Today was another great day. After unsuccessfully trying to find the other new trainees (who had already left for breakfast) Emma and I wrote up an Itinerary for the day, which included: Heiwa Park, Toganji Shrine, The Higashiyama Park, Nittaiji Temple, Yamada Denki (a music/electronics store) and the Nagoya Sky Promenade. All the while we were trying to meet up with the two new trainees from Canada.
Everywhere we went we found ‘Sakura,’ or cherry blossoms. The sakura marks the advent of spring. Since ancient times, the blooming of the cherry blossoms has marked the start of the rice-planting season. Traditionally, the quality of the blossom reflected the quality of the next rice harvest. Offerings were made to the cherry tress to in exchange for a good harvest. Today, people mark the cherry blossoms with a celebration called ‘Hanami,’ which means flower viewing.
My favourite place today was a smaller, but historically significant shrine called the Toganji Shrine in Motoyama (pictured left). It had a shrine for people’s deceased cats and dogs. Also, it had a giant green Buddha, about 17 meters tall. It was built in 1555.
While we were taking in the view, three construction workers were having lunch. One came over to us and tried to tell us about the statue (in mostly Japanese). From what we could decipher, he was telling us that the ears, eyes, nostrils and lips of the statue were made from 24 carrot gold!
Also, he told us which of the elephants on the statue were female and which were male. His method of indicating which were female was quite humorous. It involved cupping his chest and pointing (although we both already understood “female”). He tried very hard to explain to us the significance of the statue’s hand gestures, but we failed to understand.
The workers then invited us for some koocha (tea) and snacks. They were very welcoming. One continually referred to us as ‘Sensei’ after we had said we were here to teach English.
As we were leaving the monk at the shrine gave us a whole bag of snacks; date biscuits and rice puffs. No reason really. It just seemed like he wanted to find some way be nice. He saw that we liked them when the construction workers gave us some, so he gave us a whole bag! We’ve been inundated with this kind of hospitality, really.
When we came back to our apartment we met two new trainees from Canada, Amitesh and Ajmal. Together we all went into Nagoya to see the Sky Promenade. The lift in the building is the fastest in Japan, going from the ground to the 42nd floor in about 40 seconds. The night time vista was quite a sight, indeed. Some of the architecture is quite remarkable. I couldn’t really capture it properly without a tripod
I think I found my favourite restaurant so far. It is a chain of restaurants called Yoshinoya. All the meals come with Miso soup, green tea and steamed rice. Over here people add pickled horse radish to their meals. It’s quite strong, but, if used conservatively, can be very tasty. In fact, I’ve really enjoyed all the Japanese food so far! I could definitely live on this stuff!
From first impressions, the girls seem much more shy than the guys here. Emma and I were looking for a music store in Hoshigaoka. We walked around the corner and saw a group of girls (late teens? Early twenties?) who were chatting and laughing. The second they caught eye of us “gaijin” (foreigners) they all gasped in surprise and stared. A few of them put their hands over their mouths, almost in disbelief. Their gaze was fixed on us until we walked past.
I’ve head some people say that baseball is the national sport of Japan, but I would challenge that… I would purport ‘staring’ as the national sport of Japan.
Anyway, today was another great day. It’s been a great adventure so far. Till next time!
Stef xo
0 comments:
Post a Comment