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sarah's response, mar, 2002
ok, so if anyone might be interested in what sarah has to say about her trip to japan, here is a bit of text she sent to me to give to everyone. i have taken some liberty and edited a bit here and there, (either use caps, or don't! pick one! all i ask for is some ConsisTencY!) but otherwise it's all her thoughts. enjoy! [for anyone who couldn't guess, my comments are in square brackets.]
********************** --sarah in japan-- **********************
Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite part of Japan is/was? The answer? Food. I don't know if this is a good answer or not. The entire experience is very unique. Being immersed in another culture where you can communicate little to nothing by means of speaking is pretty overwhelming. I spent a lot of time just paying attention and soaking everything in. People watching. People walking. People on bikes. People in cars. People on trains. Lots of people. LOTS.
And even though the roads they have are generally half as wide as our standard two-lane road, they still seem to fit two lanes of traffic and multiple bicyclists and pedestrians on either side.
So back to my favorite part. Food. Or maybe just trying all the different new things you wouldn't normally eat here. Chicken cartilage. Stomach. Liver. raw. Whole squid. with egg. And dammit, I said SLURP those noodles! [editor's note: no matter how hard i tried, sarah would not friggin' slurp! you can't eat soba, udon, or ramen, or any other kind of noodle here in japan and not slurp. it's against the law of all things sacred. if you don't suck noodles, i guess you just suck.]
Aside from the weird stuff I wouldn't normally eat and maybe never will again, there was the tasty stuff I couldn't get enough of, like anpan [sweet bean bread]. and I think the rest was called Hideppa [the cute MARRIED guy (with two KIDS) she fell in lust with.]
hmmmmmm....
[notice how we have suddenly lapsed into i-hate-capital-letters mode]
sightseeing.
so since steve has a real job and can't slack off (like me, galavanting about the planet) [ahem...? i spend over half of it writing lame-o mass emails, so whatever...] , i needed to find something to do for a few days without him. I made my way to Kyoto and Nara by way of Shinkansen (bullet train) thanks to a mostly english speaking tour group. [and now back to caps?]
Day 1: 'Nara tour'- get up at the butt crack of dawn to get to tokyo. i mentioned the trains were crowded, right? yeah. But i even managed to switch trains on my way there. the first big hurdle. then the shinkansen to kyoto. I slept most of the way (due to my waking at the ass crack of dawn) but what i did see of the 'countryside' was pretty standard: small mountains, farms, random town, train station, train station.
To the chase - Nara. Home to Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden building in the world. Also home to a very large statue of Buddha who is protected by fierce guardians: deer. Very friendly. So friendly that they'll stick their entire nose in your pocket if they think you've got food. But one very interesting thing is if you catch one's eye and bow to it, the deer will bow back with you. very cute. (rottweiler size, ana!)
[i don't know the full reason why deer are so popular in the temples of kyoto and nara. perhaps dr. clark has some insight? i seem to remember seeing pictures somewhere of some shinto priests sacrificing a deer, but i don't remember why. and it wouldn't be unusual for some deer or other animals to be considered gods or representations of gods in traditional shinto. i asked kenichi about it and he laughed and said something like: "haha, i've never thought of it really. i just always thought that temples were a nice place to keep deer...". when in doubt, ask the natives.]
Day 2: 'kyoto tour'- get up a little later than dawn to bus my way around kyoto visiting temples and palaces and walk on bird singing floors. wait, what? floors that sing like birds? nightingales, to be precise. it's the way the floor is assembled and how nails slide against the floor board clamps. done to create noise and warn of intruders. shhhhhh, ninja! [brilliant! those ninja are hard to catch...apparently it is in the historic Nijo castle of the famous Tokugawa shogun. here's some history if you're curious [1]. ]
later, there was some walking around kyoto and getting caught in the middle of some sort of parade/march/protest? might have been some sort of election march. still not sure. i followed for a bit to see if they were going anywhere interesting. but i got tired and they kept walking.
Day 3: 'you're on your own'- so i spent the day walking around kyoto. found some shrines and nice parks. watched 3 (non-ninja) turtles fight over who got to sun itself on the rock in the middle of the pond. walked around the 'shopping' district. everyone is selling something. so many shops. little shops with nice things made by hand. little shops with less nice things made on an assembly line. and big shops which have both. ;)
and confectioners and bakeries. ssnniiiiiiiiifffffffff.... (tony, i think you'd really like the beanbread) i don't think i met a food smell there i didn't like. mmmmm, always back to the food. and finally, back to the hotel to get back to the station to take the train back to tokyo to take the train (YAT) to ikebukuro to take the train (YAT) to hanno to walk back to steve's house. about 11pm. he was worried about me. awwwwwwww...
[ok, she takes off without letting me know what company she was going on the tour with, when the tour was supposed to be over...all i knew was be back on wednesday.....some time....i didn't even know if she remembered the code to get into the apartment or if she had my phone number in case something went wrong... let alone if she remembered how to get to hanno from the tokyo...which can be quite a feat for someone who can only read the japanese character for west. luckily she was heading west...she did make it up to me though. she got me a blind date with the tour guide's chick cousin! ha! i haven't gathered the nerve to call her yet though..."hey, my name is steve, i'm 24, and i just shaved..."]
the next few days i roamed around where steve's house is and checked out the sights, all the little shops, bought souvenirs (omiyage) and sampled the wares. [she also got hit on by an old japanese guy who kept on wanting to show her his pictures of hollywood and beverly hills. this is the real peach pit!]
did i mention i liked the food? introducing me to everything i ate was not only steve but all of his friends and co-workers, as he has mentioned. (maaaaiiiiyyyy cheek-ehn nah-get?!?!?!? hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!) a special thanks to them as they were all really, really great. personable. talkative. inquisitive. friendly. hospitable. anything and everything to make you feel like you fit right in even though, obviously, you don't. food! - are you hungry? drinks! - you would like some beer? music! - sing some more! presents! - here, we took the dishes from the restaurant?!?!?! (oh, brian - steve needs a CD of billy joel and other classic songs so he can take more requests at karaoke time)
all in all, the trip was a complete success. right up to the part where i missed my plane back. oopsie! yeah. i can laugh (ha.) about it now, but it really did kinda suck. i blame steve for not communicating to me what was going on and i blame myself for not bugging steve more to make sure we'd make it in time. and as a word of advice, if you miss your plane AND have to stay the night AND can stay in a hotel near the airport, DO IT.
[hey, that's not my fault at all. i even offered to pay for the hotel but you said "no ... it's such a hastle".]
i guess there's not a lot going on in an airport in the wee hours (not even this major international one) so whoever is there gets herded into this little waiting room for the duration. then the airport security comes and takes all your passport information.
"why are you here? when are you leaving? what do you do for a living?"
WHAT?!
then the real cops. "where is your passport? what flight number? what is your job?"
AGAIN?!
but now i'm back and it sucks and i would much rather be on vacation (our customer made an absolute disaster of my workplace the day after i left; super).
steve mentioned the land of loose socks and super toilets. i'm not real sure about the super toilets (and not even much interfacing with the japanese style toilet since most places have western style or both) but did he mention the sock glue? the glue used by (high, middle) school girls to adjust their extremely loose fitting 'scrunchy' socks to the right height on the legs and make them stay... stAy.... STAY! there. yes, sock glue.
[we saw the sock glue on her second day in japan. to tell the truth, it was the first time i had ever watched the sock glue actually being applied...it's like a cute uhu stick...]
what else....um, and steve is generally, fairly, pretty much, kinda, sorta, mostly punctual. [woohoo! see?!] and he did plan, kinda, for my being there. [i win!]
i can share some pictures from my adventure with steve to post on his (almost done) sharepage. I could probably think of some other stuff to add and i'm sure i will when it's much too late. but this is turning into the length of a weekly stee-buh and i'm sure most of you couldn't handle two in one week. ;)
for now...
-ruxee