Kyoto, Mon Amour
So, just to get this off my chest, Japan was amazing. I want to go back right now. There is just so much to see and not nearly enough time to see it. And somehow I managed to navigate knowing only about as much Japanese as I've picked up in the past year or so of watching shojo anime with Sarah--though that's more due to the fact that everyone there seemed to know at least a little English, and less my mad language skills. For reference (and my own amusement) these are the five words/phrases I found most useful while there:
1. Arigato gozaimasu - Seriously the words I not only used most often, but heard most often as well. Between hotel staff, waitresses, and the train/station announcements I think I heard these words more often than all the others on this list combined.
2. Sumimasen - Crowded trains and subways = needing this badly.
3. Mizu - You may be surprised that this is on the list at all, much less third, but in a country where they don't automatically serve water with your meal, knowing how to ask for it is extremely useful. It also is so high on my usage list because after I taught the word to my Dad our first night in Kyoto I had to keep correcting his pronunciation forever after. It is absolutely astonishing the number of ways he found to mispronounce I simple, two-syllable word.
4. Shinkansen - I can't even begin to describe my love and envy of the mass transit system there. I only wish we had something as clean, efficient, and easy to use here - especially in LA.
5. Gomen nasai - If you know me at all, you know that this one is essential. Often used quietly and unobtrusively when my Dad horribly mangled a Japanese word or place name. Please don't ask me to tell you his interpretation of Shinjuku. I think he was trying to be funny, but I have a very low embarrassment threshold.
My trip consisted of basically eight days, most of which were spent in Kyoto, since that is where the SRS meeting my dad was attending took place, and thus where we had our hotel. Thanks to the lovely, lovely trains though, we were able to take several day trips to different cities as well as seeing a lot (though not nearly enough) of Kyoto. I must say that the announcements on the trains had me so well trained that I think I may have to look into making one of my alarm clocks say "Kyoto; Kyoto desu" to make sure I wake up in time for class. In addition to the lovely former capitol, we visited Nara, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.
Nara hosted endless grounds of temples and shrines in a park filled with absurdly tame deer (I just kept petting them! And I didn't even have to bribe them with food!) As well as housing an ENORMOUS statue of the Buddha. And when I say enormous, I mean giant like whoa. It was pretty amazing, even if we were exhausted from all the walking by the end of the day.
We didn't spend that long in Hiroshima proper (just went to see the A-Bomb Dome, which was appropriately solemn and humbling) but rather spent most of the day seeing a famous shrine at a nearby Island that has an gate/arch/thing built in the ocean so that it looks like it's floating on the sea at high tide--unfortunately high tide was too early in the day for us to make it there, but it was still pretty shiny when we saw it.
I hope to upload pictures to facebook or photobucket soon, but my poor offerings are probably only worth about 800 words each, so as soon as I can I'll get my hands on the photos my dad took, because he's an incredible photographer, and feel they would be much more representative of how lovely it is there. I do already have one tiny photo up - the userpic for this entry is one of my own (in fact, the only userpic I actually photographed myself) and is of Hachiko's statue in Shibuya. Don't know the significance? That means you're neither Japanese nor an anime/manga/japanese-pop-culture-in-general dork. It's okay, look it up. Wikipedia won't tell anyone of your ignorance. But yeah, eventually photographs will be forthcoming.
At this point I'm going to have to take a break from writing in order to get some sleep--have to get back on California time--but I solemnly swear to write more before my next several month (or year) long hiatus in updating occurs.
1. Arigato gozaimasu - Seriously the words I not only used most often, but heard most often as well. Between hotel staff, waitresses, and the train/station announcements I think I heard these words more often than all the others on this list combined.
2. Sumimasen - Crowded trains and subways = needing this badly.
3. Mizu - You may be surprised that this is on the list at all, much less third, but in a country where they don't automatically serve water with your meal, knowing how to ask for it is extremely useful. It also is so high on my usage list because after I taught the word to my Dad our first night in Kyoto I had to keep correcting his pronunciation forever after. It is absolutely astonishing the number of ways he found to mispronounce I simple, two-syllable word.
4. Shinkansen - I can't even begin to describe my love and envy of the mass transit system there. I only wish we had something as clean, efficient, and easy to use here - especially in LA.
5. Gomen nasai - If you know me at all, you know that this one is essential. Often used quietly and unobtrusively when my Dad horribly mangled a Japanese word or place name. Please don't ask me to tell you his interpretation of Shinjuku. I think he was trying to be funny, but I have a very low embarrassment threshold.
My trip consisted of basically eight days, most of which were spent in Kyoto, since that is where the SRS meeting my dad was attending took place, and thus where we had our hotel. Thanks to the lovely, lovely trains though, we were able to take several day trips to different cities as well as seeing a lot (though not nearly enough) of Kyoto. I must say that the announcements on the trains had me so well trained that I think I may have to look into making one of my alarm clocks say "Kyoto; Kyoto desu" to make sure I wake up in time for class. In addition to the lovely former capitol, we visited Nara, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.
Nara hosted endless grounds of temples and shrines in a park filled with absurdly tame deer (I just kept petting them! And I didn't even have to bribe them with food!) As well as housing an ENORMOUS statue of the Buddha. And when I say enormous, I mean giant like whoa. It was pretty amazing, even if we were exhausted from all the walking by the end of the day.
We didn't spend that long in Hiroshima proper (just went to see the A-Bomb Dome, which was appropriately solemn and humbling) but rather spent most of the day seeing a famous shrine at a nearby Island that has an gate/arch/thing built in the ocean so that it looks like it's floating on the sea at high tide--unfortunately high tide was too early in the day for us to make it there, but it was still pretty shiny when we saw it.
I hope to upload pictures to facebook or photobucket soon, but my poor offerings are probably only worth about 800 words each, so as soon as I can I'll get my hands on the photos my dad took, because he's an incredible photographer, and feel they would be much more representative of how lovely it is there. I do already have one tiny photo up - the userpic for this entry is one of my own (in fact, the only userpic I actually photographed myself) and is of Hachiko's statue in Shibuya. Don't know the significance? That means you're neither Japanese nor an anime/manga/japanese-pop-culture-in-general dork. It's okay, look it up. Wikipedia won't tell anyone of your ignorance. But yeah, eventually photographs will be forthcoming.
At this point I'm going to have to take a break from writing in order to get some sleep--have to get back on California time--but I solemnly swear to write more before my next several month (or year) long hiatus in updating occurs.