008 - Atashi wa kunochi desu. (I am Ms. Ninja).

Before all of you fall dead on the spot at certain pictures of mine, let me try and go through most of my Kyoto weekend.

Still in chronological narration, so if you want an explanation for said certain pictures, skip to bottomish part of this blog.

Lots of things happened on Friday-Saturday. Basically we rode to Kyoto by Shinkansen and then we joined a bus tour to three different temples. The first was, I think, the Heian shrine, which consisted of alot of orange architecture. Nothing really sparked my interest here, and most of what I wanted to take a picture of was actually considered as fragile and must not be photographed. Sadness.

Then we went to Sanjusangedo (my Japanese to English spelling sucks, but I dont think youd appreciate Hiragana) a temple that houses arond a thousand Buddhas. You try and look for one that looks like you and the custom is to pray to that Buddha. But I couldnt find any that had my shape of eyes (AHAHAHAHAH!) so I just went around sampling the different kinds of incense.

Then we went to Kiyomizudera. Effing awesome view over there. I loved the architecture and this whole `lets climb up a thousand steps so we can drink from the mystic fountain of wealth, intelligence and longevity` aspect. No kidding, I climbed the steps, and was no worse for wear when I finally reached the fountain. The water fell from top of the mountain or something like that and was split into three streams. One held longevity, the other intelligence, and the last wealth. I picked intelligence of course. I need lots of it. Anyway, it was the sweetest water I ever tasted. It was so good, that my plan of looking cute for my picture was totally abolished when I realized exactly how thirsty I was. Bah. Cuteness doesnt work for me. Never did.

Then we finished the tour, did some shopping along this famous shopping road, where I had the worst/best ice cream of my life...

Okay that didnt make sense. The Ice Cream. It was recommended by the teacher I was with during the time, and it consisted of regular soft serve vanilla plus this very exotic topping. Imagine small spherical bits of hot cheetos. Now multiply said spiciness by three, then sprinkle that over the ice cream.

It was this never ending cycle of torture and relief. Pain and pleasure. The most ridiculous paradox I have encountered in this universe. Seriously, everytime I tasted the topping I scooped up another spoonful of the vanilla, experience some sort of relief from the burn in my throat and then my tongue would hit another one of those hellspawned things and my pain would start over.

Needless to say, I became very thankful about the great number of vending machines that Japan seems to be so fond of (I see vending machines for EVERYTHING. One sold ties.) We hit the Gion district where Memoirs of A Geisha was based. That district was soo cool. Lots of ancient architecture plus geisha/maikos walked the street. They really are impressive in those kimonos, I look at their faces and nothing really strikes me, but I love how they move. Theyre fast walkers. They dont stop for pictures, so people have to act like the paparazzi to take pictures of them and my guy classmates had a very hard time running after them trying to catch up to their geta-clad feet. It was a funny sight.

Then for dinner we wondered around until we hit a Mos burger. Best. Burger Place. Ever.

It beats all Whattaburger in Russelville. And that says alot. Its sooo good. And they have melon soda, which is the best kind of pop in my world.

Sunday was similar. Went to various temples. Got somewhat lost. I took several pictures of this water basin that had this awesome conglomerate of Kanji characters that reads Only Satisfaction Do I Know. All four characters shared a square that lies in the middle of the basin. Very profound, I thought.

Then Came Sunday Afternoon. And thats when it all just kind of blurred on me.
(Not really. Luckily for the human population, I have a good memory when it comes to something fun.)

I went with my aunt`s friends. I might have mentioned that my aunt lived in Japan when she was younger and trained computer programming in a different language. She became good friends with this couple who were so good to host me for two days. They picked me up and we drove for an hour into the mountains towards my home (nope, didnt take the Shinkansen back to Nagoya). We stayed at this Japanese style inn where EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING. Food was great.

Enter dinner description: I had to seat two seats away from my aunt`s friends because there was so much food. I had two ceramic pots that cooked my food in front of me. One had rice and spice/root toppings. The other pot contained beef and root veggies. Then I had pickled dishes all around me. I had this big wooden bowl of sashimi. Great soup. Oh did I mention half of my food was cooking in front of me while I was finishing up my sashimi. Yup. I had to crack open an egg, beat it, and pour it over the cooking beef, halfway through my maguro (tuna sashimi). Amazing experience. Felt like a Korean hot pot restaurant back in the Philippines, when we cooked Samgyupsal. Everything tasted stellar.

After we ate, we went into our tatami rooms (I roomed with the wife while the husband took the other one, theyre so nice to me, I think they figured Id feel a little awkward if I were alone in my tatami room) and showed me pictures from a long time ago. Thats when I figured that apparently, when I was five years old, they visited my home. They were actually at my aunts wedding, where I was a flower girl princess thing and apparently they were very taken by me. Minus my really pretty and large eyes, they really liked my hospitability when I was eight. In fact, they always thought that Filipino hospitality was alot like Japanese (which means, we shall let ourselves starve to feed our guest kind of thing-- this is true, but slightly exaggerated). And at five, I spoke fluent English while my cousins didnt. My cousins were afraid of this couple, and I apparently had my longwinded personality at eight years old or something.

Half embarassed and half pleased, I just said thank you over and over and over (compliments dont cease in this culture I think) again.

THEN WE WENT TO THE FIREFLIES!!! Second only to the beach sunset I experienced last week, this beautiful, magical, wonderful, rare experience, was heartbreaking. As in, it was so beautiful, I wanted to cry from being so moved in a very happy way. But I didnt. I wouldnt be able to see them if I had, and it was raining lightly. But if you see dark pictures in my album with a few green dots around it, ignore them for they absolutely do not do them justice. We walked around with our umbrellas at this river looking at the lights, and I was so frustrated about not being able to take pictures of the sight, that I quit completely after the tenth try and just enjoyed the soft pulsing lights.

I am definitely coming back to Japan. Godwilling.

Finally, we had to leave. And I experienced my first public bath. Um okay. This is weird for me to talk about but I think its okay. I mean, now Im actually used to it.

Boys are separate from girls. Just let me get that across. NO BOYS AROUND.

Okay, so I went into the baths, and I had to completely strip. No towel, no swim suit. One other lady was there, but she left when I finally came out of the rest room after my silly pep talk of `its okay theyre all girls, I dont care about all this, its just culture, we all have the same reproductive system... I hope` and blah. But the wife was there already, scrubbing herself clean at the showers near the hot spring. I mustered all courage and went to the shower beside her and mutely did as I was instructed of how hard, how long, and how much to scrub. Im pretty sure I was bright red all over by the time I went into the springs. But at least I know everyone cleans themself well before entering the springs. Its bad manners to even have your hair down, because loose hair gets loose, you know.

After five minutes, I was loose. I dont know how you feel when you drink alcohol, but Ive always been under the impression people just tend to loosen up and start talking alot. And thats kind of what happened. The wife and I kind of counted minutes of who can stand to be in the water longest, and then surfaced when we needed to get some cold air. It was raining lightly, so it was refreshing to be in and out. She said, it was even better if it snowed, or if it was morning and the cherry blossoms bloomed. I really am coming back.

We finished up, dressed and got ready for bed, made our futons, had some tea with the husband and went to sleep. In the morning, we explored the hotel grounds and was delighted by the beauty and the majesty of fog-ringed mountain tops. Ive always counted the sea as my favorite vacation spot, but I think that place might have stolen my heart.

Anyways, to the good part.


THIS PART EXPLAINS NINJA.

When I was given the choice to pick where I wanted to go with them, I immediately said `Ninja house.` Some of you might know, I love Rurouni Kenshin (and that is the understatement of the year). I thought, you know if I knew more about the Oniwaban Ninja group, Ill be so much closer to becoming and ancient Samurai with a reverse blade sword. And I was right.

I went around the Ninja village with so much enthusiasm, that I was the only person taking pictures of the traps, swining doors, hidden passages, and falling booby trap ceilings when we joined a tour of a typical Ninja house. No kidding, in the Edo period, these people are so much more ingenious about war and espionage than the western culture ever was. I mean, lets go back to UP2 and recollect what John Stewart said about motors. The Americans came up with the long and expensive way and the Japanese sanded off half of the copper insulation of a piece wire and basically got the same thing. Really, the way they think. No wonder they spend so much time studying. Its to make booby traps that are super awesome!

But yeah, I think I might have been a little too obvious about being a tourist because the lady who ran the place came up to my aunt (again, the first time around we came in to her shop and my aunt introduced me as a student of the language and blah) and said `This is a secret, but she may dress up in ninja robes and participate in the `training` for a ninja license.`

Okay really. Ive been getting so many things for free since I came to this country, Im seriously doubting if I can even stand to leave this place in five days. Gah.

But yeah. I became Ninja. IM NOT KIDDING SEE PICTURES. I went through obstacle course (with kids of 7-13 years of age plus my aunt who wanted me to be as comfortable as I can I think). And since it was a gift, there was no way I can refuse the offer. I mean, that is assuming I didnt want to do it.

I did.

In my deepest darkest of heart-secrets, I did.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can look at a sample of what I had to go through. I also learned how to throw a shuriken (metal star to incapacitate enemies). Thank God, I hadck climbed and bouldered before.

I think I made the tour guide fall in love with me, but as usual was too shy to even try out my newly attained vocabulary. Stupid boys. Just because I wanted to be Ninja, it doesnt make me intimidating. Its this whole being a chemical engineer researcher thing that kills my game.

After getting my license (which I will frame near my graduation diploma for sure) we drove three hours to find this awesome and cheap kaitenzushi restaurant. I replenished my energy on approximately ten plates of sushi, had this amazing pudding fish soup that tasted exactly like balot (btw, the couple loved all Filipino food including Balot, so were like kindred spirits since we like the same cultural food! and they love me for my 8 year old self wahaha). Sushi included several kinds of tuna, salmon, squid, octopus, fish egg, crab... Let me summarize. It was alot. After the obstacle course and three hours of driving, I was horridly famished.

Life was amazing. Went to a mall. Got more souvenirs. Then we went to a tonkatsu restaurant which is, to the couples opinion, the best of its kind. Oh and this couple have traveled all over the world (Philippines, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia (yes malaysian would love them too, but theyre mine bleh), Indonesia, Spain, Paris, Czech, Sweden (maybe), okay all these countries I cant remember right now), so they know good food.

AND I FREAKING LOVE THEM FOR IT!!! I cant believe Im not staying longer in this country! They offered to bring me to disneyland and universal studios several times!! ARRRGH.


And right before we went home we went to this viewpoint and took several pictures of the oil tanks. They love scifi. Theyre like, me, basically.

They spent an hour talking to my host family about me, my host fathers research, and the ninja thing. Im so happy I can listen to Japanese, even if I couldnt add to a conversation.

Much love here in Japan.

Love = sushi = fireflies = ninja

Much love indeed.