April - May, 2010

Although I haven't updated this log in a while, I'm hoping the words "not much has happened" will help. The spring vacation from mid-February to the beginning of April was fairly uneventful, though I attended Aikido practice around two times a week. Although I occasionally spent time out in Tokyo with other students that are still in the area, I haven't done anything exceptionally interesting enough so that I'd have updated with an entry.Fortunately, that changes at this point; since the beginning of the new semester, I've joined an additional club (Kyudo, or traditional Japanese archery using long bows) and met the new exchange students. With that, of course, comes additional travel and interesting trips. Since my friend and her host family lives in Sagamihara (in the bordering Kanagawa prefecture), I've gone twice to see them so far. Although mountains are visible from many areas in Tokyo, they are much more prevalent and visible throughout the Kanagawa prefecture.

November 30 - December 30

Aside from the standard schoolwork, the month of December was pleasant; the weather was mild, and there was barely any "bad" weather.

On December 21st, our Folklore teacher introduced some of his friends (one being the elementary school teacher of one we had been allowed to visit a few weeks before), and introduced the class to "Okazari", and how to make them. Okazari are good luck and protection charms created from straw, and are hung on doors, rooms and in the front of buildings for the new year. Nowadays they are used more often for tradition than out of actual belief, but the process of learning how to make the interesting twist and knot was quite entertaining.


On December 23rd, I traveled with some friends to the Imperial Palace, located in the middle of Tokyo. Although the grounds are difficult to visit beyond the castle moat, they were opened on this day for the emperor's birthday ceremony. The palace grounds, buildings and gardens were extremely well-kept, as expected, and also housed quite a few buildings from as far back as the 1600's (some renovated, some not). Emperor Akihito's speech itself was difficult to witness due to the immense crowds, but we managed to travel far enough to hear him clearly... of course, since our Japanese was intermediate at best, it was impossible to understand without a translator (which our Japanese friends were more than happy to help us with).


On December 25th, I visited Shinjuku's Illumination event with some Aikido club members. Many major towns in Japan had the "Illumination" ongoing through December, with many of their terraces lit up to the brim with bright holiday lighting. Although we weren't able to see the entire terrace, one glance at some of the patterns and designs begs the question of how much effort had gone into each of these designs.

November 20 - November 29

Shortly after the Oberlin University festival and the Aikido Yoshinkan Enbu Taikai, I joined some friends on November 20th to eat some Korean food. As Shin-Okubo in Shinjuku is well-known for its "Koreatown", we chose a restaurant there that offered the tabehodai (all you can eat). Although some of the sauces and kimchi weren't as spicy as I liked them to be, I still thought that the food was delicious.


Compared to the rest of Shinjuku and Tokyo in general, Shin-Okubo had a unique atmosphere; there were far more darker alleyways, and was generally less crowded. Since I was only able to experience it briefly during the night, however, I can't say I know the area in its entirety.


On November 26th, I celebrated Thanksgiving at an Outback Steakhouse in Minami-Machida with several friends. It may seem a bit odd that we would choose such a seemingly casual restaurant, but few of us had eaten steak or other Western-styled dining food for a while, and wanted a short break from the usual meals (it had been around 2 months for me). Although the restaurant itself and the menus were similar to the other Outback restaurants back in the States, it was staffed by Japanese personnel and felt rather similar to the other Japanese restaurants we had visited. We didn't have any problems since our Japanese had reached a point where we could comfortably survive in the city, and the food was similar enough to the steakhouses back home. This was my first experience in a Western sit-down restaurant chain in Japan, and aside from the slightly high pricing, I was happy with my service and food.


On November 28th (the Saturday afterwards), I traveled to Kamakura in the Kanagawa prefecture. A friend of mine lived here, and showed a group of us around the local market and the famous temples that were located in the hills around the town. Among the two famous ones we visited include the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, and the Zeniarai Benten Shrine.

The Hachimangu Shrine is Kamakura's iconic landmark; it has a large territory with vibrant buildings and trees that are tended to daily, and is often too crowded to move around comfortably. Crowds aside, I think that the Hachimangu shrine is a place that foreigners should absolutely visit, even if it is a bit far from the train station.


The Zeniarai Benten Shrine can be seen as the opposite of the Hachimangu Shrine in several ways; where the Hachimangu Shrine is bright and vibrant, the Zeniarai Benten Shrine is hidden behind a rather obscure tunnel. Most of Zeniarai Benten's buildings aren't colored the same bright red color, and the temple grounds are much smaller and surrounded by trees and high cliffs. An interesting contrast is that the Zeniarai Benten has a combination of Buddhist and Shinto designs and aspects (apparently, shrines were supposed to remove Buddhist influences during the Meiji era, and this particular shrine managed to avoid persecution). The well-known part of this shrine is the money-washing tradition; people come to dip their coins in the water, which will cause them to "multiply".

October 29 - November 18

As I have fallen into a routine, it has become a bit more difficult to plan sudden trips to the remaining places I would like to go to while in Japan. The main Japanese midterm I had was throughout the first and second weeks of November, during which I didn't go too far out very often. The rest of my time has been divided among schoolwork, Aikido and going out to explore Tokyo with friends. Although the schoolwork can become a bit tedious at times, I noticed that my spoken Japanese has become much smoother than it was when I had first arrived- though I still lack a solid knowledge of vocabulary and kanji in particular, I can comfortably communicate with most locals that I come across... Of course, all of this doesn't quite mean that I have forgotten to take pictures whenever I had come across something interesting.

October 29th and 30th, the Aikido club worked on setting up and running an "okonomiyaki" (japanese-style pancakes) stand together with the Shorinji Kempo club. When I wasn't directly helping create the "okonomiyaki", I had the opportunity to walk around and sample other traditional festival foods made by the various clubs and groups of Oberlin. A stage had been setup in the middle of the campus grounds, where various bands and performances could show their routines. Even though I didn't have much money on me, I decided to spend what I could to try all the different kinds of snacks that I had yet to sample.

Although the stand was setup on the 31st as well, the Aikido club had to perform their demonstration at the "Aikido Enbu Taikai", and left the stand to the Shorinji Kempo club to handle. Many of the top-notch practitioners from the Honbu dojo were in attendance, and the son of the creator of the Yoshinkan style also attended to demonstrate his mastery. I didn't manage to get a good look at the VIP section located opposite from my seat, but according to my club members, the wife of the Japanese Prime Minister (Miyuki Hatoyama), several olympic medalists and foreign ambassadors had come to attend the demonstrations.

On Saturday, November 7th, I went with a friend to a night out in Machida. We didn't quite have a particular destination in mind, but we stumbled upon a "neko no mise", or "cat cafe", where we decided to stay for a while. The cafe was standard in terms of Japan's standards (with books, coffee, internet and etc.), with a special twist; at least a dozen cats and kittens were allowed to roam around the lounging area. They were tame and friendly (if not somewhat lazy), and customers were allowed to pet them after washing their hands. Cat toys were also available to freely use, but I noticed that none of the cats really wanted to get up out of their spots... But I suppose the novelty was worth it, if only for the first time.

October 19 - October 25: Aikido Week

This entire week, from October 19th to the 25th, was the Aikido Club's "gashuku", or training camp. The members rented out an extra large room for meetings and sleeping, and essentially spent the entire week training for their tests and demonstrations when they weren't in class, eating or sleeping. While I usually head to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to around 7:00, I was in attendance every day this week from 4:30 to 10:00PM.

The room we practice Aikido in. Often, we share it with the Judo club.

For the "gashuku"/training camp, we changed the decoration.

Added to my own exercise schedule, I managed to quickly wear out my legs to the point where they were sore for the rest of the week. Regardless of this, I found the practices fun and engaging; because of the extended sessions, I learned much more about my club mates and techniques than I usually did during the weeks before.

"Takada no Baba" of Shinjuku is where the renowned Honbu Dojo is located.

During both Sundays (October 18, October 25), I attended the Honbu Dojo in Takada no Baba of Shinjuku; being that it was the birthplace of "Yoshinkan" style Aikido, I wasn't surprised to see it populated with masters and lifetime practitioners... comparatively, I felt a bit embarrassed when I joined the same class they were in, and had to demonstrate advanced techniques. Even with the embarrassment, however, I must admit I had an amazing time. Though I originally thought that Aikido would be a good way to exercise and spend time after classes, I've already come to believe that it is something I will want to continue long after I've left Japan.

October 5 - October 18: Two Busy Weeks

Although the sheer number of things on my schedule has made it a bit more difficult for me to update this journal these recent days, I still find time to relax, enjoy myself, meet new people and explore new places. Since I don't personally find the subject of class very interesting to showcase in a journal, I'll stick with updating whenever I do something interesting!

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10/06/09, Tuesday
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Aside from class, I was allowed to join the experiential course and visit the nearby Kyudo (traditional Japanese archery) club's building; whereas my Aikido club has a room designated for usage, the Kyudo club has been assigned its own building. I've heard from some students that apparently Oberlin University has the best Kyudo club available in Japanese universities, and to be honest, I wouldn't doubt that after seeing the demonstrations and facility. The fact that it was raining made it feel all the more movie-like.

The Kyudo club's building; you can see the yumi (traditional Japanese bows).

The Kyudo members demonstrate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3BnmuE2fQI

The building has a moving wall that allows the members to practice.

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10/09/09, Saturday
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Today, I traveled with several international students to Yokohama for the first time. Since the goal was to experience the Taiwanese festival, however, I didn't see as much of it as I would have hoped... Of course, that does not mean I didn't have fun.

We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant before exploring; this dish in particular includes a Peking Duck wrap.

The Chinatown portion of Yokohama.

A food vendor in a shop from Chinatown; these steamed buns were cutely designed.

The schoolyard was decorated especially for the Taiwanese celebration.

09/27/09, Sunday

School's finally begun, and it is as grueling as I had expected it to be. The teachers are nice enough and the words/grammar/kanji courses are challenging, so I'm bracing myself for a rigorous semester... But of course, a journal about classes when I can be speaking about my traveling experiences would be dull, so I'll leave the topic of studies at that.

On Friday (09/25/09), I went to my friend Shouhei's apartment. His girlfriend was over at the time, and we had nabe (or nabemono) for dinner- as far as homemade stews go, I must admit this was possibly one of the best I have ever had in my life. And of course, I had plenty more opportunities to practice my conversational Japanese skills, so I stayed for a few hours after before finally bidding farewell to join some international students at the nearby pub... After a few expensive drinks, the night ended pretty typically (I had to be careful not to drink too much; I had a half-hour walk back to my room).

"Nabemono", which was delicious.

On the Saturday right after that, I spent much of my time resting (after joining Aikido, my body felt like a sack of dirt). Though there was a small dinner at a nearby TGI Friday's, we didn't end up doing too much of anything...

If we had stayed out too late, I knew I wouldn't be able to survive the Machida Festival (Matsuri). Volunteers who had signed up gathered at 11:00 AM, and were dressed in the "uniform" by 12:00. We carried an "portable shrine" known as an O-mikoshi, which weighed in at the range of about 700 kilograms. After parading it throughout the streets of Machida, we brought it back to the starting point and were allowed to explore the Tenmangu Temple and have fun on our own.We were given appropriate clothes for when we carried the O-Mikoshi.

The O-Mikoshi. It weighs about 700 kilograms.

The Tenmangu Shrine looms in the distance of this wonderful festival.

I finally got back to my apartment at around 8:00 PM (with my studies left yet undone at this point), but I must admit that this has been an interesting week indeed.