Sunday, June 26, 2005
Japanese family.
Today I learned the differences between American and Japanese peanut butter. If you've ever had a peanut butter donut, the peanut butter frosting on the top is a lot like Japanese peanut butter. It's a lot more pale than its Western counterpart, and is also sweeter and lighter. I wouldn't say it's bad but I enjoy how our peanut butter is both savory and sweet.
I brought my book, "Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City" out today and decided I'd use that as a guide. The book has 7 trails to follow that are not widely known to foreignors. My feet are killing me and blistered, however, and quite conveniently, there was a path that was right next to my neighborhood, not more than a mile away. The path would take me to Azekura (a 300 year old Sake brewery that was transported from Nara), Ota Shrine (a shrine that celebrates good marriage and life), Narita pickle shop ( a little shop that sells Japanese pickles, which are pickled radishes and eaten almost always along with rice), Shake-machi houses (old, wooden preserved houses), and Kamigamo Jinja (a temple).
The walk was an easy one, no huge hills or anything like I always seem to encounter. The day itself was another really hot and humid. Probably somewhere in the 100s. Azekura is right in the middle of a normal looking neighborhood, the modernity and traditionalism contrast each other in interesting ways in Japan.
Azekura also has a resturaunt, and at the top it said in my book that occasionally there are practice Kimono dances. When you enter you are in a beautiful garden which is known as the tea garden.
From here there are steps:
and I heard music. Remembering what my book said about the dances I walked up the steps to see. Before I knew it I was standing in the middle of a wedding! I didn't even realize it. I was right next to a man in a suit holding a walkie-talkie, and in the middle was a woman in a white dress walking down an aisle. Immediately after seeing where I was I turned and went back, trying to be as discreet as possible.
Right next to Azekura is Ota Shrine, which celebrates marriage and is probably why one was going on next door.
The shrine was so quiet, it was unbelievable. To the right of the shrine was a big pond filled completely with reeds to the point where you couldn't see water. Sitting on the bench all I could see was the greenness of the pond and hear the faint music from the wedding going on at Azekura, a lady on another bench was reading with her shoes off and behind me on a playground inches from the large orange tori gate two kids were playing on a seasaw ride, the boy yelling "beep beep!".
On my way to Nishimura house you pass an old Camphor tree by the name of "Kusunoki" in which a canal, centuries old, twists around stop signs and SUVs.
Farther up the road I finally arrived at Nishimura. Still not quite knowing what it was I sat on a bench inside of the grounds of the house to read what my book said about it. A little while later a Japanese family got out of a taxi and came through.
We both ended up entering the house at the same time. but beforehand saw two turtle doves sitting on a tree branch. We both took pictures.
As we entered the old house a recording played in Japanese, explaining the significance. I just kind of stood there and looked around, and outside at the elaborate garden.
I was still kind of clueless as to what I was looking at, until the father and daughter from the Japanese family came over. They asked me if I spoke Japanese, in very good English, I told them no. They were very nice and explained everything to me in English, the daughter seemed thrilled to be talking with me and seemed to be about 17. They both told me that the old owner of the house was also the priest and maintainer of Ota Shrine. They said he had two wells in his garden. One was filled with sand, which the water seeped through and was thereby cleaned, and a second well, which he sat in every morning to bathe. They told me with great excitement and amusement that he would out a candle on a rock next to him, so he could see in the dark mornings.
They asked me where I was staying, I told them Kitayama. They asked me what I had seen, and I listed the places. When I told them I was staying by myself for one month they both yelled "OOOOH! BRAVE!" and were completely fascinated. They were two of the nicest people I ever met. We all left the house and went over to the pond, which had some massice koi in it, which were probably worth a few thousand dollars and over 100 years old.
We all said our goodbyes, and I thanked them for explaining everything to me. It seems interactions like these dwarf anything you could ever possibly see on a trip. Just the fact th at you're interacting with someone from another country, and are breaking through obvious language boundaries makes you feel good.
Nishimura was one of the many old Shake-machi houses along that road. They were all very well cared for and antique looking, a very beautiful neighborhood. From there I visited the Narita pickle shop, which had people in it so I wouldn't feel bad if I didn't buy anything. They had a sample which I tasted. At first it burned my mouth, and then had a horrible aftertaste, not very good in my opinion.
Finally I arrived at the last leg of my journey, at Kamigamo Jinja. It was marked by two massive orange tori gates.
Inside it had a map and an explanation sign
While taking a picture of the holy water and ladels
The wierdest bug I have ever seen landed on my lens. It only has 6 legs, so it can't be a spider, but it was able to make strands of web on my camera.
I have no idea if it is able to bite, but I didn't want to find out so I left it alone.
Next to the water were two large cones of sand, with incence burning on the top.
After that I walked home, but not before entering a bakery and getting lunch. The bakery was like a cafeteria, you got a tray and tongs and picked what you wanted, then payed. I got a few things, including two slices of pizza, and had it bagged to go. When I got home and ate the pizza I realized it wasn't simply cheese. It was cheese, scrambled egg, and shrimp. Im not sure if I really liked it or was just that hungry, but it wasn't bad.
At about 6:00 I decided to head out to Shijo-dori and look for an arcade. I had been playing "Raiden DX" online for a while and beat it with only losing 4 lives. I decided to step it up a notch and play the real thing in an arcade. The place I found was outside but covered by a ceiling, there were tons of shops and resturaunts. The first place I went into was a store completely dedicated to claw games. Claw games for everything. Inside was a man dressed as Hello Kitty, and the minute I dropped a 50yen coin he bent down and picked it up for me, weird but very nice. I tried to get a zippo lighter, a pillow, and a winnie the pooh toy, and failed miserably each time.
I soon found an arcade and sat down to play Raiden 5. The minute I put my coin in I pretty much died, and kept going until I learned just how redicuously hard the games in Japan are. The man next to me was doging hundreds of enemies and bullets and had redicukous reflexes, you wouldn't have believed it if you saw it.
Well, now I'm home typing this up. I got an Arcade emulator and played the arcade version of Raiden on my laptop. The version I originally played online must have been really easy, because even regular Raiden is impossibly hard.
I brought my book, "Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City" out today and decided I'd use that as a guide. The book has 7 trails to follow that are not widely known to foreignors. My feet are killing me and blistered, however, and quite conveniently, there was a path that was right next to my neighborhood, not more than a mile away. The path would take me to Azekura (a 300 year old Sake brewery that was transported from Nara), Ota Shrine (a shrine that celebrates good marriage and life), Narita pickle shop ( a little shop that sells Japanese pickles, which are pickled radishes and eaten almost always along with rice), Shake-machi houses (old, wooden preserved houses), and Kamigamo Jinja (a temple).
The walk was an easy one, no huge hills or anything like I always seem to encounter. The day itself was another really hot and humid. Probably somewhere in the 100s. Azekura is right in the middle of a normal looking neighborhood, the modernity and traditionalism contrast each other in interesting ways in Japan.
Azekura also has a resturaunt, and at the top it said in my book that occasionally there are practice Kimono dances. When you enter you are in a beautiful garden which is known as the tea garden.
From here there are steps:
and I heard music. Remembering what my book said about the dances I walked up the steps to see. Before I knew it I was standing in the middle of a wedding! I didn't even realize it. I was right next to a man in a suit holding a walkie-talkie, and in the middle was a woman in a white dress walking down an aisle. Immediately after seeing where I was I turned and went back, trying to be as discreet as possible.
Right next to Azekura is Ota Shrine, which celebrates marriage and is probably why one was going on next door.
The shrine was so quiet, it was unbelievable. To the right of the shrine was a big pond filled completely with reeds to the point where you couldn't see water. Sitting on the bench all I could see was the greenness of the pond and hear the faint music from the wedding going on at Azekura, a lady on another bench was reading with her shoes off and behind me on a playground inches from the large orange tori gate two kids were playing on a seasaw ride, the boy yelling "beep beep!".
On my way to Nishimura house you pass an old Camphor tree by the name of "Kusunoki" in which a canal, centuries old, twists around stop signs and SUVs.
Farther up the road I finally arrived at Nishimura. Still not quite knowing what it was I sat on a bench inside of the grounds of the house to read what my book said about it. A little while later a Japanese family got out of a taxi and came through.
We both ended up entering the house at the same time. but beforehand saw two turtle doves sitting on a tree branch. We both took pictures.
As we entered the old house a recording played in Japanese, explaining the significance. I just kind of stood there and looked around, and outside at the elaborate garden.
I was still kind of clueless as to what I was looking at, until the father and daughter from the Japanese family came over. They asked me if I spoke Japanese, in very good English, I told them no. They were very nice and explained everything to me in English, the daughter seemed thrilled to be talking with me and seemed to be about 17. They both told me that the old owner of the house was also the priest and maintainer of Ota Shrine. They said he had two wells in his garden. One was filled with sand, which the water seeped through and was thereby cleaned, and a second well, which he sat in every morning to bathe. They told me with great excitement and amusement that he would out a candle on a rock next to him, so he could see in the dark mornings.
They asked me where I was staying, I told them Kitayama. They asked me what I had seen, and I listed the places. When I told them I was staying by myself for one month they both yelled "OOOOH! BRAVE!" and were completely fascinated. They were two of the nicest people I ever met. We all left the house and went over to the pond, which had some massice koi in it, which were probably worth a few thousand dollars and over 100 years old.
We all said our goodbyes, and I thanked them for explaining everything to me. It seems interactions like these dwarf anything you could ever possibly see on a trip. Just the fact th at you're interacting with someone from another country, and are breaking through obvious language boundaries makes you feel good.
Nishimura was one of the many old Shake-machi houses along that road. They were all very well cared for and antique looking, a very beautiful neighborhood. From there I visited the Narita pickle shop, which had people in it so I wouldn't feel bad if I didn't buy anything. They had a sample which I tasted. At first it burned my mouth, and then had a horrible aftertaste, not very good in my opinion.
Finally I arrived at the last leg of my journey, at Kamigamo Jinja. It was marked by two massive orange tori gates.
Inside it had a map and an explanation sign
While taking a picture of the holy water and ladels
The wierdest bug I have ever seen landed on my lens. It only has 6 legs, so it can't be a spider, but it was able to make strands of web on my camera.
I have no idea if it is able to bite, but I didn't want to find out so I left it alone.
Next to the water were two large cones of sand, with incence burning on the top.
After that I walked home, but not before entering a bakery and getting lunch. The bakery was like a cafeteria, you got a tray and tongs and picked what you wanted, then payed. I got a few things, including two slices of pizza, and had it bagged to go. When I got home and ate the pizza I realized it wasn't simply cheese. It was cheese, scrambled egg, and shrimp. Im not sure if I really liked it or was just that hungry, but it wasn't bad.
At about 6:00 I decided to head out to Shijo-dori and look for an arcade. I had been playing "Raiden DX" online for a while and beat it with only losing 4 lives. I decided to step it up a notch and play the real thing in an arcade. The place I found was outside but covered by a ceiling, there were tons of shops and resturaunts. The first place I went into was a store completely dedicated to claw games. Claw games for everything. Inside was a man dressed as Hello Kitty, and the minute I dropped a 50yen coin he bent down and picked it up for me, weird but very nice. I tried to get a zippo lighter, a pillow, and a winnie the pooh toy, and failed miserably each time.
I soon found an arcade and sat down to play Raiden 5. The minute I put my coin in I pretty much died, and kept going until I learned just how redicuously hard the games in Japan are. The man next to me was doging hundreds of enemies and bullets and had redicukous reflexes, you wouldn't have believed it if you saw it.
Well, now I'm home typing this up. I got an Arcade emulator and played the arcade version of Raiden on my laptop. The version I originally played online must have been really easy, because even regular Raiden is impossibly hard.
|| Jake Zigler, 9:46 AM
