Buddhism For Breakfast

She moved to the floor last night. She’s always been the kind of person who liked sleeping on the floor, and with the nights only being 3 degree cooler than the day, she needed the tatami mat instead of blankets to take away some of the heat. And so she lay there. Awake. Trying to sprawl out as much as possible to create as much surface area to cool her blood as possible (thanks for the Surface Area lesson back in 8^th grade, Mr. Baldwin~)… Totemo atsui da yo! (It’s really hot!)

They went down for another very filling breakfast around 8:20am and were told by their Okaasan the a Buddhist priest was going to be coming to the house around 9am to pray at their shrine. She and Katie exchanged wary glances at each other when they heard the car pull up only ten minutes later. Okaasan told them they could go and watch, but they still had the rest of a very large breakfast to finish! They tried their best to hurry as they heard the priest enter the other room and began chanting. She and Katie washed their dishes and then were ushered into the adjourning room by Okaasan (Otoosan was already kneeling inside). The priest chanted in a monotone singsong way, and Okaasan and Otoosan had their heads slightly bowed. Our Young Traveler just kneeled with her hands clasped in her lap and stared at the intricate carvings on the alter and musing about the fact that were she in the U.S., she would be at church right now and instead she was sitting through a Buddhist ceremony and visiting Shinto Shrines the day before… After he was down with his chanting, the priest turned around and was surprised to see the young very-much-not-Japanese lady. He spoke pretty good broken English and simple Japanese for her sake and asked polite questions such as if she was a college student and what she was studying in Japan. He began to explain to the two the different books he had read from and mentioned that as well as the Buddhist alter he had in his house he also had a statue of Jesus Christ. The Young Traveler rolled that over in her mind and added it to the understanding she was getting about “Spirituality” in Japan. He even asked them if they were Christians or read the bible, and when she answered “yes” to both of those he was then surprised that she would answer “no” when he asked if she also had a statue or alter of Jesus… One she finally stood up after kneeling on the mats for so long, her legs striped and sleeping legs gave out beneath her and she had to once again rely on Katie’s support to make it to the next room~

The main event of the day occurred when they traveled to a real castle! (yes... as opposed to all the fake ones she's been to in her life...) She and Katie bought delicious ice cream from a vending machine on their way to meet Ben (or Rizza-san from class), Jenny, Rory and his host mom and her two children.

(Blurry Jenny)

(The tall white building on the peninsula is the Hikone View Hotel
and the green roofed buildings next to it are JCMU)

(GHOST KATIE)

(Ko-chan (5 yrs old) in the green shirt and Ha-chan (2 yrs old) in the pink shirt
with their mother (Rory's Host Mother)  Yoko (and a stranger with dog~))

(Ha-chan and Ko-chan)

(more Ice cream!)

Ko-chan. This kid is tough. He fell so many times on the  stones all over
the castle grounds and never cried. Niether did Ha-chan when she fell either)

After splitting up with Rory and his family so Yoko could get the kids home, the rest of them went to get something to eat. On the top floor of A.L Plaza, Our Traveler found a giant train shop!

 As well as a few notable figures on go-karts below~

And since the day was only going to stay hot, they all went their separate ways after eating and bumming around the shopping center (honestly, this 95+ degree heat ALL DAY (and night) LONG is getting old...)

Cats Make Things Better. Cats'n'Crepes

Saturday-Morning-Sleep-In-Time Yaaaaaaay (=waking up at 7am instead of 6am… oh, adulthood and the un-rhythmatic circadian cycle…)

The day just started off hot and kept getting hotter. They took their time getting up and around and had a laid back breakfast with Okaasan and Otoosan. The morning was then whiled away reading, writing, doing a bit of laundry and just trying to stay cool. And listening to 50’s era music from the Bioshock soundtracks  (Bioshock and Bioshock 2 are video games that take place in an underwater community called Rapture where there are no laws to “limit creativity”…. So naturally you’re fighting for survival against spliced-up mutants~) with songs by some of her favorites: Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby… And with the thunderstorm that rolled in (although, it was shorter and less flashy than the one that started at 11pm the night before that she just had to stay up and watch/listen to…), it was a great way to relax and take a break from always doing something/going somewhere….

…Because after lunch she and Katie headed out to capture a bit of the captivating charm of Nagahama that they pass every day on the way to school but haven’t had a chance to properly explore yet:

(Yes, It's a growing obsession)

(Spot the Crow~)

(Covered Market street)

(Setting up for the special festival/shopping)

(CAT POSTER)

(sleeeeeepy cat)

(Crow Crossing~)

(POST BOX)

(Nursery School~)

They got back and attempted to cool themselves off for dinner with copious amount of cold water splashed on their faces. Summer does that: it makes it seem as if you’ll never be comfortable again, let alone not oozing from every pore…yeah. So the plan for the evening was to go to the intriguing covered street market (that they also pass through on their way to school) that was being closed off to all but foot traffic with little tables and stands lining the center walkway. Okaasan was kind enough to drive them to the Nagahama station so she and Katie could pick up Jenny who’s host mother was gone the entire day. The market was from 6pm until 9pm (when usually things close around 7pm at the latest) so they were going to get Jenny at a little after 6 and walk the five-minute to the market and hang out together for the night. Little did the three of them realize the adventure that was in store for them, heh heh heh…

Upon arriving at the station and standing on the other side of the ticket check-point, they notice the delay posted on the “Arrival/Departure” board called a “Human Damage Accident”. Needless to say they started to get a bit concerned. They called Jenny after the time came and went for her to arrive even with the delay time. Nagahama is only three stops away from Hikone where Jenny was starting from and takes 15-20 minutes tops. Jenny traveled over half an hour in the other direction. With all of the delays and how frantic Jenny was on the phone, she and Katie decided to use their free train passes to ride to Maibara to meet Jenny and help her to at least get back home safely.

While waiting for the very delayed train, they spotted more cats!

(Beautiful Tree of Glass)

They get to Maibara Station and wander about it the oppressive heat to try and find some ice cream (every day she is in pursuit of another vending machine like at the Hikone Station…) and succeed in wasting over half an hour while still waiting for Jenny.

(They saw this cool thing, though~)

By the time they met up, train after train was turning on their “Out Of Service” light, and they all agreed to just go their separate (and correct) ways and call the loss of shopping but gained adventure a life experience. After pointing Jenny in the correct direction and telling her what signs to look for (even though Hikone is the next stop after Maibara…) she and Katie made their way into the massive throng of displaced people also trying to catch one of the few remaining trains in service before they all shut down entirely for the night (which happens a little before 11pm and it was already after 9pm).

Oh, but there was one hitch, or rather challenge, to the night: the absolutely innumerable amount of fat and writhing arachnids moving steadily about the lights and low rafters of the train platform. Above her head. Hundreds of them. Highlighted in the light and busily weaving their death-trap webs. Above her head.

And so a solution was found in the form of a bit of method acting: she took off her glasses, let her gaze become ever more blurred and her bangs fall over her face (sorry, Gramma…), and grasped Katie’s hand on her arm to be led around. That’s right, she became Toph! Or just blind… But seriously, as they were jostled around the platform, she kept her head down and eyes (un)focused on the ground before her feet as Katie guided her around by the arm for the half hour they had before their train came. It sounds silly, and she knows that being afraid of…them…even to the point that she had to feign blindness (and can’t hear their name with out jumping or think of them with out cringing…) isn’t healthy, but despite the progress she’s tried to make, she still has a long way to go… (NOTE: This is ABSOLUTELY NOT permission for anyone to get any “ideas” about desensitization tactics. You will be disowned. Well, maybe not “disowned”; but at least shunned for a while).

Once they returned to Nagahama Station and arrived at Kurokabe (or “Black Wall”, another nickname for the covered street shopping district) it was just about 9pm, 3 hours after Okaasan had dropped them off. And even though all the stalls were closing up, they found the one thing better than ice cream that completely made it all worth it: crepes!!

With their treasure in hand, they began the slightly unnerving walk back home on shadowed streets. But luckily they were being watch from the darkness by the gleaming eyes of many predators:

'Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin,' thought Alice; 'but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!'

--Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

Yes. A very good day indeed~