This is the week where I venture out of the relative safety and comfort of Kawagoe and Tokyo for the area of Japan known as ‘Kansai.’ Hence the name of my school trip – the Kansai trip. I’ll be visiting Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara from Tuesday to Saturday. And during my trip I get to visit the depressing Hiroshima peace memorial (which is about America and our decision to bomb the crap out of Japan), a giant golden Buddha, pet deer, and hopefully catch a glimpse of a real geisha. Which feels kind of weird to say – like I’m trying to see some kind of rare bird, but is exactly how the guidebooks in my room phrase the experience. I didn’t realize until today that past exchange students left guides in my room. One of them was a Lonely Planet guide to Japan and a total score. I love lonely planet. Using the guide I found out that my hotel will be located near downtown Kyoto and the geisha district – which is really exciting. I am totally psyched for my trip now and will of course post details and pictures upon my return. I don’t know who will want them outside of my parents but they will be here.
My last weekend was pretty uneventful since I am desperately trying to cut down and save money in preparation for my trip. I did go out to Ueno, which is increasingly becoming one of my favorite areas in Tokyo, and attempted to visit the Tokyo Metro Art museum. Unfortunately my friends weren’t particularly interested in Vermeer and he was the only distinguishable exhibit we saw. The Tokyo met was had a really confusing display and gallery arrangement which we couldn’t really figure out. Instead we mostly just wandered around watching the huge gathering of street performers that had gathered for no discernable reason we could figure out. But we saw a dancer/painter, a clown, a crazy mime, stilt people, rope performers and a Japanese person playing the bag pipes. We also saw what is called ‘the Ueno pond’ which you can’t really see since its overgrown with giant ferns. It was pretty if overcast and I came home for dinner. I brought my family some omiyage (presents) from Disneyland –just some nicely packaged cookies- which I think they enjoyed. My host-mom insisted on taking pictures of me and my host sister with the cookies. I spend a lot of time in Japan posing for pictures and that really only underlines my inability to pose attractively for photos. One of these days I will master the ability to tilt my head attractively! It may require a lot of practice, though, and it’s really hard to justify time spent practicing head tilting.
Anyway, I will post another obnoxiously long post next week.
Lots of love from tomorrow to everybody. I’m sure everyone is amp-ed up about the election, which for me is just easier not to think about. I love being in Japan but I am really sad that I miss out of my first election where I can actually vote. You all should enjoy it for me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment