Japanese flower arranging

Determined to do as many Japanese things as possible before returning to the UK, I approached one of the teachers in charge of the Tea Ceremony club (茶道部) and asked if there were any activities I could join in with. She gave a me a schedule of some classes and invited me to an Ikebana lesson! Ikebana 生け花 is Japanese flower-arranging. I have never even done European flower-arranging before, so I’ve been excited about this for a while. Nervous too, because I heard that the lady outside school who comes to teach was very strict.

So yesterday I went along to the lesson with my English-speaking colleague, who was kind enough to stay with me the whole time to translate. I learned a huge amount about flowers in that short time.

Each of us had a selection of three types of plant waiting for us. Small, yellow chrysanthemums; the leaves from a kind of lily; and the focal flower which was tall and straight, with a purple bud. The main teacher came over to me and explained the principles of flower arranging, the main one being balance. You shouldn’t have too many flowers, and they shouldn’t be too bright. They shouldn’t all be the same size, and there are rules governing how tall or short they should be.

For example, there were three of the main flower in my selection, which the teacher cut to three different sizes for me. They were placed on the base first.

The base, by the way, is a flat pin bed submerged in water. You stick the flowers onto the pins so as hold them in place.

I was told that the shortest flower on the base should be around a third of the size of the tallest flower. (Yeah, this is where I started to get lost in the forest of yet more Japanese rules and etiquette.) The chrysanthemums were duly cut to size for me. There were additional tall leaves with the bunch that had apparently come from the tall flowers. This should be cut to the height of where the stem of the tallest flower stops and the flower itself starts. (Still with me?)

The lily leaves (the flowers of which are superfluous because the leaves themselves display a simple beauty worthy of a place on the stand) should not all face the same direction. Rather, they should look in or out in different directions in the interests of balance.

Before I knew it, the main teacher had arranged all my flowers perfectly for me. She was then whisked off to help some other students, leaving my colleague and I to look at the masterpiece she had left behind.

“You can try now if you want to,” she said. “This is the teacher’s style, but if you follow the principles of Ikebana then you can find your own style.”

I voiced my concern that the teacher would be offended at my interference in the balance that she had created. My colleague insisted though, so I took away all but the tallest flowers and began rearranging them with her help.

In the meantime we talked about flower arranging traditions. I learned that there are three main holidays each year, from January to May, where she herself would arrange flowers in her home. For other times the Japanese in general might display smaller pockets of flowers around their home, in front of which they might pray for dead relatives. Interestingly she said they favoured small chrysanthemums over the big ones, as they ‘give gentler feelings.’ I liked this idea.

The teacher came over to see what we’d done and contained her dismay in a very Japanese way – by emitting a small nervous laughter. Then she began rearranging my flowers again until they resembled more closely what she had done before. Apparently the main flowers were very tall and straight, meaning we should adopt a very ‘tall and straight’ style for them.

My flowers are now on display in front of the office.. I cheekily tweaked them one last time after the teacher reorganised them. It’s mostly my work I guess but it doesn’t really matter, I enjoyed the experience anyway.

My colleague left me with a wise observation. “We Japanese often think about colour and the brightness of flowers, but Ikebana is about balance. We should spend more time thinking about the balance.”

I guess in a country where work-life balance is hard to achieve, it is all the more important to preserve the principles of practices like Ikebana.

The countdown has started

This week the office lady has called me in for a couple of meetings to discuss end of contract formalities. Aside from the reminder that I should pay all my bills before I go and cancel any outstanding mobile phone / internet contracts, she also requested a date for my return in August / September. Now she has all the details and a set date, she'll be booking the ticket next week to make sure the prices don't rise any more.

Since then, I've been feeling really sad about it. Now that I know when I'm going home, it all feels a bit more real that my big JET adventure will be over in a few months. There are things about going back to the UK that excite me, but on the whole I've fallen in love with this beautiful country and its amazing people and I don't want to leave.

I've never been much of a tourist. I've been to a fair few places, and of the past six years of my life I have spent three of them abroad. But I'm not into visiting only the tourist spots and taking the photos that everyone takes. It can be fun, and I do it on occasion, though I prefer living in a place and building friendships with the people around me. I like to use the local shops and drink in the local cafes. I get a kick out of learning a new language and picking up local slang. The issue with this is, by the time I have to leave, I have already formed attachments. The culture shock that I went through when I arrived was intense; but it's nothing compared to the reverse culture shock I'm going to experience when I go back.

I'm going to miss the friends I've made, JETs and Japanese alike. I'm going to miss the food. The efficient public transport system. The mannerisms of the people around me. The mountain outside my apartment. The harbour of Kobe. Seeing the whole of Osaka bay stretch out in front of me from the window of my visit school.

I'm going to miss my students.

Now I have a countdown, I'm having to think realistically about my time left. I've got many things planned, including a trip to the theatre, a baseball game, climbing Mount Fuji and visiting a few other places in Japan. I'll upload as many photos as possible to this blog so you can all see my last few treks out here. I guess Japan will make a tourist out of me yet..

KitKat challenge May 2011

The latest instalment of my KitKat challenge.

Pudding KitKat

This was not dissimilar from the Kobe pudding KitKat. Possibly less sweet but only slightly.

 

Citrus KitKat

This and the following three KitKats are courtesy of my kiwi friend who travels a great deal more than I do. This one was tangy and orangey but also quite lemony. Very enjoyable.

 

Apple KitKat

This was.. very appley and quite sweet. It was nice and I'd eat it again, but it's not top of my list.

Chili KitKat

It took a few seconds for the hot chili to kick in. But kick in it did.

 

Blueberry Cheesecake KitKat

This was one of the cruellest KitKats. It tasted divine.. if you held your nose. The Japanese don't seem to understand the use of cheese in desserts and use the most pungent and smelly cheese ever. I don't understand. Anyway, I did eat it all. If I didn't breathe through my nose, it tasted amazing.

 

Tiramisu KitKat

I got so excited to find this one.. but was disappointed when no sooner had I removed the wrapper than the waft of cheese once again smacked me in the face. So much for a delicate mascarpone. I couldn't taste the coffee (or the chocolate) over the smell of cheese in this one. So much potential.

 

Edamame KitKat

In the Tohoku region they eat a lot of ground up sweetened edamame, so this is the token KitKat from that area. Recently they have been selling them locally and donating money from the proceeds towards the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

It tasted.. odd. It appeared to start off tasting a bit like green tea but definitely got more 'beany' as the eating went on. I'd buy it again because every little helps, but.. yeah. Odd.

 

Volunteering

Yesterday I went with a couple of other ALTs to do some volunteering at the local children's home. To be honest, it didn't feel like volunteering; it felt like a lot of fun. We arrive in the afternoon when the children are playing and we just take part, playing whatever games they want to play and hopefully aiding the building of international relations that JET is so big on.

When we arrived the kids were busy playing 囲碁 (i-go), a board game for two players where you place black and white stones on the board to capture as many of your opponents pieces as possible. I had no idea how to play, so a member of staff whisked me off to a table and taught me (in Japanese, so I had to follow his actions very carefully). Shortly after, each of the kids took it in turns to play with a different opponent and received a stamp for their efforts. They were so good! I lost time after time against 6 year old boys who gleefully snatched up my pieces as I made one dumb move after another! They quickly filled their stamp sheets, after which the staff gave out prizes to some of the kids who had made the most effort (not just in the game but in other activities too.)

Shortly after, we all went outside to play. I quickly discovered that with small children, the language barrier doesn't mean a thing at playtime. With the other ALTs I spent an exhausting half hour chasing the kids around the yard for a game of tag. Some of them invented their own rules as the game went along though, so I had trouble keeping up! 'No tag back!' 'You can't tag me up here!'

One of the boys taunted my friend from the very top of the climbing frame - 'Come on!' he teased in English. We both made concerted efforts to reach him, but he had far more energy than we could muster.

One of the little girls asked me a question but said it too quickly for me to understand. When I asked her to say it again she looked confused for a second and then a look of comprehension spread across her face. 'It's your first time here, isn't it?' she said knowingly. I had forgotten how incredibly astute small children could be.

I'm already excited about going back next month, it was one of the best Saturday afternoons I've ever had!

Golden Week Thursday - Arima Onsen

On the Thursday of Golden Week I finally got around to going to an onsen for the first time. Onsens are very popular in Japan, and are basically public hot springs where you soak (or stew) in very very hot water from deep underground. There are also public baths in Japan which don't necessarily use spring water.

Anyways, Arima is one of the oldest (if not THE oldest, it may say on wikipedia) hot spring resorts in Japan. It's quite expensive to go to, but there are various different springs you can visit. Some of them are for one off visits whereas others are full day affairs, with food and all kinds of extras. The one I went to with my friend was called Kin no yu - 金の湯. This means Golden Hot Spring. Yey.

So with towels in hand and exhaustion to dissolve, we took the bus from Takarazuka for about an hour. We stepped off the bus to find a performing monkey surrounded by a crowd in the street. As you do.

It didn't take us very long to find the place as outside there was a free foot spa bath where people dipped their feet into the hot water. We made our way into the establishment and had to take off our shoes before paying at the desk and receiving our locker key. The bathroom, as is standard in Japan, had toilet slippers. Within three minutes of arriving Kelly had already committed the sacred error of walking out the bathroom with them still on her feet. Shame on her!

I hope you're ready to hear the next part. We got up to the changing room and were greeted by many naked ladies, the majority of whom were over 50 (a not inconsiderable number were at least 105 years old). No one batted an eyelid at each other as everyone moved around in the pretty confined space. This is because you are naked for the entire Onsen experience.

Yeah that's right. No swimming costumes, no pants, no towels to cover your modesty. Now, bearing in mind that us gaijin girls get stared at when buying a loaf of bread, I was feeling pretty sick at the idea of stripping to my birthday suit in front of a big group of curious females (thank goodness for gender separation). As it turns out, it's like ripping off a plaster. We scurried naked into the Onsen room itself, a room full of steam and.. well, nakedness. Yes, I realise I'm dwelling on this a bit, I'm just a self-conscious person (though I'm over the shock now and would willingly go again, what a liberation!)

Before getting into the hot tub itself you have to wash first at any one of the showers that surround it. The idea is to be absolutely clean before you get in, it's only polite after all. There were three hot tubs in total, at either 42 or 44 degrees depending on which one you chose. The water was a rusty, golden colour, living up to it's name. I'm not sure what minerals exactly were supposed to make up it's formula, but I did feel like I was slowly being cooked in an earthy broth. The water was so hot! We didn't stay for too long (and you're not supposed to for obvious reasons), but the older ladies were taking it in their stride whilst I floundered at the side of the pool. Kelly, who has preivously sampled the Onsen experience, gave me the best advice I have ever received - don't stand up too quickly. As it was I thought I would pass out, when I actually stood up again I realised just how easy it would have been to keel over.

It was an interesting experience, however. We showered again afterwards but that was necessary due to the extreme earthiness of the spring. In general you're not supposed to as it is considered a bit insulting. The idea is that everyone is clean when they get into the tub so why would you wash more? I know of a few people who would probably pee in the water intentionally though, thank goodness I wasn't in the water with boys.

After that we dried off and got dressed and went for a very cold drink. I felt like I had been flattened from a vigorous massage! I went to the bathroom and took a step out with the slippers still on (by accident of course.) Shame on me! The woman waiting for them after me nearly had a heart attack. Sigh.

Soft and boiled through, we went for a wander around the village, sampling such delights as manjuu and ice cream, sipping on soda water that has been carbonated by the underground springs. Here are some photos:

One of the points where water is pumped from the ground and into the baths.

Hot water bubbling in one of the parks we found. There was also a fountain with carbonated mineral water that you could drink from.

A hidden treasure.

The area is lush and green and full of little shops like in beach resorts. The weather really picked up too, so it was an amazing day. Just what I needed!

Golden Week Wednesday - Kyoto

My all time favourite place in Japan is Kyoto. Despite having visited the city three times already, I decided on Wednesday that I would jump on the train there for the fourth time. A couple of days really aren't enough to see the best parts of Kyoto; a week might be sufficient. About a month ago one of my best friends left JET for health reasons, and whilst I was distracted initially by my boyfriend's second visit to Japan, I've since been moping a bit and not really seeing very much. Most other people I knew were busy on the Wednesday but I was determined not to stay at home, especially when the weather has been picking up recently. So off I went, map in hand and ipod fully charged.

The station of Kyoto is massive. The scale of it is impossible to describe here. It's so big that they have weddings and performances in it, as well as a department store and a ramen village (noodle village). Last time I was there, my boyfriend wanted to do the sky walk (walk through a tunnel attached to the ceiling from which you can see the city). I have a bit of a thing about heights, however, and only managed it halfway up. He took me back down to the ground floor and left me with donuts before going back to do it alone. Sorry about that :S

On the Wednesday, by myself with no one to notice if I failed in my task, I decided to do the skywalk. Why? Because I'm a bit of a moron in my own right, and stubborn with it. I walked through the ticket barriers into the centre of the station and made the split second decision to do it. Before I could think too hard, I stepped on the escalator. Then the next one, then the next one. Before I knew it, I was at the final escalator. It was long and thin and very exposed to the wind, making it seem all the more precarious. The only way I made it up was by staring at my feet the whole time. Stepping off it into the tunnel, my feet felt like lead and my legs felt like jelly. That feeling did not disappear the whole time I was up there.

But I did it! And I took some pictures.

This is the Kyoto Tower as seen from the skywalk.

This is the inside of the station as seen from the very top floor (called the 'Happy Terrace'!). It is very high up for someone as small and scared as me, click on the photo to see a higher res version.

So, with that experience under my belt, I slowly made my way downstairs (still feeling slightly sick) and jumped on a bus to my real destination: 金閣寺 - Kinkakuji temple.

No long description is really needed here, just take a look at the photo:

金閣寺 is a temple coated in pure gold leaf. It's a national heritage sight, and it is absolutely breathtaking. It seems to float on an island in the water, and the gold reflection shimmers. There are random little rock islands in the water where trees are growing, and despite the huge crowds it still radiated tranquility. I stood for a very long time staring at it.

Beyond the temple, there was a bit of a walk you could follow. Everywhere seemed to be surrounded by green.


There were large koi carp swimming in the water...



and there were small cascades of water by the path...


which led to a smaller shrine where prayers can be said:


There were stalls selling souvenirs and food (including Kyoto's famous 'dango' which I was given free samples of), at the end of which you could find an even smaller shrine with foxes in (foxes are the guardians of the larger Fushimi Inari shrine, more about that in a different post):


This more or less sums up my trip to Kinkakuji! So, one last photo for good measure, a vending machine I found close to the exit of the temple, just in case you had forgotten your camera and wanted to run back and take pictures before leaving.

Golden Week Tuesday - Boar'd after the zoo

So, on Tuesday I set off with a couple of kiwi friends to visit 王子動物園 - Oji zoo in Kobe. I'm quite an excitable person, so I had been looking forward to the outing ever since I discovered there was a zoo so close to home. It was an experience of highs and lows, however. I adore Japan and have the utmost respect for its customs, but there seems to be some work to be done in the way of animal rights.

There was a petting corner, where kids could stroke rabbits. I understand that kids rarely get the chance to have pets out here, given the limitations that are imposed on people who live in apartments, but some of the rabbits seemed terrified.

The sea lions were living in tanks that were less than pristine. There was a plastic bag and a drinks carton floating on the water and the bottom of the tank had a fair amount of mould growing on it. The polar bear was a bit of a sorry sight too, it was pacing up and down in exactly the same pattern for the whole twenty minutes that we were watching it.

That said, most of the animals seemed to be looked after well. My favourite was the red panda.


Click on the photo to see a higher resolution. It's adorable!! There was a giant panda too, for good measure. Not in the same enclosure though, obviously.



I also got a particular kick out of seeing the bats. I love bats.

After the zoo, we headed into Kobe to get lunch at Saizeriya (pizza for 400 yen!) and pondered on what to do next. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to head for the hidden waterfalls near to the Shin-Kobe station just as the sun was setting. We only had a vague idea of where they were and no decent map to guide us.. but maps are for chumps, right? So we set off on the mountain trail as it got darker, snaking our way up secluded streets and watching houses and civilisation disappear.

Before long it was dark. The road narrowed, the (few) street lamps flickered ominously, and reception on our mobile phones dwindled and died. The barriers that separated the narrow road from a sheer drop down the side of the cliff were mere metal poles held in place by wire, themselves leaning over the edge where the wire was sagging. I protested slightly about the importance of continuing this expedition, given that we would probably not even see the waterfalls by this point, but the boys insisted we continue. So we did, until ten minutes later we reached a locked gate that prevented us going any further. Fail. We took a couple of goofy pictures before using our mobile phones as torches to find our way back down the path.

It certainly seemed to be a lot steeper on the way down. It was pitch black too, which was a little disconcerting as by this point the barrier had disappeared completely. We jumped into a patch of mulch to narrowly avoid being mown down by someone driving a car a little too fast up the road, before checking our feet to make sure no unsavoury creature had attached itself to our legs. Then, startled by a rabbit(?) darting across our path, we made haste and eventually turned a corner back onto a road with houses and street lamps.

Which is where we came face to face with a wild boar. Pretty intense end to an otherwise relaxing day.

Back after a break

I haven't known how to pick up again with my blog after the last entry. Japan is going to be recovering for a long time after all that has happened and I was so angry with the media that I didn't want to write long rants in my posts. But I've been prompted by friends to pick up from where I left off with my adventures so I'm going to make a start by telling you all about Golden Week. It'll take a few posts I guess but it'll break things down - everyone hates a long-winded read after all, right?

Anyway, for those back home who have never heard of Golden Week, a brief explanation. At the end of April and start of May there is a cluster of public holidays. There are four in total and if you take two strategically placed days of paid leave from work then you can actually end up with ten days straight of time off. I didn't take any paid leave but there were still three consecutive public holidays the past week so I decided to make the most of them (despite a tight budget). So what follows is a bit of a run down for you on what I got up to.