Deer ’o deer (Kansai, part 1)
Since the last post it has been rather hectic. I’ve been writing on my report for JASSO (in Japanese) which is required by those who received the scholarship. Other than that, I still have a report due this Monday for my economy class. The good thing though is that we can chose to write about anything as long as it’s related to Japanese culture or economy. I’ve decided to write, yet again, about food. Not about Swedish food as I did for my graduation paper but about Japanese cuisine and etiquette. It’s quite interesting actually as I’ve found out a few things I never knew about Japanese food and its food history. Apparently eating meat was banned for over a thousand years before emperor Meiji decided to lift the ban, wanting to modernize Japan.
Next week we have our final chapter test and on top of that a 2kyuu test which we take to see if we have progressed. Although it doesn’t have anything to do with our grades or the book we use it would be nice to see what score I can get on it. I’m uncertain though, because they say we have it tomorrow and if that is true I don’t think I have that much of a chance to get the 70% which is required to pass for E-class. My kanji knowledge isn’t the best right now since we’ve been forced to “learn” over 2000 new words which include kanji. We’ve been jumping real fast through our book which new grammar and words every day. The pace is pretty crazy and since we’re in Japan we don’t want to only do homework and tests but explore Tokyo and other places while we can. Who knows how long it will take before we can get back here. I’m going to write the test which Monbusho has to offer but I have to study for hours every day when I get back home, which I’m willing to do.
By each day it’s getting colder and now it’s so cold that I can wear a scarf without sweating. A month ago that would be unthinkable but it’s been rather cold lately and apparently it’s been colder than usual at this time of the year. It’s been raining quite often as well and that is one of the reasons why it grew so cold in such a short time. The trains get uncomfortably overcrowded during rainy days and the trains are sometimes late as well during these kinds of days. If a certain train is late, they will hand out a proof document that says that you’re late because of the train by how many minutes. This is to prevent you from getting into trouble with your teachers or work related people. It would be funny to use it as an excuse to get late for a date.
Last weekend (Nov 21-23) I and Asami went to Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. On the first day we went to Nara straight away and Nara was an old capital of Japan during the Nara period (years 710 – 791) with a lot of legends, temples and… deer! Yes, you read it right. A lot of deer. Nara is full of deer and as a result of all the deer there are also deer spilling wherever you go. You have to watch your step, otherwise you might (or actually most probably) step into it. Other than the deer poo, Nara was quite beautiful. We didn’t spend that much time there though as our main trip was focused on Kyoto. We went Toudai-ji which was very nice. We went to a shrine as well but I can’t remember the name. We couldn’t get in though, they had some sort of ceremony for kids turning 3, 7 and… something I can’t remember. Nara really felt like an old city. Not only that, Nara is out in the suburbs so you won’t find any tall buildings like in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto. The atmosphere is hard to describe when it comes to a city with such old history. You have to go there yourself in order to experience it. If not, go there to experience the deer!
Anyway, enjoy the pictures!
Above: You can buy "shikazembe" (rice cakes for the deer) and feed them. It's pretty nice to be able to interact with them. If you're not careful enough though, you might get overwhelmed by the amount of deer which might come at you.
