Joshin-ji or Kuhonbutsu Temple

It's taken me quite a while to realize just how big Jiyugaoka is... while aimlessly wandering about I happened to come across a Temple! Technically I think it's located in between Jiyugaoka and Futako-Tamagawa but either way it didn't look like too much from the outside but it was so beautiful and surprisingly quiet once you entered the grounds.

Joshin-ji or Kuhonbutsu was constructed several hundred years ago on the old grounds of Okusawa Castle, parts of the castle foundation can still be found.

I was wandering about on a Monday morning so there weren't too many other visitors at that time.

Writing kanji (chinese characters) is hard enough as it is... can you imagine carving them into stone? yikes.

The above picture is Founder's Hall - the sign says that there is a statue of the founder installed here. (bet you didn't see that one coming!) In 1657, the master received a message from the Amida Buddha 3 times and then carved the image (that I conveniently didn't take a picture of- sorry!) of himself which he saw reflected in the water.

There were many offerings placed at the bottom of this statue.. 

Although, apart from the Pikachu it kind of looked like they were just bought at a nearby vending machine.  Still, it's the thought that counts I guess. However, once I got home, in order to look less like an uncultured idiot, I did a bit of research and it makes more sense to me. 

Jizo is one of the more popular divinities in Japan. He is traditionally seen as the guardian of children, particularly those who died before their parents. He's also the guardian to souls of stillborn, miscarried, or aborted babies. Sometimes the offerings put near him are from grieving parents and sometimes from parents who are grateful to Jizo for saving their child from illness, etc. 

This is a very intricately carved bell tower near the entrance.

You can tell I was here a bit of awhile ago since most of the trees still look dead... It's cherry blossom season in the next month or so! 

That stone was really neat, it's Buddha's footprints! But really, it was created after Shakyamuni Buddha's death by his followers as an object of worship 600years before any full body images of buddha were created. Originally there was a dharma wheel carved into the center of the footprints but it has now been worn away. The coins in the footprint are mostly 5yen coins (very lucky) and 1yen coins (cheapskates, plus nobody likes the 1yen coins).

Statue of Buddha under one tree where he reached nirvana. Actually I'm not a 100% sure about that fact - might have made it up. 

One of the many worship halls on the grounds of this temple.

The layout for the cemetery.

A typical Japanese grave is usually a family grave consisting of a stone monument, with a place for flowers, incense, and water in front of the monument and a chamber or crypt underneath for the ashes.

More little Jizo statues!

Since Jizo is seen as the saviour of souls, the statue is common in cemeteries but Jizo is also believed to be one of the protective deities of travelers so the statue can also be found roadsides.

Wings!

All the way over in America, Brendan got his Wings! おめでとう！！Congratulations!

The proud parents and grandparents with their son!

卒業式！ Graduation!

This past weekend was the Graduation Ceremonies for the graduating students in Meiji Gakuin University. Since many of the buddies in the buddy program were fourth years, a group of us exchange students decided to make an appearance. We were allowed into the actual ceremony though so we just hung about on campus until our friends had a chance to see us and take some pictures!

The graduating class is large so they have to take turns, we arrived at school around noon and waited around until 4pm.. we did a lot of waiting. The first graduation ceremony was at 10am on Thursday and the last ceremony was at 2pm on Friday.

This crazy looking man is actually the head of the exchange program at Meiji Gakuin. Asami is the leader of the Buddy Program so they are presenting him with a Thank you card.

There was a party for the graduates and teachers in the upper part of the school cafeteria. There were fancy finger foods and drinks but we felt a little out of place so our little group of foreigners just stayed put in the corner..

Leaving the school! The graduating boys all wear suits (except one guy who was in a bright red hakama.. couldn't decide if he was just fashionable or if he was wearing it for family tradition). The girls wear Hakama which is different from a kimono, and women only wear them at certain events like a graduation ceremony. Everyone looked so beautiful and happy! (well, sort of happy anyways. After graduation many students are looking forward to the life of a salary man..)

Aquarium

The weather this week has not been that great...  which in Tokyo means that the city pretty much shuts down. Literally some people (in the dorm..) hide from the rain by staying indoors until the sun peaks out. Sometimes it's nice to have a rainy day where you do nothing but after a week it gets a bit boring so we ventured out in the storm and went to the Aquarium! On the rainiest day possible. 

There are quite a few aquariums in Tokyo - Ikebukuro and Shinagawa have the biggest ones. Actually, Tokyo Sea Life Park has been in the news because of an escaped penguin that is now roaming around Tokyo.. Penguin News! 

We went on a Friday afternoon around noon so it wasn't incredibly crowded. Actually it wasn't crowded in the slightest apart from a few kindergarteners on a school field trip. 

One Year Later

The big earthquake that devastated parts of Japan happened on March 11, 2011. It's hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly. There have been many TV programs recently showing the affected areas and how they are looking now.

Here is a video (In Japanese..sorry!) about certain affected areas and how they are looking a year later. 

頑張れ日本！（がんばれにほん！gambare nihon!）
This is a phrase you will hear and see often in Japan. Gambare is something that is said all the time. There is no direct translation into English but it means something along the lines of encouragement - like 'do your best', 'you can do it', 'hang in there', etc. In order to help the country after the earthquake there are signs posted that say 'gambare nihon' which means 'do you best, Japan!'

Bowling!

Bowling always makes me think of birthday parties from when I was younger. This time however, a bunch of us went bowling just for the heck of it. It was a blast! The bowling shoes are different in Japan. They look a bit more like sneakers (trainers, if you're British!) than the typical classic clunky ones you're given in the States. 

There were a lot of us so we separated into teams by country; The Brits, Americans, and Japanese. I'm a bit out of place in this picture since this is the British team.

Believe it or not there were a lot of salary men and older people bowling before we got there. Either it was an after work special or a tournament of some sort.

Score cards/screens were all in Japanese. Go Figure!

Clubbing in Tokyo

The month of February has been a month full of dancing, laughing, more dancing, and even more laughing. We've been going out clubbing somewhat on a regular basis! I've never been clubbing in the States so I don't really have much to compare it to but I imagine it's a little different than clubbing in Tokyo. For starters, at certain clubs we are the only foreigners in there and the only ones making a fool of ourselves by dancing. Also, in Tokyo the trains stop running around midnight and don't start back up again until 5am. This can be a bit tricky since walking home isn't exactly an option. Basically, you are stuck out until the trains start up or you can pay an obscene amount for a taxi. We manage to stay out until the first train, but we are exhausted and the next day is typically an extremely lazy day of napping and watching movies.

We take the last train around midnight to get to wherever the clubs are.. usually Roppongi or Shibuya. By the time we make it to the club it's usually 12:30 or 1am so it's not too long of a night.

Goofing around in the train station - practicing our dance moves... this one is called 'the bernie'

it's from the movie Weekend at Bernie's.

There is a club in Roppongi that we have kind of accidentally become regulars at.. By that I mean we've been there at least twice. The entry for clubs is generally free for girls but it can be extremely pricey for guys (1000yen - 4000yen). So usually the only thing we girls spend money on is a train ticket to get there or drinks but those are usually expensive once you are in the club.

You might think that you are seeing a lot of similar outfits in these pictures just on different people... that's because you are. 

 

Quick Sidenote: I learned how to cornrow if anyone's interested.. 

One of the best things about clubbing is how goofy we act. We like to try out all the ridiculous dance moves such as the shopping cart, the sprinkler, the macarena, etc. I think because we are foreigners it seems like people mimic our dance moves.. Also the macarena did not hit it big in Japan. In fact, most people don't know it so we try to do it as often as we can. The other people in the club around us must think we are a girl band or something when we all break out the macarena and practice our dance routine.

The best thing about the clubs is when they have couches to sit on and take a break from all the dancing! Our breaks don't tend to last too long though - just enough to take a breather.

Can you spot the foreigners? A lot of the time we tend to try and take as many pictures of weirdo's as we can.. or just people we found funny at the time. In this picture, we were trying to capture the guy in the jean jacket with the samurai style haircut. Success!

Here we managed to capture Emelie mid-sneeze while a random Japanese guy 'photo-bombed' us. This also tends to happen a lot. I think I have more photo's with random strangers than I do with my own friends. 

 

Since we are foreigners we usually get some attention.. (especially the blondes!) Although I won't lie, it is kind of nice when you get invited into VIP sections or get offered free champagne. 

Another random Japanese guy in our photo. The thing about this guy is that we didn't notice him until we were looking through our photos the next day..

Most Japanese guys are shy and won't just come up and dance on you - which is nice. If they do make you uncomfortable though you can just say no and then they apologize profusely for bothering you. Another helpful thing to avoid being hit on is just pretending you don't speak the language. Any language.

There was a whore in this club! Just kidding. I'm about 80% sure that she was a dancer promoting at this club. I bet she didn't know the macarena dance..

The worst thing about going out clubbing is leaving the club at 4:50 to make it to the station to catch the first train. Everyone is exhausted, hungry, and cranky and since we switch out of heels to put on flats we just look a bit scrubby at the end of the night/beginning of the day.  It is fun though the next day is usually shot because of our tiredness. (but yes, mom, we are always careful and keep our wits about us.)