The Miyajima Half (2 of 2)

Picture this: Two drop-dead gorgeous women strut out into the morning sunlight of Hiroshima, Japan. With tosses of their long, sexy locks, the glare of the sun off their stylish sunglasses… blinds two very obviously foreign girls stumbling sleeplessly from the internet cafe they just had to sleep in. Guess which ones we are.

(Okay, the net cafe wasn’t that bad. Read my next entry once it’s done for a full account.)

We took the train to 宮島口, (Miyajimaguchi), which is where you take the ferry over to the island. The 駅 (eki), train station, was crowded with red-and-white Carp fans. The Carp are the local [losing] baseball team. Forgetting to consider how nice it’d be to store our heavy bags in lockers for the day, we board the train with minimal hassle.

Arriving at Myajima Harbor, we stop at a distracting shop window. Inside, a woman was tending a machine the size of a car, but much more productive. It was a もみじまんじゅう屋(momiji manjuu ya), momiji manju shop, making fresh あずき (azuki), red-bean-paste-filled waffle dough shaped like maple leaves – the local お菓子 (okashi), snack. I read online that we need to try Miyajima’s manju fresh. We sat outside the shop to enjoy. Let us watch.

Me with one of the innocent natives.

Taking the ferry over was a cold affair, but upon arrival, we’re greeted by the extremely friendly natives. The locals, we notice, are so kind and open that they will share food with someone before even getting to know them. They followed us around, presumably to ensure we were enjoying ourselves.

Treading onto the pockmarked sand, home of thousands of crabs, we started heading out toward the floating 鳥居 (torii), Shinto shrine archway. Appearing to be floating during high tide, the arch is, at this time of day, accessible on foot. It was so pretty! You could walk around and under it, and it’s surrounded by mist-shrouded hills and sparkling green waters. We passed children with their parents, digging for かき, (kaki), oysters, in the sand to cook and sell on the streets. I got a cute glance from a little kid which I was able to snap a photo of.

An oyster-digger

There is so much to do on the island! Seriously, you can’t take just one day to do the whole thing. And I’m not going to tell you the stories behind everything, because it would take too long. You’ll just have to go there yourself! There are pagodas, temples, and 厳島神社, (Itsukushimajinja), Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The shrine is suspended above the water on stilts, though we were only there during low tide… Kat paid ￥100, about $1, to receive her おみくじ (omikuji), fortune. According to the sheet of paper, Kat will have luck travelling north and buying something. We didn’t know this at the time, as neither of us understand enough Japanese to decipher the fortune, but a friend translated for us later. She tied it to a wall for what we mistakenly believed is further luck, but which, I found out later, is actually what is supposed to be done only if it’s a bad fortune. Oh well.

Lantern at Itsukushima Shrine

We tried あげた (ageta), deep-fried, momiji manju, and it was even more ridiculously delicious than its unfried sibling. Watch me eat some, haha. After this, since the tide was coming back in, we were able to go on a boat tour around the torii. It was $8, but when else will you get photos like that? Never, right? So that was cool.

On Miyajima is a mountain called みせん山 (Misen-san), Mount Misen. Following the advice of a friend who’d been there, we climbed it rather than take the skycar (cable car, however you call it) to the top. It’s only, like a ten minute hike! (Okay, this is the last time we follow someone’s travel advice. Weird, it’s the same person that advised us about the night bus…) Fortunately, we thought far enough in advance to store our bags before attempting the mountain. Here’s some actual good advice: The hike is really nice, so take the skycar up, and hike back down. Halfway up, it must have been, the signs told us we were actually only about a quarter way up. Two-thirds of the way up, we ask some people coming down how much longer we have to hike. About half an hour, 20 minutes, they tell us. Another 20 minutes later, we ask another set of people smarter than us. Probably half an hour to 40 minutes, they say. What?? Okay, so 2 hours from when we started, we arrive at the part of the mountain that you can get to by cable car. The summit’s actually 0.7 km farther on. Um, no. But, go figure, guess where we left our wallets to pay for the ticket back down? Yeah. I am so lucky I speak Japanese… They let us back down and we had to pay for the ticket at the bottom. On the way down, though, we saw three monkeys! So I guess it was worth it.

On the way out, I got two more fried manju. Then some other foreigner, probably desperate for someone who spoke English, jumped out at me asking me to take her picture, causing me to drop my last taste of manju ever. That was a sad occurance.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of for now. I guess I’ll just leave you with a few more photos. I have a lot more than just these posted on my gallery, so if you want to see more, please visit it! Thanks for reading!

Ramune Flavors: Kimchi, Octopus, Wasabi, Curry...

Torii at sunset

Momiji Manju Making

Steps on the way up Mount Misen (Click to purchase this print!)

The torii, floating! (Click to purchase this print!)

The Hiroshima Half (1 of 2)

This past weekend was part of Golden Week, a 5-day-long vacation that includes such holidays as the Emperor’s Birthday and Children’s Day. Schools and even some businesses closed down Monday through Wednesday as part of the holiday. An overwhelmingly large number of Japanese people take trips during this holiday, so I figured that when in Rome… Do as the Japanese do. I went to Hiroshima.

Me, Yuuki and Kat!

We (myself and a fellow ryuugakusei, Kat) were told by many different sources to take the やこうバス (yakou basu), night bus! It’s so much cheaper than any other option! Okay, I thought, I like saving money! That’s the last time I blindly follow people’s advice. More than $200 later, I was tossing and turning on the night bus to Hiroshima (what should have been a 12-hour drive) for 21 hours, pondering the fact that we’d just found out that a plane was the same price… But hey, we met this kid named Yuuki, who was nice, but only wanted to practice his English with us. Oh, and he could solve a Rubic’s cube. And wants to go to MIT.

We got to Hiroshima much later than we’d expected to, but still had time to see 広島じょう (Hiroshimajou), Hiroshima Castle, before it got dark. That was pretty cool. We also found an amazing パン屋 (panya), bakery, that sold the most delicious Japanese nomnoms. Effectively, we ate dinner there that night.

Hiroshima Castle

That night we stayed in a really nice internet cafe. I’ll post a whole separate entry about that because I want to make a guide of sorts for other internet-browsing Japan traversers.

The next day we went to Miyajima, but I’m also posting a separate entry about that, because otherwise this one would be way too long!

So, skipping over that to our third and last day in Hiroshima… This day we visited the Memorial Museum, 原爆ドーム(Genbaku Doumu), Atomic Bomb Dome, and 平和公園 (Heiwa Kouen), Peace Park.

We did the museum first, because according to the internet, you needed a day of relaxation and meandering around parks afterward to clear your mind. It’s true. The museum was a bit disturbing, especially the descriptions provided by survivors. It didn’t really bother me until that night, but it prevented me from sleeping for a good 2 hours. I really wanted to see the display on why America bombed Hiroshima, because it would be amazing to see it from Japan’s perspective, but there were so many people crowded around that section that just were not moving that it was impossible. I waited for half an hour, got about a foot closer, and couldn’t see any better. And we had to leave on our bus that night so I only had a limited amount of time… They had a display on Sadako Sasaki, who suffered from leukemia after the bomb and folded more than 1,000 paper cranes (although a popular retelling in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes claims that she fell short of her goal) before she died at the age of 12. In Japan, it is said that one who folds 1,000 paper cranes will receive a wish.

Tiny paper cranes, made by Sadako Sasaki

Hiroshima had a flower festival going on the day we were there, most likely because it was Golden Week. The name was misleading, because, although they had a fairly large flower pyramid, it was more of a cultural festival than a flower festival. We saw Hawaiian song and dance, flamenco and cha cha from somewhere in South America, some little-kid cheerleading demonstrations, gospel music, and kabuki, a type of traditional Japanese theater! Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good view of the kabuki, so I don’t have any good photos to show from that, but the music and costumes were so cool! Oh, and also, I accidentally made a donation to an anti-atomic bomb… thing. I thought it was a petition! I gave ￥1000, about $10. I totally support abolishing nuclear warfare of any kind, but… I don’t have any money, so I had to give a small amount. Oh well. I can survive giving $10, and maybe now, some other people will as well. (I just need to learn Japanese before they let me out in public again. “This box is for amount of… donation…? Oh…”)

Atomic Bomb Dome

For the last bit, we walked around the A-Bomb Dome. You can’t go inside, as it’s all rubble and probably dangerous, but the building was so skeletal that we really didn’t need to. We walked along the T-shaped bridge nearby, above which they believe was the epicenter of the bomb explosion. It’s amazing this much of the building remained intact, because the rest of the city was completely obliterated. The museum’s model of the city after the rubble had been cleared up depicts a completely flat, grey landscape crisscrossed with roads. It was good, though, to hear how the survivors banded together almost immediately to rebuild the city, and to spread word about the horrors of nuclear warfare.

Our nightbus left from the station at 7 that night, and we arrived home on time. As I said, sleeping that night was hindered by images of melting flesh (Ew. I hate the word flesh.), but I was able to sleep in the long run. Speaking of, somehow we slept through our stop and woke up at Yokohama, an extra 20 minutes’ train ride from where we needed to be. We made it back fine, though, and I still had some leftover panya goodies. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and I highly recommend it to anyone that finds themselves in Japan!

Thanks for reading! Please comment with questions, thoughts, or this sentence: “Molly, I am going to go buy some of your prints now, off your website, EmceePhotography.com!” Check out my upcoming entries about the island shrine of Miyajima and overnighting in net cafes!

Something Old, Something New

But nothing borrowed. There was probably a lot of blue stuff, though…

Anyway, my weekend was way fun. It started out with a trip to Akihabara with a large group of people. I have found that large groups of people travelling together just does not work in Japan. Inevitably, you will be stuck in the train station for an hour past when you wanted to leave, waiting for this or that person, and during the trip, the group will stop for no apparent reason and just chill there for 15 minutes or more. It gets frustrating. But anyway, Akihabara, aka Akiba, is chock full of maid cafes, ridiculously cheap prices on electronics (which I benefitted from), and cosplayers (people dressed up as different characters, whether from a manga or anime, or from everyday life, like at the maid cafes). Rather than go to a maid cafe, we chose to try out a Neko (cat) cafe. With Akiba’s culture in mind, I was picturing a restaurant where women dressed up as cats served you unlimited drinks. Not so. It’s a small room where you serve yourself drinks and pet the 15 or 16 cats that chill there. Japan is strange.

The same day we headed over to Harajuku for some SHOPPING. Harajuku is famous for its cheap yet awesomely gorgeous clothes and the strange and wonderful fashion of the people that parade its streets every day. The most famous street is Takeshita, from which I bought a dress, some leggings and a ton of jewelry for mad cheap. (By the way, Akiba and Harajuku are the “Something New.”)

After a long sleep to recharge, I woke up sore from walking the whole day, to go to Kamakura and… well, walk the whole day. It was worth it though. The day started off with Yabusame, traditional Japanese archery on horseback (watch the video!). This is part of a festival that occurs every year on the third Sunday of April, so it’s way sweet that I got to see it.

Yabusame

After the demonstration finished, we headed over to a different part of Kamakura, to see the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. It’s the second largest Buddha statue in Japan, and it’s surrounded by lots of beautiful scenery. (You’re so smart. Yes, Kamakura is the “Something Old.”)

Daibutsu (Click to purchase this print!)

Incense in front of the Great Buddha (Click to purchase this print!)

Monday I bought a kimono for the Japanese Classical Dance class I’m taking! I’ll post a photo in the next entry, but I’ll tell you now that it’s dark blue with whitish-pinkish sakura blossoms on, and a pink sparkly obi (sash) also decorated with sakura. It’s a very pretty combo, but I mess up putting it on. It’ll take a while yet. Oh, and it was really cheap, because it was from a stock set aside just for our class, but you can’t tell. It’s wonderful.

And then, as for my classes, I talked long and often with the Japanese language program coordinators, and we came to the conclusion that I should move only one level up. I am satisfied, because I can tell I will learn a lot. Today I planned out exactly how to go about teaching myself the material I’m expected to know already at the start of this level, and it seems like just the right amount of work. I have three Japanese friends that have agreed to tutor me, and I’m taking 2 self-guided tutorial classes, so with the help of my tutors and the tutorial teachers, I think I can come back to the States very proficient in Japanese. The way I’ve got it planned, I’m actually learning the higher level’s material before we go over it in class… :)

So that’s all for now! If you are reading this, stop what you’re doing and buy a ticket to come visit me, or if that won’t fly, at least visit my gallery. Thanks for reading!

~Molly

Smallish Things

Myself and a couple of fellow 留学生 (ryuugakusei), exchange students, watched the kendo club practice the other day. You can always hear them shouting and stomping when you pass by, and we thought it was curious, so we asked to go up and watch. It’s definitely cool to see, especially with the ancient-looking uniforms and the ferocity the athletes have when they scream and stomp and dive at their opponent.

Kendo

I ended up re-visiting Yokohama in the evening with friends and the intention of going on the rides at Cosmo World. Again, as it figures, the whole park was closed, most likely because it was a weekday. I did get this cool shot of Landmark Tower, though, without a tripod I might add.

Landmark Tower (Click to purchase this print!)

There was also a local band playing outside the train station, so we watched and ended up buying their CD. I recorded a bit of them playing “Kanaria,” which was my favorite of their songs. (Watch the video!)

Oh, and then yesterday, there was a welcome party for the exchange students and the Japanese exchange clubs and circles and the faculty and staff. We got to watch the Taiko club perform (watch the video!), and afterward, all of us went out for sake! I tried it for the first time, prepared warm. (In Japan, さけ (sake) just means alcohol in general. To be specific, I tried 日本酒 (Nihonshu), Japanese rice wine.) I guess it’s really strong, but it doesn’t taste like it was.

Other than that, I placed in a lower Japanese class level (based on proficiency in writing, reading, grammar, speaking and kanji) than I would have liked or was expecting to. I asked to be placed in a much higher level (3 levels up) because I think that I can handle 2 levels up easily, so adding an extra level onto the top there will force me to work even harder. I’m allowed to sit in on the class Monday and discuss with the faculty afterward what I think I should do. I’ll letcha know, but no matter how lost I am in that class, I’m probably going to still ask to be placed in it.

Thanks for reading, comment please, and check out my gallery!

Oh, wait, duh, I also got my hair cut. Normally, Japanese hair cuts are $40 at the cheapest, but it was half off (the price, I mean), so the cut and shampoo was about $25. :)

Haircut - Before and After

Yokohama

Took me long enough to post this, I guess…

Anyway, last Saturday, the 4th, myself and Gabe, the other student from Wells, made a trek to Yokohama, a large port city, for　はなみ (hanami), traditional cherry-blossom viewing. Here’s the 12-step process for having the same day we had:

1. Get to the train station at about 12:30 PM and swipe your Suica cards to get into the gate. Suica cards are like the EZ Pass of the Japanese train system, and EVERYONE has one. I’m really proud of us for figuring out how to buy one, with our limited understanding of Japanese…

2. Figure out which trains to take to get to Yokohama, and then ask someone, just to be sure. Be told something completely different: From Fuchinobe station, ride the green line to the last stop, then switch to the blue line and ride just one stop more to Kannai station.

3. Ask a helpful-looking サラリマン (salaryman), business man, for direction on how to get to HSBC bank. He will ponder for about a minute and then apologize because he doesn’t know. He will ask you to please wait a moment, and he will go to the information box to ask. He will then take you to your bank personally, all the while chatting with you about school and America and his company. Make sure you thank him and bow a lot. Get some money out of the ATM, free of fees, and smile because you finally have cash.

Entrance to Chinatown

4. Somehow, luckily, end up at the Minato Mirai line and take this train to its end (2 stops, I think) at Chinatown! This is the second largest Chinatown in Japan. Take pictures. As you wander around looking like a tourist (but that’s okay because everyone here is a tourist), be sure to buy some street food, because they don’t really have that in Non-Chinatown Japan. Especially try anman, which is a ball of fluffy dough with meat inside. I tried the pork and shark-fin one, which was delicious until I remembered that I was contributing to the endangerment of the sharks, who get their fins cut off and are thrown back in the water to die. I’m sorry, sharks. Never again.

5. When you’ve finished in Chinatown, go back toward the entrance and climb onto a rickshaw-thing! It’s only　300円 ($3) per person to get to Yamashita Park.

6. Now that you’re in the park, check out the street performers, juggling fire and knives on a unicycle. There will be a ton of families sitting out on blankets with picnic lunches, assuming you go during the first weekend in April. Why are they sitting there for hours on end? you may ask yourself (or a Japanese person, who will most likely apologize to you for not understanding, unless you ask in Japanese). Well, save yourself the effort, ’cause I’ma tell you. They are doing hanami, which means “flower viewing.” It’s part of Sakura Matsuri, the traditional holiday at the beginning of spring celebrating the blooming of the absolutely beautiful さくら (sakura), cherry blossom trees. (Washington DC has a wannabe Sakura Matsuri at the same time.) The entire weekend, families, friends and bussiness men will spread blankets out in parks or wherever there are bunches of sakura, and lots of socializing, sake-drinking, eating, and cherry-blossom-viewing will commence. We just took pictures.

Sakura (Click to purchase this print!)

A dad and his kid, who agreed to let me take some pictures. The kid, I mean.

More perspectives (Click to purchase this print!)

7. Leave the park and wander toward the huge Ferris wheel, called The Clock, at Yokohama’s Cosmo World. No point in asking anyone for directions on how to get to Cosmo World, because even if they live in Yokohama, they won’t know what you’re talking about. Just ask about the 大きい時計 (ookii tokei), big clock.

The rides we couldn't go on

8. Once there (you don’t pay an admission fee, just for individual ride tickets) go to buy tickets for the 2 roller coasters. The first, called Vanish, will be closed for safety inspection. I’m so sorry. The next… oh, I’m sooo sorry… will be closed due to heavy winds. I’m really sorry. Have a nice day. I’m sorry.

9. Get a bit lost crossing the river to the other side of Cosmo World. Buy tickets for 3 rides. After the first one, realize that the ride attendant didn’t give you both your tickets back. Go back, and through lots of broken Japanese, very slowly have the problem fixed. Somehow, acquire an extra 1100円 ($11) of tickets…

Landmark Tower

10. Leave the park and head toward Japan’s tallest skyscraper, Landmark Tower, a hotel that is part of the Minato Mirai development. Ask directions to the train station from a porter. Pretend to understand, even though you don’t. Head in the direction you thought he was pointing at. Be stopped and redirected properly this time…

11. Consider going up the ridiculously fast elevator to the 69th floor to look out. Reconsider when you think of how dizzy you are from the rides.

12. Lastly, go the unnecessarily long way to get back to the station. With sore legs and back, ride back to Fuchinobe station. Realize there is no bus back to campus on Saturday nights, so walk the mile and a half home.

Lastly, to make this adventure uniquely your own, go to my gallery, maybe particularly my Japan gallery, and buy some prints. :) Thanks for reading! Comment please!

Love,

Molly

First Few Days

I arrived safely! In spite of a 6-hour flight delay, my travels were, happily, uneventful. I caught glimpses of Fuji-san (Mount Fuji) and the Tokyo Disneyland Resort on my way to school! Due to a shortage of available host families, I am living in an apartment. It’s actually a really nice place, with a balcony, washing machine, kitchen appliances, internet and private bathroom. It even came with a TV, desk, desk lamp, and comforter/pillow. Not too shabby, huh? Still, I’d like the homestay experience, so I’m going to see about any possibility of getting into one… Anyway, more to come soon as I take decent pictures! (I’m taking a day trip to Kamakura soon for the Kamakura Festival at the Hachiman-gu Shrine!) Thanks for reading!

Irasshaimase!

In Japanese, “irasshaimase” means “welcome!” I’m leaving for Japan in just a week, so check back often, as I’ll be posting new entries and photos of my travels pretty frequently. Enjoy, leave lots of comments, and love me.

Love,

Me