Marc’s Japan Adventure

I DID IT!! It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and altitude sickness almost got me, but I persevered and made it to the top. Mt. Fuji is a difficult hike, and it gets cold at night. The worst part for me was the lack of oxygen near the top. I had to go really slowly, which was easy to do, since there were about a zillion other people on the mountain. We started about 9:30pm or so on Sunday night, and hiked all night. We reached the summit about 4:30, just as the sun was starting to rise. The pictures here don’t really do it justice, but it was breathtaking. The other people on the trip were friends and/or ex-AEON coworkers of Ben’s, or Ben’s former students. Good people all around, and a fun, but exhausting day. Pix:

Heading to Mt. Fuji today to meet my friend Ben. Pix to come in a couple days. Talk to y’all soon.

Holy moly! 4 people visiting at once! Pix:

Last week I went to Gion Festival in Kyoto. This is a festival that started in 869 with a plague. To apease the gods that sent the plague, the Seiwa emperor, resident in Kyoto, sent his officials to Gion Shrine. Also, the Emperor ordered a procession of floats to be paraded about the town to appease various gods. Each float had its own rhythm section, so that each neighborhood represented could be heard by the gods. So now, nearly two thousand years later, it sounds like a cacophonous, beautiful mess.

I met up with my friend Kumi, who is from Kyoto. Her grandfather (!!) made the vase in the first two pictures. It was being displayed in a museum, randomly. She was surprised, so I took a picture. Afterwards, we went to her grandmother’s house, which was a traditional Japanese house. In the back was her grandfather’s, and now her uncle’s kiln for making pottery.

The floats are being pulled by a lot of guys, and the guys in front standing on the float did a little fan dance as the float went by. Video to come later… Enjoy the pictures:

On Saturday, there was a GIANT sale at the Hankyu Department Store, which is right next to the school where I work. This is one of the premiere department stores in Japan, and it is not exaggerating to say that I have NEVER seen that many people in one store in my entire life. There were policemen directing people, and there was yellow rope everywhere. Consumerism ain’t dead in this country, regarldess of the economic state. It wasn’t pretty. One of my students said, “It looked like beasts.” I coulnd’t help but laugh and agree.

Anyway, Hankyu invites artists to decorate their windows every change of season, much like Macy’s around Christmastime in NYC. I managed to catch the graffiti artists while they were working, chat them up, and snap a few photos. For more info on the artists: Hankyu Graffiti meets Windows (in Japanese!). Head to Babelfish for translation. They were incredible. Pictures:

After I checked out the windows, I met some the other teachers who I work with at a nearby Italian restaurant and we said a smaller goodbye to Izumi, who’s leaving for France on Monday. Aiko and Nozomi talked with some of the band members, who were really cool. Pix and video!!:

“Futsuka-yoii” means literally “drunk for two days.” I am a little hungover, but in the spirit of bringing you, the people, the latest on what’s happeneing here in the far east, I’m on the job. Last night we went out to dinner at a local izakaya (bar/restaurant) with my co-worker Akemi and a really cool AEON student named Kumi. The 5 of us had dinner, and then, naturally, decided to go karaoke. After all, they’re in Japan, right? The place was called “Aladdin’s” and was a giant tiger’s mouth. Then we tried to take a cab home at 2am and got really lost. My Japanese skills are getting better, as I was able to get our cabbie *un*lost, and even get us somewhat close to my house. Witness the evening (and check out the movie at the end!):

My friend Randy and his friend Marty came to visit me from Austin this weekend! Randy was pretty jetlagged on Sunday so he stayed in, but Marty and I met my co-worker Yoko out to get some sushi. They have this magical restaurant called “kaiten-zushi”, which has sushi rolling by you on a conveyor belt and you just grab what you want. Then on Monday we went to Osaka-jo (castle) and walked all around the city. Check out the “rice pizza” and the “love scene.” Pix:

…it will come.

The update.

Prepare thyselves.

It will have things like THIS:

More massive updates to come very soon…

Sorry about the lack of updates. I suck.

Yesterday I went to Nara, where there are some stunning temples and deer wandering the streets. Why the deer, you ask? Apparently, the sacredness of deer is usually explained by the theory that the Japanese Shinto faith originated in awe of nature. Elements of nature such as mountains, forests and wildlife were venerated, and hence the ancient Japanese government banned hunting in the sacred Kasuga Hills in 841AD. Thereafter the deer of Nara had been protected strictly for over a millennium, until after WWII, when their divinity was rescinded, possibly because they’re kind of smelly. At least, that’s what I thought.

For more deer details: Divine Deer of Nara

The guys at the end are making “mochi”, pounded gooey rice cakes. It’s pretty rare to see them actually being made, so I asked them if I could take a picture, and they were cool. During the New Year celebration, many people eat mochi, and a few subsequently die by choking on them. They’re really chewy.

Pix: