"Explain Thanksgiving? Basically we eat a lot."

Being far away from home and perpetually culturally confused this semester motivated me to pour lot of emotional energy into Thanksgiving. Finally a custom I can wrap my head around!

On the menu:

Chicken (Megan's contribution)
Pinapple-Cheddar Casserole (ditto)
Simmered Pumpkin (mine)
Fried Potatoes (also mine)
Classic Green Bean Casserole (Cailyn)
Chocolate Cake (Emily)

Caught up in the Thanksgiving frenzy, I took a bit of a detour on my way to pick up my groceries after class. By "bit of a detour" I mean a bus ride to the giant 100円 (dollar store) near Hirakata Station. I was looking for a tablecloth and centerpiece but since I found neither, I went overboard with glasses, placemats, and candles instead.

For decoration, I gathered up some leaves in the park across the street. If you're ever in the mood to be stared at by 20 people at once, go to a Japanese park and start picking up leaves off the ground. Perhaps they thought I was tidying up? Who knows? I was too enthused with the spirit of Thanksgiving to worry about it.

The food was of course outstanding. Japan doesn't really "do" turkey unless it's ground, but if you slap a bit of cranberry sauce on some chicken breast you get a somewhat Thanksgiving-esque effect. My pumpkin served as a nice sweet potato substitute and Cailyn's casserole was the real-deal. Substituting Ritz crackers for the French's onions only improved the dish in my opinion. The real surprise of the evening was Megan's pinapple cheese casserole. Not one of us thought it sounded like a remotely good idea and not one of us was able to resist additional helpings. As for dessert, there is always room for chocolate cake (generously donated by Emily's parents), no matter how many pounds of side-dishes I contain at the time.

All-in-all we made way too much, ate every bit of it, and spent the remainder of the night unable to move, let alone study.

Monkeys and Maple Leaves

Cailyn, Megan, Emily, and I went to Arashiyama (western Kyoto) today. We saw many famous places and did many spectacular things.

Spoiler: I kicked a monkey.

The beautiful Arashiyama area is home to Japan's semi-famous "Monkey Mountain." At the top of the mountain, there's a beautiful view of Kyoto. There are also, as one might imagine, lots of monkeys, which do monkey-like things. Their primary activities seem to include picking insects off each other and being photographed by tourists, which leads us to...

THE GREAT MONKEY DEBACLE:

While I was taking one of several hey-look-at-that-cute-monkey photos, another monkey came and, unkown to me, sat at my feet. When I lowered my camera and started to walk, I kicked the monkey. Yes, I KICKED a MONKEY. I'm told it jumped several feet in the air and ran off, shooting me what my friend described as a "DUDE, what the hell?!" look over its shoulder. I did not see this expresion because I was busy hiding my face from as many as six Japanese people who were staring, open mouthed, at me like I'd punted the unfortunate creature off the side of the mountain.

Needless to say I got off that mountain as fast as I could, lest the monkey (or the Japanese people) had a chance to plot revenge.

After a short walk on the other side of the river, we reached the temple Tenryu-ji, a prime maple leaf viewing spot. The path leading away from Tenryu-ji runs through Japan's most famous bamboo forest.

It seems "famous" is Japanese for "crowded."

We then made our way back down to the Arashiyama bus stop and eventually back home. On the walk back from Makino Station, Megan stopped for Taiyaki. The friendly taiyaki salesman gave us all a "bonus" taiyaki, presumably because it was late and they won't keep overnight--a surprise ending to a lovely, if at times embarrassing, day.

Tetsugaku no Michi

Emily, Megan, and I spent the first cold day of fall walking the canal-side "Philosopher's Path" in Kyoto. In about two weeks, all those trees will be flame-red. Guess our timing could have been better, but today was Culture Day and there were no classes. It was a good day to explore. Besides, my cold, stiff fingers gave me enough of an autumn experience to make up for the decidedly green foliage.

Asuka by Bicycle

A field trip with my art history professor. Rural Japan at its finest. 7th C. Japanese sites at their finest. Autumn weather at its... let's go with "warmest" and leave it at that.