After the End

We held the closing ceremonies for our summertime English Class today.  Our students performed skits, monologues, and songs in English to showcase their increased linguistic skill.  It was quite satisfying to see their progress.  Some of the students couldn't string a sentence together if they tried when they started, but now they're able to communicate much more effectively.  Seeing them shine like that was immensely rewarding.  I put together a slide show of memories that I'll put at the end of this post.

A finished class also means a finished trip.  I don't have reason to stay any longer now, and I most certainly am looking forward to going back home and being with my help meet.  In fact, that's one thing I've come to understand more keenly these past three months.  Being apart from my wife has been the most difficult part of this journey, hands down.  Even though I knew going into this that I was just asking for a hard time without her, I was surprised at just how...incomplete life felt when the only time I could speak with her was at odd hours of the day through a shaky Skype connection.  I've learned that that isn't enough.  Married life is so fulfilling and wonderful, and it has changed me in ways I didn't expect.  That  became apparent to me this summer.  One big lesson learned from this Japan trip: don't live apart from Mary Belle ever again.

Of course, that's not to say that I'm ungrateful that I had the opportunity to come here.  Far from it.  As far as language learning goes, this trip has been indispensable to my linguistic progress.  I wish I had been able to progress further than I have; I reached the "comfortable medium" level, where I can make basic thoughts understood and I can generally follow the conversation when I'm being addressed.  It's like I'm halfway through a mission, in terms of language ability.  I suppose, had I had different living arrangements and had to communicate more often in Japanese (the Satos tend to keep to themselves quite a bit, so I only saw them around mealtimes), and if I had taken more initiative in instigating conversation whenever I could, I probably could have learned even more.  But for going from "conversation is HARD!" to "yeah, let's chat!" in three months is pretty good, I think.

Culturally, I think I was well prepared by my various Japanese classes about what to expect when I came.  Still, the generosity and willingness of the people here to serve and help is unbelievable.  They genuinely care about you and want to help.  Of course, because I'm a foreigner it is probably more pronounced (they always want to please "guests"), but even so, I was impressed by their dedication to help, especially when it came to the relief effort in Sendai area.  Everybody wanted to help, and everybody did what they could.  Due to the fallout from the Fukushima nuclear reactor incident (no pun intended), nuclear reactors countrywide have been either shut down or forced into very low productivity, creating electricity shortages. Despite this, the Japanese willingly cut back on their electricity usage in little ways, like turning up the thermostat so the AC doesn't use as much juice, using natural lighting as much as possible, etc.  Their spirit of cooperation was palpable.

I learned the value and the depth of family ties as well.  The trips to Ozu and Tokyo to see Mary's family and the Shumways, respectively, taught me how much my family sacrifices for me.  Mary's family paid for the hotel we stayed at in Ozu, and her family paid for all my meals, despite the fact that it was the first time meeting them.  Uncle Doug and Aunt Chikako paid for my entire trip to Tokyo, including travel fare (not cheap) and admission fees to the various sights, and put me up graciously for three days.  None of them batted an eyelash at doing so (at least in my presence).  I love my family!

In thinking about the Japanese and what kind of motivation would be required for them to be so dedicated to helping, to be so selfless in giving to strangers like me, I feel like I've seen part of a deep reservoir of emotion that they carry and that carries them through life.  Despite their roundabout ways of speaking and never speaking exactly what they mean, they have very soft hearts that feel deeply.  They are sometimes unable to express those feelings verbally, but their actions speak for them.  This stay in Japan has only increased my affinity for these people.

In that way, they are not unlike their Korean brothers and sisters.  Despite definite cultural differences (of which there are many more than I had originally thought), both peoples have large hearts and deep emotions that drive them through their lives.  I loved the Korean saints for that reason.  No matter how illogical at first their mindset may have been, their hearts guided them right.  The Japanese are no different.

I will miss this place.  I will especially miss my new friends. I expect that I'll have pangs of nostalgia as I think back on this experience, just as I still have daily moments of wistful remembrances and flashes of desire to return to Korea.  I am tied to two peoples now, and all I want to do is be with them, learn of them, and help them.

I will never forget this summer.

Herro, Wercome tsu Japan! (Final Volume)

My my, you know it's close to the end when I've gotta make one last photo dump of Engrish pictures I've accumulated.

Love & Peace! Beat Wishes for you! 

Delica AND Tessen? How can I lose?

I don't know what a "unipue" method is, but it must be fancy to warrant it as a menu item description

"Mildly Air Conditioned" 

I'd like a coop of noodles please.

I don't think creamed corn and ice cream cones have much in common.

I would have bought this shirt had it not been $30.

Now this is just "duh."  Of course Tommy Lee Jones is the boss of coffee.

 "Now I feel the same the seas This time on the waves"

What a cute kid.  With such a nisE shirt

.

The most hardcore pair of $1 slippers I've ever seen (pardon the light obscenity)

Kishiwada Castle

It's been such a treat to live right next to so many pieces of history.  I've already talked about the shrine next door, but I've put off talking about the nearby castle...until now, that is.

The Kishiwada Castle has been around since the beginning of the Edo Period, although the records of exactly when, why, and for whom it was constructed are lost.  Its first (and only) recorded Daimyo lineage is the Okabe family, who ruled this area that was at the time called Kishuu.

Now, the castle (like the one in Osaka) is a museum, although it is much smaller in scale.  Nevertheless, the view of the castle on the neighborhood skyline is nothing short of majestic, and only increases in grandeur as you approach the grounds.

To truly appreciate the aesthetics of this area, I started on the very outer edges and worked my way in.  The outer moats, it so happens, contain large flows of lotus flowers.

Luckily I went before the summer heat came blasting in, so I got to see the lotus in bloom.

I wheeled around the outside of the castle (on my mini Japanese bicycle), past the Kishiwada town hall adjacent to the northern battlements, and up over the outer moat to the central bridge leading to the main bailey.

It was here in a small park in front of the castle that I found something wholly incongruous with my preconception of a Japanese castle: this li'l guy.

...a MONKEY!?

Seriously, if somebody told me that I would find an ancient-looking monkey in front of a Japanese castle, I would never have believed them.  And this monkey is definitely ancient; he has most definitely hit his stride and has LONG since moved on.

After that particular oddity, I went into the main grounds, where I found that they had constructed a rock garden right in front of the castle.  It wasn't until I got up into the upper levels and got a good view that I could see the design of it.

It is laid out so that each set of rocks corresponds to either different elements, different celestial bodies, or different mythological or legendary creatures.  I thought it was quite impressive.  From the lookout on the castle roof I got a good view of the neighborhood I've been living in.

Looking out at this lovely town, and looking back at the places I've been in this lovely country, it's hard to believe it's coming to a close.  I do certainly hope I can return someday.  It would definitely be worth it.

I Am Ninja, He Is Ninja, She Is Ninja Too!

My last day trip of my stay in Japan, and where do I go?  Why up to Mie Prefecture (about 2 hours away) to a town called Iga.  And why did I go there? Oh, only because it's a ninja village!

Statues like this were scattered all over town.

The whole city was all about ninjas.  Ninja-themed shops, restaurants, and parks were all over the place.  Our first stop was to a costume store, where they rented us ninja costumes that we could actually wear around town.  There were costumes of all colors and sizes, but we decided to go with typical black, even though real ninjas probably wore navy or dark brown (as those colors blend better at night).  

That's the thing about ninja-themed anything nowadays.  It isn't authentic at all; the mystique surrounding ninjas is probably even more fantastic in Japan than in America.  But in the case of ninjas, they are so popular that it doesn't matter that their current iteration is far removed from their origins.  Besides, it's fun to go parading about in duds like these.

If you can tell which one I am, then I have failed as a ninja.

We first went to a "ninja mansion," a recreation of a house where ninja lived.  On our way there, we found (not unexpectedly) that three pasty foreigners dressed head to toe as ninja were quite a popular sight, and people everywhere asked to take our pictures, from kids...

to adults...

Even other foreigners wanted in on the action.

The actual mansion, the ninja yashiki, was really cool.  The tour guide showed us how certain panels on the wall were actually revolving doors that lead to secret passages between walls, how something that looked like a shelf could turn into a set of stairs at the touch of a button, how a small wooden door on the wall could be opened only by swiping two separate locks simultaneously with pieces of paper, and even how to open secret floorboards where weapons were stashed.   

After that we went to a short performance, where actors would demonstrate the use of various weapons used by ninjas.  Here is a cutting demonstration.  Having done this myself in the past, I can tell that the guy actually isn't that bad.  A bit showy, but this is a show, after all.

He also demonstrated how kama were used by ninja.  This was new to me, as I had thought that kama were used by Okinawans only in their development of karate.  But again, authenticity of origin is less important than  awesomeness of technique, and this was pretty cool.

After the exhibition we were taken to a shuriken-throwing range, where we all got to practice throwing at targets.  Given my level of hand-eye coordination and my arm strength, I was surprised to actually hit the target, even if it was only one time.

There was a museum attached to the ninja mansion and the demonstration stands, where various ninja artifacts were on display.  Here's a bunch of actual shurikens that were created during the Warring States Period of Japan, (during the 14th and 15th centuries).

There were also several exhibits showing how ninja were able to do some of the legendary things they have been purported to do, like disappearing in flashes of smoke, or walking on water, etc.  They showed how ninjas would create the flash powder and use it to quickly escape, or how they developed shoes that allowed them to stay on top of boggy, muddy moats.

No castle is safe from me!

By this point, we needed sustenance, so we grabbed a bite to eat nearby.  It was funny, looking at our gaggle of ninjas sitting down and eating tonkatsu (essentially chicken-fried pork).  But that's the charm of a ninja town.  Even the cooks had shirts with a shuriken design on them.

After lunch we went to a small....game center (for lack of a better description).  It was essentially a place for kids to practice their ninja skills as they relate to the Five Paths of Ninja.  I knew I needed a power-up, so I took off my hood and went with a Solid Snake headband.

I don't know how infinite ammo is gonna help here, but still!

We did stuff like shuriken throwing (again), demon slicing (they taped a Wii remote to a wooden sword and had a ninja video game to play), and message interception (climbing onto a "roof" and clandestinely acquiring a message scroll by fishing it off the floor with a weighted hook and string).  I thought I did a pretty decent job, but I didn't get the rank of Legendary Ninja like I was shooting for.  I did get Senior Ninja, though, and I've got the certificate to prove it.

See? It says it right there.  Level 225 Senior Ninja.

After that it was time to start heading home.  Ahh, the last day trip of my stay in Japan.  From here on out, I'll try to finish up miscellaneous things that I have been putting off, like the neighborhood castle.

T-Town with the Shums

(Get ready for another long one!)

As I said in my last post, I was in a hurry Saturday to get back to Osaka. I was super excited to see the Japanese branch of the Shumway family, and I got to zip up there on the bullet train!  It was an evening train, so I watched the countryside fly by as the sun set behind the hills in the distance.  It only took 2 and a half hours to make it there (by contrast, a nighttime highway bus would have taken 9 hours).  And Tokyo being Tokyo, as soon as I cleared the ticket counters, I got lost.

But not for long, mind you; I just went out the East exit rather than the West exit and couldn't find Uncle Doug's car waiting for me.  Eventually I ran into cousin Alex, and he brought me to the right place.  I went to bed fairly soon after arriving at their apartment (which is AWESOME, by the way, whatever they might try to say to the contrary).

The next morning we woke up early so Alex could make it to church on time; even though he is a pre-missionary, he was on the speaking circuit with the high counselor in another branch and had to be there early.  The whole family came (minus Alicia, of course; it'd be hard for her to come from Montana or wherever her internship is), and Alex did an excellent job.

In a purely ancillary note, I found out that that particular branch also happened to be where Amy Takabori, one of the Yokohama interns, goes with her family.  Talk about an unexpected coincidence running into her at church!  That means that despite our disparate locations, I've actually been able to talk to all the interns while I'm here.

Anyway, after church on the way home I caught a glimpse of the Tokyo Temple.  It kind of sneaks up on you, as it is sitting right on the street corner (I imagine the Manhattan Temple to be somewhat similar in that regard).  After returning to the apartment, we hardly had time to eat before we headed out again.  Time was short, and I wanted to see some of Tokyo, so we went first to the Edo Museum.

It is a museum that covers Tokyo's history, from the time Tokugawa took it for his seat of power in the early 1600's to its current, modern sprawl.  It was fascinating to see how Tokyo had grown from a backwater farm village to an Asian supercity.  I even got to ride in a palanquin (if only for a photo).

Even in ancient times, the Japanese were economical with their space.

I was particularly moved by the various depictions of Edo and Tokyo as they rebuilt their city after disasters.  And they had many disasters; fires, floods, earthquakes have been ever-present in Japanese history.  Yet, the people stand together and rebuild with an admirable doggedness and stubborn spirit of survival.

Of course, not all of Japan's tragedies were nature-made.  There was a whole exhibit dedicated to the ravages of war that destroyed most of Tokyo over 60 years ago.  Here is a picture of a dud from the carpet fire bombing of Tokyo.

It's sobering to see the artifacts of World War II up close like that.  I shudder to think of what it must have been like, living in that time of uncertainty, when at any given moment fire would rain down from humming wings overhead.

But enough of the scary, sad stuff.  That wasn't how the trip was.  It was pure awesomeness, and that's what I felt at our next destination, the Tokyo Tower!

It was the tallest structure in Japan until the recent Tokyo Sky Tree's outer construction was finished.  It functions as a broadcasting tower, but they've installed observation decks that give incredible views of the Tokyo area.

You can even see Mt. Fuji in the distance.  My inferior camera couldn't quite get it right, but I got a hazy picture of it.

As the night wore on, we decided we wanted to stick around and go up to the higher observation deck so we could see more of Tokyo at night.  It was quite a sight.

This picture hardly does it justice.  It was breathtaking.

As we drove home to a delicious dinner of sukiyaki, I took a look back at the tower, and found it also had some great nighttime duds.

The next day was jam packed with places to see and things to experience.  Our first stop was in Asakusa, at a famous temple called Senso-ji, the oldest temple in Tokyo.  The gateway to the temple approach is called Kaminarimon, which means Thunder Gate. The gargantuan lantern hanging from it was the biggest I had ever seen.

We passed through the gate and onto the main thoroughfare, where there was a sea of people going about the shops and restaurants.  My first thought was, "now this is Tokyo!"

We battled the crowds up to the temple and went in, completing various rituals like washing our hands and mouths with water outside the temple, tossing coins into huge coffers and such.  It was fun going with Doug, Chikako, Alex, and Allen.  Particularly Allen.  He always had such interesting questions about what we were doing.

See? I'm not just making stuff up; I was actually there.

Our next stop was Akihabara, an area of Tokyo famous for its electronics.  There were electronic stores of every conceivable kind in every direction.  It was like if Radio Shack fused with Home Depot, then exploded into a thousand little stores.

What's that white guy doing in my picture?

On a whim I walked into a video game store, and I found this.

Japanese FFVII for 15 bucks.  Curse you, stupid region coding! You've stolen my chance for enjoying my favorite game of all time in a language I hardly understand!!!!

We didn't stay that long in Akibahara, though, as we were raring for some lunch by this point.  Luckily, there was a Kaiten-zushi place nearby.  Kaiten-zushi is a sushi restaurant where the sushi is put on color coded plates and sent around the restaurant on a revolving conveyor belt of sorts.  You simply take what looks good, taking into consideration the color of each plate (as that indicates the price).  You can also simply ask the sushi chefs for whatever you want.  It was utter heaven eating there!  I doubt sushi will ever be the same again.

They also serve desserts like jelly and oranges (yes, oranges are dessert).

After stuffing ourselves to the limit, we went to another famous part of town called Harajuku, which is known for being the hang out place for young people.  As such, it is (normally) a haven for people to dress up in all the crazy Tokyo fashions and spend time together.  I was expecting quite a showing of the bizarre get-ups I had heard about, but hardly anybody was dressed up that day.  I got one picture of an outfit that I am told is the "lolita" fashion.

There were other oddities to be spotted, though, as we we made our way down the main street there.  Some of them would have made great souvenirs had I the money (and space in my suitcase) to acquire them.

And here I thought superhero mix-ups were simply a Chinese thing.

Two words: "nightmare fodder."  Donnie Darko, eat your heart out.

Eventually we came to the end of the road, which conveniently led to the entrance of the Meiji Shrine, where the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken, are honored.  It was a complete 180 from where we had just been.  We went from the crazy hustle of metropolitan life to the silent stillness of the shrine in a matter of a few dozen feet.  Though that might be jarring to some, the juxtaposition to me was fascinating.  Two opposite facets of Japanese life coexisting in the same locale with no conflict whatsoever.

The broad gravel avenues stretched beneath the trees filled with the shrill voices of cicadas.  Pathways extended off the main trail to various smaller buildings.  Again I was struck by the Japanese concept of the spiritual essence of nature.  It is so....well, fascinating.

One of many poems written by the Emperor and Empress.  These signs are scattered throughout the shrine.

It began to drizzle, so we headed back to the car.  We ate dinner at a fancy restaurant called Gonpachi, which is famous for grilled skewers and soba (and also for being the set for a huge fight scene in Kill Bill), and then I had to reluctantly go back to the apartment to pack my things for the trip back to Osaka. 

I can't believe this time in Japan is almost up.  Despite all that I look forward to when I return (not the least of which is actually being able to kiss my wife goodnight), I feel so...connected to Japan.  This experience has been nothing like my mission, but I feel the same sense of kinship to the people here as I do to the Korean people.  I can clearly see the wisdom in the Lord reserving my experience in Japan to a post-mission internship.  Not only have I had opportunity to indelibly link myself to Korea through the peerless experience of a mission,  but I have been given the opportunity to bond myself to Japan through a completely different lens.  

There's no doubt about it.  The rest of my life will revolve around this small corner of the world.

The Graves of Koyasan

This last weekend was as jam-packed as any I've had since I arrived here.  I'll have to split up the telling into more manageable chunks just to get through it all.  I'll start with Saturday morning, which was a trip down south to Koyasan, the mountain headquarters of one of the principal sects of Buddhism in Japan, called the Shingon sect.  The whole of it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Though it's called Koyasan (meaning Mount Koya), it isn't exactly one mountain so much as a collection of hills and mountains, each one having long and detailed histories.  As such, we only saw a couple places.  The first stop was at a place called Jison-in, the starting place for the faithful who embark on a pilgrimage of the many many temples here.  It was famous for being the temple for the mother of Kukai, the founder of the Shingon sect.  As women were not allowed to visit the temples ahead, Kukai had her mother stay at Jison-in, and would visit her several times a month.  In time, it became known as a women's temple, where prayers for children and families are offered.

Here's an example of prayers that people write on small planks that are offered by priests.

On the grounds sits a large fountain in the shape of a lotus blossom.  I asked Brother Suzuki (who had come with us on the trip) why the lotus blossom is so prominent in Buddhism.  He replied that one reason could be that despite the fact that the plant begins its life in the scummy quagmire on the bottom of a pond, it can blossom into one of the most beautiful flowers.  It is essentially the symbol of human potential.

After this we drove up the road to our next destination, which was an area called Okuno-in, the largest graveyard in Japan.  It is said that there are over 200,000 grave markers in this area acting at remembrances for everyone from the rich, powerful, and influential to the commonest of folk.  It was a reverent place as we walked down the path.  Despite hearing about it, arriving there still took my breath away.  There were so many graves.

The stone torii gate in front of the tombstone acts as the border to the sacrosanct crypt within. 

Many of the grave markers bore a similar pattern in construction.  They consisted of Five stones stacked one atop another, with the five elements etched into them (in ascending order from the bottom stone: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void).  Though most of the markers in this pattern bore the Buddhist lettering for such, this one here had them in kanji.

As we walked down the path we found grave markers for many notable individuals in Japanese history.  Here are the graves for several of the Tokugawa family members (the leaders of Japan from the 1600's until 1868).

We also saw a grave marker for Oda Nobunaga, who first attempted to unite Japan under one rule following the turbulent centuries of civil war during the Middle Ages.  He was, in a way, the spiritual predecessor to the Tokugawa shogunate and is a central figure to Japanese history.

Notice that I said it was a grave marker, not the grave marker for Nobunaga.  He actually has a mausoleum all to himself elsewhere in Koyasan; this is just a marker for him in Okuno-in.  As it turns out, the location of the remains (which have almost always been cremated in Japan) is less important than having a marker there for them.  In that sense, calling them grave markers is a bit misleading.  There are even markers for companies.

They also make memorials for groups of people, such as this one, which is for the Japanese Marines who died during World War II.

The price to have your memory enshrined in this graveyard is astronomical.  Currently the most expensive lot is rented for over $200,000 a year.  In the past, however, faithful devotees who didn't have the coin to buy a grave marker instead planted a tree for their gravestone.  These trees, which now cover the entire area, are gigantic cedars, stretching a hundred feet or more into the sky.  They probably have a circumference approaching 10 feet around.

I got the chance to learn about a phenomenon I had noticed before in other places but until now had no one to ask.  I found small statues scattered along the trail that had what looked like bibs on them.  Some were hardly more than rocks with cloth strapped on.

I was surprised (and a bit sobered) at the answer I was given, though.  These are representations of Jizou, a deity with stewardship over children, particularly children who die before their parents (either through accident, being stillborn, or as is now often the case, through abortion).  The bibs are gifts from grieving parents asking Jizou to protect their children's spirits, as they didn't have the opportunity to gain experience in life.  

As we were exiting the grounds, I was surprised to see three Korean graves.  In contrast to the Japanese custom of cremation and small stone markers for graves, the Koreans bury their dead in grass-covered mounds on hillsides.  Whether these here in Koyasan were representative of Korean Buddhist adherents as a whole or were for specific Korean patrons, I'm not sure, but I was impressed that they were enshrined in such a thoroughly Japanese location.

By this point we were approaching lunchtime, so we got back in the car and drove over to a small Buddhist hostel of sorts called shukubou.  They are used as lodgings for visitors at a temple, and in old times one could live there while spending time at the temple.  Nowadays it's a way to experience life in a Buddhist manner.  For us, that meant shoujin-ryouri.  It's the word for Buddhist cuisine, and since non-violence is a key precept in Buddhism, that means strictly vegetarian.  Despite the lack of meat, the meal was quite delicious (save for a couple rather...interesting dishes) and gorgeously prepared and delivered.  

Now, had this been any other weekend we might have gone back out to look at more stuff, but I had to get back stat, as I had a ticket for the shinkansen to Tokyo, and I was not about to miss out on the rest of the weekend with Uncle Doug, Aunt Chikako and family.  More on that leg of the trip soon!