A Long Overdue Update

A post on CNet today informed me that MS Word 2007 allows you to post easily to blogs now. I was quite shocked, for one of the reasons I've yet to update since October is the cumbersome process for making the formatting and pictures look right in blogger. With a little luck, this will enable me just write my blog rather than spend endless hours making it look proper

Enough with the technical stuff, let's move on to recent events. We've finally seen some sense of winter in Kyoto! The past week has seen three "snow events" (I hesitate to call them storms) that each delivered enough snow to stick for a few hours. The former imperial capital (Kyoto) does not completely shut down like the federal capital (Washington DC) in such a situation, but people certainly don't know what to do with snow here. No plows, no shoveling, just let the traffic on the roads keep them clear. It's a pretty effective strategy when you only get an inch or so. All the snow melts in the following 12 hours anyways.

Nonetheless, the snow last Saturday motivated me towards visiting a Buddhist temple: their architecture looks wonderful in the snow. I've been meaning to travel to 東本願寺 (Higashihonganji) and/or its sister Nishihonganji for ages, and it was awfully ironic I'd never been since they're awfully close to Kyoto Station. In fact, most tourists visit as soon as they get off the bullet train. Higashihonganji indeed looked gorgeous in the snow, as the following photograph shows. Higashihonganji is architecturally interesting because of the dial shaped thing you see in the picture: it's actually the skylight for a lecture hall underground that allows sun to shine on the podium on a nice day. It's awfully tasteful, and it's the product of a very well known architect.

I can also safely say that the snow really made Kyoto Tower look great. Looking off towards the gate at Higashihonganji, its white color really blended well with the sky and the rest of the scenery. For once 1960s modern architecture is worthwhile!

After my trip to Higashihonganji I gave up on its sister temple and headed back to Kyoto Station. I spend most of my time further north in Kyoto than Kyoto Station, so it was nice to have an opportunity to explore the area around the station itself. There's not too much of note besides the two underground shopping malls I already am familiar with, but I did get to visit the massive Bic Camera built about a year ago.

Bic Camera is a big electronics store chain, so it was a blast to play around with all sorts of fun Japanese technology. Unbeknownst to me Japanese-English electronic dictionaries now have television tuners in them (not sure if they're HD, the screen certainly looked like it could support it even if not necessary). They've built in an entrance to the JR Platforms as well, so you can literally buy a ticket and exit directly onto a train platform from the store. In case that isn't enough of a draw, they also have an alcohol section so you may buy beer to go with your big screen, Blu Ray player, or HD DVR with 500GB hard disk.

Japan really does put us to shame.

KCJS goes to Okayama for the weekend

KCJS is mainly a city program. For that reason they feel obligated to set us up with a homestay in the countryside on a long weekend in the first semester. The longtime destination is Okayama prefecture, down the Inland Sea coast halfway between Kobe and Hiroshima. By Japanese standards it is certainly not the city, but I`ve been more remote places in Japan.
 
What surprised me was how un-Japanese my Japanese host family was. They live in the big, new house pictured here. They have 3 kids, don't drink, like to barbecue at home, and don't like to eat raw fish. These are very rare (but certainly not bad!) things in this country.

Compared to the apartments and houses in the city or suburbs their house is positively massive by Japanese standards. My host family was the wonderful Miyake family. They have three cute children: Ai is 4, Junpei is 2, and Nao is less than a year old. They`re here with my host mom Kayoko.
 

It was their first time hosting, so they were incredibly relieved that I spoke fine Japanese. Still, there were a few `quirks` that most Japanese hosts would never let occur. For example, they showed me where my futon was stored in my room rather than lay it out for me. Most Japanese host families would never allow such a calamity to occur; I was perfectly happy to make up my own bed. That should illustrate the type of hospitality one gets staying with a host family here.
 

My host mom picked out a bunch of pamphlets of the surrounding area and the whole prefecture (like a province or state, but usually a bit larger than Rhode Island). Wanting to keep with the experience of the countryside, I picked out all local sites. My host mom said those were all fine, and that we would go see them on the final day before they dropped me off for the bus ride home. The beach shot here is on that final Sunday.
 
Meanwhile, on Saturday they wanted to take me to more famous places than their hometown. In an ironic turn, my visit to the country took us to Okayama City and Kurashiki City. Okayama the black Okayama Castle as its main attraction. Like so many other things the original castle was destroyed during the war, so this one was rebuilt on the old foundations in the 1960s.
 




















Okayama was a classic castle town of the Tokugawa period, but it also boasts one of the top three gardens in Japan: Korakuen.

 




















The layout was designed for a big shot daimyo (top samurai of a feudal domain) and is painstakingly maintained.

Even more interesting was our visit to Kurashiki. Kurashiki is a great example of a high end traditional tourist site for rich Japanese. The historical Tokugawa (1600s on) town has been preserved on the waterfront and is a pleasure to look at.
 

The traditional shops are expensive, chintzy, and not really worth looking at to me.












Still, I was shocked to find the town has a really legitimate art museum. We`re standing across from it in this shot.
 
The Ohara art museum boasts paintings by El Greco, Picasso, Degas, Cezanne, Renior, etc... Interestingly, it also displays the works of Japanese who studied with the Impressionists in Paris.

After starting out on the beach that Sunday, we finally made it to a few of the neighborhood sites. At a traditional garden and machiya in the neighboring town we ran into a friend from KCJS
 
Running into KCJS friends was common both in Okayama and Kurashiki; clearly no one was proud enough of their oceanside town. My friend was dressed up in Kimono for the afternoon.




Finally, we took a trip up a mountain (by car) to Asakuchi town's real claim to fame: the largest observatory in Japan.
 
It turns out that Okayama has exceedingly clear skies on days I am not visiting.

Class field trips

My Japanese class has been reading two articles on historical preservation in Kyoto, so our teachers arranged for us to take a field trip to a Kyoto Machiya.
 
Machiya are two floor Tokugawa era merchant homes that are built with a long hallway that seems like a tunnel on one side. The rooms all connect to that hallway as well as to each other. My friend Yesul is about to enter the place.

A little piece of the hallway looks something like this.
 
The hallway houses the kitchen near the back (pictured). It was considered `outside the house` so you still have to wear shoes out there.








Machiya also have two different gardens inside. One is for the low end customers to see year the shop room (of course the one closest to the street).
 
This shot is from the second floor looking down towards that first garden. Still, the better garden is in the back and for the regular customers and the shopowner`s use.






Finally, here`s a shot of one of my Japanese professors and two friends in one of the traditional rooms. The painting above us is very old and likely worth serious money.

 

Architecturally boring in modern buildings, but never culturally

If you`ve seen pictures of my apartment building then you`ve seen about what most post 1970s apartment buildings look like in Japanese cities. They`re pretty drab and not very interesting. Nonetheless, Kyoto does have a few modern buildings worth looking at.
 
Surprisingly, the Kyoto City hall is one of them. I was walking home after going to karaoke one afternoon and shot this picture from the crosswalk at Oike Boulevard.

Checking out the side of the City hall is also pretty interesting too. It certainly beats the ugly as sin Boston City Hall.
 






















I also went out with Mrs. Kanari and her English speaking group. Mrs. Kanari and I are here in a cafe (excellent but expensive coffee floats).
 
We ended up going to see one of my peers perform at a venue not too far from my apartment, came back to my apartment so we could exchange Omiyage(also to assure them my living situation was fine), and went out to the Hankyu Department store's Tabehodai (as much as you can eat) Chinese restaurant.
 
My economics professor swears by it as the best deal in town. One can also get nomihodai (as much as you can drink) added on to the tab if you wish. The food ranged from the General Gau's chicken level to some excellent dim sum, but we all found things we liked to eat.
 

Imperial Palace and a walk to school

It seems like an age since I`ve posted here, so I do have a number of things to catch up on.

One day before I bought my bike I spent an hour or two walking to school rather than taking the bus. The walk takes one through the Imperial Palace Park and around today`s Kyoto Imperial Palace.
 
The place is massive: it takes a good chunk of the north center of modern Kyoto, and the wide gravel boulevards and massive palace are meant to impress.

This shot is of the inner walls around the inner palace. There is another wall around the whole compound.
 
The inner wall is about 15 feet tall and in typical Japanese fashion surrounded by motion sensors. If you cross the band about 1 foot from the wall, an alarm starts beeping and you are very, very, very, politely asked to step back by the recording. I watched a Japanese guy turn beat red in front of his girlfriend as he did it.

You`ll also find it interesting to see the ornate architecture on this building: these are the tiles that are on the top edge of the wall.
 
Can you imagine the effort in making these by hand?

Much of the walk to Kyodai Kaikan is east to west, so that means you have to cross the Kamo Gawa (Duck River).
 

I cannot say I`ve ever seen a duck on the river, but it does have some picturesque views of the mountains and of Kyoto.












On my way home one night I found this scene at a well known sweets shop in the neighborhood. It`s a classic piece of Japan in my eyes. I call it Icons of an Age.

 

Cars parked in traditional “garages” (houses) like this are certainly not a rarity in Kyoto, but I find this quite amusing. The Meiji looking dwelling and a VW bus seem to represent their eras quite well.

These final few shots are for Steve and Sherry Schwartz.
 

Last time I was in Kyoto they were here for meeting and dined on a Kaiseki meal. We picked them up from Shiran Kaikan near Kyoto University.

 

I knew nothing about the neighborhood at the time, but it turns out it`s on my 5 minute walking route between KCJS in Kyodai Kaikan and the main campus of Kyoto University.

 

I pass by every day and remember how much we enjoyed that meal and trip to Osaka for Bunraku. My host parents still talk about it with me.

I'm not starving

Just to let you know I`m not starving, here`s a few shots of the home cooked food I`ve either had by my own hand or my host mothers. The restaurant food I really haven`t taken many shots of thus far.

The night after I arrived my host parents from three years ago insisted on having a celebratory meal at their house. We decided on Teppanyaki, which basically means grill it by yourself.

Break out the grill, spend $60 on some delicious looking meat, and this is what you get.
 
Indeed, we did grill all sorts of other things too at the table that night, but the beef was just too beautifully marbled not to shoot. Why can`t we buy stuff like that at home?
 
I'm still drooling at the sight of the photos...

One night I did a Chinese style stir fry: meat, bok choy, onion, bean sprouts, etc... I wished I had a black bean sauce at the time, but I had to settle for soy sauce, salt, pepper, rice vinegar etc...
 

There`s also a kind of Japanese/Korean mix dinner I did too. Tofu with soy sauce and avocado salad (soy sauce dressing) are the Japanese tastes. The beef, garlic, onion, saute is more Korean than chinese tasting.
 

I also did a nice chicken rubbed with fresh minced ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, etc... It came out well, but I was much more excited about the legitimate baugette I found at a store down the street! One of my two big complaints about the food here is the oversweetened, overfloured bread, so I am overjoyed at this discovery.
 

Still, lacking an oven or toaster oven I had to get creative and basically throw some butter on the ends and quickly grill? it in a pan to get it toasted. It worked out well, but when I told my host mom about this two days later she said `is your microwave not a toaster oven? Most are...` I checked and she was correct. Oh well, it helps if you carefully read what every appliance in your kitchen does.

Of course I`ve had plenty of nights eating out, being treated (my host family, friends from three years ago, etc...), and even a rare few evenings where I settled for making some simple udon with onions and such. The point being I`m not starving. In fact, I figuring out how great a food city Kyoto is. There`s a great coffee shop about a 10 minute walk away that doubles as a pasta place. They do a surprisingly great job.

I also ate my first Middle Eastern (Israeli in fact) food in Japan ever today! They had a legitimate flaffel sandwich in this little shop I encountered biking around North of Kyoto University. In true Israeli fashion and another first for me in Japan they overcharged me for my meal (all I can think of is Rami`s), but I still enjoyed the food.

The Japanese cuisine in my neighborhood is too numerous to go into, but as far as foreign cuisines within walking distance I have Italian, French, Spanish Tapas, and I think Chinese. All are about a ten minute walk away. Location, location, location.

A little tour of Kyoto University...and more

Kyoto University alternates from being nice to look at to butt ugly, so I`ll try to pass along the pleasing pictures first.

Here`s both the most famous building and most famous plant on Kyoto University`s campus: the Tokeidai (clock tower) and the Kisunoki (camphor tree).
 
Japanese people recognize the Tokeidai like we would recognize the main quad at Harvard. I`m always reminded of the childhood book `The Giving Tree` when I walk by the Kisunoki.

One must remember that Kyoto University was founded in the 1880s, so the original buildings were merely ok to look at. You barely see them in a rebuilt item like this
 
Nonetheless, the big building boom was in the 1950s and 1960s, so you`ll find these horrible looking concrete hulks around the campus too. It`s as bad as having a bunch of Boston City Halls in one area interspersed with a bunch of rebuilt/refurbished buildings like the Tokeidai and the one above.

Anything that looks new has been built in the last 10 years or so like this building you see here on the Yoshida Campus (just south of the main campus).

 

Finally, there will occasionally be a building that dates from the beginning of the university. Doshisha University, a private institution about a 5-10 minute cab away, is considerably prettier than Kyodai architecturally.

Classes alternate for me between Kyodai Kaikan and the J-Pod (International Seminar Room). Kyodai Kaikan is basically a conference hall that was orginally created to be an alumni space about a six minute walk from campus. Things didn`t work out, so it today has become a conference hall for rent that`s moderately affiliated with Kyoto University.  
We rent out rooms for language classrooms, the KCJS library, and our professors` offices. Since language classes are always from 9:15-10:25 and 10:30-11:40, I usually spend my mornings there.


You`ll see the bikes out front: biking is the best way to get around Kyoto if you`re not going where the public transit runs frequently.  
I just invested about $85 in a used, excellent condition collaspible bike. Since my apartment has no official spot to put a bike (people do just leave them out front despite the rental company`s pleas), I figured the collapsible bike was the way to go. If somebody complains about parking out front or if it is supposed to rain, I can always just carry it up to my apartment and stick it on my veranda. Since I bought my bike my commute has gone from 45 minutes of walking, riding the bus, and walking again to 20-25 minutes of flat, pleasurable biking. The surrounding neighborhood is also pretty cool with lots of traditional houses like this one.
 



Finally, there`s the J-Pod. I have my Economics/Business and Kyoto: The Past in the Present classes here.
 
The J-Pod is actually a product of the forestry school here at Kyoto. They planted a cedar forest on some mountains in Wakayama Prefecture and needed to manage the forest by cutting down trees. It doesn`t pay to hire the labor nor the shipping in this country, but because they already had the costs for the forestry school they decided to build these little J-Pods with the wood. It is a very cool spot to have class, and the young cedar smell is great and nothing like the whiff you get when opening up an old chest.