Snapshots of Japan...

It snowed today! I was a little confused, though, because it was so sunny when I woke up--but when I looked out the door, I could see the snow on the rooftops, making the reflected sun even brighter. The sun is slipping behind the clouds now, though. I wonder if the snow will stick around. I kind of hope it does. It's nice to make cookies while there's snow outside! It's a cozy feeling.

Today I thought I would just post up some random pictures of Japan, so you guys back at home could get a good idea of what I've been up to. I've been feeling a little homesick lately, so it makes me feel a little closer to all of you back home.

So without further ado, some of my favorite pictures from Japan so far.

A few weeks--a month or so ago, perhaps?--I went to Tokyo to visit some friends and do some sightseeing in good old "civilization." I also decided to go see one famous garden I'd never gotten around to seeing before. It is called Hamatsu Rikyu garden. It's beautiful and peaceful, but it is also surrounded by some serious high-rise development. The buildings are seriously futuristic looking--they seem to define the stereotypical view of Tokyo. I really like the contrast that you can see here.


A beautiful day in Tokyo... who says the pollution makes everything dreary? Lies, I tell you.


Another view...

A few weeks ago, I went to Tokyo with my friend. Her name is Breanne, and she's really cool. She's a second year ALT, and she's really been a life-saver. Things would have been so much worse without someone to hang out with. She's a Canadian, and super-stylish!



Also some time ago, I went with some friends--and particularly my friend Laura, who is another ALT in a nearby village--to this place called Oze. It is a rather famous national park in Gunma, particularly known for its marshes. It was a beautiful day, if a bit cold. The park is very well-protected, so you are not allowed to drive into it, for fear of too much pollution. Instead, you have to take a special bus that runs on electricity or some such, and is specially adapted for delicate habitats.



There was some really beautiful autumn foliage just starting up at the time. Basically, you start at the top and have to walk down into the marshes. It was a little tough going back up, but basically it was an easy climb both ways. Although it was beautiful, it was very domesticated--nicely kept up paths, and old ladies and young kids doing the hike.



Once you got to the bottom, you could walk out over the marsh. The entire thing was honeycombed with paths made of planks. The marsh itself was really quite beautiful, but strange. In the spring, Oze is famous for the skunk cabbages, which have a much more poetic and beautiful name in Japanese. Apparently, they have really beautiful blossoms. (That's Laura and another friend, Harmony.)



There were little ponds in among the long grasses, filled with lily pads, and, once you looked closer, tadpoles and salamanders. The sky was brilliantly blue, and reflected in all the strangely shaped ponds.

Numata can be really beautiful sometimes. It can also be very ugly. I've tried to take pictures that capture the beauty I've seen here. When I'm feeling down about all the powerlines and ugly grey buildings, it's good to remember that.


A few weeks ago, we were getting some really stunning sunsets and cloud formations. This was one of them... you can still see the powerlines, but just look at that sky!


It's autumn here now, beginning to turn into real, proper winter. But just a few weeks ago, I managed to get this picture before the final leaves fell. It's the slope a few minutes walk away from my house, which leads down the Numata train station. For a few short days, right before they fell, the leaves all turned absolutely stunning colors. I managed to get a good shot.


Numata is surrounded by mountains, and it is winter now. There is snow on the distant mountains--they're far, but still closer than they were back home in Oregon. From Numata park, you can get some really stunning views, but even from my school the view is amazing. Unfortunately, my apartment faces the wrong way--I don't get to see this view all the time--but it's gorgeous, nonetheless.


This is a Christian church of some description in Numata, a few blocks from my house. Isn't it bizarre? It's made of concrete, virtually undecorated. It's not even "severe," which conjures up images of Gothic cathedrals--it's just plain, brutal, raw. So ugly that it almost approaches beauty against the blue sky.


A few days ago I went to a Christmas enkai up at Lake Haruna. We had a traditional style Japanese dinner, that night. There was a great deal of raw fish, sushi, eel, random things made of fish paste, etc. but there was also a basket full of tiny potatoes. Each one was about the size of a fingernail, and they were purple inside. Unfortunately the picture is too blurry to see it clearly, but they looked exactly like normal potatoes. They even had tiny, miniature "eye" dimples, like a normal potato. They tasted like normal potatoes too, but with a strange aftertaste. I have no idea what was going on there.

And here's a picture of me! Thought you might like to see your daughter...


I'm at a place called Fukiwara Falls. It's very beautiful, and quite famous. It's a very strange set of waterfalls. They are not steep at all, but they flow over smooth, solid rock, no doubt worn down by thousands of years, and it looks very strange. It's hard to describe, but here's another picture!


It was a nice trip.

Well, that's all for now! I actually feel a bit better now.

Music in Japan

One of the things that made me happiest about going to Japan was the opportunity to see all kinds of bands that I would never normally have been able to see. Visual kei bands don't really tour in the USA all that often. So I've been trying to go see as many bands as I can; after all, once I leave Japan I probably won't be able to do this anymore. It's expensive sometimes, but still worth it to me.

I've seen a lot of shows since I got here:
- Antique Cafe (at Club Fleez, really fun, Miku did a lot of cute MCing, they put on some ridiculous skit about rabbits, saying ii ichiban usagi, instead of onna, and they really rocked the place. I couldn't deal with the crazy para-para but it was still super-fun. I hadn't expected that much from them, I thought they were just kinda fluffy, but they were really good)
- Ogre You Asshole (also at Club Fleez, not really a VK band, just straight-ahead indies, they call themselves post-punk which is fair enough. I actually saw them when I went to an Art School show, but they were way better than Art School, I thought, just a lot more interesting and enthusiastic. The lead singer was very charismatic with his weird voice and intense looks. I bought their CD from him, he was super cute.)
- Random bands (at Takadanobaba Area and Club Fleez, nothing too special, but generally still fun.)
- Ayabie (at Club Fleez, they weren't too exciting, to be honest, but I didn't know them that well to begin with, so oh well.)

But the band I really wanted to see finally went on tour and I decided to go all out... two Merry shows in one weekend! I decided to become an obsessive fan, and do the whole "follow the band around the country" in some small way at least once in my life. Hey, why not? I've got enough cash at the moment, and I probably won't for quite some time after I leave Japan...

Mito Lighthouse, 12/8

So on Saturday, I took the 9 AM train into the city and went on a four hour train ride to Mito, in Ibaraki prefecture. I was going to meet a nice girl there named Yun, who had kindly agreed to sell me the tickets. She sold them to me for the same price the venue was selling them (before it sold out)--4200 yen. And they were pretty decent tickets too--A130. Yun told me she was a student at a university in Saitama, and that she tutored at a cram school, teaching history and English. She was there with her friend who had bleached blonde hair and a somewhat vacant stare.

I arrived at about 3:00 in order to buy the tickets from Yun (the concert started at 6) and so I was there when a few of the band members arrived at the venue. I saw Gara! Yeah, that was exciting. Anyways, when I got inside I realized the Lighthouse was absolutely tiny--I was so glad! However, it had two floors, so they could squeeze quite a few people inside. I got fairly close to the front, and right in the middle, although I could have gotten even closer if I hadn't had to go to the bathroom... I had to wait there forever! Girls take so long in the bathroom. Why?

Anyways, the concert was amazing. I was RIGHT in front of Gara, and the place was so small he was probably only 5 or so feet away. The others were pretty close as well, but it was hard to see Nero (my favorite boy!) because he was placed down low, behind the drumkit. But I could see him during MCs.

Anyways, I am terrible at remembering set lists. This is all I can remember, in random order.

Yellow Girl
Violent Harenchi
Japanese Modernist
Bluesy Night
Sweet Powder*
TOP*

* Not sure about these...

I was so happy, because they played Bluesy Night and Yellow Girl! Those are two of my favorite Merry songs! Bluesy night was particularly awesome. It's an amazing song, rock with jazz influences, and Gara's voice is so strange and beautiful and raw. I really like his voice. The rest of the concert was an excellent blend of hard songs and calm ballad-type songs (as far as Merry does ballads) so I didn't get TOO exhausted, but I was right in the middle of the pit. Japanese Modernist and TOP were pretty hardcore considering how much of the audience consisted of tiny Japanese girls. Although, actually, there were a lot of guys there--generally there are more guys at Merry concerts than your more traditional VK concerts, I find. It was a more mainstream crowd in general, not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. Yay for hot boys in the mosh pit!

At any rate, the concert was amazing, like I said. I used to find the whole hand movement/para para thing really awkward, but now I am totally into it. We did all sorts of crazy movements. It really gives you a sense of accomplishment when you know how to stay in sync with those movements. At first, it's really confusing, but there's a set number of different moves that are put together in various ways, so you do eventually get the hang of it. It's very Japanese in that it gives the whole audience and the band something to be a part of. Mosh pits in America can be violent, almost combative, but Japanese concerts are all about the unity--cliche as that might be.

Fun things that happened at the concert:

-- Lots of audience singing. They are really good... man, I can't remember Japanese lyrics so I feel like a jerk.
-- Gara brought out a piece of toast with jam on it... which he then smeared on his nipple. (He had taken off his shirt by this point.
-- When Nero was talking to the audience he messed up when saying something and banged his head on his drumset... aww, so adorable!
-- Yuu (? I'm pretty sure) does a lot of back up singing on various songs, and sometimes at this concert he would do all the singing. He has a nice voice! But not as good as Gara...
-- Apparently Gara talks now? He shouts things, anyways. And he really seemed to be into the Mito concert especially, because he even smiled! Aww, it was so sweet!
-- After the last encore, the band was all taking pictures with fans in the background. My hand may well be in those pictures, heh. Yuu took a picture with his cell phone, silly boy!
-- I was wondering what was up with all the pictures, and it seems to be the case that you can buy a picture of each member, from each concert on the tour, via 7-11. It's hard to make out because my Japanese is not so much of the goodness, but I'm going to give it a try! If I'm understanding correctly, that's a pretty cool idea.
-- Gara got delightfully sweaty and licked his shoulder, among other things. He makes me laugh. I kinda wondered what all the boys there thought about that...
-- Nero often talks to the audience, but I can't understand anything he says.
-- Tetsu is amazing. Seriously, I can't believe he's actually that hot in real life. Also, they did various instrumental solos and his bass solo was fucking awesome.
-- Yuu gave a little speech at the end of the concert... I think he made some kind of corny pun about the city's name, Mito. Heh.

All together there were three encores, and the live lasted about 2 and a half hours... pretty good value, if you ask me! They played a lot of stuff from the new album, I think.

After the concert, I headed to Tokyo. It's about a 2 hour trip, but it wasn't too bad. Luckily, there were no line changes--my stop was one the line directly from Mito station to Ueno, so it worked out very well. I got to my nice hotel and just chilled there before going to sleep.

Yokohama Bay Hall, 12/9

The next day I spent some time shopping in Tokyo. I though about improving my mind via museums, but I had no energy. Instead, I went to the used book store and a Uniqlo. I spent a lot of time trying, futilely, to find a certain restaurant, but I eventually failed after an hour or so (I am very stubborn.) But instead, I ended up going to this random "American-style" restaurant, called Zest. The outside was faux-corrugated cardboard, painted to look rusted, with random vintage Americana signs on the front. They had overpriced, undersized enchiladas that were nonetheless delicious. I don't even like enchiladas, but being unable to acquire it gives me a craving for all Mexican food. Then I went to good old Harajuku, and just hung out there for a while. It was a beautiful day, blue and clear, as it has been for quite a few weeks recently. I watched some concerts and checked out the rockabilly dancers, then headed for Yokohama.

By coincidence, my first ever merry concert was also at the Bay Hall, last year, at about exactly the same time of year. Deja vu! But luckily, that meant I knew exactly how to find the place, as it's quite tricky to find. It's in a kinda sketchy looking industrial area, on, I suppose, the bay. The venue is quite a bit bigger than the Mito Lighthouse, and it's got these annoying big posts in the middle of the floor. Alas, I had a crappy number (B 30) so I ended up quite far at the back. But I had to leave this concert a bit early (to catch the last train) so that was just as well. But I had a pretty decent view, really--just a bunch of short Japanese girls in front of me, and I was right in the center again. I was able to see all the members, but especially got a clear view of Nero! Yay! He's super-cool.

Anyways, this concert was also pretty great. It was a little annoying, though, because doors opened at 5:00, practically everyone was inside by 5:20 or so, and it didn't start until 6... way too much waiting around. But they started right on time, at least. I was really happy though, that I got to see almost all of the concert. I left after the second encore, but I made it through most of it! (I ended up missing the last train back home anyways... bummer.) Anyways, the set list at this concert was definitely different, with some repeats. No bluesy nights, unless they played it in the third encore.

Pretty much all I can remember is...
TOP
Blind Romance
Yellow Girl
Japanese Modernist
Utagoe Kissa
etc. etc.

Yuu sung a lot at this concert as well. He also did something crazy to his hair so it was all standing up in spikes. It was pretty hot, he should do that more often. Most of the rest was quite similar to last concert. Gara likes to take off his jacket, then his shirt, and then just end up wearing a jacket over his bare chest. It's kinda hot... I approve. But he's sooooo skinny, it's a little disturbing. During one encore he was wearing a Merry tshirt and it must have been like an extra small! Jeez.

Tetsu looked really good at this concert, nice suit and jacket combo, but! He never ever smiles. Anyways, this concert was really fun too, but I think the Mito one was better--everyone was just SO into it there, band and fans alike. Someone even went crowd-surfing! You almost never see that at Japanese concerts (or at least not at VK concerts.)

As I mentioned, I had to leave after the second encore to catch the last train. I did catch that one--to Yokohama--and the next one to Akabane--and the next one--to Takasaki. But I did not catch the train back to Numata, which meant I had to stay in Takasaki for the night. An expensive mistake, because I ended up staying at the Toyoko Inn. Even with their late-night Cinderella special, it costs about 4000 yen per night for a single. But it was really comfortable--worth it, even though I was only there for about 5 hours. I had to wake up at 5:30 to get back to Numata--and back to work--but 8:20. It wasn't a fun day, I can tell you that. Still, the concert was amazing. I hope I can go to the Takasaki one--on the 22nd. I'm trying to buy tickets now.

My New Life (part 2)

So, you may be wondering, what is Numata like outside of my apartment? Well, it's not all doom and gloom.



This is a typical Japanese street. I walk down it every day, on my way to work. Note all the powerlines... this is very typical indeed.

Powerlines are a constant in Japan. The Japanese government seems to never have figured out that you could put them underground. They are everywhere. They block every view of the sky and the distant scenery. Whenever you look up, you see powerlines. It is almost inevitable. Still, you get used to it. Sometimes, it's almost beautiful...



We've had some spectacular sunsets so far.

This is another thing I see everyday on the way to work: a shrine.



Above you can see the entrance to the shrine, and also the graveyard, in the foreground. It's quite pretty, and has a beautiful view of the valley. It's a small shrine, but it's nice to have that quiet place in the neighborhood. I was afraid to go there for a while, because it also seems to double as someone's house. This is all part of the differing distinctions between private and public, and it makes things very confusing sometimes.



This is a picture of the cemetary, at sunset.



Like I said, it's not all doom and gloom. Here are some of the beautiful flowers that I passed every day on the way to school. (Unfortunately, all gone now.) These kinds of flowers also came in white and purple. There were also these enormous tropical looking things, big as a saucer. I didn't get a picture of one, unfortunately, but they were really beautiful.



This is something cool I pass on the way to school as well. It's a fresh vegetable vending machine. There is a small farm behind this vending machine, which seems to be run by some extremely elderly Japanese people. There are a number of compartments like this, each with a different bag of vegetables. They all sell for 100 yen, and are generally quite a bit cheaper than the grocery store. They sell all kinds of things--tomatoes (usually very pricy, but the tomato season seems to be over now!), eggplants, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, and now they've started to sell broccoli as well. It's really cool! I buy things quite often. The eggplants were really good in some stirfry.



Here you can see my school itself--Numata Girls Senior High School. We call it Numajo for short, because it Japanese it is called Numata Joshi Koukou. As you can see, it's a yellow building. You can't really see in this picture, but it's quite large. Definitely bigger than Cascade was. It's got 4 floors, and all together there are four buildings, set around a central plaza area. (All the buildings are connected, but they are technically different buildings.) In the center, there's a nicely sculpted garden and a teahouse for the tea ceremony club. This picture is more flattering than the building actually is. It is not beautiful. Like most public buildings, as I mentioned earlier, it is made of concrete and firmly set in the "Brutalist" style. Still, it's better than the boys' high school, which practically dates back to the war and is absolutely filthy. (Basic upkeep of buildings is not high on most Japanese peoples' lists.)

These are some other interesting photos of Numata...

This is the train station. It's quite small compared to most train stations I saw before (e.g. in Tokyo), but it works well enough. Trains don't come very often though--about once an hour. That's more than a little annoying, but oh well. There are two platforms, and trains only go 2 ways: north and south.



Actually, the train in this photo is a special train. It was heading up north, towards Minakami, and it seemed to be some kind of sight-seeing train. Basically, it was steam-powered. There was a huge pile of coal in the back and all this smoke coming out the top. When it got to the station it let out a horrible screeching whistle (Japanese trains normally never do this.) When it pulled into the station, a bunch of random people got off and started filming and taking pictures of the train! Then the announcement came that it was leaving, and everyone jumped back on til the next stop. Extremely strange, really.



This is a picture of the mountains, for once unsullied by powerlines or ugly concrete buildings. As you can see, it is really beautiful. Sometimes it's easy to forget that, but whenever I ride the train, I can see some really beautiful scenery--jagged cliffs that look like some kind of postcard, like nothing I've ever seen in Oregon; wide rice paddies; rivers deep in rough valleys. It's pretty spectacular, really.

This is what lies below those mountains you can see above.



It's beautiful in its own way, I think. Still, there are a lot of people here and this demonstrates that. I wonder why the roofs are so many different colors. I guess its the same reason my apartment building is painted pink...

My New Life: A Tour

So last month, on the day after my 22nd birthday, I moved to a small town in western Japan. According to the way most Western people think of Japan, it is somewhat to the north, but the Japanese think of Japan as being more horizontal than diagonal, and thus, Tokyo is in the west and Kyoto in the east. At any rate, Numata is a small town deep in the mountains of northern Gunma (a prefecture in Japan). The population is roughly 50,000 people. It has a train station, a department store, a number of good restaurants and a decent bar, a bowling alley, and a karaoke place. When I first came here, it was the middle of August and the heat was stifling, unending, depressing. When you went outside you sweated; if you were outside, your clothes were damp with sweat--and it was like this every day. When it was sunny, at least it wasn't too bad; when the sky was grey and low, heavy with clouds, it was profoundly claustrophobic--and almost unbearable. Under that oppressive white sky, the crumbling buildings and abandoned storefronts of downtown Numata looked a little like my own personal vision of hell.

But even then, it wasn't all bad. The strangeness of the constant sound of cicadas, the remarkable colors of the almost tropical flowers that bloomed along the road to my school, the unexpected beauty of an extraordinary fierce summer thunderstorm, like nothing I had ever seen before.

And things are getting better now. Autumn is coming, and the air is crisp. But things were pretty terrible at first. For the future, I want to remember that.

Anyways, one of the good things about Numata is my apartment. It's very nice to have a space all of my own; it's also a surprisingly nice apartment. It even has a washing machine (no drier, of course), although I think washing my clothes by hand would probably be more effective. My apartment is on the third floor of a very pink apartment building. That's one of the strange things about Japan--the architecture. So much of it seems to straight out of the "Brutalist" school--a better name for a style I've never heard--and yet some of it is just so fucking weird. Apartment buildings? Pink, bright yellow, purple--I've seen it all. The other day I went to a concert for my school in the local "cultural" building. It's this hideous concrete construction, ugly and brooding and 100% Japanese, but the inside was completely green. The walls and ceiling were painted green--over concrete. The carpet was green. The upholstery on the seats was green. The curtain on the stage was probably green, although I can't remember. It was the most bizarre feeling.

Sorry about the digression. In this picture, you can see just how pink my apartment building is. This is the door to my apartment! Number 6.



Once you open that door and venture into my lovely little place, you will first step into the genkan (where you take off your shoes.) This is one feature that almost all Japanese architecture shares--that division of personal and private space. Past the genkan, it's your house; for a long time the genkan was basically the house's front yard. Anyone could wander in. But you couldn't go any further.

Anyways, so you take off your shoes, and step up (the physical separation is very important, I think) into the kitchen. The floors are a dark wood, as they are in my entire apartment (aside from the bathroom.)



This is a view taken from the living, facing the front door. To the left is the door to the bathroom. (It's usually open, as I am afraid of humidity accumulating in there.) On the right you can see my refrigerator, my microwave, and my toaster oven. They are all quite remarkably ancient, and came with the apartment. For some reason, my refrigerator has a "new driver" sticker on it. These are the stickers that people who have just got their license are supposed to put on their car. (The green and yellow thing.) In the states, you might think this is a sign to other drivers to beware. But in Japan, not quite. Apparently, if you commit some sort of traffic violation in the vicinity of or involving one of these cars, the fines can be higher or the penalties more severe.

Beyond the refrigerator, you can see my general kitchen area. This includes my countertop and sink (made of some kind of metal.) And my shelves. You can't really see in this picture, but for some reason, the designers of my apartment decided to place the only shelves in the kitchen on the top of the walls. I mean, they are connected to the ceiling. And they only reach down about a foot. Considering that this apartment's kitchen was almost certainly designed for those grizzled, 4 foot tall Japanese obaachan's I see around all the time, this seems like a design flaw. I can just touch the bottom of them with my fingertips. As for the rest of my kitchen equipment--well, there's bad news and good news. The bad news? There's no oven, just a gas range. There's also no dishwasher or garbage disposal, but that's more common. Very few people in Japan have proper ovens, however. The good news? It's surprisingly spacious, although I need more shelving. Everything seems to work pretty well. The sink is quite large. And my predecessor left me a huge number of various pots, pans, and dishes.

A quick tour through the rest of the apartment...



This is my bathroom. It is basically an airplane bathroom with a shower. The shower does work quite well though--good water pressure, lots of hot water. It also has a bath--it's tiny, but strangely high. I haven't actually taken a bath, although people tell me it is very good in the winter, when it's absolutely freezing. Everything else works pretty well, despite being so tiny, but it's quite a funny thing. It's basically like a pre-fabricated bathroom put into your house--it's all made of plastic, and I think it is seperate from the rest of the apartment. It's very strange. The toilet doesn't flush so good and I have the occasional drainage problem, but other than that it works very well!

Moving on towards the back of the house, we have the "living room." It's not really seperate from the kitchen.



Here we can see my huge closet on the left. I'm not sure why it is in the living room instead of the bedroom type area, but there you are. It's basically just this huge hole in the wall. It doubles for a clothes closet and various supplies closet. Also to the left, out of view, is my washing machine, set back in the wall. On the right you can see my loveseat thing, and also my table, which is called a kotatsu (an electric table that you can heat up during the winter, to keep your feet toasty warm.) It is quite messy as you can see. Beyond the door directly ahead is my bedroom.



This is my bedroom (part of it anyway.) On the floor, you can see my futon--actually quite cozy. As you may notice I have a lot of nice big windows in this room. To the right is a bookshelf and the TV, to the left is a couch and my computer desk/chair. It's quite a nice room, actually. I like it.

Koyasan

My last day in Kyoto I packed up my bags and headed out for a whole new place--a mountain called Koyasan, a few hours away from Kyoto. It's the center of Shingon Buddhism (a particular sect) and it's absolutely packed with temples. It's also got a famous cemetary which holds many historic graves. Because it's so full of temples, it's a good place to stay at a temple overnight--which is what I wanted to do. I stayed at a place called Shojosho-in. It's one of the older temples and right next to the cemetary--it came highly recommended. It cost about $100 per night (although that included breakfast and dinner) so it was definitely a one night kinda thing for me! I even paid extra for a room with a garden view...

It was quite a trip to Koya-san. The trains were not exactly up to scratch, compared to Tokyo! The public transportation was quite limited and I had to plan it all out very carefully, to make all of my connections. But it all worked out. The train up to Koyasan was elderly and creaking; it ran through high mountains and rural villages. Included in the price for the ticket to Koyasan was a transfer to the cable line that runs you up to the mountain proper--it was very steep!

Koyasan, despite what it sounds like, is not exactly an isolated mountain paradise. It's a popular tourist destination. But it was still very pretty. When I finally found my temple, there was no one around and so I left my suitcases (I'd been in Japan for quite a long time by then--I'd never have done that in America!) and wandered around the place looking for someone. The only people I saw seemed to be cleaning up the place--junior monks? But eventually it all got sorted out. My Japanese almost fooled the lady into believing I actually knew how to speak it properly! I was proud of myself. My room was amazingly spacious and up some large, dark wood staircases. It was very traditional--futons, tatami mats, alcoves, even a kotatsu--the whole bit. It was very classy. It gets cold at night up there in the mountains, so we got a yukata and an overcoat. Below is the view from the temple... I couldn't take many pictures, unfortunately, cause my camera died and the replacement batteries I bought were defective.



Dinner was in an hour or so, so I decided to wander about the town a bit. I had temple fatigue so I had no real plans--just walked about. I found this little Shinto shrine up a hill...



It was very atmospheric. There were a lot of temples--but I didn't really have time to visit any. I wanted to get back before dinner (and before it got dark.) I was in an unfamiliar town, even if it was Japanese. Dinner itself was very cool and very weird. All the guests ate in different, with about 4 people to a room. My room had 4 people--me, a fellow gaijin a few years older than me, and a middle-aged Japanese couple (a man and a women, but apparently they were just friends.) The other gaijin was much better at Japanese than me, but I still managed to follow the conversation somewhat, and it was really fun. The food itself was amazing--some of it may not have been delicious, per se--too strange--but it was still absolutely fascinating to try. One of the things that sticks out most was the tempura. It was all vegetarian, of course, being a Buddhist temple, so no gross seafood. It was all vegetables--daikon, lotus root, some kind of leaf. It was all cold, and yet it was ridiculously tasty.

We lingered quite a long time at dinner, chatting and enjoying the atmosphere. After dinner I decided to try to take a bath. It was communal and very old school--luckily I was the only one there. I washed myself off under the shower taps and then ventured into the big communal bath--it was made of wood! It was super-hot and felt REALLY great--especially since it was getting really cold by then. Luckily there were lots of blankets in my room and I stayed toasty warm in my comfortable futon. I went to bed early--the service the next morning was at 5:30 or 6 AM.

The service itself was pretty cool. The monks read from the sutras, etc. They had a nun, too. Afterwards, we had a traditional Japanese breakfast, but luckily no raw eggs in rice were to be seen (vegetarians!) After breakfast, I packed up and went directly to the cemetery right next door. The sun was just rising and coming in through the trees--the cemetery was in a large forest, stretched out along the side of the road, and on the other side (opposite from my temple) was another temple. So I decided to walk through it. It was really stunning--the light was amazing, the memorial stones were fantastic--all kinds of statues, some really old and some almost brand new. It was pretty quite most of the time, since it was so early. I walked all the way to the temple, which is the starting point for a pilgrimage, so I saw a lot of pilgrims--that was cool. Then I walked back to my temple and took off--I had to make it back in time for the shinkansen to Yokohama and then to my concert that night. It was pretty crazy--I was traveling all day and I went from rural Kansai to downtown Yokohama in one day. Quite a switch.

The end!

Nijo-jo

Day 7 was pretty much my last day in Kyoto. I didn't want to leave, though, without seeing one last famous site--Nijo-jo. Nijo-jo is a famous castle, although not in the typical western sense. It doesn't look at all like Edinburgh castle or something like that--it's not highly fortified, but more like a palace.

It was originally built in the early 17th century by the very famous shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who helped to unify Japan. It is one of the few surviving castles in the country. Visiting a castle was a nice change from the endless procession of temples, I have to say.

It was another beautiful blue morning when I arrived. I was leaving Kyoto earlier that day, so I tried to get there as early as possible. I left my luggage at Kyoto station, and took off for a quick visit to Nijo-jo.

As you can see, it is an elaborately decorate kind of place. Lots of gold, and all that. It's in fairly good condition; I believe it was actually various parts of it were burned down and rebuilt at various points. But it's still pretty impressive, that overall it survived for so long.

This is the main gate, with a lot of beautiful carvings. I decided to rent an audio tour and I'm glad I did. It provided a lot of interesting information (in English). Inside, the main palace is chockfull of Kano-school paintings; it's very interesting to see them in their original contexts, which you don't always get in art history classes. Nijo-jo also is constructed with the infamous "nightingale floors," which squeak when you walk on them. They still do this now, although I'm sure it's because the people in charge made a special effort!

After you walk through the castle, you can visit the outside gardens. They are quite lovely, and meant to depict landscapes.

There's not really that much to see here, but it's a good change from temples, definitely.

Horyuji

After visiting Nara, I hightailed it outta there because I had places to go, temples to see, etc.! My next stop was a famous old temple called Horyuji, positively chock full of national treasures and all that. This is a very old temple; it was commissioned by Prince Shotoku, the first patron of Buddhism in Japan, so we're talking 7th century.

I took a train from Nara, and then it was just a short bus ride to Horyuji. It was late afternoon when I arrived, so I had just enough time to see most of the grounds.

Below you can see the famous 5-story pagoda. Apparently some of the wood inside it dates to the 6th century, although it has been reconstructed since then. Pagodas like this one are the Japanese version of stupas, memorial mounds; you can't go into them and they are not hollow inside, generally speaking. This pagoda has some well known relics inside, I believe. I would like to revisit this place some day; unfortunately, I can't remember all that much about it. I was starting to get "temple fatigue" by this point, I think.

Was a very cool pagoda though. Below is the main hall, the kondo. It is another extremely old wooden building, dating to the 7th century, although it was extensively damaged later on. There are some treasures inside, including the very famous Shaka Triad (of the Buddha and his 2 bodhisattva attendents). Unfortunately it's so dark it's very difficult to see ANYTHING inside.

This is some random place. I'm not sure what it is, actually. Gorgeous building though. (I looked it up, and it seems to be the lecture hall. Built later, I'm pretty sure.)

The sun was starting to set, and tourists were starting to leave by the time I worked my way through Horyuji. There's another famous site here, called the Yumedono hall. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it; perhaps it wasn't permitted. It's very interesting though; I believe it's 6 sided. Something like that. It was packed with school children, there are famous works of art within it as well, although the most famous work--the Yumedono Kannon--was not being displayed.

I walked through the complex, and back out again the other side. I was just really struck by the amazing quality of the light at sunset, so I took this picture. It was really remarkably beautiful. This is just some random gate/wall as I was walking out of the temple complex.

I ended up taking the last bus out. Most people seemed to have either walked, or taken some other form of transportation (a lot of tour buses had come out here) and so I was actually one of the few waiting there. It was quite strange. I think of all the places in Kyoto I visited, this is one that I'd most like to revisit (along with Nara.) I tried to fit it all in, not knowing if I'd get the chance to see it again, but in the end I didn't really get to see either one properly. Still, I'm glad I got a little taste of both, in the end. But I'd definitely like to come back someday.

Todaiji (and Nara)

On day 6, I decided to venture out of Kyoto proper once again. One of the most well known areas near Kyoto is a city called Nara, the one-time capital of Japan and absolutely chock-full of famous sites. In particular, Nara is famous for its deer park and the temples within it, especially Todaiji. It was this monument that was my main goal for the day. The temple is very old, 8th century (when Buddhism was just beginning to take hold in Japan), although it was rebuilt repeatedly due to fire and earthquakes. The main hall now dates to the early 18th century, but the statues are older. Below you can see the main gate leading to Todaiji. I like how old it looks; it's very pretty.

This is one of the guardian statues in the main gate. Very well known statues, and I was happy with how this picture came out. Unfortunately the statues all now have netting over them, to keep out birds and animals, etc. These statues are absolutely enormous, by the way.

Here is a deer. Todaiji is set, as previously mentioned, in the famous Deer Park of Nara, called such because it is full of deer. They are very tame, because everyone who comes there feeds them, and practically everyone in Japan comes there at one point or another! You can walk right up to them and pet them, or they will come up to you themselves, wanting food. I find it a little creepy. When I was there, one of the deer (a male with his horns cut off) headbutted this small elementary school child. It was a tad alarming; I do hope he was alright.

They look so innocent... Don't be fooled.

Now, below you can see the main hall of Todaiji. I'm not sure if you can quite see from this picture, but it is enormous. It is almost impossible to overstate its hugeness. It is said to be the largest wooden structure in the world, and I wouldn't doubt it. Inside, the posts that support the roof are huge, trunks as thick as giant redwoods.

You can tell how huge it is--once you got closer, you couldn't even take in the whole building, it was just too big to fit in your camera. Todaiji is very famous, as you can see from the hordes of school children pictured below (they are the ones in black, in their little uniforms.)

Unfortunately, it was dark inside, and I couldn't get any proper pictures. However, there is an enormous Buddha statue inside. It's quite impressively huge. There are also a number of very large guardian statues, beautifully carved. It's really neat. There's also a famous hole in one of the aforementioned enormous posts, which people try to wiggle through--if you can get through, it is said, you will go to heaven/be enlightened/etc. Mostly only children can get through--I sure as heck didn't want to give it a try...

After visiting the main hall, I explored the rest of the area. I visited a museum/treasure hall with a number of interesting states, but no pictures were allowed, of course.

Below you can see a bell tower that I stumbled upon up in the hills. There were also a bunch of restaurants, ice cream shops, and souvenir shops up there too! Convenient, I suppose. I ended up buying a Todaiji Hello Kitty keitai strap, I have to admit...

Yes, the deer are everywhere.

After leaving Todaiji, I decided to make a brief stop at the local museum. There was actually a really famous temporary exhibit going on at the time--only happened once a year or something. But the line was huge, and I had a schedule to keep! So I just visited the normal, permanent museum, which had no line at all. In fact, you bought your ticket from a vending machine. God bless Japan! It was a really nice museum, with informative labels in English and lots of interesting art.

After that, I moved on to Horyuji...

Kiyomizudera

So on one of these days--I'm just going to say it was day 5, although the chronology is all messed up at this point--I decided to visit Kiyomizudera. I decided to go in the late afternoon, after visiting some other sites earlier, and I was really looking forward to it. Kiyomizudera is probably the most famous temple in Kyoto, at least for Japanese people. Whenever I told a Japanese person that I was planning to go to Kyoto, or asked them if they had ever been to Kyoto, they almost inevitably mentioned Kiyomizudera. I think every school child in Japan visits the temple.
Kiyomizudera is located up on a hill, in Eastern Kyoto. To get there, you take a bus to a street nearby, and then walk up a long, winding road, positively infested with tourist shops. Traditional ceramics, woodwork, kitschy Japanese souvenirs, Hello Kitty merchandise--you can get just about any touristy thing you can dream of on this road. It's actually pretty damn cool, in a way. Most of the shops carry similar things, and it's terribly crowded, but it's strangely atmospheric. This is the real Japan, warts and all, and in its own way, it is beautiful. Below you can see part of this street, with Kiyomizudera's pagoda in the distance.

Kiyomizudera was very crowded, and very beautiful. It was late afternoon when I arrived, and the sky was extraordinarily blue.

Kiyomizudera, up on the hills, overlooks Kyoto like a guardian statue. The beautiful red of the traditional gate makes a pretty amazing contrast.

Below you can see the main gate entrance to Kiyomizudera. The sun was starting to set at this point.

Kiyomizudera is pretty high up, and once you get away from the main areas, you can find some incredible sites. Here the sun was just beginning to set. The views were amazing. Here you can clearly see Kyoto Tower, illuminated against the sunset.

Another view from a path I took away from the main area--there's quite a few paths to wander around on. I believe I took this picture from another random pagoda that I found--this is part of the main temple.

Below you can see the great wooden terrace that Kiyomizudera is most famous for. It's built up on a hill, over the pure spring that give Kiyomizudera its name (mizu=water, kiyo=pure.) I didn't take a drink, though--there were hordes of school children, all eager for their drink.

As you can tell from the picture, it was pretty busy. It is the most famous temple in Kyoto, after all! It was still a pretty amazing visit, though.