Kanazawa Part 1

Because of autumnal equinox day (no school!) and a makeup day off for going to Sports Day on a Saturday, I had a four day weekend. I took advantage of the long vacation to travel somewhere a bit further. I decided to go up to Kanazawa (a city with about half a million people). Well, it took me a little while to decide. Kanazawa has Kenrokuen, which is considered to be one of Japan's most beautiful gardens. It is also close to Shirakawa-go, an old village with unique architecture. However, I didn't really know a lot of other things I wanted to do there and wasn't sure if it would be worth the money. I wondered if I should just go to Tokyo instead. However, less than a week before the weekend I decided I would go and booked a hotel for two nights. A couple days before I left I saw the weather forecast and saw that it would be cold and rainy. Yuck. I started thinking that maybe Tokyo would have been better.

Kanazawa is pretty far away. This map will show you. I highlighted many of the cities I have visited and Toi is marked in purple. Kanazawa is the furthest north I've been in Japan.

It took a long time to get there. From this area, there's not a very direct route. I had to go west to Maibara (between Nagoya and Kyoto) and then go north. There isn't a Shinkansen that reaches Kanazawa (there will be in 2014, though it will be from Nagano so it wouldn't have helped anyway) so I had to take a slow train. I took an express train that skipped a lot of stations, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Here was my itinerary for the day:

• 6:59 - 7:45 Toi -> Shuzenji (bus)
• 7:54 - 8:30 Shuzenji -> Mishima (train)
• 8:59 - 11:15 Mishima -> Maibara (shinkansen)
• 11:59 - 1:51 Maibara -> Kanazawa (train)

It was about seven hours of traveling! Though it's not really that bad. I would hate to spend 7 hours on a plane. Even in a car seven hours is pretty bad. I don't mind the trains as much. Plus, in between the different trains I can walk around the stations and buy snacks and stuff.

Sometimes I actually really enjoy the trains. I sit and enjoy the scenery or just relax and listen to music on my ipod or play video games on my DS. But that day the view was just not that great. It looked pretty gross actually. Here's a view from Mishima Station.

After several hours I reached Maibara and then took the train north to Kanazawa. I had been looking forward to this train ride because I'd get to see a part of Japan I hadn't seen yet. However, the view was mostly very boring. It was rice fields, and more rice fields, and even more rice fields. Oh, and tunnels too.

By the time I reached Kanazawa I was very glad to get off the train, but I wasn't too excited to be there. But as soon as I exited the ticket gate at the station I started to get excited. The station had stores and restaurants and was pretty lively. I walked through the shopping area and was entertained by the 90s pop music they were playing. As I stood in a bookstore I heard them played Lucky by Britney Spears. A middle aged Japanese man walked by and was humming along with the song quite loudly. I was very entertained.

The station exit is really cool.

I really loved this twisty curvy gate!

This clock was super cool. The numbers are made up of many tiny fountains! :) It also displays messages such as "Welcome to Kanazawa."

My hotel was right next to the station, but check-in time wasn't until 3:00 (and as you can see it was 2:04) so I wandered around the station, picked up an English map of Kanazawa, and ate at Doutor, a coffee shop. I had cinnamon and brown sugar banana chips, a roasted chicken calzone, and an iced latte.

After eating I still had a bit of time left so I went and purchased my Shirakawa-go bus tickets for the next day. By the time I finished that it was about 3:00 so I went and checked into the hotel.

The room was a little bigger than I was expecting. I had been expecting it to be a little smaller. I guess I'm more used to the hotels in Tokyo. However, this room does not have a shower, so I had to use the onsen. If I had not been to the onsen a few a weeks ago I probably would not have chosen this room, but now I'm okay with that. I would want to go to the onsen anyway so I really didn't need my own shower.

I didn't spend too much time in the hotel room and soon I headed out to go to Kenrokuen. It was gray outside, but it wasn't raining. It was a bit chilly though. I wore a jacket! Just a couple weeks ago that would have been crazy. I was still sweating like crazy a couple weeks ago. Now I need a jacket!

On my way to Kenrokuen I passed Oyama Shrine. I had wanted to visit this shrine and didn't know that it would be on my way to the garden.

It's a really unique shrine because it has elements of Japanese, Chinese, and European architecture. See the stained glass at the top?

There was a small garden by the shrine and it was really pretty! I loved the wooden walkway across the water.

Outside of Kenrokuen are many shops. I didn't go to any then because it was a little after 4 and Kenrokuen closed at 6.

Kenrokuen was beautiful! No matter which way you turn there is a great view, so I took a ton of pictures.

The information in the brochure I received is a little hard to follow, but the garden was developed between the 1670s and 1820s. It is now covers about 25 acres.

That is the oldest fountain in Japan. It uses the water pressure from the higher pond in the garden.

The lantern on the right is the Kotojitoro Lantern. It is the symbol of the garden.

They really do a lot to support the trees. These supports are seen year round, but the garden is also famous for its yukitsuri, which protect the trees from heavy snow.

I uploaded more pictures of the garden on facebook, so be sure to check out the link I put at the end of this post.

As I walked through the garden the sun began to come out. The weather had been great for visiting because it wasn't hot and I was really comfortable in my jacket. The overcast sky was actually good too because it was good lightning for my pictures. But the sunshine towards the end was nice after seeing gray skies all day! :)

I left at 6:00 because it was closing. I would have liked to spend a little more time, but I still got to see everything.

I headed back towards the hotel. Near the garden was a different hotel and it had something really shiny outside. I got distracted.

This is the moat around Kanazawa Castle, which is across the street from Kenrokuen.

I took a slightly different route to go back to the hotel. I liked this tree lined street.

It led to the main shopping district. I passed by a McDonalds. I was planning on grabbing some food at a konbini on the way back to the hotel, but I saw a sign for the Happy Meal (Oops, I mean Hapi Setto!) toys.

They're taiko drums from the taiko game I have for my DS. They're so cute! I couldn't pass them up! They had four different ones available (the top four) and I got to pick the one I wanted, so I chose the pink one! :) Haha, this is kind of sad isn't it? Does this sound like a blog written by a little kid? Oh well, lol.

This is a sign outside the lottery ticket place. Isn't it cute?

It took about half an hour to walk back to the station. This is what part of the station looked like. It was so empty! Actually this is underneath the front plaza area of Kanazawa Station. I think this underground part is actually a different station.

It had a cool waterfall.

Then I looked around the mall for a little bit. The mall was right next to the station and across the street from my hotel. I didn't stay there too long though. I was ready to get in the onsen!

The onsen was very nice. It wasn't as fancy as the other one I've been to, but I wasn't expecting it to be. There weren't any tea baths, massaging waterfalls, or bubble jets. It was simple, but it was nice and warm and relaxing! This picture is taken from their website. This is the men's onsen, but the women's onsen looked very similar.

There were two baths, an indoor one and an outdoor one. I went into the indoor one first. Then I went to the outdoor one. The outdoor one was surrounded by solid walls so you couldn't see outside except for the sky. But it was still nice to feel the slightly chilly air while in the super hot bath. When I got out of the water I could see steam coming off my body.

I felt very refreshed after the bath. I really miss baths here. I have a bathtub but it's old and a little bit gross. Taking a bath in it would not be relaxing at all. And onsen are just super awesome. They're really warm and they don't get cold as you sit in them!

I sat in bed for a while and looked at the tourist brochure and looked for more places to go. I had the TV on and it was oddly entertaining as usual.

Don't ask. I don't know. It's a comedy show, but beyond that... I don't know... Japanese TV is weird...

Here is my facebook album! Please look at the pretty pictures! PRETTY PICTURES

Read More

Giant Robots are Taking Over Japan

I went to Shizuoka the day after Sports Day. I hadn't been to Shizuoka yet (except just passing through on a train) even though it's easy for me to get to. I just take the ferry across the bay and then a short train ride.

Here's a picture I took on my way to the ferry.

Here is the ferry arriving in Toi.

I was really excited to see Mt. Fuji! I could see it better than it appears in the picture, though it still wasn't a super clear view.

Before getting on the ferry I went to 7-11 and bought a snack. Recently milk chocolate Pocky came out and I love it. The regular kind is dark chocolate and I don't like it that well. The Fanta Super Fruits was OK. I was about to get Peach (which is awesome) when I noticed this new flavor. It's a mix of white grape, pomegranate, mangosteen, and camu camu. I had no idea what a couple of those fruits were until I looked them up just now. It's definitely an interesting mix. It was good, but I probably wont buy it again. I'd much rather have the peach flavor. :)

I first arrived at Higashi Shizuoka station. As I exited the station I saw something very frightening... a giant robot! It looked like it was about to destroy the city.

Actually, this was one of my reasons for going to Shizuoka. I had seen this advertised and wanted to see it. I have never watched the Gundam anime and really have no interest in it or robots in general. But a giant statue of a robot? I had to see it!

The area around the statue was like a festival. There were many food stands (I ate gyoza) and a stage with dance performances. I stopped and watched a few.

The giant model robot was pretty impressive because it is so big. It also moved its head and there were some flashing lights. It's sword (light saber? I don't know...) lights up at night, but I didn't get to see that.

After a while I headed back to the station and took a quick train ride to Shizuoka station to do some shopping around there. There was a mall connected to the station and I bought a cute purple rug for my bedroom later right before I left. :) I also walked to a mall a few streets away because it has Loft, one of my favorite stores in Japan.

I came across some food stands.

One of them had Welch's Strawberry Soda. I was so confused why they had it. It was obviously imported since the packaging had absolutely no Japanese on it. It was so strange though because I have a hard time finding this in the US. It made me happy though!

This statue was strange.

I came across more dancing in the streets. I had received a pamphlet at the Gundam thing that showed different dance groups and had maps and times showing where they would be. I wasn't particularly looking for any of them, but I came across a strangely interesting one.

I will probably go back to Shizuoka again, mainly because of Loft and some of the other stores. I'm glad to know that there is a Loft store I can get to pretty easily. It's not as big as the ones in Tokyo, but it is still nice because it has a lot of the things I like to look at such as cute stickers and stationary. :)

Read More

Sports Day!

Saturday, September 18th was Sports Day at my junior high school. Sports Day is a typical thing for schools in Japan. I never had anything like this when I was in school. The closest thing was Field Day in elementary school where we did relay races against our classmates. Besides being a day where the whole school plays games, they really have nothing in common. Sports Day is a very big deal. The students practiced for weeks beforehand.

All the students were split into four teams (red, blue, yellow, and green) so that each team had an equal number of boys and girls and students from each grade.

The high school band played as the students marched in. Here are all the students lined up with their teams. You can see that the school is very small!

Then the Japanese flag was raised while the Japanese anthem was played. I realized I didn't know what the Japanese anthem sounded like. It was my first time hearing it after being in Japan for six months.

That was followed by a couple speeches by the principal and vice principal. Then it was time to do the warm up exercises. It's called Rajio Taiso. This same routine is used all over Japan by schools, businesses and more. I did the exercises too but stopped to quickly take a picture.

 Here's a video from a much larger school, but it will give you the idea.

 During the summer, if I got up before 8:00, I could hear that song playing at the place across the street. I'm not really sure what it is. It's a warehouse I think.

Also, the elementary school has recently started doing this exercise every morning so I get to do it with them when I'm there.

Here's a random picture of the back of the school. 

The first event was a baton pass race. 

 The next event was really neat. The students held up a pole while another student climbed to the top. The student then dropped a weight with a rope into the pole. The rope was then hammered down into the ground.

The very last student then put a banner on top and once it was open the team was finished. 

Here are the banners from all four teams. One Piece is a popular anime. The next one is Yoshi which is just awesome. Then next is Pikachu... also awesome. :) The last one is Stitch. They love Stitch here. He's wayyyyy more popular in Japan than he ever was in the US.

 

Next was the Daruma race.  This was an event with the parents. It was a relay race where the students had to put on the daruma thing (and couldn't see) and the parents ran with them across the field and around a cone. It was really funny!

The jump rope competition was pretty impressive. This was a competition between the classes, rather than the colored teams.

 Here is another PTA game (yeah they really call it PTA here... one of the teachers was trying to explain to me what PTA means and she was surprised when I told her we call it PTA in America as well, lol). This game was really funny too. It was a three-legged race but they also had to put their faces in a pan of flour (I think) and get something out of it to eat. I don't know what it was though. Some of the students participated with their parents and others paired up with their siblings.

 The next game was adorable. The 3rd year students did an obstacle course race with the kindergartners. The 3rd graders guided the little kids through a course. It was really cute, but it was challenging for a couple of the students because a couple little kids started crying, haha.

Tug of war! I remember the last couple of Field Days at my elementary school where they didn't let all the students in a class participate in Tug of War because it was too dangerous. This was one of the least dangerous games of the day at this festival though!

This game looked like a lot of fun. It's kind of like tug of war. The two teams stand at opposite sides of the field. There are five poles in the middle. When the gun goes off they run to the middle and try to take the poles to their side of the field. The first team to get three poles over to their side wins.

This was another PTA event. All of the parents and siblings participated in this one. One student stood in the middle and held up a basket on a pole. The teams tried to throw as many balls in there as they could in a certain amount of time.

Next there was another baton pass race. There were several of these races so that each student got to participate.

Then it was time for lunch!

After lunch the teams performed their dance routines and the spectators got to fill in evaluation sheets to choose the winning team. I have some pictures of the dances but they are all close-up shots and so I'm not posting them here.

I saw the students practice for this next game a lot. It's very difficult so they needed a lot of practice! It's like a massive three-legged race but I don't know exactly how many feet are tied together. When one student falls it's basically a domino effect. So they have to be perfectly timed! They run across the field...

 ...then jump and land face down on cushions! It's crazy!

The next game also involved feet being tied together.  Three students stood one behind the other. Their legs were all tied together. I have pictures of this as well, but like the dance pictures, they're all close-up pictures.

I was so excited about the next game. It's called kibasen, but the English translation is called "cavalry battle." I know that some schools have quit doing this game because it's dangerous, but I was excited that my school still plays it.

Three students stand in a triangle formation while a fourth student sits up on top. They wear hats and the point of the game is to get a hat from the other team. Sometimes they knock each other down too though. It was really fun to watch and I could see how it has been banned at other schools.

 I got to participate in the next game (or maybe it came before the cavalry battle...  or even before some of the other games... I don't really remember). I don't have any pictures of it since I was also playing in it. It was a PTA game and the students paired up with a family member. I got to pair up with one of the students. Each team stood in two lines, one line of students and one line of parents. A big ball (as tall as me) was rolled to the front of the line. The students in the front tossed it into the air and the people behind it hit it to keep tossing it to the back of the line. The pair in the back of the line then rolled it to the end of the field and around some cones and then took it back to the front of the line.

I was part of the green team for this game, and we won! :) So even though I was wearing a yellow shirt I hoped that the green team would win for the rest of the day.

The last event was the final baton pass race. Then the scores for the dance were announced and the overall scores were put up. Green  won! Yay!

 There was a closing ceremony and then when it was all over the students sat with their groups and talked about their experience.

 While this was going on I wandered around to take a few more pictures. This is the gate where the students lined up before marching in to begin each game.

 Here's the back of the school.

Sports Day was a lot of fun. Even though it was on a Saturday, it was a lot of fun going to work that day. Plus, since I worked that Saturday I was given the following Friday off. Thursday was a holiday (autumnal equinox) with no school so I got a four day weekend! I went to Kanazawa, so I will have a post about that soon! :)

Read More