Okinawa and back to Bmore

I've been back in Baltimore for two weeks now, but I figured I'd conclude this Japan trip blog.

I was able to fly out to Okinawa the day after the typhoon hit. Although my time in Okinawa was short (2.5 days), it was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. I met many family members for the first time and learned a lot about my family history and the history of the Ryukyu Islands. I was surprised to find out that Gibo has only been our family name for the past 150 years. It was originally Ibaru (which is the name engraved on the family tomb in Okinawa), but the name Gibo was later assigned to the family by the Japanese government.


In addition to the family and historical aspect of the trip, I also got a taste of the amazingly beautiful beaches Okinawa has to offer!


I was supposed to fly back to the States on September 4, but due to some misunderstandings and bad luck, I ended up missing my flight. So I spent the next 24 hours in the airport (my first time spending the night in an airport!) and flew back the next day. It was an amazing summer and I would love to have another opportunity to go back to Japan, but for now, it's good to be home :)

Typhoon...

I was supposed to fly to Okinawa today...but all flights were canceled due to a typhoon...
So I spent most of the day in the airport and my hostel. I've stayed in the same ninja hostel three different times now, and I think I've tried out all of the different types of rooms that they have. I did pass this awesome sign though.

Kanazawa, Echigo-Tsumari, Kamakura

One day in Kanazawa. My favorite place was Ninja-dera, an old temple that was also used to protect the castle. The place has nothing to do with ninjas, but it has lots of trap doors, secret stairways, and hidden passageways. In those days, buildings were not supposed to exceed 3 stories - so on the outside, it looks like it has 3 floors when there's actually 7 layers inside. I also went to Kenrokuen Garden, one of the three famous gardens of Japan.
One day in the Echigo-Tsumari region. There was a festival there this month celebrating the countryside. One of the main attractions is the artwork that's displayed throughout the region.
At night, I went back to Tokyo and met up with one of my coworker's friends. She used to work at the ninja hostel that I'm staying at, so we also went out with some of the hostel staff.
One day in Kanazawa. I met up with my host family and we made quick stops at Hase-dera temple and the Daibutsu, since it was ridiculously hot. I love the two girls! The older daughter had just come back from a 5 day trip to Korea and she brought me back some seaweed :)

My new favorite place in Japan

Hopped on an early morning bus to Shirakawa-go. I went through two camera batteries taking pictures here – this place is absolutely gorgeous, and luckily not swamped with tourists. The town still has many traditional farmhouses (gassho zukuri), which people still live in and some of which you can visit. The gassho have incredible sloped, thatched roofs. It’s a huge communal effort to replace the roof, requiring 200-300 people to build a new roof in 2 days.
I visited three gassho zukuri – they’re gigantic 5-story buildings. Originally, 40-50 people would live in the farmhouse (family + workers), but now only a few people live in each gassho. The houses had a collection of old tools for harvesting crops and raising silkworms, in addition to ceremonial and household items. I also went to the Gassho Heritage Museum, which more really a large open space with farmhouses that have be relocated from surrounding areas.
I spent the night in the Koemon gassho zukuri. As usual, the dinner had tons of little dishes – local vegetables, Hida beef (what the region is famous for), and leaf tempura.

Takayama

I took an early train to Takayama, which went through beautiful countryside and mountainous landscapes. Takayama is a very old and small town that has many traditional buildings preserved. First I went to the Jinya mae morning market and got a discount on some mochi :) I enjoyed walking through the streets and exploring the various shops selling souvenirs and local crafts and food. There were many shops selling cool wood carvings and tons of sarubobo dolls.



I went to the Takayama City Memorial Hall, where they had a variety of local crafts on display – wood carvings, pottery, etc. I really liked Takayama Jinya, a government building used during the Edo period. It was a huge building with various artifacts and documents on display in the different rooms (kitchen, rice storage house, interrogation/torture chamber, etc.) I also visited the Kusakabe and Yoshijima heritage houses. These large houses were once owned by rich families involved in money lending. I love the kitchen area with the traditional fireplace.

I spent the night at the Zenkoji Temple Inn. I only saw one monk and they weren’t having any events going on while I was there. My “room” is pretty much just an area sectioned off with a screen, right next to the main altar. Right outside my room is a stairway leading down into complete darkness, called Kaidan Meguri (“Traversing the Path of Buddha”). You walk through a circular hallway, keeping one hand on the wall, until you reach an ancient lock – the “Key to Paradise” – while in complete darkness the entire time. I was alone, so it was actually kind of scary rather than enlightening.

Tokyo!

After my last day of work, I took the shinkansen up to Tokyo. I spent one night in a ninja-themed hostel in Asakusa. It was kind of like a capsule hotel, where my bed was completely enclosed in a box.

We had our farewell reception in Shinagawa, where I met up with all the other students in my program again. It was cool to hear about all of their experiences in Japan. We spent our last night together going to bars and singing karaoke, of course. At 4am, my friend and I had the brilliant idea of going to the Tsukiji Fish Market at 5am. So after less than 1 hour of sleep, we headed over there…to find out that it was CLOSED! We justified our early morning trip with some sashimi.

After saying bye to the rest of the folks in my program (and a nap), I headed off to explore Tokyo. In Shibuya, I did some shopping at 109 and went to a neko (cat) café. Pretty much, I could just pet a bunch of cats while I drank my mango yogurt drink. The room and the cats were both so cute! But my allergies started kicking in, so 30 minutes was enough :(

In Harajuku, I just walked around, snapping pictures of some of the crazy fashion.

At night, I boarded the train and was off to spend in the night in Nagoya.

Ja mata ATR...

I'm going to miss my labmates...


Just arrived in Tokyo tonight. I've been living in the middle of nowhere for the past couple months, I'm not used to seeing so many people!