Weanermobile

The Physician in Action

2008-10-30T05:03:00.000-04:00

Dr. Yonten and I have moved on from the development of disease, and skipped ahead 19 chapters to the Chapter called Bya Byed sMan Pai, which means the physician in action. In here there is a complete explanation of all the views, characteristics, vows, qualities, etc. that a physician must uphold in order to become a supreme healer. Really fascinating stuff, the whole thing is writtten to be like a poetic prayer. I will start memorizing it shortly, and then we are going to work to write a short book which will be a guide for western healthcare practitioners based on this chapter and his elaboration on the subject. I will be the one who turns it from Indo-Tibetan English into something understandable by both professional and lay readers.

poem of ethical question

2008-10-27T04:47:00.002-04:00

where does the line lay?
between patient and physician
a trust of healing
a motivation of compassion
a dependent attachment
a desire for success
narrow and precarious

Two weeks later...

2008-10-21T04:16:00.003-04:00

Last Tuesday I was wiped out from work and the onset of a slight lung infection. I think coming from the clean hills of West Virginia to the polluted traffic jams every evening has taken some adjustments. So I stayed in my apartment all day, studying, resting, watching Indian TV, and cooking. I only left the apartment once to buy some daikon for my soup, and stepped in some dog shit. I started laughing immediately about the situation, and was reminded of the 2004 trip to Varanasi, in which that happened on a daily basis for some reason.
Amchila said that I did well on both the oral and written examinations, and we have moved on to the five general chapters on the development of disease. We covered that already in 2005, but now we are doing it in Tibetan rather than English. We are on the classification of diseases now, and then will be skipping ahead to the Physician in Action chapter, which we also covered but Amchila wants to write a short book on this subject so we are going to focus on that for a while. At first, I felt a little disappointed that we would not be going to the sections on diet and lifestyle, which we have not covered thoroughly yet. Now, I have decided to trust in his guidance because he has more wisdom than I.
Last night Amchila and I met up with Dr. Dorjee Rapten, who is a friend, but also the chairman of the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine, which is the governmental organization that is in place to set and uphold the standardization of Tibetan Medicine. He is a very charismatic person, and I had a great time. His family is in Toronto, and he is taking leave to be with them for a couple of years, so we might not see him again for a while.
Today is my day off, and I came to the India center to get a little western culture immersion. Ahh, young American students, out of their element, feels familiar.

A Crash Course in Running a Doctor's Office

2008-10-06T05:02:00.002-04:00

This week I have been in charge of the office because Dr. Jampa is on vacation with his family. I have been manning the desk, selling herbal products, studying, giving some consultations and massage treatments, and refilling prescriptions, which has been the hardest part mainly because I only have been able to read only one Tibetan script, called uchen. There are in fact 8 different scripts in the language, and uchen is is basically only used for texts. Most people write in either ume or kyuk, and Dr. Jampa's chicken scratch is a fusion between the two. So it is kind of like if you could only read capital print, and were given a doctor's cursive writing to read, except that it is in a foreign language. Actually I think I have been fairing pretty well under the circumstances. Only one more day until he returns.

Evil Spirits Beware

2008-09-30T02:21:00.002-04:00

OK, I have been here for five days and life is already if full swing. I spent almost the entire first day sleeping with the exception of a couple hour jaunt to see the grocery store, and to visit the Tibetan Youth Hostel where a couple of my friends work. I did wake up for lunch and dinner, as many of you know that I often have a healthy appetite. The next morning I was awake at 3:30, still feeling the effects of the time change and jet lag. I studied from then until 5, when Passang, my new roommate, awoke.
He is a Tibetan Refugee, brought across the border as a toddler rolled up in a blanket (The Chinese government strictly prohibits Tibetan children from leaving the country). His parents were poor farmers, and sent him to India so he could be educated and live in relative freedom. He was educated by a NGO school called the Tibetan Children's Village, which is run by the Dalai Lama's sister. He was a successful student, and was hired by the school after graduation, and has worked for them for the past 13 years. He was transfered to Bangalore 4 years ago to facilitate the construction of a new TCV college which had it's first classes begin last year. His assignment was to come here learn Kannada, the local language, and hire workers to begin construction. The he got a part time job as the accountant at the youth hostel, and started doing a correspondance course in business management. Then last spring his superiors told him he was being transferred to Deradun (you may remember the name from the book, "Seven Years in Tibet," which was the hill station that Henry departed from in travelling to Tibet). He asked for a one year leave to complete his graduation before his is transferred. They finally agreed after much trouble, but told him he could not stay at the hostel, so he had to get a new place, which is our home.
Passang and I have been doing more than an hour of yoga each morning from 5:30-7:00. He interestingly has the same kind of small fatty cysts on his body that run in my paternal side of the family, I have several also. An ayurvedic doctor reccommended that he do a half-hour of talapathi each day, which is a form of yogic breathing in which the air is forcefully exhaled by contracting the abdomen in a rather quick rhythm (some people call it fire breathing). So I am experimenting to see if my cysts reduce. I then follow the yoga with an hour of mantra and study, which is taking some work because I have been slacking a little bit over the summer at home.
Working at the office has been like settling back into a familiar routine. I go to the clinic at 9:30 and clean and do the morning rituals before Dr. Jampa arrives. He then comes at 10:15 and we do our teaching in the morning which has a spattering of patients that come in.
I am now in charge of the inventory, medicine dispensing and accounts as well, which is good for the experience. I have so far in my life been kind of avoiding the business part of life, so now I am getting a sort of crash course.

WARNING: The next section might be a bit difficult for people not used to mystical/magical practices

On Sunday I went with Passang and another friend to a teaching on loving kindness and compassion followed by a ritual healing given by a young Lama by the name of Khangser Rinpoche.
The first half was on the general and meditative methods of generative Skt: bodhicitta, Tib: Jang Chub Sem Drel, Eng: Loving-Kindness. In short, the general way to develop it is a realization of the negative physical and mental consequences of anger, and the other aspect of the general method is to compare one's suffering with that of others, and not to compare one's happiness with others'.
Briefly, the meditative method is to realize the past lives connection to other beings around us, and to know that each being has in one or more lives been our mother. Then we can develop the compassion for all beings that we have for our mother.
After a break for lunch he began an intricate healing process that, as my friend pointed out, seems closely related to voodoo. In the ritual he did a long and intricate ritual to manifest himself into a specific protector deity, Dorje Nam Dro, who can expell negative influences. He then dissolved the deity into some saffron water. Next he did a ritual on a figure made of dough, and passed out small balls of dough which we were told to touch to parts of our bodies where we experienced pain or suffering, mental and physical. We then had to take a string from our clothing and squeeze it into the dough, which we were then told to toss at the figure. Then we were given some of the water to hold in our mouths and visualize that all negative energy and pain to go into the water. We then had to spit the bad water at the figure. Next we were purified by the blessed water, which was poured on the crown of our heads. Then the Rinpoche touched his vajra to the tops of our heads to protect us from future influences.
After the ritual was finished I looked around the room, and was amazed to see that many of the people had smiles on their faces, and even had a certain brightness to them. Quite a beautiful experience.
Today is my day off, and I am at my old school visiting with the staff.
All is well.

5 hours and counting...

2008-09-23T14:57:00.003-04:00

Sitting in my sister's apartment, waiting for my departure time, I realize that this next step in my education will be a whole new journey filled with unknown fruits and obstacles.

One week before I return to India

2008-09-14T10:44:00.002-04:00

It has been 1.5 years since I posted anything here, and I am now an apprentice to Tibetan Doctor, Jampa Yonten. I am returning to Bangalore on the 23rd of September to continue my study. Now I am in Westhampton Beach on Long Island visiting my grandparents. It is cloudy and wet, not exactly beach going weather. My mom and I are sleeping in the same room, and she said that last night I was speaking spanish and grinding my teeth, none of which I remember. Funny that I was speaking espanol though.

What's up?

2006-01-22T12:32:00.000-05:00

A weekend day is being spent alone after a long week of going to the city, exploring, spending money on good food, school starting. It feels good to be alone for a little while even though I love my gal. She went out to meet an old friend. I need this time to find my center in my work and forming my project. I have been a bit scattered since I got back from Kyoto. It is amazing how hard it is for me to find a common strain of my work in Asia. There is so much there, just lingering under the surface waiting to be put together, put to use, manifested into working knowledge. Often I sit down to brainstorm and come up with many questions that have one word or one phrase answers in my head. I want something to explore in this area of elderly care. It's all there, I just need to read more, to build a more concrete foundation. There is so much experience and advise that is sloshing around in me. I pull out a notebook and try to spew forth ideas, but get about a paragragh before it turns into sketches and doodles. Not really beautiful but more like absent-minded strokes, even my art is lacking intentioned focus. Yesterday we went to two different art shows, and I was enthrawled with how my favorite pieceslooked as though each stroke had an inherent purpose. Damn, so much struggle when I can SEE that it can be done with one stroke. I think about my thesis and want it to come out in one stroke of thought and ideas, but it does not happen like that. I write ten, and walk away. Come back, and I don't like any of them. Shit. The most solid things that I know I want in my thesis are elderly care, touch, compassion, natural methods, community, and peace. From there, I just draw a blank in how to go about putting all of that into a huge paper that shows academic understanding, analysis, holistic perspectives, and counter arguments, and researched evidence to support the focus of my education...blah, blah blah. I just want to get out there and do all this shit that I have to write about in the next four months. Not really, because I want to graduate, and have a better understanding of my work, and a very good piece of work that a possible boss might look at and want to hire me. Ah, the unknown future, I guess that is what I/we are working towards, and helping humanity as a whole. Sigh, if anyone has any suggestions, please do make them. Everything is well, and I am about to finish my 23rd year of life. I am in love with someone. What more could I ask for? Well here are a few pics of our time so far. Eva on the digital leash, us together at the African art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and a great university choir singing at Martin Luther King Day celebration.

In the City

2006-01-22T12:21:00.000-05:00

SUBWAY
eyes watching
sweat beads on face
grime
outlinging bitten nails
falling to the right
can't stay up
leans on my shoulder
"Are you alright?"
"Mmmbrmbrm...
thought you were someone else."
scoots over
eyes watching
a notebook
curled edges
pen touches paper
only slides off
[like Monty Python's castle arghh...]
syringe falls
no cap on needle
back into pocket
soon gone
[sadness
want to cry]
eyes watching

Changing Location

2006-01-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

Wow, so many changes since december 9th. It has been a month, and I am on the complete other side of the world, in another modern city, kind of strange for a country boy. I did find it a little awkward to be in the hills of WV for ten days though. It was hard to get myself out into the muck and rain when it was so comfortable in by the wood stove. I hope all this city life does not ruin my love for weather, woods, and getting dirty. So now my lovely lady, Eva, and I are staying at my grandparents' luxury apartment in Garden City, NY until we find a good place in Brooklyn. This place is really posh. I heard Eva saying to her mother, "This place is huge, it has two of everything, two bathrooms, two livingrooms, two bedrooms..." Luckily, the grandparents are in Florida, and willing to let us stay.
Now, we are about to take the train into Brooklyn to meet our advisor for lunch, and get our student cards. Normal school stuff. More later...

Semester Finished

2005-12-09T02:40:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day of the fall semester, and I turned my portfolio in at 3:30PM. It feels great to be finished after so much hard work. Tonight we are having a America vs. Japan bowling game followed by a night at the reggae bar. Games, friends, and good music sound pretty fun to me. For the next two weeks I will be going to the elderly home, Kyudo, buying christmas presents, and try to do some hiking and onsening. But most of all not focus on my computer for hours on end. Yahoo!!!

Bringing the Snow from Nagano

2005-12-05T13:20:00.000-05:00

Tonight it snowed one inch in Kyoto. Standing outside, I let it fall down on my head. It is great to be in a place where the snow purifies the land.

Ski Trip to Nagano

2005-12-05T00:53:00.000-05:00

Before coming to Japan I had two personal goals of quenching a thirst of leisure in skiing and soaking in hot springs. This weekend I was able to do so with the generous help of friends I have made since coming. A few weeks ago I mentioned to Kobayashi-san that I had an interest in going to Nagano to ski. She said that her friend, Morita-san is a ski instructor, and goes to Nagano almost every weekend. She introduced us one night while eating dinner, and we set a date to go together. At that time I had no idea how much of a cultural experience it was going to be.
The highlight of that cultural experience was the abundance of generosity. Kobayashi-san called me two nights before we were set to leave saying that she had found ski boots, and wanted me to try them. She brought two brand new pairs of boots, and had me test them out. I said that one pair fit well, and she said that I should use them and take them back to America with me. I said that I have several pairs of boots at home, and did not need to be given boots, but she insisted that if I did not take them then they would sit around not being used. I could not say more for fear of being rude, so just thanked her profusely.
The next day, she called back telling me that three of her friends had heard that I was going skiing, and wanted to sponsor my trip. What? I could not believe the words that I was hearing. Why would someone possibly want to pay for me to go skiing when they did not even know me? It turned out that she had given them copies of a letter that I had written to her about my views on community and elderly care, and they wanted to support me in having fun. I was slightly embarrassed, and again did not know how to respond. I asked her whom I should thank, and she answered by saying that my work at the elderly home was enough.
On Friday afternoon I met Morita-san, and three of his friends to leave for our trip. We left at 6:30PM, and drove six hours to Shigakogen, which is a high mountain valley in eastern Nagano. As we drove up the mountain the snow started coming down. It got thicker and thicker until it was more than one foot deep by the time we reached the hotel where we were to stay. Ryo-san, a young man who went along with us, said that we would be skiing on the highest elevation ski area in Japan, and if it was clear we would be able to see Fuji-san from the top.
The hotel was the next shock of cultural difference. The room in which we stayed had a tatami floor and sliding paper doors. There were five futons with fluffy warm comforters atop. After we took our bags into the room, Morita-san said that we should go to the onsen. It was a natural hot spring cloudy with floating particles and smelling of sulfur. We only had to walk down stairs to go to the bath. Men of all ages were washing and soaking together in the foggy room smelling of sulfur and cedar from the walls. Ryo-san said that he works as a skiing guide in Switzerland, and one of the major differences between skiing there and in Japan is that in Japan skiing and onsen go together, but that is not true for Europe.
After the bath we went back to the room, and drank sake until three in the morning. I sat wearing Kimono with those Japanese men laughing and drinking, and telling them that yes I had seen The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise while stifling my opinions of the actor when told that I resemble him. When the sake bottle was empty we said good night, and laid down drawing the soft comforters up over our weary bodies.
Minutes later, it seemed, we were up looking out the window at a morning of falling snow. We walked down to the cafeteria for a meal of miso soup, nori, fish, tsukemono, salad, rice, and green tea, the Japanese equivalent of “a breakfast of champions.” Donning our skiwear we trudged out, bleary eyed, and excited for fresh snow. I was about to rent skis when Morita-san said that he had brought skis and poles for me to use. Again, all I could say was thank you for the abundant generosity. Each time I turned around there was someone else doing something for me, a first experience.
The trip was not only a leisure time for the other members of our group. They had come for instructor training to begin the season. They were the Kyoto members of a countrywide organization of ski instructors, and Morita-san was one of the people training everyone. There were over one hundred men and women representing a large percentage of the prefectures in Japan. I met skiers from all over Japan, and told the story of where I am from, why I came to Japan, how I met Morita-san, and where I learned to ski over and over again in Japanese.
They trained while I skied every inch of fresh powder I could find, until 3 o’clock when the Kyoto group could ski together. All of them were excellent skiers, and we tore up the slopes, as I like to say. The wind was blowing hard, and I learned the phrase in Japanese to express the experience, kaze ga tsumarei—the wind is freezing. My beard was covered with ice, and they started saying that I looked like Santa Claus instead of Tom Cruise.
At 4:30 we returned to the hotel for more onsen, and stretching. The whole group stretched together I did my best to connect what the leaders were saying to the stretches we did, but kept falling behind while trying to interpret their words. After a short time I gave up the interpretation, and just watched others to figure out what to do.
Dinner was at 6PM, and it was a huge meal of sashimi, cooked mushrooms, fish broth, greens, and onion soup, cold soba, nabe—a hotpot of meat and vegetables with udon, shrimp tempura, tsukemono, and rice. After the meal the phrase, “onaka ga ipai,” (My stomach is full.) could be heard all over the cafeteria. I carried my stomach upstairs to our room while the group had a meeting about theory of teaching skiing, thinking that I could get some work done during the meeting. I turned on the computer, started thinking about what I would write, and fell asleep sitting in front of a blank screen. It had been nearly two years since I last skied, and was completely wiped out.
At 10:30 Morita-san woke me up, saying that there was a party down in the banquet hall, and that they wanted me there. When I got down there a full cup of sake was handed to me, and I listened as each person stood up and announced their prefecture and several other things that I barely understood. After everyone had spoken, I was handed the microphone and had to tell them where I was from and what I was doing there. It was like I had to do the conversation part of my Japanese language test all over again with all the questions that I was asked. Except on this occasion people did not let my sake cup empty, so my tongue was a little more loosened up.
The next day was clear and cold. All around we could see snow-capped mountain peaks, but it was not quite clear enough to see Fuji-san. The snow was crisp and fast, making for easy skiing through shin deep powder. I skied alone all morning, and in the afternoon was asked to participate in a competition to show the training instructors how to judge different skiers. Being that I have skied for nearly as long as I could walk, I received the highest score, but was still given some tips on how to improve. One of the judges was a retired member of the Japan World Cup Ski Team, and he told me that I ski with too much pressure on my inside leg creating turns that are not as sharp as they could be. I bowed and thanked him in the traditional Japanese manner due to a sensei, a practice that is even done on the ski slope.
The day was finished up with another trip to the onsen before we packed up the car to return to Kyoto. Saying goodbye to as many people as I could, and even pushing a car out of the snow, I felt sad to leave such a wonderful place only to return to sitting in front of the computer writing for days on end to complete my portfolio on time. Even in such a short time, it was definitely one of the richest cultural experiences I have experienced in Japan, and will remain in my memory for years to come.

Updates from Japan

2005-11-24T01:03:00.000-05:00

Hey ya'll,
Between school, Kyudo, and visiting the elderly homes I have been staying busy most days of the week. I have gotten to do a few social things in the past few weeks though. A couple weeks ago I went to Kawanaka-san's house, she works at Hanasaka-sou, to cook Indian food for the staff, and to learn how to make maki zushi, which are sushi rolls with a variety of stuffings. We also made a dessert called mochi, which is rice that has been soaked for a few days, and mixed into a glutinous paste. Then it is formed around azuki been paste, to make small not so sweet patties. I say not so sweet because Japanese people are not especially fond of overly sweet dessert. The mochi is a famous food around Japan even though I had never heard of it before coming here. It is normally made at the new year, but since I will not be here at that time they made it for me to experience. It was a fun night of eating new foods for everyone, as none of the other folks had tried saag paneer or chapathis.
Then last weekend Kobayashi-san invited me to go to a Kaiseki ryouri restuarant. Kaiseki ryouri is traditional gormet food from Kyoto. It was a ten course meal, and definately the best food I have had throughout the whole time in Japan. There were unidentifiable salads, soup made from the leftover grain of sake and the reproductive organs of a fish, sashimi, tempura, roasted fish and flavored mochi, delicately cooked vegetables, miso soup and plum ice cream. The most interesting part though was a woman who ate with us. She was 87 years old and an old Geisha, or Geiko as they are called in Kansai. She was a riot, and a true hostess. She did not let up for a second to fill people's glasses, and even sang a couple traditional Geiko songs. After the dinner, she decided that we should all go out for a snack. I was thinking that we had just eaten a ten course meal, probably did not need to eat any more. It turned out to be a small private bar with a young geiko providing special attention to our group. The old woman is a geiko mother to the young one, so we got special treatment. I have a few pictures from the time, but for some reason the files are not downloadable on my computer.

A Kyudo Addiction

2005-11-15T05:32:00.000-05:00

Last night, I hit my first bulls eye from 28 meters. It was my third official day mato no mae (in front of the target). Official because the week before Mita-sensei said I was ready to shoot at the target I went to my friend Chen's college dojo to try out shooting at the target, and that was without the permission of the sensei at our dojo. On the second day of practice I had an amazing experience of beginner's luck. When the sensei first introduces a student to the target he or she takes the student to the 14 meter mark to get the feeling of aiming without the distance. In my case, I hit the target on the first two tries, so he said that I should go back to the 28m point. I missed the next two shots, but hit three of the four following. I then hit a few more times before my form started to collapse. Too much ego, or thinking, or attachment to hitting the target. I am not sure whether it was one of those, or all of them together. Mita-sensei just smiled and pointed back to the bale of straw saying, "Makiwala o renshu shimasu." (Practice the shooting bale) I spent most of the remaining session attempting to readjust my form until Nakagawa-sensei arrived. Almost immediately Mita-sensei started telling him about how well I did on my time in front of the target. Nakagawa-sensei simply crossed his arms in a casual manner, and told Mita-san that he wanted to see me shoot. The pressure was on, and I buckled. All four of my shots had bad form, and were far from hitting my intended spot. Then yesterday evening i returned to the dojo. When i started practicing in front of the makiwala it was as if over the weekend I had forgotten everything i had learned in the past month. I started hitting my face and chest with the string again, and my center line was way out of balance. I had to slowly remind myself of how to shoot. After one hour, I felt that I was ready to go in front of the target again to try my hand at aiming. Unfortunately, I was just as poor at that as I had been at the form earlier that evening. I certainly did not repeat the multiple hits in a row, but did have the ocasional good shot. And for the first time in my career I hit the bulls eye.

Weekend Homestay Experience

2005-11-09T00:28:00.000-05:00

“Do you prefer Ninjitsu museum or pottery museum?” Ah, the choices of a young man staying with a Japanese family for the weekend come down to espionage or art. The first thing that comes to his mind is that his mother would choose the pottery, but then again, are there really museums about Ninjas? Maybe that would be fun, and maybe he can learn something about the mysterious figures that so many young boys dress as during Halloween. What is it about males and their attraction to swords, secret identities, throwing stars, and hidden passages? Oh well, I will try not to look too deeply into my reason for choosing the ninjas over the bowls and vases, he thinks.
The Satake family and the young man drive back to their house for some lunch before the expedition to the museum. They do their best find out what are his interests. His responses are in the form of likes and dislikes. “Ryouri ga suki desu.” (I like cooking.) “Hiking ga suki desu.” (I like hiking.) His Japanese is very limited, so he often substitutes English words for the Japanese he does not know. They soon drive up to a rather large house, for Japan anyways, to find a sweet old woman and a small dog to greet them at the door.
They ate a dish with fried noodles and vegetables, called yaki soba, and drank beer for lunch. Each time his glass reached the half-full level it was quickly refilled, which soon made him feel a bit tipsy. Afterwards, they all got in the BMW, and took off for the ninja adventure. The rain started coming down in torrents during the drive, and he tried to translate a colloquial phrase into Japanese. “Neko to inu ga furimasu ne,” (It’s raining cats and dogs.) he said while thinking how funny he was. The statement issued blank looks from all of the other occupants. His explanation took a good twenty minutes resulting in short contrived laughs. He thought, Maybe I should keep to slapstick.
The Ninjitsu museum was actually the historical site of an old Ninja estate, and certainly was old. He was not sure whether the cobwebs had been cleaned since the place was in full operation. Everyone did their best to act like they were enjoying themselves, but between the rain and the unexciting museum it was a bit of a struggle. The throwing stars did provide a little fun in competition, but that lasted about five minutes. They, then, plodded their way through rushing muddy water back to the car, reaching it with thankfulness. On the drive back to the house, both he and their son, Nori, fell quickly asleep, only to wake on their arrival.
“Kairu-san, darutsu o shimashyouka?” (Should we play darts?) asked Masao after they all changed out of their sopping attire. Wait, did I hear him correctly? I don’t remember writing that I liked darts in my application, Kyle thinks to himself. He says that he would love to play, and that playing darts is one of his favorite activities. They had a board one the wall in the family room, and he soon took them for a ride on the Kyle train of dart trouncing as he has been playing since he was eight years, taught by dart-loving alcoholics. Surprisingly, they loved his boisterous and competitive attitude that surfaced when the game started, and it loosened everyone up enough to laugh freely.
By the end of the game they were hungry, and decided to go out to a local restaurant. When they asked him what he wanted to eat he said that he wanted to eat food that he had never tried before. Reiko-san, as generous as a mother could be, simply read off the menu asking if he had eaten each item. She ordered everything that he had not eaten previously. They had many dishes that night, but ones that stuck in his mind were dobi mushi—a soup with the very delicious matsutake mushrooms--, a mochi soup that is usually eaten during the new year (mochi is glutinous rice that has been pounded), and the freshest sashimi that can be in existence without eating a live fish. The fish’s spine and head were literally still flopping on the plate. He knows many people who would have gagged and refused to eat it, but decided that he should suck it up, and think of it as a cultural experience. The texture was the main difference that he noticed between fresh and super fresh fish. The super fresh is initially soft, but when teeth sink into its meat there is a soft snap of the still vital muscular tissue as it is broken. The older fish is generally mushier in nature, and does not produce that satisfying sound when bitten.
During dinner conversation they asked what he studied in school. He told them that he was interested in elderly healthcare, and specialized in elderly massage. Masao got very excited with this news, and asked if Kyle would give obaachan a massage. Later that evening he gave her a massage, which aroused everyone’s interest in receiving massage. The next morning was filled with giving the other three members of the family massages, and by the end he was a bit tired. But that was not the end for they had more plans to take him to Biwako, the largest lake in Japan.
Biwako makes up forty percent of the total area of Shiga prefecture, and is the main attraction for tourism to Shiga. It provides potable water for Kyoto and Osaka as well as the cities and towns of Shiga. Good thing for those pamphlets the home-stay people gave me otherwise I wouldn’t know a thing, he thinks. They only visited a small section of the lake, so he was not able to get a view of its immensity, but he new it was big from the maps. Before returning to the house for dinner, they went to a lakeside temple called Ukimidoji. It first built about one thousand years before in honor of the Buddha, Amida. The temple was actually built on pillars over the water, and was destroyed in the 1937 typhoon. It was rumored that Basho, the famous haiku poet, visited the temple, and there were a few of his haiku carved into stones along the shore.
To make for a grand finale, Reiko-san cooked suki yaki—a beef and vegetable stew—with omi gyu niku, which is a special beef that is marbled with fat from feeding the cow sake, special grains, and massaging its muscles. To eat it he first had to crack a raw egg into his bowl, scramble it, and dip the beef and vegetables into the yellow goo, then slurp-up the bite with a satisfying noise. It was actually delicious, but he had to forget all of the warnings he heard during his childhood about not eating raw egg.
On the train ride back to Kyoto he thought about his experience, and realized that he had a culturally new experience. He never would have had a chance to visit those places or try those strange foods, had he not gone to that home-stay. And hey, he got to play darts.

Kyudo Practice

2005-10-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

These photos are of my first attempts of shooting at the target. I shot about twenty ya (arrows), and hit the target one time. Even that one time was completely luck, but thankfully luck does help out sometimes. There is still much work to do before my focus is good enough to be precise.

New Haiku

2005-10-28T09:25:00.000-04:00

Quick through trees
Spider web face-wrap
Autumn cleansing

Tai Chi

2005-10-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

“In a very real sense one can consider Tai Chi Chuan [Supreme Ultimate Force] to be a physical expression and manifestation of the principles and philosophy of Taoism.” (Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan--http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/taoism.html)

On a balmy Monday afternoon, EAC students in the Area Studies Course participated in a two-hour Tai Chi class. It took place on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto next to an old gnarled pine tree on a patch of manicured grass. The instructor, Taka-sensei, was a long-time Tai Chi practitioner. The course consisted of easy warm up movements, stretches, basic kicks and punches, and a short sequence of the Tai Chi form. Taka-sensei used very few words, only the most necessary to convey his intended meaning. His used simple explanations, performed examples with animated and clear movements, and gave encouragement and correction in a very soft and unassuming manner, making it easy for every student to participate. When a student was frustrated he softly guided him or her into the correct form, without criticism. The effect of practicing Tai Chi was both centering and relaxing, but why?
Tai Chi was first introduced to Taoist practice as an exercise to compliment the intensive meditation of Taoist monks who spent nearly their entire time sitting. Bodhidharma was said to have brought the forms from India, but it was the Taoist philosophy that cultivated Tai Chi into the sacred practice that it is today. Tai Chi is considered a martial art, but it is, more importantly, an internal contemplation of nature, producing an outward representation. Many of the techniques are named after animals, weather, or constellations as they were invented after observing the natural world. For example, “white crane spreads its wings” is the embodiment of that action.
Taoist practitioners often observe nature to find harmony and balance. In Tai Chi, the path--or Tao-- is performed outwardly with the body to compliment the inner meditation. The internal and more esoteric practice of the Tao involves recognizing duality such as light and dark, life and death, masculine and feminine, form and emptiness, movement and stillness, simplified into the yin and yang—or the essential truths of duality. Taoists believe that these qualities cannot exist independently of each other, but are in harmony, pushing and pulling, expanding and contracting. This harmony represents the ultimate truth of oneness through the trinity of polarity of each opposite and the harmony between them.

Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight.
Tao Te Ching (22)

He who stands of tiptoe is not steady. He who strides cannot maintain the pace.
-- Tao Te Ching (24)

Returning is the motion of the Tao. Yielding is the way of the Tao.
-- Tao Te Ching (40)

These few quotes from Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching depict the guiding principles of Tai Chi, for the form is fluid in motion, grounded in mind, controlled in action, and yet based in inaction. Tai Chi is an art of combining feeling with movement, and using forces greater than the self. These forces are the yin and yang, which, when working together, are the path of balance. There is no goal beyond the path, but only existing in harmony.
The forms of Tai Chi consist of contracting and expanding—in contraction there is the yin, in expansion the yang—but in the fluid movement between forms, and in the embodiment of nature there is harmony and non-duality. Taka-sensei cut right to the truth of this in his class on Monday. Each form either consisted of a closed stance, drawing yin energy, or an open stance, channeling yang. Movement followed each to the complimentary stance, and the transitions were slow, silent, and full of grace. That is why it was centering, and that is why it was relaxing. He taught a method of finding balance and harmony in this turbulent life of ups and downs, rights and wrongs, miracle and catastrophe.

Haiku at Basho's Grave

2005-10-23T03:53:00.000-04:00

On friday, we had an introduction to haiku poetry at Konpukuji, a temple where Basho often stopped in Kyoto and where he is believed to be buried. We learned of the history of Haiku, the structure, the content, and the translation of famous poems. It was facinating to see how many different meanings can be derived from one seventeen syllable peom. Haiku is said to be able to capture "the expression of a live moment in its pure suchness." Instead of giving you all a blow by blow account of what has been happening lately I thought that I would try a hand at haiku. I hope that they will paint an image of experience.

Walk by city farm
Mud caked on tractor plow
Home in foreign land

Smoke drifts far away
Green mountain of sturdy rock
Basho's grave we sit

Burning tobacco
Thought about life cycle
Rain on brown leaf

Confusion

2005-10-20T10:38:00.000-04:00

Today, I went to the new elderly home again. I attempted to lead an exercize in feldencrise therapy, which is based on bringing awareness to the simple act of walking. I thought that it might have been useful since so many of them spend much of their time sitting. It turned out to be much more difficult than I originally thought. The explanation that I gave was much to complicated for me or Yukako-san. Within just a couple short minutes there was only one participant left, but I think that she liked it. It consisted of coordinating movements of the lower body with the breath, and the movement of energy. I did my best to show by example, but sometimes words are very necessary.
The lunch at that place is much different from Hanasaka-so. There is a chef, who uses very expensive ingredients, but his food lacks that important ingredient that I speak of so much when speaking of food, love. In fact, the whole feeling of eating there is lacking that. The staff wears aprons, and hovers over the clients, and me, waiting for something to do. It reminded me very much of restorants in India, where there are five costumers and ten waiters. It just feels like they are watching your every move. It is very hard to relax like that.
Then after lunch, I spent the afternoon massaging the folks. Massage for me is very unpredictable. Sometimes it is a sacred experience in which both the client and I have break-throughs in relaxation, emotions, or spiritual growth. Other times it is a struggle at every moment. My mind can wonder, my energy can be extreme going from almost nothing to overwhelming amounts which can cause pain or sickness, and my center can be very hard to find making my body mechanics horrible. Unfortunately, today was not one of the sacred massage experiences; although I have learned enough in the last four years to prevent anything really bad from happening. I always try to return to the idea of not causing harm. If I can not heal then at least I should not cause suffering. There were several people who fell asleep today, and I think part of it had to do with my wondering attention span. I have noticed that often when my mind wanders then the client's mind wonders, or when my stomach grumbles so does the client's. some people call that sympathetic reaction.
After all of that, I just felt like I was in the way the whole time, and that i have been trying to hard to help, and have not been simply observing enough. Half of the semester is over, I have been spending no less then ten hours a week interacting with Japanese elders, and I feel like I don't really know what I am learning about elderly care here. At least I don't know where all of this time is taking me. I know that it is pointless to come up with generalizations, but I guess i was kind of hoping that I would be able to put elderly care in Japan into a 30 page report. It is good that this is finally coming up, but it was so shocking to my brain and heart that I got home and took a long nap instead of studying or going to Kyudo like I usually do. Now, I feel like I am back at square one because I need to figure out what exactly my angle is, and why I am studying this. For some reason I have been drawn to spending time touching and talking to elderly people, but how can I turn that into my semester project, and later into my senior thesis? I think that these next few days are going to be a little rocky because of this dilemma. I hope that there may be some sign of where to turn next, and how to become more silent to listen rather than trying to put my own ideas others' experiences.

Buraku Discrimination in Japan

2005-10-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

In Japanese culture there has long been a distinction between purity and pollution. This has manifested not only on the inanimate level, but also has included discrimination between pure people and impure people. In the feudal ages of Japan there were the specific social class distinctions of a warrior/ruling class, artisans, peasants, and merchants. Below all of those existed a group of people considered too impure to be within the class structure. The “outcastes,” as one might consider them, often performed occupations such as executioners, butchers, tanners, handlers of the dead, and, oddly enough, entertainers. They were not limited to people with those jobs, but they were a community of people, many of whom held the polluting occupations.
Those outcaste communities were referred to as Buraku, and the people in them Burakumin. The origin of discrimination of those people has been debated, but two theories remain accepted. One is that during the feudal times the victors of war forced the conquered people into poor employment situations as a strategy of “divide and rule.” The other theory is that the distinction developed more slowly as Confucianism and Buddhism developed as dominant belief systems. These -isms along with Shinto-ism upheld the taboo of impurity, and so promoted the idea that the above-mentioned types of employment polluted the individuals in those professions. Whichever the origin of the discrimination, the idea of the Burakumin being lesser people in society became fixed firmly among Japan’s majorities.
In current times, Burakumin make up an estimated three million of Japan’s 150 million population. The determination of Burakumin is no longer limited to occupation, but is based on communities and family origin. There are around 6,000 acknowledged Buraku communities in Japan. The Japanese government has identified these communities as special areas of need because of past and current discrimination based wrongs done to the Burakumin.
Discrimination of the Buraku has manifested in areas such as gaining employment, at the workplace, in schools, in communities, by public officials, by religious agencies, and by the media (“Buraku Discrimination” p. 8-9). Burakumin have consistently been below the national averages in the areas of high school admittance, employment, and high school and college graduation percentages due to discrimination. In 1998 the Buraku Liberation League discovered that many companies in Osaka had performed background checks of perspective employees to determine whether the individual was of Buraku origin. Similar types of companies have been known to advertise not hiring Burakumin to show the company’s inclinations towards purity.
The discrimination of Burakumin is not simply done in larger scales, but also at the personal level. One example in a report given at the Global Conference Against Racism and Caste Based Discrimination located in New Delhi in March 2004 gave the examples of discriminatory violence, graffiti, harassment letters, and discriminatory remarks on the Internet (p.7). These type of discrimination are very clear as to why they are inhumane and callous, but the most common form of discrimination happens in much more vague situations. This is especially true with discrimination like that done to the Buraku as compared to racism, sexism, or religious discimination because Burakumin are indistinguishable from other Japanese in appearance and religion. The other, and more prevalent in the world, types of discrimination have much more clear reason, even if irrational.
Yuki-sensei, the teacher introducing Buraku discrimination to the EAC students, explained hearing about individuals of non-Buraku origin being jealous of Buraku people because of social programs like free health care, even though there are only just 892,000 Burakumin actually receiving such welfare. On one such occasion she heard a non-Buraku individual complaining about a Buraku woman drive up to a dentist’s office in a valuable car and present a healthcare fee waiver at the desk. This is an example of the vagueness that exists in the discrimination of Buraku peoples. The discrimination takes the form of resentment rather than direct aggression or antagonism.
Anti-discrimination Buraku movements have been able to accomplish the acquisition of social assistance programs for Burakumin such as welfare, healthcare aids, community centers, and after school programs through lobbying the Japanese government for many years. The EAC students visited one such community center in Kyoto called the Kodomo Center, which has after-school programs for Buraku children. After introductions to issues of discrimination, the students of the EAC were split up, and asked to participate in some of the activities with the Buraku children. The activities involved papermaking, bamboo vase making, and constructing and decorating gift boxes for pottery that was made on a previous occasion. The purpose of this activity was to introduce the EAC students to a social program for the Buraku community in Kyoto.
The children at the Kodomo Center seemed to average in the sense that there were smart ones, hyper ones, quiet ones, and every other quality one could expect of a child. At first the kids were a little shy with the older college students, but it did not take long for them to warm up and enjoy the presence of the foreigners. They were so normal that it seemed impossible for anyone to think them lesser beings.
When attempting to assist the children with making gift boxes I felt a slight feeling of rejection from some of the kids. It felt a bit like grade school again because some of the kids formed groups, and did not allow others to use their tools and supplies. My first attempt to help a group was rejected. Moving further down the table there was one girl who seemed to be a little lost. She was willing to receive help in outlining the shapes of the box in order to cut them out. She was rejected by the same girls as I when she asked to use the first group’s scissors. It seemed as though there was a popularity rift between them. I felt a connection with her because of memories of similar rejection at a young age. After feeling that connection, it seemed as though helping her make the box as beautiful as possible was a good way to show some appreciation for her as a struggling individual.
I made a small rose for the top of her box, and when finished I presented her with the gift. She seemed to be truly grateful, and accepted it with a small laugh. Afterwards, her friends kept pointing at me and giggling. Throughout this experience there was an undercurrent of in groups and out groups. Some say that it is a normal social pattern among children and adults all over the world, but being that these children were already from an oppressed community I assumed that they would have been less exclusive. People often feel that they must reject others in order to give themselves a higher status, but it is a very sad way to increase self-esteem.

Days of Change

2005-10-08T21:14:00.000-04:00

On Thursday morning I woke up with an itching to change my appearance, and shave my beard. It is always shocking to people because my face looks so different. There are those who recognize me, and those that do not. My friend, Chen, from Kyudo did not recognize me for nearly ten minutes even when we were talking. Shaving my face was only the first step in a series of events that will change my experience in Japan for the entire duration.
Later on that day, I went to Hanasaka-so for my normal visit. It seemed like a normal day except for a birthday party, but a short time before people started returning home Kobayashi-san asked if I was interested in going somewhere in the evening. I did not understand where we were going to go, but I knew that it would probably be interesting. I found out that we going to visit another day service elderly home. Kobayashi's friend, Yukako-san, runs a center in downtown Kyoto. Kobayashi-san explained that it was an excellent place, and that she wants me to go there too.
The facility was also a small scale place, only taking twenty-five clients a day, but it was much larger and fancier than Hanasaka-so. The archetecture was odd in a sort of post modern and traditional fusion way. There were some walls and floors that were completely glass. There were sharp angles everywhere, and things like a bathroom door that was two walls of the room. It was an L-shape, and swung open so that a wheelchair could enter. The traditional aspect was that prior to this place, there were two traditional timber-framed storage vaults located there, and they were incorporated into the design. A few of the rooms had high cathedral ceilings with ancient beams exposed. They were very beautiful. My impression of the place, which has not yet included seeing it in action, was that it was too spacious and too expensive. There was way too much emphasis put into the archetecture, and not enough into the interior. It did not feel cozy at all, but there were some nice parts which show some potential. The first thing I asked was if it gets cold in the winter. The woman who was leading me around said that indeed it does, and it gets very hot in the summer. I asked that because Japanese buildings do not commonly have central heating, and that place was so spacious and exposed with the windows. The nicest thing about the whole place was the garden, which was a traditional rock, tree, and flower garden. It looked as though it had not been altered from its original state because there were huge trees that had been pruned with care for many years, and there was moss and lichen growing on the rocks.
Yukako-san was very excited to meet me, and was very interested in having me work at the center. She asked me what I was interested in doing there. I was kind of taken by surprize, but said that I am interested in learning about elderly care in Japan, and getting more experience in helping with massage and other types of assistance. She asked me what I would do if a person wanted to die even if they were not physically ready to do so. I said that I would encourage the person to accept life and death as part of a whole, and that if he or she would benefit from not dwelling on death, but trying to fully experience life until death comes. She told me that her grandmother is depressed and that she wants to die even though she does not show physical signs of dying. She asked me if I would take care of her grandmother every day to help her through the suffering. I had to tell her that I have a very busy schedual, and that I am still a beginner in healing. I said that I could only afford to visit the home one day a week, but that I would do my best to help in any way within my capabilities. I told her that i would talk to my adviser on Monday, and then we could arrange the logistics of me helping at her facility.
Kobayashi-san was very excited that I was interested in helping there as well, and she kept thanking me over and over again. she said that it is very important that I visit more places than only Hanasaka-so. I could not stop a tear coming to my eye for all the help that she is giving me in finding my path.
On Friday night I went to Kyudo practice where the next big change happened. My sensei told me that my form was beautiful, and presented me with my first practice arrow. The difficulty of the form increased three-fold with the presence of the arrow. First of all, it is hard not to get a little nervous that I might slip and let the arrow fly into God know what. On top of that, trying to be aware of every aspect of the form, form the stance, to the grip on the bow, to the positions of my arms, the opening of my chest, and the collecting of ki in my hara, was challenging. The grip of the arrow it the drawing hand changes a little too, and the hand mush be laterally rotated slightly to ensure that accidents do not happen. Practicing the way of the bow takes every ounce of my attention and consentration to perform, and yet I am still not able to focus on the target during the movements. I am only starting to realize the intricacies of this art, and am not yet able to fathom the difficulty once there is a traget to hit that is 28 meters away. I think that soon I will be able to shoot at the practice target four feet away, but now my hands are quite full with just learning how to hold the arrow.
Yesterday was another full day. I spent the entire day at Hanasaka-so bathing people, giving massages, and eating a fantastic lunch. Just before people starting going home, Kobayashi-san called me into her office. She told me that she had something to teach me. She brought out many pamphlets with pictures of people lying in caves and on top of rocks. She said, with great difficulty and the help of a dictionary, that this healing method was a way that I might be able to put my intentions of helping people to use. She said it was "rock power", and pointed to a sentence in katakana. I sounded it out, minus ion medicine. She explained that in Austria and in Hokaido, Japan researchers have found that certain geothermally heated rocks have the capability to heal many ailments, and even cancer. The process is through negative ion transmission, and people have started making their own healing rock beds with certain types of rocks to heal people. She said that I could be able to spread this knowledge in other places. She said that it is important to try for peace and compassion in this world, and that there are so many people killing eachother that it is important to help people to try to find peace. It seems so simple now, but when she was telling me this there was passion and intensity coming from her, and each word was such a struggle that the meaning was coming from a different place. The words only ensured that I would not loose track of what she was trying to convey. She asked me to study this type of healing so that I might be of use to this world and help to spread peace.
Later that night, I went out to a bar with some of the employees of Hanasaka-so to watch Japan vs. Latvia in a world cup soccer match. It was a great time, and I think that I used every single japanese word in my repetiore. After the game I took them over to the reggae bar, Rub a' Dub, for some dancing. None of them had ever danced to Reggae before, so I had to teach them a little about listening for the drum because the music is so different form other types. It was a blast, and I was glad to build a few more friendships.
Today, I am focusing on papers and schoolwork, which is a little sad because the day is so beautiful. I have been moving so much from one activity to another that I have not had time to sit down and write my papers or do research for my independent study, so today I have to focus.
I hope that you all are well, and life is still interesting. I am sending out my love to all my people, and especially my new cousin, Brianna.

Forgot the Maitaki

2005-10-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

These mushrooms are priced at 10000 yen for a small bunch, which translates to approximately $100. I have not tried them yet, for obvious reasons.

A Few Photos for your Viewing Pleasure

2005-10-05T12:37:00.000-04:00

Buddha Statue, Water Dragon, Angry Kami, Expensive Mitaki ($100), Kiyomizu Temple (my favorite because it has natural springs everywhere, and Kiyomizu means praise water)

What's Going Down in Kyoto?

2005-10-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

It has been a few days since I wrote anything about the activities here, so here goes a little update. Time has been flying by because of such a busy schedual with classes and independent study. Learning Japanese is a slow process, but interacting with the elders and the Kyudo senseis allows for practice of the new words learned. Communication is still limited to very simple words though, and I am just starting to realize when I say something that is not very polite. For example: I learned yesterday that it is very impolite to say the word nan (what) to anyone who is higher than the sepeaker, like a sensei. Just the day before that I had asked the top sensei in our dojo, "Sensei no namae wa nan desu ka?" (What is your name, sensei?) He looked at me a little strangely, but answered my question. He is a level 8 in Kyudo, which means that he is one of the top 15 Kyudo participants in the whole world. I guess he realized that I did not know any better, but that was not very respectful of such an accomplished person.
I have been learning so much in Kyudo. Each day I attend the dojo, I learn something new. I have been working on my grip of the yumi (bow) lately. It is very imporant that only the base of the thumb, the index finger, and the base of the pinky finger should come in contact with the grip, so that the release can be smooth and the bow can rotate in the hand as the arrow takes flight. This is very hard to learn when the language understanding is almost nil. There is a lot of mime, and some very basic descriptive words. I often hear the word, muzukashi (difficult), in the descriptions. I am really loving that activity, and hope to find a dojo in NY when I am there in the spring. There are also dojos in Seattle and Boulder, so hopefully I will be able to continue the practice later on too. I think that I am almost to the point where I can use the arrow for practice in my form, which will be another big step in the journey of shooting.
I have been going to Hanasaka-so, the elderly home, a couple times a week, and I really love that too. I use various methods of communication to interact with the members there, from Japanese, to writing on an eraseable board, to asking the nurse to help me translate. It is really funny communicating with Kobayashi-san because her english is very limited. I have been trying to help her order these chiballs (colored balls for excersize and increasing the chi circulation) from Australia. It is probably a hilarious sight to see us talking because we have to be so animated to understand eachother.
Last week I started bathing the old men as well as massaging the members. I really love it because it is like taking care of a baby with the same gentleness; although, I had to shave Mishima-san on Saturday, and I am not very practiced as you might have guessed. He ended up taking the razor from me, and teaching me how to shave. It was hilariously embarassing to have to be taught how to shave at age 22. I have done it before, but I usually cut myself and it takes a long time. He is one of my favorite people at the home because he is so animated. He has severe Kiphosis (bent thorasic spine), but is a lively soul. He really loves singing time. At 3:30 everyday the folks get together for singing, and he starts passing out the lyrics at 3 o'clock in anticipation. He is an old Taiko drummer, so he gets out a small drum to play during the songs. He has a little trouble singing because his dentures keep falling out, but that does not stop him. I have had to learn a couple of the traditional songs they sing, but it is pretty muzukashi. They have been nice enough to write them all out in Hiragana rather than Kanji, so that I can at least sound out the words. They even had me teach them a song, but I am a horrible singer so they got the butchered version of summertime, my favorite lullaby. I have been asking some of the students who are musicians to come with me, so that I don't have to be the focus musically. I love music and really love listening to people sing, especially Eva, but I do not think the song writers would appreciate my terrible renditions of their art.
School definately keeps me busy with writing and studying, so it is hard to get out much, but I have been hiking every weekend to maintain my sanity. Last week, my friend, Chen, from Kyudo came along. We had a great time tromping through temples and forests. There were some very large Japanese cedar that had ropes around them signifying that they are sacred. It is so wonderful that this culture respects beauty and nature so much. Well, that is all for now, but I will make an effort not to let it go so long next time.
Sayonara

First Step in Kyudo

2005-09-27T10:22:00.000-04:00

Today, I made the fisrt noticeable progress during Kyudo keiko-practice. Mita-sensei approved of my technique with the practice rubber thingy, and he picked out the first yumi-bow- that I will be using. It is a ten-kilo bow, which means that it is a beginner's bow. It is important to get the form down with the beginner's bow before one can move to a higher tension bow. I still shake quite a bit when in Kai-full draw stance-even though it is only ten kilos. I am working on my form as well as learning how to focus my energy in my hara. It is important in Kyudo to expand the hara with each breath, and when the archer is ready for hanare-release-all of that stored ki should go into the shot. To accomplish this feat the movements between stances must be in harmony with the breath, and with complete relaxation. I have such a long way to go, but it is really fun to practice all of these things. I am definately looking forward to the day when I can shoot the arrow at the practice target even though it is only four feet away. I saw one other student reach that point, and on her very first shot she hit her forearm with the string, putting a large welt on her flesh, a worthy would I would say. I have a long way to go until my form is good enough to reach that point, but I am already showing the signs of future Kyudo calusses. It is all very exciting.

The Self

2005-09-24T04:15:00.000-04:00

How about those blue eyes?

Kamagasaki: A Trip into the Uncomfortable

2005-09-22T09:56:00.000-04:00

Kamagasaki is a section of Osaka that is not normally part of most people’s image of Japan. It is the largest slum, or economically depressed community in all of the country. There are more than 25,000 men in the low income bracket, which means that they are either homeless, or are living in low income housing. The only work that is available is day labor. Each day between 4:30 and 7:30 in the morning vans and trucks file into a labor assistance facility called Airin, and seek capable workers for mainly manual labor. On average, they offer approximately 2,700 jobs, a small number in comparison to the people in need. The employers post job descriptions and pay scales for the job. In some cases the employer will hire a recruiter to entice young strong workers. In those situations, the recruiter acquires a percentage of the worker’s pay, which is normally between 10,000 and 16,000 yen per day. In the US that would be considered sufficient wages to rise out of poverty, but with the high cost of living, inconsistent work, and overpriced deposits for housing in Japan that amount makes gaining economic status extremely difficult.
A major problem for the residents of Kamagasaki is the increasing aging population in Japan. The majority of the men living in the community are in their middle age or older. This makes it difficult to get a job requiring intensive physical labor. On top of that, not getting work lowers moral, which many resort to heavy drinking. Alcoholism contributes further to the difficulty of acquiring work because employers do not want workers who cannot perform in a satisfactory manner due to shaking, blurred vision, or nausea. On the second floor of the Airin building there were hundreds of men sleeping on the concrete in the late morning of a weekday with the smell of sweat and alcohol wafting through the air.
There were a few social programs committed to helping these men. One large nonprofit organization the group visited was committed to assisting the unemployed getting back on their feet. This organization provided meals, tight sleeping quarters, toilets, and shower facilities. They even offered 270 jobs a day in which workers maintain the upkeep of the community by sweeping, picking trash, and separating recyclables. They provided those jobs with the intent of helping those residents who could not acquire work with the day laborers. Most of these men had handicaps, were past middle-aged, or had problems with alcoholism. They received over 3,000 applications for these 270 jobs. In order to compensate, they put employees on a ten-day rotation, or in other words they work once every ten days. The pay for that work was 5,600 yen per day, a severely inadequate amount if that was the only work for the men. Unfortunately, the NPO was offering everything they could within their budget.
The affordable health facilities for the unemployed were inadequate as well. The one free hospital could hold only 130 patients. The need for more healthcare was so great that NPO’s provided special free housing for injured or ill residents. The shortage of healthcare is not due to too few hospitals, but to the discrimination and highly expensive costs at other facilities. On average, one night in a hospital costs over 5,000 yen, and when the administration or doctors find out where the patients are from the care ends up being half-assed, to put it bluntly.
Attending an East Asian Studies field trip in this community consisted of traveling from one social help organization to another while passing rickety venders, trash, offensive scents of urine, homely old men lingering in the street, and many other sights unthought-of in Japan. The guides, Mami-san and Brian Cloud, asked that the students not take pictures, or stare at the residents, but even after living in India for nine months where poverty, suffering, and deformities were prevalent it was a difficult task not to gawk. Even though there was such an obvious distinction between the American students wondering through the streets with wide open eyes of fear and discomfort and the hordes of unemployed men living their normal lives there was not a single incident of confrontation, or even negative vibes. The students were accepted with mainly uninterested notice except for a bare few who said hello, or, “where are you from?”
The last organization visited was an after-school program for underprivileged or learning disabled children. This place, like many other social work facilities in the community, was started by a Christian in the early sixties. The current director, Mami-san, was the wonderful woman who guided the class through the maze of streets, welfare facilities, and cardboard kiosks. She dedicated her work to the welfare of underprivileged children in her community. The mission with this program is to give those children a safe place to play, and socialize with adults and other children. She believed that a major problem with the treatment of the lower social classes, and disabled peoples in Japan was that they were separated from the larger community, and considered outcasts. That type of separation also creates difficulties for the underprivileged to interact with others in life. She provided that safe environment to teach people how to socialize with each other with acceptance and grace. It was truly beautiful to see someone with such an honorable and compassionate dream.
The last section of the expedition consisted of exploring the red-light district that was adjacent to Kamagasaki. This was perhaps the most dehumanizing aspect of the trip because of the displayed women selling their bodies to desperate men. Each stall had two women sitting, and waiting for the next customer, one scantily clad behind bright neon spotlights, and the other older with shrewd eyes staring the young western men down as they passed. It was one large city block lined with stall after stall advertising in kanji, “Beautiful Princess” and “Precious Jewel”. The group was told that until approximately one hundred years ago the area was surrounded by a twenty-foot wall imprisoning the young women indebted to the brothel owners, for one reason or another. There was still evidence of the wall, but there were stairs on one side, and an open gate on the other.
To say the least, the trip was a view of desperate situations that exist even in a strong economic country like Japan. It was a chance for the students to see suffering first hand, smell the offensive odor of stale urine, come into contact with social programs that work on the “getting your hands dirty” level, and finally realize the humanness and similarities of all people. These are folks that have come into bad times, but their situation should not be dealt with by thinking of their otherness. Humans need to feel the responsibility for each other and the world’s sustainability.

Updates

2005-09-21T03:50:00.000-04:00

It has been a little while since I have posted anything, so I thought that I should give a run down on my experiences in Japan because a lot has happened. Last week I started going to a Kyudo dojo, which is a school for Zen archery. The first two hours on Friday were spent trying to convince the sensei that I should be his student. This was needed because of the short time that I will be studying. He said that it normally takes one year of study to reach the level in which one is able to properly shoot at the target, which is twenty-eight meters away. He said that the previous westerners that have studied there had been under the impression that they could become masters quickly. "This dojo is very strict and prestigious," said Seto, the translator. I was not going to take no for an answer, and told him that I wanted to study kyudo in order to improve my focus, and discipline for my life rather than become a master at kyudo. He thought that it was a sufficient answer, and had Seto help me fill out the application form. On saturday, I went back to watch a tournament that happens once a month between the higher level practitioners of the dojo. It was fabulous to watch the grace of the participants, especially the women. i think that this art requires a calm grace that women naturally have. The sensei's are all men, and they were the winners, but I thought the women had a step ahead in the beauty of the shot. Yesterday was my first lesson. I first learned the proper ways to sit, bow, and pray to the kami. Next, I was taught the hassetsu, or eight stages of shooting. I was told to memorize each one, and be able to bring them forth naturally. Then, I practiced drawing the practice rubber band back. My form was terrible! I was told that I need to breath from my center because that is where the strength comes for the motion. He said that all of my ki is up in my chest, and not down in my tantien. With each breath the stomach should expand without shrinking on the exhalation. This is not so easy. "In kyudo, it is very important to find a rhythm," said Chen, a Japanese born Chinese man who so kindly explained the sensei's words. After that I tried and tried, but have yet to pull the band back without shrugging my shoulders or arching my back.
On saturday morning, I made my second visit to the Elder home, Hanasaka-so where I am doing service. I received the same type of applause upon arrival, and jumped right into attempting communication with my limited vocabulary. There were two young employees there who spoke some english, so they translated the things I did not know. After another delicious lunch of fried tofu stuffed withmushrooms and veggies, cooked napa cabbage, cucumber, fish, and daikon salad, miso soup, potato salad with chives and raisins, and rice with chesnuts, I started giving massage. I gave ten massages between 12:30 and 4PM. It was tiring, but they were so happy to be touched. One lady had an adhesed shoulder girdle, which just needed a little stretching and touch. After the massage she could lift her arm above her head, and was so happy that she gave me a hug with numerous arigatou's. I wish that every problem was that easy to help. Kobayashi-san said that I did a great job, and insisted that she pay me for my work from then on. I refused, but she would not take no for an answer. She even told my school that she would not take no for an answer. It will not be much, but I am very happy for the help. It will be more than enough to cover the cost of kyudo lessons, which is a relief because of the high cost of living.
On Sunday, Dan and I went on another hike, which was much easier this time. We went up Daimonji, which is a mountain overlooking Kyoto, and has a giant kanji for "big" The symbol has many fire pits all along it which are lit during festivals. On the way up we came upon a waterfall that has a shower stall built of stone at the bottom. I took off my cloths, and jumped in, cool and refreshing! I later learned that spot is a place of pilgrimage for monks all over Kyoto to purify themselves in the dead of winter. supposedly they stand under the falls, and pray with fridged water pouring over them. Kind of like the sacred polar bear club, I guess. Later on in the hike my camera broke, which really sucks because I have been averaging about twenty photos a day. It puts a damper on the visual documentation, but atleast i was smart enough to save the receipt and warrenty. I am going to try and find a cheep replacement in the meantime.
lastly, monday was our final in survival japanese. It was long and arduous, but I got a 98%!!! I think that is my best grade ever in a language test. Shit I kyudo right now! got to go.

Happy Harvest Moon

2005-09-18T20:48:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy lately with Japanese class, the elderly home, kyudo practice, and writing papers. I do not have any long stories of my adventures to add right now, but here are a few pictures taken lately. They are of our Sumie-ink painting class, a kyudo tournament, and some kirpuscular rays in the Kyoto sky. Enjoy.

First Experience with Japanese Elder Care

2005-09-12T08:05:00.000-04:00

Today, I was invited to go along with my fellow classmates, Chris and Maya, to an elderly home, and observe Chris perform a concert on the traditional Japanese harp, the Koto. Their landlord, Ms. Kobayashi is also the owner of the elderly home. I had my advisor, Aaron, tell her that I was interested in doing a service project at the elderly home, so I was asked to give a demonstration massage after the concert. I was not expecting to perform, but only to be introduced to the members as someone who would offer massage in the future. The whole experience of the visit was certainly an introduction to elderly care in Japan because of the great contrast with any of the homes I had previously visited. Everything from the food, to the employees, to the facilities, and the community was strangely new.
Kobayashi-san was an amazingly sweet woman with beautiful, compassionate, and patient eyes. She took us, Chris, Maya (Chris’s wife), and I, on a tour of the outskirts of Kyoto, which consisted of gorgeous rice fields, gardens, and lakes surrounded by mountains. The rice paddies were glowing fluorescent green with vitality. She spoke with an almost infinite amount of patience; although, I could understand very little. Chris did his best to be the translator between us. I did my best to explain my interest in elder care, but I think that more understanding will have to come out of my commitment to service.
The members of the home greeted us with the utmost warmth and hospitality when we walked in the door. We were ushered over to a table with a spread of food that could not be compared against elderly homes in the states. There was miso soup, fried tofu filled with cheese and topped with sauce and sprouts, orange squash with tender ricotta style cheese, a carrot, asparagus, and raisin salad, and cool oolong tea. It was delicious and delicate, and definitely the best miso soup that I have ever tasted.
After eating our fill, Kobayashi-san offered a room for Chris to tune his Koto, and gave Maya and I a tour of the facility. It was elegantly simplistic, yet more than adequate in amenities. There was even an outdoor fire pit, and garden area, which had okra, tomatoes, blueberries, shiso, mint, eggplant, a persimmon tree, and more. I could not have been more excited about the connection to nature. It was the type of place that any of us would like to end up in when we get old.
When returning to the common room we saw that it had been transformed from a dining space to a concert hall with open floor space, golden folding screens, and a flowering plant. Chris was given the floor, and he performed beautifully to my untrained ears, anyway. His last number was what I thought must have been the national anthem, or something like it because everyone was singing along. They actually had him do four encores with everyone singing!
Next, I was asked to introduce myself, which meant I actually had to use most of my new phrases from survival Japanese. Chris did his best to fill in the parts that was not in my repertoire. I ended by asking how many people had ever received massage, which was answered by about five tentative hands. Then Kobayashi-san asked if I would give a demonstration massage, so they all could see what exactly it was that I did. I accepted, rather shyly, and one of the men was asked if he would like to be the guinea pig. Chris told me later that he said, “That sounds very nice, but I don’t think it is for me.” After a little hesitation, one lady volunteered, which I noticed was one of the people whose hand had been raised in response to my question. I gave her about a ten-minute shoulder, head, and hand massage. She seemed to love it, and said that she was filled with good feeling afterwards (translated by Chris). I also think it was a success because I saw a lady massaging her own arm after I did the demonstration.
The formality of the introductions and concert were given up after the demonstration, and the real fun began. The employees handed out sheets with songs on them, and everyone took part in singing a couple different numbers. One of them was a song about rowing down a river, and it was accompanied by rowing motions with yellow scarves. It was a beautiful sight to see everyone, including a woman of 97 years, singing and rowing along. The other song that they sang was a drinking song traditionally sung by geisha. People seemed to really enjoy that one as you might have guessed.
Before we left they served tea, which consisted of sliced cantaloupe, a sweet bean candy, and a grape that was meticulously opened to the shape of a flower, and quartered. Those snack were accompanied by cool oolong tea. As I said before, the quality of food was outstanding, which was a relief to see in a place of our elders.
Throughout the experience I was continually surprised by the quality of treatment that the clients received. I look forward to continuing this exploration of Japanese Elder Care next Saturday when I return to build relationships with these folks, and offer a service of massage and anything else asked of me.

A Few Pictures of the Sunday Trip

2005-09-12T03:06:00.000-04:00

These photos are of some farms that are on the outskirts of Kyoto, and a pics of Chris and Kobayashi-san.

Shodo Pics

2005-09-10T01:55:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics of the class.

An Exploration of Shodo, Japanese Calligraphy

2005-09-10T01:42:00.000-04:00

The first Area Studies class of the semester was an introduction to Shodo, the art of calligraphy. This type of calligraphy is not the type that we know of in the west; although, there are some similarities such as learning about precise hand-eye coordination. The other similarity is that it is comparable to the more ancient style of writing. A number one difference comes when considering the language from which both types of calligraphy are derived. In the hand-out that we received prior to the class there is an explanation of the language differences The paper explains the profundity of this type of calligraphy as such: Of the three different kana (alphabets) Kanji is the one preferred and most frequently used in Shodo. The other two kana, hiragana and katakana, are used in similar manners as our alphabet in that they are phonogrammic, or the symbols correspond directly to a sound. Kanji, on the other hand, are ideographic, which means that they simply convey meaning. The English language as well as other western languages is also phonogrammic, which means that the same difference exists between English calligraphy and Shodo as the former two kana and Kanji. This distinction can lead to the understanding that the art form is more than simply technical mastery, but has intellectual and spiritual depth. To convey this idea there should first be a little more explanation of the background of kanji, the practice of Shodo, and my experience of attempting Shodo.
Kanji was brought to Japan from the motherland, China. As explained earlier, kanji, the Chinese written language is made up of ideographic characters rather than phonographic symbols. Consequently, the order of comprehension does not have to go from symbol to sound to meaning, but simply from symbol to meaning. This is where the real depth of the art can be understood because the symbols are meant to be innately evocative. The handout had the example of mountain in the form of English versus Kanji, which in English is m-o-u-n-t-a-i-n, and the meaning is then understood by recognizing the sound. In kanji the sound is yama, but the symbol represents the idea of a mountain, so it is supposed have the innate meaning of mountain. In explaining the practice one might be able to understand the depth of why this is such a major difference.
A Shodo practitioner does not simply sit down, and start writing/painting. There are specific meditative practices that are involved when attempting Shodo. The handout explains it as such: “The calligrapher’s mind must be clear and relaxed-meditative. He must be centered, breathing deeply from his hara, the gut and center of ki. Then, he allows the idea of the kanji he is about to paint to enter his mind. He does not think of the form of the character yet; first he imagines and feels the idea that it represents. His mind becomes, for example, the mountain, and only then does he execute with precision and spirit the simple character of yama.” (Page 4) Just in observing the process of the practice of Shodo one might start to understand the depth of how each different person may interpret the symbol in various ways even though it is only one symbol with specified stroke orders.
The paper denotes the common misunderstanding that westerners may have about the creativity in Shodo. The differences in ideas about creativity are quite large between the east and west because in the common western arts there is allowance for “an infinite possibility of subject matter.” (Page 3) In Shodo, and other eastern arts, there is a uniformity of the medium and content of the art. The paper explains, “The uniformity of content actually deepens the creativity required to excel in shodo. Technical mastery with the brush is only the first step. For the image to come alive, the calligrapher must imbue the image something of his soul, his creative energy.” (Page 3) This conflict between types of creative energy can be put simply, freedom from form versus freedom in form. Both are valid, and both are incredibly hard to achieve.
Our class on Shodo consisted of receiving a very simple introduction to the materials, the beginning brush strokes, and a few examples of kanji of the elements, fire, water, wind, and earth. Our teacher, Oko, was a soft-spoken woman with an amazingly steady hand, and an encouraging demeanor. I spent the first two hours trying to do the basic brush strokes, which were much, much harder than they appeared. Even when painting simple vertical and horizontal strokes I had difficulty. Next, I attempted writing my name in katakana, and lastly I painted the kanji of the elements. I felt strong connections to the kanji of wind and water, which makes sense due to my Aquarian lineage. Having read and understood the guidelines for identifying quality shodo, I was not able to produce anything that I found satisfactory, but it was fun to be in art class again. When later I was telling one of my classmates about my difficulty, she reminded me that becoming good at shodo not only requires technical mastery, but years of mental discipline. I felt a little better after being reminded of that, and could reside in the simple enjoyment of participating in such an ancient art.

Picture of the Day

2005-09-06T00:31:00.000-04:00

It has been raining for the past three days, so travelling is somewhat limited, but I have been going to class and went out to dinner with some students last evening. This picture was taken yesterday morning. I heard some sort of chanting and went outside to see what was happening. There were several monks walking up and down the street calling out something in Japanese. I wonder what they were saying. Plus, it was raining very hard at the time.

Weekend Adventures

2005-09-05T01:07:00.000-04:00

One of my friends from CU is here in Japan, and he has been emailing me since he got here. On Saturday evening he showed up in Kyoto, and we decided that we would check out the nightlife of the town. I had heard about a Reggae bar called Rub a’ Dub. I had gotten directions from this Japanese girl who spoke very good English. The only problem was that the directions were a little erroneous. We spent about an hour and a half looking for the place, and asking directions until we met someone who knew of the reggae bar. It was down in a basement with grungy walls. The bar was covered with shanty style corregated metal roofing. The music was great, and they even had jerk chicken on the menu. We left the bar at 11:05, and soon found out that the buses stop running at 10:46. We ended up walking about five miles back to the dorm.
The next morning we went out for a hike that was described in this book called Hiking in Japan. It was listed as easy, so I thought that it would be a good one to start with. We took a buss from Kyoto up to Kiyotaki, a small village just northwest of the city. The town is in a very narrow valley, along a river, and has many traditional style homes and inns. After walking through the town the trail started up the hill, and up, and up. We walked 4.5 kilometers straight up this mountain called Atago-san. At the top was a beautiful Buddhist temple that seemed to have the theme of wild boars, inuishi. The carpentry was exquisite with carvings of animals, and gorgeous timber-framing. The whole temple smelled of cedar wood.The top of the mountain was cold, rainy, and in the clouds. There were virgin cedars all around, and some that were about ten feet in circumference. After visiting the temple we asked the local monk which way the next part of the trail was, and he answered by telling us that it was very dangerous with a narrow trail, many connecting trails, and bears. I had prayed for our trip to be safe, so I took his warning as an omen not to try and go the next 10K down the other side of the mountain. Plus, by that time the rain was coming down in torrents, so headed down the way that we had come. Once down the mountain we took a lovely swim in the river, which had numerous schools of fish, and even a turtle. The hike was hard, but it made me excited for more hiking in Japan.

A Response to the Issue of Cultural Contradiction

2005-09-01T22:25:00.000-04:00

One of the last comments included the anonymous person's fear of Japan because of the contradiction of oppression and beauty. I feel that in every culture there are inherent contradictions In India there was a big thing about purity and pollution being an important awareness, but people would spit, shit, piss, and litter all over public places. On one occasion I went to B.R. hills, which is a tribal region in southern India. The guide took our class to this sacred grove deep in the forest where there was a three-thousand year old tree. People from that tribe had been worshiping Shive there for over a thousand years, but there was thrash littered on the forest floor not a hundred meters away.
Another scenario is to look at women and women's rights in the USA and also how foreigners think of US women. I mean, we seem to have come so far with putting women on an equal playing field, but we just contradict that with objectifying them through thier anatomy and sexual appeal. Or we make it so hard for women to feel comfortable with thier bodies and body wieght by having so much media and advertisements that tell women how they should look. I feel that many american women have lost thier dignity by following the social standards of vanity. I distinctly remember being in India with my mother, and listening to her say, "I am never wearing khaki shorts again." This was after seeing a group of western tourists walking by. The women in India are more oppressed than in any other place than I have been, but they carry themselves with so much dignity and beauty that they look good no matter what shape and size they are. I have not yet been to any middle eastern countries yet, but that is my experience so far.
The whole point here is that yes there are inherent contradictions, but if you limit yourself from visiting a culture because you don't agree with a certain part of it then you are just being hipocritical and narrow-minded. Life is about seeing, and not seeing good or bad, but just seeing (and experiencing). But, you can choose what you want to do.
One more thing, I met a girl yesterday named Keiko, and she had spent one year in Ohio for an exchange program. She said that in Japan people think of America being this perfect place because so many of them have visited NY and LA. She said that the truth is that you don't really see america unless you get into middle america and the more blue collar areas. I thought that she was really insightful with that observation. I asked her what her favorite and least favorite things about the US were. She said the beauty and diversity were her favorite things, and people being two-faced was her least favorite thing. How about that contradiction?

Touring Temples

2005-09-01T00:26:00.000-04:00

The last few days have been spent touring around Kyoto. One of our assignments before the semester starts is to follow specified routes around the city to familiarize ourselves. Yesterday a couple of my dormmates and I went on a tour that involved visiting two temples, and walking down Testugaku no Michi (the philosopher's path) the latter is a major part of Kyoto's fame because it is a path beside a canal lined with cherry trees. In the the spring it is supposed to glow with cherry blossums. At this time of year i found the two temples that we visited to be much more beautiful because of the exquisitely manicured gardens and the stunning archetecture. I am definately the most facinated when visiting these places. the city is a little less exciting, but shopping for and eating food is also really fun and engaging. Well, I think that the pictures will say much more than I can explain.

pictures of tour

2005-08-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

A Self-Guided Tour in the neighborhood: Kyoto

2005-08-28T23:05:00.000-04:00

I started my tour of the neighborhood on Saturday, August 26th at 8:50AM. It was the second day of this Japanese adventure, and my first escapade out into the streets of Kyoto alone or without spoken directions. I say spoken directions because I have realized throughout my educational career that I learn much better from people than I do from books. Just the day before I had successfully negotiated my way to the center from the dorm, and back to the dorm from Nishioji dori after being given my first lesson in Japanese food from Chris. On both of those occasions I had been given auditory instructions. On the self-guided tour I had to decipher the EAC guidebook as well as find each of the highlighted locations and take or have my picture taken. This might not seem like much much of a task to some of you, but for me there is difference between hearing vibrations and giving them meaning, and seeing symbols which need to be found in their intended manifestations. I think part of it is that I trust my hearing better than I do my vision unless of course the sound is my mother’s voice, and I have done what every irresponsible and disrespecting son does, which is to have selective hearing with her. Anyway, let us get on with the story of the neighborhood exploration.
There was major difference between touring the unknown land of India, and touring the unknown land of Japan. That difference, for me, was the humor found in Japan. In India it was very hard for me to get past the difficulty of getting around, the confusing cultural difference from my own, all of the trash, dogs, cows, and most importantly the sight of suffering people. All of those sights and experiences added to a constant feeling of hardship. I don’t really remember laughing much while I was there. On the other hand, this tour of my local neighborhood firstly produced laughter and entertainment, and secondly some squinting from sunlight, which made me look made in some of the pictures. There was one occasion that was not so pleasant, which consisted of a security guard at Izumiya’s reprimanding me rather loudly for photographing the large selection of prepackaged sushi. I was just thinking that my friends and relatives would feel a similar amount of amazement and mouthwatering, but I think he might of thought I was from a rival store trying to steal their ideas, or maybe not. I could not really understand anything except the loud voice, and aggressive arm motions. I certainly won’t be taking any more photos at retail locations unless I am absolutely sure that no one will see, or I think that the risk and reprimand are worth the visual documentation. I laugh when recalling this experience, but at the time I felt somewhat similar to what a child or a puppy feels when the parent/master scolds it in a harsh tone with unknown words. As you might have noticed, I also had a similar reaction to those archetypal characters of don’t do unless I think I can get away with it. I guess I have not fully achieved the adulthood expected of me, and probably never will.
I have explained the one uncomfortable situation, but have not yet depicted some of the humorous situations. Let me just forewarn you that my fellow classmate, Amanda, did not find the same humor in the following sights, so if you are not prone to laughing about cultural differences, language mistranslations, and the quaintness of this culture please excuse me while we take this interlude into my psyche. The first laugh that I received from the tour was found in professional uniforms. There were construction workers with MC hammer pants, towels on their heads, and work boots with big toes separated from the rest of the toes. There was some sort of inspector wearing seventies athletic shorts (the ones that are extremely short, tight, and have a stripe down the side), a t-shirt, and a hard hat. I found the police officer uniforms to be hilarious because they reminded me of the trundle-bundles (those one piece suits that have the dangerous genital catching zippers in the front) that my parents used to put us to bed in when we were small.
The next amusing sight came shortly after the inspector with short pants. Within a five minute walk from the Kitamoto dorm is a large dirt field surrounded by a fence with soccer goals, and two small shrines at the gate. Inside of the fence were about thirty sixtyish people playing some sort of golf/croquet game. The course consisted of several different flags. There was a long white line on the ground leading between the starting point and a flag with a basket-like structure at the bottom of it. The players would hit a colored plastic ball with a large ended putter. I did not watch for very long, but I gathered that they would continue until the ball was hit into the basket. I thought that this game looked very fun. I love to play lawn games like bacci, croquet, frisbee, and hacky-sack. Even though it seemed that there were not any young players participating, I hope that I can some day join the activities. I think that I could bring some loud excitement to the game.
I found some of the signs here to provoke some vocalized laughter. The first one that tickled my funny-bone was a "Milk Derivery" sign. I know that the confusion between l's and r's for Japanese people is common knowledge, but for some reason when I saw the sign I could not help but giggle. The next sign that made me titter was an advertisement for cricket jelly with a picture of a lemon with eyes and an open mouth. I have not yet investigated what cricket jelly really is, or what correlation there is with it and personified lemons, but the absurdity of the sight was hilarious to me. The last sign that caught my eye was less funny than it was disturbing actually. It was a music and video store that had a quote "Happy times with A&V". Part of the reason it made me laugh was the bluntness of the advertising. I think that the advertisement experts in the states are a little more subliminal with their messages. The other part of the reason that I felt the message affect me was because I have found sanctuary in television before in my life, and after each binge of television I do not feel happy. I usually have more of a drained feeling. Movies that are of high quality in the areas of character development, plot line, moral implications, and beauty are a different story, but I generally throw all of TV watching into the former category. I do not typically think of good movies when I think of TV. I guess that is because most of it is usually pretty bad stuff.
I saw all of this stuff on the way down to the place that I like to call "Japan's answer to walmart, Izumiyza's (the place where I was scolded). That store was five levels of everything from food, to school supplies, to clothing, and home appliances. Walking through the place was just facinating because it was a good depiction of Japanese consumerism. The first thing that cracked me up in there was a geisha doll in the jewellery section that had a large bobbing/bowing head. I actually took a three second video of it, and will show it if anyone is interested.
One of my more pleasent interactions with Japanese people happened in that store, which is pretty funny because it is also the same place that had the strict security guard. I was walking through the home appliance section when I came upon three members of a family sitting in some huge reclining chairs. Upon a closer inspection, it came to my attention that the chairs had oblong arms that the person's arms were inserted into. The chairs turned out to be massage chairs, but not the vibrating type. It was almost as if they were alive, or at least had little people inside of them giving pressure and strokes in different places. At one point I could see a lump rise out of the chair's head rest, and massage the back of of the neck. I just started smiling, and tried asking if I could take his picture. His wife and child started laughing and affirming my request, but he did not seem to be quite as pleased. Finally he agreed, and actually gave me a little smile.
Later on that day I met my classmate, Amanda, on the street, and we decided to go to the Kinkakuji Temple, or better known as "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion". That trip actually stiffled my laughter, but not in a bad way. It was the beauty and serenity that changed my humor into reverence. The archetcture of both building and garden was as beautiful as I had heard before coming to Japan. There were beautiful old trees with moss growing on the northern sides, ponds with perfectly placed islands, and buildings with angles and curves that seem to almost meld the masculine and feminine. I was silenced by the beauty. One sight I found particualrly interesting was the roof of the traditional tea house. It was about eighteen inches thick, and made of grass reeds. The top of it was veiled by a layer of moss. It was exquisit.
After the visit to the temple we decided to continue our tour in the forest behind our dorm. It was definately not as well manicured as the temple gardens, or as old, but there was plenty of beauty to be found from fungus to more gnarled trees. I have decided to do a photo documentation of my new friends the tree monsters throughout this Japanese adventure.
In all I think that I have been given the perspective of the contrast of beauty and corniness that exists here in Japan. Since I have experience with both of those as you might or might not know, it was not very hard for me to tap into those types of observations. Now, as I move into the next part of our four section self-guided tour I will have to watch to see if those viewpoints of humor and beauty are contiguous with my holistic experience of Japan.

Arrival in Japan

2005-08-26T00:09:00.000-04:00

We are having a heat wave that might bring on a typhoon here in Japan. I noticed that many people are carrying around umbrellas, and started thinking that the weather must be unpredictable here. I later found out that there is a typhoon warning, so actually they are all just really prepared.
Other observations: people very into thier styles, mostly modern industrial and technological style archetecture, but there are some exquisite old wooden temples dispersed here and there, I love the rooves here