Travelled to Takayama

Today was a travel day.  We left Hiroshima at 9 am and after two transfers we got to the mountain town of Takayama at a little after 5 pm.  The owner of the Oyadoiguchi inn met us at the station with a small truck and took our luggage.  He gave us a map to his inn and off we went.  25 minutes later we arrived and got settled in.  This is a great place.  The rooms are traditional tatami and we will be sleeping on futons.  We had a great supper waiting for us - shabu shabu beef, tempura, sashimi and for dessert - coffee jello.  Everything but the jello was a hit.

Stumbled upon a festival

We had a leisurely start today - 9am, as we wanted to be rested for this physically challenging day.  Our plan was to take the ferry to Miyajima and see the famous Itsukushima Shrine with its gate or 'tori' in the water, but our main job was to climb Mount Misen on the island - all the 535 steep meters of it.

We saw the shrine, but unfortunately it was high tide so we couldn't walk out to the tori at the point.  So we started up the mountain. The trail follows the path of a fairly wide stream and passes through a cedar forest and boulder field left over from a land slide long ago.  At the 500 meter mark it reaches a saddle between two peaks and then branches to the right or tallest one.  The right hand peak is Misen and at its summit is a small but important temple established by the founder of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism in Japan - Kukai.  This temple is a small pagoda with the bottom stage open on one side.  That stage is very simple - it has an earthen floor and an 'irori' or fire pit, which has a smouldering fire.  That fire was lit soon after the temple was founded in 806 and has been fed continuously by the monks for over 1,200 years.  That is a pretty good example of devotion.  Not only that,  when the Peace Flame was lit at the Peace Park where it continues to burn, it was lit from a flame brought from the temple of Mount Misen.  Pretty cool.

We had a lovely picnic at the summit and were preparing to go down, but noticed a drum kit was being set up along with traditional large Japanese Taiko drums in front of the temple.  We had stumbled upon the 4th annual 'kamihanamatsuri'.  This is a modern festival that has run for the past four years to thank the Shinto gods of the mountain, the temple and the ancestors - including Kukai - who founded and built and maintained the temple over the past 1,200 years.  This festival began with Buddhist monks chanting sutras in front of the temple. But then it got a modern twist with the drummers and later a singer and guitar player turning the religious ceremony into a fun celebration.  It was great that we had the luck to be there at that time.

 When we got to the bottom of the mountain, the tide was out and we could walk out to the 'tori' .  A good end to a great day.

Hiroshima Day One

Up early in Kyoto to catch the 8 am bullet train to Hiroshima.  By 10 am we were at Hiroshima station and ten minutes later we had dropped our bags at the hotel.   We could not check in to our rooms yet, but that was ok as we had things to do.


We got a street car from Hiroshima train station to the Peace Park which took about 25 minutes.  As soon as we got off the street car we were standing in front of what is known in Hiroshima as the 'genbaku dome' or  in English 'the atomic bomb dome'.  When the atomic bomb exploded above Hiroshima in 1945, it blew up almost directly above the most modern building in the city at the time which was the four story commercial display building.  It had a dome of glass on a metal frame work at it's top, so it now has the name of 'atomic bomb dome'.  The blast pancaked the floors of the building to the main floor and destroyed much of it.  But enough was left standing that it was decided to preserve the building as an example of the destruction of war for future generations.  It is sobering to come upon evidence of war for those of us who have not experienced it.

From there we walked past the eternal peace flame and on to the Peace Museum.  The museum does two things:  first it discusses the causes of the war and pulls no punches in assigning blame to the Japanese government of the time.  Then it shows the effects of the war, specifically what happened to the people of Hiroshima.  There are no punches pulled there either as we hear from the diaries of people describing the death of their parents, brothers, sisters and children.  Hiroshima has done its best to become a center for peace education in the world, and this museum is an important part of that work.

Over the past few months we have been steadily making 1,000 paper cranes.  We had a lot of help too.  Other classes at Kwalikum Secondary made cranes for us as did the students in Errington Elementary School, Arrowview Elementary School, Springwood Elementary School, Oceanside Elementary School, as well as John Paul II Christian School in Port Alberni and volunteers at the Nanaimo Art Gallery.  The cranes were excellent.  Many of the students back in Canada had decorated them with hearts, peace signs and their names.  The children back in Canada were clearly aware that they were making something that was intended to promote peace and healing.  It seems their cranes had some power.  As we assembled our 'bouquet' of cranes at the children's shrine in the Hiroshima Peace Park, people began to gather and look at these Canadian kids and what they were doing.  They asked us where we were from and thanked us for what we were doing.  It was a nice moment.  

Nara and Nishiki Market

Nara is located about 60 kilometers east of Kyoto and was the capital of Japan for a short time in the 8th century.  This was the time Buddhism was taking root in Japan with the support of the ruling class. And this led to the construction of Todaiji which is the largest wooden structure in the world housing a huge brass Buddha.  We walked for about 1.5 kilometers from the train station to Todaiji.  On the way we met the famous tame deer of Nara.  Since the 8th century the deer in the area have been protected and have been quite tame.  Stalls on the street sell 'shika senbei' or deer crackers to tourists to feed to the deer.  Our kids - who see deer everyday in Qualicum - could not get enough of the Nara deer taking lots of pictures including selfies with the animals.

Todaiji is the largest wooden structure in the world and houses a 'daibutsu' or big Buddha 49 ft tall.  It is quite impressive.  In the four corners, of the building housing the daibutsu are wooden statues of guardian spirits just as tall as the Buddha made up of hundreds of interlocking pieces.  They are very dynamic and are masterpieces themselves.  The building is held up by pillars about 1.5 meters in diameter.  In one of the pillars a hole has been carved at the bottom of one of the pillars that is the same diameter as the nostrils on the giant Buddha.  There is a legend that says a worker was accidentally sealed in the head of the Buddha during its construction and that he was able to escape by slipping out of one of the nostrils.  People who are able to slip through the hole in the pillar are said to have a long life - just like the worker who escaped from the head over 1,000 years ago.  Many of our students slipped through.

We got lunch in Nara and then returned to Kyoto.  After a break at the hotel we took the subway to Nishiki Market.  This is the oldest food market in Kyoto and runs along a narrow covered street.  Here you can try a wide range of local food.  Very interesting place to spend some time looking and tasting.

Matt and octopus stuffed with quail egg

Leaving our hosts - on to Kyoto

We gathered at Nagoya station by 8:40 on Tuesday for our trip to Kyoto.  Each host family came with our students to say goodbye.  It was clear each of our kids had made a connection with their hosts and that both the students and their families were sorry to say goodbye.

We got on the Super Express Hikari for Kyoto and were in the downtown Kyoto station in 45 minutes.  We then took a three and a half minute walk (the kids timed it) to our hotel which is across from the station.  We were too early to check in so we just dropped our bags off and went in search of lunch.  There are good reasons to have a hotel close to the train station, one of which is that there are cheap places to eat all around it.  So we did a quick tour of the options open to us and  - the kids not me - settled on MacDonalds.  Sigh....

After our lunch, we wet off on our walk to Kiyomizu Temple which is 3.5 kilometers from the downtown area.  Great day for a walk - sunny and about 22 degrees.  The temple is on top of a hill and the main street up is quite busy with people going into souvenir shops on either side.  So we tried a side street going up running parallel to the main one.  Very glad we did as we began to walk through a huge cemetery.  People in Japan are cremated upon death and their ashes or memorial stone is put into the cemetery.  Like the rest of Japan it is crowded.  There were many people coming to pay respects with flowers.

Cemetery on the way to Kiyomizu.

Kiyomizu is a temple that is special for one indoor attraction, but mainly because of what it has outdoors. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon who is the enlightened buddhist saint of compassion.  The indoor attraction is one that most people don't see because it is a little spooky.  We decided to see it.  We took our shoes off and descended single file down a narrow staircase underneath the temple.  There were no lights and we could not use our camera lights - just hold the railing that led down and follow the twisting path into the temple.  Finally we came to big stone with a light shining down on it.  On the stone is carved in sanskrit the symbol for birth.  It symbolizes the birth of compassion.

Once we got outside we did the outdoor tour.  One of our stops was the 'love stones'.  These are two big rocks located about 50 meters from each other.  The idea is that if you can close your eyes and walk from one stone to the other you will have success in love.  If however you start wandering off course you must rely on a friend to get you back on course.  That is ok, because in matters of the heart you sometimes have to rely on a friend.  Everyone tried it and everyone needed a friend.

Made it!

The second outdoor attraction is the water.  A stream runs through the temple property and it is this water that is so pure.  So everyone must try to drink some.  We stood in line under a small man made water fall and used long handled cups to get some.

Getting some pure water.

We left Kiyomizu temple and went on a 2 kilometer walk back towards downtown Kyoto and visited Sanjuusangendo temple along the way.  This temple is also dedicated to the bodhisatva Kannon.  No pictures to show you here as none are allowed to be taken inside which is too bad as this is also a very cool place.  The temple was founded about 1300 years ago.  In the temple is the made statue of Kannon, but what is really interesting is that she is flanked on either side by a total of 1,000 other boddisatvas who are her helpers and protectors.  Very calming place to be in.

After Sanjuusangedo we walked back to the hotel and settled in.  Tomorrow is Nara.

Japanese Culture One to One

Japanese Culture One to One

Today is Monday and we were back at Aichi Keisei for our final day at school.  It was great to see the kids and hear their stories from the weekend.  I was told of new food they had, new Japanese words and ideas they learned.  Most importantly I was told of how much they enjoyed and liked their host families.  That is the most valuable part of an exchange such as this - students stepping out of their comfortable routines of friends and family in Canada and into a new family in a very foreign culture and connecting with that family.  They then start to see not only Japan, but other events in their everyday lives from a truly new perspective.  For that, I am very grateful to the staff, students and parents of Aichi Keisei High School.

The activities we had today were more introductions to Japanese culture.  We first met in a classroom with some of the Japanese students who will visit us at the end of May.  Two of their teachers were experts in the art of Shodo - Japanese brush writing - and they introduced us to the art, while the Aichi Keisei students coached us individually.  After practicing some simple characters and learning the fundamental brush strokes, we were given some more complex and meaningful characters to try.  Keely and I were given the first to characters of the school name: 愛 ai　And　知　chi. 愛 means 'love' and  知 means 'knowledge'.  So together we wrote 'love of knowledge'.  Pretty good thing to do at school.

In the next period we worked some more students who are coming to us in May.  They had been asked by their teacher to prepare their own presentations for us in English about certain aspects of Japanese culture they thought we should know about.  We learned about a local festival by a boy who wrapped a loin cloth on his body over his uniform to demonstrate what the men wore at this festival.  We learned about a special sweet rice cracked made locally and got to try it.  We learned about the love for Ghibli Studios' Totoro and Spirited Away.  They gave us the presentations in English and we communicated with them well in their second language.

Finally we went outside to make mochizuki.  This is a treat made by two people, in winter with cooked rice,  a wooden mallet and stone mortar.  The cooked rice is pounded with the mallet to turn it into a big sticky cake.  When the mallet is on the upswing one person reaches in with their hands and turns the cake and withdraws the hands before the down swing of the mallet.  We had the safe job of wielding the mallet.

Our students then had lunch with their student hosts in the hosts home rooms.  After that the KSS students and their Aichi Keisei student hosts got on a train to go shopping in a traditional outdoor shopping area.  A fun day.  The kids told me about their plans for the evening - many were going out with the family to sing karaoke.  This is wrapping up too soon.  Off to Kyoto tomorrow.

First Day

A long flight and a good day at school.

Our flight left on time from Vancouver.  JAL gave us great service.  We all had our first Japanese meal on the trip in the airplane which was pretty good for airplane food.  We had to circle Narita airport for a while because one runway was out of commission (never found out why) and had to dash to make the connecting flight to Nagoya.  Got into Nagoya at 8 pm and took the short walk to the airport hotel.  Many of us got a snack at the convenience store beside the hotel and then to bed.

Breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning than off to the train station located in the airport for the 40 minute ride into Inazawa city.  Mr. Suzuki met us at the station with the Aichi Keisei school bus which took us to the school.  It was great to see Mr. Suzuki again.  He taught at KSS for two months in the fall and helped prepare our group for the trip to Japan.  Meeting an old friend again was reassuring for all of us.

Connor and Masato on the train from the airport.

When we arrived at the school we were met by principal Adachi and shown to a meeting room where we deposited our bags and had a brief explanation from Mr. Suzuki about the plan for the day.

Mr. Suzuki describing our day.

We were given a tour of the school and brought to the gym for the welcome ceremony.  All of the students and staff were there.  The students were neatly organized with the boys on one side and the girls on the other sitting neatly in rows on the floor.  The master of ceremonies for the event was Yuna.  Yuna was one of two Acihi Keisei students who were on a two month exchange at KSS in the fall.  She did a great job running the ceremony in English and Japanese.  Mr. Adachi gave a very warm speech in which he described the growing connections between our two schools over the last 7 years through short and long term exchanges and one teacher visit  (Mr. Suzuki).  Then our principal gave his speech starting by thanking our hosts in Japanese and then giving his speech in English describing the growing connections between our schools as well.  Mr. Suzuki translated.  Next up was the welcome speech by the Aichi Keisei student representative - Rina.  Rina was the other Aichi Keisei student who was with us in the fall.  She gave a heart warming talk in English describing her experience with her host family in the Qualicum Beach area and her time at school.  Finally Jayde was up as our student representative.  He gave his speech in Japanese with confidence and good pronunciation.

Jayde's speech

Once the speeches were over, the presentations began.  First up was the cheer leading club.  Ten girls in cheer leader outfits that would not be out of place on an American campus.  They did their cheer routines using popular music adapted to songs that promoted the school.  Very enthusiastic and well done.  We then had a traditional dance performance of 'soran bushi' by their traditional dance group.  Soran bushi is a fisherman's song meant to encourage the hard labour of pulling in nets.  Groups from across Japan vie to perfect and extend this dance.  We have tired it at KSS too!  We then say a modern dance group and the fashion design club.  The girls in the fashion club put on a fashion show showing us the yukata they had designed and made.  Yukata are light cotton kimono worn in the summer.  Finally it was our turn.  Our students got on stage and sang two songs we had prepared - one in English and one in Japanese.  They did well.

soran bushi

Yukata fashion show

Getting ready to sing

All the presentation groups

After the welcome ceremony we joined a cooking class who had been waiting for us.  Each of our students joined a group of three Aichi Keisei girls and prepared a Japanese dish called 'Oyakodonburi'.  The students washed and cooked the rice and then prepared and cooked a chicken, egg and vegetable mix which was then put over the cooked rice.  We ate together with the Japanese girls.
After lunch we got on the school bus with our Japanese student hosts and went to visit the 'Inuyama' temple and then 'Inuyamajou' or dog mountain castle.  This Buddhist temple was founded around 400 years ago and is now famous in Japan is the place to go to get blessings that prevent car accidents.  Inuymama jou is a small castle on top of a mountain that dates back more than 400 years to the warring states period.  This was a terrible time of civil war that lasted 100 years.  The castle was an important defensive position beside a rive between two warring states.  Very cool place.

Matt and Rose placed burning incense in the urn and then waved the smoke over themselves to get a blessing.

Inuyamajou

We did a bit of shopping in the district around Inuyama jou and then took the bus back to school.  When we got to school the host parents were waiting for us.  After brief introductions our students were off to their Japanese homes.