I’m back! Miss me? Of course you did (unless I’ve seen you in the past few days). Well, let’s get started!
Fun Fact: The world’s highest dive was from 177ft. high. What does that have to do with Japan? Nothing, but I can’t think of anything, and it’s on this box of Cocoa Puffs.
First I’d like to apologize to myself on behalf of Asus for making such a crappy computer. That being said, now that my computer works (mostly), and I’ve run out of ways to procrastinate, I can finish my blog. I had wanted to do so while on vacation, but between no Internet and no time, it didn’t happen. Updates will be released every couple of days (basically however long it takes to type the rest). Luckily, even though I’ve been home a month, I inherited my mother’s amazing memory (LOL, JK! But seriously, I still remember pretty much everything). I also realized that this is not just a way to share my experiences with you (so I didn’t have to keep repeating everything when I got back), but also so I can remember it later. Many people asked how my trip was, and often I responded with 1-3 word answers because 1. That’s what I usually do, and 2. That’s way too vague of a question. How were the last 3 months of your life? I’m happy to answer any questions, as long as they’re more specific.
Second, I know I said I’d probably change the name, but I grew to like this, so I kept it. I don’t care that that lady wasn’t Japanese.
Third, so something went wrong with the magic plugin I was using with the blue underlines, so until further notice, it doesn’t work (also it doesn’t show the words, so I’ll have to go back and fix it later). Back to the old-fashioned clicking method. Stop being so lazy.
Friday
This weekend was the Toriningen [Birdman] competition. It’s like the Redbull Flugtag thingy, but less stupid. People launch legit mini man-powered planes off a ramp they built a few weeks ago (they take it down and rebuild it every year). On the way, I saw some of them setting up. They looked pretty sweet. It airs on TV a few weeks later (I gotta find it).
We got to the hotel, which was the nicest one we’ve stayed at so far. It seemed like a nicer American hotel, though the rooms were the same smallness. The workers even had special pins if they spoke English. As usual, I just let Maki do most of the talking (even though they’d understand me). It’s easier for them. At each hotel, I have to write my address, but it’s all in kanji, so I make Maki write it (I’m capable of writing it, but it’ll take a lot longer). We wanted to go to Nijo castle, but I read that it was going to close soon (when we went there the next day, I learned this was a lie), so instead we went to a small theater where they performed various Japanese plays and rituals. At first they performed a tea ceremony, two ladies played a koto (Japanese string instrument), then a lady came out and did an old Kyoto dance, after, two guys performed a rakugo (comedic play). I had been given a little pamphlet that explained what was happening for each thing since it was obviously in Japanese. Finally, they performed a bunraku [puppet play]. On the way back, I saw a Burger King! “And in the promised land , it’s gonna be so grand! We’ll have our fill from the grill as much as we can stand! (Bonus friend points if you get that reference)” Unfortunately my slavemaster dearest love wouldn’t let me eat there (if I had really wanted to go, I would have convinced her).
Saturday
Today we went to Nijo Castle, which was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu (warlord dude) about 400 years ago as a place for feudal lords to come visit the ruler (he died before it was finished). The first room was decorated in gold leaf (just gold), big tigers, and elaborate carvings to show how rich and badass they (the shoguns) were (can I say that? Too late). While most castles will have hidden areas where the bodyguards will hide, but the shoguns put them where everyone could see because they don’t give a darn. Also, in the main part of the building, they have magical floors called nightingale floors named after Florence Nightingale the “chirping” sound the floors make when you walk on them (caused by nails rubbing against some other metal). That way, they would be alerted to intruders coming to assassinate the shoguns. This is why ninjas had to learn to climb walls and go on the ceiling (they didn’t say this, but I know). Because I’m me, I immediately took this as a challenge and tried to make as little noise as possible. Maki wasn’t playing this game, which made it much harder. It would have been even harder if I was wearing shoes like some of the kids. I saw a number of Japanese kids wearing shoes that squeaked every time they take a step. I have to imagine that most of them end up going crazy like Mr. Krabs in the boots episode of Spongebob (I’d link a video, but they’re all crap).
After that, we went to Fushimi Inari, which is a famous trail that is lined with torii (orange gates, not to be confused with tori, which is a bird). To walk the entire way would take about 2 hours, and since we had already been walking all day (and it was 90-something degrees). Actually, I wasn’t too bad, but Maki was not as willing, so we went a decent way, then walked back. There were various “checkpoints” along the way where you could save your game rest or buy something. At one of them, they were selling awesome bamboo walking staves for 200¥ ($2). I wanted one, but Maki convinced me that we wouldn’t be walking long enough and I wouldn’t be able to take it back with me on the bus. I cried a little, then kept walking. Like 100 ft. away, there was another shop selling them for only 190¥! Anyone who buys them at the first shop wastes 10¥! Further down there was a big area with a bunch of shrines (I’m pretty sure they weren’t graves). On the way back, I took a video of me running through them because it looks even more awesome than a hotel hallway (that’s right, parents. Your kids don’t run through hotel hallways because they’re hyper (well, not always), they do it because it looks sweet to have all the doors and stuff rush past). We ran into a problem when we wanted to get our picture taken, which is Maki didn’t want to ask and apparently not all white people speak English. I know! Those deceitful whiteys. Eventually we found some British/Australian/Middle-Earthen women who took our pictures. In retrospect, we should have gotten our pictures taken before walking an hour in the 90-degree heat.
Sunday
Maki had to work or something, so we just looked around the mall then went home. I was hoping to get back in time for the Toriningen, but I guess it finished early. I heard that it was cool, but kind of boring since they had to wait a long time between flights. Also a lot of them just crashed. I was able to see some of the ceremony and get a cool (really comfortable) T-shirt. Then I prepared for my last week of school.
This one was a little shorter, but I did less. Expect my final week to be posted soon along with a special video featuring my last day and a look at my dorm, class, and city! For now, check out the fun photos and videos that took forever to upload under the Kyoto Pt. 2 section of the Pictures tab. What else will be in the video? How will I remember this more than a month later? Is it true that I almost forgot to add this part at the end? Find out next time on The Gaijin Chronicles! Dah dahh dadahhh da dahh duuhhh.