The crunch and a ray of light

I'm back!  After what seems like ages, my sickness has abated and I've finally gotten enough free time to post for a bit.  Life has been hectic here at Kansai Gaidai.  Finals are creeping up on us, in fact my first one is in a week, and large papers loom overhead.  Granted this means I don't need to be in class as much, as it's usually review or just not taking place because of scheduling conflicts, but in Japan, tests are always more extreme and the crunch is starting to wear on me.  It's been wearing on my friends too, who often wonder why they'd have such a nightmarish period right before Christmas.  I have to agree.  It seems foolish to me and against the spirit of the season.

I've also started up facebook...while I personally have been against social networking sites, it will be necessary to keep up with my overseas friends.  I don't want to lose them, so I need to keep up with what they're doing.  More on that later.

Before the final crunch, I had hoped to go to Fushimi Inari, a famous temple near Kansai.  However, time has been against me and fatigue as well.  I didn't get to go to an onsen either, which makes me sad.  I probably won't go this time during my trip to Japan.  And, I went to Kabuki.  It was terrible.  Nothing like what people think.  The makeup was there, but it was a large number of dull, uninteresting stage plays...none of the wild dancing or rapid action that was supposed to set it apart from Noh.  There was a scene where Goemon, a master thief, was attacked by two guards and the entire stage rose to reveal the mastermind behind his attack, that was cool, but that was all in the first fifteen minutes.  The Kabuki plays lasted SIX HOURS!  By the end of it, I was done with Japanese theater and ready to go home.

Here's the theater where the nightmare began.  I was there with friends and even so, it was an unbearable experience, contrary to all my expectations.  A terrible disappointment.  I fell asleep twice during the plays and really...without an english translation, of which there was none, it's utterly unwatchable.  For those morbirdly curious, the first play was about Goemon, the master thief, enjoying the sakura blossoms while his nemesis plans to capture him.  The next was about Sanemori, a samurai who was sent to kill a newborn child and mother but really just ended up TALKING for a good hour and a half, to a child.  Then we had the tale of the 47 retainers, who killed a man to avenge their lord.  Sound interesting?  Oh you poor deluded fools...it was two hours of them explaining what they'd done to a judge, just sitting and talking for a good two hours.  The final two plays were alright, but by then I'd given up on Kabuki.  There was a dance romanticizing the love between a set of poets and a humorous story about making a corpse dance to make money to bury it.  None of them was worth the almost 6000 yen I paid for the trip.

Newcomers to Japan, I'd recommend skipping Kabuki...unless Goemon is in it.  His stories are always riveting.

In spite of all this crap, all the lost opportunities, all the work, all the...kabuki, there was one trip I recently took that has made me smile everytime I think about it.  It started when a friend of mine was left behind by her traveling companions for a Kyoto trip and she knocked on my door because she needed someone to complain to.  So, I agreed to take her to Kyoto myself, having been almost five times previously.

That trip was absolutely perfect.  My companion on her own, again, not spoilers on who she is here, is wonderful to be around, but we got to visit a number of temples for leaf viewing and dozens of great shops which we both giddily squeed at, as there were amazing things for sale.

For starters, we headed to an old okonomiyaki shop, the one with a statue of a boy getting his pants pulled down by a dog in a previous post.  I had my doubts about the shop, but she loved it, so I had a good time overall.  Then we went to the Yasaka shrine to view leaves changing colors, which was fantastic.  From there we kind of wandered around until we found the temple of Kannon on top of a hill.  It had a massive statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, atop it nearly as big as the Daibutsu of Nara.  While that was fantastical enough, there was a peace memorial here to all the unknown soldiers who died on Japanese soil, with sand and dirt from graveyards the world over and a repository of all the fallen soldier's names.  It was a very somber, but awefelt experience for both my companion and myself.  We both appreciated the majesty of the peace museum and its tribute to the future.  So we never forget.

Following that, we stumbled over to Kyo Mizudera again, I seem to go there alot these days, and into its shopping district.  We both went crazy in a Studio Ghibli store and bought too many souveniers.  Still, it was fun.  We saw Kyo Mizu up close, did some more shopping, met up with her friends who had left her behind because of a misunderstanding, and all went home together.  It was a grand tour.  If only all my travels had been like it.

 These are just some of the multi colored leaves we saw on our oddyssey

 A surprising statue of a Buddhist monk.  Very elegant.

 Lady Kannon, up close

 The memorial

 The graveyard soil and my friend getting pictures of a stained glass window in the peace memorial.

 Rosters of all the soldiers who died on Japanese soil

 More gorgeous leaves.

 The Ghibli store had everything any fan could possibly want and more...sadly, it was also far too expensive for regular people to buy.  I stuck with a plushy and key chain while my friend got a mug with Jiji the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service on it.

Kyo Mizudera lit up at night.  It's pretty, trust me.

Before I return to studying and the crunch, I'd like to take a moment to step back and say this.  One thing I never realized when coming here was how much I would change, but also how much the people around me would come to mean to me.  I've actually gotten physically ill when I think about leaving them behind.  That's part of the reason I got facebook.  I wasn't prepared to just forget about them.  And I won't.  But, since coming here I've been exposed to all sorts of people.  People who want to change me for their own interests.  People who are just mean spirited, no matter how kind I acted towards them.  People who are nice, but tend to ignore me, even when we're alone...but I've also met wonderful people here too.  People who love being around me and go out of their way to be with me...those people are the friends I don't want to forget.  Some of them are feisty, some of them are cute, some of them are timid, but all of them are wonderful.

I suppose my point is, prospective travelers, to be careful.  If you stay in any place too long, you'll build bonds like this and be loath to leave.  And, if you really care about the people you've met, you'll want to see them again.  That will cost A LOT of money, since most of them probably won't be in your own backyard.  But, despite the costs, emotional and financial, I'd say it's worth it.  I've never been happier than having a quiet dinner with my good friends here in Japan.  It truly makes me smile.  Though I may have to leave that behind for a time, I'm going to see them again.  I care too much about them to say goodbye forever, even if we've only been together a few months.

That's just my perspective on all this.  I'll be back soon with talks about the finals, my final thoughts on Japan, preperations to leave, and readjusting to the states.  Be looking for them, okay?

Till then, be well, dear viewers.  And pray for all the men and women in finals week.  They could use the support.

Despite Sickness, I carry on

Yes...yes, I'm sick again.  God only knows how it happened, but I have a problem with my throat now.  Lots of coughing, mucus, unpleasant.  Still, I went to see the doctor and my second experience with the Japanese medical system was weirder than the first, but also less taxing financially.

I'd already registered with the national health system and my total bill came to about ten dollars afterwards, all things considered.  Not too bad.  The doctor spoke pretty good english at a local clinic and asked me some pretty routine questions, such as when my throat started to hurt, how long it's been, symptoms, etc.  Though, he did also ask for my lineage(my ancestors date back to Scandinavia, but I'm American, born and bred, for at least 3 generations.)  I found this odd, but apparently, he wanted to make sure I didn't have an ancestry with asians or people of color, as their immune systems are different and it would be difficult for him to prescribe medicine for me had that been the case.  At least, I think that's the explanation he gave...weird.  Still, I got medicine and I'm feeling better.  Not 100% better, but at least I don't want to die.

Not much happens at school these days.  Finals are creeping up and save for a due paper or lesson test, life goes on as ever.  Never thought Japan could become mundane...and I was right, hehe.  These down times have given me a chance to pursue private interests.  I bought several new games, in Japanese, from a local mall and have loved them to death.  I'm model building in my spare time, though god knows how I'm going to get them all home.  And I've had enough time to make many friends.  Granted, most of them aren't Japanese(the people are almost as shy as I am.  They know how to have fun, but are less outgoing than foreigners.)  But I don't care about that.  I've gotten less work done lately because I'm too busy being with people I care about.  Sorry, but that's all I can say for now.  No spoilers.

I actually got sick on the day of the Bunraku performance...still went, mind, but it just struck me as odd.  For those who don't know, Bunraku are puppets about half or 1/3 the size of a regular person, that are used to perform plays or dramas.  It's...a surreal experience, actually.  Several narrators, or sometimes just one, stand outside of the play area and read from a script, adding vocal inflections and pauses to make the dramas more interesting.  What is surreal, however, are that the puppeteers are so skilled that when the narrator laughs, the puppets laugh or when they move, it is with the fluid grace of a human being.  They're very lifelike.  It's crazy, actually.  If not for my experience with Ushio and Tora at Theater Om, this would have been my Japanese experience.  It's an amazing blend of classical storytelling with the artificial and uncanny.

My classmates and I saw a sad story about a child who was given up at birth in the Edo period, an old drama about two warring clans and how an estranged family got caught in the middle, and a Noh style drama about a general meeting, being seduced by, and fighting an ogress demon.  The puppets were impressively designed, though it was odd at times.  Save for the master puppeteers, all the other puppeteers wore black and had their faces covered.  They were supposed to be invisible to the audience.  Speaking of the masters, they are living national treasures for their cultural accomplishments and for their place in Japanese culture.  It was an honor to witness them.  The stages were elaborate and often folded in and out of each other to make scene transitions a sight to behold.  But enough of my ranting.  Here are some pictures.

Because we got a backstage look at the scenery, most of my pictures consist of that, but I did get this tidbit.  This is what the ogress looked like in the final play before she transformed.  A surreal blend of Japanese fashion with the uncanny nature of the doll.  Since we were backstage, we actually got to manipulate the dolls too.  It usually takes 30 years of training to become a master.  I manupulated the legs of one of the male dolls, but it was an effort.  They're heavier than they seem and it requires muscle to move them for the long, long, long dramas they put on.

For those not interested in dolls, know that I haven't given up Ikebana.  I've been sick, but I managed to do these two pieces this week and last week.  The first is a pretty standard Ikebana, with the flowers meant to look as if they are coming out of the water.  The second was my first time using a vase to create a flower arrangement and is a bit more simplistic, but still interesting.

That's been my life up till now, dear viewers.  I once again must apologize for my long delays and thank those who have commented or have kept with me up till now.  I know we all have busy lives.  I have been busy too.  I wish I had more trips to take and more tales to tell, but money is tight and so are our schedules over here.  So, I have to wait, just like everyone else.  The more my deadline for returning home approaches, the more I wish I had time to just...live, in Japan.  Especially with my dear friends.  Though, to be fair, I'd probably just talk the night away with a select few I've grown infinitely fond of.

I will add one thing to this post before I close.  While I have tried to leave my worries behind, I have had my attention drawn to an bill going through congress right now.  It involves SOPA and the IP protect acts.  These acts would aim to censor the internet and could end up destroying Facebook and Youtube, as well as crippling Google, Yahoo, and AOL.  I encourage everyone to look into SOPA or the IP protect acts, because they are serious issues and even though I'm overseas, it nearly gave me a heartattack when I found out about it.  It is scary to think that decrepit old men with mindsets from the seventies, bought off by lobbyists for Hollywood and the mass media can dictate how something as free as the internet could act.  I might not even be able to blog if this bill went through.  Perhaps I'm worrying over nothing, as AOL, Google, facebook, and countless others have risen with hundreds of thousands of people to fight against it, but...well, the more you know, the more you can do.

I don't mean to get political on this kind of blog, so I apologize, but...you all need to know about that.

I'm hopefully going to Fushimi Inari, a famous temple, and an Onsen next week(it was supposed to be this week, but got canceled.)  I'll keep you all posted, dear viewers.  Until then I bid you all adieu and wish you all well.

Noh, Festivals, Ushio to Tora, and the magic of Halloween

Again, sorry for all the delays, those who are still with me.  I have a ton of stuff to get through in this post and had a tough time uploading all the pictures, but it's done and now let's talk fun.  I mean REALLY fun.  This has easily been my favorite week in Japan so far and the source of my personal Japanese experience.  However, before we get to that, and the clubbing and Halloween stories I promised, let's start with some Noh.

For those who don't know, Noh is a form of Japanese theater that focuses on slow, almost meditative movements that encapsulate only one scene of a larger picture.  The scenes are usually self contained.  I went to a performance of this along with a Kyogen performance earlier this week.  Kyogen, for those who don't know, is a form of Japanese theater that is almost the opposite of Noh.  It focuses on comedic, over exaggerated actions that are humorous in how ludicrous the scenarios are.  They are usually used as buffers in between Noh performances becuase Noh is...well, a little boring.  Both of these wore me down, to be honest.  Don't get me wrong, I had a good time and the stage seemed very professional.  See below:

 However, the thing is this.  Kyogen is harder to enjoy because many of the jokes are in Japanese and fly by really quick, even too quick for someone with three semesters of Japanese.  The overexaggerated actions are fun, but...it can get boring if you don't ge tthe jokes.  It was fun but...I wouldn't go to another Kyogen performance.  Noh, however, is almost like being in a temple.  The moves from all the players are slow and deliberate, almost hypnotic and there is a great deal of instrumentation and chanting involved.  It feels like being part of something religious...otherworldly even.  It was as though the actors wanted to communicate emotions and ideas to me without words.  There were lines they spoke, but the actions spoke more to me than the words.  It was an unbelievable experience...not my Japanese experience, but still something I'd recommend to anyone to try at least once.

Moving on, we had a huge cultural festival this week.  School Festivals are always something to behold.  As for me, I created an Ikebana piece for a display in the school festival.  This was just one of many pieces, which included art, photos, karaoke, and choral pieces.  However, first, the flowers.  Mine is the one below:

 The other pieces are some of the prettier ones I captured on film.

 The Festival also had an unbelievable amount of dedication and decoration put into it.  Look below.  That image is actually a set of stairs that have been decorated to create an illusion of the picture...over 20 students worked to make this possible.

 And here is the pinnacle of the festival.  The stalls.  The Japanese students of Kansai Gaidai are relentless.  They will do anything to get a sale, from dressing in maid outfits, to flirting, to hiring Sanji from One Piece to woo women so they might buy a plush bear.  I swear to god, I didn't make any of that up and I have pictures to prove all of it...not posting them for privacy's sake, but still!  I have pictures!

I must have eaten more Japanese food in one day and spent more money, than I had all the rest of the week.  Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Dango, Churros, Tempura Ice cream, the list just goes on...it was a lot of fun.  I also visited a bunch of foreign students giving presentations on their various countries.  Now I must visit Thailand and Argentina because they sound so awesome.  And I saw a friend of mine from Brazil do a Samba...it was a good day :)  The festival wore me out too...it was an unbelievable experience that I wish we could replicate in America.  The school spirit on display here, the cheerleaders, the students doing their best to make a buck and have fun while doing it, the sheer dedication and decoration...I wish we had it more in America.  If I ever go back to Japan, I'm visiting a school cultural festival because they are like going to Marti Gras or the circus...it's one hell of a good time and you never know what you're going to see.  I even saw girls dressed as Dinosaurs and Spider-Santa.  No...I'm not kidding.

And the rest of the week was pretty boring.  Class and more class.  I will say that Japanese classes tend to make me work harder than I need to so...frustrating.  But, enough of that.  Let's get on to one of the reasons I wanted to come to Japan.  Ushio and Tora.  It's an old manga that I fell in love with after a chance encounter and then...found a Theater troupe who actually perform chapters in this fifty volume+ manga.  You can find more on Theater Om here: http://theater-om.com/

 You like those masks?  They give you nightmares?  Hehe...Ushio and Tora is basically Calvin and Hobbs with magic powers and demons.  It is awesome.  I knew that the next Theater Om performance in Japan would happen while I was there...and I had to see it.  And I did...and it was amazing.

First, let me back up a bit.  See, I did this all on my own.  This was my project and I had to find my way to the theater, get inside, etc.  It kind of reflects my whole trip to Japan, actually.  I took the train and arrived in the Theater's area safely...then got lost.  Then spoke a bit of Japanese and magicked myself a little help.  Found the Theater, had some great Japanese food, then saw something unforgettable.  Don't believe the unforgettable part?  Take a look at the pictures I got.

There is no way to actually describe what is happening here, but god help me, I'll try.  First, the Theater is small...less than 60 people, including kids, were  in the audience and I was the only Gaijin.  This was something specialized, for fans of the manga, by fans of the manga.  It was a slow start, since, like the Kyogen, there was a little comedy amongst the stars before the start of the play which bored me since the Japanese jokes flew by too fast and dragged on too long.  But once it got started...good god...Theater Om doesn't do anything half assed...okay, maybe scenery, but...alright, let me start again.  The lights dim, fog starts billowing out over the audience, then a creepy voice comes down from the sky while a red light illuminates a stand of Sake...then a crazy catchy Japanese dance with some of the theater's lady players...then a shinto ceremony by real Mikos and a priest...then...the play started in earnest.  With comedic sound effects each time people hit each other, car sounds, and a demon mysteriously appearing on top of an invisible car.  And then another demon appeared, that took FOUR PEOPLE to hold up and make work.

There is something magical about this kind of performance.  The scenery is hand painted and, while there isn't much of it, the play captures something of the imagination.  There was fog, laser lights, music, sound effects, and actors in the most insane and imaginative costumes possible.  They even tried to show a demon who was walking around cut in half using a mirror...I can't imagine the Theater makes much money on these performances, but they go full blown.  They fall down in comedic Japanese style, they scream their lines, they jump around when monsters are here and fight, even getting the audience involved, until the actors are dripping with sweat, exhausted but happy because the audience is clapping and laughing and screaming.  This kind of small theater performance was what Japan meant to me.  Something specialized, that was done with all the enthusiasm possible, and without hope of being understood by Gaijin.  I'd be hard pressed to explain the plot of this play or to explain why the pictures seemed magical to me when they might not to others...but I did buy a dvd of their last performance...so family and friends, you're in for some Japanese magic when I come home.

Now, for Halloween...it was one hell of a time.  It was last week, on saturday, and I had Bon Dancing in the morning, which was UTTER HELL!  We had practice, costumes, and frankly, I was tired...tired of the rehearsals, tired of the timing, of the worrying...and of being near a few people among the girls who just didn't like me(I was the only boy dancing.)  But, I did it, it's done, nuff said.  We did very well for our performance but I sadly have no pictures or video to share...so tough.  I did see other dances while there which were impressive in their own way, like having a backdrop that looked like real snow or what not, but...I was so tired it's kind of a blur.

For Halloween after that, though, I made cookies.  Strawberry milk and Azuki Bean cookies...damn were they good.  We all made cookies and sweets, actually.  It was a celebration at the Seminar house, accompanied by costumes and the Nightmare Before Christmas.  Even I dressed up.  Warning, what you are about to see is incredibly silly.  You have been warned.

I AM THE PUMPKIN EMPEROR!

I had a kimono and a pumpkin mask so I said to myself, "Why the hell not?" and jumped into the fray.  Others costumes were better, we even had a scooby doo group up there with everyone included, but privacy and all that, so I'm all ya get.  Tough cookies.  Then, I went clubbing with friends.  It was an odd experience, since I don't drink, dance, or smoke...and that's all that happened at the club we went to.  But, once more I said "Why the hell not?" and jumped into it with all my intensity.

Clubbing isn't my thing...but I do enjoy it from time to time.  Dancing to the good music(the club had a number of terrible tunes) made me feel more alive than I have in a long time, even though I poured sweat.  I probably spent more on water and soda to keep myself going than others did on alcohol, which is funny...and kind of sad, but whatever.  I met some new people and saw sides of my friend's I'd never seen before.  Even got a chance to help a few people out when they were a little over their limit.  It pays to be the sober one sometimes...not literally, but in moral value, I mean.

So, that was my week.  A cavalcade of complete madness that I would love to repeat down the line.  Hope it was everything you were hoping for and more, dear viewers.  And now, I must bid you adieu.  I am beyond tired.  Hopefully next time I'll have something to say about Bunraku, the creepy art form of Japanese puppets on a theater stage.  Ugh...interesting but so...eerie.

Until then, stay faithful and keep watching for new updates.  Later.

The Daibutsu, Ikebana, Iaido, and Bon Dance Woes

I'm sorry for the long delay again.  Also sorry, dear viewers, that I can't share any of my pictures with you at this moment.  Do you know why?  No, it's not because of personal problems, or because they were too dark, or because my camera is broken.  No, it's because Blogger is a piece of unmitigated garbage and refuses to upload my pictures.  So Thank you, Blogger.  Because of you, my family and friends will not get to see my trips to exotic locales overseas.  I hate this stupid thing so much!


Now that that's out of my system, I'll try and be more upbeat.  We've just had midterms here at Kansai Gaidai and they were killer, stress inducing nightmares.  The Japanese language midterms, anyway.  That's the reason for my long delay.  I've been up all night, every night, studying my butt off to try and do well on them.  I probably did okay, but...Christ, the midterms in Japan are way, way worse than those in America.


Anyway, I went to Nara last Sunday.  Nara is much like Kyoto.  Very rustic and idyllic.  Where I visited it was almost like taking a trip back in time.  I traveled with friends and we saw monks accepting alms, people in Kimono's, Japanese girls and boys in their school uniforms, all the sort of imagery people associate with Japan.  It was most pleasant and very relaxing there.

On our trip to see the great Daibutsu of Nara, which is a gigantic bronze buddha statue, we fed the deer in Nara park.  These little fellows seemed very smart, as they were able to wait at cross walks and even bow.  Most were pretty rambunctious though, chasing after some of my friends, snubbing others who offered them food, and even stealing food from others.  We even saw a dear steal a man's homework, right out of his notebook, and eat it!  Hilarious.

There were so many school girls and boys in their navy blue skirts and black uniforms respectively at the site of Todaiji, where the Daibutsu is housed.  That surprised me a bit at first, but when I went inside...wow, there really is no way to describe how huge the "Big Buddha of Nara" really is.  It's...unreal.  It sits on a golden throne with bodhisattvas carved all over it and flanked on either side by smaller Buddhas and what looked like warrior gods.  We also did a special touristy thing at the big Buddha.  There is a hole, said to be as big as the Daibutsu's nostril, where if you can pass through it, you will have good luck, or something.  It's a tight squeeze, but we all managed to make it.  I went second out of my five friends and ironically, had the least amount of trouble.  The girls, who were all very thing might I add, had a lot of trouble and panicked a little.  The crowd was very encouraging and clapped for them though, which made the whole experience very fun.  We topped off the evening with donuts and takoyaki before returning to our respective homes.  We were tired, but satisfied.


I returned to Ikebana this week as well.  Plans are being made to present something for the cultural fair in November, but this week we just made a pleasant little flower arrangement that resembled a pine forest.  I would show you but...you know...


I also did more practice for Bon Dance.  It's really coming together and today we got to wear our ceremonial kimonos.  Mine was a dark blue one, covered in golden fans, with a tint of light blue around the edges.  Very elegant...but I can't show it to you yet.  The dance is hard work, even though it only lasts for four minutes.  There is so much to remember.


I had planned to go a festival tonight, but the rain has discouraged me.  It was set to be a long and rather tiresome affair anyway, so I don't feel to bad.  I would have liked to go to at least one Japanese festival, but most of them are in the spring...so maybe next time.


Most of my nights in the last few weeks have been taken up preparing for a presentation in my language class on Iaido, which is a martial art that is noncombative.  It involves rapidly unsheathing a sword, moving it about, then resheathing it.  The subject is fascinating and I wish I could take it.  I even checked out books on Iaijutsu and Iaido for the presentation...but the hardest part is that it all has to be spoken in Japanese.  My speaking partner Keiko has been a life saver in this, because she has helped me translate my speech.  Now I just need to memorize and practice it.


I had a dream last night that I had finally gone home, dear viewers.  But it was much earlier than I expected and I was shocked to learn how sick and heartbroken I was to leave.  Though I do miss home and the freedom of living on my own, I feel I would also miss this kind of life, even though I feel more tired and have to deal with a lot more people everyday.  A word to the wise for potential travelers.  Fall too much in love with a place and you may make yourself ill when the time comes to leave.


That's all for now.  Some personal issues weigh heavily on my mind(don't they always...) but life here is pretty good.  I've made several new friends since the Nara trip and am trying to get through the year.  I feel all traveled out, but I would still like to go to Fushimi Inari, an authentic and ancient Shinto Shrine, and an Onsen.  Stay tuned for that.


I'll also try and upload my pictures of this trip later, but we'll have to see if Blogger is done throwing it's tantrum and will let me do my work.


Hopefully I can share more of trip with you next time, dear viewers.  Till then, be well.

Bon Dancing, Hiroshima, and a little sister

Hello again, dear viewers.  Again, I must apologize for the lateness of this post, but the longer I am in Japan, the less time I have for my blog...or for my personal writing for that matter.

Anyway, now is not the time for whining about what could have been.  I had an interesting experience almost two weeks ago in the form of Bon Dancing.  It is a festival dance that I was taught by several Oba san's, or middle aged women.  They are part of a dancing troupe and we did a number of dances, including a Janken(rock paper scissors) game.  I also got to wear a traditional Yukata and dance with several attractive young ladies in similar garb.  For those uninformed, a Yukata is a light summer robe, similar to a kimono, with large sleeves to hold belongings, but it's much lighter, to accommodate for the heat.  Sadly, I have no pictures of this to share, since I, like an idiot, forgot my camera.  I may get some pictures from friends who went with me, but they are busy, so who knows if they'll remember...I do remind them, but I don't want to make a pest of myself.

On a related note, I, and several of the girls, were asked to participate in a Bon Dance being done for the whole of Hirakata city.  While a bit scary, it is fun and we are practicing regularly, starting last wensday.  It is a short four minute dance involving fans and sakura blossoms that is a little hard to get for me, but I do have a good time, so who cares.  It's a nice chance to do something truly Japanese while in Japan.  Speaking of doing something Japanese, I joined the Ikebana club this week.  Flower arrangement is not something people typically think of for either Gaijin or boys, but it is one of the most relaxing and meditative things I've ever done and I just love it.  I even have pictures of my arrangements and my teacher.

Ikebana is all about the form and composition of the flowers, much like Sumi-E.  You have to make a work of art out of the flowers, using nothing more than their positions in relation to one another.  I may even continue this when I get back to the states.

Following that, my week was, to say the least, stressful but rewarding.  I've spent many days with good friends, exploring the city, and trying my best to live in a dorm, which is still annoying for me.  And then...this weekend rolled around.  And the trip to Hiroshima.  This is where things get depressing.

 So these were the Shinkansen and trolly cars I had to take to get to the Atomic Bomb Museum.  I was impressed by neither.  The Shinkansen is an expensive, over glorified train that, while moving fast, is basically an airplane you take without leaving the ground.  I was not impressed.  The trolly cars were just like the stuff of CA or maybe NY.  Buses that are fast and run on a track.  Yawn.

 This was the A-bomb dome, one of the few survivors of the bomb.  It's a building of immense structural stability, needing only minor bracing and no repair to survive an atomic bomb and keep standing since the 1940s.

 These are all memorial sites.  The clock is one, the bell is one, and the cranes are one.  The idea being from a girl who tried to fold a thousand cranes to get a wish of hers come true, to be cured of radiation poisoning from the A-bomb.  The bell above me is a testament to that wish and behind it are hundreds of thousands of paper cranes folded from all corners of the world so that people know the wish for peace is alive.  It was moving to see such things, but a my comrades disappointed me a bit.  They were far too giddy for such a somber place, meant to make you remember something that can never be forgotten.

 More memorials and the museum itself.

 These pictures are what put me in the Hiroshima mindset.  One was photos of the before and after, as taken by the US bombers.  And the other was an artist interpretation of Hiroshima's burning, with a fire god in the back, as if this was a malevolent act of heaven itself.  I spoke with one of the bomb survivors as well.  Her strength and good cheer were surprising, but hearing of her story and the terror and pain she endured made me feel a deep shame for what my country did and for my own ignorance.  It was like that throughout the museum.  Pictures of the black rain, of belongings that barely survived the A-bomb, and models of how the city was destroyed, as well as of what the survivors, with their flesh melted and their bodies a mess of burns, cuts, and rotted tissue, looked like, littered the museum, with more information than I thought possible to know.  For example, Hiroshima was chosen as a target specifically because it had no allied prisoners in it and because the weather was clear...it seems rather arbitrary looking back and even more so when you realize the US destroyed an entire city to give themselves a stronger bargaining ground in the cold war.  This museum affected me so much that I was somber for the rest of the trip and left my comrades behind, seeking solace in solitude and the attractions of the city.  This is something I needed to see...but it was harder than I thought.  I did not cry...but at times I wish I had.  It would have been easier.

Following the museum, I saw just how much Hiroshima had recovered.  There were tons of sights to see and the people were friendly, energetic, and kind, even for a Gaijin like me.  I went down the main street of their biggest shopping district looking for gifts, but instead finding specialty shops of every variety, from a ladies stocking store to the most nerdy of arcades and model shops.

 These were just a few of the shops from the street I was on that was filled with crazy shops.

 This was Hiroshima style Okinomiyaki, a pancake like platter of meat and vegetables on top of an egg and noodles.  It was delicious to eat and amazing to see made.

I didn't get into Hiroshima castle, but I did get some nice pictures of the walls outside.  I wanted to see more and did go inside the walls, but time was against me and I had to get to my platform so I could return on the Shinkansen.  It was a long, exhausting trip and I had to work hard not to get lost on the way back, but I returned home from Hiroshima the same day I left.  Then promptly collapsed.

The following day was much less somber and much for fun.  Na-chan, my home visit partner and a surrogate little sister in some aspects, brought me to her hometown.  It was a quaint place, that was very quiet, almost rustic in its beauty.  It was known for grapes and takoyaki.  And that's what I experienced while there.  I went grape picking with Na-chan, which was harder than I thought, as you had to skin and de-seed the grapes, but they were so sweet and juicy and the vineyards were so pretty that I didn't care.  Then we met her best friend, Manaka, whose names sounds like my best friend, Monica.  And then...takoyaki.  For those not in the know, takoyaki is made using a pancake like batter, but with special molds to make them into little balls.  While the balls cook, they are filled with cheese, meats, cabbage, and most importantly, squid.  Fresh takoyaki is a treat for the taste buds and will warm any belly and any heart.  It was amazing.

I also got to see a Japanese home.  Despite Na-chan's complaints of it being too small, I thought it very nice.  There was a kitchen, a common room, which acted as dining room, study, and bedroom, and an upstairs.  It was small, but it had its charm.  I met Na-chan's mother and sister too.  Both seemed a bit shy around me, but good hearted and I did my best to talk with them in Japanese.  Na-chan knows good english, but her family does not, so they were very nervous.  So was I.  I had to work to explain things about my family to them, but on the whole, I had a great time.

 Na-Chan!

 Me and Na-chan holding fresh grapes.  It was something else, especially since the vines weren't tall enough to allow me to stand in some places.  Made me feel really tall.

 A bucket for washing grapes and a bucket for the skin and seeds.

 A typical Japanese common room, tatami mats and all.

 Cooking Takoyaki...it was an experience that is hard to forget.

 Me, Na-chan, and Manaka.

Momoko, Na-chan's precious little kitty.  So Kawaii(cute)!

Na-chan came back with me too and I cooked for her a bit.  Then she talked with my parents on Skype.  This kind of friendship was what I hoped to make in Japan.  Na-chan and I are very different in some ways, though we both have trouble listening to each other's language, me, Japanese, her, English.  But we're happy around one another and even if I'm tired, Na-chan is always Genki(full of energy.)  It made my somber trip seem like a distant dream.

I had hoped to speak more about my time in-between now and Bon dancing, as I got my alien registration card, met with my eye doctor again, and dealt with some rather weird issues in my Seminar house, but thanksgiving is being prepared right now(that's a long story I'll get to later as well) and I must go help cook.  So, until I can speak more on the matter, I bid you adieu, dear readers and invite you to return next time for more tales of the land of the rising sun.

Till then.