My Amazing Japanese Summer Vacation with Mom: Kyoto!

The Lord is good! That is what has become so real to me these past few days as I have struggled with whether or not to take the publishing contract, emailing other authors, praying, reading the Bible, through tears and sleepless nights to come up with a decision. The publisher said they would allow me to make any changes I want, and all my published author friends told me to go for the deal as it seems like a reputable publisher, one that has won awards and all that. One of them said "writers are like hookers. We stand on the street corner and when someone calls us, we go, as long as there's money involved." He's a Christian, so I'm really shocked that he would use such a metaphor. My other friends, however, have suggested I go with my instinct. God has blessed me so much. There have been times in my life when I felt God was telling me to wait, when I wanted something so bad and he said, "No," and I just frankly hated Him for it for awhile. But He was always, always right. Whether it was in relationships or travel or business, He's never been wrong. I definitely don't want to lock myself into a five-year contract with this sick, nauseating feeling in my stomach the whole time, feeling like I failed before the book is even published. So I will hold off on a contract for now. When I get back to America, that Christian agent said she’ll probably be interested in helping me, and if all goes well, we can strike a deal with a traditional publisher together. It feels good to know I’ll have a mentor helping me along. Of course I’ve had plenty of amazing teachers at the University of Tulsa and Night Writers and Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc, but now I have someone who really shares my vision, loves my stories and can stand beside me, helping me hone my craft to the best of my ability.

Now, back to my amazing adventures with Mom in Japan! Monday, July 26 we woke up bright and early so we could leave Kayoko`s house before she and her mom had to go to work, ate custard and bread for breakfast, and headed out at 7:15 to catch the bus for the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). Kayoko showed us which bus to take on the way. We got there about 8:00, but it didn`t open until 9:00, so we spent the time wandering around the grounds and deleting bad pictures off our memory cards so we`d have room for more! When 9:00 came and the gates opened, we got our first look at the beautiful temple:



You can`t quite see the golden phoenix on the top, but it`s there. It was originally built in the late 1300s as a retirement villa for shogun, but after his death he requested that it be converted to a Zen Buddhist temple.

At the temple, we saw a really big, beautiful butterfly. Japan has a lot of these:



The gift shop was a good place to buy souvenirs. I got a gorgeous calendar full of traditional Japanese art (only a little more flashy) and a book about a modern day apprentice geisha.

After the temple we had lunch at the famous parfait place Kayoko took me once, karafuniya, that sells over 99 different types of parfait. The name sounds almost Spanish, and ironically, we met some Spaniards on the bus who decided to come by the restaurant later. It was sooo good! I got the cheese sandwich for lunch and the strawberry cookie chocolate parfait for desert. Mom, still craving American food, had the hamburger patty and chocolate/raspberry parfait. For two people, it was about 25 dollars, very cheap for Japan! Here’s a picture of the parfaits:



Then we went on an English tour of the old Kyoto Imperial Palace. I gotta say, not much there. Just a lot of staring through gateways we couldn’t go in on an ugly gravel lawn in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity. I can think of a lot better ways we could have spent the time. The one and only cool thing (figuratively and literally), was the Japanese pond park the Imperial family kept to remind them of the ocean:



It seems to me that at least Japanese citizens should be able to go into the actual palace. They pay taxes to maintain it, and it's not like anyone lives there anymore. But the guide told me the precious artifacts inside are in too much danger of being damaged by tourists.

"So why not encase them in glass or put them in a museum for people to enjoy?" I asked. After all, what good is art if it just sits there without being enjoyed by anyone?

"We can't," was all the tour guide said.

She also told us the palace burned down at least three times while the emperor lived there.

“Then why did they keep rebuilding it out of wood?” I asked.

“Because it’s cooler,” the tour guide replied.

Ha, ha, I thought. She doesn’t live in a wooden apartment with rice paper walls. The Japanese have no concept of proper insulation.

I bit my tongue and said instead, “You’d think they would be more concerned about protecting the royal family than staying cool. After all, he was considered a deity.”

“Coolness is most important,” she replied seriously. As if that really answered the question.

I found out later from a much wiser tour guide that the real reason is because Japan doesn’t have stone. Just a lot of wood. Now that makes a lot more sense. I know from experience that the Japanese are not so stupid as to keep doing the same thing wrong over and over again at risk to their own lives. They are always changing and adapting, whenever possible.

But a little advice: don’t visit Kyoto in summer. It’s much hotter than the rest of Japan because it’s in a valley and the sun beats directly on it. Also extremely humid. So why build the capital there? Valleys over good protection, and the river decent trade. Plus the winters are a lot more tolerable.

If you must visit in the summer, a good place to go is kyomizudera (water temple.) It’s up in the mountains and as the name suggests, there’s a lot of water. Here’s a picture of the temple in the late afternoon sun:



The view of Kyoto and the surrounding woods from the top was spectacular, It’s a lot more colorful and decorative than most Japanese temples, reminding me of the temples I saw in China. The architecture was also similar. Here’s a belfry:



And here's a bunch of cute little Buddha statues (or maybe Ebisu; it's hard to tell the difference sometimes since they're both fat and happy) decked out in red robes:



We rested under the shade of a giant wisteria bush, about 500 years old and so big that it covered four lattices like giant tree roots. But I’ll wait to show you the one in Nara, which was about 1,000 years old.

This is the highlight of the temple, the sacred springs. You’re supposed to take the cup on the long pull, get the water, and drink it, but Mom and I aren’t into the ritual purification thing, so we just filled the cups, poured out the water and put them back in their ultraviolet sanitation lights. Here's me:



In ancient Japan, people who visited the temples must have gotten sick a lot, because thousands of people shared the same cup and they were rarely cleaned. Maybe that’s what caused the great plague in Kyoto 1,000 years ago, the reason for the Gion festival these days.

After that, we went to a fifty minute geisha show in Gion Corner. They demonstrated koto (Japanese harp), ekebana (flower arranging), traditional court music and dance (very atonal, and esoteric), meiko (apprentice geisha) dance, Japanese traditional comedy, and bunraku (giant puppet play that requires three men to control one puppet). Everything was…strange, but interesting. The least strange was probably the comedy, very similar the Western comedy, a story about two servants who tried to steal their masters sake and ended up getting drunk and beaten up. Also interesting, just as Greek drama always consisted of several tragedies and one comedy, so it was with traditional Japanese theater. A very long Noh play would be accompanied by a short comedic piece.

Here is the meiko dance:



And part of the bunraku play. The story is about a girl who fell in love with a temple page boy but her parents won’t let her marry him. Her love is forced to leave with his master because the master lost a very precious sword. Then the girl finds the sword. But the gates of the city are closed; no one can come out or go in, and the master and her love will leave first thing in the morning. This is the portion of the play where she is trying to decide what to do:



She finally decides to strike the fire bell to bring her love out of the city. She fears punishment, but bravely goes on with her plan.

We got home about 11:00. I immediately stuck in the rest of the Tai chicken for dinner while Mom turned on the air conditioning. Oops! Everything switched off. Neither of us knew what had happened. With no light and no cooling, (not to mention no way to call my landlord so late), we decided to get up at 4:45 the next morning to pack and prepare for Mount Fuji. The bus would come at 6:30am! Suffice it to say, in the unbearable heat and worrying about things, I didn't sleep much that night. Then how did I manage the great Fuji-San? Find out in my next post!

My Japanese summer vacation with Mom: Osaka Tenjin Festival!

Sunday July 22nd, Mom and I went to the Tenjin festival in Osaka, one of the three largest, loudest, sweatiest festivals in Japan! First we went to J-house church where we had a combined Japanese/English service. Mom was impressed to see people from all over the world worshiping together; it was really touching. The doctrine was sound and the people welcoming; everything a church should be. They shared lunch with us and Mom got to know a little bit about Japanese missions. Afterwards, we headed for the festival. How strange, that after the worship service we should see a number of men going around blessing the shops in traditional Japanese form, shouting and clapping. This was followed by a parade, carrying small portable shrines to the big Tenman shrine dedicated to Tenman Tenjin, who used to be just an ordinary poet back in the Hein period (794 to 1185), but was later deified as the patron god of art and learning. Nobody believes in that anymore, but the festival and all its customs have a history over 1,000 years old. It`s celebrated throughout Japan just like the Ebisu matsuri and a lot of others, but Osaka has the biggest shrine and therefore the biggest festival. Mom and I watched young Japanese men and women carry giant floats on their shoulders, jumping and shouting and dancing with umbrellas as they paraded down the covered shopping street. No cars allowed; too narrow even without the parade. It was impressive, but very hot and crowded!

Here you can see the people jumping up and down with the portable shrine:



That`s actually not the most impressive we saw; this is at the end of the parade so everyone is hot and tired. (It was about 98 degrees Fahrenheit outside, or 36.5 degrees Celsius.) You should have seen them leaping at the beginning! I almost thought the shrine would fall off.

And here`s the dragon dance:



In a full-fledged dragon dance, one guy plays the feet and the other the head, but these were just small dragons. There were also little kids doing the dragon dance. Not as impressive, but really cute!

Followed by the beautiful umbrella dancers:



I don`t know what they`re shouting, exactly. Sometimes it sounds like “Sore” which is basically “Yeah!” “Come on!” “Let`s do it!” etc. No special meaning. Then there`s the Engrish chant “Fighto fighto!” which I don`t think requires a translation. I swear, knowing Spanish really helps communicate with Japanese. Just add an “o” or an “a” on the end of any English word and about one quarter of the time they`ll know what you`re saying. Ha, ha.

Of course there were the usual street vendors, so I bought Mom a fried anko (red bean paste) and cream fish flour tortilla thing. It`s basically like a soft waffle, shaped like a fish, stuffed with sweets. She didn`t care for the anko, so I got her a custard one too. She liked that better.

Mom started getting really hungry (for something other than huge helpings of carbohydrate), so we stopped by a Subway along the street. She was really surprised how much she craved American food already (MEAT)! Giant bowls of rice just don`t satisfy most Americans, I guess. “Is that why you`ve lost so much weight?” she asked me. “Fish and rice? How can you stand it?”

“I like fish,” I replied simply. “But not the rice so much, or rather, so much of the rice.”

We stayed in the nice air-conditioned restaurant until about 4:00, then walked to the end of the street. Mom was surprised how long it went, covered and with only foot traffic and shops all along. Must have been at least two miles. At the end we found a lady with a cute little dog in her purse. Here he is:



The parade came to a culmination with the dragons all running and dancing. I guess they were trying to break through some sort of barrier but failing:



After that, we had about an hour to wait before the boat parade, so we went to a McDonalds for a strawberry shake. (Mom was still having American food withdrawal baaaad.) We had tried a few other restaurants first at my suggestion, but they were all filled with smoke. One thing that really shocked Mom was how many people smoke in Japan. They`re so health conscious, wearing long gloves over their arms so they don`t get skin cancer (or maybe they just like being porcelain white), but they smoke and drink so much. (Some of the first phrases Mom learned in Japanese from the Pimsleur CDs I gave her were how to order or decline beer. She thought she would never need to use them. Ha, ha.) The only place you can get away from it is in Western-style restaurants. In the McDonalds bathroom we were planning on putting on our yukatas, which we had brought with us. But the bathroom was so small, and while I knew how to put on mine, I had trouble with Mom`s. A little old Japanese woman saw us, muttered something under her breath, left, and five minutes later came back. It was like she left and then thought to herself, Well, I can`t let those stupid gaijin walk out of the bathroom looking utterly stupid. I guess I`ll go back and help them. I didn`t even ask her, she just came back in and started stripping us, redoing it the right way, and jabbering the whole time. I couldn`t understand most of what she said because her voice was all crackly like someone stepping on a bag of potato chips. But she was nice, and I can`t believe she took all that time in the cramped little bathroom to do us both up. And then she was gone. Just like that.

To be honest, I had sort of been banking on something like that happening. Mom kept asking how I would put on our yukatas, and I didn`t want to tell her that I hadn`t a clue how to do it myself, at least not on her. I`ve had enough experiences in Japan with random strangers helping me that I knew it would all just work out. That`s sort of how I live my life in Japan. If I want to do something but am totally clueless how, I either ask a passerby first, or just start doing it with the hope that some nice Japanese person will come along and correct me. It never fails, but I don`t think it would work in any other country in the world. What would I do if I ever had to live in a place like New York City? I guess I`d move to Little Tokyo.

Anyway, so there we were, all dressed up in our yukattas. By now a huge crowd was swelling toward the river, eager to see the world`s largest boat procession. Some idiot tried to drive his car through the middle of the throng, honking his head off. Gosh, how stupid and selfish can you be? I guess I`m so used to seeing Japanese people bend over backwards to fit in and be nice to everyone that it just strikes me as ridiculously rude when they don`t, but such a sight would be common in America or Africa or India or anywhere else I`ve been. There`s always some hancho who thinks he`s better than everyone else, no matter where you go.

So we had a pretty good viewing spot for the boat procession, but stupid me wanted to find a seat. We couldn`t see when we sat in the grass, and by the time we got back up to the bridge, the officers wouldn`t let us get our spots back. So we ended up missing the whole procession…darn. Then the fireworks started. Every seven minutes or so, they shot off thirty seconds worth of fireworks. It wasn`t particularly comfortable standing there in the heat amongst the huge crowd, probably well over 5,000 people, and I was liking our prospects for catching the last train to Kyoto less and less. So Mom agreed that we should leave early, about 8:15.

And boy am I glad we did! The river of people moving toward the station was nearly overwhelming, before the fireworks were even halfway over! Mom had to stop by the bathroom. I was relieved when there wasn`t a line, but I shouldn`t have been. Just as I was coming out, I heard an alarm blare. A few second later I saw Mom sheepishly come out of the handicapped stall, looking like she wanted to disappear. A security guard came but we hurried away.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

“Um…I couldn`t figure out how to flush the toilet. So I, uh…pressed all the buttons and then…”

“You pressed the alarm.” I couldn`t help but laugh. “You know, I did the same thing at an ATM once.”

Mom wasn`t laughing. “Um, Laura Jane?”

“Yeah?”

“I forgot my ticket in there.”

Oh. So we forced our way back through the crowd, like salmon swimming upstream, and got the ticket.

“Well, at least we`re even on the toilet mishaps now,” I told her.

The trains were so full we couldn`t even get on the first one. For the first time in my life I saw the pushers, who shoved and prodded and packed us in like fish in a crate. Fortunately most folks got off long before Kyoto. Otherwise it would have been a REALLY long ride.

Why did we go to Kyoto? Because we were staying with my friend Kayoko at her mother`s house. Originally she was going to come with us to the festival, but said she wasn`t feeling well. So I was a little surprised when she said she still felt good enough to put us up for the night. We were greeted with the usual Japanese hospitality, curry rice for dinner, hot showers and an air-conditioned room with beds. Kayoko and her mother had to work the next morning, but Mom and I enjoyed touring around Kyoto. I`ll write about that next time!

My amazing Japanese summer vacation with Mom: Waterfalls and Fireworks!

More apologies for the long delay! This time I have a really good excuse. Besides my internet breaking again and being really busy at work, I got a contract for Treasure Traitor with Double Dragon Publishing! It’s a small, e-book and print on demand paper back publisher, and I`ve been ripping my hair out trying to decide if it`s the right time/right choice. I got an email from a Christian agent I sent the book to who says it`s not ready yet. She loves the story, but it`s just not good enough yet. She said she was really glad she waited on publication so that her writing could mature. But then I looked up her name on google and couldn`t find a single thing she`s written. Maybe she waited TOO long, or in other words, hasn`t published at all. She also cautioned me against an ebook publisher since I likely won`t be able to sell the paper rights to anyone else for at least five years. But ebooks are sort of the new thing now, and she strikes me as a little old fashioned. Other people feel I`m ready, that this is a good opportunity, but I have a really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that I just can`t shake. What`s wrong with me? I`ve strived for ten years to get a contract with a publisher and worked really hard on this submission specifically, and this is my all-time dream. Is my anxiety from God or is it self-induced? I asked God to give me a clear, decisive answer, and when I read my devotional for that night it was about "waiting on the Lord." The sermon on Sunday was about resisting temptation and not giving into the devil's lies. But then when I prayed about it today, my devotional was Ephesians 5, which includes the verse "Be very careful, then how you live-- not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's Will is." I was so certain God was telling me no before I read that. Is this my big chance or would I be making a mistake? The timing SEEMS perfect, just after I get back from Japan. But then, maybe receiving the email from the agent at the exact same time is also "good timing." Double Dragon is also interested in the sequels, so that would give me something definite to work on with deadlines. But I can`t help but notice that some of the books they publish are a little lacking in editorial quality, as if they could have used a few more good revisions, and they don't seem very selective, but they have some award-winning authors too. Ug, I drive myself crazy! I haven`t been able to sleep or eat for three days. I hate to keep them waiting and should probably give them my decision soon. I just wish I could tell the future, sometimes, you know? Or maybe I just need to trust God more.

Anywho, back to my vacation with Mom. (There`s nothing like procrastination!) Saturday morning, we went to akame guchi! Well, there was a bit of a communication mix up and Mom took a little long getting ready. We almost missed the 10:00 bus to the falls, but caught it just in time. It was so full! But it’s no wonder everyone wanted to go to the waterfalls; the weather was perfect. Once we arrived, we stopped by the salamander center just before the main path. Japanese salamanders are HUGE! But check out this little Mexican guy with the red gills. He’s cute:



Here’s the river leading up through the waterfalls. It’s really pretty in the morning, with a bit of mist steaming off the water.



Surprisingly, it wasn’t too buggy. The river spills over a total of forty-eight waterfalls and leads through a primeval forest of mostly cedar and fern. It’s quite…enchanting. Mother and I both stopped by an interesting tree with unusually flat roots. No doubt the flatness was caused by shoes trampling over them through the centuries, but we both got an impression of fairies or some other little creatures living in the tree and using the flat space as a dancing square. I thought it was interesting that we both came up with the idea independently. I guess I get my creative side from my mom. So here’s our fairy tree:



Even though there are technically forty-eight waterfalls, only about seven of them are big enough to be particularly impressive. Here’s one of the first big falls, one of my favorites:



And here’s a path leading up the mountain, but we weren’t allowed to go up there:



Not long after that, Mom had her first experience with Japanese toilets. She was shocked that the Japanese wouldn't prefer Western style after visiting other countries.

"These are so unsanitary and uncomfortable," she noted.

I shrugged. "Believe it or not, I've seen people prefer the Japanese style over Western."

That completely dumbfounded her. I didn't tell her how bad the toilets (aka holes in the ground) were at this park. Suffice it to say, when something in my pocket fell down the hole (at the time I thought it was my train ticket), I didn't even consider reaching into the dark pit of doom to retrieve it.

About three quarters of the way along the trail, we came to a beautiful green pool full of fish. I was so tempted to jump right in! Surprisingly though, no one was swimming. A few kids were splashing in the pools nearer to the falls, but absolutely no adults. I don't care; I'm a foreigner, I'm entitled to stick out and look weird. Next time I'm definitely bringing my bathing suit:



Doesn't it just scream "Swim in me?"

Mom started getting pretty exhausted after that, not to mention overheated (it was about 95 degrees; not so bad in and of itself, but after hiking in it for long enough, it starts to get to you). They say it takes 1.5 hours to hike the trail and 1.5 hours to hike back. Yeah, right. More like 3 hours there and 3 hours back. I pushed her on just a little further, and it was worth it. We made it to the famous twin falls, the pride of Akame guchi. Here they are:



The brochure says it looks a giant carrying a boulder on its shoulder. I like the rhyme, but I don't quite see it. Maybe a giant's face, with the water as crying eyes and the rock as a nose. That I can see.

On the way back, I took mom's picture by the first big falls. Here she is:



So I've been to the falls three times now, but I've never hiked the whole trail! Next time. It's on my list of things to do before I leave Japan!

So we got back to my apartment about 5:15, hoping to change into our yukata before dinner with Pastor Toshi's family and fireworks at 6:30, perhaps even take a nice little nap. That's when I realized I did not drop my train ticket in the toilet pit of doom. I dropped my house key. I spent about five minutes fretting about what to do, rang all my neighbor's doorbells to find that they were not home, and after ten minutes lucked out and cornered one of them just as he was pulling in the tiny apartment lot. He brought a phone book and I called my land lord. No answer. I called the lock smith. No answer. Just when I was about to panic, the lock smith called me. Turns out, the one and only lock smith in Nabari was in Iga for the day, about forty-five minutes away. Fortunately, however, his secretary spoke English (she sounded like she was from the Philippines) and promised to get ahold of him. All this time, my poor mother is sitting against my metal door, sweating buckets, assuring me she's all right, she'll just go to sleep right there. Then Pastor Toshi calls at 6:00 and says he wants us to walk to Jusco for dinner. (There's no way they can pick us up, go back and find a parking spot because of the fireworks.) I drag Mom a mile to the restaurant (at least it's air-conditioned) to have a Japanese style dinner sitting on the floor. Mom is shocked when even Pastor Toshi's elderly father sits on the floor, but I assure her that's just custom. All during this time, I'm trying to get hold of my friend Karen who wanted to see the fireworks with us, but to no avail. The lock smith's secretary called me and said the smith would call me at 7:00 when he came back from Iga. But that wouldn’t give me enough time to get to the fireworks! Thinking of my mom I said OK, but he never called. Our dinner took forever to arrive, and Mom realized she does not like soba (a noodle made from a special kind of green plant), Japanese rice (or at least not in the quantity that it is given)…or just about any other kind of Japanese food except for tonkatsu, fried pork. But we finished just in time to go outside and see the fireworks start at 7:50.

Karen called me back and we said we would meet on the bridge. Ha, ha. The bridge was packed with all kinds of food and game stalls and well over a thousand people, looking for the “best spot” to see the fireworks. We watched them there for awhile, but Mom hated the sardine feeling again, so we looked for a less crowded spot. Finally, about ten minutes before they ended, we found a really good spot along the street.

Japanese hanabi (literally flower fire) are really amazing! These lasted for a full forty-five minutes, and were brighter, bigger, louder, and more colorful than American fireworks, and often ended with a special effect like crackling, changing colors, golden streams falling, or screamers. That’s the other thing, Japanese screamers look like little ghosts, snaking their way up to heaven with a blood-curdling screech. I wonder if the metaphor is intentional or if I just have a strange way of making associations. Here’s a video, though no screamers in it. You’ll get to see those in my Shirarahama fireworks video later! But if you ever come to Japan, I definitely recommend going to see a fireworks display. Plus they’re free!



After all the excitement and big booms, I called my land lord back. Of course, he was still lingering at the fireworks with his four kids. I got in the car with Pastor Toshi’s family and continued to call until I finally got ahold of his mother, I think. We realized it would be a lot faster if Mom and I simply walked home, since the traffic wasn’t going anywhere. The land lord’s father came over and he opened the door for us. Sure enough, my spare key was in my wallet, which I had left at home. Who knows what happened to the locksmith, but at least I didn’t have to pay over $100 to get my door opened! And Mom got to sleep in a real bed…or rather a real futon that night, under the air conditioning. Poor Mom probably walked well over ten miles that day!

So that’s all for Saturday, July 24th! On Sunday we went to the Tenjin festival in Osaka, one of the three largest festivals in Japan!

My Japanese Summer Vacation with Mom Part I!

Osashibudi, long time no see! Sorry for the long hiatus; I just got back from two amazing weeks of summer vacation with my mom, but no computer access. We went to Akame Taki waterfalls, Osaka Tenjin festival, Kyoto, (the Golden Temple, Imperial Palace, Water Temple, and a Geisha show), Mount Fuji (I climbed all the way to the top!), Shirahama (where we went to the beach, Adventure World Zoo and Theme Park, Sandanbeki cliffs, scuba diving, the glass bottom boat, moon island, Shirahama fireworks festival, Shirahama bon odori dance festival, and a lot more!), Toba (dolphin island, pearl island, Toba bay cruise), Ise Grand Shrine, and Nara (deer park, largest bronze statue in the world, temples, shrines, and lantern festival). I just love the Japanese ocean! And my students prepared three feasts for my mother and me. My Thursday night class threw her a welcome party, then my Wednesday class a midway party, and my church a bon voyage party! Everything was so spectacular I can hardly begin to describe it! I miss my mom already. It was so nice having someone else in my apartment, even if it made things a little cramped.

So, where to begin? How about when Mom arrived on Thursday the 22nd of July? I took the day off from work so I could be at Kansai airport to pick her up right at 4:00 when her plane landed. The flight board said it arrived at 3:45, but I waited for over an hour. I was beginning to worry when she finally ran through the exit gate of customs, throwing her arms around me and sputtering about how long the customs line was. She was just in time to catch the 5:05 bus to Uehomachi train station and the 6:15 train to Nabari, making it back at 7:20 sharp. The train really scared Mom. We were in the middle of rush hour, packed in like sardines. The first thing she noted when she entered my apartment (after the three flights of stairs we had to haul her luggage up), was the wave of oven-hot air that hit her face. “So this is why you`re always complaining about the heat!”

But there was no reason to turn on the air conditioner, because just a few minutes later Pastor Kumi called and said she was waiting at the curb to pick up Mom and me. Mom was further shocked to find the pastor`s family along with ten of my students and church members awaiting her with tons of home-cooked Japanese food. We started with introductions, then while Pastor Kumi was fitting me into a tight yukata in the Sunday school room, the church members teased poor Mom with repeated attempts to get her to eat octopus. She wasn`t familiar enough with Japanese humor to realize they were only joking. I had told them specifically that she would not eat any octopus. But once I returned to the main room to guide her through the foreign dishes, she found plenty of things she liked. Salad, of course, and fresh fruit, pork soup, custard, and fried chicken. At her insistence, I carefully steered her clear of anything raw or fishy, which excluded about half the dishes, including fried squid, octopus balls, caviar, and salmon guts. But I enjoyed myself some juicy, succulent eel! Quite a delicacy in Japan and my first time to try it.

While she stayed with me, Mom slept on my futon in the living room directly beneath my one and only window air conditioner while I slept in my boiling but soft bed. It was an arrangement easily agreed upon, since I`d rather be hot than sleep on the floor, and she`d rather sleep on the floor than be hot.

On Friday morning I went to school but let Mom sleep in to get over her jet lag (which she dealt with surprisingly well). At noon, my supervisor and I picked her up and took her to a nice Chinese restaurant in town along with three other English teachers. We all had a very nice lunch, though everyone was pretty quiet. Then Mom came to school with me and I showed her around. I was surprised when the principle and vice principle asked to speak with us us. The secretary brought us tea and we chatted for quite a long time in mixed Japanese and English, me translating, about Oklahoma and Japan. They were quite curious about our home. I introduced Mom to quite a few other teachers, showed her the art projects around the school, and we watched the Kendo club for a bit. They practice for hours without an instructor, no jokes, no unnecessary talking, completely focused with the club president directing them. (But I`m sure they have an instructor on some days.) There are four boys and one girl, so they switch off every so often to make sure everyone gets a turn to practice the forms in pairs. It`s taken me forever to get this video up, but here they are:



Mom was surprised by how disciplined and polite they were. As soon as we came into their practice area, they stopped everything, bowed, sat us down in the coolest corner, and brought us more tea. I explained to Mom that it was all part of their training; kendo is more than just sword fighting. It embodies the art of the ancient samurai, which includes strict codes on how to live and treat others with utmost honor, respect, and hospitality. Mom said we need a kendo club in Oklahoma.

After that, the little nature area across from my school impressed her quite a bit, especially the forest and wild flowers. Have I ever mentioned how Japan is a mish-mash of ecosystems and climates? Some plants appear tropical, others temperate, some desert. Where else can you find a cactus, palm tree, orchid, pine tree, azalea bush, and balloon flower all growing within the same ten square feet, naturally outside? (Well, maybe the balloon flower was planted.)

Finally we ended with band, and Mom was shocked to discover that there was no band class, only club. All practice is after school and on weekends, and the teachers are not even professional band conductors. They are math and Japanese and science teachers who volunteer huge amounts of their time without getting paid any extra. And they`re so good! Our hometown high school band in Owasso, Oklahoma is very good, having marched in the Rose Bowl parade four times, more than any other non-California band. Mom said the director Mr. Gorum has met his match in the Kikyogaoka band director. He wouldn’t let the kids get away with a single phrase until it was shaped and dynamicked and punctuated to perfection. My own music professor from college, Dr. Childs, would have been neck to neck with him. And the kids never said a word. Every one of them was 100% focused all day long in a non-air conditioned room from 8:45am to 6:00pm nearly every day of their six week “summer vacation.” When their part wasn`t practicing, they didn`t so much as space out but continued silently working on their own parts. Mom says next time she hears an American band kid complain about all the time and effort they spend on band, she`ll just tell them about the Japanese band system and get them to shut right up.

Oh, there was one more incident before we left school. I wanted to show Mom the "fancy Japanese toilets." You see, toilets in Japan are either holes in the ground, or full-automated thrones with music, sound effects, seat warmers, and a dozen other buttons I have never been able to determine. So I showed her one and started pushing the different buttons, and low and behold a little pipe came out and sprayed her in the face! Oops! I guess that toilet had a gag function.

Shortly after that, our motto for the trip became "stuff happens." Anytime anything went wrong, we would just laugh and say, "It`s Japan. Stuff happens." I think that`s about the only way my poor mother stayed sane while I culture shocked her into about a hundred different experiences that even I had never had before.

Friday evening, I took Mom to Okuwa store and bought her a yukatta for the fireworks festival Saturday night. The saleslady and man fussed all over her until we had just the right robe, obi (sash and bow), shoes, and undergarments. It was pretty neat to get to do that for my mom, remembering our trips to the big department stores in Tulsa once a year when I was young to get me the perfect, affordable, washable Easter or Christmas dress with all the frills and ruffles and the ooing and awing associated with being the only girl in the family, let alone the gorgeous prom dresses my mother bought for me and I enjoyed prancing to parties in for a number of years. It was about time I paid someone to fuss over her. She settled on a red yukatta covered in pinkish pianese, a purple and gold obi, and red flowered shoes.

I had a lot more planned for that day, but it was already 7:00, so we headed home and I made her Tai chicken curry for dinner with a side of yogurt and chocolate liquor ice cream for dessert. I think it turned out pretty well.

The next day we went to Akame Taki Waterfalls, but I have to go to an English teachers` seminar in Tsu now, the capital of my prefecture, so that`s all I have time for until later. My hard drive came for my computer, so I should also be able to insert some pictures soon!

Kyoto Gion Festival: 3rd largest festival in Japan!

First, I just want to say that I feel sorry for my school`s baseball team. It always rains in Japan without warning. It will be sunny, no thunder, no wind, and suddenly a cloud rolls over and it starts pouring in great gray sheets. Still no thunder. No lightning. No wind. It rains long enough to get the screaming kids completely soaked. And suddenly the cloud passes and it stops. It`s rather inconvenient. Especially for baseball games.

But at least the rain serves one good purpose. It provides a respite from the blasting heat and humidity. My plans for several weekends in a row were ruined by rain, making me overjoyed to learn it would be sunny for the Gion Festival in Kyoto, one of the three largest festivals in all Japan. Looking back, I might have been better off if it rained.

Friday night I left for my friend Kayoko`s house in Kyoto without even going home first. Already the streets were packed, filled with men and women dressed in their summer kimono, or yukatta, lining up to see the floats that would be paraded through the streets the following morning. I had just bought myself a yukatta the week before and had practiced getting it on and off myself so I wouldn`t have to rely on anyone to help me. Well, a Westerner trying to put on her own yukatta is about as sorry-looking as an Easterner attempting to shake hands and bow at the same time (which is usually what they do and it`s starting to be a bad habit for me too). A Japanese woman actually stopped me in the train station, pulled me into a corner and right there in public stripped off my robe and put it back on me proper. (Fortunately I had shorts on underneath, but no shirt.)

So it was that when I got to the station where I was supposed to meet Kayoko, telling her I was wearing a yukatta didn`t help much. But her telling me she was about the only one not dressed up helped immensely. By the time I got there it was already past viewing time for the floats, but we had dinner in a delicious and cheap (a rare treasure in Japan) noodle shop. Then I spent the night at her house. Here`s me in my yukatta there:



Kayoko and her mom have a beautiful home and are some of the nicest people I have ever met. It`s thanks to Kayoko that I have these pictures. My camera was broken, so she let me borrow hers. Thanks, Kayoko!

The festival itself was amazing. A huge procession of thirty-two ancient floats paraded through the streets, decorated with beautiful tapestries from Persia, China, Turkey, and Europe. The festival got its start in 869AD when a terrible plague struck Kyoto. Young men totted large wooden floats around the city in prayer that the plague would end. When it did shortly afterwards, carrying or pulling floats became a yearly tradition in memory of the answered prayer. Since modern times, there is a competition between different neighborhoods in Kyoto to have the tallest, most elaborate float. Here`s some pictures:



Get a load of that crowd! I`ve never seen so many people in my life. We were packed so tight we couldn`t even move!

This is a close up of the float in the previous picture, probably my favorite one. It`s a ship!



Here`s a float with two fan dancers. Turning the floats was quite the spectacle (hence it was the most crowded spot on the entire street). Whenever it was time to do it, the fan dancers would signal the crowd with a little dance. No video at this distance though; far too wobbly!



In this picture you can see them rigging the float with ropes to do the turn:



The only thing is, I thought it would be cool for me to wear my yukatta again that morning. I figured, well, it`s meant for summer, right? Apparently in name only. I noticed there were considerably less people in yukatta than the night before. Within a few minutes we were lodged within a sea of sweaty bodies so dense there was no way to fight our way out. I had purposely tied my yukatta loosely 1. So I could breathe easily and 2. So it wouldn`t stick to my sweat-slicked body, creating a natural insulator. Well, along behind me pushed this other Japanese lady, considerably older than the one who helped me in the train station, and before I know it she was untying my obi (large decorative belt) right there in the crowd. She gives it several hefty jerks to tighten it (the obi is in many ways, the Japanese version of the corset), readjusts the bow so that it`s jabbing into my back, gives me a pat and pushes me up further away from Kayoko into the sun. I`m sure she thought she was being very nice. I however, could not stand the discomfort, so Kayoko and I shoved and ramroded our way through the throng (with the help of some police directing the flow of feet) to the less crowded byways. Meandering, we found a little shop selling all things related to the festival, including miniature versions of the floats. Here they are, so you can see what they all look like together:



We decided to take lunch at quaint little place that was again both surprisingly cheap and delicious. Do you know the American restaurant Cheesecake Factory? Imagine that, only a third the price, and with parfait instead of cheesecake! The Japanese love parfait, and this store had over one hundred to choose from, including jumbos that would have taken at least ten people to finish! As with all Japanese restaurants, they had plastic models of the food displayed in their windows. Here`s a picture of their monster parfait!



Though it was hard to decide, Kayoko and I both settled on something more modest, coffee for her and chocolate/strawberry for me. We spent a nice relaxing hour there, then headed back to the festival. Just in front of the restaurant we found a much better view with less people. Here`s a picture of the men pulling the float, dressed in traditional Edo period (1603-1868) costume:



And here`s a closer look at the float they were pulling. You can get a good look at the tapestries here. Can you tell which ones are from Europe?



Here`s a weird flying-man float. I have no idea what it`s supposed to symbolize, but it looks cool!



It was so hot we should have just called it quits then, but it takes me over two hours to get to Kyoto, so I stubbornly wanted to get the most out of the trip. So we went to the famous Heian shrine. Well, apparently all the other tourists visiting Kyoto from around the world had the same idea. Add to that the fact that the Heian shrine is the main Shinto shrine in Kyoto, so naturally all festivities begin and end there. We were just in time for the closing ceremony which involved a lot of shouting men walking around in circles in strange costumes. Believe it or not, the crowd was even more dense there!



Here`s a picture of some of the shrines stationary floats:



We decided to escape before it ended. But the crowd coming into the shrine was so vast we couldn`t get out. We were trapped! It was so hot and I couldn`t breathe properly, so I did something that I had never done before in my entire life. I fainted, right there in the middle of the jam-packed street. Not on purpose, of course! (How would one faint on purpose anyway?) Everything just went black and I fell sideways. If I had been in America I probably would have smashed my head on the asphalt, but the Japanese are always very aware of their surroundings and thoughtful to boot, so several strong arms reached out to catch me just before I hit the ground. Fortunately we were right next to a convenience store so the crowd parted to let me in, and after several minutes in the cool air conditioning, Kayoko flagged a taxi and we got back to her house all right. After several glasses of cold water I felt a lot better and was able to go home that evening and to church the next morning. But I had been planning to go to Spain land on Monday (because it was a national holiday) and decided against it. My mother is coming on Thursday and we have tons of travel plans, so I figured I just needed a day home to rest.

All in all it was an amazing festival and I`m glad I went, but here`s some advice to fellow travelers:

1.) In the middle of a blazing summer, yukattas are better worn only in the evening.
2.) Before being pushed head-first into a huge crowd, check to see if there are other areas that are less crowded. In most festivals in Japan and elsewhere, the most crowded spot in a parade is where there is a bridge or where the floats have to turn.
3.) Know when enough is enough. (I probably should have quit after the festival ended.) If you`re hot and sweaty, you`re only going to get more so. Avoid trying to cram a lot of tourist attractions into a festival day because other tourists will have the same idea.

In the future, I will take this advice to heart and be able to have an even more enjoyable time at Japanese festivals, including Tenjin matsuri next weekend in Osaka, another one of Japan`s three largest festivals.

Prayer Requests for this week: My mother is coming to visit me this Thursday! I`m so excited! Together we will see many historical and natural treasures of Japan, fireworks and festivals. Please pray for safety for her and me as we travel all over Japan in the next two weeks! Consequently I will probably not have another chance to write a blog for another two weeks, but I promise I will have lots to report with tons of pictures when we get back!

Until next time, keep loving and keep praying,
L. J. Popp

Some scary happenings...

Well, I was planning to go to the Toba aquarium this Saturday morning and afternoon, but something totally crazy happened on Friday night while I was asleep. I shouldn`t give any details, but suffice it to say someone broke into my apartment (well, actually I was stupid and left my door unlocked), and did some rather…disturbing things, including throw up all over my bathroom. I think this person was drunk. Anyway, I`m OK, this person didn`t hurt me. I called the ambulance and they came, then someone (not me) called the police, and then this person was taken to the station for questioning. I`m OK. Just a little shell-shocked.

What did I learn from this experience? ALWAYS lock your door. Japan isn`t safe anymore, even in the inaka (countryside). I say this as a warning to others, especially single ladies living alone. Something terrible could have happened to me! Thank God it didn`t…

I definitely think that was an attack from the Enemy. Because Saturday was our Popp movie night at the church! Saturday I was so exhausted I slept in late, then did some chores around the house, then went to church to help host the event. Despite the attack from the night before, it went great! We showed the American movie Fire Proof (Fire Storm in Japanese) and even though only two ladies came (both from my Thursday night class), they responded really well! We had a really great discussion afterwards. I definitely recommend it. Hopefully, we`ll have a movie night every month!

Prayer Requests for this week: I would appreciate your prayers for peace and safety. This sort of thing might continue…I really hope it doesn’t. Also, praise for the fact that my Thursday night class is growing! We`re up to nine people now!

Speaking of that class (this isn`t a prayer request, just observation), last week we played “getting to know you bingo.” That`s really fun. Basically you write 9-12 categories on a piece of paper, like “friends, food, hobbies, movies, books, family, animals, sports, music” and spread them throughout the paper in grid form (3 X 3 or 3 X 4 etc). Then ask the students to write a yes or no question for each. Such as, “Do you have a sister?” and “Do you like strawberries?” and “Do you own a cat?” Then they go around the room asking each other the questions. As soon as they find someone who says “Yes,” they write their name under the category. The first person with a blackout wins! The only problem, of course, is that maybe there is no one who can answer your question. There are two solutions for this. With an easy class, make it so the questions are very basic, such as “Do you play a sport?” and “Do you have any sisters or brothers?” Or, for a more advanced class, you could have them ask any question pertaining to that category (animals, movies, whatever), until they find one that the other person answers “yes” to, then they write down the question and the person`s name. This second version takes longer, but gets them to use more English. I can`t claim credit for this game, by the way. I got it at an English camp, though I did modify it slightly.

Anyway, I added some pictures to my earlier posts entitled “A Japanese Fourth of July” and “Camping and Barbequing in Japan!” These are from other people`s cameras, because unfortunately, mine is still broken and the shop won`t have it fixed for another two weeks! (Hopefully it`ll be done by the time Mom comes!) My computer is also still broken…but the one at school works great and I got an awesome new story idea! So life goes on, the good, the bad, the terrifying, and the glorious.

Until next time, keep loving and keep praying,
L. J. Popp

A Japanese Fourth of July

Howdy! This past week didn`t start off too well, with constant, torrential rain, crippling heat and my computer breaking, but it sure improved towards the end!

My computer breaking is probably the hardest thing. It means I can`t download new Japanese lessons onto my I-phone, can`t type or do research for my stories or email agents/publishers at home, can`t download pictures from my camera, can`t have skype Bible study, and can`t talk to my mom or anyone else in America! Isn`t it funny how much we can come to rely on technology? A year ago I didn`t have any of those things and didn`t even know some of them were possible! But a year ago I wasn`t in Japan, either. I asked a friend to take a look at it, and then the school computer teacher, and both determined it was the hard drive and I will have to take it to a repair shop. Drat.

The inconvenience has resulted in me staying a school much longer than I used to, doing some of the many things I typically depend on my computer for (though downloading and skype are still off limits). It hasn`t been so bad, and proven to have a small blessing in disguise, because it saves me on my air conditioning bill. The insulation in my apartment is so bad (actually non-existent) that the inside is at least ten degrees (Fahrenheit) hotter than the outside! As if the walls actually act as an oven, especially in my kitchen. I actually ordered pizza last night just so I wouldn`t cook myself while I was preparing dinner! Two nights in a row I keep waking up at intervals in a hot, feverish, sticky sweat because there is no air conditioner in my room. I keep a high-power fan trained on me and open the windows at night, but it does little good, and I awake in the morning feeling physically sick from the heat. It`s hard to find the energy to do anything, even to think or write. I should probably start sleeping on my futon under my air-con unit (air conditioner) in my living room. Hmm, bad back or fever? Hard choice, but for awhile, anyway, I`ll take the bad back. I can always go to the chiropractor later.

But on a much happier note, I got a wonderful letter from an agent the other day! I had written a snail query letter to Seth Fishman of Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. about a week ago and didn`t even expect it to get to him for maybe two weeks. But low and behold, less than two weeks after I sent it, he wrote me this:

I received your query and had the chance to read it, thanks so much for sharing. You are legit good. This is Anne McCaffrey meets Janny Wurts. The thing is, as much as I like fantasy, I really don’t do much of it. I’m more of a hardcore sci-fi guy. Have you tried Don Maass? I’m so sorry I’m passing for such a simple reason – but you don’t want an agent who angles in the wrong direction – I don’t know the editors you need for the book! I wish you the very best of luck – I know this will work out for you.

How about that? Even though he didn`t take it, this is the first “sign” that I`m on the right track. After twenty form rejection letters for Treasure Traitor, I finally get one that tells me I`m doing it right! Yeah! Funny thing is, just before I got this, I already sent it to Amy Boggs at Don Maass! She still hasn`t responded yet and it`s been a few weeks, so soon as it hits the one month mark, I`ll send her a little reminder and let her know what Mr. Fishman said! That ought to earn me some brownie points!

Thursday I think it was, Pastor Toshi told me about the most amazing thing ever! A tour to Mt. Fuji beginning right at Nabari station! I was going to go with one out of Osaka, and though this one is a little more expensive, it`s totally worth the convenience (Mom and I don`t have to wake up at 5:00am to catch the bus and not get back until 11:00pm the next day). No getting lost, no worries, just catch the bus right across the street from my apartment and follow the crowd! The only downside is that we have to climb late at night, but we`d probably have to do that anyway in order to catch the sunrise, since all the mountain sleeping huts are booked and camping isn`t allowed (but who wants to haul a tent up a mountain anyway)?

On Saturday I had a pretty big disappointment when both Kayoko and Karen said they couldn`t go on my planned birthday trip to Nagashima Spaland. And it rained. But I didn`t want to be cooped up in my apartment all by myself, so I got the “brilliant” idea to go to Universal Studios Japan. The unofficial name of USJ is “America Land” (what with Spainland in Ise, Dutchland in Nagasaki, and Chinaland in Yokohama, it only makes sense) so I figured they would no doubt have a Fourth of July celebration, yeah? My computer being down, I couldn`t check this assumption, but I was so convinced that I went anyway. Well, it was pouring. Half the shows were closed. And no, absolutely nothing on the schedule about America. So I “pulled an America” and soon as I read the schedule, marched right back to the gate and asked for my money back. It took me fifteen minutes and a fee of 500 yen, but eventually I got the other 5,600 yen (about sixty dollars) back. I hope that wasn`t too rude of me…but I didn`t ride any rides or see any shows, so it`s no skin off their back. I left the park and took the ferry to the aquarium (with the combo ticket, together they cost 2,300 yen, less than half of USJ). That proved to be the best choice I made all week.

Why? Well, first of all there was a free indoor Hawaiian festival in Tempozan harbor village right next to the aquarium. I spent a few enjoyable hours watching dancing and eating cheap American fast food. Then about 4:00, I went to the aquarium. I was just in time to see them feeding the Asian river otters! They pull on the keepers pants and chirp! They`re sooooo cute! Mischievous little devils, though, always fighting and pulling pranks, quite obnoxious. I wouldn`t want to be their keeper! But who should I find also watching them but an American family from Connecticut! The oldest son and daughter were really interested in coming to Japan more, so I ended up following them around until the aquarium closed, answering their questions and discussing Japanese culture with them as we enjoyed the wonderful sights of the aquarium together. I love whale sharks! They`re probably one of the few animals I would actually wear a “I (heart) such and such” T-shirt for. Sun fish are pretty cool too…and there were baby penguins! Here`s a picture the daughter, Robin, took:



Here`s one they just sent me of us all together (except the Mr. Engel; he`s taking the picture).



Anyway, they treated me to dinner at a restaurant I recommended. All in all it was a really awesome day!

Sunday my phone died, so I couldn`t call anyone to pick me up for church so I walked with my cupcakes. It was a really nice service, and afterwards everyone decorated my cupcakes red, white, and blue in the shape of the American flag. It was quite funny to see everyone so confused about how an American flag is supposed to look, but then it is a quite complicated design in comparison with the extremely simple Japan flag: a white field with a single red circle directly in the middle. (There`s something to be said for simplicity.) But despite some misplaced stars and stripes, the cupcakes still tasted delicious.

In the afternoon I went to Jusco`s American food fair and bought a ton of slightly overpriced American meat, fruit and vegetables! Yum! Subsequently, Pastor Toshi and Pastor Kumi graciously invited me to another barbeque, and this time I remembered my fireworks. Ayatan and I played with my glow lights while we were waiting for the food, then we enjoyed American steaks! I brought some vegetables, fruit and pork. Japanese pork, ironically, never gives me a headache the way American pork does, even the sausages, but these being American pork CHOPS I didn`t have a problem with them either. Ayatan and I must have set off and chased each other with a hundred sparklers before I finally went home about 11:00. I even got to enjoy some leftovers for the next day`s lunch and dinner!

So the Fourth of July was pretty amazing! I got to introduce Japanese culture to some other Americans, have a barbeque with my church family, stuff myself with American food, shoot off fireworks, the whole nine yards! Maybe I`ll just stay in Japan forever. No, I miss my American family too much, especially my mom. But she`s coming two weeks from tomorrow! Yeah! I can`t wait to see her. I have so much planned for her! But I don`t want to spoil the surprise.
The only other thing to report is that I bought a really cheap yukata (cotton summer kimono) yesterday! It`s so beautiful. It`s black with purple and pink flowers, petals, and glitter. They wouldn`t let me try it on before I bought it, but I tried it on when I got home and it fits great! I just don`t know how to properly wear it…I`ll have to do some research on youtube. That`s how I learned to wear an Indian sari.

Prayer requests for this week: Please continue to pray that my computer gets fixed soon! Health despite the heat would be nice too. And remember my class for parents and teachers last week? Well, two of the ladies started coming to my Thursday night church class! And the other two new ladies are coming regularly and are responding very well to the lessons! Last time we talked about America`s Christian roots, famous American Christians and their impact on society. Please pray for these ladies, that God will open up their hearts to receive His Love and Salvation. God is doing great things!

Until next time, keep loving and keep praying,

L. J. Popp