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| Kyoto Miyako Odori |
Friday, April 27, 2007
Kyoto: Miyako Odori
Today we had a field trip to Miyako Odori. It was a traditional dance by geishas and maikos (geishas in training). It was pretty cool, but I have to pack for tomorrow, so I'm not going to talk too much about it. In particular, there was this one woman dressed in a pretty plain black kimono that was really good. There was something in the way she moved that was really elegant, even though her face was not particularly beautiful. She must have been the teacher or master geisha. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the performance. Otherwise, today was more getting ready for the trip and practicing some viola for the first time. I still remember how to play, even if just barely :). Some pictures taken right before the Miyako Odori:
Brian: School, Day 4
Today is Thursday, the last day of the school week. God I love my schedule :). A good day it was, too. Let me see... but before I get sidetracked, our home computer in Irvine had a hard disc crash and I was wondering if anybody knows how to recover data from it. Please leave suggestions in the comments kudasai, ne. On to the story...
I woke up naturally at 8:30 and got to school at about 10, where I planned to do reading for my Contemporary Japanese Relations class. Instead, I finalized the reservation for a ferry from Matsuyama to Oita during golden week with Yamashita-san and then talked with our group about Golden Week plans until my Japanese placement interview at 11. The interview went very smoothly, which is much more than I can say for Japanese interviews I've had in America. Even being here only several days has made me much more fluent, of course this is relative to my original ability. At least it is easy to hold up a conversation with a sympathetic Japanese speaker who has experience listening to broken Japanese :). We talked about various things like my Golden Week plans, our travels in Tokyo when we just arrived, and my interests. It was really quite easy because I've talked about those same things with other people already, so they were somewhat crystallized in my head already. This must be why it is so easy for politicians to speak in public. They don't really speak extemporaneously, they simply organize the mini-speeches they've given before into one that fits the occasion. Anyways the "placement interview" is apparently a misnomer because we will generally be placed in the same sequence we were in at Stanford, since all of us are Stanford students.
The next big event was getting a cell phone! I met up with my host brother Charlie, who is in the KCJS program and speaks better Japanese than me, and we went to the cell phone store together. The best company for foreigners and students is apparently au, as they offer a gakuwari or student discount. Of course, the cell phone selection for the student plans is very limited - no cool phones that can swivel 2 ways or let you watch TV. It is ungodly how cool the phones in Japan are. I can't believe I was happy with my Razr back home, it is ridiculous how good the technology is here. As it is, the student phone I picked is still gorgeously sexy and functional too, unlike the somewhat sexy and barely functional Razr. Take a look at the pictures, which hardly do it justice, but some of the cool features are easy to press, large buttons, a light but very solid construction, a beautiful large screen, fast and easy to use software, innovative features like a macro function for the camera and a manner mode (for switching to driving manner, for example). I didn't have to pay too much for it either. The activation charge was ¥2700, the monthly charge is ¥2000 for talk (35 min, ¥40 per additional minute) and ¥300 for text (100 packets, ¥.2 per additional). The cancellation fee is about ¥3100, which is much much less than in the States. So, it makes sense to buy a year-long plan and then cancel after 5 months. It is actually comparable to the pre-paid phones in price, with a sexier phone in the bargain (and no need to recharge).
The other big thing today was a party hosted by my host family. It was in honor of my okaasan's daughter's wedding. Her name is Ai and she is married to Shin. They were married in February and honeymooned in Australia. Anyways, today we went out to a traditional Japanese dinner with seemingly endless courses and chatted away until about 9pm before coming home. Then, I played several pieces on the piano to the audience's approval (Melodies of Life, Moonlight Sonata, and What a Wonderful World) and then they all sat around talking, drinking, smoking, looking at picture albums, and watching a DVD of the wedding. It was a good time. One interesting thing is that two of the cousins came late to the dinner. I swear they looked like rock stars. It is amazing how fashion conscious these Japanese people are. They are high school students, 16 and 18 years old, and it is like they walked out of the pages of a catalog. One of the guys looked just like Hanazawa Rui from Hana Yori Dango, with the bleached hair and bangs that hung down. The other guy complemented him with darker brown hair that was styled in spikes. Their outfits were all designer-quality and they had this sullen model quality that seems typical for teenage Japanese boys. I guess that's the way you have to dress to catch the attention of the girls, who primp, preen, and dress themselves to match their various idols in the catalogs as well. I think it looks good in general, though I'd prefer if more of them kept their black hair. I still think straight black hair is the sexiest, after all.
I woke up naturally at 8:30 and got to school at about 10, where I planned to do reading for my Contemporary Japanese Relations class. Instead, I finalized the reservation for a ferry from Matsuyama to Oita during golden week with Yamashita-san and then talked with our group about Golden Week plans until my Japanese placement interview at 11. The interview went very smoothly, which is much more than I can say for Japanese interviews I've had in America. Even being here only several days has made me much more fluent, of course this is relative to my original ability. At least it is easy to hold up a conversation with a sympathetic Japanese speaker who has experience listening to broken Japanese :). We talked about various things like my Golden Week plans, our travels in Tokyo when we just arrived, and my interests. It was really quite easy because I've talked about those same things with other people already, so they were somewhat crystallized in my head already. This must be why it is so easy for politicians to speak in public. They don't really speak extemporaneously, they simply organize the mini-speeches they've given before into one that fits the occasion. Anyways the "placement interview" is apparently a misnomer because we will generally be placed in the same sequence we were in at Stanford, since all of us are Stanford students.
The next big event was getting a cell phone! I met up with my host brother Charlie, who is in the KCJS program and speaks better Japanese than me, and we went to the cell phone store together. The best company for foreigners and students is apparently au, as they offer a gakuwari or student discount. Of course, the cell phone selection for the student plans is very limited - no cool phones that can swivel 2 ways or let you watch TV. It is ungodly how cool the phones in Japan are. I can't believe I was happy with my Razr back home, it is ridiculous how good the technology is here. As it is, the student phone I picked is still gorgeously sexy and functional too, unlike the somewhat sexy and barely functional Razr. Take a look at the pictures, which hardly do it justice, but some of the cool features are easy to press, large buttons, a light but very solid construction, a beautiful large screen, fast and easy to use software, innovative features like a macro function for the camera and a manner mode (for switching to driving manner, for example). I didn't have to pay too much for it either. The activation charge was ¥2700, the monthly charge is ¥2000 for talk (35 min, ¥40 per additional minute) and ¥300 for text (100 packets, ¥.2 per additional). The cancellation fee is about ¥3100, which is much much less than in the States. So, it makes sense to buy a year-long plan and then cancel after 5 months. It is actually comparable to the pre-paid phones in price, with a sexier phone in the bargain (and no need to recharge).
The other big thing today was a party hosted by my host family. It was in honor of my okaasan's daughter's wedding. Her name is Ai and she is married to Shin. They were married in February and honeymooned in Australia. Anyways, today we went out to a traditional Japanese dinner with seemingly endless courses and chatted away until about 9pm before coming home. Then, I played several pieces on the piano to the audience's approval (Melodies of Life, Moonlight Sonata, and What a Wonderful World) and then they all sat around talking, drinking, smoking, looking at picture albums, and watching a DVD of the wedding. It was a good time. One interesting thing is that two of the cousins came late to the dinner. I swear they looked like rock stars. It is amazing how fashion conscious these Japanese people are. They are high school students, 16 and 18 years old, and it is like they walked out of the pages of a catalog. One of the guys looked just like Hanazawa Rui from Hana Yori Dango, with the bleached hair and bangs that hung down. The other guy complemented him with darker brown hair that was styled in spikes. Their outfits were all designer-quality and they had this sullen model quality that seems typical for teenage Japanese boys. I guess that's the way you have to dress to catch the attention of the girls, who primp, preen, and dress themselves to match their various idols in the catalogs as well. I think it looks good in general, though I'd prefer if more of them kept their black hair. I still think straight black hair is the sexiest, after all.
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| Kyoto Day 6 |
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Patrick: Gallery
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Brian: School, Day 3
¥8100 books
¥200 chibidensha
¥220 bus
¥380 lunch
¥115 milk tea
¥525 umbrella
¥220 bus
¥200 chibidensha
-----------------
¥9960 total
A couple things: I can't write long essays in my blog anymore because I have that dreaded curse of students everywhere - homework - and also next week is Golden Week so there will be an unfathomable amount of material in just a few short days. So, very briefly, today.
I accidentally did not account for the cost of books for my architecture class, which is ¥8100, so I'm not going to get much lunch money next month (I got ¥29000 for lunch and transportation this month). Also, I finally managed to buy an umbrella. Today was a lot of planning for Golden Week by Patrick, me, and Yamashita-san. It's really going to be an adventure when we leave on Saturday. We plan to go to Tokushima, Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Oita, Mt. Aso, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka all in one week. It's going to be very tough. I hate planning stuff, but nobody else will do it besides Patrick and I figure I better know what's going on in case things don't work out. Architecture class today was pretty boring. I don't think I'm cut out for architecture. It's pretty much just a discussion about spaces and buildings and other fuzzy things. Unfortunately I don't really have a choice because I'm taking it as a general requirement class. It is also a lot of work. Yup, that's it for today. No pictures either.
¥200 chibidensha
¥220 bus
¥380 lunch
¥115 milk tea
¥525 umbrella
¥220 bus
¥200 chibidensha
-----------------
¥9960 total
A couple things: I can't write long essays in my blog anymore because I have that dreaded curse of students everywhere - homework - and also next week is Golden Week so there will be an unfathomable amount of material in just a few short days. So, very briefly, today.
I accidentally did not account for the cost of books for my architecture class, which is ¥8100, so I'm not going to get much lunch money next month (I got ¥29000 for lunch and transportation this month). Also, I finally managed to buy an umbrella. Today was a lot of planning for Golden Week by Patrick, me, and Yamashita-san. It's really going to be an adventure when we leave on Saturday. We plan to go to Tokushima, Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Oita, Mt. Aso, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka all in one week. It's going to be very tough. I hate planning stuff, but nobody else will do it besides Patrick and I figure I better know what's going on in case things don't work out. Architecture class today was pretty boring. I don't think I'm cut out for architecture. It's pretty much just a discussion about spaces and buildings and other fuzzy things. Unfortunately I don't really have a choice because I'm taking it as a general requirement class. It is also a lot of work. Yup, that's it for today. No pictures either.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Brian: School, Day 2
¥200 chibidensha
¥400 bus (I paid too much, actual was ¥220)
¥1297 lunch for me and Stephanie
-¥550 she paid me back
¥220 bus
¥200 chibidensha
~¥9300 books
-----------------------
¥11,070 total
Every day has its little adventures, I guess. Thus far the public transportation system hasn't failed to provide its share of adventures. This time the screwup was on the bus. Today I tried bus #50, which my okaasan had written in my notebook as being OK to ride to school. It went the right way for about 3 stops, then turned right on Sanbon-dori. Luckily I was paying attention and got off right away. However, as I left I popped a ¥500 coin into the slot. I waited about 2 seconds for change before I realized that you're supposed to put exact change in there. I asked the bus driver for change and he started to dispense ¥10 coins one at a time, slowly, by pressing some sort of button on his side of the machine. He had dispensed about 10 coins when I felt really bad for holding up the train, took the money with a "sumimasen", and left. It would have been a good opportunity to use a phrase I just learned, "fuzakenna", which means "you're f'ing kidding me." I paid something like ¥400 to go a couple blocks. Even taxis aren't that expensive. Not only that, I had to walk like 8 blocks to school. I had left about 15 minutes to spare in addition to the 30 minutes I alloted for the commute, but even walking briskly I just barely made it. I didn't really mind the walking though - it's good exercise and taiken (personal experience). I checked the bus routes later and #50 actually runs to Kyoto station, so my okaasan had made a mistake.
Today was a walking tour of the Heien Shrine, the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, and the Nanzenji temple. The Heien Shrine was orange and green (somebody said it looked like Taco Bell colors) and had this immense courtyard. I went in the very middle and tried to take a digital assist panorama shot. I'll stitch it together later. I know it's underexposed but it's better underexposed than overexposed, as I can still bring out the details later. It was pretty good looking, the shrine, but nothing really extraordinary. I guess I've had a lot of sight-seeing lately so just seeing a big shrine doesn't do much for me. It also awoke the cynic in me to see the various structures where they'd hang little papers with wishes. It was as if the sole purpose of the shrine was to fulfill their wishes like some genie.
The Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts was pretty cool. The exhibits were very informative, with step by step descriptions of how the artisans accomplished stone-cutting, or fan-making, or laquerwork, or sake production. Otherwise, it was just another museum.
We grabbed lunch in a nearby convenience store. Everybody tried out different things. I bought this bento with fish and rice. Mickey D just bought a big fish. Patrick had some onigiri (rice balls), Michael had this sandwich with noodles inside (weird huh?), and Stephanie got soba noodles with this nasty-looking paste. When she put it in her sauce it looked like poop, so we made fun of her.
After lunch we had to do little group presentations on different eras in Japan's history from a brook we were supposed to read. I didn't finish the book, so right before my group went up, I looked up some stuff about tea ceremonies to say. I would say most people didn't read the book and the presentations were very informal in nature. Some people did seem to know what they were talking about, however, and I managed to record some of Nick's spiel since it was quite good.
The rest of the day was sort of uneventful. I had my first lecture for Contemporary Japanese Relations, taught by Professor MacDougall, and I didn't fall asleep. There were some Japanese students in the class that I got to meet, which was cool. They were eager to practice English, so I spoke to them in English. It's so sad... their English is so much better than my Japanese... One of the students I asked said he understood about 60% of the lecture. That's much more than I could do for a lecture given in Japanese, I'm sure. After dinner, which was tempura (they mix the vegetables in batter and fry it on the spot!), I played the piano. The dog really loved it and started to howl(?) or bark(?) or sing, I'm not quite sure which. It was really cute though. Okaasan and Otoosan liked it too, even with all the mistakes.
¥400 bus (I paid too much, actual was ¥220)
¥1297 lunch for me and Stephanie
-¥550 she paid me back
¥220 bus
¥200 chibidensha
~¥9300 books
-----------------------
¥11,070 total
Every day has its little adventures, I guess. Thus far the public transportation system hasn't failed to provide its share of adventures. This time the screwup was on the bus. Today I tried bus #50, which my okaasan had written in my notebook as being OK to ride to school. It went the right way for about 3 stops, then turned right on Sanbon-dori. Luckily I was paying attention and got off right away. However, as I left I popped a ¥500 coin into the slot. I waited about 2 seconds for change before I realized that you're supposed to put exact change in there. I asked the bus driver for change and he started to dispense ¥10 coins one at a time, slowly, by pressing some sort of button on his side of the machine. He had dispensed about 10 coins when I felt really bad for holding up the train, took the money with a "sumimasen", and left. It would have been a good opportunity to use a phrase I just learned, "fuzakenna", which means "you're f'ing kidding me." I paid something like ¥400 to go a couple blocks. Even taxis aren't that expensive. Not only that, I had to walk like 8 blocks to school. I had left about 15 minutes to spare in addition to the 30 minutes I alloted for the commute, but even walking briskly I just barely made it. I didn't really mind the walking though - it's good exercise and taiken (personal experience). I checked the bus routes later and #50 actually runs to Kyoto station, so my okaasan had made a mistake.
Today was a walking tour of the Heien Shrine, the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, and the Nanzenji temple. The Heien Shrine was orange and green (somebody said it looked like Taco Bell colors) and had this immense courtyard. I went in the very middle and tried to take a digital assist panorama shot. I'll stitch it together later. I know it's underexposed but it's better underexposed than overexposed, as I can still bring out the details later. It was pretty good looking, the shrine, but nothing really extraordinary. I guess I've had a lot of sight-seeing lately so just seeing a big shrine doesn't do much for me. It also awoke the cynic in me to see the various structures where they'd hang little papers with wishes. It was as if the sole purpose of the shrine was to fulfill their wishes like some genie.
The Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts was pretty cool. The exhibits were very informative, with step by step descriptions of how the artisans accomplished stone-cutting, or fan-making, or laquerwork, or sake production. Otherwise, it was just another museum.
We grabbed lunch in a nearby convenience store. Everybody tried out different things. I bought this bento with fish and rice. Mickey D just bought a big fish. Patrick had some onigiri (rice balls), Michael had this sandwich with noodles inside (weird huh?), and Stephanie got soba noodles with this nasty-looking paste. When she put it in her sauce it looked like poop, so we made fun of her.
After lunch we had to do little group presentations on different eras in Japan's history from a brook we were supposed to read. I didn't finish the book, so right before my group went up, I looked up some stuff about tea ceremonies to say. I would say most people didn't read the book and the presentations were very informal in nature. Some people did seem to know what they were talking about, however, and I managed to record some of Nick's spiel since it was quite good.
The rest of the day was sort of uneventful. I had my first lecture for Contemporary Japanese Relations, taught by Professor MacDougall, and I didn't fall asleep. There were some Japanese students in the class that I got to meet, which was cool. They were eager to practice English, so I spoke to them in English. It's so sad... their English is so much better than my Japanese... One of the students I asked said he understood about 60% of the lecture. That's much more than I could do for a lecture given in Japanese, I'm sure. After dinner, which was tempura (they mix the vegetables in batter and fry it on the spot!), I played the piano. The dog really loved it and started to howl(?) or bark(?) or sing, I'm not quite sure which. It was really cute though. Okaasan and Otoosan liked it too, even with all the mistakes.
 |
| Kyoto Day 5 |
Monday, April 23, 2007
Brian: First day of school
¥200 train fare (on the chibidensha)
¥220 bus
¥340 lunch (oyakodon)
¥250 subway to Shijo
¥588 hair wax (loose shuffle)
¥250 subway to Karasuma-Imadegawa
¥220 bus to Hakubaicho
¥200 train fare (chibidensha)
¥0 getting lost and finding your way again? priceless
-----------------------------------------
¥2268 total
Isn't it hard to believe? Today's the first day of school. Like Alan said, they're almost halfway done at Stanford. Actually it's only been 3 full weeks, right? But still, those last 7 weeks until summer vacation will just fly by, I know. I hear it's time to do the draw again, as well (the lottery system for Stanford housing).
The commute to school was, thankfully, uneventful. I left around 9 AM and just barely caught the 9:06 train to Hakubaicho (the end of the line), then took a bus to Karasuma-Imadegawa. That is the intersection of Imadegawa, the east-west street, with Karasuma, the central north-south street. Doshisha is on the intersection, so it is another short walk from the station to the Stanford center. I was stupid and didn't bring a map or an umbrella, but wasn't punished for either. I'll bring a map next time, but still out of luck on the umbrella. I couldn't find a small one in the convenience store I visited.
I didn't have any class today but there was more orientation, from 10 until 2:20. They went over how to set up the wireless (we have to re-authenticate for every outside site we visit, how stupid), then Professor Duus (professor emeritus) gave a 1-hour introduction to the history of Kyoto. I took notes, if anybody cares to take a look. Some interesting things were that Kyoto was based on the Chinese template for capitols, with the emperor and palace facing south and the city arranged in a grid pattern. Also, he said that a lot of the geishas in the pleasure district are fake - office workers from Tokyo that pay money to dress up and get their pictures taken with gaijin (foreigners).
Lunch was a simple affair in the cafeteria in the basement. I had oyakodon - oya means "parent" and ko means "child", and don is short for donburi, or covered rice. That is, they put chicken and egg on rice (the chicken is the parent, the egg is the child). It's pretty cool that they print the number of calories on the receipt. My bowl was 740 Kcal, which seems like a lot. By the way, I haven't lost any weight here yet - I weighed myself on the bathroom scale today.
The orientation stuff was done by 2:20, whereupon we 3 boys started planning Golden Week destinations. We narrowed them down to 2 cities in Shikoku (the island just south of Honshu, the main island) and 4 or 5 in Kyushu (the southern-most island) - Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Miyazaki, Beppu, and maybe one more. We'll use our one-week JR rail pass so we'll only have to pay for housing, food, and entertainment. One of the things we want to do for sure is to stay at an onsen (hot springs) resort, which will undoubtedly cost a lot of money.
At about 4:00PM, I announced that I wanted to buy an electronic dictionary, so we went to Teramachi, the electronic district in Kyoto, to look for one. It turns out that all the dictionaries that have handwriting recognition, which I need, are over $200, so Patrick suggested an alternative. I could buy the Nintendo DS (a modern GameBoy) and a "dictionary game" that has handwriting recognition. The total cost would be under $200 for sure, and would also let me play other games. So, I think that is probably what I will do. The stores we visited in Teramachi were all sold out of that dictionary game, so I will search for it some other time. As for the DS, I think I will buy it online, since it is no cheaper in Japan.
Things started to get interesting when I tried coming home from Teramachi. I found my way back to school just fine, with a little spatial reasoning about north-south and by looking at the sun. From there, I almost took the bus in the wrong direction but corrected myself just in time. Then, I got on the train, but thought it was the wrong one so I got off, only to get back on just as it was leaving when I realized it was the right one. That is when I realized I didn't know what stop to get off at. Uh-oh. One by one, I looked at the stop names, and none of them sounded familiar. I ended up getting off at the last stop, and was relieved when the station looked familiar. I'm home free, I thought, as I left the station to walk home. After about 10 minutes of walking, I start to feel like something is wrong. I know that the street should end in a cul-de-sac next to a middle school, and then I take a narrow bridge to get to the house. However, the street just got busier and busier instead of terminating in a cul-de-sac. Then, I saw a fork in the road. I wonder which one I should take, I wonder. The one on the left was much narrower, but didn't look familiar, while the one on the right was busy, but looked more familiar. I decided to take the one on the right, but after 5 minutes of walking, I saw lots of things I would have remembered on my walk to the station, like a gas station. So, I decided that wasn't the right way. I walked back to the fork and took the other direction. After walking about 10 minutes, there is construction and an underpass I definitely know I didn't walk through in the morning. By now, it's getting dark, since it's about 6:30. I decide that I didn't give the right path enough of a chance, and maybe I saw the gas station but just didn't remember it, I tell myself. So I take a shortcut from the left path to the right path and walk even further down. It's almost dark already, and things are starting to look less familiar instead of more. This is when I realize I'm in trouble. It's time to get serious, I tell myself, so I took my glasses out of my book bag and put them on. I started looking all around for recognizable landmarks while walking back, but none of them were familiar. Distracting thoughts start to enter my head... what will I tell my host parents when I'm late for dinner? I don't even know the Japanese word for getting lost... I wonder if they'll wait for me to eat dinner? These thoughts ran through my head as I made my way back to the station. That's when I saw a woman putting child in a car seat in a car parked on the side of the road. I had already walked past when I decided I really needed help, and this was definitely the least intimidating person I could find. So I walked up slowly, and said "ano... tasukete itadakimasenka?", which is a really polite way to ask, "can you help/save/rescue me?" She turned around with a surprised expression, and asked something like, "what is it?", at which time I asked her if she could help me find this address, and held up a post-it note where I'd written the address for my host family. After struggling through the romaji, she gave me a helpless expression and said she couldn't help me, but then spotted the phone number and asked me if I should call it? I replied that I didn't have a phone, so... she got the hint and called the number for me. Unfortunately she then handed the phone to me, so I had to explain the situation, which was very difficult because I didn't know how to say "lost". Anyways my host father picked up the phone and I pretty much just begged him to save me. He asked me what station I stopped at and I told him I couldn't remember. Was it Arashiyama? he asked me, which I knew it wasn't - that was much further west (I took a walk there with my host mother yesterday). No... it was the last stop for the chibidensha, I replied. We agreed to meet back at the station. At that point I humbly thanked the young mother for helping me (she looked relieved that I was helped too) and then hurried back to the station. Anyhow, the reason I got lost was that I screwed up by taking the wrong set of stairs out of the station. The lesson is to bring a map! And of course, not to be afraid to ask for help. And maybe, to buy a cell phone.
¥220 bus
¥340 lunch (oyakodon)
¥250 subway to Shijo
¥588 hair wax (loose shuffle)
¥250 subway to Karasuma-Imadegawa
¥220 bus to Hakubaicho
¥200 train fare (chibidensha)
¥0 getting lost and finding your way again? priceless
-----------------------------------------
¥2268 total
Isn't it hard to believe? Today's the first day of school. Like Alan said, they're almost halfway done at Stanford. Actually it's only been 3 full weeks, right? But still, those last 7 weeks until summer vacation will just fly by, I know. I hear it's time to do the draw again, as well (the lottery system for Stanford housing).
The commute to school was, thankfully, uneventful. I left around 9 AM and just barely caught the 9:06 train to Hakubaicho (the end of the line), then took a bus to Karasuma-Imadegawa. That is the intersection of Imadegawa, the east-west street, with Karasuma, the central north-south street. Doshisha is on the intersection, so it is another short walk from the station to the Stanford center. I was stupid and didn't bring a map or an umbrella, but wasn't punished for either. I'll bring a map next time, but still out of luck on the umbrella. I couldn't find a small one in the convenience store I visited.
I didn't have any class today but there was more orientation, from 10 until 2:20. They went over how to set up the wireless (we have to re-authenticate for every outside site we visit, how stupid), then Professor Duus (professor emeritus) gave a 1-hour introduction to the history of Kyoto. I took notes, if anybody cares to take a look. Some interesting things were that Kyoto was based on the Chinese template for capitols, with the emperor and palace facing south and the city arranged in a grid pattern. Also, he said that a lot of the geishas in the pleasure district are fake - office workers from Tokyo that pay money to dress up and get their pictures taken with gaijin (foreigners).
Lunch was a simple affair in the cafeteria in the basement. I had oyakodon - oya means "parent" and ko means "child", and don is short for donburi, or covered rice. That is, they put chicken and egg on rice (the chicken is the parent, the egg is the child). It's pretty cool that they print the number of calories on the receipt. My bowl was 740 Kcal, which seems like a lot. By the way, I haven't lost any weight here yet - I weighed myself on the bathroom scale today.
The orientation stuff was done by 2:20, whereupon we 3 boys started planning Golden Week destinations. We narrowed them down to 2 cities in Shikoku (the island just south of Honshu, the main island) and 4 or 5 in Kyushu (the southern-most island) - Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Miyazaki, Beppu, and maybe one more. We'll use our one-week JR rail pass so we'll only have to pay for housing, food, and entertainment. One of the things we want to do for sure is to stay at an onsen (hot springs) resort, which will undoubtedly cost a lot of money.
At about 4:00PM, I announced that I wanted to buy an electronic dictionary, so we went to Teramachi, the electronic district in Kyoto, to look for one. It turns out that all the dictionaries that have handwriting recognition, which I need, are over $200, so Patrick suggested an alternative. I could buy the Nintendo DS (a modern GameBoy) and a "dictionary game" that has handwriting recognition. The total cost would be under $200 for sure, and would also let me play other games. So, I think that is probably what I will do. The stores we visited in Teramachi were all sold out of that dictionary game, so I will search for it some other time. As for the DS, I think I will buy it online, since it is no cheaper in Japan.
Things started to get interesting when I tried coming home from Teramachi. I found my way back to school just fine, with a little spatial reasoning about north-south and by looking at the sun. From there, I almost took the bus in the wrong direction but corrected myself just in time. Then, I got on the train, but thought it was the wrong one so I got off, only to get back on just as it was leaving when I realized it was the right one. That is when I realized I didn't know what stop to get off at. Uh-oh. One by one, I looked at the stop names, and none of them sounded familiar. I ended up getting off at the last stop, and was relieved when the station looked familiar. I'm home free, I thought, as I left the station to walk home. After about 10 minutes of walking, I start to feel like something is wrong. I know that the street should end in a cul-de-sac next to a middle school, and then I take a narrow bridge to get to the house. However, the street just got busier and busier instead of terminating in a cul-de-sac. Then, I saw a fork in the road. I wonder which one I should take, I wonder. The one on the left was much narrower, but didn't look familiar, while the one on the right was busy, but looked more familiar. I decided to take the one on the right, but after 5 minutes of walking, I saw lots of things I would have remembered on my walk to the station, like a gas station. So, I decided that wasn't the right way. I walked back to the fork and took the other direction. After walking about 10 minutes, there is construction and an underpass I definitely know I didn't walk through in the morning. By now, it's getting dark, since it's about 6:30. I decide that I didn't give the right path enough of a chance, and maybe I saw the gas station but just didn't remember it, I tell myself. So I take a shortcut from the left path to the right path and walk even further down. It's almost dark already, and things are starting to look less familiar instead of more. This is when I realize I'm in trouble. It's time to get serious, I tell myself, so I took my glasses out of my book bag and put them on. I started looking all around for recognizable landmarks while walking back, but none of them were familiar. Distracting thoughts start to enter my head... what will I tell my host parents when I'm late for dinner? I don't even know the Japanese word for getting lost... I wonder if they'll wait for me to eat dinner? These thoughts ran through my head as I made my way back to the station. That's when I saw a woman putting child in a car seat in a car parked on the side of the road. I had already walked past when I decided I really needed help, and this was definitely the least intimidating person I could find. So I walked up slowly, and said "ano... tasukete itadakimasenka?", which is a really polite way to ask, "can you help/save/rescue me?" She turned around with a surprised expression, and asked something like, "what is it?", at which time I asked her if she could help me find this address, and held up a post-it note where I'd written the address for my host family. After struggling through the romaji, she gave me a helpless expression and said she couldn't help me, but then spotted the phone number and asked me if I should call it? I replied that I didn't have a phone, so... she got the hint and called the number for me. Unfortunately she then handed the phone to me, so I had to explain the situation, which was very difficult because I didn't know how to say "lost". Anyways my host father picked up the phone and I pretty much just begged him to save me. He asked me what station I stopped at and I told him I couldn't remember. Was it Arashiyama? he asked me, which I knew it wasn't - that was much further west (I took a walk there with my host mother yesterday). No... it was the last stop for the chibidensha, I replied. We agreed to meet back at the station. At that point I humbly thanked the young mother for helping me (she looked relieved that I was helped too) and then hurried back to the station. Anyhow, the reason I got lost was that I screwed up by taking the wrong set of stairs out of the station. The lesson is to bring a map! And of course, not to be afraid to ask for help. And maybe, to buy a cell phone.
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| Kyoto Day 4 |
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Brian: Sunday, the day before school
I spent exactly ¥0 today. yokatta ne (that's good, huh).
I got up at around 7:30AM and uploaded some more pictures before heading downstairs to greet my host parents. Charlie apparently sleeps until noon or later, which is probably what I'll do once I get over any residual jet lag. Anyways, my okaasan (host mom) likes it when I get up early so I'll try to keep it up as long as possible. Breakfast was interesting... okaasan brought out a hot plate and we made pancakes, bacon, and an egg for my breakfast (they had eaten already). We talked about various things (that I can't remember now), of which one was an electronic dictionary. I said that I wanted to buy one, so she brought out some advertisements and told me to go to Teramachi in downtown Kyoto or this other area in Osaka to buy one. It looks like they go for around ¥20,000 which is kind of expensive for my budget, but I just might suck it up because it is so useful. The problem with my pocket dictionary is that it only has characters, so if I want to look up a kana phrase, for example "chanto", which has no kanji, I'm out of luck. It can also be time consuming to look up kanji I don't know the radical for. Plus, it can't go from English to Japanese, which I don't really need yet, but will when I start writing compositions in my Japanese class.
Lunch was instant ramen, which reminded me of the kind my dad makes because they put in various things. For example, they also put an egg inside. It seems like they like breaking the egg, however, instead of leaving it in one piece. I was a little surprised because the program said they weren't expected to provide lunch on weekends, but I guess it wouldn't really be proper to eat lunch without me while I am home. So, I just decided to thank them. My luggage arrived soon after, and otoosan and I got all 70 pounds of it up the narrow suitcase with only a little difficulty. In the privacy of my room, I got out the omiyage I wanted to give them and prepared the gift bags. For okaasan, I decided on the Ghirardelli chocolates (blueberry and cherry) and the Stanford teddy bear. I was a little surprised at how nicely it turned out. The white bear wearing a red Stanford shirt fit perfectly between the red and blue chocolates, in a deep red bag with white paper packing. It looked really swell, I think. The cards I bought were also really pretty. Using the pink pen I bought at Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro, I wrote out her name, Fujiwara Mieko. For otoosan, I decided on the Stanford cap and the divot repair keychain. In similar fashion, I put both items inside the bag, filled it with packing, and wrote Fujiwara Fuyuki on the card, this time in blue. For Itaru, I decided on the Underarmor Stanford shirt, a long-sleeve shirt designed to hot weather and sports. I'm not sure he'd use it too much - he's 32 and works probably 6-7 days a week for a political party, but I'm sure he'd like it anyhow. I wrote his name out in green. I only got a chance to give okaasan her bag today, but at a suitable time tomorrow I'll give the other two their omiyage gifts.
In the afternoon, okaasan and I walked the dog to Arashiyama, a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists. The dog is a really cute thing, Duka-chan it's called, a small dog with really short legs but a long body. I'm usually somewhat uncomfortable around dogs, but it's so affectionate that I was very natural around it. Okaasan even asked me if I owned a dog. I was surprised myself that I got along so well with Duka-chan. Duka-chan gave us a lot of problems on the trip, however. Not long after we left the front door, she stopped at the side of the road and did a #2 business, which okaasan cleaned up. But, we had to go back because she didn't want to carry "it" with us. Then, Duka-chan was always sniffing at poles and peeing on them. It was very interesting how this very small and domesticated dog was so territorial. By the way, it was raining when we left, so we tried to get Duka-chan to wear a raincoat. But after we put it on, he refused to walk. He cut the cutest figure. So, we had to take it off and let him walk around and get himself dirty. When we got on the train, we had to put him in a bag. And he was constantly running around in circles, tangling up his leash. But he was cute nonetheless.
Arashiyama was beautiful as promised. Also as promised, there were lots of Chinese tourists. Some of them were riding rickshaws, like the one I took a picture of in Asakusa next to the Kaminarimon gate. I don't blame them, the view from the bridge was quite amazing. As okaasan explained, the bridge was called the moon-crossing-bridge and people would come by the river to watch the cherry blossoms and drink during the spring. Otoosan would swim in the river every day when he was a boy. She also pointed out Monkey Mountain and other landmarks, but I didn't fully understand everything she said. For example, we went to a large rock engraved with a poem, and she tried to explain the poem, but I didn't get most of it. The Chinese tourists came to see the poem, I think. On the way back, okaasan treated me to a coke float. It was a long walk, but it was fun, I think.
I had so much for dinner I think I might burst. First there was fish, of course. Then I had two katsu, or fried pork, with shredded cabbage. Then there was a bowl of rise and tempura. Then there was a bowl of miso soup. Then there was 2-bowls-worth of potato salad. If I eat like this every day, I might even gain weight here rather than lose it, as I expected.
I got up at around 7:30AM and uploaded some more pictures before heading downstairs to greet my host parents. Charlie apparently sleeps until noon or later, which is probably what I'll do once I get over any residual jet lag. Anyways, my okaasan (host mom) likes it when I get up early so I'll try to keep it up as long as possible. Breakfast was interesting... okaasan brought out a hot plate and we made pancakes, bacon, and an egg for my breakfast (they had eaten already). We talked about various things (that I can't remember now), of which one was an electronic dictionary. I said that I wanted to buy one, so she brought out some advertisements and told me to go to Teramachi in downtown Kyoto or this other area in Osaka to buy one. It looks like they go for around ¥20,000 which is kind of expensive for my budget, but I just might suck it up because it is so useful. The problem with my pocket dictionary is that it only has characters, so if I want to look up a kana phrase, for example "chanto", which has no kanji, I'm out of luck. It can also be time consuming to look up kanji I don't know the radical for. Plus, it can't go from English to Japanese, which I don't really need yet, but will when I start writing compositions in my Japanese class.
Lunch was instant ramen, which reminded me of the kind my dad makes because they put in various things. For example, they also put an egg inside. It seems like they like breaking the egg, however, instead of leaving it in one piece. I was a little surprised because the program said they weren't expected to provide lunch on weekends, but I guess it wouldn't really be proper to eat lunch without me while I am home. So, I just decided to thank them. My luggage arrived soon after, and otoosan and I got all 70 pounds of it up the narrow suitcase with only a little difficulty. In the privacy of my room, I got out the omiyage I wanted to give them and prepared the gift bags. For okaasan, I decided on the Ghirardelli chocolates (blueberry and cherry) and the Stanford teddy bear. I was a little surprised at how nicely it turned out. The white bear wearing a red Stanford shirt fit perfectly between the red and blue chocolates, in a deep red bag with white paper packing. It looked really swell, I think. The cards I bought were also really pretty. Using the pink pen I bought at Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro, I wrote out her name, Fujiwara Mieko. For otoosan, I decided on the Stanford cap and the divot repair keychain. In similar fashion, I put both items inside the bag, filled it with packing, and wrote Fujiwara Fuyuki on the card, this time in blue. For Itaru, I decided on the Underarmor Stanford shirt, a long-sleeve shirt designed to hot weather and sports. I'm not sure he'd use it too much - he's 32 and works probably 6-7 days a week for a political party, but I'm sure he'd like it anyhow. I wrote his name out in green. I only got a chance to give okaasan her bag today, but at a suitable time tomorrow I'll give the other two their omiyage gifts.
In the afternoon, okaasan and I walked the dog to Arashiyama, a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists. The dog is a really cute thing, Duka-chan it's called, a small dog with really short legs but a long body. I'm usually somewhat uncomfortable around dogs, but it's so affectionate that I was very natural around it. Okaasan even asked me if I owned a dog. I was surprised myself that I got along so well with Duka-chan. Duka-chan gave us a lot of problems on the trip, however. Not long after we left the front door, she stopped at the side of the road and did a #2 business, which okaasan cleaned up. But, we had to go back because she didn't want to carry "it" with us. Then, Duka-chan was always sniffing at poles and peeing on them. It was very interesting how this very small and domesticated dog was so territorial. By the way, it was raining when we left, so we tried to get Duka-chan to wear a raincoat. But after we put it on, he refused to walk. He cut the cutest figure. So, we had to take it off and let him walk around and get himself dirty. When we got on the train, we had to put him in a bag. And he was constantly running around in circles, tangling up his leash. But he was cute nonetheless.
Arashiyama was beautiful as promised. Also as promised, there were lots of Chinese tourists. Some of them were riding rickshaws, like the one I took a picture of in Asakusa next to the Kaminarimon gate. I don't blame them, the view from the bridge was quite amazing. As okaasan explained, the bridge was called the moon-crossing-bridge and people would come by the river to watch the cherry blossoms and drink during the spring. Otoosan would swim in the river every day when he was a boy. She also pointed out Monkey Mountain and other landmarks, but I didn't fully understand everything she said. For example, we went to a large rock engraved with a poem, and she tried to explain the poem, but I didn't get most of it. The Chinese tourists came to see the poem, I think. On the way back, okaasan treated me to a coke float. It was a long walk, but it was fun, I think.
I had so much for dinner I think I might burst. First there was fish, of course. Then I had two katsu, or fried pork, with shredded cabbage. Then there was a bowl of rise and tempura. Then there was a bowl of miso soup. Then there was 2-bowls-worth of potato salad. If I eat like this every day, I might even gain weight here rather than lose it, as I expected.
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| Kyoto Day 3 |
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