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Published: January 7th 2007
yuge198
Me with my host family on New Years day.My winter vacation was absolutely wonderful thanks to my amazing host family in Kyoto that I stayed with. It was completely stress-free, which was exactly what I needed. I also felt incredibly nostalgic thinking about all the great times I had in that area while going to school there a few years ago.
From the moment I stepped on the old Keihan railway, I felt that kind of feeling you feel when you return to a place you know and love- like returning home. I used to ride on the Keihan train everyday to school there, so I knew it very well. I took it from Osaka (where I had taken the shinkansen to) to my host family’s house in Kyoto prefecture. The ride was about 30 minutes, and I passed by all the old places I used to go to a few years ago. My host mom offered to come and pick me up at the train station, but I told her that I would rather walk to check out all the old sites of my host family’s neighborhood. The area had actually changed a lot since I had lived there. A HUGE mall had been built right outside
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The begining of the hike. the train station that brought tons of people to this neighborhood that didn’t used to be here.
When I reached my host family’s home, Kumiko, my host mom, greeted me at the door along with their new dog, Bonnie. Kumiko always has a new dog at her house because she raises one each year for a group that trains seeing-eye dogs. She raises the dog for one year and then gives it to the training center. When I lived there, they had Oralee. Kumiko’s hobbies are raising dogs and hosting exchange students. She has hosted a total of fourteen exchange students now, all of which have been women, since Kumiko says they are easier to deal with and are more polite and helpful. I think I was their ninth exchange student. Their fourteenth exchange student had just returned back to the U.S., so I got to stay in my old room there. Of course, I didn’t see Kouji, Kumiko’s husband until the next day because, as usual, he was at work until after I went to bed.
The next day I took a day-hike in a small village in the mountains outside Kyoto city. I forgot how much
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The mountain was covered with these gigantic, ancient sugi trees, which are sacred at this shinto shrine. there is to do in this area. For starters, there is the huge metropolis of Osaka. Then a short train ride away is the ancient capital of Japan, Kyoto. And a short train ride away from both of these big cities is the beautiful country-side of the surrounding mountains. My parents had sent me a book about hiking in Japan for Christmas, so I just picked a random hiking route that seemed to be the closest to where I was staying. It ended up being absolutely gorgeous.
When I left my host family’s house in the morning my host mom was excited because it was actually snowing just a little, which is rare for the area. I dressed warmly, but didn’t expect to see much more snow. Then as the train I took from the city got deeper and deeper into the mountains, the snow became heavier and heavier, until it became a blizzard. The snow seemed to be accumulating inches every hour, and soon I found myself hiking up a mountain in a blanket of fresh snow. All of the surrounding mountains were covered in white and made for a spectacular view. The mountain I climbed had temples
and shrines scattered all over it, and the route I took led me from shrine to shrine. The main shrine was half way up the mountain. I guess the pictures I took describe most of the hike, so I won’t go into too much detail. The hike took about three hours and went up one side of the mountain and back down the other side, ending up in a small, quaint village with nothing more than a couple inns, expensive restaurants, a couple art galleries, and a café.
I was completely exhausted and numb from head to toe when I completed the hike, and remembered that I had seen a sign for an onsen (hot spring bath) back where I had started my hike. So, I took the train back one stop where I had started that day and found my way up to the onsen. It was the best onsen I have ever been to. It was an outdoor hot spring bath which was perfect for the day because the snow was still falling heavy and you could sit in the onsen and watch the snow flakes melt when they hit the water. I wish I could have
taken pictures of it, but you can imagine why I couldn’t.
I spent New Years with my host family and Kumiko’s extended family. When I say extended, I really mean it. Kumiko is about the same age as my mom, but not only is her mother still alive, but her grandmother is too! She will turn 97 years old this April. And not only is she just alive, but she is fully capable of walking, talking, hearing, and mostly anything. She even joined in on the drinking for New Years. Both Kumiko’s mom and grandmother are widowed and live together. New Years is a much bigger deal in Japan than it is in the U.S. It mostly seems to be all about the food. There is an endless list of special food that they eat for New Years, and it all has some kind of special meaning. For example, soba noodles are eaten because they are long and represent a long life; mochi (pounded rice cakes) represent endurance because they are very sticky and difficult to eat; fish eggs represent many, healthy children for obvious reasons; and many many more.
So we ate and drank for a long
time with Kumiko’s family. I realized that Kumiko’s grandmother is so old, that she must remember the war. I wanted to ask her about this, but wasn’t sure how to go about that. So, I just said, “So…do you remember the war?” She said extremely calmly, “Of course I do. I was living with my daughter (Kumiko’s mom who was also present) in Hiroshima city at the time. It was very scary. I don’t remember much of it other than the huge boom. I was safe because I was inside my house a ways away from where the bomb hit. But, my daughter was on a field trip with her school that day very close to where the bomb hit.” I couldn’t believe that she was actually right there when all that happened. I turned to Kumiko’s mom, and asked how old she was at the time. She said that she was in her second year of junior high school and was outside with her school. All the third year students were even closer to where the bomb hit and not one of them lived through it. Kumiko’s mom, however, survived but with bad burns all along the one side
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View from the main shine half way up the mountain. of her body. She lifted up her sleeve a little, and I could see her scarred skin from the blast. I couldn’t believe that I had just happened to ask them about the war, and they had actually experienced the atomic bomb!
Other than the New Years food, the big tradition is to make the first visit to a Shinto shrine for the new year. So Kumiko, Kouji, Bonnie, and I did just that. We walked through the bamboo forest behind their house to a Shrine that I used to visit when I lived there. It is usually practically empty, but on New Years day it was packed full of people wanting to say their prayers and buy their New Years good luck charms. It is the year of the boar now and little boar charms were being sold everywhere I turned.
The rest of my vacation was spent hanging out with my host family, eating the delicious vegetarian meals that Kumiko made for me, visiting all my old hangout spots around the Osaka/Kyoto area, and doing as much shopping and eating at restaurants as I could before I had to go back to Yuge where none of
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Also at the main shrine. this exists. The last day before I got back on the Shinkansen in Osaka, I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant (Elena and Nicholas: do you remember?!) in an area of Osaka called Shinsaibashi. I ate enough Mexican food to last me months (which is good since I won’t be able to eat it again for months). Then it was back to Yuge for me. I arrived at about 7:30 at night, but the only sound to be heard was the Inland Sea and the sea gulls. Yep, home sweet home.
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naomi
non-member comment
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!
jennie, it's all so beautiful and sugoi sounding!! ah.... koishii. I will get there sometime this year! mixi mo check shite ne~