Massive Woodies in Japan: Contest Details Inside

Contest Details:

As some of you may or may not know, random signs have brought me a great deal of pleasure. I have taken great joy in making up what someone, not speaking the language, or familiar locations might come up with as to their meanings. I have provided an example image with interpretation. Your job is to locate the other sign in this blog and interpret it accordingly. (Your prize: the last overseas postcard I will send)

Note to Self: Lesson Learned

As a trio we have been getting along swimmingly, but there has been some strife, which, without providing much detail, I unintentionally exascerbated by way of a journal reflection dealing with something that was not my business. Unfortunately there was a circle of "none-of-your-business" events that culminated in some unpleasantness, which has led me to calling this particular journal, the third of its kind on my travels, the "Journal of Doom." This episode of high drama involving your favorite trio led to some discussions, and specific apologies, but did not, fortunately leave an indelible mark upon our adventure.

This leads me to a lesson - your private thoughts are safest locked up in the confines of your own head. Furthermore, even within the confines of one's own head, it's better just to min' yo' bi'ness.

Himeji by Day, Osaka by Night

As Denise pointed out earlier in the day on the way to the little city of Himeji, there's not actually much to the town with the exception of the Himeji-jo, the castle that stands, surrounded by a moat, pretty much at the center of town. If not at its geographical center, the castle certainly represents the heart of the city's cultural stock. The location was the site for forts as early as the mid 1300s, but it had reached its full glory by 1601 when Ieyasu Tokugawa, the famed Shogun leader, took up residence here.

The castle itself is as functional for defensive purposes as it is elegantly designed. It has a quality about it that allows it to stay cool during the hot days, but I'm not sure if the opposite holds true on the cold ones. It's not too expensive to go into and the castle and grounds takes a good two hours to walk through and around. I would say that this is one attraction every visitor to Japan really should see. The signage is good, and thorough, if a little repetative, and the shear size and beauty of the area is something to behold. I only wish I could have been here for the blooming of the cherry blossoms.

With nothing much to see after leaving the castle, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Osaka for dinner. It was more that I wanted to be able to say I spent some time in Osaka than any other reason if the truth be told. But since we had to go through Osaka anyway, it seemed like as good a plan as any.

Osaka, like all Japanese cities of some population density, which is most of the country, is alive and buzzing with activity. As far as big cities goes, it seemed nice, but it a lot of ways Japanese cities seem rather nondescript with regard to each other. There are broad roads and interesting overpasses, bright lights and roads so narrow in other places that you could have sworn it was a footpath. As I mentioned in my previous entry, though, it is the people who are most fascinating.

There are a group of young men known as "losers" according to Camille, and to a more generous Denise, as "pretty boys," who stand in the middle of busy intersections as pedestrians cross, or in the middle of busy pedestrian walkways dressed to the nines, almost always wearing curved-toe boots and sporting 80s hairdos. This apparently is how one picks up here in Japan. I'm not sure how successful this strategy is though. I may have to give it a shot. "Hey baby, I can say Caramel in Japanese-English, and can introduce myself, almost. How about a conversation-less date?" I can't see a great many prospects for success :)

Osaka does have some really interesting tall buildings, a department store with a cool jingle, and some interesting shops and pachenko parlours. Pachenco is basically a big gambling operation. It's not gambling though, because gambling in Japan is illegal. What happens is you go and play the slots in this smoky and cacophonous hell of a building and are awarded a gift for your aptitude at playing the game. You may then if you chose go somewhere, usually around the corner or to the next building go and trade your gift, or perhaps sell if the more appropriate term, for a sum of money that is proportionate to the aptitude you showed at the game played in the pachenko parlour, represented by your gift which you are now exchanging for cash. Definitely NOT gambling...nooo. Japan: Following the Letter of the Law since before time.

We had difficulty deciding exactly when and where dinner should take place, and fell back on our old standby system of "How Hungry Are You?" to determine the parameters of our quandry. The answers are always disparate, "4.9", "6", "8"; Denise invariably had the high number. Somehow she also manages to be the skinniest of this trio. So we decided that the best solution was to go to a pay-by-plate sushi restaurant. As it turns out, my 4.9 hungry is equivalent to a Denise 8.6. This may be the real reason she's managed to stay so svelt. After eating my share of raw fish, octopus, and eel, as well as having more than a couple head-clearing mouthfuls wasabi, we went back to Kyoto to crash, and to plan our visit to Nara

"Be Bitten by Deer in Nara: Fun for the Whole Family"

Nara's a cool sleepy town, by Japanese standards at least. It houses the largest wooden structure in the world, and sports a vast collection of grassy parks and fields, which IS in fact a rare sight in Japan. These in turn are filled with more-or-less tame deer which you can feed a packet of some sort of cookies. These packets are wrapped up in a this, hopefully edible paper which is impossible to get off before the deer have figured out that you're holding their next meal and have descended upon you like a swarm of locusts.

As I was feeding them, I was trying not to give them all to the same deer, one of which was quite pushy. There were tons of them, they were everywhere, and usually feeling relatively calm around animals, especially ones so docile as deer, I was becoming a little disconcerted. It is at this point that a doe decides that she's going to bite me in the ass. Not enough to hurt, but enough to shock me and make me hand out my food like I was a UN convoy to Mogadishu. When they saw that it was all gone, they couldn't have been less interested in me if I had been a tree. I had been used, but then again, so had they. Fair play and all that.

Checking that off of our list, we decided we would head off to see Nara's main attraction, the Daibutsuden - the largest wooden structure in the world. It is huge, but the amazing thing is that as big as it is, it is only 2/3 the size of its predecessor, destroyed by fire hundreds of years ago. What's more, the former complex housed two pagodas both of which would be taller than anything in contemporary Japan. I went in for a wander, while Camille, who had already been there sat outside.

I exited to find him surrounded by school children excitedly asking him questions, chatting and laughing. About this time their teacher showed up on the scene and asked if he was a teacher - he answered yeas, and the children roared with cheer, "Yay!" Then Camille (pronounced Ca-mee-ru here) said that I was also a teacher. Again they burst forth with cheers. "Yay!" It's nice to be in a place where my profession is met with such excitement, and I know when I get back to California, my students are going to greet me with similar beatification....Right?

Minus Ten Points

After basking in the glow of pedagogical admiration we wandered off to visit temples and shrines I could not be bothered finding out their names for, and walking down paths I would just as likely as not find again if set down in Nara. Nara's exceptional greenery makes it a great place for a wander regardless of where you're going, and there are enough gems to be found that you needn't rely to dependently on the map.

By this time though, I was getting hungry. I declared that I was very suddenly 12 hungry: In the immortal words of my then 4 year old brother: I NEED FOOD NOW! We walked somewhat in vain for a while, until we found ourselves in front of a Mos Burger, Japan's less greasy, less hefty, more tasty answer to McDonald's. In my opinion, it is indeed a good answer.

I was filled up, and we headed back to Kyoto excited to be heading presently to Hiroshima - perhaps the town I am most excited to see here in Japan. I parting for this entry I would like to point out one thing I have found especially curious about Japanese civil engineering. This particular group of Japanese appear to have a penchant for physical humour, as they place mini-steps, we're talking a mere half inch tall in places, at more-or-less random places. The result is that you are either tripping on or stumbling over these seemingly misplaced diminutive wanabe steps. I'm sure somewhere there's a group of these engineers laughing their heads off. Good on ya mates.

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