February 21

Today was the bus trip to Hikone in Nagahama. I woke up as planned and came to breakfast to an egg, chicken, and tomato sandwich (delicous!). Okaasan came to the kitchen before I left and gave me a big bag of chips and candy. She suggested I eat them on the bus with my friends if I get bored on the hour-long commute. I liked her use of boredom as a reason to eat snacks.

I was able to catch a slightly earlier-than-usual train to Nanzandaigaku and I found, when I got there, that I was still early (about 10 minutes so). I was one of the first people to get to school and I talked with Whitney (the only other student there at the time) until more students came. I got to meet Kim (a very nice girl from IJ300) before the trip too.

There were two busses to choose from; the Japanese guide and the English guide. It was confusing to figure out which bus to ride because we were initally told it didn’t matter, that the indications were simply where the guides would meet us when we got to Hikone, and that we should ride the bus corresponding to which sheet we signed up (as present) on. As it turned out, this was wrong. The people on the Japanese guide bus received all the informational papers in Japanese and the English bus received English. We were able to switch groups for the actual tours, but the buses were still confusing.

Before we even left, there was a minor problem. One of us hadn’t signed up for the trip, but was on the bus to go. The two administrators from Nanzan were so confused that they counted us about five times as well as called aout all the names on the roster at least once looking for their error. It was quite a bit before the person stepped up to help them correct the error. It was pretty funny though to see the Japanese coordinator so confused and constantly saying “ore?!”

When we finally did get going, it was a fairly enjoyable trip. We were travelling west toward the mountains. It even snowed a bit on the way.

When we finally got to the castle, it was pretty cold. We had to keep walking all the time to stay warm. The castle, of course, was located at the top of a mountain, so we had to climb to it. At the entrance to the grounds (not yet at the top of the mountatin) there were lots of signs with drawings of what was explained to be a cat (wearing what looks like a viking hat). The guide explained that it was the castle’s mascot, Hikonya (Hokone + nyao, the sound Japanese cats make). According to the guide, Hiknya is a recognized Japanese citizen and receives many neaw year’s cards and chocolates every year. Hikonya, of course, doesn’t exist, except as souvineres.

The tour guide’s English was alright, but I don’t think we got that much history out of the tour. The main things I can remember are that the castle used to be on a fairly nearby peak, but that it was moved to its new position. The castle was open to the public without government permission. During the warring states period, the castle was partially destroyed (for reasons I forget) but the destruction was halted by one of Japan’s rulers. Parts of the castle come from the other castle (which was deconstructed and brought there, no longer situated on the nearby peak), other parts are original, and yet other parts were recently reconstructed (in the last 100 years).

From the summit, you can see the expansive Biwa Lake and nearby town. It was really beautiful. There was even (coincidentally) a hawk flying nearby. We weren’t able to go in the main castle (due to time constraints) but we went in one other building. The truth is, though, the other building was quite boring. It overlooked Biwa Lake and had literally nothing in it. All that you could do was walk around inside (without shoes to keep your freezing feet warm) and look through clouded windows. Apparently, the building was used to defend against enemies. We also walked by the former stables (now housing cars instead of horses, ironically) and some of the garden area. The gardens are really pretty and there is even a tea house (where you can have a tea ceremony performed) on the grounds. Unfortunately, Japan is still recovering from winter (and a recent snow/rain fall) so the entire area was quite barren. We had to avoid mud as we climed stairs and walked through gardens of leafless trees. The ponds were considerably low, but it’s pretty obvious that the area is beautiful in the Spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming and the plants are showing signs of life.

The castle is still partially used. The old living quarters now house a branch of the Japanese criminal court system. There is also a (modern by Japanes standards) high school which seems to be situated on the castle grounds.

After the tour, we went to the nearby town to eat (overpriced) lunch before boarding the bus to go to Nagahama Otemon Street. Otemon street is like Nagahama’s version of Osu; it’s a small, outdoor shopping district. The difference is, Nagahama seems to be a more historic district, so the shops sell traditional sweets and items as compared to the modern, young-demographic products of Osu. They do, however, have a figure museum with plastic anime and movie figurines. The area, however, seems to be famous for its glasswork.

After Otemon, we headed home. On the bus, we watched the movie, Terminal, and at times, I felt like I was in the US (since the scenery often included no signs and we were watching an American movie). It was really weird. It was also interesting to watch the movie (not the actual story, because that was boring) to pick out dated details and especially yoshinoya, the Japanese cheap food chain that I never realized existed in the US.

I was a little late coming back from the bus (and chikatetsu), but lucky, by some slight of fate, okaasan and otousan had not started eating yet, so I was able to eat with them. Okaasan made bibimbop (if it doesn’t sound like Japanese, that’s because it’s not). It was amazing! Bibimbop is a Korean dish where you place rice, vegetables (mushrooms and something else I forogto), meat, and egg in a bowl and mix it up. I was worried about the egg because it was literally raw, but since the bowl was so hot, I was able to mix it fast enough to cook the egg. We also had hot, red pepper sauce in it. I think it hs been established in my host parents’ minds that I have a special taste for spicy food (and sweets) which works well for me. :D Okaasan placed an entire bowl of bibimbop at my place setting and I was worried I would’t eat it all (it was like a ramen-sized, black stone bowl). I also felt a bit archaic to eat it from such a massive bowl, but luckily, otousan noticed and gave me a smaller bowl to eat from. It seems like such a small detail, but, given that okaasan and otousan were eating on china plates, it was really a concern to me. Okaasan told me it was alright to eat the entire thing, but afterward she said it was okay if I didn’t because she could put the rest away, so I was kind of confused. We also had squid with broccoli salad (and a mustard-like dressing) which okaasan thought I wouldn’t like (it’s really tasty though).

After dinner (which took a long time) we had dessert of strawberries and ebi crackers. I really liked the crackers (which look like overly-bubbly fritos, but are made from shrimp). There were even some wasabi ones.

The rest of the evening was pretty futsuu, but I did get to watch a Japanese drama. It was about a girl who does glass blowing and has a chance at an award. The backstory is that she had a fiancé that died from some sickness, she hasn’t talked to her mom in a year, and she can’t get over her fiancé. There is, of course, a pretty-boy who comes to work at the glass-blowing company who likes her and for some reason, uses the same phrases as her dead fiancé. Okaasan likes the Okinawa-ben that they use on the show (so far, super-rolling your R’s seems to be the quality). I kind of like the show because I think glass-blowing is interesting and unlike American shows, instead of making out, the characters talk about themselves and/or hug. Then again, I still feel kind of embarrised watching an emotional show when people (for example, okaasan) are around.