Megan Doyle
Excerpts from a Blog Adventure
M
2 | Excerpts from a Blog Adventure
ay 13, 2012.
Starting tomorrow at 10:00 hours, I will be making my first trip overseas through a study abroad program at my school. The destination: Tokyo. This blog will serve to commemorate my trip as well as help family and friends keep in touch with what I’m doing and where I’m going. This will be a more picture- and text-based offshoot of the original blog by Arden Rye. Any similarities to persons living or dead is probably not coincidence; however, names have been changed. I barely speak the language; the group is a potentially explosive mixture; let’s see what happens.
Tokyo May 15, 2012.
Explored a lot of Aoyama, Shibuya, and Harajuku today. Basically, the
hotel and university are in Aoyama (the kanji reads “blue mountain”). We are sidled right between Shibuya and Harajuku. Aoyama has many stores, but not nearly as many as Shibuya or Harajuku. They have a lot more practical businesses, like banks and restaurants. There is also Aoyama Gakuin (Aoyama University). I’ll be a temporary student there during my stay. Every day, we have class with Sensee in the morning and early afternoon we have a trip for the culture class. This could be anything, from watching sumo to helping teach at the Aoyama elementary school. Then mid afternoon on three days, the language class goes to chat room session. I’m not in the language class, but everyone has the option to go there and practice speaking in Japanese. Each student is also partnered with a student from Aoyama Gakuin. My partner is Yoshi. He’s the one who helped our table make the okonomiyaki.
Shibuya has the major train station for commuters and travelers. It also has this shopping district that reminds me of a ginormous Times Square. There are a ton of sky scrapers with every shop you can imagine. There were some familiar ones, like Forever 21 and the Disney store (which has much cuter things than in America); and there were some stores unique to Japan but still a little familiar, like the 350 yen store or Book Off (secondhand book store). The main road in Harajuku is like a giant 5th Avenue. There are all the brand name stores like, Gucci and Coach. But, in Harajuku are a bunch of side streets with tons more shops and stores. That’s where we ate dinner. They say over in Harajuku is the Meiji Shrine. I’m sure we’ll get to go there soon.
May 21, 2012.
At around 7:30 in the morning yesterday we were lucky enough to witness a full solar eclipse. Of course, we struggled a bit in trying to witness it. We had no tools to see the eclipse with, despite the fact that everyone else in the city seemed to magically possess these special viewing glasses. Sensee asked to borrow from a few passersby so we could see it that way, but we became more inventive. B.H. tore out a few pieces of notebook paper and poked tiny holes in the middle of them to
see if we could see it that way. I managed to lay my hands on one of those papers and it worked out really well, especially when the moon was directly centered in front of the sun. Also, a few chance cloud coverings allowed us to see it with the naked eye. We were walking toward Shibuya station at the time, and were periodically looking back to see the progress of the eclipse, while at the same time we were poking our heads into every open store on the way hoping to find some of those special glasses. By the time we reached Shibuya station, the eclipse achieved zenith and we just kind of stood and watched for a while with a bunch of other people on their way to work and school.
The color orange is said to drive away evil spirits.
Opposite: Front gate of Aoyama Gakuin University Top: Entrance to Takeshitadoori Upper middle: Solar eclipse in Shibuya Lower middle: Buddha in Kamakura Bottom: Garden in Kamakura Temple Megan Doyle | 3
Top: Children’s Peace Memorial Middle: Dome in Hiroshima Bottom: Peace Memorial Park
It was amazing. I’ve never seen such a total eclipse. I even managed a few pictures, if you look at the center of the top one above.
May 26, 2012.
Today we spent the day in Kamakura. Kamakura is right outside Tokyo and houses some of the oldest shrines and temples in the area. Above you see some photos for Kamakura shrine. This shrine was very different from Meiji shrine because instead of a woody brown, everything was painted bright reddish orange. Sensee says that tradition comes from China because the color orange is said to drive away evil spirits. Another comparison: although Meiji shrine had a bigger compound of woods outside the shrine, Kamakura shrine had a lot more space inside the shrine and very little outside. On one side of the actual shrine, there is a Japanese garden. On the other side is a small fox shrine, also called an inari shrine. Fox shrines are supposed to bring good business because the foxes act as messengers from the gods.
Right before we went to the shrine, we had tenpura (if you see me waver between spelling “tempura” and “tenpura” it’s because both are correct). It was a collection of seafood and vegetables that were fried then dipped in sauce. Sensee had us grill the Aoyama Gakuin buddies about the history of tenpura because we learned it in class. The buddies didn’t know, then N.Z. forgot, so I pulled out my notes and we were able to get it right. Back in the 15th and 16th centuries, Japan saw its first westerners in the Portuguese missionaries who came. They were Catholic missionaries, and back then Catholics did not eat red meat on Fridays, so they would just fry up some seafood and veggies. The abstinence from meat on Fridays was called Tempora, so the Japanese people took the name and adopted the dish and added the special little sauce on the side. After we visited the shrine, I didn’t know whether to be amazed by the amount of students craving ice cream or the number of ice cream establishments that could fulfill those cravings. It was fairly hot (no August in Texas, mind you) so I understand where the demand comes from. After we finished with the shrine, we were far from done with Kamakura. We still had two more places to go.
May 27, 2012
Last stop in Kamakura was the Hasedera Temple. This temple has a giant garden to walk around and tons of monk statues in every size. There was a cave, several ponds, and a hiking trail. If you go up the trail called Prospect Trail, there is a marvelous view of the ocean at the top. Kamakura is near the sea, and sometimes you can feel that lovely sea breeze wafting over the town. 4 | Excerpts from a Blog Adventure
For some reason, a particularly cute rendition of a monk statue seemed to be the temple’s “mascot” of sorts. There was a caricature of one on the outside, and a few statues in that form inside. I took a picture of a trio of the cute little monks. That’s it for Kamakura.
Hiroshima May 30, 2012.
Yesterday was our last day in Hiroshima. In the morning, we took a ferry over to the island of Miyajima. Miyajima is famous for three things: the Itsukushima Shrine, momiji manju, and deer. Everywhere you go, there are deer just chilling in the background. Every prior experience I’ve had with deer told me that the animals are always skiddish and never go near humans. Not on Niyajima. The deer there walk up to humans hoping for a nibble of some treat. They just sleep on the side of the roads and let any human come up and stroke them. These were the most laid back animals I have ever seen. Momiji manju is a sweet bun shaped like a maple leaf and usually filled with red bean paste. There are shops all over Miyajima, and they all sell the actual manju, something shaped like the manju, or simply something shaped like the maple leaf. If Odaiba’s symbol is the seagull, then Hiroshima’s symbol has to be the maple leaf. Itsukushima Shrine is the biggest shrine, but far from the only shrine on Miyajima. The island is covered with small shrines and temples all the way up the mountain, but Itsukushima is the most famous. It has been around for over 1400 years (crazy, I know) and is very well kept.
It was named a World Heritage Site (as was Himeji Castle). The most noticeable thing about the shrine, beside its bright orange color, is the fact that everything is on a raised deck. We didn’t see this, but when the tide comes in the sea water floods past the shrine and it looks like the whole structure is floating on water. There is a famous torii gate there that is often pictured with the flood waters. Unfortunately, it is currently under construction. At the shrine, I got my fortune again. Apparently it wasn’t very good. It’s kind of funny because the last time I tried to get a fortune it was terrible. After we explored Miyajima, we rode the ferry back to land. Then we took a train and a rail car to the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima and its museum. The museum was a little sad, but it did strike a hopeful note. The museum said that Hiroshima’s purpose now is to make sure that nobody uses nuclear weapons again. That does have nice sentiment, and puts a positive purpose to a negative event. If you ever want to learn more about the atomic strike, I suggest you go to this museum because it is full
Top: Small dragon shrine on Miyajima Middle: Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Bottom: The beach on Miyajima
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of information and depictions (sadly yes, depictions) of what happened. At the end of it, I remember M.G. saying that he’d never heard so much about it because American textbooks barely graze over it. That was it for Hiroshima for us. Today we’re hopping on a bullet train to Kyoto.
Kyoto June 1, 2012.
Top: Golden Pavilian in Kyoto Middle: Path of torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine Bottom: Fushimi Inari Shrine
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Yesterday was full of exploring Kyoto. We went all over the city to several shrines and temples, but our first stop was at the Golden Pavilion. That’s real gold, folks. There were a ton of schools visiting the place, mostly elementary kids and some middle school kids. Despite the zen of the garden, the place was very crowded and lively. Back in the day, the Golden Pavilion was used by the Shogun as a place for tea ceremony and meditation. Surrounding the pavilion is a zen garden/pond. Along the paths are three small springs/waterfalls. The Shogun drank the first and washed his hands in the second. The water is supposedly calming and has healing properties Next stop was Kiyomizu Temple. Kiyomizu is a great temple to visit if you’re ever in Kyoto. The main temple is grand and full of many things to look at. It’s also famous for its spring water, which you can ladle and drink while making a wish. There are three fountains where the water comes out. Sensee said that one is for longevity, one is for wisdom, and she forgot what the third does. Regardless, that is the best tasting water I have ever had. Surrounding the temple are several smaller temples and shrines. If
you go up some steps behind the temple, there is a shrine that is famous for finding your true love. There are two big rocks at that shrine, and the legend goes that if you can walk from one rock to the other with your eyes closed and without receiving help from anybody you will surely find your one true love. I lot of us wanted to try it, so we did it one after another. Because I walked faster and ran into L.M., everyone says that I’ll find my true love but I’ll first find a gay man. We’ll see how that goes. A lot of people tried the rocks. Some poor girls kept walking off to the side and missed the rock entirely. One impressive tourist from Hawaii
If you walk from one rock to the other with your eyes closed, you will find your true love. marched in perfect band form all the way to the other rock. Edit: I finally found what the three waterfalls mean. If you were to visit, know that the left is for wisdom, the middle for longevity, and the third for matchmaking. But, if you drink from all three, it won’t work, so don’t be greedy. I drank from the far right, so hopefully I’ll figure out the effectiveness of that soon!
June 2, 2012.
On our way on a day trip to Nara, we stopped at a giant fox shrine in Kyoto that is also known as the shrine with a thousand torii. If you’ve ever watched the movie Memoirs of a Geisha you might remember a scene with a path covered by hundreds upon hundreds of bright orange torii gates. This is the shrine where that was filmed. Any fox shrine is meant to be good for business and there are tons of little fox shrines in addition to the big one here. Every new years, the shrine is flooded with visitors trying to bring good luck to their businesses. Some businesses also purchase a torii gate along the path and have the name of the benefactor or business carved on one side. While a smaller business might purchase a small torii only big enough for someone to walk under, the big corporations purchase large torii that can fit a truck. The path goes all the way up the mountain. A few people in our group went all the up, but I didn’t go very far. I wanted to explore around the shrine more. I said I’d do it, and I couldn’t resist. After lunch almost all of us got a crepe from this crepe truck. So good. The strawberries were heaven topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, all wrapped in a pancake of bliss.Go to Japan. Eat a crepe. Look at those white dots, folks. Those are people. We took a day trip to Nara, which is right outside Kyoto. Nara is old. It used to be the capital of Japan before Tokyo and before Kyoto. That’s approximately 1,300 years ago. If Nara had a mascot, it would probably be a deer. Nara sits on top of a national park for deer. As L.M. described them, those “rats with hooves” are everywhere. Just like at Niyajima, they walk right up to
tourists and you can pet them. They even swarm tourists, depending on whether said tourists just purchased some deer crackers from a nearby vendor. They are very gentle (if not gently forceful when it comes to food) and have surprisingly fuzzy antlers. While in Nara we visited Todaiji Temple, home of the largest Buddha in the world as well as the largest wooden structure in the world. If you look closely at the picture of the entrance, you can compare the size of the people to the building and know that it is flipping huge. And the inside is no less huge. After seeing the second largest Buddha in Kamakura, I can accurately say that this one doesn’t even compare. This bronze Buddha is so big, I am disappointed that my camera could not accurately portray the sheer magnitude of feeling something so massive looming over you. It is huge. And although this Todaiji
Top: Kiyomizu Temple Middle: Tiny shrine statues at Kiyomizu Bottom: Love shrine rock at Kiyomizu
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Look at those white dots, folks. Those are people.
Top: Fox statue at Fushimi Inari Middle: Studio Ghibli Museum Bottom: Laputa statue on the roof of the Ghibli Museum Opposite: Temple in Nara 8 | Excerpts from a Blog Adventure
Temple is currently the largest wooden structure in the world, it used to be about 30% bigger before it burned down in a fire. The temple was also packed with students. There were so many school groups there, I couldn’t even walk in a straight line. Sensee said that here in Japan, the students go to class on Saturday twice a month. Some of the students at the temple were pulling us over to interview for their English class. I talked to one boy (I say “boy” but he said he was 18, so I guess still in high school) who gave me a small quiz about what I liked about Japan and Nara.
In gratitude for my help, he gave me a tiny pink paper crane. By the time we finished touring the temple, it was starting to rain. So, we hightailed it out of Nara and back to Kyoto via train. Tonight is our last night in Kyoto. We head back Tokyo tomorrow for our last full day in Japan. Studio Ghibli, here I come.
Tokyo June 3, 2012
After spending a whole morning on the train from Kyoto, we’ve finally made it back to Tokyo. With one day
of stopover for a flight that leaves tomorrow afternoon, we decided to use this afternoon to go to the Studio Ghibli museum. The place is amazing. Just imagine all of your childhood dreams and put them into a charming little building. There are stained glass windows with scenes from Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro. The whole building is like a small maze with tight spiral staircases, rooms that go off into wonderfully imaginative spaces, a miniature movie theater with a ceiling that has a glowing moon and sun like in Spirited Away, and a replica of Miyazaki’s office
with some of his original concept sketches. My favorite by far has to be the rooftop garden. At the top floor over by where kids can play with a large plush cat bus, there is an ivy-covered spiral staircase leading to the roof. Once there, you see the large robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. You can walk further on the roof where there is another piece from Laputa: the tablet that controls the castle. The museum was crowded and there were a lot children, but it was very magical. I think I enjoyed this museum more than Disney Land. That’s saying something.
Important Kanji to Know
Male/Men’s Restroom
Female/Women’s Restroom
Meat/Beef
Fish
Tea
Alcohol/Sake
Water
Rice
Sushi
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