Fukushima Day Two - Nov 18th

Today I slept in a bit and woke up in time for breakfast, which consisted of fish and rice and variations on those themes. I felt sorry for Ryu, who has an allergy to seafood, as he had to make do with some pretty slim pickings. After breakfast, we were able to enjoy one more soak before moving out. Most of the guys had already gone to the routemburo before breakfast (sneaky!), so we decided to hit up the Tengu room one more time. This time I was able to sit directly under the flow from the hot spring for a few seconds, while the others cowered by a small flow of cold water on the other side of the bath. Still no girls.

After thanking the people at the ryokan for their hospitality and everything, we gathered around the front of the compound by the big sign and took a series of group photos before trailing after the small truck carrying our bags back up towards the bus. The ryokan looked almost as surreptitious in the daytime as it did at night. There was a thin layer of white frost covering small patches of ground and vegetation off the trail, as if someone came in with a fine brush to dabble the landscape with snowy highlights. What a sight it would be to sit in the routemburo and watch the snow fall!

Already the trip had paid for itself, but we weren't even halfway finished. Our next destination was Nanko kouen, the first public park in Japan. And it has clearly been taken well care of, as there were practically more people there sweeping, rimming trees and picking leaves out of the ponds than there were visitors. Awed by the perfectly manicured garden surrounding us, we were led into a quaint but rather large old-style building overlooking a large pond fed by waterfalls, and served matcha, green tea. We were told it was a tea ceremony, and indeed there was a large calligraphy scroll on the wall, with a flower arrangement set before it, indicating that the room was intended for the tea ceremony. But unlike my quiet experience last year, much of the ceremony seemed to have been stripped from the experience; we did not witness the making of the tea, and there was no instruction for how to hold the cup or drink the tea, which was mildly disappointing. But the tea was good, and the view was breathtaking, so I'll take what I can get.

After the "ceremony," we were set free to explore the surrounding park, and the temple nearby. We started with a bunch of group photos, and then I set off to find unique angles of the beautiful park. There was a particulary hypnotizing corner of the park featuring a rainbow of fall colors and a waterfall. An older gentleman was already there, taking photos with an old film camera. I tried not to intrude into his territory too much, and opted not to strike up a conversation with him. Sometimes, photography is a sport best played solo.

Hans and I circumnavigated the park before going up to the shrine by the entrance. The maple leaves were ablaze in reds and oranges, and a local family was bringing some lovely children dressed in suits and kimono up the steps to the shrine. We tiptoed by them and went back to the park entrance and caught sight of a group of young feral cats roaming around. A local woman drove up and approached a covered bench, where she dropped a few cups of cat food on the ground and returned to her vehicle. The cats clambored towards the pile of food and gorged themselves, barely noticing our presence. They were pretty tame, and barely minded when I stooped down to pet them a few times. They even sat still for me to take some portraits. Eventually a small crowd of students from our group had gathered to peer at the animals, when another local man came by with an exuberant white dog. The cats bristled at his presence, but refused to relinquish any ground to the fluffy upstart, who was busily making friends with the other foreigners.

Pretty soon we had run out of free time, and walked along the edge of a large, partially dredged lake towards another large building where we'd have lunch. Hans and I noticed that all of the trees had been wrapped in a straw band a few feet from the ground, which I dubbed "the tree haramaki." We asked the young assistant for Hoshien who had partially been serving as a translator for the trip, and she speculated that it was to "keep the trees warm," before someone else told us it was there to attract insects that could otherwise harm the tree; the straw waistbands were cyclically removed, taking the pests with them. Ahhhhh.

We had a leisurely lunch of some kind of ceramic nabe using a single sterno (chemical candle) to cook an assortment of meat and vegetables. We relaxed for a while before being herded back onto the bus for the main event of the day: cultural exchange (交流) with Shirakawa Asahi High School's Interact and English clubs. As we pulled up, there was a group of students and teachers assembled at the school entrance with a big banner welcoming us to their school. We were ushered inside and given a tour of the teacher's offices, then the classrooms themselves. I had never been in a Japanese high school before, so this was an interesting experience for me. We were shown into the library, where they gave us warm bottled tea and taiyaki (the anko or custard-filled treat that Hans went to hell and back to find at the Asakusa Stree Market), and showed us a video slideshow the students had put together to introduce their school to us. It was cute, funny, and at times, moving. I could tell that they had a lot of school pride. Japanese students seem to get far more attached to their school and schoolmates than we do back home. I think we could benefit from imitating some of their team and group-harmony oriented events.

Afterwards, Benny stood up and gave his introduction, which was quite good actually. He then introduced his hometown in Germany at length. We were apparently a bit stretched for time, because he had to be cut off, and the rest of us were given about a minute apiece to introduce our own country or city of origin. The students then introduced themselves, and we played a game called "fruit basket," which is kind of like musical chairs, but without the music. There is one less chair than there are people, and the person without a chair asks a question, like "are you wearing glasses," or "do you like Mr. Children." Everyone who answers "yes" has to get up and run to an empty seat other than the ones next to them. The last person standing then has to ask a new question. It's a surprisingly simple and fun game, and was a good ice-breaker. I was only stuck in the middle once. Some of the questions were pretty funny. One of the larger boys just said "I'M FAT!" and the crowd fell into fits of laughter as no one stood up.

Finally we broke into small groups to introduce our hometown in more detail. Hans, a Korean girl and a Chinese girl were in my group, and our students were the self-acclaimed fat kid, and a small timid boy with a kind of a cute nervous stutter. We eventually ran out of time and took another series of group photos. As usual, everyone brought their camera forward to the teachers so they could get their own photos (even though there was going to be a gallery posted online). At one point, one of the teachers dropped one of the cameras, and I could see that it was a Canon. Kind of freaking out, I jumped down from my chair and walked over to where they were trying to jam the lens back into the body. I surveyed the wreckage and let them know that it was pretty much toast, before realizing that it wasn't my camera, but someone else's. There were two or three other students who had cameras identical to my own, but I could tell from the lack of scratches on the body that it wasn't mine. William, from Canada, confirmed that it was his own, but he didn't seem worried at all. The teachers assured him that our travel insurance would cover it; perhaps he already knew that, because he looked like somone slipped xanax into his taiyaki. I think it was more to calm down the teacher who hadn't stopped apologizing hysterically since dropping the camera. Finally, we got her to admit that it could happen to anyone, and that it was no big deal, since the insurance would cover it after all. We happily finished our group photos before returning to our shoes and getting back on the bus. The students waved to us until they were out of sight. Adorable.

Next on the agenda was Dharma painting; Dharma are round dolls and one of the specialties of the region. They are weighted at the bottom, so when they are knocked over, they right themselves. The bodies are usually red or yellow, and their faces are painted with a specific wish or goal in mind. When the wish is made, the left eye is painted in, and when the wish comes true, the other eye is finished. We were given a set of brushes and pens, and set to work. I ended up drawing a crazy pattern all over the body, and due to my poor skills with a brush, gave him a shoddy beard and bushy eyebrows. Having no specific goal in mind, I decided to leave the eyes white for now.

We thanked the Dharma teacher and went to 龍蔵寺 (ryuzoji), the temple where we would be spending the night to drop off our luggage. A welcome party had been planned at a local hotel, replete with buffet and karaoke. The hotel was a splendid affair, with chandeliers and roomy hallways. The food was excellent; I later found out that the benefactors of the event were Waseda OB (old boys, alumni) and philanthropists from the Rotary Club. The owner of the hotel was there, and it turned out that he was actually a Korean, who moved to Japan to study long ago before making his fortune. I'm very impressed with their graciousness and generocity. Even the ladies who had made tempura for us the previous day were there. The food and drink flowed freely, and before we knew it, us students were singing karaoke for the OB. Hans and I even did our rendition of "A Whole New World." It was all very fun and embarrassing.

Finally, we went back to the temple for more drinking and chatting. We eventually busted out the cards and played a few more games, staying far away from Bullshit. Finally, about half the group went to bed, and the rest of us stayed up for a while longer and put a few of the guys in the hotseat, making them talk about their past relationships (all in Japanese). A good time was had by all (except maybe for those of us forced to spill our guts), and we finally retired around midnight.

Now that you see how much went on during this trip, you understand why it took me so long to get around to writing about it all!