Category: Uncategorized

I am taking a week’s vacation, visiting a friend in Korea.

In this time there will be no posts – nothing interesting can be happening in Kyoto without me anyway. My next post is planned for Monday, August 12th.

I wish you a nice summer too!

 

Yesterday was election day in Japan, and Shinzo Abe and his right-wing nationalists have won the majority in the Japanese upper house. He has a long list of things he wants to do, and it seems that the world is watching him very closely.

The biggest thing he plans is a change to the post WW II constitution of Japan, away from the “peace” constitution where Japan is only allowed self-defence, towards one that allows a standing military. Of course, the constitution as it is right now has not hindered Japan to have a very strong military to begin with and to declare missions to Iraq for example as “peace missions”, but writing it down is a different animal altogether.

Other things on Abe’s list are designed to strenghten Japan’s economy and to lessen its National Debts, for example turning on the nuclear power plants again, raising sales tax, or lowering taxes for companies.How all of this will turn out, and if it turns out to begin with, is something only time will show.

Anyway, the elections have prompted me to get my own files ready. The elections for the Austrian National Council will take place on September 29th, and I must do extra paperwork as I will not return to Austria for that. Even if I did, I don’t have an official residence there anymore, so I need to fill in lots of forms anyway, and I have done so every time there were national elections in the last 10 years.

I once had a very hot and very short argument with a friend of mine who stated that in her opinion … people who live abroad shouldn’t be allowed to vote … I can see the point insofar as I don’t care for local politics and I’m not allowed to vote in the small ones without residence there anyway. However, Austrian national politics, especially the foreign one, affects me probably more than the random Austrian citizen as I am the one who has to defend the outcome – whether I like it or not – against my foreign acquaintances. So yes, vote I will, no matter where I live.

I had a terrible day yesterday and I’m still not feeling any better. I have no idea what triggered feeling down (it’s not homesickness, I’m sure), but that it rained all day yesterday surely didn’t help.

At least the weather has improved a bit today.

I need more chocolate.

It was a very strange day today. The weather was okay, overcast throughout the day but clear, neither wind nor rain. But, in the early afternoon, there were a few times when the town was completely still. I could hear no wind in the trees, no birds or other animals, no human voices. Neither did I hear any cars, even the ambulances that usually come and go to the hospital nearby with their noisy sirens seemed to have taken a break. Later on I realized that there was no sound coming from the sports fields of the schools or the university either. It was an eerie feeling, the proverbial calm before the storm.

Nothing happened so far, and I’m still wondering what could have caused that stillness around. It was no Japanese holiday or end-of-school day or so, and I am not aware of any commemoration to take place today with a certain time of silence (and that wouldn’t happen more than once during the afternoon anyway). The only logical conclusion is that the wind was coming down from the mountain behind the house and countered the noise that is usually coming up the hill. But then again, I didn’t hear any wind either.

Anyway, I wanted to write about the obvious love of the Japanese for greenery. I’m not talking about those beautifully arranged Japanese gardens that look so deceivingly natural without really being it, not this time. I’m talking about those tiny little spots of greenery in front of practically all the houses in my neighborhood, and in fact, throughout Kyoto. Of course, not every place can have a lovely garden like Ebisu’s:

But nevertheless, it seems that no entrance is to small or too cramped with other stuff not to warrant a little bit of green somewhere. The smallest I have seen are a couple of flower pots, sometimes hung up at the wall next to the door.

I haven’t seen any bonsai trees displayed like that though, but I now understand why you would want to have one. They are readily available at markets now, and even quite affordable. Unfortunately I have grey thumbs rather than green ones, so I’d probably kill them off inadvertently sooner or later. Better not to get one, but they are so lovely.

 

I like the feeling those plants convey. It’s very friendly and homely and not as sterile as some parts of European cities can be sometimes.

Today, after finishing my book on Katakana, I went to the Kyoto International Community House which is just a few blocks away from Ebisu’s.

They offer a treasure trove of useful things for the foreigner and/or foreign resident in Kyoto, many of them in Japanese and English, but there is also assistance in German, French, Korean, and Chinese. They offer:

• all sorts of direct advice, from immediate help with problems in the community to legal advice in case of visa problems
• translation services, by phone if necessary
• maps, brochures, pamphlets of all kinds, for example the “Easy Living in Kyoto” booklet for people who come to live in Kyoto
• a library with international newspapers and books in Japanese, English and many other foreign languages
• computer facilities
• snack bar and cafe
• rooms and meeting halls for rent
• an exhibition hall (this week there is an exhibition about Kyoto’s sister city Cologne)
• classes in Japanese and Korean (haven’t seen any English classes though)
• classes in Japanese traditional arts and crafts (making paper, calligraphy, kimonos, sumi-e, abacus…)
• an offline message board with advertisements and language tandem requests
• ….

Mainly, however, it’s a meeting place for both foreigners and locals. When I was there, I saw more Japanese people – older ones, though – than foreigners. There is the possibility to train the Japanese language with volunteer native speakers – they are not trained teachers, but they will help you with your problems and questions – for a token fee of 50 Yen only.

I think this is certainly something I will do – it’s always good to train the language as often as possible, especially speaking and listening comprehension. We’ll see how far I can get with this method…

The Kyoto International Community House
http://www.kcif.or.jp/archive/en/kaikan/
2-1 Torii-cho, Awataguchi, Sakyu-ku, Kyoto 606 8536
075 – 752 3010
office@kcif.or.jp

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00 to 21:00

A matsuri is a festival or holiday in Japan.

Usually they are connected to some shrine, but there are secular ones also. The experience varies, as they always have a local flavour: there can be solemn processions, food stalls lining the streets, music and dance performances…

Today is one of the three big matsuri in Kyoto, a long procession through the northern part of the city. And I’m planning to watch – I have to be off soon…

 

I am involved in a conference at work, so I have no time for a long post right now.

However, today is the social event – a city tour – which I am curious to attend. I wonder how many new things I’ll see, after the two years I’ve lived here.