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Sayonara Japan

Finally came the day we dreaded…the bags were packed, the house was empty, and we knew it was time to leave our home. Once again, our friends came out to see us, to wish us well on our new adventures. It was the saddest day of my life to leave behind my dearest friend, Eriko, as well as all of the other wonderful people I’ve come to love in Japan. Truly I feel this is only matanee – we will be back.

Sayonara Tanaka sama Family

It is true that you end up not appreciating things that are right in your own neighborhood. We would often go downtown for a good meal yet, right down the street, there was a wonderful sushi restaurant that we had failed to explore. Our neighbors, the Tanaka’s, did not let us leave without enjoying the fine food to be found there. We spent an evening with them and their son, Luft, an NIS graduate, enjoying the wonderful fresh and delicious sushi. If only we had fpund this one sooner!!

Sayonara in English

Jeff spent the last couple of years teaching English to a group of retired Japanese men and women. Every Thursday night, Jeff would meet with them for a class where they shared stories and talked in English. Through their presentations about places they had gone, we found numerous trip ideas for ourselves –leading us on some marvelous journeys. We also went on various hikes with the group – exploring a number of different mountain trails.
The group took us to a delightful Japanese restaurant where we enjoyed a fantastic evening sampling various Japanese dishes, enjoying the wonderful company and celebrating their friendship. They will truly be missed.

Sayonara Pariwar

I have just learned that food consumed at sayonara celebrations have no calories. That’s really a good thing to know since we have gone to SO MANY sayonara events.

We couldn’t leave Japan without our last fling at Pariwar. Wendy thought we should actually invite a couple of people – we used to have a whole crew every Wednesday before our Japanese class so…we invited a few people, and Wendy invited a few people, and they invited a few people and…about 26 people showed up! The people who own the restaurant are wonderful and their little girl goes to our school. They were so nice – and presented us with a beautiful bouquet of flowers…so hard to leave!!

Sayonara Sensei

All the years we were here in Japan, we were fortunate to have a wonderful Japanese teacher, Sawada-san. She was so patient with us, repeating things we didn’t understand and being very helpful even when we hadn’t studied as we should have. She also went out of her way to take us to various tea ceremonies and ikebana displays. She did much to make our time memorable here in Japan. Hopefully I will not forget everything I learned!!

澤田さんはすごい日本語先生です。彼女は私たち日本語を勉強した。彼女は茶道や生け花へ　行きました。私たちは楽しんで日本語を勉強しました。ありがとうございます　先生

Sayonara at Shooters

It’s really quite eye opening to read my first blogs of Japan – everything was new, I commented on all sorts of stuff, looked at everything in wonder…and now it all seems common place, I expect to see people bowing, I accept that roads are narrow and that the flashers are used to mean “I’m stopping here in the middle of the road”. It’s amazing to think how ordinary all of this has become.

It is now, sadly, time for us to say sayonara to this wonderful place we call home, ready to leave on yet another adventure, leaving fabulous friends behind. Our first of many parties was the annual end-of-the-year party at Shooters. Everyone from NIS attends the gala event, talking, sharing, enjoying each others company Hard because we know many people will not be back…us included. Thank goodness we have FaceBook to keep in touch!

Cormorant Fishing

Immediately after school, seven great friends, Wendy, Ebi-san, Eriko, Justin, Karianne, Jeff and I, took off to Nagara River to watch the cormorant fishing. It is a traditional method of fishing in Japan where the handler uses 10 or so leashed birds to fish in the water.
The trip started just before nightfall. We all got on a small, flat bottomed boat and were polled out into the river. Included was a “picnic” bento box – probably the most elegant picnic you’ll ever see! We stopped on the side, waiting for night to fall. The head fisherman came out to talk about how the birds are trained and cared for, how they were tied and handled during fishing. The men spend much of their time caring for the birds, who are only leashed while they are actually fishing.
The men punted out into the river and the basket was lit. The fir and sounds made stirs up the fish, giving the cormorants a chance to locate the quickly moving fish. The birds repeatedly dive for the small fish, swallowing them but not completely because of the way the leash is tied on their necks. After the fisherman has made a run down the river, he stops and allows the birds to “cough out” the fish they had caught. Most were quite small but some were fairly large.
Jeff has the best photos at: http://gallery.me.com/jeffgenest#100049

A day with great friends!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Leaving a country is really a sad thing to do. We have forged so many wonderful friends and I know I will miss every one of them. On the positive side, it has become a wonderful opportunity to celebrate together as well as to explore even more new things.
Saturday was just such a day. Mako-san, her two boys Kenshin and Ryoma, Eriko-san and I took off for adventure. We traveled first towards Obara, a small village nestled in the hills. Obara is the home of Washi no furusato, a famous place where they make gorgeous paper. The scenery alone is worth the trip and there are many hiking trails in the area. We, however, headed towards the craft center where you can actually try your hand at making paper.

The people at the village were wonderful, walking us through the steps for making paper. They also had a great video - in English even - that talked about the whole process. I always am amazed at how people figured out some of the complex processes they go through to create things - unbelievable.

The day did not stop there. We traveled back to Mako-san's home where she treated us to a fabulous lunch - absolutely delicious. We were so full!!! It did make it hard to get up for our next stop - the Nou Theater in downtown Nagoya. The style of acting is very different - slow and precise. It's not unusual to see people dozing through parts of the performance. This one did become quite lively during the second half, keeping you on your toes as the priests exorcised the serpent from the bell (they had English translation available - yeah!)

What a fabulous treat today was! Thank you Mako-san for making it possible!

Displays at NIS

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Eriko and I spent many happy hours working on various creative displays for the library...some might call our passion a bit excessive...but we had a wonderful time creating our fabulous attractions. Here is just a tiny taste of our creative passion.

Sayonara

Make a Smilebox postcard

It is so sad to be thinking of leaving this wonderful country and all of our friends here. We’ve been fortunate to have met so many people while we have been here and it is very sad to be leaving. On the plus side, we’re getting to do a lot of special things with friends to enjoy good memories.

This last weekend Tomi-san, our ikebana sensei, treated Beth, Wendy and me to a wonderful tour of the Ceramic Museum here in Nagoya as well as a personally catered lunch. While she modestly claimed that she did not cook a lot, Tomi-san set a beautiful table and served absolutely wonderful food.

Besides being a fabulous ikebana instructor, she is also well versed in the tea ceremony. She even has a small tea room in her house where she treated us to a personal tea ceremony. It is just such a calming, quiet experience – one that truly makes you appreciate life. There’s so much attention paid to the decoration in the room and the calm, quiet, precise way to move everything. It’s quite an experience. I must admit it is a regret I have – that I didn’t study tea ceremony too. Ah well….

Thank you sensei for everything. I will remember these years with fondness.

Sosuke and Yosuke

We had to make our final trip to Yokohama to see Kaz and Kazumi's beautiful new twin boys. (Kaz and Kazumi lived with us in the states for 6 months or so before we came to Japan.) The boys were born on March 23rd and immediately, of course, stole everyone's heart. They are absolute sweethearts and brought back so many great memories. Now... if I have it right...Sosuke is the one who is wide awake and Yosuke is the one sleeping peacefully.

Hasedera Temple

While the great Buddha is by far the most famous place to visit in this region, there are many more temples to enjoy.
The Hasedera Temple is the location of a famous statue of Kannon, carved from a camphor tree. As the story goes, 2 statues were actually carved, one placed in the Hasedera Temple near Nara. The 2nd one was tossed in the ocean (so that it would some day reappear to save people - hmmmm). It did indeed wash ashore on the beach near Kamakura so a 2nd Hasedera Temple was constructed. It has made it famous as one of the holy places in this area.
The grounds of this temple are quite extensive, featuring some wonderful, secluded, peaceful meditative areas - a very pleasant hour walking about it. The statue was gorgeous though, alas, we could not take pictures of it.

Kamakura

We finally had the opportunity to visit the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It is a bronze statue that is located at Kotokuin Temple. At one time it was inside a large temple but a tsunami 500 years ago wiped out all of the buildings, leaving the Buddha statue in the open air. This one is the 2nd largest in Japan though someone made the distinction that the largest one in Nara (Todaiji Temple and yes...at some point we went there) is the largest bronze Buddha statue that is inside a building and this is the largest bronze Buddha statue that sits outside. Who knows...

In Memoriam

To quote Paul's eloquent but sad message..."Dad/Grandpa went home to the Lord this evening (March 12) at about 7:45pm. I morn our loss but rejoice in knowing that he is with the Lord. He is no longer in pain and his mind is as sharp as ever. I also know we will see him in heaven when each of us is called home. I want each of us to hold tight to the wonderful memories we have each had with him and to be thankful for the wonderful long, filled life dad had."
I am glad we had a chance to celebrate his life and to support Mom/Grandma at this really difficult time. I loved the opportunity to reconnect with family - both old and new - the kids were so cute....and were the subject of some of the blurriest pictures 'cause they just never slowed down!!! I have posted some of the pictures I took - though sad to say that a good many of the pictures were really blurry (sadly, not just due to lots of energy).

Pictures from Cambodia

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Angkor Wat

The next morning we took off in our tuk-tuk with driver and interpreter – first stop was the ticket booth to purchase the pass to enter the Angkor Wat World Heritage Site. It was extremely crowded but they were quite efficient. The hardest part of the whole thing was identifying WHICH of the hundreds of tuk tuks was actually yours. Finally, armed with our pass and guide, we headed for the most famous of them all…Angkor Wat.
The temples of Angkor Wat were built by the Khmer civilization in the early part of the 12th century by a king named SuryavaramII. It was built to honor the Hindu god, Vishnu. While it started out as a Hindu temple, it eventually became a Buddhist temple as the religion of the country shifted. It’s an astounding architectural feat!
The temples, the tallest ones in the center, are supposed to symbolize the mythic Mount Meru (don’t ask me, I’m just writing what the guide said). It also has a moat around the temple, representing the ocean. Most Hindu temples are oriented so that the entrance faces the east for the rising sun (there’s also some significance as to which Hindu god is being honored but I’m not clear on that either). Angkor Wat, however, faces west. Many have speculated as to why …
The picture on the right is but one of hundres of meters of carvings along the outside wall. This one depicts a great battle - soldiers on the bottom with an elephant being ridden by a leader. Others included the story of the "churning of the milk" and life in heaven, on earth and hell. Fabulous details - unbelievable!

More on Angkor Wat

At one time, the area was a booming metropolis, probably supporting a million people at its heyday. The temple itself was for the gods and everyone, priests included, lived in the surrounding area. The homes were primarily wooden so while stone supports and flooring for homes have been found, the homes have been reclaimed by the jungle. The site also had two libraries (picture on left) – but sadly the “books” were stories and prayers written on palm leaves…you can imagine what happened to those. Fortunately, much of the history of the building and important occurrences at various times were recorded on the columns in Sanskrit so a record, albeit weathered by time, has at least been uncovered and translated.
Sadly, the site was abandoned in the 1400’s, the ruins quite literally over-run by the jungle. Many tales were told about the fabulous buildings but most considered them nothing but legends. It wasn’t until the French discovered the ruins (1800’s) that they came back into the spotlight. The site is now a World Heritage Site, but that didn’t happen until 1992. When you see some of the sites that have not been “restored” (check out Ta Prohm – coming up soon on this blog), you realize just exactly how much work has gone into the restoration process of all of the temples in the Angkor Wat area. Currently at least 100 stone temples have been discovered.

Ta Prohm Wat

The second most popular wat in Cambodia is probably Ta Prohm Wat. Unlike other temples at Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left as it was found, preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an architectural monument when the protective hands of humans are withdrawn. Ta Prohm's walls, roofs, chambers and courtyards have been sufficiently repaired to stop further deterioration, and the inner sanctuary has been cleared of bushes and thick undergrowth, but the temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees, in a permanent condition of “apparent neglect”. Having planted themselves centuries ago, the tree's serpentine roots pry apart the ancient stones and their immense trunks straddle the once bustling Buddhist temple.The lower picture shows the rubble of the roof, still inside the wall.

Bayon Wat

Bayon Wat is an interesting 3-tiered mountain temple. From a distance it looks like it is also a victim of planned neglect, however, it is far from that. Each tower (and there are 54 of them I’m told) has 4 giant, smiling faces looking out over the land on each side. The faces are thought to represent Jayavarman VII – one of the Kings of ancient Cambodia. This temple also includes some of the many carvings that depict scenes from everyday life in the 12^th century.

Temple construction

Early temples built in Cambodia were constructed entirely out of brick. At this time, any decorations that might be added were carved into a stucco that had been applied to the bricks. We hiked up to one on top of a hill that had little stucco remaining, primarily bricks, precariously perched one on top of another.
Eventually, the builders began using laterite, which is a kind of clay that hardens when dried in the sun. It was primarily used for the foundation – in places where it wouldn’t be seen because it was uneven and not a good surface for carving. A good many of the temples had exposed portions where the laterite could be seen under the facing sandstone. The sandstone is soft enough that it is easily carved. Many, though not all, of the Angkor temples were covered by highly decorated sandstone. It is also the surface that they used for recording the history of the period. The picture on the left has laterite under the facing, carved sandstone. The one on the right has bricks with a stuccon like something covering the upper reaches - not sure if the stucco wore off the lower section or if it just was never there.

Driving in Cambodia

I think I should be tired of reporting the varying driving habits of the different countries, however, I still find myself wondering how they do it. The roads are relatively wide (by Japanese standards), but the drivers insist on taking their half out of whatever side has an opening of any sort. The motorbikes swarm all over the roads, the tuk-tuks are weaving through the traffic and then the cars and trucks just honk their horns, expecting all of the motorbikes and tuk-tuks to immediately get out of their way – if they don’t the car drivers lean on the horns. Makes for a rather noisy road trip.

You can see the first tuk-tuk we took, along with our driver and guide, Piseph. I also just had to show a picture of a local gas station. Yes indeed, the bottles on the stand contain gasoline. She gets the gas from a gas truck – a tuk-tuk with a flat bed attached. On it are 10-12 large plastic containers of gas. He pours the gas into her liter sized bottles – old soda bottles, wine bottles, anything she can find that has a cap. Then, when a motorcycle needs gas, they come up, use her funnel, and pour gas into the bike. They do have a few places where there are barrels with the old style glass pump on it, probably used for cars. In the rural areas of Cambodia, there are no commercial gas stations so these enterprising folks are filling a real need for the community.

Ayutthaya - Ancient Thai Capital

The following day we headed out the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya. In the Thai religion, chedis (the large, bell shaped buildings with a tall spire on top) are built to house the remains of famous people, generally a king, a member of the royal family, the Buddha himself or a close disciple. This particular capital has three chedis, containing the ashes of 3 of the 15th century kings. These buildings, and all chedis for that matter, are considered to be extremely important so the Thai people will go to great trouble to never disturb a chedi found anywhere in the country. Hence you will find them in the middle of fields, or as the center of a traffic circle.
The old capital was destroyed during the war with Burma. The Burmese burned and looted the capital, destroying the vast majority of it. The chedis survived, but they are now burned and blackened rather than the more traditional white. The massive buildings constructed during this period of time were primarily made of bricks – bricks that were looted and put to various uses over the ages, including the wall of the imperial palace now located in Bangkok.

Bang Pa-In Palace

From the old to the new…we traveled on to the Bang Pa-In Palace, a spectacular palatial grounds that is still in use by the Thai King, Rama IX and his Queen for a quiet retreat or a place to host dignitaries in style. Fortunately, they were not in residence at the time so we were able to explore the grounds.

The original palace here, now long gone, was actually built during the 1600’s, at the time that Ayutthaya was still the capital. It is said that King Ekathotsarot had been shipwrecked on the island of Bang-Pa-In and there had a son with a local woman, a son who was destined to be the next king, King Prasart Thong. This king founded a monastery there on land that belonged to his mother, digging of a moat and finally building a palace south of the monastery. The grounds that are now present have, of course, been added to and changed through the many long years and succession of kings to a spectacular showcase that is fabulous to be able to view and enjoy.

There are some interesting buildings here, showing influence from all over the world. There are several buildings that strongly suggest a western European influence. There’s a building that is called the pagoda, though it’s unlike any Asian pagodas I’ve ever seen. There is also a Chinese Pavilion that seems, at one time at least, was used as the residence of at least one of the kings who spent time at the palace (it also contained some of the fabulous carved furniture we saw earlier – confirming my suspicion that they were indeed built for a king).