Massive Picture Upload

Hey Everyone:

There's actually not much to update at this point, so I thought I would finally catch up on some photos that haven't quite made it onto the blog quite yet. This will be a massive photo dump on my part (four new albums!) but I should now be up to date with my photos for your viewing pleasure. As a quick check in on my part, things are still going well, although I am actually looking forward to coming home in a few weeks. I am working on getting my final papers done a bit early so I'm not completely stressed out at the end of the semester, and the weather is finally starting to get really wet (yay rainy season!). Activity wise, things have been pretty mellow lately, so I think it is high time for a more culturally related piece. This week, as I said, will be basically a photo dump, but since next week is Independence Day weekend, I think I'll take the time to reflect on what I've learned about Japan, myself, the US, the world, and (probably most interesting) what I am thinking of the current presidential race (you ARE keeping up with it, right?). But enough about that, let's get on with the photos!

Ohanami Bus Trip, April 28, 2008

Yes that's right, April. I went on this bus trip on the Monday of Golden Week right before my trip to Sapporo. This was one of the school sponsored trips to show the students some famous landmarks in the area. Our two major destinations were Kakunodate and Lake Tazwa. Kakunodate is a really famous old samurai town, and is called the little Kyoto of the north. It has a well maintained samurai district with houses well preserved and good displays of armor, weapons, and local wood craft. It also boasts a beautiful two kilometer trek along the river that is lined the entire way with cherry trees. The idea was to be able to admire the beautiful sakura and enjoy the cool samurai town. It was a fine idea but ended up not so nice. The sakura had by that time already fallen, the hanami season having come a full week earlier this year than in previous years. On top of that, it was rainy and damn cold the entire day, which really dampened my spirits and made me very reluctant to take pictures, although I did eventually do so once I found myself in some of the samurai houses. I got the impression that in better weather, the place would have been downright beautiful, and in sakura season simply gorgeous, but as it was it was pretty miserable. The displays were pretty cool though.

After some time in Kakunodate, we then took a trip to nearby Lake Tazawa. This is the deepest lake in Japan, and as many things in Japan has a legend associated with it. Beautiful Tazawa was afraid of losing her good looks and asked the gods (kami) for a way to remain beautiful forever. The kami told her to drink the local water, which she did with great fervor. The water caused hr to become bloated and grotesque, turning her into a dragon. When she saw her now hideous form, she threw herself into the lake and burrowed as deep as she could to hide herself from lookers-on, and that is why the lake is so deep. Anyway, the lake itself was beautiful, and we saw the iconic golden statue of Tazawa in her human form. Interestingly, there were actually some still bloomed sakura trees, probably because we were a bit further north and because it was still really, really cold. We took a short bus trip around portions of the circumference of the lake before heading to our third stop, a huge skunk-cabbage forest. These were also supposed to be in bloom, but had by this time already been well past their prime, and were simply a huge sea of green foliage. I treated myself to a stick of kiritanpo, and Akita delicacy which consists of cooked rice rolled over a bamboo spit, basted in a soy sauce based dressing and then cooked over charcoal. It wasn't that bad, and at least it was hot.

Album: Ohanami Bus Tour

Lake Towada Bus Trip, June 8, 2008

This was the second bus trip, this time to the Copper Mine Osarizawa, Lake Towada, and Oirase Stream. It was actually really nice weather on this trip, but of the literally 12 hours we spent out that day, we only spent about 3.5 hours actually enjoying the sites; the rest of the time was traveling from place to place, which was a real bummer. The Copper mine was interesting, and once again brought me way back to freshman year of high school with Mrs. Paul and different rock classifications. The second stop, Oirase Stream, was totally my favorite. We drove along most of it, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I unfortunately could not get good pictures of it as we traveled, although I did get some when we finally stopped for twenty minutes (no lie) to enjoy one of the *less* beautiful parts of the stream. It reminded me very much of Ithaca's many gorges, water falls, and overall beauty. I would have gladly walked the entire 10 kilometers of the stream all day instead of driving around all of Tohoku, but that's just me. We left way too soon, and I put the location on my list of places to visit again if I'm ever in the area again. After the river we stopped by Lake Towada, which is another large caldera lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was all in all an okay trip, just way too much driving and not enough enjoyment of the actual sites.

Album: Towada-ko Bus Tour

Happo-Cho, June 21, 2008

As some of you may remember, I signed up to visit elementary school kids to teach them English, entertain them and teach them about the US. I had a blast last time and this time was even better as my language skills had improved much over the past weeks. We were very involved all day and I didn't have many good opportunities to take pictures, though I did manage at lunch and at a later activity where we all spoke about our home countries (I focused on Philadelphia). The kids were really great, and my favorite part was teaching about thirty 1st and 2nd graders how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose" (a huge hit). After our time with the kids, we then went on a short fishing trip in the hot sun, and the only thing I caught was a nice hunk of seaweed. Pretty hilarious.

Album: Happo-Cho, June 21

Yukata Workshop

My final addition to this massive montage of media (alliteration!) are pictures from a workshop where we learned how to put on yukata, a summer kimono with lighter fabric, and much easier (at least for women) to put on. It wasn't much different from when I put on my kimono for the Tea Ceremony, just no hakama (and THANK GOD NO ZORI). I don't have many pictures of myself in the yukata, but I do have plenty of my crazy friends. The women's yukatas were actually quite nice, but I was a bit disappointed with the selection for the men. I am thinking of buying a yukata as a souvenir as it is much cheaper than a full kimono and still looks classy.

Album: Yukata Workshop

That's all for this week. Enjoy the pics, and I look forward to writing again next week!

Hot Day in the Sun

Happy Summer Everyone!

For those currently residing in the northern hemisphere, June 21 was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern half of the globe and the herald of the summer season. I've been hearing it's pretty hot in the the NE part of the US, and I can say it was quite warm here in Akita as well. Today got somewhere in the mid 80's, which is the hottest it's been since I've come here. I spent most of today hanging out with my host family (see this post for a quick introduction), and most of it was outside enjoying the heat, a growing tan, and increased Vitamin D (that's one of the benefits of sun exposure, and is also essential to healthy bones!).

Since most of you won't follow the above link to refresh yourselves about the program, I'll try to highlight the important info. The Home Stay program is kind of like a host family with training wheels; AIU students are housed on campus, but this program (which is organized by an Akita City organization outside of the school) pairs interested students with interested families in the Akita city area. After an initial meeting and greeting (which I covered in the previous post) it is up to the student and the family to decide how much or how little they will meet over the course of the student's stay in Japan (which is tragically short for me, but I digress...). Normal activities include having dinner, going on trips, playing with the kids, etc.

I was paired up with the Oi family, and they are great. The family consists (again as a reminder for the lazy readers out there): Keigo (father), Rumiko (mother), Shuichiro (7 yr old son), Akane (4 yr old daughter). For the rest of the post I'll be referring to them using the Japanese honorifics of "-san" for "Mr./Mrs.", "-kun" for "young boy" and "-chan" for "child/young girl" as well as the children's shortened nicknames, so: Keigo-san, Rumiko-san, Shui-kun, A-chan. Gambate (good luck).

Me with the Oi family at the first get-together. Left to right (Starting in the back): Me, Keigo-san, Rumiko-san, Shui-kun and Akane-chan.

The family had actually lived in the US for 4-5 years; 1.5 in Colorado and the rest of the time in Seattle, Washington. Both children were actually born in Seattle, and so have US citizenship. They returned to Japan three years ago. Keigo-san speaks pretty good English, and so I depend on him for most translations. Rumiko-san can speak basic English, and she was the one who wanted to have an exchange student visit the family. They are both very nice; Keigo-san has a very easy and contagious laugh and he and I have fun comparing Japanese and English culture. I unfortunately can't speak nearly as much to Rumiko-san, but she is very nice and hospitable and I can tell that she is excited to have me.

Anyway, originally we were thinking of going cherry picking together, which they scheduled for this past Saturday (summer solstice!) however I unfortunately already had my second Happo-Cho trip scheduled for that day (link to a post about my first trip) so I had to miss out. Today, Shui-kun had a rugby game, so we decided to start from there. I met Keigo-san and A-chan at the train station early in the morning (7:30am!) so that we could pick up the rest of the family and head to the field by 8:00am. By this point it was quite bright outside (sunrise is sometime before 4:30am, especially since Japan does not use Daylight savings) and quite hot (approaching 80F). Along the way we caught up, talking mostly about the earthquake from last week and my parent's stay in Japan a couple of week's ago.

The rugby field was full size, a bit bigger than a football field, and situated in the center of a smallish stadium somewhere in Akita-shi (Akita city) area. As we got the kids ready at home and at the field, and seeing all the boys and girls running around the fields reminded me of the long weekends I spent at the soccer fields when I lived in Connecticut. They had teams of different age groups playing all morning, separated into 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th, and 5th-6th grade sections, each with two or three teams. The field was divided up into three sections of varying sizes, one about 1/4 length, one about 1/3, length, and one about 1/2 half length (yes Mr. McCabe I know that doesn't add up to 1, but these are approximations so cut me some slack, all right?). The kids played multiple one-half games, mostly for fun and not that serious. It looked more like a focus on skills than on winning, though I think the older students (into high school age) are much more competitive. Shui-kun's age bracket often mixed up the team members, mainly because the third team didn't seem to have enough players. Shui-kun was quite funny; he wasn't good at all and spent a lot of time circling around the huge mosh pit of boys that had thrown themselves on the ball. The referree (who was also his coach) kept yelling at him to get in there (in a non-competitive way, this isn't American high school sports remember) and even gave him a little push at one point to encourage him. Keigo-san and Rumiko-san had already commented on this, but they didn't seem to mind. Rumiko-san told me Shui-kun had a somewhat short attention span, and I could tell that after about an hour or so he got kind of bored of it all. He started to clown around a bit and reminded me of my brother David very much, although David was very into soccer and other athletics growing up. Though I tried to interact and have fun with A-chan, she was very shy and didn't talk back to me, much to everyone's amusement.

Shuichiro's rugby team.

Shui-kun

Shy little A-chan with her dad.

The family watching Shui-kun running around.

This recreational league for the kids was sponsored in part by a semi-professional Akita rugby team called the Akita Bullets who are themselves sponsored by Japan Air Lines (JAL). Towards the end the members of the Akita Bullets came and played with the children. It was hilarious to see literally dozens of kids pile up or push against these relatively large men as they tried to grab the ball. It was all very fun and good natured and hilarious. At the end, though, they wanted to shoot some footage for a promotional video which included all of the children and their parents cheering the Bullets and other nonsense. This lasted for much longer than it should have, in my opinion, but whatever, more Vitamin D for me. It was about 11:00am by the time we left, totaling three hours, although it felt much longer in the heat and the sun.

The Akita Bullets playing with the kids.

We headed to a soba restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was a small, quaint affair and we sat at a low table with thin cushions to sit on either cross-legged (men only!) or seiza style (which entails sitting on your legs by folding them under you, and is quite uncomfortable for me, although it does make sitting with a straight back much more comfortable!). While we waited for lunch to be served, the kids grabbed some large picture laden books to read and show cased them to me one by one. Shui-kun especially kept going back for new books. For lunch we had soba. Soba is a type of noodle, one of three (along with ramen and udon). It is a thin noodle made from buckwheat and served with a special broth which you dip the noodles in with your chopsticks (wikipedia). They served it with wasabi on the side which you could mix into the broth to taste. Soba is usually served cold although you can also have it hot (we all got it cold, it was hot enough outside). We also ordered squid tempura (fried squid) for the adults, which was heavenly. The wasabi cleared my nose in seconds and the soba was quite good. For dessert, Rumiko-san ordered sobadango, which was a ball of soba dough cooked and dipped in either a soy-sauce or sesame based sticky sauce. They were delicious. All in all, it was a great lunch, really tasty, and really Japanese.

A-chan enjoying sobadango with the soy-sauce based dressing. It was delicious.

Shui-kun reading a book giving a synopsis of an episode of one of many Japanese programs that are in the "Power Ranger's" genre. If you don't know what I mean, you either were not a kid or did not have kids during the 90's.

After lunch we headed to the house, which I was able to see for a bit. Like almost all Japanese houses, there is a an entrance foyer for you to leave your shoes and then step up into the house proper. It was small (like all Japanese homes) but not too small. Rumiko-san served me some iced-tea and the kids pulled me up to their rooms to show me their favorite toys and play. A-chan had become much more excited after having lunch and was actually responsive to my questions. I also spent some time reading some English books that they had around the house, though they of course couldn't read or understand any of it. We then went outside to blow lots and lots of bubbles, which was quite fun. After maybe an hour and a half at the house, we decided to drive to AIU so I could give them a tour of the campus and so they could drop me off. Before leaving, I presented them the gifts which I had bought them a few weeks ago: on a school trip to Lake Towada (I haven't written about this, maybe I will later) I decided to buy the family something for our first visit together. I got a nice little plaque with a beautiful picture of as sunset over the lake for Rumiko-san and Keigo-san, an adorable "Hello Kitty" plush doll in a pink yukata (summer kimono) and straw hat for A-chan, and a really cool wooden top with string for Shui-kun. Before we left, Keigo-san tried to teach us how to use it; it was really neat. They loved the gifts and were surprised. I was happy.

Bubbles!

Playing with the top I bought Shui-kun.

Once we got on campus (about 25 minutes by car) I walked them around campus, which didn't take that long considering it's small size (just ask my parents). They were really impressed with the library, as everyone is. I don't blame them, it's my favorite building on campus. I ran into some of my friends on campus and introduced them to my host family. Once it was all done, we talked about when we would next meet, and then Shui-kun and A-chan presented me with a gift; freshly picked cherries from the previous day. I thanked them (they were shy) and thanked Keigo-san and Rumiko-san for their hospitality and for a fun day spent mostly outside. They were happy to have me and we look forward to seeing each other again in the coming weeks.

All in all, a great day, and a really nice tan. I hope to see them again a couple of times more before I return to the states; we'll see. I was happy to finally get A-chan to speak to me halfway through the day, and I hope next time we'll spend more time playing. I only wish I could speak more Japanese with them. Oh well, I've got to make do with what I know, right? Anyway, a great day. I will hopefully have another update up next weekend, though it may delayed for reasons I am going to withhold for the time being. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful summer!

Full Album (Home Stay Family)

Tectonic Titillation

With reluctance, I edge closer and closer to consciousness. It is Saturday morning, I don't know what time. My mind is foggy with drowsiness but begins to clear exponentially when I realize that my bed is shaking. It takes me two or three seconds - almost an eternity - to fully realize the movements; my bed has a tendency to rock a bit if you bang into it or if my roommate is moving about in his bed as well. But my bed is rocking continuously in a rhythmic motion, swaying side to side. I do not have my glasses on and am quite near-sighted, so it is hard to orient myself with my room, but I can feel rather than see that my room - no, the whole building - is swaying back and forth in a low frequency, low period oscillation; back and forth, back and forth. At some moments I can feel myself rise and fall slightly, ever so slightly, almost as if I was on a small boat on a relatively calm body of water, the waves lapping and gently rocking me from side to side. Without my glasses, the whole experience is disorienting. The room mirrors the movements of my mind, which is swirling back and forth, up and down, trying to make sense of what I am experiencing, sleepiness still fogging my brain. It is almost like when I drank a couple of drinks too many one night and was a little tipsy, the ground sometimes swaying under me as I walked with Ara back to the parking garage on our way back to Ithaca campus. Except this is a continuous feeling of tipsiness. I am struggling through all of this for what must have been about six seconds.

Eventually the word earthquake runs through my head, and suddenly I am wide awake, breathing short, shallow breaths, and trying to decide what to do. I pull the blinds open on my window, right next to my bed, peering outside with my near-sighted eyes, not daring to climb down the ladder of my bunked bed to retrieve my glasses. I can still feel myself swaying gently, and even though I can't make out the details of the apartments just outside my window I know for certain that I am swaying. I am on the third story and I can below that a guy has stopped suddenly in his tracks, staring in the direction of my building, and then he quickly runs out of sight. I am repeatedly asking myself, "Is this real? Am I awake? Is this really an earthquake?"

After some time - it was probably thirty seconds in total but it felt like five minutes - the swaying had finally stopped, although I was afraid it would start again any moment. My roommate, who is a pretty heavy sleeper, rolls in his bed in half-consciousness, never fully awakening to the morning tremors. I sit in my bed, staring out the window to reassure myself that the world has stopped swaying, and my mind races back to freshman year of high school, when Mrs. Paul was teaching us about earthquakes, and sharing a story of an earthquake she experienced while in Japan. I tried to decide what to do; should I climb down from my bed? Will there be an after shock? Should I stand in the doorway? Should I wake my roommate?

Earthquakes, as I am trying to remember from almost seven years ago, usually come in three distinct waves; there's the primary shock wave, the secondary, and tertiary aftershocks. The primary waves travel the fastest, and they usually cause the least amount of damage. The secondary waves are slower and in speed, but are usually much stronger in magnitude are usually the ones responsible for property damage. The two waves can ofter overlap, especially as you get closer to the epicenter - the center of the earthquake. Afterwards there are often numerous aftershocks as the earth finishes adjusting itself and relieving pressure; these after shocks are usually weaker but that doesn't mean they can't be dangerous.

I remember that one type of wave oscillates horizontally, and the other one vertically. I am frantically trying to remember which one is which, and trying to decide if what I felt was just horizontal or a mixture of the two. I can't remember. I am not sure if the relatively mild swaying that woke me up mean that the worst is over, or a herald of imminent destruction. Sometimes knowing too much...and knowing how little you know...can be a frightening position.

All of this mental debate stretches over another 30 long seconds as I climb down from my bunked bed and stand at the window...probably not a good idea. I decide if I begin to feel any more tremors I will immediately move to the doorway - about ten feet away - and wake my roommate up. I put my glasses on and grab my watch. It is 8:45am. But my fears and planning are for naught; I stand at the window staring outside for another ten or fifteen minutes, and all is peaceful in Akita.

There are parts of me that are still not sure if I maybe am still dreaming. But most of me is wide awake. I am thinking of all the nearby volcanoes, wondering if one of them might of erupted. Chokai-san, about 70-80km to the south of us, is a volcano - I think - though I am not sure when it last erupted; probably not for a while. There's also a few in nearby Iwate to the east of us, not that far away. I think back to my trip to Hokkaido and my visit to Usu-zan in Lake Toya region, but decide that's way too far and too soon to be right. Plus, a volcano doesn't necessarily need to be involved. But in my mind I keep playing over and over the videos of the past eruptions of Usu-zan - the last time being only 8 years ago - and try to remind myself that I am being silly.

Ridiculously, I turn on my computer and check some of the usual news sites I peruse every morning, including NYTimes, Japan Times and CNN. Of course, there's nothing on there; I haven't been up for 20 minutes and even in today's information highway age news doesn't travel THAT fast. I laugh at myself, but also ponder the ill effects of being cultured to have access to news and information almost instantaneously, and I note my disappointment at not finding any news story. Still, part of me just wants to confirm that I did just experience an earthquake, and wanted to know the where's and why's of it all.

Part of me is ridiculously disappointed. All in all, the experience was mild and benign. Just some swaying back and forth and a feeling of disorientation. I am simultaneously excited that I have experienced a singularly Japanese experience (Japan is one of the most geologically active regions of the world), but also disappointed that there wasn't more...adventure. Again, I am sobered by the realization that the US media has conditioned me to such a high degree of sensationalism; nothing short of property damage would have made me feel like I experienced a "real" earthquake. I find this thought disturbing. My mind is swaying again, oscillating between shock -holy crap, I just lived through an earthquake - and disbelief - that was it?

About an hour later my roommate finally wakes up. I decide not to say anything in case I really did make it all up - I'm that unsure of myself. But soon he gets a phone call from a friend of his who tells him that there was in fact an earthquake, a whopping 7.0 one in Iwate prefecture (just to the east of us). Upon hearing this I share my story and feel a bit more validated. I check through my news sites again. It is about 10:30, almost two hours later and still NYTimes and CNN don't have anything up. Not surprisingly, though, BBC has a news story on their home page. I quickly devour the short news story, and over the next half hour I start seeing other stories pop up over the internet.

It's around 2:00pm here in Japan now. Here are links to the CNN and BBC articles on the earthquake. There are some conflicting information on the exact magnitude and epicenter location, but the main ideas are basically the same. The quake hit around 8:45am, the epicenter was near the southern Akita/Iwate Prefectural border, and was between 6.9 and 7.0 in magnitude. The BBC article places the epicenter close to the town of Yuzuwa, which is in Akita Prefecture and just over 50 kilometers southeast of AIU (about 30 miles). Apparently the quake could be felt as far away as Tokyo (390 km or about 240 miles from the epicenter), and there were some deaths and property damage. Being relatively close to the epicenter, I feel pretty lucky that my experience was so mild. The recent earthquake in China was an 8.0, which means it was 10 times stronger than this one in Japan; that's still nothing to sneeze at.

I grabbed some lunch around 11:00. Everything was bright and clear and just as normal as it was yesterday. There was a slightly subdued energy in the students I saw in the cafeteria, but other than that there was nothing remarkable in the aftermath of the earthquake here at AIU. I do distinctly remember when I was sitting at my computer around 12:00 that I felt a slight sway in the floor that caused my chair - which sits on wheels - to slide to the left. But other than that very minor shockwave, so far (as of 2:00pm Saturday) there have not been any more tremors that I could feel.

It was, all in all, a very benign experience, but still something that I will never forget. It is still hard to believe, as I push against the seemingly solid walls of my room, that these buildings - which in my imagination are rigid and strong - had swayed so easily and smoothly early this morning. Well, at least that's one more experience I can check off as a Japan tourist. See you all next week.

Tea Gathering

Hello All!

It's been a week now since I last updated. With midterms and other things happening, I have been pretty busy. I think I will be discontinuing my Wednesday updates for a while. There will be an update on Sunday as usual (sorry for missing this last one!) and then I will update on a weekly basis unless a lot of things start happening at once. Anyway, today I want to talk about a really cool and uniquely Japanese experience I participated in on Sunday June 1.

Tea Ceremony - Background

The Tea Ceremony is one of Japan's most famous cultural practice. For a brief overview of its history and its various forms, feel free to check out this wikipedia article, also located on the sidebar. Tea Ceremonies are generally small and intimate affairs, and can take place in one's home or in special tea houses designed for this purpose. The ceremony itself is usually pretty formal, with specific rituals and actions performed in the making of the tea and in conversation. It is characterized by a sparse and almost rigid ritualism, and is often hard to understand from a Western perspective where constant stimulus and action are the norm. This sparseness comes from its Zen Buddhist heritage; the specific and controlled movements and rituals of the ceremony offer the opportunity to powerfully focus on the present moment, allowing all other thoughts to fall away. It can therefore be a unique way of meditating. If this is confusing to you, I encourage you to read up on the practices of Buddhist meditation and Zen Buddhism, which will help you appreciate the Tea Ceremony on a richer level. In the end, the Tea Ceremony provides an escape from the hectic business of the world around us, and offers a quiet and intimate social experience where we can focus on really being with each other and enjoying each other's company. I will come back to this at the end of today's post. For now, let me move on and talk about my actual involvement.

I have been participating in a Tea Ceremony club at AIU. Our main efforts for this first half of the semester have been in preparation for the June 1 public Tea Gathering (Gathering in the sense that there was a large gathering of people, not that we were literally gathering tea). This was going to be an atypical tea ceremony in that it was going to be a huge public event, with thousands of people in attendance over the course of the day and six or seven different universities and tea schools participating in serving the tea. It was to be held in Senshu-kouen (Senshu Park) in Akita city (see my albums on the right for pictures of the park during early spring and during the hanami matsuri). The tea ceremony normally involves the host making tea for each of his or her guests one by one, however with this volume of people that would be impossible. Instead, this event would feature one person performing the formal ceremony for the guests while, behind a screen or at another discreet location, many other women would follow the host's progress in making their own tea, not following the formal rituals but just getting the other tea bowls ready. That way, once the host was done with preparing her first bowl of tea, there were already a hundred bowls of tea ready to be served to the guests. The whole process takes about thirty minutes, after which new guests file in and we prepared for another round, a different woman performing the ceremony each time.

The AIU students who were participating (about 6/7 international students and an equal number of Japanese students) would be serving the sweets and the tea to the guests while other women would be making the tea and performing the ceremony. So the first few weeks were spent teaching us the correct movements and phrases as someone who serves the tea. Although the phrases were a bit unfamiliar (especially since they are quite formal in language) they were easy enough to learn. I looked forward with great anticipation to the tea gathering, which took place June 1.

Senshu-kouen Tea Gathering

The day began close to sunrise, at 4:30am. I washed my face and got my things together, including the kimono they were loaning to me to wear for the occasion. I carefully made my way to where we were meeting to get dressed, arriving around 5:00am. They had taught the guys (all two of us) how to put our kimono on the previous Wednesday, and I had practiced again once or twice in the mean time, so I had no problem putting on my kimono, obi (long sash which holds the kimono together), and then my hakama (a long skirt garment that men wear over their kimono. they sometimes come in a wide-pant like style). I also put on the pair of tabi that I had bought (tabi are special socks, often made of silk, and worn with kimono instead of regular cotton socks). They had tried to get the largest kimono that was readily available for me, but it was still hilariously short (a good two or three inches). More worrisome for me, though, were the zori, which are a special kind of sandal worn with kimono. The zori they had were not a little short; they were very short. With great difficulty I was able to literally squeeze my way into the thong, my heels dangling off of the back. For a couple of hours, I could probably live with the arrangement. As you will see, though, I did not wear them for a "couple" of hours. The entire day, they were the bane of my existence, and I was glad to return them at the end of the day. Being so tall in Japan really does have its disadvantages. Despite these shortcomings (literally) I have to admit that I looked pretty good with the kimono. I helped Dorian, the other guy who was participating (he's from England) with his kimono and hakama. The trick is to tie the sashes as tight as possible. Then, it's actually quite comfortable, and much more breathable than the formal suits I usually wear at home.

Full length portrait showcasing my hilariously short kimono and hakama.

My zori, which were simply way too small, and the bane of my existence.

Dorian and I waited near the dressing rooms where assistants were putting kimonos on the female students. Women can't put kimonos on themselves; it is simply impossible. There are literally layers upon layers of garments and kimonos that are worn, not to mention the incredibly long obi (wide sash) that would be impossible to wear yourself. As they stepped out of the room one by one, we took pictures in various groups, admiring each other's kimonos and laughing at the hilariously short kimono I was stuck with (Dorian was a little bit shorter than me, but also had length problems). By 7:00am we were on the bus that would take us to the Tea Gathering.

Some of the girls early Sunday morning after getting dressed.

Left to Right: Me, Masha (Russia), Dorian (England)

Sunday was rainy, unfortunately, so we did not end up having the Gathering at the park. We instead moved to the designated rain location, a conference building just down the street from the park. On the basement floor of the building were many very large conference rooms, which had been cleared of tables and chairs. Different tea schools were assigned different rooms. After an hour of waiting and having some breakfast, which was provided for us, we set to work decorating and preparing the space for the gathering. Everyone seemed to know what to do except the students, so we lent a hand here and there when someone asked us. Despite being indoors, we were able to give the space an outdoorsy, natural feel to it with the inclusion of a small stone garden, umbrella, lanterns, and the like. At one point, two really fun and really nice old Japanese women came up to me and informed me "Excuse me, but your hakama is too high!" (that was an understatement). They then helped me retie the hakama and my obi so that it would fall a bit closer to my ankles, maybe an inch lower, but still an improvement. I thanked them very much, but still felt a bit ridiculous.

Waiting outside the convention center.

Getting some much needed assistance from these kind Japanese women. Unfortunately they couldn't make my clothes any longer.

We set down benches for the guests, who faced a small black table designed specifically for the Tea Ceremony, with a small charcoal pit built in for boiling water. Three large screens were erected and decorated with fake foliage and beautiful purple banners, concealing the work area behind. In this work area was where the sweets were prepared as well as all of the rest of tea bowls as the host formally performed the ceremony on the other side of the screen in front of the guests. In addition, there was a table with special tea bowls (called chawan) which had been made from countries around the world, mostly from the US but also from England, Mexico, South Africa, and India.

The tea table. The woman is adjusting the bronze brazier (for boiling water) that sits over a small charcoal pit.

The whole ceremony generally went in the following manner. Most of the servers would be waiting behind the screens, concealed from the 100 or so guests. Chiba-sensei, a teacher at AIU who was in charge of our particular group, explained the theme for this particular ceremony, which was the idea of making connections with people across the the oceans, hence the American and European chawan. After her introduction, as she continued to talk more about the ceremony the woman who would perform the ceremony began (someone different performed the ceremony each time). As she started, some servers would then pass out sweets to the guests, which would provide a contrast to the bitter green tea (matcha) that would be served later. Once the Ceremony was completed and the first bowl of tea was prepared, the rest of the serving staff would then serve our own chawan with already prepared tea to the rest of the guests. We were divided into groups which were responsible for one row of guests. The guests would drink the tea, admire the bowls, and then we would return after five minutes or so to take the bowls back. After everyone had enjoyed the tea and the host had finished cleaning the table, then the guests were invited to take a closer look at the tea table before leaving. We performed the ceremony about 11 times between 9:30am and 3:00pm without a break.

Some o-kashi, or sweets. They were delicious. Notice that they also stay in line with theme of crossing oceans.

Waiting to serve the o-kashi to the guests.

"Regular" tea bowls all ready with their portions of matcha (green tea).

The "special bowls" which I was to use for the ceremony, and all set with their portions of matcha. The little bamboo whisks are used to stir the tea in hot water to make a thick, frothy, tea.

Women hard at work making the tea behind the curtain as the formal host prepares the tea during the tea ceremony.

A crowd of us waiting for our bowls of tea to be ready so we can serve the guests.

I was a part of one of two groups which were responsible for the special bowls from around the world. In addition to the normal rituals and phrases, we had to also briefly talk about the bowls, informing the guest where they came from and perhaps who made them. Initially, every server was responsible for three bowls only, which we were to become familiar with. This proved to be too cumbersome of a system, however, as there were only so many women preparing tea, and inevitably some servers would be given all their bowls at once while others had to wait a while before receiving their first one. In addition, everyone was assigned specific seats to serve. This method proved to be quite inefficient; inevitably there were guests who had to wait a long time before receiving tea, and it was mildly chaotic. In fact, during the first round the other tea servers (with more generic tea bowls) had to serve some of our guests because things were taking too long.

Ito-san was the woman who was in charge of my group of special servers. She was a really nice woman, somewhere in her thirties. What I really liked about her, though, was her quick thinking, adaptability and kindness all mixed in. After the first round, seeing that things worked so inelegantly, she decided that instead of having each server be assigned specific bowls, we would instead just take whatever bowl was ready, allowing the women to work more efficiently and preventing us from having to wait a long time before serving our guests. With each special chawan was a photograph of the bowl along with a short description in English and Japanese with information of where it came from and who made it, so we were still able to tell the guests where the bowl came from and other details like that. Additionally, after the second round we decided it was better for our group to work down the row one by one instead of being focused on three specific guests, improving the serving efficiency even more. I was glad that Ito-san took the initiative immediately and modified the system in a way that allowed for more flexibility; Japanese culture is notorious for being very order-driven and precise, but Ito-san (and many other Japanese, to be fair) was quite capable of bending the rules for the sake of making the process go much smoother. By the time we got to our third and fourth ceremonies, we had the system working beautifully, and did not have any mishaps or bumps for the rest of the day.

As the hours ticked by, I quickly began to feel like I was reminded of my days in the theater back in high school. Every round of guests became like a small performance; we all had our roles to play, and new the timing for those roles. There was a flurry of activity and tension behind the screen as we busily got ready, especially since I had to quickly learn the origin of the bowl I was given every time I had to serve the tea. This nervous energy was quickly subsumed under a mask of polite smiles, bows and rehearsed lines as I served the tea to my guests. Like a real show, when there were little bumps in the performance we quickly adapted and ran with it, never indicating to our audience that anything was going slightly off plan. It was elegant, stressful, and really fun.

In between serving times I sat off to the side and removed my zori to give my feet a rest. They provided us with rice balls and drinks for lunch, although we had to eat in between ceremonies, there were no breaks. I served the sweets two or three times to give people a break. The guests were very nice, on the whole, mostly older Japanese dressed in suits (for the men, although some of the older men did wear kimono) and kimono (the women). The Japanese guests were generally very tickled to be served by an International student dressed in a kimono, and once or twice I was asked where I was from. A couple of times I fumbled my lines a little bit, and we all giggled, not in a depreciative way but in a light hearted way that recognized that I was trying my best and that they were thrilled to have me. For one ceremony, we had all high school students from one of the local schools. The girls were quite shy of me, which I found to be funny. Some of my friends from AIU also came to see us, and they had a great time. They took some photos of me as well, which I will share below. A couple of times, I noticed a few Japanese people pull out their cameras when they saw me serving sweets and tea, and I giggled on the inside because that's exactly what I would be doing if I was in their place (in fact, I had been doing it for the past two months!).

Me serving some o-kashi to the guests. Photoes courtesy of my friend Maggie.

During the last ceremony, they invited the students to act as the guests, as there were only a couple of guests from the outside. I was exhausted by this point (remember I had been awake since 4:30am that morning, and it was now almost 12 hours later). I sat down and took some pictures, and Chiba-sensei gave us the usual introduction, this time in English. One of the AIU students who had been practicing the ceremony for weeks now performed the ceremony for us, which was a nice treat. Ito-san served my row sweets and tea. As I relaxed and began to settle after many hours of nervous tension and excitement, I focused on the movements of my classmate who was performing the ceremony. I think that most Westerners would see the ceremony and maybe find it interesting and different, but would be quickly bored. After so many hours of work, though, I could feel myself settle quietly, and I fell into a trance-like state as I watched her movements. Because I was so tired, my mind likewise was calm, and in this state of tranquility, I found the ceremony to be quite elegant and beautiful. As I followed her movements, not thinking of anything but simply enjoying the colors, the tastes, and the moment, I could feel a sense of peace fall over me that pleasantly contrasted with the chaotic hours that had just preceded it. I could understand why this would be an important social activity, and how it could act as a powerful and pleasing release to the hectic daily lives we lead. I imagined that a more intimate affair would be even more enjoyable. For me, the ultimate pleasure of the ceremony was not in the performance itself, but rather in the tranquility it inspired in me which contrasted beautifully with the energy and excitement of before.

A somewhat blurry (sorry) picture of Chiba-sensei, who coordinated our tea gathering.

A fellow AIU student performing the tea ceremony for us.

Ito-san serving us sweets. She was great, I really enjoyed working with her.

A group of my fellow AIU students enjoying the o-kashi and eagerly awaiting the delicious tea.

After we had enjoyed our sweets and our tea, we changed into regular clothes and returned our borrowed kimonos to be dry cleaned. I was exhausted when we arrived in AIU around 3:30, opting to shower and sleep right away. But all in all I had a wonderful time, and am so happy I could participate in an event like this. I hope I'll be able to participate in other, smaller tea ceremonies in the future, and look forward to sharing them with you if I do. In the meantime, here is a link to the full album of the pictures I took during the day (you can also find it on the right labeled "June 1 Tea Gathering"). Enjoy!

Diaz Family in Japan

Sorry for the long absence. I hope you have all had some time to catch up on previous posts in the interim. Today's post will be focused on the week-long stay that my parents made in Japan just last week, and what I did with them during that time. It was a really great time, all in all, and I think everyone agrees that it was a once in a lifetime experience for my parents, which I was happy to guide them through with my limited knowledge of Japanese culture and language.

The overview of the trip was thus: My parents arrived in Narita, Japan on Saturday May 24 and stayed the night in a nearby hotel. On Sunday they followed my footsteps in taking a shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Akita city. They stayed in the Akita area until Wednesday, when they made a trip back to Narita. Thursday they toured some of Narita while I made my own trip down to the city. On Friday we all headed into Tokyo for the day. Saturday we returned to our respective homes: my parents to the states, and I to AIU.

Sunday, May 25

I met my parents just outside the ticket gate at Akita-eki (Akita Train Station) at 2:00pm. It was a gray day, and was supposed to rain a little in the evening (it actually didn't rain until the next day). After some excited greetings and exchanges, I walked them to Comfort Hotel, a Comfort Inn in the city that was about five minute's walk from Akita-eki. As we walked I talked a bit about the station and the city, and asked about their days traveling to Japan and then to Akita. It was funny to hear things about the travels that I already had gone through and am still dealing with (The shinkansen was great but there was hardly any luggage space! The ticket stubs confused us and we had to have help at almost every ticket gate! It's cold in Akita!) I also gave them quick quizzes with the Japanese prices to make sure they could do the exchange easily (which wasn't hard, since it's about 100 yen to the dollar).

During check in the receptionist asked if we wanted two rooms and we replied we only needed one. She seemed a bit puzzled, and since she didn't speak English all that well, I told her in Japanese that these were my parents, and that I was an international student at AIU (which isn't that hard).

For those of you wanting a taste of how this is said in Japanese, I will write it out in romaji: Chi chi-to ha ha desu. Watashi-wa Akita Kokusai Kyouyou Daigaku-no ryuugakusei desu.

My mother was completely floored when she heard me spout out this phrase in Japanese. I told her it wasn't anything, really, and that in two months I better be able to say something, ha ha. Anyway, the rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we dropped off their luggage and I walked them to a nearby sushi restaurant which I like. Like many sushi restaurants, this one featured a long conveyor belt with small plates of sushi that ran around a long counter, with the chefs in the middle making the sushi in front of you. The type of plate the sushi was on indicated the price of the dish (starting at 125 yen - about $1.25 - and going all the way up to 1500 yen per plate). I chose this place because I wanted my parents to try some sushi, but if they didn't like it they didn't have to eat a lot and we could go whenever we wanted. I started them off easy with shrimp and egg, and then moved on to actually raw stuff like salmon and tuna. They did their best to try to eat with chopsticks, with mixed results, ha ha. Though my mom was very reluctant to try the raw tuna and salmon, she eventually took a risk and tried it, for which I was very proud. After we had eaten our fill I called the waitress over, who then printed out our bill using a hand-held machine that she placed over the stacks of sushi and which then tabulated the total by reading a computer chip that was inside each plate. It was pretty cool. The best part of a sushi lunch is that afterwards, you feel full, light, and healthy. We walked a bit more briskly back to the hotel to finish unpacking.

Once in their room, my parents gave me some things which they had brought for me, which included a "care package" put together by my brothers (American candy!), money both from my own bank account and some gift money from both my parents and David (I was upset about David sending me money, but whatever), and other things. After freshening up and getting settled, I then took them further down town to visit Senshu-kouen (Senshu park, see albums on the sidebar for pictures of previous trips). It was still very cloudy and gray outside, but at least it didn't rain. We walked leisurely around the large park and I pointed out all of the cherry trees that were now full with green foliage but which had a month ago been huge explosions of snow-white sakura (see album on the right). I also took them to one of the smaller Shinto shrines within the park and gave them a quick Shinto/Shrine 101. We also stopped by the guard tower in the northwest corner of the park to see the small museum inside and to get a nice panoramic view of the city from the balcony on the top of the tower.

Afterwards I walked them back to the train station to see the enormous souvenir shop that they had there. I showed them many of the souvenirs that were iconic of either Japan or Akita specifically, including the namahage (special red and blue demons that are part of the Namahage Matsuri which is a special festival that is unique the the northern Tohoku region of Japan), Akita lacquerware, famous Akita silver, as well as the most famous Akita food, kiritanpo which is cooked rice that is rolled over a bamboo stick, cooked over charcoal and basted in a soy and meat sauce. After looking around and talking about souvenir ideas, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

For dinner, my friend Naomi suggested a "Western" style bar/restaurant combo called Aoitori which means "blue bird." I had the phone number and address printed with me, and we were able to take a cab to the restaurant, which was on the third floor of an old house that had been converted into a three restaurants, one on each floor. Naomi had already told a friend of her who works there that we would be coming tonight, and he met us at the door. He was a fellow AIU student, a fourth year Japanese student, and he spoke really good English. He was super nice and a really attentive waiter. He recommended the basic course set, which included many dishes prepared fresh and already decided for the day. We all ordered the basic set, and my parents got some wine as well. The restaurant was really cool. It featured a small bar and many small tables around the room. It was decorated with really eclectic furniture, posters, books, figurines and other paraphernalia. I felt like I was back in Ithaca, and my parents echoed the sentiment. The food that came that night was nothing short of superb. There were a total of six or seven dishes, most of them "western style" and included the following: 1) enormous green bean-like vegetables (they were almost the size of my forearm) with three large beans inside which you garnished with salt; 2) western cheeses and vegetables (tomato, broccoli, carrot) with a delicious sweet vinegar dressing; 3) chicken wings and drumsticks baked in a spicy herb marinade; 4) a large platter of thin, sliced cooked ham with a spicy mustard sauce and sauerkraut, topped with potato salad; 5) a large bowl of fresh salad with an oil and vinegar dressing garnished with tons of squid and fish sashimi (that's raw fish without rice), and 6) penne pasta in a spicy tomato sauce with some grated Parmesan cheese and bits of cooked ham. It was the best dinner we had all week, and at about $17 for food, it was a good deal. My dad totally embarrassed me when he tried to tip our very kind waiter, even though I told him before I left for Japan, in an e-mail before he came to Japan, and at dinner before we paid the bill that it is not customary in Japan to tip people (and can be slightly offensive). It was doubly embarrassing for me considering I would have to deal with seeing him again at AIU and feel responsible, ha ha. But it turned out fine. We took a cab back to the hotel, where we finished up exchanging stories, gifts, and the like. I returned to campus for the evening and called it an early night.

The last two dishes at Aoitori (blue bird). The left over sashimi salad is on the right, and the final dish of penne pasta is on the left. Oishi katta desu yo! (It was delicious!)

Monday, May 26

Today was an early day for me, as I was meeting my parents at Akita-eki around 7:45am. This was mainly so I could guide them back to the AIU campus without worrying about them catching the wrong train. We arrived on campus around 8:45, at which point I gave them a short tour of the campus, reserving the library for last (it's really awesome). They were of course tickled to death about how small the campus was, but really did like the Library and some other campus features. As we walked around I stopped into the Administrative building to say hello to some of the people there who have been helping me with various tasks and through orientation; mom was especially happy to meet these kind and friendly folk. We ran into some of my friends as well, which gave me an opportunity to practice my Japanese introductions. Around 9:55, we headed to the only class I have on Monday, which is Japanese language class from 10:00 to 11:50am. My teacher, Konishi-sensei (sensei means teacher, tutor, instructor, professor, etc) had invited my parents to class when I first mentioned they would be visiting Japan. My parents sat in for the first hour of class, and seemed to enjoy it, though you can only enjoy a language you are unfamiliar with so much. Konishi-sensei had my classmates practice their self introductions, and I acted as an interpretor. It was fun. After the first hour, there is a ten minute break, during which time my parents chatted with Konishi-sensei as the rest of us got something to drink at a vending machine. For the next hour of class, my parents walked around campus on their own so they could take pictures and video footage.

After class, I invited my classmates to join us in the College Cafe, a small cafeteria that is not part of the meal plan but which serves much more tasty food, including burgers, wraps, and the like. Three of my friends did join us for lunch, and we had a pleasant hour of food and conversation, centered largely around interesting (and sometimes aggravating) Japanese idiosyncrasies and characteristics. My friends also talked a bit about themselves, where they came from and what they planned on doing with their lives. All in all, the usual conversation topics. My friends seemed to enjoy my parent's company, and my parents definitely enjoyed meeting some of my friends. After chatting it up, we headed back to my room so I could show them my more immediate living arrangements, and so I could pass over items that I didn't need any more and which I wanted them to bring back home for me. On the way to my room we ran into Naomi's friend who had waited on us the night before. We repeated our thanks and appreciation for his service and for the delicious food we had eaten the night before. I also took him aside for a moment and apologized about my dad trying so hard to give him a tip the night before, but he told me not to worry about it.

By this point it had already rained once for about twenty minutes, and looked like it might continue to be on and off for the rest of the day. Despite this, I wanted to try and show them some of the sports complex first hand, so during a lull we walked across the street and I walked them through some of the first fields, talking about the different services the complex offered. By the time we got to the main entrance, however (about five minutes of walking) it began to rain again, so we took shelter in the main office. After the rain died down again, we decided not to risk getting drenched and so headed back to campus. Originally, if the weather had been nice I would have liked to take them on a walk down to Wada station so they could see the Akita landscape, and so we could visit a traditional Japanese graveyard and large Shrine complex. As it was, it was pretty dismal weather, so we decided that I would bring them to Wada via bus, and get them on their way back to the city. We would meet for dinner later that night.

My friend Naomi (the same Naomi who had suggested Aoitorino for the previous night's dinner) has a car and she picked me and Conny (another friend, she's from Germany) up at Komachi Hall and drove us downtown to pick up my parents. My parents in tow, we then headed into the restaurant/bar/pleasure district of town to experience an authentic if slightly fancy Japanese restaurant called Kamakuraya. Naomi is a native Japanese who spent last academic year at Ithaca college, and I was relying on her to translate the menu for us and offer suggestions of good Japanese food. The dishes were for the most part small finger-dishes, with some larger dishes available as well. I let Naomi order for us, giving her general ideas of what my parents would probably want (chicken and pork, yes; raw fish and tofu, no). We had a great time, and Naomi and Conny really enjoyed my parents, who likewise really liked Naomi and Conny. My parents opted not to go for more raw fish this time, and my dad tried some sake (traditional Japanese rice wine, often served warm), though I could tell he didn't like it. After almost two hours, we finally dropped my parents off at their hotel, and Naomi drove the rest of us back to campus. Dinner was around 7:30pm, but we didn't return to campus till 11:00. All in all, a great day.
The whole gang of us at Kamakuraya. From left to right: Me, Dad, Mom, Conny, and Naomi.

Tuesday, May 27

Tuesdays I have a lot of classes during the day. Because of this, I let my parents have this day as a free day to do whatever they wanted; relax in the hotel, explore the city somewhat, whatever. This also happened to be the only day of the week when the sun came out for a couple of hours and it was actually pretty nice outside. For the rest of the week, it was gray, overcast and/or rainy, and chilly, even in Tokyo (which is ironic, considering that the word for "Japan" in Japanese is nihon, land (or origin) of the sun).

After my classes were over, I took the first bus that I could to Wada-eki, and met my parents at their hotel around 7:30pm. For dinner tonight, I decided I would take them to the same yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant that I went to on my first night out in the city (see my April 27 post, as well as the Akita-shi Excursion album on the right). I chose this place because it was small, cute, and most importantly, distinctly Japanese. It was a restaurant that my parents would never be able to enjoy in Japan on their own.

I was a little nervous because it meant I was going to have to put my very limited Japanese skills to the test in trying to read the menu (all in Japanese with very limited pictures) and communicate what we want to the waiting staff. It ended up working just fine though, as the head chef who was cooking in the center area right next to our table took care of us; he knew some English and he obviously remembered me from my last visit to the place. Between our limited language skills we were able to do just fine, and my parents enjoyed the opportunity to experience an atmosphere that was much more Japanese. The food was greasy, fatty and delicious. It was a nice way to end the day.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where we said our goodbyes until Thursday, when I would meet them in Narita. I think that all in all, my parents did enjoy Akita, despite it being much less exciting than Tokyo. I am most of all glad that they had the opportunity to visit the campus and meet my friends at school.

Wednesday, May 28

On Wednesday my parents took a shinkansen back to Tokyo and then to Narita area, where they would be staying at the Narita Hilton. My cousin (my father's niece) works for Continental Airlines and was able to get them (and me) really cheap hotel rates at the Narita Hilton. I spent the day preparing for my own trip to Tokyo the next day. Not much to tell here.

Thursday, May 29

On Thursday my parents spent the day looking around Narita. They spent a while visiting the famed Narita-san Shinshou-ji, an enormous Shingon sect Buddhist Temple. I, on the other hand, had classes during the day and then hopped on my own shinkansen in the afternoon, meeting them at the hotel in Narita late in the evening (around 9:00pm). The Hilton was very nice, and when we checked in the guy at the reception desk was really impressed with my Japanese pronunciation. I still think my language skills are lacking, though even I was impressed by the end of the week with how much I was able to communicate with limited language skills. Nothing very exciting happened on Thursday either, as it was mainly my checking in, planning our day in Tokyo, and then sleeping. However, while I was in the Akita train station, I decided to buy my parents something because this year is their 25th Wedding Anniversary (on June 11). They had originally thought of going to Hawaii for their anniversary, but since I was in Japan they decided to visit me instead. Since the 25th anniversary is the "silver" anniversary, I wanted to get them some authentic Akita silver. I ended up buying a long, oval silver disk about the length of my hand which had engraved in gold a scene from the famed Akita Kanto festival, with festival goers hoisting the long poles of lanterns on their head and shoulders which this festival (only in Akita) is famous for. It was a uniquely Akita kind of gift, and I presented it to my parents when I arrived at the hotel, to much surprise and delight. Below is a scene from the annual Kanto festival, featuring the large poles filled with lanterns intended to emulate rice stalks:

Friday, May 30

Friday was our day in Tokyo, and it was a lot of fun. My only complaint is that my parents had gotten the hotel in Narita, which is conveniently located very close to the airport, but inconveniently located 80km away from Tokyo (at least an hour of traveling on an Express Train, which goes pretty fast as it is). We headed to Narita Train Station to grab a train to Tokyo. I was in a hurry because I wanted to get to Tokyo as soon as possible so we could see as much as possible, however, at the station I found that there wasn't a convenient information center or English-menu ticket machines for the various trains. In my haste, I made the mistake of putting us on a local train bound for Ueno (the northern district of Tokyo), which would have taken about 2 hours to get there since it stopped at every station along the way. After a while we decided to get off and try to get a faster train, grabbing an express train for the second leg of the trip. Since I didn't know the correct fares, what we did was buy the cheapest fare ticket, which would allow us on the train, and then use a "fare adjustment" ticket machine at our destinations, which would calculate the difference in actual fare cost and give us a new ticket which would allow us through the ticket gate. This can be done with any of the non-reserved trains in Japan, and is really easy and convenient to use. We got off at Nippori station and transfered to the JR Yamanote line, which is the train line that loops around Tokyo station. We would be using this train line for the rest of the day to quickly travel around the city. We eventually made it to Tokyo Station.

Outside Tokyo Station

It was already around 11:00am by this point, so I quickly guided us west towards the Imperial Palace. I wanted to visit the Imperial Gardens which are open to the public. Walking around Tokyo felt very much like walking around NYC, minus all the Japanese people and Japanese signs. There were tall sky scrapers and smaller buildings, restaurants, and in the distance (to the south) you could see Tokyo Tower. We eventually made it to the gardens, but were dismayed to find out that they are actually closed on Mondays and Fridays! I was really mad at myself for wasting even more time, but then cooled myself down and tried to make the best of it. We did see some of the buildings over the tall walls and moat surrounding the Palace complex, as well as a nice look at downtown Tokyo. We grabbed the Yamanote Line to our next destination, Meiji-jingu.

A guard house on the perimeter of the Imperial Grounds.

Meiji-jingu is an enormous Shinto Temple dedicated to Emperor Meiji, who paved the way for the modernization (and Westernization) of Japan during the Meiji Restoration era (1868 - 1930's or so). The temple is nestled in a large park filled with tall cedar trees and a small garden. As we passed through an enormous wooden torii with three Chrysanthemum medals (the crest of the imperial family), we were overcome with the peace and solitude of the beautiful park.

One of three large wooden torii we passed through on the way to Meiji-jingu. They each had three large Chrysanthemum crests, symbols of the Imperial Family.

Once we reached the main Shrine area, I guided my parents through the normal prayer ritual, beginning at the well where you cleanse your hands and mouth, and then walked to the offering boxes for prayer. The offering boxes were actually posted in the wooden corridor that surrounded the inner courtyard of the shrine; the actual shrine was closed to the public. After spending some time admiring the sweeping copper roof and wood work, we headed back out of the Meiji-jingu area and got some lunch and souvenirs at the tourist center.

Main Gate to the actual Shrine area.


Main Shrine Building.

Afterwards, we walked around the Shibuya district where the Shrine was located. It's a really cool area of town, a bit younger, with a huge TV screen in the center of the district along the main avenue which is lined with restaurants and stores. We stopped by the Oriental Bazaar, which my Lonely Planet Guidebook told me was a "one-stop" shopping location for souvenirs. They were right. The shop, which filled four stories, was filled with every kind of Japanese souvenir you could think of: clothing (western T-shirts and shorts as well as Japanese yukata and kimono), ceramic tea and sake sets, engraved plates and other metal ware, lacquer ware of every kind, scrolls, paintings, fans, and even a few cheap sets of samurai swords (katana and wakazashi). Upstairs they had some furniture and other smaller trinkets. I was in heaven. However, I restrained myself from buying anything, instead deciding it was better to get a feel for what they had, and then on my return trip home I would stop by here and get the souvenirs I wanted for me and my friends. My parents got a couple things for my brothers.

After Shibuya, we headed over to Ginza district, which is Tokyo's version of NYC's 5th Avenue. We made a stop in the Sony building, where they had showcases of the latest Sony products on four stories of galleries. It was awesome. We walked around the district for a while, and then as the time approached 5:00pm we headed to Tokyo Tower. The tower is modeled after the Eiffel tower in Paris, complete with a viewing deck on the 5th or 6th story. Before entering the tower, though, we stopped at Zojo-ji, the Buddhist Temple that belonged to the Tokugawa family (the Tokugawa's ruled Japan during the Tokugawa period - 1600-1868 - and moved the capitol from Kyoto to Edo, now called Tokyo. Edo period is another name for this period of time, and is probably the most famous period in Japanese history, globally anyway). The Temple was of medium sized, though many of the buildings were already closing down. My parents liked Narita's temple better.

Main Gate to Zojo-ji Temple, family temple of the Tokugawa's.

The Tokyo Tower can easily be seen towering behind the temple grounds.

As we began to head towards the Tokyo Tower, which is in the same park as the Zojo-ji temple, I stopped when I saw rows upon rows of small statues of children with little pinwheels, flowers and red caps. I immediately became somber and walked slowly to the statues, which stretched for hundreds of meters to the left and right. My parents followed me, wanting to know why I had suddenly become so serious.

Japan has the smallest birth rate in the world, with a population growth rate less than 1, which means the population is actually declining. One of the reasons for this is the incredibly easy access women have to abortions in Japan. Japans' abortion policies are often cited in other countries which are trying to make the practice easier and freer in their own countries (the US included). What is often not talked about, however, is the grave seriousness that abortion still has in Japan, despite it's widespread practice. The statues at the Buddhist temples are memorials to children who have died in childbirth or who died as a result of an abortion. The family honors the life of the child with these small statues, and bring gifts and offerings on their birthdays or after family trips. Seeing literally hundreds of these small statues was sobering. After a while, we left the children and headed to Tokyo Tower.



The Tower was nice, if a bit touristy. Unfortunately it was very cloudy and hazy, so we couldn't really see much of the city, but it was a nice view anyway. There were also a couple of interesting attractions within the tower, including a wax museum and arcade. After resting our feet and admiring the panoramic view of the city we made our way back to Tokyo station, it being close to 6:30 now. We had dinner at a restaurant in the station, and then caught the last Narita Express Train back to Narita, spending the rest of the evening relaxing, making phone calls, and looking over pictures and videos that had been taking over the past week.

Tokyo Tower

I wish we could have spent more time in Tokyo and seen much more of the city, but I do think that my parents got a nicely broad view of Japan in general, including the rural and quieter Akita area and the bustle of Tokyo area. Saturday morning I bid them adieu and grabbed a shinkansen back to Akita. They were bound to fly back to the states later in the evening.

All in all, it was a really great week with my parents. I am glad they were able to have the opportunity to visit Japan, something they otherwise would probably never consider. I am also happy that my meager Japanese skills was good enough to show them parts of Japan that they otherwise would never have been able to do (or at least not easily). I unfortunately didn't take a ton of pictures, as I was more concerned with being a guide, but you can see the pictures that I did take by clicking on the album titled Parent's Visit. I hope you enjoy.