It's like I never left home

Two Sundays ago the temperature was in the 60s and it was glorious



Three wishes:
1. Bird would give me a moment to grab my camera,
2. I had a camera that could handle more distance and I knew how to use it,
3. I had a decent guide to Japanese birds. The current one does not cut it.



Something is always in bloom in Hyogo.

Now the weather's back to being crummy, gloomy, rainy, and snowy.






I pass by this sign everyday that says キリストの再臨は近い！ キリスト (kirisuto) and 近い(chikai, or "near") were the only two words I could read and I didn't know what kirisuto could be. It's in the katakana script, which is mostly reserved for foreign words. So for the longest time I thought the sign said something like "There is a crystal (kirisuto) shop nearby" or maybe "There is a crystal mine nearby". But about a month ago I was biking by it again and recognized the kanji 再, which sorta means "again" or "re-" and suddenly it all clicked!

First person to put it all together using only what's been written here gets Japanese sweet potato KitKats sent to them.

(Hint: kirisuto =/= crystal, の = 's (possessive))

漫才 Manzai!

Sunday I was invited to see some manzai in Sasayama. Manzai is usually a two-man comedic act in which a straight man and his idiot partner discuss this or that. The idiot gets hit upside the head a lot and the straight man is always astounding by his friend's stupidity. Manzai has expanded to include lots of different styles. Some are more physical and full of slapstick, while others drop the straight man/idiot set up, and still other acts may have up to four members.

There were 20 acts in all (although there were also magic acts and a musical performance by my neighbor, Maestro Adachi) and of them I really only understood one well enough to honestly laugh a bit. Still, I didn't think I'd understand even that much.

The audience was mixed; everyone from 2-year-old tots to 90-year-old crones showed up. Being the inaka and Japan being an aging/aged society, there were definitely more of the latter. Perhaps that accounts for the audience response, as the performers were usually a lot younger than the audience. Some of the non-manzai acts actually got more laughs than the manzai acts.

Or maybe Japanese comedy is just like Japanese sweets - not too overwhelming. There was no knee-slapping or rolling in the aisles or having to wipe tears away. Goofy? Yes. Clever? Yes. HILARIOUS? No. But then, I don't speak Japanese.

Here is Somei Yoshino, the one group I did manage to understand (though they performed a different piece).

青垣の生活 Daily Life in Aogaki : A Dichotomous Key

6:30AM Alarm goes off.

1a. If Monday, Tuesday, or Thursdays, go to 2
1b. If Wednesday or Friday --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:10

2a. If I can see my breath, --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:30
2b. If I can't see my breath --> Get out of bed/futon at 7:15


Okay, enough of that.

Breakfast used to be well-rounded, but that was months ago when I was still going to bed at 8PM and waking up at 5AM. Now I'm doing good if I remember to grab a mikan orange on my way out the door or if I remember to throw some toast into the toaster oven. Sometimes there is time for tea.

MTTh I am at work by 8:10 and morning meeting starts at 8:15 at my base school. I swivel around in my chair and listen to the meeting, but hardly understand anything. Usually I hold off my reading of the NYTimes until about 8:20, when the morning meeting is over and teachers are running around getting ready for homeroom. I have time to look at my schedule, set out books, find class lists, mentally prepare myself, and maybe eat that mikan.

If I have to go to the bank I'll find an hour I don't have anything to do and walk down to the bank. A good 7 minute walk. Wakes me up and gets me out of the office with all of its fumes from the space heaters.

Usually I'll have 2-3 classes, though sometimes only 1 or as many as 4. Usually I can be out by 4PM, but sometimes I'll stay later if there's something to work on or ponder. Once in a while a student will ask for a conversation hour after class or the cooking or taiko clubs will invite me to a meeting and I will be at the school until 5 or 6PM.

In warm weather I might go for a walk or bike my way on some errands after work, but in cold weather I do one thing: sit under my kotatsu, eat at my kotatsu, and drink at my kotatsu. I catch up with mail and messages and Skype friends and family. It's my time to unwind.

WF I am at work by 8:05 for the 8:10 meeting. More of the same. Any number of classes. If it's a slow day I'll walk into town for lunch, either to the grocery store or the bakery.

If it's a Wednesday I stay in the office and work/read until about 5PM and then head out to dinner with friends before going to my weekly Japanese lesson. I get home around 9 or 10PM, depending on when the lesson begins and how long it lasts, which all depends on if I feel like the living dead or not.

If it's a Friday, there are several possibilities: I run out of the building at 4 on the dot and return home, I run out at 4 on the dot and hop on the train to a weekend destination, or I stay until 6 and hang out with the tea ceremony club. I sorta got roped into that, but it's fun and there are Japanese sweets involved, so it's all good.




In other news, I killed a mukade in the bathroom yesterday. I guess that means it's spring.

猫の時間 Neko no Jikan!

Today I went to Osaka with a fellow ALT, who works at the same school as I do, only on a different day.

We went to a cat cafe, where you pay a 1,050 yen to hang out with cats for an hour and enjoy a drink. You can doodle in guest books, flip through cat photography books, and do various other cat-related things.



The cats are friendly, but they won't come and sit in your lap. I mean, they're cats, right? What did you expect? This guy just sat on the bookshelf with his face in the corner.



I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in the doorway between the cafe and the cat room when the owners decided it was feeding time and suddenly I was in the middle of a cat stampede. Imagine that scene in LotR where Arwen rescues Frodo by summoning those river horses (no, not hippos, you know what I mean) to drown the Nazgul. Yeah, it was like that.

Altogether a good time. The longhairs were real friendly and it was great to watch the cats jump around and cause a little bit of mischief.

I think I'll have to check out the dog cafe sometime soon.

Kyoto Part Two!

From Saturday through Monday I was in Kyoto with fellow MSU grad and current ALT Heidi. We stayed at the Shunko-in Temple in northern Kyoto City. Believe it or not, I found out about the temple through a facebook advertisement hawking discounts to JETs and Arizona State University alum. The vice-abbot speaks English and gives tours of the temple and garden and leads a 30 minute meditation session, mercifully excluding the Stick of Compassion. Unlike the Portugeuse bell, hidden crosses in the garden lanterns, and some of the Christian imagery on the temple's screens, the Stick of Compassion did not come over with the Jesuits (I don't think they brought any Catholic school nuns with them).



Enjoying some tea and not causing trouble after meditation.


The accomodations were not at all shabby!

The temple is a part of a larger complex called Myoshinji.


Another part of Myoshinji is Sanmon (above), which has a really ornate upper room with a Kannon statue. Every last inch is painted in bright colors and bold outlines.



One of the many many buildings in the complex. It's large, but it feels small with everything behind walls.


The temple offered free bikes on loan. I took one to Ryoanji, which is unfortunately closed until February for construction of some sort. Still, it was a nice bike ride uphill and I went on a little walk in the woods.



Being in the former capital of Japan, of course we had to sample some of the local fare, which is how we found ourselves at a WONDERFUL Turkish restaurant in Teramachi. Good tea!





We also stopped by Kiyomizudera, which is featured in the Tale of Genji. There's a spring with healing/wish-giving waters and a sort of cave that's like Buddha's womb. You pay 100 yen to go down some steps and walk around in the dark for a minute or two (while holding the rail with your left hand! Don't let go!) until you reach an illuminated stone, where you place your hands and pray to Buddha. Then it's a little further until you reach the staircase and are reborn when you exit. It's worth it for the wow! effect of walking around in the dark and seeing only the stone lit up.

Kiyomizudera is also a stop on the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage, so I brought my stamp book along. That's two down, thirty-one more to go!

We also checked out the International Manga Museum, which had a neat exhibit on French comics from the 1800s to the present and an exhibit on a project between European and Asian comic artists. The exhibits are in Japanese and English, so be sure to check it out if you have the chance.

Our last day it snowed on and off. It was lovely!





I'm sure I'll be back in the spring. I've seen Kyoto in summer, fall, and winter. It would only make sense!

Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day

I've been slacking on the writing and picture taking. Pardon!

Christmas was spent at the office, but the day afterward I took off to have a Christmas party at my house. There was snow on the ground for the first time when I woke up and it snowed quite a bit in the early afternoon. The Sasayama/Tamba crew came over to celebrate and celebrate we did with a lot of food and spirits.

New Year's Eve was spent in Sasayama watching movies, eating, drinking, and going to Kasuga Shrine to watch a ceremony after midnight, drink some sake, and get an arrow to hang in the house and ward off bad luck.

New Year's Day I rolled into Kaibara and spent the better part of the day with a JTE and his family. We had lunch and dinner, played some card games, watched some manzai comedy, and went to Hachiman Shrine to pray and get our fortunes. It snowed a ton starting around 5 or 6PM. I was sent home with a lot of goodies and was safe on the roads.

It's been a nice and relaxing break.

I was going to start Kansai Kannon Pilgrimage, but couldn't get off my lazy butt. Next weekend I'll be in Kyoto for a temple stay, so I might hit up some of the temples in Kyoto. I'm not really doing it for the sake of Doing It Right, but I thought it would be a neat way to see some architechture from different prefectures with at least one constant: Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

When I was in Europe I enjoyed going to churches dedicated to Mother Mary and seeing what they had in common (or not) and I'm hoping this will be a similarly enjoyable experience.

I've got some more ideas brewing about in my skull for future posts. More later!


Aogaki by ~jozzig on deviantART

Here's a little sketch of Aogaki.

Peace!

A Little Tidbit

Friday I did a bit of grocery shopping and was very elated to find a loaf of bread with eight slices.

You see, in Japan, all loaves are the same size and it's all white bread. Brand matters not. The difference is the thickness of the slices. They range from four to ten slices per loaf. I have only heard tell of the ten-slice loaves. This Friday was the first time I had seen eight-slice loaves. Usually I must settle for six slices.

I'll have to document more Adventures in Food in Japan sometime as well as Christmas in Japan.