A couple of interesting articles:
Japanese woman caught living in man's closet
UCLA gave transplant to Japanese gang boss - I'm currently reading a book about Japanese gangsters, yakuza. Similar to the mafia
I just finished spending a week with Angie and Ash, sightseeing, so expect some blogs soon!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Where Jesus went for those 11 years
Everyday something surprises me here in Japan. Today I'm startled to learn that Jesus lived in Japan from the time he was 21 until he returned to Israel to be crucified. But actually he wasn't crucified, that was his brother Isukiri who was crucified, all the while Jesus was on his way back to Japan where he lived to be 106! Who knew?
Here's the whole story (cut and paste from a few different websites):
There are probably very few Christians who have even heard of the small village of Herai that lies tucked away in the northern reaches of Aomori Prefecture, but some here maintain this to be the place where Jesus settled, married and died at the ripe old age of 106. Although it's commonly held that Jesus grew up as a carpenter in the Galilee town of Nazareth, according to the legend of Herai, or Shingo as it's now known, the 11 "missing years" of Christ's life not accounted for in the New Testament of the Bible were spent in Japan. According to the local legend, Christ first came to Japan, aged 21, during the reign of the 11th emperor, Suinin, and landed at the port of Hashidate on the Japan Sea coast. Apparently, he settled in Etchu province where, under the tutelage of a great master, he studied Japanese language, literature and various other subjects. The Legend of Daitenku Taro Jurai (Daitenku Taro Jurai was the name Christ is said to have later taken) claims that at the end of his 11-year stay, Christ returned to Judea, aged 33, where he taught about the "sacred land" of Japan. But, unfortunately, "Christ's teachings about Japan were considered too radical," and he was condemned to death.
The New Testament teaches Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, rose from the dead after three days and later ascended into Heaven. However, according to the legend of Herai, Jesus escaped this fate, and instead his brother Isukiri was nailed to the cross and died. Christ, meanwhile, fled with his disciples and went into hiding, carrying locks of the Virgin Mary's hair and his brother's ear.
After an arduous journey across Siberia, Christ finally returned to Japan and settled in Herai where he changed his name, married a Japanese woman called Miyuko, fathered three daughters and lived to the age of 106. Devout Christians may insist that the Garden Tomb, which lies not far from Damascus Gate outside the Old City of Jerusalem, is Jesus' true burial site, but the people of Herai have another story to tell-marked by a large wooden cross, Jesus' tomb (Juraizuka) sits alongside his brother's (Judaibo) in Herai. Isukiri's tomb holds his ear and locks of the Virgin Mary's hair. It's hard to imagine anyone, let alone Christ, would have schlepped out to one of the remotest parts of northern Japan in days of old, as even today it demands a great deal of effort to reach the village.
Herai is NOT a Japanese name. In modern Japanese language “Herai” sounds almost identical to “Hebrai” which simply means “Hebrew”. In Hebrew “Herai” resembles a word meaning "a mountain". Indeed, Jesus and his brother Ouriki tombs are placed at the flattened top of quite a steep mountain. It is quite possible, that renaming the village was a part of the Japanese government cover-up. (these last sentences were from some cult's website)
Interestingly, Jesus' Japanese descendents are not Christian.
I'm sure you're as shocked as I am. Like I said, I never know what's next!
Here's the whole story (cut and paste from a few different websites):
There are probably very few Christians who have even heard of the small village of Herai that lies tucked away in the northern reaches of Aomori Prefecture, but some here maintain this to be the place where Jesus settled, married and died at the ripe old age of 106. Although it's commonly held that Jesus grew up as a carpenter in the Galilee town of Nazareth, according to the legend of Herai, or Shingo as it's now known, the 11 "missing years" of Christ's life not accounted for in the New Testament of the Bible were spent in Japan. According to the local legend, Christ first came to Japan, aged 21, during the reign of the 11th emperor, Suinin, and landed at the port of Hashidate on the Japan Sea coast. Apparently, he settled in Etchu province where, under the tutelage of a great master, he studied Japanese language, literature and various other subjects. The Legend of Daitenku Taro Jurai (Daitenku Taro Jurai was the name Christ is said to have later taken) claims that at the end of his 11-year stay, Christ returned to Judea, aged 33, where he taught about the "sacred land" of Japan. But, unfortunately, "Christ's teachings about Japan were considered too radical," and he was condemned to death.
The New Testament teaches Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, rose from the dead after three days and later ascended into Heaven. However, according to the legend of Herai, Jesus escaped this fate, and instead his brother Isukiri was nailed to the cross and died. Christ, meanwhile, fled with his disciples and went into hiding, carrying locks of the Virgin Mary's hair and his brother's ear.
After an arduous journey across Siberia, Christ finally returned to Japan and settled in Herai where he changed his name, married a Japanese woman called Miyuko, fathered three daughters and lived to the age of 106. Devout Christians may insist that the Garden Tomb, which lies not far from Damascus Gate outside the Old City of Jerusalem, is Jesus' true burial site, but the people of Herai have another story to tell-marked by a large wooden cross, Jesus' tomb (Juraizuka) sits alongside his brother's (Judaibo) in Herai. Isukiri's tomb holds his ear and locks of the Virgin Mary's hair. It's hard to imagine anyone, let alone Christ, would have schlepped out to one of the remotest parts of northern Japan in days of old, as even today it demands a great deal of effort to reach the village.
Herai is NOT a Japanese name. In modern Japanese language “Herai” sounds almost identical to “Hebrai” which simply means “Hebrew”. In Hebrew “Herai” resembles a word meaning "a mountain". Indeed, Jesus and his brother Ouriki tombs are placed at the flattened top of quite a steep mountain. It is quite possible, that renaming the village was a part of the Japanese government cover-up. (these last sentences were from some cult's website)
Interestingly, Jesus' Japanese descendents are not Christian.
I'm sure you're as shocked as I am. Like I said, I never know what's next!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
1368 steps
Last weekend I took a long planned trip to Shikoku. Shikoku is the large island south of Himeji where I started the pilgrimage circuit last month. The reason for last weekend’s trip though was to climb the 1368 steps to Kompira-san!
We started the weekend by taking the train over a long suspension bridge to Marugame. It was a rainy day, so we decided to visit a small uchiwa museum. Uchiwa are non-folding fans which Marugame is famous for making. They’re paddle shaped and made of bamboo with paper glued over the tines to create a fan. It was quite interesting seeing the steps involved, watching the video and demonstrations.
After hiding out from the rain as long as possible, we went on to Marugame Castle. The castle’s position is impressive, on top of a steep hill in the middle of town. We climbed the muddy hill and were less than impressed with the three-story castle (considering we see the six-story Himeji Castle everyday), but we dutifully entered and took our photos.
Having exhausted the short list of sites in Marugame, we got back on the train to Kanon-ji and Jinne-in, where two more of the temples of the 88 temples in the pilgrimage circuit are. But first we climbed the stairs to a shrine, practicing for the next day.
Then we got on the train to Kotohira where we checked into our very nice hotel. We wandered out to look for some dinner, and after nearly an hour of wandering around a very dark and quiet town, we finally found a little restaurant right next door to our hotel (we had assumed it was a bar when we first passed it). After almost ordering the curry and rice, we had a great spaghetti dinner (I spied the small container of parmesan cheese and knew there must be some pasta on the menu!) and then went back to our hotel to take a bath in the Japanese style bathroom.
In the morning, we went back to the little restaurant for a breakfast of a cold ham sandwich, hard boiled egg, salad and coffee (that was the set breakfast), then we made our way to the 1368 steps leading to Kompira-san.
I didn't wear my pilgrim vest, but conveniently, there were these cut out figures, so you can see how I might look in the pilgrim costume (although I hope my ears don't stick out quite so much in real life!)
We started the weekend by taking the train over a long suspension bridge to Marugame. It was a rainy day, so we decided to visit a small uchiwa museum. Uchiwa are non-folding fans which Marugame is famous for making. They’re paddle shaped and made of bamboo with paper glued over the tines to create a fan. It was quite interesting seeing the steps involved, watching the video and demonstrations.
After hiding out from the rain as long as possible, we went on to Marugame Castle. The castle’s position is impressive, on top of a steep hill in the middle of town. We climbed the muddy hill and were less than impressed with the three-story castle (considering we see the six-story Himeji Castle everyday), but we dutifully entered and took our photos.
Having exhausted the short list of sites in Marugame, we got back on the train to Kanon-ji and Jinne-in, where two more of the temples of the 88 temples in the pilgrimage circuit are. But first we climbed the stairs to a shrine, practicing for the next day.
At the temples I posed next to the monk figures and got my temple seal book stamped (5 down, 83 temples to go!)
Then we got on the train to Kotohira where we checked into our very nice hotel. We wandered out to look for some dinner, and after nearly an hour of wandering around a very dark and quiet town, we finally found a little restaurant right next door to our hotel (we had assumed it was a bar when we first passed it). After almost ordering the curry and rice, we had a great spaghetti dinner (I spied the small container of parmesan cheese and knew there must be some pasta on the menu!) and then went back to our hotel to take a bath in the Japanese style bathroom.
In the morning, we went back to the little restaurant for a breakfast of a cold ham sandwich, hard boiled egg, salad and coffee (that was the set breakfast), then we made our way to the 1368 steps leading to Kompira-san.
We could have paid about $65 to be carried up the steps in one of these contraptions!
(A pilgrim on a smoke break)
There were many shops selling all sorts of souvenirs but we took our guidebook's advice and didn’t buy anything on the way up! The climb wasn’t too bad. The main shrine complex was 785 steps up, then we continued on to the inner shrine, another 583 steps. While we wanted to be able to say we had climbed all 1368 steps, we agreed that the inner shrine wasn’t really worth the extra effort –it was small and the view was much the same as it was at the major shrine.
We descended, bought our souvenirs, including omiyage (snacks for co-workers), ordered the spaghetti again at our new favorite restaurant, then left Kotohira.
Since it was still early afternoon, we stopped at Zentsu-ji, the site of the largest of the 88 temples on the circuit. The temple complex was surrounded with some very interesting statues in all sorts of interesting poses.
We descended, bought our souvenirs, including omiyage (snacks for co-workers), ordered the spaghetti again at our new favorite restaurant, then left Kotohira.
Since it was still early afternoon, we stopped at Zentsu-ji, the site of the largest of the 88 temples on the circuit. The temple complex was surrounded with some very interesting statues in all sorts of interesting poses.
I didn't wear my pilgrim vest, but conveniently, there were these cut out figures, so you can see how I might look in the pilgrim costume (although I hope my ears don't stick out quite so much in real life!)
I got my temple seal book stamped, and we ending our temple visit by walking through a pitch dark tunnel. Zentsu-ji is also famous as the place were square watermelons were invented, but we didn't see any of those.
We got on the train for a very complicated and confusing ride back to Himeji (just when I thought I had the train system all figured!)
May 12 on 12
(It's shameful I know, it's already the 17th, I haven't posted my 12 on 12 yet, and now I'm only posting 7 photos. Oh well, June is another month!)
Now that the sun has come out and the days are brighter, so have the parasols. Japanese women are petrified of letting any sunlight hit their skin, so everyone has one of these fashionable parasols. (Not me though! After that winter, bring on the UV!)
Doraemon is a popular kids’ cartoon. He’s a superhero robot cat from the future. I believe his superhero powers come from a pouch on his stomach (or maybe it’s a big pocket in his clothes). Youtube has a video of the first Doraemon cartoon.
Another popular kids’ character is AnPanMan. His photo is in an earlier blog too. He’s the bread-head superhero with his best friend the baker. Here is the link to the AnPanMan on-line shop!
This cat is seen at many stores. She brings good fortune by waving in customers. Her paw is always up to welcome customers. In some models her paw actually waves back and forth.
For Karen’s birthday earlier this month, we went to an izukaya, like a bar but izukayas are known for having lots of bar food. We call this place the Black Room (we don’t know its real name. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to invite Japanese friends to join us!) To order food at this izukaya, you scroll through the screen on this console and press the appropriate buttons. In a short while, voila, the waiter appears with your selections! No need for charades or pictionary with this handy device!
This Japanese coast guard boat amused me, but you'll have to click on the photo and zoom in to see why. On the boat is written, in English, Japan Coast Guard. There is no Japanese written on the boat. Don't Japanese people need to know what that boat is? Is it only English speaking foreigners who might need to know what the boat's affiliation is?
Sorry Christine, no toilet photos this month, but maybe you'll enjoy the slogan on this t-shirt.
Now that the sun has come out and the days are brighter, so have the parasols. Japanese women are petrified of letting any sunlight hit their skin, so everyone has one of these fashionable parasols. (Not me though! After that winter, bring on the UV!)
Doraemon is a popular kids’ cartoon. He’s a superhero robot cat from the future. I believe his superhero powers come from a pouch on his stomach (or maybe it’s a big pocket in his clothes). Youtube has a video of the first Doraemon cartoon.
Another popular kids’ character is AnPanMan. His photo is in an earlier blog too. He’s the bread-head superhero with his best friend the baker. Here is the link to the AnPanMan on-line shop!
This cat is seen at many stores. She brings good fortune by waving in customers. Her paw is always up to welcome customers. In some models her paw actually waves back and forth.
For Karen’s birthday earlier this month, we went to an izukaya, like a bar but izukayas are known for having lots of bar food. We call this place the Black Room (we don’t know its real name. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to invite Japanese friends to join us!) To order food at this izukaya, you scroll through the screen on this console and press the appropriate buttons. In a short while, voila, the waiter appears with your selections! No need for charades or pictionary with this handy device!
This Japanese coast guard boat amused me, but you'll have to click on the photo and zoom in to see why. On the boat is written, in English, Japan Coast Guard. There is no Japanese written on the boat. Don't Japanese people need to know what that boat is? Is it only English speaking foreigners who might need to know what the boat's affiliation is?
Sorry Christine, no toilet photos this month, but maybe you'll enjoy the slogan on this t-shirt.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Happy Mather's Day
I'm off travelling this weekend again but wanted to wish my mother a Happy Mather's Day!
Hope it's a great day! Talk to you soon!
Love Sara
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tottori and Kinosaki
This past weekend was a four day weekend, due to Golden Week holidays. We were hoping to take a four day trip someplace, but only managed to get a hotel room for one night. Unfortunately, everyone in Japan makes some travel plans for Golden Week, so hotels were hard to find.
We took the train to Tottori on Saturday. Again, because everyone was traveling, the train was very full and we ended up sitting on the floor between the cars. We were fairly comfortable there so the two hours weren’t too bad (it would have been awful to stand in a crowded train car for two hours!)
In Tottori, we first checked out the fish market which Lonely Planet described as interesting. And it was! There were the usual fish, and squid, etc, as well as live octopus on ice (we could see they were still breathing), live eels in a tank, and turtles’ claws. We didn’t know what they did with the rest of the turtle.
After lunch at a restaurant called “Chocolate Bar” (although their menu spelled it “cocholate”), we took a bus to the sand dunes, the real reason we were visiting. The sand dunes weren’t so impressive (particularly having seen the sand dunes of the Sahara), but they were right on the ocean. Some people were taking camel rides, others were taking a horse-drawn carriage ride, and others were parasailing from the highest dune. We walked down to the shore and put our feet in the water and started hunting for shells and jelly fish. This was the Sea of Japan (between China and Japan), the first time for me to visit it. (I bought a disposable camera for the day, since I didn’t want to risk ruining my camera, so you’ll have to wait for the photos. In the meantime, you could check out the photos on Lauren's blog when she went last year).
We stayed at a Japanese style hotel where they had our three futons all laid out for us.
We noticed a lot of Japanese flags at Kinosaki and wondered why - maybe the Prime Minister is from Kinosaki? But no, we later realized it was Constitution Day (we were too busy enjoying Golden Week to worry about which holidays we were celebrating).
A cable car ride took us up to a mountain where we looked over the town. We took the cable car halfway down to a temple and then walked the rest of the way. 
We took the train to Tottori on Saturday. Again, because everyone was traveling, the train was very full and we ended up sitting on the floor between the cars. We were fairly comfortable there so the two hours weren’t too bad (it would have been awful to stand in a crowded train car for two hours!)
In Tottori, we first checked out the fish market which Lonely Planet described as interesting. And it was! There were the usual fish, and squid, etc, as well as live octopus on ice (we could see they were still breathing), live eels in a tank, and turtles’ claws. We didn’t know what they did with the rest of the turtle.
After lunch at a restaurant called “Chocolate Bar” (although their menu spelled it “cocholate”), we took a bus to the sand dunes, the real reason we were visiting. The sand dunes weren’t so impressive (particularly having seen the sand dunes of the Sahara), but they were right on the ocean. Some people were taking camel rides, others were taking a horse-drawn carriage ride, and others were parasailing from the highest dune. We walked down to the shore and put our feet in the water and started hunting for shells and jelly fish. This was the Sea of Japan (between China and Japan), the first time for me to visit it. (I bought a disposable camera for the day, since I didn’t want to risk ruining my camera, so you’ll have to wait for the photos. In the meantime, you could check out the photos on Lauren's blog when she went last year).
We stayed at a Japanese style hotel where they had our three futons all laid out for us.
The next morning we hopped on a train to Kinosaki. The train followed the coast line which was rugged and beautiful. Kinosaki is known for its crab, and they really made the most of that association! Every restaurant had numerous crab dishes on the menu, there were live crabs for sale, as well as dead crabs, and crab trinkets. (The dead crabs are $50 each!)
We noticed a lot of Japanese flags at Kinosaki and wondered why - maybe the Prime Minister is from Kinosaki? But no, we later realized it was Constitution Day (we were too busy enjoying Golden Week to worry about which holidays we were celebrating).
A cable car ride took us up to a mountain where we looked over the town. We took the cable car halfway down to a temple and then walked the rest of the way.
A few other photos from the day:
Dried, translucent squid jerky for sale.
A pretty canal running through town (with lots of illicit discharges. but they're probably not illicit here).
We appreicated this guy's nicely succinct philosophy.
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Emperor's Birthday and a Beach Clean-Up
Last Tuesday was the first public holiday of Golden Week. I'm not sure how the rest of the country celebrated the Emperor's birthday, but a bunch of us took a day trip to a nearby island. The boat ride to the island took about an hour. At the island we participated in a beach clean-up (of course, this being Japan, we didn't actually know that this was the purpose of our trip.) The beach wasn't very big or untidy so we picked up bits of plastic and other garbage for a while. The Japanese people were picking up all the seaweed too.
After the clean-up was finished, we had to listen to many speeches (the speeches lasted as long as the actual clean-up did!), then there was a rope tying demonstration. Finally lunch. We had been told to bring our own lunches, so we all unwrapped our sandwiches as trays of sashimi and thorny twig tempura were placed on the table in front of us. The food kept coming - miso soup with bamboo shoots, some sort of stew with venison and konnyaku, onion and krill soup. 
After lunch we sat on the beach a while, watching some kids play with a dead jellyfish that had washed on shore. We saw more jellyfish in the water as we waited for our boat to leave.
And we saw a cuttlefish in a tank at the harbor, waiting to be someone's dinner, no doubt!
Happy Children's Day!!
Today is Children's Day here in Japan. It used to be Boys' Day (you'll remember that Girls' Day was in March) until 1948 when it became Children's Day, one of the national holidays making up Golden Week.
In the last couple of weeks, lots of koinobori have been flown outside homes with sons. These wind socks typically have three carp - one representing the father, one the mother, and the last carp the children. Traditionally, there was a carp flag representing the father and one carp flag for each son. Why carp? Because they symbolize strength and success (a carp is strong enough to swim upstream against the current to achieve its goals).
It's been fun seeing the koinobori pop up everywhere and trying to get photos when the wind is just right! Occasionally they are also strung across a river or a bay (I'm not sure if they're intended to represent the boys in town, or if they're merely decorative). Here are a few photos I've taken. Try clicking on the last photo to zoom in and see the flags better.
The other decoration put out for Boys' Day is a samurai doll, paralleling the doll's display for Girls' Day. Often these are in the window cases at stores displaying very old dolls. Sometimes, just the samurai helmet is displayed.
I hope you're all enjoying a Happy Children's Day! I have lots of blogs to catch up - it's been a travel-filled Golden Week!
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