Winter Vacation: Tola Takes The Plunge.
[KYOTO]
This winter my good friend Tola came to Japan to visit me. Our time was thus divided: first week in Kudamatsu, second week visiting my relatives across Japan (West to East). We had many laughs and good times despite the fact that, as Tola quickly found out, you never feel more foreign than when you come to Japan.
Never mind the language barrier, which is probably the biggest impediment to comfortable interaction in Japan; the other major culture shocker is the fact that Japan is inhabited by mostly Japanese people. Tola, being black, stuck out like a ... well, a black person in Japan. If she thought she was a visible minority in Canada.... This meant being stared at alllll the time. Also, it meant people got really nervous when she went asked for help, directions, etc because the stress of communicating with a stranger in a foreign language is quite powerful for most Japanese people. Then again, we met people like the lady who approached Tola in Hiroshima and asked her, in English, where she was from, what she was doing in Japan, and if her hair was real.
We shall now view the pictures I took during our two weeks. Not much to see (for me) in the first week so most of the pictures will be of the second week: Kyoto --> Yamanashi--> Yokohama --> Tokyo.
Tola, in what she claims is "housewear". "I would never wear that in public!". You are now, sucka!
KYOTO.
My great uncle and aunt Takeshi and Kaoru Kagawa (Takeshi is my grandma's younger brother and they look exactly the same) who were our guides in Kyoto. I hadn't seen these people in 15 or 16 years(!) but when they met us at the hotel, they were so friendly and welcoming it was like seeing old friends again. They were super-generous; they paid for our taxi rides, our meals, our admission to the temples....Tola and I tried to pay for dinner (which was had at "Sara", by far the nicest buffets I had ever eaten at.. actually, one of the best restaurants period.) but my aunt nearly got mad at me for even attempting such treachery (My uncle, hilariously, said, "Let him pay for it!").
Kinkakuji. The famous golden shrine. I could tell it was famous because approximately a million other tourists were there that day.
A temple in the Kinkakuji grounds... note the meticulously raked gravel.
Tola buying an English fortune.
Extremely well-dressed Mother and Daughter making their petition to the gods. In Japan, if you see a woman wearing fur, or carrying a Gucci handbag, you don't have to wonder if it's real. It probably is.
Kiyomizudera temple. An amazing feat of architecture. The drop is 13 meters from the stage to the ground. The temple stage (main floor) is supported on the hillside by these massive cedar columns. Apparently, daring young men back in the day would play a traditional Japanese version of hackey-sack while balanced on the wooden railing!! If you missed, either you or your ball would have a nice 13 meter drop to look forward to.
Spring water from the mountains at Kiyomizudera Temple. You drink blessed water if you want to ace your exams.
Kyoto in the evening as seen from Kiyomizudera temple.
Our odaiko (lit. "big drum") waits to be loaded after an outdoor performance in Hiroshima.
Ko-chan, 3 years. She is the youngest drummer, the third daughter of Saori, who is the kick-assest drummer in our group. The three girls (aged 7, 5, 3 years) took my cell and took pictures of each other on the bus-ride back from the Hiroshima gig. Check out the crazy au-naturel hair below. I don't understand how it did that.
An aikido meet.
