A Weekend at Home

I have no travel plans for this weekend, but thought I'd share with you all some things I learned since my trip last weekend to Nagoya's Atsuta Shrine. Remember how it was full of weddings and new babies? Well, I asked a teacher at my school about all the babies and she said it's a tradition to bring a new baby to the shrine when it's 30 days old.

When I told her about all the weddings, at first she was surprised. But then she pulled out her handy desk calendar and said, oh that Sunday was a very auspicious day (and of course a weekend), that's why there were so many weddings there! She went on to point out days that are good for pulling a person close to you (building a relationship). She said those days are also good for weddings, but not good for funerals. And of course there are inauspicious days too. I was a bit surprised to hear all this (didn't think the Japanese people were quite so superstitious), and very surprised to see these dates marked on a normal desk calendar.

For your entertainment, I offer the following photos.

This sign I see every day while waiting for the morning train. But I just noticed what it says: "Sauna and Radon". More radioactive water for people to soak in, I guess!

These rhinoceros beetles are really popular pets here. There is a lady at the bus stop who sells them from her bicycle! The beetles are huge - about the size of a person's hand! And they have these ferocious looking pinchers! Wikipedia has a bit more info about them.

Yesterday I went to the movies. It was only the second time I've gone since being here. Movies are very expensive, normally about $20. We were able to buy discount tickets, so we paid $14 to see 10,000 BC (there aren't many movie options in English. If we want to see a movie on a particular day, we have to ask which movie is playing in English and at what time, and that's what we see!). On Wednesdays, "ladies" pay only $10 to see a movie, so a few weeks ago, a few of us "ladies" saw Enchanted. I'm going to be very behind in movies when I get home! The movie theater is on the 7th floor of a building full of shops, and because of the height, the theater has these Slow Descending Devices at each window. Basically, a harness to lower yourself out the window in case of an emergency!! (You can click on the photos to zoom in and see the text. I love the sketch of the woman wearing a dress being lowered down the side of the building!)

On Friday night we had a going away party for Adam. The theme was Dagwood sandwiches. Everyone was instructed to bring such a sandwich - with a green olive on top! It was fun having a good excuse to splurge on nice bread (I am not impressed by Japanese bread - the crusts are soggy even on a loaf of French bread (they even think cream puffs are supposed to be soggy!)), sandwich fixings and green olives ($4 for a small jar of olives!).

It's almost time for Golden Week. This year it's split into two different weeks and two of those days fall on a weekend, so that's kind of a bummer. But it's not a good time to travel anyway, because EVERYONE in Japan is travelling then, and prices skyrocket. The holidays of Golden Week are April 29th (this Tuesday) - the Emperor's Birthday. May 3rd (next Saturday) - Constitution Memorial Day. May 4th (next Sunday) - Greenery Day (I'm not exactly sure what this is about). May 5th (next Monday) - Childrens Day. In Japan, only public holidays which fall on a Sunday are moved to the next day. Public holidays which fall on a Saturday are celebrated on that day since many people work a 6 day work week.

And one last thing - here's a very interesting blog devoted to Japanese convenience stores and the junk food one can buy there! http://www.konbini-life.com/ (Konbini means convenience store.)

Have a great weekend!

Another sacred shrine and Nagoya Castle

This lovely spring weather has me traveling like a fiend! Yesterday I took a day trip to Nagoya. It’s about 4 hours away on the regular trains, so I decided to splurge on the shinkansen (bullet train) to get there in just an hour and a half, but at twice the price. That way I arrived just as things were opening up, and had a full day of sightseeing. Then at 4 pm, when I was too weary to see anything else, I took the regular train back, arriving in Himeji at 8 pm.
Following up on last weekend’s trip to the most sacred shrine in Japan in Ise, I went to Atsuta-jingu, Japan's second most sacred shrine. It dates from the 3rd century, and looks a lot like the shrines at Ise.

I don’t know if it was some sort of special day, but there were at least two weddings happening there that day, as well as some sort of ceremony for new babies. I quickly lost count of how many very young babies I saw in what looked like a christening gown, and blanketed with what seemed to be a small kimono cover. I assume the families were praying for the baby’s health and success, much like they do in November for the 7-5-3 holiday for children aged 7, 5, and 3.
(The groom is in the black kimono. In the red and white outfits are the shrine priests and priestesses).

After the shrine, I headed to Nagoya castle. The castle was very nice, had lots of good displays inside it, and a nice garden around it.

The wisteria was in bloom, and there were many rest areas with benches under the wisteria.

The symbols of the castle are the golden shachi on the roof. These shachi are usually translated as dolphins, but recently someone told me they are actually supposed to be orca whales. However, the shachi have scales and don’t resemble orcas any more than they resemble dolphins. I like the explanation that it is a mythical creature, a fish with a tiger’s head, best. Shachi are often on top of buildings are protection against fire (apparently if a fire were to happen, the shachi would magically spout water and put out the fire). The shachi on top of Nagoya castle are a pair – one male and one female. The female is the tiniest bit smaller than the male. An exhibit in the museum explained how in difficult economic times, the shachi were melted down and recreated using less gold.

Like much else in Japan, the castle was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt. Interestingly, in the museum inside the castle, they had a photo of the castle engulfed in flames from the air raids.
Some of the stones in the castle foundation and walls had been etched with symbols to indicate which feudal lord placed the stone. Apparently this was so no one could later take credit for another’s work, or be accused of not contributing their share of the work.
Kiyomasa Kato takes credit for this large stone.

A lot of ex-pats live in Nagoya, so there were a lot more signs in English than is typical. However, even the English in Nagoya could use a little work.

Ise

Last weekend my wanderings took me to Ise, about 3 hours east of Himeji. Ise is famous for Naiku and Geku, two of the most sacred shrines in Shintoism. This is the place where the Japanese goddess, Amaterasu Omikami, is believed to live, as well as Toyouke Omikami, the goddess of clothing, food and housing, who provides Amaterasu with sacred foods. The temples are in a beautiful setting - forests of ancient cedar and next to a clear river. Both the cedars and Isuzu River are sacred – I saw many people pressing theirs hands and foreheads to certain large cedar trees, and everyone stopped to purify their hands and mouths in the river before approaching Naiku.

Interestingly, these buildings are rebuilt every twenty years to exact specifications. In fact, next to every building is the bare alternate site waiting for the next set of buildings. The next rebuilding will be in 2013.

Most of the buildings are mostly out of sight – only the Imperial family, who is descended from Amaterasu, and some high-ranking Shinto priests are allowed to see them.

Since this is such a sacred site, I assume this shrine is THE place to buy your household shrine.

After visiting the shrines, I strolled along the streets where all the tourist stores were. Tea, apparently, is a specialty of the area, as well as these tiny shrimp-like things.
And everyone was enjoying fish-cake on a stick, well everyone but me!

I stayed the night at a little ryokan (guesthouse) in Ise. My room was small and simple, but suitable. The futon is the folded bundle under the window. The ryokan had a little courtyard in the middle of the building.


On Sunday, I hopped on a train to nearby Futami where the famous wedded rocks are. You may have seen photos of them as a classic Japanese site. The rocks are called Meotoiwa, and they are certainly smaller than I expected! For scale, you can see the bird (I think it’s a cormorant) stretching its wings on top of the torii (the bird is alive. At first I thought it was a statue!) Frogs seem to be the symbol of the shrine next to the rocks.

Actually there are two separate shrines next to the rocks, one to the god of marriage, traffic safety, and exorcism (yes, one god for these three seemingly unrelated things), and the other to the god of the sea.
Next to the Meotoiwa, there were stalls selling snacks such as sea urchin, squid on a stick and snails roasted in their shells. I relied on the local convenience store as my source of snacks for the day!

A few interesting quotes from the English versions of the tourist brochures:
“Gourmet in Shima? That’s bonza!”
“We recommend that you challenge to eat lobsters raw and alive”
“Accommodations in Futami are full of emotion”
“Enjoying whole aspects of Futami full of joyful aquarium, …”

April 12 on 12

The Japanese postal system – a mail drop box, and postmen on motorcycles (seems to be the most common method of mail delivery). And a mail-bike.

On sunny days, people hanging their bedding off their balcony, a very common sight.

Children’s masks for sale at festivals. The red blow-up figure is An-pan man, a superhero whose head is made of bread, and his best friend is a baker and together they go around saving the world by eating bread (yeah, I don’t understand it either).

This is a delicacy, rather it used to be a delicacy. It’s camembert cheese, pressed and dried until it’s as tough as beef jerky.

What’s a 12 on 12 blog without a toilet photo? Here you can very clearly see the men’s urinals at the entrance to this public toilet.

A couple photos of Japanese fashion. Short shorts seems to be all rage right now, worn with knee-highs or boots. It’s a fashion I won’t be copying.

The other fashion of the moment is long shirts over jeans. Another fashion I won’t be able to pull off.

Japanese rip-rap. All the shores are lined with these tetrapods. It’s not very aesthetic.

This was taken outside a photo studio – I imagine this boy’s samurai ancestors wouldn’t be too keen on this cutesy pose!

And I leave you with a funny sign.