Golden Week, Map-eating Deer, & Tea Ceremonies,

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, and I apologize for that. May is always crazy busy: fundraisers, end of track season, and the High School Career Fair  that I also run. 

But as we approach June, I finally get some breathing room again!

Time to catch up on Julia in Kyoto! She writes:

 “Remember the okonomiyaki I mentioned before? I made it! 

Julia's homemade Okinomiyaki!

 On the subject of food, I recently went with some other students from my Japanese class to a parfait place. We all got delicious desserts, a few people got actual food, and talked about the class.

Julia's Parfait!- the reddish lump is Red Bean paste
 made from Adzuki Beans and lightly sweet. Good Protein!

 Afterwards, half the group went home, while the other half wanted to do karaoke. I went with the karaoke group. We mostly sang popular American songs that I vaguely knew, but there were a couple of anime theme songs thrown in, plus the Japanese version of "Let It Go." We got back late, so I didn't get to sleep until 1 AM, but I had the whole weekend to sleep in.

I've been walking to school the last few days. It takes about half an hour, but I get to pass by the river where I usually go running, and seeing it is a good way to start the day. There are ducks and pigeons and some kind of raptor. (I haven't figured out what it is. Probably a hawk?)"

Enjoy Julia's walk to school!

These are all shots along the Kamo River in Kyoto- the main river. The northern part of the city actually sits at the confluence of two large rivers flowing from the mountains above town- the older Kamo and the Takano- that merge together to become the great Kamo River. The Kamo that Julia sees every day will continue to swell in size throughout the summer months.

Remember to click on pictures if you'd like to see them larger!

Julia took this picture of a great Blue Heron on the Kamo

And now more from Julia:

Golden Week is coming up, which means a week of no school. I feel like I'm just getting used to the schedule… Anyways, some students are talking about traveling during the break, but no definite plans yet. I'd like to go to the deer park in Nara, since I'm pretty sure I know how to get there via the subway, and I need more animal contact. The koi fish are nice, but they're not furry. They do give very nice finger nibbles though.

There's a store near the university that sells manga, DVDs, and CDs. They have used CDs for just 300 yen! I bought the only YUI album that I didn't yet own, and was able to import it onto my iTunes. And yes, Camille, they have K-pop. And Acid Black Cherry. So if there's something that's hard to find in the US, let me know." 

 A Little About Golden Week:

Golden Week, one of the biggest holiday celebrations of Japan, was a few weeks ago from April 29-May 5th: During the week Julia had no classes and had an opportunity to do a little exploring.

Golden Week is actually 4 different holidays that are simply grouped together:

April 29 is Showa Day (Showa no hi) which was the birthday of Emperor Showa, who died in 1989.

May 3 is Constitution Day (Kenpo kinenbi), the day in 1947 when the new constitution came into effect.

May 4 is Greenery Day (Midori no hi) (which used to be celebrated on April 29th) and is similar to our Arbor Day, but much more popular than Arbor Day. Greenery Day became much more popular during Emperor Showa’s life and after his death because he was a devotee of the natural world.

May 5 is Children's Day (Kodomo no hi) however it is really just the Boy's Festival (Tango no Sekku) which is celebrated on this day! (The Girl's Festival is celebrated on March 3.) Families pray for the good fortune of their sons with colorful displays of carp kites and samurai dolls, which both symbolize a long, strong, successful life.

Here’s what Jules had to say about her Golden Week and her visit to Nara, an ancient Imperial City of Japan just a few hours south of Kyoto by train:

 “I went to Nara with three other students. Our goal was to go to the deer park, which is exactly what it sounds like: a park full of deer that people are allowed to feed. For 150 yen, you could buy a packet of deer biscuits (shika senbei). The deer in Japan are a lot smaller than in America and they acted like a cross between dogs and goats. They followed people around and tried to eat things they shouldn't. One buck ate the tourist map my friend bought! Afterwards, we went to see the nearby temples. I took lots of pictures, which I'll be uploading soon once I edit them and decide which ones are best.

I also took pictures of Doshisha campus. Those will be added later too.

Adorable deer among the shrines. It is illegal to hurt the deer in anyway.
 To protect the deer, no traffic is allowed in the main part of town .

Julia collecting water to drink at a shrine in Nara.

Nara was previously an Imperial Capital back in the middle ages, for a few hundred years.

Todai-Ji Buddhist Temple in Nara- Japan's largest statue of Buddha lives within.

Enjoying yummy street food- Julia's having onigiri- hot steamed Rice cakes!

Yes, that's not only legal- it's encouraged!!

More from Jules:

"Today, I'm at one of the other girl’s dorms watching anime (Mom edit-Japanese Cartoons –not always for kids!) and eating lunch with the group from Nara. It requires a lot less running around than yesterday!”

“There was a test when we got back from Golden Week, but I misread the schedule (easy to do, since it's in Japanese) and studied the wrong topic, so I didn't do very well. I explained this to the professor, and she offered to let me retake the test. I did the retake on Friday, which felt a lot easier than the first time.

Japanese language test! Have fun reading that!

 In my Japanese culture class, we've been learning about tea ceremonies. Yes, there's a whole ceremony centered around drinking tea. The professor brought in green tea and rice candies for us to try. The candies ran out before I could eat one, but I got to try the tea. It was less bitter than the green tea I usually get in the U.S. -not quite sweet, but good.”

Tea Ceremony - And this is a link to watching a video of a Japanese Tea Ceremony.

That' s all for this post! Sayonara!