Shimbuya

Konbanwa students,

I'm sorry that I didn't have an entry for last night. I was having technical difficulties, and by the time my problem was corrected, I was too tired to keep my eyes open. I did only have 3 hours of sleep before I went to the fish market. I actually wrote the entry about the fish market when I returned at 6:00 a.m., so I was too exhausted to do another after 10:00 p.m. Sometimes you will see a couple of entries dated the same date. Sometimes I will write two or three at one time if I have a lot to write and time allows it. Also, since Google is the creator and host of Blogger my blogspot loads through Google at a specific time of day, California time.

I am not at a loss for anything to write about, there is plenty and all of it has been either interesting, a different experience, an adventure, or all three. Lack of time is sit down at the computer has been a problem for me...But let's begin now.

I just returned from an area of Tokyo known as Shimbuya. The Shimbuya area is known as a hang-out for the youth culture, and has the busiest intersection in the world. Besides the the stores that are located there, it is also the end of the Ginza Metro Line, and that is one of the reasons it is so busy. People are exiting the Metro at all times of day, every day. I know that if you have never been to a big city like New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., London, Paris, or Tokyo you don't know what I'm talking about. These cities all have commuter trains underground. Some are called by terms like subway, others use the word metro, short for metropolitan, or city area.

Metros are safe in terms of the incident of accidents, avoid traffic interference, go fast, are a cheap way to travel, are better for the environment, and save time. I like them, so tonight I decided I would learn how to travel the Tokyo Metro. For 160 yen, which is about $1.56 in U.S. currency I traveled one way across half of Tokyo in about 10-15 minutes. I returned the same way for the same price.

Here are pictures of busiest intersection in the world, a map of the four or the nine different metro lines posted for this metro station with the stations that it stops at on each line (the other lines are not posted on this list because you would have to transfer from one of these lines and get on another to go to a different area of the city---you would use the same ticket because they are not collected until you exit the station), and the Neon lights that illuminated my first Friday night in Japan.

I'm inviting comments. Where are they, please?

October 16, 4:30 a.m. Tokyo time

Ohayo gozaimasu students,

Are you thinking that I can not sleep? That is not the case. I left the hotel early this morning to visit the Tokyo fish market. Everyone who has visited said that it was worth getting up early to have this experience.

The market is very, very large, and very, very busy. There is much noise from the traffic immediately outside and inside the building, but it is amazingly quiet amongst the workers. The operations were in full swing when I arrived, so these workers must have started work at 3 in the morning. Perhaps it is too early to talk at during this part of the day.

Not only does this market have fish, it almost has everything else you can find it the sea.
When we looked at Japan's geography in class, and I asked what you thought the Japan used as their main source of protein, some of you knew that it was fish. But besides the fish, there was squid, octopus, whelk, crab, clam, oyster, eel, and sea cucumbers. However there, was no Sponge Bob and Patrick the starfish.

The first picture shows a some workers, the next shows fish eggs, and the last picture is of whelk---you can clearly see one coming out of its shell. Click to enlarge.

Senso-ji Temple

Moshi, Moshi students,

Today we went sightseeing and saw much of Tokyo, but not all of Tokyo! Together with the rest of the Metropolitan Prefecture, there are 32 million people living in a rather small area. I learned from our guide, Iishii san, that Tok means east and yo means capital. Now I know why Edo was changed to Tokyo once the Emperor moved here. He still lives here, because where ever the Emperor is living is the capital. When Tokyo was still called Edo, the Emperor lived in Kyoto, which is west of Tokyo. You will have to look at your map again!

One of the places I enjoyed today was our visit to the Senso-ji Temple. It is a Buddhist Temple, and today was the first day of a celebration commemorating its restoration. Most people in Japan are practicing Buddhists. Buddhism came to China from India in the 5TH century, but Japan was converted to Buddhism when monks from China came here as missionaries in the 6Th century. Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha, the Enlightened One, he is called. Buddhists are not too concerned with the material world of day to day living beacuse they view material things as being temporary compared to the real life of the soul.In these pictures you will see the T a prayer pole. It stands about 500 feet in front of the temple. The people hold one of the ribbons, or all of the ribbons, while praying. The colored ribbons are connected to white ribbons overhead leading all the way into the temple where they are fastened to the hands of the statue representing the Kannon Buddha. The other picture is only a part of Tokyo's office buildings.

First Meal in Japan

Konbanwa students,

I arriving in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, October 14Th after a 10 hr. and 20 minute flight. That was more than the 9 hours I thought it would take! And I lost a day by crossing the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean. You must look at your world map, and you will see it marked as a mostly straight line. Narita Airport is in the rural part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture, so it took approximately 2 hours to reach our hotel through heavy traffic. It was raining, very overcast, and around 6:00p.m. so no one in the bus I traveled in was interested in taking any pictures at that point in our trip. When we reached the Hotel New Otani, we had been told that we should go out to dinner with one of the Japanese alumni (you will probably have to look this word up to know what it means) who were part of the original Fulbright Program and had therefore spent time in the United States. Some of the 160 teachers who are in my group decided not to do this, but to go to bed early. Since I want to make the most out of experiencing Japanese culture, I knew that I could sleep after I went out to dinner with the person I was chosen to share a meal and conversation with. I am very glad I did take advantage of this opportunity.
There were 4 of us who went out with Tabe san. Tabe san is a retired university professor who taught for 55 years, and was not only very interesting, but also gave us information about Japanese food and how to eat it. When he asked us what kind of food we would like to eat, we said "Japanese, of course!" Since Tokyo is an international city, many cuisines(that is French for different foods based on their country of origin), are available here---we could have had MacDonald's if we wanted too, but we didn't! This picture is just one of the dishes that we tried last night. I took a picture of it since it came on one plate, unlike the other dishes that we ate, and I thought it had the best "presentation". Presentation is a word that cooks and chefs (those are highly paid cooks)use to describe how food is made to look on a plate. Japanese chefs are very good at presentation because the way food looks on a plate is important. The eyes, the nose, the taste are the senses that the Japanese like to make sure are being used when they eat. Everything we ate I thought was very good, but I liked this dish the best. Can you tell what it is? Along with eating good and appealing food is having good conversation and a good time. So we ate and talked, and had a very good time.
Did you guess what this dish is? It is called Shashimi, and it is a variety of paper-thin raw fish atop finely a finely cut vegetable that we also ate. The leaves are good for digestion Tabe san told us, so we ate those too.

A Great Send-off

Ohayo Gozaimasu students,

I wanted to get this off before I left this morning because I know that all of you did not get a chance to sign the banner the G.E.S. staff made for me, and the "Green & Gold" flower arrangement. They also sent me off with a the Willow Tree Angel named:
Angel of Wishes. Look for her on my desk, she is still in her gift bag.

Domo arigato gozaimasu colleagues!(Thank you very much),
Ms. Elizabeth

A Long Day

Konbanwa students,

It is Oct. 12th, but this entry will look like it is published tomorrow because it is already after 11:00 p.m. here in San Francisco.

I'm finally ending my day of departure for San Francisco after having left Louisville International Airport this morning on a 6:00am flight. Of course, I had to be at the airport at 4:30a.m.. After leaving Louisville, the flight arrived in Chicago and I disembarked(look this word up if you don't know what it means!) to make my connecting flight to San Francisco leaving at 7:58 a.m. I arrivied in San Francisco at 10:30. The shuttle took us to the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, which is the picture on your left. It is here that we had a buffet lunch, and had meetings from 2:00p.m. until 5:30. During the meetings we learned what not to do to enable us to have good manners while we are the guests of Japan and the Japanese people. Now, you know that teachers do have rules, and even have homework too. I've already told you that we will be having a Festival of Japanese culture in the Spring, and to be thinking about what your class will want to do for its booth. My learning about Japanese culture first-hand is going to help all of us do that together. This kind of homework can and will be fun! After our meetings, we were the guests of the Consul General of Japan. He is one of one diplomats sent by the Japanese government as its representative in the United States.
His house is the picture on the right. Behind it you can see San Francisco Bay. On the other side of the house we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. This is where we had our evening meal. Now my assignment for you is to get out your map of the United States, or go to www.worldatlas.com, and show your parents the route from Louisville to Chicago to San Francisco. We did this in class so it shouldn't be too hard.

Tomorrow I will leave for Tokyo at 8:00 a.m., but my flight won't leave until 11:30.That will be 7:30 Greensburg time. Right now, it has been a very long day, and I am going to bed. I will write to you again when I'm in Japan!

Sayonara(Good bye)

The Art of Origami

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Konnichiwa students,

I am almost packed, but I wanted to honor my commitment to talk about another Japanese art, the Art of Origami, before I became involved in the actual experience of traveling there.

Origami is a combination of two words ori folding, and gami paper.
Origami arrived in Japan around the 6Th century, brought there by Buddhist monks who were sent as missionaries from China. We learned in the Reading Rainbow episode, The Paper Crane that paper was invented in China by pounding strips of bark into what would eventually become paper. Paper was expensive and was not used as a form of recreation. But the Japanese being a practical, and not wasteful people, as I mentioned yesterday, used their paper well. Samurai(remember Ota Dokan? He was one, belonging to a class of warriors who also exulted in the practice of the arts) would give and receive gifts of dried fish and meat which were cleverly folded in paper and tied artfully with cord. These were called noshi and were regarded as tokens of good luck. Wealthy people would wrap glasses of rice wine in butterfly shapes for weddings to represent the bride and groom.

Origami was passed down through the generations by one person showing another how it was done. It wasn't until 1791 that a book was published titled How to fold 1000 Cranes made many Japanese interested in pursuing this art. Translated from the original Japanese, the title read The Secret of the 1000 Cranes; the secret, or belief, is that if a person can fold 1000 cranes he, or she, will be granted one wish. However, origami did not become a popular pasttime until the appearance, in 1819, of a woodblock print called The Magician Turns Sheets of Birds.In the legend, a magician folds a flapping bird so realistic that it takes flight. This woodblock print created a renewed interest in origami among many people.

Cranes are considered sacred birds in Japan, representing long life and peace. This association with peace is believed to have been established when in 11Th century Japan, a warrior named Kakamura tied prayer strips to the legs of cranes representing all who had died in battle and then set the cranes free to fly.
But, the origami crane did not become a global symbol of peace until after the publication of Eleanor Coerr's Sadako and One Thousand Cranes. In the story, Sadako is stricken with radiation sickness due to the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan. She folds 1000 cranes in order to have her wish for health granted( Of course, I'm not going to tell you what happens, you will have to read that book for yourself---it is not long). In our day, the International Peace Movement was initiated and set a goal of receiving 1,000,000,000 cranes by the year 2000. By the close of 1999, 400 people from 18 different countries had folded 1.2 million cranes for peace. You can find more information by doing a web search for 1000 Cranes Peace Network.

And, finally, Akira Yoshizawa, considered to be the father of modern origami, created a set of symbols to represent the various folds need to create standard origami pieces, like the crane. Some of these folds are: mountain fold, valley fold,and squash fold. Some years ago I was really into origami, and enjoyed showing others(all children) how to create some of the figures. Origami can be very simple, like the directions for making a cup, or it can become as difficult as you would like to make it. I have seen examples of intricate origami creatures created by Japanese Masters that are no larger than my thumb nail. I, however, am not that good.