茶道

this is a little late, but i've found that i'm starting to get busier with school work and with socializing. in any case, it's here now.

so last friday i got to go to a tea ceremony (that's what it says at the top, by the way) and it was one of the many things i wanted to do before i came to japan. i was extremely excited. the entire process of the tea ceremony is to be stiff and know all the rules of formality. why does this sound exciting? i know this kind of stuff isn't for everyone, but as loud and obnoxious and crazy as i am, i love the formal stuff. i can't get enough of being all dressed up, doing the high class stuff, and just calming down. in sadou it's all about nature and the sounds. the sounds in sadou are horribly important.

for instance, the sound of boiling water is very soothing and an essential part of the process. there are many steps in making the tea and it takes decades to be considered a master of the tea. it's rare to see a male tea master as it is more of a woman's "place" to do something like this.

when we went, we found out that it's an extremely historical site of a battle that took place in nagoya over 400 years ago back when tokugawa was taking over japan. we even got to visit the place where he planned out military strategies, but more on that later.

after going inside we were split up into groups. group one would make the tea, group two would go to drink from a master, and group three would drink the tea made by group one. i started in group one. making the tea is hard because no matter what i did, i was wrong, but i've come to accept that no matter what i do in japan...i'll always be wrong (because i'm a foreigner [but that's ok because i get away with a lot for the same reason]). luckily my teacher was really nice to me.

so i had to sit in the traditional style and first wash the bowl. these bowls are over 100 years old and handmade and can't be replaced. i didn't wanna hold this bowl for very long or else bad things would happen. cleaning the bowl is special. you have to first dip the wooden ladle into the boiling bowl before you, move your hand back to you, pour it into the bowl, wait until the last drop falls, move your hand back to you, put the ladle back on the boiling bowl VERY carefully (almost like it's too heavy for you), and then swirl the water very slowly around the bowl. you then pour the rest of the water into a side bowl. then you pull out your towel (my teacher had one for me), and carefully clean it by spinning the bowel clockwise in your hand.

you then put the green powder that is the tea into the bowl. apparently it's really important that you lightly hit the bowel once with the spoon after it's hit since sound is really crucial here. you then finally pour the water in (i'm skipping steps for time sake) and stir it making sure it gets a lot of bubbles (more important sound things here). the most important step is to spin the bowel around in your hand three times clockwise so that the design is facing out to the drinkers.

after i was done, i was shooed outside where i met a lady from the culture festival i had met a few weeks prior. she surprised me by speaking all english and saying, "yup, i knew english, but i wanted to see if you knew japanese" and laughed. i then got to take some pictures of the area around, but they'll be at the end like always.

me and the group was then taken into the small house in the back where the master was. she prepared us a tea and we were told how to drink the tea which was it's own ritual on its own. we were first given soft candy that changes with each season. it was so good. the lady with us spoke really good english and explained certain historical facts about sadou, such as tokugawa loved the art of tea ceremonies which was why it became so big in the first place and why it made so much sense to have a tea ceremony house on a battle field where he once was. in any case, after the tea (that was SO good), i was taken back to the room where i made the tea and given tea made by someone else.

to drink the tea is where the formality comes from. the candy comes your way and you have to pick the plate up, holding it slightly above your face, bow to the tea master, and say...something. i forgot that part cuz i did it wrong anyways. then you put it back down, take one, put it on your napkin in front of you, then take another. you then slide it to the person next to you. after you eat the candy, the tea is ready. you take the bowl and place it directly your knees, making SURE that you turn the bowl around in your hand clockwise three times so that the design is now facing out (since before it was facing you). that's when you bow to the master and say, "ちょうだいしつれします。" (please excuse for drinking before you). you then turn to the person next to you and give a small bow saying, "おさきにちょうだいしつれします。" (meaning the same thing, but of a higher level of politeness). then you drink (after saying "いただきます" of course). you're not supposed to chug or move your head a lot when drinking. when done you use your index finger and thumb to go across the bowl where your mouth was. you do it once forward and then again backwards. you then wipe your fingers on the edge of your napkin. VERY IMPORTANT is you turn the bowl back around in your hand counter clockwise so that the design is facing you again. you place is down on the tatami mat and look at the design once on the right, once on the left, again on the right, and once more on the left. you then thank the master.

that's all just to drink the damn thing that takes about three or four sips to finish off. but it's so much fun and i enjoyed it immensely! now onto the pictures! (don't forget to click on them to enlarge them!)


the changing leaves are so beautiful
SOUND IS IMPORTANT
this nice japanese lady took my camera while i was drinking the tea to take tons of photos during the ceremony
decoration in the tatami room
CANDY
i asked (in japanese) if i could take her picture. she had such a pretty kimono!
all of the lovely ladies that were at the house. they've been doing it all together for 15 years
a flower picked fresh from the garden that day
the entire tea set
the sky was so beautiful...
looking out across the land. there was a terrible battle here that killed over 3,000 japanese men
the thin stone that's standing up is where tokugawa sat and drew out military maps
the man himself. an engraving near the house depicting the battle.

unfortunately, there isn't anything planned for a few weeks as it's almost finals time (4 more weeks of school) and i'm mainly going to be going christmas shopping, but i'll have a few status updates and my lovely engrish shirt updates! thursday we're celebrating thanksgiving here at the dorms and i'll update a small bit about it, but pictures will mainly be on my facebook. (there will also be more pictures from the tea ceremony on facebook as well). also, i saw my host family again and i might be seeing them over new years. i'll be sure to have information then!

until then, stay warm!

~星子☆

hiroshima

sorry for the long delay. many of you know that i went to hiroshima this past weekend and i've been due to update you all with pictures and lovely history and what-not.

WELL TOO BAD!

you have to read through miyajima first! that place was were i visited first and (no offense) i liked it more.

so not far from hiroshima is this beautiful island called miyajima. it's famous for it's japanese maple trees and deer (shika) that just walk around freely in the town. but it's most famous for its torii (red shrine entryway) that's in the water. it's ENORMOUS and faces the ocean; almost like it's either having japan enter the world or the world is entering japan. either way, it's amazing. (click on the picture to make it bigger if you so wish)

here it is with the tide almost fully up. i eventually went down to it (almost right up to it) once the tide went out.

there we go. it's so large, i love it.

not only was there this torii, but there was a 5 story pagoda which is a narrow building with chinese designs. it's a pretty stereotypical aspect of japanese culture.

i loved this thing and constantly talked about going the entire trip. SO AWESOME! sadly, by the time we arrived, we couldn't go inside. i bet it was amazing in there, though...

in any case, the area around was just gorgeous. again, the pictures will be at the bottom since there are quite a few. as always, there are more on my facebook.

all right, onto hiroshima. this didn't make it on my facebook because...well let's face it. what does everyone know hiroshima by? not the beautiful and sprawling city it's become or the culture that's there, but instead, the A-Bomb. even the japanese think of it that way before anything else.

we had spent the night in hiroshima the evening before after being in miyajima and went awfully early. i was very nervous and prepping myself to be extremely sad. i had been to the holocaust museum in washington d.c. back in the States and now i was going to the A-Bomb museum. last on my list is the pearl harbor museum and i'm pretty set in WW2 areas (unless there's some fascists museum i don't know about).

anyways! so we get there and right off the bat i feel a lump in my throat at seeing the atomic dome. for those who don't know what that is or don't know enough, the atomic dome is basically the only remaining building still standing from when the bomb was dropped. it was hit by the blast only a few miles away and because of that, most of the structure stood. it burned for an entire day before anyone was able to put it out and another day to go inside. it used to be a building for city officials to use (not quite like city hall or anything).

here it is before

pretty beautiful, huh? at the time, it was considered an achievement to modern architecture.

here it is now


around this time, 15 high schools came along. i got even more nervous and knew things would end badly if i got too close. i already felt horrible that it had happened, but the fact that i was a foreigner at the area made it all the worse

so next we moved towards the museum across the river. we came across the children's peace monument. children from all across japan were inspired by a girl in japan who, when 2, was hit by the blast. she didn't suffer any injury and she seemed fine. she grew up healthy and strong until she was 10 when she developed lukemia and slowly began to die. by 13, she had passed away, but not before making over 1000 paper cranes. there's an old legend in japanese culture that if one makes 1000 paper cranes, their wish will come true. she kept wishing to be healed (even though they never told her that she was dying, she kept records that she hid under her bed showing that she knew something was up with her blood) and eventually made the tiniest paper cranes ever.
once she died, kids all over japan made the cranes wishing for world peace and complete destruction of nukes or bombs of any kind.


once done, we passed by the flame of hope and the tomb of all those dead. the middle schoolers had stopped there to put down flowers and do a simultaneous bow. it was a bit touching, so i quickly moved away. i was already feeling really sad.

we then moved inside. i'm not gonna show too many pictures because some are just so sad...

the time of when the bomb hit

pretty much all that's left of a 3 year old

a person used to be there in that darker area. that's all that remains of them- their shadow

before
after

WELL NOW! with that lovely stuff out of the way! i'll end with a few pictures and my fav. picture is at the end

DEER
bambi and his mom!
view from the top of a small shrine in the town
the leaves are changing colors. such pretty japanese maples

and finally, my favorite picture which really made me cry at the end of the hiroshima museum
(please enlarge and read the message. it's inspiring)



needless to say i cried at this place, but it was worse because around me where middle schoolers crying and old people looking ready to faint. one middle school girl glared at me which made me feel god awful. but when i saw the shadow on the ground, a little old lady who came up to me and asked if i was okay (in japanese). i replied that i'm trying not to cry. she pat me on the shoulder and said, "it wasn't you who did it". i looked at her and she gave me such a sweet smile and pat my hand.

~星子☆

host family

happy halloween everyone! well, what's left of it in the States, though most of you will be reading this after it has ended. i hope everyone had a great time and ate tons of candy. i won't spend too much time on halloween as japan is just recently getting into the holiday. it's popular, but a lot of japanese are shy to dress up as cosplaying is sometimes seen as a dirty/dorky thing to do. still, the small children and high school/college students are starting to get into the swing of things. there are even some stores beginning to participate in trick or treating, though the majority of japan is still very confused about the concept.

today's post will be about my host family that i had the pleasure and fortune to meet. when i started school i was given the option to do a home stay (overnight) or home visit (day only) with a japanese family. i asked for a home stay, but the family i was placed with asked that i do a home visit instead. i understood seeing as the family had two very young children (a boy in 4th grade and a girl in 2nd).

saturday (my halloween) was when i met them, i had gone out the previous night to buy them a present as that's very customary in japan and it's just plain polite. i was extremely scared and nervous beyond all reason, but upon meeting them and talking to them for just a few minutes i knew my day was going to be amazing.

they said they would take me to nagoya castle, but seemed worried when i said i had already been there. i said that i didn't mind as we weren't there for very long the last time i went, so they were excited again. haha. so cute.
on the drive there i told them about my home in the States and my family and friends. they were excited to know i was a SF Giants fan and SJ Sharks fan and that my father was a 49ers fan. the father (tou-chan as he wanted to be called which is like saying daddy) was VERY into american things. he had even been to a rolling stones and beach boy concert in the States a few years back and knew quite a lot of english. his son, shizuko, was just as into english and american things. he practiced his english on me. the little girl, mitsuki, was very shy with me at first, but by the end of the day, she was hugging me and letting me mess with her hair. the mom and i got along extremely well and we talked the majority of the time.

at nagoya castle was a chrysanthemum festival seeing as how that's the national flower of japan. i have never seen so many beautiful flowers in my life. i took a lot of pictures that i'll have at the end of this post. the parents asked if i had ever had takoyaki (octopus balls) and i told them i hadn't yet, but i wanted to try them. they ran and got me an entire case for myself and gave me ice cream and coke. it was SOOOOO good! i was amazed at how good those little things were.

once we were done with nagoya castle, they took me to osu for lunch. i didn't have the heart to tell them i had also already been there, but they told me they would take me to a place that served food only found in nagoya. i got very excited and when i saw the food i was overwhelmed. there was SO much! it was a special type of noodles and broth that you put in the lid that also served as a plate and then ate from there. it was pretty tasty, but not the best. while there, we all worked on our chopstick handling. the parents were so happy to see i could handle mine so well and asked me to teach their kids! it was amazing.

now a little side note here before i continue. a lot of families in japan are starting to change from the stereotypical and old way families worked. most families are said to hardly talk to their kids or hug them or are very strict. some friends i know tell me they don't talk much to their parents and they've never hugged their parents, especially when they were kids.
knowing this, i was a bit apprehensive to see how my host family would treat their kids. it was TOTALLY the opposite with this family. the dad constantly played and hugged his kids. the mom was always fussing about her daughter's hair and hugging her. they were extremely sweet and kind. there would be times they were strict, but nothing like i had heard in all my culture classes. i talked to them about that and they said japan is slowly changing to be a little sweeter and more understanding with their kids. tou-chan went on to explain that most families who sign up for home stay things like this are interested in western ideas, therefore they're bound to be different than the norm. tou-chan was so smart. :3
apparently a lot of my friends experienced the same revelation with their families in seeing the families being very huggy and touchy-feely, quite the opposite of japanese stereotypes.

once lunch was over, my host family proceeded to shop around osu with me and i showed them some of my fav. stores including the mexican restaurant that i ate at a few weeks ago. then my host family bought me a present! they told me that since i pray to get better at japanese, they bought me a small doll that was handmade and said if i pray to it everyday, i'll get better at japanese. i was EXTREMELY grateful and it was sooooo cute! i love it. it sits on my shelf near my bed.

once done with osu, we went back to their house. it was very beautiful and so cute and small. they had a wii which we played while tou-chan took a nap. we then had dinner for 3 hours and there was so much fish. i was stuffed! we talked japanese and i helped them with english and it was just so much fun. the family didn't want me to go home and wanted to change it to home stay, but were sad when they had to take me home. they wanted to see me again sometime, so i hope i can see them again.

so here are my pictures:　(by the way, if you click on the pictures, they will enlarge and you can see them better. just fyi)





that's my gift from my host family :3

love you all!

~星子☆

new segment

so this is a short update as i'm here to bring you a new segment for my blog. i'm calling it...

JAPANESE T-SHIRT BLOG WORTHY!

every so often i'll have amusing t-shirt slogans here for your enjoyment. today i at the supermarket i saw my favorite t-shirt yet!

"WHAT A COINCIDENCE! where did you sleep LAST NIGHT?"
in silver sparkles

~星子☆

足助 and others

friday was such an amazing day on so many levels! my title says "asuke" as that was the area we went to. it was about an hour away from school, but it was so amazing. an old style city in the middle of the forest and hidden deep in the mountains. the trees were just starting to change and most were ginko or maple trees. the maple trees near the river that cut between the area we mainly stayed were hand planted by a Buddhist priest who chanted sutra's as he did so back in the 1600s hoping to bring beauty and prosperity to the area. there are a lot of shrines and temples in the area so it looks amazing. the houses were filled to the brim with authentic and handmade items from the area and i....HAD NO MONEY! i forgot to pull some from the ATM before we left and no where took credit cards and there were no ATMs in the area. go me go... luckily, i managed to ask my friends to help me out and they agreed. :)

i tried this AMAZING food called "gekeimochi" (i think) that was mochi (pounded rice to be like paste pretty much) covered in a sauce that reminded me of bbq sauce but was ubber sweet and such. it was GREAT!



for about an hour and half we got to walk around the entire area, but i was worried we'd get lost and most of us were hungry. we were ok and all and thankfully i knew the map well enough to get us to see so many sights. i wanted to see the damn temples, but oh well. it was still loads of fun walking around.

it was then time for the activities to start. i was doing hattaori which is cloth weaving. it starts off with a giant loom that already has yards of cloth all ready and since there were just three of us, we got our own personal little lesson.

here are pictures of the process:


here's the loom. not the one i worked at, but one near me

the pedals i used. you press the middle ones to switch the pattern up and down

this was the material i used at my loom and the yards of fabric waiting for me

now behind the tool there used is the finished product. once done, you use this tool to tie the string 7 times around the bamboo and cloth


when it was done we use this glue across the cloth to keep it in place


the end result! aren't they so pretty?! look at that piece of work! all handmade, baby!

before i made that loveliness, i also wandered around the town and took quite a lot of pictures of the area. here are just a few lovely shots of my time in this wonderfully peaceful town.



















































































































































































































































also, there were school kids there. they were all about 8 or 9. they couldn't get enough of us, especially my senpai (older classmate) r-chan, as she's really tall and they thought her touching tree branches like godzilla was amazing! haha!

now, over the weekend i was EXTREMELY busy with halloween parties, UN/hetalia day, and the school fesitval. the school festival was awesome and i really loved attending my first one. i especially liked seeing the boys up on the stage dancing! :D
but i was also a part of the foreigners who put on a play. we did the lion king! i have included the links below to the videos. if you want to see more pictures from asuke and from the halloween party i went to on saturday, check out my facebook!

starting midterms next week, so don't expect updates for awhile, although next tuesday i have a random holiday and plan to go out with my friends, so there might be pictures or so

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy6ZR16qSSs
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXt-dTiIXJQ
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQcTIrxbALU

thanks you all!

~星子☆