Kamakura

Sunday, I finally went to Kamakura. It takes about four hours by regular train. If you can get the right train from Utsunomiya, you can go all the way to Kamakura without changing trains.

I got off the train at Kita-Kamakura (Kita = North), and visited Engakuji. It's a Rinzai Zen temple. Rinzai Zen focuses on sudden enlightenment, using koans. A famous koan is "What is the sound of one hand clapping." The other major Zen school is Soto, which advocates gradual enlightenment.

Here are my pics:




























Then, I went to Kamakura Station, and took the Enoshima Line (a private, line that is not part of Japan Rail.) to Hase. In Japanese, it's Enoshima Densha (Enoshima electric train), so usually called just Enoden.

Here is a Buddhist temple, named Hasedera.






It's cold in Tochigi (0-7C) - but I saw daffodils in Kamakura.






Here is some beautiful woodwork.








From a hill near the temple, you can get a good view of Kamakura.





My new camera and polarizing filter let me get a good shot of goldfish.














There is still some fall color to be seen as well.







There is a Shinto shrine near Hasedera is in a cave!






Finally, I went to see Kamakura's number one tourist draw.
This statue used be in a building, but the building was destroyed by a tsunami.
This statue is 13.35 meters tall. It's not the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. There is a 120 meter tall statue in Ibaraki. The statue in Todaiji in Nara is 14.98 meters.






















































For 20 yen, you can go inside the statue.













Here is the back.
















Here are slippers for the Buddha.














A shop had some kitties; so of course, I had to take pics!























There are a lot more temples to see in Kamakura so I'll try to get back again.

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A funeral

Last Saturday, I attended my first funeral in Japan. My friend's mother passed away after a long illness. I had never met her but funerals are as much for those left behind as for the deceased. My friend was relieved that she didn't have to worry about her mother any more, happy that her mother was with her dad again after 20 years, but of course sad because she will miss her mom. So I am both happy and sad for her.

Most funerals in Japan are Buddhist, but this one was Shinto. Japanese funerals are everything you could hope for in a funeral: respectful and proper.

I was able to find out what is expected of attendees from my friend, online and one of the teachers at school. Guests bring money in an special envelope, and receive a gift in return. It includes salt to sprinkle on yourself when you come home from a funeral. From what I've seen it's for purification and/or to scare away spirits that follow people home from funerals.

In the US, wearing black is not necessary at funerals anymore. In Japan, it's an absolute necessity. Women wear all black, including black hose. Mean wear a black suit with a white shirt and black tie. (You can tell if a man in a black suit is going to a funeral or a wedding by the tie: black for funeral, white for wedding.)

I was the only woman not wearing a jacket, but I was wearing a black cardigan over a black turtleneck with a black skirt and hose. Pearls are the only jewelry that is proper. I didn't have a pearl necklace, but I wore pearl earrings. Earrings aren't technically correct, I don't think. But most Japanese women don't have pierced ears and some folks don't like the look of empty ear piercings. Very small pearl earrings were my compromise.

The funeral was held at a ceremony hall. There was the room that the actual funeral took place in, and an overflow room which had a large screen TV on the wall. That's where I sat. I kind of like the idea. Everyone can see well. And if, for whatever reason, you end up with a sparsely attended funeral, the smaller main room would still look full.

My friend's mother filled both rooms. Like I said earlier, I never met her. But the fact that she raised my friend to be the good and kind person she is, speaks volumes about her character. All of it good. And, yes, I cried.

A Great Day

Sorry, no pictures today. I lent my little camera to some students to take pictures of their club activities.

Today, I had five classes with the 3rd year students. I played "Jingle Bells," after I gave them a copy of the lyrics with some words blocked out. Their job was to listen and catch the missing words. I have a set of D&D dice (bought at Tokyu Hands) that I use to pick volunteers, since they each have a number from 1 to around 30.

Then, I taught them how to make paper snowflakes with which to decorate Christmas cards. While they did that, I played other songs on my Christmas CD. So, basically, I got to make paper snowflakes all day while listening to Christmas music.

I kept thinking of KP's sign that says, "Some of my best friends are flakes." Especially with one student, I thought, "Flakes made by a flake. Cool." But he's very nice, just a bit odd. Yeah, I know, pots and kettles...

And while everyone around Oshkosh has been enjoying -17˚C, it's 8˚C here now. I have yet to put the liner in my fall coat. And my desk is close to one of the kerosene heaters in the teachers' room. (Although, I keep almost tripping over them in the class room. I can just see it now: I'll be one of many killed by them each year, but in my case the thing won't even be turned on!)

Tonight, Mr. and Mrs. Yamaki took me to Clover for dinner. I've been there twice with Etsuko. Mr. Yamaki knows the owner, so we got some extra dishes. One was a yummy sashimi dish, there was deep-fried burdock along with a burdock salad, and sherbet made from hand squeezed tangerines for dessert. My steak was not at all over cooked, and everything else was delicious!

So, at this point, I am feeling fat and happy. I hope everyone has this kind of day every so often!

Christmas Party

The international group here put on a Christms Party. I went with Mrs. Yamaki. Their real name is Suzuki, but there are a lot of Suzuki's here. So Mr. Suzuki is often called by his shop's name, Yamaki.

There was a dance group that put on a show.








The Girl Scouts were there, too, as well as a couple of my students. A group sang Christmas songs, first in Japanese, then in English. Finally Santa gave gifts to all the foreigners and children.

Of course, there was a lot of delicious food!















When told that I would miss the bus back to Kanai (my neighborhood), I said that I'd come with Mrs. Claus -- it was Mr. Yamaki that had been Santa!

Here are the younger Girl Scouts doing their routine. It included music from "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea".



Here are more Girl Scouts. The two on the right are students at KJHS.





All told, it was a fun party! Some people I know, and great food -- what more could I want?

Hachiko

Last weekend I went to Shibuya. Shibuya is another shopping district in Tokyo, but I came for something else.

There is a famous statue of a dog named "Hachiko" right outside the Hachiko exit of Shibuya station. Hachiko's story is famous in Japan.

In the early 1900's a professor at Tokyo University had a dog named Hachiko. Every morning, the dog would walk with the professor to Shibuya station. The professor took the train to work, and the dog would go home. The dog would then meet the professor at the station in the evening.

At one point, the professor suffered a stroke at work, and died. Hachiko kept showing up in the evening when the professor's train came. This continued for years afterwards.

When Hatchiko's story was published, he became famous. Loyalty is an important virtue in Japn, so a story about such a loyal dog was a hit with the public.

Here is the statue of Hachiko.































Here is a photo of Hachiko.

Playing with food

There are lots of things in Japanese grocery stores that I never saw in the stores in the US. Some, I knew what they were and what to do with them. Others, not so much.

In the seafood section, there are what can only be described as pink blobs. At first, I had no idea what they were, and later I suspected they were fish roe. I wanted to try something new, so I looked for a recipe using them and found a tarako spaghetti recipe.

Here are the ingredients.

First is tarako is salted cod roe. I've had onigiri (rice balls) with tarako inside them before, and they are yummy!

Of course, I hadn't seen them raw before I came here. I don't know about you, but I think they look like a small pair of lungs! These are the roe in their casing, which is very thin. So, first I had to squeeze and scrape the roe out. Since this was Y580, or $6.25, I won't eat it too often.

Some butter to cook in....










Next, is cream. I never said that this was a healthy dish!






And spaghetti, which isn't very cheap here.







Lastly, some powdered nori (seaweed) to sprinkle on top.













Here is the final product! It was delicious!

Nekobukuro

On Saturday, I visited a part of Tokyo that I had only passed through previously -- Ikebukuro　(池袋）. It's north of Shunjuku, and on the Yamanote Line.

Tokyu Hands is a chain of stores I first found in Nagoya. I love these stores! They have a really neat collection of stuff -- DIY, decor, health gadgets, travel goods, craft supplies, and what not. There is one in Ikebukuro, which has a unique section on the top floor: Nekobukuro.

Neko (猫）is Japanese for cat. This is a place where you can pay money to go and hang out with 20 or so cats, along with other people, for as long as you like (within their business hours). It's only 600 yen, and a nice lady was handing out 100 yen off coupons on the street outside, so I HAD to go!! Before you say, "Who'd spend money for that?", remember that most people in Tokyo live in apartments and can't have cats or dogs.

They have several different breeds of cat. Plus, they have all kinds of walkways and steps for the cats. Being cats, many of the cats were sleeping. Or trying to. Not all the cats were out among the people. Some were in their living quarters -- visible but not pettable. And it was a small area, so only so many people could get in at once. Overall, it was pretty fun for me.

Here are some pics. You can see all the kitty pics here.

Here are some of the walkways for the cats. The one with the steps goes through a hole in the wall.
























This one is a "mike" (mee-kay). That refers to the three colors, white, black and brown.

Vending machines

I'm going to make several small posts, instead of one big one -- it will make handling the pictures easier.

It's well-known that vending machines are common here, and that they sell darn near anything. The most common one, though, sells beverages. Both hot and cold beverages are usually available, with coffee coming in small cans. I've also had hot lemonade. There are also the sort of machines that dispense your drink into a paper cup.

I've seen machines that dispense alcohol -- beer and sake-- but I haven't found any around Nasukarasuyama.

I haven't seen a lot of machines selling food. I saw a few at rest stops, like the ones near Disneyland or Mt. Fuji. These included machines that heated your food so it was hot when it came out.

The ramen shops that sell tickets for the food right by the door don't count.

So, I had to take pictures when I saw these.
.
This one is selling a variety of snacks.















This one is selling the equivalent of energy bars.













This one is new to me, though. It's selling books!

It's Fall!

It's fall/autumn for sure. I saw some frost on the ground going to work today. Next month the heaters in the classrooms get turned on. Yay!

Actually, the classrooms aren't the bad part -- it's the hallways. On sunny days like today, the sun shines into the classrooms which also have around 30 live bodies in them. The hallway is on the shady side of the building, and the doors to the school are left open, so cold air comes in, and goes down halls. There are no fire door separating the stairs from the halls, all the halls are cold.

Yesterday was the third Thursday in November (also payday). What that means is the 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau is out. I had never had any, so I bought a bottle. It was Y1950 for 750 ml. Wine is spendy here. I was surprised to see that American whisky sells for about the same price here as it does in the US. Beer is anywhere from Y115-350 a can, and you don't save any money by buying a six-pack. They sell cans that are the same size as American beer, as well as a larger can. Wine, however, is expensive. (The exchange rate, as I'm writing this is $1 = Y95, meaning the dollar is weaker than normal.)

My impression of the wine: meh. But it is only a few weeks old...

Shichi-go-san

Today is Shichi-go-san (七五三）. It's literally "seven-five-three". It's a festival for girls age 3 and 7, and boys age 3 and 5.　　Parents take their children, to the shrine. The children also receive special candy that is supposed to ensure healthy growth and longevity.

I went to Futaarayama Shrine, in Utsunomiya. Here are the steps to the shrine. Behind the wall on the left are some buildings being torn down. I don't remember what they were, and have no idea what will go up in their place.








Here is a cute little girl. The skirt-like part of her outfit is actually hakama, which are very wide legged pants.













This boy is also wearing hakama, and looks very unhappy about something!














Here is another girl all dressed up.

Fall Festival

Here is tengu mask. You can't really see it, but the nose is really long. Tengu are supernatural beings in Japan. They are demons, but not necessarily bad ones. It depends on the tengu, I guess.









Here is some carving on the temple.







This nice lady and her daughter agreed to be photographed. You can see the difference between a very young girl's kimono and a married woman's kimono.










These dog balloons appear to "walk" on their paper feet. They sold quite well.




Here is the procession going into the temple. After this, the head priest chanted a sutra and some prayers.

This is the mikoshi. I think every temple and shrine has one, and they are carried around during festivals. Later we passed this group going down the road.

Here are the men with the tengu masks.














Here you can see the shoes the men with the masks are wearing. They don't look like fun!














Here is the little girl in her kimono again.















Some fall color....