Life in Japan

Obon Yasumi

This past week I was lucky enough to have the whole week off in celebration of Obon. While I didn’t plan any big trip to fill the week, I was able to have a really great time doing some shorter trips and just hanging out with people. Here’s my recap.

So this was before this week, but I haven’t posted these yet. Over the last couple of weeks I had the chance to see two hanabi (fireworks) shows, one at the beach of Omi-Maiko and one from the packed crowd at Otsu (it really was packed — I got there right before they started and had trouble not stepping on people). Japan has lots of fireworks shows over the summer (not just on one holiday like the 4th of July), and they really know how to do them right. The Otsu show was by far the biggest fireworks show I’ve ever scene — I’m pretty sure the opening was bigger than any finale I’ve ever watched. It’s hard to capture any of this on camera (and I didn’t want to spend the whole show watching through my view finder anyway), but I put up a few pictures in those links above. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make the Otsu show because of work, but I’m really glad I did (although missing my train home and having to get up at 5:30 the next day to make it to work was a little disappointing).

Here’s what my actual holiday looked like:

Friday: Dom’s sayonara party in Kyoto.

Saturday - Sunday: Made a hanko at Geoff’s school, then spent the night hanging out with my friend JP in Kyoto.

Monday: Went on a beautiful hike in Takashima with Geoff and some other ALTs. We spent most of the first half of the hike walking upstream through a river, stopping at waterfalls to swim. The top had a great view (but a few too many bugs) and the end had one final waterfall to cool down before heading out. Here are some other pictures that Damon took on the hike. There are also some from the Otsu fireworks in there too.

Wednesday: Went to Kobe and spent the day just wandering around by myself. Got some omiyage shopping done, and was pleasantly surprised by this reminder of home at a secondhand shop.

Thursday: Spent the day with some coworkers and their families at a pasture. Got to hang out with some animals (mostly sheep) and my mentor’s adorable baby daughter (highlight of the day was watching her completely ignore the sheep all around her to chase her own shadow). We ended the day by making ice cream.

Friday - Saturday: Went to Nara to see the Daibutsu and hang out with Adam, JP, Kristian, and Ian. First time I have hung out with a group of Stanford people since the spring, so that was a lot of fun.

Next weekend we have our exit orientation in Kyoto, so it will be really nice to see everyone again. Most of them I haven’t seen since the spring. Then the weekend after that I will be on a plane back to California!

Climbing Mt. Fuji!

This weekend I had a break from work (Friday to Tuesday) and got the chance to do something I wasn’t sure I would be able to do while in Japan — climb Mt. Fuji!

Because of the weather conditions on the mountain, it is only open for climbing in July and August. In those two months, about 300,000 people climb Fuji each year. Fortunately, we went on a weekday (Sunday to Monday) and took one of the less popular routes, so we were not stuck in human traffic, as the main path, especially on weekends, is just packed. We were also very fortunate to have great weather for the climb. It was cold (as it always is), but we just missed the rain that had been there for the past few days. We even found out that that the path we took had been flooded and the top half just opened the day we came.

The climb was amazing and exhausting. I have never done anything quite like it. We (me, Kyoko, and Sheena) headed up on Sunday afternoon to Station 5, where most people start their hike (there are stations every 30-60 minutes along the trail, starting with Station 1 up to Station 10, although there are multiple for some numbers). We timed the hike pretty well so we arrived at the top just in time to watch the sunrise, which is, for many people, the main draw of the hike.

Even though I knew going in that this would be a tough hike, I think we all, to some extent, underestimated the difficulty. Here are a few of the challenges:

• The schedule: This is the first time I have done an overnight hike, and it is definitely a different experience. Combining the physical fatigue from hiking with sleepiness makes for an interesting feeling. We took a little nap on some rocks and one station, but other than that we were up from when we got up Sunday morning until we took a longer nap up at the top around 6:30am.
• The altitude: Even though I was expecting the thinner air, there isn’t a whole lot you can really do to prepare for it. The peak is 12,389 feet, so even starting about halfway up at Station 5 is higher than Denver. I could definitely feel the effects, especially as we got higher up. It didn’t take long for me to feel tired between rests, and I had to try to take big breaths. There is a reason most people bring oxygen canisters with them (we did not).
• The cold: Even though we did get lucky with the weather and avoided the rain, it is still pretty cold. As long as we were moving I felt okay, but stopping (especially when we tried to sleep) was difficult. If I were to do it again, I would wear more clothes to start — I was dressed for the warm weather of the day, but when you don’t start hiking until after sunset it is cool enough.

As with most things, the challenges made the reward that much more worth it. It was very serene to watch the sun rise over the clouds from the top of the mountain, and so satisfying to know that we had accomplished something that not all that many people get to do in their lives. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to do this, and it will always be one of my highlights of my Japan experience.

Here are some pictures from the hike and at the peak. There aren’t as many as I would have liked of the hike itself, but the way up was in the dark and the way down was mostly in fog. But at least the fog was low enough that we got to see the sunrise, many people make it all the way to the peak and then can’t even see it because they are in the fog!

Himeji Castle

This weekend I went to Himeji Castle with a few of my co-workers. Himeji is supposed to be one of the nicest castles in Japan, so I was a little disappointed when I found out we would be going while it is under construction. I also wondered why we didn’t just wait for that to finish, but it turns out they are in the third year of a six-year restoration, so we would have been waiting for a while.

When we arrived, the castle mostly looked like this, so I was still a little bummed out about the timing.

However, I quickly realized that there were some benefits to coming at this time. Because the restoration takes so long, they turned it into an exhibit on the whole process. We could see the work going on through the glass, and there were lots of signs and videos explaining the process.

The castle was built in 1333, so it has gone through a lot. Every 10 years or so there is some sort of work done, and every 50 years it needs the restoration they are doing now. And there is an even more thorough process that they last did in the late 50s that lasts 8 years. They said that is needed every 350 years. It’s kind of crazy to imagine a schedule that spans centuries like that, but I guess over the past 700 or so years they’ve figured out what is necessary.

Part of the reason it all takes so long is that they try to do as much as they can to preserve the integrity of the original build, even if a lot of the material is unusable. This means tearing apart the building (it really didn’t seem like they left much in some places) and reconstructing it in ways similar to how it was done at the time. They’ve introduced some new strategies to make it last longer and be easier to maintain, but it is still very different from a standard construction project.

Maybe not everyone would enjoy seeing the castle in this state, but I actually thought it was really cool. It would still be nice to see it one day in it’s full glory, but that will have to wait for another trip.

Here is the album of pictures, and I’ve put up a couple others of my trip to Kobe last weekend and from a tour of the Kawasaki plant where I work during the week.

Highlights from the Family Visit

So I know this post is long overdue (aren’t they all), but I decided I still need to write it anyway, even if it might be shorter than I originally thought. If you want to see lots of pictures, my dad took lots of good ones and did a good job of sorting/commenting them so you can get a good idea of what our trip looked like.

Seeing my family was so wonderful, and such a great way to spend the time between the end of school and the beginning of my summer internship. As us kids have gotten older, it has become rarer and rarer for us to get all nine of us together, and to have a week together in Japan was pretty amazing.

The week got off to a great start when my immediate family arrived with a surprise:

Although this was the plan when I thought I would be here last year, we had talked about it this year and it didn’t seem like it would work out for Teresa to come. But she and my parents planned this together to give me a birthday present that I definitely did not expect. Maybe I was a little gullible in not figuring out something was up when it took my parents an hour longer to get through customs than it took Al (they were waiting for Teresa’s flight to arrive), but I’m glad I didn’t suspect anything, it made it that much more exciting.

Over the course of the week, I was able to show my family a glimpse into what my life has been like for the past couple of months, and do lots of sightseeing, some repeated places, but a lot of new ones too. I don’t have the time/energy to write about all of them, but here are some highlights:

• Showing my family around Doshisha, where I’ve been going to school for the past couple of months.
• Going back to the Philosopher’s Walk and Ginkakuji.
• Staying at a ryokan in Kyoto.
• Introducing my family to my host family.
• Finally going to the bamboo gardens and Arashiyama (monkey park).
• Returning to Fushimi Inari.
• Going back to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum.
• Being able to see the torii gate at Miyajima.
• Visiting Hikone Castle.

There were many other fun things that we did (and, again, there are lots of pictures documenting those in the link above), but the best part was just being with everyone. Even though I have been having lots of fun here and enjoyed meeting new people, there is something about seeing family that is very reassuring and just great. I missed them a lot, and I already miss them again, but the experience is something that I will always cherish, especially over the next couple of months before I see them again.

Thank you for the great trip everyone. I love you all.

First Few Days of Work

On Monday morning I started the first steps of my new life for the next couple of months. It didn’t start out all that great, but the day eventually got better.

It was somewhat inevitable that the day would start out a little rough, as it began with me having to say my goodbyes to my family and Teresa after a much-appreciated visit for the past week (especially the surprise visit from Teresa! Such a great birthday present — but I’m hoping to write more about that later). Traveling around with them was so great, but also a reminder of how much I have missed them all and will continue to do so, especially now that I have moved far away from most of my classmates.

I hopped on a train to Kyoto and transferred to one towards Nishi-Akashi, where my internship with Kawasaki is, and everything seemed to be going well until I noticed that the time I was supposed to arrive passed without reaching the stop I was getting off at. I quickly realized that I had accidentally boarded the local train rather than the rapid (why are there two trains going from the same platform to the same destination at the exact same minute?! I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the train system by now, but I have never seen that before). I started to panic a little, as timeliness, especially on the first day, was something that was very strongly emphasized to us as vital in the Japanese business culture.

I scrambled to make the phone calls needed to reach my boss, who was waiting for me on the platform, and then ran into my next issue: I knew that people aren’t really supposed to use their phones on the train, but I had seen people do it before without issues, so I thought it would be okay (and I didn’t have much of a choice at that point). Apparently a guy near me was someone who cared about that rule, as he growled some angry Japanese at me, stared me down, and then actually grabbed my phone out of my hand and hung it up, all while I was trying to figure out what to do. That kind of shook me up a little.

Well, I eventually arrived intact and things got better from there. My boss seemed very understanding (I think having a young boss gives me some slack) and walked me to the hotel where I’m living and then to the company. The first day was mostly showing me around and introducing me to lots of people. I have two “mentors” who I will be working with (one more closely than the other), who are also both young. I found out a little bit more about my project and got my uniform.

Over the past couple of days, I have done a lot of reading to catch up on the information I am expected to know for the job. It is pretty interesting stuff, but reading for 8 hours a day is a little exhausting. One thing (of many) that is new for me is working a standard 9-5 schedule. My past two summer jobs have been pretty variable, and obviously school has quite flexible work hours. Here I’m not even allowed to bring work home (because of confidentiality), so when I leave at 5pm I am really done for the day. It is a nice feeling, but I am also used to taking breaks during the day.

One of the highlights of the first couple days of work was meeting my fellow international intern, Colas, an engineering student from France. I don’t work with him during the day, but he is my neighbor here in the hotel so we are able to walk to and from work together and keep each other company at meals. He has been here for about a month, so he was able to help me out with some things when moving in and getting used to the company too.

• It’s kind of cool to have my bed made for me everyday and fresh towels, but it makes it not really feel like my own place. And apparently on weekends we have to be out of the room from 10am-2pm for cleaning, which is kind of a bummer because that is prime skype time with California.
• It’s nice to not have to worry about cooking and grocery shopping, but I wish I had a way to cook too. I did find a microwave near the vending machines today, so I guess that will have to do.

Here is kind of a miscellaneous dump of the pictures I have from the past couple of weeks. I didn’t take any pictures while my family was here (it seemed like there were plenty of cameras anyway), so I’ll put up a link when some of those are up.

Hiroshima and Miyajima

So it has taken me a little longer to get around to this than I thought it would, but here (finally) is my quick recap of our Bing trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima.

On our first day, we spent the day in Hiroshima, mostly around the Peace Memorial Museum. We also stopped by the famous Dome Memorial and some of the other memorials of the August 6, 1945 dropping of the atomic bomb.

The Peace Memorial Museum was a very interesting experience. First, I’m very glad to be going back in just a couple of weeks when my family comes (!!) because it was too big and full of interesting exhibits to get through the whole thing in the amount of time we had. I actually only got through the newer portion of the museum, which focuses on the events leading up to the dropping of the bomb and information about the Manhattan Project and more recent nuclear developments. The main section of the museum has many remnants found after the bomb, and I look forward to getting a better look when we go back.

The next event had the biggest impact on me, and probably on most everyone on our trip — listening to a survivor give her account of the bombing. She lived just outside the part of the city that was completely destroyed, so she and her family were able to survive with relatively minor injuries. But some of the memories they were left with must have been just as difficult to carry as any physical pain. The amount of death that she witnessed all around her is something that no one – especially not a 9-year-old – should have to experience. It was also very interesting to hear her talk about their thoughts when the bomb was initially dropped, as they had nothing to compare it to and really had no way to comprehend the magnitude of destruction that had happened. One of the most touching parts for me was when she mentioned her maiden name – Yamane, the same as my mom’s family name. It was really a great experience, and I am very glad that there are people like Keiko who are willing to give these talks and share their views.

After the talk, we headed to the more light-hearted part of our trip: Miyajima island. Miyajima is most famous for the giant Torii gate that is in the water just off the coast. At low tide, people can walk all the way out to the gate. Unfortunately, a storm in April meant that the torii was under consruction when we were there, so it wasn’t much to look at. There was a sign saying construction is scheduled to finish two days before we go with the family, so fingers-crossed that Japanese construction is as prompt as the trains.

On the island we got to stay at a very nice Ryokan and enjoy a very full meal of the local specialities (mostly seafood) courtesy of the Bings, who sponsor much of the Stanford study-abroad program costs. We all walked around in our yukata (light, less formal kimonos), enjoyed the relaxing ofuro (bath) and sang some karaoke together. It was nice and relaxing and fun to hang out with the group.

On Saturday, we spent the day wandering around the island. Most of us bought some omiyage (travel gifts) and some of us visited the Daisho-in Temple which had lots of cool statues and shrines.

Here is a full album of the pictures I took, which include some things I didn’t mention in the post.

Golden Week In Tokyo

I apologize that this took so long, but after a week, here is my post about my Golden Week trip to Tokyo. I’m not sure how detailed I will be, but the full photo album at least has comments about where we went and some of the things we saw.

Our trip started late Wednesday night, as we (Allen, Kristian, Adam, Chris, and I) met up at Kyoto Station to take a night bus leaving around midnight. The bus was an interesting experience. It is a pretty cheap way to travel (although during Golden Week it was harder to find the cheap tickets) and it essentially saves a night of lodging, assuming you are able to sleep on the bus. The seats were decently comfortable, and they reclined pretty far back, but we also stopped every couple of hours to let people use the restroom and whatnot, so it was tough to get solid sleep. I got lucky and sat in the front row, so at least I didn’t have to worry about my legs getting crushed by a reclined seat in front of me (I wasn’t as lucky on the return trip).

We arrived in Tokyo at Shinjuku Station around 8 in the morning. Unfortunatley it was raining pretty hard, and it didn’t stop for about a day and a half. We didn’t mind finding things to do indoors, but I think the biggest downside to the rain was that it meant not many other people were out, so it really didn’t feel like we were in Tokyo. We spent the morning wandering around the Shinjuku area, mostly in department stores that were way out of our price range. As in desserts that cost more than I spend in a week on food. Or a hanger that costs more than any clothes I would have to hang on it. Or a camera (from a clothing store) that cost more than a new car ($30k+). So we were mostly just looking.

We then headed over to Akihabara, which is known for its electronics shops and (somewhat more recently) its anime culture. It was a very interesting place, even though a lot of the stuff were things I am not all that interested in.

When we got tired we headed over to our hostel where we would be staying for the next couple nights. It was…cheap. We didn’t expect all that much for the price we paid, but I was a little surprised that the beds and walls were made out of 2x4s and plywood. But the people were really nice.

On Friday morning we headed over to Tokyo Station and explored that area a little bit. We got to see the Tokyo International Forum and then made our way over to the Imperial Palace and then Tokyo Tower. It was really nice to be able to walk between most places and just see what was along the way.

That night, four of us went to Roppongi, which is a district known for its foreign presence. It was pretty cool to see all kinds of different ethnic foods lining the streets (American contributions: TGIF and KFC). It is a sight that is pretty familiar in the US, but pretty rare here. We ate at a Turkish restaurant, and we really enjoyed some flavors we haven’t had in the month we’ve been here.

On Saturday we went back to Shinjuku (where we arrived the first day) to see some sites in the better weather. The highlights were the huge clock in the NS Building, the view from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices, and walking through a park.

Next we headed over to Harajuku to enjoy the weirdness of the district. It wasn’t quite as strange as I thought it might be, but there are definitely some different styles among the kids there (although it was also full of tourists while we were there) and there were a few in full out costumes.

For dinner we went to Shibuya, where we also got to see some attractions like the huge intersection and the statue of Hachiko, the dog that waited at the train station everyday for over 10 years after his owner passed away. For dinner we went to a somewhat fancy restaurant that had been recommended to us by someone who used to live in the area. The food was really good, but in such small portions that we ended up eating a second dinner later to avoid spending too much money.

On Sunday we returned to the area around Tokyo Station and explored Ginza Street, which has lots of shops and interesting buildings like the Sony Showroom. We also visited Ueno Park, but didn’t go too deep into it to see any of the museums or the zoo. The Ameyoko market under the Ueno tracks was very interesting, especially because they have lots of American products (“Ame” is short for “American”, although that wasn’t always what it was referring to — it used to be candy).

We finished out the trip at Asakusa, where we saw the famous Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”). The street between the gate and the temple is usually bustling with little shops, but we got there a little late and only a few were still open.

After that, we headed back to Tokyo Station where we caught our night bus back home. We got back to Kyoto around 8 in the morning and then ate some breakfast and took a little nap in a classroom until class started. Fortunately, I only had one class that day, so after that I headed home and slept some more. As I mentioned earlier, the bus ride back wasn’t quite so comfy, so I didn’t get all that much sleep.

Overall I had a really nice time in Tokyo. I’m glad I did it, especially because I’m not sure if/when I would have another chance to go, and there was no way I was going to be in Japan for 5 months and not even see Tokyo. That being said, I don’t have any strong desire to return right away. Part of that is cost — even travelling pretty lightly it is an expensive place and the costs add up quickly — but I also feel like there is so much left for me to explore in Kyoto and Osaka that I don’t have much of a reason to add Tokyo to that list.

One regret I do have, to an extent, is being a little too careful with my money. I’m glad we were able to fill most of our days without having to pay for entertainment, but it probably would have been cool to go to one museum or something. Another thing is I kind of wish we had gone to the fish market, just for the experience. I brought it up with my group, but no one seemed too thrilled with the idea (it probably would have meant staying out all night, as the auction happens before the trains start running).

Oh well, maybe that gives me motivation to have a “next time”.

Golden Week Begins

Here in Japan, this week is called “Golden Week” — a week of holiday for almost everyone. It is actually 4 seperate holidays — Showa Day (Emperor Hirohito’s Birthday) today (but observed on Monday), Constitutional Memorial Day on Thursday, Greenery Day on Friday, and Children’s Day on Saturday. Unfortunately this year we have class on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there is still plenty of time to get some exploring done.

Kaiyukan

We were able to start a little early, on Friday, as our Engineering TA canceled lab that day (and classes on Tuesday and Wednesday this week! He is nice.). To kick of the week, a few of us headed down to Kaiyukan — the Osaka Aquarium.

I really enjoy aquariums. I think a lot of the sea creatures are more interesting than animals we can see in zoos, and it is really cool to see them in the water. There were lots of cool animals like dolphins, sharks, rays, penguins, seals, and, of course, many random fish. But I was surprised to also see some less aquarium-like animals, like the capybaras. I think my favorite animal we saw were the otters. They just seemed to be having so much fun doing laps around the tank (although I’m sure they would love a larger habitat) and they seemed to move so fluidly through the water. It really made me wish I was a better swimmer (although they were more gliding than swimming).

It was hard to take good pictures, with the glass and a lot of fast-moving creatures, so I took some videos that captured it a little better. The album of photos and videos is up here.

Outside of the aquarium, there was also a huge Ferris Wheel that we rode. We waited longer so we could get in one of the cars with the see-through bottom, which was cool. It was nice to see the whole city from above.

Afterwards, we decided to be asian:

Reggie’s Birthday

Yesterday I went up to Shiga to help celebrate Reggie’s birthday (so many birthdays recently!). They had a place on the beach of Lake Biwa, and we all just hung out there for the day. Even though it was a really nice day the water was still a little too cold for swimming (although that didn’t stop Geoff from diving in fully clothed at the end of the night, when it was much colder outside). We played frisbee, barbequed food, and taught the non-Americans how to play beer pong. Fun day/night with fun people.

The way back was a little bit of an adventure, as I missed the train that would have gotten me to my transfer safely in time. Instead I had to take a train that gave me less than 10 minutes to get to a station a little over 15 minutes away to make my last train. When I got off of the first train I just started running (definitely need to get back into exercise mode, this was way tougher than it should have been). When I got to the station I could hear the train, and as I ran on the doors closed behind me. Little bit of a close call, but I made it!

Looking Forward

Tomorrow I’m going to head up to Shiga again for another BBQ, and then I’ll have my two days of class. But then on Wednesday night — Tokyo! I won’t bring my computer, so a recap of the trip (and pictures) will have to wait until we get back. We’re actually not getting back until a couple hours before class on Monday, so it might take a little bit of time after that depending on how much sleep I need to catch up on after. But I’m excited!