Maiko Henshin

Our first day in Kyoto was very rainy. We managed to get in quite a bit of sightseeing - and got VERY wet. (Busho busho ブショブショ as they say in Japanese!)

BUT, the highlight of the day was the Maiko Henshin that we did. We went to a studio in one of the touristy areas and became a maiko (apprentice geisha - me!) and samurai (Yui!). Maiko henshin means transformation into maiko. It took about an hour in total to get make-up and dressed - there was an assembly line of girls, it was very cool!

Enough talk though - this can only be explain in pictures!

Today's pictures!

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京都！ Next up...Kyoto!

Leaving Aunt Yuko and Uncle Shoji was difficult. Even though we'd only spent a couple of days with the them, I really felt like I was part of the family. Aunt Yuko's kindness more than made up for the fact that I couldn't understand her words. Family truly is a language unto itself. It was difficult for Yui because of all the memories that our time with family had brought back.

It was time to move onto the honeymoon portion of the trip, though and more good memories lie ahead for us! We took the train to Kyoto where we had booked a week at a hostel with a private room and shower. (Very important!) We had decided to spend the majority of our day with Aunt Yuko and Uncle Shoji, so we didn't get to Kyoto until about six or seven that evening. Not having used the delivery system this time, we arrived at Kyoto station with all our bags in tow. We had to pull out the maps to find the place...and we did. It was tucked away on a quiet side street, not too far from the station. It was close enough, but with all our bags the walk was a bit longer than it would be on subsequent trips.

It was with trepidation we approached the hostel, but all fears were quickly allayed. The Tour Club was clean, the staff friendly and the mattresses inviting. We ate the eggs that we had got at the mountain earlier in the day and then got some sleep to get ready for our first day as real tourists!

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Hakone

We spent most of our last day in the Tsujido area with Aunt Yuko and Uncle Shoji. They decided to treat us to a visit to Hakone, which is home to the famous Mr. Fuji. Or Mt. Fuji. Hakone is a mountain range, and has many hot springs, which are very popular in Japan. In fact, our first stop was an onsen or hot spring. Aunt Yuko made reservations for us in a private bath. With a private resesrvation, we were able to go into the bath together. And yes, we bathed traditionally. ;)

(A note about Japanese hot springs - bathing is very different in Japan. It is done communally and onsens are a very popular activity. Usually women and men are separated - there are separate change rooms. You remove all your clothing and store it. Then you move on to the shower area where you soap up, and thoroughly. An unfortunate reality of being gaijin (foreigner) in Japan is that you get attention. And in a place where you are naked (and a bit overweight!) you can count on being watched - you must clean yourself thoroughly as you will watched! Once you are clean and no longer soapy, you can move into the bath where you soak. Ahhh...heaven!)

After the hot springs, Uncle Shoji took us up a mountain to try to see Mt. Fuji. The mountain road was about 2.5km long with about 25 "s" turns and very tiny little guardrails. It may have been the scariest drive of my life - and thankfully there was no oncoming traffic! At the top, there was a tiny restaurant. We were able to see a mountain that may have been Mt. Fuji, but it is very misty during the spring time, so it was hard to tell if it was really Fuji-san himself. :D

We also travelled to a another kind of hot spring - jigoku or hell. These are NOT for bathing! :) In fact, they are so hot, that they boil eggs! At the hot spring that we went to, you could see the boxes of eggs being sent up on a pulley system. Once at the top of the mountain, the eggs are sent to an untimely end via boilage. Poor egg. Yummy, poor egg.

Today's pictures

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The coast and ramblings

The Shonan coast is on the Pacific ocean. It is very close to Tokyo, which is the most densely populated area in Japan. The coast resembles something that you might see in an American resort area. I think the inspiration is Hawaiian, but there are elements of California and Florida. This is a good example of how the Japanese admire American culture - elements of American culture are incorporated into Japan and often come out similar, but with an almost intangible difference. You can see what they are trying to do, but often elements are different or just plain wrong. It's interesting when you point this out to a Japanese person as well - they are usually surprised, but not too disturbed. Once they've imported something, it becomes their own.

A good example of the reverse happening is sushi in North America. Everyone thinks that sushi is raw fish. But it's not. It's rice with vinegar added, almost like what we consider to be a salad. And now that sushi is such a staple of the urban diet, it has been twisted and morphed into something totally different than what you find in Japan. And I can tell people that sushi is NOT raw fish until I'm blue in the face, but the truth is that they just don't care!

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The Shonan Coast

On our one full day in Tsujido/Kamakura, we packed in quite a few activities. Even thousands of kilometres away, our new house was on my mind! During breakfast, a fabulous French toast prepared by Yui's Aunt Yuko, I took a look at some of her magazines. I fell in love with one magazine, which turned out to be a home shopping channel catalogue. The furniture in the magazine was perfect for our small living room - much more reasonable than the huge furniture available at home. (And which currently furnishes our condo!) Check it out: Belle Maison

Aunt Yuko saw my drooling and asked if I wanted to go check out some furniture stores. I was overjoyed! One of the things I love to do when travelling is see how normal people live - even if it's just grocery shopping. So we checked out an Ikea/Jysk type store. I was very sad that I wasn't able to take any of it home with me! My dearest wish is to get a kotatsu. It is a table with a heater on the bottom. The top part comes off and you can put a blanket under the top part, cuddle into the blanket and bask in the heat. It's fabulous. I want one for our family room!

Yui's cousin Sachiko came with us - having been married just a month after us, she was also scoping out some housewares for her place.

After the drooling was done, we headed off to an Italian restaurant, Japanese style. I love Japanese Italian food! You have to be adventurous and prepared for something odd, but it's good in its own quirky way! That was followed by drive along the coast to an aquarium. The aquarium was very interesting, and quite similar to the ones that we see here in Canada. We saw a dolphin show which was very cute! Yui had a great time taking tons of pictures.

Today's photos

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A Family Visit

In Kanazawa, on our way to the station, Aunt Yoshiko took us to the family gravesite where some members of the Futaki family are buried. (The Futaki family is Yui's mother's family). Near the gravesite is the family home. It's an old Japanese traditional house that is still used by members of the Futaki family. Aunt Yoshiko drove by it to show it to us and saw that there was someone in the yard. She called over to the lady and explained who Yui and I were - the lady invited us into the house. There we met a cousin of Yoshiko's and their granddaughter!

It was a truly unique experience for Yui and I to be welcomed so readily into a stranger's home. Aunt Yoshiko had a good chat with her cousin and his wife, catching up on years and years of history. I was touched to be welcomed so readily into their home.

Today's photos

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From Kanazawa to Tsujido

On our last day in Kanazawa, Yui’s uncle, Akio, took us through the temple that is attached to their home. The temple has a lot of history and is linked to the Maeda family - a famous samurai family from that area. I can’t really tell you more as I didn’t understand any of the story and it was difficult for Yui to translate. Akio-san took us from the altar into the “realm of the priest” or the area behind the altar where normally only priests are allowed to go. This area had statues of the deities associated with that “sect” of Buddhism. There are so many layers of teacher and student in Buddhism; it is difficult to keep track of who taught whom. I think I would have to take a course to keep it all straight!
After the tour, we had to make our way to the station. We had the longest train ride of the trip ahead of. Having learned a few lessons the last time, though, we sent the luggage ahead of us via a delivery company and we made darn sure we knew exactly where all the cars were stopping! Saying good-bye to Aunt Yoshiko was a bit more emotional for both of us than we thought. I’ve said good-bye to family before, but never to family that lives so far away.
The trip took us to Tsujido, a surburb of the suburb Yokohama. Yui’s Aunt Yuko lives in Tsujido wth her husband Shoji and her daughter Yumiko. Sachiko came to meet us at the station with her husband Tomoteru. The train ride took up a big part of the day, so there wasn’t much time to do anything when we arrived in Tsujido - or so we thought! In Japan, you can always squeeze in more things to do! Before going to Aunt Yuko’s, we went to visit another cousin that Yui hadn’t seen for nearly 20 years! We spent some good time chatting, catching up and of course, eating!
The eating contiued when we finally arrived at Aunt Yuko’s and ate some more okonomiyaki! Aunt Yuko’s third daughter, Tomoko, was cooking okonomiyaki for us on the hotplate in their living room. Tomoko, by the way, is a brain surgeon. For what may have been the first time in my life, I refused food. :O We had eaten cookies at Mitsuteru’s, and then he brought out dessert, so after a couple pieces of okonomiyaki, I was SO FULL!
After dinner, jet-lag was setting in quite heavily so it was time to make our way upstairs (where our luggage was patiently awaiting us!) to settle in for the night. Once more, we were treated to Japanese style accomodations, including cuddly, warm feather duvets. Mmm...zzzzzzzzz

Today's photos

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Our Own Personal Tour Guide

Kayo-chan (Yui’s cousin) acted as our guide and showing us around Kanazawa. We went to many of the most famous places such as 兼六園 (Ken-roku-en). This is one of the “big three” most famous gardens in Japan. It was gorgeous, and of all the places we visited, I think we spent the most time there. It wasn’t the stereotypical calm Japanese garden that we always see, especially with all the tourists, but it was full of trees, which are a lot less common in Japan than in Canada. It was there that Kayo and Yui realized that they have the same camera - right down to the lens!
We also visited the castle and an old samurai town that has been redone to look like it did in the past. Now it looks like one of the pricier places to live in Kanazawa. It’s very nice! We also walked through the old geisha sector and Starbucks. The geisha sector is very similar to those in Kyoto, but with fewer tourists. In Kanazawa, you can imagine that you have been transported back in time, unlike in Kyoto. With a personal tour guide we also learned about cool things; such as the path that the workers from the shrine used to take to get to the geisha sector so that no one would see them!
I’m sure the highlight of the day for Yui was seeing me in the market where fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood in various states of “aliveness” are sold. :S It’s amazing how disgusting yummy shrimp look in their natural state. And did you know that crabs blow bubbles when they are drowning? :P
That night we went to an izakaya (いざかや) or a Japanese pub. We ate yakitori (chicken on a stick), korokke (Japanese croquettes...mmmmm...), kimchi, sashimi (raw fish), beef sashimi (raw beef - Yui did, I couldn’t help but think of crazy cows!) and others. It was so yummy! おいしかった！And we’re pretty sure that one of the staff was trying to hit on me, but since his only English phrase was “maple syrup,” I think our marriage is safe.
One of the highlights of the day was spending time with Kayo herself. She is so easy-going and a bit sarcastic, even. We had a lot of fun with her and even though I didn’t speak her language, we were able to communicate and make jokes.

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A Cultural Immersion

MARCH 14, 2008 - PART 2

We recovered from the sprint on the train and realized that travel by train is the way to travel. Even though it was a three hour ride, it certainly didn’t seem that long. There is so much to look at!
We were met at Kanazawa station by Yui’s Aunt Yoshiko. She took us on a whirlwind tour of the city on the way from the station to her house. This was the first immersion we had in Japanese. I, of course, did not understand most of it. :) Aunt Yoshiko lives in a temple with her husband, Akio, who is a priest. Yui’s cousin, Kayo also lives with them.
Yui caught up with his aunt and uncle briefly before we were ushered off to do a tour of a temple before it closed. The temple has been coined the “Ninja Temple” as there are many booby traps designed to ward off invaders. The staff is very quick to clarify that no ninjas ever lived there. It was pretty cool to see all the tricks that they had - ingenious really. And the best part was that I didn’t have to understand the language. It was all pretty obvious - or my personal translator would tell me. :)
Afterward, still jetlagged, we were craving caffeine. So when we walked out of the temple and saw a cute little cafe across the street, we thought it was fate. It was run by a very sweet looking obasan (older lady) who greeted us when we came in and shuffled around to get us our order. We sat, talked and warmed up for awhile before deciding to head out back home. Imagine our surprise when we saw that our bill came to 700 yen - $7.00! We were blown away. I know that coffee is more expensive in Japan, but the food there was cheap, so I thought the coffee would be too! Fleeced by a sweet old lady. Oh well, it makes a good story.
That night, Yui’s other cousin, Ryuichi came over with his wife, Noriko and two daughters, Ami-chan and Kanon-chan. Ami-chan, the older daughter took it upon herself to teach me the kanji for numbers - Chinese characters. I have never seen a more patient little girl! I barely understood a word she said to me, but she never lost her patience with me. She wrote things out for me and spoke slowly. It was very sweet. I learned the kanji (kind of). Check it out - this is 1 to 10 in kanji: 一　二　三　四　五　六　七　八　九　十。Yui had a good time reminiscing with his cousins and getting used to communicating in Japanese. Apparently he was the target of a lot teasing from his cousins when he was younger. :) That night we slept Japanese style on the tatami floor. It was a great day, even with the 170 m sprint.

More photos from today!

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Always Read the Signs

MARCH 14, 2008 - PART 1

On our second full day it was time to make our way to the relatives. The first aunt that we visited was Aunt Yoshiko in Kanazawa. It was supposed to be a fairly easy trip to Kanazawa - one train, which is a nice luxury. We ended up heading out a little earlier than intended, thinking that would make the trip a little more leisurely. When we got to the station, we found out that train we were planning to take was sold out. No fear, there was another train available just a half hour later.
We strolled up to the platform and had lots of fun taking pictures of the station. We were a little confused by the lack of other passengers, but thought, “Meh, maybe it’s not a crowded train.” We even commented on the fact that although we were in the eighth car, it seemed to be at the front and the attendant had told us it would be at the end. “Meh, attendants can be wrong.”
NO, they canNOT be wrong. In Japan, customer service agents are never wrong. First rule. Second rule, READ THE SIGNS! The train arrived on time, but 170 m down the platform. We were the furthest we could possibly be from the train! You only have a few minutes to board the train, so we had to round up all our gear and SPRINT to the train. We made, but it was a quiet ride for the first half hour as we sat in silent humility.
The kicker, when I was loading the pictures for the blog, I saw no less than four pictures of the sign that told us exactly where to catch the train. Ouch.

More photos from today!

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大阪 Osaka

MARCH 13, 2008

Our second day in Japan was spent exploring Namba, the area where our hotel was. Neither of us was willing to take on the daunting task of making our way to the station and trying to figure our the crazy train system! We tried to find Den Den town - the huge electronics district which is apparently only second to Akihabara in Tokyo. We’re pretty sure we never found it, but we did find many electronics stores. They are so much better stocked than the stores here in Canada. Want a hair dryer? There are over 30 models. Want a TV? Be prepared to spend a day looking at the different models. And speaking of looking...they make it easy because the stores are SO bright! And hot...we never figured that out.
In our meanderings, we stumbled on many different things all in that little area. We find a restaurant supply district (a bunch of tiny shops in a covered pedestrian street which is very common in Japan), the Sumo gym (there were Sumo wrestlers walking around the area in their traditional clothes. We later found out that there was a big tournament going on!), an enka theatre (traditional Japanese music) and a very futuristic, expensive mall.
We were greeting by comforting memories such as the shop clerks’ cries of いらっしゃいませ！(Welcome customers’ money!) and the constant background noise of announcements, ads and mysterious chiming. (We later figured out that was for the blind to indicate where doorways were.) Yui was surprised at how different the big city was from his hometown. People in Osaka are quite accustomed to 外国人 (foreigners), so I didn’t get the staring that I remembered so well from my time in Kasaoka. :(
In the evening we continued our meanderings throughout Namba and came across Dotombori, which may be the most flamboyant street in Osaka. It’s loud, crowded and epitomizes what many consider modern Japanese culture. Yui and I stared in awe as people weaved their way through the craziness, all forms of life represented, from respectable looking middle-aged folks to fame seeking teenagers each dressed just a bit more ridiculously than the previous.
One of my favourite memories from this day was getting up and out quite early, before any of the stores were open. The city was abuzz with men cleaning the streets and shopkeepers getting their stores ready for the influx of customers that would soon begin. It was not the type of thing you usually see as a tourist, or pay attention to as a citizen. There was a such a feeling of comfort watching people go about their daily business; business that happened before we got there and that is still going on now that we are gone.

Find more pictures of today at my flickr page!


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到着 Arrival

MARCH 11 & 12, 2008

It’s a long ride. There is no way around it. 18 hours travel time, and at least 14 of those in the air. It’s a long ride. It started at 8 AM on March 11th and ended at 5:45 PM on the 12th - local time. With all the time zones, who knows what the actual time was. And you’re not supposed to think about that anyway. We may have slept for 2 hours at the most, but it was very difficult with no leg room and a plane FULL of children and many of them crying.

One of my old students, Tomomi, met us at the airport in Osaka and took us to our hotel. We had a map. We thought we’d be okay. If Tomomi hadn’t met us, we might still be looking for our hotel. We dropped off our stuff and off to お好み焼 (okonomiyaki) for dinner. I had been dreaming about okonomiyaki for 6 years - and Tomomi remembered me talking about it. Sweet girl! The hotel was pretty nice - quiet considering its location and a decent amount of space for Japan. And a WICKED bathtub. The best one of the trip. :)

At this point we were feeling a mixture of exhaustion and extreme excitement. Everything was new and different and I think we were both looking for familiar sights and sounds. (I know I was!)

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