The man with the purse sat down beside us and adjusted the strap on his leather boot. It was our second day in Hiroshima and our first stop was breakfast at a trendy coffee shop. Betsy and I relished our anpan (bread with sweet bean paste inside) and took note of the incredibly stylish people around us. The urban Japanese individual doesn't leave the house without his or her designer shoes, tight pants, wild hairstyle that defies heat and moisture, and purse (yes, both men and women make use of purses). I like to think that I have some style, but compared to the young adults of Hiroshima, I'm just another frumpy white guy.
Nonetheless, our plans for the day were to go to Miyajima, the third most beautiful place in Japan. I told Betsy we should go to the first and second most beautiful places in Japan, but she likes to settle (closed-minded racist). Miyajima is an island that has been a declared sacred place and thus those near death or the heavily pregnant are not allowed to stay overnight. The most famous sites to see are a large torii a few meters out in the water (trust me, if you ever seen any guidebook about Japan you've seen this torii), the Itsukushima-jinga (shrine), and a monkey sanctuary. To get to the island from the city, one must take a streetcar (similar to the San Francisco trolley) all the way down to the coast and then board a ferry to cross to the island. Our streetcar ride took FOREVER and along the way I kept asking old women if they would like my seat (one lady graciously took my seat, another refused…but that might be because she was about ten feet away in the car and I had to shout "sumimasen (excuse me), dozo (please take my seat)!"…I was really only asking to practice my Japanese).
Once on the island, Betsy and I found ourselves mixing with about 50,000 other people all there to see the beauty and mystery of Miyajima. There are tame deer near the dock that greet visitors and eat all the return-ferry-ride tickets and clothes they can get (the deer didn't get us, we read the warning signs and avoided the deer food vender). Some of the high heel-wearing Japanese women didn't fare as well and ended up being assailed by the ravenous deer.
Betsy thought it would be awesome to rent bikes to explore more area, but we soon learned that the island is filled with steep hills that make bike riding just an intense leg work out (way to go, Betsy). Still, we did manage to work off our morning anpan before eating oysters and kara-age (delicious fried chicken) for lunch.
After Miyajima we headed back to the city for dinner with another JET (Lisa from Nakatsu and her boyfriend Jeff!) at a ramen restaurant where you order you food via a vending-like machine (delicious, trust me). Then since it was a full moon, we got some mochi (sweet rice balls) and chilled out in the peace park (the tradition in Japan is to eat mochi and relax on the night of the full moon).
Betsy and I left the following day with a vow to plan other such trips. I had such a blast with her because we can commune with one another about having difficult teaching jobs. Unlike Japanese elementary and junior high school students who are precious and cute, our high school students are dirty terrors with no respect. Not all of them, but some of them (really just the boys) are rude and crude and not knowing the language makes teaching a challenge (and the fact that neither one of us knows much about being an educator). Learning that our situations are similar encouraged me to keep trying and pressing forward…life should only get easier. Plus Betsy likes to eat yummy Japanese food as much as me (and thank goodness we weren't together much longer because we both would have been fat and broke).
Well, it's Saturday and I need to wrap up my workday (yes, I'm at school on a Saturday). The good new is that I just got my own computer at home and will soon be posting pictures to go along with all these stories. Until next time, thanks for reading.
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2 comments:
I enjoyed hearing your hilarious (but sometimes scary) stories about teaching at a Japanese high school. gambatte ne! =)
Sounds like an awesome trip, and i cant wait to go there myself.
Just read your last couple of paragraphs. I cant help it if I was lucky enough to score a kindergarten. Ill make a point not to go on about how cute they are from now on. Although I taught them today and they were so cute. They told me every time i come i bring kindness - at least that was the translation i got.
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