early enough that we got to Maibara in enough time to catch our shinkansen. That was a little frustrating as well, because we apparently only bought one of the 2 tickets we needed and the ticket guy knew no English and just repeated himself in Japanese we couldn’t understand. Finally a woman in the shinkansen area intervened for us and helped us out.

We got to Nagoya only to find that all of the lockers were full, so we decided to go to our hotel first and drop off our bags. The staff there were gracious enough to take our bags up to our room for us and everything. However, it took an extra 45 minutes to take care of that, so suddenly we were short on time. We decided to try and make it out to the Little World anyway, so we hopped on the train. We actually got fairly lucky – the station right by our hotel ran straight to Inuyama, the city where the bus stop was. It was a ways out there, though, and we didn’t arrive until almost 3. When we stopped at the tourist desk, the man informed us that we really wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy the museum so we should go another day. How disappointing! So, we headed back the way we came.

I thought the afternoon was going to be a complete loss, but there was hope. There was also a science museum at the SAME STOP as our hotel. So, we decided to go see if we still had time (it was 4 by this time) to enjoy it. We got there just in time! And it was awesome. :)

The museum had 6 floors, a life science building attachment and a planetarium. Besides the interactive portion on the first floor and the planetarium, we got to see all of it. There was a lot of cool stuff!

My favorite part was probably the section where they showed how everyday objects work. I learned about vending machines, sewing machines, and rice cookers. The life sciences area was a little lacking but the physics area was really cool.

When we got back to the hotel, we learned that the museum had only just opened on the 19th! So we had been walking around in a 4 day-old museum.

After we got back from the museum, we decided to go find dinner. I was craving katsu-curry, a fried cutlet (usually pork or chicken) with rice that’s covered in curry. Just 2 blocks down was a Coco’s Ichiban, a chain known for its delicious curry. Win! And it was indeed delicious.

Which brings us to today. Today will be a long day of flights! I have a 1.5-hour flight to Tokyo, followed by a 5-hour layover. I intend to enjoy my last Japanese lunch in that time (hopefully chahan and gyoza!) and do some exploring of the airport. My flight to Singapore leaves at 6 and I arrive there at 1 AM. I’ll let you all know when I arrive safely. Have a great week and I’ll see you in Singapore. :)

A Tale of Eggplants, Kimonos, and Crepe Uncles

Kyoto story time! :D But first, our cultural activity from Friday. We played the koto! It's a traditional Japanese instrument. The instructor played a complex piece for us, then let us play a little song. :)

It's actually easier than it looks! You play with something like a guitar pick, and you can modify the notes by holding down different strings. The "bridges" on the instrument set the pitch for each string, and if you hold down the string on the other side of the bridge you can modulate the pitch. Pretty cool, huh?

Now, to Kyoto. I went with my friends Addie and Jess - we left JCMU at around 9:15(AM) and got home around 9:30(PM). The train ride took about 45 minutes, and once we got there it was a little overwhelming. Kyoto Station is huge! It has a long-distance subway hub, a shinkansen hub, AND a local hub, not to mention the shopping mall inside. XD However, we managed to get a bus pass for the day (by far the best deal for Kyoto transportation...pay 500 yen to ride all over the city, and within 2 rides it pays for itself!) and find out how to get to Inari station (home of Fushimi Inari).

Fushimi Inari was our first stop, because it was where we all REALLY wanted to go. And it was awesome! It's like most Shinto shrines, except that it is dedicated to kitsune, the fox gods. Normal Shinto shrines have lions flanking the entrance, but this shrine has foxes everywhere. There are about a million paths you can take once you're inside. There are the main paths flanked with the giant red gates (or torii), and there are also a lot of side paths that lead to little shrines. You could probably spend all day there if you wanted. We didn't get very far up the main path because we took all the side-routes, too. I'm definitely going back to do more exploring. :)

One path in particular was really really long - we walked it for a good 10 minutes. It was a beautiful little mountain path! There was an old woman walking along it who passed us when we stopped to look at a small shrine. Oddly enough, we never saw her again though she was definitely a slow walker and there were no other paths to take. It was like she had disappeared! She was a really friendly old lady...we've decided she's a spirit. :)

After leaving Fushimi Inari, we did some shopping at the next street over (which is conveniently FULL of goodies), and I got suckered into buying a kimono!
Isn't it pretty? It was really inexpensive, too. I was sort of eying it and the shop owner waved me over to a mirror to see how it looked. I was expecting her to just slip it on so I could see it briefly. Instead, she whipped out an obi (the traditional sash), and cinched me into the kimono within an inch of my life, obi and all. And it was so pretty I caved. XD I don't have any pictures of how she tied it because my camera was kind of trapped in my jacket (which I was still wearing), but this will have to do for now. :)
We also had lunch nearby - I wanted to try some of the cuisine the area is famous for. Apparently people in the Inari area eat sparrow, and this restaurant served it. I wasn't quite brave enough to go that route, so instead I had kitsune udon, a noodle soup with strips of fried sweet tofu. It was delicious!
After lunch we went back to Kyoto Station (and saw some crazy characters), then got on a bus to go to Ginkakuji, the silver pavilion that is not actually covered in silver. I really liked walking around the garden - the golden pavilion (Kinkakuji) has a garden as well, just not as pretty. I didn't realize how high we were until we got to the top of a hill and got to see the entire city of Kyoto! What a beautiful view.

On the way to Ginkakuji is a little strip of shops that have lots of souvenirs and things. My personal favorite shop? The bunny store. :3 I'm not sure if this is always here or if it's just because it's the Year of the Rabbit, zodiac-wise. But they're all adorable so it's sort of irrelevant.

After Ginkakuji, we headed to Gion, a famous shopping district in Kyoto. Geishas also work here, and you can sometimes see maiko (geishas in training) walking the streets. We saw no maiko, but quite a few people in kimonos! More than normal, actually...I don't really know why.

And I found this! There is a story about this eggplant coin purse. When I first visited Japan 4 years ago, we went to Gion and saw a little shop with a lot of cute little stuffed animals and things. And they had this coin purse. I really liked it at the time (especially the little eggplant charm!), but decided not to get it. I later wanted to go back and get it, but we never did. My dad came to Kyoto on a business trip and I sent him on a quest to find it, but he was unsuccessful. And then, walking through Gion, we happened to stumble across the shop. And, lo and behold, right where it was 4 years ago, I found the coin purse. :D It's sort of a silly story, but I was so excited to find it.

We headed back to Kyoto station after that, in search of dinner. We were all craving American-ish food, so we found a little pasta place.

This was so delicious. I can't decide whether I really liked it or if I just missed pasta so it tasted amazing.

We spent our last few hours in Kyoto at a big mall across the street from the station. I didn't do any shopping there, but I was introduced to the wonders of Japanese crepes.

It's Crepe Ojisan! Which literally translates to "Crepe Uncle". As you can see, they have about every type of crepe imaginable. Most of them are sweet (chocolate, fruit, gelato, etc.) but they have a few savory ones as well. Their current special was Chicken Pot Pie. o.0 I ended up getting a hot apple pie crepe. Best crepe I've ever tasted.

After munching on crepes for a while, we finally boarded the train. It was a very successful day! I look forward to traveling again. We're planning trips for Osaka and Nara next month (and of course I have Nagoya this weekend and Sapporo next weekend).

As far as life here goes, we're back to normal. :) We had lots of snow last night so the roads are treacherous once more. Classes are going well - finally got an A on a Japanese exam here. Hooray for study parties. :) Japanese is getting less intimidating now, thankfully! Class is done for the day, but there's a lot still going on. I had an internship orientation, and now I think we're baking. :D Hooray for ovens, even small ones.

Sorry, I know this is a super-long post. But I hope you enjoy it. :)

First Exam and More Viva City!

I'm afraid I don't have any Kyoto pictures yet - our trip has been postponed to next weekend, unfortunately. But that's ok! I still have lots of pictures to post. :)

First things first! We had our first exam on Friday - I thought it was pretty easy, so it went pretty well. After that we had our first cultural activity/presentation thing. It's on ikebana, the Japanese art of flower-arranging.
There's a big difference between Japanese and American floral arrangements. In ikebana, the basic structure of the arrangement is a dish filled with water with a little disk in the middle filled with needles. You stick 3 branches on the needles (which impale the branches/flowers to allow them to stand up) to form sort of a triangle, then you just add flowers as you wish. To the Japanese less is often more - your focus is on making each individual flower stand out instead of putting a bunch in a vase.Here's mine - we each got to make our own after a brief demo. :) The name card has my last name in katakana ("Uitto"). Also, you have a lot of creative license here. The 3 branches (and their lengths and arrangement) are required, but the rest is entirely up to you!

I was up late last night teaching some friends to play 42 - they ended up really liking the game, so I'm sure we'll be playing again soon. :D I'm glad I have someone to play with again, because I was missing it.

Instead of Kyoto today, Amanda and I went to Viva City for some shopping. I had less restraint this time so I bought a lot of stuff. But now, I have pictures to prove to you why it's so hard to NOT buy things.

EVERYTHING is just so darn adorable! There are 3 shops on the first floor dedicated to cute stationary things and jewelry and such. A lot of times things will come as part of character sets - there are several "character sets" that appear on a lot of different things(pens, pencil cases, notepads, etc). One example is Sanrio's Hello Kitty (though you actually can't find a lot of her stuff at random stores). They range from the heart-meltingly cute to the really really strange. I've found 3 sets that I really like - the Alice in Wonderland theme and the Fairytale theme(chibi/miniature versions of Snow White, Peter Pan, Ariel, etc.) are everywhere. But my very favorite is pretty new (and so so so so cute): Sentimental Circus.:3 I love it. It's all cute animals and old-fashioned circus-looking things. How can you not like it? I just looked at the kiosk for a while to figure out what to get. I ended up getting a pencil case, a little elephant phone charm, and some stickers for starters. Honestly, though, I wanted to buy out the whole thing.

Besides oohing and aahing over cute things, we also had lunch! At McDonald's. XD I know, I know. I feel like a bad study abroad student for going. But their fries are delicious! And I actually had something not offered in American restaurants, so it counts as acceptable. :P It made me laugh that they had this outside, though.

I'm pretty sure this is the lovechild of a cheeseburger and a barbecue ribs sandwich. First of all, throwing barbecue on something doesn't make it Texan. I kind of felt the need to defend my state. There are so many better Southern food items you could advertise. Like sweet tea. :P

We also went clothes shopping, with limited success. Japanese clothing is cut differently from American clothing, for two reasons. The first is, of course, that the majority of Japanese women are short and slight in build. Curves don't really factor in to Japanese clothing design. The second reason is due more to fashion. Japanese fashion works towards a different "ideal" than American fashion does - different parts of the body are accentuated. So there are plenty of things that fit...they just fit oddly and don't seem flattering in an American sense.

However, I did find a sweatshirt. Amanda and I stumbled across some really spectacular Engrish clothing, and I found this beauty.
I don't really know where to begin! There are so many parts of this obnoxious sweatshirt that give it cool points. First, there's the screaming bright pink color. Second, there's a rainbow - a glittery rainbow (and I know you can't see the glitter but it's there!) - and some glittery stars. Third, random turtle. Fourth, there is so much Engrish ("I want study something from this beautiful ocean", not to mention the random words). And last, but certainly not least, the shirt contains the words leniency AND undulate. I decided I needed it. And it was less than $10. So I'm wearing it right now. I doubt I'll ever wear it out in public, but it's fuzzy and warm and perfect for cold days where I just stay inside. :) So, yay for garish sweatshirts!

Today was one of those days where Japanese is kind of starting to click some! I'm able to understand a lot more than I used to (even compared to starting out here a week and a half ago). For example, I could read the train marquee that asked if I had eaten crab yet this winter (do I know why this is important? No. It's a start, though. :P). I was able to understand when the crepe lady told me that they didn't have chocolate ice cream and wanted to know if vanilla was an acceptable substitute. And I was able to overhear a father telling his crying toddler son to "Try your best for your mother, okay?" It's a really good feeling to know how much you're learning. I can also order properly in a restaurant, ask for stamps at a convenience store (which took a TON of practice to get right, let me tell you!), and follow directions in a grocery store when I ask someone where something is. I look forward to seeing how my language skills improve over time!

That's about all I know for now! To everyone back home, enjoy your weekend and have a wonderful day. :) And drop me a line if you get the chance! I'd love to hear from you.