Author: Hanna

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Travel

Battling a Dragon on Mt. Takao

In this post, I mentioned that I was a Master’s student. I occasionally went to Mt. Takao on my own back then because there were always people there, which gave me a feeling of security.

Edited on January 26, 2022.

Tokyo, Japan It’s quite some time since I wrote. Last week, I successfully proposed a topic for my MA thesis, so I should be able to take it a little easier now, or so say some fellow students, but my mind is already full of how I might construct this massive academic text in the next few months. So, I’m sorry if this blog has fallen out of my awareness a little.

There is, however, a story I would like to tell about a small excursion I embarked on shortly before my thesis proposal. I was so overwhelmed with having to summarize all my thoughts in a page-long summary and with the crazy heat that is of course normal in this part of the world at this time of year, that I fled to a nearby mountain for a hike.

I came to a place where shrines to Buddhist gods are placed in three little caves. A few people had taken cover there and one woman sitting on the ground at one of the altars was chanting the name of the Amida Buddha as she struck a gong on the ground.

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Farewell to a Friend

Taken near the Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo. Photo by H. McGaughey

Tokyo, Japan Reading a academic article today, I came across this poem by Retired Emperor Go-toba written when his loyal courtier Fujiwara no Ietaka was about to leave the island where Go-toba was exiled.

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Food

Sweets Wrapped in Oak Leaves

Edited on January 31, 2022.

Kashiwa mochi, sweets wrapped in oak leaves for children’s day. Photo by H. McGaughey

Yokohama, Japan Today, May 5 or 5/5, is Children’s Day, one of the string of national holidays this week. These holidays are collectively known as Golden Week, which doesn’t mean much to me, because my academic work doesn’t end, but it’s really nice to see people enjoying themselves at the neighborhood park or among the crowds in Shibuya, where I ran errands yesterday.

I didn’t realize until I looked it up just now that today is called Children’s Day and is supposed to be for both genders as of 1948. I thought that strange, because I somehow thought it was Boys’ Day, considering the images of Kintaro (the golden boy) and kabuto (samurai helmets) that contrast with the dolls of Girl’s Day, celebrated on March 3 or 3/3. Politicians can change the name, but they can’t change traditional festivals, I guess. It’s just unfortunate that in effect, “children” means boys today. I’m all for the boys having a festival, but call it what it is!

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4/10 Anti-Nuclear Energy Protest

Yesterday, the anti-nuclear protest at Kōenji that I took part in stretched on for five hours – six if you count the hour before it began!! There were so many participants that because they were so carefully directed by the police into a single street lane, it stretched on forever and moved quite slowly. Protestors were orderly, but adamant, remaining until the end in the square outside Kōenji Station.

It was like a huge moving festival. A large sound truck blasted the neighborhood with chants and music, and people danced. Where I helped carry a banner, though, we were so far away from the truck we couldn’t hear it. Other musicians played drums, flutes, guitars, trumpets, pots, and we all chanted. It was a great atmosphere.

According to one man counting us from the roadside, we were 8,000 people, plus thousands more watching on UStream. According to a report by Kyodo News, we were 15,000!

In the days to come, I hope to write about how I understand the experience. In the meantime, here are a few pictures. . .

 

Update: Haha! How embarrassing. I’ve fallen into the Japanglish trap again. This time I used the word “nuke” for nuclear power instead of for atomic bombs! Sorry! I’m going to try to correct that. . . Does “nuke energy” work? Um. . . no. “Nuclear Energy” it is.

Categories
Travel

A Pilgrimage to Kumano

Lightly edited on January 31, 2022.

A stretch of the Kumano pilgrimage trails near Nachi Taisha. Photo by H. McGaughey

Yokohama, Japan At the end of last summer, which ended in late September for me on the Japanese academic calendar, I realized I had not taken advantage of my free time and decided to leave the Tokyo metropolis on a little trip. Photographs by a friend of mine who had been to Kumano earlier in the year had caught my fancy, and combined with the significance of Kumano as a pilgrimage destination in the Japanese middle ages, I thought it a suitable place to go.

I went for a total of two nights, staying at an onsen resort on an off-season, no-meals attached rate. The complex was in a small valley surrounded by greenery, which was a beautiful respite after a hot summer in the city. The day I arrived, the weather was rainy, and the forests and mountains were interwoven with low clouds that snaked through valleys and between trees like dragons. 

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