Sunday, May 30, 2010

Thursday in Japan

Went out to lunch with Scotty one last time, then Holly took me to their department store/mall place to look around this morning, and ended that delightful journey by getting a crepe.  Mmmm. I love crepes. and we also went to the travel office on base to get some help in getting from Iwakuni to Hamamatsu.  Here's the journey I was to take:
It's about 400 miles.  Approximately the distance from Gilbert to Los Angeles...
The helpful man at the ITT on base printed out this train schedule with all my transfers.  He even wrote a note to the ticket man on what I wanted to buy.  Holly and Maddie took me to the train station.  I'm gonna miss that darling family :(
As I went in the train station I was a little nervous, but I took my nicely prepared itinerary and note to the man in the booth and bought all my tickets. When I pointed to where I thought I should go, he kindly took back my tickets and separated them into two piles. He basically motioned that I should put one stack through the ticket machine together and keep the rest. When a train came to my track a bit earlier than I expected, I was able to say "sumimasen" to a worker and show her my ticket and point to the train. She said "hai hai" several times and so I got on the first leg of my journey! I went to my assigned aisle seat much to the dismay of the established looking Japanese man in the window seat. I don't think he was happy about sharing the short row with the poorly dressed American tourist. Maybe today wasn't the best day to wear an ill fitting tee shirt with my jean shorts, albeit my new very cute jean shorts. Everyone on the trains are in classy business suits. Okay, that's a lie, I've seen two different young people in trendy jeans and label high fashion jackets. Anyway back to my seatmate. Lucky for him I was only on that train for 15 minutes. I got off and made my way slightly less confidently to my next track.
Here's my first train station.  Japan is so gorgeous and green!  I think every time I travel I'm struck by the green-ness of the location; but perhaps that's just a commentary on the brown-ness of my hometown...
On one of my transfers I was supposed to be in car 15 of the Shinkansen. I, of course, entered the door with the longest line. Then when I finally got on (last, due to these people's innate need to get on and off trains first at all costs; and my innate desire not to get in anybody's way) I, of course, realized that my seat was on the complete opposite end of the car, front row, right next to the other door... Everyone only had briefcases, as they were probably commuting home from work, and were already seated as I entered the car on the wrong end and had to make my way to the front row with ALL my luggage. As I blushed and tried to lift my suitcase over my seat-partner's head into the luggage compartment without squashing his little Japanese self, I was reminded of why we grew up getting to church on time or early; and have always had an aversion to sitting in the front row.
Okay so I'm on this two hour train ride. When we're in tunnels and under mountains I keep reading Anna Karenina.  When we're not underground we're barreling towards Tokyo and it's pretty amazing to see some of the countryside as we travel. It's a foggy day so I can't see too far, but that adds to the mystique of this beautiful country. Every once in awhile I get to see an old style building; that's what really gets me. Outside the cities there's quite a bit of flooded fields. 
From my extensive agricultural experience I was once taught that rice paddies are rice fields and that they have to flood them to grow and cultivate the rice. I learned this week that lotus root is also grown in flooded fields. (I also learned that people actually eat lotus root, it's not just famous for the flower, and that its kind of like potato but looks more like a giant white carrot with swiss cheese type holes. So I have no idea what's actually growing.
I feel a bit conspicuous, my head can be seen above the top of my chair, which seems uncommon, and if I cross the wrong leg, the automatic door in front of me slides open. I find it rather amusing but alas, must contain myself...

Okay, as I changed trains I experienced what Scotty and Holly had warned me of. I had a quick change, it was supposed to be a 7 minute change, but by my watch we got in 4 minutes late so I had 3 minutes. I got to my track no problem, but then the train wasn't there, and it wasn't there, and it wasn't there. I was getting nervous but I suppose it pulled up right on time. I jumped on and quickly found my seat (I learned my lesson about the location of seats on these trains). Then it quickly took off again. There's no way it was at the station more than 90 seconds. Seriously. 

Have I mentioned that I only know 4 words in Japanese? "Hai" means "yes." "Sumimasen" means "excuse me," "Arigato" means "thank you" and if you add "gozaimasu" it tacks on "very much." Oh, and "good afternoon" is that one we all know but I can't ever remember. "Konnichiwa." That's it. Anyway I walked around japan saying "excuse me" and "thank you;" not a bad way to live. I think I've used "yes" a grand total of twice so I literally am just saying those two words over and over. It's pretty awesome.

I walked in and can't express how grateful I was to see Tiffani standing right outside the platform.  Thank goodness.  Then I promptly stuck the wrong ticket into the exit stile, which resulted in a worker guy having to come fix it.  Awful...  Tiff said she did the same thing on her way in, so I felt a little less silly...
We were starving so she took me to this amazing noodle place.  We picked what we wanted and put our money into this vending machine type thing and then sat down with our ticket and they brought our food.  Fun new way to order :)

Then Tiffani guided me to her darling apartment.  I just kept thinking-- "I'm hanging out with Tiffani again!  But; we're in Japan!!!!!"

Wednesday in Japan

Okay, so this is me.  And the darling Maddie.  And this pic is pretty much the epitome of our relationship.  She was incredibly hesitant to be friends the whole time, and today, Wednesday, was the first time she let me get this close to her.  Yeah, this was a break-through.  Even though she was apprehensive about me, she's a total doll.
For dinner we drove to what's known on the base as the chicken shack. It is this amazing little center where all the buildings are built after the manner of ancient japan. 
It seemed like a very authentic dinner experience. We removed our shoes and sat at one of those tables low to the ground.  Once again, I'm sure this style of eating has a name- I should look it up...  Okay, it appears the table's called a chabudai, although it's highly likely I'm wrong...
The chicken came seared on a stick.
Yummiest teryaki EVER.


The place was decorated with real ancient samurai armor. It is so interesting; I think my favorite part of the armor is that they have these funny face masks that act as facial armor as well (I'm sure) as aides to frighten enemies.  The masks are depicted slightly differently in this picture :)

 The structure itself was remarkable. There were the sliding doors with and without the rice paper veils, which are obviously common here but surreal and surprising to me just the same. The room we ate in was upstairs. We, of course, removed our shoes before entering, then when we got up there was a large timber. What's it called? A support beam, but it wasn't just a beam it was literally an enormous trunk of a huge tree. We had to crawl under it to get to our side of the room. 

The buildings are so beautiful and remarkable. I just keep wondering how I didn't fall in love with Asian culture so much sooner. This place is truly remarkable.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tuesday in Japan

This afternoon we decided to go to Miyajima island, one of the 3 top sights in Japan.  The island of the gods, this entire island is considered holy ground.  In our first moments on the island, we discovered our welcoming committee.   Simply roaming around enjoying the day:
The signs say not to feed them or touch them-- I tried to follow directions, but somebody needed to tell HIM the rules.  He was very friendly.  I finally gave in and touched him; his antlers were fuzzy and soft!  I apparently did not know that was what antlers felt like before they were dried to bone and hung up in your garage.


We all took the obligatory fan pic-- I think Madeline's is the cutest :)
We saw a traditional Japanese table and cushions (I'm sure they have a proper name, but I obviously don't know them) and we just had to sit down for a pic!
This is my apprehensive face.
We decided to try something new.  We went to the Dr. Fish. So, here we go. Are you ready for this?

This is a bit of info on what we tried.  No matter how hard I try I can't get the darn thing to be landscape.  Sorry...  "It endures though it is ticklish."
These are our apprehensive feet.
The beginning of the swarming.
Okay, then here's a close up of the little fishes trying to eat me.

Ah! We alternated between yelling that this was "so weird!" and "so horrible!" and that it was "the coolest thing ever!"  So I guess that means we're not really sure what we thought of it... :)
On this island is where they make these little pancake sort of things filled with various, erm, fillings.  They're all shaped like a maple leaf and you can buy them all over the world, but they're made here.  Like I said.  Anyway, here's a pic of the machines that make the little leafy things.
And a more finished product.
 
 And the obligatory picture in eating said leafy pancake thing in front of the largest rice paddle in the world. Seriously. Like they checked.
And here we have some beautiful and seriously yummy beef bundles.  Holly loved the dough and I loved the middle, so we made a great pair :)


Learned that this entrance to the holy place and the holy place itself are not actually rooted down, or attached to a foundation but are instead perfectly balanced on the sea bed. As such, they call it the floating shrine.  They do it so that it a severe storm comes the shrine can give way a bit to the weather.  So, the goddess in the shrine will never be touched by water because the building thing will give way with the water if necessary. It's an architectural miracle in my brain. I can't even fathom it.
Maddie rolled out some prayers while we walked up to a temple...
...and I got to ring a really big gong thing...
Maddie was wandering around checking out the temple,
but all she really wanted to do was take a nap on the prayer rug.
I was a little surprised by the feeling of being in a public place without shoes.  It was weird.
Look at me! Look at me!
We did a hike to get to the tram to avoid a hike to get to the top of the mountain. Ya follow?  It was a beautiful view; both the hike and the tram :)

We were really looking forward to seeing the monkeys at the top of the mountain.  Here are some nice signs to prepare us for this adventure.
BaHahahaha!  This was absolutely the best one!  Yes, that leaping monkey has vampiristic teeth.  Here are the other two as well:


"We do not hope to be such a monkey."  These signs are absolutely my favorite.  Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to test these theories of what would happen as a result of staring monkeys in the eyes or whether or not they were interested in our cameras.  They were not out and about that day :(
We spent a bit of time searching for an eternal flame there. It has apparently been burning since the year 539. Seriously?? How can they even call that a year?  Like who hears the number 539 and thinks that it could even possibly be a year?  That's so amazing.  Anyway, back to the flame; we never found it, but the view from the top was pretty beautiful.
The whole way back, however it started pouring and we walked for seriously like a mile or two in the downpour before we got to the car.  I don't understand where they all came from, but suddenly every single native Japanese person had possession of a very useful umbrella.  We, of course, did not.  Poor Madeline got soaked to the bone in her little stroller, despite our best efforts to stay under trees and put stuff over her head.  We were exhausted but happy to say the least at the end of our amazing day in Miyajima!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Monday in Japan

I woke up automatically at 7:45am. Quite surprising to me after my trip, but I was raring to go.

We went by the base and I got my first official tour. It was so interesting! I was captivated by the uniforms and intrigued by the exchange that sold all the best souveniers. So I got a general idea of what trinkets I'd be finding, got some yen, we picked up Scott from work and we were on our way.

We went to this AMAZING sushi place. Seriously amazing. I really should have taken pictures. The chefs stood in the middle of the room. Surrounding them was a conveyor belt about waist high. All the dishes they were making circled the room and we just picked up what we wanted. I tried all sorts of yummy, COOKED sushi and udon noodles.
We went for a crazmazing hike past the Kintai Bridge up Kintai mountain to the Kintai Castle. It was awesome!!!

Holly is seriously such a trooper! She carried her 25 lb baby on her back for the entire 1400m hike. I don't know how long 1400 meters is, but it was steep and fairly taxing. Maddie Sue was a trooper to stick it out too; especially since she was a bit scared of her hiking chair at first.

All the way up we learned important facts from the road signs:

Translation: Watch out for rodents in flame-retardant hats.
Translation: If you want to smoke, put your face really close to the campfire to light your cigarette.

Translation: It's really exciting to jump into the soccer net!
They even had a public drinking bamboo shoot complete with plastic cups!






The view from the top was awesome.
The castle was equally amazing. 
The clock at the top of the hill had this nice fishing boat with the birds. Holly says she thinks it's a famous type of fishing where the fishermen steal the fish from the birds' mouth.  Eww.
These gods have blankets. How nice for them.
Tell me this does not look like an adorable little elf-man. Apparently, this was suuuper disrespectful 'cause I quickly learned he's a god. The hat was not a silly, vandalizing decoration but placed by an adoring follower. Oops.

"Those are huge koi! Look at those cute statues of turtles! Oh, those are real?  It's like the zoo!" -Brittney

Hey, they have music on that monument.

Holly politely informed me BEFORE we took the picture that this was NOT a deity and I could, therefore, pose like an idiot all I wanted.

Then we went to dinner at a place called Cocos. Apparently all the servicemen from base LOVE it there; not gonna lie, it was way yummy curry.  Afterwards we went to a bakery where I discovered the unique softness of Japanese bread: the beginning of my new love affair.