Me, My Mom, and Japan

I'll start by saying this past week and a half has been a blast. It was so awesome to see my mom again after seven months. She went back to America today, which made me really sad, but I'll see her again in a few months. You know, just in time for all the after-exchange-senior-year-college-applications mess to begin. Not to mention a lot of catching up with violin (and remembering English). But that's all for later, so now...

I present to you the highlights of our fascinating trek through Kyoto, Shiga, and Tokyo!

Mom got here last Friday night, April 2nd. Murata-san (my 2nd host dad, or the one from my temporary host family last November) and I went to pick her up at the airport in Osaka. Of course we got lost trying to find her gate, but we were early, so we had lots of time to kill. When she finally came through the gate (her plane was an excruciating 10 minutes late), I gave her a big hug and introduced her to Murata-san, and we all got in the car and went back to his home. I translated for them during the ride, which made me proud of myself.

The next day was we went to Kyoto (got lost there, too) and saw Kawaramachi, the shopping district, Pontocho, and the Silver Pavilion. The Silver Pavilion was the best part of that day because the sakura were in full bloom along the nearby stream. We had the best sushi ever that night, although Mom could never eat enough to satisfy Murata-san. I eat a LOT here (especially sushi), and he must've though my mom would be the same. XD

The next day I had to go to the big Rotary meeting, so my Murata-san took my mom (and a friend to translate) up to Mt. Hiei, which she said was very beautiful. The Rotary meeting was interesting, I guess- they let the exchange students out early, so we went to a nearby lake, ate ice cream, and rode boats. Then I got back to the Murata's in time for dinner, and we had sukiyaki. The next day Mom and I went to Nara with my host mom (or 2nd host mom, if you want to be picky). The deer were bold and the Buddha was big. I don't like Nara very much, but I figured she should see it because it's famous and close to Kyoto. The day after consisted of moving to a new house- my current host family's- and a boat ride. It was fun, but there were gulls attacking the boat, and I hate gulls just about as much as I hate squirrels, which is a lot. But we had a nice dinner with the WHOLE family that night, which was quite the test for me translating abilities... O.o

The next day was in my opinion the best- we went to Kyoto again, but this time went to Yasaka-jinja, a shrine near Gion. It was neat, and so was Gion, but the best part was when we wandered out of Gion and stumbled into the quiet, peaceful nearby temple grounds. It was an amazing contrast to the tourist-heavy areas we had been seeing, and a nice treat. The sakura were beautiful there, as well. And we even saw a maiko! After that we took a train to Fushimi-Inari, which you've all probably seen pictures of somewhere. It's a shrine, but the walkway up to it (and what a long, steep, and tricky little walkway it is) is covered by thousands of red torii gates. It was surprisingly not crowded, and we made it to the top after a few hours of climbing. Our feet were sore, but it was pretty fantastic. Amazingly fantastic.

The day after we went to my school. Meh, okay. My school is not the most interesting place on the planet. BUT after that we went to my host dad's favorite onsen, or public bath. So relaxing. So nice. And so very not crowded and peaceful. I got my mom to eat tiny dried fish at the restaurant there, too, which made my day. We also stopped at a tanuki-statue store, which I won't go into because I think the statues are the creepiest, weirdest, ballsy-est things ever. They just stare up at you and smile like little Smilin' Bob Prozac monsters, and I'm terrified of them.

On the 9th we headed to Tokyo to stay with a friend. It was nice to see her again- she's Japanese, but married to an American and speaks fluent English, and she lived in NC for a long time. I had American food again. It was yummy, but my stomach was so confused. Not to say I got sick, but it just felt... weird. You'd have to experience it to know. The next day we went to Asakusa and Akihabara- I've never seen so many foreigners in Japan in my life! I know it's Tokyo, but WOW. And if you're wondering, no, I don't count as a foreigner ^-^ Haha.

We also went to Ueno Park that day, which I think was the best part of Tokyo. Lots of strange people, lots of normal people, lots of street vendors, lots of sakura. And a lot of Jesus- we passed by an outdoor church service and a gospel concert. I didn't know there was that much Christianity in Japan. I mean, I go to Christian school here, but there are like, 3 devout people in the 1200 there. It was a little surprising.

During our stay in Tokyo we also visited Shinjuku, Harajuku, Omotesando, Yoyogi Park, Meiji Shrine, and a fabulous Korean restaurant that I'll be revisiting if I go to Tokyo again. I was with my mom, so of course it was fun, but honestly I prefer Kyoto over Tokyo. Tokyo seems like a city you'd have to live in to appreciate- not a tourist city at all- so maybe if I lived there I'd like it more. But for now, I much prefer my quaint, old fashioned, Kansai-ben-speaking Kyoto. There's a lot less English here, too, which is good for me. In Tokyo, English is EVERYWHERE.

So that's basically how the trip went. There were lots of little things that happened, too (like the bodybuilder parading down Harajuku in a speedo who looked strangely like my uncle), but that's the gist. I had to say bye to my mom at a bus stop in Tokyo this morning, and I barely made it back without crying. I'm still a bit worried right now, because she's on a plane, and who doesn't worry about their family when they're on a plane? But yeah, she's on here way back to America, and I've still got roughly 3 months left here in Japan. I'm definitely excited to go home, but I will be sad to leave Japan. I'm just really glad Mom came to visit, because it'd been too long! And I got to show her everything I've been doing here. It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow I've got school, but my school uniform has finally been cleaned! THANK GOD! It smells like clean and fresh. And tonight the crickets are chirping even though it's not yet summer. What are they thinking?

Talk to you all later! Jaa ne!