Happy New Year!

A bit belated, but .... Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!
I don't know if I've ever had a two-week vacation as long as this one. The Friday night of the last day of school was the office Bounenkai (end of year party). I got really blitzed and had a lot of fun. As you've heard happens here, my normally straight-laced co-workers really let loose, one guy donned a reindeer mask for the gift exchange and spent an hour crawling around like a reindeer. At the after-party (yes, after-party) another teacher kept sitting on every other male teacher's lap and even licked the vice-principal's glasses at one point. Wild.

The next day was spent with a massive hangover. Sunday, I went to Shonen Jump Festa, the expo put on by the biggest publisher of boy's manga. So, lots of Dragonball, Naruto, One Piece, etc. It was kind of like Comic-Con except admission was free. The booths didn't really sell stuff so much as display their product, and most everyone there was school-aged. I went with my friend Australian Chris who's big into video games & just went for a fun time despite not being a big manga reader.

Next day was Christmas Eve. I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to catch the first train to Tokyo, then the Shinkansen to Kyoto!

Kyoto was beautiful! After checking into a backpacker's hostel (which was pretty nice), I went walking to try to find the Kyoto Costume Museum. No such luck! It was closed. So I hopped on a bus (very convenient in Kyoto since the streets actually make sense) and tried to find the train to go to Arashiyama. I finally found it (an old electric train), and it took me out of the city and to the west. It's a touristy but pretty spot. Lots of little shops and stuff - reminded me a lot like Big Bear or Slovang, CA. It's right by a river crossed by an old wooden bridge - very famous. I had lunch there, crossed the bridge, came back, and had maccha tea and sakura mochi for desert. I had also read about a bamboo grove in the area and took a nice walk there.

On the train back, I saw on the bus map that there was a Kyoto International Manga Museum. Of course I went. It's inside a remodeled old elementary school. The exhibits weren't really the focus there. (I didn't pay the extra to see the temporary exhibit.) The big appeal there is their massive manga library of current and out-of-print stuff that lines the hallways of 3 floors. People can stay and read for as long as they like. The treasure I did find was in the out-of-the way basement. Behind reinforced glass were the shelves of the museums archives, and a small, unassuming display held the Choujuu-giga, considered to be the first manga.

Then, after getting lost a couple times, I hopped back on a bus and made my way to Gion, hoping it wasn't too late. See, the early evening is when the Geisha go to their appointments, and they're easy to spot. Gion is the old entertainment district and home of the floating world. The main street is pretty touristy: bright lights, pachinko, souvenir shops, etc. But once you duck into a side street, you're back in time. Wooden buildings, lanterns,... like in the movies.
Getting back to the main street, I spotted 3 Geisha across the street, getting out of a cab. They quickly ducked into a club, and it was too dark and they were too far away to take a good picture.

I hung around a bit more, shopping and hunting for a place to have Christmas Eve dinner. I walked slowly towards the center of town. Along the way, there was a brass jazz band by a subway entrance, dressed in Santa suits and playing Christmas music. I stayed for a few songs. I gave them my loose change and left before I got homesick.

I soon found myself in the upscale shopping district. There, I spotted a sign for "Christmas Dinner" in front of an Italian restaurant. I figured, "Why not?" For $24, the set included a glass of wine, salad, antipasto, soup, crab and scallop pasta, baked chicken with tomato, and tira misu with ice cream. Not a bad Christmas dinner.

After, I hopped back on the bus, and went back to the hostel. I lingered for a bit in the lobby before going to bed and talked to some stoned Japanese kid.

The next morning I had a half-day tour. They took us to Ryouan-ji, home of a famous Buddhist rock garden; Kinkaku-ji, a gold-covered shrine; and the Imperial Palace, which you can't visit without being part of a tour. I made friends with a couple of ladies who teach school at US military bases. At the end there was a buffet lunch at the Kyoto Handicraft Center, which isn't as cool as it sounds. While there are some artisans there, it's really a bunch of shops filled with tourist tchotchkes. Part of my tour was a craft session making either a woodblock print or a cloisonne pendant. I chose the latter. Turns out there were only 3 people who signed up for that part of the tour, and they all got there at different times, so I was left to myself. I ended up making a really detailed picture of some torii gates out of the colored glass sand which got totally blurred in the firing process. Oh well.

If I wanted to get home that night, it was time to go, so I picked up my bag at the hotel, and took the shinkansen home.

I had planned to do some Tokyo sightseeing the rest of the week, but spent it recovering from the trip.

The next weekend was Comiket, the big bi-yearly small press fanfiction comic convention. It's the biggest fan-based anime/manga convention in Japan. I met up with some American cosplayers the first day. They were mostly annoying guys, but I made a new friend and cosplayed with her the second day.

New Years Eve, I spent the traditional way: watching the NHK big Red And White music "contest" and eating mikan. I fell asleep on the couch sometime after 11pm.

Jan. 3rd, I again took the 1st train out and went to Hakone Hot Spings with my friend from another town, Diana. We took this route and stayed at a ryokan. The next day, we visited Odawara Castle and the Hakone Open Air Museum and came home. I would have liked to have gone to more hot springs than just the one at our hotel, but it was cold and we ran out of time. I want to go back for spring break.

Phew, I wrote way too much.