Ah, I jest. Although Golden Curry sounds quite delicious. Actually, Golden Week is a set of consecutive national holidays that make up about 5 days of no work or class for the people of Japan. In other words, the whole country is on vacation (more or less).I got to do a lot of wonderful things during Golden Week!! Including: sleeping! and sleeping!!!! and not leaving the house!
I also went to Nagashima Spaland!!
Two of my study abroad chums and I got pretty close to the Judo club at Nanzan and 8 of us went Mie-ken (prefecture) and rode the rides. Twas great fun! We even watched a comedy act performed by a balloon wielding dancer(?). At least that's what his shoes told
me.
My friends, Tana and Vivi, and I learned a great game called "Iseisei". It's a little complicated at
first but once you get into it, it's a fun game. Iseisei is a guessing game where the winner is the first person out. Out of the totally number of thumbs, you have to guess how many will be put up. If you guess correctly you get to take one hand out of game. Once you get that second hand out, you win! And then, as Iam told, you cheer everyone on.
Look very closely at the picture to the right. Do you see it?
We also went into a haunted house where I proved how much of a scaredy-cat I really am. I sought refuge with a variety of T-shirt holding, hiding behind, and involuntary climbing. My friend Tana thought it would be funny to actually push me towards one of the ghouls, which
earned her many a "tomodachi ja nai yo!!" (you're not my friend!!) I must say the craziest part was when I tried to climb the smallest member of our group, who weighs considerably less than me. Needless to say, lulz were had.
Luckily, the guys like me enough to semi-protect me :)
Next on the Gooruden-uiiku train, I went to two historical cities on the Nakasendo with my research class. And my friend Corey!! We went to Tsumago and Magome! These cities were post towns where Daimyou used to stop on their way to and from Tokyou. These towns died out when the Japanese government got rid of the law requiring the Daimyou to travel to Tokyo. The source of these towns' income dried up. The townspeople had to return to living off of the land and the wood business.
Here's a super old table!!!
Sidenote: Back in the day, wood was so important that if you were caught taking bark or branches without permission they would be executed in front of the town and their families!!
O.o! Sadly, the towns fell into disrepair.
But
some people, noting that these towns were part of
the Japanese history and should be saved, started rebuilding and restoring these towns. Tsumago was made into a historical site. Not just one building, but the whole town! Pretty impressive ne! We also saw a never-been-used toilet made for the emperor!!
Now the town runs off of tourism. The town sold many wood products, things I never saw made of wood. Quite interesting. Now that I think back, that town was known for soba, uhh so hungry!
Here is a sign post where the where news from the Emperor was posted!
We then traveled by bus and by foot to Magome! Another town that was keep in it's old-timey ways! Except they sold chuhai in the stores. (Chuhai is a soda/juice like alcoholic beverage)The highlight of this trip was our stay in a Buddhist temple.
We ate dinner at the temple which was quite nice and watched the un-traditional Shaun of the Dead. A classmate walked into a wall behind me at a crucial moment during the movie, scaring me (literally) half under the table. And there was no explanation for the noise for some time after. Sadly,
everyone knows I'm scared easily now. We all slept in the temple and awoke the next morning for group meditation! I need to work on my balance and leg-folding abilities! And concentration...
After that we slowly made our way back to the bus. As we waited for our train back to Nagoya, I felt like I was backpacking my way across Japan, kimochi wa yokatta (it was a good feeling).
Until next time,
~Ama
Next time: (rewind to Ise Jinju)
Matane!
Ama
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