Who says you need a TARDIS to time-travel?

So today, a slightly-chilly, drizzly Saturday, I did a bit of time traveling. Zoey and her host mom were kind enough to invite me on their excursion to Gokayama. Gokayama is a UNESCO world heritage site because all its buildings are built in the gassho-zukuri style (which basically means they're a-frame houses with thatched roofs). Part of the reason all the houses are a-frame is because they get so much snow--there were some photographs of the entire mountain covered in what looked like 5-6 feet of snow!

There's not a huge amount of stuff to do there. You walk around, poke your head into some of the tourist stores. The houses are all residential, so except for one "open house" you're not allowed to walk in them. But the village is very picturesque, and I really liked getting to spend time with Zoey and her host mom (who I also get to call okaa-san, or "mom").

The one house we did get to poke our heads into was very nice: the floors are all dark wood with tatami mats, and the thatch is pleasantly aromatic. They also have fire-pits in the middle of the main room, usually with a tea kettle hanging over it (and yes, per hospitality we were given tea!).

It really was like stepping back in time (as long as you ignored the vending machine hiding in the corner). Zoey and I agreed that it was lovely for a brief visit, but neither of us could handle the winters there! Just goes to show it takes all kinds.

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Enoshima: The Heavenly Maiden and the Dragon

This past Monday was a national holiday -- Mountain Day -- so, of course, Troy and I headed to the beach instead. Well, to an island near a beach since (as some of you may know) I'm not exactly the beach-going type. Plus I'd just climbed Mount Fuji, which was more than enough mountain for me. Enoshima is a small island off the coast of Kanagawa Prefecture, fairly near Kamakura. It's connected to the mainland via a bridge, so you can just stroll on over from the train station. The entire island is dedicated to Benzaitan, the goddess of everything that flows -- time, water, speech, music, and knowledge. According to the "Enoshima Engi," (a history of the shrines and temples on Enoshima) there's also a legend associated with the creation of the island involving Benzaitan and a dragon. In brief, the area around Enoshima was once wracked by violent storms and earthquakes. Eventually the tumult ended and a heavenly maiden (Benzaitan) descended from the clouds....

Fukuoka: A Saga of Shrines

As many long-term residents of Japan do, I have a goal to visit all 47 prefectures of Japan. Just last week, together with my parents, who flew over from Chicago for a long weekend, I checked off No. 25: Fukuoka Prefecture. I'd never been to Fukuoka, which is on Japan's southerly island of Kyushu, before, but everyone I know who had visited had told me it was a great trip. It's capital, also called Fukuoka, has the distinction of being both Japan's youngest city and also the city with the fastest growing population, making it one of the only metropolitan areas outside of Tokyo with an increasing number of residents. A very dynamic place to visit; a vibrant city with an old, old history. WARNING: LOOOONG POST AHEAD. Friday morning my parents and I hop over on a flight from Haneda Airport to Fukuoka Airport, which is a fantastic 10 minutes away form the city center. Ten. Minutes. What I would do to have one of Tokyo's airports be that close! The weather was sunn...

文化祭！(Bunkasai--Cultural Festival Days 1 and 2) and Man I'm Tired!

So this weekend was Musashino Joshi's annual Cultural Festival, an event that all high schools (I would assume) have, where the school is open to the public and classes and clubs put on events, or set up quiz games or food booths. Essentially it's like a carnival. Traditional culture...not so much (though there are aspects of it). Mostly it's just good fun. My class was doing a chocolate banana food booth, so on Friday (the school-wide prep day, even though techincally it was another Japanese holiday) we got cardboard and began making our booth, which was Hawaiian themed. And you'd think it wouldn't take very long, but it took the entire day and then about half an hour on Saturday. (Also, what' you're seeing is Summer Uniform Form 1.5, where there's the sweater over the shirt.) But in the end the booth turned out pretty sweet, if I may say so myself: The top says Chocobana, and the sides of the poles are made to look like palm trees with a monkay on it...

Rice and Ramen

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