Changing Colors in Nara
November 22, 2007 at 7:50 am | In Sightseeing | Leave a CommentTags: Autumn Color, Deer, Nara
There are two great times to visit Japan, when the cherry blossoms bloom in the Spring and when the changing colors in the Fall. In both cases, the optimum period of viewing these changes is a matter of weeks or less. It is all a matter of timing.
For the past month or so, my wife has been checking the Internet and the NHK News to see when that optimum period would be this year. It is a very inexact science. In past years we had seen the changing colors in Arashiyama-Saga and the Kiyomizu areas of Kyoto, but this year she wanted to see the colors in Nara. Partly, she wanted to see it there because last time it was beautiful there, and partly because she has been watching the rebroadcast of the 1986 NHK daily drama series “Miyako no Kaze” that takes place there.
We got to Nara while the leaves were still changing, but the crowds are not as bad as those in Kyoto. The best place we saw for seeing the change of colors was at Isuien Garden, just North of Nara National Museum. There, the changing colors was almost complete. The best place to feed the deer was in the shopping street leading up to Todaiji Temple.
To see what the colors looked like, check out this gallery.
Tradition Tea
November 4, 2007 at 10:23 am | In Sightseeing | Leave a CommentTags: kimono, Tea ceremony
Saturday, November 3rd, was a special day for the tea ceremony community. Because of that, there was a special tea ceremony at Inaba Shrine, the biggest shrine in Gifu city.
We have gone to plenty of tea ceremonies before, but not like this one. For instance, at the teahouse in Gifu Park, we pay our four hundred yen and sit on a bench, they bring out the green tea and Japanese sweet, and we eat it. The price was 400 yen.
At Inaba Shrine, a group of us entered the tearoom and sat on tatami floor. Everyone sat in the traditional way, expect for my wife and I, who were offered small stools, which we accepted.
The stools were a lot more comfortable on the legs than sitting on one’s legs, but it made it difficult to do all the necessary bowing. We exchange bows when the teacher arrives. We exchange bows when a woman in kimono brings the Japanese sweets. We pick up the sweet with chopsticks and place it on a piece of white paper, eat the sweet, and then we exchange bows when a woman picks up the empty sweets bowl. We exchange bows when a woman in kimono brings the bowl of tea. After turning the bowl three times, drinking the green tea, and admiring the bowl, we exchange bows when a women pick ups the bowl. We exchange bows as we examine the antique tea ware. Then we exchange bows as we depart. There was a lot of bowing. The price for all this was 400 yen.
Fall Colors – First Sighting
October 27, 2007 at 9:18 am | In Sightseeing | Leave a CommentTags: Arashiyama, Autumn Colors, Gifu
Japan definitely values its four seasons. Its summers are hot and humid and its winters are frigid, but its spring and autumn make up for it. In the spring, there are the Cherry blossoms. In the autumn, there are the changing colors, as the leaves turn from green to shades of yellow, orange, and red.
Seeing the changing colors is serious business, as thousands flood famous viewing places, like Arashiyama (my favorite. Located a short train ride from Kyoto, it has been a favorite autumn color viewing designation for centuries. The problem is timing; it is best seen at the height of the change.
Locally, we noticed the first change of colors today. First, we noticed a single red tree on Mt. Kinka, sticking out among a field of green. Later, I noticed some trees near a local school. Soon it will be time to go to Arashiyama. See you there.
Diggings in the Park
October 19, 2007 at 7:29 am | In History | Leave a CommentTags: Artifacts, Gifu Park, Nobunaga
While riding through Gifu Park recently, I happened to stop by a small building at the northwest corner of the park that used to be a souvenir shop. It is now a display area about the current archaeological digs being made in the park. Nobunaga Oda used to live here in the sixteenth century, when he was trying to unite Japan under his leadership. Recently they found the site of a house of a low-ranking samurai that served Nobunaga, and the artifacts of that site are on exhibit in the display area.
Looking at these artifacts, I noticed a box of broken fragments of interesting clay sake bottles. My first reaction to the fragments was how new they looked. It turns out that these particular date back to the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912) and Taisho Era (1912 to 1926), but they looked like they could have been broken fragments from today. Even if the fragments are only 80+ years old, they still look a lot newer. That shows the preservative powers of being buried in dirt. My second reaction was the realization that not all artifacts found on a site will necessarily be from the most famous era of that area. There was life at the site before that era and afterwards.
No English instructor is an island
October 8, 2007 at 8:34 am | In Expatriate | Leave a CommentTags: Nagoya Writes, Open Reading
Recently, Nagoya Writes had its first open reading in a couple of months, and only three people read pieces. We used to have eight to twelve readers.
One of the reasons for the low turnout is the bad job market for English instructors. I realized before that many teachers can’t get tenure and that many have to teach at more than one place in order to survive financially. I heard the horror stories of how foreign staff were treated, but I didn’t think it really affected me, a retired lawyer. Now I realize that what happens to them affects me.
As John Donne wrote “No man is an island, entire of itself.” What happens in the English instruction business affects the entire expatriate community.
Back in the 1960s, most expatriates were either military or missionaries. Now, most are involved in English education in some way. There are the occasional lawyer, IT type, and businessman, but the vast majority of them teach English.
The market for English instructors hasn’t been good recently, but it was a way for people to come to Japan for a while, and for some that “while” has been twenty or more years. I have seen friends give up and return to wherever they were from. Recently, things got worse.
Something happened to change the dynamics of the English instruction business. NOVA, the largest chain of English schools in Japan, is facing major financial difficulties. People are not being paid on time, and rent isn’t being paid. Things got so bad that the Australian government has told hundreds of Australian teachers in Japan should “start making contingency plans.”
Now, the expatriate community in Nagoya is large enough to support a writers group, a theater group, and various computer clubs, but is small enough that many expatriates know each other. I hope that we will keep our critical mass despite all this, and that my friends can stay here, but if not, this is still my home.
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
