写真を撮る時～ (When I take pictures~)
Oh, dear, it's been a while since I last updated. I can mostly blame this on my own laziness (blog entries with pictures take some time to make), but I have been active with some other things too. Either way, this will be another picture post -- first, pictures of my trip to Kyoto (two weekends ago), and second, at long last, some pictures of Hikone, the town I live in, which I explored some more this past Saturday. As such, this post is VERY image intensive -- over 100 pictures, so it may take a long time to load. Enjoy~
Kyoto Trip
We set out for the train station pretty early in the morning -- on the way, I took a few pictures of Hikone. JCMU (my school) is actually located on the northern edge of Hikone, so even though the city itself is lively enough, we're in a more rural area. This means we have some field area nearby, which, in my estimation, smells heavenly now that it's spring.
Taken while waiting to cross the street -- have I mentioned that, in Japan, most crosswalks have not only a light but also play a noise to indicate when to walk? Hikone's noise is something like a bird's call -- maybe a cuckoo, ha ha.
A number of us met up at the station and headed for Kyoto, where we took a bus (the best mode of transport for sightseers -- Kyoto buses go to all the major sites, and all day passes are available for ~$5) to our first site, Kiyomizudera. If you'll recall my homestay visit, this is the gorgeous temple my host parents took me to -- so this was my second visit.
On the way up the road to the temple ...
"How much is that kitty in the window?" (If you look closely at this picture, you can see the reflections of all the people taking pictures of the cat. We were all fascinated by her since she almost didn't look like a real cat at first -- she was napping.)
Kitty's camera shy.
The temple gate, now with pretty pink plum blossoms!
Some monks, hoping to receive donations.
Blurry blossoms ... I can't want until the cherry trees bloom.
On these tablets are written the hopes and wishes of temple visitors (well, the ones willing to buy the tablets). They were in Japanese, Korean, and even English and Spanish.
I was fascinated by the big bell cord. Bell pull? What would one call it anyway??
The mountainside -- looks so much more beautiful in person.
The stairs down to the pure waterfall that gives the temple its name.
My friend Shaina's host mother, who came with us, treated us to dango. Dango are soft, slightly chewy balls made of rice flour. These had a sweet sauce on them, and were very tasty ♥ (as you can tell -- the stick started out with 5, and there are only 3 in this picture ...)
All the dango is gone *cry*
Random temple.
日本で、LAWSON があって、よかった。 "I'm glad Lawson is in Japan." (Parody on a Kyoto ad I saw everywhere -- just replace "Lawson" with "Kyoto.")
If a panya is a shop that sells bread (pan), and a hanaya is shop that sells flowers (hana), then a cattleya sells ... ?
After Kiyomizudera, we visited the house of an antique collector -- a few of those in our group had visited him earlier on a class field trip and wanted to return. I say "antique collector," but the items this man had were in fact artifacts; this was his personal museum, one where absolutely priceless items were within fingers reach. Truly, a fascinating place.
Even so, I did not take any pictures inside, save this one. Why? I know that I cannot capture the atmosphere, age, and beauty of the items in that place, so I decided to leave them as memories only.
The paintings outside the house, copied from a beautiful and very ancient painting inside the house.
After showing us around, our host talked with us for a while. He was fluent in English -- exceedingly well spoken, and very opinionated. That's all I'll say here.
After that, we headed to Kyoto Manga Museum, which is, of course, a museum dedicated to manga. Manga is mostly easily described as "Japanese comic books," but without so much of the stigma of American comic books. There are manga geared toward all age groups, in all genres (comedy, drama, romance, mystery, sci-fi, horror, action, sports, fantasy, etc.), and it's not uncommon for adults to read manga while riding the train.
The glass front gives the inside of the building a very bright atmosphere.
The museum was a relaxed place. On the inside were shelves and shelves of manga which visitors were allowed to bring out with them to read on the wide front lawn ...
... and naturally some in our number did so.
I also enjoyed sprawling in the grass, taking pictures of the sunlight coming through the tree branches above -- beautiful.
Rabbit's eye view?
I went a bit picture crazy ...
... even taking a picture of the moon, already bright in the early evening sky.
But, we had to leave eventually.
(An apartment named "Legal"? Oh, Japan.)
I wanted to stop in the middle of the street to take a picture of this beautiful Kyoto sunset, but my good sense won out, and I waited until I had crossed ^_^
I simply loved the pattern on this building -- that's reason enough to take a picture.
Our last event of the night was dinner in Kyoto Station. We found a nice udonya (shop selling udon noodles).
Curry Tonkatsu (pork cutlets) Udon. AMAZING.
And for dessert ...
(Just kidding!) And yes, that is a PITCHER full of ice cream. "Jumbo Parfait" indeed.
Although this entry is already long, I'm only halfway through -- next up is Hikone, at long last.
Adventures in Hikone
Last Saturday, the weather was gorgeous -- mild temperatures and clear skies. As a number of students were on a field trip to Kyoto for their history class, I had no set plans. Thus, I decided to take some pictures of Hikone --
-- Hikone, a city nestled on the shores of Lake Biwa. Population: 108,613. Home of Hikone Castle and Hikonyan. My home, for now.
This row of benches is not far from JCMU. I wish the sky were always this lovely, but I know I could never appreciate blue-skyed days without grey-clouded ones.
The shore as seen from lake road -- not the best place to ride after dark, but perfectly safe on a sunny day like this one.
JCMU -- blurry though it may be.
Pristine beaches these are not -- but many lakes are this way, unfortunately.
A graveyard near JCMU. Graves are (usually?) cleaned and maintained by family members, who sometimes also bring a small offering to leave (e.g., something the deceased enjoyed eating/drinking). If this looks cramped, remember, cremation is a necessity in Japan -- there's not enough room for the sprawling cemeteries the U.S. has.
Random nature by the roadway.
Cainz Mall is basically a Japanese equivalent of WalMart/Meijer/similar stores. Located about 15-20 minutes by bike from JCMU (shorter if you're not me, ha ha), Cainz is the place to buy groceries for students. I do.
My bike basket. I could not have a good quality of life without it -- it carries all my groceries and thus saves my back much pain and suffering.
A roadside shrine. These are fairly common in Japan. By the way, the symbol at top was used by Buddhists long before the Nazis appropriated it (their swastika faces the opposite direction as this symbol does) -- in Buddhism, it represents love and mercy, and it's the symbol used on Japanese maps to indicate a Buddhist temple.
The moat around Hikone Castle.
Hikone Castle, a National Treasure.
I'm not sure what this is, but it certainly looks cool.
Picture from the shade of the strange ... thing.
A small shrine/temple?
... right next to one of the ubiquitous apartment complexes.
Hikonyan, the white cat in the red helmet, is the cute mascot of Hikone. In Japanese, "nyaa/nyan" is the sound cats make.
There was some store opening event, and thus, I had the opportunity to take a picture of Hikonyan's kitty rival ... whose name I forgot, heh.
Pretty flowers.
Fat koi.
Castle road, featuring old style wooden architecture and lots of Hikone souvenir shops.
Hikonyan!
A road that follows the river, which I take almost every time I go to/from downtown Hikone. There are always people fishing at the riverside, and I usually see a heron (or three).
Joyfull! This is a restaurant on the other side of the street -- and yes, I have eaten there.
The clear shadows cast by the bright sun delighted me.
Another view of Hikone Castle (now from a different side -- since it's on a hill, the castle is visible from very far away).
More river pictures.
There was a baseball game in the field on the other side of the river.
Bushes in bloom.
This is where this river runs to the lake.
Bridge over the river.
Despite the blue skies, I could not see the mountains as clearly as I sometimes have (here, one is just visible behind the streetlight). Occasionally, when I come back from the grocery store, they rise so clearly in the distance that it takes my breath away. I will miss them when I leave Japan.
(This branch growing through the fence has always looked like a gnarled hand to me ...)
As we near JMCU, the land is more open, rural. I love the smell of this land -- it is spring.
A tree beginning to bloom.
An abandoned (as far as I can tell) business hotel.
... would make a great horror movie set o_o (especially with that exceptional tree there).
The hills across the street from JCMU ...
... and the tree that sticks out of the hillside. Somehow, inspirational?
And, back at JCMU.
At least, behind it.
Ah, our revels now are ended. I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Hikone -- what I've shown is only the very northern part -- the southern part (Minami-Hikone) has more modern shopping areas, etc., so my pictures are deceptive in some ways -- even so, the Hikone I've shown is the one I interact with daily.
Now tis late -- until next time!
Kyoto Trip
We set out for the train station pretty early in the morning -- on the way, I took a few pictures of Hikone. JCMU (my school) is actually located on the northern edge of Hikone, so even though the city itself is lively enough, we're in a more rural area. This means we have some field area nearby, which, in my estimation, smells heavenly now that it's spring.
Taken while waiting to cross the street -- have I mentioned that, in Japan, most crosswalks have not only a light but also play a noise to indicate when to walk? Hikone's noise is something like a bird's call -- maybe a cuckoo, ha ha.
A number of us met up at the station and headed for Kyoto, where we took a bus (the best mode of transport for sightseers -- Kyoto buses go to all the major sites, and all day passes are available for ~$5) to our first site, Kiyomizudera. If you'll recall my homestay visit, this is the gorgeous temple my host parents took me to -- so this was my second visit.
On the way up the road to the temple ...
"How much is that kitty in the window?" (If you look closely at this picture, you can see the reflections of all the people taking pictures of the cat. We were all fascinated by her since she almost didn't look like a real cat at first -- she was napping.)
Kitty's camera shy.
The temple gate, now with pretty pink plum blossoms!
Some monks, hoping to receive donations.
Blurry blossoms ... I can't want until the cherry trees bloom.
On these tablets are written the hopes and wishes of temple visitors (well, the ones willing to buy the tablets). They were in Japanese, Korean, and even English and Spanish.
I was fascinated by the big bell cord. Bell pull? What would one call it anyway??
The mountainside -- looks so much more beautiful in person.
The stairs down to the pure waterfall that gives the temple its name.
My friend Shaina's host mother, who came with us, treated us to dango. Dango are soft, slightly chewy balls made of rice flour. These had a sweet sauce on them, and were very tasty ♥ (as you can tell -- the stick started out with 5, and there are only 3 in this picture ...)
All the dango is gone *cry*
Random temple.
日本で、LAWSON があって、よかった。 "I'm glad Lawson is in Japan." (Parody on a Kyoto ad I saw everywhere -- just replace "Lawson" with "Kyoto.")
If a panya is a shop that sells bread (pan), and a hanaya is shop that sells flowers (hana), then a cattleya sells ... ?
After Kiyomizudera, we visited the house of an antique collector -- a few of those in our group had visited him earlier on a class field trip and wanted to return. I say "antique collector," but the items this man had were in fact artifacts; this was his personal museum, one where absolutely priceless items were within fingers reach. Truly, a fascinating place.
Even so, I did not take any pictures inside, save this one. Why? I know that I cannot capture the atmosphere, age, and beauty of the items in that place, so I decided to leave them as memories only.
The paintings outside the house, copied from a beautiful and very ancient painting inside the house.
After showing us around, our host talked with us for a while. He was fluent in English -- exceedingly well spoken, and very opinionated. That's all I'll say here.
After that, we headed to Kyoto Manga Museum, which is, of course, a museum dedicated to manga. Manga is mostly easily described as "Japanese comic books," but without so much of the stigma of American comic books. There are manga geared toward all age groups, in all genres (comedy, drama, romance, mystery, sci-fi, horror, action, sports, fantasy, etc.), and it's not uncommon for adults to read manga while riding the train.
The glass front gives the inside of the building a very bright atmosphere.
The museum was a relaxed place. On the inside were shelves and shelves of manga which visitors were allowed to bring out with them to read on the wide front lawn ...
... and naturally some in our number did so.
I also enjoyed sprawling in the grass, taking pictures of the sunlight coming through the tree branches above -- beautiful.
Rabbit's eye view?
I went a bit picture crazy ...
... even taking a picture of the moon, already bright in the early evening sky.
But, we had to leave eventually.
(An apartment named "Legal"? Oh, Japan.)
I wanted to stop in the middle of the street to take a picture of this beautiful Kyoto sunset, but my good sense won out, and I waited until I had crossed ^_^
I simply loved the pattern on this building -- that's reason enough to take a picture.
Our last event of the night was dinner in Kyoto Station. We found a nice udonya (shop selling udon noodles).
Curry Tonkatsu (pork cutlets) Udon. AMAZING.
And for dessert ...
(Just kidding!) And yes, that is a PITCHER full of ice cream. "Jumbo Parfait" indeed.
Although this entry is already long, I'm only halfway through -- next up is Hikone, at long last.
Adventures in Hikone
Last Saturday, the weather was gorgeous -- mild temperatures and clear skies. As a number of students were on a field trip to Kyoto for their history class, I had no set plans. Thus, I decided to take some pictures of Hikone --
-- Hikone, a city nestled on the shores of Lake Biwa. Population: 108,613. Home of Hikone Castle and Hikonyan. My home, for now.
This row of benches is not far from JCMU. I wish the sky were always this lovely, but I know I could never appreciate blue-skyed days without grey-clouded ones.
The shore as seen from lake road -- not the best place to ride after dark, but perfectly safe on a sunny day like this one.
JCMU -- blurry though it may be.
Pristine beaches these are not -- but many lakes are this way, unfortunately.
A graveyard near JCMU. Graves are (usually?) cleaned and maintained by family members, who sometimes also bring a small offering to leave (e.g., something the deceased enjoyed eating/drinking). If this looks cramped, remember, cremation is a necessity in Japan -- there's not enough room for the sprawling cemeteries the U.S. has.
Random nature by the roadway.
Cainz Mall is basically a Japanese equivalent of WalMart/Meijer/similar stores. Located about 15-20 minutes by bike from JCMU (shorter if you're not me, ha ha), Cainz is the place to buy groceries for students. I do.
My bike basket. I could not have a good quality of life without it -- it carries all my groceries and thus saves my back much pain and suffering.
A roadside shrine. These are fairly common in Japan. By the way, the symbol at top was used by Buddhists long before the Nazis appropriated it (their swastika faces the opposite direction as this symbol does) -- in Buddhism, it represents love and mercy, and it's the symbol used on Japanese maps to indicate a Buddhist temple.
The moat around Hikone Castle.
Hikone Castle, a National Treasure.
I'm not sure what this is, but it certainly looks cool.
Picture from the shade of the strange ... thing.
A small shrine/temple?
... right next to one of the ubiquitous apartment complexes.
Hikonyan, the white cat in the red helmet, is the cute mascot of Hikone. In Japanese, "nyaa/nyan" is the sound cats make.
There was some store opening event, and thus, I had the opportunity to take a picture of Hikonyan's kitty rival ... whose name I forgot, heh.
Pretty flowers.
Fat koi.
Castle road, featuring old style wooden architecture and lots of Hikone souvenir shops.
Hikonyan!
A road that follows the river, which I take almost every time I go to/from downtown Hikone. There are always people fishing at the riverside, and I usually see a heron (or three).
Joyfull! This is a restaurant on the other side of the street -- and yes, I have eaten there.
The clear shadows cast by the bright sun delighted me.
Another view of Hikone Castle (now from a different side -- since it's on a hill, the castle is visible from very far away).
More river pictures.
There was a baseball game in the field on the other side of the river.
Bushes in bloom.
This is where this river runs to the lake.
Bridge over the river.
Despite the blue skies, I could not see the mountains as clearly as I sometimes have (here, one is just visible behind the streetlight). Occasionally, when I come back from the grocery store, they rise so clearly in the distance that it takes my breath away. I will miss them when I leave Japan.
(This branch growing through the fence has always looked like a gnarled hand to me ...)
As we near JMCU, the land is more open, rural. I love the smell of this land -- it is spring.
A tree beginning to bloom.
An abandoned (as far as I can tell) business hotel.
... would make a great horror movie set o_o (especially with that exceptional tree there).
The hills across the street from JCMU ...
... and the tree that sticks out of the hillside. Somehow, inspirational?
And, back at JCMU.
At least, behind it.
Ah, our revels now are ended. I hope you enjoyed this introduction to Hikone -- what I've shown is only the very northern part -- the southern part (Minami-Hikone) has more modern shopping areas, etc., so my pictures are deceptive in some ways -- even so, the Hikone I've shown is the one I interact with daily.
Now tis late -- until next time!