Shirakawago

Forgot to answer questions last time.
Ana, it's great to hear from you!
As for my research methods prof, I'm pretty sure his background is anthropology.  As for your Cambodia blog, even though you're back now I still want to hear all about it~!
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This past weekend we had our IES field trip to Shirakawago and Takayama. 
First I'm going to talk about Shirakawago because I liked it much better and it was gorgeous.

It's an old village, a world heritage site, apparently, up north.  It gets tons of snow, as much as 4 meters, our guides told us.  So it's full of a-frame style houses to keep the snow and the rain from collapsing in the roofs.

The first thing we did on our trip was stop at the Toyota Eco Institute and go on a nature hike!

We ate our bento (boxed lunches) and then got some time to wander around. 

I saw my first trace of fall, which was really exciting! Even though it was the end of October, it’s been warm almost non-stop.  Around 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit I think.  So it feels like this never-ending summer here.  It’s kind-of trying for me, actually, to not have seasons.  I feel like the summer’s just dragging out forever, even though it’s already November.  Like I’m caught in a time slip or something, and I’ll never be able to escape to the real world!  So it was really nice to go somewhere where there was a trace of seasons.

Then we met up with our guides, who were really cute. I guess they do a lot of tours for children, but that was fine by us.  It made their Japanese easy to understand!  We had three tour guides: a man and a woman who were working there and a slightly younger man who was apparently an intern.  They all wore these red outfits, hats, cargo vests, and were carrying big camping backpacks. 

The instructions we got were the following:
If you see bees, stop and be quiet until they leave you alone.
If you see a bear, start making a lot of noise and it will scare them off.  Also the guides are all carrying what basically amounts to bear pepper spray so be aware of that.

The hike, or, well, nature walk, more like, was dedicated to teaching us the relationship between Shirakawago’s people and the forest.  It was actually really interesting.  It reminded me of home, and going to nature centers and walking around in the state park as a kid, which was perfect because honestly I was feeling a bit homesick during that week.

Along the way our guides would pull out interesting things from the forest or point out different plants and explain them to us.

For example, a walnut tree.  One of our guides pulled out several empty walnut shells from his pocket, one split in half and one with the center bored out.  He said “What kind of animals do you think did this?” and we had to guess.  “The split in half one?” Squirrel? A bird? People?
He said “The truth is I have the animal in here!!” and pointed to his backpack.
As I was starting to wonder about animal cruelty he pulled it out.
TA-DAA! A squirrel stuffed animal! 

Bears also eat walnuts.

Look at how tall these trees are!

One tree in particular the guides pointed out was very strong and flexible.  The thing the guide is holding in this picture is the old fashioned Japanese version of a snow shoe, made from those tree branches.  The two middle slats are where you put your foot. 
Interesting, right?  I thought it was.

Since Shirakawago apparently looks like this in the winter, they’re necessary.


At one point Mikki, the intern, was made to put on a bear costume.  I don’t remember why.  But it was super cute, right?  (Oh man, my English is starting to sound like Japanese.  “Omishiroi deshou?” “Mecha kawaii ne? Ne?” all this “right??” is very Japanese, particularly Japanese girls.)

Another thing they showed us that was really cool was this other tree.  Once you break the outer shell of bark, the inner wood is incredibly flexible.  So flexible that you can tie it in a knot.  And it’s incredibly strong, too.  So inside Shirakawago’s distinctive A-frame houses, this wood is what’s actually used to hold together the logs forming the frame of the roof!

Our guide demonstrated, pounding the branch with a hammer to break the bark and soften it up a little, then tying the branch around one of the poles of the picnic shelter.

Guess who carried that hammer up here.  Mikki.  Wearing the bear costume, carrying the heavy stuff... Definitely an intern, right? やっぱりインタンっぽいね。

One of our guys gave it a try, too, but it didn’t go as well.  He also started out with a lot drier of a branch.

We were meant to go further on our hike, but apparently there were bears or something out and about farther up the trail lately, so our guides wouldn’t take us further.
Even though I wanted to meet a bear rather badly, the guides apparently didn’t think the two of us getting acquainted would be a very good idea.
How disappointing.  Bears, you’re missing out on my good company.

Well, it was probably lucky we turned around when we did because as we were walking back we saw a lovely rainbow! 

After that we got back on our bus and drove to Shirokawago proper.  We took a group photo, and then were free to just wander around, which was lovely.  Shirokawago is the only place we’ve been to on a trip with my study abroad program so far where I truly felt like we had enough time to see everything. 

I loved Shirakawago.  It was a little cool and misty, but the temperature felt perfect to me.  The houses were gorgeous.  Flowers and persimmon trees everywhere, and along the sidewalk there were gutters with running water. Occasionally the gutters would open up into full-fledged streams, with fish and everything. 

After our afternoon in Shirakawago, we got back on our bus and stopped at our ryokan (inn) in Takayama for the night.  Which meant more giant dinners! Except this time I actually ate everything!  We got to try Hida Beef, beef this area is apparently famous for, and grill it ourselves at our seats.  It was delicious.

Asuke Matsuri

This weekend was incredibly busy!
First, on Saturday we went to go see Wicked!  But before that Alisha and I had some delicious ramen. 

Then we got to the theater where they were showing Wicked!  I quickly bought some souvenirs, including the Japanese soundtrack.

It was a really interesting experience to see it in Japanese.  I understand a lot more than I thought I would, mostly because I'd seen it before in English.  But it was a little disappointing.  There was definitely one point where the actress playing Elphaba didn't hit her note that I noticed, and I usually can't notice these things at all.  Unfortunately that means everyone else who does notice these things was complaining about it, which just makes the whole thing feel negative to me, especially since I spent so much money on the CD before I actually sat down and saw it.  Oh well, it's still a cool souvenir and it's interesting to compare the translations (right?! I'm trying not to get buyer's remorse here).  I would assume that for the recording they'd make sure that everything sounded all right, but I have absolutely no ear for these things so I can't tell.
Anyway it was a bit of a bummer because I'd been really excited about it.
But it was still fun to see the show again, and I still love the costumes and everything.  Glinda still stole the show for me, even in Japanese.

After that we went to Moss Burger, a Japanese fast food chain.  It was only like 4 in the afternoon and I was going to have dinner at 7, so I didn't get a full burger, but I did get a small strawberry milkshake and OniPote.  (oh-knee-poh-tay from onion-potato) It's the perfect solution for indecisive people who can't decide whether they want fries or onion rings! It gives you a little bit of each for the same price as getting either fries or onion rings! THIS IS SO BRILLIANT AND YET WE DON'T HAVE IT IN AMERICA.  What's up with this?!

Then I went home, did homework, and crashed.  That was Saturday.

Sunday was another matsuri trip!  This one was to the Asuke Matsuri!  It's in Asuke, a town a little more than an hour from Nagoya (driving, when the traffic's good).  Apparently it's known for its fall leaves, and it's a popular date spot for that reason.  But apparently once the leaves change it just gets PACKED with sightseers.  I can imagine why.  There's a lovely river running through town and the mountains are gorgeous and just covered in trees.  I saw some postcards in a souvenir shop with pictures and it's incredible.

Anyway this was another men's festival, this time for Hachiman, a Shinto god of war.

 This festival was a required class trip for research methods, as opposed to the other two which had been optional.  So the entire class was there, and we did some more preparation beforehand.

Here’s the basics of what’s going on.

There are four dashi, these wheeled, tiered things.  These dashi come from 4 parts of Asuke: Shinmachi, Nishimachi, Honmachi, and Tamachi.  The dashi have three different levels.  Inside on one level there are people playing musical instruments: a drum, a flute, and I think something else.  The musical instruments are all the same, but the musicians from each village play a slightly different tune.

On the front of the dashi are the youngest men, who are all, apparently, around the age of their yakudoshi, or unlucky year, so around 25.  They dance on the front of the dashi and apparently are just filled with sake throughout the day.  Like, they get completely completely drunk.  I’m amazed they don’t fall off the dashi.

(In fact, I asked one of the guys if people ever fell off.  I didn’t understand everything he told me, but he said they definitely could fall off, that he was a safe guy, he never had fallen off, and that they try to make sure people don’t fall off, like holding onto them from inside the dashi and stuff.)

Anyway so this whole thing, this dashi, is pulled and pushed by a bunch of men, using ropes and the big wooden poles on the front of the dashi.

We got there a little before everything got started and were immediately approached by a guy from Honmachi saying that we were more than welcome to take pictures of their dashi and ask them questions and stuff.

After that the dashi were all pulled forward, one by one, so that they were directly in front of the Hachimangu, the shrine.  They each set up a little altar and played a song for the kami, the god, while a priest (kannushi) blessed the dashi.  From there the dashi moved onward and the festival started for the day.

 Here's a video of the dashi moving out and the dancing and music starting.

In addition to the dashi, there are other villages that are a part of Asuke that aren't part of the main four, so they don't have their own dashi.  These are villages that were incorporated into the Asuke area more recently, or something like that.
These villages have their own Teppotai, or, I guess, musket squad.  These men get together and before the festival for weeks in preparation they hang out, drink beer, and make these straw things to decorate their guns.  The guns are old ones, from around the Edo period.

The decorations vary some from group to group.  Some had pinwheels, some had some autumn leaves, these ones had rainbow tassels.
The teppotai parade throughout the festival, and then at certain areas they circle up and fire their muskets.

You can see the whole process here.  The sound was incredibly loud.  You can see where my camera jumps a little! 

We split off into groups, which means I wandered around with my friend Jessica.  Our first priority was snacking/lunch.  Takoyaki, yakitori (grilled chicken), crepes, chocolate covered bananas, ikayaki (grilled squid), yakisoba (fried noodles), okonomiyaki (like a pancake, with pork, cabbage, egg, and sauce), I love me some festival food.  I only had enough stomach space for takoyaki and a crepe, though. 

We walked back by where the dashi had been moved to, again set up with their little altars.

We skulked around and asked questions awkwardly, like "what are those bottles for?" and "Do people ever fall of the dashi?"  and awkwardly got our pictures taken by old Japanese people!
Apparently foreigners are noteworthy out here.  But one lady I managed to strike up conversation with after she took me and Jessica's pictures, so that was nice.

After a bit more wandering we ran into a woman who was actually from Tokyo, but had lived here.  Her son had since moved back and this year was his first year being able to be a part of the teppotai group.  She said it was her first time seeing the festival but she seemed really excited.  She whipped out her iPhone and showed us pictures of him and we said we'd probably seen him when we were watching earlier.  That woman was really nice.  It's always exciting when I find I can have conversations with people, even only partially!

After we talked to that woman we reconvened as a class, and since the sound of the teppotai's guns going off every few minutes was getting a little unbearable, we went for a hike!

There were tons of people out fishing, and climbing on the rocks.

We walked up to a Buddhist temple, where an incredibly nice Buddhist monk told us about the temple, who built it, what it was for, and about his beliefs.  He talked about the strong wood the temple is made out of, so that even in an earthquake it's fine, and about how tons of bugs come out in the summer, but they're living things too, so you can't harm them.  I don't know, he was a really nice guy, letting us into the temple even when he was busy working, selling good luck charms and talismans and things.
It was a very calming experience after the noise and excitement of the festival.

THE SCARIEST OF BRIDGES
It was a cable suspension bridge and MY PROFESSOR and my classmates insisted on SHAKING IT
OH GOD STOP IT NO AAAHHH

After that we went out to dinner and Hoan ate cow and pig internal organs without knowing it! Yay!
I had chirashi sushi, a bowl of sliced sashimi (raw fish) and other sushi topics scattered over rice.  It was yummy! And other people had delicious food, too.  Hoan liked his innards fine, even after he found out what they were, so I guess that's okay.

It got dark after that, and the next stage of the festival started, the kind of closing festivities I guess.
The Teppotai (all very drunk) got back together in their groups and said goodbye to the dashi and the festival for the year, before heading back to their own villages.
The dashi moved back by the shrine.  After that the most exciting part of the festival started.
The bonden, these paper pompom looking things suspended on bamboo poles from the front of the dashi play an important role here.

The white things are the bonden.

At the end of the festival, a guy from the top level of the dashi (who is completely wasted at this point) takes both of the bonden and throws them into the crowd.  Whoever catches it brings good luck to their family for the rest of the year.

I was too far back and not near aggressive enough to see what actually happened, but my classmates who were closer told me that things got pretty intense.
Apparently last year two guys were fighting over it and then they finally settled it with janken (jankenpon is Japanese rock paper scissors)!  Oh Japan!

Anyway after that the dashi had to be pulled back to each of their home villages, where they are disassembled and put away again for the next year.

We headed on home, where it was back to school as usual. But the trip itself was really fun!
I love this class and this professor yay!