Kyoto day five and six

On Saturday morning we elected a new group of people to plan the 60th JASC, which will take place in the US next summer. That afternoon we headed to Shuchiin University to meet with students there. We enjoyed a musical presentation by Buddhist monks, and were able to practice calligraphy and the copying of Buddhist sutras.

















We also participated in a sake taste testing!
































The walk back to the train was through rice fields, and we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset.































After some shopping, we had a dinner of Korean food in downtown Kyoto, including kimchi, mmmm....
















and a Korean-style omlet.
















That night we walked to Ninnaji Temple for an overnight stay. We took the opportunity to finish the leftover sake from our earlier tasting.
















The funny exit sign.















Leaving the temple in the morning.

















A group of us started our last day in Japan at Kenninji Temple, the first Japanese Zen Temple, dating from 1202, where we participated in morning meditation.
































The famous Wind and Thunder God painting by Sotatsu from the 17th c. housed at the temple.
















In the afternoon I was able to meet up with my friend Hillary from back home, and tour the temple where her boyfriend lives. They have a bell that was from the time of Portugese contact, which she rang for me.















The garden at the temple.
































Hillary and Taka.
















They took me to lunch at a local restaurant that was filled with kitch and memorabilia, even the bathroom!





















Saying goodbye outside the temple gate. I did some final souvenir shopping in the late afternoon, and spent the evening at the JASC farewell party and packing up my things for the trip home. It was an amazing month, I made many friends that I won't soon forget, saw many amazing things, and enjoyed some wonderful conversations and lectures.

JASC 59 Pop Art

Our final forum presentation

Kyoto day three and four

Day three was spent with our roundtable groups finishing presentations for our final forum. Above is the beloved Toppo, a favorite snack of our group.
















That evening was the Daimonji-yaki Okuribi, the bonfires that represent the return of the ancestors to the spirit world after they visit during the Obon festival. We were able to view the fire near Ritsumeikan.




















Friday, August 17 was our final forum at the Kyoto International Foundation. We had keynote speeches by people working in international education and academia, and enjoyed a performance by the Kyoto Intercollegate Dance Team. JASC delegates presented on each site that we visited, and each roundtable gave a final presentation of what they had discussed throughout the conference. Our group created a video to present, which is now posted on YouTube, and this blog.
















After the presentation, PopArt with Toppo!

































After a dinner reception, a few of us headed to karaoke for a short while before heading home.

Kyoto day one and two

On Tuesday August, 14, our first full day in Kyoto, we started the day by touring the Kyoto Ecology Center and learning about environmental issues like global warming. The afternoon was spent near Ritsumeikan University, where we were staying. The photo above is from the neighborhood around the university. In the afternoon I did a little shopping and found a fantastic sweet shop, seen below.
















That evening I participated in a special topics dinner on Religion and the State in Japan and the US over a dinner of Mos Burger, a Japanese fast food restaurant.















On Wednesday we had roundtable discussions in the morning, and an afternoon of sightseeing. My group started at the Kyoto Textile Center, where we first watched a kimono fashion show.




































We next had a lesson in weaving, and made small textiles that we took home. This was my first try at it!
















The loom.






































The finished product!




















Our next stop was Ginkakuji, built in the late 1400s by the Ashikaga shogunate. The following photos show the different views of the building from the landscape that surrounds it, as well as the bamboo forest and rock garden.

Himeji

On our way from Hiroshima to Kyoto we stopped at Himeji Castle for a quick tour.




















The castle is nicknamed "White Heron" and was originally built between 1601 and 1609. The day was very hot, so as our tour guide spoke, we headed for the shade.















Looking up at the six-floor castle from inside the courtyard.





















Samurai armor exhibited inside the castle.
















Looking out from the dark interior.

Hiroshima day two and three

Our two days in Hiroshima were spent in small discussion groups of JASCers and local students. We discussed atomic issues such as education of the nuclear bomb, nuclear proliferation, and ethics of scientists. We began the two days with a tour of the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome, led by the local students. This area was near the detonation point of the bomb, and recived the worst of the destruction. Words don't really do justice to how emotional of an experience this place is.
















The Atomic Bomb Dome is a structure that was left as a reminder of the destruction. The first night we arrived, as we were walking past the dome two cranes landed near the top, which was pretty surreal. Below are the many origami cranes that are brought by visitors to the Peace Park as an offering of sorts for peace.






















The monument below is a memorial to the moblized students, a group that was active in helping the war effort. Many moblized students were in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped, and they constituted thousands of the over 120,000 casualties.





















The Buddhist stupa below is the funerary marker for all those that died.
















In the afternoon we heard a lecture from a survivor of the atomic bomb who told us her personal story and about what it was like to experience such horror. We also toured the Peace Memorial Museum, which had powerful exhibitions of personal items, photographs of the destruction, and descriptions of the after-effects of radiation. In the late afternoon I was also able to visit the Hiroshima Museum of Art to see some Meiji painting, a true treat for me.
















My special topics group at dinner.















Day three was the Hiroshima forum, where we would present our small group discussions and hear from a professor at a local university. The following view of the A-bomb dome and park is from the restaurant at the hotel where we stayed, probably the nicest accomodation of our trip.

















After the forum we presented the nearly 800 paper cranes that we had folded as a group.