Changing Impressions

Japan. Orderly. Clean. Rules. Interesting.

at a school festival

Over the last 3 or so months my impressions of Japan have stayed about the same. But I also have learned a lot more about the inter workings of Japan over the last few months. Thanks to my host family and friends I have got to experience more of Japan. I'm glad I'm planning to stay another semester. I don't feel finished with Japan yet.

At golf lessons with host sister

Japan is full of secrets and layers. Japan and its people only show their perfect service view. But if you dig threw the layers you find hard working driven people who are truly very kind.

 

At a sweets making place in Kyoto

I love how Japan holds on to its tradition. Even though I think the motives are now more for tourism and nostalgia I'm really glad you can find shrines and temples everywhere, old architecture, old women still walking around in Kimonos etc.

In Kyoto

One of my favorite things about Japan is the perfect mix of old and new. In Kyoto you can walk over a wooden bridge that looks like it was build 500 years ago but see a beautiful artistic modern looking cafe on the other side.

Japan seems to run on trends, fads, and nostalgia. I think it works perfectly though. Japan itself is so much like walking threw a dream and now I understand why. If you sit back and look at Japan's fantastic service, overly helpful people, cleanliness, orderly perfection, and cuteness overload; if your not from Japan it feels like a hazy to good to be true strange dream.

There are still many things I need to learn about Japan. My overall impressions have not changed but rather I'm digging deeper to find understanding in why things are how they are. 

Why so fun?

  As my friend so nicely put its UFO Catchers and Gachapon machines are traps. But I loveee them. Through out Japan you will find these machines outside stores, inside stores, in arcades, grocery stores etc. 

The prizes are actually nice quality most of the time. The prizes range form large snack food, to pillow plushies, large and small stuffed animals, toys, models, etc. A great link to get a look at the different items you could win. Link

 

There are many different kinds of these game machines. Normal ones with the familiar claw to actually try and pick up an item and move it to the hole to win. But then there are the ones where the claws are not ment to be able to pick up the item instead you have to use the 2 pronged claw to push on the target so many times until its louse enough to fall. Others you use the claw to move a ring that is holding up the prize platform. It gets very complicated. My personal favorite are the normal and the pushing ones. 

Here is a link with a few how to win videos. Link

 

And yes I have been victorious several times with these games.

Another form of childish gambling is Gatchapon Machines. These type of machines have been around for quite a while and is popular among young and old. If you like collecting limited addition things gatchapon is right for you! The toys and collector items you can get from these machines range from modeled figures from animes, small plushies, kid toys like leggos, fake food, poetry and more.

Here you can read a blog post explaining how gachapon is growing up and is branching out to everyone not just children.  Link

If you interested, apparently in Akiharaba  there is a gatchpon paradise with over 450 machines at one time to choose from. Link

I am learning that gambling is a huge part of the Japanese culture. I haven't quite figured out why things like UFO catchers, pachinko, fake horse racing, the lotto in stores with the red and white balls etc are so popular, but I will keep exploring the topic.

Pokemon Lives On

Pokemon or ポクットモンスタァ(Poketto Monsutaa) has been around since 1996 created by Satoshi Tajiri. It all started with an RPG (Role Playing Game) on Game Boy. And today it is still around and has become the second biggest video-game franchise in the world second only to Mario. Pokemon has become more then games over the years; it has evolved (hahaha Pokemon joke) into trading cards, an anime series and much more.  I personally love Pokemon and glad to see it is still around and thriving today. Official Pokemon Site

Pokemon started in Japan and has spread world wide. It all started with 150 Pokemon and is currently 649 and growing with each new game. I wanted to know how the Pokemon Series was doing in Japan so I did some research.

I found that there are 6 Pokemon stores threw out Japan and that Randomly a Seventh is suppose to be opened in Tohoku. Not sure why exactly... Information about the Stores and Japan Events and business is booming. For holidays they have holiday related merchandise that fans want to collect and also hold events for card game tournaments or special events to receive items in the games.

Pokemon's target age group is young kids roughly ages 7-12 but is also relatively popular among the people who grew up with the original game. In this interview the creator of Pokemon takes about what inspired him to create the game and why is was and has become so successful. If your interested here is the old interview from 1999 with Satoshi of Pokemon  Link

 I went to Osaka's Pokemon center twice now, my last visit was about a week ago and it was packed! A card tournament was going on and Christmas merchandise along with all of the game generation starters as plushies were being sold. Lines were winding around the store. I'd say that Pokemon will still be around for a while.

Fire Festival Kurama

The Kurama Fire Festival (also known as Kurama-no-hi Matsuri) takes place at Mt. Kurama every year on Oct the 22nd. This year there was tons of rain, but there was still fire. The Kurama Fire Festival starts around 6pm and ends somewhere around 1am. The Festival starts with young children carrying small torches down the street.  The sizes of the torches gradually get larger and it takes about 3-5 men to carry the largest. 

 Earlier the same day Kyoto also has the Jidai Matsuri which is a large parade. I think many people try to go to both Festivals on the same day.

Thousands of people cram themselves into the tiny Kurama village to try and see the parade of fire. At some point after the young and old have carried the torches threw the streets, miniature shrines get carried threw the streets carrying the Kami. They take the miniature shine up to the top of Kurama and do the Shinto ritual and the festival is over. I didn't stay that long but here is a youtube video from last year. The Mini Shrine it will also give you an idea of the amount of people.

Also Here is a video with more Fire

 

The men of the village have the biggest part in the festival carrying all the fire. And they ware  traditional clothes that cover little as they carry the torches so to not set themselves on fire. 

Up and down the street lining the path was large barrels of water which people carrying the torches would use to cool themselves (if it wasn't raining). Also near the barrels of water was small bon fires used to relight torches if they went out. Which happened to the younger kids small torches.

Even though there was rain the Festival continued. 

This festival is rather old but I can't find a concrete place for information. This is a festival that has gotten super popular, thousands of tourists that come to watch it every year. Try googleing any thing about the Fire Festival you will get travel information and next to nothing historical. But it was still a great experience.

If you want more information please go search for some good books on the topic. But for now here is a small site with some information on Mt. Kurama and the shrine. Link

Train Station

Before I signed up for a station I wanted to do some research. So of course when I went to sign up, all the stations I was interested in were taken. So I randomly chose Morishoji. The name reminds me of Momiji (the fall leaves).

This station was so small and there is no information on it anywhere!!

This picture shows everything there is to see. There are only 2 ways to get on the platforms the one set of steps or the elevator. There are only three tracks at this station. Two that have platforms where only Local Trains stop and one that is for through trains. Morishoji is a Local stop on the way to busy parts of Osaka.

The Elevator

A Local Train

The Steps

 This is One of the Two entrances to the station.  Both sides are identical and connect with a tunnel that goes under the tracks.

The Tunnel

 The station it self had almost no people what so ever, coming or going. This was the biggest thing outside of the station that actually had a lot of people around. Look at all the bikes! It was a newer Grocery Store that seemed really popular. And also the place with the orange store front was a expensive but very delicious cake shop that was getting a lot of traffic. Cake form there is way worth the price.

Another place that was on the other side of the tunnel was this cute Takoyaki place. There was a cute cat lurking waiting for food. There was just as many people in side the station that were on this side of it. (Next to none).

This side of the station gave off a vibe of neighborhood only area but no one was home. Simple very small personally owned shops and very little people walking around.

I went into a bakery and an used book store on this street. The book store man was friendly but the person who was watching the counter at the bakery had a bit of an attitude. 

A view down the street.

The last few pictures show more of the station and the mass amounts of people who use it. You would think for how busy the one side just outside the station was at least a few people would be using the train. In my about 2 hours of being there (5-7pm) I saw maybe 5 people get on or off the train.

Something really creepy about this station is while you sit or stand and wait for a local train to come pick you up the trains that use the third track zooms by and give off this huge gust of air that makes you jump every time. It feels nothing like waiting on a platform while a passing train goes by.

I can't really say I found what this stations main purpose was. All I know is Morishoji is very quite on all sides but one, has people who are very to themselves, and really good cake.

Portrait of Hi-chan

This is Hiyori.  A  little monster, my clone in training, and can be identified as my host sister. Hiyori is a ball of energy and is attached to me like glue. Even In my room there is no escape. I'd say she is a normal Japanese elementary school student, who does her homework, goes to cram school, draws her own manga, likes to dance, and likes all things cute.

 

She is a big chicken when it comes to ghosts, she grabs onto the person shes with and closes her eyes and looks away if passing a grave yard. Also she is scared of the dark, and other 10 year old things. Hiyori is also the slowest eater at dinner because she likes to constantly try and steal my slippers or poke me, talks a lot, and will do everything but eat. That's how she learned the phrase "eat your food" because host mom would always tell her "Hyaku! Tabete!" (hurry and eat) and one day I said what my mom would say in English.

She spoke no English when we first met besides an introduction. And now she is learning a lot of random words and phrases like bath, sleepy, hungry, eat your food, hurry up, excuuuuuse me and other random words from copying me. Shes really smart and is learning way more advanced stuff then I did at her age.

One of the first ways we communicated was by drawing pictures on her dry erase bored and playing picture guessing games.  She will still pull it out and draw random things if she is bored or wants to explain something.  But her favorite thing to draw are pictures of me looking every way imaginable for example her latest master pieces were of me at age 100, as a monster zombie thing and a super cute-a-fide anime version.

Hiyori's personality is great! She has an endless supply of funny faces and is always fun to be around  but don't let her innocent face fool you she can be a little monster. 

The Place I Call Home

Welcome to the place I call home, Hirakata-Koen. The first thing you notice when you get off at the Koen Station is all the odd looking elves and wizards plastered on the stations walls. Their happy creepy smiles are growing on me the longer I'm here.The reason for this is about a 5 minute walk away there is Hirakata Park. Which is a small older amusement park, who's Ferries Wheel can be seen from almost everywhere in the neighborhood. www.hirakatapark.co.jp If you want more information. 

The first picture is from the the top of a steep hill where my home sits. If I had to describe the surrounding in one sentence it would be, A very family friendly upper middle class neighborhood. There are children everywhere!! You can't walk for 3 minutes without seeing at least 5 kids. Everyday all day its buses full of kids, mothers with their kids, or businessmen.

My home is a large apartment complex cut into the side of a hill, made up of several different buildings that all surrounding a large court yard. This is where my small literally enclosed community exists.

 Every morning when I leave my home for school I pass a mass amount of elementary school children all gathering and waiting in line for the elevator that leads to the exit nearest their school. Several will smile and wave hi to me. And thanks to my host sister a lot of the middle school kids know me too. In my first few weeks I was taken to several of her friends houses in the complex meeting her friends, their mothers, and their dogs.

Inside the gates I feel comfortable and oddly at home. Its a really community. If I pass by any of the neighbors while inside the complex they will say hi and smile. They always stop each other and chat about their days, and parents will play catch or tag with their kids in the center court yard. The second I go outside the gates it goes back to the colder Japan where everyone avoids each others gaze. But its still a nice neighborhood that feels safe and at homey.

The street leading to the station. The station is where all the people are gathered at the end of the street.

Businessmen going home after a day of work.

Walking near home.

Down the street.

 Tree lined streets, moms with little kids, businessmen going to and from work, all very too perfect. I knew about the businessmen but I never expected tree lined streets in the city. Its nice to have green around.

Something I have yet to figure out about my neighborhood is about the grave yards. There are so many small ones randomly placed all over. And I see people going in to take care of their family graves daily. The dead are very well cared for in my neighborhood. What kinda creeps me out is when the sun goes down and its dark, if you pass an old person or a younger kid on the street they will jingle. They all have bells attached to their bag, or something. But I only ever notice it at night. Either something creepy is going on here or I'm not seeing the man dressed up as a gorilla in the middle of the day.