Patrick: All in the Name of Fun

The Stanford Kyoto-SCTI quarter is coming to a close in the next couple of weeks. It's surprising how fast it all went by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we all arrived with our suitcases in Kyoto. I've only just started getting used to my commute, the extremity to which Japanese people take politeness, the sudden and drenching rain, the hot and humid weather that makes you not want to do anything...

Fun has become routine for our weekends here. Last Friday, Brian and I had a really long workshop for architecture where we got our projects critiqued by the professor. Following the workshop, 14 of us headed to the seventh floor of the Hankyu department store on the corner of shijo and kawaramachi for some all-you-can-eat dim sum. It was unfortunate that they didn't have any large round tables to accommodate us but the food was quite delicious and intricately made. Every time the cart rolled out, we cleared it of its cargo forcing it to return hastily back to the kitchen for more. Michael and Stephanie were the champions of the night ordering personal pagodas of steamers. Brian, Nick, and I didn't do too badly ourselves.

After the dim sum buffet, we relieved our stomachs by singing. Unfortunately, there weren't any large rooms available that night so we had to split into two rooms. It was kind of a drag since people kept moving in and out of the rooms depending on whether or not they liked the songs that came up. Choosing songs for such shifting group dynamics was really difficult, having to constantly worry about people leaving if they tire of the song you choose. It was the longest two hours of karaoke that I've ever had so far... We gotta get one, and only one, room next time.

06222007

On Saturday, Brian and I went to play badminton. Brian overslept again but he actually came this time. We then met up with some others for an okonomiyaki place that Nick and Cara had seen about on tv. This place served absolutely humongous portions of okonomiyaki and yakisoba. And it turned out to be super cheap and delicious; around 500 yen a person.

To walk off the stomach-bursting meal, Brian, Michael, Takashi, and I went to nearby Kinkakuji, the renown golden pavilion temple. It was surprising how fast the temple came into view from the entrance. Across the lake, it shined in all its glory. We were fortunate to get a break in the weather and the sun did its part to emphasize the golden walls, rafters, railings, windows, and rain gutters. Up close however, the building looked a little fake... It was definitely better from the other side of the lake. Still it's a must-see tourist venue in Kyoto and well worth the trip.

After that, Brian, Michael, and I took the bus to shijo and kawaramachi where we proceeded to play the UFO catchers at the Namco gamecenter. We met with little success save for a little stuffed puff ball. The airhead girl in the demo video made it look so easy. The machines are so rigged..

Around 6 pm, we met up with the DESA people for nomikai (drinking party). It was a total of 19 Stanford students and at least as much if not more DESA circle members. We went to this little pub on Kiyamachi that couldn't fit all of us. For the next two hours, we ate, we drank, we sang. It's kind of interesting to see what type of songs the Japanese students like to sing when they karaoke. For our part, we contributed some Linkin Park, Green Day, Oasis, Backstreet Boys, etc. It was quite a blast even though the drink orders were backlogged and the food wasn't very filling.

After that, we sat and chatted by the kamo river.

06232007

On Sunday, Mariko, Shoko, and I went to Kobe to find examples of modern architecture for our architecture class assignment. Mariko, who lives in Nara, has surprisingly never been to Kobe before. Fortunately Shoko was pretty familiar with the city and I've been to Kobe once before already because Mariko's sense of direction is... questionable. heh.

We arrived in the Sannomiya district where we were trying to find Kobe steak the last time we were in Kobe. We found this great restaurant dedicated to selling omu-rice. It was quite delicious to say the least. I love omu-rice. For the rest of the day, we visited the old foreign embassy district where they have old Victorian style houses erected after Japan ended its long period of international isolation. Unfortunately, it wasn't really modern architecture per say, so we went to Meriken Park and took the elevator up the top of Kobe's Port Tower. The view from above was quite nice despite the rainy day. It must be gorgeous on a nice day. We ended the day with ramen on the upper floors of the Isetan department store at Kyoto station. It's a great food court where different ramen restaurants compete for customers. And after dinner, we walked on the skyway that spanned the station itself where Japanese couples were secretly making out... The view from above was quite spectacular. All in all, a beautiful end to a great day and another fabulous weekend gone by.

06242007

Patrick: Weekend Fun

What a great weekend it was. Things began on Friday with an SCTI 'friendly' lunch, which turned out to be absolutely fabulous. My only grievance was the lack of more rice to go with the 20 or so various delectable items. Following the lunch, we made our own handkerchiefs doing Yuzen dyeing. It was surprisingly easy since everything was performed in a assembly-line fashion. After that Michael, Daryl, Mary, and I headed to Kiyamachi for bowling. Bowling during the day is not too expensive in Japan. It's about 325 yen for shoes and 325 yen per game. It's more expensive after 6 pm, each game being 525 yen instead. That afternoon we bowled three games. I surprised even myself with a score of 176 during the second game. The place was pretty crowded too although it's more popular on the weekends. After bowling, Mary took us to an okonomiyake restaurant on Kawaramachi where she raved about the Bukkake cheese topping. Following the hearty dinner, we met up with Jason and company for two hours of karaoke. It's amazing how much fun karaoke is in Japan. Some highlights: Jason and MickeyD busting out Eminem, Megan rapping Jay Chou, Backstreet Boys in Kyoto, Green Day's Good Riddance, and everyone hollering Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer and It's My Life.

06152007

On Saturday, I had badminton practice as usual. The club has an in-club tournament coming up at the end of June and beginning of July that they invited me to participate in. Sounds like fun. Brian overslept so it was just me. With nothing to do after practice, I went and ate lunch with the other members. Afterwards, the captain invited a few guys over to his apartment which was right next to campus for some Mahjong and Winning Eleven. Japanese Mahjong is slightly different from the Hong Kong style David taught us at Stanford. After I lost horribly, we moved on to the PS2 soccer game which I also sucked at. It was interesting hanging out with those guys though. We ended up talking about what kind of music they listened to (Linkin Park, Chihiro Onitsuka, Ayumi Hamasaki, Mr. Children, etc.), what types of girls they liked (skinny legs, small waists, long hair... I'm just reporting mind you), and which girls in the club they thought were cute (not the ones that are particularly good at badminton). Around dinner time, I left to meet up with my host brother Atsushi and the DESA people for another night of bowling. It's a shame that Brian, Michael, Daryl, and Jason canceled on me. There ended up being more girls than guys. Only Keisuke showed up to come with me. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We played three games and formed random teams. The 3rd place team paid for the shoes of the winners. After bowling, I met up with Jason and company for another hour of karaoke. An hour is kind of short but we did our best to stick in our favorites. Just by chance, there was a group of foreigners playing with fire along the river bank. They gave quite a performance and had a huge audience gather before them. I think they were advertising for their group. But that night... Keisuke and Hiroki, the two Kyoto University students who came with us to karaoke, had a blast. We sure gave them the American karaoke experience. Or for that matter.. the Stanford American karaoke experience.

06162007

On Sunday, my host brother, his friend Miho-san, her friend Delia, and I went to eat at an Indian restaurant on Sanjo. It's a little disturbing how good the Indian waiter's Japanese was. In the end, I just ordered in English. It's too hard trying to read the Indian dishes with Japanese accents... Miho's friend Delia was from Michigan. Miho, like Atsushi, had studied a bit abroad in Michigan and Delia was now staying with her while on vacation. Ordering turned out to be actually quite an ordeal since Miho doesn't eat spicy food (no wasabi) and Delia is vegetarian, doesn't eat eggs, doesn't eat dairy products, and is allergic to wheat. Despite all that, we stilled had some great curry and naan. The food was disappointingly not spicy at all, but the naan was delicious. After dinner, we went... that's right, bowling. This would be my third day in a row. My arm's now a little sore and I should think a little buffer since it felt like lifting weights. We bowled five games since I had a coupon from the night before. All-you-can-bowl for 1050 yen. My host brother is really, really good. He averages 170 with a record high of 210. His dad was actually the Japanese national bowling champion back when he was in college. Needless to say, we had a great time. All in all, that was definitely more bowling than I have ever done in a while..

06172007

Patrick: Cara's 21st, student party, Fushimi-Inari

So Cara's birthday was actually on Tuesday last week but due to classes, the celebrations were postponed until the weekend. On Friday, 20 of us met at the shijo bridge and went to shabu-shabu tabenomihodai (all-you-can-eat-and-drink) on kiyamachi. Suffice it to say, it was good times. After filling up, we headed for karaoke and proceeded to holler our lungs out for the next hour. I left after that to rest up for badminton the next morning but the others stayed to club the rest of the night and much of the morning away.

06082007

On Saturday, Brian and I went to school early for badminton. It was another excellent open-gym session and we met a Doshisha graduate who kicked ass. Unfortunately he's currently busy looking for a job so he probably won't be there next Saturday. After practice, we went to a thank-you party for the Japanese students who volunteered as tour guides when we first got to Kyoto. We had some delicious sushi, pizza, and fried chicken. I would've never thought I'd miss pizza so much...

06092007

On Sunday, Brian, Daryl, Yoshiko, and I went to Fushimi-Inari Shrine. I met Yoshiko the previous day at the party and she decided to come along for the fun. We arrived in the morning and hiked the mountain trail for about an hour and a half. The number of toris erected on the mountain was quite impressive. They were so close together that walking through them was like walking in a covered corridor. The shrine is dedicated to wealth, fortune, and rice. Guarded by foxes, it is famous for the numerous toris donated by corporations and family businesses with prospects for prosperity. Fushimi, the district, is known for its rice and sake. It is also famous for inari-zushi, the tofu-skin covered sushi filled with rice. Supposedly, their shape is reminiscent of fox ears. They were also grilling sparrows up and down the main street but none of us felt like trying some after lunch. Unfortunately, rain poured down from the sky while we were eating lunch. We decided to head to shijo to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3. The movie theater was so crowded with people that we had to get seats for the 5 pm show even though we arrived at 3 pm. We ended up walking around and eating delicious crepes. As for the movie, I really enjoyed it. Despite the absurd number of betrayals, the characters were still rather witty and it was definitely packed to the brim with action. I think I still like the first one the best though, probably due to its novelty from being first. I'm not sure how it compares with the second though.. I kind of forgot what my impression was of the second movie. After the movie, we went to a great restaurant, Katsukura, that specializes in tonkatsu. The self-ground sesame really enhanced the flavors of the juicy pork. My croquettes had tofu mixed into the potato, shrimp, and vegetables mash resulting in a soft, creamy, crunchy texture. The rice and miso-shiru were all-you-can-eat like at home. And the cabbage salad went well with the tangy orange, vinegar, and soy sauce dressing. It was a welcome meal after an exhausting yet fun-filled day.

06102007

Patrick: Agata Matsuri

This is hot off the press so to speak though I won't be able to post it until morning. I just got back from a night festival, the Agata Matsuri (県祭り) held annually on the 5th of June in Uji. It is Uji's largest festival and people of all ages showed up to walk the crowded streets and alleys lined with shops. It was in general much better than the Dontaku Matsuri that we attended in Hakata during Golden Week even though Dontaku is one of the major festivals in the country. The atmosphere was much more lively, the streets full of young people, and the variety of shops was absolutely stunning. Actually it felt a lot like walking through a night market in Taiwan. The festival started at 6pm and goes until midnight. At midnight the main ceremony occurs privately inside the Agata shrine. I went with my host dad around 8:30 pm. Apparently the demographics differ throughout the night. During the early hours from 6pm to 8pm, families with small children dominate the streets. Then come the middle schoolers who must get home before curfew. The high schoolers are next. And the college students after that. My host brother said that many of the shops are sponsored by the Yakuza so around 10pm, they start showing up to collect tribute. I thought that was a particularly funny yet scary comment. The irony is that the Yakuza activities are completely legal. The police after all, are stationed at the Uji bridge keeping the peace. Although I don't know how effective they are if the Yakuza were really to come out in numbers…

I was impressed with all the girls who came out in their yukatas. The older girls, especially the ones with bleach-destroyed hair, seemed to prefer short nonexistent shorts and wispy blouses but with so many people, yukatas were definitely not rare. There were also girls in school uniforms and such as well. With people all around, it seemed everywhere I looked, the girls were all so cute. I think my eyes tended to gloss over the ones that had too much make-up on or the ones that looked too slutty to even admire. The guys on the other hand traveled in packs. They were usually in school uniforms or really tight clothes. They tended to sport some really ridiculous hairdos that couldn't possibly be attractive. It makes me wonder what it would be like walking along the streets with Johnny. I think we'd have a self-replenishing shield of girls surrounding us like phospholipids in water.

My host brother mentioned that Uji has the most young people among all the districts of Kyoto. Because the parents tended to be young and lax with their kids, many of the youths in Uji end up being petty thieves and drop-outs. During the night, you can see 15-year-olds without licenses riding their stolen motorcycles at breathtaking speeds down the narrow streets. I saw a few the other night coming back late. Many of them were probably at the festival tonight. Of course not all the young people at the festival were delinquents. But I can't say that most of them were the types of people were used to seeing around Stanford. Some of the girls were so obnoxious, I couldn't believe that they were Japanese. I guess even in Japan there are all types of people.

06052007

Patrick: Panoramas

I discovered this wonderful software that came with my camera that stitches photos together. I think it is smarter than the photomerge tool in photoshop and the results turn out much better. There are still some blemishes here and there but it's a small sacrifice when it comes to being able to enjoy the scenery in widescreen. The effect ends up being much more impressive in my opinion. Enjoy..

Panoramas

Patrick: Kobe, Nara, Osaka

This last weekend was one of tourist attractions. On Friday, Professor Hayashi invited his Postwar Japanese Economy class and other SCTI students to visit the Earthquake research center he directs in Kobe. I'm not in the class but I jumped at the chance for a free trip to Kobe. The earthquake center specifically catalogs the destruction caused by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. I was expecting some shaking building simulations but unfortunately we had to settle for some computer graphics animation reenacting the calamity. After the long and tedious lecture by the professor, we took the train down to Chinatown. My personal opinion is that Kobe's Chinatown is rather pathetic. It's smaller than Nagasaki's, consisting of just one street, and the food is just as expensive. For dinner, we decided that we couldn't leave Kobe without trying some Kobe steak. So we walked over to the neighboring bustling district Sanomiya. The streets were pretty busy when we arrived. We found some Kobe steakhouses immediately upon arrival. Unfortunately a plate of Kobe steak cost at least 7000 yen. Seeing how Kobe steak was way out of our budgets, we opted for yakiniku tabehodai (all-you-can-eat-bbq). We had 60 minutes to order as much meat, salads, and kimchii we wanted. For the next hour, it was nonstop bbq-ing, eating, commenting on how much Stephanie eats, ordering for the next round, etc. After stuffing ourselves, we found the rest of the group (we split up for dinner) drinking on the skybridge and then I called it a night. It was a shame that we didn't go to the port. Kobe supposedly has one of the best night cityscapes in Japan. Next time...

06012007

The next day, I went to Nara with Daryl and Brian. We met up with Ranaq and Nick afterwards as well. The first thing that struck me as we walked into Nara Park was the awkwardness of seeing deer walking among the crowds of tourists out on the streets. The deer in Nara are completely domesticated, feed on crackers tourists can buy sold by street vendors, and fatter than the ones on Miyajima. One snuck up behind Brian and gave him a friendly lick on the butt. We headed first for Todaiji, perhaps the most worthwhile tourist destination in present-day Nara. The great temple was constructed in the Heijo-kyo era when the capital was located in Nara. It has since been rebuilt 2/3 of its original size. Despite the smaller reconstruction, it is still the largest wooden structure in the world. Inside is housed the largest Buddha structure I've seen to date. It was massive. After that, we ate a quick lunch and met up with Nick and Ranaq. We hiked up to Kasuga-Taisha Shrine but didn't want to pay the steep entrance fee so we ended up taking pictures from the outside. The shrine is the prototype for the Kasuga-style of shrine architecture and was a protector shrine of the ancient capital. The next stop was down the mountain to Kofukuji. The temple is the blueprint model for the style of temple architecture where a corridor surrounds a courtyard with a Great Buddha Hall in the center. Unfortunately, the current extant structures include just the Pagoda and a building next to it. The courtyard is currently under construction; the foundations for the surrounding corridor and Great Buddha Hall having been just laid down. It's really sad how so many historic structures and pieces of art in Japan have been burned down, destroyed in conflict, deteriorated over years of abandonment, or bombed to bits in World War II. I guess it makes whatever's left all the more precious. The Heijo palace site didn't seem worth going to since it has a smatter of reconstructed buildings amidst a fallow field.

06022007

On Sunday, Brian, Jeffery, and I went to Osaka. We met Sayuri, who offered to take us to the aquarium, the largest in the Kansai area. Michael arrived late since he had a sleepless night partying. The aquarium was big but overall not as impressive as the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was kind of funny actually, since one of the exhibits featured the sea life in Monterey Bay. The Japanese people were so astonished by the swiftness of the fat sea lions that are commonly seen lounging lazily on the rocks up and down California's coast. By far the best features of the aquarium were the whale shark, the manta ray, the huge crabs, the fat and molting penguins, the giant sea turtles, and the creepy jelly-fish. After the aquarium, we returned to Kyoto and met up with Daryl and company for dinner. It was Daryl's birthday and we took him out to kaiten-zushi (sushi on conveyor belts). Jason was really hungry since he had just woke up a few hours ago (it was 7 pm when we met) due to clubbing the previous night away with some friends in Osaka. And dinner was filling. After dinner, we ate some cake at Lipton tea cafe... delicious cakes. And then we bought some drinks and sang the birthday song down by the kamo river.

06032007