more...More....MORE....!

More new posts!

Instead of going into details, I'll just say, check out July and August again. Enjoy!

New Posts!!

I finally added two new posts, as promised. I back-dated them so they would be in their proper place. Neither one is about my summer vacation, but beggars can't be choosers.

I spent quite a bit of time writing and formatting them (and trying to remember what did I do exactly?) and I even included some Japanese in the post about Nagashi Somen.

Please read and enjoy!

やっと新しいポスト二つを書きました。両方とも夏休みについてではないんですけど、「流しそうめん」のポストでは日本語で頑張って書いてみましたので、読んでください！

July 19th, 2008--Nagashi Somen 流しそうめん

July 7th, 2008--Tanabata Festival 七夕祭り

Janie's Quote of the Day #5

"My country is the world and my religions is to do good."

--Thomas Paine

Janie's Quote of the Day #4

"You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it."

--G. K. Chesterton

(Go read some Father Brown mysteries. They're great fun!)

I'm Baaaaaaack! -- Home Sweet Home

I'm home again at last. Those cats are so HEAVY! Next time, I'm going to make them carry ME home. It only took us about 5 and a half hours door to door, which isn't too bad.

Alas, our dear friends on the Japan baseball team weren't able to hold it together enough to make it to the finals. In fact, within moments after my last post Korea scored some points and made it obvious who was indeed going to advance to the finals. Since Korea went on to win the gold, one might say that there's no shame in losing to the number one team... But during the game against the U.S. to determine who got the bronze, Japan lost big time! And America got the pants whipped off of them by Cuba just the day before. (Japan lost to Cuba too, but not so badly.) America even lost to China, so everyone is disappointed that the national Japan team couldn't beat them to bring home a medal at what may well have been the final Olympic baseball event.

How did Tarzan react? "What? Really? Well, I guess my work here is done then." (He had been at the hotel making preparations for a victory press conference--just in case.) The next day (today) when he called, he was out shopping for souvenirs and doing a little sight seeing on his last day at the Olympics. He enjoyed himself so much he wants to make it a family tradition to see the games. Sounds good to me, but we better get the ball rolling if we really want to see the London games. You have to book reservations years in advance. Maybe the 2016 games--who knows? They may even be in Tokyo.

All in all, Tosh seems to be happy to come home. It'll be nice to see him again. He'll have to work late tomorrow night, though, running the press conference after he and the team come back.

I'm ready to hit the hay. It's late, and I worked hard! Plus, I shipped my suitcase to myself, and it'll arrive tomorrow morning, so I gotta catch some z's.

Pics are loaded to the computer and just wating to be uploaded for your viewing pleasure. (I hope that'll be sometime soon!)

Nighty night! Oyasumi nasaaaaaai!

2 weeks on the road...

Well, it's been just two weeks today since I packed up the cats and hit the road. I've been visiting T's family in Mie and Wakayama prefectures and now Kyoto. I also went to see my new niece as well, who is super cute. We're all watching the Olympic baseball games with enthusiasm. It looks like Japan may even have a chance against Korea, the #1 ranked team in the preliminary league. If they beat them, they have a shot at the gold! Wish 'em luck!

I'm finally going home tomorrow, and although it'll be kind of sad to end my vacation, it'll be nice to go back, I guess. Especially since the weather seems to be giving us a break here. The choking, mind-numbing heat of mid-summer has finally gone (knock on wood). In spite of that, I'll still have to send my suitcase back, as I have received so many gifts from people (it was my birthday last week) that it's gone from being half-full to barely-can-get-the-zipper-shut. That's what you get for having generous friends and family, I guess. (I have a hard life.)

Lots and lots of pictures and trip log to come!

My first ryokan!!!

Today (I'm actually writing this on Sept. 16th, but who cares?), Obaachan, Hisayo, Rie, Hirocchi, Shiho, and I all went to a ryokan in Wakayama. It's called QKamura (i think?) and it was about an hour by car from Udono. After arriving late in the afternoon, first we headed for the hot spring pools. I must admit, I was a bit nervous about getting naked in front of people I actually knew (I'd been in a hot spring once before but I went by myself, so the thought of embarrassment was abated), but it turned out to be pretty painless. The views from the baths were awesome! Right over the Pacific with flower-covered hillside leading down to the rocky water's edge. After relaxing for a bit, we changed into the hotel's yukata (you can see the Q's all over them) and went to the dining room for dinner.

Me and Obaachan, waiting to dig in.

Here's the delicious food after we ate. They all made fun of me. I was supposed to take a "before" shot, not an "after" one. I was hungry, ok?!

Our lovely room with 6 futons laid out for us. They put some cushy pads under the futon, so they were extra comfy.

Before bedtime, they had a small surprise for me. What can it be?

My very own yukata, picked out by Hisayo-obachan and Obaachan!! It was so pretty! They even gave me matching shoes to go with it. They are so sweet. I feel a little bit like a leech, especially since it's Hirocchi and Obaachan's birthday tomorrow, but I still have a few days to go! But more than anything, I'm grateful. THANK YOU!

Nighty night! Let's see what tomorrow brings.

(postdated 9/16/2008)

Ah, summer～!

Let's face it. I have no interest in cooking for myself in this weather. I love that most Japanese people agree and made it practically a tradition to eat cold udon, soba, and somen during hot weather. Here is my simple repast, complete with homemade fish broth dipping sauce with shako furikake thrown in.

mmmm boy! delicious!

(postdated 9/16/2008)

All-Japan Olympic Baseball Camp

Today, Rie, her friend Hana-chan, and I all went out to YomiuriLand's baseball park, "Giants' Kyujo", to watch the Japan National team practice before the Olympics. It was sooo HOT, I couldn't believe it. I was going to bring a hat and maybe even a parasol, but I forgot my hat and chickened out about the parasol. Boy, did I pay for it! Anyway, on to the field!

Here is the view from our seats just first-base side of homeplate. It really was a beautiful day, lots of trees that you could hear blowing in the (hot) wind, and a really gorgeous castle-like roller coaster in the background there.

Here's Tosh! In the first-base side dugout. He's the one on the right in profile.

Here's a picture full of many of Japan's hot-shots. Number 77 is Coach Hoshino, 52 is shortstop Kawasaki "Munerin" Munehiro, 88 is batting coach Tabuchi (he was a real character), the navy blue shirt is #7 Nishioka--the second-base player heartthrob from Lotte Marines, and #6 is team captain Miyamoto.

Here's one of my favorite players, Inaba, right-fielder from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

And Munerin doing some batting practice. He always reminds me of Mamiya-san from kendo!

One last shot of batting practice.

Boy, did I regret not bringing the hat or parasol. On top of it being volcano hot, sitting there in the sun, I wore a loose-fitting, square-neck and -back shirt that made a nice square-shaped sunburn from my shoulder blades to the nape of my neck! The sad thing is, there's a smear of less cherry red where I did manage to put on some sunscreen. Man, that's going to leave an ugly tan line!

(postdated 9/16/2008)

Glorious Notions

There are many great knitting and crochet notions out there, invented by some very creative people. They saw a lack and they filled it with a gadget specifically to aid the creators in need. While I respect and admire these people, I must confess that even more than finding a great amimono* notion, I love to find things that weren’t made for amimono but fit the bill nicely just the same. Or even to see a great notion and then see a similar tool out there that does the same job. My heartfelt thanks to all the tools (and their makers) out there that give me inspiration to find or make things that I would otherwise have to buy.

One such example is a set of knitting clips that you can buy and use in place of pins or basting your work together before seaming. Pins are almost more trouble than they’re worth (so I’ve heard, at least) and basting—well, heck, you might as well just go ahead and sew the darn thing from the get-go. So—voila!—knit clips were born to hold your edges together, making it easy to make that seam seamless. The moment I saw those, I went out and got some binder clips (the big kind that you use to keep a whole stack of papers together) at the 100-yen store. I can buy eight or ten clips for 100 yen versus much more money and inconvenience for the ones specifically for seaming. Plus, I can use them to keep my papers together too.

I know this is short, but I’ll continue to post more amimono gadgets and ideas in later entries.

*One thing I love about Japanese knitting/crochet is the fact that they have one word to describe all yarn/thread pursuits with either hook or needle: amimono. From now on, I’d like to use this word in place of knitting or crochet when I really mean both. Ami (as in amigurumi) means knit/crochet, pulling one loop of something through another, and mono means thing. Easy peasy. Amimono. Now try saying that 10 times fast!

Nagashi Somen Party--流しそうめんパーティー

Literally, something like "somen river" (somen being really thin flour noodles, like super skinny udon).

My friend from the local volunteer Japanese class, Kazuko Miyazaki, had this grand party at her house. She has a huge house and and nice yard too, and since she's the president of the World Citizen's Club here in Higashimurayama, lots of people attended. She and her husband are two of the kindest, most generous human beings I have ever met. Here's what we did:

First things first, I got dressed up in a yukata, or summer kimono. Mrs. Miyazaki has dozens of yukata, some of which she even made herself, and she was kind enough to let us wear them.

Getting dressed by Ms. Tokunaga. She tied the obi just right!

徳永さんに着せていただきました。帯をきれいに結んでくれた！

Mrs. Morita, a tea ceremony teacher, made cold matcha for us all. We also ate some lovely, summer-themed Japanese sweets to go with it. In the lower left corner, you can barely see the glass tureen (pot?) with ice water in it that she used in place of the usual iron mini-cauldron that they normally use.

茶道の先生の森田さんはみんなに冷たい抹茶を作ってくれました。左側の下の方に冷水が入っているガラスの茶釜を見えます。（「茶釜」でしょうかね？間違いでしたら、ごめんなさい！）お茶の前にとても美味しくて涼しげなお菓子も頂けました。

I was her assistant. It was so hard to deliver the sweets and the matcha to guests elegantly in the heat, especially without tripping and killing myself--or worse, spilling the tea! When it was finally my turn to drink a cup of cold tea, I was so relieved to be finished with my duty. That cup of tea was truly delicious!

私はお手伝いをしました！とても難しかったです。暑い中で立ったり座ったりして、お茶やお菓子を運んだりするのは、思ったより大変でした。やっと私の頂く番になって、ほっとしました。その冷たいお茶はホントに美味しかったです！

Finally, my tea duties being finished, I went outside for some cold somen. Now you can see the true meaning of river of somen. Traditionally, people cut a long, straight pole of bamboo in half to use as a ramp for the somen, but I think they made their own out of plastic rain gutters! (They wanted an especially long ramp.) A person at the top of the ramp flushes the noodles downstream with a bowlful of water to keep the noodles moving. They're pretty hard to catch! They also throw in some maraschino cherries and canned tangerines to make things fun. Then you dunk your prizes in a bowl of mentsuyu (a sweet and salty fish-based broth) and enjoy!　Trust me, it's delicious, although the sweet fruit with the sweet-salty tsuyu was certainly a first for me.

お茶の手伝いが終わって、いよいよ流しそうめんに向かいました。この写真で「流しそうめん」の意味分かるでしょう。昔は１本の竹を半分に割ってつかいましたけど、これは竹ではない。手作りなので、雨どいで作ったらしい。そうめんだけじゃなく、チェリーもみかんも一緒に流すんです。さらに、麺つゆにかけて、お召し上がり！

This boy got lots of canned tangerines! He was sweet enough to let me take his picture (though he did not share his bounty!).

この子はミカンをいっぱい取れた。写真をとらせてくれたけど、ミカンを一つもくれなかった！

Here's another shot of the action. By holding your chopsticks in the stream for a bit, you can gather a lot of noodles. Before I tried it, I thought you had to time it right and strike for the noodles as they floated by!

Here are all the foreigners (except Mrs. Morita, of course) in yukata. Somewhat to my chagrin, only the foreigners actually wore yukata--all borrowed from Mrs. Miyazaki. (Including Mrs. Morita, since she wore a kimono--not a yukata.)

森田さん以外はみんな外国人です。ちょっと恥ずかしかったけど、ゆかたを着た人は外人だけでした！森田さんでも着物を着ていたので、ゆかたを着なかったのです。

Here we are in the changing room. About half of the ladies, complaining of the heat, changed out of the yukata as soon as we took the photo before this one. It was pretty hot, but I was having fun wearing the yukata, so I wore it for a little while longer.

着替え室で休んでいました。左にいる二人の女性はゆかたが暑いと言って、部屋に戻ってからすぐに着替えた。私もちょっと暑いと思ったけど、着るのは楽しかったので、しばらくしてから着替えました。

In addition to the tea ceremony and somen nagashi, there was also origami, a huge feast of a buffet--all home-made delights to boot!, and Mr. Miyazaki was giving out handmade kirigami (intricately cut paper scenes), homemade pressed flower bookmarks, and kanji scrolls! They are truly kind people.

お茶と流しそうめんの上にごちそうを食べられて、おりがみコーナーもあって、さらに宮崎さんの旦那さんは、手作り切り紙や押し花のしおりや書道の巻物を皆にくれました。本当にやさしいご夫婦です。

It was quite a hot day, but I had such a good time. Since deciding that we would leave at the end of this year, it's inspired me to go out and participate in these get-togethers when I wouldn't have before. I'm finding that the more things I go to, the more fun I have. I wish I had done all of this sooner! Well, better late than never. The Japanese sure know how to have a good time in any season or weather.

とても暑かったけど、すごい楽しい一日でした。今までこんなパーティーにあまり行かなかったのに、今年は日本にいるの最後の一年だから、思いっきり楽しめなきゃ。初めて流しそうめんをやりましたが、もっと早くやればよかったねと思いました。日本人の凄い所を一つ学びました。どんなお天気でも、どんな季節でも、生活を楽しめます。

(postdated 9/15/2008)

Party at Morita-san's house!

Tonight, I had a wonderful time at a party for Maria at Morita-san's house. Maria, sitting to my right in the picture below, has been in Japan for the last two months or so visiting her sister, Delia (over Morita-san's left shoulder in the picture). She'll be leaving next week, so Morita-san was kind enough to throw a little going away party. Even Morita-san't grandson came. He was such a gentleman! He helped serve us all food and drinks and talked with all of us old ladies without the least bit of awkwardness. He even said he wants to go to the U.S. to visit Maria (and me too, I hope!) next summer with his grandmother. What a keeper!

Left to right: Morita-san's grandson, Morita-san, Delia, Kamiya-san, Hattori Keiko-san, Maria, Yours Truly, and Otake Noriko-san. photographer (i.e., not pictured): Komura Kazuko-san

Here's the feast! It was delicious. And one of the ladies made a delicious castella sponge cake for dessert. I had a wonderful time. Maria won't want to go back after such wonderful treatment. We'll miss her!

P.S. Thank you for sending me the photos, Kazuko-san! (My camera battery died, just as I was about to take pictures.)

(postdated 9/16/2008)

Yasaka Jinja Festival-- 八坂神社の夏祭り

I can't believe it's been a year already since the last Yasaka Festival. I didn't even know it existed before last year, even though I've been here for almost 4 years now. My dad was here last year and we saw it by coincidence. Well, today I heard the loud beat of the drum over the AC and decided to take a look outside. I was not disappointed! Down the street came the giant drum, pulled by a few dozen people. Following behind was the shrine being carried on shoulders. From the way it was weaving and jostling down the street, it must have been quite heavy! And behind that was a wagon-like vehicle being pulled mostly by small children (it took about 30 of the little boogers too!) that had a dancer, a drum-player, and a flute player on it. I didn't go down to the street this time. It was monstrously hot, and I saw it last year after all... I know--totally lazy. Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures until the last wagon, but I did get some pictures!

Here comes the last part of the procession. The station is at the far end of the street. This shot is from my front door on the seventh floor.

A close-up. The dancer is on the left, the drummer on the right front, and the flute player somewhere behind or inside. It was like 90+ degrees and 50% humidity or more. All of these guys were awesome!

Looking straight down. You can see a lot of the kids pulling the wagon.

More kids. The wagon's almost visible!

キター！It's here!

Going...

Going...

Gone. See you next year! (Well, maybe I won't, but anyway...)

Hakone Day Trip

Having been away from the blog for such a long time, I find myself at a bit of a loss as to what to write. I certainly would like to start by giving excuses or making apologies. (I hear the latter is what is done at the beginning of all meetings in Britain.) I’ve been feeling tired more often than I think I should for a long time now. Well, the last few months have been particularly bad, but actually I’ve thought so for about a year now. I listen to a knitting podcast called CastOn and the podcaster was talking about having thyroid problems in the episodes I was listening to in May, and she also recommended people not to sit by and put up with problems, but to go to the doctor and do something about it. So finally, at the end of May, I got myself to the doctor and had a blood test. I don’t have thyroid problems, but I do have an abnormally high number of antibodies for E.B.virus (which is the main cause of mononucleosis). I find that if I take it easy, listen to my body, nap when I’m tired, and eat three meals a day, I’m fine. But I’m particularly weak when it comes to heat, or when I don’t eat properly. Okay, enough of that!

Yesterday, Toshio and I went to Hakone. Hakone is a famous hot-spring resort town for those who don’t know. I mentioned a few days ago that hydrangeas were one of my favorite flowers, so after a bit of research, Tosh said Friday night, “Let’s go to Hakone. There’s a temple there that’s famous for ajisai. You said you liked them.” (What a sweetie!)

Here are some of the hydrangeas we saw that day--these were at Amidaji. I love that color blue!

We were a little bit excited about the trip the night before so we didn’t get to sleep until 2 a.m. and then woke up at 5:30! We got on the 6:50 train to Shinjuku and boarded the Romance Car special express to Hakone at 8 a.m. Toshio made reservations the night before so we had two seats in the front car close to the huge windows that allow the front passengers to watch the scenery go by (which is why it’s called a Romance Car, I guess). Tosh and I had two seats in the 4th row, but they were a bit raised like in a movie theater, so we could see over everyone’s head. There was an open space next to us, where two seats should have been, and there was something that looked like a luggage stand. A few minutes before we left, the driver came in, climbed on the luggage rack thingy, opened a hatch in the roof and pulled down a small ladder that attached to the luggage rack and the hatch opening, thereby climbing up to his perch in the top of the train! It was so cool. I wish I’d taken a picture. T and I enjoyed the scenery as far as Machida, but then we both passed out until we got to Hakone. I would’ve fallen asleep even earlier, but I was fascinated by the area of Tokyo we passed through. It was a part of Tokyo neither of us had seen before, probably because we never take that train line. It really affected me and it felt like when I first landed in Japan, the strangeness and excitement of something new. I kept that feeling for most of the day.

The old-fashioned train going through the tunnel at Tou no Sawa Station.

Then we awoke in Hakone at Hakone-Yumoto Station and our excursions truly began. We got off the Romance Car into a huge crowd and a blast of humid heat that remained pretty unbearable throughout the day. Our first destination was the ajisai temple (officially called Amidaji--阿弥陀寺), so named for the myriad, beautiful hydrangea bushes that surround it. (Ajisai is hydrangea, you see.) We got on the ajisai train (Hakone Tozan Tetsudo, 箱根登山鉄道), which was unbelievably crowded, and went one station over to Tou no Sawa Station (塔ノ沢駅). The hydrangeas along the tracks were beautiful, and we were looking forward to seeing more at the temple.

At Tou no Sawa Station. (Tosh often jokes that I'm going bald because of my weird hairline, and it sure does look like it in this picture. What's up with that?!)

We left the station, which had no attendants and left us on the honors system, and headed downhill. I began to appreciate at once how hilly and steep Hakone is. There were no signs for the temple so we went to two tea shops that were on the path, hoping to get directions, but at 9:45 a.m. neither was open. Then we spotted a woman brushing her front porch, so Tosh asked me to ask for directions. (He was embarrassed and said she would be nicer to a foreigner. If anything, the opposite was more likely to happen, but I have enough confidence in my Japanese that I didn’t care.) She kindly pointed the way and described how to get there. She said it would be a 30 minute walk. I was somewhat disheartened at this, seeing as how I’d only had about three and a half hours sleep and I was hoping for a relaxing day. Oh well. Shou ga nai ne. We set off in the direction indicated and lo and behold came upon a sign that pointed the way, but was situated up the path so that only a person who already knew which way to go would see the dang thing. Tosh said it was probably a marketing ploy by the tea shops to get people to come in and ask for directions and possibly have a cup of tea before making the 30-minute trek. It was so hot, I bet it’d have worked on me if only the places had been open. We bought some bottles of cold tea from a vending machine and were on our way. The signs and the guidebook Tosh had both said it would only take 20 minutes, but the lady near the station turned out to be correct. The temple was a good climb up the hill/mountain, and the path was a hundred thousand ancient steps that wound their way up the hillside. The forest was beautiful and dark and it looked very cool, but it felt pretty hot and very humid. However, I was eager to get back under the trees after a brief walk on the street in direct sunlight. How cool the forest was then! We passed through a temple gate, and I felt something hit my head. I thought I hit a branch or something, but there were no tree branches close overhead. There wasn’t a bug or leaf there either when I tentatively put my hand on my head to check. Tosh said I’m probably being trailed by ghost. At about the time we thought we’d collapse, we began to see some hydrangea. Hooray! It was false hope, but the temple turned out to be only 5 minutes further on.

Here is where something hit my head. I was very impressed that most of the Ojizo-sama had on crocheted hats and bibs!

The hydrangeas were beautiful, but the first thing we did was make a beeline to the water fountain where one purifies the hands and mouth before praying. We poured cool water on our hands and rinsed our mouths. It was so cold and refreshing! Tosh poured some on his handkerchief to wipe away the sweat that was literally dripping from his arms the whole hike up. We approached the temple to pray and heard some beautiful music and singing. It sounded like kabuki or something to me and I thought maybe someone was practicing there, but Toshio heard that it was a monk who was singing and playing the biwa. The lady in the shop part of the temple said that he would give another performance after ten people came, so we sat down for some tea and waited with two other women. We had seen a whole group of people on the path below us, so we knew we wouldn’t have to wait long.

In front of some of the lovely hydrangeas at Amidaji.

After the requisite number of people had arrived, we headed into a low, adjoining room and sat on some stools. I was so glad to sit up off the ground. My jeans were hot and sticking to me and didn’t stretch at all, making kneeling on the floor where we had our tea very uncomfortable. The monk was a no-nonsense sort of man. Tosh tried to sit on the low tables and was scolded a bit. After sitting down (on the chairs) I looked at Tosh and over his shoulder there was a reclining figure that was smiling broadly and staring right at my face! It was a sculpture of a reclining Buddha, but it looked like a real person! It was awesome. Then after almost everyone was seated another man actually sat on the low tables in front and was briskly asked to please refrain from sitting on the tables. Maybe they ought to put up a sign or something, but perhaps the monk enjoyed scolding people.

He began by telling us about the history of the biwa, how it came to Japan from Iran through India and China. It’s shape has changed along the way, but it still is remarkably similar to its middle-eastern lute-like ancestor, though the biwa is much flatter. The type of biwa that he played was made of a hard wood and is meant to be struck as it’s played, creating a percussion sound to go with the melody. He “reminded” us of the Heike Tale, which all persons except myself had studied in middle school. Upon request, one woman was able to recite a small passage from it and he gave her a small present after the performance. The scene he played was a battle seen, and Tosh said he could truly visualize the fighting through the intervals of rough percussion and staccato melody. I understood about half of it, but I must confess I gave up trying to understand the classical Japanese and tried to rest. The Buddha statues behind the monk were the most beautiful I have ever seen—each with a peaceful, beatific smile. After the performance, we were allowed to look around at the many statues and things on display. I took a closer look at the laughing Buddha, and in addition to being life-size, it was woven like a tatami mat! The craftsmanship was unbelievable.

We each bought a charm to protect us from sickness (the six sicknesses to be exact, whatever those may be) and proceeded outside once again. There was a large wheel with a large circle of beads around it above the collection box out front. The string of beads had been put up when we went in before, but now the loop was hanging down, and someone was pulling it hand over hand. It made a great clacking sound as beads hit beads, and the creaking of the ancient wheel seemed to shake the whole temple! Someone said that turning the wheel and hundred beads was equivalent to praying 100 times, so Tosh and I decided we’d better do it. It was very interesting, something we’d never seen before. We took a last look at the beautiful hydrangeas and then were off down the hill. (*note: We watched a tv program today that briefly showed the temple and it said that the monk planted all those hydrangeas himself!)

Here I am, praying with zeal. (Sorry it's not in focus. Neither were my prayers, for that matter!)

Here is T too. It's probably the best shot you'll see of his face on this blog! (Tarzan has stage fright...)

We passed a group of elementary school kids that were huffing and puffing and groaning, and Tosh joked, “We should say, ‘Can you believe the place was closed?’” “And there weren’t any ajisai either,” I added. “Pretty unbelievable considering it takes an hour to get there.” Rest assured, we made these jokes in English to spare the poor hikers. Before long, we thoroughly agreed that as hard as it was going up hill, going down was not much easier. I tried to take some pictures but my legs shook so much that not a one was in focus!

The same gate where my head was tapped on the way up. The statue would be just to the right of this shot. Out of focus due to shaking legs (as mentioned above).

Tarzan, bounding down the hillside. He was so fast, he's just a blur. (Nevermind the photographer!)

At the station we got on the train again and went two stations up to Miya no Shita Station (宮ノ下駅) to go have lunch at the family-owned and run Naraya Cafe. The train line is so steep (the 2nd steepest in the world after one in Switzerland) that there were two switchbacks, one on either side of Ohiradai Station (大平台駅). The hydrangeas close to the train were beautiful and the bridge passing over a river almost made me pee my pants. It was a far drop and I was standing right in front of the window!

We got to our station and I was hoping the café would be close by. Naraya Café was right there, not a two minute walk away (downhill), and it was even more charming than it appeared to be in the guidebook. Tosh got a hotdog and I had potato soup with a bit of fresh baked wheat bread. I wish I’d taken a picture. The food was delicious. We went outside with our drinks to try the ashi-yu (足湯 foot bath), which was the main reason this café was in the guidebook. The ashi-yu was built up so that it was more or less even with the sloping road. One was probably a good 2 meters from the main wooden deck and the other about a meter high with a bench and a few steps to get to them. It was pleasant, but on such a hot day, I would’ve preferred cool water. There were two baths: one warm, one hot. I didn’t even bother trying the hot one. I bet it’d be wonderful on a cold day though, especially after the hike to the ajisai temple. The place had been pretty empty until now, but perhaps we were good advertising because within five minutes, six or seven people had stopped to join us.

Washing my hands in the world's smallest sink at Naraya Cafe. T commented that if some gaijin had just arrived in Japan and used that sink, they would've thought Japanese people were midgets! (esp. with the footstool in front of it!) We ate our lunch at the table just outside (to the far right there).

Here is the 2nd generation, the father (left) in my descriptions and the mother/daughter (right), sitting by the ashi-yu with a television reporter. The masseuse is the grandmother/mother, but I don't have a pic of her. (Both this picture and the one below are from Naraya Cafe's blog)

The same tv reporter with her feet in the ashi-yu. It looks like the cameraman was taking a foot-bath too. You can sort of see the drop-off to the bench and the deck is about one meter below that.

I was getting hot and we’d had enough of the foot bath, so we went back inside for some ice cream. Just as we ordered, the daughter said, “Okaasan, Okaasan! Help!” We all looked over to see her bent over an older woman lying on her back on the wooden deck below the foot baths. At first I thought she had fallen, but since we hadn’t heard anything, it must have been a heart attack or something. All three of us rushed over to see what was wrong; it was leg cramps. We could actually see her leg muscles in spasm, so the mother got to work massaging. It was quite a scene. After five or ten more minutes of massage, the woman was able to make her way to the foot bath. (She seemed a bit whiny in spite of the fact that she must’ve been in real pain.) In that interval, Tosh had gotten his ice cream and we took a seat at a bar-like area looking out onto the deck and foot baths.

Another shot of me at the sink. The counter is in the background with the wooden deck out of sight to the right of it. Our spot on the stools was to the left out of the picture.

Around this time, the granddaughter (around 3 maybe?) awoke from her nap and walked proprietarily around the main room of the café. Two more customers arrived and were ordering when the granddaughter says to her mother behind the counter, “Mom! I have to pee right now! I’m gonna pee my pants!” “Just a minute,” she says, taking the customers’ order, turning to get my ice cream, and with trays waiting to be taken to customers outside. All of a sudden, as I had gotten my ice cream in fact, one of the men outside cried out, “Mata tsutta!” (“She’s cramped again!”). The woman behind the counter’s face was priceless. The mother rushed over to massage some more. We had a great view of the scene and couldn’t help but laugh. As Tosh said, it looked like some kind of comedy, the old woman lying behind the others so we could only see her anguished face and the cramped appendages flailing in the air. The other customers around her were standing out of their seats a bit to see what was happening and the whole situation was so incredible that we were shaking with laughter behind our ice cream cones. The little girl’s father came out with baby sister in tow and took them all potty just in time. She came out with her dress tucked in her panties. At that point, we decided to leave before something else happened.

We walked down the hill to a bus stop to go back to Hakone-Yumoto Station. The train was so crowded, it had lost its cache by that point. Even though we walked downhill, I got a splitting headache and felt heat sickness coming on. The bus was air-conditioned, but the ride wasn’t nearly long enough to get some rest. At the station, we walked up yet another hill to a toy museum that Tosh wanted to see. I figured a museum would be a nice, air-conditioned place to sit, so I was all for it, but the hill was killer! There was a road sign warning a 21° incline. Admission to the toy museum was expensive (well, more than we wanted to pay to see kitsch 1950s and 60s toys at any rate), but I was wiped out, totally spent after that last hill, so I sat on a bench outside, while Tosh pretended to look around the air-conditioned gift shop. I was looking pretty miserable so Tosh said, “Let’s go to the hamburger shop just across the way.” It was part of the plan anyway, but we thought it would be after the museum. It was called Go! Go! Wimpy. Inside were retro posters of movies from the 50s to the 70s, but though about two-thirds of the movies were American, the posters were in French!

Waiting at the bus stop across from Go! Go! Wimpy burger joint. Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to take pics inside.

My head still felt awful and the thought of food made me ill. All I wanted was a cool place to nap, but that was pretty much out of the question. Tosh was worried about me (and therefore a little bit moody), but I told him to enjoy himself and get a hamburger. The bummer of it was, the hamburgers looked delicious! American-style just like they said! But I couldn’t even bear to look at Tosh’s plate. I leaned my head against the wall and shut my eyes and the next thing I knew, Tosh was shaking my shoulder and his plate was empty. I asked him if we could go home early. (We had already bought return tickets for 7 and it was only 3:30). I was afraid he’d be ticked, but after a moment of frustration and a quick walk, he came back with a smile, directed me to a bus, and we went back to Hakone-Yumoto Station. From there, he put me on a bench and got us first-class tickets on an express back to Shinjuku, Tokyo. It was just about to leave and it was the last express of the day offering first-class tickets, so we were lucky. The seats were large and comfy enough, and we slept the whole way back. I felt like a new person after the nap, and we made it back home around 7:00. Aside from the heat, it was a wonderful day!

Tanabata Matsturi-- 七夕祭り

Happy Tanabata Festival!

This festival happens every year on July 7th. It's about two (relatively minor) gods who used to be hard-working and good, but after they fall in love and marry, they begin to neglect their duty. The God of Heaven gets angry and separates them across the Milky Way (aka River of Heaven), never to meet again. But the lovely young woman, who happens to be the God of Heaven's daughter, pleads with her father to let them meet again. He is moved by her sadness and allows them to meet once a year during the festival. Read the full story here.

The bummer part is, the two lovers can only meet if it's not raining (read story at the above link), which used to be almost every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. However, on the July 7th in the solar calendar, it's almost always raining--in Japan, at least. They had a good run for several hundred years, but now they can do naught but gaze at one another from across the Milky Way.

Anyway, what we do in Japan for the festival is inscribe wishes or favors we want to be granted and hang them on a bamboo switch about one week before the festival day. Many young people wish for their one true love (to borrow a phrase from Disney ^_^), but it's also common to wish for special skills, such as the ones in which the young lovers excelled before they began to neglect their duty. Truly anything is okay, as you can see by some of the wishes my friends from the volunteer Japanese class and I wished for.

Like how I put it above our wedding picture? The cats went nuts trying to think of a way to get at the dangly things. They especially wanted to eat the bamboo and dove for it if you carried them anywhere near it!

Let's see... We have:

"I wish for happiness for all the people in the world." (second from left)
"I wish for a society where we all can live happily (lit. enjoyably) together." (red one in the center)
"I wish that I will be able to study to my heart's content." (second from right, written by yours truly)
and...
"Pin Pin Korori", which means something like "To live life to its fullest" or to put it another way, "To live a long and healthy life until you kick the bucket". (yellow one with big letters on the right)

I hope YOU all had a happy day that day.

(postdated 9/15/2008)

Janie's Quote of the Day #3

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

--Mark Twain

Back to the Land of the Living

I had a wonderful, wonderful trip to California last month! I have to say that one big reason is because Tarzan made it so easy for me to go. By that I mean, he assured me that he could take care of himself and the cats, told me to have a good time, and graciously allowed me to spend lots of time and money away from home. Not that I don't deserve all that, but it's nice to be given it all without a fuss.


Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Hisayo, Shiho, and Janie in front of the big fallen tree in Grants Grove. It has been used as a saloon, stable, and cabin in turn.

Janie and Dad hanging on for dear life on the cable car in San Francisco.

Mom, freezing her booty off on the front of the cable car. She looks cute anyway, though.

A nice view of the city from the cable car on the way to Fisherman's Wharf. I like the view of Coit Tower especially.

Me, Shiho, Rie, Hisayo, and Dad in front of the cable car. You can even see a glimpse of our interesting driver. He was cool.

However, in the meantime since I've come back, I've been ridiculously homesick! I miss my family, I miss California, I miss the sunshine! It's gotten better the last few days, but still, I'm starting to feel like I'll be ready to move to the States anytime. Now that I've told my work that I'll be leaving in six months, they're starting to get all sad. "We'll miss you," I was told by my almost teary-eyed boss. I do appreciate the sentiments, but can't they hold off for at least a little while?!


I was supposed to go to class today from noon to 2pm, but my student (also one of our staff) called me and said there was some kind of fire (!) at the station where I transfer and the trains wouldn't resume operation until after noon, maybe around 1pm or so, so she cancelled our lesson. Then I got another call just before I left for my 1 o'clock lesson, and the trains still hadn't started, so I am off the hook for lessons today. The bright side is now I'm showered and (somewhat) dressed, so I can do stuff today, like... blog. It's raining outside, so what else can I do!


I am sooooo excited about my birthday gift from Sus. I know it's still way early, but ever since she's showed it to me, I can't wait to get it! She got some gorgeous sock yarn (that's enough for 2 socks too!) and I'm mentally planning out the lovely socks I can make. I'm still working on my fairisle beauts, and I just turned the heel and picked up stitches for the gusset (which was the most daunting part of it all), so I'm continuing on the rest of the sock. The funny thing is, I was thinking about the new sock yarn and how the current sock project I have is slow-going, difficult, and a pain in the butt. Maybe I should just give it up, I thought, but that thought alone inspired me to get back in there and fight the good fight. I picked up the poor, neglected sock, and realized (like with so many other things in life) that it really wasn't that difficult, it was mostly a mental block that was impeding my progress.


I made a facecloth out of the cotton yarn that I bought in CA and finished it this week. It looks nice, and it was so cool to make. You knit it in a circle with one edge of your knitting being the outside edge and the other the center of the circle. You knit one stitch less every other row, and leave the skipped stitches unworked until the end. Then when you knit them all, you've knit a sort of spiral or curved pie piece sort of shape. After continuously (meaning it's all connected) knitting six more wedges, you bind off and sew the cast on and bound off edges together. I decided to do a provisional cast-on and then use kitchener stitch to seamlessly join them together. It kind of worked, but since the project was in garter stitch and I wasn't very experienced with kitchener stitch, I found it made a few rows of stockinette there at the join. Oh, well. No one knows that but me.

Here it is after 3 wedges are complete. It has a little lace around the edge too, which is pretty cute.

There is so much that I want to say, but I get clammed up when it comes time to write it down. But now that I'm back on the blogging bandwagon, I'll have plenty of time to mull these ideas over before writing them down. It feels good to be back!