Golden Week, Day 3: Himeji

This was ages ago, but I'll try and recall my Golden Week adventures!

On Monday, we woke up early to make our 8 AM train to Himeji. For those of you unfamilar with Japan's geography, a train trip from Tokyo to Himeji actually makes a stop in Kyoto. We were taking full advantage of our unlimited use one week JR passes!

The best view we ended up having of Himeji Castle.

We visited Himeji to see the famous Himeji Castle, known for being one of the best preserved, and grandest castles of the 12 remaining in Japan. To stay well preserved, the castle must undergo renovations every 50 years, with a major renovation every 100. It was just our luck that Himeji was undergoing one such renovation, and will not finish until 2015! Instead of seeing the beautiful white curved tile tiered roofs that Japanese castles are renoun for, we were greeted by a large white box, with an outlined image of the castle printed upon in. Despite these setbacks, we were still able to walk around the grounds, view the interior of some of the smaller towers, and take some pictures with some Japanese dressed in "traditional" garb.

However, the true highlight of our visit to Himeji, and possibly of our entire Golden Week trip, were the Himeji Gardens. A huge complex consisting of multiple tea houses, a kimono display, 7 large gardens, nurseries, and more, we spent a couple hours leisurely wandering the garden until we were politely asked to leave by some guards :) A couple of my friends even napped a bit in the wooden decks throughout the gardens.

 While the day wasn't what we expected, it was a nice peaceful followup to our jam-packed days in Tokyo, and the gardens were truly spectacular. 

360 degree view of the seventh garden

ひさしぶり (Hisashiburi)

The title of today's post is: ひさしぶり, which translates to, "long time no see."

Indeed, it has been a long, long time since my last post, and I'm so sorry!

Today is a holiday in Japan, Tanabata festival. On this day, the Japanese write their wishes upon slips of paper and hang them upon a bamboo tree along with other decorations. Yesterday at work, we had a small event where we did just this. So today, my Tanabata wish is to do a much better job of updating my blog.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of fun and adventures, I can't wait to update you all on them. I've continued exploring Japan, stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel (ryokan) with my program, spent a night meditating with Zen Buddhist monks in a temple, had adventures with my parents who were visiting for a few weeks, finished classes, moved to an apartment in Saitama - a neighboring prefecture of Tokyo, and have begun my summer internship for the Japanese automotive brake company, Akebono. I've been so busy, my blog has taken a back seat to it all. In fact, this morning, after having a very restful and more than sufficient night's rest, I realized that today was the first day since I've been in Japan that I have been able to sleep in. No alarm, no school, no work, nothing to keep me from getting a terrific night's sleep. And now, I'm back, I'm ready to have more adventures, and most of all, I'm excited to tell you all about them!

So get ready, because Viv is taking Japan - Tokyo edition!

Golden Week, Day 2: Tokyo

Good morning Tokyo!
We were greeted by this amazing view from our hotel window:

On day 2 we woke up early to head to Ryogoku, a district of Tokyo where most heyas, sumo wrestler stables, are located. Much to our dismay, our trip to Tokyo was one week earlier than the major Tokyo spring sumo competition. But lucky for us, there was a pre-competition sumo practice open to the public at the Ryogoku stadium (main sumo venue) - which many locals took advantage of to go watch. Year round, visitors can also watch sumo practice at private heyas for free. Check out the video below for a sample of what we watched...

Watching sumo worked up our appetites, so next we headed to Ameyoko Market for some lunch. Ameyoko was packed with shoppers and stores, ranging from shoes (some of which I bought, obviously), food stalls, fresh fish, clothing, and more.

Next, we headed to Harajuku, famously known for its "cost-play," visitors can see young teens dressed as characters from various manga and anime. We spotted a couple strangely clad individuals, but the costume shop lined street was mostly jam-packed with tourists.

We concluded our evening with a delicious dinner of shabu-shabu and yakiniku. Shabu shabu, literally translated to "swish swish," is a Japanese style hot pot with veggies and meat. After it finishes cooking at your table, you can eat the contents with a variety of sauces. Yakiniku, "grilled meat," is cook-it-yourself meat of various types. Both were delicious and a terrific way to wrap up our long day. 

Golden Week, Day 1: Tokyo!

At long last, here are the much awaited posts about my Golden Week trip two weeks ago! As I mentioned in a previous post, Golden Week is a week long break all Japanese have off during April. Along with six other wonderful Stanford students, we embarked on a great adventure all over Japan - thanks to our fabulous Japan Rail (JR) passes that allowed us unlimited travel throughout Japan on any JR line (with the exception of the most expensive Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train). Our adventure began early Saturday morning on April 28th in the Kyoto station...adventure awaited!

Upon arriving in Tokyo (destination #1!), we immediately headed to Ginza, one of the most expensive shopping areas in Japan. High end stores side-by-side, including: Miu Miu, Armani, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Harry Winston, Ginza is also home to one of the busiest intersections in the world.

Afterwards, we took a ferry ride along the Sumida river, and on a clear day, it was beautiful. We had scenic views of the recently completed Tokyo Sky Tree (currently, the tallest tower and second tallest structure in the world) and other interesting Tokyo architecture.

After our ferry ride, we headed over to Akihabara, one of the famous districts in Japan known for streets upon streets of electronic stores. In between stores were a few maid cafes, also known for the area, where waitresses dress up as maids and patrons pay for services such as ear cleanings (yeah, I don't get it either).

At long last, we checked into our hotel, the lovely Hotel Sunroute Plaza in Shinjuku - one of the funnest areas of Tokyo. During the day a business district, at night Shinjuku lights up and bars and izakayas (tapas style restaurants catered towards 20-somethings) are packed.

We rounded out the night with some late night snacks and drinks - a terrific way to end the first night of our Golden Week adventure!

Geisha!

Entrance to Kyo-Odori (Geisha Performance at Gion Theatre)

A couple weeks ago I was lucky to view a geisha performance at the Gion Theater. Meiko and geiko, apprentice and full geishas respectively, hold public performances only twice a year, in the spring and fall. Lucky for me, my stay in Japan overlaps with the spring performances, so I was able to catch a glimpse into this oft-talked about but little-known world. The audience, mostly comprised of Japanese locals and tourists, even included a couple geisha, who were accompanying what appeared to be important Japanese businessmen.

At the show, I was able to see geishas' perform traditional dances (typically with some sort of prop: umbrella, shawl, fan), play various traditional Japanese instruments (flute, shamisen) and hear them sing. The kimonos were ornately decorated, the set a technical and artsy feat, and the performances entertaining and beautiful. Given the amount of time and care put into a geisha's appearance, from the styled hair to immaculately done makeup, they indeed looked impressive. Geisha's hair is only her own, and yet, I was still shocked to see one geisha with hair longer than her body!

Prior to arriving in Japan, my knowledge of geisha was limited to what I had gleaned from 'Memoirs of a Geisha.' But, even after living in Japan for the past month and a half, my knowledge is roughly the same. I spoke with my host mother about geisha, only to discover that locals also know little about what geishas really do. She did explain that, of their own free will, girls aged 16 or older who decide to enter the profession move into a geisha house for training. After finishing their apprenticeship, they become full-fledged geisha, and entertain only the most elite and well-established businessmen. After retirement they may go on to own their own geisha house or night club, usually sponsored by a past client. However, after these facts, she knew little more, aptly describing Gion (the most well known area for geisha) and geisha as, "a world unknown to those outside of it. Only inhabited by geisha and rich Japanese businessmen, even the Japanese do not understand." 

Ikebana

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to view an amazing Ikebana exhibit. Prior to attending, I always thought of Ikebana as overrated flower arrangement that merely involved flowers stuck in needles. But boy was I wrong - I never imagined the extent to which flower arrangement could indeed be an art.

The exhibit took place at Ikenobo Headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. Ikenobo is the oldest school of Ikebana flower arranging, dating back to the 15th century. This year marks the 550 anniversary of when Ikenobo Ikebana first appeared in historical records. The exhibit I attended was just one event of many to celebrate the occasion, with Ikebana displays crafted by students of the Ikenobo Central Training Institute made open to the public.

Displays ranged from "typical" flowers in vases to wall hangings, outdoor pieces, huge wooden structures, folding screens, tea sets, and more. Mediums included flowers, branches, tree trunks, paper, glass, ceramic - the possibilities for innovation were limitless. Situated before white or pale backgrounds, the arrangements were striking - if only my photos could truly capture their beauty!                                                                                         Most notable of all was what happened when the exhibit closed. 4 PM marked the end of the three-day showcase, and not a minute later, officials already began to clean up the exhibit. I was astounded to see them hastily rip the flowers from vases and stuff them into garbage bags, take chainsaws to the larger wooden displays, and crumple delicate flowers like they were day old newspapers. Alas, I guess such is the impermanence of beauty - ikebana is only meant to be enjoyed at its prime. 

I'm back!

So sorry for the long delay between posts...I've gotten so caught up in seeing, I've stopped making time for documenting! But, I promise my next few posts will more than make up for my absence.

I just returned to Kyoto from a week of traveling around Japan. This past week, known as Golden Week, contained a series of national holidays, giving the Japanese, and lucky exchange students such as ourselves, a break from work and school. My travel group headed all over - Tokyo, Himeji, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Kobe.

I'll post about it soon - until then, here are a couple teaser shots!