Day in Danjiri-ville

So, remember how I mentioned danjiri, waaaay long ago in September?

Well today I went to the town famous for danjiri--Kishiwara!

It also happens to be Ikue's hometown! With only 10 days left, I'm determined to seek out adventure plus get good test scores!

First we went to Kishiwara Castle. Isn't it pretty?

In the walls of Kishiwara Castle there are holes for shooting arrows. Ikue generously shows how.

3 different types of holes: triangle, circle, and rectangle

There was also a pretty lotus garden in the moat surrounding the castle

Then we went to the Danjiri Museum which had some pretty epic interactive features such as a special exhibit on the current televised drama happening on the NHK network and a studio where you could bang the taiko and bells of the danjiri. It was pretty fun.

After that, we headed to the ocean and had a picnic lunch and then browsed around a nearby shopping mall.

At the final point, I actually got invited over to Ikue's house (something that you don't have happen often in Japan) and we hung out until her parents got home. Ikue seemed really excited that someone could come and visit her hometown (she lives about an hour and a half away from Hirakata and it's somewhat pricy to get there) and she was smiling and I was smiling and
it
was
perfect!

I'm so happy.

Aoi Matsuri and Lost in Transition

I wanted to see the Aoi Matsuri. It happens only once a year in one place and involves both Kyoto and the Heian Age. I swore to myself that I would go, even if I had to skip afternoon classes (nothing will ever allow me to skip my Japanese classes--I'll miss so much if I even skip one class!).

So I went.

I managed to have the best timing ever, exiting the station right as the parade was passing. There was a huge turn out--the thinnest part of the crowd was four people thick! It was also super sunny and I swear I could see people steaming--I can only imagine what the parade participants were feeling!

Since I arrived when the parade arrived, I was at the back of the crowd and at a disadvantaged place for photos. I tried my best though, even if I ended up with an inordinate amount of photos of the back of random strangers' heads.

So many people

Look at that awesome hat

And the birds of prey were circling as usual

What's this coming down the lane?

Beautiful women with sunshade!

Some important lady in a palanquin?

And now, women on horses!

LOOK. AT. HER. ROBES. Aren't they gorgeous?

This is the main woman of the show--the princess--wrapped up in 12 layers of kimono. She must have been dying inside, but you couldn't tell by her face. She's the main hero of the shrine ceremony as well.

After the parade headed to the shrine where htey would preform the ceremony, I meandered after. I didn't see anything (there were too many people), so instead I walked around the perimeter of the shrine and listened to the sounds of the flutes and the gongs.

I may have gotten lost, but I hold fast to the philosophy of "You're not lost until you're late" so I had a pleasant time.

I love Kyoto

And look at what is inscribed upon the walls of the train station

Look familiar?

I was schediuled to meet Sara (of A Tale of Two Sarahs fame), but there was a snafu involving wrong trains, dead cell phones, and confusing Japanese that led me to going to an exhibit on Heian Japan at the Kyoto National Museum alone. I decided to go to the exhibit because a) I love the Heian Age and b) Okaasan's parents gave me two tickets for free They've been doing htis for a while (I think they're members and getting this as a part of their member package or something), and I'm very grateful towards them. Anyway, the exhibit was a nice, if not a bit boring towards the beginning, and I headed back to the train station where I was run down by Sarah who had been waiting to apologize for being late (while I frantically apologized for not waiting longer). Thus we rode the train home together and then went and made purikura to document our story.

Bowling

So, today I went bowling with a couple of my friends, my new speaking partner Ryuhei, and his friend Shohei.
Let me make a disclaimer first: I SUCK at bowling.

It was pretty fun--I had the largest feet there, my high score after two games was 56 (a new record!), I think I may have pulled something in my arm, but we got purikura afterward, so it's all okay!

I got home kinda late, where I promptly had dinner, realized I had waaaay more homework than I thought and thus spent the night (and probably part of the morning as well) frantically trying to decipher kanji. Thank goodness for my beloved electronic dictionary. Without that, and the wonderful Denshi Jisho website, I would have gone mad long, long ago.

Day in Osaka

Osaka is a big city, known for its excellent nightlife and vivacity. Today I went with Smitty and Ikue to explore it by day!

First off, we traveled by train from Hirakata to Osaka; we even had to change train lines! Once we arrived in Osaka, we headed towards our major destination: the world-famous Osaka Aquarium.

But first we stopped for lunch where I had my very first okonomiyaki! Okonomiyaki is kinda like a latke, if you replaced the potatoes with cabbage and added a flour sauce (for those of you wondering, a latke is kinda like a pancake if you made it out of potatoes). People then put all sorts of sauces on their okonomiyaki. By a strange twist of fate, it turned out that the head chef and owner of the okonomiyaki restaurant had a daughter who went to Kansai Gaidai as well! And so, she treated us very nicely, giving us recommendations and everything! We each ordered an okonomiyaki and then shared it between the three of us.

Cheese

Sauce

Plain

Boss-lady!

Ikue, I, and Smitty/Rachel

After lunch, we headed to the aquarium. It was amazing. First off they had a show with their live raptors, called a “bird show.” It was awesome and made me slightly miss my job at the nature center. One of the birds decided to misbehave and run away during the exhibition. It was pretty funny.

The owl

That raptor that ran away

His replacement

The parrot

The biggest attraction at the aquarium (hereby now referred to as “Kaiyukan”) is something called a じんべさめ (jinbesame), better known in English as a “whale shark” a.k.a. a shark as big as a whale. The Japanese name refers to the spotted pattern on the shark’s hide; much like an everyday kimono coat pattern called jinbe. It was amazing. Basically, you go up an escalator and then slowly descend, seeing the various types of fish as you go deeper.

I took lots of pictures!

Pufferfish

Capybara

Sunfish

Jellyfish

Clownfish

Jellyfish

Turtle fis...wait...

After visiting Kaiyukan, we went around the shopping mall to do purikura! We had a fun time! Then we went on the gigantic Osaka Ferris Wheel.

There was a giant Stitch plushie in our car...

Thanks to Smitty for the pic!

Osaka

It was epic. But not as epic as what was to follow.

Finally, I found heaven. That’s right, I found the Studio Ghibli store. Oh my gawd, it is so amazing and fantastic and I’m so going to it again. Lookit what I got~!