Seven Years Ago Today (A Haiku)

Autumn city, my

imagination captured

in breathless embrace

The Golden Pavillion

The boat house of the Golden Pavillion

Temple in Nara

My husband and I seven years ago. I wish I was still that skinny!

Last week, during Saturday's drama class, we were focused on the topic of home. We talked, and talked about where we'd been and how many places we've called home (my count: 14).

But, we really got to sharing stories of what it was like to move away from home. And, although I moved out of my parents' house a year before I left for Japan, I feel like I really didn't leave home until I left the country.

I only have a few pictures of those first few months in Japan - for some reason, at that time, I didn't realize that you needed a large memory card to take pictures, so I could only take 12 at a time. The ones I've posted today were of my first trip (of many!) to Kyoto back on October 22nd, 2004. We went with friends and explored the city and, I remembered thinking to myself that this was what my life was supposed to be like. Adventure and exploration and beauty.

Also on this trip, in the lobby of our guest house (yes, I still remember where we stayed!), we met a mid-30s American man who'd arrived in Kyoto the previous day and hooked up with a prostitute in a love hotel ("I didn't think either would cost so much!"). He'd run out of money and had only brought his debit card (bad idea, as the bank machines are on incompatible networks).

I'll be honest, I didn't feel particularly sorry for him.

I believe he decided to cut his trip short and head home early.

So, now we've circled back around to home. Tell me, can you remember all the places you've lived? Were some of them more home than others? What place was the first place you remember being your own home?

A Post about Japan

Sunday's post about miso soup made me think about the few days it snowed in Sakashita, so I thought I'd share a few pictures with you from both winter 2005 and 2006 of Sakashita.

The path down from my house (which was beside a Shinto shrine) to the road:

Detail of one of the posts

Looking towards the steps that led up to the shrine

Kids walking to school with umbrellas:

View of the river, Kawa Ue:

Winding through the foothills on the bus:

A house in Kawa Ue (the town up the mountain from us):

It was beautiful.

Cold.

But beautiful.

When I think back to winter in Japan, I think of my clear Bodum teapot, that was almost perpetually full of vanilla tea leaves. I think of a kitchen, so icily cold, that when I'd get home from work, I'd still be able to see my breath. I think of the oily smell of my kerosene heater for my living room.

I think of the darkness and the stillness and the loneliness.

And then I think of the peace and the strength it took to get through those cold (zero degrees inside and outside!), dark nights.

In the classrooms, there would always be one kerosene heater on low, and I would do my best to huddle as close to it as possible. Forget the students! I needed heat! At lunch time, the miso soup was my favourite part of the meal - it was the only thing I could guarantee would be hot.

Even more than miso soup, I loved it when they served oden, which is this stew with all sorts of simmered goodness in it. It bubbles away on the stove for the better part of 3 hours, which should give you some idea of just how infused with flavour it is!

Reading Labels

So much better than Pocky!

A friend of mine has just gone off to Japan with JET, and I find myself reliving the experience vicariously through his blog. His discussion about grocery stores prompted me to head into my local Korean/Japanese grocery store. I love walking around the aisles, trying to figure out what everything is. I swear, the snack aisle alone could keep me occupied for hours. I keep hoping to find my favourite Calbee veggie sticks, but alas, in the last couple of years, I've had no luck. Oh! And Fran. It's like the rich man's Pocky. Their blueberry chocolate flavour was my favourite. One of the things I like about shopping in this store is I really don't know what I'm buying half the time.

When was the last time you went to your Loblaws or Sobey's and said that?

A few months back, I bought some dumplings  that I thought were pork and vegetable, but turned out to be kimchi tofu (and delicious). That's the kind of excitement (and unpredictability) that I miss about shopping in Japan. Believe it or not, being illiterate can have a strange upside. The simple act of grocery shopping was a ridiculous adventure. Overwhelming some days, for sure, but coming back to regular old grocery shopping has remained something of a downer for me. Where's the fun of knowing exactly what you're getting?

We mozied to the last aisle of the store, where I ogled over zojirushi rice cookers (WANT), and decided to pick up a few treats: an onigiri (tuna kimchi) for him and a danish with chopped up hotdog (topped with mayo, cheese and nori) for me (nostalgia will cause people to buy the strangest things). We stood around for a bit, trying to decipher the drinks in the refrigerated section, when I saw this gem of translation:

Need I say more?

Sight/Sound/Taste

It's insane to me to think this, but I moved to Japan almost six years ago to this week (it was July 24, 2004). About this time each year I start to get nostalgic for my time there: chicken-cheese from Daikichi, the sound of cicadas in the forest, the oppressive humidity of summer, the smell of cypress wood houses baking in the sun. Sometimes I'll get a whiff of something vaguely reminiscent of those three Julys and I'll be instantly transported back.

My Mum and I were talking about Japan when I was in Ottawa last week, and how it was, for me, probably the most defining time in my life to date. I think she's right - Japan was where I learned to be me.

As nerdy as I was in high school, my sense of self took a huge beating in university. Looking back on those years, I can't even begin to describe who I was then. Japan gave me the opportunity to rise and discover who I could be, if I wanted to. I made some mistakes along the way (especially during that first month - oh lord, I cringe to think of it), but I wouldn't change anything about my time there for the world.

In case you're curious: An International Incident

So as I was thinking back on those days, I decided to look up Sakashita on google. And low and behold, what was one of the first pictures to appear?

(photos by Melissa Chasse)

Check out my 25 year old self, with my 25 year old husband. Of course, he wasn't my husband yet. Turns out my friend Melissa's old blog had some appropriate tags! I hope she won't mind my borrowing them.

We're swimming in Kawa Ue, which was so cold, but SO gorgeous! That water was crisp - and so refreshing on those 45º+ days.

Check out this little area of the river called Dragon Falls:

(Melissa Chasse)

(Melissa Chasse)

And then I'll think to myself: I freaking lived there! That was 10 minutes from my house!

Dude.

In honour of Japan, I'm just going to throw out one of my favourite Japanese recipes after the jump: kinpira gobo