As the end of my Japan visit kept nearing, I continually pushed back my departure date. I originally meant to stay two months. I extended that to 10 weeks near the end of December and then 12 weeks as I closed in on the 15th of January. The Israel/Gaza situation was getting a lot of press and even more pressure so I ultimately decided that there would be better times to visit Egypt. I was down to Korea, France, and New York for the rest of my trip.
My last month in Japan had stopped being tourism and became more about spending time with the special people I’d met there, specifically Lorna. Halfway through January, I learned that Silvia’s living situation in Korea had become unstable. I decided that since staying in Japan was so appealing already, I would opt to not further complicate her life with my visit. Then, with the US Economy still nosediving, I began to worry about money. I decided that a $1500 ticket to France for a week of spending Euros and another $1200 ticket to New York wasn’t the best idea. My globe trotting trip had stopped at Japan. I pushed my departure date back to the 4th of February. Of course some of these cuts were simply to accommodate my desire to stay in Japan.
There were some notable highlights to my last month in Japan. On the 8th of February, Lorna’s mother Kris and I headed to Osaka’s World’s Fair Park and it’s Museum of Ethnology. The museum contained works of art from countries of the world (excluding North America) and information on how they coordinated to the cultures that created them. I particularly enjoyed demon masks from Southeast Asia and the examples of many of the written languages of the world. There was a machine in Japan’s section which gave an example of all the local dialects of Japanese. Even with my rudimentary Japanese I heard how different the language could be throughout even this small country. The World’s Fair has created a lot of interesting attractions around the world. Most famous is the Eiffel Tower, which is one of the main tourist destinations in Paris. In Osaka, they created the Tower of the Sun. Nowhere near as famous as Eiffel’s tower, but distinctly Japanese in its oddity, it is deceptively tall.
Above all, I realized just how close Osaka and Kyoto are. There are several trains between the two cities, each taking just under an hour. The trip costs less than 500 yen and isn’t an ordeal of any kind.
The day after the Museum in Osaka, I decided to head out on my own in Kyoto. I planned out a trip to some temples on the East side of the city, taking a new subway line I’d never ridden before. I wandered and found a Buddhist garden which cost 400 yen to enter. I felt slightly ripped off as I realized it was extremely small. I ate my lunch on the temple’s step then headed out to wander some more. I next found a much larger temple. This one was much more impressive and also free. While exploring I found a large red brick aqueduct running through the temple. Even more exciting than this, there was a path along the top of it. I walked the path that ran on the edge of the hillside forest without another person in sight. After about 15 minutes, I found the end at the water pumping station and turned back around. I was supposed to meet Will in an hour, but chose to skip the subway back and walked. I realized during the walk that I was recognizing more Kanji characters simply by immersion. Though that immersion was mostly memorizing train stop names.
I met up with Will and everyone else at the Kaikan. Daniel, Will’s friend on a Buddhism study in Japan, was in attendance for his last few days in Kyoto. We all hung around playing video games and drinking combini beers. I missed the last train and headed to the apartment with Will and Daniel, where we cleverly unlocked Will’s old roommate’s room and gained access to a second bed.
The very next day, I revisited my realization of just how close Osaka was. I met with Lorna and Kris to visit Kris’ friend Ronnie in Osaka. We four had lunch, where Lorna and I read her children’s book on the concept of Peace. Afterwards, we met up with some Ronnie’s friends for a Peace demonstration against the Israel/Gaza situation. It was frighteningly cold but many people showed up to support it. I mainly observed, feeling fraudulent due to my lack of reading on the situation. The Japanese police force was there to observe and keep the crowd in line. However, because of the nature of the crowd and the police in Japan, it seemed more like they were a detachment of crossing guards than bracing for trouble.
On the 13th of January, I met up with the Kaikan Krew again to have a goodbye party for Daniel. Daniel had spent 5 months in Japan on his Buddhism study and was scheduled to leave on the 15th. Everyone hung out drinking combini beer and playing video games as usual. Yuya showed up eventually, wine in hand as usual. By the end of the night, another last train had been missed and Daniel was carrying Yuya through the streets as we all walked to our various destinations. It was below freezing for the first time in Japan, and Will slipped on an iced bridge, falling flat on his ass. We continued the long trip back to Shichijo using every other sentence to curse the cold.
Two days later, Daniel and Kris left Japan and I moved from Yodo to Lorna’s apartment. I was sad to leave Hisa and Isamu. Over hot chocolate, Hisa asked if Lorna’s apartment was warmer and I said yes with a grin. She congratulated me on finding a warm room and a warm heart in Japan.
That weekend, on the 18th of January, Lorna and the exchange student association at her university put on a talent show. Lorna performed a traditional Japanese dance in her kimono and was very popular at the reception. I enjoyed it a lot, though my favorite was the Japanese drumming. The performance reminded me of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in China. Drums were brought out on stage and a troupe of middle aged Japanese women (and one American boy) marched out on stage. Two shouts from the troupe leader seemed to transform the sedate women into cheering jumping drummers. They shouted and danced around on the beats, banging out several very energetic songs.
Immediately after the talent show, we headed to a joint going away party for myself, Aki, Momoko, and a few others who were going away in February. To begin the evening we ate and drank at an all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurant. I talked with Kyle, Aki, Momoko, and Yuya and met some new people among their friends. After dinner, half of the group of about 25 people headed to Karaoke. I’d wanted to try it out, so Lorna and I joined them.
Karaoke in Japan is different from America. Each group of friends orders food and drinks, then heads to a private room. There is no stage, and the microphones are passed around. I liked this setup better, as it prevents you from having to embarrass yourself in front of strangers. Watered down “whiskeys” are available for free, but substantial drinks cost more. Most of the time, Japanese kids bring a bottle of whiskey in with them if they want to get drunk. I was surprised how well most of them sang, especially Yuya. Hiroki (who was leaving for South Africa and has a scholarship for rugby) danced and sang his song, giving Dylan a lap dance in the process. I yelled, rather than sang, Cult of Personality. Lorna and I tried to get pictures with each person in the room, missing only a three.
&nsbp;
Things started to settle down after that night. Lorna and I went out for drinks with her friends and with the Kaikan Krew. I made pizza for the family in Yodo. We met up with her friend Haruko in Osaka. We cooked dinner for each other back and forth.
The cold started to let up a little toward the end of January. On the 29th, it was the warmest it had been since early December. I decided to take a walk and headed out for the river. I walked from Demachiyanagi station to Gojo street, which is 5 train stops and took over three hours. Along the way I saw a crane standing like a statue in the water’s current. I saw a young man trying to walk down the side of the river embankment and then fall flat on his face in the weeds at the bottom. He got up pretending like nothing had happened and I may have been the only one to see it. I saw a hobo camp that seemed to be set up to automatically fish in the river. I saw lots of people relaxing on the river’s edge enjoying the warm weather. There are lots of hobo homes built under the bridges along the river, stacked like miniature apartments. It’s so accepted and safe that they leave their chairs and tables out in the open, some even with stereos on them.
At this point it was getting very close to the end of my trip. I wanted to stay longer, but my visa was actually going to expire this time, so I had to go somewhere else. I booked tickets back to America, to New York via Beijing (no, I don’t know) and Los Angeles. I tried to pack in as much time with Lorna as possible.
On February 1st, Lorna and I took a trip to one of the places I hadn’t been able to visit yet; The Arashiyama Monkey Park! The trip turned out to be one of the best things I did in all my time in Japan. The park, or Monkey Mountain as I call it, is essentially just that. You pay 550 yen admission and then start walking up the mountain. You can hear monkeys in the woods and trees above you on the mountain but there are no fences, only signs warning you not to feed the monkeys or look them in the eyes. Close to the top, we began to see the monkeys clearly. Then, we started to see them sitting in the path. It was slightly scary, wild monkeys are not to be trifled with.
At the top of the path is a shack with wired windows. We were welcomed in by the Monkey Park staff. Inside you can buy bits of apple or bags of nuts and other pieces of food. You then walk to the caged windows and hand them out to the monkeys climbing all along the outside of the building. I took close to 100 pictures and several minutes of video. Lorna and I got our picture taken outside with one of the more social monkeys and watched a few monkey fights. Somber looking Japanese people would trudge up to the top while we were there, enter the shack, and instantly fill with joy. Many young girls and children squealed with delight after handing out apples and nuts. It started to get dark, so we headed back down the mountain content with the trip.
After Monkey Mountain, we went to the Kaikan for the last time. Lorna went home a little early to get rest for work the next day. I stayed for a few hours later having combini beers with everyone and engaging in some mischief. I felt like I had made good friends there, simply because of how hard it was to believe I was actually leaving.
I was leaving though. The last few days in Japan were at the same time wonderful and very hard. I plan to go back again this year. I want to see Lorna and all my new friends again. I have spent more time in Japan than I have in any other place outside the US combined. I feel that I’ve learned more Japanese from immersion than I currently remember French from four years in high school. And I feel that my ability to be social and make friends has been rejuvenated. Japan was the best trip of my life.
Because I skipped so much, below is a time line for this entry:
01/08/2009 - Museum of Ethnology in Osaka with Lorna’s mother, dinner & slept at Lorna’s
01/09/2009 - Temples and Aqueduct, Drinking at Kaikan, stayed with Will & Daniel
01/10/2009 - Went with Lorna & Kris to Osaka for lunch & Protest. Stayed the night.
01/11/2009 - Bunraku in Osaka with Lorna & Kris, stayed again
01/12/2009 - Return to Yodo, Nothing more.
01/13/2009 - Searching for Cat5 leads to drinking at the kaikan, stayed with Will & Daniel
01/14/2009 - Woke up at 2, slow day with Will, Dinner with Lorna & Kris, stayed with Lorna
01/15/2009 - Back to Yodo, packed up my things, Cocoa with Will & Hisa, Move in with Lorna
01/16/2009 - Nothing for the day, dinner with Lorna at (place)
01/17/2009 - Relaxing around the house during the day, drinks with Rachel & Cara
01/18/2009 - Lorna’s dance, reception. nomi hodai with Kaikan Crew, Aki & Momoko, karaoke
01/19/2009 - relaxing day, errands, Lorna made me dinner
01/20/2009 - Sleep, Internet, Lorna made me dinner again
01/21/2009 - Nothing of note
01/22/2009 - Nothing of note
01/23/2009 - Walk in Imperial Palace, Flying Keg, Pig & Whistle with Ben, Ian, Ayumi, Rachel
01/24/2009 - Meeting Haruko in Osaka
01/25/2009 - Making Pizza in Yodo
01/26/2009 - Nothing of note
01/27/2009 - Nothing of note
01/28/2009 - Lunch w/Lorna during work, Afternoon snack with Will, Lorna meets up, Kaikan
01/29/2009 - Warm warm day, walked Demachiyanagi to Gojo along river
01/30/2009 - Nothing
01/31/2009 - Drinks at the beer bar with Will & Yuki & Lorna
02/01/2009 - Monkey Park, Kaikan, stayed late for goodbyes, mustaches on posters
02/02/2009 - Rainy half day with Lorna, food shopping
02/03/2009 - Last day with Lorna, Stomach trouble from Mos Burger, Sadness
