Ogura shrine and mountain

Japanese lesson today, Yamada Sensei, and he keeps the lesson going at all times with plenty of repetition. This is both good and bad, as its somewhat easy to miss things, and reading hand-written hiragana is a challenge. He's always there with a challenge and the lessons continue. I think he was impressed when I said I've seen Paris and amused when I said it was beautiful but also that it smelled somewhat.

I went home and changed, put on my boots, and grabbed my camel-back. I checked the weather, knew it would be a nice night, and went walking towards the mountains outside my window. First though I stopped at a little takoyaki place about a block away. I waited while he cooked them fresh for me, you basically pour batter into the round indents of the takoyaki grill, spread on some ingredients, drop in a piece of octopus so it sinks, then let it cook. As it cooks, he used a little skewer to push any overflow batter onto each ball, then after awhile he used the skewer to grab an edge of the ball and flip it over in the hole to cook the other side. Not sure what the toppings are, and I said no to mayonnaise, but they were good and tasty.

Passed a bunny statue on the way. Kept going, passed a school and a group of children, went under a torii and up a path to a shrine. It was only from the map that I knew the name. As I walked up the path, a group of maybe 7 middle-school girls ran up the path behind me, I'm sure they were just curious what the gaijin was doing walking up the path into the mountains, and they did exchange a bunch of hellos as they were going back down the path behind me.

I walked off along the trail, saw some signs, and it was a great climb up the trail. Steep in parts, but everything was well maintained and obviously often used. It was dusk and I walked in the fading light, through bamboo forest and broad-leaf trees as I went higher. Maybe 60 minutes in, I came to the peak of this path and a map of the area. It was getting dark, I had my flashlight and was in no hurry, but stopped and surveyed my way down and out.

Varied trials in the dark. I passed a shrine under repair, large areas being cleared of underbrush, many steps and muddy trail. I did not see any wildlife, though I heard birds and wind and made sure I wasn't going to step or fall on anything in the trail. I came to much wider trails, almost roads, as I went past the shrine, and murals on signs.

Just past another torii on the downhill path, I saw a platform to my left and going up the stairs met an older japanese gentleman with a camera and looking out over the city. He told me he was waiting for the blue moon tonight. After awhile, I took my leave and finished my way off the mountain, then back home. There were other trails I saw in that area, and more to be found. Those are for another day (or night), but it made me happy to find good trails so close. Now, if I can just find a proper sized bike, so I can skip the roads and take it directly to trailhead, I'll be all set!

Kabuki 2

Second day of Kabuki and talk. Bright, sunny day out, took some pictures on the way to school. Also bought a vending machine drink to help hydrate, and it tasted a lot like gatoraid or any other sports drink. Videos were again interesting, today seemed to revolve more around the action and theatrical battle in kabuki performances. During a break, had somewhat of a conversation with a classmate, she had done a two week exchange program to the US, and was eager to talk. So was I, and it made me realize that a good language strategy I should use is simply to make a cheat sheet of a bunch of key phrases to use everywhere, aka studies, interests, etc., I know some of those already, but a more thorough list to refer to would be better.

In the evening, bought some sushi from the Coop (grocery store) and went home. As one would expect, you can get good, cheap sushi around here, haven't eaten-out anywhere, but the grocery store sushi is great and you can get 8-piece sushi for ¥300 ($3) or 3-piece sashimi for ¥500 ($5). Oh, and played around with typing hiragana on my computer.　さようなら。

Kabuki 1

Today was day1 of a special Kabuki seminar for my Japanese Culture field work class. We will in the coming months go to actual performances, but this was a 2 day talk by a kabuki actor along with costume demonstration and video. The actor, Shimanojou Kataoka, knew some english so tried to keep Kristine and I more involved. This included giving our impression of kabuki at the beginning (neither of us had seen it), then doing some read-alongs later where we repeated the japanese after he had told it to us. The videos, especially the first one which was a long montage from different performances, were incredibly interesting, with highly prescribed movements, intricate costumes and impassioned dialogue. I could not understand the vast majority of the language, but because of the delivery and movements one could almost figure out what was going on. If you didn't already know, kabuki is performed only by men, but you could barely tell under the makeup and movements, one play in particular, about a soldier leaving for battle and his betrothed, I was fully convinced that was a young, passionate, beautiful woman on stage. Our sensei for the class gave us free tickets to a kyogen performance (related to but different from kabuki), and we plan to go with a classmate (who speaks some english) next saturday.

In the evening, met up with a group of teachers from the JET program (english language teachers), had some drinks, then went to, of all places, a spanish tapas bar. Steven knew the owner and they were relocating, so this was the final night send off. Food was good, even the squid paella, there was music and a good time by all. After some confusion and discussion about going into Kyoto for some nu-jazz , those of us staying in Nagaokakyo walked to a nearby establishment for some food and drinks before eventually parting ways.


Morning came way too early I'll tell you that.

Busy

Today was a busy day. First were two different art history classes. The lectures are all in japanese, so its yet to be seen how that will play out. Apparently there are no tests involved, just papers, but it's all very difficult as I'm not yet sure what the sensei is even saying. I heard from the japanese student who had gone to Massart, that she didnt even bother taking any critical study (as in art history) as the language was too difficult.

After class, I borrowed a bike and rode it down to the government building to pick up my alien registration card. I have long legs, which is why I haven't been able to find a suitable bike of my own, so riding this my knees were up to my chin! And it was raining, which everyone rides carrying an umbrella in one hand when it's raining, so I was no exception. I hope that paints a nice picture for you. Made it down there with no difficulty, and my registration card looks pretty cool. It has multiple holograph embossing on it, so there's text if you look at it one way, and different text if you look at it another way.

Back at school, had my 3rd year japanese painting class. At the moment I really haven't done a whole lot of painting, mostly drawing and preparation, though we did do some sumi-e on the first day of 1st year class. So today was fun, as I got to trace one of my drawings onto some japanese painting, paste it down in preparation for painting, then do some practice painting on another sheet while waiting for it to dry. The technique is very specific, which was no surprise to me, but challenging and I look forward to working on it more. I hope to go out sometime this weekend and do some more drawings to make into paintings.

After class, had some food in the school cafeteria. I hadn't before now because of the system they use, which is buy a ticket from the machine and bring it up to the kitchen. The machine is mostly all in katakana, which I am weaker at than hiragana, so I hadn't translated most of it.

Later on, the school had an event for all the student organizations. I signed up for a couple, but was exhausted by the end because so many people were interested in talking to me. One of the most common questions was my age, it happens a lot in Japan and is not considered as taboo question as it is in the US. I need to purchase an electronic dictionary, and some students in the international club offered to help with this by telling me where to go, because the book dictionaries are just not cutting it.

arashi

Stormy today. Rainy season is just beginning. Had to get up early for my first art history class, it was a lecture all in japanese, but at least there were slides to look at. Introduced myself to the professor, not very eloquently, but did not get the chance to ask if I could have a copy of his power point presentation so I could try to decipher some of the text.

Painting class, as it was raining out, could not continue real-life sketching in the yard, so studied and worked from other artwork. On the way home, I took a picture of a tanuki statue outside of a restaurant, I've seen a lot of them, but had to do some web searching to figure out what it was. I like the part about never paying its tab.

SHIGARAKI & TANUKI. The Tanuki is synonymous with modern-day Shigaraki (Shiga Prefecture). Shigaraki-style pottery, which traces its origins back to the 12th century, is one of Japan's most beloved ceramic styles. But the Shigaraki staple most folks are familiar with today is not Shigaraki tsubo (large jars), but rather the pudgy ceramic Tanuki that stands in front of drinking establishments throughout Japan. It holds a sake flask in one hand and in the other, a promissory note for the booze; it never pays, though. If you've ever been to Shigaraki, you cannot miss the numbing variety of garish tanuki that stand in front of many tourist shops. Link.

Roosters help focus

1st year Nihon-ga will probably be my best class as far as pure learning. It covers the basic technique of japanese painting and is mostly hands on. Sensei Sawano is a very cheerful guy who is always smiling and very patient. His english is not as good as some other professors, but he is willing to struggle along with me and the dictionary, along with having a list of key terms for each class (names of brushes, etc), which will also help me learn the kanji for those terms.

After classes, there was a party for new students. It was threatening to rain, so it was inside. I walked in, had some food, and said hello to a few friendly students. At one point I was just standing at the side, then turned around to suddenly find a crowd of curious japanese students who then commented on my blue eyes and how tall I was. Talked a little, awkwardness on both sides and communication is still a barrier. I find the music funny, because way more often than not it's western music, Queen was playing in this instance.

Later, met up with some english teachers from my building and we all went for dinner at a chinese place down the road. Food was good, there was no menu so you had to know your way around, service was family style with each dish coming separately. It was great relaxing and being able to talk and ask questions about different japan experiences. Also, there are many of both japanese and western style トイレ, but here's a shot.

Big carrots

Bright, warm and sunny outside. 2nd year Nihon-ga class today. Sensei had asked me to continue my previous drawing of the cherry blossoms, but as the tree had blossomed more and leaves had opened, I made a new drawing. Felt good. After class, one of the other students gave me a piece of candy from a trip she went on over the weekend, mochi with seasame seeds. This is not like the ice cream mochi, but was more of a gelatin. Tomorrow, 1st year Nihon-ga class, then a party for new students in the evening, afterwards going out with the other americans from my building. Many flash cards to review.

Look at those carrots! Produce around here is very good.