I like small towns and nice people

Yesterday Haruka showed me around her home town. It was 20 minutes by car from the nearest train station, and though it is close in proximity to Kyoto, it was very rural. I didn't take as may pictures as I would have liked, but here is a rice paddy.

Many of the houses, including Haruka's, had small farms in their yards. (not haruka's house)

Her house is very old. It has a traditional Buddhist altar, a coy pond that gets its water from the nearby river, and a traditional iron bath tub that must be heated by burning wood at it's base (not a great picture). Seeing an old style Japanese home was really interesting, I thought. Also, the fact that she, her brother and sister, mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and great grandmother all live together is pretty amazing and increasingly rare in modern Japan.

Her grandmother made us somen noodles that were very good. Her grandfather had me help feed the coy. Her great grandmother, who is incredibly small, told me that she was going to go to the store to but toilet paper, and then said that she recognized me and had seen me around the house before. Altogether she was pretty with it for a 93 year old.

When I asked for a picture, her mother and grandmother declined, and instead we took this strangely formal picture of me, haruka, and her sister sakura.

this structure is a monument of sorts in memory of the brave warrior who saved the town from a giant people eating snake long ago.


while i was there, haruka also took me to visit her aunt and uncle's house, which I enjoyed very much. Her aunt is an artist that makes clothing out of various materials, such as old kimonos, aprons, and hand towels. She gave me a couple of very nice gifts, a hat that she made for me, and a belt that she had traded a fellow artist for. Its amazing how generous some people are, even if gift giving is part of their culture.
the uncle reminded me a lot of my friends in America. He made a lot of jokes and was very into gaming. he said things about the social interaction of gaming and whatnot and i loled. I have this video, though it chugs for some reason. and the reason has to do with my putting it into premier. but anyway, he's explaining that taping a cross hair is advantageous for various reasons. he is playing rainbow six vegas.
The video was too long to upload all of the owning that ensued.

here are some videos that belong in various previous posts.

hanabi (also chuggs)
sesame seed crushing

kare oke

Tokyo travels

I came back to Tokyo today and am currently in the room that i'll be staying in for the next month and a half or so. Apparently there is a 5 hour placement test that starts tomorrow at ten so i probably won't do too much tonight.
I guess there was a big storm in Osaka today that made the shinkansen late, so my host family chillaxed for a while in the train station before i left. But really, it ended up only being ten or fifteen minutes late so i ended up having to dash to the train and get on the wrong car as the doors were closing. Close call!
Anyway, i didn't mind, and though my back hurts a bit from lugging around way too much... baggage.. i've become more proficient at dual wielding suitcases since my first day, so it wasn't such a problem.

here's some pictures of saga arashiyama station, Raul was mecha sleepychan and claimed to be unable to correctly open his eyes.



The train ride up was really nice. the air was very clear outside. I listened to music and wrote some things. I found the train ride to be more enjoyable than driving for a few reasons, but especially because getting lost in thought was not dangerous.

When I started making my way through the various tokyo stations, normal music was no longer enjoyable to listen to. Only melt banana's cell-scape could match the atmosphere.



ha, raul at work.

After Kyomizudera..

I returned to the Yamaoka residence, where I was met with a "Yappari". Which, I believe, was a commentary on my being awake. On the way home I took a couple pictures. This one, a picture of an obscene tanuki, was taken close to the temple.

Tanuki Mario can fly. Tanuki original can shape shift, but cannot fly.
Then this picture was taken, probably over an hour later, in Arashiyama near Raul's house.

When I got home I was definitely ready for a nap. 6 hours or so later. haruka called the house and requested that I be awoken. Somewhat rejuvenated (can I use that word?), I met her and Raul at Kyoto Eki and we ate some foods.
Apparently haruka and Raul's mom, Hisa, both saw the same terebi program earlier that day that listed gaijinno ichiban sukina nihontabemono. According to them foreigner's favorites are: 1. tofu (some specific preparation I think.)
2. Shave Ice (Japanese food kana?)
3. Tempura.

We ate tonkatsu.

Afterwards, takeru carefully investigated a roll of toilet paper, and then we left to go do hanabi, or fireworks.


we did the fireworks out in the inaka, countryside, with some girls that were in the english class that haruka taught. They were pretty funny. They were sisters that lived together in a 'traditional japanese apartment building' that reminded me of the dormitories for women that work in large chinese factories. Though inside it wasn't bad at all, the outside just had that cold impersonal futuristic feel. The sisters were nothing alike, one was shy, the other loud.

the fireworks were fun loud, and impressive. When I get settled in Tokyo, i'll be sure to upload some videos. Promise!

As we were finishing some yanki approached. i think that means rebellious kids or something along those lindes. i found in interesting that Japanese middle school boys are annoying, rude, obnoxious. Some things are universal!! honto ni not all of them were than bad though.

Again I returned home tired and then i dono slept and stuff... then today happened :). maybe i can talk about today tomorrow. or tomorrows morrow. ok bai bai

Long (and good) Day or 2

On the 27th, I woke up early (with help from the semi) and went to the nearby Tenryuji temple with the Yamaoka parents to see the lotus flowers that are only in bloom during the early morning.

It was nice and the sky was pretty, but apparently we came too late in the day or season to get the full effect, i'm not sure which.

It was still nice though.

After that we chillaxed at home for a fairly long time, before going out to play some pool.


Then we split up and Raul and I hopped on a train to Osaka, where would join his circle for nomikai (drink meeting). On the way to the train station, I once again received powerful advice from an unlikely source.


Here's some people in his circle, or saakaru.
Shimu left, Uchi right.
Raul and his gf (kj?), Harunasan of Shizuoka.


and Z.O.M.G., none other than Captain Jack Sparrow!


His picture is bigger because he worked so hard to keep me from taking his picture. Something about his soul or something.


And then... it was kareoke time. kareoke was definitely fun, but popular Japanese songs generally have pretty boring tunes, and they are not improved by kareoke midi. I was surprised and impressed by the english song selection, though. It was far better, I thought, than the selections in Kearny Mesa. There were a lot of songs by Sonic Youth and Elliot Smithfor example. And while they would have been extremely boring for kareoke purposes, I was still surprised and glad to see them.
The Japanese apparently really like hearing native english speakers sing songs in english, even when the singer isn't particularly gifted. I think I was pretty good at the Smashing Pumpkins and RHCP songs, but not so good at the Pixies, Weezer, Shakira, or Beatles.
check out this awesome perspective make out.


I'll be sure to upload some awesome, kareoke videos later.

After a few hours, tired and no longer able to handle the tobacco hot box, I went outside and walked around, practiced some ukemi (ow my elbow), and took a bunch of pictures on my reflection on a round pole. It was fun?

Anyway, it was already almost 5am, so I decided to go back to Kyoto on the first train, to see one of my favorite temples, instead of staying at a friend's house.
Check out the brave women who puts metal things dangerously close to her eyes on the moving train.


I found the early morning to be very pretty.

It was also nice to be outside when while it was cool out. From about 7AM to 2AM its far too hot out.
The walk to Kyomizudera was very nice. I passed various temples and shrines along the way. Inside one temple was a chanting monk with a cool bell, I stood (respectfully) next to a couple old women and listened briefly. I took a short video that hopefully I will remember to upload later.
I also passed an extremely large cemetery.


Here are some of the pretty things that you see when you get closer to the temple. I am fortunate, I think, to have been able to see everything with so few people around. Usually the whole area is flooded with tourists.



I'm not really sure what these little guys are all about.





Kyomizudera itself was very tranquil and nice.

I mimicked some of the Japanese people, doing various things like praying/meditating, throwing coins into donation boxes, ringing bells, clapping, bowing, etc.


The water that runs through Kyomizu is thought to be some if not all of the following, i'm not really sure: Somehow Spiritual, extremely clean, lucky, delicious. I washed my hands, drank a cup, and filled a bottle (like this guy).



I have to go now.... i will finish this super long post later.

zomg yamaoka flickr

link

Check out this sick pic of cooltrav.

Japan and Today, things that happened

Today we went to the Kyoto International Manga Museum and the hexagonal temple, among other places. (check out the chimchar(hikozaru)that i painted)

It was in the train station this morning, however, that I observed "The Three Pillars of Ultimate Japanese Truth.



aaah sooou


mira mira!
the ends of this tori extened into the buildings on either side.


also. look at this melon. or Suika (your Japanese lesson for the day)



that's almost $20!!

Also: Taira means flat,
and Chuuko is the word for used goods.


and finally, look at the pretty green color of Japan.

Something pretty amazing

When I finally made it out of customs one of the first things I saw was a vending machine with a picture of Raul on it. Pretty Amazing!

We had delicious udon for breakfast.



"BIMIDA!"

A warm welcome?

Showing up unannounced at Raul's house didn't go quite as well as i had hoped. When the cat wouldn't unlock the door for me I decided to start wardriving. Deep in the archives of Gmail I found Raul's mobile Email, and we have now communicated. I also bought some skype credits while i was out here (on the floor in front of the apartment) and tried calling the land line. But as my poor chronology will let you know, no one was home. I haven't slept for a very long time, so if this makes no sense i apologize.

i think i'm being eaten by tiny bugs. I hope i don't have flees!

funny things that happened today:
Flight attendant- chicken or beef?
me- do you have vegetarian?
Flight attendant- did you reserve in advance?
me- no
Flight attendant- sorry. chicken or beef?
me- chicken please
Flight attendant- maybe.. we are actually out of chicken.
me- ...


SHout out to Ryan!! Woooo!


also. I had a drink with the word yogurt on it. its pronounced 'youguruto'. now you can all say the line correctly.

i had a fairly embarrassing train experience today.
I got on to the bullet train with 2 suitcases, each as wide as the isle, and found that there was no storage by the doors. So i would just store them near my seat. But i was at the very front of the car and my seat was the very last. So i slowly pulled my two suitcases while walking backwards, running into people, having to pass people going the other way etc. I found that I was a bit of an inconvenience to everyone, but also that some of them were not very adept at avoiding me/letting me by. So it was teamwork for the ultimate watch some poor kid (who happened to be sweating quite a bit) pull his suitcases slowly across the entire car. Yaaay

I think i may have turned an interesting story into one that is not interesting. but i'm new at this and will try not to do it again in the future.

although no one is home, that is somewhat better than having them all be asleep. i was not looking forward to waking everyone up.

i'll be sure to post the few pictures that i've taken today.
i think i'll change my shirt now, because this one smells.

no one is home

i'm wardriving raul's neighbors.

zOmg Dota

gem of truesight ftl

House Fire

So there was this house on fire Thursday night on crest drive. There are some pictures on my flickr.

Possible Travel Destinations with B's Family

Hakone is this lake-ish place with a tori from which you can see Mt. Fuji.

Nikko is this Mountain place with an ostentatious shrine.

Pretty Cool!!

I think White looks nice in hats.

test

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