EVE: Doshisha at Her Finest, Part 1

Doshisha EVE, my host university’s school festival, turned out to be a life-changing event. Well, life-changing in terms of my life here in Japan. It’s easier to understand if I start from the beginning.

I got to campus fairly early, around 9am. Booths were still setting up, so I found a quiet place to study kanji for a bit. My good friend Dani was part of a 軽音サークル (Light Music Club), and I was hoping to catch her performance. After exchanging a couple mails, I figured out which building she was in (I still don’t know the names of all the buildings on campus) and made my way over. I got there in time to see the first band perform. And damn, they were good! In fact, this was true of nearly all of the bands. There was only one that I really disliked, and that was some experimental music group that thought it was a good idea to throw their guitars on the ground to get them to make abnormal sounds. Aside from that little stunt, the performers were freaking amazing. There were a variety of styles: rock, pop, jazz, funk, and more. Really, these kids have talent – lots of them play multiple instruments, and play them well. 

A little after noon, SMMA (the music club) went on break, and so Dani, Nick, and I decided to wander around a bit. Our first stop was the ramen booth some of our friends were running. For about 300 yen, we got a decent bowl of ramen with Hokkaido-shaped nori. Truth be told, it was pretty tasty! I chatted a bit with my friend Matsu, who explained that the booth was being run by a group of friends from the same summer camp, and that it was Hokkaido themed because they went there last summer. Ah, the freedom of Japanese college students.

After strolling around a little longer, I decided I wanted to take a look at the festival guide, so we found the information desk and got some programs. Curious to see what sort of booths were open, I flipped through until something caught my eye. Something which, once I took a better look got my heart racing. It turned out that Doshisha has a VOCALOID Research Club, something that is very relevant to my interests. Taking lead of the group, the three of us found our way to the building where the club had set up, and I headed in. There were three or four guys in the room, and they told me that if I filled out a survey, I could get a free CD of the songs they had created. It was pretty simple, just asking about my interests in VOCALOID. After I turned it in and received their CD, I mentioned that I was interested in participation. They seemed shocked that this foreigner not only spoke Japanese, but also had an interest in VOCALOID, but they told me they’d be glad to have me participate. The only catch is that they’re at the really far campus (the one near where I live), and they meet during lunch blocks. Maybe next semester, assuming my schedule permits, I can join in.

Leaving the VOCALOID room, I looked around for Nick and Dani. They were at the other end of the hall, and I went over to join them. They had just been invited to try…something. We actually had no idea what it was, but they handed us a lantern, told us to start at the point labeled F, and sent us into a darkly lit room. There were a couple people in ghoul masks, and at first I thought it was some sort of haunted house. It turned out to be some sort of trivia game. In Japanese. We were outclassed from the start. As we puzzled the answers to the questions, many other groups came in and out. Finally, we asked for some hints, and somehow discovered the answer. On a related note, we later asked a friend WHY the correct answers were correct. It turns out to be some crazy sort of wordplay in one case, and a matter of symmetrical kanji in the other. Making our way outside, we received a handout from the club – they were some sort of lantern club. I guess they appreciate lanterns? Anyway, it was a really cool idea, just not meant for foreigners. Well, I guess we’ll never be tricked by that sort of puzzle again!

Coming out of the building, Nick got a mail from one of his infinity Japanese friends. Since she was at the festival too, we met up with her and two of her friends. They seemed nice, just shy (what a surprise!). I broke off for a moment to go to the piano club’s booth, but it seemed like they were too busy to talk at that point. Somehow or other, we wound up going to this maid café, run by what I assume was the anime club. It was kind of neat, although half of the maids were actually dudes. Sadface L We shared some laughs as we read through the book of messages left behind on the table. I scribbled something silly in too, but there were some seriously amusing stuff in there.

We wound up splitting into two groups at this point. Dani and I went to the SMMA performance on the big stage, while Nick went somewhere else with his friend. A couple of my friends are in one of the SMMA bands, one called LionPanda. They play a sort of lively, big band sounding jazz. I think they were my favorite of the performers. Anywho, they were one of the three or four bands who appeared on the stage, and was a joy to listen to. 

It was getting a little late, but I texted Nick to see what he was up to. We met up with him over by the computer building, where he was checking out the manga club’s exhibition. Clubs here don’t simply consume media; they create it. The room was filled with incredible drawings, as well as manga drawn by various club members. Nick suggested we check out the art club too, which was actually very similar. They had some amazing artists in there. We actually wound up talking with one of the girls there, who was a first year student. The four of us just chatted for a good 30 minutes or so.

And so it was time to go home for the day. But by no means was this experience over! Be sure to check out Part 2!

Stairway to Heaven, Part 3

Waking up this morning was rough. It was dark and rainy outside, not a great day to go anywhere. Although I went to bed before Nick and Tala, I found it hard to get out of bed when my alarm went off. I slept for another 15 minutes before realizing that we would be late for breakfast. I brushed my teeth, put on clothes, and woke up the guys. It's always really horrible to have to wake people up - even when it's necessary, they're never happy about it, and they usually take it out on you. Not that it can be helped of course.

Finally, the three of us headed downstairs. Compared to the day before, we had a much 'simpler' breakfast than the day before. It was still a better and bigger breakfast than I get at home, so I wasn't complaining. She did put out these funky tiny fish, which are usually fine, but today they were kind of hard. I finished them all anyway. The miso soup was really good this morning as well.

Although we were leaving in the afternoon, we decided to check out "View Land", an amusement park on the mountain just behind the ryokan we stayed in. The obasan of the inn gave us free VIP tickets, so we headed up right after we ate. After asking directions at the convenience store (the nice old man wasn't there though), we found our way to the lift. It was pouring, so we took the monorail instead of the chair lift. Tala amused himself by taking super hipster photos on his iPhone, and I was mesmerized by the colors of the fall foliage as seen through the foggy window.

When we reached the top, we looked down at Amanohashidate, which could barely be seen through the thick clouds. We did have a number of great photo-ops, what with the clouds and everything. It was like something from a Japanese folding screen painting. Unfortunately, all the rides were closed! I'm not sure if it was due to rain or mechanical issues, but it seemed like nothing was open. We wound up playing a couple rounds of Taiko no Tatsujin, walking around on the sky bridge, and heading back down. We almost missed the monorail, but the driver waited for us.

Back on the ground, we decided to grab lunch before taking the bus back to Kyoto. We passed through the Daimaru "department store", possibly the smallest in Japan. It was one floor just for souvenirs and such. Nothing at all compared to the one in Kyoto.

We decided to have lunch at another of the main street restaurants. This time, Nick picked a place, because they had a tempura and soba combo set that he wanted to eat. Me and Tala went for donburi this time. I have to say, Nick’s was definitely the nicest of the bunch. Not that ours was bad, but I don’t see tempura look that good very often. I guess you really do find the best cuisine when you go out into rural Japan! 

As we headed back to the ryokan, I decided to get a fortune at the temple. It was kind of cool – instead of the usual long papers fortunes are usually written on, they had these little paper fan fortunes. I was lucky enough to get Great Luck, the best of the bunch. Here’s hoping it actually works: Sam could always use more luck.

We arrived at the bus stop with a little bit of time to spare, but there was already someone there waiting for us. A station attendant told us that the bus was running behind schedule, and that we had to wait another 40 minutes or so before it would get there. We chilled out in the station, and I went around looking for some cool souvenirs (didn’t find anything I liked though). Before too long, the bus arrived, and off we went back to Kyoto. 

Given that we hadn’t slept all that much over the two days we were there, I nodded off on the bus while writing this blog. When we got back to the city, I opted to go home, rather than to Doshisha’s school festival. There were still two days left in break that I could go there, after all. And boy, were they going to be awesome!

Stairway to Heaven, Part 2

We woke up early Sunday morning. Well, I woke up early, and had to wake the guys up. Since Cara had to leave by noon, we decided to hit the major sightseeing spots before lunch. Shockingly, the ryokan didn't have hot water in the morning, so the frigid water woke me up with a start. We shambled into the dining room around 7, and ate a big breakfast. The fish was really salty, but otherwise it was a good meal.

Cara, raring to go, led the way across the land bridge. We saw all sorts of pine trees along the way. Some massive, others that were growing in multiple directions. There was one that had iron grafted to its trunk, and another that had two trees growing from the same roots (they called it the happy couple tree). As we approached the other side, there was even a tree tied up with rope. I couldn't read the kanji, but I figure it was something like "Rope Bondage Tree". Kinky.

The walk across the bridge took all of half an hour, so our next step would be to climb the mountain. There were signs for a cable car, which led us alongside the ocean. There were dozens of sleeping ducks, which apparently Tala really likes, because he made a big fuss over them. Some ferrymen tried to get us to take a boat back across the bridge, but I played my gaijin card and ignored them, pretending I didn't understand Japanese.

We came to a temple, which we had to pass through to get to the lift. It was a pretty temple, a little on the small side. There were a lot of interesting statues, including some sort of dog-creature, and a turtle made of bronze upon which some sort of deity was riding. People were rubbing the turtle's head, probably some sort of ritual to pray for wisdom. Amusingly, the head was the only unoxydized part of the statue - it had retained the original metallic color while the rest of it had turned Statue of Liberty green.

Beyond the temple were a number of small, winding streets. A lot of shops in the area had strung up little puffer fish for people to buy as souvenirs. On closer inspection, it seemed that they were real fish...with googly eyes glued on. We couldn't figure out WHY they were being sold, but it was kind of amusing, and we ignored the "no photo" signs and took some pictures. Gaijin Smash.

We reached the lift, and purchased our tickets. It seemed we had two options: we could take the trolley, which ran once every 20 minutes, or we could ride the chair lifts. Since it was a nice day, and we didn't feel like waiting in line for the trolley, we chose to ride the chair lifts. It wasn't actually that scary (despite my fear of heights) because there was netting just below the chairs. And looking back at the bridge as we rode higher up the mountain was breathtaking. Japan is a beautiful country.

There is a tradition, once one has climbed the mountain, to stand on these stone benches and look at the land bridge between your legs, making it look as if the bridge was rising to the heavens. We were determined to try this out. But so was the massive horde of tourists (only one foreigner though!), so we had to wait our turn. In the meanwhile, there was a ring set up through which visitors would throw (frisbee style) small clay discs. I bought a set and gave it a shot, but I missed all three times. Some random guy got all three of his through the hoop, earning a round of applause from the crowd. Nick and I taught a little kid how to throw the discs, and she asked us if we lived there. Haha, silly kids.

Finally, we were able to get onto those benches. We hopped up, and bent over (be mature, kids). The ocean became the sky into which Amanohashidate rose. A veritable stairway to heaven. The speedboats riding through the sky was a nice touch. Afterwards, we decided to grab a snack at the food stalls - there was a shop that had cream-filled ningyo-yaki in the shape of Kasabou, the mascot of Amanohashidate. It was tasty, even if it did set my diet back a few weeks.

Since we had some time left before we had to head back, decided to climb higher up the mountain. There was a cute little sign where the path began stating, "Caution, bears often appear along this path!" Great, I was climbing an bear-infested mountain. We walked for about 30 minutes, and actually didn't see a single bear. Finally, we reached the main gate of a temple, where we took a break.

Just a little further was a pavilion, behind which was another path leading upwards. At last, we reached the highest point on the mountain, on which was built an old observation platform. From there, we could look down over Amanohashidate, and at the beauty all around us.

Unfortunately, we had started to get low on time. I was worried Cara would miss her bus back, which would be really, really bad. As chance would have it, the bus headed back to the bottom had just reached the top, and we made it to the stop just in time. As we rode down the mountain, the driver pointed out certain famous spots, including a beautiful snow-capped mountain just barely visible on the horizon.

The bus ride down gave us just enough time to buy omiyage for our friends and host families before riding the chairlift back down. The view going down was even more beautiful then during the ride up. We were getting low on time, and we broke into a sprint for the last stretch of the trip. We got to the inn eight minutes before the bus came, and made it to the bus stop with three minutes to spare.

With Cara on her way home (and soon to be in Tokyo), the three of us opted to have lunch before doing anything else. There were three or four little restaurants competing for business on the main street, all with mostly the same menu. I don’t remember why, but we picked the place at the end of the street. Since I was on vacation, I figured I should splurge a little – I ordered an Unagi bowl. And boy, it was good!

Having finished with lunch, we once again crossed over the bridge, this time following signs to a nearby park. We strolled along the coast, then through the residential part of town. We saw some sort of hawk, and people drying persimmons outside their house. Finally, we came to the park…but it wasn’t the sort of park I was expecting. Rather than a natural park, it was a playground for the local kids to play. We hung out there for a bit; I pushed Tala on the swings, and Nick climbed some sort of jungle gym of a crazy hard-to-define shape. After a while, though, we decided to press onwards.

We were walking down the road, talking and joking when all of a sudden, the most terrifying dogs I have ever seen started barking, and charged right at us. Luckily, the damn things were chained up, and it kept them from tearing our throats out. But holy shit, I was so startled. I didn’t even see them coming, so it gave me the shock of my life.

Having laughed off the “scary dogs encounter”, we bought some drinks from a vending machine and sat down by the sea to relax. As we were chilling, I noticed something red flop by the surface of the water. I mentioned this to Nick, but he thought it was seaweed. Still, there was something smooth and reddish flopping just where the tide met the beach, and so I went over to check it out. And there, struggling uselessly on the beach, was a squid.

This thing was several meters long, and being washed up onto the shore by the waves. It looked like it had been there for a while. The poor thing was so weak it couldn’t even swim back out to sea. So I decided we had to give it a hand. We found a stick, and gently tried to push it back into the water. Of course, animals don’t like being touched, and this squid was no different. As soon as I started moving it, it shot out ink from its ink squirting tube thing. Try as I might to push the squid back, it seemed the waves were just too strong. The squid’s end was near, I feared.

Rather than let it go to waste, me and Nick tried to approach some fisherman who were angling from a nearby pier. We tried to figure out how to ask them if they wanted a fairly large squid, but in the end, they had no interest in talking to us. When we tried to make conversation, they blew us off. Oh well, can’t expect everyone to be willing to talk to foreigners. Even if we do speak a decent amount of Japanese.

Luckily, Tala hadn’t given up, and had succeeded in getting the squid far enough into the ocean for it to start swimming. At first, it started swimming back towards the beach, and then at the rocky pier. But finally, it reoriented itself, and it swam off into the sunset with this other squid that had appeared. Maybe they were BFFs or something. Anyway, good luck squid! Don’t die!

We walked home as it got dark, and arrived at the inn just in time for dinner. We had yet another feast, featuring all kinds of foods, including a strange type of seaweed. Sadly, no crab, but it was still more food than I’ve had for dinner in years. 

After diner, we went back to Chie no Yu, the Onsen of Wisdom. They rotate the men and women’s side every night, so this time we got the outdoor bath. And man, was it nice! While the bath inside was nice and hot, the steam made it hard to breathe. Outside, your body is warm, but the air is crisp and cool. Rotenburo is the best. The three of us had the bath to ourselves again, and we talked about all sorts of man things. Whatever that means. Actually, bathtime is a great chance to get to wind down and learn more about your friends. Going back was definitely a good idea.

We went to this local convenience store to buy some cups – we were going to try to finish Nick’s absurdly large canister of shochu. Interestingly, we wound up have a very unique convenience store experience. It started when we asked where the paper cups were. The elderly man at the checkout counter asked us what we called them in English. One thing led to another, and we soon wound up talking with him. At first, it was about us: why we came to Amanohashidate, how we were studying as exchange students, and such. Then he started telling us about himself: he used to be a businessman, but he quit and came home to Amanohashidate. I only followed half of the conversation, but we were in there for a good 30 minutes. 

By the time we got back to the room, I was wiped. Nick and Tala were talking, but my eyes wouldn’t stay open. The last thing I remember is crawling into my futon, and then I was out.

Stairway to Heaven, Part 1

When my alarm rang on Saturday morning, I got out of bed and hustled to get ready. I had plenty of time, but I was determined to get into the city early to avoid potential complications. At last, I was going on vacation. I left the house around 10am, and took the train into Kyoto. 

Surprisingly, everything went smoothly, which got me to Kyoto Station nearly two hours before the bus left. I killed time by working through my Japanese copy of Phoenix Wright while relaxing in Porta Underground. Finally, around 12:30, I decided to go upstairs and wait for my friends. The first to get there was Nick, wheeling a small suitcase behind him. Apparantly, my meeting place was bad – unbeknownst to me, there are multiple entrances to Porta, so my instruction to “meet in front of Porta” was kind of useless. 

Next to arrive was Cara. We had relocated to a more visible location in front of the main JR gate, but I went to check the Porta entrances again, where I bumped into Cara. Last to arrive was Tala – due to my ambiguous meeting place, it was hard to find him. But eventually we did, and with plenty of time to spare.

We made some preparations for the bus – Nick went to buy a new DS game, after which we bought some snacks for the bus. When we got back, Cara had gone to buy something as well, but time was running out. By the time we were all back, it was just about departure time. We cut it close, but we made it to the bus stop on time, and with no difficulty, got on board.

The ride was by no means a long one – total time of just under three hours. We took one rest stop along the way, where we picked up some donuts. They were good, but Mister Donuts is neither Krispy Kreme nor Dunkin Doughnuts. On the way out, we were offered a sample of…mushrooms. To be specific, matsutake mushrooms (one of the most prized mushrooms in Japan). It was really good – it had a very rich flavor, almost meaty. I’d be more than happy to eat those again. Of course, they’re also pretty expensive, so it’s not something I can see coming out at dinner.

When we arrived in Amanohashidate, the first thing I noticed was the air. Kyoto is a fairly clean city, but the air out there was so clean and fresh. Looking at the map I had printed out, we walked from the station to the ryokan. I had anticipated it taking five minutes, but it was actually much closer. In fact, the entirety of Amanohashidate was more compact than I had thought – we could see the ocean from where we were staying. 

Check in was really simple – the obasan who ran the inn brought us a form to fill out, and we were set within half an hour. Before dinner, we decided to scope out the town to get a feel for our surroundings. We crossed the street to head for the ocean. But before we got there, we saw something else that captured our interest – a shop that was selling dried fish and squids, which were hanging out front. We took some pictures, at which point the shop keeper told us in Japanese to take lots of good photos. Calling himself the “Ika-ojisan”, he told us about bigger squids caught in the area that aren’t sold in shops because they’re so big. Squids of that size get sold to sushi shops, he said. I really enjoyed the “small town” feeling that makes people comfortable to talk with strangers. 

We walked alongside the ocean, over and under overgrown trees, around a bend until we came to a dock, near the bridge leading to the land bridge. There, by the water, was a strange stone ring. We read a signpost that explained that it was “The Ring of Wisdom”, which it might have been used by ships in the past, but that nobody actually knows why it’s there. We passed by the main street in the town, and through a temple, only to wind up back by Ika-ojisan’s shop! It turns out we made a big loop around the town.

Since we still had some time, we decided to check out the land bridge. We walked past a shop selling yaki-ika, and onto the beach. We played around for a while, and then then looked at a bunch of stone monuments placed around here and there. Finally, it got dark enough that I figured it would be better just to come back the next day, and we headed back for dinner.

We were served a true feast – fried ebi, oyster soup, grilled fish, sashimi, rice, and more. It was possibly the biggest non-izakaya meal I’ve eaten since getting to Japan. And it was REALLY good. I ate till I was bursting. We had a hilarious dinner conversation, winding up talking about how dumb animals are. Especially turkeys. Nick was talking about weird pets his elementary school teachers had, including hissing cockroaches. Tala provided us with a fantastic example of what these beasties sound like, leading to further laughs being shared.

We bought discount tickets for Chie no Yu, the local onsen. It means “Hot Water of Wisdom”, and I could always use more wisdom (or onsen). We walked over (again, taking about two minutes), and hopped into the bath. We had some hilarious discussions over the hour we spent in there. There were actually three rooms – the actual bath, some outdoor wooden tubs, and a hand-and-foot bath. We liberally made use of all of them. Coming out, I felt both refreshed and drained at the same time. I mean, I guess that’s what really hot water does to you. But man, it was nice! In the Japanese fashion, I drank down a bottle of milk before leaving the bathhouse.

 After a quick stop at the ryokan to pick up some refreshments, we went out to stargaze. We walked back towards the ocean, and found a nice spot away from the bright streetlights. We drank a little and chatted while looking up at the night sky. The weather was clear, and I was able to see more stars in the sky than I have in years. It was beautiful, and reminded me of just how vast the universe is. We had some real heart-to-heart storytelling, and I felt like I was able to let my problems melt away. Even now, I feel that I’ve left some sort of weight behind.

Oh, but there was one creepy thing too. There was a buoy in the water that seemed to be moving like a person, but we all ignored it. Finally though, it DID start to move. It came closer, until we saw that it actually was a human being – a fisherman who was standing in the water up to his waist who decided to call it a night. It startled the living daylights out of me, because I had thought we were alone. Still, it takes more than that to spoil such a good night.

We went to bed pretty late, since we wound up talking after getting home too. Maybe a bad idea, since the next day would be packed with adventures far beyond what I had imagined possible.