Picnic in the Park

Oh the joys of a field trip! Today was a special picnic/fun day for my preschool class, to add to the fun their families came along as well as Hideki and Kayoko, Steve and Tiffany, and even Melvin the Moose. We went to a huge park. The place was great! It had an awesome jungle gym and a sweet BIG slide. Made me want to be five again.

All in all a good day.

Word Up: Oshikko –pee-pee. Only used by young children to let adults know they need to potty.

Sing-a-long with Liz

The boys at play

Climbing...

Going down the slide

We're just too cool

Tako

A student took us (Steve, Tiffany, and I) out for an authentic Japanese meal. We took our shoes off at the entice to the restaurant but didn’t sit on the floor (it wasn’t that type of meal). Set in the middle of the table was a hot metal grill. Our host ordered for us, we had:

Yakisoba –fried brown noodles mixed with vegetables, I think I saw egg, pork, and octopus

Okonomiyaki –this looks like a pancake made of sliced cabbage. The cabbage is kept together with flour and egg. There were actually four different types that we could try from plan, pork, shrimp, and octopus.

Takoyaki –is a rice ball mixed with octopus that is fried.

The common theme of the meal was octopus, which is the newest "other, other, white meat".

Word Up: Tako -octopus

Okonomiyaki

Takoyaki

Sumo

I have a growing love for Sumo wrestling. The Autumn Tournament has been on TV this past week the finial match ended yesterday. It’s very interesting the pre-match rituals seem to take forever but the actual "fight" is normally over in a matter of seconds.

I have been following a sumo named Kotooshu Katsunori, who is a Bulgarian. Half way through the tournament he was undefeated and it looked like he would take it, he had defeated last years champion, Asashoryu Akinori. But then it was down hill from there, causing me much sadness. In the end Asashoryu finished first beating our hero in the finial match. Boo! Oh well there is always the November Tournament.

Word Up: hai –yes, often said in triples "hai, hai, hai" very quickly

Kotooshu defeats Asashoryu

Asashoryu defeats Kotooshu in finial match, winning championship.

Anpanman is my hero!

Animes interest me. As a kid I loved watching Astroboy. Since coming to Japan I have learned of another anime hero –Anpanman, translated it means "bread man". Yeah for the bread man! I had the opportunity to meet Anpanman (who was a lot thinner then the cartoon pictures). It was sweet.

But I admit when I was first told about this hero I was afraid. He is a man with a bread head that can go old, stale, and moldy. When this happens Anpanman returns to the baker who makes him a new head. The thing that really scared me was that when one of his friends is hurt or need energy he rips a piece of his head off for them to eat –scary!

Two things have helped me over come my Anpanman-fears. 1) He is loved by preschoolers. If the three-year-olds aren’t afraid why should I be? 2) He is really a Christ-like figure. Jesus told us he was the bread of life and that we are to eat him. Anpanman is bread, people eat him.

Word Up: Pan –bread

Nara

Meet some very friendly deer today. They were too tame; more like pets. They would even chase you for food. I was able to walk among them and feed them. They would not even flinch when I reached out to touch one. The crazy thing is this wasn’t a petting zoo. It’s like this through out the area.

We also saw a very big Buddha. It was huge. No, it was larger then huge. It was enormous. A very, very big Buddha indeed.


Word Up: Ni -Two

My friend the deer

the life and times of the eliza-deer

The search for hope: prayers offered with the buring of incense

I like big Buddhas and I can deny...

Just hanging around

The Hike

Noriko took us out for a picnic and a hike up to a Buddhist temple. I find it odd visiting spiritual sites as a tourist. I guess it is no different then visiting different cathedrals in Europe. Temple visiting has become a common hobby/pastime in Japan. Most temple visitors are just tourists. But the temples are still in use. Daily monks light incense for prayers and rituals are followed. They grounds are still used for worship by the faithful and desperate, all hoping for something better out of this life.

Serious Buddhist pilgrims go to each temple collecting "the manifestations of Buddha". I have been told that there are 88 manifestations of Buddha (and you can collect them all). At each temple a mark or stamp is placed on a rice paper type tapestry which can be hung in the home.
The temple we were at was special because it did not have just one statue of Buddha, not even two, but 33 different stages of "Buddha-ness". It would save the pilgrim a few trips.

Word Up: Ichi -One

Sayoko, Noriko, Tiffany, and Steve at the top of the mountian.

The 33 stages of Buddha-ness

Umbrella Posse

The proper use of an umbrella is a true art form. It takes a special grace and talent to use which is acquired from dedicated practice –not really, just frequent use. It rains so much here that the average person has mastered the use of the umbrella. I have seen people riding a bike while balancing an umbrella. It is impressive.

I am not an umbrella master. I learned that yesterday on our first sightseeing outing. It was a rainy gray day so we each need to carry an umbrella. As a group we looked like the "Umbrella Posse". Good times.

Highlights from the day are:
- Lunch at Subway!
- The multi-level bookstore in Namba with a small English section. I bought two English books, which made me very happy.
- Osaka Castle was beautiful. The artwork and woodcarvings were so intricate and the view of the city from the top was impressive.
- My first taste of green tea ice cream. Yummm!

Word up: Ohayo gozaimasu –good morning

Praying Monk

Melvin taking in the view from the top of Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

Melvin and I enjoy some green tea ice cream