goinggaijin.com – Page 120 – A European's move towards Japan

Rain

Today I was ready to write about how cold it is in this old house and how I try to keep warm even without a heater and then… it turned out to be a very nice and warm day, with highs of 18 degrees! The warm weather however, came with a big drawback: It was raining quite heavily all afternoon. I’m glad I had gone out for shopping in the morning, and the afternoon, as grey as it was, was perfect to further my studies. So, all in all, I had a nice and productive day.

I’m sure there will be another opportunity to complain about the cold though 😉

Koyo

Few things draw the Japanese masses as easily as nature viewing. I have written about this phenomenon in my article on moon viewing in September, and it is well known even outside of Japan that the Japanese are crazy about cherry blossoms in spring.

Now is another time of nature viewing – the time of koyo, viewing the autumn colours – not just any colours, but those of the maple. The momiji or Japanese maple has small, almost dainty leaves of about 4 cm length, which are induced – by a drop in temperature below a certain threshold – to turn from green to yellow to orange and finally to a blazing red. This change can occur quickly and it is a rather short lived beauty. Right now the red momiji are on their peak, and Kyoto is packed with (mainly Japanese) tourists who go around exclaiming kireii – pretty at every step and seem to take pictures of each individual leaf.

Well, when in Japan… here are a couple of my own pictures

Growing

More space for the Japanese! Since yesterday, Japan is the proud owner of an additional tiny little island, newly made by an underwater volcano. It belongs to the Ogasawara (or Bonin) islands and lies about 1000 km south of Tokyo. It is not going to do much to alleviate Japan’s population density though, as it has (so far) only a diameter of about 20 metres. Besides, it is not clear yet if it is stable, it is possible that it will be eroded away again quickly, as has happened to the last island that was created there in 1973.

The JapanTimes has an article about it, including a cool picture; and even more cool is the footage by the Japanese Coast Guard, that can be watched on yahoo.co.jp here.

Happy Birthday Atarashii Jima!

(which simply means new island, and is not its official name…)

Studying

10 more days until the big test – and I’m getting slightly nervous… So, I have added yet more study time and try to keep my head down. Mostly at least.

Sometimes I have to go shopping – feeding the body is essential to be able to feed the mind. And at the moment it’s beautiful weather in the afternoon, nice and sunny, picture perfect time for the autumn colours that are famous in Kyoto, so I’m running around feeding my camera too.

Anyway, in case you find my posts lacking the next two weeks – you know the reason why. I’ll be back soon in my old shape, promised!

Macabre?

Sunday was nice and warm and pleasant – so I decided to go out and take some photos. It’s the height of the autumn season and the leaves of the maple trees are ablaze in red and orange and yellow…

I started out alright but then, somehow, I got sucked into the large cemetery that lies on the grounds of Kurodani temple, and I spent almost 2 hours there wandering between the graves, old and new… The spot is beautiful with lots of trees and bushes and greenery between the tombstones. I like cemeteries in general, the peace and quiet… That’s probably because I am Austrian – being a bit macabre lies in our blood. In Europe, the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery in Vienna) is the largest by number of interred and second largest by area – and there are not many things a proper Austrian enjoys more than a scheene Leich (a nice funeral)…

The Castle of Crossed Destinies

Imagine the following: It’s Japan, at the end of the 17th century. You are the shogun, the most powerful person in the country. Everything runs well, you have a lovely spouse, an attractive concubine, and a countless number of admiring – and admirable – courtiers. But then, your one and only heir dies unexpectedly from a disease – and suddenly securing succession for your family by producing another heir becomes paramount. The usual courtly intrigues are reaching a new peak when the only solution is to ramp up your sex life, but…

…what if you’re a woman?

This film, based on a manga, turns history upside down by assuming matriarchy throughout 17th century Japan. The 5th shogun, Tsunayoshi, is a woman who desperately endeavours to conceive a daughter to secure her family’s succession on the throne. Interwoven with her story is that of Emonnosuke, a court noble from Kyoto who enters Tsunayoshi’s services as potential mate and remains at her side throughout her difficult task.

The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Ooku Eien Emonnosuke), 2012, 124 min
Director: Fuminori Kaneko
Cast: Miho Kanno (Tokugawa Tsunayoshi), Masato Sakai (Emonnosuke), Toshiyuki Nishida (Keishoin)

The old problem of succession seen from a completely new point of view. Even in matriarchy, taking a different man to bed each night is frowned upon, and it does pose quite some difficulties for Tsunayoshi. Some true historical facts are hinted at, like the ban on killing dogs, but the film lives mainly from the reversal of the sexes and the elaborate costumes and stage designs. There is a lovely happy ending, though…

This film is available in Japanese from amazon, but I have not found a version with subtitles.

Hairy

After three months, I finally had to do it: go to the hairdresser. I have a short cut, and when the hair in the neck starts to become unmanageable and starts to bother me, I have to go, no more excuses. The last time I went was during my vacation, so this was the first time ever I had my hair cut in Japan. Part of the reluctance can be ascribed to the fact that this kind of service is very expensive in Japan – the cheapest price I have seen anywhere was 2500 YEN, and that’s just the cut, washing not included!

Anyway, there is a small hairdresser’s shop close to my place, and I went there, armed with the essential phrases on a piece of paper. Once the old lady who was buying shampoo had left, it was my turn. “Kami o kitte kudasai – please cut my hair”, I said, and then “Mijikakute, ushiro de motto mijikai! – short, and in the back very short!”

The proprietor looked somewhat unhappy, sat me down and reached for his catalogues. In Asia, long hair is de rigueur for women, unless you are a really old crone and thus beyond redemption. Women my age and below must have at least a chin length cut. I also flipped through some catalogues, all the models looked like twelve year olds, all sporting hairstyles that were young, trendy, and probably took hours to do… Hence, nothing for me. My approach to hairstyling is: wash, brush, air dry. If it isn’t properly styled within five minutes, it’s a waste of time, so I tend to have those very short, self-styling cuts. Once the hairdresser got over his shock and chose a style (essentially the one I had but significantly shorter), he took to work. We did some chatting – as much as I can do it with my limited vocabulary – and work proceeded nicely. Also here, as in other Asian countries, the washing happened after the cut, probably to remove all those annoying little stray hairs that are usually left somewhere.

I am happy to say that I like my new old haircut, the whole affair was unspectacular and easy – but the biggest surprise came at the very end: I received a hefty discount of almost 40 % – and the owner said for the rest I should go out and treat myself to something nice to eat!

I love Japan!

Voucher

Yesterday I have received the test voucher for the JLPT test on December 1st. It is a very small, postcard sized piece of paper (actually it’s A5, but folded in half) with the bare essentials necessary for the test.

The first page contains my address, the test date and time and the number of the JLPT application centre.

The second page has directions to the test site. I was hoping that I only had to go to Kyoto University around the corner, but my test is in another university to the South of Kyoto. At least I can take the subway line that is relatively close by the house. It is interesting that it says here “DON’T telephone the test site for directions.” I can only assume that the university there doesn’t know about the test – or, at least not the random person who would pick up the phone on a Sunday morning…

The third page is all about me: name, photo, registration number, date of birth, more details as to the test site; and what test I’m taking and when the test hours are. This is the page I actually need to take – together with a picture ID.

The last page contains a list of general instructions. It covers “Items to bring to the test” (test voucher, writing instruments – pencils and plastic erasers taken out of their cases – wristwatch), “cautions – yellow cards” (for things like: starting before permission is given, a ringing phone, speaking and eating during the test, engaging in what looks like cheating, copying the questions, disturbing the other examinees), and “cautions – red cards” (immediate disqualification for things like: ringing phone during the listening examination, cheating, taking the test for another person, taking the questions outside of the room, leaving the examination before having permission.) Some of the instructions seem harsh (alarm watches to check the time are not allowed), others common sense (speaking during the test), it should be no problem for me though.

What’s interesting about the test voucher is that it is mostly in Japanese and English; the Japanese is written properly, i.e., containing all the Kanji at the right places, but it comes with Furigana. The instructions on the last page are only written in English and, as you have to tear off the third page for the test, the “tear here” is written in Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese Hiragana. Funny, isn’t it?

Anyway, it’s two more weeks – time to get nervous?

Court Music

Last Saturday I was invited to a performance of Gagaku – traditional Japanese Court Music. Gagaku is an ancient form of music; it was imported – together with instruments – from Korea and China around the 8th century, i.e., at the start of the Heian period.

A Gakagu orchestra consists of wind instruments (different types of flutes), string instruments (zither, lute, and harp) and different types and sizes of drums. There are often three parts to a concert: one where the whole orchestra plays together, another one containing songs and actual singing, and a third one where only the drums and wind instruments accompany classical dance.

I went to the performance not really knowing what to expect. When everybody had settled down (the place was sold out), a young girl came on stage and made a short introduction before the curtain lifted. There was an orchestra of maybe 30 people, sitting on tatami in a stage that was fenced off with red wood like in a shrine. The percussion instruments were in front, the strings behind them, and the wind instruments in the very back on red steps. They started with the kangen, concert music, and the effect was … striking. It was similar to the music I had heard before at shinto shrines; I would call it rather a sequence of tones that were more or less attuned to each other than a melody that you could follow to help you along. The second part was a short introduction to a song that was contained in the brochure, in the end the whole audience was expected to sing along with the teacher on stage. It was fun, even without understanding Japanese (or being able to sing…) During the break, the stage had been rearranged for the third part, the bugaku, or dance music. The string instruments were gone, and the musicians now sitting to the left and right of the tatami stage in the middle, where the dancing took place. The dancers, clad in elaborate costumes, performed slow dances fitting the music, almost like the stylised movements in Noh theatre, or, as a friend of mine observed, resembling the slow movements in tai chi.

The whole concert took only 90 minutes, and to be honest, I was rather happy about this. It was interesting and worth a try, but nothing I really need to do again. The music could not move me at all, as I said there was no melody at all to help you along or make you understand the intention of the song. I liked the songs in the middle, but that was only a 10 minute intermezzo. The dancing would have been more interesting had I known what the movements meant. That was similar enough to Noh to expect that with some deeper understanding you could get something out of it though.

Maybe there is something more to it, I have to confess complete and utter ignorance here I’m afraid. I know, however, that I’m not the only one: the lady sitting next to me, after taking off her shoes, fell sound asleep within the first five minutes of the concert. Or, maybe, she just had had a hard day?

Gosho

When the capital of Japan was transferred to Kyoto in 794 (then known as Heian-kyo), the emperor’s living quarters were called the Dairi imperial residence. When the Dairi was destroyed by fire, the emperor moved his private residence to the palaces of other noble families in the city. Clearly, it must have been a great honour for those families, and the number of imperial (ex-) residences (or Sato-dairi) in Kyoto makes it easy to believe that the emperor was rather forthcoming with this kind of favour. From the latter half of the Heian period (794 – 1185), the original imperial residence fell into disuse, and the emperor moved for good into the Sato-dairi. In 1331, emperor Kogen was crowned in a Sato-dairi called Tsuchi-Mikado-Higashi-no-Toin-Dono, and subsequently, it became the new imperial palace, the starting point of today’s imperial palace or gosho. It remained the residence of the emperor until 1869, when the imperial household left Kyoto and moved to Tokyo after the Meiji restoration.

The imperial palace, like many parts of Kyoto, was destroyed by fire several times in its 500 year history, it was often reconstructed, but also new buildings were added throughout. So, when you visit the palace, there are many different architectural styles to be seen, starting from the bright red buildings with endless corridors of the Heian time to the Otsunegoten, the emperor’s private residence in the Shoin-style of 1590. The latest addition to the palace, however, is the Shinmikurumayose – a new entrance for carriages that was built for the 1915 enthronement ceremony of emperor Taisho.

When you enter the palace grounds through the Gishumon gate, you first pass the Okurumayose entrance for dignitaries and then you see the Shodaibu-no-ma, a waiting room, or, rather, three adjacent waiting rooms, decorated according to the rank of the people who would have to wait there for their audience.

Other than those visitors of old, you have to take a more roundabout way: You pass the Shinmikuru-mayose and the red Heian-style corridors to get to the Nikkamon Gate leading to the Shishinden, the most important building of the palace. It was used for enthronement ceremonies for example, and there is the Chrysanthemum throne in the centre and the smaller empress’s throne to the right of it. Sitting on the throne (no, you’re not allowed to enter any of the buildings), you behold to the South a large Japanese Zen-style “garden” of raked white gravel, the only living things in there are a cherry and a mandarin tree.

You then move past the Shishinden to the Seiryoden, a reconstruction of the emperor’s residence built in the 8th century, where the emperor would receive visitors. Opposite the Kogosho and Ogakumonjo-buildings (for meetings with lower ranking people and lesser ceremonies in general), there is a beautiful Japanese garden called the Oikeniwa.

Its pond is meant to resemble the sea, pebble beach included, but the red koi do not quite fit that image. Finally, you get a glimpse at the Otsunegoten, the private residence of the emperor. It is the largest structure of the palace grounds with 15 rooms and faces the Gonatei, the emperor’s private garden. This is the end of the tour and you exit through the Seishomon gate.

The Imperial Palace covers an area of about 110.000 square metres. It is enclosed by a wall, and lies inside the Kyoto National Gardens, which covers more than 900.000 square metres and is enclosed by another wall. To visit the palace, you must first register with the Imperial Household Agency. You can do this either online or in person in their office in the garden. You can go as late as 20 minutes before a tour, but it’s better to be early. There are currently two free tours in English from Monday to Friday. Don’t forget your passport! Check out the homepage of the Imperial Household Agency for more details.