Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year, everybody!
I got back from Osaka in one piece. And, wow, was that an amazing trip!
Osaka is a very unique and vibrant city, and it was wonderful to experience the Osaka spirit firsthand. And yay! Osaka accents! I LOVE Osaka accents--I think they're *hilarious*. It's no wonder that most Japanese comedians come from Osaka. Compared to most Japanese accents, the Osaka accent is very loud, colorful, and casual (and some would say 'annoying'). If you've never heard it, get Brett to give you an imitation. I want to learn how to speak with an Osaka accent!
The city of Osaka itself is also bright, colorful, and loud. The main streets are dazzlingly bright, and every flat surface is covered with neon lights. Restaurants have huge animatronic animals looming over the entrance to illustrate what kind of food they serve. Apparently that's one of the reasons people travel to Osaka: food. I have never eaten so well in my life! I had to try the local specialties (takoyaki (balls of dough with octopus inside), okonomiyaki (a sort of pancake, generally mixed with cabbage, soba noodles, wasabi, and some kind of meat in Osaka), okonomiyaki-flavored sembei (flat rice crackers)), and I also tried nabe (you sit at a table with a hotpot and cook up whatever vegetables, tofu, noodles, and meat you like), kitsune udon (udon soup with fried tofu cakes on top), and Japan's most famous ramen restaurant. Ramen in Japan is NOTHING like ramen back in the US. Of course, at the 100 yen store they have the usual packets of instant cardboard, but if you get ramen in a restaurant, you'll probably get a HUGE bowl of noddles with cabbage and green onion and strips of pork, sometimes with a softboiled egg or kimchi or shrimp. Beats American ramen hands-down.
Osaka is also a great city for shopping, and this was the best time to do it. Apparently New Year's is Japan's version of Black Friday: EVERYBODY goes shopping, and stuff is usually discounted 30-60% off. The streets were packed with people wherever we went. The temples were also crowded because a lot of people were doing their annual 'hatsumode'--visiting the temple on New Year's Day or soon after to pray for good luck.
Here's a little summary of what I did:
First, I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning (BOO!) and get down to Yokohama to catch the shinkansen. It was my first time on the shinkansen, and I was definitely impressed. That thing is FAST! And amazingly smooth. Why did I choose a shinkansen trip at 6 in the morning? Because we rode past Mt. Fuji right at dawn, and it looked AMAZING. I'd never seen Mt. Fuji before.
Once I got to Osaka, I left my bags at the hotel and wandered around the neighborhood for a few hours. There were a couple of temples near the hotel, but nothing really special. One had a lovely statue of an Edo-period husband and wife. There was also a park nearby where I sat and ate lunch.
Then I met my friend Kei at the hotel and we headed out to Osaka Castle, which looked lovely from the outside but was unfortunately closed. We snacked on Osakan takoyaki, and Kei explained to me in great detail exactly why Osakan cuisine is in every respect superior to Tokyo cuisine. Something about how the flavors were more subtle and the texture of the food is softer and chewier. I personally couldn't see much of a difference. :P For dinner we ate okonomiyaki, which I actually didn't like. I think the okonomiyaki I make at home is better. This one was absolutely drenched in okonomiyaki sauce and hot mustard, and for some reason they also put wasabi in it. But at least now I can say I have eaten Osakan okonomiyaki. Afterwards, Kei showed me around the streets of Osaka. Like I said, there were millions of people around, and the streets were full of neon and pop music and shouting and flashing lights. It was a bit overwhelming.
The next day we started at Namba Parks, which is just your average mall, except for the architecture. The building is terraced, and there's a lovely garden on the roofs that you can walk through. I made the mistake of letting Kei see the video game arcade, so he dragged me in and made me play racing and shooting games for a while.
After that, we rode around to different shrines and temples. First was Imamiya Ebisu Jinja Shrine, dedicated to the Shinto god of prosperity in trade and business. The entrance to the main shrine was covered by a giant red paper umbrella, presumably the stage for the New Year festivities. I hope my pictures of it turn out well, because it was gorgeous.
Next was the Abe no Seimei Jinja Shrine, devoted to Abe no Seimei, the most famous onmyouji in Japanese history. (An onmyouji is a sort of yin-yang priest, tasked with maintaining the balance between good and evil in the universe. In Abe no Seimei's day, they generally served as personal fortune tellers to the Emperor, reading the stars and deciding which days were auspicious or unlucky for travel, business, etc. Basically, their practices were a uniquely Japanese blend of Buddhism, Shintoism, and folk legend.) Supposedly he had 12 shikigami--Chinese gods that he bound to his service, sort of like familiars in the West. He was born in 944, and the shrine itself was built after his death, so it's almost 1000 years old. It's not that impressive as far as shrines go, but I begged Kei to let us visit it because I'm currently watching an anime, Shounen Onmyouji, where he's one of the main characters.
Which, if you think about it, is a fairly strange subject for a TV series. Imagine the reactions of people in the West if Warner Brothers came out with a cartoon starring a superhero Jesus, who can shoot lighting bolts out of his hands and fights together with his twelve disciples to destroy evil monsters intent on destroying New York City. Just think how insulted people would be (and rightly so) to see a precious religious figure abused in the name of popular entertainment. Actually, forget the West--imagine how people in the Middle East would react if someone made a cartoon about a crime-fighting Mohammed. But in Japan? Well, that sort of thing isn't worth the even a raised eyebrow. It's par for the course with Saturday morning entertainment.
Anyway, I had fun learning the true story behind the cartoon characters I've been watching. The Abe no Seimei Jinja, combined with Osaka Castle, made me wish I remembered more Japanese history. I need to find another book about it and read up on it again, because it's really fascinating.
Next we stopped by Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine just after sunset. Out of all the places we visited in Osaka, Sumiyoshi Taisha at night was probably the most beautiful. (We later went back during the day, but by daylight it's just another temple.) Everyone was setting up tents for the New Year celebrations. The main draw of the temple is a giant red bridge over the stream that flows through the temple grounds. Standing on the bridge, I felt like I was alone in a great, vast dark place. But off in the distance I could see the red and yellow and green lights of the tents reflected on the water, and hear people talking and laughing. I hope my pictures turn out, because it was a beautiful moment.
For dinner we had nabe, which was amazing. I wonder how much the little Bunsen burner things cost, because it seems like a very easy, affordable, and quick meal. According to Kei, it's the comfort food of choice among the Japanese at wintertime, because it's very warm and filling and gives the entire family the chance to sit around the table and talk as they're cooking. We had chanko nabe, a special kind of nabe invented for sumo wrestlers. It has sixteen ingredients: shrimp, two kinds of tofu, two kinds of fish, fish balls, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, onions, oysters, udon noodles, and some others I can't remember at the moment. Anyway, it was GOOD.
After that, I made a huge mistake. Kei and I were trying to decide where to go for the New Year's celebrations. He wanted to go back to Sumiyoshi Taisha, but I said there was no point in going back to a place we'd already been when there were so many other temples and shrines to see. I said I wanted to go to Shitennouji Temple, the oldest and most famous Buddhist temple in Japan. Of course, I should have known better than to argue with a Japanese person about a Japanese holiday. It turns out that there's a HUGE difference between Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples on New Year's Day. New Year's is the biggest holiday in Shintoism, and all the fun parties and festivals are at Shinto shrines. To Buddhists, however, New Year's is a fairly minor affair. Kei, because he is too nice and needs to learn to tell me when I'm being an idiot, agreed to go to Shitennouji Temple, where not much was happening.
So when we got to Shitennouji, we saw a very long line of people waiting outsite one of the smaller buildings. Kei asked a priest what was going on, and explained to me that that building was a very famous ancient bell tower, and every year at midnight the bell is rung 108 times to ward off the 108 kinds of demons Buddhists believe in. Since Shitennouji is the oldest and most famous Buddhist temple in Japan, there was a camera crew from NHK filming the ringing of the bells. People were lining up to get the chance to ring the bell once. Because we'd come a little late, we were about number 150, so we couldn't ring the 'Joya no Kane'. Instead, we were allowed to ring the 'Joukou no Kane,' or 'The Bell to Bless with Happiness.' Then all the participants were given a certificate showing they had rung the bell and a small cup of amazake, or sweet sake made by mixing sake with rice milk. After standing out in the freezing cold in the middle of the night for an hour and a half, nothing had every tasted quite as good as a steaming hot cup of sweet sake. Kei bought an omikuji or fortune, and was pleased to read that he would have the best type of luck in 2007. This sparked up a debate over whether luck exists or not, that lasted for a couple of hours and ended up ranging across religion, politics, and everything else under the sun.
So my New Year probably could have been more exciting, but I still had a wonderful time. And how many people can say they've rung the Joukou no Kane and drunk amazake at the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan on New Year's Eve?
The next day we went to Nara, which is about 45 minutes away from Osaka by train. Nara was the capital of Japan in the 8th century, so it's full of 1300-year-old temples and shrines. Of course, the first stop for any tourist in Nara is Toudaiji Temple, famous for its giant statue of Buddha. Every time I go to an old Japanese temple I'm amazed at the skill of the ancient Japanese, because those things are huge (sometimes several hundred feet tall) and incredibly imposing, and many of them are built entirely out of wood, without a single nail. My pictures won't do Toudaiji justice, I'm sure, as in person it has an incredible presence that can't be captured by a photograph. To the right of the main building is Nigatsudou, another unbelievably large building on top of a hill overlooking Nara. If you stand on the balcony you can see all of Nara stretched out before you for miles. About half a mile away from Toudaiji is Kasuga Taisha, the personal shrine of the Fujiwara family that ruled Japan in the Nara period. Its notable feature is the wild deer that run loose, which are incredibly gentle and tame and will let you pet them, especially if you have food. They were so cute! I wanted to take one home with me!
After that Kei wanted to visit his own personal favorite shrine, Kashihara Jingu. Personally, I wasn't as impressed as he was--it looked just like any other shrine to me. But he says it's very famous and respected among the Japanese, although he couldn't remember why.
Our final day, we went back to see if Osaka Castle was open and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was. It has a very well-known history concerning many of the most reknowned names in Japanese history. The story starts with Oda Nobunaga, a fierce 16th-century warrior who tried to unify the multiple tribes of Japan into one large, national government. He came fairly close, but was eventually assassinated by one of his samurai. His successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, built Osaka Castle as a symbol of his power, and continued Nobunaga's quest to unite the country. Another powerful warrior, Tokugawa Ieyasu, besieged Osaka Castle, but eventually Hideyoshi won the battle and forced Tokugawa into his service. Hideyoshi came even closer than Nobunaga to fully uniting Japan, but eventually he, too, died before finishing his task. He declared his son Hideyori his heir (and killed off most of his other male heirs and their heirs to make sure of it), but Tokugawa Ieyasu rebelled and had Hideyori killed, assuming Hideyoshi's title as the ruler of most of Japan. Tokugawa finished the conquest of Japan and became the first Shogun, or military dictator, in the early 17th century. Osaka Castle was one of his major bases of operations.
The outside of the castle is preserved exactly the way it looked in the 16th century. Unforunately, the inside has been completely renovated and stairs and elevators and electricity added, so it's mostly concrete and electronics. But they had a very cool museum about Hideyoshi, and from the top floor of the castle you could look out and see a wonderful panoramic view of Osaka.
After that, we went back to Sumiyoshi Taisha, so we could see what it looked like in the daylight. After all while a lot of shrines and temples in Japan all start to look the same, so it was interesting to see that at Sumiyoshi an older and more traditional style of Japanese architecture has been preserved. The roofs of the main temple buildings were made of thatch instead of clay tiles, and in other subtle ways Sumiyoshi had its own unique style.
After that Kei introduced me to the joys of Japanese ramen, and we wandered around the stores for a bit trying to kill an hour and a half before we needed to be at the train station. Then it was time to say goodbye and take the long, cold trip back home. I got in about 1 o'clock and discovered that there are few things more miserable than having to carry a heavy suitcase up a steep hill in the freezing cold at 1 in the morning. Brrrr.
Anyway, I'm home, I had a great time, and I've managed to get my computer working again! Yay! Happy New Year, everyone!
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Osaka is a very unique and vibrant city, and it was wonderful to experience the Osaka spirit firsthand. And yay! Osaka accents! I LOVE Osaka accents--I think they're *hilarious*. It's no wonder that most Japanese comedians come from Osaka. Compared to most Japanese accents, the Osaka accent is very loud, colorful, and casual (and some would say 'annoying'). If you've never heard it, get Brett to give you an imitation. I want to learn how to speak with an Osaka accent!
The city of Osaka itself is also bright, colorful, and loud. The main streets are dazzlingly bright, and every flat surface is covered with neon lights. Restaurants have huge animatronic animals looming over the entrance to illustrate what kind of food they serve. Apparently that's one of the reasons people travel to Osaka: food. I have never eaten so well in my life! I had to try the local specialties (takoyaki (balls of dough with octopus inside), okonomiyaki (a sort of pancake, generally mixed with cabbage, soba noodles, wasabi, and some kind of meat in Osaka), okonomiyaki-flavored sembei (flat rice crackers)), and I also tried nabe (you sit at a table with a hotpot and cook up whatever vegetables, tofu, noodles, and meat you like), kitsune udon (udon soup with fried tofu cakes on top), and Japan's most famous ramen restaurant. Ramen in Japan is NOTHING like ramen back in the US. Of course, at the 100 yen store they have the usual packets of instant cardboard, but if you get ramen in a restaurant, you'll probably get a HUGE bowl of noddles with cabbage and green onion and strips of pork, sometimes with a softboiled egg or kimchi or shrimp. Beats American ramen hands-down.
Osaka is also a great city for shopping, and this was the best time to do it. Apparently New Year's is Japan's version of Black Friday: EVERYBODY goes shopping, and stuff is usually discounted 30-60% off. The streets were packed with people wherever we went. The temples were also crowded because a lot of people were doing their annual 'hatsumode'--visiting the temple on New Year's Day or soon after to pray for good luck.
Here's a little summary of what I did:
First, I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning (BOO!) and get down to Yokohama to catch the shinkansen. It was my first time on the shinkansen, and I was definitely impressed. That thing is FAST! And amazingly smooth. Why did I choose a shinkansen trip at 6 in the morning? Because we rode past Mt. Fuji right at dawn, and it looked AMAZING. I'd never seen Mt. Fuji before.
Once I got to Osaka, I left my bags at the hotel and wandered around the neighborhood for a few hours. There were a couple of temples near the hotel, but nothing really special. One had a lovely statue of an Edo-period husband and wife. There was also a park nearby where I sat and ate lunch.
Then I met my friend Kei at the hotel and we headed out to Osaka Castle, which looked lovely from the outside but was unfortunately closed. We snacked on Osakan takoyaki, and Kei explained to me in great detail exactly why Osakan cuisine is in every respect superior to Tokyo cuisine. Something about how the flavors were more subtle and the texture of the food is softer and chewier. I personally couldn't see much of a difference. :P For dinner we ate okonomiyaki, which I actually didn't like. I think the okonomiyaki I make at home is better. This one was absolutely drenched in okonomiyaki sauce and hot mustard, and for some reason they also put wasabi in it. But at least now I can say I have eaten Osakan okonomiyaki. Afterwards, Kei showed me around the streets of Osaka. Like I said, there were millions of people around, and the streets were full of neon and pop music and shouting and flashing lights. It was a bit overwhelming.
The next day we started at Namba Parks, which is just your average mall, except for the architecture. The building is terraced, and there's a lovely garden on the roofs that you can walk through. I made the mistake of letting Kei see the video game arcade, so he dragged me in and made me play racing and shooting games for a while.
After that, we rode around to different shrines and temples. First was Imamiya Ebisu Jinja Shrine, dedicated to the Shinto god of prosperity in trade and business. The entrance to the main shrine was covered by a giant red paper umbrella, presumably the stage for the New Year festivities. I hope my pictures of it turn out well, because it was gorgeous.
Next was the Abe no Seimei Jinja Shrine, devoted to Abe no Seimei, the most famous onmyouji in Japanese history. (An onmyouji is a sort of yin-yang priest, tasked with maintaining the balance between good and evil in the universe. In Abe no Seimei's day, they generally served as personal fortune tellers to the Emperor, reading the stars and deciding which days were auspicious or unlucky for travel, business, etc. Basically, their practices were a uniquely Japanese blend of Buddhism, Shintoism, and folk legend.) Supposedly he had 12 shikigami--Chinese gods that he bound to his service, sort of like familiars in the West. He was born in 944, and the shrine itself was built after his death, so it's almost 1000 years old. It's not that impressive as far as shrines go, but I begged Kei to let us visit it because I'm currently watching an anime, Shounen Onmyouji, where he's one of the main characters.
Which, if you think about it, is a fairly strange subject for a TV series. Imagine the reactions of people in the West if Warner Brothers came out with a cartoon starring a superhero Jesus, who can shoot lighting bolts out of his hands and fights together with his twelve disciples to destroy evil monsters intent on destroying New York City. Just think how insulted people would be (and rightly so) to see a precious religious figure abused in the name of popular entertainment. Actually, forget the West--imagine how people in the Middle East would react if someone made a cartoon about a crime-fighting Mohammed. But in Japan? Well, that sort of thing isn't worth the even a raised eyebrow. It's par for the course with Saturday morning entertainment.
Anyway, I had fun learning the true story behind the cartoon characters I've been watching. The Abe no Seimei Jinja, combined with Osaka Castle, made me wish I remembered more Japanese history. I need to find another book about it and read up on it again, because it's really fascinating.
Next we stopped by Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine just after sunset. Out of all the places we visited in Osaka, Sumiyoshi Taisha at night was probably the most beautiful. (We later went back during the day, but by daylight it's just another temple.) Everyone was setting up tents for the New Year celebrations. The main draw of the temple is a giant red bridge over the stream that flows through the temple grounds. Standing on the bridge, I felt like I was alone in a great, vast dark place. But off in the distance I could see the red and yellow and green lights of the tents reflected on the water, and hear people talking and laughing. I hope my pictures turn out, because it was a beautiful moment.
For dinner we had nabe, which was amazing. I wonder how much the little Bunsen burner things cost, because it seems like a very easy, affordable, and quick meal. According to Kei, it's the comfort food of choice among the Japanese at wintertime, because it's very warm and filling and gives the entire family the chance to sit around the table and talk as they're cooking. We had chanko nabe, a special kind of nabe invented for sumo wrestlers. It has sixteen ingredients: shrimp, two kinds of tofu, two kinds of fish, fish balls, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, onions, oysters, udon noodles, and some others I can't remember at the moment. Anyway, it was GOOD.
After that, I made a huge mistake. Kei and I were trying to decide where to go for the New Year's celebrations. He wanted to go back to Sumiyoshi Taisha, but I said there was no point in going back to a place we'd already been when there were so many other temples and shrines to see. I said I wanted to go to Shitennouji Temple, the oldest and most famous Buddhist temple in Japan. Of course, I should have known better than to argue with a Japanese person about a Japanese holiday. It turns out that there's a HUGE difference between Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples on New Year's Day. New Year's is the biggest holiday in Shintoism, and all the fun parties and festivals are at Shinto shrines. To Buddhists, however, New Year's is a fairly minor affair. Kei, because he is too nice and needs to learn to tell me when I'm being an idiot, agreed to go to Shitennouji Temple, where not much was happening.
So when we got to Shitennouji, we saw a very long line of people waiting outsite one of the smaller buildings. Kei asked a priest what was going on, and explained to me that that building was a very famous ancient bell tower, and every year at midnight the bell is rung 108 times to ward off the 108 kinds of demons Buddhists believe in. Since Shitennouji is the oldest and most famous Buddhist temple in Japan, there was a camera crew from NHK filming the ringing of the bells. People were lining up to get the chance to ring the bell once. Because we'd come a little late, we were about number 150, so we couldn't ring the 'Joya no Kane'. Instead, we were allowed to ring the 'Joukou no Kane,' or 'The Bell to Bless with Happiness.' Then all the participants were given a certificate showing they had rung the bell and a small cup of amazake, or sweet sake made by mixing sake with rice milk. After standing out in the freezing cold in the middle of the night for an hour and a half, nothing had every tasted quite as good as a steaming hot cup of sweet sake. Kei bought an omikuji or fortune, and was pleased to read that he would have the best type of luck in 2007. This sparked up a debate over whether luck exists or not, that lasted for a couple of hours and ended up ranging across religion, politics, and everything else under the sun.
So my New Year probably could have been more exciting, but I still had a wonderful time. And how many people can say they've rung the Joukou no Kane and drunk amazake at the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan on New Year's Eve?
The next day we went to Nara, which is about 45 minutes away from Osaka by train. Nara was the capital of Japan in the 8th century, so it's full of 1300-year-old temples and shrines. Of course, the first stop for any tourist in Nara is Toudaiji Temple, famous for its giant statue of Buddha. Every time I go to an old Japanese temple I'm amazed at the skill of the ancient Japanese, because those things are huge (sometimes several hundred feet tall) and incredibly imposing, and many of them are built entirely out of wood, without a single nail. My pictures won't do Toudaiji justice, I'm sure, as in person it has an incredible presence that can't be captured by a photograph. To the right of the main building is Nigatsudou, another unbelievably large building on top of a hill overlooking Nara. If you stand on the balcony you can see all of Nara stretched out before you for miles. About half a mile away from Toudaiji is Kasuga Taisha, the personal shrine of the Fujiwara family that ruled Japan in the Nara period. Its notable feature is the wild deer that run loose, which are incredibly gentle and tame and will let you pet them, especially if you have food. They were so cute! I wanted to take one home with me!
After that Kei wanted to visit his own personal favorite shrine, Kashihara Jingu. Personally, I wasn't as impressed as he was--it looked just like any other shrine to me. But he says it's very famous and respected among the Japanese, although he couldn't remember why.
Our final day, we went back to see if Osaka Castle was open and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was. It has a very well-known history concerning many of the most reknowned names in Japanese history. The story starts with Oda Nobunaga, a fierce 16th-century warrior who tried to unify the multiple tribes of Japan into one large, national government. He came fairly close, but was eventually assassinated by one of his samurai. His successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, built Osaka Castle as a symbol of his power, and continued Nobunaga's quest to unite the country. Another powerful warrior, Tokugawa Ieyasu, besieged Osaka Castle, but eventually Hideyoshi won the battle and forced Tokugawa into his service. Hideyoshi came even closer than Nobunaga to fully uniting Japan, but eventually he, too, died before finishing his task. He declared his son Hideyori his heir (and killed off most of his other male heirs and their heirs to make sure of it), but Tokugawa Ieyasu rebelled and had Hideyori killed, assuming Hideyoshi's title as the ruler of most of Japan. Tokugawa finished the conquest of Japan and became the first Shogun, or military dictator, in the early 17th century. Osaka Castle was one of his major bases of operations.
The outside of the castle is preserved exactly the way it looked in the 16th century. Unforunately, the inside has been completely renovated and stairs and elevators and electricity added, so it's mostly concrete and electronics. But they had a very cool museum about Hideyoshi, and from the top floor of the castle you could look out and see a wonderful panoramic view of Osaka.
After that, we went back to Sumiyoshi Taisha, so we could see what it looked like in the daylight. After all while a lot of shrines and temples in Japan all start to look the same, so it was interesting to see that at Sumiyoshi an older and more traditional style of Japanese architecture has been preserved. The roofs of the main temple buildings were made of thatch instead of clay tiles, and in other subtle ways Sumiyoshi had its own unique style.
After that Kei introduced me to the joys of Japanese ramen, and we wandered around the stores for a bit trying to kill an hour and a half before we needed to be at the train station. Then it was time to say goodbye and take the long, cold trip back home. I got in about 1 o'clock and discovered that there are few things more miserable than having to carry a heavy suitcase up a steep hill in the freezing cold at 1 in the morning. Brrrr.
Anyway, I'm home, I had a great time, and I've managed to get my computer working again! Yay! Happy New Year, everyone!
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