Week 7: Days 42-48

5/12-14 Monday-Wednesday:
Schoolwork... blah blah blah...

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5/15 Thursday:

From Japan: Day 045

Aoimatsuri!

Today we went and saw the Aoimatsuri (Aoi Festival). A very slow moving parade. We got there at around 10:30, waited for about half an hour for it to start/reach us, and then it ended before noon. So the whole procession was about an hour long, just very slow moving. There was no dancing or singing, or music. It was pretty though. A lot of it was the same, so I didn't take a whole lot of pictures (nothing like the other parade). They just walked... and stopped... and walked some more... not real exciting. I also got a picture of a cute little dog in a bike basket.

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5/16 Friday:
More schoolwork...

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5/17 Saturday:

From Japan: Day 047

Oooh.... scary Oni (demon) mask.

Today we had a welcome party hosted by the Kansai Stanford Club (aka old Japanese men who went to Stanford). This was pretty cool. First they took us to a nearby Noh theater (walking through Shokokuji Temple). There we were treated to a explanation about the Noh play. First he explained some about the stage and how it is designed. All Noh stages have a tree in the background, an entrance to the left (from the Underworld), poles on the sides to hold up the ceiling (and so the actors can see where the edge of the stage is through the small slits for eyes of the masks), and a pit around the stage. Next he showed us a few of the masks (a woman, a man, and a demon). The masks were 300-600 years old. We were then shown several different clothing they use and how they can be worn differently for different characters. He then did some parts of the performance, showing us examples of the singing and the movements for characters. I got a few videos at the end of the album (sorry, a couple of them are sideways, I keep forgetting that I'm taking a video not a picture, I'll have to edit them some time so they are the right way up, until then, just bear with my poor camerawork). After the Noh theater we had lunch. I took a couple of pictures, but since we started eating (I didn't really have a place to put my camera), I put my camera away after that.

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5/18 Sunday:
Sleep and schoolwork...

Week 6: Days 35-41

Ooh look... an update...
Slight design changes; added the date so people don't get confused as to when this actually was, combining days when nothing happens, and the week now starts on Monday since things usually happen on the weekends...
Classes are over so expect faster updates (I'm trying to catch up... from over a month...).

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5/5-6 Monday-Tuesday:

Err nothing to talk about... sleeping/catching up on schoolwork (classes start again on Wednesday).

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5/7 Wednesday:

From Japan: Day 037

Pretty pond gardens!

Lots of pictures today (116). Classes started back up again, but I (as usual) don't have class on Wednesday. But we did have a class trip. Our first stop was the Kyoto Imperial Palace... right across the street from the campus. We were here once before when we checked out the cherry blossoms back at the beginning, but that was outside the actual palace. Today we went on the tour inside the palace, although not actually inside the buildings... we weren't allowed in there. I got a lot of pictures of the many gates, the pretty gardens, and the buildings. We weren't the only ones on the tour. It was a big group tour with a bunch of tourists... Our next stop was Nijo Castle. Those pictures start with picture #64 (the one with cars in it). I wish I had took a better picture without the cars though... That was a guard tower. As you can probably tell, some of it is pretty different than the Imperial Palace. It has two moats. They also have mannequins as you enter. I also took a picture of the map. Picture #75 shows the castle. We were allowed to walk around in it, but we couldn't take pictures inside (I hate it when they don't let you take pictures). Nijo Castle is famous for the "nightingale floors" that make a squeaking sound (like a nightingale) as you walk across it so people couldn't sneak around inside (except maybe ninjas...). That was pretty neat. It also had pretty gardens and a pond (this one had islands on the pond). Then there was the inner moat and we all got a nice view from higher up.

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5/8 Thursday:

Again... nothing exciting... have to be ready for my part of the presentation during the class trip tomorrow...

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5/9 Friday:

From Japan: Day 039

Daitokuji!

Yay, another trip = more pictures. Today we went to Daitokuji. This was my group's presentation. I presented about Odoi, which was a 3 meter-high wall/mound of dirt built around Kyoto. Now you can find bits and pieces here and there, but it's nothing really to look at... so we didn't. The rest talked about Zen, moss and rock gardens, tea ceremonies, and the architecture of Daitokuji. We walked a little around Daitokuji and went into the rock garden (although, again, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside >_<). After that, some of us went to a place nearby that sold a special "burnt/melted" Mochi. We had that and some tea... it was... interesting...

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5/10-11 Saturday-Sunday:

Nothing exciting to talk about... more sleep/work to catch up on...