So, I'll just come out and say it. I hit a car while riding my bike on Wednesday morning. No, I wasn't wearing a helmet, like Everyone should (but no one does in Japan). I will find one posthaste. I'm not dead, as it would be very hard for a ghost to type, even though Ghostwriter seemed to pull it off rather well. And I wasn't my fault (in the eyes of the law!~ and mine).
So, I'm riding my bike to to the train station like I do almost everyday. I'm on my favorite straightaway, where I hardly have to pedal because I still have a lot of speed from going downhill. As I approach this blind-corner, I check the safety (lol) mirror for cars. I see none, I hear none, I proceed w/o braking. According to the driver, he looked in the mirror also and did not see me either.
He stopped right in front of me and here are my thoughts (after much reiteration so they make sense).
Mirror.
Clear.
Cool.
Car.--Crap.
*Boomf* (that's a sound, not thoughts)
Air. (hmm, this reminds me of judo)
Ground--Face meets ground--Bike meets head.
Lie on ground.
So the guy gets out of his car immediately to check if I'm ok. I reply, saying that I think so, as I get up and look around. I find my backpack behind me (it used to be in front of me). Guy goes and picks up my bike, stands it up. He's very hurried and went back to his car, ripped off a piece of paper from somewhere, wrote his phone number on it and put it into my hands.
Here is our first sign of trouble.
In Japan, there are these things called Meishi. They may be just business cards to you, but here they are very important. When you meet someone you give them a meishi! Almost everyone, but some students and housewives have them. You even give them to the person in a special way, two handed and facing the person.
And I got a piece of paper :'(.
Next, went back to his car, telling me "Sorry, but I have to go to work". I had gathered my things and gotten to the side of the road by then and was just staring at him. Then as he got into his car, he told me "Go to the hospital fast ok?"
Then he drove off.
Yes, he left.
So, then we had some realizations.
First, I just hit a car, flew through the air, and hit the ground.
Second, I'm not dead!!!!! YAYYYY! Went and prayed for a second, thanking God for protecting me from worse injuries.
Next, I'm bleeding from my left eyelid and my head is bruised and my wrist hurts.
Then, No ones stopping to help. They must be going to work too.
Finally, I should make a few calls.
Host mom, didn't get her. Program director. Friend, to say I think I might be late for school.
During some point in time, I considered riding my bike to the station and sitting on the train to get myself to the hospital. This was foiled by my broken bicycle.
Needless to say, when my host mom got there, she was furious at this driver. In America, we call that a hit-and-run. I'm pretty sure you can tell, I'm kinda pissed off now. At the moment, I thought, this guy's job must be pretty tough on him! He's really gotta go to work. No, I didn't have a concussion.
I missed school and spent the day in the hospital, taking tests. My eyes are fine, as well as my skull and other appendages. I did get 4 stitches!
Now, I have the complete injury care list:
Cast
Brace
Crutches
Stitches
I guess I should amend that to injury care that you can walk around with.
So, luckily, my host mom's got some internet skills and she found the dude online! He's a dentist! That got her really mad. That filling/cleaning, just couldn't wait.
Gotta give a bit shout out to the CJS ladies from School who came to the hospital!!! to them coming to the hospital and helping me all day.
I was able to make a whole room of ppl laugh, when I was getting my concussion test (in Japanese!~) I gotta say, at least 2+ points have been added to my joke meter.
At the end of the day, I just wanted to get everything related to it out of the way, so I went to make my police statement. I showed me on my lil toy bike (the coolest toy bike you've ever seen! With clear spinning wheels and pedals!) and a toy car.I also drew a picture of the incident, with the best arrows, I've ever drawn. But I digress.
I finished up my police statement. Fingerprinted my documents and all, (even the picture I drew. The policeman particularly enjoyed that one). Then I went on my merry way home. Luckily, I had none of the subcranial hematoma symptoms and went to bed and woke up!
The aite (aite = opponent/other person; My opponent was a car and the ground lol) So he's been calling my house and school trying to apologize. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time accepting forced apologies. My host mom has said no to his seeing me and after 2 more days at school I completely agree to never seeing him. The next day at school, I was told that he was sorry again and he panicked. I started feeling like I'm being stalked ~.^ warui kimoti [weird feeling] after he got hold of all these numbers. The Friday, I was told he didn't just say sorry, but asked that I don't file a complaint with the police...
3 strikes!
No MEISHI!
LEAVES THE SCENE OF A ACCIDENT!!!!???
THEN ASKES ME NOT TO REPORT IT FOR FEAR OF LOSING HIS LICENSE?!!?
The nice, oh-it-was-an-accident Ama has left the building.
I hope he loses his license. He didn't stop at his stop sign, he pulled out in the way of a biker, stopping abruptly as he saw her. And he apparently has enough points on his card that this pushes it over the top! Gotta say, I think he deserves to lose his license. Make the streets of Nagoya a lot safer. I just hope he doesn't ride the bus with me <(0.0;)>
But enough with the ranting, I'm getting my stitches out in 8 hours! and I needs my rest!
I also went on a trip this weekend that was good. So we'll talk about that instead next time. I don't think you want a picture of my face right now, but I'll give you some smiling ones later!
Goodnight!
~Ama
Monday, March 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hadaka Masturi and Arubaito!
So, I haven't posted anything up-to-date recently, but I just wanted to share that I got an arubaito! (part-time job) I teach English about three times a week for the month of March as a private tutor. PT jobs are a lot better here in Japan, especially as an English-tutor, because native are so mezurashii (rare). I'll be busy for March, so sorry in advance.
So before I leave, I have to tell you about the Konomiya Hadakamatsuri I went to on Friday. This is a Festival, otherwise known as the Naked Man Festival. At this fest, men of all ages get to run around drunk out of their minds and basically naked. In actuality only one man is naked, but I'll get to that in a second. The men wear loincloths and head bands (which I think represented which town/village they came from.I was surprised by the amount of loincloth they had surrounding their waist, but I'm glad they had a bit of extra covering, because not much was left to the imagination. Some men had tattoos! If you didn't know, in Japan, tattoos are extremely rare and are associated with the Yakuza (Japanese mob). I saw two guys w/ full body tats. Who knows?!?!!?
The rowdy men went through the (rainy, this year) streets of town toward the shrine carrying large bundles of bamboo. My friends and I who were getting soaked in spite of our umbrellas, were narrowly missed by a swinging bundle as we had wriggled our way to the front of the crowd at the shrine. These guys were carrying around boxes of sake (rice wine), soooo yea, they were drunk. I'm pretty sure a few of them had fallen down on the way there as they had unexplained grass all over or, as one man was, bleeding from the legs. It was also raining really hard and was kinda cold so I felt bad for them, though, most of them seemed very happy and boisterous. The men all came in groups very happy to arrive at the shrine. With every group, the bamboo pack got bigger. The men who had already arrived cheered each other on, with a phrase that I think is "Washo". I'm still not sure. But it meant, "cheer up" "fight on" etc.
They sure were genki (energetic).
So they get to the shrine and are waiting for the one naked guy, who has been consecrated for the ceremony. This guy hasn't eaten in 2-3 days and has been specially picked this year. I'm sure the prep is longer than that, but I do know 2-3 days is enough for me to want to tear my way through a bunch of naked men to get a sandwich....well maybe not. So, in Japanese culture, there are unlucky ages. A lot of the participants in this festival are at these points in their lives. The consecrated man has been chosen and consecrated in order to bring luck to these folks. In order to get some of that luck, you have to touch the lucky man.... This is what I like to call CHAOS! Poor dude is completely naked, starving, protected by a small group of dudes, and being chased, pushed, jammed and beaten, but a bunch of drunk, semi-naked, unlucky men. Under normal circumstances, probably not his cup o' tea. But luckily, it's a great honor to be this festival's holy man, so I think he'll get over it after some sleepless nights.
Of course the body guards offer some protection and the men are being constantly splashed with cold water in order to deter them from their goal, but I think the alcohol helps their resolve. So this guy makes it through what would be a 3-4 minute walk in a couple of hours and is pulled into the shrine, hopefully, alive. This year's guy was still genki and standing when he recovered a bit afterwards. Yatta! (yay!)
So I got some omiyage (souvenirs) from this trip. The men have many brightly colored headbands and they rip off strips to give to the onlookers. It's considered good luck. I got like 5 strips. Reasons I got these strips: A) I'm a foreigner, that looks reallllly foreign. B) I asked ppl and surprised by my Japanese, they gave it to me.
For the A reasons, I got 2 strips w/o even asking. That was nice.
My friends and I couldn't stay too long, so we didn't see the holy dude, but we did make a friend and eat at an outside shop w/ him. That was fun.
I'll post some pics later. It's 12:39am here! and I have 2 kanji (Chinese characters) tests tomorrow, so I'm going to hit the futon (futon = where I sleep)(aka. the hay).
Night!
~Ama
So before I leave, I have to tell you about the Konomiya Hadakamatsuri I went to on Friday. This is a Festival, otherwise known as the Naked Man Festival. At this fest, men of all ages get to run around drunk out of their minds and basically naked. In actuality only one man is naked, but I'll get to that in a second. The men wear loincloths and head bands (which I think represented which town/village they came from.I was surprised by the amount of loincloth they had surrounding their waist, but I'm glad they had a bit of extra covering, because not much was left to the imagination. Some men had tattoos! If you didn't know, in Japan, tattoos are extremely rare and are associated with the Yakuza (Japanese mob). I saw two guys w/ full body tats. Who knows?!?!!?
The rowdy men went through the (rainy, this year) streets of town toward the shrine carrying large bundles of bamboo. My friends and I who were getting soaked in spite of our umbrellas, were narrowly missed by a swinging bundle as we had wriggled our way to the front of the crowd at the shrine. These guys were carrying around boxes of sake (rice wine), soooo yea, they were drunk. I'm pretty sure a few of them had fallen down on the way there as they had unexplained grass all over or, as one man was, bleeding from the legs. It was also raining really hard and was kinda cold so I felt bad for them, though, most of them seemed very happy and boisterous. The men all came in groups very happy to arrive at the shrine. With every group, the bamboo pack got bigger. The men who had already arrived cheered each other on, with a phrase that I think is "Washo". I'm still not sure. But it meant, "cheer up" "fight on" etc.
They sure were genki (energetic).
So they get to the shrine and are waiting for the one naked guy, who has been consecrated for the ceremony. This guy hasn't eaten in 2-3 days and has been specially picked this year. I'm sure the prep is longer than that, but I do know 2-3 days is enough for me to want to tear my way through a bunch of naked men to get a sandwich....well maybe not. So, in Japanese culture, there are unlucky ages. A lot of the participants in this festival are at these points in their lives. The consecrated man has been chosen and consecrated in order to bring luck to these folks. In order to get some of that luck, you have to touch the lucky man.... This is what I like to call CHAOS! Poor dude is completely naked, starving, protected by a small group of dudes, and being chased, pushed, jammed and beaten, but a bunch of drunk, semi-naked, unlucky men. Under normal circumstances, probably not his cup o' tea. But luckily, it's a great honor to be this festival's holy man, so I think he'll get over it after some sleepless nights.
Of course the body guards offer some protection and the men are being constantly splashed with cold water in order to deter them from their goal, but I think the alcohol helps their resolve. So this guy makes it through what would be a 3-4 minute walk in a couple of hours and is pulled into the shrine, hopefully, alive. This year's guy was still genki and standing when he recovered a bit afterwards. Yatta! (yay!)
So I got some omiyage (souvenirs) from this trip. The men have many brightly colored headbands and they rip off strips to give to the onlookers. It's considered good luck. I got like 5 strips. Reasons I got these strips: A) I'm a foreigner, that looks reallllly foreign. B) I asked ppl and surprised by my Japanese, they gave it to me.
For the A reasons, I got 2 strips w/o even asking. That was nice.
My friends and I couldn't stay too long, so we didn't see the holy dude, but we did make a friend and eat at an outside shop w/ him. That was fun.
I'll post some pics later. It's 12:39am here! and I have 2 kanji (Chinese characters) tests tomorrow, so I'm going to hit the futon (futon = where I sleep)(aka. the hay).
Night!
~Ama
Saturday, February 27, 2010
NIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNJJJJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Happy Valentine's Day, NINJA~!
So on Valentine's Day, the IES students took a bus trip to Mie prefecture about a 1hr drive from Nagoya.
We went strawberry picking at Mokumoku Farms. We got to pick strawberries straight off the plants and eat them. Then we got to pick some for an omiyage (souvenior). The strawberries were really tasty and sweet and I really enjoyed picking out my own. There were all sorts of paths to wander off on and there was a Pig show there. The pigs were not very good at doing tricks, not very good at all, but they did have heart... So after the strawberry picking, we ate at Mokumoku farm's BBQ, pork BBQ. I guess those pigs didn't put enough hear into their performance, but they did put it into their flavor! Yum yum! We got to cook the food ourselves on a gas grill in the middle of the tables. Twas a very good bonding experience for us :). Oh Buta-san... so tasty
So after we left the strawberry farm, we went to the Ninja House. Where we met Tomo-chan. That's what he told us to call him. The most adorable ninja/(real ninja descendant) that I've ever met and took a picture with. Apparently, he also had a crazy pack (crazy pack = 10+ pack) But his face is so adorable! He spoke English for us and gave us a little bit of a tour. When we were walking towards the house, there was a kid dressed in a red ninja suit. Apparently, you can rent them for the day and wear them around the place. This kid just saw us ready to take pictures and his inner ninja/model came out. Every pose in the book. This kid knew it. Thank you, Juurangaa (Power Rangers)! Back to Tomo-chan, adorable.
So there was a ninja show with ninja fights and confetti guts! It was great. Tomo even showed us how to roll 500yen on a parasol. Adorable! He also showed us how to slice open our opponents! I took a video of the whole thing. It's in Japanese, so it will be hard to understand. But I'll try to explain it later. *Eji, pay attention to this video* We go demonstrations of different weapons like throwing stars, sickles, and samurai swords. I got a piece of bamboo that was cut bu the sword I'm holding in that picture. I kinda was geeking out the whole time. I played the throwing star game. I kinda sucked at it, sadly, but Adam did well! darn him! and he got another prize! We then had a tour of a Ninja house, showing us all the secret passages and hidey-holes. I got to go into a secret room! We then went through 2 more ninja museums and I bought some omiyage there. My new coin purse is a lil red ninja. Wonderful. Actually, I had to ask Tomo-chan for my piece of Bamboo, cause lucky Adam, got the first piece, but he was so happy to oblige. I'll link our pictures!
I took pictures and recorded everything I could of the Ninja Show and museum. I hope you like them.
Oh, and I know you were wondering. I did indeed have a Valentine. Her name was Tana and we're tight! We were dubbed "best valentines ever" thanks to our synchronized dance moves. We exchanged chocolates as girls in Japan do on Valentine's Day (boys give chocolate and presents on White day 3/14) and had a great time being cool together.
Tis all for now,
Love,
~Ama
Thursday, February 25, 2010
7 Days of Adventure!
So my friend Liz and I planned a trip for a group of 10+ ppl to go to Osaka(16ppl) and Tokyo (12ppl). We actually pulled it off w/o missing any of our buses and we all got rooms in the same hotels!
So much happened on this trip that I really can't give you a good recollection of it. But I did go to a lot of shrines and temples, including the oldest shrine and the famous Asakusa shine in Tokyo and some great temples in Osaka (where we got to go to the top of the pagoda!)
I got a fortune at the Asakusa shrine. It was bad :( It told me that "the person I was waiting for would not come!" In addition to that, "I'm too impatient and my boat wouldn't come and if I got on a boat, that boat would sink" (my words) "also it was a bad time to build or take down a house". Pretty bad. It was the second to worst fortune one could get. When you get a bad fortune you tie it to a string in the shrine so it won't follow you home. That's what I did. I really didn't want my boats to sink.
I also went to my first night club in Osaka. Very interesting scene, night clubs....
Anyhooo!
We stayed in a separate room in Osaka. The Mikado hotel had an onsen bath. Onsens in Japan are hot springs, but there also large bathtubs where this water can go. At an onsen you wash first before getting in. With a bunch of other strangers, who also happen to be completely naked. Or maybe wrapped in a towel(occasionally).
In Tokyo, we stayed in the Shinjuku area in two different types of rooms. Some of my friends stayed in the Hotel's Mix-dorm room, while the rest of us stayed on a wooden capsule floor. Capsule hotels are hotels where you rent basically the bed space which is a large box w/ your bed and a light. These hotels are usually cheap and only open to business men, but we got a cool hotel called Acc Inn Shinjuku. Yay!!! 20-31 bucks a night!!Ace Inn was pretty nice and the ppl were quite cool. I personally recommend it for a cheap night sleep. It was quite clean also! and there were coin showers and laundry. I actually did some trip laundry there!
So in Osaka we went to the aquarium. That was a lot of fun. I used my telepathic powers to get a turtle to pose w/ me but my friend didn't take the picture in time. So you just have to take my word for it. We also went to this wicked awesome placed called Den-den town. Den = electricity. So double the den = double the awesome.
There were shops of all sorts lining the streets. There are shops called Maid shops where girls dressed in maid costumes serve you food. You actually don't have to buy anything, but you have to pay a cover fee to stay there! And you're charged hourly! Crazyyyyy.
In one store in Den-Den town, which I actually went to twice, there was a PS3 game called Bayonetta! I loved it!! I couldn't understand the story so much, but the main character was really cool and had the craziest moves and attacks. I think if my PS2 dies again, I'll upgrade to the PS3 and after KH3, this will be the next game I buy.
Osaka was a really fun place with its variety and World's Largest Ferris Wheel. I wound up in the Valentine's day cart with 4 boys! Oh me, oh my. After that I found some ninjas to pose with and a shuriken (throwing star) game to play (300en/a round). I wasn't very good for the beginning but my friend Adam went twice and won a Dragonball pillow. I was very jealous.
On our first day in Osaka, we saw this dance performance on the street. Needless to say, it was weird. Nothing like Nagoya. Naked man painted white dressed like a bunny, woman dressed like a cat weird. I still don't understand it.
After going to the shrines and castles of Osaka we took an overnight bus to Tokyo. Not the most comfortable and restful ride we ever had, but it was the cheapest overnight bus, I've ever bought tickets for.
Tiredly, we arrived at Ace Inn and put our stuff down. We couldn't check in at the 6am that we reached there, but we were able to use the lounge and computers, which made everyone a bit less cranky.
Some of us then set out to explore Tokyo. We bought day passes for the subway (in Osaka we bought an Osaka 2-day visitor's pass, which was good for all the trains and had discounts to all the big things in Osaka. It was a lot more helpful in helping us plan than our Tokyo train only tickets). We hit the town in Tokyo in much smaller groups, 3-5 ppl instead of 7-10 we had done before. Shrines, castle, bus tours, Disneyland, everyone had a different experience. We all made it back to the hotel in one piece and we usually saw each other or ate together at least once a day. It was a good time.
Tokyo was a bit more unorganized than Osaka, but it allowed for self-planning.
We went to the famous Meijii Shrine. We thought about going to the fish market, but it was hard enough waking up at 9am, much less 4 to get to the 5am show!
My friends Tana and Doro went with me to meet with my penpal, Yoshiko, who I hadn't seen in about 4 years! It was very nice to go to Tokyo Tower with her and catch up. The four of us had dinner at the Curry Lab in the bottom of the tower. It had been raining and foggy, so we didn't spend a lot of time in the observatory of the tower. But on clear days, you can see in all directions. That night Tana, Doro, and I found 3000yen! Some guy just threw it down outside of the tower. When we looked for him, he was gone and we were left with about 10bucks each!
I went to Disneyland on the last day, but as time was short, my friend and I only go to ride 3 rides. We did have an interesting conversation with a high school couple on an 1 hr wait for Thunder Mountain. The guy was a self-proclaimed soccer superstar. We went through our list of talents. After I said no to a couple of talent questions, I was asked if I could cook. When I gave the affirmative, it seemed like his nod meant that I was satisfactory as a human being/female.
The bus ride back to Nagoya was quite relaxing. The chairs could recline and had a leg rest! There was aisle space between every chair! I actually slept!! It was great. I also got to read my friend Tana's notebook, which was the most hilarious thing I've read in a long time. I'm still sad I didn't get to finish it. We've made an agreement that I can do voice acting her future cartoons. Getting the bus was a bit stressful for me. As we all know, I'm pretty bad at directions. If you have ever received driving directions in a car from me you'll know I still mix up Left and Right. So when 11 ppl are asking you where to go and you don't know (because you've never been there before either), you get stressed out. Luckily we made it to the bus terminal before the bus arrived and got in our seats. The ride back was a bit long, but very nice and I recommend Tokai Super buses to everyone!
Well, that seems like enough for now. Ninja House and Strawberry picking are next.
Love,
~Ama
So much happened on this trip that I really can't give you a good recollection of it. But I did go to a lot of shrines and temples, including the oldest shrine and the famous Asakusa shine in Tokyo and some great temples in Osaka (where we got to go to the top of the pagoda!)
I got a fortune at the Asakusa shrine. It was bad :( It told me that "the person I was waiting for would not come!" In addition to that, "I'm too impatient and my boat wouldn't come and if I got on a boat, that boat would sink" (my words) "also it was a bad time to build or take down a house". Pretty bad. It was the second to worst fortune one could get. When you get a bad fortune you tie it to a string in the shrine so it won't follow you home. That's what I did. I really didn't want my boats to sink.
I also went to my first night club in Osaka. Very interesting scene, night clubs....
Anyhooo!
We stayed in a separate room in Osaka. The Mikado hotel had an onsen bath. Onsens in Japan are hot springs, but there also large bathtubs where this water can go. At an onsen you wash first before getting in. With a bunch of other strangers, who also happen to be completely naked. Or maybe wrapped in a towel(occasionally).
In Tokyo, we stayed in the Shinjuku area in two different types of rooms. Some of my friends stayed in the Hotel's Mix-dorm room, while the rest of us stayed on a wooden capsule floor. Capsule hotels are hotels where you rent basically the bed space which is a large box w/ your bed and a light. These hotels are usually cheap and only open to business men, but we got a cool hotel called Acc Inn Shinjuku. Yay!!! 20-31 bucks a night!!Ace Inn was pretty nice and the ppl were quite cool. I personally recommend it for a cheap night sleep. It was quite clean also! and there were coin showers and laundry. I actually did some trip laundry there!
So in Osaka we went to the aquarium. That was a lot of fun. I used my telepathic powers to get a turtle to pose w/ me but my friend didn't take the picture in time. So you just have to take my word for it. We also went to this wicked awesome placed called Den-den town. Den = electricity. So double the den = double the awesome.
There were shops of all sorts lining the streets. There are shops called Maid shops where girls dressed in maid costumes serve you food. You actually don't have to buy anything, but you have to pay a cover fee to stay there! And you're charged hourly! Crazyyyyy.
In one store in Den-Den town, which I actually went to twice, there was a PS3 game called Bayonetta! I loved it!! I couldn't understand the story so much, but the main character was really cool and had the craziest moves and attacks. I think if my PS2 dies again, I'll upgrade to the PS3 and after KH3, this will be the next game I buy.
Osaka was a really fun place with its variety and World's Largest Ferris Wheel. I wound up in the Valentine's day cart with 4 boys! Oh me, oh my. After that I found some ninjas to pose with and a shuriken (throwing star) game to play (300en/a round). I wasn't very good for the beginning but my friend Adam went twice and won a Dragonball pillow. I was very jealous.
On our first day in Osaka, we saw this dance performance on the street. Needless to say, it was weird. Nothing like Nagoya. Naked man painted white dressed like a bunny, woman dressed like a cat weird. I still don't understand it.
After going to the shrines and castles of Osaka we took an overnight bus to Tokyo. Not the most comfortable and restful ride we ever had, but it was the cheapest overnight bus, I've ever bought tickets for.
Tiredly, we arrived at Ace Inn and put our stuff down. We couldn't check in at the 6am that we reached there, but we were able to use the lounge and computers, which made everyone a bit less cranky.
Some of us then set out to explore Tokyo. We bought day passes for the subway (in Osaka we bought an Osaka 2-day visitor's pass, which was good for all the trains and had discounts to all the big things in Osaka. It was a lot more helpful in helping us plan than our Tokyo train only tickets). We hit the town in Tokyo in much smaller groups, 3-5 ppl instead of 7-10 we had done before. Shrines, castle, bus tours, Disneyland, everyone had a different experience. We all made it back to the hotel in one piece and we usually saw each other or ate together at least once a day. It was a good time.
Tokyo was a bit more unorganized than Osaka, but it allowed for self-planning.
We went to the famous Meijii Shrine. We thought about going to the fish market, but it was hard enough waking up at 9am, much less 4 to get to the 5am show!
My friends Tana and Doro went with me to meet with my penpal, Yoshiko, who I hadn't seen in about 4 years! It was very nice to go to Tokyo Tower with her and catch up. The four of us had dinner at the Curry Lab in the bottom of the tower. It had been raining and foggy, so we didn't spend a lot of time in the observatory of the tower. But on clear days, you can see in all directions. That night Tana, Doro, and I found 3000yen! Some guy just threw it down outside of the tower. When we looked for him, he was gone and we were left with about 10bucks each!
I went to Disneyland on the last day, but as time was short, my friend and I only go to ride 3 rides. We did have an interesting conversation with a high school couple on an 1 hr wait for Thunder Mountain. The guy was a self-proclaimed soccer superstar. We went through our list of talents. After I said no to a couple of talent questions, I was asked if I could cook. When I gave the affirmative, it seemed like his nod meant that I was satisfactory as a human being/female.
The bus ride back to Nagoya was quite relaxing. The chairs could recline and had a leg rest! There was aisle space between every chair! I actually slept!! It was great. I also got to read my friend Tana's notebook, which was the most hilarious thing I've read in a long time. I'm still sad I didn't get to finish it. We've made an agreement that I can do voice acting her future cartoons. Getting the bus was a bit stressful for me. As we all know, I'm pretty bad at directions. If you have ever received driving directions in a car from me you'll know I still mix up Left and Right. So when 11 ppl are asking you where to go and you don't know (because you've never been there before either), you get stressed out. Luckily we made it to the bus terminal before the bus arrived and got in our seats. The ride back was a bit long, but very nice and I recommend Tokai Super buses to everyone!
Well, that seems like enough for now. Ninja House and Strawberry picking are next.
Love,
~Ama
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hisashiburi!!
That mean's "It's been a while". And I think it has! A month has it. Are you doing well Oh internet patrons? I'm am quite "genki" (lively/energetic) myself!
So where was I....
LAST TIME ON:
Ama Out of State!!
Matsuri madness!
7-day college student Japan adventure!!
Drama!
Action!
Very Long Bus Rides!!
Ninja!~
So, get down to business.
Setsubun is the Japanese festival on the eve of Spring. Spring in Japan is verrrry Early and starts off, very cold. We were all freezing by the end of it.
I am in a field research class and had the great pleasure of going to a local Jinja "Shinto Shrine" to watch the festivities. We went to the Shiroyama Hachimangu Shrine in Nagoya. We also got an explanation in Japanese from a very important priest at the Shrine. Another perk to being students and gaijin (foreigners) is that we got to watch the ceremony! The ceremony can only been watched by ppl who pay big bucks (7,000 en = <$70). We saw it and got to video tape it for freee!!!!
So the thing about shrines is that they are secluded. In Japanese culture there are many distinctions in space: Ue and shita (high and low), uti and soto (in and out), and ura and omote (back and front). Depending on the distinction in each pair of directions one thing is, the higher its importance and purity. Tatoeba (for example), my head is more important than my feet. Inside is cleaner than outside (the reason why ppl take off their shoes when coming into the house). And the farther back in the office a person is, the longer they've been there and the more power they have.
Shiroyama Hachimangu Jinja is on a mountain! 1st off. Height! In Japanese the world for come is "kuru". Our guide did not talk about coming to to the temple, he said we would raise ourselves "agaru". This made me think of a LOTR (Lord of the Rings) quote, "One does not simple walk into Mordor". "One does not simply "kuru" to Shiroyama~!"
It's also surrounded by some forest! Wrapping it inside and away from the world. After you go up a bunch of steps and through some gates, or up a hill and through some forest you get to the car park. You follow a raised stone path towards the temple, going through the main (and only) door into a higher complex. The buildings here were raised off of the ground and towards the far sides of the complex. There was also an area w/ flowing water where you could wash your hands and mouth to purify yourself before going any farther. The main building which housed the hondana (holiest place in the shrine) was the farthest back. Stone path that began at the main gate, went all the way to the wishing/praying area in front of the shrine. We got to go in and watch the ceremony! There was a lot of bowing, but I learned a lot. I won't describe it here, but I might post a video. The hondana is the place where the kami (god) resides and in there were many little steps leading to a mirror. During the ceremony offerings were giving and blessings were bestowed.
Then came the fun part!!!!
Mame = beans Mamematsuri = bean throwing mayhem!
The special guests who had paid their 70 bucks to get in and the priests starting throwing the lucky on the crowd who gathered outside.
Before I had failed to mention that there was a myraid of ppl waiting outside of the ceremony building with bags, hats, and hands tensed to catch beans. During the festival, people throw baked soybeans from jinja, otera (Buddist temples), and in and out of their houses. While throwing these beans they say "oni wa soto" (demons[or bad things/sickness/misfortune but lit. demons] out!] "fuku wa uti" (good luck in). The priest on the loudspeaker at our Jinja just kept yelling "GYOSHI!" I liked that, I have no translation. Maybe goisho? the sound you make when you do something laborious? Anyhoo I could not catch very well w/ my gloves and my misses were quickly scooped by an agile young miss (and by young I mean probabaly in her 70s).
You could look up the legend behind the beans. I watched a children's show called Chibimaruko-chan that did a great deal towards my understanding, but I'm sure you all know wikipedia.
On Setsubun, you also eat as many beans as you are old. I got my years out of one pack. (They throw packs now, probably for sanitation and easier clean up).
Then you eat a sushi roll called an "eehomaki" (lucky direction maki). Every year there's a new lucky direction. As you face it you eat your whole eehomaki w/o taking it out of your mouth. In one go! Without talking! Twas great fun! Apparently, that tradition started in a bar somewhere and has done wonders for Family Mart's (convience store chain) business.
Picture descrips (out of order):
DBZ Ginyu Force Pose of my partners and Prof. and the main entrance to the shrine
The main gate
Crowd ravenous for beans
Jinja map
Ceremony building with prayer area in front
And a Picture of us w/ the very nice and also Important priest!
Love,
~Ama
Next time on AOS!:
7-day college student Japan adventure!!
Drama!
Action!
Very Long Bus Rides!!
Ninja!~
Friday, February 5, 2010
Lateness! Sorry
So I have a whoooolle bunch to catch you up on, but no time!!!!
This week, I went on a field research trip to a Jinja (Shinto Shrine) to learn about and observe Setsubun, the eve before Spring. I'll explain that when I get back from my 7 day trip to OSAKA AND TOKYO!!
I'm out!
~Ama
This week, I went on a field research trip to a Jinja (Shinto Shrine) to learn about and observe Setsubun, the eve before Spring. I'll explain that when I get back from my 7 day trip to OSAKA AND TOKYO!!
I'm out!
~Ama
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Best (and Only) Smooth Jazz Concert I've Ever Been To
So it's been approximately 3 weeks in Japan. A NEW RECORD! And I'm having a pretty good time. Everyone here gets along pretty well, but sadly we haven't been able to make too many Japanese friends. All of our classes are with the foreign students in the Japanese Studies Department. Sadly most Japanese students don't wanna study Japanese. And to make things worse. All the Japanese students are on the Japanese school schedule which has a break for all of February and some of March!! NOES! But luckily, Judo club starts back up in February! So, I'll make some Japanese friends there! Tough ones!
Yesterday we went to a Togi Hideki concert! He is a Japanese Gagaku player. There were two halves to the show. A traditional first half that was pretty interesting. There were many instruments that I've never seen or heard before that I really admired. There was this one instrument (Shou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8D_(instrument) ) that was hand-held and the player blew in which sounded like an organ (and the notes could be changed too). There was the cool instrument from Kung-fu hustle(air knives), the zither(?). There were lots of flutes and an instrument (the biwa) whose closest western cousin could be a mandalin or guitarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biwa)? There was a taiko and kakko(drums) and other cool instruments. The shapes and craftmanship were great. Togi-san, was clothed in really sweet traditional dress and played, solo and with a group. He played both the gagaku flute (ryuuteki) or hichiriki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hichiriki)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABteki) ( i can't tell it was too small in his hands) and the biwa. He also did a very intricate dance which we all loved. It showed off his clothes and how precise Japanese gagaku dance is. It was a pleasure to watch.
*Intermission*
After that was the modern stuff. Toji-san continued playing his Ryuuteki/hichiriki, showing off how much it sounded like a saxophone, because it did. He wore modern clothes and had a more animated, younger band backing him up. The sets were wonderful and the music was a lot more upbeat! (of course) I had gotten a much needed 500yen sandowichi and was alive for the second half again! Everything from his great hair to shiny pants was good. He played his original music and rocked out w/ his band. It was a good time.
In my opinion, the highlight of his show was the young talent he debued. A man he auditioned in China, who had a very distinct style to him, but his playing is what tugged at all the female's heartstrings! Although his hair cut and heels were quite cute too. He played a very interesting instrument that I would love to try out. Three stringed with a box (hollow) at the base (which he placed into his hip so he walk around) I think it's called a kokyuu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokyu)
The awesome thing about this instrument was the bow surrounded the strings!! Blows your mind doesn't it!!!! I know it blew mine! The concert was then a lot more awesome w/ the guy rocking out on his kokyu and Togi-san rocking out on his flute. Twas great.
I recommend such great concerts to all. It was a great display of Japanese music, tradition, and instruments.
By the way, I know all of you know how much I love starting clapping in its many varieties (slow claps, etc.) So at the concert everyone was standing and clapping after the band and Togi-san left the stage. I then came up with a wonderful idea. So far my best impact in Japan so far. One unified clap. I started clapping to a beat and my friends next to me joined in. I kept going for a while seeing if it would catch on. Then I turned to my friend, Tana, and said "It would be awesome if everyone did this!!" and the second I finished my sentence. There it was. Out in the crowd! My clap!!!! Gotta say. One of the best parts of the night. The person who started the crowd clap. This lady right here.
~Ama
Yesterday we went to a Togi Hideki concert! He is a Japanese Gagaku player. There were two halves to the show. A traditional first half that was pretty interesting. There were many instruments that I've never seen or heard before that I really admired. There was this one instrument (Shou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8D_(instrument) ) that was hand-held and the player blew in which sounded like an organ (and the notes could be changed too). There was the cool instrument from Kung-fu hustle(air knives), the zither(?). There were lots of flutes and an instrument (the biwa) whose closest western cousin could be a mandalin or guitarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biwa)? There was a taiko and kakko(drums) and other cool instruments. The shapes and craftmanship were great. Togi-san, was clothed in really sweet traditional dress and played, solo and with a group. He played both the gagaku flute (ryuuteki) or hichiriki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hichiriki)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABteki) ( i can't tell it was too small in his hands) and the biwa. He also did a very intricate dance which we all loved. It showed off his clothes and how precise Japanese gagaku dance is. It was a pleasure to watch.
*Intermission*
After that was the modern stuff. Toji-san continued playing his Ryuuteki/hichiriki, showing off how much it sounded like a saxophone, because it did. He wore modern clothes and had a more animated, younger band backing him up. The sets were wonderful and the music was a lot more upbeat! (of course) I had gotten a much needed 500yen sandowichi and was alive for the second half again! Everything from his great hair to shiny pants was good. He played his original music and rocked out w/ his band. It was a good time.
In my opinion, the highlight of his show was the young talent he debued. A man he auditioned in China, who had a very distinct style to him, but his playing is what tugged at all the female's heartstrings! Although his hair cut and heels were quite cute too. He played a very interesting instrument that I would love to try out. Three stringed with a box (hollow) at the base (which he placed into his hip so he walk around) I think it's called a kokyuu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokyu)
The awesome thing about this instrument was the bow surrounded the strings!! Blows your mind doesn't it!!!! I know it blew mine! The concert was then a lot more awesome w/ the guy rocking out on his kokyu and Togi-san rocking out on his flute. Twas great.
I recommend such great concerts to all. It was a great display of Japanese music, tradition, and instruments.
By the way, I know all of you know how much I love starting clapping in its many varieties (slow claps, etc.) So at the concert everyone was standing and clapping after the band and Togi-san left the stage. I then came up with a wonderful idea. So far my best impact in Japan so far. One unified clap. I started clapping to a beat and my friends next to me joined in. I kept going for a while seeing if it would catch on. Then I turned to my friend, Tana, and said "It would be awesome if everyone did this!!" and the second I finished my sentence. There it was. Out in the crowd! My clap!!!! Gotta say. One of the best parts of the night. The person who started the crowd clap. This lady right here.
~Ama
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