Miscellaneous Photos

Below are photos from Japan that I've meant to post for a while. Remember you can click on a photo to make it bigger. Enjoy!

When I stayed in Takayama this summer vacation my host cooked wonderful, fresh meals. Here is a dinner of spring rolls, breaded eggplant and bell peppers, fish cakes, tofu with whole beans inside, fried bean sprouts, cucumbers with spices and rice topped with ground sesame.
We drove to a very local onsen (hot spring) in the woods 30 minutes from the city. This is a unique onsen because the water is saturated with minerals and ions. It's brown presumably from the iron in it.
Kiki and Norio-san, my hosts in Takayama, relaxing on tatami mats in the lobby of an onsen we went to at a local resort.
A street vendor at a fireworks festival in Nagoya. Summer in Japan is packed with fireworks shows every week in every city. It also happens to be quite wet in the summer and actually was raining pretty significantly on us during the show.
A young couple wearing yukatas (summer kimonos). This is very popular garb at summer fireworks festivals.
Fashion is of the utmost importance to many in Tokyo, including these girls. "Cos' play" (costume play) is one genre of fashion. These girls were on their way to Harajuku, the top high school fashion district.
Robin, my coworker, and I at a fireworks festival in Yokohoma. On the right is our friend Shige, who joined us on mount Fuji and in Kyoto/Osaka/Nara.
I thought fireworks in the shapes of character and faces were only possible in the Lord of the Rings books...

Two peaches - 780 yen (~ $8.00 USD). These were at the local grocery store in the station at my small station of Shin-Maruko. This large grocery store chain has branches in many stations and cities. Prices tend to be approximately double compared to other grocery stores, yet it's always packed with people. I told the gentleman next to me that these prices were outrageous and he replied that they were high quality peaches. *sigh*
Grapes anyone? Only $10! Maybe I should import the ones that grow in my backyard at home...
Doggy fashion is an ubiquitous, funny spectacle in Tokyo. Because of limited space, 99% of the dogs here are small varieties. Cute clothes are just the beginning though - many dogs are pushed in strollers.
A little dinosaur.

To the country's surprise and pleasure, this year Japan made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Before the game I went to the major crosswalk in Shibuya (the one my school looks down onto). Every time the pedestrian signal turned green fans rushed the streets and jumped around yelling in the middle. I had beer spilled on my suit (I had come from teaching), which warranted a dry cleaning run the next day, but it was worth it. Later, about 40 police officers showed up and barricaded the crosswalks.

Sumo Tournament

In the spring I went to a sumo tournament with a good friend, who is another teacher here, Rochelle. The tournament went from morning to evening with the wrestlers starting with amateurs and progressing to the highly paid, most skilled professionals.

Remember, you can click on the photos to make them larger! Try clicking again and on some browsers you can zoom in even further.

A wider shot of the arena. We sat in the front row of the second level. Early in the day the arena was fairly empty so we sat on the ground floor.
Sumo wrestling is a ceremonial event packed with tradition and special customs. In fact, the wrestling ground is considered a holy space with restrictions on who may enter it. Here the wrestlers line up before their round of matches begins.
These guys didn't want me to hurt them so they agreed to take a photo
Rochelle and I eating sumo wrestler food. I think it's magic food because I felt stuffed and bloated after one bowl.
This gentleman was the biggest of the big.

Here are videos of two different matches. Don't expect packed action like a Hollywood thriller; sit back and take in the ceremony as a whole. They're only a couple minutes each - you can do it!

Kyoto Photos

Below are some photos from my trip to Kyoto in the spring. Remember, you can click on a photo to make it larger. Enjoy!

A tiny, very local eatery where we ate in Nara, which is about 30 minutes from Osaka or an hour from Kyoto. Notice that we're carrying our bags; because it was Golden Week, a Japanese national holiday, all accommodations were full. As a result, we slept (sort of) in a karaoke booth. Completely exhausted the next day, boarded a train in Osaka that goes in a loop and snuck in an additional two hours of sleep.
Shige, Robin and I in front of the largest wooden structure on earth, which houses a giant buddha statue. The size of the building is a bit difficult to grasp in this photo.
A true geisha show in Kyoto.
In Kyoto, even the McDonald's' are beautiful.

Shige and I in the bamboo forest in Arashiyama - west Kyoto.

Famous zen garden of 15 stones in Ryoan-Ji - a temple founded in 1450.
Meiko-san (essentially young geisha) walking in Gion, the geisha district in Kyoto
With geisha-san! Okay, maybe they were tourists dressed up like geisha, but we can always imagine. Either way, standing next to these two felt like standing next to two moving statues - it was quite surreal.
Japanese tourists dressed in Kimonos for fun
Kiyomizu-dera: a beautiful temple complex in the hills of Kyoto