Even more snow!

I just arrived from a trip to Nikko Xmas party and Yokohama. Don't have time to prepare a complete post now. More things for my backlog. I hope I'll comment these two soon. Besides, New Year in Japan is the most important holiday here. Almost everything closes during the last days of the year and the first days of the new year. Including things like supermarkets and some touristic places. That means I'll...

1- not be able to post for a while. By "almost everything", the lab where I use the computer is included.

2- have to buy some (food) stock in order not to starve.

Meanwhile, just to keep the blog rolling, another snow pic.

That was the heaviest I've seen in Himeji so far (it snowed heavier in Nikko, but I can't even compare...). Some centimeters of snow in the floor, morning classes cancelled because of it (buses stopped for some time in the morning, trains also)... But it was nice to see "real" snow scenary.

Comments:

• I tried to use the time I got from the cancelled class to do laundry. But the water was frozen, so it was impossible to use the laundry machine...

• After staying for long outside, when you go indoors, it seems like you got out of somewhere with heavy illumination, although it was cloudy outside. Guess that it's the excess of white in the landscape...

• It's funny to use umbrellas with snow. And it's hard to hold the umbrella, the camera and take pictures.

• Cars with chains on their tires are noisy, but without it bad things may happen. The next day the snow wasn't completely melted and one car almost slipped from a ramp at the university parking lot.

• I can't believe that some people were by bikes in that weather...

• I should not wear my Havaianas when it's snowing... ^^;

• For my friend who recommended me to hit a snowman with both feet at the same time (flying double kick!), I didn't do that this time, but I did that in Nikko. It's funny, especially when you fall, but terribly cold after you do it...

• And for those asking for a snowman...

Memories - 大阪 (Osaka)

One memory calls another... or that's what it seems. Since I mentioned that in my post about Shoshazan, I'll write about the "trip" to Osaka (May 3rd, 2005).

Osaka isn't exactly far enough to call it a trip. Almost one hour by shinkaisoku train. Even so, that was my first time out of Himeji. That was during the Golden Week, when Jon, Silvia and I decided to go to Osaka and visit some places. Since Jon had been here for some time, he guided our way through the stations we didn't have problems about riding the wrong train or anything. Yep. My first time in a Japanese big city.

So, the places we decided to visit were:

• Umeda Sky Building: A skyscraper with an observatory on its top. The "Floating Garden Observatory" (didn't see any garden up there though... but the view to one down below was nice). Nice panoramic view of the city (at least the north part of it), with rivers and bridges at one side and the city at the other.

"The Umeda Sky Building is a spectacular high rise building in the Kita district of Osaka, near Osaka and Umeda Stations. It is also known as the "New Umeda City".

The 173 meter tall building consists of two main towers which are connected with each other by the "Floating Garden Observatory" on the 39th floor. The observatory offers a great view of the city for a 700 yen admission fee.

The Takimi-koji restaurant mall, a replica of a Japanese street of the early Showa Period, can be found on the first basement floor. Offices occupy most of the building's other floors. "

• Osaka-jo: The area around the castle was crowded. There was an event (probably because of the Golden Week) there. So, we didn't enter the castle (well... it's said that Himeji Castle is the most beautiful in Japan anyway, and I've been in Himeji-jo already... uh... another Memories...). One interesting thing was some kind of quiz. During the quiz, some people were wearing samurai costumes and some had my family crest on it... After searching a little, I found the possible reason...

"Construction on Osaka Castle (Osakajo) started in 1583 on the former site of the Ishiyama Honganji Temple, which had been destroyed by Oda Nobunaga thirteen years earlier. Toyotomi Hideyoshi intended the castle to become the center of a new, unified Japan under Toyotomi rule.

However, a few years after Hideyoshi's death in 1615, Tokugawa troops attacked and destroyed the castle and terminated the Toyotomi lineage. Osaka Castle was rebuilt by Tokugawa Hidetada in the 1620s, but its main castle tower was struck by lightening in 1665 and burnt down.

It was not until 1931 that the present ferro-concrete reconstruction of the castle was built. Major repair works gave the castle new glamor in 1997.

Inside the castle is a museum that documents Toyotomi Hideyoshi's life and the history of the castle. "

We still went to the Panasonic Square (which is near Osaka-jo), where some interesting products can be seen, and strolled around the city. Doing that we mismanaged our time and Jon lost his last bus... That's where the post about Shoshazan starts...

Online habits

Since I'm quoting Claus again, I think I should mention one of his posts. It's about differences between Brazilian and Japanese online habits, especially about anonymity.

That's something very interesting and I'd noticed some parts of it, but never really thought about posting about.

For those who want to check it out, follow this link.

工大祭 - Koudaisai

Trying to reduce the backlog, this post will be about the Koudaisai, the University of Hyogo (Himeji campi) Culture Festival (November 19th to 22nd, 2005).

To define a "culture festival", I'll borrow something that Claus wrote in his blog (it's been a while... ^^;): "The culture festivals, for those who don’t know it, are events where the universities many "student clubs" gather to present their activities to the community. Many clubs just set up some kind of shop, while others prepare some kind of performance".

So, many shops, usually selling food (Those familiar with the Londrina Matsuri can make a good image in your heads), some stages and events. Most clubs had some kind of shop, and also had something to show. Some clubs that I didn't even know that existed, like the Tea Ceremony Club, the Astronomy club, the Robot club and the Photo club had impressive things...

The thing that drew my attention was the number of people with some kind of (strange) costume. Guess they took the slogan "everyday is carnival" too seriously... XD Most were freshmen, and the costume was really to draw attention to invite people to their clubs' shop. But... hum... ah... Ok. See for yourselves.

Some performances, including BMX and those of the martial arts clubs (most of my pics are from the Aikido club performance. They performed some enbu. This post tells a little about it, but is almost like kata) and one that looked like... hum... what I could call it... "Cheering club"!? I dunno... Especially because it's done in Japanese style, which is different from the American definition of cheer... although there were girls dressed as cheerleadres...

Games, like a softball tourneament; different events like mochitsuki; and shows. In this latter, there were a show on Sunday of... I think the name is ガガガSP. It's a band that I believe it's kind of popular here...

As some might have noticed in the album, I tried to help the aikido club in their shop, selling taiyaki. Tried because there wasn't much I could do, but anyway...

To close the event, a bingo game (I guess Japanese like it... The other university party - Technofesta - that I went before this blog also had a bingo game in the end...) and some fireworks. Not impressive after those I've seen in Nara, but we can't compare the events, right? And they were good enough.

And after that, a ending party with the aikido club in a yakiniku restaurant. Yakiniku means roasted meat, and that makes me think of barbecue... But that's not like that... and it's expensive. It's good, no mistake, but it makes me miss a good steak... Guess I should show them the Brazilian restaurant in Kobe... Anyway, that was fun!

And these festivals are a nice chance to see your classmates in a different way... out of classes. I met many people during this festival... teachers, exchange students, classmates, colleagues, friends... That's the fun of it, I think.

Memories - 書写山 (Shoshazan)

Since I mentioned the Shoshazan some posts before, I decided to open a new series, covering interesting things that happened before I started this blog (just what I needed with my current backlog... Oh, well...). So, I'll write about them as they are mentioned in other posts.

Shoshazan is a mountain near my campus and my home in Japan. I went to that next door place on May 4th, 2005.

"Shoshazan Engyouji, once one of the three training centers of the Tendai sect, is nestled in a peaceful mountain and has many important buildings and statues. Founded in A.D. 966 by Shoku, a holy Buddhist priest, the temple is noted as a pilgrimage site. Visitors can see the Manided, the main building halfway up the mountain; the Daikodo, the great audithorium; the forty meters long Jikido, both a priests training center and a boarding house; and the Kanzaido, sopported by four statues made by Hidari Jingoro, a famous sculptor. Another must is the grave of Mikinosuke, an adopted son of Musashi Miyamoto."

This was during the Golden Week. Some kind of almost consecutive holidays when many Japanese travel around (and abroad). I had gone to Osaka with Jon and Silvia the day before (hum... another Memories post...) and we stayed longer than we should, so that Jon lost his last bus. In that case, we decided that he'd stay in my place and we'd go see the Shoshazan the next day.

Surely a classic temple place... Solemn, peaceful (when there're not dozens of people around)... Really a good place to film scenes with a classic Japanese atmosphere (I mentioned this before, but in any case, it was used as stage for some scenes of "The Last Samurai").

And that time we used the ropeway to go up and down... Expensive, but I guess it's better than climbing when the weather is hot.

More snow

Well... now I got a picture. The weekend was colder than previously, and seems that it was a sign. When I open the door out of my room on that Sunday morning, what did I see?

(That IS the view when I open the door out of my room...)

ブラジル知っていますか？

Besides the always present backlog, the tests (it's midterm exams time now) and Japanese study (thing that I've been neglecting for longer than I should...), last week I was busy with something else: preparing a presentation about Brazil.

We were asked to do it by a person of the International Communications Center in Himeji (ok... sounds too important... a lady who works at the Egret building ^^;) because of the NHK drama "Haru to Natsu" （春と夏） that was broadcasted some months ago and had the Japanese emigration to Brazil as background. I think I mentioned that drama in this blog already...

Anyway, so we were supposed to talk about the emigration (immigration from Brazil's point of view) and add some stories from our families if possible, since we're Japanese descents (nikkeis). The funny part was finding out how much I didn't know about it. Even about my family's story... Nothing that some e-mails asking for information and some books and Internet ressearch couldn't solve.

The second problem: putting the data together and building a presentation... in Japanese. I must admit that it's not the impossible thing that once was, but it took much more time than I thought it'd take. And even more to correct it (special thanks to my Japanese teacher).

The third and the reason why this week was a total chaos was something that I thouhgt I'd got rid of years ago: leaving things to be done later... That's a dangerous habit I noticed that had returned in Japan. I must eliminate it ASAP!

Laziness apart, we manage to finish the thing in time. On the presentation day, I still hadn't everything as I'd like to. Most things about my family were still in the "draft" phase and somethings would have to be said by heart. Even so, things went smoother than I thought.

One thing I don't like much is preparing a presentation without knowing the kind of people you'll talk to. So I just tried something formal... And fortunately this is Kansai, so I could relax a little in the moment of truth.

About the people there. More than I had expected (considering that I couldn't invite anyone. The Japanese friends that I'd really like to invite had club activities/part time job/were unavailable at the time by other reasons. Mostly people from the International Center and people who study Portuguese/have been in Brazil (one man had a good Portuguese... I dare say it was better than my Japanese). One person was one of my igo teachers. I should say that they were very considerate with us and our broken Japanese.

So it started with the International Center person making a brief presentation about Brazil, followed by Silvia's explanation about our hometown (don't ask me...), some of our families' stories and I talking about the emigration. After that, a break to eat some "pao de queijo" (the Egret person found a book in Japanese teaching how to make it...) and some kind of game where we try to teach some Portuguese words... We spoke the words associating them with it's Japanese meaning which were written around a poster with a Christmas tree printed (don't ask me...)

As I said before, I think they were considerate enough, so everything ended well. And that event was quite useful for me to notice how my Japanese has improved. Before coming to Japan, I wouldn't even think about doing a presentation in Japanese. Now, although I still nedd lots of time and someone to correct things, I know it's possible. And I was even relatively successfull in saying some family stories from short memos... in Portuguese. Besides, that theme isn't a simple thing to talk about in English or even Portuguese either...

Snow!!!

Another silly and quick post. Today I was in my lab preparing my presentation about Japanese immigration to Brazil (it's this Saturday, and I'm way behind schedule) when I recieved a C-mail from Silvia in my mobile phone. (C-mail is a feature of au mobiles. Short messages mailed by entering the other person's phone number, unlike e-mails. They are charged as calls as far as I know.)

"Ta nevando!" ("It's snowing!")

I went out and see that it really was... just a little and only small flakes. To the point that the picture I took is no good at all to show snow. But even so, that's the first time I remember seeing snow in my life, so I thought it was worth an entry.

Perhaps I may be sick of it before going back, since it's not even winter... And just today that I didn't bring my "best-for cold-weather" clothing. Think I should go back home early...

And the sun is out again. Guess the snow won't last long today. Worth the wiew for the first time, though. Flakes falling from the sky... Reminds me of sakura in spring a little...

Baka gaijin

Some people seem interested about it, so I'll write about some funny situations. Most of them happened during the first months in Japan.

• My worries when arriving at Itami airport where I was supposed to look for someone knowing only the name. (Actually that person found me first... I wonder why... hehe)

• My face when I first entered my room (or should I say "cube"?). It's smaller than my bedroom in Brazil. Plus the fact that was my first time living alone and I imagine that I made a funny expression. At least the reactions I noticed from Silvia and the coordinator for international students (who were with me at the time) make me think so.

• Feeling like an illetarate for being unable to read things properly (that even now. It's way better than in the beginning, but there're still lots of things I can't read or I just guess).

• My first time buying things for home at a supermarket.

• Being unable to find the way back home from Silvia's house to mine. It's less than 10 minutes walking far, but it's hard to find your way in streets here. And that happened at night... I couldn't find the right road to turn.

• Not being able to find out the correct bus fare. It changes depending on where one gets on and where one gets off.

• Entering the wrong bus, noticing the mistake and riding another wrong one. This time one that loops and returns (only one terminal). I wonder what the driver thought when he noticed that one passenger haven't got off when the bus started to go back...

• Taking almost a week to learn how to use the washing machine with everything written in Japanese. Solution? Throw the clothes in and press the start button. XD

• Having to use for the first time a "traditional Japanese style" toilet (where one have to crouch in order to... hum "do what nature demamds you to").

• The first Engineering class in Japanese (Electronic Circuits using a Japanese textbook). Guess my first thought was "what I'm doing here?" and "this gives a new meaning to the traditional students' complaint of not understanding the teacher..."

• Surprised with Japanese women wearing miniskirts even though it was cold.

• Feeling like in some kind of anime when seeing students wearing sailor uniforms.

• Discovering that almost all exchange students that arrived in April or May have the same mobile phone model and color. That's because au company offers student discount, only one 0 yen model have option for menus in English and that model is available in black, lemon green or pink colors...

• Looking at the menu in some restaurants without knowing what to order for not understanding descriptions and dish names (for the last one, the solution is pointing).

• Mistaking wasabi (or some other spicy thing) as noodles and eating a mouthful at once.

I'm sure there's more... I'll continue this series as I remember more situations.

紅葉 - Autumn colours

I might have said, or you might know, that seasons are well defined in Japan. The main feature in autumn/fall is watching the autumn colours that change the landscape with beautiful colors.

So, in order to see that, I went to two places. Arashiyama in Kyoto (November 19th, 2005) and Shoshazan in Himeji (November 20th, 2005).

The trip to Arashiyama started unusually. Friday after my classes I recieved a mail from Jon inviting me to spend a night in Yamasaki (the city where he lives... I've been there once before... Way before I started this blog) and go by bus to Kyoto from there.

Ok, some fun before the trip. So off I went. A sushi restaurant and a Constantine later we were on our way the next day. Of course something must go wrong and we couldn't make reservations for the bus we wanted to, so we went to Osaka and from there to Kyoto by train. No sweat. But a little more expensive...

In Kyoto we met Silvia, Tatiana (a Brazilian exchange student who lives in Kyoto), Arten (Russian exchange student and Tatiana's boyfriend) and Micha (Russian exchange student and Arten's friend). (Just a note: we've scheduled this meeting the day before.) Following Silvia's hunch (actually she saw it on TV the day before) we went to Arashiyama, which is said to be a good place to see autumn colours in Kyoto.

And that was a beautiful place! I'll let the pictures talk for themselves, but it was sure worth the trip. And, as any seasonal event in Japan, that place was crowded. At least it wasn't impossible to walk like the Kenka Matsuri.

Also, since we were there, Arten had the idea to spend some time in some boats available for rent. So, we spent one hour laughing at our (bad) hability with oars (actually Jon got it quick and the Russians too... and I didn't try), trying to dodge other boats and other funny things... Including Arten and Tatiana leaving Micha on a rock in the middle of the lake for a while. I wonder what people passing by thought about the scene... XD

Another (for me) dinner at a sushi restaurant later, the group was dismissed. And back to Himeji.

The following day we (Silvia and me) decided to check the momiji festival at Shoshazan out. Again, I've been to Shoshazan once, before starting the blog. If I have time (hum...) I may write about things that happened before starting the blog. But for now I already have enough to do with my current backlog. It's a touristic place in Himeji, although way less famous than the castle, that was used as stage for some scenes of "The Last Samurai".

Back to the subject, "festival" maybe isn't exactly the word. They open some areas that aren't usually open, and people can enjoy the place. Ok, not exactly this, but as I was only walking and taking pictures, I couldn't realize the objective of the "festival" other than appreciate autumn colours...

Again, beautiful, breathtaking places. And it was so different from when we went there for the last time... The landscape in Japan really changes with the seasons. (I was there for the first time during spring... although way after the cherry blossoms.)

Ah, and this time, in order to save money we decided to climb instead of using the ropeway. Thankfully the weather was cool.

Check the albums if you have time. The photographers aren't so good, but the scenery surely is.

A death and a warning

This is SURELY a bad day. The first thing that I read today ruined it...

After waking up, I noticed that I got (cell phone) mail. This early in the morning, it'd be usually from my family.

It wasn't.

It was from a guy from the English club (ESS... ow man... what a way to introduce them in the blog... No, I'll make this in another opportunity) saying that a member died on Nov 30th in a car accident...

Oh... S***!!!

Guess I still haven't realized the loss... She was surely one of the best members in the club. Not by her English level, but because of her interest in learning. Also, in one of the few conversations we had, I found out that she had a reason to choose the major she choose, to study English and other things... A dream. A big one that I wondered if would resist the pressures from society (especially the "after-marriage" pressure on women in Japan...), but I was looking forward to her realizing it. The first time we met, I thought she was almost the perfect stereotype of Japanese women: Kawaii (cute) and cheerful, but a little dependent and naive. Time proved that I was wrong about the bad characteristics. She surely has guts and works hard for what she wants... Really. To the point I respect her. A lot.

Writing style might be a little different. The fact and the music I'm listening make that. "Aeris's Theme" from FFVII Soundtrack. Can't think about a music I know that is more appropriate...

Ok, nonsense to write in the blog about it. Too sentimental for me and, besides, not proper. The "knowledge" topic of today is the cause of death.

Car accident.

She didn't have a car. I guess that she collided with one when cycling from, or to, the university. That's a thing that doesn't happen so often as it could, but more often than it should. Some streets here are damn small, or have bad sinalization and/or visibility. The picture below is from my neighbourhood and might give you an idea.

So, imagine this place with cars, pedestrians and people riding bikes... Note there're NO sidewalks! Dangerous to the very soul, isn't it? And it's also hard to notice when there's a car coming from a crossing, unless there's some kind of traffic light, which not always happen. At night? Even worse. And I go through places like that almost everyday.

Thinking about it, I had my close calls too. Especially in crossings you don't see until you're too close. The closest one happened when I was cycling to my Japanese class downtown (I live 6km far from it), a car was leaving a parking lot... and because of a building we couldn't see each other until our vehicles got almost a meter from each other. I managed to detour and only my bike hit the floor in the process, but I've heard worse stories that make me think I'm fortunate...

So, a warning for me (and for people who use bikes in Japan, if interested). Be more careful from now on when cycling here... Really. Got a message in the worst way about what might happen...

Yeah... pretty bad. But guess that, as this site mentions, I should change the background music to "Highwind" (FFVII Soundtrack). Quote below.

"I asked some Japanese friends about this later, and they said it was just the Japanese way of dealing with death. Life goes on. The victim wouldn't have wanted them to be sad all day over his death. They find comfort in returning to their everyday lives. It doesn't mean that the boy is forgotten, far from it. It's more like, a respect of the life he lead, by continuing to lead it. Do the Japanese have a better handle on death than we do? Much like many other aspects of this country, it was something I had a hard time understanding...but this time I got the feeling I didn't really need to understand it.

When I think back to that day, I remember the boy who could only stare off into space, and the girl who couldn't even pick herself up off the floor. But then I also remember them smiling and happy, laughing with friends, playing games and having fun. I like the latter memory much better. And I think that's what "Student A" would have wanted too. "

And hope she has a good journey... wherever it is. Hope it's to your beloved stars...

---------

Added on December 3rd:

I wanted to write some kind of small homage... Some sentences that most people might have heard, but I wanted to write it in Japanese (because the person is Japanese) and couldn't put myself into translating it into it, even though the main message isn't something hard to translate. I accidentally found a quote with the same meaning, so there is it.

｢誰かがその人のことをおぼえているかぎり、その人に本当の意味での死は訪れないんだ。だから、私は死なない。あなたたちがいる限り私は生き続ける。」
- ロゼット＝クリストファ　（クロノクルセイド）