The saga continues
So I didn't plan on writing this blog post, but it was warmer than I expected this morning, leading me to switch my winter jacket for just a hooded sweatshirt instead. There is a small problem, though, both my cell phone and my keys to the house were in the front pocket of my winter jacket, so when I came home from school today and nobody was home, I was kind of in a pickle. I was hungry so I decided to head over to the manga cafe a few minutes from the house, and that is where I am now. I am going to try and catch up quickly on my travels, for those of you who can't see the picture version on my facebook account. Way back in January, while I was still on winter break, I was lucky enough to get to accompany my host family on a vacation to Bali, Indonesia. I never thought I'd be going to Indonesia in my entire life, let alone the resort island Bali. Needless to say, it was awesome. We were there for four nights, and the first two were spent at a hotel that was literally in the middle of the jungle. It consisted of a series of (very nice) huts all scattered on this slope. There was a gondala-esque (spelling?) contraption that got us from our rooms to the restaurant and front lobby (on the upper part of the incline). The view over the ravine was incredible, and we spent most of the day there chilling in the pool. As per usual, I got sunburned, as the tropical sun has absolutely no sympathy for pasty white boys like myself. We took in two traditional dances, the first being the legong dance, and the second was the kecak dance. They were both very mesmerizing, but the latter involved fire and chanting, so it gets the nod out of the two. In that second dance, the guy playing this monkey god gets trapped in a ring of flaming piles of dead grass. While barefoot, this guy kicks a pile into the air, and then side kicks through it, all in one fluid motion. It was pretty badass, no lie. But he must have gotten a little too excited, because one of the other piles he kicked a little too close to some of the spectators, and the other dancers had to intervene.
Shopping in Bali can be a living hell. Haggling (which I don't like to do) is the name of game, and often the quality of the goods is questionable at best. My host dad, however, loves to haggle. We drove to this mountain village in the tour van for lunch, and upon getting out we were encircled by women trying to sell us T-shirts, 5 for 1000yen (about $8.75). My host dad got them down to 10 shirts for the same price, but our tour guide warned us that the design would likely ruin after one wash, and the shirt itself would follow soon after, so we passed on those. There are no stoplights in Bali, and the streets give Japan a run for its money in their narrowness. Enough room for one lane each way, if you're careful. More than cars, though, mopeds are generally used. We had a cool enough tour guide, named Suweden, but he couldn't take a picture to save his life. The final two nights were at the Bali Hyatt, which is right on the ocean. We went snorkeling, which was really cool, since there was a lot of really pretty coral. I mean, it's pretty on TV and all, but having it just a few meters below you...well, it feels like a different world. Okay, enough of Bali.
The last weekend in January involved at trip to Tokyo to see a danpatsu-shiki, which is the ceremony a sumo wrestler goes through when they decide to quit the sport. My host dad went to the same school (and was friends with) one of the current sumo, so through that connection, he has made a lot of sumo wrestler buddies, one of whom was retiring. The main part of the ceremony is the cutting off of the sumo's chonmage, the special hairstyle that only sumo are allowed to wear. The sumo selects literally hundreds of people to come up and cut off the chonmage, bit by bit. My host dad was one of the people who got to go up. More than that, though, halfway through the ceremony I got to go back with my host dad into the back prep room and meet the current yokozuna (highest rank in sumo), and get a picture with him, which is a really rare opportunity most Japanese never even get. We had chinese that night, but it wasn't your take out General Tso's chicken. No, this was a multi-course meal including peking duck, and shark fin, along with countless other dishes. That next day we hung out with an ex-sumo and his family. They took us around Tokyo a bit, I had squid ink ramen for lunch. Then we stopped at this place that specializes in fruit-based desserts. Apart the restuarant, the same company had another store on the floor below that sells top quality fruit. The prices are literally mind-boggling. The ex-sumo with us splurged on two oranges, each of which ran close to $20 a pop. I had to steady myself however, when I saw the $185 melon. That is not a typo, folks. There is not a melon on the face of this earth that a level of deliciousness to warrant such a price tag. After recovering from that, we all split the $20 oranges, and while delicious, they weren't $20 delicious.
Two weeks later I found myself again in Tokyo for a sumo ceremony of sorts. The first part was a broadcast variety show, with the sumo participating in games and singing karaoke. Apparently some famous singers were there as well, but I had no clue who any of them were. The second part wasn't televised, but the baby, Tayusuke, got carried into the ring by the sumo, and they did some little special blessing type of thing. That was the main reason we went, and it was done and over in about 2 minutes. I had developed a fever that morning on the shinkansen (bullet train) and my condition was deteriorating, so I went back early with the grandparents, rather than go out for dinner with the rest of the family. The fever went away the next day, but a stomach virus stayed around for about a week or so, limiting me to eating very plain foods. I was definitely sick of udon (thicker noodles) by the end of that week.
That was during a week and half or so break we had in mid-February. Just before this Tokyo episode, though, I had spent two nights in Kyoto. My host dad was going anyway for work, so I went with him to Kyoto, and then explored the city on my own while he was at the meeting. There were a good dozen or so of his business buddies and we all rode the shinkansen together from Nagoya. We had lunch together at a place that specializes in the skin that forms on the top of the vat while making tofu. Not exactly my cup of tea, not something I'll order on my own, but it was good to try it once. Then I got tips on sightseeing from all the other business guys, and split with the group at the hotel. The first day I hit the golden pavillion, and tried walking to two other temples, but they were already closed by the time I got there. So I just wandered up and down the streets of Kyoto, looking for interesting shops or a good place to eat. I found a cool little bakery and cozy restaurant where I had yakisoba and okonomiyaki, along with a orange/lychee flavored mixed drink. I got back to the hotel around 8pm, and when the business meeting ended at 8:30, I decided to go out with my host dad and his buddies. So here's me a foreigner wearing a hooded sweatshirt and khakis walking around with 12 guys in suits. But all them were cool, and I think most of them had already had a little to drink at the work banquet. We were going to Gion, a district famous for Geisha and extremely expensive night clubs. In the taxi ride there, one of the salarymen was surprised that I hadn't yet snared a girlfriend, and then informed me it was a waste for me to having less than 3 girlfriends...okay, buddy, whatever you say. Still, he was funny. Someone needs to tell the Japanese female population to stop talking with a pitch so high that Alvin the Chipmunk hangs his head in defeat. Then maybe I'll reconsider. Anyway, we get to this night club, go to the second floor, and for the group of 12 or so, there are 8 or so women in really pretty dresses, makeup, etc. They are hostesses, and basically they are there to talk with you, laugh at your anecdotes (even if they aren't funny), pour your drink, light your cigarette, etc. The alcohol is super expensive, and you pay for whatever the girls drink as well. Anyway, the one girl I chatted with most of the time was really nice, and she had even been to America. She had apparently been treated very well and helped out a lot while in America and said she wanted to do something in return. She offered to take me around Kyoto the next day in her car and do some sightseeing. So after doing some sightseeing on my own, I met up with her in the early afternoon at Heian Shrine. We stopped at a favorite candy shop of hers and then hit a couple of temples. She bought some tofu donuts along the way, so I got to try those. And being not a huge fan of tofu, I was really surprised to find out they taste like normal donuts, and they are even good for you! Crazy. She also suggested a restaurant for me to go to that evening. Her friend runs it with her dad, and it was a place that specialized in chicken. After intially ordering some rather tame stuff (since I couldn't understand half the menu), the dad told me I ought to have something a little different, that I've never had before. So I left everything up to him. I quickly found out that I couldn't understand half the menu because they were simply body parts I hadn't learned yet. I basically had an anatomy lesson that night, eating neck meat, crunching through what I could only imagine was cartilidge (spelling?), and the worst was probably trying to bite through the chicken KNEECAPS they served me. Not too pleasant. But I did have a really nice yuzu(citrus-like fruit) infused sake with all of this. Basically though, I loved Kyoto. All the temples have really nice gardens and are super peaceful and calming. It is often hard to get away from the city in Japan, so it was a really nice 'refresher' so to speak.
So my host dad likes Star Wars, and we recently went to the robot museum in Nagoya (where I got to try out the Segway), where my host dad found a super realistic light saber for sale. The thing ran about $200, and my host mom gave him a disapproving look. After thinking she had convinced him to give it up, we went to wait outside the store while he looked around some more. Well, long story short, he bought the Obi-Wan lightsaber. Where it gets really funny is the other night, when my host mom and I, in the living room, here a light saber noise from the hall. A few seconds later enters my host dad, in a t-shirt and his boxers, waving around this lightsaber. Deciding the outfit wasn't complete, he grabbed a quilt and drapped it over his head...it was priceless. I think the quilted, boxer-clad Jedi could really take off. Then he insisted my host mom couldn't play with the lightsaber since she wasn't a Jedi like he is. Hilarious. Okay, I'm wrapping this monster post up, and going back to see if my host family is home yet. Cross your fingers for me.
Shopping in Bali can be a living hell. Haggling (which I don't like to do) is the name of game, and often the quality of the goods is questionable at best. My host dad, however, loves to haggle. We drove to this mountain village in the tour van for lunch, and upon getting out we were encircled by women trying to sell us T-shirts, 5 for 1000yen (about $8.75). My host dad got them down to 10 shirts for the same price, but our tour guide warned us that the design would likely ruin after one wash, and the shirt itself would follow soon after, so we passed on those. There are no stoplights in Bali, and the streets give Japan a run for its money in their narrowness. Enough room for one lane each way, if you're careful. More than cars, though, mopeds are generally used. We had a cool enough tour guide, named Suweden, but he couldn't take a picture to save his life. The final two nights were at the Bali Hyatt, which is right on the ocean. We went snorkeling, which was really cool, since there was a lot of really pretty coral. I mean, it's pretty on TV and all, but having it just a few meters below you...well, it feels like a different world. Okay, enough of Bali.
The last weekend in January involved at trip to Tokyo to see a danpatsu-shiki, which is the ceremony a sumo wrestler goes through when they decide to quit the sport. My host dad went to the same school (and was friends with) one of the current sumo, so through that connection, he has made a lot of sumo wrestler buddies, one of whom was retiring. The main part of the ceremony is the cutting off of the sumo's chonmage, the special hairstyle that only sumo are allowed to wear. The sumo selects literally hundreds of people to come up and cut off the chonmage, bit by bit. My host dad was one of the people who got to go up. More than that, though, halfway through the ceremony I got to go back with my host dad into the back prep room and meet the current yokozuna (highest rank in sumo), and get a picture with him, which is a really rare opportunity most Japanese never even get. We had chinese that night, but it wasn't your take out General Tso's chicken. No, this was a multi-course meal including peking duck, and shark fin, along with countless other dishes. That next day we hung out with an ex-sumo and his family. They took us around Tokyo a bit, I had squid ink ramen for lunch. Then we stopped at this place that specializes in fruit-based desserts. Apart the restuarant, the same company had another store on the floor below that sells top quality fruit. The prices are literally mind-boggling. The ex-sumo with us splurged on two oranges, each of which ran close to $20 a pop. I had to steady myself however, when I saw the $185 melon. That is not a typo, folks. There is not a melon on the face of this earth that a level of deliciousness to warrant such a price tag. After recovering from that, we all split the $20 oranges, and while delicious, they weren't $20 delicious.
Two weeks later I found myself again in Tokyo for a sumo ceremony of sorts. The first part was a broadcast variety show, with the sumo participating in games and singing karaoke. Apparently some famous singers were there as well, but I had no clue who any of them were. The second part wasn't televised, but the baby, Tayusuke, got carried into the ring by the sumo, and they did some little special blessing type of thing. That was the main reason we went, and it was done and over in about 2 minutes. I had developed a fever that morning on the shinkansen (bullet train) and my condition was deteriorating, so I went back early with the grandparents, rather than go out for dinner with the rest of the family. The fever went away the next day, but a stomach virus stayed around for about a week or so, limiting me to eating very plain foods. I was definitely sick of udon (thicker noodles) by the end of that week.
That was during a week and half or so break we had in mid-February. Just before this Tokyo episode, though, I had spent two nights in Kyoto. My host dad was going anyway for work, so I went with him to Kyoto, and then explored the city on my own while he was at the meeting. There were a good dozen or so of his business buddies and we all rode the shinkansen together from Nagoya. We had lunch together at a place that specializes in the skin that forms on the top of the vat while making tofu. Not exactly my cup of tea, not something I'll order on my own, but it was good to try it once. Then I got tips on sightseeing from all the other business guys, and split with the group at the hotel. The first day I hit the golden pavillion, and tried walking to two other temples, but they were already closed by the time I got there. So I just wandered up and down the streets of Kyoto, looking for interesting shops or a good place to eat. I found a cool little bakery and cozy restaurant where I had yakisoba and okonomiyaki, along with a orange/lychee flavored mixed drink. I got back to the hotel around 8pm, and when the business meeting ended at 8:30, I decided to go out with my host dad and his buddies. So here's me a foreigner wearing a hooded sweatshirt and khakis walking around with 12 guys in suits. But all them were cool, and I think most of them had already had a little to drink at the work banquet. We were going to Gion, a district famous for Geisha and extremely expensive night clubs. In the taxi ride there, one of the salarymen was surprised that I hadn't yet snared a girlfriend, and then informed me it was a waste for me to having less than 3 girlfriends...okay, buddy, whatever you say. Still, he was funny. Someone needs to tell the Japanese female population to stop talking with a pitch so high that Alvin the Chipmunk hangs his head in defeat. Then maybe I'll reconsider. Anyway, we get to this night club, go to the second floor, and for the group of 12 or so, there are 8 or so women in really pretty dresses, makeup, etc. They are hostesses, and basically they are there to talk with you, laugh at your anecdotes (even if they aren't funny), pour your drink, light your cigarette, etc. The alcohol is super expensive, and you pay for whatever the girls drink as well. Anyway, the one girl I chatted with most of the time was really nice, and she had even been to America. She had apparently been treated very well and helped out a lot while in America and said she wanted to do something in return. She offered to take me around Kyoto the next day in her car and do some sightseeing. So after doing some sightseeing on my own, I met up with her in the early afternoon at Heian Shrine. We stopped at a favorite candy shop of hers and then hit a couple of temples. She bought some tofu donuts along the way, so I got to try those. And being not a huge fan of tofu, I was really surprised to find out they taste like normal donuts, and they are even good for you! Crazy. She also suggested a restaurant for me to go to that evening. Her friend runs it with her dad, and it was a place that specialized in chicken. After intially ordering some rather tame stuff (since I couldn't understand half the menu), the dad told me I ought to have something a little different, that I've never had before. So I left everything up to him. I quickly found out that I couldn't understand half the menu because they were simply body parts I hadn't learned yet. I basically had an anatomy lesson that night, eating neck meat, crunching through what I could only imagine was cartilidge (spelling?), and the worst was probably trying to bite through the chicken KNEECAPS they served me. Not too pleasant. But I did have a really nice yuzu(citrus-like fruit) infused sake with all of this. Basically though, I loved Kyoto. All the temples have really nice gardens and are super peaceful and calming. It is often hard to get away from the city in Japan, so it was a really nice 'refresher' so to speak.
So my host dad likes Star Wars, and we recently went to the robot museum in Nagoya (where I got to try out the Segway), where my host dad found a super realistic light saber for sale. The thing ran about $200, and my host mom gave him a disapproving look. After thinking she had convinced him to give it up, we went to wait outside the store while he looked around some more. Well, long story short, he bought the Obi-Wan lightsaber. Where it gets really funny is the other night, when my host mom and I, in the living room, here a light saber noise from the hall. A few seconds later enters my host dad, in a t-shirt and his boxers, waving around this lightsaber. Deciding the outfit wasn't complete, he grabbed a quilt and drapped it over his head...it was priceless. I think the quilted, boxer-clad Jedi could really take off. Then he insisted my host mom couldn't play with the lightsaber since she wasn't a Jedi like he is. Hilarious. Okay, I'm wrapping this monster post up, and going back to see if my host family is home yet. Cross your fingers for me.
posted by Collin at 4:33 AM
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