Journal from 5/25

5/25/2010

Today, we had a delicious breakfast of rice, shiitake soup, tofu-vegetable salad, and cooked spinach. We were dropped off at the Higashiomi city hall to meet the Mayor. We all sat in his office and talked (Mits translated as needed). The mayor mentioned he was surprised that Jorie and I were vegetarian, and that it’s not very common. We took group photos and we were given a pack of beautiful postcards featuring images of Higashiomi and a pin with the city logo on it.

After that, we walked to the ceramics studio, Nunobiiki. It was full of beautiful dishes, cups, mugs, wall plaques, chopstick holders, and sculptures. Mostly, the ceramics feature trees or owls. There’s a shrine near the shop where it’s said owls visit, and owls bring good luck. Jorie & I purchased a wall ornament with two owls, as well as a gift. We were there for a workshop, but the head artist, Taro Kojima-san, was not in for some reason, so his son taught the workshop. We were given pre-made clay cups and instructed how to cut animal shapes out of clay to attach to the cup. I chose an owl and Jorie chose a maneki neko. We cut them out, carved them, and attached them. The cups will be fired in a kiln, glazed, and fired again, which will take around a month. We may get them back when a group comes to Marquette from Higashiomi with the sister cities program.

Next, we had a long walk to the Shiga Gakuen middle/high school. We were served lunch in the cafeteria- Jorie and I had kitsune udon and rice. Then we went to Mayumi Kakimi-sensei’s art classroom for the rest of the day. We split up to different tables with Japanese students and we talked about trees and kanji that include the “ki” or tree kanji. Then, a group of visiting Taiwanese students came in! They spoke Chinese, English, and some Japanese. So we were joined by one Taiwanese student. We made paper “ema” or prayer plaques. I drew a tiger on mine for year of the tiger and Jorie drew a deer. We wrote wish messages on them and exchanged them with the other students. Mine said “good luck in school”. The one I received had the kanji for “dream”. When the students left for the day, a few students came in for after-school art club. We were served snacks and we chatted with the art club students before being picked up by our host families.

Okaa-san then took us to a store selling books, CDs, videos, and stationary & other cute things. She was shopping for cute items for her newly remodeled bathroom & found some cute sweets-shaped candles as well as a "Relakkuma" rug. Jorie & I found really cute bug stickers and magnets, and I found another children’s book to take home.

Okaa-san's blog is here.

We're Home!

Well, we weren't able to update the blog while we were doing the homestay, but we did journal a lot. So I'll be posting my journal entries while Jorie posts on more specific things.

5/24/10

Yesterday, we met our host family and stayed for the first night. Jorie and I ended up in the same home due to our vegan diets. We have an Okaa-san (mother), Otoo-san (father), and Ai-chan, our 16 year old sister. They have been very kind to us and Okaa-san can speak very good English. They have a traditional Japanese house with sliding doors and tatami. They have a pet cat named Chii-chan and he’s really friendly. They also have a beautiful garden.

We learned a lot even on the first night. We understand why rooms are closed (to keep heat in only certain rooms), we tried some new food, we took Japanese baths in the evening, and we slept on futons.

The weather has been rainy and kind of humid. Today, we were brought to a meeting place for our class, and then we set off for the day’s activities. First, we went to a beautiful Shinto shrine. We actually met the priest and sat down inside to have tea and snacks and learn about Shinto. We then were allowed to participate in a ceremony. It was beautiful and we were very grateful. Everything just looks so lovely - the moss and lichen covered stone, the torii gates, the rain chains, the gardens, the stone lanterns, the flowers. It seems like it smells especially nice in the shrines, too.

After the shrine, we went to a Buddhist temple. We were taken on a tour inside- something we don’t usually get to do. Buddhist temples are much more ornate than Shinto shrines, but include less nature sometimes, with the exception of zen temples. The priest talked at length to our sensei about the building and the art inside, and then we moved on to a confection store while Kakimi Mayumi prepared lunch for us at her home.

Kakimi-san is the artist and teacher who taught us about etegami and nihonga. She had a very lovely house with a cute dog outside. For lunch, we had sukiyaki. Our classmates used a grill right on the table to make their own sukiyaki, made of noodles, sauce, and some vegetables. Kakimi and a Japanese woman, Chihiro, who studied at NMU, made special food for Jorie and I, so we had a vegetarian sukiyaki and vegetable sandwiches. It was really tasty! We do feel bad that people have to make a special effort just for us, but of course it’s important to us. Everyone has been very helpful.

After lunch, we went to the Oodako (giant kite) museum. The kites are beautiful, and some of them really are giant. I think the kite we saw inside was 15 meters, but there are much bigger kites in the world too. We learned how the kites are made, and that they have a special kind of picture on them- a combination of a kanji and animal(s) which make a pun. For example, a tiger is “tora”, so there was a kite with a kanji saying “retsu” (let’s) and it had tora on it, so it sounds like “retsu tora” or “let’s try”. There were other, smaller, kites in the museum too. Jorie and I especially liked the insect kites.

After the kite museum, we went to a department store to shop and relax before going back to our host family. Jorie and I found some sweets and we ate fresh taiyaki. I tried shiiro taiyaki for the first time and discovered it is actually made from mochi! I also finally found a children’s book to bring home. I’m excited that I found a good one. Sensei and the others helped me find cough medicine- it even had English on the side! It’s interesting- it’s in a nice glass bottle with a sturdy plastic cup included. It tastes better than American cough syrup!

Okaa-san picked us up from the department store at 5. We drove home and dropped off our things, then went for a walk through the area. It really is a beautiful place. It’s kind of rural, so a lot of it is rice fields and large houses. We visited a very nice little Shinto shrine, as well as a small Buddhist shrine. Okaa-san explained how the people in the area all donated to help build and maintain the temple, and that older men from the area pray at (inside) the shrine as a rule. We dropped our coins in the container as we have at many other shrines and temples, and rang a bell, clapped, and bowed. Okaa-san also showed us one of the lanterns inscriptions that had her family members names (her father and sisters, I believe). On our walk, we also saw a very important tree that ‘s hundreds of years old. It was quite a beautiful tree, and it had supports and signs beneath it.

From my room, I can see nearby mountains. On one of them is a Shinto shrine.

Nara is Amazing

So yesterday (May 15) we went to Nara. We left at 7:30am and took a walk past homes, rice fields, and businesses, several miles to the train station.


We've been in a lot of train stations. They always have kiosks and some places to grab a bite to eat. We've had many tickets (kippu) pass through our hands.

Our first stop in Nara was Horyu-ji. Before entering temples or shrines, you purify yourself by washing your hands and mouth. We just washed our hands, and it seemed like that's what most people were doing. Here's Hannah and Allison doing this.

Horyu-ji is made up of several structures, including (to name a few) the kondo, pagoda, main hall, and yumedono. Beautiful place. It was very crowded and there were many groups of students being led through. Amusingly, many of the students were excited to see our group- especially the tall blondes in the group. Sometimes, they tried out their English on us too.
Here's a little bit of Horyu-ji

Next, we ate lunch at a noodle place, and then we took a bus to Todai-ji. In a word, Todai-ji is amazing. It's the largest wooden structure in the world, possibly only rivaled by the Superior Dome. However, the Dome has NOTHING on this beautiful place. Certainly there is no 49' Buddha inside the Dome. The structure is just overwhelmingly gigantic as you walk up to it. Inside, the statues loom above you. Unfortunately, my pictures from inside were rather poor because it's quite dim inside. But you can understand some scale by looking at the people.

People lit incense before going inside. We did too. Our classmate Matthew (or part of him anyway) is in this photo as he lights incense. It smelled lovely.

There were other sculptures inside, too. It was really amazing to see all of this after having taken Japanese art history at NMU. Some of these art pieces are from a very, very long time ago and have survived in respectable condition. The craftsmanship is remarkable, and the survival of the works (including architecture) is a testament to that. Also inside the building, a gift shop with many, many Buddha and deer souvenirs. Jorie was excited, to say the least. I picked up a bunch of small gifts for friends at home, and some beautiful handkerchiefs.

The day was kind of a blur because we were moving around so much, but I forgot to mention the deer of Nara. As soon as we arrived at Todaiji, we saw the deer. They're everywhere. They're considered sacred, so they're allowed to do whatever they want! Again, Jorie was veeery excited, which is why she's making a separate post just about this deer business. So I'll just say that we all enjoyed feeding the deer Shika Senbei, or deer crackers. Here's one waiting smartly by the senbei kiosk.

It was a very amazing day indeed. We walked a LOT though, and, after taking several (EXTREMELY crowded) trains home, we had to walk the several miles back to JCMU. In the dark. At some point, one of our classmates fell ill and we had to get her a ride back. We were all very concerned but she was okay, thankfully. Most of us opted to walk back after that (rather than get a ride in the car)- Jorie and I wanted to hear the kaeru (frogs) and mushi (insects) at night. We did. The rice paddies are everywhere, so the frogs are also everywhere. They sounded a lot like peepers, with other kinds of frogs joining in too. Instead of ribbit, frogs in Japan say kerokero or gerogero. We also saw stars (hoshi) in the sky, and lovely reflections on the rice paddies. We loved it, but we were also walking on very sore feet. We stopped at the Lawson's convenience store, and then went back to the apartment. Jorie bought a beer, drank it, and then quickly fell asleep.