9/15/2001

5:45pm HYH
We started yesterday by packing up, turning in sheets and keys, and having a little class. After class G and I hunted for my towel and through our lacking use of the Japanese language found it in the cafeteria. On the bus to Haneda Airport, then on a plane to Osaka. The plane ride was very short. It was too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji so I worked on homework. Back on the ground we boarded buses for Hagashiama Youth Hostel. Right away we sat down in the dining room to a great dinner with cream of corn soup, chicken nuggets (hot, not lukewarm), and grapes. The grapes were a real treat. We brought our luggage up the stairs (no elevator). My room on the fourth floor (ugh!) is a quad with bunk beds, a sink and mirror, a hot plate and TV. I'm on the top bunk right under the air conditioner. It's not very effective. We had a quick orientation session about curfew and meals. I took a bath in the tiny bathroom right after that. It had four showers and a little tub. I couldn't get the water in the shower hot enough, but the bath was great. It seemed a little grimier than the last two places we have been, but much more homy.

After the bath G convinced me to explore with him. We turned left out of the hostel and walked into "town". We passed tons of closed stores and restaurants. And decided this would be much more fun when things are open. After 20 minutes we turned around so we would be back in time for curfew. We got in around 10pm and went to sleep.

9:30pm
We did a whole lot today. After breakfast (yogurt and toast!) G and I again turned left out of the hostel. We turned left again and took an early morning walk through the "red light" district in search of a theater. We found one but it was Kabuki and nothing was playing this month. We continued West over the river and walked through the empty shopping streets. It was just after 9am so nothing was open yet. We did notice that people drive a lot faster here and somewhat more recklessly, probably because the streets are a lot less crowded than Tokyo.

We headed North and ended up at the Noji Castle. Admission was only Y600 so we went in. It was pretty crowded with tourists, mostly American and Australian. We went inside one of the main buildings and joined up with a group of older adult men on a tour. This was where the Shogun lived and the absolutely coolest thing about the building was the floorboards. They actually sounded like birds chirping when you walked on them. The guide said that why ninja always walk on the roof- to avoid the protective nightingale sound. There were also many beautiful paintings on every wall and sliding panel. They were all different subjects depending on what went on in the room they were in. We walked around the gardens for a while and noticed the huge fish in both of the two moats. The inner castle was also open for viewing, but we didn't want to pay the additional Y300 each.

After relaxing in the air-treated lounge we headed out. We immediately found a sword shop, and G almost immediately bought a Tokugowa sword (katana). The woman who sold it to him was very nice. After she warmed up to us she asked about New York, then asked if we were happy. She eventually got out the word honeymoon and we told her we were students. She was very impressed with our itinerary and more impressed with the Sword Museum information I showed her. When we left she walked us out the door and waved until we were down the block. Ichigo Ichie. Sigh.

We walked back South, again looking for a Noh theater. We didn't find it but we found a few shopping malls. We walked around for a while until we got really hungry. We stopped at a tiny Tempura place where we were quickly sat at the same table as two other Japanese people. We didn't talk to them because they didn't look like they wanted to talk. The meal was good- breaded and fried pork with rice, cabbage and potato salad with noodles instead of potatoes.

As we walked through the malls we came across a small girly store and I found a great t-shirt. It says SALAMANDER UNIVERSITY in USA. Later we found a movie theater and decided to see a Japanese movie. We walked to the third floor and bought Y1800 tickets for Red Shadow out of a vending machine. It was all in Japanese so we were a little worried about what we were doing. We handed the tickets to a ticket man who looked at them for a while, then ripped them and gave us the stubs. We followed everyone else into the only theater and took some seats. People stared, but we were ok. The only foreigners in the place.

I think the movie was very good. It was about a comical trio of ninjas fighting an evil shogun and some samurai. One of the trio died (the girl) and it got very sad very fast. Then there was another girl whose father or husband died and she fought with the remaining two ninjas. That's just about as much as I understood. Maybe when I get home I'll try to find a subtitled version.

We hurried back to be in time for a 5:00 dinner- but realized dinner isn't until 6pm. So we swapped suitcases to kill time. Dinner was pretty good- breaded fish fried, cream of potato soup (really good) and other things. Now I'm trying hard to study and get stuff done so I can wake up early and hear the temple bells chime first thing in the morning.