Reunion

On the trip to Japan, there were a total of 10 students in our group. Of those 9, we managed to round up 4, plus us, which makes 6. Not too bad, especially considering 2 of the group are downstate. Jorie and I invited our friends from the trip, as well as some other good friends from the Marquette area, to our apartment for a sushi party.

Of course, when you think of sushi, you think of fish. But ours was all vegan, with combinations like sesame seed and cucumber, asparagus and carrot, and daikon radish and pea sprouts. We had wasabi, shoyu, and pickled ginger available, as any sushi restaurant would!

Our friend Rachel helped me make the rolls and cut them. A.J. was taking the photo so we made faces at him, of course. Jorie is looming in the background with root beer- the drink of choice for the party.

I can't remember why, but Rachel explained to us that the chicken dance has actual lyrics. I guess A.J. got a picture of me doing the chicken dance while making sushi.

While everyone waited, they folded animal origami sheets sent to us by our friends on the West Coast, Molly & Caroline. I gave up after trying a giraffe- I'm awful at origami. Everyone else seemed to be successful.


Beforehand, I made two types of cookies: sugar cookies with royal icing, and coconut date macaroons. One was awfully sugary sweet, the other had no sweeteners added and was amazingly tasty. Both sets were devoured quickly. What's special about the sugar cookies, though, was the shape.

I didn't have a cookie cutter, so I used a knife to cut out shapes of "Chu" Totoro and "Chibi" Totoro, as well as a few mushrooms. This was my first time using the royal icing flooding technique, and I was pleased with the results.

We had a lot of fun talking about the trip and eating and laughing together. There aren't any pictures of us eating the sushi because we were too busy eating!

Clark and Andrew. That's all.

Differences

When Jorie and I had our first day out and about in Marquette after returning home from Japan, we had a bit of reverse-culture-shock. In Japan, we never really felt shocked or homesick at all, but upon returning home, we definitely felt a little strange.



The roads seemed very wide. Everything here seemed way too far apart. Useless, water-wasting lawns sprawled everywhere, trimmed neatly for no apparent reason other than cultural tradition. Space in Japan is used very wisely, and for good reason. But one can't help but admire the way the space is used, no matter the reason. There are no useless lawns, but instead every home has a garden, whether it's a good size or a tiny one. Even homes along the streets have many potted plants out front. If there is grass or a field, wild plants are allowed to grow. If there is a large space not being used in town, it becomes a vegetable garden or a rice paddy. It does make one think about how we do things like this in America. We have strange zoning laws that prevent that kind of integration. Lawns, both at businesses and at homes, are really quite strange and quite demanding when you think about it. They require fuel and time for cutting, they require far more water to stay green than native plants, and people often cover them with poison to control "weeds" and insects. It's rare to see this phenomena in Japan, at least where we were.



Transportation! Cars in Japan are small to match the narrow roads. It seems to work fine, even when our host mother had to fit Jorie and I, along with our matching suitcases and carry-on bags into the car. Sometimes the old roads are a little too narrow though, and people must pull over so the other car can get by. Bicycles are used a lot more, as well as people's own two feet. We walked a lot in Japan, and we noticed a lot of bicycles, too. In places where it's feasible to walk or bike to their destination, that's what they do. We decided to walk a little more in Marquette, and today we did all our errands on foot for a change. It was actually quite nice.



There are also buses and trains everywhere in Japan. They are seldom late. Public transit does not go to waste by any means. When we came home, Jorie and I were discussing how useful trains would be in Michigan. A bullet train in lower Michigan sure would be nice! Buses aren't a common thing in this part of Michigan, but we're hoping we can utilize them once we move downstate.

The Japanese take good care of their skin. On bright, sunny days, people wear clothing that is light and thin, but covers their skin. They also tend to carry umbrellas and wear hats. Our host mother mentioned traveling in America and having an umbrella to block the sun, only to feel out of place since no one else was using one. It makes sense, but we explained that people would stare or laugh at you here if you used an umbrella because it's not common. Jorie and I wonder if the difference is that people in America always want to get a tan.


This photo of some ladies shopping for grilled takenoko was taken on an incredibly hot, sunny day, yet they are covered head to toe. I tried wearing my hooded jacket that day and it wasn't as bad as I expected. I'm glad I did because everything that wasn't covered was horribly sunburned- especially my poor nose.

Other random things we noticed on our first day or so back is how simple our own English letters looked. We could read the signs and the packaging on items in the store! It seemed like magic after weeks of being confronted with complex kanji characters we had no hope of reading. We didn't greet people as much. When we arrived in the Minneapolis airport, one of the first things we saw after customs was people being driven around on small vehicles inside the airport instead of walking. There aren't vending machines in strange places here, and certainly not with the frequency in which we saw them in Japan.

Also, the only Japanese restaurant in town (the one on campus) was serving rice that didn't quite taste Japanese. The miso soup had a little too much miso, and the inari sushi's aburaage pouch seemed to be fried in a little too much mirin and not enough soy sauce. I guess we're connoisseurs now. We eagerly await our vegan Japanese cook book in the mail.

Giant Kite Festival

Today was the Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival. It was a hot and sunny day- maybe a little too much so. It was neat seeing all the kites, but it was also hot and tiring. The first thing we saw at the festival was the Shinto priest from the shrine we went to as a class. He was the one who allowed us to participate in a Shinto ceremony- he's a very kind man! (We've also heard he travels abroad a lot- I think he's even been to Marquette!) He was blessing the kite and praying for a good wind.

We also saw people with their own, small kites, as well as groups of people under the shade of tents, with big kites propped up outside. They had many different designs, all following the tradition of having two animal figures and a Kanji. These kites always form a sort of word pun.

Jorie and I managed to find the forest nearby and go inside for awhile. It was really lovely and we wanted to stay, but we didn’t get to explore for long. We heard music and followed a path that ended in a small area with people selling goods. Okaa-san was there and flagged us down- she and Oba-sensei were having some takenoko that was grilled with miso. We got to try some, but there was no time for us to eat our own- we had to go back to see the giant kite.

Our classmates helped pull the kite, but Jorie and I just wanted to watch and take pictures and video. It was a little difficult because of the crowds. On the first try, the kite was off the ground for less than a minute, then came back down. Half an hour later (oh, that hot sun!) they tried again, and it crashed before it even lifted off fully. On the third try, they got the kite up for 40 seconds- slightly better but still not ideal.

They decided they might try again later in the afternoon after that, but we were finally allowed to leave, and, being way too hot and thirsty, we took the opportunity. We left with Okaa-san and went to the supermarket to get some lunch and some snacks for the flight home. Once in the supermarket, we all noticed we had some pretty mean sunburn despite our best efforts to keep covered up. After getting home and eating, we all promptly fell asleep for some time.

Later on, Jorie and I tried to visit the local shrine again, but the crows were still there and immediately found us and started cawing and following us around. Eventually, we spotted a broken eggshell on the ground and we assumed this area has their nest in it, so we left again. We’ve been wanting to go to the forest really badly, but every time we almost get a chance, it doesn’t work out. The shrine was the next best thing, but the crows just didn't want us there. We are determined to return to Japan someday to see the forest.

Later in the day, we heard that the kite finally flew very high in the sky and for about eight minutes!

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.

Nagahama

So on Saturday, our class took a trip to Nagahama, only 10 minutes away by train. We specifically went to see the figure museum.

The figure museum was just like it sounds- the Kaiyodo companies figures on display. I was a little surprised to find 3 figures I have at home being displayed at the museum! I have a tiny tanuki figure, as well as 2 revoltech transformers. I don't have a whole lot of toys so it's interesting to note that the ones I do have are from Japan.
After the figure museum, we accidentally happened upon a music box store. Filled. With. Ghibli. Merchandise.

I sort of stopped in my tracks for a moment and gibbered and pointed. I didn't really expect to come across a place with so much Ghibli merch. So much cute all in one tiny space! Needless to say, we spent some time there and left with a few things. I bought some handkerchiefs (useful for tying up lunches/bento) an eye pillow (can heat or freeze) shaped like o-totoro, and a gift for a friend.

We then explored the streets of Nagahama, particularly the Otemon St. shopping district. The street is packed with shops and restaurants. The shops were selling glass items, a specialty of the area, kimono and other traditional clothing supplies, and of course tons of souvenirs and pretty things. We blew through some money. A little. Maybe. We got lost trying to use the map (TWICE) trying to find other destinations, particularly a temple and shrine. But we eventually found one of them.

Of course at some point we were incredibly hungry. We had a very difficult time finding someplace with vegan food. We were ready to give up and eat snack crackers a vendor was selling, when our professor appeared and pointed us to a restaurant with zaru soba. We were very grateful.

Zaru soba is definitely our fall-back food. There is likely bonito (fish) in the tsuyu dipping sauce, but compared to the meat and eggs in all the other dishes.. it's enough. And the restaurant was really nice; the soba was delicious.
It was an adventure, for sure. Lots of exploring, trying to communicate, shopping, and dashing to the train station to go home. We had a good time in Nagahama.

Now, we're off to our host families. If we don't have internet access there, we won't be updating until we get home, but I think we have enough content to keep making blog posts for quite some time, so keep checking back!

A Day Off

On the way back home from Nara, it was decided that Sunday would be a free day -- a day for study, but mostly, a day to let our feet recover from all that walking around. We were very thankful for this change of plans, as our syllabus originally had us going to Kyoto on Sunday.

Steph and I slept in until 8:30! It felt very good to get lots of extra sleep. We attempted to do laundry and had a heck of a time trying to decipher the washing machines. Eventually, I think we succeeded, and afterward we both air-dried and machine-dried our clothes. Since machine-drying isn't very common here and is energy-using, you must pay for it at JCMU. The center also has a clothes-drying room, which was really interesting to use. Basically, there are bars across the windows, allowing the outside air to come freely into the space, and dry the hanging clothes faster.

At around one-ish, we left with a group of classmates, walking to the strip mall and supermarket. It was a beautiful day outside and very warm... upon finally reaching the supermarket, we found it was very much like the Japanese version of a Walmart... only busier and filled with things we couldn't read! With some difficulty, we found most of the food we needed.

It's interesting to note that rice -- which we bought -- comes in 5-lb bags at the smallest and is also very expensive. It was the most pricey thing we bought! On the other hand, certain Japanese foods and ingredients, which we are accustomed to paying a good deal for in the U.S., are often relatively inexpensive. Fruits, too, such as apples, are also quite pricey.

Loaded with groceries and hungry, we spotted a taiyaki dealer outside the supermarket!

At one-hundred yen apiece, we grabbed four, and gobbled them down on a bench outside.

Steph and I know almost no conversational Japanese, but between asking the cashier if the store took Visa and telling the taiyaki vendor we wanted four azuki bean taiyaki cakes, we managed alright. There was a whole lot of broken Japanese, broken English, and hand gestures going on, that's for sure.

We took a relaxing walk home along Lake Biwa, and got to JCMU at last! Here's a picture of our haul from the supermarket:

That night, the class got together and made kitsune udon for everyone to eat. Steph and I made onigiri with the rice, nori, and furikake that we purchased. It was a tasty dinner! As the class ate and laughed, Oba-Sensei detailed how he was in a few episodes of Power Rangers... or something. It was quite the night.

Day 1

So Jorie detailed the travel adventure from which I am still recovering. We’ve done a bunch of other things on our first day here at JCMU, so I’m going to talk about that. Before I do, I have to mention that it’s beautiful around here! I feel so disoriented- I usually know all the plants and animals around me in Michigan, but here, I don’t know any of them.

Dietary Dos and Don'ts

So being vegan in Japan will be interesting. Jorie and I figure we can manage pretty well while we're staying at JCMU, but eating at restaurants and a week's worth of homestay will be another question. One of our biggest concerns is offending others or being an inconvenience, yet we don't want to compromise our morals, either.

We have decided to let one thing slide when other options are not available: fish stock. It's used in soups and other dishes and is quite common. It would be, probably, the hardest thing to avoid.

Other than that, we made it clear on our homestay sheets what our dietary restrictions are, and we were told to be sure we clarify for our host families when we are able. The main objectives are to be polite, apologetic, and thankful, no matter what. If we have to discreetly pick some meat out of a dish, so be it.

I'm excited to try new things, and I have experienced a few already thanks to my friend Molly. At home, Jorie and I sometimes make zaru soba with home-made vegan tsuyu sauce, as well as veggie sushi and miso soup made from kombu broth. Lovely photos are by Jorie.