Tips from a Former Olympic Archer

Because I had been injuring my arm at archery, my host father called an archery store to inquire about an arm-guard. He got to talking with the owner and it turns out he is a former Olympic archer as well as an alumni of Kansai Gaidai. He offered to meet me and give me some tips at an upcoming archery competition in Mino, Kyoto.

His name is Hiroshi Kajikawa and here is a shot of him giving me some pointers. On the right is my host father.

Here he is again correcting my form. Apparently, I had more than one problem.

I was very grateful for him teaching me, and he even offered to go out drinking with me sometime in the future.

He also drew on my hand where how I should properly hold the bow-string. (The hand should not be perpendicular to the string.)

Archery Party; Kyoto Bowling; Osaka City

Last Friday, the Archery club threw me a party at a "yakitori" (grilled chicken) restaurant. I ate a drank a lot. Afterward, I found that my bike had gotten a flat tire and 4 club members walked their bikes home with me. These people are very nice. In the foreground, on the left, note how drunken Yuto looks. He is not usually red.

Last Saturday, I went bowling in a town in the Kyoto prefecture (one station past Tanbabashi). I guess there was a festival for the first full moon of fall. There was parade we walked through with many dancers and kids singing.

Here is me at bowling. Because we only paid to bowl for an hour and time was running out, my speaking partner, Ryo, tried to bowl his second ball quickly, and it got stuck in the lane. To save time, I cleared it out myself and picked up the spare for him.

After bowling, we had the opportunity to take pictures in pin-costumes. I like this picture because little Ryo is in the big pin, and big Ryan is in the little pin.

The first time we went to Kyoto, some little kids were staring at Ryan because he is tall. He offered to pick them up and it was a good photo opportunity. Afterward, I had him pick me up as a joke (I actually picked him up after that and almost soiled myself in the process). Now, weeks later, we recreated the scene wearing bowling pin costumes.

The bowling place, "Round One," also has other sports and a casino-arcade. We figured these were some of the prizes. This is me trying to do an impression of Charles Manson.

After bowling, we were all waiting at the train station we I struck up a conversation with some drunk Japanese girls. It all started when they noticed my jeans were sagging a bit (I had not worn a belt), and it turned into a lesson in "warui tango," or bad words. Here is a drunk girl showing off here "T-back," that other dude was just some other dude waiting for the train.

Last Monday, a holiday, I went to Osaka City with Tom Ludlow (a friend from Lehigh) and his host mother. Here is a shot of the city.

Osaka City is the biggest city I have been to so far in Japan, so I took a number of building photos.

Here was a boat that had people playing music on it. When they weren't playing their instruments, they played a recording.

Unfortunately, we did not take the "Salad Express."

Here is a random sculpture.

Outside of Osaka City, Tom, his host mother, and I visited the graves of Tom's host mother's husband and dog. I tried to take a panoramic shot of the cemetery but I came up one shot short. So here is an extremely wide shot of the cemetery.

Here is a random grave. I will try to have it translated. I learned in my Japanese Buddhism class that people are given postumous names when they are laid to rest, but this seems a little long to be a name.

Here is "Mama-san" honoring her husband. Afterward, I got to drink the sake he was offered. In his honor, I downed it in a single gulp.

Here is the hotel we went to afterward in Osaka City. They had an excellent buffet there, and I ate so much that afternoon that I didn't eat dinner that night.

Inside the hotel, I found Pikachu.

Cat statues like this are in front of various stores in Japan. I think they are either good luck or meant to welcome customers or both. Sometimes their paws move. This one did not move, but it was the biggest I have seen.

After the buffet, we went to Yodobashi Camera, a gigantic (5 floor) electronics store. Mama-san bought a new laptop, I didn't buy anything because my host family said they knew a local guy who could get me a better price. At Yodabashi Camera, I found this unintelligible sign.

Nara Excursion: Treasure, Deer, and a Big Buddha

The first place I visited in Nara was the Kofuku-ji Kokuhokan which was describe as a "treasure hall". They did not allow photos there, but I did see some famous statues of Jizou, Amida, Kannon, Ashura and many more which I really don't know anything about.

Just beyond that was "Nara Deer Park." That might not be the specific name, but there were a ton of deer there, just roaming the park and surrounding areas.
The deer don't mind if you pet them or take their pictures.In fact, there are vendors who sell biscuits to give to the deer. As I was fishing in my pocket for some yen, I swear that the deer sensed that I was about to give them food, so they swarmed me. The lady who sold me the biscuits told me I better look out and keep walking. In this picture, you can see a male deer charging me from behind.

That lady was certainly right, because as my Otousan had told me, the deer can be pretty greedy. I had deer nudging me with their noses, and biting at my pants. One male deer even rammed his horns into the back of me and I thought he might've ripped my jeans. Luckily, the deer had had their horns chopped lately and there was no damage.

Here's me teasing the deer. I was told that if you bow before you give the deer food, they will bow back. I forgot to try it, but later I saw some deer bowing to some other people, so it must be true.

I made several attempts to take a picture with a deer, and this was the best shot I got. I think they realized I was out of food, so they didn't cooperate.

From the left is me, Debbie (a friend from Lehigh), Ryo (my speaking partner), and Mizuki (a friend who goes to school in Nara whom I met on the plane). We are in front of the Tōdai-ji Temple, home of the Dai-Butsu or "Big Buddha." You can see some deer spit on my leg...
Here's the "Big Buddha" himself. His body (sitting down) is 48.91 feet. His head is 17.75 feet. His eye is 3.34 feet (in length, I think). His ear is 8.33 feet. I'm told a person could fit through the "Big Buddha's" nostril.

Here's a second angle with me in the shot to give some perspective. I am trying to duplicate the "Big Buddha's" hand position.

Here's the "Big Buddha's" neighbor. By the looks of him, he is probably there for protection.

Here's a couple faces that were on display.

Not exactly sure what this is.

Remember I said that a person could fit through one of the nostrils of the "Big Buddha?" Well, they had a pillar with a hole in the bottom which was the same size as the "Big Buddha's" nostril. Supposedly, whoever goes through will receive happiness.

This is me trying for my second time. On my first attempt, my technique was wrong and sadly, I was unable to go through. After that, I received some coaching and decided to try again.

I made it through successfully (I really did not want to get stuck) and was greeted by a round of applause from the people watching me. Apparently, they had seen me fail the first time and were really pulling for me, on my second try. I didn't let them down!

Here's another angle of my successful trip through the nostril hole.

Even though I didn't deface anything, I still thought the sign was funny.

Outside the temple was another statue. I think because it was raining they put that poncho on it. It looked pretty scary, so I got a picture mimicking it.

Then we had lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant in Nara. Across from the restaurant was a traditional American KFC. I got my picture with the colonel.