A weekend in the country

Most of the teachers who work for my company (including me) get Sunday and Monday off, so since it was a national holiday this past Tuesday we had a long weekend. To take advantage of the extra time off, a group of my friends and I decided to go on a camping trip in the Okutama region on the border of Tokyo. A lot of Americans don't realize that Tokyo is not actually a city, but a prefecture, so while part of it is made up of major metropolitan areas, there are also extremely rural, mountainous areas that are still technically part of Tokyo as well. Okutama is located within these beautiful green mountains and it only takes about an hour and a half to two hours to get there from Shinjuku Station. We stayed at a campsite called America Camp Village in a lovely little log cabin with a river running next to it. Truthfully, our weekend can't really be called "camping" because the cabin was fully equipped with a full size refrigerator, stove, microwave, tv, and beds; I think it would be better to just refer to it as "a weekend in the country" (which, by the way, is a Sondheim song that is now stuck in my head). I was extremely thrilled to sleep in a real bed for an entire weekend, since back at my apartment I sleep on a fairly uncomfortable futon that is only about 1.5 to 2 inches thick. I was also happy to have other people cooking for me, though I did contribute to the meals by washing dishes and helping to cut vegetables. On the first evening we played some games and talked for a while, we also went for a little walk to check out the area. At the other end of the camp ground we came across a group of college age Japanese guys playing the Japanese version of break the piñata. One of them held a big stick and wore a bag over his head while the others sat on the side and shouted directions at him so that he could try to break a melon lying on the ground. We stood by and watched their numerous drunken attempts until we finally heard the guys shout "Yatta!" - "Alright!" signifying that one of them had finally pierced the melon. After heading back we headed to bed. There were 6 girls and 3 guys on the trip so the girls slept upstairs in the beds and the guys slept downstairs on futons. This separation resulted in endless girl talk and I felt like I was 12 years old again at a sleepover party, it was a lot of fun.

On our first full day in Okutama a bunch of us decided to try a HUGE assault / obstacle course at our camp site that was built along the side of a mountain. It was an amazing course with rope ladders, zip lines, wooden bridges, and tons of other stuff. Some of these obstacles were practically suspended off the mountain in some areas, if that sounds dangerous to you, it's because it was. We would NEVER have been allowed to do a course like this in America, because within one week someone would be suing the camp due to injury and/or death. Not only were we not wearing any protective gear, but it had also been raining so everything was extremely slippery. Add the slipperiness to the barbed wire conveniently located beneath a number of the obstacles and it was just a lawsuit waiting to happen, good thing this is Japan though, not America, because the course was AWESOME! It took over an hour to complete and was quite the workout, but it certainly gave all of us a sense of accomplishment once we finished! That night we relaxed and watched some movies, for those of you who haven't seen Iron Man, you should check it out. On our last day we visited an onsen down the road from America Camp Village. It had both an indoor tub and an outdoor tub that looked out over trees and mountains. It was really beautiful and fun going with friends, though it still took me a little time to get used to being naked in front of so many people since I had never been to an onsen with more than one friend at a time before this. After the onsen we took the train to Mitake where we had Chinese food for lunch. In case you were wondering, Chinese food in Japan is not quite like Chinese food in America, but there are some similarities. I was fond of the restaurant because they gave us Coca Cola in glass bottles, which in my opinion adds some rustic charm to a place. After lunch we took a bus and then a cable car/train on a really really steep track up Mount Mitake. The view was gorgeous and we arrived in the late afternoon so we got to see the mountains in golden hour, my favorite time of day. I was sad to return to the city, but when we got back we had dinner at a fairly authentic and pleasantly quirky American burger restaurant, so at least that made coming back to the endless buildings and air pollution a little bit easier.

On a bridge in Okutama

Our cabin

Dressed up for the matsuri (last post)

Posing with the world's cutest little girl

My matsuri

This time of year, late summer/early fall, is a very popular time in Japan for festivals. These festivals, known as matsuri, are celebrated in different ways depending on where you go, but many of them include the carrying of portable shrines around neighborhoods. This weekend, I got to take part in a small matsuri and help carry a shrine. This is not an activity that gaijin normally have the chance to take part in, but my friend Eimilly is dating someone from the neighborhood, so he invited her and she invited me. It was an amazing experience, but one I do not want to repeat any time soon!

I woke up early, or earlier than I'd have prefered on a Sunday, since I had to be in Naka-meguro, where the festival was being held, by 10 am and it takes me an hour to get there. When I arrived, however, I discovered that the first hour or two was really just a time for socializing in front of the little restaurant where everyone was meeting to get ready. Jenn, her sister, and her brother-in-law also came to take part in the festival and while we were all standing around waiting for things to get going we were introduced to lots of people and offered enormous amounts of fruit. At one point we were led by some people to a blue tarp that was laid on the ground and instructed to sit, which turned out to be a little awkward since no one else came to sit with us. Eventually we got up and of course immediately after doing so everyone else went to sit down because it was time to eat some special sticky rice with red beans that is traditionally served on special occasions. Shortly after eating the rice, Eimilly and I were summoned to go get changed. We went to the back of the restaurant and had various items of clothing thrust at us by the mama-san. The traditional clothes included happi, a lightweight cotton jacket that wraps around like a robe, a sash called an obi, and a strange pair of white shorts that were impossible to put on without assistance. We were definitely "assisted" though, I felt like a doll being dressed by a little kid as multiple women tugged, pulled, and tied my shirt and shorts. The shorts seemed to have been specifically made to sag in the butt but be tight everywhere else and based on the women's actions they needed to sag in just the right way. After what seemed like ages of being manhandled by the mama-san, Eimilly and I finally emerged from the restaurant in our clothes and two toed sandles called tabi. A moment later though we were called back into the restaurant to have our hair done by the mama-san. After experiencing how rough she was while dressing us I was not particularly thrilled to know she was about to get hold of my hair. I became even less enthused as I watched her do Eimilly's hair first, in addition to nearly brushing her scalp off, she also latherd Eimilly's hair with 3 giant fist fulls of palmaid. Now, Eimilly has short straight hair, so that's pretty easy to work with, but anyone who has ever witnessed the long curly nightmare that is my hair, knows that it is NOT easy to work with. When I sat down in the chair and took my hair down all the girls in the room oohed and ahhed over it, and even the mama-san seemed surprised, but that didn't stop her. After a moment of thought she got to work and remarkably after 5 minutes, a handful of bobbypins, and a disgusting amount of palmaid my hair was good to go. She tied on a headband and that was it! Eimilly and I went and presented ourselves to Jenn and her family who sadly did not end up taking part in the festivities because they had tickets to see sumo later in the day, but they did get to see us all dressed up and take lots of pictures! (Don't worry, I will post the photos soon)

Finally our whole group walked across the street to where the shrine was being kept. I hadn't realized until then that there were actually other groups meeting us from adjoining neigborhoods, so over all it was quite a significant amount of people. After a few minutes we all gathered around the mikoshi, our portable shrine. When I say "portable" please don't equate that with being "easily carried" because moving this thing was anything but easy. It was not that big, maybe the size of an oven, but it was made of gold and supported by long crisscrossed beams, so it was insanely heavy. According to Eimilly's boyfriend it weighed about 2 tons, that is possibly incorrect, but I don't think he was too far off. We all found spots to carry the shrine from, then we lifted it up and we were off, chanting and marching our way down the narrow streets. We chanted different words, I couldn't hear all of them and sometimes they changed, but a lot of times it just sounded like SA SA SA, so that's what I said. I was told that at most matsuri people chant WASHOI, but we didn't for some reason. After a few minutes we made our first stop, since it was such strenuous work carrying the shrine we would stop periodically to be provided with food and, more importanly for most, beer. I felt ok at the first few stops, but it didn't take long before my shoulders were ready to fall off. As we walked down the streets we would sway the shrine back and forth, but whenever we passed a business we would stop and wildly bounce the shrine up and down in front of the building to bring good luck and prosperity to the business. This was great fun, but it was difficult to avoid having the large beams smash into my shoulders as the shrine bounced around. I also tried to help support the weight of the shrine by resting it on my shoulder, but I could only do this for minutes at a time since it was so heavy and also killed my shoulders. The parading of the shrine went on for 4 or 5 hours and despite the pain and exhaustion it was really an amazing experience. I have never seen people be more spirited and enthusiastic about doing something together, even at the very end not a single person seemed to lose enery or motivation, they were all so extremely positive and focused.

After the festival was over a group of us went to a local onsen to clean off. It was nothing like the lovely onsen I visited in my area, this one was indoors, old, and crappy. After washing off in the shower area Eimilly and I climbed into the tubs. A moment later an old woman approached us and in Japanese started interrogating us about whether we had washed off properly before getting in the tubs. As I have mentioned before, cleanliness is extremely important when bathing in onsen and apparently the woman proved that point. After asking Eimilly (who speaks much better Japanese than me) three times if we had washed off she decided we were clean. Eimilly and I ended up only staying in the water for a very short time because it was so hot, hotter than my local onsen I think. After getting dressed we headed back to the restaurant where we'd all met in the morning and had a big end of festival meal. All the food and drinks were free and eveyone was extremely friendly. I finished the night by meeting back up with Jenn and going out for karaoke, so all in all it was a very tiring, but very spectacular day!

More things I've come to expect - for my mom :-)

- If I go to a store then every single person working there should welcome me as I walk through the door.

- If I am walking down the street there will be at least two trucks (most often garbage trucks) that will "speak" to me over loudspeakers as they drive by

- If I am standing near something even remotely cute every girl or woman who passes by will comment on the cuteness (I once watched two girls proclaim "kawaiiii" - "cute" about a bush in a park)

- If I watch a Japanese person eat they will inevitably do everything humanly possible to keep from physically touching their food with their hands, even sandwiches and chicken wings.

- If I ask my students what their hobbies are I will always have at least one student who includes drinking as his or her (more often his) number one activity.

- If I need to throw something out then I will have to carry it with me until I find a vending machine or a convenience store, they are the only places that provide proper trash / recycling bins (good thing there's a vending machine every 10 feet!)

- If a store sells an item that I like, e.g. cranberry juice, then I should stock up because there's a 95% chance that they will stop selling that item by the next day.

- If I see a dog it should be wearing a t-shirt or sweater (depending on the weather).

That's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with more later on.

Adjusting to normality

It recently occurred to me that things here don't seem as weird as they used to. Of course, there are still plenty of Japanese oddities to keep me amused, but just the feel of everyday life in Tokyo doesn't seem as distant or foreign anymore. What was once a new and interesting thing to see, like the yakiniku stands coming out in the evening or the wannabe thugs break dancing in front of my train station, is no longer new but just endearing because it's become part of life (but the thugs do still make me laugh). It's amazing how I've come to expect certain things that I never even knew existed before traveling to Japan. Here are a few things I've come to expect:

- If it is raining everyone MUST have an umbrella and there should be either an umbrella rack or a machine providing umbrella "condoms" outside of EVERY store or restaurant

- If I am thirsty there should be a vending machine within a 10 foot radius of anywhere I stand (yes, I exaggerate, but only a little)

- If I am walking on the street in front of my school then there should be instrumental show tunes or Disney movie songs playing over loud speakers at all times for no particular reason.

Despite those expectations, I am always seeing and discovering new things, so Japan never gets old. On Monday I went to Shinjuku with Ivan and saw my first Japanese transvestite / transsexual people, or as Ivan put it "She-he's". They were all just standing around showing off their ugliness... now I know that not all transvestite/transsexual people are ugly, but the ones in Shinjuku ARE. I asked Ivan if they were hookers, but he said that prostitution is illegal here, so I don't really know what the purpose of them standing there is... apparently it's a daily event.

I also made an interesting discovery while at my local movie rental store the other day. On previous visits to the store I had noticed that while there is an adults only section, based on some of the dvd covers I'd seen there seemed to be random bits of porn scattered around in the normal sections as well. On this last visit, however, I happened to see the cover for a movie that I actually own, Almost Famous. I was shocked, because at first glance of this Japanese cover anyone might think Almost Famous was some sort of soft core porn, it was ridiculous and really had very little to do with the actual storyline. It occurred to me then that all those bits of porn I'd seen around the shelves were actually just normal movies that had purposely been given covers to make them more (very much more) related to sex. It's amazing to me how a culture that is often seen as being so traditional and conservative actually has an entirely different side to it that revolves around sex. You see it not just in movie stores, but in newspapers, magazines, manga, and of course the ever intriguing love hotels. I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised considering I myself attended a Penis Festival earlier this year, but it's still something that I had NOT expected and that continues to occasionally catch me off guard.

AMERICAN COVER

JAPANESE COVER