Travis in Japan (Part 2)!

In this post, I will write more about our adventures together in Japan. It’s always fun showing someone who has never been to Japan different famous places. It reminds me of my first time in Japan and how wonderful it was.

The first full weekend Travis was here, we stayed the night in a ryokan (traditional Japanese style hotel) in Kyoto. We didn’t stay in an expensive, nice one by any means, but I figured that it would be fun for him to sleep on a futon and wear a yukata. Plus, it gave us more time to explore the city for two days.

The first day, we did the Southern Higashiyama walk. Basically, you start in the Southeast corner of the city at Kiyomizu-dera (a famous temple), and work your way up until you tire out. We did pretty well! We made it all the way to Heian Shrine. This walk is my favorite in Kyoto because the streets are lined with traditional Japanese arts and souvenirs, you can see many beautiful temples right in a row, and it’s very scenic because you are walking along the mountain edge. We really enjoyed ourselves. Travis really seemed to like Kyoto. He’s an artist, so he just kept talking about all the things he wanted to draw throughout the day haha! We went to Kyoto station and got some pretty good Chinese food for dinner and called it a night.

Kiyomizu-dera.

The next day, we did a lot of hopping around. First we went to Arashiyama to see the river/mountain view and the bamboo forest. We saw maiko there (geisha in training). Oh, I should add that the day before, for the first time, I saw geisha/maiko (I’m not positive which) up close for a brief moment. It took my breath away. I turned a corner, and there were two of them in a rickshaw right in front of me! They looked me in the eyes, and I froze. Once they had turned the corner, I let my excitement and disbelief out. I had tried to see geisha every time I went to Kyoto, but was always unsuccessful. Back to the next day…After Arashiyama (where we also shopped and had lunch), we took this little tram to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion).  Our feet were killing us because of all the walking from the previous day and the current day. We had to walk a really far way from the tram stop to the temple. So, we took an ice cream break. Travis was really impressed by the temple which made me happy. We got to see a big bird (a crane, perhaps) catch a fish out of the pond and eat it. He got a picture of it in action! After that, we made our way to Fushimi Inari, a shrine known for having hundreds of red tori (gates). It was only my second time seeing it so I was pretty stoked. It was a lot more fun being there with someone compared to when I was alone the first time. Unfortunately, I had to work the next day so we didn't have time to climb the mountain to see all the gates, but it was fun nonetheless. We were planning on getting okonomiyaki at Osaka Station on our way back, but the place I wanted to go to had a really long wait so we decided to try this place called The Mango Tree Café. It was an upscale Thai restaurant. The portions were small, but it was super delicious! All in all, it was a great weekend.

Ginkakuji.

Geisha/Maiko in Arashiyama.

Fushimi Inari Taisha.

I should add that during the weekdays before we made our big trip to Tokyo during my spring vacation, we did a lot of other little things in Osaka. For example, I introduced him to kushi-kastu in Tennoji (which has turned out to be his favorite Japanese food), we shopped around Dotonbori and Shinsaibashi, I took him to a nice yakiniku restaurant in my town for a date (you can grill the meat and veggies on your table), and we also visited the shrine in my town. That was the first time I had seen it. We climbed up the mountain in my town a little bit which was interesting. I also took him to my favorite bar in my town. We've gone there a few times now, and each time, we are given free gifts and drinks from all the customers. I really need to bring some sort of gift for them!

I’m going to skip the Tokyo trip for now and write only about that in my next post since there is a lot to say. So, I will continue on about some of the other things we did after getting back from Tokyo. We still had a little over half of my spring break left when we got back from Tokyo. We went on a double date to an okonomiyaki place with my friend Aimee and her boyfriend who was also visiting from America. We went to L&L (a bar that we often go to) after dinner. We met some interesting people there…but not in a good way. There was this really drunk Japanese guy who was blatantly hitting on my in front of Travis which was really awkward… Anyway, we had fun spending time with Aimee and her boyfriend.

There was a random festival in my town one day. It wasn't that spectacular, but it was good because Travis got to try a lot of different festival foods. Speaking of food, we finally made it to El Pancho (because there was over and hour wait the first time we attempted going).  Also, I have really been enjoying cooking for Travis a lot. I cooked a lot of intricate meals for him since he came. We went to this foreign food store somewhat close to where I live and bought a lot of stuff. I was able to make him things like homemade chicken and avocado enchiladas, falafel, spinach/mushroom/chicken gnocchi, and more! Another random date of ours included going to the Osaka Pokemon Center (which is basically just a store selling a bunch of Pokemon stuff), the Umeda Sky Building (which Travis thought was amazing), and to the HUB (a British pub chain that has a great fish and chips and a good happy hour).

One day of my spring break, we went to Nara. It was beautiful because the cherry blossoms were in full bloom! We ate lunch at the maccha café I am growing to love. Travis liked his lunch, but not the dessert he got which was a parfait that had mochi (rice cake), azuki (sweet beans), and jellies in it. We got to play with the deer. Travis feed them deer biscuits which was entertaining. We took our time walking around Nara Park and Kofuku-ji. We got laughed at by a bunch of Japanese girls when they saw us bow to the deer even though you are supposed to. We sat by a pond full of fish and turtles and got laughed at again when Travis helped me up from the ground. I’m not sure why the lady laughed at me. :S She seemed nice enough, though so I didn't take it personally. We made our way to Yoshikien garden. After that, we went to Todai-ji and saw the giant Buddha statue. We then continued to Kasuga Taisha (a shrine known for having around 3000 lanterns. On our way there, we came across a beautiful park chock full of cherry blossom trees. We stopped there for a bit. After leaving Kasuga Taisha, we headed home. It was a great day!

Cherry Blossoms in Nara Park.

Kofuku-ji.

We also went back to Kyoto for a day during my break. This time we went to the North Higashiyama mountain area. This day was special for a few reasons. First, this was only my second time doing this trip so I was able to discover new things. Second, it was 70 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside which was the warmest day we had had yet! It felt pretty hot. Third, the cherry blossoms were still in full bloom, and for those who don’t know, North Higashiyama is known for the “Path of Philosophy.” The Path of Philosophy is a stoned path that runs a long a canal and the mountains. It is lined with cherry trees. Since it was cheery blossom season, we were very lucky to be there. It was absolutely gorgeous! The only problem was that it was very crowded for this reason. We went to Nanzenji (a temple known for its cool aqueducts) at first. After that, we went to Eikando Temple. From there, we started on the path of philosophy. Despite how crowded it was, we were surprised to run in to Aimee and her boyfriend not once, but twice! As we approached Ginkakuji (The Silver Pavillion-which isn't actually silver unlike the Golden Pavillion which is actually gold), I saw some touristy streets that I had never seen before. I enjoyed that because touristy streets are usually filled with fun food stands. I got something called a potato tornado which was yummy. We went to Ginkakuji and made the long journey home after that. All I will say is **** Kyoto buses. They are terrible.

The Path of Philosophy.

Potato Tornado. Wahhh!!

On the last day of spring break, I met a lot of friends for hanami (flower viewing-a Japanese tradition during cherry blossom season where people get together and eat, drink, and socialize/play games under the cherry trees) at Osaka Castle Park. It was my first hanami experience so I was very excited. Unfortunately, the day before, there was a big rain storm and almost all the flowers had come off the trees, but we made the best of it. Despite it being a little damp and cold, a lot of people showed up, and we had a lot of fun! Perhaps the bottle of wine I drank to myself had something to do with it :P We met around noon, and headed home around 5 pm because we all had our first day of work the next day after the spring vacation. I was sobered up by seven and went to bed early. I can’t say the same for Travis, though. He was so drunk when we left that he ran into a wall, told me he did it on purpose, and then didn’t remember doing it the next day bahahaha! It was a successful first hanami in my opinion.

Hanami.

Since work has started back up, we have enjoyed doing little dates and fun things. We got Indian food one night and saw Paranorman in theaters. I really enjoyed the movie. Actually, we tried to go to one of my favorite Mexican places for dinner because Travis has been planning to treat me to a meal there, but when we got there, they said they were reserved for the entire night! Wtf? We got there right when it opened, too… So that’s why we got Indian. It was good, though. They gave us the biggest naan I've ever seen in my life! A different night, last week actually, we went for kushi-katsu a second time and went to the Japan Mint Building. It’s the building where they mint all the coins in Japan. The regular cherry blossoms are gone, but at the Japan Mint, they have this event where they do a very popular cherry blossom illumination event for a week. The cherry blossoms are a different breed. They are fluffier and pinker. The event attracts around 82,000 people in a week! Needless to say, it was crowded. It was really cool though! It was along the river somewhat close to Kyobashi Station. We stood by the river and looked at the lit up suspension bridge, the water, and the riverboats. The streets were lined with the most festival food I’ve seen so far in Japan. They actually even had makeshift restaurants put up for the event! It was insane! It was too bad we had just come from dinner (even though it was delicious) because there was so much interesting food to try there, but we were full. The blossoms were really nice, and it was free!

Cherry blossom illuminations at the Japan Mint Building.

One night, we went out to dinner with three of the English teachers I work with. I really wanted Travis to meet some more Japanese people and get a sense of some of the people I work with. We went to an izakaya called Shirokiya (Japanese style bar called "White Tree"). I love going out to eat with my coworkers because they always know what to order, and I get to try new things. Travis ate cow intestines and loved it haha…gross! I ate escargot, I think. It tasted like a mushroom…or really it was just a mushroom. I’m not sure.

Besides also having a lot of nights in together where I cook, we watch movies, and cuddle, that’s what we have been up to. I will write all about our trip to Tokyo in my next post.

Graduation and the New Year

At the end of March, the 3^rd year students graduated. I was pretty sad because out of all the students, I felt the most connected to the 3^rd years. I knew more of them and talked with them the most. Most students were able to get into a high school. The ones who didn’t were the ones you weren’t expecting to, if you catch my drift. The ceremony itself wasn’t too different from a U.S. ceremony except for the fact that the students didn’t wear caps or gowns (they wore their uniforms), and there was a lot more singing. The three homeroom teachers of the third years wore kimono and hakuma (traditional Japanese formal wear). That was exciting! After the ceremony, the students cried and took pictures together. It was sad and happy at the same time. From what I know, many students have been able to adjust well to their new schools and make new friends (because high school is not mandatory in Japan and you must choose and apply for the school you want to go to). I heard that one day, however, one girl came back to the junior high school, crying, because she wasn’t making new friends in school. I feel like that that wouldn’t really happen in America. I’ve never heard of anyone going back to their high school to cry about how they aren’t liking college. Cultural difference perhaps?

With the old year ending and the new one beginning, it brings a whole new atmosphere. In Japan, there is this really strange system that I don’t agree with and no one can seem to really explain. On the last day of the school year, teachers are told whether or not they will remain at the same school or be transferred to a new one in the area. They have no choice in it….WTF?! So every year, several teacher leave and new ones replace them. The only explanation for this that I’ve been told is that it’s done so teachers don’t get bored with their jobs. Ya, whatever. My mother is a teacher and has worked in the same school for like 20 years, and doesn’t want to leave her school. It wasn’t until my first day back after Spring break that I found out the extent of everyone who was leaving. I knew my best friend at work would be leaving along with a few other teachers that were nice, but the biggest shock was to come back and find that my Vice-Principal was gone! I had no idea! He was basically in charge of me, and he was the nicest, friendliest, best Vice-Principal ever! He gave me gifts, let me go home early, and always put treats on my desk. I was so sad! I’m not the only one who was sad, though. A few days into the new year, all the teachers came back for a morning to say their farewells to the students and other teachers. Some teachers broke down in tears as they said goodbye. I just can’t really grasp the reason for doing this to everyone.

There is one more strange thing. Teachers do not teach the same grade each year. They move up a grade with the students. So the teachers who taught 1^st year students last year, now teach 2^nd year. The teachers who taught 3^rd year now go back to teaching 1^st year. I asked the reason for this as well, and I was told that it’s because teachers can easily learn how to teach new and different curriculum better than forming relationships with new students. I suppose that when I was in junior high school, there was only one teacher for one subject because I went to a small school so they taught all grades, but it just seems weird to me because we have 5 English teachers. I don’t think it’s the same way in bigger American schools. In high school, I had different teachers each year, and it wasn’t difficult. To make teachers change grades each year seems impractical and harder for them. Sigh. That’s my rant about weird Japanese school systems. I could go on about other things I find silly or inefficient, but I don’t want to sound hateful because I’m not. I’m just a little confused and annoyed.

Travis in Japan (Part 1)!

I believe I have mentioned in previous posts that my boyfriend, Travis, would be coming to Japan to visit me. Well, he’s here now, and it is amazing! He came March 9^th and is leaving May 12^th. So, he’s here for a while. It’s already been a month since he arrived, and we've done so many things that I think I will have to break this up into a few posts. I’ll start off by simply explaining about when he first got here and my feelings. I’ll write about specific events in later posts.

Our first purikura together. :3

When he first got here, I met him at Kyobashi station. I was very anxious while I was waiting for him. When I finally saw him I was nervous because I hadn't informed him yet about PDA in Japan. Basically, holding hands in the extent of PDA in Japan. So, when I saw him, I gave him a really quick hug and kiss and told him that we couldn't kiss a lot in public. I felt kind of bad because we were so excited to see each other. As I lead him home, it was very strange. He was very tired and jet-lagged because he didn't sleep at all on the plane. He had a long train ride from the airport in which he was worried about getting lost. I think his brain was kind of fried. Before getting home, we stopped at the supermarket and picked up some quick dinners. We got home, ate, got him unpacked, and went to sleep after catching up a bit.

For me, my tension was pretty high at first because this was the first time we were actually going to live together…even if it’s only two months. We had lived in the same dorm buildings before in college, and when we got our own private places in school, we always took turns staying at each other’s places each night, but it was not the same as living together for a few reasons. We did have to do each other’s chores, cook, grocery shop, pay bills, etc. I am an insanely neat and clean person. In my mind, everything has its place. I’m probably a bit obsessive compulsive. I can’t function, and I feel like I’m going to freak out if anything is dirty. Travis, on the other hand, is not the cleanest. It’s hard to describe it, but basically, he’s just kind of unaware of what he is doing because his mind is always running. Seeing as I have a particular way of doing things and he is kind of the opposite, I was very tense about how he was going to come into my place and mess up my order. We had discussed this beforehand, and he agreed to do his best which was good enough for me. It was just really hard the first week or two to teach him about how I clean, shop, etc. Not to mention, I had to help him acclimate to Japan by teaching him where things are, how to get around, and how to say things in Japanese. I must say, he acclimated to Japan way better than anyone else who has visited me. Within the first week, he was taking trains, grocery shopping, and going to restaurants by himself no problem! I think it helped that he enjoyed the challenge of speaking to Japanese people by using gestures and a few Japanese and English words. I’m always nervous and afraid when I have to do something I’m not confident about. Once we got past the hurdle of him adjusting to my lifestyle, things got a lot better. I hope someday we can get a place together and create our own lifestyle instead of him just coming into my apartment and having to do things my way.

I’ll explain our first full day together before finishing this post. His first full day here was a Sunday. The plum blossoms were in bloom at Osaka Castle Park so I took him there to see the castle and flowers. I thought it’d be romantic. It was fun, but there were some small problems. First, he got really sick for about an hour or so. We blamed it on the supermarket meal he bought at the store for dinner the previous night, but I suppose it could have been the plane food or the stress of traveling and sitting on a plane for a whole day with not much sleep. In any case, I feel like I let him down because he got sick probably off of his first Japanese meal. I wondered if he wouldn't have a stomach for Japanese food the whole time he was here. After he felt a bit better, we continued to view the flowers and the castle. The flowers were gorgeous! There were white, pink, and red blossoms. Oh, I almost forgot, Travis had the privilege of experiencing a Japanese style squat toilet for the first time at the park. I asked him how he squatted over it only to find out that he had done it backwards haha! After that, I was able to tell him the correct way. For dinner, we went to a Japanese restaurant in Kyobashi. He got curry udon and loved it! I worried about whether he would get sick again, but he ended up being just fine. In fact, as of now, he’s only gotten sick twice, both off of the supermarket meals. We've decided to avoid those from now on (even though I’ve never had issues). Other than that, he really loves Japanese food a lot. His favorite is kushi-katsu (deep fried pieces of food on a skewer like meat, veggies, and cheese that you dip in a sauce). As of now, things are great, there’s no more tension, and I will get into specific events in later posts.

They were beautiful!

I couldn't believe he was here!

My favorite plum blossoms were the red.

We are obsessed with kushi-katsu.

Kanto Trip

When people think of the Kanto region of Japan, they usually think of Tokyo.  Last February, after my Okinawa trip, I went to visit one of my Japanese friends, Yuta, who lives in the northern part of Kanto on the boarder of Tochigi and Ibaraki prefecture. Tochigi prefecture is famous for Nikko: a mountainous area full of temples, world heritage sites, and the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu. I went there once before when I traveled to Japan the first time. It’s a very calm and beautiful place. I met Yuta when he studied abroad in America. To me, it’s interesting how fast you can escape the city of Tokyo and all of a sudden be in the middle of nowhere it seems like. That’s the feeling you get in northern Kanto. I went for only the weekend, but it was fun and interesting nonetheless.

I left work a little early and took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. At Tokyo, I switched to a different bullet train to Oyama, Tochigi. Yuta met me at the train station, and we drove in his (nice) car to his aunt’s house. His aunt was hosting an American girl around my age at her house for a few months so I got to meet her too. We had dinner at his aunts. She had a huge kotatsu and TV! We ate pizza and other snacks. It was really comfortable. We also had a little wine (except Yuta because he had to drive). There’s a zero tolerance rule in Japan for drinking and driving (or riding a bike for that matter). You can be arrested for knowingly letting someone else drink and drive as well…there is reason to why I’m explaining this unfortunately. Notes about his aunt’s place: 1) She had a cute dog that wouldn’t stop barking unless she held him. 2) I was surprised when his aunt said she hates people from Kansai! I’ve never heard a Japanese person be so direct like that before. However, I don’t think she hated me because I’m not Japanese…even though I live in Kansai... 3) Yuta’s cousin lived at the house.  He was pretty shy and quiet, and we pestered him to come with us to go bowling or drinking (he had just turned 20 years old: the legal drinking age in Japan). He didn’t want to come with though because he had plans to meet some people. We decided to just go to the store and pick up some snacks and booze and go to Yuta’s guest house (next to his real house). That way, Yuta could drink too. It was the three of us: Yuta, me, and the American girl. We watched TV, Youtube videos, drank, ate, and talked. I had a good time! I forgot to mention that we were under a kotatsu as well. I love kotatsu (Japanese table that has a heat source underneath covered by a comforter-like blanket)! We all slept in the guest house.

Kotatsu fun.

We slept in the next morning (Saturday). When we woke up and got ready, Yuta brought in a huge western-style breakfast made by his Grandmother next door. It was sooooo delicious! I feel bad because I never got to see her or thank her. Unfortunately, despite the delicious food, the breakfast was pretty solemn. We found out that the previous night, Yuta’s cousin, the one we asked to hang out with us, ended up drinking and driving and crashing his car into a rail with his friend in the car. He was injured, but at that point, we didn’t know how badly. Eventually we found out that he was going to be ok. However, the severe punishment he and his family were going to face was pretty horrible. There's a ridiculously huge fine, loss of license, his acceptance into college would probably be revoked, and his parents would have to pay for everything. We kept thinking about how things might have been different if he had just hung out with us. We dropped off the American girl back at his aunt’s house so she could get ready. The aunt and uncle were at the hospital so no one was home, but it was pretty scary anyway because we saw his cousin’s coat, and there was blood on it. While his friend got ready, we decided to relieve some stress by going to the batting cages. It was really fun! I was pretty sore the next couple of days though haha!

Homemade breakfast! Yum!

Our plan for the afternoon/evening was to go to a college party at a college in Saitama prefecture (also in Kanto). Yuta had some friends at a college there. There were foreign students as well like German, American, Finnish, Thai, etc. His American friend also came along. We picked up some booze at the store again before going. I got a bottle of wine that I wanted to nurse throughout the night, Yuta got some beers and chu-hi I think, and his friend got the big bottle of Korean vodka-type stuff called Jinro. When we got to the party at first, it was a little awkward because I was sitting in a big circle of people I didn’t know, and we were trying to get to know each other. Once more people showed up and everyone started drinking, it got more comfortable. I actually met a lot of cool and interesting people! We played videogames (Smash Bros. and Pokemon Snap ftw!) and drinking games. I was feeling pretty good ;) That bottle I decided to nurse throughout the night became empty, and we all (like 10 of us) went to the store to resupply ourselves with food and drink. I got sick of playing the drinking games so I decided to take a break and sit out. At this point, I was starting to sober up. However, there were a select few who were not doing so great. That Jinro (pretty much straight Korean vodka I think), was being passed around the game (I didn’t get near the stuff though…eww). I came back to the main room after watching TV somewhere else for a bit to find that the game had ended, and many people were MIA, including my friend. By this time, I was sober. By the way, our plan was to stay the night at this dorm/frat place, but I quickly realized that sleeping would not be possible. I walked around until I saw that many people were huddled around the bathroom area. There was one guy (who had been drinking the Jinro straight out of the bottle) who was sitting on the toilet with his underwear around his ankles, puking into a pan. He was a hot mess. People were trying to help him, but he was so out of it. I quickly fled that situation back to the main room to find another guy who was sleeping sitting up. That’s kind of a common thing in Japan so no one was too worried. He looked pretty uncomfortable so we asked if he wanted to lay on the couch. He didn’t respond. That’s when we realized he was pretty drunk. We picked him up and put him onto the couch. Seconds later, he’s gagging on his own vomit. We grab a bucket and rolled him onto his side. He began to fall off the couch into the bucket. At that point we realize it was time to bring him to the restroom too. By the way, this whole time, I don’t know where my friend is and he isn’t responding to my texts. It was pretty scary because the first guy was looking pretty gross, and this new guy was basically unresponsive. We started googling alcohol poisoning because we weren't sure if we need to call an ambulance. That’s when one of the drunken guy’s friends dropped a bomb on us…the guy with the pants around his ankles was underage. We had no idea! In Japan, like I said, there is no tolerance with alcohol. If we called an ambulance, they would find out that he is underage, and everyone at the party will be arrested! What the hell?! I had no idea the kid was underage! At that point, I found my friend, and told him that if we called an ambulance, I’m getting the heck out of there. We watched the drunken guys for a while, gave them water, kept them warm, and slowly but surely, they improved and started vomiting more up and became responsive. We passed that hurdle. The second hurdle was this: it was about 5am, the three of us were exhausted, there was nowhere to sleep, and we didn’t know what to do. We were all pretty sober at that point. We decided to wait about an hour just to make sure Yuta was completely sober and drive back (about 1 ½ - 2 hours away) to Yuta’s house. It was a very good feeling to get into that bed at about 8 in the morning.

The cursed Jinro.

We slept until around 2 o’clock (Sunday), I think. We got up, got clean, and decided to get one last meal together before I took the bullet train back home to Osaka. We went to a ramen place. I suggested ramen because I had yet to try real Japanese ramen because I was afraid everything would have meat in it. I knew that if he was with me, he could help me read the menu better. We had a really nice meal together. I got a ramen that only had one piece of meat in it that I was able to pick out and give to him. It was tasty! He drove me to the train station, and while I waited for the next train, we had Starbucks together. I had enjoyed spending time with him, and despite the craziness, I had a really good time catching up and drinking with him! It was fun seeing his town because he lived in such a rural area. We got to walk around a bit, too. The air felt fresh there. I made it home around 9 or 10 at night, and had to work the next day. It was a really busy weekend, but one I won’t forget!

My first real ramen.

Rural fresh air!