So, Japan can be weird sometimes. Anyone who has watched Japanese television can attest to this. To me, weird doesn't necessarily mean bad. In fact, it's often the quirky weird things about Japan that lift my spirits when I miss home or am having an off day.
Calpis is, like the bottle says, "Happy Refresh"
Whether it is going to my favorite curry restaurant and watching strange Indian music videos on their television or noticing a man walking down the street wearing hot pink pants, I have found the little things some of the most enjoyable... or at least interesting.
Sometimes I do things on a whim...Especially if I have been feeling stagnant for a bit. Usually my times of whimsy occur after I have spent prolonged periods of time alone in my apartment. This is a post about one such time.
At this point in my adventure I had been in Japan for about 3 months. I had gone to many different places and seen some pretty awesome things. But despite my time spent traveling there was one place that I had not yet seen. It was like an elephant in the room, a place I knew i needed to go to, a place I really wanted to go to... Tokyo.
Tokyo is a must see for any foreigner in Japan. Simply put, don't come to Japan and skip Tokyo.
Escalators acceding a giant mirrored hallway
A large marketplace in Asakusa
I was told before I came that Tokyo (especially the train system) was like a maze. In a previous post I described Mito that way, but after seeing Tokyo, Mito seemed like a country hamlet. In fact, I'm sure without a friend of mine that I met in Tokyo, I would have barely found my way home.
Just a fraction of the underground system we walked.
There were so many things to see and do that I only saw a fraction of what the Big City had to offer. I could drone on for hours about all I got to see and do but that, I fear, would bore you to death. Instead please enjoy the video.
For the Annual AET Retreat all of us crazy kids took a trip to the scenic little town of Nikko. There they have temples, shops, temples, waterfalls, temples, fog, temples, restaurants, and finally... more temples. As I mentioned a long time back Nikko has a few temples and thanks to my tenacious friend Heather Perry we where able to see most all of them.
The first temple we went to see was being renovated on the outside. In Japan renovating a building means covering it completely up. We were still allowed inside but sadly were not permitted to take any pictures.
Behold the beauty!
There is a saying I heard a while back, "Once you have seen one temple you have seen them all." Well I tend to disagree with most blanket statements including this one. I will agree that most temples do look similar and some are just as boring as the next, but there are a few that stand out. The first temple I mentioned contained not one, not two, but three giant golden Buddha statues.
The second temple we visited was actually the birthplace of the Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil monkeys. It is definitely a must see for any would be travelers.
Blending In
There where also a few other cool temples surrounding that one. All of various shapes and sizes and all pretty cool.
Exhibit A: Cool Temple
The one pictured above is actually just a small part of an even bigger temple. All of the white things around the door way are tiny intricately carved sculptures.
Exhibit B: Tiny Intricately Caved Sculptures
Finally the last temple on our tour was one that we named "The Hidden Temple" and rightfully so. It was no where near the other temples and required climbing a ton of stairs in order to reach it. But climb we did and, after recreating a scene from Rocky, We got to see my favorite temple. It had no giant golden Buddhas, legendary monkeys, or masterful carvings; but it did have character. It was secluded (most likely due to the stairs), Small, and simple. I guess I'm just a man of simple tastes.
Pictured: The last flight of stairs
After seeing all of the temples, we were decently tired and decided to return to our accommodations located way out in the boonies. There was more fun to be had (After all, it was not a one day retreat), but I think I will let the video tell those stories.
The following contains events that happened a decent amount of time ago. Viewer discretion is advised.
So a while back my school had their yearly Undokai. For those not familiar while random Japanese school events, an Undokai is a sports festival. It is here that the children display their athletic prowess and their spirit of sportsmanship. At my school, every grade from kindergarten to sixth is involved in sporting events consisting of relays to tug of war matches (of which yours truly was on the winning team).
My favorite game to watch involved a group of four kids hoisting another kid onto their shoulders. Their were two teams consisting of about six of these groups. At the sound of the staring gun, the teams would run at each other yelling. The person on the shoulders would then try and take the hat off of the other teams shoulder child. When asking one of my teachers about this game, they said it dates back to samurai warfare where two samurai would ride horses at one another and try and lop of the other's head. Fortunately, no heads were lost during our event.
All in all, it was a lot of fun and I even got to learn a new Japanese word... Hiyake (日焼け). It means Sunburn.
One of the things that I really wanted to do here in Japan was help out with the tsunami relief efforts. During my second week in Japan an announcement was made that a group from the church would be going up during Golden Week (A Japanese holiday where everyone gets a week off to vacation). Jordan Powell and I asked if we could go despite having to come up a bit later than the main group. The people organizing it got really excited and went above and beyond to make sure that these two newbies found their way and arrived safe. That was an adventure in and of itself and I was a bit nervous. Neither Jordan or myself had ever traveled by train before (Yet alone, for a six hour trip). Needless to say, it was way worth it. It felt good to help out in whatever small way we did. We were, also, able to meet and grow with some people from Mito Church as well as some university students.
I have a video and some pictures below. The video is mainly about this burnt down school that we visited. While the students had luckily evacuated the school, a lot of people from the surrounding neighborhood had fled to it for safety.
The man playing the harmonica was an alumni of the school and the song is the school's song. Both of his parents were inside the school but luckily they survived. He comes back to the school every vacation that he gets and plays the schools anthem for the memory of those who were lost.
The man in orange was the guy playing the harmonica. He was super cool.
Below are a few of shots of the house that we were stripping out. Jordan and I were in charge if closet removal. It's amazing how a job were you get covered in dust, grime, and sweat can fell so good.
Everything in the house needed to be stripped out except the frame work
That is a pile of the insulation that was in the walls. It all needed to be bagged.
Lunch Time!
Group Pic. I'm the dude way in the back with the black bandanna.
Here a couple pictures of a house that had not yet been started on. It really tells the story of the devastation but also shows how far the other houses have come.
This is a junk yard containing all the cars that were totaled during the tsunami. The picture doesn't really do what we saw justice. That Line of cars stretched for a mile or so and the cars go way back.
These are some pictures that I took at the burnt school. Again, they don't really do justice to what we saw.
This is a shot of the school's shoe locker room
This is where a convenience store once stood. It is now a memorial and a declaration of the strong spirit of the Japanese people.
This sign reads, "Fight Ishinomaki"
A couple shots from the road as we traveled.
The waves of the tsunami reached up to the first floor of this hospital despite it being way up on a hill.
Finally, Here are a couple pictures of what was left of downtown Ishinomaki. Most of the debris had been cleared away. Aside from a couple overturned buildings, there was nothing left.
Here you can see that the road is now under water.
This is a quick / incredibly shaky video that I filmed during my first time outside of my apartment by myself. I believe that this was filmed during my first week in Mito. While I can now go almost anywhere in the city and find my way back home, such was not the case when I first arrived. I don't know if it was the fact that I was new in this city or because every city in Japan is built like a labyrinth (Seriously there is probably a Minotaur chilling out somewhere in Mito Station), but I was very stressed on my first solo outing. In the end, It was a good experience that prepared me for the many other times I would get lost. It made me appreciate the time I have to myself and the sense of adventure found in these types of experiences.
About a week ago, I was hanging out with some friends I had not seen in a very long time. We had just finished eating a very delicious lunch at one of my favorite Mito City eateries. After the meal, we were wondering what to do next. One of our group then suggested we go to karakuen park for the annual Pakistan festival. Like most of you, my reaction was of the "huh?" variety. I was not aware that Japan had large festivals dedicated to celebrating Pakistani culture...
Turns out they do... and they are quite a lot of fun.
