To Bathe or not to Bathe...

...sorry for the cliche title!

So, in honor of my parents coming to Japan (mid-March, woo!) I am going to write about the appropriate way to bathe in a Japanese style bath, be it a public bath, an onsen or a private bath at home. I don’t know much about the history of Japanese bathing (okay, so I don’t know anything about the history of Japanese bathing), but it’s a wonderful everyday ritual that I wish would come to America. As many of you might now, I wrote my college application essay on my first Japanese public bathing experience (which was also my first-ever night in Japan).

baths are a steamy place! ^_^

Here is a picture of the bath in the Pension Yamaji. As you can [not really] see there are two faucets, two stools and two basins. There is also a cute bath. The doors you see lead to the outdoor bath (there is a wonderful view of some trees and a road. I have yet to use the outdoor bath…).

The first thing you do is, big surprise, undress. It's bathing 101: you don’t wear your clothes into a bath. Instead, you leave your clothes and towel in a dressing-room cubby. The only thing you need to take into the bath (if it’s a public bath) is a wash-towel: there is always body wash and shampoo provided. If you don’t think you can brave the bath with just a washcloth, get one of those mini-towel sized washcloths, you can hold it half-folded over the body part of choice (my suggestion for the females: cover your top-half. Without being too graphic: Japanese women and Western women have different…skin types).

Once you find a spot to wash (an empty stool and bucket) you can begin your washing. I have NOT (OOPS BIG BAD TYPO) actively watched Japanese women bathe, so I don’t know the exact ritual, but I will tell you how I think it’s done. First, a quick rising of the body using the hose, then a thorough soap-up (with the water turned off), followed by a bucket-full of water to wash it off (Wash ALL of your body, including your…particulars! Make sure you scrub your back and feet as well!). Shampoo, rinse, conditioner, rinse, and finally a quick rinse of the whole body with the hose. They key element in this is getting your body as clean as possible, using as little water as possible. You don’t have to ration it, just don’t keep the hose turned on when you are shampooing, conditioning, etc.

Once you make sure you are all soap-free, rinse off your area, bucket and stool with the hose and line them back up. Then you are free to enter the bath! Sure, there are two other women in the tub but, as I said, you clean off BEFORE you enter the bath. I mean, you’ve gotten in a pool before, yes? At least this way, you know everyone is clean because it’s a public bath.

The bigger baths and onsen will often have more than one bath, so make sure you try all of them! What I like to do is alternate between the hot and cold baths! That’s a really good way to refresh yourself!

ーー

That was mostly for my mother, but hopefully everyone now realizes the extent of my personal hygiene :)

Minakami has been fun! Yesterday I went with my fellow peers (Mary and Ian) to a local Japanese High School! All my wishes have been fulfilled! All the teenagers in their uniforms...What a dream come true! When Mary and I walked in, the first thing I heard was "kakkoii! cho kakkoii!" which means "cool! super cool!". I was very happy. Of course, Ian got the most attention, because he was the tallest person they've ever seen and he's also from Hawaii. I still got a big kick out of all of the boys acting like...well, high schoolers! It was just like American High School (but not like Pembroke the...). We got the usual question "do you have a boyfriend" but were also asked things like "who is your favorite Japanese star" and "what do you want to do in Japan". I answered "Currently, I like Haruna Ai, iuyo nee~" and "I want to get a Japanese part-time job". I think I impressed them ^_^

We also went to "Takumi no Sato" which basically means the traditional crafts village. It's a place, very touristy, that has traditional hand-made crafts such as bamboo weaving, wood crafts and pottery making. We went to the 'Omen no Ie' (Mask House) and painted masks! I chose a hanya, which is a female-demon mask. I may be weird, but I really like it. She's very...scary, in a happy sort of way!

Miss Hanya! I made her red...I was trying to
get a more rusty-brown...it didn't work!
but she's got a wonderful golden smile! :)

Minakami 1

This post is the first of (I hope many) about my "spring practicum". This is a month-long even that the Japan Study Program (the program I am in for my year abroad ^_^) sends it's students on. The purpose is for us to 'experience Japan', under the theory that Tokyo is not Japan (It's the same idea that New York City is the United States...it's not). We are being dispersed all around Japan, but still on the main island. Some are going to Shimane to teach English and United States culture to small-town Japanese children, and others are spending a month in a Buddhist temple, doing all the things monks do (wake up at 4:30 am, pray, eat, pray, clean, pray, eat, pray, etc). Those are just two examples. Needless to say, we are being taken away from our simple, get anywhere you want on a train, shopping anytime-we-want life. It should be interesting.

I started writing this post 2/07.

Today is my first full day at Nakajima’s Yamaji. It’s a small Inn, nestled within the mountains near Minakami-machi in Gunma prefecture. My host father is a trained-chef, who specializes in French cuisine (I believe). I have a brother, Ryota (12) who does Judo and skis, and a sister, Mitsuki, who does piano and skis…all this among other things ☺ they are traditional Japanese children, in that they have many after-school activities. My mother is the lady of the house, and can turn on and off the “Japanese service-lady” voice in an instant, a very admirable skill!

Here is a run down of my first day in terms of a time table:
6:30- Wake up.
7:00- Go to the kitchen for breakfast (a traditional Japanese breakfast)
7:35-Begin washing dishes (our own, and the ones my host-father used to cook)
8:00-The guests come in to eat (today, there were only 7, 2 of them being children)/ I’m still washing dishes.
9:20-Cleaned the men’s bath
9:40- I get a little free time- I use it to clean my stuff out of the room, and move it into the grandparent’s house
10:00-Make beds
10:30-Mop/dust the whole Inn (minus the rooms)
11:30-Coffee with the family (Mama, Papa, Ryota, Mitsuki, Grandma and Grandpa)
12:00 Lunch
12:40- Free time (I watched ‘The Dark Knight‘ ^_^)
15:00ish: Went back to the kitchen, had tea time with my sister. That’s twice today!
16:00ish helped prep food (wrapped pieces of prosciutto around breadsticks -_-) and help prep for dinner.
When dinner came around, I was given ‘drying’ duties. There was a lot of work to be done…we finished around 20:00
20:00ish: eat dinner
21:00ish: fall into my bed after the world’s quickest bath
22:00ish: Asleep

I'm a little shaky on what exactly it is I did that day, as I was so tired. Even now I am so tired, I keep typing in the wrong word (know instead of now, shaking instead of shaky), so I apologize for future (and past) spelling mistakes.

This took me two days to write because 1-I was so tired, 2-I lost power on my computer and 3- I didn’t have a lot of time to myself (when I did, my computer had already run out of battery >.<) So, I just repeated 6:30am-13:0o, except the difference is I had to make 2x as many beds, and do 2x as much dusting. On the bright side, we will not be serving 28 people for dinner tonight, so I have free time until 17:00ish ^___^ I have already taken my shower, and am preparing myself for a nap. I have not had times to take picture of the “pension” , as they call it, but I will include a picture of me in my lovely, lovely (high-fashion for all the grandmothers of Japan) uniform!

I'm in my oss gambarimasu pose. 'oss' is a sound which can mean,
in this case, let's do this! or here i go or it's really just a sound...
gambarimas is hard to translate, you can say it to someone
who is about to run a race, take a test, or do some hard activity/work. It
can mean "fight" or "do your best"

Oh, as I was just writing on my twin's facebook wall...I've been eating some interesting things. Although my host-father is a great chef, schooled in the French culinary arts...He does cook us Japanese style food. We get the simple stuff (Japanese food is very easy to cook), for example...grilled chicken kabobs (called yakitori in Japanese). What sort of chicken, you ask. Well, one was regular old chicken (with the skin included-which I've grown to not hate), and the other was...chicken stomach. The taste was fine, but the texture...I dont like it. I had [three tiny pieces of] it for dinner last night, and this morning I found it in my breakfast. I admire my little sister who was so excited to see we (her parents and I) had it for dinner that she begged for a stick of it. Wow. She gobbled it down!

Okay, that's it. I'm ready for my nap :)

See ya next time...

I'm a little off today...

Hey Gang!

Here's a quick post. I am a little upset right now, because I cannot log into my Earlham email. Was I hacked?! Who would do that, and why? I am convinced I remember my password (I mean, it's been the same one for the past few months...), so I cannot think of any other reason to why. I hope I am just overreacting...

Moving on! Sunday morning around 7am, I was lying in my bed trying to start my day when...There was an earthquake! So far, it has been the longest real earthquake I have experienced (I say real, because I was in an earthquake simulation room a few months ago. We were learning about earthquake safety...It was interesting). My first reaction was "this isn't an earthquake" because my house shakes a lot, due to subways and buses. But, it kept on going. My next reaction was "I should get under my desk". But my bed was soo warm and the air outside of my comforter was cold, a sentiment I'm sure many can relate to. I opted for the warmth which, in retrospect, might have been a bad idea. It turns out, that a volcano in the prefecture north-west of Tokyo erupted. Connection? I think so...

I should also note, that this "prefecture north-west of Tokyo" is where I will be all next month.
(okay, so maybe this volcano is on the border of two prefectures, and is not right next to where I'll be staying...haha!)

Speaking of next month, I guess I should say this month! -_-;;
I will be staying in/near Minakami-machi in Gunma-ken. It's a very mountainous, cold area! I will be working/staying in a small Inn, where I will take the jobs of cleaner, waitress and babysitter. I am really looking forward to it, but I am told it may be a lot of hard work. I will tell you more about it after my first week (assuming I have internet!)

I want to show you one of my favoirite things about Japan, puri-cura. I have no idea what that means, but it's often translated [by us foreigners] as 'instant photo'. You make think this looks like those photo booths in America BUT they are totally different! With this one, you control the background, foreground, flash brightness, etc. You can writine on the photos when you're done, put stamps, change your hair color even!

See those two crazy gaijin (impolite word for foreigners, used predominantly for white/American foreigners)? Yeah, that's me and Caitlin (for those who don't know me, I am on the right, Caitlin is on the left). The first one is...PUNCH. It's hard to read, but the stamp translates to "lovey-dovey" with kissey faces ("raburabu (oVBV) -kiss- (VEVo)" the faces look something like that...) . I wrote "jyanai!!" (think Borat NOOOT!). The second one...we are tomogachi's, those little pet toys? I wrote "poop friends" (unko tomodachi), because I thought it would be funny...and we decorated it with poop stamps. I guess I need to admit I enjoy poop humor sometimes. Another great thing about these instant-photo machines, is that you can send the pictures to your [Japanese] cell phone! That's how I got these ones online. :)

So, that's my post! Sorry I didn't write more, I'm a little off today (why cant I sign into my email?!). I will try to get another post in before I leave for Minakami on Friday!

LYDIA<3

Haircut :)

Yesterday I got my second haircut in Japan. Many foreigners, like myself, find this a daunting task; there are lots of worrisome variables that go into it. How do we convey the cut we want? Will the hairstylist be able to adapt to our hair (it’s thicker/thinner than the average customer). How do we make a reservation?

Okay, maybe everyone doesn’t have these worries, but I do. My advice for those who want a cut in Japan will be fine if they take some of these precautions: First, find a cut you like and bring a picture in. Duh, you say, this is basic advice that applies to your home country too. I know, I know. But this way, you don’t have to try and explain in Japanese. I just point and say, “このようなカット好きです” (“I like this sort of haircut”).　I don’t know any special terms (like layering) in Japanese, so this trick works well! The hairstylist will ask questions, and if you don’t understand, a combination of hand-gestures, broken Japanese and English will pass.

Second, memorize a few phrases. Such as “３センチぐらい”(about three centimeters) or “まかせます” (I’m in your care, i.e. I trust you, do whatever you want). Obviously, these are the phrases I memorized, because my view of hair is that it always grows back, so if the stylist ends up doing something weird, It grows back (I always end up saying things like “please do whatever you recommend” but my styles end up looking just like the pictures. They do a good job, but are not going to be responsible for me crying over a haircut ^__^). This is not really an advice entry, so I’m not going to be giving a lot of Japanese phrases, sorry!

Oh, quickly on the point about making reservations. The first time I got a cut, it was a Tuesday or a Thursday, and I was able to walk into the salon, fill out a membership card, then get a cut. Yesterday we went in and were asked to come back at 1 for a reservation. (If anyone wants to know what I said I said this: 予約がないんですけど、今カットをできますか？ Or something like that. It’s not perfect Japanese, but I made an effort -_-;;. I was trying to say ‘I don’t have a reservation, but can I get a cut?”).

So, the haircut! This time, I had my hair shampooed and…let me tell you. All those rumors you hear about the great service in Japanese salons, well they are true! They spent at least 10 minutes shampooing, conditioning and massaging. The guy who was doing it for me, he kept using super-polite Japanese when he had to move my head, or when he was washing out the shampoo. He was so adorably-polite. I’m glad there was a towel over my head, or else I would have freaked him out with all the weird faces I was making. It was so relaxing! At one point, during the luxurious head-massage, I got this crazy twitch in my leg! What was that all about?

In the end, I didn’t get much of a cut, because I told my stylist that I liked the length (I’m trying to grow my hair out) but I have shorter, strait bangs (no more side-swept bangs!). I like it, it was a little expensive considering how little was cut, but the head massage was worth it! In all, it was about the same price as my American salon cuts at around ￥3600 (around $40). That's the average price for American salons but, as Japanse salons go, that is fairly cheap. I'm very happy with my cut!

Thanks for reading :)
I should post more substantial. Next time? Haha... ^__^

明けましておめでとう！

“Akemashite Omedetoh”

That means ‘Happy New Year’. And what a happy new year it will be, eh? Let’s hear it for the year of the cow! Moo!

A little culture lesson:

Around the start of the new year, stores in Japan like to sell fukubukuro. The kanji is 福袋, and a direct translation is “lucky fortune bag”, but a more descriptive translation might be “bag of mystery”, which is just something I made up, on the spot. Wow. Now, onto the lesson! My observation on the origins of this delightful tradition, is that it stems from the practice of trying to make leftover, un-sold merchandise into something everyone wants. The most popular types of fukubukuro are, of course, clothes bags. Shirts, jackets, scarves, dresses, etc, anything from the past season that has not sold, is put into a bag with anywhere from 2 to 10 (give or take) other objects, and can be priced in the range of 2500 (around $26) yen to 15000 yen (around $160) (again, give or take some). I, of course, partook in this traditional even, purchasing a fukubukuro at a department store in Shinjuku.

My bag was 3150 yen (about $33.50). It looked like this:
What was inside? Well, a lot of stuff. My favorites are my white fluffy cap, and a big sweater, which is really, REALLY big. My least favorite item is the hippy bag from hell (brown, [probably] fake leather, absolutely dripping in fringe). In total, I give it the value of OVER 20000 yen (over $213 dollars), even though there are a few items I would NEVER wear.

1-Ugly Hippy Bag. 2-Leopard-Print Jacket. 3-Long Black Jacket (with fleece lined hood).4-Cute Fluffy Hat!5-Odd, checkered Fleece Coat.6-White Fleece...Jumper (looks like a bathrobe mixed with a wrestling singlet!). 7-BIG/Long Striped Sweater. 8-Long Sweater/Dress. Depends on how you wear it.

Good buy, yeah?!!

Next, I should tell you a little about my trip to Kyoto!

I went with my two [American] friends, Briana and Kathleen. We left at 3pm, December 23rd and returned to Tokyo 10 am December 29th. We used a special [cheaper] ticket, called the Seishun Juuhachi Kippu. Which means somethingsomething 18 Ticket. It’s a little hard to explain (look it up in wiki!!) but basically, I have 5 (non-consecutive) days (24 hr period, ends 12 pm the day you get it stamped) to go anywhere in Japan, using only local lines. So, when we left Tokyo at 3pm, we arrived 8 hours, 5 train transfers later. It was a little stressful, but so much cheaper than Shinkansen! We went to a lot of temples, my favorites were Shimogamo, Kiyomizu and Chioin. I have been to Kiyomizu in the past (four years ago, when I went to Osaka through AFS), but this time it had a different feel, because it was raining! I also went to Kinkakuji this time around, and the show made it absolutely stunning! Check out this picture:

Kinkakuji in the snow! Click on it for a bigger size!
I really like this photo :) Kinkakuji looks good in the snow!!

Being in Kyoto was such a nice change of pace. Tokyo is quite hectic and, especially since I’m a student, there is not a lot of time for me to relax (without worrying about homework and my social life). Kyoto is a fairly big city, but without the big city feel. There are not a lot of big buildings (you can see the mountains from almost any part of the city!), and it’s built on a grid system (so it’s very easy to get around on foot). I was so relaxed! I mean, the hostel was so-so (and our last few nights we had MALE roommates), but going to all those temples, and seeing nature was really a great change!

The scenery at Shimogamo! What a great, winter day!

The rock garden at Ginkakuji. It's so green here!

Most of my money was spent on transportation and lodging, so I didn't leave myself a lot for food/entrance fees. Luckily, my host family gifted me with a little food money, so I didn't have to worry about that. I ended up buying my siblings various charms, hopefully I will send them soon. I know Ann need hers *wink*

Well, take care!

A little bit of culture

Today is SUBWAY culture:

First we start with an anecdote. Well, more like a series of short observations.
For some reason, some people have a hard time finishing their primping in the house. You would be surprised by the number of females I have seen put on their make-up in the train, morning, noon and night. Sure, when the train is super crowded, there’s no way to manage this, but around 9:30 am, when the numbers have died down a little, there is enough space to manage this. I have seen eyeliner applied, mascara, blush, lipstick. You name it, I’ve probably seen it. I watched in amazement as one young lady put her contacts in while the train was moving! Impressive! The most appalling was this morning, around 10 am. I saw a man plucking his chin hairs. I would like to think that he could have shaved at home and saved himself a little bit of embarrassment. But, no, it’s not embarrassing, because in theory, no one is looking at you. I was looking.

Next! We look at the other important etiquette of the trains: Drunken behavior.

Please do not sleep on the trains! They are not your home. I know, they are really, really comfortable, but think of the other guests. Also, think of how embarrassing it is to be this drunk on a train that is probably really crowded.

my rough translation: let's do it at home.
After drinking, please be considerate of other customers

This is one in a series of monthly train etiquette reminders. I apologize for not getting the previous three months, I assure you they were as interesting as this one (One reminded us to be wary of our wet umbrellas, another noted that we probably shouldn’t carry our giant backpacks and eat from our lunch boxes on the train. “Do it in the mountains” is what it said. The final one was along these lines, it showed a group of people drinking on the train, and proclaimed “Do it at the pub!”).
---
On another, totally unrelated not, I chilled with some Earlham friends last week. Two of them were my best Earlham buds, Damon and Mariah! We went around Tokyo, hitting up the cool spots like Harajuku, Akihabara and TOKYO TOWER. It was my first time, and it was pretty cool. We only went up the first observation deck, because it cost extra to go higher. Don’t you like how much I rule my life by my wallet? It is much, much lighter after the past two weeks (I just bought a sweet winter jacket!). Oh, it was also my birthday that week, so they helped me celebrate. Yeah, I’m 21. Probably too old to be blathering away like this. That’s my cue!!

Me, Mariah and Damon. Chilling with some baby-jizos.
Yeah...I'm glad the dude who took this did not run off with my camera!!

OMG ME AT TOKYO TOWER! ^_^

See you next time!

I have many memories...

...but a limited attention span!

First, I would like to apologize. I have been slacking (two weeks or so, yes?). I think what started it was my poor job interview, which only fueled my lack of motivation. After that, the days just sort of blur together, so I’ll just apologize one last time for being lazy.

I would like to start by telling you about a local festival called ‘Tori no Ichi’. As some of you may know, I live near Senso-ji, which is a pretty famous Temple in Tokyo (It is the second most popular place to go on New Year’s Eve!). Between my house and Senso-ji there is another Temple, called Chokoku-ji (as you might have guessed, ‘ji’ means temple. It is held every year in November, on the day of the ‘tori’ (which means bird), i.e. rooster (This year, it was held on the 5, 17, 29! Three times! I was very lucky).

Without looking it up online, I will tell you my very basic understanding of this festival: people from all over Tokyo come to pray at Chokoku-ji for protection against accidents (like car accidents) and for good luck with money. You can also buy ‘kumade’, meaning bear hand (claw), which will help you ‘rake’ in money (see picture for reference!). Also, on these three days, the main street that the temple is on is lined with food stalls (and the occasional dried fruit/fish vendor or traditional Japanese spice vendor). On the days of the festival, I had Okonomiyaki for dinner, mmm!

These are the 'kumade'. The whole inside of the temple was lined with
stalls that were selling them. It was magical!
Not the best pictures, eh? All four of them are inside the temple.
If you search 'Tori no Ichi' on google, you can get a lot more photos,
and better ones too. I am not great at picture taking...yet.

Next, I want to tell you all about our group trip

((Two quaint views...the first is when Kathleen and I walked to the convenience store,
the second is the entrance to the Shinto Shrine))

Next, I want to tell you all about our group trip to Yamanashi, a small town near Mt. Fuji. Let me give you a quick itinerary of the trip: Depart around 9:00 AM (I think? I don’t remember the exact time) from Takada no Baba (which is about 40 minutes from my house. Arrive at the Yamanashi hostel/dorm at around 1:30 PM (Again, I forget exact time). Have an hour and a half, two hour meeting about what we will be doing in February. Go to a public onsen (hot bath!) and soak our cares away. Then dinner, another hour-long meeting, nomikai (drinking party), and finally sleep.

Fuji-san! Can you see the top? No..

The next day, about half of us hiked to the lake, and we looked at Mt. Fuji (It was quite cloudy, so we couldn’t see the top!). Then, a few of us went with our Japan Study faculty advisory (Paul Watt) and walked to some local temples. This was GREAT. We went to both a Buddhist and a Shinto temple. It is really amazing how these two religions are fused in Japan.


The first is the bell at the Buddhist temple, the second is the
sumo ring at the Shinto Temple. Did you know
that sumo wrestling is a Shinto tradition? I did not!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first post in a long time!
I miss you all!

My hand hurts!

Why does my hand hurt? Well, because I have spent the last two hours working on my resume (which you'll get a nice picture of, NEXT entry) and writing post cards! Some of you lucky devils might receive one...in a month or so!

Well, last Friday I saw an AMAZING Kabuki play. I can safely say that I love Kabuki. It was So. Funny! The Kabuki play I saw is called"Sumidagawa Gonichi No Omokage". And it was a pretty avant-garde, if I do say so myself. Why? It was the 'New York Version'. What does this mean? First, it was performed in New York. Duh. Also, those foreigners who wanted, could hear the English translation while they watched. Because of this, I was a little more into it. The main reason it was so 'avant-garde' was because one of the main characters, Hokaibo, would actually do his monologues in ENGLISH! Now, if any of you have seen clips of Kabuki, you know that they way it is spoken is sort of a weird combination of singing and exaggerated sounds. When Hokaibo spoke English, it sounded...normal, albeit with a Japanese accent. But what he said was stupid, and actually breached the 'fourth wall' of theatre: he engaged with the audience, made references to current culture (such as James Bond), and even mocked other characters for not understanding English! A good example of random English spoken by Hokaibo is when he says, "Who writes this crap?" Ah...what a joker.

Not only was this play very funny, but the acting was superb (of course)! (The main actors were the same as the ones from the previous play!). The other characters stayed within the confines of the stage and their Kabuki world (except for one point, where a few characters were 'journeying' and stumbled upon a demon/evil spirit that they decided to pray to/offer sweets. Yeah, it was just a foreigner, sitting in the audience! Haha...). And the last scene, wow! There were some pretty intricate dances and fight scenes. Search 'Hokaibo' or better yet...THIS article? NY Times. Good description of the plot...something I am not good at relating!

The joint spirits of Hokaibo and the
Princess Nowake [disguised as Okumi] pose with Okumi,
as they dance to prove who is the real Okumi.
I know...Hokaibo is making a funny face
but this is Kabuki, and it totally works in context!

Next big thing...I'm trying to get a job! I have a job interview this Wednesday and I'm making a BIG deal about it because it's basically my first job interview (Well, second. But yeah...). I know there's little chance that I get this job, seeing as I'm only allowed to work 14 hrs/week (according to my work permit), but hopefully they need a waitress (or maybe a bar-person^__^) badly enough to hire me? Haaa...Wish me luck!