Jan
27
On to Kyoto
Filed under China/Japan 2002
hello all! i:m sitting at the only computer w/internet that we:ve seen ever since we left nagasaki. it:s located in the youth hostel we:re staying at and you have to insert \100 for 15 minutes. grrr…
anyway, on our last day in nagasaki, we went to an elem school to meet 6th graders. we were like celebrities there. they asked for our autographs, wanted to shake our hands, etc. we were divided into groups. i was in the music group and the 6th graders performed jap songs and taught us some really cool games. then we taught them row row row your boat. it was a great time to interact with them. later, we briefly met the mayor where he presented wine to us (oh the look on our prof:s face), and then we went to our farewell reception for our host families.
what we:ve done in kyoto:
– we visited 3 temples. one was gold-leafed, another had a rock garden, and the third was just awesome.
– we traveled to osaka for a kabuki performance. very interesting in how they talk. kabuki is kinda like european opera except no singing (well their talking is in a singing manner) and all characters are performed by men.– today was our free day. over half of the group took the 3 hr bullet train to tokyo, 5 went to an aquarium in osaka, and prof. larson and i went to nagoya to visit st. olaf grad avery fischer and st. olaf sophomore jenny decker both studying in the city. we didn:t do much besides having lunch and coffee together and talk. a good time; laid-back compared to all the sight-seeing we:ve been doing. and hey, what are the odds of 2 kansans (avery and i) who both went to olaf and were both in the ole band being in japan in the same city?!
japan has been sort of a blur compared to china, which is ok because i:m ready to get home. i think we:re all tired out. tomorrow we will go see a castle from before the tokugawa period. tuesday we:ll go see takarazuka, a recent invention of about the past 100 years, similar to kabuki but an all women:s troupe (don:t get too excited erin mickens!). wednesday we head for home with a nice 8-hr stop in honolulu. yessss!
this is either my last or 2nd to last email since this internet is expensive, but we:ll see…
hope everyone:s getting thru january well!
