outcome and income
First, the laundry list... then I'll get to our Nikko trip and the photos.
Today was the first day I made more money than I've spent. And that's saying something. I'm pretty sure I'm blowing budget... but maybe I'll be fine after I get this present sent and stop going crazy at every little pack of stickers, keychain, food item, etc I see.
I had my first meeting with my English clients ("clients," hee hee) and was paid only half today since we met for half the time. I ain't complaining. I also met with a Waseda professor about a research assistant position I looked up on a whim and not only was paid Y800 for my time but out of the 25 applicants I was also offered one of the ten research assistant spots. Yay me! Not that I doubted it, however, with my "credentials" and potential for interest in the project.
The professor is focusing on communication pattern differences between Japanese and Americans in particular situations and wants us English speaking folk to do some of her "dirty work." I'm not sure what the exact subject matter is yet, but work will include surveys, field research, roleplay, data compilation and other misc doodling. It's only 25 hours over the next 6 months and total pay is only Y800 an hour but (money is money and) I'm in this for the experience. Such a project might look nice on my resume when and if I ever apply for international travel writing/ ethnography projects or for graduate school. I also figure that it might help me focus my own thesis, as I intend to take Independent Study next term and work on it.
Today I also got my first REAL workout at the gym. Nice, almost up-to-par weight lifting and 30 minutes of cardio. I'm working back up to three times a week. That should keep me feeling top-knotch and give me at least enough self-esteem to even pursue modeling.
By the way... a total non-sequitor... Did you know that there aren't any squirrels in Japan? Well, there are... but it's really rare to see one in the "wild." My host mom told me she's never seen one except at the Zoo. A squirrel. In a ZOO- wha- what'th? A ZOO for Chrissakes! I guess I'm special; I saw TWO at Kamakura! Flirting, even. Probably about to make babies or something. I wondered why everyone was taking pictures of them.
I've also decided that, officially, Totoro is my favorite thing ever. EVER. .. . . . ..Eh-VUH-ER. Better than no squirrels.
So. On to NIKKO. No, not "neko" (meow), Nikko... the awesome place.
Nikko is definitely the most beautiful place in Japan that I have been to thus far. Despite that I have many complaints regarding the logistics of bus tours such as the one we all took, I really enjoyed myself. I would have liked to stay longer though, like overnight, and have had a chance to explore on my own pace rather than in-and-out, back-to-the-bus like we did. We were gone all day (from 8:45 to 7:15) and still barely saw anything.
Up in the mountains, the air is pure and cold and the trees are already turning. It smelled like fall, REAL fall.. the kind they have in places where there are actually FOUR SEASONS and not some sad, rainy excuse for winter like we have at home in the Pacific Northwest. It was pure autumn in Nikko. We drove through the hills on a series of hairpin turns that surely would have made me ill except that I was on a tall bus. I don't know how those drivers manage. I snapped as many photos as I could out the window while we switchbacked from one direction to the other.
Nikko is famous for many things: Yuba, Lake Chuzenji, Kegon Falls, the Toshogu shrine buildings, excellent viewing of autumn colors and monkeys. Yes, monkeys. The crazy monkeys who soak in hot springs and steal your belongings when you aren't looking. I saw all of these things, even if only briefly. The monkeys I saw in passing through the camera lens when I looked out the window as the tour guide began excitedly shouting about "Saru! Saru!". There they were, three of them... sitting along the rock ledge showing themselves off in the morning sun. Three of them sitting there, just like the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" carving that the Toshogu shrine made famous. Yep. That's where it's from! Crazy monkeys.
After the bus ride through the hills, we arrived at Kegon Falls for a brief viewing of the highest waterfall in Japan and some shopping. My host family seem to like living vicariously through my photographs and omiyage (souvenir gifts) from the various locations I visit, so they've taken to giving me Y2000 or so to buy them local specialities from our tour locations. This time they specifically requested Yuba, a tofu skin product that is used in traditional soups and other foods. I picked up some yuba, along with chocolate mochi-like-stuff and some strawberry crisps.
We ate lunch at a hotel along the side of Chuzenji lake and were treated to a lovely traditional bento. I was pretty pissed to see the less adventurous of the grop had left some of the more traditional delicacies on their plates. Why do people refuse to even try?
After lunch, I picked up a few small gifts at the hotel shop. Because it was such a nice hotel, I was more than a little amused to discover this pin among the things for sale. Of course, I had to buy it and sport it. It's a steaming pile of poo, after all. Just so happy to have a fly on it. That's right. Poo. Poop. Doodie-doo. Hm.
All too soon, we were shoved back onto the bus to go to the shrines. I wanted to stay in Nikko and wander the streets to discover the feeling of the town and the people there. But a bus tour is more about quickly "seeing" the sights rather than actually SEEING a place. As much as I like not having to think too much or work to hard to get someplace as neat as Nikko, I actually got rather stressed by the lack of time we had to explore.
The Toshogu shrine complex is a Japanese National Treasure. It's an amazingly HUGE complex of shrines, all dating back to the Tokugawa Era. One of the buildings entombs the remains of Shogun Tokugawa Ieasu.
The artistry in the complex is absolutely fantastic. Each of the buildings is filled with carvings, paintings and engravings of hundreds of animalsin all shapes and colors. The gateway into Ieasu's tomb is topped with a famous carving of a sleeping cat, the Nemuri Neko. I'm not sure why this small cat is so famous. It's supposed to look incredibly real or something but I think it just looks tired. It makes me sad to see that the paint is chipping.
In another building, the painting of a large dragon adorns the ceiling. It is said that the noise made by clapping two blocks of wood together in this room is reminiscent of the cry of the Japanese dragon. As we entered, a monk was clapping together blocks that made a tremendous sound not unlike the screech of a hawk. I don't know if I heard a dragon's roar in that sound but it certainly made my brain ring with a spiritual clarity unlike any sound I've ever heard before.
Again, I resent being pushed through the temples at record speed and had only time to either look briefly or take pictures and not really do both things without being left behind. Really, I had only the chance to take photos and didn't experience much of the feeling of the place for myself. And I still found myself often lagging behind the group. Bah.
Most of the pictures I took are listed in this directory. They are all "outside" pictures for two reasons. First, the light was extremely bad, as we were viewing the shrines after 3PM and secondly, many buildings did not allow photography inside either for religious reasons, artifact preservation or pure stinginess.
After the tour of the shines, we had a few minutes of free time for exploration. Most of my time was
In the failing light, we left the cold fall air and headed back to Tokyo in a line of traffic. All the way back, as the way there, I talked off poor Colin's ear about how good I was feeling and gave him all the details of my internal optimism. I know for sure now that I'll have to find a way back to the countryside and the mountains, even while it's still fall if at all possible. Autumn is my favorite season and I don't think I've ever felt an autum quite as pure and as fresh as the fall air in Nikko.
By the way, Tokyo rest areas are even cooler than Canada's rest areas. They not only have bathrooms and restaurants (more than one restaurant even) but they're also grocery and omiyage shops. The one we stopped at on the way out had a huge clutch chickens and a tremendous rabbit warren built into the side of a hill for some reason. The one on the way back had all the omiyage from Nikko that you may have (oops!) forgotten to buy while you were there. US rest stops pale in comparison.
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