Nagoya Izakaya

On Thursday night I headed out to Nagoya with some classmates to have dinner and drinks and to say sayonara to Christine and Stephan. We went to an Izakaya, which is a bar that serves food. Basically, it's a comfy place where you can hang out with your friends for a few hours and order lots of small dishes to share, accompanied by beer (in our case) or whatever your prefered drink is. The food was excellent, and the atmosphere was great. The picture shows Stephan, Christian, and Sammy. After we left we had a snack at Mister Doughnut (hilarious!) and did some PuriKura, or Print Club. This is a very Japanese thing to do- you gather with your friends in a booth and take photos, which you then add words and little graphics to, and the machine prints out the tiny photos in sticker form. In the photo Christine is enhancing our PuriKura before we caught the last train back to Okazaki. :)

Daily life 2

Today is a landmark day- I have inherited a bike! It may not be the most beautiful bicycle, but I am pretty excited to have a method of transport other than my feet. Thank you Scott! Riding a bike in Okazaki is slightly exhilarating, as there is lots of traffic and the streets are narrow, but there are bike lanes in some places, and the drivers seem quite aware.
The other photos in this post are from the coffee shop next to the Yamasa campus (きつつき, kitsutsuki, or woodpecker) where I eat lunch most days. I truly love this place. They offer a daily lunch special with a discount for students, but the women who run the shop know that I don't eat meat, so they make fried rice just for me (not even on the menu!) when the lunch special contains meat. They are so kind, I think this lunch ritual will be one of the things I will miss most when returning to the states. :)

Class

Today is the last day Laura and Scott will be here. One of the interesting things about Yamasa is that students have the option to come and go every two weeks. This means that people are constantly coming and going. The picture here is the original group of students in my class with our head teacher (second from left, back row, we have 3 teachers who rotate throughout the week), we are now down to 7 or 8 students, and things will change again by the end of the week. I am in class from 9-2:30 M-Th and 9-12 F with a 50 minute lunch break and 10 minute breaks each hour. I also have a one hour private lesson each afternoon where I usually cover extra material and practice conversation, and of course plenty of homework. The students in my class hail from Taiwan, China, Switzerland, Sweeden, Canada, Singapore, and the U.S.

Takayama

This weekend I headed inland to Takayama with Laura, Scott, and Alex. Takayama is pretty much in the center of Honshu (the largest island of the archipeligo). The highlights of the weekend included staying at the Tensho-ji Hostel (a hostel at a temple, first picture), hiking through the woods, walking through the old town center, and visiting Hida-no-sato, an open air museum with traditional houses. I was also pleased that we found an organic restaurant which served curry rice vegetarian! This is a dish I have desired to try since I have arrived in Japan, but it is almost always served with meat. There are many sake breweries in Takayama as well (see photo with round cedar fronds hanging above the door to the shop), so we enjoyed a sampling of local product. :)

Cooking group

This week Laura, Scott, Alex and I formed a cooking group! As anyone who knows me knows of my love of cooking, this is great fun for me. I cook, the rest of the group buys the groceries. Though I am not feeling as skilled as I would in my own kitchen, or even with a grocery where I could read the labels, I think the meals have turned out fairly decent, and it's healthier than eating out all the time. Tonight Scott even said he might be turning vegetarian, which is about the best compliment one could give me. Yae! :)

MFA in Nagoya

On Sunday Laura and I went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Nagoya to see "The Allure of Edo" a show of Ukiyo-e paintings from the Edo period (1600-1868). This was an absolutely amazing show!! Over 80 paintings by artists like Hokusai and Utamaro. The museum is an extension of the Boston MFA. After a coffee break, we headed over to the Atsuta shrine, dating from the 3rd century and housing an important sword that according to legend was handed down to the imperial family by the goddess Amaterasu. Unfortunately only the imperial family and a few shinto priests actually get to see the sword, but the shrine was pleasant to visit nonetheless. In the evening we watched one of my favorite movies ever, "The Big Lebowski" and ordered pizza, which was incredibly tasty. While I like Japanese food, there are just sometimes that I can't betray my American-raised tastes. :)

Inuyama

On Saturday I took a day trip to Inuyama with Laura and Alex. We went to the Inuyama castle, the oldest extant in Japan, dating from 1537! While the castle was small, it had a great view of the Kiso river and the surrounding city. We were given a tour by a volunteer guide (in English!), which was really fantastic.














After lunch we took a bus to Meiji-mura (Meiji Village). This was an open air museum bringing together over 65 buildings from the Meiji period (1868-1912), including part of Frank Lloyd Wright's original Tokyo Imperial Hotel. :)

Park and Bowling

On Friday after class I went to a local park with Diego, Laura, and Alex. We rode the ferris wheel (!), walked around, and had ice cream. It was quite pleasant to be in a wide open space, and to get an overview of Okazaki from above. Later in the evening a large group of us had dinner out and went bowling.

Okonomiyaki

On Monday a group of 14 of us went out for Okonomiyaki (literally 'cook to taste'). One orders from the menu, or selects their own ingredients, and they are brought to you raw in a bowl. I had mochi and cheese, which included cabbage and eggs. You mix the ingredients, and pour onto the hot griddle at the center of the table, cooking yourself. At the end you add sauce (kinda like bbq sauce), mayo (not like American mayo), and seaweed flakes. Yum! Pictured are (from left) Scott, Amy, me, Alex, Alex, and Lily, all dormmates. :)

Saturday Around Nara

On Saturday we took a train and bus out to Horyuji, a Buddhist temple founded in 607. This was an absolutely amazing place which houses many important art objects as well as having fantastic architecture. Definitely a highlight of visiting Japan!









After lunch just outside the temple gates, we caught the bus to Yakushiji (founded in 680) in the pouring rain. It was a relief to sit on a dry bus for half an hour, and fun to see the other temples along the bus route. At Yakushiji we saw more sculptures and architecture, and were rained on even more. After catching the bus back to Nara we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant near the station and returned to the Ryokan for a bath and relaxing evening in our beautiful surroundings.