What a Wakayama Weekend with the Wakitas!

I spent this past weekend with Saori and the Wakitas at their home in Wakayama.

Mr. Wakita is a self-employed architect who designed his own house. I was very impressed with it. The house was very interesting, comfortable and spacious. There seemed to be more floors than there actually were. Almost all the lights (and even the toilet seat) were automatic. And, there were some interesting windows inside that let light spill over from other rooms.

The room I stayed in was Saori's old bedroom. The bookshelf doubled as a staircase that led to a small lounge.

Here is a shot of the lounge. Connected to the lounge is a balcony (on the left).

There house is in the country, it was pretty quiet compared to Hirakata and Higashiyama. Sorry, that this shot is from inside the house, it was raining at the time. Also, allow to apologize for the neighbors who are farmers and who let their little creek get dirty.

On Saturday, we went to see Wakayama-jou, Wakayama Castle. Leading to it were many small bamboo candles which are called touroumatsuri.

Here is a close-up with the flash.

Here is a close-up in the dark.

I like how the building looks in this shot. The shape of the candles to the right is a heart.

Here is a better shot of the heart.

I took maybe 15 shots of Wakayama Castle and because of a long exposure time, all but two came out blurry. Here is the better of the two.

This picture is from the area surrounding the castle.

After visiting the castle, we met Egawa Sensei who is an acupuncturist. He is a very friendly man who gave me some free acupuncture. At the time, my hips were a little sore from too much biking after not having biked. I am happy to report that I have no pain in my hips.

Here is Egawa Sensei working on my other hip.

Here is me and a skeleton who coincidentally is also named Tom.

After helping me out, a real patient came by and Egawa Sensei helped her out.

She had rolled her ankle pretty badly playing volleyball.

After inserting a needle, Egawa Sensei allowed me to flick it.

We then all shared some snacks and Egawa Sensei let me administer some acupuncture on myself. I did alright.

Having briefly learned about acupuncture in a Chinese Civilization course, I asked if he ever uses fire when doing acupuncture. He did after all, and then the put some of the burning material on my hand. The sensation was a little warm but it never burns he told me. Apparently it relaxes the area.

Here is picture of Egawa Sensei administering his fire acupuncture.

Everyone helped. It was unnecessary but fun.

On Sunday, we met Mr. Kimura and his family at there orange farm. I believe they also grow persimmons. They gave me two bags of free oranges to take back to my host family. It wasn't the easiest thing to take back by bike, but I am grateful nonetheless.

Here is a shot of me, the Wakitas, and the Kimuras at their farm. The picture might not show it, but they liked me, and did not resent me for taking their oranges.

Osaka Castle

In Japan, they have a holiday that coincides with Thanksgiving, although the spirit of the holiday is like labor day. Anyway, on that day, I went to Osaka Castle, "Osaka-jou."

Here is me next to an Osaka manhole which sounds like a really bad nickname.According to the sign, at one time, this cannon was used as a "noon marker." I used it for a pose.

There was a puppeteer outside the castle with a tiny Ray Charles puppet. May he rest in peace.

Around the castle, there were many pigeons and people willing to feed them.

I think somebody was drooling.

Here is Saori and I posing in some traditional Japanese tourist picture boards. With her face in there I think it looks pretty realistic.

Here is Mt. Fuji (the flower version).

Here is a tree with red leaves. I like the how building is in the background.

Here is Saori overlooking part of the moat. Yes, there was a moat.

Here is a closer shot of the castle.

From the castle, here is the flower Mt. Fuji.

Here is what I suppose is a fish gargoyle made of gold.

Here is a shot of the view.

Here is a very reflective building.

Here is a wider shot of the view from the castle. On the right, is the NHK building (like Japan's PBS.) You can also see a little bit of a golden fish.

Here is a shot of the moat. I think it is pretty amazing where the algae stops. I definitely would not want to swim in that moat past that one point.

Culture Festival

Last weekend was the weekend for culture festivals in Japan. Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai were given a four-day-weekend, and foreign students were even given a three-day weekend.

This picture is from an elementary culture festival I went to in Higashiyama. This line is for food and activity tickets. The Japanese seem to like the ticket system in many situations.

Having attended a elementary, high school and college culture festival, I have to say that the elementary kids, while cute, did not have a lot of experience at putting on a good festivals.
What fun(?)!

Here is me and a group of hip-hop dancers.

Here are the kids performing. I think that it is a good thing that they cannot understand the lyrics to the songs that they are dancing to. Still, this was the highlight of that festival for me.



Here is one shot of the Kansai Gaidai culture festival. Many different clubs and groups set up booths. They mostly sold foods, but I managed to pick up a souvenir.

Here is another shot. It was originally three pictures. Sorry, the stitching is not great, but you get the idea I hope.
There were many posters and decorations. Here is how they decorated the amphitheater. Why they didn't write "festival" I don't know.

There were many music and dancing performances at the festival. Here is me with two dancers.In the International building, there was also booths for different countries. Even though the majority of the foreign students are American, no one wanted to help with the booth (USA #1), so it ended up a little crummy compared to the other countries. I took a picture anyway.

Here is the Archery club's booth. We made "tako-yaki-gata" parfaits which were basically hot cakes and ice cream. I think the proceeds from the booth are going to buy me a uniform so I happily helped out all that I could. I like this picture because almost everyone is eating.
Here is the cakes being made. "Tako-yaki" is a different kind of dish which is like a circular squid--dough-ball.

Here we are serving some kimono-clad customers.
My host mother and host sister stopped by to patronize me.
Finally, here is some archery club members at the end of the day.