ichiban saigo

can't believe i'm still talking about that winter vacation trip... I'd be disappointed in me if I were you. But here are at least a few more pictures and words before I let it go.

Some coins people threw at the little buddhas near kinkakuji.
This is inside the Kyoto Train Station, which is a crazy postmodern futuristic construction. Kyoto, as you may know, is renowned for holding on to some of the last remnants of an old Japan that bombs and "progress" have mostly removed. But the city's train station, as well as most of the city's downtown and residential areas, are glass, steel, and of course, concrete.
This is my last mention of Shana being 5 years old on this trip, but I mean, c'mon...
If there was one thing that we could agree on throughout this trip (sometimes there wasn't...), its that Jaime needed to lose some weight. Here's her being grumpy about the diet we put her on. Maybe I've been to conscientious myself though, since last I weighed myself, the scale said 58 kilos, which puts me under 130 lbs. I don't even remember the last time I weighed so little... Who would've thought leaving American food and using a bike to get around everywhere could affect one's physique?
This is Alex, possessed by something insidious it seems...
This is maybe the worse picture of Roopali I've ever seen, so I figured she would probably want me to put up in public...
Here's a much better one though. She's happy because there's a cute animal next to her, and that makes all little girls happy.
Another reminder that we were actually walking around looking at pretty Japanesey things. Also that it was the winter, and there are no cherry blossoms in the winter.
Not that we can forget the big weird shiny things, which are just as Japanesey as the pretty temples and parks.
And finally, here I am doing what I do best, pouting. Probably because i proved my weakness in Japanese at this Korean restaurant in Hiroshima. The waitress told me something about some all you can drink with a big meal set, but because we just wanted a few drinks i said no thanks, we'll just have a few beers and some tea. After getting this for us in a reluctant manner, and saying no to food for a second time, they tried explaining things to me again, and this time I got it. The only thing they offered that day was the big set they just explained to me. So after the waitress earlier had told me that, I responded that yes, i understood, but just get us some drinks anyway. What a rude foreigner I am. But I apologized, we left not long after, and the owner even sprayed us with febreeze so we wouldn't smell like grilled meat. I'll keep studying, I promise. And I'll be more careful with my "wakarimashita" (I understand).

So after Kyoto, we headed back to Takasaki where we planned on going to the Daruma doll festival. But a few things plotted against this part: we got back too late the first day, i was really sick, there was no convenient transport there, and well, moving a group of 4 girls isn't easy. And I'm not much of a motivator when various gross liquids won't stop rushing out of my face... But anyway we had a final day or so in Tokyo, where the girls got to do a bit of last minute shopping and sightseeing, and I got to spend hours at the airport with Shana and Jaime. I hear the fish market was particularly interesting, but have no pictures to prove if that's true, and I had to go to work the day Alex and Roo went. Not that Junior High School kids aren't great too. It was good to see everyone, though by now I'm sure they've all returned to the daily routine. Come back anytime!

Next time, I'll talk about my plans for this new year, how things are going here, and maybe even have a surprise or two. Oo aren't you excited...

Aaron

Aaron's learning

I apologize for the gap between this post and the last. I've learned a valuable lesson in life though: if you don't pay the internet bill, then your internet gets turned off. But I have since paid my internet bill and restored my connection. Hurrah!
Anyway, i have no real updates to give on my current life, other then that I am in the midst of making my last minute decision to recontract with my program or not. Though I think it unfairly early to have to decide about a 1 year contract in a foreign country 6 months before the previous contract finishes, that's how it goes. My thoughts on this are too vague to bother putting here, so without further ado, back to some pictures:

This is atop a futurey looking building in Osaka where you can see the shiny urban sprawl to the horizon in every direction. According to my guidebook the night view of Osaka was one of the main references for the future nightmarish cityscape in Blade Runner. The scary/exciting part was taking the glass elevator up the 40 or 50 some stories to get to the top. Shana really liked that part.
This is a lampost shaped as a robot holding a light. To add the sillyness of that, it's in "Amerika-mura" (America village) in Osaka. Our brief walk throught it made it look like a normal trendy youth-ish spot in urban Japan, and I'm not exactly sure what was so "American" about it.
Well... after a few days in Osaka, on to Kyoto we went. These aren't actually "geisha," and I don't actually remember what they are called, but they are some kind of traditional pretty-Japanese-ladies. This is in Gion, Eastern Kyoto.
Here's the whole gang again at a park a bit East of Gion. Wow, look at all those girls...
Shrine gate a little walk into that park. I could give a list of the shrines and temples we did see, but that area is loaded with many of them, and I'm not sure giving their names would clarify much for anyone. But they are all in East Kyoto, south of Ginkakuji if you want to look the area up.
This is some kind of pasty dessert from a really cute sweets shop in Kyoto. I don't know what it's called, but you pour the little cake things and powder into a cup, and add very hot water (the owner made sure that i understood VERY hot water, not just hot). Amber had Aussie friends over and we had enough packets one for each of us so we gave them a shot. I'll withhold the general concensus in case the girls want to try it or give them out as a nice present...
This is kinkakuji, golden temple. Not a terribly mysterious name. A pretty sight though. One of the more famous images in Japan. Some of my coworkers and students couldn't identify Miyajima (red shrine on the water) or some of the other places in kyoto and around from pictures that I showed them, but everyone knows kinkakuji. We're all simple creatures though, and we tend like shiny things. And not to generalize, but maybe the Japanese love shiny things even more than some others. Just a humble observation.

I'm not done yet, but blogger is operating very slowly at the moment, and it's passed my bed time. I'll try to finish up in one more post this week. Then I can go back to telling tales of going to work 5 days a week and hanging around on the weekends. How exciting!

Well, I succesfully ignored the internet for the weekend. But now back to the story of Aaron's winter vacation/the invasion of many many American girls to Japan.

Here we are at a ramen shop in Osaka, and I'm teaching baby Shmoo how to use chopsticks. She didn't quite get the hang of it, but it was an adorable bonding moment nonetheless. This would be one of the Shmoo being 5 years old moments that I mentioned in an earlier post.
Here she is again, still 5 years old. This is at a park in Osaka, which we treked to in order to see a interesting sounding museum that turned out to be closed. I'm behind the tree, pushing her up.
Here's Jaime riding a baby octopus at a massive playground in that same park in Osaka. There was a big momma octopus next to the big one, but I don't think I have a picture of that.
Not a great quality picture but still one of my favorites. It's Jaime pouting angrily at the small child who kept cutting her in line for a zip line swing at the playground. Thise reminds me of the moment when not just shana (though especially shana) turned into a 5 year old and i turned into the daddy. When we arrived at this rather large and impressive playground, the girls either quickly or eventually all started running around and going down slides, swings, and rope bars with the many very very small Japanese children. In turn they gave me their bags to hold, and I stood just to the side holding their stuff, watching them, smiling, and taking pictures. Alex came up to me and said "you ARE the dad" and at that point shmoo turned around on a colorful little bridge and started waving. With her puffy white jacket, little white hat, fuzzy colorful mittens, and big stupid smile on a little kids playground, she was 5 years old again. aww.
here is a shiny and quite large ferris wheel in osaka. We did a fair amount of walking around in this city. It's big, shiny, and really really crowded. Still more manageable than Tokyo though.

I of course have lots more, but it's bed time and my internet is being funny. I'll finish up osaka and start Kyoto next time.

how about a few more pictures before ignoring the internet for the weekend?

I like this picture... it shows how Japanese people move much faster than me. But I'm alright nonetheless.
Here are the peace gates in Hiroshima.
A model of pre-A-bomb Hiroshima found in the Peace memorial museum.
Another model of immediate post A-bomb Hiroshima.
There's the A-bomb dome, preserved within this large, modern and bustling city so as not to forget what this city was like just 61 years ago. Walking around the rest of the city reveals no indication at all that anything ever happened there. It houses over a million people and has all the same shinyness and department stores of any other Japanese (or non Japanese for that matter) city. Amazing.
a deer chasing a little Japanese girl on Miyajima in Hiroshima-ken
No trip around Japan is complete without a brother and sister looking cute in front of Miyajima shrine.
I have more pictures of the pretty shrine, the cute deer, and baby shmoo, so just email me if you'd like to see them! (eilmo1@hotmail.com)

No worries, more to come,
Aaron

hisashiburi desu ne

"It's been a while, hasn't it," is the basic translation of this title. I've spend the majority of my time since my last post preparing for my winter vacation trip, and then on the trip itself. I have many many pictures from all of our touristy travels, and far too many to post on this site. For mine and the readers sake i'll split up our journey in as chronological order as possible. But first the briefest of introductions: First, Roopali came, we slept, saw some monkeys, and fought over chestnuts. Then Shana (my sister) and her friend/my other little sister Jaime came, very shortly followed by my buddy, and yet another girl, Alex. I'll comment with the pictures to inform you on how it all went down...

That's right, those are monkeys taking a bath. This is in Yudanaka Onsen in Nagano Prefecture. I'm not sure words can really describe how cute they were. I have lots more pictures, but I don't want to overwhelm you.
Roopali, unaware of the evil monkeys lurking in the background.
Aaron observing the mighty Japanese Alps.
Power cables and snowy misty mountains. How Japanesey.

Aaron thinking hard in Ueno Park, Tokyo.
Roopali steps into the shoes of Anpan-man, the second foreigner to do so illustrated in this blog.
Shmoo ("Shana") with a little panda balloon. One of many instances when Shmoo was about 5 years old. If there is one thing that anyone can decisively say about Japan though, its that its packed full of cute and little things designed to make cute and little kids look even cuter and littler.
Here's Jaime, looking like she's sulking and pouting, though I don't think she was actually doing either.
Here's Jaime shoving her first onigiri (rice triangle, often with something fishy in the middle. a staple of convenient store food in Japan) into her mouth. I think all the girls loved onigiris, though got a little sick of them after a few days.
I believe this was the first time the non-Indian girls had seen a toilet like this, so Shmoo took a picture. They've ceased to surprise me at this point, though I can't say I enjoy them either.
Here's a few of us at a shrine half way between Ueno and Asakusa in Tokyo. I taught them the bow bow clap clap bow routine, which we would continue to practice throughout our trip.
In case you were wondering if Tokyo was full of Shrines and open spaces, here's shiny Shinjuku, the shiniest part of Shiny Tokyo (which is pretty shiny). We spent very little time here, but did go to an internet cafe, which in Japan means you rent a private booth that has a computer and tv and get access to a varied selection of books/magazines/movies. weird and kind of sleazy, but apparently quite useful for a few hour nap after missing the last train home.
Here's the full entourage in front of our hostel in Tokyo. The hostel was half decent but it was a little out of the way and had a curfew, as is the case with many hostels in Tokyo.
Here's pretty Alex smiling, and Aaron attempting to translate/explain the menu to the best of his ability. I must've strained my brain doing this a hundred times on this trip. And let me tell you, three of the four girls on this trip have an invested interest in nutrition and the exact science and origin behind the food they eat, making it necessary for me to try and explain things that I had already given up trying to understand myself. This was a daily routine for the entire length of their stay.

There's much more to say and show, but I'd like to put things up in installments. It'll be like the days when authors had their works published in daily or weekly segments and got paid per word. Only this is the internet, and being obtuse and wordy doesn't get me any more money. In fact, noone is paying me at all. Except the Japanese government, who in fact has made all this possible. Thank you Japanese tax payers!
For now,
Aaron