big update

wow i really need to write these more often so they're smaller and easier to write. but oh well, here goes. last weekend me, risa, and her parents went on a trip to nagano to visit mom's family shrine. the thing about tokyo is that it's in the biggest flat spot in all of japan, that's why it's so crowded. but driving out of tokyo into the countryside is a pretty sudden jolt. one minute you're in the city, the next the buildings have been replaced with mountains and greenery and all the sudden mt. fuji is looming over just about everything. it's surprising to say the least.

risa's family shrine is in a town of about 200 people or so stuck in the middle of the mountains. i was probably one of the first foreigners to ever go there. risa's great aunt is the family member in charge of the family shrine and lives in a huge hosue by japanese standards. wide, roomy, and very traditional. the shrine is across the street from the house on a hillside surrounded by small vegetable fields. the newer shrine is shiny and new and has about 70 years of family history engraved in it. the older shrines to the side have over 200 years of history recorded on them and are old enough that they're starting to turn back into natural looking stones. i barely know anything about my family from more than 70 years ago, so i was really impressed. on the other side of the new shrine was a smaller one that had all the names of family members who died in the russo-japanese war.

after we burned incense at the shrine and said some prayers we went inside and ate food and talked for a couple hours. risa had only met obaasan (japanese for old lady) once before so it was good for everyone to be able to make their family connections. after food me and risa went and walked about the area and took some pictures. we found a really old temple just around the corner that had fallen into disrepair, but was still really really cool. after that we found a path bordered by a small bamboo grove that led down into a bunch of fields. for some reason japanese family's in the countryside put a lot of their family shrines in the middle of fields. kinda weird place to put dead people but then again, in the mountains the field is one of the most important places for a family.

there was another shrine down by the fields, a much newer one that had a house attached to one side of it. it was kinda sad tho, there was an old temple on top of a hill in a nice wooded area that seemed deserted but less than a football field away there was a new temple that was being taken care of. i kinda wanted to know why the old one was deserted and replaced by something in such close proximity.

there was also a medium sized mountain behind obaasan's house that people were going paragliding off of, so we stopped and watched them for a bit, then noticed what i think was an eagle take off along the river. afterwards we walked around on the other side of the valley and went up a hill and watched the paragliders for a bit.

after we came back from the walk some of obaasan's friends from the other side of nagano showed up so we all went back inside and talked and ate some more. when we left risa and her mom were so caught up in thanking everyone for everything that kaoru forgot her purse and risa forgot her camera. we all got a big laugh out of that and ran back and picked them both up before running out to matsumotojo, matsumoto castle. matsumoto is one of the oldest castles in japan and the oldest one that is still built in the original fashion. me and risa went in and forged through the crowd up to the top of the castle while her parents milled around outside.

it was kinda weird tho, the top floor of the castle was kinda the end of the tour, but it seemed that most of the japanese people in the castle were more concerned with getting to the top and then getting back down than they were with actually seeing what the castle was. me and risa stopped and read all the placards at the top and found out that there was a small shrine hidden up in the rafters of the top floor. we went over and found the real thing up in the rafters and got all excited about it, then all the other people waiting in line broke out of follow the leader mode and took notice too. if me and risa hadn't been there actually trying to enjoy the castle no one else probably would've even noticed that some pretty damn traditional japanese stuff was going on right above their heads. curiosity saves the day.

last week was japanese finals and after successfully kicking ass i went out with the kendo club on friday and got some drinks and got to know them all a bit better. they're all very much guys, except for the club manager, who's a girl. they make a lot of really bad jokes, give each other a lot of good natured shit, and like beating each other up for fun. it's the kendo club, what do you expect?

oh yeah, i got a bunch of pictures up too so go looky look!