Romping Japan

Final Showdown! Sugiyama!

2007-07-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

After working for a few weeks in Enzan, I made my way to my final WWOOF host in Kamogawa. At the southern tip of the Chiba province, Kamogawa is about two hours southeast from Tokyo by bus, near the Pacific coast- a beautiful place. The host family was great. Sugiyama Harunobu, the head of the house, has an interesting history. He did not go to college and instead worked as an archeologist, assisting with excavations in southern Tokyo (Kamakura). He moved to Kamogawa about 20 years ago to found a ceramics studio. He Currently makes pottery as fine art, produces ceramic bells for an annual festival,
teaches ceramics classes for all ages, and is the manager for an organic rice cooperative in the area. The following article sums up his pottery background very well:

The sort of pottery Harunobu does is very unique, even in Japan. The oven he uses to fire his artwork is a traditional design over a thousand years old, which he constructed himself. According to Harunobu's estimation, there are only about 15 ovens of this type in all of Japan. His style is completely natural and utilizes no artificial glazes. The only ingredients are natural clay, a naturally constructed furnace (a huge, earthen whale of a thing), a wood-fueled fire and skill. It is really, really sweet. I spent a lot of money purchasing some of these artistic delicacies...

The Work

The work at the Sugiyamas house varied according to the weather. If the weather permitted, the work was maintaining the rice paddies and preparing a new one for planting. I got to learn a lot about organic rice paddies!

Cutting down brush and weeds on the hills surrounding the paddy (I took the photo. Can you tell?)

Sugiyama using a machine that beats the tilled soil to just under water level

Here we are loading up the truck with baby rice stalks and women. We took these to the new paddy to plant.

Planting rice in the paddy

Unfortunately, most of the time the weather would not permit outdoor work. It basically rained every day at least once and on many occasions for days on end. In this case, I pounded old, used clay with a big wooden hammer. This clay, which came from mess-ups and discards, would be rehydrated after pounding for further use. It was not terrible work, but not much fun either. Good exercise, but it got a touch boring after ten days of the same routine. Because it was more tiring work, however, I got to work fewer hours- a nice bonus.

My workspace with Conan the Barbarian-style mallet

I did lots of stuff and had lots of fun. Here are some photos.

The Art of Kako Ogihara

2007-07-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

Basically every time I meet a person in Japan I am asked what my job is. Then I tell them that I am a college student, which leads them to ask for my age. Everybody is blown away, of course, when they discover that I am not in my early or mid-30's but only 21 years old. After that ordeal passes, I tell them that I am an art major, which gets them really excited. It amazes me how reliably art excites the Japanese people.

Being Japanese, Ogihara-san got very excited once I told him about my art major. But he was excited for another reason as well- his great-grandfather, Kako Ogihara, was a traditional Japanese painter- art is in his blood. When he told me this, I became very excited as well. This all led to a lot of excitement. And so I asked him lots of questions about Kako, what sort of paintings he did etc.

Kako Ogihara

Ogihara-san showed me a bottle of wine made from his family's grapes. The label was a section of a painting done by Kako Ogihara about 100 years ago. Pretty cool! Ogihara then told me that at his mother's house they had loads of his work, in addition to a bunch of Kako's painting workbooks. The next day we stopped by the house to look at the paintings.

Being an art major, I was a bit distressed by the storage methods for the artwork- folded up in old boxes. The folding is what really got me. One of the books had been nipped by an apparently ravenous mouse.

A teaching workbook, from which Kako likely studied. Note the mouse bites and the stunning translucency of the paper

There were lots of workbooks, seven or eight, and lots of individual paintings and sketches. Leafing through them all was really interesting because you could see the images in the workborks mirrored in the sketches done by Kako. Some of the images in the workbooks were recreated entirely, large-scale. All were beautiful.

A mutual favorite of Ogihara-san and myself

Another mutual favorite, sadly folded up. Note the translucency of the paper

An image from one of Kako's workbooks

One of Kako's workbooks

This last workbook is very special. It was in excellent condition and had more images inside than all the other workbooks. All were in color. The binding was top notch, despite the book's age of around 120 years old. This workbook is very special because Ogihara-san gave it to me. When he gave it to me, with a huge and beaming smile, he told me that it probably had not been used for at least 70 or 80 years. This made me happiest of all- that he understood the book not as an artifact or fossil- a souvenier, essentially- but as something alive, something that should be used and perpetuated. I hope to do that!

Grape Farming

2007-07-12T01:21:00.001-07:00

From June 24 up until about now, I worked on a grape farm in Enzan City, Yamanashi, Japan. Enzan is about 1.5 hours by train from Tokyo, situated in a beautiful valley with Fuji's peak visible in the distance. The city is famous throughout Japan for its fruit production with the main crops being grapes, peaches, plums, cherries and strawberries. It was a beautiful town bathed in greenery, and fruit could be seen ripening everywhere.

On my first night there, Ogihara-san, the WWOOF host, took me to an onsen. This must be some sort of protocol for getting to know people- it works, and I like it a lot. It was definitely a nice end to a long day (about 8 hours) of train travel with all my crap (too much crap) and no food. I was hungry enough to eat a horse, a whale even. I did, in fact. After the hot bath, Ogihara-san shuffled me into a small dining room where a bunch of his friends were sitting on the floor around a feast of oysters, clams, sashimi (raw fish), dumplings, fried whale, hush-puppies and raw horse, among other things (like beer!). It was endlessly satisfying. I had never eaten (or thought to eat) whale or horse, but both were delicious. The whale was fried, so it essentially tasted like friedness plus a unique texture, which was of course delicious. I was not surprised that horse was offered only because I'd been told by other people that horse is a delicacy in Japan. What I didn't know was that it is eaten raw. The only other meat I've eaten raw aside from fish is pork, so this was my first raw red meat meal. It was very tasty- similar to deer, if you've ever eaten that.

Ogihara-san, the host, is awesome. I will leave Japan with him at the top of my list of favorite Japanese people if I ever make one (I won't). Ogi started out working for and driving in Motocross. To put it bluntly, that's fucking awesome. I'm not sure if this was just a hobby along with his job or a professional interest. After (or during, I don't know) his time in Motocross he sold insurance, a career he would hold for about 20 years. During this time he took up an interest in snowboarding, which he has continued to do for the past 20 years. His favorite courses are powdery double-black diamonds through the woods. I will not do that any time soon. After he quit his job at the insurance company, he decided to get involved in the family business of farming grapes. He is happier than ever.

See the grin?

So basically, Ogihara-san rules.

His grape farm is divided into a number of plots, as are most farmers'. One section is a vineyard, dedicated to producing grapes for wine, which Ogihara has recently taken a greater interest in expanding. But most of the grapes grown are special varieties of table grapes- mainly Peony and Rosario Bianco. Ogihara grows many other varieties which you can see by visiting his blog, in mutilated English. The grapes are valued for their asthetic beauty and their taste, and are often given by wealthy businessmen as gifts. One bosomy bunch of Peony grapes, which is typically a count of 30, sells in Tokyo specialty shops for around 5,000￥, roughly $47. Damn! If they are not sold in specialty shops, their value changes dramatically. In a local grocery store they typically go for around 600-700￥ per bunch. This high cost is a result of tender-loving-care. Every bunch of grapes must be manicured by hand to eliminate rotten, wind-burnt, sun-burnt and small grapes. They are also pruned so that when the grapes grow to their gigantic size they do not exert such a pressure on their neighboring grapes that would explode them.

A Peony bunch, before pruning

The same bunch, post-pruning

Yours truly, pruning. Apparently I am a champion Peony pruner

In the photo you can see the strange trellis system that Japanese grape-farmers use. The main reasons are to resist the dew and humidity that are more extreme near the ground. It was always a long day of this work. We started around 8:30 and ended around 18:00. There were breaks and lunch in there, but that's a lot of pruning for one day. It was not hard work, but it was often very hot (35c at 70% humidity isn't much fun!). After work I would fall into daydream trances of grape-pruning. But every meal was delicious and every evening provided beer and great satisfaction at a job well done- all in the very good and charming company of Ogihara and his wife.

Aside from the job of trimming Peony bunches we did some work in the greenhouse if it was raining. In the greenhouse we did pruning in addition to covering the bunches with small hoods. Grapes that ripen to red or purple got clearish-white wax-paper hoods, and grapes to ripen green got brown paper ones. Red grapes need light to change color, and green grapes need a lessening of light to remain green, thus the different hoods. The hoods also prevent birds from eating the grapes.

Hoods

More photos:

Rosario Bianco

Another variety that looks pretty neat. The name escapes me.

A decent view of the trellis system.

A sweeeeping panoraaaaaamaaaaa

The Nature of Shalom Forest

2007-07-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

Shalom no Mori was one beautiful place. I could have spent months hiking, finding new and interesting natural spectacles. And I don't mean eyeglasses! Although I guess finding naturally made glasses would be quite a natural spectacle, indeed. Anyway, so let me tell you about the Forest of Shalom itself, and it's history.

The other day, while Hiro-san and I were driving our bags of poop up the mountain, he told me the history of the forest. The land was originally purchased by Hiro's "4-step" grandfather, as he told me. I take this to mean his great-great-great grandfather. Hiro also informed me that the land was purchased around the beginning of the Meiji period, which began in 1868. So either way, it's been in the family for quite a while. Hiro's ancestor purchased the land with the profits from his lucrative shop in town. The land was originally bought to make profit from its one abundant natural resource- wood. At the time, the Meiji government was nationalizing and modernizing the country, an effort which requires a lot of energy and material. Demand for wood was up and he got top dollar for the stuff. Thus, the wealthy shop owner became wealthier. He, or one of his children, planted new trees (Japanese cypress and cedar) which are currently standing. This planting resulted in tree stands very straight and tall like this:

Woods

Unfortunately, after the development of fossil fuels as a power source, along with international trade, the cost of wood fell dramatically. Hiro-san offered me a telling comparison- he can trade one tree for approximately one radish. And so, he does not sell the trees, but keeps them where they stand. But there are other natural resources at Shalom no Mori that can generate income- the river and its inhabitants.

A calm section of the mountain stream

Yamame, or Japanese trout. Can you spot it?

Fly fishing is incredibly popular in Japan, Tokyo especially. However, due to Japan's high population density most rivers where fly-fishing is possible are overcrowded with fishermen. Hiro-san has taken advantage of this dilemma- he runs a fly fishing business where he limits the fishing to only eight enthusiasts per day. On a property of about 10 square kilometers, it is a far more natural experience for Tokyo residents than the usual fishing hole. This benefit extends to Hiro-san, whose woods maintain their peaceful nature.

I had time to go on a hike one day. I wish I'd had more days with time to hike, but usually by the time work was through the sun was already setting. Aside from that, work started too early to hike in the morning, and the break after lunch was only 30 minutes- not enough time to get very far. Here are some photos from the hike.

Okay, so I like mountain streams and waterfalls. The last full day I had at Shalom no Mori, Hiro-san drove me to the top of the mountain with a mountain bike. It's a rugged drive up, despite the occasional paved section:

One of the cleaner paved sections (it's a tree, not a bridge)

Once I reached the top, I took a bunch of photos and then sketched for about an hour. It was a very beautiful overlook. Goddamn I wish I could have camped out there for a few days, taken some night photos of the stars, photos of sunrise etc. If anything, my experience there has encouraged me to take advantage of the natural bounty of the United States and to go camping more.

Ahh, what a beautiful place. The ride down the mountain was a lot of fun, and very fast.

To view more (and better) photos and information, in Japanese, on Shalom Forest please go to Hiro-san's homepage:

http://www.shalomnet.net/

Meet the Family

2007-07-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

As soon as I arrived at Shalom no Mori I was treated like family. The Komoriyas get WWOOFers a lot, and so I'm sure they are somewhat used to random people showing up and suddenly becoming friends. Indeed, after my second day staying there, the whole family and I (Reiko, the mom, was absent) went to "Sun Lake," a hotel/restaurant/store/etc., for a nice dinner. Afterward, much to my surprise, we all went to the hotel's onsen- a public bath. Needless to say, I have never been so very naked with a man and his family so soon after introductions! Or ever, for that matter. My first reaction was hesitation, but I very soon realized that this is just a regular thing over here in Japan. And that's just how it turned out- very regular, and extremely relaxing (There is a giant "hot tub" type thing, and a sauna). It also made me feel much more accepted by their family, and much more comfortable around them.

So let's meet the Komoriyas!

Shintaro, the dog

A more candid shot of Hiro-san

Ryouma, 7, mystical enchanter. Nice junk, Ryouma

Anri, 5, ninja queen

I unfortunately do not have very many photos of Karin or Reiko- Karin was always off reading somewhere and Reiko was busy most of the time- dutifully studying her Chinese, gardening up near the house, cleaning, helping with friends' farms etc. A hard working woman! There will be pictures of these two later on, but I do not have individual shots of them.

Karin and Ryouma both had their birthdays the first week I was with the Komoriyas. Karin turned nine, and Ryouma turned seven. I was uninformed about Karin's birthday, and so I unfortunately don't have any photos from that event. She got a unicycle! I was informed about Ryouma's birthday, and so I brought my camera along. There were smiles and delight all around.

Dammit that is one happy little boy

Hmm...I wonder what this....

It's a...! It's a...! (It was a new Japanese style outfit with Ryouma and a Dragon on it. Pretty sweet. Karin is wowing on the left)

After two short weeks of living with the Komoriyas I was very sorry to say goodbye, but I had to get going to Yamanashi to work on the grape farm. I was privileged to be able to stay with their family and experience life in Azuma. I wish them the best!

Alas, farewell. (Hiro-San, Reiko-san, Anri-chan, Karin [behind Hiro] and Ryouma [behind Reiko])

A Day's Work, part deux

2007-06-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

The bulk of the work I did at Shalom no Mori was cutting logs along their length and then stripping the bark off of them. These logs would be used to create a new home for the Komoriyas. So far the foundation has been completed, constructed almost entirely by the three Germans who made Zum Ginsielder lodge. They have never worked with concrete before. All of this makes me want to build my own house.

The logs I worked with were all felled at some other time in Shalom Forest. I really wish I could have cut a tree down. Maybe some other time. We used a truck to transport all of the logs from the log spot to the cutting spot. Some logs had been lying around in the sun for a long time, and had thus lost their weight in water. I could carry these by myself to the saw spot. Usually two people worked the saw, but it was very possible to do it solo. Hiro-san asked me to do it by myself a number of times, including carrying the wood by myself. This made me very proud, and I enjoyed it.

I think we can all agree that I look really cool in this photo

Cutting a log

I actually took the first two photos myself, using a timer. That last photo was taken by Victor, from Tokyo (but originally from Peru). Victor was WWOOFing together with his family as a short vacation from hectic Tokyo life. Good people. Victor used to be a professional photographer, part of the Nikon Professional Circle. He gave me a lot of pointers and tips on photography. Thanks, Victor.

All of this work with logs and cabins and saws made me feel a bit (a very wee bit) like Dick Proenneke. Having seen the short film about him, Alone in the Wilderness, I knew that it was entirely possible to just heave a big log on your shoulder and walk around with it. The movie follows the construction of a log cabin from start to finish by Proenneke, all by himself, entirely by hand. He also filmed nearly the entire movie. I suggest anybody who can to see this film (I can lend it to you). Maybe you'll learn something useful, like how to carry logs on your shoulder. Thanks for that, Dick.

After cutting the logs, we would load them up in a truck and drive them down to the river. We set up a power washer which I then used to strip off all the bark.

Aside from this work, I did a number of small odd-jobs- installed a screen on a small dam used to re-route water to a future fish farm, built a gate for the pony's corrall, cleaned up the pony's poop, etc. The last few days I spent at Shalom Forest the work wasn't so great. We just cleaned rocks and soil out of of road drainage ditches for the electrical company. There is a small road throughout the forest that Hiro-san's family built so that the electrical company can easily maintain power lines in the area, which I am sure they are compensated for. There are a lot of drains along this road that get filled up- often entirely- with fallen rocks and mud. So we shoveled all of it out, which was hard work. I don't mind doing hard work, but the point of WWOOFing is to learn about organic farming, or at least sustainable living practices of some sort. Shoveling rocks for the electrical company does not fall under my rubric of "organic farming" or "sustainability". The WWOOF program is not just about work exchange. Oh well.

In all, I learned a lot through my work at Shalom Forest. My favorite job was definitely the log work- carrying, cutting and stripping bark. I wish I could have stayed around longer to help Hiro-san lay the base logs on the foundation, but I had to get going to the grape farm in Enzan.

Next up...Meet the Family!

A Day's Work, part 1

2007-06-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

My very first job working at Shalom no Mori (Shalom Forest) for the Komoriyas was to scrub the dishes after dinner, a few hours after arriving. I did not wash the dishes. I started to wash the dishes, using soap, when I was informed that they do not use soap on their dishes. Just scrubbing and "nature", as they put it. Without much of an option, I went along. I assumed everything would be okay since they are all alive and apparently well. I, too, am still alive. This is good. Regardless, I will continue my usual regimen of washing dishes using soap. I think a good experiment could be modeled after this sort of a situation. Maybe when I retire, or have little people that I'm supposed to be immersing in the scientific method and other education hooplah.

Okay, anyway, the real work started in the morning. Every morning I would wake up around 6:30 and climb down the ladder from the loft to the main room of Yamaneko lodge. First, I would make coffee "by hand". This was more work than the usual method, although far more enjoyable. If there were no coffee beans roasted already, I would hand roast raw coffee beans. Hiro-san taught me the method. To do this you just heat up raw beans (which are very cheap, apparently) in a skillet or pan on the stovetop.

Roasting coffee beans

First use high heat, mixing constantly, and then after about 8-10 minutes when most beans are dark brown, you lower the heat and wait until all are evenly dark. Then you cool them. After roasting, I would grind the beans using an old-fashioned hand-crank coffee grinder.

Coffee grinder

It works very slowly- takes about five minutes of vigorous grinding to make around 3/4 cup of ground coffee.

Voila!

While I was grinding the coffee, water boiled in a kettle on the stovetop. Once the water was boiling I would set up the thermos, top it off with the ceramic filter holder and re-usable hemp filter, which was filled with ground coffee, and I would pour in the boiling water from the kettle. This went in small intervals since the coffee ground expands and foams up from the water, taking about five minutes.

Pouring water

Then we drank the coffee- you all know how that goes. I enjoyed making coffee this way, and hope to do it again in the future. It sort of wakes you up before you even have the coffee, and the more drawn out process forces you to realize what you are doing. "What am I doing? I would ask myself. I am making coffee". Better, I think, than setting the timer for the caffeine dispenser.

After the coffee was made, I would vacuum the first floor of Yamaneko lodge (every day). It was a wooden floor with its fair share of spilt coffee, peanuts, feet, food, oils etc. rubbed into it. I do not know why I was supposed to do this. No detergent on the dishes, but vacuuming the wooden floor of the cabin daily. Okay. It wasn't time consuming or bothersome in the least- just paradoxical.

After the first morning of coffee-making and vacuuming, I helped Hiro-san clean out the compost toilet, which was full of shit. I was excited to get a bit of experience with a composting toilet, which are used in basically all sustainable living operations, and to jump right into work- really getting my hands dirty. Really. I was given some cotton gloves, which are pretty useless against wet feces. Oh well! Afterward, I could always scrub my hands (with soap!). I wish I had some photos of us bagging crap, but I didn't want to get shit all over my camera, to say the least.

Here's how the composting toilet works. It's a big plastic toilet, sort of like something you might expect to see on an airplane. The toilet rests a bit high up (when enthroned your butt is at bar stool height) to make room for the poop reservoir at the bottom. You take a poop, setting your used TP to the side in a small can, which is later burned. You pour a cup of ashes over your poop. You do not pee in the toilet- you pee outside. This can be difficult to keep separated at times. Once a day, you rotate a little lever counter-clockwise, which mixes up all the poop and ash, helping maintain a nice dry load and thus no smell. The outhouse the toilet was in did not smell one bit. When you want to empty the toilet, you rotate the lever clockwise, depositing a load of poop into the poop drawer, which you then pull out and dump into a bag. The bag sits around for a while.

After a while, Hiro-san and I drove the shit bags up the mountain to dump on a hillside. This was very exciting- on the ride up Hiro-san told me the history of Shalom Forest and his family (more on that later), and for the first time I got to see the bulk of the forest that I had not known existed. We drove very near to the top of one of his mountain tops after passing kilometers of beautiful woods and mountain stream, overlooks etc, and unloaded the crap. This was surprisingly fun. Hiro-san mentioned to me that they put human feces in perfume sometimes because it gets women going. Right, Hiro.

In the Mountains of Gunma

2007-06-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

Well, my time in Gunma has come and gone, however I still need to write about it. At the moment, I'm in Yamanashi Province, about one hour away from Mount Fuji. Yamanashi is an area known in Japan for producing fruit, especially Japanese peaches, cherries and grapes. I am working on a grape farm. More on that later.

My arrival in Azuma (the area I stayed in Gunma) was about as I expected. I took several trains to get there, the last of which was very old, small and unpopulated. There were two people on the train for the majority of the trip- me and a Japanese student. I arrived at Sori station, a quaint little place.

Sori Station

Once I got out of the station I got to the payphone to call the host, Komoriya Hiroyuki (Hiro-san). The entrance to the phone booth was covered with cobwebs- not used much. Hiro-san promptly picked me up and we drove off to his family's mountain abode. The drive to his place is beautiful- a slinky road lined with Japanese cedar and cypress, alongside a river in the mountains.

The road just before Hiro-san's cabin

Soon we arrived at his cabin- simple and unassuming. I suddenly had the impression that I was in West Virginia. This place was nothing like what I had seen in the rest of Japan (or much of the United States, for that matter). But as I would eventually learn, the roots of Shalom Forest go much deeper than this humble beginning.

The Komoriyas' Cabin

I was soon given a quick tour of the vicinity. The Komoriyas' cabin is where Reiko (the mom), Hiro (the dad), Karin (daughter, 9), Ryouma (son, 7) and Anri (daughter, 5) all live. Next to their home are some stairs that lead to a bride across the river. On the other side of the river there are two cabins built just for WWOOFers to stay. The main cabin is Yamaneko Lodge (Mountaincat Lodge) and then there is another cabin called Zum Ginsielder (Moon River in German), which was juwst finished by 3 recent high school graduates from Germany who stayed at Shalom Forest for over five months! They took a year off before college and stayed in Japan for nine months. They built Zum Ginsielder entirely by themselves with supervision and help from Hiro-san. Pretty sweet!

The precarious steps leading to the river

The also precarious bridge leading across the river, Zum Ginsielder Lodge in background

Yamaneko Lodge, my home for the past 2 weeks

The inside of the cabin was quite nice. There is a small kitchen nook in the back of the cabin, an old laptop computer (which became out of order, sadly, and thus this post's delay), a wood-fired stove, and a really cool table made out of logs. Something else you may have seen in one of the photos is the projector. While the place is out in the woods and there is no TV to be found, Yamaneko Lodge is equipped with Bose surround sound and a projector screen for watching movies. I really like this concept- the blending of natural environment with certain "high-tech" amenities. The only English language movies around were the Star Wars series. I watched all of them except Episode I and the Return of the Jedi. The Komoriyas are avid fans of Star Wars, Ryouma, especially.

How woeful was I to discover the void within these wee kegs

The ladder to the left leads up to the sleeping loft, where I- wonder of wonders!- slept

I slept in the dark corner on yonder side of loft

Exhausted from about 8 hours of rail travel and lulled by the mountain stream, I slept very well. The next day I would discover what it is like to work and live in the mountains of Japan!

Be Patient!

2007-06-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry, everybody for the holdup on new posts. It will continue for at least another two or three days, so don't bother checking until then at earliest. I am currently in Azuma, a "city" in the mountainous Gunma prefecture. I have been doing all sorts of stuff here- cutting big logs, stripping bark off of big logs, building various things like boxes and gates, hiking and mountain-biking, among other things. I will have a much larger post (or hopefully, posts) with loads of pictures about this place and my experiences when I have better internet access. A week and a half ago, the owner of this place, Hiro, messed up the internet in the cabin I'm staying in, and has been unable to fix it. I am not allowed in the office/computer room of the house for a couple of very strange reasons. So right now, I am standing outside (it is raining) using Hiro-san's laptop on the windowsill. It is connected via ethernet cable (he messed up the wireless internet, as well) through the window, which is shut so I cannot see inside. This is an interesting place to say the least, and I have　many thoughts on it that I would like to share. If only...

So please, be patient! On Sunday I　am going to my new WWOOF host, the winery in Yamanashi. I did not hear back from the other hosts, so that made my decision easier. I'm looking forward to it!

Papermaking in Echizen City

2007-06-13T05:10:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday or so I took a day trip from Kyoto to Echizen City in the Fukui province, about two hours Northeast of Kyoto by train. My task: to study, research, observe etc. the process of making Washi, or handmade Japanese paper. Part of my focus in Japan is on Japanese paper because I set up an independent study course (three 300 level credit hours!) through Truman State. I highly recommend others try doing this. But why Japanese paper, you ask? Why not something really useful, like the effects of the introduction of Buddhism on the ruling class structure in the 7th century? Well, being a printmaking major (I am a printmaking major), the topic of Japanese paper comes up a lot- it is a very important material with very special properties that you can really only understand after working with the stuff in various media. It is entirely different from Western paper- in its fiber content, its fiber characteristics, opacity, texture, thickness and so on. In printmaking these are very important characteristics- as important as the ink you print with and the mark-making on your image.

So anyway, I took a train to Echizen City, famous for its centuries old tradition of producing Washi. It was a wonderful day. I first stopped by the main museum where you can make your own Washi. The process was severely dumbed down, as it is typically reserved for groups of schoolchildren probably ten years my junior (I'm only 21). It was basically nothing like the real thing. Do I look really cool?

Check out the ACTION INSET!!

Look at that hairline! At the ripe age of 21, I'd say its pretty impressive! Once it's all gone I'll have to ring up Hans Weimann and see if he can't work some magic and transplant some hair from my arms to my shiny crown. I'd have thicker hair than ever before!

Anyway, so after that dinky tour I went to see the real stuff. I approached the Washi papermaking building:

I wandered around for a while, inspecting the structure to see if any nails were used in its construction. Traditional Japanese construction techniques utilize complex joinery in place of nails, which are thought to harm the wood and ruin its spirit and quality. This building seemed to use such joinery, which is usually the case only with older structures. The woman at the front desk confirmed that the building was over 250 years old, built during the Edo period and has been used for making Washi ever since! It excited me, at least. I was the only person there, which was great. I got a one-on-one tour of the shop and its contents.

The raw materials taken from Kozo (Japanese mulberry), to be used as the paper's fiber

Hand separating the choicest fibers from the lesser grades

Further separating the choice fiber (the white bast fibers) with a mallet

Preparing to form a sheet of Washi- laying the su (it's like a screen, basically)

Couching the sheet (stacking sheets on the table)

Laying the sheet out for drying in the Sun

A good example of a lamp made from Washi (lamp is the left 2/3, shadow on the right)

The old guy in the pictures was cool. He really enjoyed looking at me sternly, finger pointing at my chest and repeating "TO-RO-RO-A-OI!". Tororo-aoi is a special plant used in making Washi. Its bulbous roots are mashed up with water to form a goopy substance used as a binder of sorts. I think the guy was suggesting to me that tokoro-aoi is a key part of Washi, which it is. On my way out, the woman at the front desk gave me a free bag of tororo-aoi seeds! This made me happy.

In all, it was a successful day! It was nice to see first-hand everything I've been reading about in my thrilling book, "Japanese Papermaking", by Timothy Barrett.

Final Romps in Kyoto

2007-06-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well my last few days in Kyoto were coming to an end, so I wanted to be sure to get to the must-see destinations. On the top of the list were Katsura Rikyu, an old Imperial villa in Southwest Kyoto, and the Daitoku-ji temple complex.

Katsura Rikyu is famous for its display of "purely" Japanese architectural form, along with its beautiful garden. The Japanese brochures typically hail the Villa as exhibiting Japanese design techniques with no outside influence. This is almost definitely untrue, at least as far as history is concerned, but whatever. The Japanese tend to cast a somewhat blind or perhaps myopic eye on the true history of their culture (examples being religion and aesthetics). So says the American. Anyway, so beautiful architecture and gardens.

Another day I took the time to visit the Daitoku-Ji temple complex, which houses a decent number of gardens and temples. Each with their own separate 5 bone entry fee! As such, I visited only one temple, but a solid one, the Daisen-In, a karesansui style, or dry rock landscape garden. Photos were not allowed. At first I was disappointed by this, but soon appreciated the fact that I could focus much better on the scenery around me instead of the composition in the lens. The signs in the garden told that the rock landscape has divulged infinite wisdoms for centuries. I considered this. I did find one wisdom. Some introduction to the wisdom.

In Buddhism the concept of time is brought up continuously. From many books I've read, my understanding is that Buddhists do not believe that time exists in the normal understanding of the word. They believe that only the moment, this moment, exists. It is constantly changing. There is no past, and there is no future- these are only constructions of the mind, psychological tools used to calibrate ourselves in an everpresent state of change. I think I get this, and it seems sensible enough to me (I'm no rocket scientist. Any kudos, future physicist friends?).

Well In Zen Buddhism, the goal of meditation is to empty the mind of thought so that you may experience this ever-changing moment for what it really is, whatever that may be, devoid of human time. To become an empty vessel, a "pregnant void" as Zen's Taoist ancestral roots would put it. Zen dry landscape gardens are one vehicle with which to focus/release the mind (which is it?) to this empty state. Typically these gardens depict water of some sort- that's what all those raked pebbles are, flowing water. This "water" then interacts with various other rocks. Examples would be waterfalls or ripples around giant, partially buried boulders. Anyway, so the wisdom I got was that this rock garden is supposed to be representing a frozen moment, one instant in the "river of constant change" that is existence, reality, THE IT, whatever you call all of this. All of the pebbles representing water drops stopped in time. Taking this further, you realize that the paused moment the garden represents is itself the ever-changing moment, THE IT. At the very least the rocks' atoms are a shakin' and a dancin'. Pretty neat, I think!

There were a few other realizations that I will reserve for personal discussion, for sake of laziness. I will end with a quote that I read on my way out of Daisen-In (there was no punctuation).

"Each day is training Training for myself through failure is possible Living each moment equal to anything Ready for everything I am alive- I am this moment My future is here and now, for if I cannot endure today when and where will I?"

-Souen Ozeki

Catching up!

2007-06-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

At the moment I am sitting in a log cabin in a forest in the mountains, nestled just next to a large stream. I can hear the water as I fall asleep and I listen to its pleasant sound with my coffee in the morning. Basically, it's like, bogus! But more on that later. I've been very busy the last few days, and my last hostel didn't have internet, so I want to catch up on my last days in Kyoto before moving on to the fun stuff.

After staying in Waraku-an for a few nights, I switched hostels again, this time to Orange Inn. I was pleased to find that I had a 10 person room entirely to myself. There were only 3-4 people staying in the hostel which could accommodate at least 50. Bonus! (lack of internet- Negabonus). The hostel has an interesting, if eclectic, array of media for patrons' use: A bunch of books in Japanese (on who knows what, not I), a dozen or so English language, college-level textbooks on the topic of City Planning, TWENTY-FOUR VHS tapes of the hit American sitcom, "Friends", and a collection of various BBC sitcoms. Needless to say, I only took advantage of the BBC sitcoms. After tiring of Japanese language stuff after nearly three weeks, I found a great deal of comfort in, "Only Fools and Horses", a superb BBC comedy sitcom- apparently rated by the British as the best sitcom of all time! Who knew?

Starting at Left: Silly Uncle Albert, Nice-Guy Rodney, Slick Salesman Dell Boy, and Boring-Character Grandpa

This show really helped relieve my as-of-late case of the Mondays. I was getting a little overdone on Japanese stuff- my only reading materials were a Japanese language dictionary, a book on Japanese grammar and a book of poetry by Matsuo Basho (Traveling writer who invented the Haiku). I was a bit Japan-ed out. But then I bought a great book, "Freedom Evolves", by Daniel Dennett. What a good book (boring end, though). I will definitely read more of his stuff. "Only Fools and Horses" helped as well. Currently, I'm armed with "Freakonomics" and "Man's Search for Meaning", both of which sound promising.

After a short break from touring and a filler up on English media, I was ready to attack more sights. New post for them.

Where to WWOOF? You be the judge!

2007-06-07T03:13:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to decide on a place to do farmstay (the program I'm with is called WWOOF Japan- Worldwide Workers on Organic Farms). I have a place already set up from June 10-July 1, but I need to figure out what I'm doing after that. I'm considering going back to the Mt. Fuji area- maybe climb to the top? There are two hosts in that region currently accepting WWOOFers that I'm looking at:

1. Eco-Village type thing, focusing on environmental sustainability. Excellent view of Mount Fuji from the porch.

2. Vineyard owned by some older dude. I would learn about grapes and growing them, but the farm is only partly organic and sort of factory-style.

Which will it be? You can vote by posting a comment. For god's sake comment more.

Waraku-An

2007-06-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

I had sat at Kyoto's Cheapest Inn long enough, so I took a break from the place and decided to stay a few nights in a slightly more expensive, more traditional Japanese inn called Waraku-An. Well worth the price! To get there, you had to walk down this short path to the entrance:

The inside of the place was great- hardwood floors everywhere, beautiful Japanese paper lamps, and a Japanese-style garden in the middle of it all! The whole time I was there I was hoping it would rain, because it would have been incredibly relaxing and enjoyable to sit right next to the garden through a storm, but alas- not a drop. If I ever build a house, I'm definitely installing one of these babies.

Even the toilet room got the special treatment. You can see why I don't call it the bathroom. I guess w.c. would be applicable, here. Maybe t.c.? Do periods go at the end of sentences that end like the previous one or is a question mark substituted? I'd sure like to know.

The rooms were in the traditional style:

In all, staying at Waraku-An was an excellent decision. It was only 2500 yen/night, which is extremely reasonable especially when considering the peaceful, traditional atmosphere. A Japanese girl staying at the place asked me if I thought the inn seemed "Japanese", to which I responded, "Well, I guess so. I mean, it seems like it is". She informed me that it was very Japanese style, except that it was a little bit western. This meant that it was "too nice", as she put it. The place wasn't always so nice, however. The owners, apparently a new-ageish French dude and his Japanese wife, remodeled the inn after purchasing it in somewhat rundown condition. They had a small album which recorded the remodeling process- very inspiring, what they did. It really makes me want to build a house. The French guy was an interesting character, and his new-agedness definitely rubbed off on the place. My first encounter with him was at the reception desk. He had long black hair pulled tightly in a ponytail, and was garbed in a traditional Japanese shirt with big, billowing pants. In his left hand he wielded his baby daughter, and in his right a fully loaded breast pump with bottle. It was a bit like sleeping at Pier-one. I even overheard Dido and Enya a number of times, which was strangely acceptable considering the atmosphere.

Anybody see that episode of South Park with the Chinese singer Wing that covers (with reliably awful and hilarious creative interpretation) such musical acts as AC/DC and Elvis? Well, I overheard Wing playing at Waraku-An a couple of times. I've also heard her in a number of stores around Kyoto. Weird!

Super Touristy Crap

2007-06-07T02:19:00.001-07:00

Touristy, yet beautiful. The Golden Pavilion was probably the most tourist-loaded sight I've seen in Japan yet. But I went on Saturday, so I was expecting such a turnout. There wasn't much to do aside from photographing the pavilion. Some of the fruit of my lens's loins:

I like the second one better. I think the clouds' reflection in the water helps give the photo a more heavenly atmosphere. Probably closer to what the Pavilion's designers had in mind. It also keeps you from noticing the somewhat unattractive natural poop brown color of the water.

After the Golden Pavilion, I sought out the Silver Pavilion, which is not so properly titled. The structure is not silver and is considerably smaller in stature than the Golden Pavilion. While the building itself was neither silver nor as grandly decorated as its golden counterpart, it was nonetheless a worthwhile sight. It also had a very attractive moutainside garden which was much more impressive and savory than the Golden Pavilion's. Not much in the way of photographs worth posting, sorry.

Relaxing in Kyoto

2007-06-07T01:36:00.000-07:00

Well, last Thursday I took the train from Osaka to Kyoto to begin my stay there (here, for now). I've done a lot the past week with little chance to use the internet, so I have a lot to catch up on. I checked in at my first hostel in Kyoto on Thursday- Kyoto's Cheapest Inn, aptly named. I'm not so sure that it is actually the least expensive place to stay in Kyoto, but it seemed to be cheap in the other sense of the word. I shared a room with about 20-30 other people, which got a little warm at night due to the amount of body heat generated. We probably could have produced the electricity for the place to run on. For all those people there was one shitty old iMac computer- the "newer" sort of Macs we used in gradeschool, for you Annunciation kids.

I did most of my Kyoto sightseeing while there. On Friday, I had a very exciting trip to the Saihoji Temple, also called Kakodera. It is famous in Japan for its exquisite variety (over 120 types) of mosses that grow there naturally. It was a nice break from the more typical tourist-infested temple, but at a price. In order to gain permission to enter the temple and garden, you have to mail them (postal, not electronic) the date you wish to go, alternative dates etc. and then show up with your proof of acceptance. Once arriving, you have to pay a minimum 3000 yen (roughly 26 bones, USD) "donation".
Upon entering the temple grounds, we were ushered into a prayer hall where we got to sit through a buddhist ceremony of sorts. In all there were around 40 people on the tour, and there were only three westerners including myself. Before the ceremony started we all kneeled down at our little tables and wrote a buddhist prayer(Okay, traced a buddhist prayer) to fully prepare ourselves to enter the garden. This was cool because we used the traditional brushes, ink and stone to write it. Afterwards, the monks all chanted the prayer, which was SWEET (very unusual and musical) and we finally went into the garden.

The only reason I knew about this garden was because I saw a photograph of it in a Japanese gardening book of mine, and thought, "Hey, that place looks pretty sweet". The whole deal about writing to them, in addition to the huge cost further tempted me. It was worth it- a very beautiful place.

New- anonymous comments

2007-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Just letting you know that I changed a setting, so the blog now allows anonymous comments. This means you can comment on a post without signing up for anything. If you do post anonymously, please leave your name so I at least know who you are. And just for your information, blogger is under the umbrella of Google, so if you have a google or gmail account, setting up a blogger account is a zip.

Busy day trips

2007-05-31T05:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Osaka isn't much of anything spectacular. It's a big place, but mostly shitty stores, business, fashion and pollution. Not much in the way of cultural heritage on its own. What Osaka IS good for, however, is a starting point for day trips on JapanRail trains. I have a railpass until June 10, so this was nice. My hotel was located a block away from the station, so traveling was convenient. On Tuesday I took a daytrip to Nara, which was a pretty nice place. Went to the Todaiji Temple, constructed by the Emperor Shomu, which houses the other Daibutsu (Giant Buddha). I did not see the Buddha since the entrance fee was a bit steep. Photographed the main hall and such, though.

Todaiji Temple, Main Hall housing the Daibutsu

The rest of Nara was interesting enough. Old temples, shrines, gardens and parks. Plenty to see and do.

On Wednesday I took a two-hour shinkansen to Hiroshima to visit the atomic bomb peace museum, and Miyajima- the Island with the famous floating red gate in the sea. On the way there, I stopped off at Himeji to view its famous and enormous castle.

On my way back to the station I stopped in a little shop to buy some furoshiki. I talked with the shop owner for a short while about washi, Japanese handmade paper. He informed me that a lot of Japanese papermakers are going to Nepal (at around 2000 meters, he said)to teach them Japanese papermaking. Apparently kozo and mitsumata, two of the three main fibers used in its production, grow very well there. I'll have to keep that in mind...Anyway, after Himeji I continued to Hiroshima. The peace museum was about what I expected, but it was still quite interesting. Lots of little kids around. I was interviewed briefly by a small group of kids as a part of an English class project. There were a number of interesting monuments and such.

The only remaining original building that "survived" the atomic blast

Atomic Bomb Peace Monument

I stopped by a beautiful little garden before heading to Miyajima. It was a beautiful little place nestled in the heart of the city. A beautiful place, and very reasonably priced. I guess you could say it was a beautiful little place!

The HIT of the day was by far seeing the floating torii (gate to a Shinto shrine) at Miyajima Island. The island is roughly 30 minutes southwest from Hiroshima by train and ferry. I timed it so I would arrive about 30-45 minutes before sunset at 19:15. Just as my ferry was arriving loads of moronic tourists were boarding the dock to LEAVE the island- just as the sun was setting! Thank god! It was absolutely beautiful, and all the better without the herds. Here are four of the over 60 photos I took. A bit excessive, maybe. But then again, when will I have another shot at it?

Good times in Osaka

2007-05-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Osaka on Sunday night and started of well. I stayed at Hotel Raizan, which is more like a large hostel with individual rooms. I had a television, a refrigerator, my own room, a window etc. Even got a toothbrush.

It wasn't the largest room in the world, as you can see, but it was nice to have my own personal space and to be able to sleep in without others noising around in the morning, turning lights on etc. Not bad considering the price is the same as a hostel in Japan at around 2000 yen (18 bones, USD).

The real prize of Hotel Raizan, however, was the guest list. There were a lot of people staying at this place- Japanese businessmen, English teachers, college students etc. There seemed to be a representative of every country.

The night I got there, around 23:30, everybody was sitting around the common room drinking and having a good time. I joined in and got to know everybody- all good people. The English character in the middle was probably the most interesting, if not drunk, of the bunch. Richard S Wrigley was his name.

Richard, drunk

Richard has done just about everything. He has started a small business selling his vegetables at a local market. He has traveled everywhere. He has been married twice, once to a woman from Trinidad and once to a Japanese woman. The BBC started production on a documentary about him. He has produced music in Japan, United States, South Africa and other places, including notable artists such as Takiko (something) from Japan. He produced the soundtrack for a movie using a Genesis album. He has met the members of the band Led Zeppelin without knowing it at the time. He has met the band Pink Floyd. He helped change alcohol laws in the United States that previously prevented microbreweries from being attached to restaurants (He did the same in Japan). He has started numerous breweries in Boston, Seattle, Japan and other places. He has died (his heart stopped for several minutes). The coolest thing Richard did, though, was to start a beer modeled after the 400 year old Dutch tradition of beer that was sailed to Japan in the 1600s. He had hand-made ceramic bottles crafted by a German company in the exact style of that dutch beer. He then sailed his beer on his yacht from Seattle to Japan. We were lucky enough to all share one of his beers, valued (by him, I'm sure, at $100) the other night. The beer was 13 years old, and still tasted delicious despite its lack of carbonation.

Richard, with beer.

Has he done these things? I have no idea. He was nonetheless a very interesting and good-hearted person. We had numerous conversations on politics, human rights, globalization, his divorces, his children and his various and numerous supposed exploits. Glad to have met him.

Musings on Tokyo

2007-05-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been out of Tokyo for a few days now so I have had some time to reflect on my experiences there. I also just haven't had a ton of time to post the last few days- lots to catch up on and little time to do it.

Tokyo is a very, very interesting place. My initial itinerary was to only stay for four or five days, assuming I would easily tire of the intensity, filth, consumerism and coldness. Much to my surprise I really enjoyed my stay there. My Mount Fuji interim was a nice break from the city, and really all I did when I went back this past weekend was Design Festa- but I was happy to be back. It's an exhausting city with a lot (probably too much) to do. There are travel guidebooks hundreds of pages long for Tokyo alone.

I think if I had to describe Tokyo in one word, it would be the Japanese, "Sugoi". Here is its entry in my Japanese-English translation dictionary:

Sugoi, adj. 1. amazing; wonderful. 2. awful; terrifying.

This sums up Tokyo pretty well. It is a strange, enormously powerful place. It thrives with a creative energy that I have never seen the likes of elsewhere, a sort of mental (over)stimulation that is probably not equaled any other place on Earth. On the other hand it shows every sign of a globalized, consumer society where many modern cultural trends, i.e. fashion, are fed to the masses by the big corporations. You can tell that everybody has good intentions but that those intentions are perverted (literally and figuratively) by their environment. A good comparison would be a tidal wave, like this one:

"The Great Wave at Kanagawa", by the Japanese master painter and printer, Hokusai

I believe the term "sugoi" aptly describes something like a tidal wave as well as Tokyo. Both are amazing and awe-inspiring. At the same time, their potential for destruction is tremendous. In Tokyo, for example, a certain few ride the crest of the wave without effort. Some just tread water and many drown, overtaken by it. Homelessness is one example of this- walk a kilometer or two anywhere in Tokyo and you will pass a dozen homeless men and women. Sleeping in parks, sleeping on sidewalks, eating ramen from the 100yen shops, collecting cans etc. And most of those who do end up leading "successful" lives work their asses off 6 days a week from 9:00-19:00 or so. This in turn results in the purchasing of Louis Vittoin handbags, cellular phones with hundreds of useless features and $300 shoes that will be rained on in a month. Rush hour in Tokyo lasts from about 18:00-21:00. It's like observing a school of fish- a seemingly inert, neutral group albeit extremely complicated in its interactions.

This brings up something I've been tossing around in the brain lately. Typically people consider large cities as cosmopolitan places of fashion, trends, money etc. But it seems to me that these are the places where people act the very most like animals. It's so much easier to see a human being as a primate when they're selfishly moving their way along, pushing through crowds, pissing in bushes, smoking on trains, etc. ad infinitum. Being from an entirely different country might have something to do with it as well...Anyway. Here are handful of photos from Tokyo and its environs.

Shibuya District, Thursday May 24 2007, around 21:00

The same very famous intersection, roughly same time. I felt like the guy in the foreground.

Who does this girl think she is? What she is is a moron. I guess it's acceptable from a very liberal artistic point of view...

A really awful advertisement

Moving on!

Design Festa

2007-05-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend, after visiting Fuji-San, I returned to Tokyo for Design Festa, the largest art exhibition in Asia. It is organized by the Design Festa Gallery, an international gallery in Harajuku, Tokyo. It has somewhere over 6,000 exhibitors with live music, fashion shows, performance arts, fine art etc. Everything about the event was amazing. The building, Tokyo Big Sight, was a work of art on its own:

Inside I found an enormous creative energy and stimulation like I have never seen. Thousands of art fans, thousands of artists and hundreds of thousands of works of art of all sorts. I could have stayed there for a year. Words can do the event no justice.

Trip to Mount Fuji

2007-05-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

On Friday I left Tokyo via bus to spend a night at mount Fuji, arriving at the hostel around 16:00. It was cloudy, rainy and cold. Fuji was nowhere to be seen. I knew I didn't have much time to enjoy the place so got my stuff together, rented a bicycle and tried to ride as close as I could. This was more work than I expected. I got about 4km past the Fuji visitors center and realized my attempt was futile. My view of the mountain:

This made me slightly depressed, but alas- nothing I could do about it. I woke up at 6:00 the next morning to a clear blue sky. I took some time to stroll around the town. Kawaguchiko is situated on the edge of Kawaguchiko Lake, one of the five lakes around Fuji. It was a nice view.

I could see Fuji very easily from the town.

I took the first bus at 9:40 to the fifth station (of eight total). I hiked around a bit and took in the scenery.

I'll have to take more of these panorama shots. The gift shop at the fifth station offered a nice rest, some food and a few...interesting...souveniers...

What is this place?

Fuji-San!

2007-05-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a beautiful morning in Kawaguchiko, a nice little town at the foot of Mount Fuji! Much, much better than yesterday. Yesterday sucked- I had to find the Design Festa Gallery so I could buy tickets to the Design Festa, the largest art show in Asia. It was shitty and rainy all day and I had all of my luggage with me the entire time, since I had to get the ticket on the way to the bus station to leave for here, Kawaguchiko. It was really busy with shopping folk and I was hot, sweaty, wet, tired etc. Not much fun. Then, arriving at Fuji-yama around 15:00, it was still shitty and Fuji was entirely hidden behind the clouds. I rented a bicycle as soon as I got here and tried to ride as far as I could, to see if I could manage some sort of view. Nope- just rainy, wet and cold. The weather predictions for today were the same, but praise Allah! Clear skies!

I have to get going, because I'm taking the bus to the fifth station! Hopefully I'll have some good shots of Fuji!

New Friends in Tokyo!

2007-05-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

As much as I was avoiding a busy day, Tokyo would not allow it. My main goals for the day were simple- to check out Ueno park, which is about a half hour walk West of the hostel I'm staying in, and to pick up a translation dictionary, since I idiotically did not bring one. I started the day by going to the information desk to get free maps. Then I took the train to Ueno Park, where they had a free guided tour of the park. It was a small group- myself, an older Canadian couple, and the tour guide. There are a few art museums I might check out if I have time before I leave.

After this, I went to Shibuya, a fashion and shopping district where a lot of the trends in Tokyo originate. If you've ever seen an image of a huge intersection in Tokyo with tons of people crossing the street, it's probably the one in Shibuya. I found an English language bookstore and got the dictionary. I didn't want to leave, knowing it would be a pain in the ass to come back to see the rest of Shibuya, so I foregoed (forewent?) lunch, which would necessitate a long train ride back to the hostel, and back again, and had a coffee instead. I walked around the area and went to some parks. While taking a picture at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine, I met two Japanese guys, my friends for the rest of the day- Keusuke and Eisuke.

These guys kicked ass. They are both finishing their Junior year in college(same as me!) and are both architecture students (I wish I had the balls or opportunity!). We all got some beers (alas, confirming that beer is expensive in Japan. 150yen per beer is cheap, apparently) and took some photos. Keisuke needed to take a photo for a free college student magazine so we all had a photo session. (Eisuke pictured below)

Next we went to Shinjuku, another big fashion/entertainment/shopping district where my friends lived. They took me to the 28th floor of some enormous building where there was a Nikon store (they noticed my camera) and an INCREDIBLE view.

Tokyo is ridiculously huge, as you can see. I had no idea it was as huge as it is. With the most populous metropolitan area in the world, at around 32 million people, it is quite a sight from high up. After this, we went out for a rice and pork meal, which they treated me to. I tried to refuse, but they wouldn't allow it. They did say I would have to buy their meal when they come to visit me in the States, however. I was very sad to leave Keisuke and Eisuke, but I had to get some rest. In all it was a very exciting, fun and busy day. It's pretty damn hard to rest here!

First Post from Japan

2007-05-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it! Right now it's 3am Wednesday local time (I've just been too busy during the day). I got here around 3pm Monday afternoon, which is about 1am Monday in St. Louis. I managed to get to the hostel, called Khaosan Tokyo Smile! after some confusion, but a nice guy at the post office helped me with some directions. Jet lag wasn't too bad, and I managed to get a pretty good night's rest. The hostel is pretty nice- free internet 24/7, showers included, a decently equipped kitchen, and one free drink at the bar downstairs every night! I'm very happy about the latter option. I currently share a room with three other guys. David is a British guy who's been in Japan (and the hostel) for four months. He got a job at a bank somehow (even though he doesn't speak Japanese and he didn't go to "university" as they say) so he's just been biding his time in Tokyo. Luke is another roommate who comes from Utah. He's sort of a squirrely guy (I assumed he was my age or maybe younger but he's 28, apparently) and has been in Japan about 9 weeks, having started in Hiroshima. He's done a lot of backpacking/traveling- South America, North America, Germany, China, Australia, New Zealand, and now Japan. He hopes to go to Antarctica. That would be sweet. My other roommate is some German dude who doesn't really talk and I don't know his name. Let's call him Dieter.

I didn't have any time to go anywhere on Monday, but today Luke and I wandered around the area, (Asakusa, the older and more traditional sector in the Northeast part of town) and then took a daytrip South to Kamakura, an older capital of Japan. There were a lot of shrines, temples etc. One of the more exciting parts of the trip was seeing the Giant Buddha statue, or Daibutsu. I wish I could post some pictures but these computers don't make editing stuff very easy. Maybe I can figure something out. After that we strolled down to the beach and saw the ocean, and returned to the hostel. I got some food at a 99yen (1$) store. Food here is quite expensive. Eight slices of bread costs 1$, and that's about the cheapest it gets. I got half a dozen eggs for 99yen, which I was pretty excited about. They also sell tofu blocks for the same price, so I think I'll be getting a lot of my nutrition and protein from tofu and eggs mixed in with ramen or something. Egg and tuna salad sandwiches, maybe.

It was most unfortunate when I discovered the cost of beer here- typically sold by the can for over 1$. On the other hand, I've seen bottles of wine for 450-500yen (about $4.50). It will be a top priority to find a good medium between cost/alcohol/taste.

I should probably get some rest now!

Got it lookin' good

2007-05-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well let's see... Just yesterday I emailed a potential WWOOF host, and I'm waiting to hear back from them. I won't start WWOOFing until June 12 or so, but it will be good to have that done and behind me. I edited the blog a little bit, changed the header image and size, added some Google AdSense dealios, some links etc. I regret that currently the header image is a photo of mine from China, but hey, I haven't been to Japan yet so I don't have any photos to use. If any of you have suggestions or anything, please let me know- I'd really enjoy hearing from you.

Hello World!

2007-05-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

Halooooooo. Peter here. I am making this blog as an online record of my upcoming travels in Japan, and I'd like you to be my e-travel pal! Follow me as I venture forth, two months into the heart of the land of the rising sun! Ahhh! I will make posts as often as possible, and in as much detail as possible. I'll add lots of images so your e-adventure with me will be as real as possible! Maybe then you all won't miss me and my pretty face so much! I've noticed whenever I write anything related to this trip to Japan I use tons of exclamation marks! I guess that means I'm excited!?!

On another note, I'll be posting up my itinerary online so that you can all follow my travels more easily, and see what to expect to see on posts. That's all I can think of right now. If you have any requests for photos/small souveniers, let me know.