לשנה טובה ומתוקה

24 Heisei ... 2012 A.D (or C.E if you want to be really P.C.) ... 5773? 

As many of you know, the Jewish high holidays have recently come and gone, and we have now entered the year 5773 of the Jewish calendar. With pomegranates and apples with honey, I brought in the new year 7000 miles away from my Brandeis family by venturing alone to nearby Kobe to visit the synagogue there (one of just three in all of Japan-- the other two in Tokyo).

pomegranates ripening down my street

I hadn't yet been on a train by myself in Japan, so I was a little nervous to get to Kobe and back in one piece. I don't have a phone here, and while I personally LOVE the newfound freedom that comes from being 'unplugged,' I know my housemates were more than a little worried for my safety. But getting to Kobe is a relatively simple process since it only involves one transfer, and I made sure to study the kanji (japanese characters) for the stations and trains I needed beforehand. While the whole trip only takes about 45 minutes from my house, I gave myself a huge cushion by leaving 4 hours before services started. I was really glad I did, too, because it meant that I got to conquer the city on foot, and Kobe was a really exciting place!

kobe

Kobe has a lot of the same vibes as San Francisco, I feel. It has a spunky energy, and an international feel that I hadn't yet experienced anywhere in Japan, despite the fact that Osaka is a much larger (and presumably more international since it's a MAJOR port city of the world) city than Kobe. I saw Vietnamese, Moroccan, Indian, German, Thai, French, Korean, Dutch, Russian (these last two are completely undiscovered territory for me... I didn't know that either the Netherlands or Russia were particularly known for a distinct cuisine...), and even Mexican restaurants. I passed Argentine tango cafes, Russian tchotchke shops, and French patisseries up the wazoo. And while French bakeries seem a staple in every Japanese neighborhood, including my own, these ones actually looked authentic and served more than Japanified "French" pastries. Even the architecture was so much more of a mix of styles than I had previously seen.

Needless to say I was surprised by Kobe. And in addition to all I just mentioned, it was there that my rosh hashanah religious adventure began. I will now take you on a photo tour of my religious journey around Kobe (and later Nara). I should disclaim, however, that I did not PLAN to hit the religious sites either, but merely happened to stumble upon them on my afternoon stroll.

ikuta shrine

As I wandered around the neighborhood near Sannomiya station, I came across Ikuta shrine, the most well-known shrine in Kobe. It was a beautiful place, and I took a moment to ritually pray there (the way I described in my previous post about Kishibe shrine), towards the back of the shrine where it wasn't so busy. There was a little forested area with a babbling brook, and places to meditate and reflect. So I was sitting and thinking when I heard the bittersweet notes of the hichiriki and shou instruments coming from within the main shrine (if you don't know what these are, look up some youtube gagaku videos or something because they're amazing and oh-so different from their western reed instrument counterparts). So I followed the music and wandered over to the main shrine, where I realized that a ritual offering was in process.

daily ceremony

This shrine, originally built in the 3rd century A.D., is dedicated to Wakahirume, the goddess of the rising sun. Having gone there just before the new year dawned seems somehow fitting to me---particularly since this year, the new year came earlier for me than it most likely did for you, by many many hours. And I happened to go there when ritual rites were in procession, too, which was a real treat.

From there, I wandered uphill towards the mountains, and I came to the storefront of Halal Foods of Kobe. I heard some men on the street chat in Arabic before getting into a taxi and driving off. And as the sound of their car faded, I again heard the sounds of religious ritual. This time, however, it was the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the Islamic call to prayer. Goosebumps running down my arms, I followed a strong male voice down a side street until I came upon the Muslim Mosque of Kobe. The voice came from within the mosque, but its echoes boomed out and down the street in either direction. I stood outside throughout the Adhan, looking at the face of the stunning building, and then made my way down the street.

muslim mosque of kobe

 In what would continue to be an extraordinarily intercultural rosh hashanah, I found myself in a really tiny shrine on a sidestreet, and then exited out onto a main road. I followed the road for a good 10 minute walk, simply taking in the city, and of course, stumbled upon this church. While the little shrine and this Baptist church didn't literally call out to me like the others did, at this point I was just in awe of the fact that my stroll had turned so interfaith. :)

baptist community church of kobe

At this point, I decided to work my way to the synagogue, since services were starting in about an hour, and I still had no idea where I was really going. But of course, as I was making my way, I heard these church bells ringing for daily mass at the Catholic church, and had to backtrack two blocks just to find them.

catholic church of the holy spirit in kobe

When I arrived at the Jewish Community of Kansai's Ohel Shlomo Synagogue, it was nearly sunset, but I was able to capture a few shots inside before the holiday started (and one is no longer allowed to take pictures). I was welcomed by a boisterous crew of Japanese, Israeli, American, and Russian Jews, who greeted me with warm and open hearts and made me feel nearly as welcome as I feel at Brandeis. And while the services weren't as spiritually invigorating as at Brandeis, particularly since as a woman, I was separated from the service by lace screens (it's a Sephardic Orthodox temple), the meal and company were much appreciated, and the new year started off right.

rosh hashanah feast fast approaching

 The next day, because my housemate Iyo had invited us along to visit her family in Nara, I didn't go to services. I was a little bummed, but I also really wanted to meet Iyo's family and see her hometown, and not wanting to miss out on any experiences in Japan, I thought it best to skip out. It actually turned out great, because I personally was still able to feel heavenly presences everywhere we went that day.

yoshiki-en garden

What god wouldn't want to spend the day lingering in this beautiful garden (free to foreign tourists, so you should all clearly go!)?

moss garden 

traditional japanese thatched roofs

Nara is primarily known for two things, however: deer and Buddha.

The deer within the city of Nara are famously domesticated, and roam the streets freely without a care in the world. They tend not to pay humans much mind at all, so walking down the streets, I felt like I was roaming in an enchanted forest, and I felt so lucky to be there. The deer do, however, tend to pay attention to you when you buy them deer treats, like Amber did.

affectionate deer

I do have to say that they're really cute. And I want one. But in the Shinto religion, these deer are the messengers of the gods, so there presence here is more than just fun and reindeer games.

deer of nara

And why Buddha? The answer lies within the sacred walls and hallowed halls of Todaiji temple, a huge Buddhist temple structure and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nara.

todaiji temple main hall

 When you visit Todaiji, you enter successive realms through successively larger gate structures, until you reach this main hall (HUGE, in case you can't tell from the tiny ant people scattered across its base). There, you ritually light incense and then enter the main hall.

incense ritual

I closed my eyes as I entered... keeping them shut tight for a few seconds until I was sure that my sun-sore eyes would be adjusted. When I opened them, this is what I saw (below).

the daibutsu himself

I knew that the giant Buddha (Daibutsu) was going to be big, but nothing could have prepared me for how big it actually was. Or at least seemed. A full-grown man is about half the height of that hand there. And when I saw the entire structure in person standing at the base, I couldn't help but be in awe of how tiny and relatively insignificant I am. However, I personally believe that I wasn't simply placed here by happy accident. So all of these religious and intercultural experiences I had this rosh hashanah, where I thought I might feel disconnected, further affirmed my belief in something larger than life, and made me excited for the year to come. לשנה טובה ומתוקה

daibutsu 1 and 2

 And to top all of this spirituality with an ounce of hilarity, on the way back home, Iyo's ex-boyfriend Kohei, who was our chauffeur all day, got pulled over when we were back in Osaka on the way back home. He totally ran that red light, but I'm not complaining that he didn't get a ticket. For all he did for us, taking us around and showing us the sights, he deserved some GOOD karma for his actions... but I guess that's just not the way the gods wanted it.

red light green light

To any of you who may have been alarmed last week when the page was down--not to worry. Google simply thought that my page was being hacked, when in reality I had just signed in wrong. Everything is fine, and as you now know, I am still blogging.

Also, I hope that if you haven't already (and you don't speak Japanese), you will take a moment to read my last blog entry in English (as translated by the google translate gadget to your right). Scroll up to the top of the screen and first select any language of your choosing. When the page refreshes and shows my blog in whatever language you chose, then the top item on the scroll down menu will then become English (since the blog is no longer actually in English). I personally found the translation hilarious, and possibly a great improvement to what I actually wrote in Japanese. Please Enjoy!

食べ物のけいけん

私のべんとの魚

はじめて日本語でブログをしました！ちこくしてすみません！これは私の食べ物のけいけんポストです。じゃ、はじめましょう！！！

プラスチック食べ物

日本で私はいつも食べています。食べ物は、もっと安いけれど、色々な食べ物はめっちゃ高いですよ！はじめてスーパーに行った時は、びっくりしました！２万円の西瓜をみました！＄２００ぐらいでしょう！！！！

でも、今まで色々な日本の食べ物をけいけんしました！これは牛肉とキャベツとキノコです。これは、日本のなべです。しゃぶしゃぶと言います。

牛肉とやさい

なべに肉ややさいを入れて、待ちます。ちょうりになった時、それが食べられます。

しゃぶしゃぶのなべ

私のハウスメートとよく料理を作っています。このしゃしんのことは、ちらし寿司です。ボウルの寿司です。

ちらし寿司

ちらしずしを作ったの後、はじめてお好み焼きを作った。お好み焼きは、関西の食べ物です。めっちゃ好きやねん！！

あいーちゃんといよーちゃん

キャベツのホットケーキを見たい。

お好み焼き

お好み焼きの上にお好み焼きのソースとマヨネーズとかつおうぶしとこんぶがあります。

おいしそうな晩ご飯

ある日、私たちは家で友達と一緒に焼きそばを作りました。これも結う目名関西の食べ物です。そばと肉と特別なソースです。

焼きそば

デザートは、ケーキでした。

ドーナツのケーキ

先週、いよーちゃんの友達とチーズフォンデュを作りました。フランスで食べると思いました！

カマンベール

もう一度おいしそうな晩ご飯

それから、ならに行きました。いよーちゃんは、ならから来ましたから、いよーちゃんの友達は私たちにこの昼ご飯をくれました。おいしかったです！ならのそばと天ぷらです。

そばと天プラ

その後、いよーちゃんのご家族をはじめて会いました。高いかいせきのレストランで食べました。これは、私のさしみです。

さしみ

このレストランでも天プラを食べました。いよーちゃんのご家族は、とても親切な人です。

かいせきのレストラン

たくさん食べましたから、その晩ご飯の後とてもいっぱかったです。

アイスクリームとジェーリ

いっぱかったけど、いよーちゃんの家で、もう食べました。この大ぶつのカスタードを食べて、私たちは、S'moresを作りました。

大ぶつのカスタード

いよーちゃんのご家族とS'moresを作った時は、とても楽しかったです。でも、日本人は、いつもきれいに食べますから、日本人にちょっとべちゃべちゃでした。

日本の食べ物は、大好きです！でも、食べてみたい物がたくさんあります！

S'more

日本のぶんか

This past week, I have had the chance to experience firsthand various bits of Japanese culture, all of which have made me fall even more in love with Japan. I have slowly gotten more and more used to the feeling that no matter where I am or what preventative measures I take, I am always and will always be in someone's way. There are just so many people here: imagine half the population of the entire US being packed into my home state of California, then pushing the landmass out to sea, and you essentially have Japan. But it's just such a magical country, so despite being packed tight as a sardine can, I still find tranquility everywhere I look.

First, there was serenity in playing traditional music on traditional Japanese がっき (instruments). Ariyama-san, all of the CET students' adorable Japanese landlady, hosted an evening of music and food for all of us one night last week after our classes. She invited in two expert musicians to teach us how to play simple melodies and rhythms on three different Japanese instruments. The first was the koto, shown below. I particularly like this picture because it seems to me like Dan here could easily be messing around DJing a turntable, when in fact he's playing the iconic, traditional song, sakura (cherry blossoms), on the koto.

ダンさんはことがひけます

The koto is a thirteen-stringed instrument with moving bridges that you can tune in a variety of ways to produce much of the typical "Japanese" music you might hear in the sushi restaurant nearest you, wherever you happen to be right now.

こと

The Shamisen is a three-stringed lute ornately decorated and traditionally played with a tortoise-shell pick, as shown below.

しゃみせん

きれいな物

Lastly, the san-no-tsuzumi is an hourglass-shaped drum that is only drummed on one side, and is held like the sensei here is demonstrating. It is a deceivingly difficult instrument to play correctly, and even more difficult to play well.

さんのつずみ

Just watching the sensei prepare the instrument to be played was one of those moments when I realized, "Wow, I'm really in Japan right now," and felt honored to be seeing real passion and specialized expertise displayed before my very eyes.

先生

Everything from the way they tenderly warmed the instruments up to the beautiful wrappings they carried them in (shown below is the instrument case for the koto, complete with the obi bow of the kimono) made me feel at peace. And that sentiment particularly surprised me considering a stateside experience I had last year. Michael and I were able to go see a kabuki performance last spring at the Boston Symphony Hall, but were amazed by the way the Eastern music sounded like nails on a chalkboard at times (while even the tuning exercises of the Boston Symphony, who also played that night, sounded sweet) to our Western-tuned ears. Perhaps I'm coming to think of Japan as home, now.

おび

Next came my amazing experience at a Japanese onsen (bathhouse). I'm so very sorry that I do not have any pictures from this particular experience (I'll just include other pictures of mine), but I will do my best to describe my experience (and you can always google onsen to get a better idea of what it was like). But I figured taking touristy shots of naked women bathing would not have been appropriate.

On a lazy weeknight after an exhausting day of Japanese class followed by hours of homework, around 9:30pm our housemates asked if we (the Americans) wanted to go to an onsen. And while I had come to Japan telling myself I would be more spontaneous, we were all sorely tempted to hit the sack a little early. But I am SOO glad that we chose the adventurous route.

We left the house on bike (after discovering for the first time that our bike headlamps (the ones that come with any and every bike you buy in Japan, work with pedal power. Way to be efficient and eco-friendly, Japan!!!), and rode to the onsen with the cool summer night air whipping our faces and waking us up.

じでんしゃのドライブ

The onsen we went to is just in a small strip mall that's near the university, but as soon as you take your shoes off at the threshold (this is Japan afterall), I felt as though I were in Miyazaki's Spirited Away, entering an entirely different world inside this tiny bathhouse. In the entrance area, there were counters of food, massage chairs, ticket machines, and indoor fruit stands... everything told the American in me to CONSUME, but we quickly bought our tickets and moved on into the second locker room (women only), where our roommates urged in Japanese to "Take off all your clothes," because apparently we were being too timid in our American towels. It took a good while to get over the fact that I was now entirely naked with not only my roommates, but a good hundred other random strangers. But by the time we entered the first bath, it seemed sincerely mundane and natural. The hot water soothed my tired muscles, and we had fun experiencing the jet bubbles, which come not only from the walls in the tiled bath, but also from the floor of the bath as well. What I did not like, however, was the section of the bath that sends electrical waves through your body, which is supposedly good for you, but feels really unnatural and temporarily numbed my body from the waist down.

りっぱなえ

The next bath was a honey and peach-scented outdoor stone bath with waterfalls all around the sides. The water was a murky green color that was not particularly comforting to inspect too closely, but the warm water (it was cooler than the initial bath) was heavenly, so I couldn't stay weirded out for long. There were small wooden tubs just big enough for one. When you climbed in to one of those, you displaced the water over the top, until you plopped down and let the running faucet quickly refill it to the brim around you. There was a Cleopatran milk powder bath that made my skin silky smooth. There was a body conforming jet-tub that was essentially a full-body massage chair in jacuzzi-form. There were several tatami mats where one could sit under the Osakan night sky cooling off from all the hot water, and eventually we went inside to use the shower section, where you squat on a tiny plastic chair in front of a mirror vanity and rinse yourself off, shampoo, condition, and wash before re-entering the bath area whenever you like. There was a sauna, where I honestly thought I would die for the 30 seconds I managed to sit for. I remember seeing 80 degrees on the thermometer, feeling the air physically burning my lungs everytime I inhaled, and thinking "I don't know much about Celcius measurements other than if you have a 40 degree fever, you're dead (a random standard I've remembered since I got sick in France 6 years ago), so this is twice dead,"and promptly leaving. Then there was my personal favorite area: a granite stone slab laid flat on the ground with about a quarter-of-an-inch deep running hot water. I laid down and could have easily stayed there all night, looking up at the seam where the wooden covering met the night sky. It was so relaxing. And once I was done there, I went inside, and entered the final bath, a 20 degree celcius (yikes it was cold) rinsing bath, which took a lot of courage to relax in for a minute.

Thoroughly refreshed, we got redressed and blow-dried our hair before biking in the wind back home. That night was my best night of sleep in Japan yet, and I just can't wait to go try more onsen now. I'm fairly sure that going to bathhouses is a new favorite hobby of mine.

Another new favorite hobby: going to Japanese temples and shrines. Part of my homework for my Japanese class over last weekend was to go out and talk to strangers (and then write about it), so I chose to go explore on my new bike. I wound up in a neighborhood near the university, where I stumbled upon this Buddhist temple, and talked to the monk there for a good fifteen minutes.

お寺の人

お寺のどう物

At that point, I decided that I would also like to go see a Shinto Shrine to compare and contrast. I went to the Kishibe shrine, and wound up talking to an old man about shrines. He told me exactly what people do at the shrines, so then I went to try it myself. 

First, you wash your hands with these little cups you see pictured here, then you rinse out your mouth, too, to purify yourself before speaking with the gods. 

あらうところ

はじめてじんじゃに来ました

You approach the shrine itself...

じんじゃ

...which totally seems like a place gods would want to hang out...

かみところ

...and generally looks something like this...

きしべじんじゃ

You take out a 1, 5, or 10 yen coin, and deposit it in the box as an offering.

一円を入れます

Then you ring this gourd-like bell by shaking the large rope connected to it.

かみにかんしゃをします

And finally you bow twice with your hands pressed together, then you clap twice, and bow once more to say thank you to the gods. Witnessing the Buddhist and Shinto religious rituals is definitely something I'm really looking forward to do more of this semester, and it was a really interesting first time for me at a Shinto Shrine. Overall, though, as you can see, I'm experiencing Japanese culture more and more firsthand every day. Keep it coming, Japan, because I'm loving every minute of it.

Just a heads up, I have a special blog post ready for you sometime this weekend. I'll be showing you another equally important part of the culture I'm experiencing: FOOD!!!