“You haven’t changed at all,” she says, her Japanese accent thick with the Hiroshima flavour. She squeezes my shoulders, her face beaming. “Not one bit.”
“Neither have you!”, I answer, laughing. It has been four years since we have seen one another, and it’s true; nothing has changed.
It’s been an action packed two months! I apologize for my tardiness in posting, I am afraid my studies proved to be more time consuming than I expected. However! I have been taking notes for when I finally had time over this winter break! So to recap, let’s rewind back to October!
I ate black sesame ice cream and I almost died of deliciousness.
Sophia University was having a week-long festival, which meant a glorious week off from classes. If I had been part of a club, I would have perhaps cared about the festival, but as a rogue student, I decided to take the opportunity to jump on the shinkansen (aka bullet train) and head West. My first stop was Kyoto, a city that I had only previously visited for small day trips, So this time I spent four nights there, staying in a small backpacker’s hostel in Gion. If that name sounds familiar to your, it’s because it’s famous for its history of being the centre of geisha culture. It is one of the few places left in the world where the art is still practiced. I glimpsed a few whilst out walking one late evening, accompanying a procession of a dinner party that appeared to be taking place between two companies. Seeing them in full dress and livery was absolutely stunning. I also encountered a real life sumo wrestler, larger than life and clad in completely traditional clothing. I befriended some very cool dudes and had a blast, visiting temple after temple and eating some of the most delicious sushi that I have had in awhile!
The Kanji Museum of Kyoto. This is a giant sized version of a popular mug that is sold around Japan, covered in the many written names of fish.
I also got to visit the newly opened Kanji Museum, a building full of exhibits showing the history and importance of Chinese characters as they are used in the Japanese language. It is something that I study two days a week in school, and have come to read much more easily thanks to living here and facing it everyday. Kanji is an important part of Japanese life, and this museum is the latest attempt in ensuring that it does not fade into history, especially with the popularization of electronic forms of communication. It’s not too different than the plight of cursive writing in English, a tradition I myself do my best to uphold.
After Kyoto, I took off again on a train bound for Hiroshima. Famous for it’s World War II history of being one of the two cities to have an atom bomb dropped on it, it has now become a city that promotes peace. It is famous for it’s particular dialect and excellent cuisine, including their fried oysters and okonomiyaki, a sort of savoury pancake. It is also the home town of my good friend, who had previously spent two years in Vancouver studying English. She and I had become close, and I was desperate to see her again. I had also visited her once previously, four years ago, where I had met her whole family and attended the local fire festival with them. This time I came with gifts, including Tim Hortons coffee, and had a wonderful lunch with her father. She also had a day off from work, so we took the ferry over to Miyajima.
My friend and I in Miyajima.
Miyajima is a small island off the coast of Hiroshima, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On it’s shore stands a beautiful temple, as well as a large park and a mountain that is popular to climb. It is also covered in wild deer that calmly walk around and try to eat peoples’ food. It was a little early in autumn, so the leaves had not quite turned yet, but it was still absolutely beautiful. And it was wonderful to catch up with old friends, as well as make some new ones. As much as I love Tokyo, it was nice to get out of the fray for a few days and catch my breath. My classes are quite time-consuming, and Tokyo has a way of keeping you busy. For anybody on exchange, I definitely recommend branching out from your home base and seeing other sides of your host country, it is a very rewarding experience. As for what has been happening around Tokyo, let’s save it for next time!