Sunday: Kagura

On Sunday I got to go see an awesome Kagura performance at the local shrine. There were a bunch of dances, and some astounding balancing acts. Well, most of the time they were balancing things while dancing and/or playing the flute. Oh, the music was awesome. I took a ton of videos, partially for the dance, and partially for the flute music. I wanted to play their flutes so much! There was also an insane cicada beating itself to death against a fence and letting the whole world know of its distress.

Class Closing Social

Class is officially over. The closing social was a lot of fun. We all ate lunch together - you should have seen the spread. It was amazing! I got to try several new foods like purple rice, this red bean mochi, little doughnut-like balls, and more. After lunch all of the classes performed for everyone. The morning class had an awesome skit of David and Goliath - complete with a sword, a 9 foot spear and costumes. Watabe sensei presented their completion certificates, and each of the interns got to say a few words to the students. Man, I am really going to miss these guys. We also watched a slideshow that James created - have to remember to get a DVD of it sometime when I get back to Utah. Then everyone said goodbye, took some pictures, gave gifts, and left. ちょっと寂しい。

A Lot of Lasts

Today was the last day of class. I couldn't help but think about all that I have done over the past three months, as well as all the things that are now coming to an end. We administered the finals and interviewed all of the students. During one of the interviews one of my students broke down crying and kept saying how she didn't want me to leave. I couldn't help but cry too. After this, I almost unconsciously starting noticing the "lasts." This is the last time I will have to remind Kouki to stay awake in class. This is the last time I will be able to listen to music with Asumi. This is the last time I will walk to the train station late at night. The list went on and on as I went through my normal routine. The last time stopping to buy melon soda (or lemon honey) at the usual vending machine. The last time walking up the station just as the train pulls away - followed by waiting on the benches with Taylor and talking about whatever is in my head at the time. Looking for funny haircuts on the train without seeming to stare at people. Listening to the nasal voice of the conductor and mentally reciting his spiel with him. "Tsugi wa Izumiotsu desu. Izumiotsu desu. Deguchi wa migigawa ni kawarimasu. Tobira ni gochuui kudasai." I have had the train stations memorized in order for most of my time here, and the train rides are always a time to relax for me. Leaving the train and walking to the exit, where the night shift employee always says hi to me. Walking past the conbini, and through the slightly darkened shrine along my usual route made me a little sad to realize that I won't be walking home from class this way anymore.

Looking back at all of the things I will miss helps me appreciate all of the things I love here in Japan. I would never have imagined that three short months could have such an impact on my life. Even though this has been one of the hardest things I have experienced, I have learned so much, and I really do love it here. So, here are some of the things I will miss when I come back to Utah. This list is just a few examples, definitely not comprehensive.

Being greeted with a cheerful "Ohayo gozaimasu!" every morning
Living by a castle
Living within walking distance of the bay
Having modest clothes easily available
Train rides
Narrow streets with tons of small shops on either side
Streets that play music on them
Cobblestones
The temperature. Hot and humid suits me just fine, although I do sometimes wish for air conditioning.
Japanese TV
Japanese snacks (senbei, purin, hard candies, cookies)
Hearing Osaka-ben all the time (it's just so friendly sounding!)
Shrines
Vending machines with amazing drinks (calpis, melon soda, mitsuya cider, lemon honey soda, and many more)
Listening to cicadas ("Was that a small bird?" "No, it was a cicada.)
Laughing at the crazy stuff I can do just because I'm a gaijin.
Saturday trips to historically awesome locations

And more. Japan is an awesome place to live, and I would love to visit again someday!

--Actually, I have one more week without classes, but I will be traveling all over and probably won't bring my computer. I will make sure to write in my journal and post when I get back to the states on the 8th!

Cute little kids

The Yukimoto's grandkids are staying here for a few days. One of them is in elementary school, but the rest are younger. It has a lot more lively here since they came. This morning the youngest (Maki?) ate breakfast with me. He is still learning to talk and is adorable. After I passed some juice to him, Sister Yukimoto prompted him "What do you say when Sarah gives you something?" He thought for a moment, looked up at me shyly, and said "Goodbye." It was so cute.

A day in the life of a ninja

Today I was a ninja. I am serious. The three interns got to go to a bunch of ninja places. We went to a ninja house with all kinds of cool secrets, a weapons demonstration, and a place to test our ninja skills. Because we went to all of the places, we got an added bonus of being given ninja clothes to wear. I am in the middle.
If there is one thing that people stare at more than a white person, it is a white person in ninja clothes. It was kind of fun having people wanting pictures and so forth. I was really glad that it was cloudy today or it would have been unbearably hot. It was still a little warm, but it was totally worth it.

Here is a bit about the places we visited:

Ninja house: included hidden doors, secret peek-holes, places to store weapons, and lots of actual weapons and tools for you to look at.

The weapons demonstration was also way cool. I took a video, but I think it is too big to put up on my blog with my slow internet connection. At the end of the show they let audience members try throwing shuriken (throwing stars). Since we were gaijin in ninja clothes, they treated us like VIPs and took us to a private throwing range so that we didn't have people watching us. It took a few tries to get used to the shuriken, but in the end I almost hit the middle of the target.

These are not the ones we personally threw.

We stopped to get drinks, and Taylor made an impromptu CM. Nice.


Here is a picture of a ninja chilling on a street corner.

Our final stop let us do different activities to see how well we would do as ninjas. I actually scored pretty high. First we did kind of a timed matching game. Then we threw caltrops at a target and got points based on which chute they rolled down afterward - this game was mostly luck. The third game was throwing shuriken at targets. I was really happy to be able to play with shuriken some more. I got the highest score of the group. Then we played a computer game - think Wii Katana practice. Basically we practiced hitting targets with a sword (yes, we had a sword to hold). Our final game was retrieving a scroll using a fishing hook. You got points depending on the contents of the scroll. My favorite part was the shuriken. It was really fun, and I was actually good at it. I wish I could have played with them some more...

At lot of today was riding in the car, so I slept a lot today. We also had a few smaller things that we did, like going to look at Japanese pottery and eating Korean food for dinner. I had samgeopsal - can't write it in Korean, but basically you take these huge slabs of bacon, dip them in a salty liquid, put red pepper/miso sauce on top, wrap them in lettuce, and shove the whole thing in your mouth. Delicious!

Some cool pottery

Koya San

This post is a little delayed. Last Saturday we went to Koya San (Mount Koya). This was such a beautiful place! There are lots of temples on Mount Koya, but we didn't go to many of those. Instead, we walked through a huge graveyard with over 200,000 grave markers, including markers for many of Japan's famous rulers. It was a really cool place, and I don't know that I can do it justice in words. The graveyard was inside a huge cedar forest. The trees were gigantic! The only downside: cedars are the one plant I am really allergic to. I felt kind of lousy the whole time we were there, but Taylor was nice and took pictures for me, so I still have lots of pictures.

After we left the graveyard we went to eat a dinner that monks had prepared for us. There was no meat in the meal, and it has some of the most interesting things I have eaten. As always, pictures (and more detailed explanations) will be added on when I have a little more time. Probably when I am home from Japan.

Kimono pictures

Today (Saturday) James, Taylor, and I all took pictures wearing traditional Japanese clothes. Sister Yukimoto took all of these pictures over at the Sato's house. It was fun to wear the kimono, and it was really cool to see how complex it is to do all of the folds - especially the bow in back. However, the kimono was also boiling hot, especially when we went outside to take pictures in the shrine out back. Also, if you wear a kimono, you are guaranteed to have good posture and avoid walking around a lot. Oh, well. I think the pictures turned out nice. I took some with glasses and some without. Most of the ones of the process of getting dressed are with glasses, afterwards Sister Yukimoto took my glasses. First are the process pictures.

Layer 2 complete

The beginning of the really thick layer. Also, I think you can see the cool way it is tied at the waist.

Working on the folding.

All done except the obi (sash)!

Working on folding the sash.

Me waiting patiently to be told that I can move again. I really like the way this picture came out.

The (basically) finished folded bow in back.

All done and waiting for the boys. This one is with glasses.

This is without glasses. When you sit down in a kimono, you have very good posture, whether you want to or not.

These next pictures are not formal Japanese engagement/wedding pictures!
--My host mom purposely took some to look like them, but they are not. I didn't include a lot of them.

Me and James

Taylor, Me, James (Left to Right)

Me and Taylor

I liked this picture at the shrine.