急二十三歳 (Suddenly 23)

It's strange: I never felt birthdays as a sudden shift, as in one day I'm 22 and the next day, 23. Instead, within about a month of my birthday, sometimes more, I begin to just accept that I've basically already grown the year older. This way of thinking makes the actual day seem much less significant, but that doesn't really bother me.

I'm not going to write anything profound or philosophical. Lately, I've been to many different places, so why don't I make this entry special and actually go into detail about some of them?



1. Mao's LIVE in Kyoto
I travelled to Kyoto for an short overnight stay in order to catch my friend Mao's live performance. This was especially important for me because, due to exasperating circumstances, I've missed her lives twice in the past. We had a great time, her show was amazing, and then we spent all night afterwards hanging out with her friends, chatting, walking, etc.

In fact, I was treated as a bit of a celebrity among her friends, being a foreigner and all. One of the people at the afterparty turned out to be the "top guitarist in the world" as recognized by a very official contest held annually in the States - I found this out after I had comfortably made a fool of myself speaking to him in primitive Japanese. He didn't seem to mind, but I felt silly because I didn't know what to say. He ended up serenading me with an original piece that was so skillfully executed and melodious that I couldn't tear my eyes away from his fingers.

I pulled myself out of bed at 6:00 am after having virtually no sleep, and was fortunate enough to be walked to the bus stop by Mao. She reassured me that it was okay because she could sleep in until noon as soon as I left - whereas I had a 2.5 hour bus ride ahead of me followed by a day of classes. No complaints.



2. The Pottery Walkway in Tokoname
An arbitrary holiday on a Wednesday became a trip to a place I had never even heard of. Tokoname is gorgeous, both naturally and based off what the locals create. We walked through what appeared to be a neighbourhood in a mountainous area, but pieces of art and pottery were strewn everywhere, on walls, sides of buildings, and the ground we walked on.

Looking down into the city from the higher reaches, you could see many chimneys, wide and square, rising from houses. These symbols of Tokoname are chimneys for all the kilns that this pottery village use or once used - most of the ovens are shut down now. There were many shops where people would sell their wares, and many old-style houses as well. We even saw what was called the "Climbing Kiln": a giant oven the size of a building.

 3. Expo Park and the Sky Garden in Osaka
 My second trip to Osaka, but with a slightly different flavour this time. We were in the north part, the more mountainous area of Osaka, and we travelled to the 1970 Osaka Expo location, which has since been converted into a museum/park of sorts. It was very lively: flea markets, food stands, live music, and all sorts of worldly trivia to check out. The most interesting piece, however, was the Tower of the Sun, a massive structure created by Tarou Okamoto. We had already seen one of his creations in Inuyama, near Monkey Park, but this one was much more impressive.

(For whatever reason, this thing really reminds me of the angels from Evangelion. Anyone else get that?)

We also went to a large building in the city known as the Floating Garden Observatory. Very touristy, and not a garden at all - just a building with 40-something floors and a beautiful observation deck on the top. We were able to see all around Osaka at night, and it was gorgeous. It was intimidating, though: you couldn't see the edge of the city. It was lights as far as the eye could see in every direction. Simply massive.

4. Tajimi and Seki
On the other side of the mountains, in the prefecture neighbouring Aichi, we travelled to a few cities that are slightly more remote than, say, Nagoya. Seki is a city known for its sword-smiths, and more recently, cutlery. We travelled there specifically to see one of the rare sword-smithing demonstrations, where a master came out and displayed the methods of folding steel to make katanas and similar blades.

The museum itself was quite interesting, filled with katanas, tantous, and wakizashis from many different eras. It was interesting to see the change in the size of the blade and edge over time - the older samurais used a much thinner, slightly shorter blade, presumably light enough to wield with one hand. Above the sword museum was a cutlery museum, which was actually more interesting than it sounds. There were many kinds of knives, from switchblade to Bowie knife to kitchen knife to nail clipper.

The actual sword-smithing ceremony was a treat to see, and afterwards I actually got the opportunity to smack the metal myself! The master said I was very good at it and the audience applauded me(they didn't for anyone else). I guess I was just born to fold steel; what can I say?

Following that, we travelled to a Enku museum(Enku being a Buddhist priest who carved 10s of thousands of religious statues), and went to a ceramics museum in Tajimi. They were both filled with ancient culture and beautiful art.

And that's all for now.

By no means am I finished going places, though. All of this was only over a span of 5 days, and I plan on doing much, much more. I'll leave you with some more pictures, if this page wasn't taking long enough to load already.

Random photo dump: