Aaron and Lauren visits!

So after much expectation from both me and my students my brother and his wife finally arrived to katashina on the 17th. We spent the first couple of days in katashina.. i showed them around, brought them to school (the students were really excited!) and went to dinner with my Japanese teacher and her husband. We then headed off to Tokyo to stay with the Naruis (amazingly hospitable family friends). We saw Harijuku and a crazy park, pottery, the lights of Tokyo, modern art, and lots of meat with our Korean BBQ dinner. The next morning we met with the Tajima's for lunch (yes, our whole trip was centered around eating, eating, and more eating). Ken told us that the Emperor sent his regards and we told him to tell the Emperor that we say hello as well. We met little Riko (the epitamy of pink chunk, i think) and adorable Mako (after got after the initial shock of so many foreigners (yes we made her cry) she turned out to be not that shy!). After exchanging gifts we were off to Kyoto. On arriving in Kyoto I found out that my friend, Logan, was there with "his driver" (this guy who loves to drive and sees no problem in driving Logan the 4 hours to Kyoto and then back in a day). We had dinner with them and a Japanese family (who we still arent clear who they are).. okinomiyaki! oishi! The next morning we started with Kinkakuji, Kiomizudera, and a sweet Zen temple. We saw a parade for the Jidai Matsuri and crashed before we took a packed train 30 min to a village outside of Kyoto for a Fire Festival. Although it sounded really cool it was kinda overly packed, cold, and not very entertaining. Still tho, fire is always pretty sweet so we stood around for a couple of hours before being packed into a sardine like train to go home. We had some excellent sushi and headed to bed. The next day we started with ?? and Ginkakuji, Heian, saw some touristy Craft place, went down the streets of Gion (saw two geishas!) then stuffed ourselves full of shabu shabu. The next morning we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine. I didn't really know anything about it but was completely blown away when we got there. The first temple had a service happening, which was pretty cool to watch and there was some nice music too. We then headed up the trail to the top of the mountain. This shrine is known for its 1000 toris (red gates) and foxes as they represent the Inari God. The toris climb all over a mountain, through the forests, with smaller shrines places scattered throughout the climb. It was a pretty thorough walk but it was too beautiful to stop or turn around. We ended up being there for close to 3 or 4 hours. It was a nice way to end such a great trip with Aaron and Lauren. I said goodbye to them at the train station and headed back to the countryside.

Links for pics... (there's a lot of them)
http://picasaweb.google.com/tajima.laura/AaronAndLaurenSVisit
Aaron and Lauren's Pics:
Katashina:http://picasaweb.google.com/atajima/JapanTripKatashina?authkey=LMXU8UQ8bB4
Kyoto:http://picasaweb.google.com/atajima/JapanTripKyoto?authkey=27ObNIde_I4


and Aaron and Lauren- I know that some of these names/facts are wrong but my memory is pretty terrible.. you wanna help me out with the things ive messed up?

Discovery #7: Koyo ROCKS

ah.. the immensely important koyo has arrived to Katashina.. (koyo=fall foliage).. a recent trip to Oze with some amigas...

japanese concerts: an experience

ok... before all this kyoto stuff i gotta say something about japanese concerts.. I went to see Lite, Art School, and yes, Ogre You Asshole (name of the band, i swear) last night in Takasaki. A friend of mine had heard about it and I tagged along having no idea what i was getting into.. Unlike American shows where they say the show starts at one time and usually the main set doesn't go on until at least 2 hours later, the woman at the ticket stand said the main band would go on at 9:05.. they went on at 9:06. We entered the venue and were just about blown back by how loud it was.. completely deafening.. why you wonder? to drown out the loud and rambuncious crowd perhaps? no.. the crowd was SILENT. i mean after these bands would rock out.. the crowd would politely clap and wait silently for the next song. I mean I was nearly whispering to my friend between the songs and still was making a scene. And dancing!? zilch.. jurawa- you would have horrified them. The most I saw were some head bobs and twice a hand go up in a sort of awkward fist pumping way.. I wouldn't categorize it as dancing. Now onto the bands. They were kind of alternative/indie (I didnt really know this before I went)... I actually liked Ogre You Asshole the best.. The main set, Art School, were so full of angst and inner turmoil that it was pretty hard not to laugh. The main singer (all of the main singers had EXACTLY the same haircut) was so emo, he barely spoke, except saying "arto" after every song. I think we saw the face of the guitarist twice the whole time.. all the other times he was head-banging (oh yea.. its totally in right now) or had his long angst filed hair covering his face entirely. But it was still a great time and i hope to see more silly shows here in the future...
a taste of some other bands' names? meat buns, price albert, mask de pizza, your song is good, morton the on, seattle standard cafe', and the really popular, bump of chicken.

Ogre You Asshole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gOCz8xe9PU

Discovery #5: what the hell is up with japanese television?!?!?

so japanese television is one of the most ridiculous things i have encountered while being in japan.. and let me tell you, i've encountered some really ridiculous stuff. for example, i am currently switching between the most overly dramatic boxing match hosted by a guy straight out of the 70's cowboy look.. except japanese, a show that matches up the top competitors from Ninja Warrior against a chimpanzee on an insane course, a show that has gone from seeing if two vegetables can grow together if cut in half, stapled to each other and left for some time to seeing if you can build a boat to hold 4 people purely out of leaves, and my personal favorite, people cooking gigantic food-- like a sushi the size of a football and a plate of soba about a foot tall. Now all of these shows, except for the boxing match, are accompanied with a small picture in the corner of people in the studio watching these things happen, incredibly dramatic music and intense replays, and a variety of japanese subtitles at all times. another enigma for me is then these shows end or if they end at all. ending on the hour or half hour is not an issue and they often blend into the next show (or maybe that's because all these shows seem exactly the same). Some other of my favorite: Matching up elementary schools against each other to see who can make the most extreme domino courses- meaning dominoes that fall and create a davinci across the gymnasium or that hits a ball that ignites a flame that heats water that pushes over.. etc. they show these students working on it day and night for a whole week- and when a part messes up at least 7 of them erupt in tears. And the other, although my japanese isn't perfect i believe it's called "crazy shit that happens". it ranges from cop chases to a guy smashing watermelons with his head, to dumb burglars, to BASE jumpers, to a guy that can catch jumping insects, to a crazy indian festival.. ok.. ive already written too much on such an inane subject.. i gotta get my vcr working....

Canyons, Kabobs, Cookies, and Cold.

this weekend i went CANYONING.. ie.. putting on a wetsuit and jumping down waterfalls and sliding down rocks. I know, y'all are thinking, man that girl is so extreme. We'll, i am. But it was real fun. I went with a bunch of JET kids, including Cristina (you may remember her from such episodes as.. Tokyo craziness, JET Orientation, and the ski jumpers of Nagano).Afterwards, we bbq-ed and rested up for a night of dancing at the Full Moon Party, nearby the canyoning place. Although cold, that was pretty sweet too. There were a couple of DJ's, firepits, kabobs, and lots of dancing. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves until about 3:00am.. when we had to decide if we were heading home on the last bus or waiting up for the 7:30am bus. We went with the 3am bus. The next morning we headed home, bbq-d again with a group of friends, then chilled out for the night. The next day after dropping off Cristina, I was full of ambition and took on two major projects. 1.) Baking chocolate chip cookies. Between figuring out how to work my microwave/toaster/oven, converting to the metric system, and finding the right ingredients, this was more of a task than it appears. They turned out slightly cake like and strangely shaped but good. I think I'm going to give them to my school and call them a Boston delicacy. Next, winterizing my house. Yes, it is getting cold and I am absolutely petrified of the Katashina winter. I have bought almost everything in the store that could possibly used to keep in heat. It a moment of ambition/insanity, I decided to make two walls in order to shrink the size of the room I need to heat. needless to say, this was a task in itself and I have no idea if they will be standing, much less keeping the heat in, when I get home from work today.
But things are good.. the newness of everything is wearing off a bit and its getting a little cold. But I have things to look forward to (Aaron and Lauren are coming!) and things to keep me busy (yes.. I have taken up Judo) and am slowly learning Japanese..
The Canyoning Crew
I'm so EXTREME
.. and so is Cristina?