Voyage Junkie

On our last full day in Nagano, we went to the city's local treasure, the Zenkou-ji.  It's a fantastically old temple, originally built sometime in the 7th century.  The temple still functions as a pilgrimage destination for devout followers.  I liked the dark base of the buildings paired with the glimmering gold touches, seen in the picture of the main shrine building to the left. The temple complex was small, but filled to the brim with buildings, gardens, statues, gods and goddesses, relics, etc.  There was a particularly lovely stone lantern garden, that is noted by temple connoisseurs.  Inside the temple was a very old wooden healer statue that everyone rubbed for health, which Matt (as the son of a doctor) found ironic.  We didn't touch him. Here's a few beautiful examples of the many architectural details on the main temple.  To the left is an incredibly fat fu -dog, or temple guardian.  To the right is the view across the front of t...

The next day (12/27) we traveled to a little mountain town and trekked into a part of an extended valley named Jigokudani Koen , or Hell's Valley Park, named for its resplendent hot springs that boil away even in frigid temperatures.  It was gorgeous, although we did get a lot of snow dumped on our heads along the way. We went to this snowy, steamy place with one objective: seeing Japanese Macaques, or Snow Monkeys.  These monkeys live in the mountains and come down to bathe in the hot springs almost every day.  In the winter they are very fluffy in their heavy coats.  There were monkeys of all ages jostling each other for space in the springs and the food the park workers put out at noon. Here are a few of the best pictures of the monkeys in the springs.  You can see all the little family groups among the larger group.  These monkeys are all part of one pack.  There are about 200 of them at present.  There's always an alpha ...

On December 26th, in a flurry of snow, we boarded a train for Nagano Prefecture.  What can we say?  We were hit by longing for mountains - real mountains - and couldn't resist.  On a whim, we found lodging in Nagano City for a few nights, bought waterproof boots, and embarked on the nori-hodai  trip. It was actually much snowier in Gifu and Nagoya than it was in the mountains of Nagano prefecture.  This was welcome news, because if it had been very snowy we might have had to cancel our trip.  The lightly frosted mountains were lovely, rising into clouds of fog that obscured their true heights. One of my students, upon finding out I love visiting the castles, told me that I absolutely had to visit Matsumoto Castle.  The city of Matsumoto is on the way to Nagano city, so we made visiting it our first day's itinerary.  The city itself is clean, bright, and prosperous, with many interesting museums we intend to visit in the near future.  It...

The ladies' side of the table.... On Christmas Eve, we went to a holiday party with my dance teacher's family.  It was Yuko and Mr. Shinoda, Shio and her husband Atsushi, and  Atsushi's parents.  We ate at an Okinawan restaurant, and the Shinodas drank, and drank, and drank.  It was a wonderfully fun time, and left Matt and me with the impression that we'd been adopted by this Japanese family.  At one point, I referred to Yuko sensei as my "Japanese mother" and Shio as my "Japanese sister," which they loved.  Mr. Shinoda kept trying to convince Matt and me that he could marry us in Japan, and that I should wear a shiromuku  (a white wedding kimono ) and wataboshi  (a Japanese bridal hood ). The men, making faces. The Shinodas, and Atsushi's father, kept downing beers all night.  Sometime last year Matt and I taught Shio the term "under the table," and she brought it out multiple times during the evening to give her parents a h...

We went to a holiday party at Ai sensei's house yesterday.  You'll remember Ai from other posts, most notably ones having to do with festivals, as we tend to go with her to local festivals.  After last year's lantern festival, her family invited us over for dinner.  Apparently they've wanted to have us back since then, and we finally were all free at the same time (more than a year later).  Ai had recently bought a new puppy, named Marron (French for "chestnut," which the Japanese use interchangeably with their native word kuri ), and she was an adorable bundle of energy!  It was fun to play with her all night. Here's two teachers at my school: Morozumi sensei and Ai sensei.  They started dating sometime before I arrived at Nagamori, I don't exactly know when, and they've decided to get married in 2012.  This was the first time he met her parents, so he was incredibly nervous all night.  She assured him, as they drove us home later that nig...

My best Vanna White. In November I went to Club ID in Nagoya with a great group of gals.  The boys who get left behind may be wondering what goes on during so-called "girls' nights."  Well, we get all dressed up to go dance together, and we get hit on by pervy guys who don't have girlfriends because they're awful people.  That part is pretty well-known.  What makes this night special is all the Japanese touches we enjoyed throughout the evening.  Beware!  What follows is not for the faint of heart. Club ID is pretty large.  It had at least 4 upper floors and 1 or 2 basement levels.  Nicely, they provided lockers for our things, which was great since we'd all worn heavy coats and scarves to the club.  Each level of ID is differently decorated, and the poor bartenders are made to dress up in all manner of costumes.  Case in point: somehow Ronald McDonald and Marilyn-Monroe-done-Andy-Warhol-style go together?  Other levels includ...

A wonderful new crepe restaurant at JR Gifu Station (I say new, as if it hasn't been open since September) serves rice flour crepes!  There's a wide selection of sweet crepes and a small selection of savory crepes, plus a number of seasonal crepes to choose from.  I've been wanting to take a picture and blog about this awesome place since I first tried it!  On our most recent visit, I couldn't resist one of the current seasonal crepes, the ベリーとベリー, or berry and berry.  It was fresh strawberries and blueberries layered with a hint of vanilla custard, topped with more berries and a sprig of mint.  Since my family's most enduring Christmas tradition (involving food, anyway) is blueberry pancakes, served before presents on Christmas morning, this crepe really got me into the Christmas spirit.  And it's so pretty!

To use a grammatical structure I must teach in English class: this is a hat given to me by a crazy teacher.  Check the accessories, i.e. the bright gold feather necklace and the earrings.  Oh Japan.