I had a pretty nice sleep regardless of the early morning and much drinking the night before. Futons are really comfy, but I might be biased because anything is nicer than those stiff hotel beds we’ve been sleeping on! Blarg!
The ryokan doesn’t skimp on brekkers either! Delicious! Sausages and fruit and crousiants with jam! (Just to name a few.) Yummy! Much better than the rice balls that we’ve been getting from the hotels!
But, with the ryokan behind us, now comes the airports and the nervewracking adventure of customs and luggage claim. Merrrr….
I was worried about not being able to take me kawaii umbrella back with me. I couldn’t fit it into my suitcase, so I had to venture it into carry-on and with heighten security… Do people really think umbrellas are weapons?? But I’m glad to say it was all okay. Not a peep from anybody. I just had to get it x-rayed like everything else! I can bring it home!
The flight back wasn’t as bad as the flight up. (It was also 4 hours shorter. Knocking it down to 11 hours instead of 15.) But, even with the early leave and the early arrive, we still had to wait at the Minneapolis airport for 4 hours before our flight to Madison was leaving. Errrrggg…. Well, I got to sleep in an airport! That was interesting…
But! Finally! Back in Whitewater! I’m not taking another plane for a while, but I made it back safe and sound!
I’m still a little sad about leaving. Japan is so different from America. The customs, the language, everything! I enjoyed all the really neat places we went, all the things we got to see, and all the things we got to experience (even if it was the experience of being scolded by a shop lady in a different language!). I really hope I’ll be able to go back someday. But, for now, I’m content to have my old bed back! And my leg room!
Hello! From the future! (Sorry! That never gets old!)
Today we had a deviation from our itinerary. Instead of going to the museum, we got to visit a sumo stable this morning and watch the sumo practice for a couple of hours. I think they thought it was weird, us gaijin there watching them, but they mostly ignored us. They had mini bouts. I gotta say… Sumo looks a lot more vicious than any wrestling match I’ve ever been too.
And, instead of going to the other museum, we went straight to the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn)! Hurray! It was really neat there! The rooms had tatami mats and sliding doors! We even got to sleep on futons! And wear yukata to dinner! (We had all kinds of traditional today!)
Oooooh! And! The infamous karaoke party! ka-ra-o-ke paa-tii ni i-ki-ma-su!! XD XD XD
Oh my goodness was that HILARIOUS! I didn’t just sit back and laugh at people though. I got up there and sung solo as well! So there! (I also had two “sukuruu-duraibaa”s for courage juice though! ;D)
And after the karaoke, we went to the onsen! It was a little too hot to my liking. We ended up in the one outside, and I only stuck my legs in. I think everyone had a little trouble with the nudity thing, but I didn’t really care too much. (I was also pretty much gone as far as the drinking goes…)
We went back to Matt’s room and hung out (and drank more) after the onsen closed. It was probably the most fun I’ve had with everyone on this whole trip. It made me a little sad that we were leaving tomorrow. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I want to go home, but I had so much fun here and going to Japan has always been a dream of mine (ask anyone!). I was just sad thinking of leaving it all and not being together with everyone anymore.
Our first visit today was to the Imperial Hotel for a demonstration on the traditional tea ceremony! The hotel itself was really pretty on the inside. I got to sit for a while in the lobby because our group had to split up. When we finally got to the ceremony, we went upstairs, which still looked very hotel-like, but the room we went into looked like we’d stepped outside into a garden!
The lady explaining the tea ceremony to us was very nice. There’s a lot of formality that goes into making the tea. It’s also considered a zen practice. I’m sure I wouldn’t be good at it though, my legs went numb a minute after I kneeled on them. They do that for hours while making the tea!
We got to eat rosebush-shaped wagashi! Delicious! And very sweet! The matcha however… Holy cow was that stuff bitter! I didn’t want to be rude, so I finished all of mine, but GOLLY was that tea bitter! Ugh. An acquired taste, I’m sure…
The demonstration was definitely not as long as a real tea ceremony. Those can go on for hours, and the demo was only about a half hour.
We also visited and had lunch at Sophia University, which is a sister university to us. A lot of our students from Whitewater come overseas and study here in Tokyo for a semester or two. The people there were nice, and we were supposed to make english conversation with them, but I turned out to be a very boring person to talk to. I had no idea what to say!
I did get two complements on the expert use of my chopsticks, however!
We also got to see kabuki today! It’s so exaggerated and hilarious! I didn’t have a clue as to what they were saying, but I still enjoyed the play immensely! I really hope I’ll be able to see one again someday! And, I really liked the kabuki a lot more than the Takarazuka we saw.
Today was our visit to the Yasukuni shrine. The infamous one that foreign-diplomats-from-Korea-and-China-leave-the-country-whenever-the-emperor-visits-it infamous! Whew. I actually didn’t feel at all comfortable in there. Well, the museum I mean. There’s the shrine, which we visited for about a minute until we were shooed away, and there’s a museum right next to it. I don’t know why I didn’t feel comfortable. It might have been the already bad impression I had of it before we even went there. It might have been the “shooing”. I don’t know. All I know is that I cruised through there real quick-like. I’m not sure I missed much though. I’ve never been one for war history museums. The only part I liked was the stuff about the samurai, but there was much more about the other wars.
Anyway… We got to visit Harajuku! And the famous bridge where all the outrageous young people hang out! It was pretty exciting! I really liked the costumes people were dressed up in! They just hung out on the bridge all cool like and people took pictures of them or with them! If I come back, I want to dress up too!
We visited the Meiji shrine after Harajuku today. The pathway to the shrine was pretty long, but it was all through a forest and had tall wooden toris along the way, so it was beautiful and peaceful. There wasn’t anything really exciting about the shrine, but! I got to see another wedding in progress! And I got MUCH better footage of this one this time too!
We also ate at the Harajuku district. SUSHI-GO-ROUND! XD It was really neat picking up whatever plates of food we wanted from the sushi-go-round. (I’m not sure if that’s even the right word for it, but I like it!)
The Tocho observation deck was the last thing we visited today. We took an elevator up to the 45th floor! My ears were popping, we were going up so high! The view outside the windows was AMAZING! Tokyo at night with all the lights from the city and with this view was so beautiful… BUT MY CAMERA CRAPPED OUT AGAIN! Why me? I got two clips of the view but no pictures. *sigh*
It was still raining today. Tokyo must not like us gaijin very much…
So, we visited a rain-soaked Sensoji today. It wasn’t too unique except for the loooooong stretch of shops that came right after it. We didn’t stay too long because of the rain. (And I’m a little sick of seeing temples anyway. Fushimi rules!!)
We also visited the Tokyo-Edo Museum. It was really, really neat. It had all kinds of historical items from various genres. (It even had David Bowie! XD) There really is too much stuff to describe in detail. (Thank goodness for video footage. Oh, I know you guys don’t get to see that yet, but it’ll be worth it! Trust me!) They had a tour guide, but I opted out. I think I liked wandering around on my own at my own pace better anyway.
My favorite thing about the museum was the rickshaw and the old-time bicycle that you could actually get on or into and sit there. I took a couple of pictures of me in the rickshaw for fun! The hands on stuff in the museum really made it worthwhile! Plus, with the dim lights throughout the museum (they said it was to preserve the artifacts), it wasn’t like any of the other museums I’ve been too!
And, It was also nice to get out of the rain for a while…
We were also at Ginza today! The famous Ginza! That picture of those crosswalks is famous, and I got to visit it! Ha!
It wasn’t really anything special though… Unfortunately, it wasn’t much fun there with the rain. I didn’t feel much like wandering around there and the department store we stayed in was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too expensive. The $210 a skirt too expensive! Eh… Can’t win them all, I suppose.
Today was AWESOME! We got to go to the island of Miyajima! It’s BEAUTIFUL! We crossed over there by ferry and were set loose on the island for almost 5 hours!
The famous “tori in the water” is at Miyajima. When we got there it wasn’t really that submerged yet, but you could tell by the water marks that it went up pretty high! It’s also of incredible size! We didn’t go right up to it, but there were a lot of school kids out there and you could see comparitively how HUGE it was! (There’s that word again!)
We went up the mountain on a “rope way” and saw MONKEYS! Freakin’ MONKEYS! And not monkeys-from-a-distance-swinging-from-branches-so-I-can-kind-of-see-them– No! Monkeys close enough that I could reach out and touch them if I was so inclined! We had to be careful though, you’re not supposed to stare them in the eye for too long. They see that as a sign of agression and WILL attack you if they feel threatened enough. (I’m sure someone could tell you from personal experience.)
The island is beautiful though. It has a lot of nature left on it. The town we went though is tiny compared to the wilderness we sailed over on the “rope way”. Someone could live in those forests on the mountains and no one would even notice you going from one end of the island to the other.
Another awesome thing coming from Miyajima are the special wagashi only found here! The delicious maple-leaf-shaped confections! They taste a little like thick pancakes on the outside and the ones I tried had custard on the inside. They were absolutely DIVINE! I will come back to Miyajima JUST FOR THOSE! I bought a whole box for myself and had them for brekkers and snacks when I need them! Yummyyummyyummy…
Today was also our first day arriving in Tokyo! The almighty, famous Tokyo! And it was raining. Again. Blerg.
We got to ride the Shinkansen (the bullet train) today! It was very comfortable, even if it was a 3 hour ride! It’s very sleek-looking on the outside, but the interior reminded me of an airplane.
We also visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. A nice lady talked to us about her experiences during the bombing of Hiroshima. She did NOT look her age though! And she had way too much energy to be that old! She was a sweetheart though. It made me upset to think of all the hurt and pain people suffered during this war. It was kind of a stressful day for me.
We also had a guided tour around key areas of the Peace Memorial. Our tour guide was also a survior, although, he’s one of the youngest because his mum was four months along with him when it happened. He used to be a teacher before he started volunteering here. He was very passionate about having peace and making sure we understood all sides of the conflict. I’m really glad we had him as a guide.
The museum inside was also pretty eye-opening. It was always really quiet in there too. I don’t want to talk about it much. Like I said, it was a stressful day for me. I don’t handle pain-filled things very well… You’ll get to see a lot of the museum in the video. I took a lot.
On a much lighter note! We had Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki today! It was hard to eat off of the grill, but it was yummy! It’s really hard to describe too. It’s not pizza or pancake like. It’s just layers and layers of things in its own unique way. You’ll get to see some of how it was made (right in front of us!) in the video.
Today was the BEST! The Fushimi shrine is my favorite shrine on this whole trip. The guardian spirit here is the Fox, so there were statues of him everywhere. Some were pretty evil looking and some were a little more docile. Those “tori tunnels” you may have seen in Memoirs of a Geisha are actually here at Fushimi. There were TONS of them. They just kept going farther and farther into the woods. It was really, really neat. I really wish we had more time there. You could probably get lost following “tori tunnels” into the woods. You might even see a real fox running around in there! Who knows! (Katy also got an awesome picture of another girl posing as a “fox bride”. I’m jealous!)
I left an offering at one of the fox statues too. Just a penny, basically, but I think it’ll work. I also bought one of those prayer boards! You can buy one for 500 yen and write your prayer down on the back. Foxes are said to be the messengers between us and the gods, so writing one on this fox-head-shaped board may bring me some luck!
We also visited Nara, which is famous for its droves of docile deer. HUNGRY, docile deer, I might add. One of the little ones bit a guy when he teased him with a deer-cookie! They just wander around this huge park looking for people who bought deer-cookies and looking cute so you’ll give them some! It’s strange coming from Wisconsin and the type of relationship we have with our wild deer and then coming here and being able to PET a baby deer. Huh… It’s weird.
We also visited Kofukuji. I know I keep telling you guys about how huge things are here, but seriously, a 50 foot tall Buddha housed inside an even taller shrine is freakin’ HUGE! It was incredible! I felt very, very tiny standing in front of that Buddha.
Fushimi is still better in my eyes, though. Not even a 50ft Buddha can best the “tori tunnel” fox shrine!
Again, again, again… My camera DIED. Some of the Kofukuji shrine footage I’ll show you guys later is courtesy of Kristi’s camera.
Today was exciting! I missed the train to the Sake Brewery Museum! XD
It’s okay though, I made it there as you can see in the video. I didn’t have much time to go through it as everyone else did, but I did get to sample some sake! (Not partial to it myself…) A lot of people bought some sake while we were there, but I’ve heard that the stuff that comes in juice boxes tastes better and is a lot cheaper! (Yes! Sake in juice boxes at the konbin! How’s that for innovative??)
We also got to go to the Takarazuka show today! That was very exciting! I had been looking forward to that all week! I couldn’t get you guys any footage, of course, so you’re going to have to take my word for it. It was a little confusing because it was all in Japanese, but I could get the jist of it. It was actually two seperate shows. One called “Love & Death in Arabia” and the other one was called “Red Hot Sea”. The first one was a wordy drama. Not terribly exciting for non-Japanese-speaking peoples such as myself. But, the other had much more music and comedy, so it was a lot more fun to watch even if I only understand a little Japanese.
We had dinner a FANTASTIC restaurant! It was called Tori Dori (you can actually see the sign for it in the video). “Various Chicken” is what Kato-sensei said it meant, and all the dishes had chicken. It was really delicious, and I had fun talking and laughing with everyone at the table.
Osaka is an awesome place. Some of us stuck around after dinner to wander around for a little while. All those lights and signs are awesome!
This will be the last video for a while. I can’t keep up with the day-to-day stuff happening. But, I will continue to update the blog without video for a time. Don’t worry! The videos will come later!
Today, we went to a couple of markets. The first, Nishi, was really extensive. Both me and Kristi got lost before we could find our way back to the meeting point. The area with the colored roof had lots of fresh fish and various foods. The part outside of it had a lot of different kinds of shops from clothing to prayer beads. We even went to a thrift shop! They had a whole rack of english t-shirts with all kinds of weird, random sayings on them. I hope the people that buy them know what they say at least! (Can you imagine a dude running around in a shirt that says “Happy 31st Birthday” with fuzzy flowers?? I’m NOT kidding!)
You also get to see some of the UFO Catcher parlor we went to! That really was Kristi’s one and only try at one of the machines, and she really did win on the first try! You can hear me saying “You suck!” at the end of the clip because I had just blown 20 bucks worth on a dozen machines and only ended up with ONE prize. Grrr… Those machines are out to get me!
The second market, Arashiyama, had really pretty rivers running by it. You can see some of them in the video. This market was definitely not as big as Nishi, but they had some neat things there. (And! More GIFTS! I’m a gift-gettin’ machine!)
I hope you guys can see the weirdness that is the train cars moving along corners. If you hold still and watch through the door towards the leading car you can see the cars appear and disappear because of the twisting and turning. That’s the trippiness!
You also see a DUDE on a women’s only train car! I’m sure it was an accident, but I was a little peeved that he didn’t move to the next car because he HAD to realize, at least eventually, that he shouldn’t be in that car! I hope me and Sarah weren’t the only one’s glaring at him to move.
Oh, the women’s only train cars is the government’s answer to the increase of reports on incidents of men groping women on trains. Kowai…
The most exciting part of the day was, of course, the baseball game! I was kinda ‘eh’ when we first went, but believe you me, by the end of that game, I was a Hanshin Tigers fan!
My camera died again at the baseball game, but you can kinda see how big the crowd was in the video. What you can’t really see is the directors in yellow Hanshin Tigers shirts all along the bottom of the stadium. That’s right, the ENTIRE stadium (except for a tiny portion in one corner in the back) was full of Hanshin Tigers’ fans all chanting in sync with the directors leading the way. It was incredible! And, it’s not just one chant here and there, it was a whole line up of chants for every player and every situation! Can you imagine thousands of people all chanting the same chant together in sync? And throughout almost all the game?? The fans here in Japan put all you crappy American fans to SHAME! Shame, I say!
There was even a “lucky number seven” ritual in the seventh inning! The people sitting behind us were really nice and gave us these ballons with whistlers on the end of them. They instructed us to wait until the Hanshin Tigers played during the seventh inning and then release the blown up balloons. Now, imagine almost everyone in the stadium has one of these balloons, and all of them let them loose at the same time! Thousands of balloons screaming into the air! It was AMAZING! And exciting! God I hate my camera for dying all the time!!
(And the Tigers won! They went into two extra innings and one by one point! Yay!)
That’s all I’ve got for now. I know I’m really behind (by about four or five days) but I’m trying hard to catch up. Keep watching (and commenting)!
