Adventures from two weeks ago-Oyama Mountain

On the morning of October 15th. We were excited and ready to roll. And just in case you were wondering, you are not being flipped off. That's a peace sign :)

People kept asking "samui, ne?" And I kept saying, "no, no, it's not too cold." But it was cold enough to freeze this little puddle and to have snow on the top. It was my first snow in Japan! Yihaw!

This little hut is the halfway marker.

Buddah has kept a watchful eye over many a year and over many a traveler. I ws told it was there for wishing travelers a safe jouney.
This is nearly the top of Oyama. I've heard most people reach this point and then turn around, but we wanted to get to the tippy-top... so we kept on going.

This isn't the tippy-top, but it's beautiful, isn't it?

Adventures from 2 weeks ago- Oyama

This sequence of photos dates back to October 13th. After exploring Kurobe Dam, Hye-Young and I worked our way to Murodo. That was our destination for the night. Pictured below is Hye-Young as we worked our way from the bus station, through the mountains and to our hotel.
There she blows! As we approached our hotel for the night, I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive... the rough hewn look, with spikes coming out of the roof and windows boarded up... I wondered what kind of stay we would have.

Yes folks, that is Hye-Young, who fainted when she saw a cockroach the size of my head in our little room. No, no, no. I'm kidding- there were no cockroaches there. We were just sprawling out on the tatami after having had an early morning and a day of walking around.

To be honest, this particular hotel was nice; the people running it were wonderful, they had great meals, there was a heater in the room and the best part was the onsen (public baths) in the basement.

The following shots are of the mountains around the hotel. Beautiful!

The picture below is of a sulfur bog/hot spring.

Adventures from a week ago- Kurobe Dam

Kurobe Dam, one of the biggest (if not the biggest dam) in all of Asia. This is the afternoon of October 13th... to be continued tomorrow... or more likely next week. :)

Adventures from a week ago - Foliage around Kurobe Dam

Recently, someone asked me what the seasons were like here in Japan. There are four seasons where I am and I was lucky enough to see some gorgeous foliage during my overnight in the mountains. These photos are taken around the Kurobe Dam. The colors were beautiful. And as luck would have it, the days we were out were beautiful, too!
Oh, I should mention that the Japanese Alps are the homes of snow monkeys. I actually saw one from the bus while traveling though deciduous forests at lowever elevations. I was gazing out the window and thinking to myself, "ah, these forests are lovely. Rather reminicent of the forests in VT..." Then I saw a large furry creature and I thought "ah, maybe a skunk or another critted you'd find in the woods of the N.E. But then it turned and it had a little, red, expressive face. I gasped and nearly shouted "it's a monkey!" My friend responded with a "yeah, so?" To her it is rather commowplace to see monkeys in deciduous woods... for me, not at all! Anyhow, I was very excited to have seen one!

Adventures from a week ago- Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ok, so we didn't take planes or automobiles... but just about everything else to get out and into the mountains. My friend Hye-Young and I left for the Tateyama mountains in the early morning of October 13th. We took a train to get to our destination, then we had to hop on a couple of buses, cable cars that went through the mountains and even a gondola to get to our final destination for the night.

Pictured above and below is the cable car that we took on the first day.

This is Hye-Young looking cool and chic. She's probably the most stylish hiker I've ever seen.

Yup. That's me. Ready for an adventure!

Pictured below are shots taken on the train on our way to Tateyama.

KIT Fesitval

The KIT festival is an annual event primarily planned and run by the students. It started in the evening on Friday, October 10th and it lasted until Monday, October 13th. Unfortunately for the students, the festival took place right after mid terms. Between tests and festival planning, everyone was VERY busy and quite tired.

There were decorations all around the campus, as well as food booths, games, activites and of course, studnet projects and work. The picture below depicts the library and some decorations on the right.
Various light projects made by the students.
Yeah! I love bouncy chickens, but I didn't think it'd be good for a "sensei" to give it a go. Maybe at a festival not affiliated with KIT.
There were a few famous people who came to talk/ perform. There was a famous and some famous comedians who performed for the KIT and surrounding community.
These are just a few of the food stands that lined the streets around campus. I ate my way through the festival; pork miso soup, crepes, chocolate bananas, tapioca chocolate milk, octopus fritters, potatoes from Hoikaido... I'm sure there's something else that should be on the list... Anyhow, I'm such a sucker; the stands were run by KIT students, so if my students saw me they'd pull me in to their stands and ask me to buy whatever it was they were selling. And of course, I would. All in all, it was a lot of fun to see them out of the classroom and in action.

Photo catch up time!

I had the good fortune to be invited to a co-workers traditional Shinto wedding. This is a shot of the beautiful bride in her wedding kimono with the traditional make-up and hair-do.

The picture below depicts the kanushi, the man who presided over the wedding.

Here is a shot of the bride during the ceremony.
This is the beautiful place where the wedding was held. Beleive it or not, this is part of a hotel.

The next few shots are from a town festival called "Matsuri." Townfolk decorate the local shrine and celebrate! The children in the town practice the "Lion dance" for weeks. Then during Matsuri, the children play music and perform the dance (which is believed to drive evil spirits away) for the majority of houses in the neighborhood! This meant dancing from sun-up until sun-down for three days.

In the first shot, the children are wearing the town's garb.
In this shot, you can see the lion which has been possessed by evil spirits. The wise man on the left battles the lion and drives the evil spirit away.In the shot below, the older boys from Komatsu are pushing a cart with extra supplies for the dancers; the little wise-men danced with straw slippers and after hours of dancing on the concrete, their shoes would be completely ruined, so the older boys had extra shoes on hand.
After the sun sets and the dancing is done, everyone flocks to the shrine for food, dancing, games and socializing. Below is a picture of a game. Using a nail, people must carve shapes out of a flat, square piece of sugar without breaking it. When people succeed, they win a prize. I tried a few times, but broke all of my pieces!
Lanterns and lights adorn the plaza where taiko drumming took place and where the dancing took place.

A smattering of old pictures

The above is taken at the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. The cute critters I'm sitting with are from Totoro, a Miyazaki film.

This photo was taken in Korea while I was out in the mountains. Korean architecture is beautiful with vibrant colors and ornate details adorning the walls and roofs.
This shot was taken in Korea at my friend's house. This was before fall had come and it was SWELTERING... I mean, oppressively HOT, hot, hot. Mama-kins, you would have been extremely uncomfortable.