Oriental Traveler

Upon Return

foxba2s2on — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 03:39:00 GMT

The most popular question that has been asked to me since my return from Japan was which is better? Japan or China. Now this is a difficult question to answer only because it was two very very different trips. When I went to China I was a senior in high school and we were only there for a week mereley just to preform and sightsee. It was a lot of traveling around and stressful rehearsals with a lot of bus rides and little sleep. It was also Very organized and planned out. Japan on the other hand I am in college and we did a few days of touring but once we were done touring in the evening and/or we settled in one spot(Kurashiki) we really were on our own to be responsible adults. As long as we were at rehearsal at the given time Dr. Ripley trusted us to be adults. This freedom really gave me the chance to take in the culture in every aspect. Whether it was to go to the grocery store just to see what they had, or if it was shopping and walking around town. It was two very different levels of responsiblity and freedom which illustrates the difference between highschool and college very well. Below are two links linked to my facebook photo gallery. It has proven quite difficlt to upload photos onto this system and perhaps in the future I will have a journal that is already created for this purpose, instead of just googling it upon arrival.

Facebook Photo Gallery 1
Facebook Photo Gallery 2

(p.s. hopefully they work)

The rest of the trip in review

foxba2s2on — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:13:00 GMT

After loosing internet connection due to technical problems

-----

What a few days it has been! Saturday night we had a welcome party that Sakuyo threw for us. There was tons of food ranging from spaghetti to sushi. Lucky for some it was a very large bowl of spaghetti. I think that a lot of people through out our group haven’t traveled much at all and find that American food is just what they are used to. Another part that plays into it is that they may not know what goes into preparation, or even the ingredients such as taro root, or select seafood, both are popular choices in traditional Japanese cuisine. Cabbage, egg and pork are other popular ingredients.

I have traveled to China and have always loved international cuisine, especially stemming from both China and Japan especially, also Indian and Korean dishes. Since I have traveled so much, and maybe not necessarily to the East but also through Central America and the Caribbean, I am more apt to try different foods. I have also noticed there are people who don’t really eat anything at all, only because it isn’t pizza, for that is all they choose to eat while at school or at home. This brings up another discussion on different lifestyle choices, which makes us all unique in some small way.

Back to the party, there were traditional instrument performances and some brass choirs and a traditional dance demonstration. It was all very educational to see but presented in a fun way because we got to eat and keep getting to know our musical counterparts. There are two bassoonists and two oboists. Megumi, Yaya and then Sae and Tomomi. Megumi speaks the best English but we got translation books and it is funny to see what sentences we all can come up with to say to each other. There was juice and beer for all to enjoy. I must mention the Japanese really know how to make a good beer. Every one I have had… which hasn’t been many at all, which is fantastic, has been incredibly light, crisp and smooth with a clean finish. Every satisfying! The party got done about 9:30 and we all trekked back the hour to the hotel only to play Apples to Apple and sleep.

Sunday we had another day of rehearsal and then afterwards the Sakuyo students were taking us out as sections. The Bassoons and the Oboes stuck together and decided to go for another round of Okonomiyaki. It was prepared a little differently this time but still FANTASTIC! The place we went was in the historic district of Kurashiki called the Bikan district. If I remember correctly it means beautiful. The restaurant was apparently famous for its okonomiyaki because the owner showed us all the signatures he has gotten from famous patrons. It was a small place, three tables that sat 4 people and then around the grill there was room for maybe another four people. We were able to watch the big Sumo match while we ate which was very exciting, the owner and Yaya were screaming “GO GO!”

This time the Okonomiyaki was a tortilla with a layer of (amazing) cabbage, ramen noodles, egg, water, flour, with another tortilla on top. Then they put the sauce on and you can put the mayonnaise on it if you choose. I have found that it gives it a sweeter flavor if you don’t add too much. If you do, it is a little over whelming to eat the whole thing.

After eating we took a Taxi and Tomoni’s little squishy Honda car to the bowling ally to bowl. This was a small adventure in itself for the cars do drive on the other side of the road on the other side of the car. Well the taxi, which Kenton and I opted to take, decided to go down a one-lane road with two-way traffic. This was quite terrifying. The first floor of the bowling ally was an arcade and Sae and Megumi showed Kenton and I how to play the Tyco drum game. Close to the same concept of DDR, or Guitar Hero but instead of stepping on a board, or playing a guitar you hit a drum with a stick when the little face goes by. This was a super amount of fun. Once Alexa, Sara and Tomomi arrived we played three games of bowling (my total for 3 games was 200, you can average it out because it makes me embarrassed). We all had a lot of fun and we decided to go out after the dress rehearsal on Monday.

(p.s.) gas here is about 162 Yen a liter

Monday was a busy day. There was approximately twelve of us that went into Okayama to doing a little freelance touring but we didn’t have a lot of time because we had to be back in Shin-Kurashiki at 1:00 for our dress rehearsal. Some people went to the gardens and there is a castle there too and we were able to get a tour through Okayama Symphony Hall. Apparently getting a time slot to tour the hall is very difficult and you need to book at least a month in advance. Some strings were pulled on Dr. Ripley’s behalf and we were able to walk on stage and take pictures and then head up the 77 stairs to the top balcony. The architecture was beautiful and the sound quality was very very good. If you said something you could hear it from the top balcony three seconds later.

We had our dress rehearsal, a piano recital to attend, and then the double reeds were going to go out to dinner again but Sae was sick and we chose not to. It snowed an unreasonable amount this evening too, which is rare for Kurashiki since it is southern Japan. But there were a few snowmen being built already because the snow was extremely thick. The trek back to the train station and then onward to the hotel was very unpleasant only because we were too cheap to call a cab. Of course Allison and I were not prepared when it came to food wear. I was wearing slipper flats and she was wearing clogs we had to put our feet in the bathtub upon arrival to our room.

Tuesday, Kenton, Missy, and I decided to spend the afternoon in Okayama again because we had until 3:00 to be back at the school for one last rehearsal and then the concert at 6:45. It was a good afternoon and we decided to finally go to the gardens since it had just snowed. Although our feet were miserable again it was well worth the pain and agony. There are heaters under the seats in the auditorium and I put my socks and shoes on them during rehearsal to dry them off for after the concert. It worked strappingly well! I had dry socks and dry boots for the trek back to the train station.

The concert was fantastic. We did an amazing job and Sakuyo did even better but that is to be expected because it is the best music conservatory in Japan. But even though they are better than we are, and they probably all know it, they don’t act like they are on a plane above us. They are all down to earth and we all get along really well and already promising to e-mail and keep in touch. They are coming back to Carthage in two years so I will be around when they come visit us. It is nice, if we keep in touch, which I am sure Megumi and I will because we got along really really well, if I ever came back to Japan then I could visit, or something like that!

After the concert there was a group picture and then the brass and the double reeds decided to go out to dinner. Again a tiny place we invaded with our loud boisterous laughs and drinking games. I had fried rice and scrambled egg in a cream sauce and it was fantastic. I had Japanese sorbet, which was much like lemon sorbet and a white wine, which was very fruity and went down really smooth- very pleasant.

The brass players even internationally are quite the drinkers and were kompi’ing all night! We finally left the restaurant about 1:00 and had to be up and down in the lobby at 6:30. It made for an uncomfortable morning but spending one last night with our new found friends was worth it, and plus we had to get rid of that extra Yen on something enjoyable instead of sodas out of the vending machines.

This morning we had to be in the lobby at 6:30 and then departure was at 7:00. When we walked outside there was a gaggle of Sakuyo students came to see us off and made a very nice sign to say good-bye. Yaya was there and she is very emotional and started to cry when Kenton and I hugged her before we got on the bus. Kenton already wants to study at Sakuyo and I told him if he did I would visit. I plan to be back in Japan several times if not a lot more in the future as well as traveling back to China.

Sakuyo University

foxba2s2on — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:41:00 GMT

It is about an hour communte from our hotel to the University... which means a lot of walking to the train, a 9 minute train, and then walking to the University up this HUGE hill. It is not steep but it is a gradual incline all the way there. Not to mention 47 steps up to main gate. We have had rehearsal every day since we have been in Kurashiki, but with the communte by train and Ripley just expecting us to be at rehearsal on time we all feel very professional.

We are getting around Kurashiki very well, we have already found the Karaoke bar but it was more expensive then the one in Osaka. Friday night there was 27 of us that did it and we got split into two rooms. Karaoke is a big activity in Japan, while we were there, there was maybe four or five groups of 6+ of Japanese patrons. It is nice though that you can go into a private room and sing your heart out instead of singing in a bar like in America. (This is something American's need to invest in, I have a feeling it would go over great).

There is a super market down the street from the hotel and a few of us ventured there to see what they had in their supermarkets. It is nothing like a Jewel or a Pick'n Save. There was a large seafood section as well as an equally large vegtable stand. Octopus, squid, salmon, prawns and eel were common to see. There was the biggest Taro roots and Cabbages I have ever seen in my life. Which is to be some what expected since they are grown all through out Japan. Dried sardines come in huge bags not to mention dried seaweed. Rice is sold in the huge bags instead of boxes like we see. Instead of seeing the cooking utensils we use, there was a whole row of chopsticks, bamboo steamers and rice cookers. It was interesting to see everyday items that they use locally.

We walked around the historic distric of Kurashiki yesterday. Older buildings and canals line the streets. There are little noodle shops, but I am finding it impossible to find a place that sells steamed buns! There was a place in Osaka but of course I missed out on it becuase I wasn't hungry! There is a small mall in the train station that we also visited before getting on the train to go to the University. A one way ticket costs 190 Y. It ranges from 180 to about 400 depending on the train and how far you are going. What happens is you put in your money it spits out a ticket and you put it through the gate and it pops out on the other side. You must hold on to the ticket to get out of the station. You get on your train and ride only to get off and put the ticket through the gate again and this time it eats it and you are done. Very easy! I was bummed though that it ate my ticket at the end... I wanted to keep one. :)

We had dinner with the Sakuyo University band members and were able to locate the people who play the same instrument. It was easy for the bassoons only because there are two of them and they are excentric. There is Ya-ya and Nigumi. Ya-ya is too extravagant for words and Nigumi's english is quite good making it a little easier to communicate. Saturday night is the exchange party and Sunday night the oboes and the bassoons are going bowling. Billards and bowling are other popular activities amongst the students, as well as karaoke. We have been spending a lot of time at the university really getting to know the students which has been fun. A lot of them communte and there is also mayb half of them that live in the area making it easy to get to school. I can't imagine what going to the best music conservatory in Japan would require. The United Stated educational system is not as pressured as they are... we would all die during music finals/juries.

Wednesday actually

foxba2s2on — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:44:00 GMT

I am starting to loose count of days because today was another on the road day. Below are some things I have noticed in no order.

-Heated toliet seats really are quite nice, we miss them now in Hotel 1-2-3.
-Kurishiki is the Garey Indiana of Japan
-Air polution is nil...its probably all in Toyko
-The whole city (no matter what city) the streets are always clean with no trashcans at all on the sidewalks.
-Things aren't cheaper...ever...no matter what
-Japanese have no concept of time.
-Japanese television is either to cute for its own good, or to graphic and needs to be marked N-17.
-Everyone in the tour group but me and several others loathe the cuisine but the handful of us...we go hunting for more no matter what time it is
-We will get our butts handed to us at the music concert
-When you are really tired Kabuki is not the thing to watch
-Sumo season really does exist and people follow it like football in the States
-By American style breakfast they mean bacon and eggs and that is about it.
-The children are increadibly adorable when ever we see one we ask eachother Iskura des ka? (How much?)
-The tour bus is a moving ice cube and watching Spiderman does not entertain us at all, but we won't watch Titanic.
-Hotel 1-2-3 prostitutes check in regularly. Luckily we have a corner room that doesn't smell like smoke compared to our chimmey of our first room.
-Even though you may not know Japanese and they don't know English a transaction may be made by several extravegant gestures and repeating yourself to make you feel better. Eventually you will get it.
-when buying gifts it can either be a tea set, a fake sword, a fan, or cell phone danglies with bells, or hello kitty with bells.
-There are raised sidewalk tiles on the ground everywhere, not for sepearting the sides of the side walk but for the blind people. The tiles at intersections look like legos.
-School kids get back from school really late...like 10:00 we always see them on the train...yes they were uniforms. Apparently they go to school then clubs then a prepitory school.
-All the girls are so incredibly pretty it makes us feel bad, but I am sure the guys enjoy it.
-None of the hotels have slide cards but regular key keys on giant key blocks that could be called keychains. Also you must turn in your key to the front desk when leaving to hotel...even if you are coming back. They also provide you with an umbrella if you need on and don't have one with you.
-Even though you can't read Japanese you think you can by staring at it long enough and coming up with some reasonable explaination with your head tilted to the right.

We went to the Tori gate on the ocean this morning and it was very very gorgeous. We walked around the temple and then had time to venture out on our own around the quaint city on the island. They are famous for these maple candy pastries that are absolutely to die for. Especially the chocolate and the cream ones. Too bad I ate the box I bought! I also had time to exchange money for the rest of the week for the train and food at the University and some shopping in Okayama on monday.

We moved ourselves over to Kurashki to settle into our new shady little home for the next 6 days but we will get used to our tiny little space with our gigantic suitcases. We have to jump over the bed to get around them because there isn't much room at all. We took the bus over to the University for our tour, our first meal at the cafe (pretty much ramen is No.1) and then we had pracitce until 9. Not so bad but the room is incredibly dry allowing virtually no sound to expand making us adapt to a shorter crisper style than we are used to. But we will be better for it!

We don't have rehersal until 3pm tomorrow and it takes about an hour to commute to the unversity with the walking and the train and then walking up a gigantic hill again. Looks like I am carrying my high heels and bringing my walking shoes! But this gives us the day to sleep in and venture a little before having to be back at "work". (it is why we are here though)We might venture to the KFC tomorrow just to say we have been to a Japanese KFC. A bunch of people went to a Mcdonalds in Hiroshima but I did not partake in that venture because I love Japanese food too much. Not to mention I was shopping!

More pictures!!

Tuesday!

foxba2s2on — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:24:00 GMT

Another day goes by. When we tour like this time goes by so incredibly fast! We toured to the Osaka-jo (Jo-means castle) and then made the long haul to Hiroshima where we would spend one night.

The Castle was incredible. I would be a Shogun in Japan if I got a place like that!! Not to mention a small group of us managed to get a tour guide around the park who named himself "Tokyo boy". He was an older man and he showed us the best places to take pictures and told us jokes, his english was quite good so it was fun to see him scurry around and try to help us. We took a few pictures with him before we had to go!

The trip to Hiroshima was a supposed 4 hours. There must be a "Japan minute" which could be in relation to a "Mexican minute". It was supposed to be 4 hours... it turned into 6 after we stopped for a bathroom break and then drove an hour and a half (we were all practically starving by this point) and then stopped for lunch at a rest stop. Lunch was worked differently than we were used to. You instered your money into a vending machine, it spit out a ticket and you took it to the counter, only to then be given your food! All the drinks you get from the vending machine unless it is water or green tea.

Once in Hiroshima it was an icky mix of snow and rain but lucky me! I had my umbrella that I bought in Osaka the night before! We went to the A-bomb museum and peace park which was very educational, depressing, and... well...awkward. Everyone had the same feeling going into this that we were American's out goverment was the one that made the decision to completely level the city, but the Japanese actually forgive us for it they said because it pulled them out of the war. There was a lot of sad pictures and the exhibits were graphic making a lasting impression. We walked around the park in the rain and saw the Dome, and rang the bell for world peace and then got on the bus only to be transfered to the hotel!

After checking into the hotel we had the evening to ourselves to do dinner and wander around Hiroshima. You can tell that this city is not like Osaka, because a lot of the buildings are new and not the traditional brick tiled roofs. (But I wonder why that is? -.- ) Hiroshima is a very nice city though, very enjoyable. Marissa and I agreed to go shopping on our own and rode the street cars across town to a mall where the were a store I was looking for and I had made a very important purchase- very important to me at least and maybe one other person. The street car system in Hiroshima is quite fun! It is 150 standard fare no matter where you are going or what car you get on and you pay when you get off the car. It took us a little bit to get to the street cars because we thought the map was for the train but we asked the ticket master and he pointed us in the right direction. We also got help from a nice gentleman who pointed us in the way of the mall after we got off the car and walked down the street. The map we were using was really very tiny and hard to read. After shopping we both headed back to the hotel after much adventuring on our own, only to go to bed!

Gallery: Japan- Osaka

foxba2s2on — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:26:00 GMT

Airport and Osaka

My birthday

foxba2s2on — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:11:00 GMT

Well, today was my 20th birthday and what a birthday it was! We are still in Osaka until tomorrow and we did about two tour days in one. The golden pavilion, a couple temples and a kimono factory. Our group then split up and my half went to get Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, Okonomiyaki^?), which is a pan-fried Japanese dish cooked with various ingredients. Okonomi means "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba); thus, the name of this dish means "cook what you like, the way you like". In Japan, okonomiyaki is usually associated with the Kansai or Hiroshima areas, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region. Kind of expensive but Allison bought me my birthday beer.

I got shrip Okonomiyaki and it was SOO GOOD! I have been eating everything. Everyone sang happy birthday to me on the bus this morning. For lunch though most of the girls just got a choco-banana crepe with whip cream and grahm crackers, it was super yummy!

for a busy day we only spent maybe a total of 3 hours on the bus which was an alright amount. Oh I almost forgot- after dinner (there was 16 of us) we went and did karaoke for my birthday. 800 yen for an hour of unlimited drinks excluding beer but you could get other mixed beverages.. Pictures to follow shortly.

p.s. I bought a few things today, two for myself and one for SOS (someone special). PICTURES go see!!

Arrival

foxba2s2on — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:57:00 GMT

After a long and needless to say stressful trip we have made it into Japan. Our first flight out on Friday was canceled and we had to go back to Carthage until Saturday only to push back our tours a day. Marissa passed out on the first flight within 45 minutes. She hadn't eaten or slept much, so her immune system was probably stressed out. She gets really bad motion sickness and it was her first time flying.

After arriving in San Franciso we had only an hour to run down to the international terminal and through security so of course we didn't make it in time but they held the plane for us. Running through the airport going to the last gate in the terminal with a bassoon a carry on and a winter coat on is something I do not want to experiance again. I was a little warm (such an understatement!)

We arrived in Japan about 3:00pm it was overcast, about 42 degrees but we had to get on a bus to make up for lost time and get to Osaka which was 3 hours. We were going to take a bullet train but it involved a lot of walking to the hotel with our luggage after we go off, so we opted for the bus. (At least it wasn't seven hours like rumor had stated). Some of us went to the Kabuki Theather tonight already and practically all of us fell asleep through it - including Dr. Ripley and myself. It was very interesting though I did see half of it.

Allison and I went out to dinner at a little 24hour bowl shop. had beef and rice and I ate EVERY SINGLE GRAIN OF RICE! it only cost me 480 yen! but already it is going on 11:00 and we need to get up early for another day...that day just happens to be my birthday.

p.s. I went to go change my jewlery today and my jewlery is missing. When I had opened up my suitcase last night everything was shoved around, and not very orderly- quite the opposite of the way I pack. Well my jewlery is missing and Megan's is too. (A girl in the band) Ripley is calling United today becaue there was some other suitcases that were damaged and rifled through. I probably wont get any of it back, but Ripley said maybe a refund...to bad that box of jewlery was probably about 200$ worth of stuff and the stuff I change in and out every day. All of it was from work. No diamonds or anything really expensive but it was my jewlery that I enjoyed wearing and worked so hard to get through work.