Laura in Japan: November 2006

Leaves

A few weekends ago Angie and I made a trip up to Kyoto, to see its most beautiful (and busiest) season. We were looking for leaves. As Angie put it, "If you'd told me five years ago that I'd be running around just trying to take pictures of leaves all day, I would have thought you were crazy..." Indeed.

We were not alone in our search...

Half of Japan was also out taking pictures of and in front of the leaves. The more famous sights in Kyoto that we visited (Ginkakuji, Kinkakuji, and Tofukuji--the last I'd never heard of, but is famed for its autumn leaves) were absolutely packed with people.

Kyoto:

Fushimi inari

Tofukuji

The Mouse Shrine

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion):

VIP moss

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion):

Kyoto Station

Nara:

Kofukuji:

Isuien Gardens:

These beautiful gardens, which are a little bit off the main tourist track, were almost completely deserted during my visit. :)

Are we in the right season? Found cherry blossoms!

Todaiji:

Largest wooden building in the world.

The giant Buddha it houses.

The tunnel to enlightenment:

This hole is supposed to be the same size as one of the Buddha's nostrils, and if you can manage to crawl through it, you are guaranteed enlightenment.

Don't fall in, the piranhas will get you!

Nara Koen

Sumo

Good times...

Stitch

Today I had the rare pleasure of seeing the same elementary school classes for a second time! Not only that, the last time I saw them was only last week, so they still remembered me pretty well.
I guess one of the questions the grade 6 students had asked me last time was "What character do you like?" (by this they mean cartoon character; it's a favourite question with the junior high school girls as well). I usually say "Stitch" (the little alien from the movie Lilo and Stitch) because the first charm I bought for my phone was a Stitch. So today when I visited this class they gave me a present at the end of class: a board with messages from all the students with a picture of Stitch in the middle and a sewn together Stitch doll made from felt! One of the students sewed it for me! I was very impressed! Definitely one of the nicest presents I've ever received! :)

Island day

Today I went to an elementary school which has only 4 students! It's on a little island of just 100 residents. The school used to have only 1 student until a couple of months ago when a family with 3 boys moved there! There were more staff than students! They have 3 teachers, one of whom is also the principal, as well as an office person, and a lunch lady. And so everyone eats lunch together at the same table. We ate oranges and sweet potatoes that were grown at the school, which were so good!
The school was clearly never designed to have many students (the few classrooms I saw could probably only hold a maximum of 8 desks or so, but from the pictures on the walls it looked like it has had a lot more students in the past. The principal told me that his family lives on the mainland, but he has to live on the island because of his job.
I took a small passenger ferry over to the island, but I guess it stops running at the slightest hint of weather, because after classes were over I was told the ferry had stopped running for the day because of big waves. Luckily (the teachers kept saying how very lucky it was) there was a fishing boat heading down to Kyushu, so I was able to hitch a ride. I didn't think the waves really looked all that big from the dock, but they sure looked big once we were out there and I was really regretting that I had forgotten to bring some gravol!

With the kids. Aina, the only girl, taught me how to play a song on the koto (Japanese harp) after lunch.

My ride back

Strictly Ballroom

Somehow ballroom dancing also fits into Japan's national culture festival, so last Sunday Becky and I went to check it out. The principal of one of the elementary schools I visit was competing, but none of my photos of her really turned out, she was very good though!

Love those swirling costumes!

Becky named this group the "Tea Dancers". The song "Be our guest" from Beauty and the Beast comes to mind...

The kiddies

On my way back to Karato on my bike, I ran into a little Christmas tree unveiling party at Kanmon Wharf. They now have all sorts of lights and decorations up! They were serving an incredibly long Christmas log cake. It must have been about 4 metres of cake when they started out, but most of it was gone by the time I got there (only about a metre was left).