So lately, I've been wandering around Kyoto with a faint idea of where I'm going. Usually I just pick a direction and walk and look around snapping photos where I see fit. The most recent places I've been are temples and shrines. Kyoto is full of them and you can't really step in one direction without eventually seeing one. Each temple I have been to has been very beautiful. There are cherry trees, japanese cedar (sugi), moss on the ground, and stone stairs. The moss seems like carpet on the ground, it's soft and fluffy, and if I was allowed to walk around barefoot on the moss I would. Inside each of the temples and shrines are these wooden "sticks" that have paper fortunes/wishes tied to them. There are many of these paper wishes tied to the bush, so even without any leaves the wooden sticks look like a bush! Also, the ground around some of the statues have pebbles within them that are raked to form designs. If I had come a couple of weeks earlier, I would have had the chance to see the shrines and temples in their full glory with the cherry trees in bloom. I'm disappointed that I missed this, but I guess I'm missing the crowds that would be associated with this, so maybe it's for the best.
The biggest temple I've been to was Heian Jingu. It has a giant red gate (the typical Japanese temple gate, looks like 2 T's put together) and a garden associated with it. The day I went, it had been raining and me not wanting to get wet, stayed inside until the storm clouds had passed. So while taking the short 20 minute walk to the temple, I passed by another smaller temple (Nanzenji Temple) which had the usual moss, sugi trees, and ponds with lily pads. After a few pictures I went on and started to notice a bunch of people walking along the sidewalk with cameras. I looked around to try to figure out why this was and came to the realization that this must be similar to the Freedom Trail that is in Boston, but with the famous shrines and temples of Kyoto. Moving on, I finally reached Heian Jingu and passed by a few people dressed up in kimonos. I asked my roommates about this and they notified me that you could in fact rent a kimono for the day and wander around looking at the temples in style! I doubt I will do that, but maybe later I will buy a male kimono set to show up in lab with.
Once I entered the temple, I wandered around and found that the biggest draw for this temple was the garden. I took a look at the signs describing the gardens and decided that it was worth my time to see it. The path to the garden was guarded by a lady dressed in traditional priestess garb (they are called mikas, if you watch some anime, you will see them). I paid my dues and started my tour of the garden. The first part wandered around a small pond with lily pads and following the signs I saw some more small ponds and little islands within the pond with pine trees on it. There were some ducks floating around begging for some bread as well as some koi. I eventually reached a larger sized pond, after following the path next to a stream, that had cylindrical stones placed at intervals leading to an island. The sign next to the stones said in many languages that it wasn't their fault if you fell into the water, so be careful. I carelessly skipped across the stones to the island, the other tourists looked at me curiously, so I took a picture of them. I then followed the stones across to the other side and reached a small white shrine gate (same as the temple gate, but much smaller). This led me to a very large pond that had a bridge spanning it. This provided for many photo ops and if you look at my album (which I will post later tonight), I took full advantage of. This pond not only had koi and ducks, but 1 egret fishing for small fish. Everyone was taking photos of it, but I think I accidentally scared it off. Damn gaijin (foreigner)! These ducks and koi were beggars too, but I didn't feed them. This was the end of the garden tour and it was in fact very relaxing to be in there. I should find a shrine to just chill at when I need to get away and maybe break the rules and step on the moss with my bare feet!
I have also been wandering around Kyoto just to see what there is, not only to find temples and shrines. I have successfully found many convenience stores that sell food such as yakisoba, rice cakes with pork inside wrapped in seaweed, and many other foods that I do not know the names of. However, if the food is meant to be hot, the cashier will nuke it in the microwave for a bit and place it within a plastic bag along with chopsticks for you. I have not met a bad attitude convenience store clerk yet. At one convenience store (Lawson, but there are 2 others, one is Family Mart and the other I forgot it's name temporarily), the cashier only spoke Japanese. I looked at her confused when she spoke, since she said something that I have never heard before (usually they say arigato gozaimasu, and then the price of the items). I then told her in my best ability that I only understand a little Japanese, could you speak in English? She looked at the other cashier with a weird look and the other cashier turned to me and said, "do you want a points card?". I then said no and they rang up my purchase and I paid and left. Given the weird look they gave each other, I must have said something not standard or incomprehensible...I need to practice with my roommates much more. Speaking about my poor Japanese skills, I successfully was able to complete a transaction to break my 10,000 yen bill into two 5,000 yen bills, although I think I spoke weird Japanese.
In my wanderings, I have also found a 24 hour grocery store and an ATM. At the 24 hour grocery store, I have found food to eat and prepare for myself. By looking at the foods my roommates have been preparing, I have figured out what to look for when grocery shopping. For breakfast, I've been eating rice or toast with a piece of fruit (BTW I have found the cheaper fruit. It comes in bags like the US and each piece ends up to only be 40 yen), tofu with soy sauce, some fish, and a fruit juice similar to V8 splash. For lunch, I've been going out to the cafeteria with my labmates, while for dinner I've made yakisoba, fried rice, curry rice, or spaghetti. I don't think I will starve now... My first time that I went to the grocery store, I could not find any spaghetti, but once I looked at my roommate, Yu's, food, I could easily recognize it. It's funny, I was looking for spaghetti sauce in a jar and hoping that the spaghetti was nearby, but apparently their spaghetti sauce comes in a bag. Hmmm interesting. Also while wandering around, I've seen girls with knee high socks or panty hose, guys with funky hairdos, many bicyclists, and lots of older people wearing masks. Kinda surreal, reminds me of the anime scenes of people walking down the street. I never thought people actually walked around like that, but it's true.
One days I'm not wandering around, I'm usually at lab. My labmates have been talking to me much more. We go off for lunch and one of them usually talks to me in English and I sometimes try my Japanese with them. The other day, one of the guys I was talking to earlier about food, came up to me and presented me with a bagful of a variety of snacks! Many of these I have never seen, so he explained them all to me. He likes spicy snacks, so everything in the bag was spicy. I've tried one of the snacks and found it very delicious. Looks like I don't have to buy snacks for a while now! Most days, lab lasts until 6:30, however, there are days that lasts til 10. Still having a hard time getting used to the really late night labs, but I power through it and hopefully take this attitude back with me. Also I've noticed that people don't like to wear lab coats here. In fact, I have no clue where they are at! At least, I'm not working with anything dangerous, so I can't really get hurt. However, at least when my labmates are working with HFIP (a dangerous chemical), they are wearing lab coats!
After lab, I bike home, dodging old ladies with masks, knee-high sock wearing girls, and other mad bicyclists. Usually a few of my 9 roommates are home making dinner, so I start mine and sometimes they insist that I try their dinners as well. They have let me taste Hiroshima style okonomiyaki (cabbage, egg, meat, and something else pancake), nikujaga (meat and potato stew), yakisoba, consomme, and this mushed tofu and bean mix that has been pan fried (it looks like a pancake for reals, but instead of syrup you put on either salt and pepper or ketchup. It's pretty good.). I'm glad I have some roommates, otherwise I think I would get really depressed.
Looking forward from today, tomorrow (Thursday April 28) for lab work, I will be going to Osaka University, which I heard is on top of a mountain. So that sounds like it may be beautiful and an opportunity to take photos. And Friday (April 29), Dr. Tabata is holding a bbq party at his house starting at 10:30 am, which means there will be some day drinking. On Saturday, it's my turn to present at seminar, so my ppt presentation is set to describe my research at Rice and to encourage some of his students to come visit us. Also, I secretly think that Dr. Tabata is holding these drinking parties on Fridays to test whether I can wake up early the next day and function correctly...or maybe it's because Fridays are normally the days to drink. Additionally, starting Monday, it's a holiday in Japan called Golden Week. We get vacation from Monday until Thursday! My cousins also have this holiday off, so I will be hanging out with them all week!
Given that there will be much happening this weekend, you guys may get a faster than normal update of my time in Japan. Thanks for reading! Mata ne (until later)!
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