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Last week was one of the biggest holiday seasons in Japan - Golden Week. During this week, there are three national holidays - Showa Day (the birthday of emperor Hirohito), Children’s Day, and Constitution Day. Additionally, since Children’s Day and Constitution Day are always separated by a single day, the day in between has come to be known as People’s Day, since most people will get some kind of vacation on that day as well. This year, since Children’s Day fell on a Saturday and Constitution Day on a Monday, the Golden Week season ran from Tuesday, April 29th until Tuesday, May 6th.

What does this holiday season mean for us? Well, we didn’t get eight or nine days off like many Japanese do, but we did have a very light schedule last week and we didn’t have to work Monday or Tuesday of this week. This is the only four-day weekend that we’ll get the entire year that we’re in Japan, so we had to take advantage of it. So, we prepared ourselves for the ridiculous crowds that were bound to be everywhere during Golden Week and, last Saturday morning, set off for Koyasan.

Koyasan is a raised plateau about 1000m above sea level on the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama prefecture that is home to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Shingon, is the only other example of Vajrayana Buddhism (with the exception of isolated sects in China) in the world besides Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by a monk named Kukai in the ninth century after he brought the esoteric teachings from China. The ability to affect earthly problems with esoteric practices involving mandala and mantra helped the sect become successful in a period rife with political and military conflict. After Kukai left the sect (I say left because it is still commonly believed that he resides in deep samadhi in Koyasan, awaiting the coming of Maitreya) he became known by the title Kobo Daishi, and is best recognized in images or statues by his traveler’s hat and stick. Many pilgrims imitate this dress as they complete their pilgrimages:

Our first stop in Koyasan was Okunoin, a beautiful graveyard where a huge number of famous Buddhists are buried, or at least partially buried - one of the great benefits of the Japanese practice of cremation is that it’s then quite easy to be buried in more than one place. Additionally, the graveyard holds a memorial to Kobo Daishi that is one of the most atmospheric places I’ve ever visited. The smell of the incense, the chanting of the monks, and the strange light given off by the thousands of lanterns in the temple made it incredibly unique:

After Okunoin, we checked into Kamagaiji, a Shukubo, or temple with guest lodging. An hour after arriving we were served dinner in our rooms, in the vegetarian style passed down by the monks for centuries:

Later, we changed into our yukata (summer or sleeping kimonos) and went to bed early, as we had to wake up at 6:00 the next morning for the Buddhist ceremony:

I’ll end my post on Koyasan for now, but look forward to the rest of Koyasan, Nara and Kyoto in the next several days.

This past weekend, we took a daytrip to Hakone. Hakone is one of the most popular tourist destinations from Tokyo, both for its numerous onsen (hotsprings) and its sightseeing opportunities. One of the most popular attractions is the various norimono (???) or means of transportation. Following the recommended route through Hakone on the norimono was our goal, so we bought the “Hakone Freepass” for 3900 yen, and all of our transportation for the day was covered. We took the train one stop to Mishima and met up with one of my students who works at the Mishima Tourist Agency:

After she helped us buy our “Free Passes” we rode the bus to Hakone and caught our first and probably most unique norimono: a pirate ship across Ashinoko (Lake Ashi) with real pirates on board:

From the pirate ship, we jumped onto the ropeway on our way to Owakaduni - famous for it’s sulfur mine and stinky gas vents:

It also happens to have a famous delicacy known as kurotamago (????), or black eggs, which are basically eggs hardboiled in the sulfur springs during which they turn black:

They tasted completely normal. Even Hello Kitty chose to take part in the kurotamago sensation, apparently because of the seven years longevity that comes prepackaged with black eggs:

From Owakaduni, we took the ropeway to the cable car to the train, finally ending up in Miyanoshita which is the location of one of the three most famous hotels in Japan: the Fujiya hotel. We didn’t get any good pictures because there was a wedding going on, but you can check out their website here. Although we intended on going to an onsen in Miyanoshita, we were entirely exhausted and decided to head home for the day. However, we got some nice pictures of Lake Ashi (and it’s all-natural water fowl) as we waited for the bus home:

The last few months have been filled with endings and beginnings. Just over two months ago, Anna and I spent our last few weeks in Phoenix, rushing around trying to finish our last-minute errands and making sure we got a chance to see everyone before we left. Our three-day drive home was stressful - two flat tires in one day between Oklahoma City and Tulsa - but we got some relief with Anna’s brother’s wedding which was lots of fun even if it was busy. Then, I drove back to Pennsylvania for more goodbyes and hurried packing. At the time, all of this seemed incredibly surreal, and I don’t think that it really hit me that we were moving 7000 miles away until the plane was leaving the tarmac in Chicago.

Next Tuesday will mark our sixth week living in Numazu. Despite the fact that every time I ride my bike down the street I can read only 1/100th of the signs and despite the fact that communicating in many situations is virtually impossible, again my brain is finding it hard to believe that it actually resides in Japan. In order to try to get a grasp on some of my experiences here, and at the same time, share them with everyone that I haven’t gotten a chance to share them with one-on-one, I’m going to attempt to write in this blog as regularly as possible. I’m hoping that our strange working schedules will actually be conducive to this, since an awkward one and a half hour break will become the perfect time to write.

As I just said, my goal with this blog is twofold. Naturally, I want to share all of my experiences with all of you. However, in sharing I want to avoid falling into the pitfalls of blogging about Japan described in this recent article from The Westerner’s Fear of the Neonsign. While I see some of these problems as inevitable in the cultural clash that westerners experience here, I want all of you to see the real world that we see, including the “ugly white minivans” or some of the drab businesses where we teach. I can only hope that while painting this picture for you, I can gain some understanding of what our home for the next year is really about.