I've just completed the mammoth task of deciding what to do with my mum when she visits. The possibilities were endless: what to do when you you've got Japan at your doorstep, one Japan Rail Pass, 3 months worth of pay and 5 days off work? I felt the pressure to show her the best Japan could offer. Finally, after weeks of prodding her for ideas- and receiving varying suggestions such as "somewhere warm", "somewhere we can't go on a weekend", "anywhere, really" - I took the plunge and booked us a 2 nights at two different minshukus (family-run inns) in the Kiso Valley, Nagano prefecture. After making the commitment to invest time and money in these places, I spent the rest of the day convincing myself I had made a good choice. The Kiso Valley is home to the Nakasendo road, a 'post road' (whatever that is) from the Edo period (1600-1868). Many of the towns along this route have been preserved as they were in the Edo period, even to the extent where no aerial wires are allowed. You can walk a 9km trail past woods, farms and old inns between two of the towns (Magome and Tsumago). The minshukus we're staying in were apparently resting spots for travellers back in the day. Anyway, it'll probably be pretty damn cold, but I'm looking forward to 'stepping back in time' for a couple of days, and seeing 'the other Japan', as one travel website put it. So much for "somewhere warm"!
PS. My bedroom has just reached a high of 18 degrees after I broke down and turned the heater on for the first time. Yep, winter's definitely approaching, and they're predicting a not-so-mild one.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Let's play catch (up)
Whoops. It's been over a month since my last post and I didn't even write anything about my trip to Shirakawa-go, or Nara, or Halloween, or Hida, or... or... So, time for a quick run-down:
Shirakawa-go
I got to spend a weekend in a UNESCO World Heritage-listed village in the mountains of Japan. AND, I got to appease all my senses by witnessing traditional festival celebrations. AND, did I mention this was a SAKE festival?! It's called the 'Doburoku Matsuri' and it's named after a type of unfiltered sake. Unlike the clear sake you might be familiar with, it looks more like oatmeal because the rice grains haven't been completely filtered out. Doburoku tastes a whole lot more bitter than the mainstream version. Actually, it was hard to get down but it didn't take us long to acquire a taste!
Basically, the weekend looked like this: Me and a couple of other JET friends from down south (Gifu) took a 3 hour train north to Takayama (an incredibly beautiful town in itself, dubbed 'Little Kyoto') where we were picked up by another friend who just happens to live in one of the most picturesque villages in all of Japan. (Nice to have friends like that.) Unlike his predecessor though, who was the 'experienced woodsman' type, I don't think Jordan particularly enjoys the 'roughing it' aspect of his situation, which involves things like helping the townspeople thatch the roofs of generations-old houses, and in winter, digging a tunnel through the snow to his get to his car. ;P Anyway, from what I can tell, his situation looks like the 'storybook JET experience' and I hope he realises how lucky he is.
So what's all the fuss about Shirakawa-go? Well, it's home to 'gassho-zukuri' houses, which have a 'prayer-hands construction' style. To put it in English, the houses look like cute little gingerbread-house woodsy-mountainy village houses that you'd find in the Swiss Alps. They're actually designed that way so snow can't accumulate on the steep roofs in winter. The upper part of the building was traditionally used for things like producing silk, so the silk-worms lived up in the attic. And my friend's students live there!
Back to the festival: We followed the parade (involving a lion/dragon, a drum, a red devil, a green devil, lots of boys in white, rainbow streamers and a respected elder riding a rickshaw) up to the village temple, watched a lot of lion dancing, and tasted sake. We were impressed when the officials laid down two long mats in front of the temple and let everyone sit down on them before they came by with pots of sake and served us all-you-can drink proportions. Needless to say, most people were dead to the world on the bus-ride back to Gifu...
Halloween
I have to say I am getting a little annoyed at the Japanese versions of American holidays. And I haven't even lived through Valentine's Day yet! The Japanese don't know much about the REAL meaning of any of these holidays. Of course, most holidays have lost their significance in the West as well, what with commercialization etc... but in Japan, the sole reason they adopted these holidays is because they think the decorations are cute. I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but it makes me feel a bit sick. The minute Halloween was over, out came the Christmas decorations. And if you think it's overkill in America or Australia, you'd better not set foot in Japan. The malls and supermarkets have been playing Christmas carols since the first week of November. And I'm not particularly religious, but the whole Christmas thing being completely devoid of any references to Jesus, Mary, etc, is a bit wrong, I think.
Having said all that, Halloween was fun. The ironic thing, though, is that despite the plethora of Halloween merchandise available in Japan, the Japanese people seem to have a big problem actually wearing any of it come Halloween-eve. My friends and I went to the 'Nagoya Friends' Halloween party- supposed to be a chance for 'foreigners' and Japanese people to have fun together. It was 80 percent 'foreigners', and the Japanese that were there wore cat-ear headbands (girls) or the work suits they had been wearing all day (men). The Japanese guy we talked to said he had come as 'the British PM'. Because he was wearing a suit. Ha. I guess I can see their point in not dressing up. It can be chotto embarrasing. My friend Julie and I decided to go as Hello Kitty and My Melody (another similar character, a pink rabbit). Seeing as all we had to do was buy a headpiece and gloves for 20 bucks, it seemed to make sense. Except unfortunately for me, Halloween evening happened to coincide with the official bankruptcy of Nova, Japan's biggest English language school. This story was huge in the Japanese media. Nova's mascot is a pink rabbit. Who looks a lot like My Melody. And I was wearing a pink rabbit costume on the night of the day Nova went under. JET is like the 'rival' way (and I must say, the superior way) to go teach English in Japan. Anyway, lots of people thought I was making fun of Nova. So I felt bad, but not until the next day when I was sober enough to work out what all those Japanese people had been saying: "Nova usagi!" (Nova rabbit). That night we had fun trekking back to our hotel for 45 minutes, bringing joy to groups of Japanese businesspeople and traffic officers along the way.
Nara
It might not have been the best plan to go to Halloween festivities the night before a big trip to Nara, one of Japan's cultural and historical capitals. But it turned out ok anyway. Except for the fact that we made the mistake of actually taking advice from a train conductor, and ended up spending 6 hours on trains when we only meant to spend 3. Note to self: never ask for advice if you think you know what you are doing. Inevitably, it will throw you off course. I'd spent a good hour online planning which trains we should take, etc, and it was all undone by the advice "the other train will get you there faster". We got there in the end, with enough time to meet the deer and see the Todai-ji and the Daibutsu, a huge Buddha statue. Yes, that's right, meet the deer. They're left free to roam all through central Nara because they're considered messengers of the gods according to Shinto beliefs. They're cute, especially the young ones, but some can be pretty aggressive in their search for treats. We also got to see Kasuga shrine, where the deer seem to be more peaceful, perhaps because they're more religious. This shrine has lots and lots of lanterns and is really beautiful. To finish off the trip, we considered buying omiyage (souvenirs) to take back to our colleagues, but I wasn't game enough to buy the 'deer dropping' cakes! (chocolate, of course)
Hida
Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to be a special guest of the Hida Tourism board. Along with 4 other JETs and other 'foreigners' (there's that word again), I experienced an all-expenses paid overnight tour of northern Gifu-ken. I feel it's my duty to now convey to all my friends and family how wonderful Hida is as a tourist destination. And it really is; it's a very traditional, mountainous area of the prefecture, where a lot of old crafts are still practiced. We had to fight our survival instincts to actually board the tour bus, having read the itinerary stating that the tour will require "ten foreigners to execute". Our first stop was an apple orchard where we did some pickin'. Unfortunately, because it had rained a little that day, the 'Country Walk' was cancelled (for me, it felt like a frustrating example of Japanese-ness, but that's probably being unfair). Instead, we got to see a town called Kamioka, which had some beautiful autumn leaves and a funny-but-not-really sign on a bridge that said "Think again. There's a brighter future" in Japanese. The guides told us, through their laughter, that it was there to stop people committing suicide, since it commonly happens on that bridge.After the strenuous hike, we were dropped off at an onsen to soak our aching muscles. I love onsen but I don't think my body is quite used to being immersed in 50-degree-celcius water for minutes on end. Finally, it was off to the hotel, and a beautiful traditional Japanese dinner with local delegates. My friend and I were seated with the Head of Tourism for Hida (I think that was his title, anyway), and of course, managed to drink enough sake to help him confirm every misconception of 'foreigners' he ever had. Actually, it wasn't me who was so drunk, but my friend, who was christened a 'champion' at the end of the night. Oh, and by the way, I overheard one of the delegates commenting on how we 'ate everything' (zenbu tabeta). To which the other replied, 'their bodies are big' (karada ga ookii). Of course they must have thought we couldn't understand, but I did! The delegates also treated us to a couple renditions of the Hida song and taught us the Hida dance. You must understand that in Japan, whenever alcohol is offered, it's expected that people will drink until they're making fools of themselves.
The next day we had our choice of soba noodle-making, paper-making or lacquering. I chose to lacquer, and of course, you can't do that in two hours, so we only got to do the first layer. Our bowls will be sent to us when they're done. After a tour of Furukawa town and another amazing meal, we only had to spend half an hour filling in a survey and we had 'paid' for our trip. Of course they served us coffee and snacks while we worked on the surveys, to make us feel even more guilty.And that's what I've been up to, fun-wise, over the last month or so. Next time I'll write an entry that's more representative of my daily life!
Shirakawa-go
I got to spend a weekend in a UNESCO World Heritage-listed village in the mountains of Japan. AND, I got to appease all my senses by witnessing traditional festival celebrations. AND, did I mention this was a SAKE festival?! It's called the 'Doburoku Matsuri' and it's named after a type of unfiltered sake. Unlike the clear sake you might be familiar with, it looks more like oatmeal because the rice grains haven't been completely filtered out. Doburoku tastes a whole lot more bitter than the mainstream version. Actually, it was hard to get down but it didn't take us long to acquire a taste!
Basically, the weekend looked like this: Me and a couple of other JET friends from down south (Gifu) took a 3 hour train north to Takayama (an incredibly beautiful town in itself, dubbed 'Little Kyoto') where we were picked up by another friend who just happens to live in one of the most picturesque villages in all of Japan. (Nice to have friends like that.) Unlike his predecessor though, who was the 'experienced woodsman' type, I don't think Jordan particularly enjoys the 'roughing it' aspect of his situation, which involves things like helping the townspeople thatch the roofs of generations-old houses, and in winter, digging a tunnel through the snow to his get to his car. ;P Anyway, from what I can tell, his situation looks like the 'storybook JET experience' and I hope he realises how lucky he is.
So what's all the fuss about Shirakawa-go? Well, it's home to 'gassho-zukuri' houses, which have a 'prayer-hands construction' style. To put it in English, the houses look like cute little gingerbread-house woodsy-mountainy village houses that you'd find in the Swiss Alps. They're actually designed that way so snow can't accumulate on the steep roofs in winter. The upper part of the building was traditionally used for things like producing silk, so the silk-worms lived up in the attic. And my friend's students live there!
Back to the festival: We followed the parade (involving a lion/dragon, a drum, a red devil, a green devil, lots of boys in white, rainbow streamers and a respected elder riding a rickshaw) up to the village temple, watched a lot of lion dancing, and tasted sake. We were impressed when the officials laid down two long mats in front of the temple and let everyone sit down on them before they came by with pots of sake and served us all-you-can drink proportions. Needless to say, most people were dead to the world on the bus-ride back to Gifu...
Halloween
I have to say I am getting a little annoyed at the Japanese versions of American holidays. And I haven't even lived through Valentine's Day yet! The Japanese don't know much about the REAL meaning of any of these holidays. Of course, most holidays have lost their significance in the West as well, what with commercialization etc... but in Japan, the sole reason they adopted these holidays is because they think the decorations are cute. I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but it makes me feel a bit sick. The minute Halloween was over, out came the Christmas decorations. And if you think it's overkill in America or Australia, you'd better not set foot in Japan. The malls and supermarkets have been playing Christmas carols since the first week of November. And I'm not particularly religious, but the whole Christmas thing being completely devoid of any references to Jesus, Mary, etc, is a bit wrong, I think.
Having said all that, Halloween was fun. The ironic thing, though, is that despite the plethora of Halloween merchandise available in Japan, the Japanese people seem to have a big problem actually wearing any of it come Halloween-eve. My friends and I went to the 'Nagoya Friends' Halloween party- supposed to be a chance for 'foreigners' and Japanese people to have fun together. It was 80 percent 'foreigners', and the Japanese that were there wore cat-ear headbands (girls) or the work suits they had been wearing all day (men). The Japanese guy we talked to said he had come as 'the British PM'. Because he was wearing a suit. Ha. I guess I can see their point in not dressing up. It can be chotto embarrasing. My friend Julie and I decided to go as Hello Kitty and My Melody (another similar character, a pink rabbit). Seeing as all we had to do was buy a headpiece and gloves for 20 bucks, it seemed to make sense. Except unfortunately for me, Halloween evening happened to coincide with the official bankruptcy of Nova, Japan's biggest English language school. This story was huge in the Japanese media. Nova's mascot is a pink rabbit. Who looks a lot like My Melody. And I was wearing a pink rabbit costume on the night of the day Nova went under. JET is like the 'rival' way (and I must say, the superior way) to go teach English in Japan. Anyway, lots of people thought I was making fun of Nova. So I felt bad, but not until the next day when I was sober enough to work out what all those Japanese people had been saying: "Nova usagi!" (Nova rabbit). That night we had fun trekking back to our hotel for 45 minutes, bringing joy to groups of Japanese businesspeople and traffic officers along the way.
Nara
It might not have been the best plan to go to Halloween festivities the night before a big trip to Nara, one of Japan's cultural and historical capitals. But it turned out ok anyway. Except for the fact that we made the mistake of actually taking advice from a train conductor, and ended up spending 6 hours on trains when we only meant to spend 3. Note to self: never ask for advice if you think you know what you are doing. Inevitably, it will throw you off course. I'd spent a good hour online planning which trains we should take, etc, and it was all undone by the advice "the other train will get you there faster". We got there in the end, with enough time to meet the deer and see the Todai-ji and the Daibutsu, a huge Buddha statue. Yes, that's right, meet the deer. They're left free to roam all through central Nara because they're considered messengers of the gods according to Shinto beliefs. They're cute, especially the young ones, but some can be pretty aggressive in their search for treats. We also got to see Kasuga shrine, where the deer seem to be more peaceful, perhaps because they're more religious. This shrine has lots and lots of lanterns and is really beautiful. To finish off the trip, we considered buying omiyage (souvenirs) to take back to our colleagues, but I wasn't game enough to buy the 'deer dropping' cakes! (chocolate, of course)
Hida
Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to be a special guest of the Hida Tourism board. Along with 4 other JETs and other 'foreigners' (there's that word again), I experienced an all-expenses paid overnight tour of northern Gifu-ken. I feel it's my duty to now convey to all my friends and family how wonderful Hida is as a tourist destination. And it really is; it's a very traditional, mountainous area of the prefecture, where a lot of old crafts are still practiced. We had to fight our survival instincts to actually board the tour bus, having read the itinerary stating that the tour will require "ten foreigners to execute". Our first stop was an apple orchard where we did some pickin'. Unfortunately, because it had rained a little that day, the 'Country Walk' was cancelled (for me, it felt like a frustrating example of Japanese-ness, but that's probably being unfair). Instead, we got to see a town called Kamioka, which had some beautiful autumn leaves and a funny-but-not-really sign on a bridge that said "Think again. There's a brighter future" in Japanese. The guides told us, through their laughter, that it was there to stop people committing suicide, since it commonly happens on that bridge.After the strenuous hike, we were dropped off at an onsen to soak our aching muscles. I love onsen but I don't think my body is quite used to being immersed in 50-degree-celcius water for minutes on end. Finally, it was off to the hotel, and a beautiful traditional Japanese dinner with local delegates. My friend and I were seated with the Head of Tourism for Hida (I think that was his title, anyway), and of course, managed to drink enough sake to help him confirm every misconception of 'foreigners' he ever had. Actually, it wasn't me who was so drunk, but my friend, who was christened a 'champion' at the end of the night. Oh, and by the way, I overheard one of the delegates commenting on how we 'ate everything' (zenbu tabeta). To which the other replied, 'their bodies are big' (karada ga ookii). Of course they must have thought we couldn't understand, but I did! The delegates also treated us to a couple renditions of the Hida song and taught us the Hida dance. You must understand that in Japan, whenever alcohol is offered, it's expected that people will drink until they're making fools of themselves.
The next day we had our choice of soba noodle-making, paper-making or lacquering. I chose to lacquer, and of course, you can't do that in two hours, so we only got to do the first layer. Our bowls will be sent to us when they're done. After a tour of Furukawa town and another amazing meal, we only had to spend half an hour filling in a survey and we had 'paid' for our trip. Of course they served us coffee and snacks while we worked on the surveys, to make us feel even more guilty.And that's what I've been up to, fun-wise, over the last month or so. Next time I'll write an entry that's more representative of my daily life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
