Foods and Fireworks

So I've been here in Kyoto, Japan now for over a week and a half. A lot has happened. I've been to school for a full week, meeting teachers, students, and staff. Official teaching has not started yet so I'm not in the full swing of my job, but I've been busy working on a self-introduction lesson with giant color pictures of my family, friends, interests, travels, etc. I've been out exploring Kyoto a number of times to see a shrine,





...to eat good Japanese food, and to find household necessities. I've also discovered a number of cultural peculiarities and differences that I would not call shocking (at least to me), but they certainly are entertaining.

Here is a little of where I live. This is the view from my balcony on the 4th floor looking toward Mt. Hiei (Paul Groner of UVA Relg. Studies Dept. would be proud).

And the river that I cross over on my bicycle when I head to the store. To the north of the city the river is pretty shallow. Even in the center of the city you can see rocks that have been layed down at the bottom of the river in a grid formation. It's really pretty and shallow enough to wade in and feel tangibly, but I'm not sure it's allowed.

And once and a while there are these little waterfalls where cranes frequently hang out.

So here is my new office and my desk at school. Pretty standard high school office for Japan. The nice thing about it - not that I've had trouble with this in the past - is that students cannot cross a line more than two feet within the room from the doorway. So no pesky students surprising you at your desk...but how could I ever find these students pesky!? I'm sure there's a good reason forit. It's alright with me.


Ok, so here are some of the weird things I've discovered, some of which I've grown to love through the past few days. First to note: they warn you about hormones and chemicals in some American foods that may affect one's health, but the only foods I have found recently with serious growth problems are those in Japan. What I'm saying here is that size is an issue. Some foods (and their packaging) can be small...

(like this can of Ginger Ale)


And some can be enormous...

(like this Godzilla-sized apple - that is a normal orange as Americans know them; and that apple cost me ¥300, like $3.00!)


Instead of with Power Bars, Clif Bars, and Nature Valleys, Japan has chosen to stock its convenience store shelves with "Calorie Mate," a 1970's era mystery biscuit/shortbread that comes in such succulent flavors as:

• Cheese
• Cheesecake
• Chocolate
• Fruit
• Vegetable
• Potato
• Maple

YUM! Actually, it's ok, but a far cry from protein bars or healthy, moist food.


Moving on. Someone has failed to inform Japan that Andre sparkling wine is NOT quality alcohol and should not be sold as such. ¥880 is more than a 100% price increase from the usual $4.99 that it costs in the U.S. I certainly won't be paying that for some Andre, no matter how much I crave it day and night. Andre - 1, Japan - 0.

I also found seriously hilarious the waver I had to sign in order to open my Japanese bank account. Please read:

Not even "quasi-members" of gangster organizations are safe here! As if some shady individual would think they were in the clear after reading (1) and (2), yet to then find themselves cornered and turned away upon reading category (3)...! No doubt about it; this waver is DEFINITELY going to stop gangsters from using this bank for illicit reasons.

This has been the best sign I've seen thus far in Japan, and I still haven't figured out the choice of illustration, though Carly has informed me it is really a sign forbidding bicycling in the area...

I like to call this piece of work, "George Washington's Tentacle and the Devil Child." Why the tentacle arm on this man with a funny haircut, and why the horns on the child? We'll never know.

Here are a few of our group hanging out by the river in Sanjo district. Good news: it it legal to drink in public in Kyoto. So taking a bottle down to the river on a Saturday night is totally allowed.

Here is one of the back streets of Sanjo where we were exploring when looking for a place to eat one evening.

The view from my hotel downtown for the Kyoto Orientation from August 4-6, and new friends Dan and Joanna:

Kyoto Tower:

The crowd in Otsu (east of Kyoto) near Lake Biwa, where we went to see some awesome firewords (hanabi in Japanese) last night, and an unsuspecting passerby with an unusual message for everyone:

And we ended the night with some delicious matcha flavored ice cream with red bean and some gellatin balls (don't know the official word... anyone?):

In sum, the food has been half the adventure so far. And many of the phenomena are inexplicable here, but they are what make Japan mysterious and intriguing. To close I leave you with an LOL-worthy image representative of my life in Japan currently.