Fushimi-Inari Shrine

Recently, I made a day-trip to the Inari Shrine, located in Fushimi, which is a suburb of Kyoto that conveniently lies on my rail line. Inari is the Shinto god traditionally associated with grains and harvest and is now believed to influence profits--the harvest of the modern world! For this reason, countless orange torii (gates), donated by Japanese businesses, line the paths winding above the main shrine through a beautiful mountain forest.




I particularly enjoyed going to the shrine alone--whether the people living in my Seminar House believe me or not ;-). I developed bit on an artistic obsession with the bells hanging in the sub-shrines that dot the mountain and burned up hours photographing them.

Kyoto, about half an hour away from Hirakata by train, makes for lovely day-trips, so I plan to go to many more temples and shrines in the weekends to come. I'm quite glad to be situated so close Japan's most historic city and worry only that I might burn myself out before I get to see some of the spectacular places I'm saving for maple-leaf season. The city itself is a rather fascinating mixture of old and new: an urban core surrounded by pristine mountain temples and shrines. It's also one of Japan's centers for ceramics artisans (my ceramics professor at KG is trained in the Kyoto style), so I'm hoping to score the perfect tea set during one of my visits. Fingers crossed for the flea market at Tou-ji temple in November!

First impressions... and then some!

Now that my over-scheduled week of orientation is coming to a close, I'm starting to settle in... to both the Seminar House and the country.

Some things I like about Japan thus far:

1. Food. Buying it, eating it, cooking it! Never has going to the grocery store been so much fun! I spent an hour in there yesterday, and the time flew by. I'm glad I finally have full kitchen privileges and can start to trying out some more complex dishes. I've found the food here both delicious and cheap, especially in the school cafeteria, where little old Japanese women serve up some wonderful food to an assortment of Japanese and foreign students.

2. Punctuality. Trains run on time; orientation sessions run on time; I have a feeling that even Japanese babies are always delivered on time.

3. Rail transportation. It's easy and cheap to get to Kyoto (0nce you've done it once before). It's a good thing too, because I have more sights there than I can count marked in my guide book for future visits!

Some things I don't like about Japan:

1. Narrow streets and reckless drivers. Actually, I find the narrow streets in Hirakata's residential neighborhoods quite charming, but I arrive at the university everyday somewhat surprised that I wasn't run over on the way.

Some things I like about the Seminar House (SH):

1. Outside the SH, I have a very strong feeling that I don't fit in, which is kind of the idea of living in a country with a culture quite different than one's own. Nevertheless it's nice to go back to a place where I very much DO belong. It's astounding how like me my Swedish roommate seems after a day of navigating unmarked streets and following the directions of old ladies I can barely understand.

2. My room (above). I find it delighful! The table could use a plant though. Technically, I'm contractually obliged to keep my room clean, including "putting futons away every morning," but I think I'll leave mine on the floor anyway. KG should be proud they got me to make my bed at all! I get the impression that nobody follows that particular rule anyway. (Note: the cloth hanging on my wall was a beautiful gift from my speaking partner, "Ken" [Kensaku].)

Some things I don't like about the SH:

1. The pillows are quite firm. Ever rest your head on a block of wood? Feels as though I do every night.

2. Having to change my slippers to use the bathroom. This is such a small thing, but I hate it. I really do.

3. The way the kitchen smells. I'm hoping this will improve now that the homestay students have moved out and there'll be 1/3 less trash.


All in all though I'm having quite a good time adjusting. Guess there's nothing to do now but wait and see if culture shock kicks in!

Typhoon Troubles

After a typhoon passing over Japan caused me a rather hellish ordeal (a 5-hour delay in Detroit, my connection flight to Osaka cancelled in Tokyo Narita, insanely long lines, and a re-booked ticket out of another Tokyo airport I couldn't get to... a fact I established only after a difficult conversation in Japanese with a very understanding employee of the Tokyo subway system), "Northwest," now operated by Delta, finally gave in and bought me a very nice hotel room with a lovely view (below)!

After a much-need good night's sleep, I got on an hotel shuttle to Haneda Airport and flew from there to Osaka, where the university picked me up.

Excrutiatingly long story short: I made it!


Here's the more detailed email I sent to my parents from the hotel room:

Want to hear about my day? Sure you do!

Long story short: Typhoon caused delays and cancellations and I'm at a hotel room Delta bought me in Tokyo.

Long story long:

1. Boston --> Detroit
Uneventful. NW has merged with Delta, so that took a while to figure out. The only place I saw the word "Northwest" today was on my ticket.

2. Detroit --> Tokyo (Narita)
Flight was delayed for 5 hours because of a typhoon that closed down the Tokyo airport. I got very familiar with the terminal at Detroit, which is HUGE and quite snazzy. Slept for about 10 hours on the plane. I had a whole row to myself, so I got to stretch out and use all three seats like a bed.

3. Tokyo --> Osaka
After arriving about 5 hours late, problems arise. We were told we should be able to make our connections, since they were delayed by the closing too. However, as soon as the Tokyo airport opened, the typhoon shut down all the airports in Osaka. The back-up got so bad (just imagine how many flights there must be from Tokyo to Osaka daily) that they just canceled all the flights and told us to go through customs and re-book at the departure gate.

4. Re-booking
After I got through customs, I encountered a VERY long line of EVERY Northwest and Delta customer to go through that airport today in either direction. I was in it for 3 hours, and had a nice chat with the family in front of me. When I got to the counter, I was told that all the flights to Osaka were full until TOMORROW night (ie 24 hours from when I was talking to the very nice ticket people who looked like they wanted to quit). That would be too late for a pick-up from Kansai. They could get me there at 8:30 am if I left from Hanada airport, which is on the other side of the city, but which is subway accessible.

5. Getting to Hanada... NOT!
When I went to buy my subway ticket, I learned (eventually... the ticket guy didn't speak any English and my Japanese is only one step above worthless) that the next train to leave the airport was the last one, and that I wouldn't be able to make the connection I need to get to the Hanada airport. I went to the bus counter and learned that the last bus for Hanada had left hours earlier. I felt really good about my Japanese-interaction with the bus girl though. This level of Japanese I could handle. "Can one take the bus to Hanada from here?" "When is the bus to Hanada?" "When is the bus to Hanada tomorrow?" "When does that bus arrive at Hanada." The answer: too late for my 7:30 am flight. And a taxi would cost me $300. Apparently Hanada was far away.

6. Re-re-booking
I went back upstairs to the departure desk, where the line had shortened to a 15 minute wait and got my re-booking changed to 11:30 so I could get to the airport on time. This took a while since the agent was constantly interrupted to help passengers who actually had a chance of getting to their original flights. Eventually though I got my new boarding pass, which was stamped with "involuntary reroute." No kidding. The good news: in the time between my first re-booking and my re-re-booking, Delta had decided to issue Hotel vouchers for passengers stranded overnight.

7. Getting to the hotel
I was told to go downstairs to the Delta arrival desk (just outside of customs) to get my hotel voucher. Since they were doing re-booking there too, the line was really long. I asked someone who looked like he was in charge whether I had to stand in line to get the voucher if I was already re-booked. He looked at my boarding pass, gave me the name of a hotel, and told me to follow a Japanese TSA equivalent (they were helping out since Delta didn't have enough employees to deal with the hoards of passengers). She put me on a shuttle and I crossed my fingers and prayed that it was going to the right hotel and that my lack of a voucher had been understood. After a 40 minute drive, I started to wonder whether they were taking us all the way to Osaka. Okay, not really, but I was getting nervous. Street signs soon revealed that Narita airport is REALLY far away from Tokyo (and by really far I mean 40 minutes).

8. At the hotel
No vouchers needed. They gave us all (about 20 of us at THIS hotel) forms to fill out that asked for our names, passport number, and airline. Northwest was already filled in. I got a key, a coupon for a free breakfast, and instructions for reserving a seat on the hotel bus to Hanada airport (which is a lot closer from the hotel than it was from Narita) in the morning.

The room is very nice and has a great view! It's a western-style hotel room with an Japanese-style room built in. I've been trying to decide whether sleeping in a nice hotel room in Tokyo rather than a floor in Osaka makes this whole headache worth it. I think I about broke even!

More when I get there!

Eure Tochter