First of all, apologies for my month long lack of updates. The last stretch of my research was grueling and frantic, for various reasons. Also, before things became hectic I was taking care of most of my blogging at work. However, work is now over (and yet nowhere near finished...), and I've left Osaka for Tokyo! As I type, I'm sitting in the lobby of a hostel in the Asakusa ward.
There's of course a lot to catch everyone up on, so now that I have a little free time, I'm going to try and do just that. The weekend after our Kyoto Trip was an eventful one, and I daresay the most fun that we have had in Japan.
When we heard there was to be a weekend-long lab trip, we were excited, but when they told us the price tag, we balked at the idea. We had been trying to be frugal with our allotted spending money, and had thus far been fairly unsuccessful. Marshall was the most skeptical; he had gone to visit friends in Tokyo, and was further through his cash than the rest of us. However, Cathy's boyfriend Eric, who had been to Japan on the same program last year, insisted that we go, and assured us it would be well worth it. I can now say unequivocally that he was right, and I'm glad that we were able to convince Marshall.
Most of the lab accompanied us - many of our supervisors and those who we had met at the CMC, as well as three Dutch students who were also working there that summer. The trip started in a charter bus that took us out of the city and to all our stops in southern Kansai. The bus ride itself was quite fun - we watched movies, sang karaoke, 'revelled', and played some wireless handheld games.
The first of our stops had initially been billed as a river rafting adventure, but it had rained non-stop for the week prior, making boating a risky proposition. We instead visited a famous waterfall atop a mountain, at a place called Yoro Park. It wasn't too bad of a hike, and the place was absolutely spectacular.
Our next, and main stop, was a Japanese hotel and onsen in a sea-side resort town in Aichi prefecture. An onsen is a traditional Japanese bathhouse, fed by fresh spring water. It was quite beautiful, both inside and out. We had a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats and futon matresses, not to mention an amazing view.
After we picked our jaws up off the tatami, we visited the beach at the foot of the hotel in the afternoon, then went straight to the baths. They were amazing - marble rooms with crystal clear (and scalding hot) water. We weren't briefed on the whole onsen 'ritual' before we arrived (if you're interested, read the wikipedia link above), so the idea of washing off before entering the bath (at little shower, while sitting on a stool) was a little confusing, and we probably messed up a bit on the ettiquite. Despite this, it was a wonderful experience - topped by the fact that we had an amazing view of the sandy beaches and coastal forest surrounding the sleepy town. Unfortunately (and for obvious reasons) no pictures of the inside.
Squeaky-clean and wearing traditional Japanese summer bathing-robes called (yukata), we proceeded to our amazing dinner feast. The food (much of it unidentifiable, uncooked, or both) kept coming and coming. We all had to give a short speech introducing ourselves, which went alright.
After stuffing ourselves, we went to the roof to light fireworks, including my previously mentioned favorite, senko hanabi.
All of us then retreated to our room, where we partied the night away. I had some wonderful conversation about all manner of things - philosophy, politics, art - as it turns out, Shimojo sensei, the head of the labratory, had read my favorite book!
We awoke the next morning, visited the onsen once again, and then had a big buffet breakfast. I tried natto, gooey fermented soybeans, and it wasn't really for me. Everything else was delicious though. After we left the hotel, we visited an island called Takeshima. It's not the more famous of the two, which is disputed between Japan and South Korea, but a tiny and remarkably shaped island on Japan's southern coastline. Besides the interesting dome shape, at low tide the water level drops far enough to let you walk across the strait. There's a beautiful temple hidden inside the forested island as well.
Our final stop was Nagoya-jō, a famous feudal castle. The inside is a museum, housing Japanese medieval weapons, armor, and artwork. The castle, like most others in Japan, burned to the ground in the bombings of World War II, only to be rebuilt afterwards. Here are more pictures.
The weekend trip was without a doubt one of my favorites of the summer. We spend so much of our time in the big city, so it was nice to go out and enjoy the country's natural beauty and traditional culture for a change.
Next time I'll talk about our excursion to Nara, so stay tuned!
There's of course a lot to catch everyone up on, so now that I have a little free time, I'm going to try and do just that. The weekend after our Kyoto Trip was an eventful one, and I daresay the most fun that we have had in Japan.
When we heard there was to be a weekend-long lab trip, we were excited, but when they told us the price tag, we balked at the idea. We had been trying to be frugal with our allotted spending money, and had thus far been fairly unsuccessful. Marshall was the most skeptical; he had gone to visit friends in Tokyo, and was further through his cash than the rest of us. However, Cathy's boyfriend Eric, who had been to Japan on the same program last year, insisted that we go, and assured us it would be well worth it. I can now say unequivocally that he was right, and I'm glad that we were able to convince Marshall.
Most of the lab accompanied us - many of our supervisors and those who we had met at the CMC, as well as three Dutch students who were also working there that summer. The trip started in a charter bus that took us out of the city and to all our stops in southern Kansai. The bus ride itself was quite fun - we watched movies, sang karaoke, 'revelled', and played some wireless handheld games.
The first of our stops had initially been billed as a river rafting adventure, but it had rained non-stop for the week prior, making boating a risky proposition. We instead visited a famous waterfall atop a mountain, at a place called Yoro Park. It wasn't too bad of a hike, and the place was absolutely spectacular.
Our next, and main stop, was a Japanese hotel and onsen in a sea-side resort town in Aichi prefecture. An onsen is a traditional Japanese bathhouse, fed by fresh spring water. It was quite beautiful, both inside and out. We had a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats and futon matresses, not to mention an amazing view.
After we picked our jaws up off the tatami, we visited the beach at the foot of the hotel in the afternoon, then went straight to the baths. They were amazing - marble rooms with crystal clear (and scalding hot) water. We weren't briefed on the whole onsen 'ritual' before we arrived (if you're interested, read the wikipedia link above), so the idea of washing off before entering the bath (at little shower, while sitting on a stool) was a little confusing, and we probably messed up a bit on the ettiquite. Despite this, it was a wonderful experience - topped by the fact that we had an amazing view of the sandy beaches and coastal forest surrounding the sleepy town. Unfortunately (and for obvious reasons) no pictures of the inside.
Squeaky-clean and wearing traditional Japanese summer bathing-robes called (yukata), we proceeded to our amazing dinner feast. The food (much of it unidentifiable, uncooked, or both) kept coming and coming. We all had to give a short speech introducing ourselves, which went alright.
After stuffing ourselves, we went to the roof to light fireworks, including my previously mentioned favorite, senko hanabi.
All of us then retreated to our room, where we partied the night away. I had some wonderful conversation about all manner of things - philosophy, politics, art - as it turns out, Shimojo sensei, the head of the labratory, had read my favorite book!
We awoke the next morning, visited the onsen once again, and then had a big buffet breakfast. I tried natto, gooey fermented soybeans, and it wasn't really for me. Everything else was delicious though. After we left the hotel, we visited an island called Takeshima. It's not the more famous of the two, which is disputed between Japan and South Korea, but a tiny and remarkably shaped island on Japan's southern coastline. Besides the interesting dome shape, at low tide the water level drops far enough to let you walk across the strait. There's a beautiful temple hidden inside the forested island as well.
Our final stop was Nagoya-jō, a famous feudal castle. The inside is a museum, housing Japanese medieval weapons, armor, and artwork. The castle, like most others in Japan, burned to the ground in the bombings of World War II, only to be rebuilt afterwards. Here are more pictures.
The weekend trip was without a doubt one of my favorites of the summer. We spend so much of our time in the big city, so it was nice to go out and enjoy the country's natural beauty and traditional culture for a change.
Next time I'll talk about our excursion to Nara, so stay tuned!
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