This will eventually be pretty. Now, unfortunately, it's just gonna be like this. I don't have anything on my laptop yet that I can make into a nice layout.

So here are the pictures, which is what you really want to see anyway.
But hey, at least now there are going to be commentations.


Day 1
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi
Those are the pictures I took on *gasp* the first day. The first couple are from the bus on the way to Nagoya station. The beginnings of my first typhoon. The rest are from the hotel we stayed at the first night. Watched some Japanese tv (caught some anime, too, but it was kind of scary magical girl stuffs...), the toilet had too many options (still don't know what bidet is, and I'm not going to try it out), listened to the radio a bit (that was fun), and had my first breakfast in Japan the next morning. It was cheesy scrambled eggs with ketchup (AWEsome desu), some salad, coffee, and a couple of rolls. Definitely not the Japanese breakfast. Also, you have to give the desk clerk the key whenever you leave the hotel, and when you go back to your room you get it from them again. Weirdness. After two days in Nagoya, we went to Kanazawa to do homestays for an orientation week and prep for the entrance exam week. Didn't do me a lot of good, as I was one of two students that had only had two years. Everyone else had had three or four or five.


Natadera
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu
History of Natadera
Natadera was built by the great monk Taicho 1280 years ago. He thought that the universe and earth were gods and that all living things were at this mercy. He believed there was a harmony between people and nature.
Taicho had the idea that life itself is sacred and that nature is a paradise, and that therefore, nature must be held to be as important as human life. With this philosophy, Taicho sought from nature the true wisdom of the gods, and so he enshrined Senju-kannon in Natadera as a place for the gods to live. Natadera is a temple that helps us learn wisdom from nature, and remains to this day a park celebrating nature, where the soul can be at peace.
Previously, this temple was named Iwayadera because the Kannon was enshrined within a natural cave (iwaya), but in 986 the retired Emperor Kazan renamed it to be Natadera.
Twice, in 1336 and again in 1580, the temple was burnt to the ground because of riots and wars, but in 1640 Lord Toshitsuen Maeda of the Kaga district rebuilt it. The Natadera that you see today is the same one that Lort Toshitsune enjoyed.
These are from my trip to Natadera, an otera for the Shingon sect of Buddhism, near Kanazawa. The first picture is me tying a wish/prayer/thing at Kondou Keou-Den. The next is a kimono inside the building to the right of the first picture (was used by Lord Toshitsune Maeda as a living quarter). The park was really really purdy. The steps in the sixth image that go up really high and aren't very big, yeah, I went up there. Both there's, actually. It was scary, 'cause those steps were not very steppish while climbing them. The seventh image is of the host family I lived with while I was in Kanazawa. They were awesome. I still talk to them some. The next image is of Basho Kuhi (Monument of Basho's Haiku): "Upon visiting this temple Basho, the great haiku poet, left his haiku poem (a seventeen-syllabled verse) in his famous travel journal 'Okuno-Hosomichi'." The next one is the entrance (I didn't take a picture when we went in, heh). And finally, the tenth one is a picture that was outside of a conbini. It was awesome.


Tea Ceremony and Kenrokuen
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu JyuuIchi JyuuNi JyuuSan JyuuYon JyuuGo
JyuuRoku JyuuShichi JyuuHachi JyuuKyuu NiJyuu NiJyuuIchi NiJyuuNi NiJyuuSan NiJyuuYon NiJyuuGo NiJyuuRoku NiJyuuShichi NiJyuuHachi NiJyuuKyuu SanJyuu
SanJyuuIchi SanJyuuNi SanJyuuSan SanJyuuYon SanJyuuGo SanJyuuRoku SanJyuuShichi SanJyuuHachi SanJyuuKyuu
YonJyuu YonJyuuIchi YonJyuuNi YonJyuuYon YonJyuuGo YonJyuuRoku YonJyuuShichi YonJyuuHachi YonJyuuKyuu GoJyuu
"Outline: Kenrokuen is a strolling-style landscape garden with the characteristics of a typical landscape garden of the Edo period. Originally the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle, it was located on the slope facing the castle. In 1676, the 5th lord Maeda Tsunanori moved the Construction administrative institution to the castle. He built a rest house called 'Renchi-ochin' and started to landscape a garden called 'Renchi-tei' in the surrounding area.
However, the rest house and garden burned down in 1759. The 11th lord Harunaga restored theg arden with the creation of Emerald Waterfall (Midori-taki) and the construction of Yugao-tei Teahouse in 1774. In 1822, the 12th lord Narinaga constructed the gorgeous Takezawa Villa on Chitosedai Plateau to the southeast of the castle, even though seven retainers' houses and the clan school were located there. He developed the garden by creating winding streams with water from Tatsumi Waterway, and building stone bridges over them.
In the year of the completion of Takezawa Villa, Lord Narinaga asked Sirakawa Rakuo to name the garden. He named it after a garden combiing the six attributes of a perfect landscape garden: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, watercourses and panoramas. The name derives from a gardening book written by Li Gefei, a famous Chinese poet.
Lord Narinaga died two years after the completion of Takezawa Villa. On the site where the villa was subsequently destroyed, the 13th lord Nariyasu expnaded Kasumiga-ike Pond and added some winding streams that harmonized with Renchi-tei Garden. The basic structure of the present spacious strolling-style landscape garden was thus completed.
On May 7, 1874, when the domain system had been abolished, Kenrokuen Garden was opened to the public. The garden was designated as a National Sight of Scenic Beauty on March 8, 1922 and as a National Site of Special Scenic Bauty on March 20, 1985." Lots of pictures from here. First few are from the tea ceremony (it was awesome), and a couple of pictures from inside the room. I made a video of part of the tea ceremony, too. My camera makes me happy. We did the tea ceremony in "Yugao-tei Tea House: The oldest building in the garden, built in 1774 for performing the tea ceremony. The name comes from the gourd (yugao) openwork on the wing wall between the tea room and the waiting room." Then a lot of pictures from the museum. I tried to take pictures of some of the explanations of things, too, so it might be the picture next to it. The kimono was really purdy. Also, 27 is a picture for Laura. It's not a dog, but still. 32 was my first eastern style toilet. I really thought I'd come out of it with very wet pants. I didn't. I was happy. The next picture is most of the IES group that went to Kanazawa (the other half went to Nara). 35 is a group from the University of Geneva studying for six weeks at the same place we had our one week long orientation, the guy all the way on the right rode the same bus as me every morning. He was cool. 39/40/41 is yet another Basho haiku, but I don't have anything explaining it in the English brochure. THe last picture is of a poster for the 24 hour TV event. This year it was hosted by SMAP! Awesome. Anyway, for 24 hours they do a marathon of important events and news from the previous year. It's a huge fundraising thing, when they show the telephones it looks exactly like a PBS marathon. SMAP performed their new song, though, and that was fun. Also, there was a famous tv lawyer who ran a really long way and someone in a wheelchair who did a bycicle thing (obviously, special bycicle). I think someone swam a long distance, earlier. Triathalon style. It's apparently a huge thing that everyone watches.


Gold Leaf (Sakuda) and Higashi-Chaya District
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu JyuuIchi JyuuNi
The first few pictures are of the Kanazawa group doing kenpaku/applying gold leaf to chopsticks. Mine are the black ones. The gold leaf was sugoku thin, yo. If you breathed on it on accident it would crinkle up or fold over, and you'd have to make wind with your hand to flatten it back out. I have a video of it. The third picture is Caitlin (Star Wars/Yaoi fan of awesomeness) working on her chopsticks. The rest of the pictures are from walking aroudnd the Higashi-Chaya district of Kanazawa, which was near where we did the kenpaku. It's really old and it's where the geisha have lived for a long-frickin' time. There are still working geisha living there. The last picture is for Laura. She should recognize all of the bottles in the left stack solely from their unique top.


Ikebana
Ichi Ni San Shi
Not a lot of pictures from ikebana, but it was fun. the first one is mine, the second is Jaimie and Naomi working on theirs, the third is Caitlin's, and the last is a group picture of most of the class's.


Karaoke Part II
Ichi Ni San Shi
Yes, I know I didn't do a Karaoke part one. I didn't take pictures of the first time we went to Karaoke, but it was fun. It was 16 bucks/person for people who _didn't_ drink beer, though (that means that's what I paid). My Kanazawa Okaasan wanted to call and complain that we got overcharged just because we were gaijin. Instead we went with their friends to the Japan Sea (I thought my batteries had died, so I didn't take any pictures there), ate some kind of vegetable soft cream (The picture beside it had a tomato and a carrot on it) and Shyoyuu soft cream (For those of you not in the know, shyoyuu=soy sauce), which were both rather tasty actually, and karaoke that night. It was a lot of fun. Both times I sang Ready Steady Go, and the first time (when I went with other IES students) I sang a Naruto song and another song. Definitely funtime. The second picture is of my host family's friends, and the third and fourth are of the bathroom doors at the karaoke place. I love the guy's bathroom.


Kanazawa Castle and On-The-Way
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu JyuuIchi
A really old house open to the public that we saw on the street on the way to Kanazawa Castle. Also, another picture of my host family. They're so awesome. The garden at the house was purdy, too. Kanazawa Castle actually doesn't exist anymore, but you can see the buildings that were around it and built after it, and where it used to be. Also, the gate, which is apparently the only part of the entire original compound left standing strong. The gardens near there were pretty, too. There are a lot of gardens in Japan. (My translation teacher would yell at me for a sentence like that, apparently native speakers _never_ speak in simple sentences). The last picture is the gate.


BaiBai Kanazawa Okaasan! Osewaninarimashita!


Atarashii Homestay
Ichi Ni San Shi
Pictures from my homestay in Nagoya, where I'll be living at least until December 23-ish. I still don't know about next semester. The first one is just random, but it's got a chopstick in it. So there. The next one is my desk, the next one is the rest of my room and my futon closet (by the window). The last one is a picture of the stairs. My heels are against the extreme back edge, and all of my toes still hang off the step. Whenever I go down them I'm afraid I'm going to break my neck (not too afraid--after all, the program includes a repatriation of remains policy, so they'd ship me back to the states--then I'd have to be brought back here in ash form, but whatever). Tiny steps, that was my point.


Banpaku!!! a.k.a. WorldExpo!!!
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu JyuuIchi JyuuNi JyuuSan JyuuYon JyuuGo JyuuRoku
The WorldExpo is huge. Totemo frickin' sugoku huge desu. Most days there are over 100,000 people there. Too crowded for me to enjoy, and almost as bad as rush hour on a chikatetsu(subway) some days (Fridays, for instance -.-). We have lions. Only in Kenya. (Forget Noouei) Didn't see any tigers, but they did have a lot of butterflies in their corner. Also, there was a picture of a giraffe on the wall. Oh so crowded. Also took some pictures of the biolung (8), 'cause I thought some of you might be interested in that. It's a huge frickin' wall made of plants. Planted plants, not glued to the wall after being plucked plants. Lots of grasses, some flowers, mosses probably, you get the idea. Number 11 is a long distance shot of less than half of it. The had a water/rain thing that I didn't get (You borrowed a clear umbrella and walked through a fifteen foot long clear plastic tunnel of fake rain... 13). Mou hitotsu--green cones. I have seen orange and white (I'll get a picture just to see my Tennessee's state flower imported to another country). Oh, the one pavilion I did go to was the Mammoth. So I've now seen a Mammoth skull with big tusks. It was really old. The end. Nah, most of the pavilions had a 3-5 hour wait in line, and seeing as I didn't bring a book I said fuckit. The Hitachi pavilion was a 9+ hour wait, and there were three or four other pavilions that were 8 or 9 hour waits. Japanese people literally brought little fold out chairs and bento lunches and stuff to do and sat in line for that long. The kids were cute, though, 'cause you could buy a Banpaku Passport and stamp the countries you visited the information areas of. Each country had a sort of info area that you didn't really have to wait for, and then a pavilion part that you had to wait in line for hours for. (The only reason I went to see the mammoth was 'cause I got a ticket that told me when to get in line and be let in).


And now for the great miscellany! Part I
Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Jyuu JyuuIchi JyuuNi JyuuSan JyuuYon JyuuGo JyuuShichi JyuuHachi
1 A lot of people waiting in line for a restaurant in the shopping mall under Nagoya Eki. 2/3 Ramune gummy candy 4 Nat-chan! Apple juice of SUGOKU AWESOME and in a cute bottle, to boot. 5-10 How I make my bed at night and in the morning (in reverse). 11/12 Koban! It's right by my window! The popo can watch me in my sleep. 13 I bought cute chopsticks to eat my lunches with at the cafeteria at school from the 100en shop. 14/15 I opened my banpaku t-shirt. I can wear it and when people say "Did you actually go to that?" I can say "Yup!" 16 Cute things often come on the tops of bottles. For instance, these are napkins with the Nat-chan face on them. Coca-cola bottles almost all come with a car right now. Pepsi comes with the newest Gundam series' toys and figures. 17 My Hanko! I hope it says Anna, anyway.






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