Rainchecks for all

I love writing my blog and love hearing people's comments about it; however, this past week and a half of my sister being in Japan with me has been jam-packed and on our rest days, I just don't have the energy to devote to a post. Even now, I am preparing for bed after packing all day.

Tomorrow I leave Japan. I am so incredibly emotional. I am grateful for this experience and happy to have done so much and talked with so many people. I am going to miss so much of the people, food, and culture and climate. I am not going to miss mosquitoes. I am sad to leave but excited to think about coming back. I am sad to return to the US but excited to see my loved ones and eat certain foods and get my hair cut, finally.

This roller-coaster of emotions is exhausting.

Due to our busy schedule, I will be writing journal blog posts about these two weeks' adventures once I get back to US. This way, I will have time to sort through my pictures and write out detailed posts as well as something to do and look forward to when I return and have time to spend in the moment here and now.

Excitingly, I have a trip in between leaving Japan and returning to the US: Taiwan! It is so close and apparently so cheap and I am ecstatic to experience yet another culture and country. Especially to do so with my sister who is strong, competent and adventurous - making for a good travel companion.

For now, I must adjourn, but I shall return, in more ways than one.

Good night and good day - see some of you soon!

A Sister's Arrival

Yes, my sister is officially in Japan!

I woke up before six to grab a bus to the airport, and finally getting there and seeing her sitting, waiting, was so nice. She noticed me, put her phone down, grinning, and started running towards me and I towards her. I did not expect it to be a movie moment, but we met with a solid hug and hung on tight for a good while. It has been such a long time since I have had a hug. We both cried, saying how much we missed each other. It was great. I didn't realize just how much I missed her until I saw her. It didn't feel real (still only feels slightly real - like a dream that will snap as soon as I go to bed and awake again).

Then began a long but amazing day. I got to see everything with a new perspective through her. She was so excited about how nice everyone was, how neat and crisp and clean the cash is, how small and tall and unique the buildings are, how there are vending machines everywhere, the trees, the humidity, the birds, the breeze, the everything.

We rode the bus back and were immediately greeted by my host family - excuse me, our host family. They were kind enough to take us to a nearby station so my sister, R, could get a ICOCA Card, or IC Card. This is so she won't have to stop and pay a ticket every time we use a subway or train system.

Once we got home, we had tea and a special type of Japanese snack that was part Western. It was like a cookie sandwich and tasted like a shortbread cookie with cream in the middle. We also had watermelon and then a lunch of cold soumen and some Japanese gobo - which my sister liked.

Then, after washing together (despite some protestations from our host family and R convincing them that since she had coffee, she wasn't super tired), she gave them some gifts. One was a thank you from our family to our host family for everything they have done and loved it, taking peaks at the book. Then, from my sister personally, were some played cards from Las Vegas casinos (which they also thought were extremely cool and uniquely Las Vegas).

Afterwards, we went on a little local adventure. On the way, we saw some gorgeous orange flowers (this time unguarded by wasps) and, finally, I got some pictures of cicada shells. There were at least twenty on this metal framework by a tree, and then more in the tree and under the leaves themselves. By the way, they were so loud this morning, there was a ringing in my ear, and it was hard to hear my host parents as they bid me goodbye for the time being.

I showed her a bit of my campus, the famous central lawn and clock tower, our historical Kofun, and the Shinkansen park (complete with grasshoppers and the bullet train whizzing by). Finally, we made it to Mt. Kabuto forest park. We took a side trail for a few minutes, walking under the trees and standing on rocks, welcoming the breeze, the view, and the country. Also, saw some huge and colorful mushrooms (one of which looked like a pancake and some of which had mold or...goo...of some kind). We enjoyed the path of statues and a beautiful butterfly. We asked a nice lady with gardening gloves the name of a tree and it turned out to be a cedar. She also was talking about how she is 84 years old and comes to the park often so she doesn't lay around the house. She was adorable and so cheerful.

We stumbled upon a grove of hydrangeas and took some yoga poses while just enjoying the fairy landscape of it.

We walked up the road, passing smaller shrines and statues along the way, and made it to my sister's first Japanese temple. We admired the statues of the gate, straddle-stepped over the main middle bar, and ascended the first flight of stairs. The lake I saw a few months ago, with a Shinto shrine in the middle, was completely filled with lily pads and some huge buds. Amazing!

 (I thought this looked like a fairy leaf throne)













Rows of Kannon and Fudo Myoo and Jizo statues later, we made it to the top and had the place practically to ourselves. The pair of elderly men rang the bell, took our picture for us, and said we were both very beautiful as they left. They were very nice.



 (roof details I didn't notice the first time I visited the temple)







Then we climbed the steep stairs of the tree-tunneled way to the top of the mountain, emerging from darkness and a surprising encounter with a frog to the sunny meadow of the summit. Three sister trees were a beautiful photo-shoot spot, but the beautiful, raspberry-like berries' scent did not positively add to it. The berries smelled like rotting garbage - and I'm not talking about the ones on the ground. The fresh juice from the berries off the branch had a strong stench. Also, the meadow was teeming with slender, green grasshoppers. Either being herself or inspired by all the net-wielding children we saw today, my sister chased one and held one, looking adorable and happy with a proud bug.

On our way back down, we saw an act of predation. A beautiful butterfly was fluttering around, enjoying its carefree life when suddenly it froze and fell to the ground. Concerned we looked at it, wondering why it just fell. Using a stick, we flipped it over, to find a still unidentified, thin, dark bug holding onto it with a tongue or proboscis or something extended and going into the butterfly. We were not sure what it was, so quickly left it alone.

Praying at the small fox shrine between the summit and temple that I first prayed at when I went to the mountain temple on my own, seeing a snake and lizard and various birds, my sister had her first Japan prayer experience. Bowing through the torii gates, and taking some last photos or glimpses of statues, each other, rock gardens, and so on, we made our way down and through the temple gate - down the road and through the park - down the main street of campus, the steep set of stairs, and arrived at home.

We arrived to the preparations of a delicious and traditional dinner of tempura! Eggplant, ooba, Japanese pumpkin, gobo, seaweed, shrimp, Japanese sweet potato, green pepper, onions, renkon, and, probably after hearing me talk about southern food, okra! We had fried okra! I was so happy. I also had a very small cup of Japanese sake with my sister! It was nice to drink with her, but I had about three sips in total. Out of all the alcohol I've tasted, this was the best - but I still don't quite care for the feel or taste. It was so interesting trying to hold a conversation between the four of us, myself and my host dad translating often. Though sometimes, my sister would understand what they were trying to say, even if I didn't. Switching between the languages so quickly, close together, and for such a long time was quite the work out for my brain and tongue. I was not used to it, sometimes talking to my sister in Japanese or my host parents in English. But she gave me a boost of confidence, saying it's cool seeing me talking to Japanese people in Japanese.

Then we had some tea and wafer cookies, some confusing talk between three of us, all tired, but we worked out some details of the coming weeks (not quite done planning though). Now I am here, writing this blog, tired and a bit sweaty despite my shower (by the way, was reminded in the mountain today how painful it is to get sweat in one's eye). Now I must sleep for more energy for more adventure!

For the time being, good night and good day!

Saying Goodbyes to the Cicadas' Cries

This week was pretty emotional yet also not. I regained some stability from working out and being able to interact with friends again, but having to go to the final meetings of courses, take finals, and slowly say goodbye to everyone I've met was pretty hard. Using the gym the last time, eating at the cafeteria for a final time, playing once more in the K-ON club-room, having my final photoshoot at the garden, and going to the Farewell party. There were traces of apathy just from the sheer disbelief of me leaving. It may not hit until I am on a plane.

The farewell party was pretty neat. A lot of people came dressed up (either Western modern or in yukata and kimono). I did not realize it was a dress-up affair (thankfully neither did others, including my performance buddies). Also, I performed! I had thought this semester would be a break from performances, but I have given a fancy speech with a wall-size power-point-presentation, a mini speech, a live for K-ON club, and now this performance for another club I dabbled in this semester.

This performance, with the kickboxing aka taido club-members, was choreographed and polished in less than 48 hours and we were all proud of it. We had practiced and learned so much that we were able to just use what came naturally. And, since we were focused on having fun plus showing some technique, we did that: had fun with it. The story goes, a panda hero has learned much and excelled in the ways of taido but there is an evil taido master demon king controlling the land. Panda hero's goal is to take this king down, free the people, and become the taido master. He meets one of the king's servants along the way and quickly beats him, offering him a hand once his opponent is down. The demon's servant is impressed by the panda and switches to his side. Next, the two demon twins, servants of the king, meet the panda. Knowing he beat up their comrade, they start a fight with him (this is where I come in!). They take turns kicking, but to no avail. They try a combination punch, but the panda hero ducks and then does an upper cut. Once again, he offers a hand. One says they'll join the panda in his quest while the other (that's me) dramatically, Nicholas-Cage-like yells "never" and runs away. The king makes his way on stage and the one loyal servant appears, telling him what happened. Then the panda and his new friends appear! Panda hero and Demon king fight, but the panda is quickly defeated, with some cheating sneak attacks done by the servant. The devil and demon think they won, but with the power of his new found friendship, Panda Hero regains strength and they decide to fight. The demon twins fight and the loyal servant goes down, bested by their sister. The first demon servant tries to rush at the king but is taken down easily. Panda hero, with emotions from victory and his friend's defeat, finally defeats the king. (Then we threw in some extra comedy on top - after bowing, one friend says "wait, I wanted to be the demon king - we then proceed to take turns punching him, he is 'knocked out,' and two people carry him away while the other two act as guides and make siren noises). It was great. My favorite parts were the audience's involvement (cheering the panda man on and so on) and the obvious laughter from the children. Some parts of the party were boring for them, so to see them enjoying our performance was awesome.

There were also singers, a violin-piano duet that performed Tale as Old as Time, and two dancers who were phenomenal - hip hop like and had some tricking in there (when one did a back flip the crowd went wild, so to speak - you couldn't hear the music!).

My host parents got to meet some of my friends and vice versa. I got to get pictures and multilingual messages from all the people I've met in class and in school this semester.

It is really thanks to everyone that my time at KGU was so amazing. People sharing their personal opinions and experience and advice as well as information about their culture, language, and countries. Inviting me or letting me tag along on adventures. Accompanying me on mine. Helping me in and out of class. Being patient when I got emotional. I am really going to miss a lot of the people I met this semester (of course, like others agreed, there are always going to be some people that one is totally okay with never seeing again).


After the official party, most of the study abroad students hung out on a river-side in Takarazuka. This meant I got to see a bit of that area, get a stamp from the station, got "Chihayafuru" pocky, see a bright moon and beautiful lights off the water, hear some interesting tales and information, get some advice, and take the last train after meeting Japanese police. Wait...let me explain. Some friends and I left the main group to use the bathroom of a conbini nearby. When we returned, one of the students was walking our way and saying "gotta go home, the cops are kicking us out." We thought he was joking, until we saw everyone standing and people with vests and bright flashlights. It was near midnight and our large group of foreigners (many of whom were consuming at least some alcohol) must have prompted one of the nearby apartment tenants to call the police. But we rounded up our stuff and they were very nice and made sure we got to the station. But then, once my friends and I got off at our station, they all had to use the bathroom and I was the only sober one there. They started singing loudly from the bathroom and a security guard starting looking our way (really my way because I was the one visible) and said something I couldn't quite catch. We finally rounded each other up and, once again with a escort several feet behind us, made our way out the station. To say the least, it was an interesting experience.

It is very fascinating to be one of the few people not drinking in a group of drunk or 'buzzed' individuals, especially if you know them sober.














Today was also a day of goodbyes in a way. I went to the post office (unresolved package sending - have to get a second back-up address - but I sent postcards, finally) and to the city hall. The same city hall I went to when I first arrived. I had to cancel my health insurance, have my "My Number Card" handled (kept it for when I come back though I still am not quite sure what it is for), payed my final insurance bill, and changed my address/terminated my address here in Japan. It was sad, but also a bit liberating in the sense that I got to use my skills. When I first got here, everyone did the documentation together as a group with people who spoke English and had everything set up for us. This time, I was by myself (unlike the post office, to which my host dad accompanied me) so I had to communicate even though I didn't know every single word they used and had to be confident. Today was also the last time my host parents and I will have dinner together as just the three of us...because my older sister is coming to Japan! She should be arriving and I will pick her up in the morning! So excited! (Though it is also another sign of my time here ending).

I cannot believe my time here is ending soon.

Before I go to bed and prepare for an early rising, I will talk about some bugs. Mainly cicadas and dragonflies.

First, one of the students at the river 'party' showed me a picture of what he stumbled upon on his front door door frame: a cicada emerging from its old skin. It was amazing! The old, dark husk vertically attached to the door with a horizontal, solid, pale yellow, very much lively-looking creatures emerging from it. Stunning (but also kind of...gross). Second, apparently cicadas in Japan represent the coming end of the rainy season. There is another species that comes around autumn that signify the coming of autumn and apparently they are bigger (bigger than these???) and make a different sound - tsuketsukebooooshi. So they are called tsuketsukeboshi cicadas. I'm serious. These cicadas, of summer, are relentless. They've practically been crying (they saying crying in Japanese) constantly. You go to bed with a faint whine in the background and wake up to thunderous chattering. You walk to school with earbuds in and hear their cries. You are in the classroom, in the house, eating a meal, listening to classical music and they are there, crying. Sometimes they get so loud, I expect to see a horde of them on a tree. But I haven't gotten a good glimpse of a living one yet. I think I saw one flying around and bumping into things and one may have flown in my face the other day, but it could have been another large, noisy, brown bug. Their shells are also hard to come across. I have seen three or four. One had fallen, two were under leaves, and one was visible on a tree. In Las Vegas, ours are about half the size, with translucent yellow husks and cute mahogany bodies that make a nice buzzing. Also, you'll walk in a park in summer and see like twenty husks on a tree trunk. Here they are still kind of cute, reminding me of Oms from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, but twice as big, ten times as loud, and much more mysterious yet connected to each other. I swear, the scariest part about them isn't their size, it's how they stop or start crying in unison. Going from constant, loud chattering to silence is pretty jarring. It's nice that they are harmless though.

Next, dragonflies! I've been loving the dragonflies here in general, but the ones at the campus garden pond is amazing because there are so many and so lively! Flying around the place, battling with one another, resting on rocks, or just trying to defend territory and eat smaller bugs, flitting here and there. They are the reason I accidentally spent two hours taking photos yesterday. And why I have a sunburn now - didn't expect to be out in the sun, oh well. BUT what's REALLY NEAT is this type of dragonfly that I stumbled across called a choutonbo. This translates to Butterfly Dragonfly. And it's because it is a majestic fairy of a bug - it's a dragonfly that looks and flies kind of like a butterfly! But the time spent, the sweat, the several days of picture-taking, the sunburn, the being goggled at by middle school or high school campus tour groups, was worth it for I was able to shoot some pretty good photos, if I do say so myself.


Unfortunately, the butter-dragon-fly never left the middle of the lake so I could not get a stunning close up, but thanks to my telephoto lens, I was able to get some nice shots.

And, I almost cried at this next one, after seeing countless blurry photos and trying to get his picture since I saw him several weeks ago:

Dragonfly photo gallery, concluded.

Well, good night and good day!

Classroom Kyoto Day 2

Again, hard to get out of bed, but I remembered how great the day before had ended up being, so I pushed through. Also did more studying on the train, but this time no delays and I got to sit down! This is very important when your train ride is pretty much an hour or more long.

Today was for Manga: A Cultural History class and was amazing. The day before could have been done alone, but today we had an awesome opportunity as a class to hold a class in a room that more people are not allowed access to and meet with a manga/anime artist and researcher who works at the museum, called Yasunori Oya. He was such a fun and nice guy. We started off by saying our names, majors, where we were from, and favorite anime and manga series. When a majority of us gave our introductions in Japanese, he was surprised and so excited. He would also sometimes laugh and clap or excitedly agree at certain series. I admitted that I do not have a lot of manga experience but that one of my favorite American comics is Witchblade and then he was saying he just saw a copy of it and my teacher said he also almost brought it to show today but gave up because there were just too many things he wanted to show us.

Then our teacher did as he usually does and went over time...but this time there was no bell to stop him. So many of us thought we'd do the Manga Museum in the morning and then more sightseeing afterwards, but most of us spent the entire day at the museum (which was awesome). He talked of his research and what got him into Japan. We learned about Transformers, Voltron, how America and Japan have interacted through anime, how merchandise plays along with animation, and more. His current research is how skin color and ethnicities are portrayed in manga and how that translates when turned into anime, primarily in the mega series One Piece.

Then we say a kamishibai performance. Kamishibai is a Japanese performance art that is one of the many influences of manga. This performer had so much energy and welcomed people from all the different countries. First there was a fun quiz show, even incorporating Japanese/English puns. Kamishibai is performed in a way that the performer is narrator, prop-master, and all the voice actors all at once. She told the story, said the dialogue, made comments, had audience participate by laughing for the protagonist, and would slowly and quickly change slides of pictures in a presentation box. Much like the way manga is read, she stood on the audience's left and pulled the paper out that way so that we "read" the pictures right to left, scenes unfolding in that direction. It was a lot of fun.

Then we had a lunch break. The famous and ancient soba place we headed to was packed, so we ate at the museum's cafe which turned out to be super neat because many of the artists who have visited the museum had drawn on the walls and even ceiling of the cafe. I had a don (bowl of rice with toppings) while enjoying friends' conversations and this amazing unique art around us.

Then we returned and heard Oya talk about how performance art like kamishibai and kabuki have influenced manga, anime, and film. Particularly the concept of kamite and shimote, the right side of the screen/page/stage versus the left. Strong, important characters are on the right while weaker, less important are on the left. If you watch, many shows, movies, anime, and manga incorporate this even into fight scenes. You may think someone is going to win, but they don't. Watch again and you'll see they were on the left. If they want to win and get stronger, they have to make their way to the right. It was very fascinating.

Then, we all were able to talk with him and our professor. Oya called someone on his walk-talkie-phone-I-don't-know-what-it-was-thing to bring the Witchblade they have. Turned out he was mixed up but what they brought was still really cool. It is a relatively new edition of Scarlet Witch, set in Kyoto, with Japanese on the cover. A gorgeous cover of a red pagoda in white snow, with Scarlet Witch walking through it. It was so cool. A friend (the birthday one) worked up the courage to discuss interning at the museum with Oya and everyone was so proud of her and she was happy she did because they are looking for people and it is very likely she can work there (our professor also showed Oya some of her works she submitted throughout the semester and he loved them).

Next, we explored the museum. There were people just sitting and reading manga from the floor-to-ceiling, hall-length bookshelves filled with manga. There were examples of the history of manga (a lot of which we had learned in class) as well as the flow of economics in the industry. There was also several rooms for a special exhibit of Ishigawa's works and I LOVED HER WORK. Photos were not allowed, except for in the very front gift shop area. Oh I loved it so much. It had her early works to her newer ones, so we got to see her artistic progression. She started with ballet scenery and flowing women, blocky noses, and drew men the same way she drew women. She evolved and started using new body shapes, mediums, settings, and so on. Incorporating Greek legends and styles or more modern styles. She wrote a manga based off of Prince Shotoku but portrayed him as an androgynous individual who was attracted to men - gorgeous. The art was compared to the Czech art nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha and I wholeheartedly agree, as well as Swedish Jon Bauer. I almost got the $35 art sample book of her work, but it was a bit expensive for a single book and didn't even include all the work on display. Oh but I loved it so much.

Then, I had to hurry home as the museum was soon closing, it was raining, and I had to make it to dinner. I grabbed a delicious snack from a bakery at the station (finally - I've wanted to bite into those delicious smells all semester) as well as stopped by the Miya-tan booth (with Nishinomiya's mascot). Even saw a new batch of babies in the swallow nest at the station I frequent. Also, on the long train ride home, I saw beautiful mist and fog rolling over the green mountain ranges. Misty mountains, oh how I love you.

I had warned my host parent's I'd be late, but they had been eating slow because we had yakiniku so I ended up being able to eat with them (though they were almost done). It was fun and delicious. I love yakiniku, grilled the vegetables and meat at the table, then swishing the meat in this delicious sauce on our plate. Mmmmmm.

Another night of good sleep due to a filled day. It was a wonderful experience, but I had to prepare for...Finals!!!

So although I haven't really hit the must-see places in Kyoto yet, I rather enjoyed Kyoto and am excited to explore it more this coming weekend/week.

More blogs to come!