I think it's ok to eat whale meat. There are still a lot of whales. Part Two

today was a really busy day! i had two private students and my japanese lesson.  i hopped about nagoya noting that many of these places were now quite familiar to me.  today i got off the train and realized that i made it to my exit without actually looking where i was going. kinda weird. when i got out of the station i had no memory of how i got from point a to point b... this is especially strange because i was coming from a direction i dont normally take.

i must say that my one very regular private student has been most excellent. he is very kind. he has two daughters my age, so he always checking in on me to make sure i have everything i need and that the things in my life are going smoothly.

 this is a picture of us at ishiyama dera.

Ishiyama Dera is beautiful! it's a very old place.  "ishi" means "stone", "yama" means "mountain" and dera is a temple.  so i guess, stone mountain temple is a fair translation. it is believed by most people that this is where murasaki shikibu began writing tale of genji... before she was plucked away by the emperor to write in the court. soooo romantic! *swoons* murasaki shikibu is quite famous- as one would imagine- and there are statues of her sprinkled throughout the region.

we went with my friend cara at the beginning of golden week. it takes about 2 hours by car to get there... and i think it might be one of the most beautiful places ive been to in japan. i highly recommend going if you're in the area.

it was so green i could hardly believe it was real. 

the markers around the tree are called shimenawa. basically, this marks the location of something sacred/pure in the shinto religion. if you're interested in some of the random shinto things i take pictures of, you can look at a decent list here. japan guide gives a decent, short, explanation of what the items are and what they mean.  

we also went to byodoin temple. its on the ten yen coin... and was build in the heian period. the heian period is probably my favorite period of japanese history to study.  there was a really long period of peace in japan, and just like any culture that has a long period of peace, culture flourished.  tale of genji is one of my favorite stories of all time because (in my opinion) it gives one of the most thorough accounts of ancient peoples. of course we are only talking about the aristocratic society here, but its still a pretty in depth account. 

if you clicked on the link for the byodoin temple, youll see that there is a picture that looks just like the one i took here. ^_^ and if you didnt, please click now. ^_^

its amazing how far back history goes here. i can feel the age of this culture, much like i did when i was in france. its odd but i dont feel the same way when im in china. china is very old but the way the government is set up, its hard to feel the presence of age the way i do in japan... 

like i mentioned in my last blog, i also went to ise to see the shrine. that was pretty freaking awesome, but it was rainy, so i didnt get to see the actual shrine. its actually a very famous shrine dedicated to the most famous of all the gods, amaterasu... but i know it mostly from the poems we read called "tales of ise." i hope to go back soon though... 

in kyoto, i stayed with ariel and nicky. im sure ive mentioned this before but their apartment/townhouse is pretty freaking AH-mazing. coincidentally, the japanese dont have a word for townhouse. they call it an apartment... but its a big ol townhouse. with a super duper awesome bathroom. and lots and lots of space.

while i was there, we met up with jennifer and (of course) went to the genji museum! that was awesome. i took a million and two pictures, but since jennifer and ariel also take tons of pictures, i actually have some with me in them! and we have tons of pictures between the three of us... ^_^ here are some highlights:

heian era picture on display...

us with the lady herself.

in front of the 16 generations of tea making store!

its not raining YAAAAAAAY!!!

*shush* im not supposed to be noticing ariel was taking a picture!

ariel took some great shots! ^_^

me with the owner of the famous tea shop!

not gonna lie. we pretty much owned the town.

genji with his love murasaki. <3

since pictures are worth a 1,000 words, you now have roughly 12,000 words of my experience. it was a magical day for me.  

the next day was saturday and i left kyoto to visit osaka with my friend- and coworker- james. we hit up all the major shopping areas in osaka, a couple of really cool temples and cemeteries. there wasnt enough time to explore it properly... but it looks like my other good friend will be moving there soon, so there will be plenty of time to stay and visit it properly. ^_^

back to real life... 

so blog points. i almost always go through my blogs the next day or the day after to check for spelling/grammatical mistakes in my writing. i type fairly quickly and once i start writing, the thoughts tend to flow and i dont really stop and go back for any reason.  sometimes though, i will change my thought in the middle of writing said thought, and i will miss something really obvious. so i go back and check and fix things that might be incorrect. hopefully if you go back through my blogs, you wont find any spelling or grammar errors... lol. 

also since my arrival, about 6 months ago now, ive dropped 4 dress sizes. i walk a LOT and my job is very physical. that coupled with a japanese diet, and ive had to do very little to lose weight. to be honest, i havent dont anything at all. just existing is causing me to lose weight. its good though. it needed to happen. its about time to shed that bad karma i was physically manifesting in myself.

if youre wondering, yes, i still have a headache. well, not currently. i had one earlier and took asprin, and currently i am headache free... but the same thing seems to happen every day... headache about 3pm, take asprin, and it goes away until the following day... 

im seriously thinking of taking on a fashion blog. fashion here is quite the site. i feel like im in a fashion bubble. all the girls seem to shop at the exact same store in nagoya. they all have the same color browns, beige, blues... same color high heels... same dyed brown hair and fake eyelashes... but i guess that makes for a boring blog! haha. the fashion here is nonsensical. well, im from l.a., and realize that most of the time, the best looking fashion is totally impractical... BUT style is always so different in so cal. we have so many different personalities and cultures that we dont really have one set style at any given time.  i feel like i woke up one day and everyone had an entirely new outfit titled "spring." lol. somehow though, i missed the fashion memo.  

japanese guy fashion too is a mystery to me. yohsuke flat out dresses better than i do. we have a picture together where he is wearing a hat and my friend said that is the current *in style* of hat. HOW DOES ONE EVEN KNOW WHAT THE CURRENT HAT STYLE IS? my mind boggles. also, japanese men take a LOT of care in their hair. like a LOT OF CARE! there are so many hair care products specifically for men...!!! please see this website for more info.

current mens fashion in japan.

*in style* hat

yohsuke has rings, bracelets, necklaces, an earring, hats, a green leather jacket - and various other stylish jackets, bedazzled pants in all sorts... and he's THE NORM HERE! please see above picture. when we go out, i take extra care to make sure i am on top of all these things. i will not let him have more accessories on than me at any given moment. -.- (please note the abundance of jewelry on me for this picture...) thankfully, this is already my kind of thing anyway... 

my biggest complaint is that people are always complaining they are hot. many many many people here wear long sleeves, vests, boots with tights... then complain they are hot. -.- yohsuke asked me what we wear in california when it gets hot... and i said.... t-shirts and jeans. he seemed shocked and slightly doubtful. ^_^ 

one last note on mens fashion... i saw a guy the other day wearing mens dress shoes - obviously work shoes, with a 2 inch heel. AND i could tell his feet hurt because he was walking like a girl who's been wearing her high heels too long. lol. knees extra bent, kinds dragging along as he walked... and he was already almost 6 ft tall.... it was quite an interesting sight for me... 

theres a myth here that girls who come to japan can never find a date. whereas guys who come here tend to find girls to date quite easily.  theres even a whole comic genre around it. charisma men they are called. 

the geek who comes to japan and then is overwhelmed by how suddenly cool he is... women throw themselves at him. he is, charisma man.

my theory on this is two fold. first, about 70% of the people who come here are male - according to my ecc personell informants. many of them come here to find girlfriends. its *cool* to speak english (for many people), and girls find it fashionable to date foreign men... girls also tend to be a bit more agressive here.  they have no problem flirting with guys for drinks, etc. i am in no way knocking them for it... they have foreigners flocking to their every whim- even the ones who hurt the eyes... these girls get free conversational lessons and most of the time free drinks! the guys who lacked attention in the states or wherever, dont seem to mind this attention one bit.  they enjoy having these girls show them around and all the attention they get from the exchange. 

on the flip side, japanese guys tend to be shy. not just shy... VERY SHY. but ive found many guys to be super fun and easy to talk to, as long as i speak to them first. jason shared a pretty good link to another theory taking shape in japanese society called herbivore men. its a really good article and i highly suggest reading it. its something i can actually say ive noticed quite a bit around here.

also, my coworkers seem to think that one of my high school students has a school boy crush on me! its my first! its cuuuuuuteeeeeeee! he always comes to my class early and asks me tons of questions about california... then lingers about unnecessarily. haha. aah to be young again! he works very hard at english though... and he wants to study abroad in college... taking lots of lessons with me will help him learn english hopefully! ^_^

and last but not least, the title. we have these grammar books that we use during lessons... and one of them is on giving opinions. its quite the controversial lesson. topics include: gay marriage, working mothers, eating whale meat, nuclear power, etc. so we teach them, "what do you think about X." and then, "i think X is X. because X." so the sentence is, "i dont think eating whale meat is so terrible. there are still a lot of whales." HOW TERRIBLE IS THAT?! je nais pas logic! there is no logic there whatsoever!

of course, as an american - vegetarian no less- its not generally a topic i want to discuss with japanese people... as they will almost always unanimously agree that eating whale meat is apart of their culture and OK. on one hand i find this mortifying. on the other hand, they make a good point. if you can eat a cow, or a pig, or any other sentient being, why not a whale? why not a cat or a dog? 

but now im just getting preachy... 

after asking around a bit though, many people have told me that the japanese have been eating whale meat for a long time but that the younger generation doesnt really like it.... and one student said, as soon as the old generation finally dies off, there will likely be little market for whale meat. i think that was supposed to be slightly comforting... lol. ^_^

and there you have it! i have hit all my talking points! BAM! 

i hope you enjoyed reading this installment! 

oyasumi! good night!