Yesterday, I attended the annual festival commemorating the port opening of Yokohama. 6,000 fireworks were released over the course of an hour and 10 minutes, which made for a pretty good show. My school hosted a party for its students, which was particularly convenient, since our school overlooks the part of the Yokohama harbor where the fireworks were set off. Snacks and drinks were plentiful, and it was a pretty good time overall, even if my teacher spent some of the party correcting my speech for tomorrow, LOL.
Today is Ocean Day, a recently introduced Japanese national holiday to celebrate the ocean. The day marks the return of Emperor Meiji from a boat trip to Hokkaido in 1876. It's a pretty uneventful holiday, all in all.
I went on a class field trip to the National Diet building yesterday (the Japanese equivalent of Congress) and toured the Upper House (the House of Councillors). The Diet isn't currently in session, so it was something of your typical historical/national building tour, but it was definitely interesting to see where all of the action (or inaction) of the Japanese government happens. I frequently see the chambers of the Upper and Lower Houses in newspapers and on the TV. I was tempted to buy a set of Japanese sweets imprinted with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's face. But I managed to restrain myself.
One interesting fact: Everything in the National Diet building is constructed of Japanese materials except:
1. The stained glass
2. The doorknobs (which were made in the U.S.)
3. The mail chute system (also made in the U.S.)
And here's me pretending to be a genki Diet member:
I went sightseeing in Kyoto this past weekend and saw Fushimi Inari Taisha, Ginkakuji
(which I don't recommend visiting until after the construction is
finished), and Kiyomizudera. I
am loving my language program and living in Yokohama, by the way. For now, I have a speech to write!
I have homework to finish before this morning's first session, but I just wanted to share photos of these gravestones that I saw in a shop on the way to Sojiji the other day. The "Baseball Santa" tombstone is a a particularly strange amalgamation of concepts:
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So, every day on my way to class, I walk through or past the tallest building in Japan, the Landmark Tower (and an amusement park with one of the world's largest ferris wheels, but that's not the subject of this particular entry). While I definitely think it's pretty cool, the Landmark Tower is not what I think of as "cute" - it looks more like a medieval fortress crossed with a skyscraper and tends to ring more "imposing" or "impressive" in my mind. Exhibit A, the Landmark Tower:
But of course, I was simply seeing the building with my non-cuteness-creating American eyes. The Japanese, however, know exactly how the cuteness of this building would manifest, if the latter so desired. Exhibit B, an advertisement for the Landmark Tower's 15th anniversary:
I particularly like the declaration of "I Love You!" at the top. And the way that the top section of the building so nicely imitates a mouth just where one is needed.
Second day of classes was good, but I have so much homework!
It went well, but I am so so so so tired. I woke up around 4:30 am (partly because I'm not fully adjusted to Japanese time and partly because that's when the sun comes up in this crazy country), had a busy morning of classes, and then went on a class field trip to Sojiji, Yokohama's largest Buddhist temple, for a rather intense tour (all in Japanese, of course). Highlights included witnessing some type of Buddhist ceremony and experiencing zazen (which included getting whacked by a Buddhist priest with a large piece of wood - and it was a good whack). Anyway, I still have a lot of homework to do, and my brain is fading quickly, but here are some pics:
Our tour guide
One of the buildings of the temple
One of the shrines within the temple
It's been an interesting first week back in Japan. But for now I'm off to try and finish this homework before I pass out.
So, it was a week ago, but my birthday was amazing. My housemate Sara and I threw a joint party at our house - most of our friends from the program were there, in addition to a couple of friends from college.
Pictures!
Yes yes, a good birthday for Kristi. I'm so appreciative. And now I'm 25.
This past weekend, my friend Tessa and I took a whirlwhind trip to New York City, via Greyhound Bus. We made it to the city in a record three hours flat, bouncing off our bus at about 6:00 am and proceeding to walk the majority of Manhattan from top to bottom. We covered quite a lot of ground: Central Park, Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden, Grand Central Station, the Garment District, Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho, East Village, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center Site, and who knows what else. In general, I really loved New York. I like places with lots of people and lots of different things to do, and I liked how the city seemed to be teeming with life at all corners.
A few snapshots to help you visualize:
Alice and I interned at the Environmental Protection Agency together, the last time I lived in Washington D.C. four years ago. I hadn't seen her since then, so it was fun to catch up over coffee and cheesecake. She's been living in New York City for the last two years through the Teach for America program.
Well, it seems that the difficulties of maintaining a blog while working full-time have inadvertently turned this into a photoblog. But never fear, more narratives are in the making - you may just have to wait for a while longer. :) For now, be content with more pictures proving that I'm actually living in Washington D.C.
By some strange twist of fate, my high school friend Gloria has been visiting the area for the past few weeks. We had the opportunity to catch up a bit while strolling through Georgetown and the National mall. She's currently doing great things while pursuing a Ph.D. in History at UC San Diego.
Another stock photo of me at the National Mall, courtesy of Gloria.
This photo contains about half of the students in the International Political Economy class I took this past spring. The two on the left were on exchange from Sweden and Denmark respectively, so they won't be returning to Berkeley in the fall.
The picture above was taken during the last few days of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
And here we have the trademark arch in Chinatown.
Anyway, that gives you a visual smattering of what I've been up to lately. I hope to write more about my impressions of D.C. at some point, but I have a feeling that this experience may be over before I have too much time to reflect on it. Sufficeth to say that I really enjoy living here and have been extremely thankful to have the opportunity to reconnect and renew relationships with friends from around the world. This weekend I'll be venturing up to the Big Apple for a whole host of new sights and smells, so check back for the full report. :)
