Finding Japan

8/9/08

I needed a day off. I mean, it’s great and all that I’m off from work, but in general I needed more than just time away from school. I woke up somewhat mentally exhausted. Let’s begin with the back-story…

Thursday I finished round 2 of the 14 consecutive lessons I had given on a small clip of the movie Finding Nemo, finally discerned how to sort and recycle my trash and set it out that morning, only to make myself miss the bus in the process, and in my efforts to be able to obtain a cheap calling card, purchased another very expensive calling card to call an 800 number to verify my account which ironically after two international calls intended to get me international calling rights never got verified. My internet box finally came in the mail today, only to discover that I cannot install the internet package without installing the Japanese language on my laptop, which requires the XP Installation CD which I do not have for a very good reason (long story). It’s possible that I could pull those files off the web but that, also ironically, requires the internet. Even when I do find them, and get the CD running, I won’t be able to read the Kanji that are produced and if I can’t guess the proper button pushing sequence, it’s not like I can call tech support. Why is everything that seemed so effortless in the States so hard in Japan? It could be the language gap ;)

Of course, I topped Thursday off with my first ever Japanese language course in Japan. I was basically surrounded with a rotating panel of about 2-5 native speakers at any given moment for an hour and a half and forced to speak in my broken Japanese in one of the most terrifying situations I’ve ever been in. I have so much more respect for foreigners now. I was awakened early today, Friday, which we have off as compensation for working tomorrow (Saturday), by the sounds of my new most disliked thing about Japan which is this damn mobile advertisement service. It’s like an ice cream truck, but instead of playing the “Music Man” and delivering frozen treats to small children inevitably making the world a better place, it blares the sounds of a high-pitched Japanese woman singing the praises of some new, ultimately meaningless, thing or service.

Look, it’s not that I don’t love Japan, but it’s just that in order to keep it that way I decided to take a mental holiday. I needed a break from, talking, reading, bowing and well, Japan. It’s so hard to think in Japanese at this point, it makes your head hurt. The first comfort of the day I indulged in was unplanned. My little brother Andre called me and I got to speak with him for a while. It’s always so good to hear from the people who’ve known you more than a week and to speak in rapid, slurred, native English. Next, I cooked hash browns fried in butter with scrambled eggs at home. After my breakfast, off and on I spent a large portion of the late morning and early afternoon watching the rest of “Dead Like Me” on my iPod (still no TV). I finished out season 1 and it was really great. It was at times very funny and others very sad and touching (I actually cried a little at one part! Unusual for my heart of stone). The overtones of the importance of family, the precious nature of life, and the treasure of being loved made me miss my Mom and Dad. I went for a walk at lunch, but avoided places where I knew people so I wouldn’t have to wrack my brain for vocabulary. It started to rain, so I supplemented my TV show with a book in English my friend Trey turned me on to. Generally, I avoided Japanese conversations and dropped my usual study habits for a day.

But you know, it’s moments like these that you have to remember why you came. Yeah, my brain was tired from the crash course in Japanese language and culture and study, and utilities management, but there were things I could do that didn’t require much brain activity and would still allow me the experience of being in Japan. Around 6:30pm it was still raining, but very mild and it looked like it was going to get lighter, not heavier, so I packed up my favorite small backpack and decided to go walk up this big hill behind my house I’d never gone up.

As I started up the hill, I was confronted by hundreds of small lanterns hanging from the path, trees, and twine that was strung up, going up the side of the hill into the forest. Snapping pictures, I finally found my way to a very large, stone carved staircase cut in traditional Japanese style, leading to a beautiful archway and finally a Shinto Shrine. The shrine itself was closed, so I continued along the forested path. There were small outcropping with statues and incense holders for prayer all along the path and the lanterns had just turned on at twilight as the sun would be setting in the next 30 minutes. The electric lamps glowed in the softening pink light behind the dense trees in a way that seemed, not to betray my fantasy tainted nature, distinctly Elven. I came across a small stone path leading away from the larger path and even though it was getting late and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, I just wanted to see, if even briefly, what might be down there.

My curiosity was rewarded with what will be imprinted on my memory as one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen. I wandered into a large cluster of family shrines, each adorned with a large stone spire placed on a raised dais. Each shrine was beautifully decorated and felt ancient. Fresh flowers were placed in the shrines, along with the residue of burned incense, along with opened but otherwise untouched water, tea, and occasionally even beer (which made me laugh). Obviously these gifts had been left out for the return of the souls of the ancestors of these families in preparation for O-Bon. The pathways cut through the rows of shrines, some tucked away in little caves an outcroppings, others with the main group, others beautifully protected by decorative fences. The way the shrines were built into the hill was a stunning piece of art in and of itself, but what really hits you is that the shrine cluster is built into a clearing on the hillside, and the panorama view is nothing short of breathtaking. The town of Setogoshi is nestled into a valley, surrounded by pristine forest and mountains on all sides. It’s green on the horizon in every direction. Furthermore, I made it here just at sunset, and it was deserted, and I had the privilege of enjoying it alone. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent too much time by myself, of maybe because of the light and the time of day, but the place felt distinctly holy and it rapidly instilled me with a sense of peace I had been longing for. Instinctively, I crossed myself. Sadly, I’m afraid my pictures and description won’t do it justice, it’s something that you just have to see.

I finished watching the sunset, and I made my way back to the path following it just a bit further around to a nearby empty playground. There, I encountered the first living people I had seen since climbing this hill/small mountain. A mid-teenage boy and girl were sitting on an empty swingset, facing away from me, toward the sunset. She was seated in the swing, legs stretched out in front of her, while he was content to crouch behind her, wrapping his arms around her while she gently swayed and they whispered through the view of the sunset. I wanted to stay and watch for a moment. It’s a demonstration of the simple, not vulgar, connection with another person many of us yearn for. As much as I wanted to stay and live that feeling vicariously for a moment, I left quickly and quietly without them noticing; this was their moment, not mine.

On the way down I saw the only other two living creatures I saw on the trip… a little boy and girl, probably siblings, playing what I assumed to be tag using the slope of the hill to make themselves run faster. Shinto teaches that life, death, souls of the living and departed, and all physical and living things are connected. I went home, and finished my day by cooking fried pork-chops and broccoli to remind me of home. Sadly, I’m a blue-box-boy and my meal was partially incomplete due to the lack of blue-box mac n’ cheese. It’s so funny to me that I went out of my way today to get away, and instead almost effortlessly rose above the noise and streets -- and, in doing so, found Japan.

...pics