First Few Days, Second Visit... Very Busy

We went to Sushi Roll, or Sushi A-Go-Go, which is a great and inexpensive place to have sushi. It comes by on a little conveyor belt. So fun! I was able to have my favorite, bonito!!! Yum. :-)

Two days ago, after a glorious walk through the Koko-en gardens

of Himeji castle my students and I were able to experience the tea ceremony. It is a very ritualized and formal ceremony only conducted on specific occasions.

It was amazingly cool to experience the making of the tea and see the kimono-clad ladies preparing and serving the tea. I learned about how to eat the sweet, hold the bowl, turn it clockwise twice to drink, drink it to the last drop (this green tea tasted like fresh grass), and turn the bowl back to the server.

The kneeling for more than 30 minutes during the ceremony sent me to new levels of pain endurance, but our elderly guide (She's 80 and has dedicated her life to studying the tea ceremony) allowed us to sit cross-legged after 30 minutes and ask questions. The ceremony on the most formal occasions can take up to 4 hours with a meal, dessert, and tea. Himeji castle Later, I saw Himeji Castle which is a very old fortress employed during the Japanese civil wars.

There were some cool battle-associated items.

The building was designed with places were the protectors could shoot with ease and have movement and visibility on their attackers, but where the protectors were totally hidden. You can't see them at all from the outside. Much more sophisticated than European castles of the same period. Himeji also had an astonishing display of armor, about 25 full sets of samuri armor.

They were super cool.

For dinner that night, we had yakitori, or as I describe it, everything chicken. We sat on pads in a tatami room on the floor and used a low table.

They have chicken wings, knuckles, hearts, livers, mystery chicken bits and pieces, etc. prepared in every way you can image deep fried, grilled, barbequed, on a stick, off a stick... There were other things, too, salads, and fries. We had lots of hot and cold sake and many Kirin Ichiban and Sapporo beers. Many, many laughs.....

Yesterday, we spent the day in Osaka. We visited the Osaka castle. That castle was rebuilt having been destroyed. It was amazing as well though. The views from the dungeon (tower for the Japanese) were incredible; you could see for miles.

That castle had an excellent museum with armor, swords, helmets, bo staffs/ spears, individuals' stories of battle, paintings of battles, and field documents, including armistice and relinquishing of weapons agreements.

I think you can see many of the items from the museum online, but I was prohibited from photographing them. The photos come from various places on the net. After the Osaka castle, we went to lunch of okonomiyaki, which my friend Taki describes as Japanese pizza. But that seems to me to be more like a layered, sophisticated omelette and is partially prepared in front of you on a hot griddle. And then we walked through Osaka's Namba district to window shopped in this vast shopping arcade of streets that went on for miles.

It was covered with brightly-lit billboards and signs, and they nearly sold everything. Shopping in Osaka Namba, even window shopping, is a delightful stimulation. There is just tons to see and observe.

Potteries in Sasayama city, Hyogo Prefecture

Dear fellow travelers,
I hope you are well. I am closing in on my final days here in Kato City, Japan. So, I'll give you a run down on various things.

Yesterday, Professor Imai and I went to Sasayama, which is a small town in the mountains of the Hyogo Prefecture that has many small, family-owned pottery studios and shops. These places are nestled into the green, brown rocky mountain side and look like very traditional Japanese homes in this area. Unexpectedly, the visitor's eye will land upon pottery being displayed in the windows, on the walls, in the gardens, all around. This was our destination for an afternoon of relaxing. Professor Imai took me to one of his favorite places that is run by a family of potters: mother, father, son and daughter. All four of the family potters had very unique styles of expression in their works, for example the son's was meticulous details of white lines etched in black, while the daughter's was floral, feminine and curvy, and the father's was more earth-toned and traditional with unexpected twists. Professor Imai said he liked it because the pottery was traditional wood-fired pottery with a contemporary flair. We share the same taste in pottery, so I liked it immensely. There were so many things I wanted to buy, couldn't afford and could never get home. Like an elliptically-shaped black bowl about 2.5 feet long with dazzling white simple flower petals on one side. It was $230, a bargain for the shop. Some of the pieces ran into the thousands.


We also went to the Tamba Tachikui pottery museum (see the info below), where we saw ancient to modern pots, bowls, saki bottles, platters, mugs, steins, etc. There were a wide variety of styles, shapes and colors. I was very impressed with the museum. Afterward, we spent a good deal of time in the large co-op gift shop in which 30 or so local pottery families were selling their goods from little kiosks. I ended up buying a frog, an owl and a tea pot. I gave the gorgeous purple, red, blue teal, and pink tea pot to Professor Imai as a thank you gift. It was a lovely place to visit and I'm very grateful for it. It made me think a lot of Caradori Pottery.

From : "Tamba Tachikui Traditional Ceramic Center
Tachikui Sue no Sato, Kami Tachikui, Konda-cho, Sasayama-city, Hyogo Pref., 669-2135
0795-97-2034
The Tamba Tachikui Traditional Ceramic Center was founded in 1985 and exhibits ancient Tamba-yaki from Kamakura period to contemporary pieces.
Open: 9:00-17:00
Closed:Third Thursday, Aug.13-15 and Dec.29-Jan.3"

Later that evening after we made our way back along the quiet mountain roads, past all the hibernating rice farms, surprising statues like the one of black beans in the pod, traditional Japanese houses with gardens and flared-shaped, tiled roofs, I spent some time in my apartment haphazardly packing and waiting until dinner.

Professor Imai and Bernie from the Phillipines picked me up at around 6:30pm to go to the the Sushi Roll restaurant that I like so well. It is Bernie's favorite, too. We had plates and plates of sushi. I had bonito, tuna, salmon, smelt roe, lighted battered tempura crab (yum) which was still a bit warm, pumpkin tempura, saki, and green tea. I ate so much!!! Bernie and Imai had a variety of fish including uni, eel, mackerel, crab-tempura, bonito, smelt roe, crab brains, and some fishes liver, too. It was my last night of inexpensive sushi in Japan and I made the most of it!!!

More about Japanese crafts.

The Ancient Heart of Japan- Kyoto

Kyoto is a like a tapestry interwoven with shrines, temples, maiko/gaiko, Starbucks and Fridays, so your senses tingle and throb with the ancient, modern, traditional, cool, glitzy, and natural in split second increments.

We started our tour of Kyoto, Mr. Fujita and I, at the Fushimi-Inari (Fox) Shrine, which is one of the most famous Shinto shrines in this star-studded city. Shintoism is the traditional, animist religion of Japan. According to Mr. F, few people are still Shinto; although, many Japanese still follow it for tradition and morals. The Fushimi-Inari is dedicated to the Fox who is considered the messenger of the Gods. There were hundreds of icons of fox throughout the shrine complex; mostly the sculptures depicted the fox with a scroll in his mouth. Complex is the best word for the shrine as it spans miles up a mountain with winding stone paths and orange gateways lining the route. At random intervals there were eye-catching shrines, graves, sculptures, stone monuments, pools, ponds, bells, candles, incense burning, lanterns, and food stands. Before one can begin the lengthy trek to the mountain top, one must ritually wash one's hands and rinse out your mouth at a fresh trough-like fountain. There were even directions for visitors unaccustomed to the practices of Shintoism. Once inside the complex, there were stages for weddings, shrines for various prayers, like one for schooling, locations were monks were conducting services, and stalls for purchasing souvenirs, charms, or talisman. At one place, you can call the gods by ringing a bell that has a long brightly colored ribbon attached, then you can pray for something. This is not the quintessential quiet and serene monastery; rather, it felt like a joyful, family place.

Sensations that I will play in my mind from the Fushimi-Inari: the scent of incense on the air, moss-covered and misshapen grave stones, rows of orange gateways spanning the paths that appear like a large caterpillar from a distance, foxes big and small and all smiling, the little lady at the tea stand across from the duck pond who sold duck food for Y200 and cold lemon tea for Y120, the horse sculpture that brought the gods to earth, prayer sticks, wish papers, bright sunlight on the trees, brooks, and moss.

I thought that our day was over when we made our way down the winding mountain paths and reached the intertwined residential part of the shrine, but I had no idea what other delights awaited me. Mr. F and I walked back toward the car, passing the walls of shrine patrons, souvenir vendors, tako ball vendors (we ate some on the way up and they were tasty delicious street food), eel grillers (would have eaten the aromatic grilled eel, but it was $20 for a slice), cute fox-shaped bean curd candy vendors, shops, restaurants, tea houses and bars.

After parking Mr. F's Citoyen at the famous Kyoto University, we headed off in search of sushi for a late lunch. We walked a long way to the subway, seeing temples, people on bicycles, many taverns, and cool houses with Seussian pompom trees in the yards. I thought we weren't going far-wrong! Mr. F was going to show me the town! I was tired, but it was totally worth it. I found my inner physical strength and we just kept going and going. We crossed over the river on an old dark brown, weathered wooden beam bridge Sanjo-oohashi(三条大橋) ("one of the bridges connecting the centre with the eastern part of Kyoto. The bridge is historical and the starting point of Tokaido, a road connecting Kyoto with Tokyo") and arrived at a shopping area, Fujii Daimaru - Shijo-Teramachi. This arcade like covered market was for me reminiscent of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar in that it was colorful, maze-like, crammed full of merchandise beyond all possible description, noisy, frenetic, and exciting. While the Grand Bazaar is Turkish through and through, the Shijo-Teramachi is wholly Japanese, with only the occasional Friday's or Starbucks. I particularly loved the thrift store, Chicago, that sold secondhand kimono. I bought a gorgeous gray, black, red patterned one for me and a silky red one for Maddy. I couldn't resist at those costs (Y1,500 and Y2,600). There were hundreds of them from jackets to robes, and informal to formal attire. I was sorely challenged not to purchase the magnificent 50 year old ones for decor in my home, but I'm running out of wall space as much as luggage space. Besides my wallet is just not that deep. I saw so many things I wanted to buy. Another super cool place made t-shirts with diverse statements in Japanese Kanji characters of your choosing. I had one made that said "Billiards Master" in gray with white characters. It's pretty cool.

Wandering further into the maze, in the food part of the market, we finally found an acceptable sushi restaurant and had a nice small meal with saki. It was quite reinvigorating! I had several kinds of sushi I have avoided eating before, but what the hell, right? I ate a slice of raw octopus, sea eel, sea bream, squid, and some other random stuff I don't know what they were. Some of them were so thick and chewy, I finally just gulped them down so I didn't yack. I think I'll stick with my old sushi standards in the future: maguro, unagi, salmon, smelt roe, tamago, and spider rolls. ;-) The saki helped it all go down anyway. We debated ordering one more piece each, but ended up leaving as the restaurant didn't have bonita, salmon or smelt roe.

Next, even though I begged Mr. F not to let me spend anymore money, we stopped at a saki stall where they were sampling saki and rice wine. Damn. I loved one they offered, so I ended up buying two bottles, one of saki and one of rice wine. I'll share them with friends at home. They were delicious! ;-)

Feeling a bit lighter on my feet after the saki, we walked on and came across a stall selling fresh oysters roasted on a grill. They were shucking and cleaning them right off the walkway, grilling them less than 1 foot away and serving them the next foot over. The place was packed with salivating diners. At a cost of Y180 per oyster, we couldn't refuse. It was a smart choice as we had the last bite we needed and met a friendly couple from the Philippines. They overheard us chatting and immediately struck up a conversation with us. It was really cool. Food was being handed this way and that, folks were nestled thigh to thigh, elbow to elbow, but everyone was amiably chatting and munching contentedly. The Philippino couple have been to Japan before, but not Kyoto, so they solicited my friend, Mr. F, for information. I shared with them my thrift store find, Chicago, and they were very happy about it, just as I was.

Once we left their friendly company, we decided look for green tea mochi while heading back to the car and eventually the hotel. At least that's what I thought!

On our walk, we saw a beautiful, bedecked old women in a kimono who was kind enough to let me take her picture. She told Mr. F that it made her happy to be asked! Cool. My pleasure!

We sought green tea mochi and eventually came across the Green Tea Cafe that sold a selection of green tea cakes, mochi, ice cream and other green tea infused desserts. We ordered a sample plate of green tea mochi, green tea ice cream, cake with a green tea layer in the middle and red bean pudding. To drink, we had iced green tea. Yep, I'm swimming in green tea now. At least it's full of antioxidants. I think I liked the green tea ice cream and cake the best. It was a nice dessert and I didn't feel too guilty eating it.

Back onto my poor tired feet and we were again crossing the Sanjo bridge, but this time it was dark. We stopped momentarily to listen to 4 women playing blues harmonica and singing. It was really good music.

Then, Mr. F said we were going to find maiko (or geisha if you are in Tokyo). He seemed to think that you could go to Gion, a very old district, and walk around and you'd find one. I was a bit suspicious, but thought, he lived here, he knows this town, and let's have an adventure! So, we walked to Gion, AND I'm so glad we did! It was probably the coolest part of Kyoto in my opinion. The ancient dark wooden buildings were no more than two floors tall and pressed closely together in their lantern lit neighborhood that looks like it did one hundred years ago when the Emperor still made Kyoto his primary home. My pictures probably do more justice to this cool locale than I can with words.

We saw several women decked up on kimono, but Mr. F knew immediately that they were not maiko. It took only a second for him to see that they didn't have the hair piece or the pristine white chalk makeup. I learned quickly. We did see a house that had several maiko's names written on small planks of wood above the front door. We also saw some gorgeous family shrines, very expensive restaurants and private clubs, and a beautiful creek. Then, on one of the last streets we were walking down, Mr. F saw a reserved cab parked with its flashers on. We inconspicuously waited several feet away and watched the formally attired, white gloved driver and his handsome black taxi. Within a few minutes, out of the door came two maiko dressed in stunning pastel kimono, head dresses, slippers, white pancake makeup, etc. They genteelly entered the car when the cabby opened the doors. The cab pulled right in front of us and paused, which gave Mr. F a thrill and me an opportunity to note the details of the layered silk kimono and the perfection of their makeup. This experience was really unique.

My fear of walking miles back the way we had come was unfounded. At the end of the Gion street, we jumped a public bus that had us back at the Kyoto University in 10 minutes. Then it was just a short walk to the car. I love to walk, I really do. Can you imagine if someone didn't? LOL!

In my modern, small and comfy hotel room, I immediately washed off the trail sweat, and put my feet up! And here, I leave you for the evening. Off to dreamland for me!

Campus Tour, Grocery Shopping, My Office and More Sushi

I had another good day today. It's been long, but very pleasant. The folks here are extremely nice and willing to go so far out of their way it humbles me. Okay, I know, y'all feel that I cannot be humble, but anyway.... ;-)

Professor Imai, who is a TESOL professor, came by my apartment in the afternoon. We discussed our plan for the afternoon and evening, and set out for the grocery store, Aeon. Since I will be on my own for most meals, I needed some supplies. I decided to mainly purchase breakfast stuff and easily prepared foods (mostly frozen dumplings and stir fry). I did pick up some of the most incredibly sweet smelling strawberries. I got supplies for English tea for breakfast and loads of sweet rolls and bread. I think I'll be set for a while. I hope I don't have to bother friends to take me back to the grocery store. The grocery was fun. I love visiting grocery stores all over the world. There are so many similarities and differences. Similarities: Ritz crackers, aisles, fresh produce, yogurt, Coke. Differences: fresh bok choy, a wide variety of soy sauces, interesting premade savory cakes, a new variety of apple I've never seen, a Saki aisle, and red bean paste filled bread. I spent Y5,215 (all but the pastries) + Y4,195 (pastries and bread). I have no idea how much that is. Someone wanna do the math?

Professor Imai, he later asked me to call him Hiro /hero/, and I had a rambling conversation throughout that spanned topics such as the HUTE students visiting UWEC next week who I will meet with tomorrow, his work, my work, International TESOL (he and 2 colleagues are attending in New Orleans!), who does the grocery shopping in his family (his wife), cultural items that struck either of us, his Mercedes, etc. He's a very nice man. I think we will be good friends. Later, I treated him to dinner at Sushi Roll.

From there, we returned to my place, put my food away and set off for a walking tour of campus. The campus is a little smaller than UWEC, but has a modern, well-maintained feel to it. We discussed renting me a bike during my visit, which we did accomplish when we visited Mr. Takeshima's office. I also obtained maps, one in English of the campus and one of Cato, the nearby town, in Japanese. I'll definitely need these to navigate my way to a sushi restaurant by bike. I think my colleagues here are a bit surprised by my spunk and adventurousness. I know Hiro is surprised by my knowledge of Japanese cuisine; he remarked on it.

During my campus tour, I met some students, all of whom seemed very nice and friendly. I was oriented to my office, room 109 in the Natural Sciences building. Next door is the Languages building where Hiro and another colleague also, Hiro, have their offices. I met the second Hiro and discussed the TESOL Conference. He's been before and is looking forward to it again. While in the Natural Sciences building, I met Jerry, a part-time teacher and part-time graduate student here. He's from California, I think. He is completely bilingual as he has lived here for 4 years. We had a grand time hanging in his office, joking and chatting about many, many topics, including their upcoming trip with students to Singapore. Jerry will also attend TESOL, but he doesn't drink, doesn't like it. So, we'll have to take him out and get him a NA drink so he feels comfortable hanging with us while at the jazz clubs. He looks forward to cajun food!

My office here is clean, prepped and useful, if not like my office back home (i.e., cluttered, full of books, piles of papers on all surfaces, strewn with lists of things to do, decorated with international gifts, dirty and crowded with furniture).

Hiro and I walked back to my apartment for his car and drove the 20 minutes or so to a sushi restaurant. I took several photos just like a damned, embarrassing tourist. I enjoyed the sushi revolving on the little conveyor belts. My favorite today was bonito sushi with a dab of mayo and minced scallions on top! Yum! I had 3 orders of 2 pieces. I also had unagi, tuna, and salmon. All very good. 6 plates total for each of us cost Y1,365. I think very affordable!

I'm tired now. So much for my first full day. More tomorrow night!
k