Day 7 - For those who don't speak Japanese, kin means gold and gin means silver

I traveled back to Kyoto today (and its only a half an hour train ride! These cities are so close together), and today I ventured out a little farther from the main station. This costs money, even for me, because none of the JR train lines that I have an unlimited contract with run to where I wanted to go, so I had to experiment with both the subway and the city bus system today.

Kyoto's city bus system utilizes a green strategy I have never heard of before: at every bus stop and red light they turn off the engine. This amounts to only a few seconds sometimes, but I can imagine it adds up for the amount of time saved through this process. I don't know if this is a law or a policy of the company, but its very interesting.

Today I bussed my way to the Kinkakuji, the temple made of gold, and Ginkakuji, the temple not really made of silver, but still called something like that anyway. Actually, I visited them in reverse order, but I had to tell it like that to sound witty and smart. To get to Ginkakuji, I could have just taken the bus, but instead I went to Nansenji, a smaller temple amongst a slew of other temples (you can see them in my pictures, but I don't know all their names). I then took the scenic Philosopher's Walk to Ginkakuji. Along the way I stopped at a kimono store and bought my first yukata! That's a cotton kimono. Sorry, no pictures of that yet, I haven't taken it out yet and I'll probably keep it until I come home. I may have to make some presentations about this trip next year and if I go to an elementary school it will be cool for the kids if I'm wearing traditional Japanese clothing. Also I really wanted to get one. It's got dragons on it.

Anyway, Ginkakuji was beautiful, and those pictures are in that first album above. The gardens were all moss gardens, and my favorite part of the temple was the zen sand garden, which had a massive hill that was supposed to be Mount Fuji. It was all made of sand but it stood almost 6 feet tall.

I also met some new friends, who I hope can come over here to read this. They were a young couple (and I won't say their names because I don't know if it's okay with them), but they offered, in English, to take my photo in front of the main building, and then I took theirs. We spoke a little bit and they were surprised I knew Japanese, and we actually ran into each other later outside the temple grounds. It was then that I learned that they have both been to America, and in fact the guy was living here for months. They humbly said that they were no good at English, but frankly they did very well. It was the best English I have heard since arriving a week ago.

Yes, it has already been a week. Or, well, it will be tomorrow. The date change on my flight over screwed up the amount of time I've actually been here, so I really arrived on the 2nd even though for me the 1st was only about 16 hours long. Still, its gone by quickly and I've been trying to cram Kyoto into two days. It would be easy to get caught up in temples and miss other things. By the way, I'm not done in Kyoto, but the next time I go it will be for the Shinto Shrine, not the Buddhist temples. Also, it won't be tomorrow.

The second shrine I went to was Kinkakuji, which really was covered in gold. The top two stories of the building were covered in gold leaf. This was an extravagance engineered by Shogun Ashikaga, who used it as a summer home. The pool in front of it is called the mirror pool, and I got a great shot of the temple with its reflection.

At Kinkakuji, I met Matt and Sonya (Sonja? She spoke Ukranian so it could be a more traditional spelling). Matt lived in Japan and Sonya was visiting him. We spoke for a while about what I was doing, and I told him about Burakumin. I was surprised he hadn't heard the word before, but it makes an important point. He's been living in Japan, so he probably teaches English if I had to guess. So, he probably has learned Japanese and is interested in their culture. But Japanese people don't like to talk about the whole Burakumin thing. It's kind of embarrassing to some and rude to others. Thats why its so hard to solve problems like this, because people don't want to talk about it. That's why theres really only one museum in the entire country that acknowledges them.

Also at Kinkakuji, I was interviewed, in English, by a Japanese middle school student. Clearly, Kinkakuji is a tourist spot, because he came on his school trip equipped with a notebook in which he had written things he needed to ask someone in English. As he asked me things he checked them off in the book. I was glad to help him with his assignment, and the chaperone behind him was smirking the whole time he was talking to me. Afterwards, he asked to have his picture taken with me. I was exotic to him. It was either for a souvenir or for evidence that he saw a real, live American. So I let him and then his friend get their picture taken with the American. It isn't like I don't notice the staring and the sidelong glances as I ride the trains, and they don't really bother me either. I would get the same looks if I went to China, or Africa. The only reason we don't give them to Japanese who visit America is because we are a racially diverse nation and that sort of thing doesn't surprise us.

After Kinkakuji, I huffed it from the nearest bus stop (still about a mile away) to Kiyomizudera, another iconic temple in Kyoto. It was impressive, but what was more impressive was the cemetary right next door. It's not any sort of morbid curiosity, but I have never seen a Japanese cemetary before, and this was the mother of all cemetaries. Seriously it was huge. It was also kind of beautiful, in a way. It's hard to explain, but the multitude of stones, each with a place for burning incense, made the place majestic, much more so than any other cemetary I've been to, with the exception of perhaps Arlington. It really was something.

That's all for now, check out the second half of the pictures here. The first half is here if you missed it above.

Cory

Edit: Here are my new friends!

Day 6 - Kyoto: East and West Temples

Today I left Osaka for the first time since my arrival. I figured that six days in, I was about due for a day trip. So, I went to the nearest major city, Kyoto, and decided to see some Buddhist architecture. I also wanted to try out a little experiment: to see if I could have a good time without spending any money at all.

Well, things did not go according to plan. First of all, it was about 90 degrees in Kyoto today, so I dodged in and out of shadows along the side of the buildings on my way to the temples, and the heat forced me into buying some cold soda from vending machines along the way, as my Nalgene was growing warmer the longer I carried it. My new favorite flavor of soda is Melon. Coincidentally, this is also my new favorite flavor of ice cream.

Anyway, when I got to the first temple, the smaller of the two buildings (but not by much) was under construction, which limited the amount of architecture that was available. The inside of the temple was amazing, but I couldn't take pictures and thus can't share it with you. Needless to say, it was very shiny.

This first temple, Higashi Honganji, was created by Tokugawa Ieyasu in order to weaken the existing Honganji temple. He was afraid of the support it was gathering and attempted to split the sect in two.

The other temple, now also known as Nishi Honganji, was also under construction, except this time it was the larger of the two that was under construction. I still saw the famous Buddhist architecture, but in both cases it was not to the level that it would normally be, so I was disappointed.

Around the Nishi Honganji, though, I noticed two interesting things. First, a small temple nextdoor to the Nishi Honganji was also open, and in truth I went there thinking it was the Nishi Honganji. This other temple was still extraordinary and so I had a great opportunity to look at a more modern construction that replicated the details of the Honganji temples. Both of these temples are free, by the way, so other than food I spent no money today.

Don't worry, I didn't forget the second interesting thing. In a shop nearby that was selling Buddhist prayer beads, there was a picture of none other than Ken Watanabe (the actor from Inception and The Last Samurai, among others) in that store holding some prayer beads. So I have a picture in a picture for you.

This makes a funny joke if you think about Inception

I ventured back to the shopping area in and around Kyoto station. There is a food floor here. You read that right. An entire floor of a massive building. With nothing but food vendors. And they all had free samples. Multiple free samples. That was basically going to be my lunch. It wouldn't have been unhealthy, though, as there were plenty of fruit and vegetable vendors in addition to the myriad of sweets that were available. I really could have gone all day without buying anything.

Until I saw the bakery.

Now this deserves some explaining. Since my arrival in Japan I have been fascinated by these Japanese bakeries that are quite literally everywhere. You can't ride a train in Japan without finding one, and there are many trains in Japan. They have rows and rows of various treats not found in the US, and you go around with a tray and a pair of tongs and you pick what you want and then go pay for it. They have little egg-custard tarts with marmalade and they have sort of cinnamon bun croissants with maple frosting. And they have tarts that instead of sweets have eggs and bacon on them. These people are culinary geniuses. So I caved and bought some treats that you can see in the gallery for today. Here's the link.

Before I went home, I ventured up the escalators to the top of the Kyoto station, to a rooftop garden and observation deck called the skybridge. I got a few good pictures of the cityscape and a great view of the Kyoto Tower.

I liked Kyoto so much that tomorrow I'm going back to visit some more temples.

Day 5 - Today I Write You a Bnovel

Bnovel is my new word for web-novel (like blog means weblog). I call today's post this because I have done so much stuff today I could write forever. But I won't. I'm far too lazy for that.

First thing I did today was get up at 7am. This might seem strange, but I was so exhausted after yesterday that I slept at 8pm...and thus got more sleep than average, not less. By the way, the pictures I promised from yesterday can be viewed here.

Then, I hopped the Osaka Loop line to the Osakajokoen station and I toured the Osakajo (Osaka castle). This castle was the main residence of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man who unified Japan. Inside the castle was a museum that included a number of neat-o artifacts. Toyotomi's stool, for example, was among them. Also there was a letter written by him, his personal fan, and my personal favorite, the actual armor of Sanada Yukimura, who is one of the most famous samurai and one of my heroes. So that was fun. Also, Osaka Castle has an interactive exhibit near the ground floor. For only 300 yen (a bowl of ramen at a ramen shop typically goes for 500 yen or more) you can wear a replica helmet, tunic and sword and have your picture taken. I really debated whether it was worth it to spend almost $4 on something that many would find childish. But I decided that in the long run I would regret not taking the picture more than i would regret taking it.

And thus was this created

After this, I went to the Peace Osaka WWII museum, although I stopped along the way to have the best ice cream I've had in my life (from a street vendor no less). At Peace Osaka, they have a large exhibit on the firebombing of Osaka in WWII. I think this is something the US Government never owned up to. Although they claim they were targeting military targets, firebombs target wooden structures. Military structures are concrete and steel. Wooden structures, then, are civilian. So, the US Air Force was targeting civilians. There is never an excuse for targeting civilians. Due to the bombings, Osaka lost half its population.

I had a great opportunity while I was there. A middle-aged man named Oka-san stopped to ask me where I was from. We discussed each others views on the firebombings and he spoke enough english to help translate a video that was only in Japanese. His kindness and our enlightening talk weren't the surprising parts. In fact, he had been to the museum ten times and was somewhat of a history buff. What I was suprised about was that the woman with him was his 80 year old mother, who lived through the Osaka firebombings. I felt like I was talking to a holocaust survivor. It was her first time coming to the museum and reliving the terror she must have felt during the bombings. Even though Oka-san understood my english, he had me reiterate my opinions in Japanese, I can only imagine so that she could hear what I had to say. It was a very weighty experience for me.

When I finished at Peace Osaka, I checked out the Osaka History Museum, which was attached to the offices of NHK Broadcasting. The museum itself was in a large building but was fairly small. It did, however, have a large collection of artifacts. It was the least impressive of my three visits today.

Then I had one more fun experience before returning here: my bike disappeared. Now, if you know me from Japanese class, you know that when I get nervous my language ability drops off dramatically. Let me tell you, when I panic, I pretty much can't speak Japanese at all. So, I ended up going to the Police Station to file a stolen bike report with the nice English Speaking officer they had there. His name was Teppei Otsuka. I thought it wasn't stolen but rather moved (as I had unwittingly parked it in the wrong place), but he said that because it was a Sunday, it was unlikely that a civilian organization had taken it and the Police knew nothing about it. I got to ride in the back of a police car and see how the Police were organized here without breaking the law, which was nice, but the downside was that if the bike was gone I owed my landlord 6000 yen, around $75. 

So, I resolved to search extra hard before I gave up, and sure enough I found the bike, not stolen, moved far down the street away from the zoned parking area that required a permit. It was a relief, but then I had to ride back to the police department to tell them I found it. This whole time they were in contact with Kazu-san so when I got back to my room he already knew that I lost and then found the bike. Although it was fun to ride around in a Japanese police car, the most memorable experience for me was when I told Teppei that I had found the bike and he turned around to the other officers in the department and yelled "Jitensha o mitsuketa!" (he found the bike!) and they all laughed, even the grumpy-looking chief. I was glad that nothing negative came from that and I learned what the one sign meant: don't park bikes here without a special permit.

So I'm back to my room with time to spare and you get to check out the epic pictures from Osaka-jo and the surrounding museums. Enjoy!

Day 4 - Osaka Human Rights Museum

I figured that four days into my trip, I should have at least done something that coincided with my original purpose, and so today I took a trip to the human rights museum, also known as Liberty Osaka. This museum features a number of groups discriminated against in Japan. This includes the Ainu--people originally from the northernmost island, Hokkaido--the okinawan people, those descended from Koreans, and the Burakumin.

For anyone  who doesn't know, the Burakumin are people who are descended from those Japanese who, hundreds of years ago, did jobs that were considered 'ritually impure', especially those dealing with dead animals like leatherworking and butchery. These people were considered less human than everyone else, and the term Burakumin is a recent euphemism used to replace words like Eta, which means 'much filth', and hinin, which means 'not human'. Burakumin only translates as 'village people'.

The Human Rights Museum, which is built in a Buraku (the neighborhoods of the Burakumin), is about 1/3 devoted to what is referred to in Japan as the Buraku Mondai, or the Buraku problem. Steps have been made lately in stopping discrimination but there is still a taboo associated with the subject, and it is very hard to broach the subject with most Japanese.

That is, unless you're at a museum devoted to it. I met two people who were exceedingly helpful concerning my questions about Burakumin. First, I met Shintani-san, one of the volunteers who works at the museum. She seemed very interested in the subject herself, going so far as to print out a page for the Headquarters of Buraku Liberation League website and we spoke at length about possible other sources for studying the Burakumin. She also went out of her way to find Murakami-san, the museum's scholarly researcher. He and I talked in depth about the concept. I won't go into the details, which are very specific, but I will say that he told me that the descrimination began earlier than I had previously thought it had, and explained the basic history of the discrimination.

Basically, the Burakumin originally became Burakumin because they filled needed roles in society; leather workers, butchers, embalmers, etc. Eventually, the title became hereditary. This was primarily because offspring were required to do their parent's work at that time in society.

After the Meiji Restoration, however, all were given equality, and yet the discrimination continued. I asked Murakami-san why this is. If Burakumin are no longer doing their impure jobs, then what is it about them that makes them different in discriminatory Japanese's eyes.

At the museum I also attempted to move like an old person. They strapped weights to my limbs, splinted my joints so i had to fight to bend them, weighted me down in a vest, and put on goggles. I learned today that I don't ever want to get old.

After that, I also listened to some testimonials about how it was to live as Burakumin. It was a very informative, if time consuming, experience.

After, I didn't have time for anything else on my list, so I went looking for the American Consulate. The upside is that I found it. The downside is that it is closed on weekends. So, I walked all around the Kita Ward of Osaka looking at shops I hadn't seen yesterday, finishing up with the Hankyu department store, which was even bigger than the two I saw yesterday. It had 12 stories.

After all that walking, however, I'm pretty tired. So I'm writing this but I will probably put up pictures of this all tomorrow, when I intend to visit Osaka castle and the Osaka history museum. Come back then!

Cory

Day 3 - Irrasyaimase!

Today was really a two part day: before noon I went out on a rented bike and found the supermarkets and the 100 yen store, which would be like a dollar store if the exchange rate wasn't so crappy right now. Both of these were in a neighborhood of two story buildings that mixed residences and small businesses.

After noon, I walked/biked around the Kita area of Osaka, home to its shopping centers the likes of which I have never seen before.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The very first thing I did was meet a few of my dorm-mates. David and Eric are from Australia, Shane is from New Zealand, Mark is from France and Jason is from California. And they are all in Japan for the same reason: to teach English. At least I know that there are a number of friendly guys who know the area better than I do.

When I went to borrow a bike (it's 100 yen a day, which is about $1.20) Kazo-san was in a room with about a hundred of them. It seemed absurd when he only had about 15 rooms in the place, but then he told me that he also runs a bicycle repair business. In Osaka, and likely all of Japan, bicycles have an added rear wheel lock attached to the bike. It's like a built in bike lock, although the signs all recommend also using a bike lock wherever you can. Many more people use them to get around than in America, on average I saw three or four cyclists on any given street, and there were always at least 10 bikes chained up in front of major businesses. There are signs all over saying where cyclists can ride (which is pretty much everywhere) and where they can park. Altogether it is a much more cyclist-friendly city than, say, NYC.

While on my bicycle tour/quest for the dollar store, I realized why cars imported to America from Japan are always so compact. It's because all of their cars are compact. All of them. Even their dump trucks are about the size of American's large trucks. While we have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. Japan even has delivery trucks that are much smaller than even the taxi's here. They aren't shaped any differently, though, so they are just funny looking miniature delivery trucks.

I spent the second half of the day marvelling at the huge shopping district in Northern Osaka. All day I was in and out of shops, and each time you enter one the shopkeepers and/or shelf-stocking employees say "Irrasyaimase!" which basically means "welcome". I must have heard that literally 100 times today.

The 100-yen store was all bright colors and excited people, but even the man at the diamond store, who I expected to be more calm, was shouting out to passers-by about the great deals going on then. He was one of hundreds of stores in the underground mall that is about the size of a city block between two major train stations. One of the train stations itself has two stores, Lucua and a store owned by Japan Railways, that are similar in structure and content to a Sears or J.C. Penny's. Except that they were seven stories tall. Imagine for a moment 7 stories of Sears. It was intense.

After that, I went to the HEP building, which is one of the greater attractions in North Osaka, because of its ferris wheel. It also has a giant red whale on the first few floors.

 That wasn't a joke.

 The ferris wheel is planted on the 7th story of the building, and goes up to a height of about 150 meters. the view was incredible, and I have included them in a  gallery here. The rest of the pictures are here.

The last thing I did was to go to a Japanese candy store. One of my goals is to try new things here and the store was designed such that I could purchase a number of types of candy in a bag based on weight. When I tried to give my money to the cashier she gestured to a plate in front of her. I placed the bill there, and thats where she put the change. I remember vaguely something from one of my Japanese classes about passing money from hand to hand, but I can't remember it. That woman was the only person today to ask me to do that, so I think it may also have had something to do with personal preference.

So, I've explored the area around my dormitory today, and tomorrow I will target specific sites, including Liberty Osaka, the reason I chose Osaka over Tokyo. In the meantime, check out my pictures and feel free to email me your comments if you don't have an account that allows you to do so here. Alternatively, you can send them to me on facebook if we are friends on facebook.

Once more, goodnight (or good morning)

Cory

Day 2? - Planes, Trains, and Placename Kanji

My 13 hour flight had probably the best food ever. And it had a lot of it. But when you keep people locked in a metal tube for half of a day that's kind of a requirement. They had something called "air gourmet" or something like that as the company that did the meals. Also, it had those little televisions in the backs of the headrests, with almost 200 movies. So, I didn't sleep as much as I planned. Never fear, though, I beat jet lag another way: by just exhausting myself so much that I can sleep on Japan time now.

When the average person thinks about Japan, they likely either think of an ancient society steeped in tradition with swords and armor and fancy parabolic tiled roofs. Alternatively, some think of Japan and see a hyper-modern world of fancy technology and shining skyscrapers. As an Asian Studies scholar, I shouldn't hold these simplified notions of what Japan is any more than anyone else, but for some reason when I broke cloud cover in Tokyo I was surprised that looking down, the landscape  looked identical to landscapes I have seen when flying on other occasions. It could have just as easily been Florida I was looking down on. The truth I realized in that moment was that Japan may be different and a lot of fun for someone like me who has dreamed of this trip since junior high, but that this is a place not unlike home in many respects.

It was kind of like this

And as soon as I came through the clouds all the nervousness was gone and I was only excited. I have been waiting to make this trip for half of my life it seems and now I am finally here, in Japan. I'm giving my 12 year old self a pat on the back as we speak.

The first thing I noticed in Narita airport was how helpful everyone was. Even the security guards, who pulled me for a random security check while I was wandering around in the small shopping area downstairs, was very polite and nice, which is the opposite of how I would expect one of our friends in TSA to act back home. Also, the second I looked lost or confused a nearby worker would come over and help me. Their customer service is much more proactive than ours.

Yes, I occasionally looked lost and confused. This was because, despite three years of studying Japanese, I am no match for most of the characters that make up placenames. This wasn't so much a problem in Narita Airport, which is made with travelers in mind and most everything is also written in roman letters. However, once I reached Osaka (at the end of the trip that the nice travel agent lady in Tokyo had outlined for me), I needed to navigate the train system myself to find my accommodations. There were no doubled romanized names, just a massive schedule I couldn't read. I eventually found what I could recognize (and asked at three different counters for directions to the platform), and realized that the station I wanted was just one station away, but I couldn't figure out the direction. So, I did what anyone with unlimited train rides would do: I guessed. I guessed right, too, and so I avoided heading away from my goal any further. It then took me another hour and a half of wandering to find the place, which was at that point closed for the night.

Again I was saved by unexpected kindness. The owner lives on the 6th floor of the apartment building that has been converted into dormitories for foreigners leaned out the window and told me that he would be right down. Despite my attempts to apologize for being so late (it was almost 9pm) he waved me off and gave me the tour.

On to my living quarters we went. Here's the scoop. The room is small and windowless and the entire building looks like it could use a renovation. It seems very clear that this couple are in the process of converting the place to more appealing rooms, but none of that bothers me.

Here's the important points about where I'm staying. The bed is comfortable, the landlord is nice (Koza-san even has me call him and his wife by their first names). The building is secured multiple ways, and I have a private room for my belongings for only about $20 a night. You can't beat that price, and I don't plan on spending a great deal of time in my room anyway.

Now I'm so tired from lugging around my backpack that I am probably going to pass out as soon as I lay down, which is good, considering it's about the time I would want to sleep anyway. I worry more about my return, as a friend of mine who traveled to Japan informed me shortly before I left that jet lag didn't bother him at all when he went over, just when he came back.

Once again signing off,

Cory

P.S. I have included a slideshow that I will update with all the pictures I take. It's down below.
P.P.S. The slideshow didn't work. Go here instead.

Day 1 - My First Attempt at Time Travel

For the last two days, I have had my watch set to Japanese time, and at the time of this writing it is 9pm in Japan. My plan to sleep on the flight out of Newark (and I found out yesterday that it was out of Newark is likewise on track.

You might be curious why I'm writing this at 8am New York time. Well, by the time I touch down in Japan it will be tomorrow--both here and there--and so it really would be a separate entry for tomorrow. So right now I'm sitting by a window looking out over the runway writing this post. I got through security without so much as a stern talking to, which was a relief, and just like that I am one step closer to Japan. I have a short flight on a tiny plane then a long flight on a big one.

Me sitting by a window looking out over the runway writing this post

It's harrowing, really. I'm excited but at the same time I feel this pressure in my throat whenever I think about the fact that I will be halfway across the world for the first time in my life. What a grand adventure it promises to be, but I am intimidated. A number of my loved ones are concerned about my traveling alone, and now that  my departure looms I'm facing all their arguments again with trepidation.

Concerning time travel, in 15 hours I will arrive more than 24 hours in the future. Assuming my anti-jet-lag plan works--and believe me I almost fell asleep a number of times trying to watch 12 hours of comedy television--I will unfortunately miss some of the most interesting sights on my trip. I almost regret my plan now, seeing as I will probably be exhausted as soon as this energy drinks wears off, and will miss flying over whatever foreign lands I will bypass to get to my destination.

Two more points before I finish: to the right of this post you will find a window where you can subscribe by email to my blog, as I will not always be able to send out a notice by individual email, so it may be beneficial to you to subscribe. Also, if I have been spamming your inbox and you find it obnoxious, just say so and I will remove you from my list.

Second, despite my repeated attempts to downsize my luggage at the expense of my Japanese-English dictionary, it seems to have repeatedly found its way into my bags. Thank you. I will probably be glad I have it.

When next you hear from me it will be from the future,

Cory