(as with my previous reports, cc'ed to many many people including everyone
at Hallandale, some at Piper, family, Rotary, et al, et al, ad nauseam)
And now, for more crazy news from me...
Today is my 65th day in Japan, hard to believe. I'm doing very well now that I'm sort of organized, and I'm starting to really enjoy staying in the world's eleventh largest city.
Since I wrote everyone last, I went to Himeji Castle (a big historical sort of place), hiked up a thousand-something-foot mountain, went to the Kobe Kirin brewery (oishii!), ate what I would estimate to be seventy pounds of squid and about fifty tons of rice (not to mention twenty or so Teriyaki McBurgers), rode on at least as many commuter trains, and miraculously lost five pounds in the process of it all.
Actually, today I hopefully joined my high school's kendo club. I'm not sure if I actually joined or not: I think I'll ask tomorrow. Kendo, for those of you who don't know, is a martial art that's sort of like a combination of fencing and tae kwon leep, and involves a lot of jumping, a lot of armor,
and a lot of limping. (No, you don't hurt your legs doing it; you're supposed to drag your left foot when you move, which has something to do with the sword, maybe.) Although I don't have a kendo uniform yet, I learned how to do the limp-walk and how to whack people in the head with the sword, which is sort of like using a broom upside down (that probably makes no sense at all, but try to imagine). I'll be incredibly happy if I get a uniform, because it looks like it belongs on a Star Wars character: a toga-like top with these gigantic pants that, to the untrained eye, look like a skirt--atop this you put a helmet and breastplate and groin protecting thing (sorry, don't know what to call it), and proceed to whack people in the head. Now I suppose I should change the subject from head-whacking because it's making me laugh too much.
So I'll talk about the stuff I've seen, Himeji for starters. Himeji is an hour or two away from Osaka proper, and it's a medium town with a train station and shops and houses and a gigantic ancient castle. This castle is called... get ready for this... Himeji Castle, and it was used a couple of hundred years ago by a few generations of Japanese princes and princesses. The most fun thing about Himeji was that it was the first time that I heard my host father attempt to use English. He would occasionally point to something we were looking at and tell me what it was, although it was
rarely very useful to me. Example: We were looking at a case of old Japanese rifles in one of the castle's towers, and he said "Raifru." Another example: We were at this place once used by samurais to commit hara-kiri, and he said "Suicide." By means of explanation, he pulled his fist across his stomach and made a sort of zipper-like noise out of the corner of his mouth while I
whirled away cackling to myself.
He was a little cooler when he took me to the Kirin brewery. This trip was with his company, whose name I forget, but it was very fun. Think of Busch Gardens without the amusement park, and you'll have an idea of what we went to: a brewery with windows, and free beer afterwards. Back on the bus, the tour guide started asking people how many free beers they had, starting with one and working her way up, and one guy still had his hand up on seven before she stopped. Even better, we went to a restaurant afterwards, perhaps the nicest restaurant I can remember eating in for a long while. From a glance at the menu, I calculated quickly that my meal was probably running sixty to seventy dollars. It was an appetizer of cold bacon, onions and carrots (actually very good), followed by steak, more onions, and more carrots, served on a sizzling hot iron skillet-plate, with oranges and
Japanese apricots and some sort of soy-based soup and rice thrown in on the side: one side of the restaurant was a tall window looking out on a courtyard done in Japanese architecture, and I wanted a photo badly but had forgotten my camera.
When I hiked up the mountain, it was with my school. I still don't know how they pulled it off logistically, but my entire school of perhaps a thousand people went up and down this huge mountain half an hour by train from the city. I was amazed at how far we went, probably several miles over broken trail, but when we reached the summit it was absolutely beautiful, and needless to say I forgot my camera again. After we went up and down the mountain we went over another mile or so of white rock sitting in the hillsides, through paths so narrow we had to move single file. Although it was wonderful in retrospect, I'm not doing it again because I don't think I can afford the physical therapy afterwards. (Poor humor)
In the news: There was a big nuclear accident not too far from Tokyo a few weeks back, and some of my friends have been reporting that people at home have been worried about whether they're alive. So I'll say right now: Yes, I'm alive, although I sort of glow eerily at night and I've discovered that I can point at buildings and set them on fire. There have also been a bunch of bank mergers and psycho killings and poltical moves between the government and the subway bombing cult, none of which any of you need to care about.
With that in mind, I'll sign off. Hope that everyone's healthy and sane, and that the necklaces aren't getting to your heads too much (poor hallandale joke). And if you haven't been doing so already, E-MAIL ME so I know you're alive.
-joe
