People Everywhere (updated)

I finished a hat for Arianna!  It was really fine yarn and not ideal for hats, but I did my best with it and it turned out alright.  She's worn it a few times, which means a lot.

There were no classes Wednesday so the Japanese students could set up for the festival set to take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Arianna and I didn't know it didn't start Wednesday, though.  We had made plans to go to Sweets Paradise and the ninja cafe, but Arianna didn't want to go to the former without Daniel and Alison (who was going to take us to the latter) realized she had dance practice all day Wednesday.

So we met at Hirakatashi eki and wandered around for a bit.

I found a Yu Yu Hakusho Gameboy game (that's original Gameboy, mind you, not even Gameboy Color) at the Tsutaya that took over the Book Off.  KFC (or just Kentucky here) had their statue of Colonel Sanders in a Santa suit.  KFC seems to have made itself a Christmas tradition in Japan.  Don't know how they managed it, but they dominate.

We decided to walk to campus to stop by the shrine on the way.  It was really small and rather modern and completely vacant, which isn't a surprise--most shrines are, unless they're popular or famous.  There was also a temple across the street but we decided not to go because we didn't want to get hit by a bus going downhill.

It was about then we found out the festival didn't start until the next day (we still had classes while all the music and festivities were going on, of course, but the Japanese students didn't), so we got corndogs (or America dogs as they're called here) to give ourselves a pseudo festival feeling before she headed to Kyoto and I headed home.

I made dinner.  It was pasta with sausage, red/yellow/orange bell peppers and onions with garlic toast.  The pasta was angel hair, which was probably the worst choice ever for the dish, but it still tasted good.  I minced garlic and parsley and mixed it with butter to spread on bread and stick in the toaster oven.  I still smell like garlic.  It was really good, though.  Even if I did bite my lip particularly bad while we were eating.

Saturday I headed to campus and sent off a bunch of emails trying to clear up my classes before heading out to the festival.  First stop was tempura ice cream, which was more or less fried ice cream with a softer shell.  I got gyoza as well before heading to the stage to watch B and Alison do their dances.

Then it was off to the library because I've got a paper due in the immediate future!  It's a biography on Shotoku Taishi, a crown prince who may or may not have really existed.  The only requirement for the paper is that the subject had to have died before the Meiji period.  I was able to find the books I was looking for by looking up their call numbers (hooray working in the library!) but the periodicals were all back-issues that weren't out any more and I had to go down to the desk for them to pull them out of the "vault," which I assume is the basement.

They kicked me out at 3:45, I went to the computer lab until they kicked me out at 4 and then I headed home.

Walking through the festival.



Takeshi and Konta

 Sunday was go out with the family day!  Okaasan made pancakes (hot cakes), which somehow managed to smell like Christmas and were pretty good.  We all piled in the car at about 8:30 and headed to Maki and Takeshi's house.  Konta rode with us and the others followed.  We picked up Okaasan's sister in Nara and then headed to her husband's work, which had been transformed into a gallery for the weekend.  It was showcasing artwork from mentally handicapped children.  There was a small shop outside and a goldfish scooping booth.  I watched the others at the scooping before trying it myself.  I was able to get three fish before I passed my net to Maki.

The nets are plastic rims with paper as the scoop, so you have to be fast and gentle.  On my second fish, I hit the side of the bowl I was putting them on and it ripped, and once it rips, it all goes downhill from there.  Takeshi got 3-4, Misa got 4, Maki got one and put it back and Okaasan got one.

From there, we headed to a traditional restaurant for lunch.  I had an eel set, which was rather tasty.

Then we headed into the fray which was Todaiji Temple.

Todaiji is the home of the daibutsu (literally "big buddha").  It's one of the oldest temples in Japan, dating back to the 700s, and is a world heritage site.  The buddha is just over 49 feet tall (a child can fit in his nostril).  Both building and buddha aren't the originals, though, as fire and earthquake damage have forced reconstruction.  The building was built in 1709 (and is 30% smaller than the original), the hands of the statue are from the Momoyama period (16-17th centuries) and the head is from the Edo period (17-19th centuries).

There were people everywhere.  We couldn't find places to park the cars, so Misa, Maki, Takeshi, Konta and I got out and walked while Otousan, Okaasan and her sister went back to her house.  There were deer everywhere.  Literally everywhere.  They'd eat from your hands.  They'd steal papers out of your pockets (Takeshi lost his ticket this way).  They'd eat your clothing or bags if you didn't feed them.

We fought our way through the people and the deer and eventually made it out of the temple.  We got on a bus to Okaasan's sister's house and had just sat down for tea when Konta started acting up.  It had been a long day and he needed to go to sleep.  So we all piled outside and headed home... or to a restaurant for dinner, as Konta slept on the ride and was in a better mood when we arrived.

After that, it was finally home.  My first goal was to get the goldfish taken care of (which had been in the car since we got them and everyone else had forgotten about them.  Luckily, the family had a tank kit already, so we set it up.  Everything was too rushed, though.  Otousan filled the tank with cold water and Okaasan dumped the fish in the tank (one of them had died) while I was fighting to put the filter together.  Then Otousan poured the entire package of dechlorinator in the water.  When Konta lost interest, so did everyone else, but I went through the packages until I found the food and sprinkled some in.

I was surprised none were dead the next morning.  There's a guppy shop by the bus stop.  I think I'll get some gravel and food tomorrow, since it will be closed by time my classes let out.

 

 






These guys are cool.
They're wooden guardians
at one of the outer gates.
They're carved and fitted
together.  That way, if a
piece is messed up, it's
easy to fix; don't have to
start over.

 

We looked at them in my
Art & Architecture of
Japan class at Pacific.
As you can tell by the
blurry people, they're
really big.



...oh, and by the way, for those who haven't heard, this year is Nara's 1300th birthday.  The little buddha/deer abomination on that last photo is the result of the celebration.

Also, do you know what sound a deer makes?

You do now.

The more you know.