How I spent my summer vacation #3
...going to the heart of Japan
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From Tokyo, it was off to the heart of Japan, to a small town in Gifu-ken, to visit my friend Piano Teacher. She had been a relatively famous concert pianist with a well-known orchestra, but retired after a mysterious event. I don't know many of the details, but it's just one of those things you don't ask about... She'd been on numerous NHK Radio and TV broadcasts and has traveled all over the world, but this shook her up to the extent that she gave up her career and moved back to her hometown. She is now a piano teacher, and has a student who is in a national competition this year. Ganbatte kudasai! (You will hear this phrase or some variant a lot--it means "do your best", "give it your all".) This town is famous for research in aerospace, and many foreign people live there although it is quite a way away from any major cities such as Nagoya or Kyoto. It is a pleasant town, though, and not too far away from some interesting places.
One of the most interesting places I have been in Japan, although not on this trip, is an architectural theme park (for lack of a better term) called Meijimura ("Meiji Village"). Meijimura features many buildings that were built during the Meiji Restoration (1867-1912), when the shogunate was overturned and the Emperor restored to the throne. At that time, the capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, and political power was given to a small group of noblemen and ex-samurai. Rapid social and political change ensued. The architecture also reflected the Western influence, with many Western-style buildings being built during this period. Many of these buildings were torn down and replaced over the years, and fortunately, some have been preserved at Meijimura. Among the buildings (or parts of buildings) you can see include the lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel, which has an interesting, almost-Mexican feel about it, quite unlike Japan! Anyway, Meijimura is very near Piano Teacher's hometown. I highly recommend a visit if you are in Nagoya, Osaka, or Kyoto and have an interest in architecture or history; it is not too far for a day trip, especially if you have a JR Pass.
This year, I used the very handy (and highly recommended) Hyperdia website to look up train schedules. Last time I went to visit Piano Teacher, I got an itinerary with five transfers from the now-closed Kyoto TIC (fortunately replaced by the Kyoto prefectural TIC) and ended up accidentally taking an express train to Nagoya. (Having lost my cellphone last time, it was a bit of a pinch...NTT no longer seems to maintain many of the card phones since much of the populace use keitai, and most of the card phones I tried refused to accept my phone card.)
You can access Hyperdia through the Japan National Tourist Organization website at http://www.jnto.go.jp. Hyperdia literally means "online train schedule"--"dia" is a borrowed word ("gairaigo"). I'm not sure what language it came from originally. It's one of those katakana words that every student of Japanese suffers through. Well, "dia" is less awful than some of the katakana words that Japanese has borrowed and mangled. If you have suffered through some of the Japanese transliterations perpetrated by the authors of the textbook Genki I, you'll know what I mean. I read a story in the Japan Times last year about a survey of the most often used "gairaigo", most of which had to do with politics and business, and many of which are incomprehensible by the average Japanese person. Reading that article made me feel better about my lack of understanding...
Anyway, my trip this year was uneventful, and I ended up at the proper station without any unplanned sidetrips. Piano Teacher met me at the station. It's a small station, served by a "wanman" train. (OK, that's a katakana word too, but it makes sense--the train is driven by one man, who also collects the fares. This line is not a main line, so there are no ticket agents at the stations.) We then went to her home and visited with her parents. Mr. Piano Teacher speaks a little English, and Mrs. Piano Teacher speaks none at all, so we all merrily chatted away in Japanese. They were having some remodeling work done, converting from propane to electric, so I stayed at a nearby hotel. We walked over, I with my wheelie, and Piano Teacher with her bicycle, as we were going to spend the evening at the local izakaya. Japanese DUI laws are extremely harsh...
After checking in and figuring out the "eiakon" (air conditioner) remote, we were off to the izakaya
There are many Japanese where I live, in a large metropolitan area, and I just can't understand why there are no izakaya. An izakaya is a bar, but with way better food. Not your greasy nachos/potato skins/pizza/burgers, but delicious things, like all kinds of yakitori, and odd things, like yamakake (indescribably weird, but delicious...but you have to like the neba neba quality of natto, and disregard what it looks like) and potarika (bite-size squid... I have no idea how they were prepared, but they were tasty). Granted, some of these things aren't going to be to the average American's taste, but I'm sure an izakaya could thrive in the area near the two big Japanese supermarkets here.
Anyway, we hung out at the izakaya, eating, drinking, talking, and laughing. (I never knew that shiso shochu would be so tasty! I hope I can find that here...) We sat and talked and ate for hours. It's great to have friends, no matter where you are in the world, that you can just talk to and be yourself with, and I am fortunate to count Piano Teacher among that group of friends.
The next day, I went over to Piano Teacher's house and enjoyed some of Mrs. Piano Teacher's homemade o-tsukemono (Japanese pickles). She makes some of the most wonderful pickles I have ever had. Her umeboshi (pickled plums) are to die for, and her rakkyo (pickled garlic) is excellent. The Japanese have a saying about rakkyo equivalent to our "apple a day keeps the doctor away"--except you're supposed to eat 3 cloves of rakkyo. (There's also a saying about 'sake is the medicine that cures 100 ailments' ...real naturopaths, huh?) Mrs Piano Teacher puts up an amazing quantity of rakkyo--something on the order of 10kg--but she gives a lot to her friends, since she is renowned for her tasty pickles. I also had an amazing experience. I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but I learned that Mr. Piano Teacher is a master of teate, which is what we know here as Reiki. I mentioned that I was having a problem with my shoulders. He held his hands near my head and shoulders, and I felt them become warm. It was an interesting sensation, and definitely pleasant. I don't know what happened, but everything felt better. I just felt a lot more genki all over. This is something I need to look into further. I can't explain it, but it was certainly an eye-opening experience. ("Genki" is one of those indefinable qualities--sort of happy/healthy/feeling good all over. "Genki" is to Japanese what "gemuetlichkeit" is to German: you might not be able to adequately define it, but you certainly know it when you experience it. Even though you say 'genki' all the time, I don't think you feel genki as much as you say it. I don't think it's humanly possible anyway...)
...to be continued
One of the most interesting places I have been in Japan, although not on this trip, is an architectural theme park (for lack of a better term) called Meijimura ("Meiji Village"). Meijimura features many buildings that were built during the Meiji Restoration (1867-1912), when the shogunate was overturned and the Emperor restored to the throne. At that time, the capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, and political power was given to a small group of noblemen and ex-samurai. Rapid social and political change ensued. The architecture also reflected the Western influence, with many Western-style buildings being built during this period. Many of these buildings were torn down and replaced over the years, and fortunately, some have been preserved at Meijimura. Among the buildings (or parts of buildings) you can see include the lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel, which has an interesting, almost-Mexican feel about it, quite unlike Japan! Anyway, Meijimura is very near Piano Teacher's hometown. I highly recommend a visit if you are in Nagoya, Osaka, or Kyoto and have an interest in architecture or history; it is not too far for a day trip, especially if you have a JR Pass.
This year, I used the very handy (and highly recommended) Hyperdia website to look up train schedules. Last time I went to visit Piano Teacher, I got an itinerary with five transfers from the now-closed Kyoto TIC (fortunately replaced by the Kyoto prefectural TIC) and ended up accidentally taking an express train to Nagoya. (Having lost my cellphone last time, it was a bit of a pinch...NTT no longer seems to maintain many of the card phones since much of the populace use keitai, and most of the card phones I tried refused to accept my phone card.)
You can access Hyperdia through the Japan National Tourist Organization website at http://www.jnto.go.jp. Hyperdia literally means "online train schedule"--"dia" is a borrowed word ("gairaigo"). I'm not sure what language it came from originally. It's one of those katakana words that every student of Japanese suffers through. Well, "dia" is less awful than some of the katakana words that Japanese has borrowed and mangled. If you have suffered through some of the Japanese transliterations perpetrated by the authors of the textbook Genki I, you'll know what I mean. I read a story in the Japan Times last year about a survey of the most often used "gairaigo", most of which had to do with politics and business, and many of which are incomprehensible by the average Japanese person. Reading that article made me feel better about my lack of understanding...
Anyway, my trip this year was uneventful, and I ended up at the proper station without any unplanned sidetrips. Piano Teacher met me at the station. It's a small station, served by a "wanman" train. (OK, that's a katakana word too, but it makes sense--the train is driven by one man, who also collects the fares. This line is not a main line, so there are no ticket agents at the stations.) We then went to her home and visited with her parents. Mr. Piano Teacher speaks a little English, and Mrs. Piano Teacher speaks none at all, so we all merrily chatted away in Japanese. They were having some remodeling work done, converting from propane to electric, so I stayed at a nearby hotel. We walked over, I with my wheelie, and Piano Teacher with her bicycle, as we were going to spend the evening at the local izakaya. Japanese DUI laws are extremely harsh...
After checking in and figuring out the "eiakon" (air conditioner) remote, we were off to the izakaya
There are many Japanese where I live, in a large metropolitan area, and I just can't understand why there are no izakaya. An izakaya is a bar, but with way better food. Not your greasy nachos/potato skins/pizza/burgers, but delicious things, like all kinds of yakitori, and odd things, like yamakake (indescribably weird, but delicious...but you have to like the neba neba quality of natto, and disregard what it looks like) and potarika (bite-size squid... I have no idea how they were prepared, but they were tasty). Granted, some of these things aren't going to be to the average American's taste, but I'm sure an izakaya could thrive in the area near the two big Japanese supermarkets here.
Anyway, we hung out at the izakaya, eating, drinking, talking, and laughing. (I never knew that shiso shochu would be so tasty! I hope I can find that here...) We sat and talked and ate for hours. It's great to have friends, no matter where you are in the world, that you can just talk to and be yourself with, and I am fortunate to count Piano Teacher among that group of friends.
The next day, I went over to Piano Teacher's house and enjoyed some of Mrs. Piano Teacher's homemade o-tsukemono (Japanese pickles). She makes some of the most wonderful pickles I have ever had. Her umeboshi (pickled plums) are to die for, and her rakkyo (pickled garlic) is excellent. The Japanese have a saying about rakkyo equivalent to our "apple a day keeps the doctor away"--except you're supposed to eat 3 cloves of rakkyo. (There's also a saying about 'sake is the medicine that cures 100 ailments' ...real naturopaths, huh?) Mrs Piano Teacher puts up an amazing quantity of rakkyo--something on the order of 10kg--but she gives a lot to her friends, since she is renowned for her tasty pickles. I also had an amazing experience. I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but I learned that Mr. Piano Teacher is a master of teate, which is what we know here as Reiki. I mentioned that I was having a problem with my shoulders. He held his hands near my head and shoulders, and I felt them become warm. It was an interesting sensation, and definitely pleasant. I don't know what happened, but everything felt better. I just felt a lot more genki all over. This is something I need to look into further. I can't explain it, but it was certainly an eye-opening experience. ("Genki" is one of those indefinable qualities--sort of happy/healthy/feeling good all over. "Genki" is to Japanese what "gemuetlichkeit" is to German: you might not be able to adequately define it, but you certainly know it when you experience it. Even though you say 'genki' all the time, I don't think you feel genki as much as you say it. I don't think it's humanly possible anyway...)
...to be continued