So... surprise! I cut my hair again. About three weeks ago my friend suggested getting a hair cut and I went with it. Like it?
Also, late March is cherry blossom blooming season. Everyone and their family go to special areas to see the trees. The world is pretty much all soft and pink. Very pretty!
Then I had a break between midterms and school beginning again, so I took off for Japan! I have a friend who is studying in the lower part between Osaka and Kyoto so I went there to visit her.
Kyoto is the old capital of Japan before it was moved to Tokyo so it's full of historical places. One that impressed me more than a sight has in a while was a Shinto shrine known as Fushimi Inari. It's a mountain covered with local shrines and over a 1,000 torii gates (large orange wooden gates) that purify the temple.
You can bet it's been in bunch of movies.
Another famous bit of Kyoto is Gion, the most popular and successful geisha district in Japan. Geisha still perform and live here and can be hired for private parties for about $1,000 for two hours.
Geisha "hunting" was fun. As the geisha move around the neighborhood, tourist follow them trying to take pictures. It's very much a movie star/ papparrazzi relationship. They're so pretty.
The old area still looks like it did after WWII.
A young apprentice
Traditional shoes
Gion by night.
As I said Kyoto is historical. Lots of temples. A famous one known as Kinkakuji is completely covered in gold leaf.
The cherry blossoms also bloomed in Japan. It's a bigger deal there. It's actually a festival.
Another temple was Ninaji with a historic pagoda.
And Nijo Castle. The floors of this place are super cool. They're called Nightengale floors and when walked on they squeak, sounding like bird song. Which is cool but it's actually a defense against ninjas sneaking around. Ninja attack!
I don't know what this flower is. I'm guessing peony. Anyone else know?
Kyoto is also known for hand-crafted fans. These cost in the thousands.
I also visited a grave yard. Because of space and disease the Japanese are cremated and the whole family shares a one square meter plot. The surviving family members pay tax for it and also pay monks to write blessings on wooden stakes to be places on the grave.
Osaka by night.
Something I did which I'm really excited about was seeing Takarazuka theater. An all female theater. In the early 1900's a man created a resort area so people would use his railway to get there. He started a family oriented theater and trained young girls from the area to perform. Over the years it grew. Now it is a unique cultural experience. The audience now is almost exclusively middle aged women. Because Japanese men are require to work late and spend lots of time with people in their office to build stronger community bonds their wives do not get enough attention. To make up for this the women affection in the romantic stories (Gone with the Wind, Zorro...) played out on stage and make "boyfriends" out of the lead "male" stars. There are huge fanclubs that attend everyshow and buy expensive gifts to give to their favorites. It's strange to think about but after seeing a show I can imagine how these women fall in love with the lead role. The theater trains the girls to be the perfect men. Strong, but vulnerable, declaring their undying love while dueling with rowdy pirates. They're perfect and acceptable for Japanese women to love all because they're not men. Below is the bill for the show I saw both people are female. Amazing isn't it. Even their actions are trained to be male. You'd never guess if you didn't already know.
A funny twist though is while the first half is a story the second half is like a Las Vegas Revue, with kick lines and crazy costumes. Below is the main actor, Yuga Yamato, being interviewed in her final costume.
Another city I visited was Nara famous for it's wild deer population.
These deer herds rome the city and the temple and are a famous for their aggressiveness now because of people feeding them. So of course more people, like myself feed them. And yes they're bullies and yes I did run away and get nipped by a bunch of Bambis.
And some Shinto monks.
Finishing the day I tried my hand at Japanese gambling. Gambling is illegal in Japan (and Korea too) but Pachinko changes money to silver ball to valuable plates that can again be sold. So it's not actually gambling (but it totally is) Pachinko parlors are all over Japan and recognizable by their bright flashing lights and loud music. They're supposedly tied to the Yakuza (Japanese mob) who are supposedly primarily Koreans left in Japan after WWII and the occupation who had no other option in the biased society. I had no idea what I was doing by the bright colors are dazzling.
As I said before I was visiting a friend from highschool who is studying in Japan. We spent three days together and I lived with her host family. This is my friend Ashleigh and her Okaa-san (host mom) and her 3-year-old host brother Taiyo. Do I even have to mention that he and I bonded quickly and that he's the most adorable and active child I've played with in a while.
And finally back in Korea May 2nd was Buddha's birthday. So off to a large Buddhist temple to say my prayers and get a free lunch.
There were hundreds of people making wishes and pryaing.
And about a thousand lanterns put up by patrons of the temple.
And these guys. It's cool what can be made from paper.
Well that's all for the past three weeks. I'm glad to have a computer again.
The city was beautiful.
And took a nice boat ride around the islands.
Last weekend I attended the wedding of one of my old Masters from White Tiger.
The groom, Master Yu, said his vows and then did a back flip in his tuxedo. Oh, Taekwondo people...
Speaking of which, my friend Ashley from the US has been studying abroad in the Japan for the past semester and came over to visit. She took this great picture of me at practice.
And of course a picture of friends at dinner. I'm spending alot of time hanging out with friends and trying to do everything I can before I go home in 52 days!
