We're Back!

I'm going to make a point of clarification before I go any further. I mean we are back home... in Korea. We won't be back to the US until August (yes, it's official, we're coming home). It's been quite a while since we posted here on the blog, but as I warned at the end of last year, there was a lot of traveling in the way. The short story is that I (K) spent December with my family in the States, we spent January running around Japan, and February was split between mini-vacations in Busan and Seoul. But we're out of money now and back to work. March is the beginning of the school year here, so J is teaching again, and I'm back to my usual smattering of she-can't-say-no business. And while the adventures technically began with a brief return to the US, that's not something I'm going to spend time talking about in this post. It's just not what the blog is about. We're here to tell you about the strange, let you know we're alive, and comment on cultural learning.

So I'll start with January in Japan. Actually, that is misleading. We started that vacation by getting some of my family around the world to Seoul, and slowly made our way to Japan. Bringing the family around, as you might remember from a similar experience post last June, is a strange experience. The culture shock has worn off largely, we're feeling comfortable, and starting to not notice, well, anything really. And then you throw in a fresh set of eyes and suddenly you find yourself going "WAIT don't tip! Careful with this random exception to the rule of thumb I taught you yesterday... Yes you can touch that..." It's weird to rediscover the wave of differences that you've internalized after a year and a half living day-to-day in a new place. No I didn't realize that all our food is red, but now that you point it out, is this normal? So after a few days freezing our toes off in Seoul, we checked in with J in Jeonnam and made our way as a family to Osaka, Japan. Time for the whole family to be equally confused.

We flew into Osaka late at night on a budget airline that left us all a bit queasy. Thankfully it is a short hour flight from Busan, and we knew what we were getting into when we booked the tickets. The next day we checked out the Osaka history museum and a newly reconstructed castle that was only recently excavated.

Find the foreigners in the train station!



Manga poster downtown

The next day we hopped on a train to Kyoto, where we had lunch with the some contacts we had made through a family connection. This was an interesting experience because J and I had heard repeatedly what Koreans think of Japan, and never the other way round. Koreans generally comment on how nice a vacation to Japan is, if a little expensive, and how friendly the people are. There is a little bit of bitterness about the occupation in their not too distant past, but most Koreans seem content with their neighbors now. For a bit of context, you should know that Japan colonized Korea from about 1910-1945 and there were some human rights violations, such as the treatment of lepers, but largely this was a far less bloody occupation than the previous time Japan had attempted such a conquer in the 1500's. Japanese, however, seemed to have an interesting opinion of Korea. For example, and please recognize that this was a limited sample size, in talking to our lunch companions it came up that we currently live in South Korea. After a moment of shock and a comment about danger, it seemed the best they could say was "that is... interesting" followed by a series of questions about their cleanliness and cold attitude. To say we aren't spokesman for Korea is an understatement, but it was interesting to feel a simmering defensiveness to the seemingly condescending nature of their view of our new home. We responded as politely as possible, but it was a bit awkward. Generally the meal was quite pleasant and the conversation very exciting as we planned our visit and got tips from our hosts, but every time the conversation turned to our life in Korea, I felt the disconnect between the way the people of the two nations talked about each other.

Kyoto Yodobashi

 Kyoto was, by far, the most beautiful city we visited during our stay in Japan. The streets were cleaner than we are used to, and there is a respect for public space that we experienced throughout the country, but first noticed here. People were careful not to make too much noise in public, and were pretty non-confrontational. There seemed to be more personal space and less pushing than we had grown accustomed to in our other travels in East Asia. In Kyoto we spent some quality family time visiting temples, shrines, and eating as much ramen as we could possible squeeze in. It was fantastic! We strolled through the old Gesha district, stopped into more cafes than I could count, and enjoyed a sake tasting in the smallest little bar we could have possibly stumbled into. The most awe-inspiring stop was at a Shinto Shrine called Fushimi Inari-taisha. It is situated on a mountainside with steps guiding a walk to the top, almost entirely framed by hundreds, and I'm sure thousands and thousands of orange gates. This particular shrine is associated with wealth and so when people are financially successful, it is common to purchase a new gate to dedicate to the shrine. This is our limited understanding from some cursory research after we returned to our airbnb for the night.

Kinkaku-ji, the golden paviolion

Drinking Matcha green tea in style

Thousands of paper cranes hang here, from what may be well wishes, or prayers of some sort.

 The video below shows Fushimi Inari-taisha

The family had to return home after Kyoto, and J and I continued on our own for the remainder of the trip. Our next stop was none other than Tokyo, and we arrived by none other than the famed bullet-train. Our time was limited, so we decided to thoroughly explore one neighborhood, rather than spend our few days half on subways trying to see the top sights. We chose Akihabara because, after the pervious cities focus on ancient and religious sites, it seemed fitting to change our pace and check out the more modern side of Japanese culture. This particular neighborhood offered gaming arcades, maid cafes, street food, and manga like crazy. Just walking down the street was an over stimulating experience with neon colors, anime figures, and noise like we had not yet experienced in Japan. We enjoyed every minute of it. J tried out a zombie virtual reality experience, while I lost some of the skin on the palms of my hands to a drumming game. We took sensory breaks in the afternoons, and even found an alternate street beneath the train line that offered some really impressive artisan crafts like leather and wood working.

Ramen chefs hard at work



Virtual Reality game room

An addicting drumming arcade game

Our final stop in Japan was Hiroshima Prefecture (prefecture is like a  province or a state in a country). We stayed in a ryokan style hotel on the island of Miyajima. A ryokan is a more traditional style Japanese accommodation built on hot springs with public bathing facilities and usually a few meals provided. Ours was less than exact, with no real hot springs feeding the baths, but plenty of hot tubs to keep us feeling pampered. It didn't hurt either that it was situated on such a picturesque island with the famous "floating torii gate" of the Itsukushima shrine. While the island had mostly been set up for tourism, we found a few places that stayed open after 5pm for some of the best yakisoba I have ever tried, and a few drinks after hours. Interestingly we discovered an alcohol there called "sochu" which was stronger, but otherwise very similar to something we drink in Korea called "soju." This made J reflect on his Chinese education and he recalled that the word for alcohol in Chinese is pronounced "jiu" or "chiu." After some digging it would seem that both of these non-Chinese words for specific types of otherwise flavorless alcohol is in fact related to the Chinese and to each other. Below is a video I shot briefly while sitting watching the rain on the floating shrine.



Residential deer of Miyajima



Sake and a midnight foot bath

On one of our last days in Miyajima, we took the ferry back to the mainland to visit Hiroshima city, and specifically, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial which houses the museum dedicated to educating about nuclear bombing. The space was well displayed and I was impressed to find out that it was only a temporary exhibit, as the main building is under construction. As beautiful as the layout was, however, it was incredibly difficult to get through in one emotional piece. The details of the war and the events surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hard to read about, and I found myself worrying about the fact that people who had lived through it were potentially still alive today to notice that I was American and harbor some ill will. It was a peaceful place, though, and I managed to not cry until we got to the section with artifacts and burnt toys along side the stories children relayed to their mothers after escaping the ruble only to die in her arms. At that point I simply couldn't keep my eyes clear enough to read through more than a few sentences at a time. We ferried home emotionally exhausted, but having a learned a great deal about not only the heartache, but the history, and the mechanics of nuclear weaponry.

Interactive exhibits at the Hiroshima Peace Museum

Finally we took the Shinkansen (the bullet train) one last leg down to Fukuoka where we boarded a ferry home. Yes, we got to ride a boat between Japan and Korea that only took a short few hours, and cost far less than the plane. Home again we prepared to take some time to ourselves before it was off for more local adventures. But more on that next time. This has already been quite a long post and I'm back to posting weekly, so you'll hear more soon.

Cheers!
-K