In Japan - Field Trip Part 4: Tsurukagaoka Hachimangu (Kamakura)

Next on the list: Tsurukagaoka Hachimangu. Still in Kamakura.

There was a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony when we visited the shrine :) Lucky!

It's not the type of sakura I normally see around my dorm, but it's very pink and beautiful!

A lot of doves here.

We saw a weird ema advertising a website. NO NAME LOL

On the way to the main shrine, there were quite a number of candy stalls. One of them is ichigo-ume or strawberry candy.

There's also budou-ume (grape candy). I bought the grape one because it's more rare than strawberry candy (at least to me it is).

As we walked closer to the shrine, we saw an on-going wedding ceremony.

The 'hachi' Hachinmangu temple's writing (the first letter from the top) is actually a pair of doves. So that's probably why we saw a lot of doves earlier :)

Last food explored: ginnan (ginko nuts)

It's the first time I've had ginko nuts that were roasted. I often find ginko seeds stir fried with vegetables in Chinese cuisine (my mum used to love to put tons of ginko because there is a believe that ginko nuts have positive effects on your brain, such as memory improvement). Well, the roasted ginko nuts had weird taste. It's lightly salted, it smells a little like roasted corn (maybe they have similar starch/protein constitution that gives the same aroma when heated?), tasted a little bitter, shaped like jelly beans, but soft on the inside like baked potato. Honestly, I don't really like it. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

Speaking of ginko, the saddest thing about this visit is that the majestic 1000 years old ginko tree that people used to adore as a symbol of longevity and liveliness fell down in 2010 due to strong winds.

:(

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In Japan - Field Trip Part 3: Hokokuji (Kamakura)

Alright, back with the field trip story last weekend! On the second day, we left the ryokan and then first we visited 報國寺 (Hokokuji - a temple's name, basically). 

But I guess one attraction that you cannot miss here is the bamboo forest.

These bamboos are called Mousou bamboo, and they are the biggest species of bamboo. I forgot about the average heights of the bamboo; if I'm not mistaken my teacher told me it was around 40 m. Well, either 40, or 20. Either or, the bamboos are VERY TALL.

There are a lot of 竹の子 (takenoko - bamboo shoots) on the ground too :)

There's also a cave called Yagura, which is the tombs of the Ashikaga family.

We didn't spend a lot of time here because we still had to visit Tsurukagaoka Hachimangu, Hasadera and Daibutsu. And those are going to be in my next few posts!

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In Japan - Ambulance Experience

It's not part of the Enoshima-Kamakura field trip, but since it just happened about 12 hours ago I can't think of anything else but this incident.

Basically, Americans have a habit of doing pre-gaming (i.e., drinking alcoholic drinks bought from supermarket or stores before heading off for a drink in a bar or other places that serve alcoholic drinks). Doing so will help lower the total cost required to get you drunk.

I wasn't planning on going all night for a karaoke session till morning because.. I wasn't invited in the first place. I only found out about the plan accidentally last night when I was about to ask one of them if they would like to head out with me on Saturday (which is today). Thanks to that, I didn't have any preparations for pre-gaming. Which I don't normally do, anyways. I'm not too inclined to having fun from drinking alcohol and getting high.

Before we headed to the karaoke place, we had some alcoholic drinks at an izekaya close to the karaoke place. We had fun until about 3 am... when one of us started to show signs of alcohol poisoning.

Long story short, she drank way too much (3/4 bottle of vodka, 1 tequila shot, 2 cans of some alcoholic drinks, and god knows what else was consumed yesterday). Me? Personally, I can get drunk from 1 bottle of beer. Yes, I'm very weak. And knowing that, I don't normally drink anything hardcore.

We couldn't move her and she seemed to keep losing her consciousness. At times she would respond to a question with nods and head shakes, but her motor control was seriously affected. I tried calling our dorm manager but she didn't respond. Finally, I tried to contact our student coordinator, and he suggested to call the ambulance.

And so we decided to call the ambulance. The number is 113.

Calling the ambulance didn't cost any money, which is a really good incentive to call them. In the US, you'd have to pay $500 each time you call for an ambulance regardless of the condition. Within less than 10 minutes, the ambulance came.

The medics tried to get responses from my drunk friend before anything else. Also, they have this awesome blood tension (and some other things I don't understand) checker. They just needed to clip a couple of her fingers and they could get immediate readings. When they need further information regarding the patient, they have this guide sheets with pictures that are very easy to understand. It's written in both Japanese and English, so if you don't understand what they were saying or asking, they would use the picture board to explain.

The picture board was a very useful and thoughtful item. In the past, they probably faced problems helping people who don't understand Japanese, can't hear properly, or simply don't understand the vocabularies, and that's how they came up with such brilliant initiatives.

I forgot how they managed to get her on the wheeled bed, but afterwards the medics asked if one of us could accompany her and somehow I ended up doing so.

The medics were very kind and amiable; it was really easy to talk to them and they understood that I could not speak Japanese too well. They tried to speak slowly and explain things in easier words. And sometimes they would mix in some English words whenever I showed them my "Huh? I don't understand, can you repeat it one more time?" facial expression.

When we reached the hospital (quite a distance away; it's actually a private hospital in Shinjuku, not in Ikebukuro), she was sent to the ER, and I was asked to fill in a particulars form for her. As I filled in the form, I faced a problem with counting the year in Japanese calendar year. I only know I was born in Heisei 1, but what Heisei year is it right now?

But luckily, the hospital members were very helpful so I didn't have too much problem with the registration (uketsuke in Japanese - now that vocab will forever be etched in my memory).

My friend was finaly dischared about 15-20 minutes after because by that time she could talk and somehow she could stand. We proceeded with the payment... 8000 yen. Yup. Just for the admittance fee. She didn't get any treatment.

And there was only 4000 yen in her wallet.

Fortunately enough, she has a credit card that is usable. Otherwise, I don't know how I should deal with the situation.

So yes, I had a rather unique experience with the ambulance and the hospital. I'd say that was the first time I've ever been in an ambulance and everything was happening in Japanese. There were a lot of vocabs that I couldn't understand as I talked to the medics and the hospital doctor.

Maybe handling conversations in this kind of situation is probably something that should be highlighted when someone is studying Japanese / just came to Japan to study.

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In Japan - Field Trip Part 2: Ryokan Stay

One of the most exciting part about this field trip is a ryokan experience. I haven't been to a ryokan before, and although I have been sleeping on futon for the past few weeks in my dorm, it's not on a tatami. The ryokan that we went to was called KKR (I don't know what it stands for). It's located in Zushi. The ryokan was kind of hidden within quiet residential area, so if you haven't been there before it probably will take some time to figure your way there.

All of the girls are staying in one big room while the guys were split into two smaller rooms.

Here's the living room:

And then this is the bedroom. There's a TV on each room. 2 mirrors for doing make up at the end, and hangers. The futons were laid as we were having dinner, so when we first arrived at our room, the futons were not there yet. They magically appeared haha...

My futon. I picked the one closest to the door because I know I was going to wake up earlier than everyone else.

You can close the sliding doors between the living room and the bedroom.

And inside the bedroom there are closets to store your futon (reminds me a lot of the closet where Doraemon lives haha). The insides didn't smell too good, though.

After several hours of walk exploring Enoshima, pretty much all of us were tired. After settling down for a while, it's time for dinner!

We were told that steak would be served, but we didn't expect anything else. It turned out that the dinner was VERY GRAND.

Ebi tempura, yasai tempura, sashimi, sushi (hai, maguro, ika), steak, nameko soup, rice, and a blueberry pudding (or some sort; it has a color like almond pudding but a taste like a combination of pudding, custard and almond pudding haha). You can take as much rice and soup as you want. Oh and coffee and tea and hot chocolate as well. I don't know how much this meal set costs you because the school has already paid for it (and we paid for it when we paid for the school fee), but my guess was around 2500 yen.

A lot of people from the US program still can't eat raw fish, so our table (2 girls and a guy) decided to be very kind by accepting 3 plates of sushi from other tables. As the result, we finished the meal a little later than everyone else, and we had to wait before we enter the public ofuro (bath). The bath is pretty small so it could only take 4-5 people at a time. But being the last to take the bath wasn't too bad either: we could stay there as long as we could.

Then, yukata time~~

While we were waiting for the bath, we had a little tea time at our room. There were free snacks to savor. It's kind of like a wafer but it has very complex and well-balanced taste. I couldn't figure out what it was.

Because of some disrespectful people I couldn't sleep at night. The futon was pretty comfortable, especially the kakefuton (the blanket). The quality is much higher than the one at the dorm. Our room was located facing the garden at the back. It's beautiful.

After taking bath once again in the morning (the ofuro was really awesome and I don't know if there is another chance for me to enter such a nice bath again), we headed to the beach close to the ryokan. It took probably about 5-10 minutes of easy walk.

Not very exciting, but my teacher gave me sakura-kai (sakura shells), which are only found on the beaches around the area! In total I got 4 of them, but 2 of them broke. I should have taken better care of them like my teacher had said :(

Aaaand after a little morning adventure, it's time for breakfast! The breakfast is awesome because it's buffet style. It offers a good mix of Japanese and Western (or rather, Japanized Western food). This is mine:

Look at the half boiled egg. Awesome----!!

Meatball and tofu (the meatball was awesome, I think it was soaked in some sort of demiglaze sauce)

And of course, our favorite nattou:

Salmon, some pickles, hijiki and cooked vegetables:

Last but not least, coffee, yogurt and salad. Well, I never follow the Western style proper dining order. I mean, vegetables, meat and rice are normally served together in many Indonesian and Chinese meals. LOL. But at least I still try to finish it off with a cup of coffee and a mini bowl of yogurt.

The consistency of the yogurt was a little unique. It is very thin, yet at the same time a little sticky. It's definitely very different from the kind of yogurts I normally had when I was in the US. Even though it's thin, it's not something that you can drink either. For the toppings, they provide powdered roasted black sesame seed and chopped trail mix. And sprinkles of sugar (the sugar used has a very unique form; it's neither crystallized nor powdered; it's very nicely granulated, though).

Ryokan is awesome <3

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In Japan - Field Trip Part 1: Enoshima

School field trip! Sounds awesome, right?

It was a happy trip, and I was excited about staying in a ryokan (Japanese traditional inn) for one night. Although I wished that people whom I shared the room with would be a little respectful and considerate. My blog probably isn't the best place to complain, but I tried to be patient. Yep. 

So anyways, the trip starts on Saturday morning with a 3 hour lecture on the history of places we would be heading to, then we took a train to Enoshima from Shinjuku. After done sight-seeing in Enoshima, we headed to the ryokan at Zushi, and the next day we're off to Kamakura and headed back home around 5 (reached Shinjuku station at around 6).

Enoshima (江ノ島, shima means 'island') is a small island, about 4km in circumference. It's part of Fujisawa city, and it is adjacent to Tokyo and Yokohama.

Enoshima station has a beautiful architecture. I wouldn't recognize it as a station if I didn't know how to read kanji and if I didn't see the ticket counters near the gate :)

From the station, we walked across a long bridge called Benten-bashi (Benten Bridge). Benten is a famous goddess worshipped here. In the past, it was said that Minamoto Yoritomo's prayer to win over the Fujiwara clan was granted. Also, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of Tokugawa Shogunate, made the Enoshima Benten the official prayer hall for the Tokugawa family.

Along the bridge, there was a huge warning sign of tobi (the actual translation according to Google Translate is 'kite', but if I look up the Japanese dictionary it is described as a family of taka,  a 'hawk').

Speaking of the devil, I found one very close to me. According to vocal announcements near the area, these kites might snatch your food and belongings, and sometimes graze you. Luckily I didn't experience any unfortunate accidents with the kites :)

Before you can reach the temple, you have to hike quite a height. Starting with this jade-colored Bronze Torii gate, the journey begins.

You will pass a lot of shops on the way, and they sell souvenirs as well as local delicacies. The most strongly recommended delicacies to buy are Tako Senbei (very thin rice crackers made with real octopus) and shirasu (シラス, or translated as whitebait). Shirasu is a type of small white fish, and in Indonesia a similar fish called teri Medan have similar constitution.

After several flight of steps, we finally reached the Enoshima Jinja. Well, a confusion between a jinja (shrine) and tera (temple) are often made. Basically, a shrine is for Shinto-ism and a temple is for Buddhism. This red gate is known as torii.

Tired of climbing the stairs? Well, you can take the escalator! Pay 750 yen and you will have access to very useful escalators around the temple. A mix of traditional and modern stuffs ;)

Before you enter a shrine, there is normally a place to wash your hands and sometimes your mouth. This is to 'cleanse' your spirit.

Below is chi no wa (茅の輪). According to the legend, back then there was a god in disguise who asked two brothers for lodging. The richer younger brother was stingy, and wasn't willing to let the god in, but the poorer older brother was kind-hearted and let the god stay in his house. Afterwards, the god told the brother to make a ring out of grass and walk pass through it to prevent disease and bad luck that was about to happen.

There were a lot of people lining up for the chi no wa, but since I was there, why not try passing it? :)

Well, the journey continues. A lot of unique buildings around the shrine. It's a huge place.

Somehow we found handprints of famous kabuki actors. We tried matching our hand sizes there :)

Narcissistic moment here. Ahem. Well, the view was great because we were standing on a high ground.

When we came there, the momiji (maple) leaves were red. It's such a rare sight because normally in a 4-season country leaves turn red only in autumn.

And next is Suikinkutsu (水禽窟), in which an underground cave / hole was dug below a rinsing place. After washing your hands, if there is some water left in the water dipper, pour it onto the rocks on the ground connected to the Suikinkutsu, and afterwards the echoes from the water dripping will be heard. The sound of the echoes are very beautiful, as if the sound was made by a brass instrument.

Also in Enoshima is Cocking Garden. The garden was made by British trader in the past. A lot of the flowers haven't bloomed yet, but there are some really beautiful ones, like these ones:

Inside the garden, there is a French cafe called Lon Cafe (the sign looks like Loneafe LOL). They sell pancakes and french toasts, and the smell was really good. It seems that this cafe is very popular, judging from the number of people waiting to be seated outside. Well, they also have outdoor seats where you can enjoy nice views of Enoshima. If I have more free time the next time I come back to Enoshima (hopefully), I will definitely check it out :)

Enoshima beach is also known as "the Miami Beach of Asia" because apparently a lot of people think it looks like Miami beach in Florida, US. I don't remember what Miami looks like but anyways it's a beautiful beach and there was a sign of friendship.

There was a key located at just below the sign, and apparently it's a symbol of friendship. It's like giving your house key to someone else you trust and allowing them to come over at any time :)

Ok, almost there. There's still this Sea Candle to explore. It is actually a lighthouse and I heard in the past it used to be just called "Observation Tower" or "Panoramic Tower". Perhaps it was inspired by the establishment of the new Sky Tree...?

The Sea Candle is located at the center of the Cocking Garden. You can either take the stairs or the elevator to go up :)

Nice view from the top deck of the tower! :)
You should be able to see Oshima (anothe island) to the south, Mt. Fuji to the west, and the Miura peninsula to the east.

On the way back to the exit, we spotted a couple stray cats. They're plump, round and fluffy. Very cute <3

As I told you before, between the entrance of the shrine and the main hall lies an array of shops. Since Enoshima is surrounded by the sea, fresh seafood is one of the biggest attraction here and those shells on the right are the most famous seafood here. I didn't have the chance to try it because our student coordinator told me it's dangerous if it's not well cooked and I guess he's right about being cautious because it would suck if I fell sick during the trip. I'm (still) a little sad about this, but I don't want to drag the whole group down because of my stupidity :)

To be honest, I didn't know where I was walking. I was simply following the teacher and the student coordinator. Somehow they led us to this temple with a Fudou (a kind of Buddhist god with scary face and flame behind it) statue.

They sell purified salt and ash here. Didn't buy it, though :)

Speaking of which, the symbol shown below (4 triangles in a triangle) is actually Hojo's family crest. Not a Zelda crest, as my classmate mentioned during the lecture earlier that day LOL

And there's this Happo Nirami no Kame (a turtle glaring in all directions). It is a masterpiece of Hoichi Sakai and this creepy turtle wwill appear to be lookng directly at you regardless of which angle you look at it from. I tried every angle and it was really looking at me. A little creepy but AWESOME!

Enoshima shrine revolves around Benten, and to summarize, Benten married this dragon that used to be mischievous. Below, you'll see an illustration of the dragon and on the right, Benten.

Below is a huge dragon statue. Still related to the Benten legend, I assume.

On the way to the exit, you will pass this road with padlocks written with names of couples. With the legend of Benten and the dragon, Enoshima is famous for prayers and wishes for long-lasting couples. There is Ryuren no Kane (the Bell of Dragon's Love, which we didn't have chance to visit), and the ema (wooden postcard looking board for you to write your wishes on) is pink-colored. Very unusual for an ema. Well, if you write your names on the padlock, lock it up, throw away the key into the sea, legend says that you will be 'locked up' together with your partner forever.

Alrighty, last part of the trip: FOOD.

Tako senbei is a must-buy. The original shop is located close to the Bronze gate (if you pass a shop where there is a long line of people waiting, then that's probably the shop). At any case, you will see this packaging on display:

They also have Kurage senbei (jelly fish rice cracker), which isn't as famous but I bought it regardless because it's a unique product.

Kurage senbei. It's HUGE, I'm warning you. The flavor is a little weak, but it's delicious. Very thin and crispy, and savory.

And this is the very famous Tako senbei. I was surprised that they didn't chop the octopus legs into small pieces. They just entered this ultra high pressure press along with rice flour and voila!

Another very very good food you have to buy here is Shirasu-pan (shirasu bread). It looks like small deep fried balls. I didn't have the chance to take a photo of it because it took me 20 minutes lining up for the tako senbei and I felt bad for my teacher who waited for me while letting everyone go first. It's filled with cheese and shirasu. I gave one for my teacher, and even she said it's really really really delicious. If I can buy 20 of them that time, I WOULD.

Okay, more stories from the field trip coming up next! :)

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