Day Four - Tokyo.

My Friday was rather fluid. I had a 2 o'clock appointment with a professor currently in Tokyo on sabbatical, but very little else to do before then as I had visited both of the museums on my pre-Kyoto list the day before. I decided to head for Shinjuku and drop in at KCP for a surprise visit. In Shinjuku, I stopped at a Tsutaya to pick up a copy of the newly released Yoroi: Samurai Zombie. I am so going to get my zombie on as soon as I get home (and as soon as I get a region-free portable dvd player).

The surprise visit to KCP went really well. Both Utami and Tanaka were pleasantly surprised and cordial - Utami especially. We chatted for quite a bit. I was able to see Anraku, Suzuki, and Kato senseis, and I had a good, long chat with Ujike sensei - one of my best advocates during my first trip there. She seemed to be really pleased with my progress, said my speaking style was very natural. When my attempts to decline her compliments failed, I turned it around by saying that my progress was due to her and the other senseis. And that's really true. My first year at KCP, they put me in level three because of my grammar skills but my lack of vocabulary meant that I often had no idea what was going on. The intensity of that term really forced me to a new level with my language skills. I turned a definite corner.

At the KCP Pink Building, I saw Moronaga sensei and Katayama sensei. Moronaga spanked me for being cheeky; Katayama (the kibishii salaryman) made a very cool recommendation for my Kyoto trip. I promised to come back and visit during my year of study in Yokohama.

I left KCP with just enough time to arrive exactly on time for my meeting with professor P. We spent nearly two and half hours discussing our various projects, mainly my ideas about my master's thesis and how it might be made into a dissertation. He had some very good suggestions for potential resources and potential objects to look at, but agreed with me that my tack - though fascinating - will be hard to pull off. I may still wind up rethinking. We'll have to see what we see.

I had dinner at Eunja's family's restaurant. Korean-style yakiniku that was out of this world. She sat with me and grilled everything for me over the brazier, and she also ordered kimchi and an assortment of tasty vegetables (bean sprouts, and daikon radish, and other things that I couldn't identify). It was really awesome to have a chance to see Eunja in her daily life, but once again she wouldn't let me pay. While I was there her friend Megumi came in with a package of sushi from the sushi shop that she (Megumi) works at. I think she had expected to be able to eat it together with Eunja and I, but as I'd already eaten they packaged it up for me to have later. (At the time, I wasn't sure when that would be... I ate so much grilled steak. So much.)

After dinner, Eunja and I went to a local bar and shared a quiet drink. We chatted and reminisced, and Eunja advised me very soberly to be careful in Kyoto. I promised to send her a text message everyday so that she'd know I was daijobu (a-okay).

She really does take a prodigious deal of care of me. I don't deserve it, but it's very nice all the same.

Day Five - Kyoto.

I was up early in the morning (what else is new) to prep for my rail trip to Kyoto. I took care of my internet stuff (like weather forecasts), and then finished packing and beat a path for the shinkansen lines at Tokyo Station. I arrived in time to take the 8:33 HIKARI Super-Express (as it is proclaimed in English) and arrived at Kyoto Station at about 11:15am. Despite my best efforts, I could not convince anyone to give me a portable map of the city rail systems. I'm not sure what that was about.

I made my way to the hostel with little difficulty and dumped my bags. (Kyoto is a grid city, and even though the streets aren't any better posted here than they are in Tokyo it's still really hard to get lost on a grid.) After I was free of the ginormous backpack, I went on a short walking tour of the surrounding area - specifically the temples Nishi Honganji and Higashi Honganji. Given that Nishi Honganji is slightly older, I visited that one first.

It began to rain fairly steadily as I arrived at the main gate, so I wandered into an enclosed seating space where there were teas and vending machines and bathrooms for the visitors. I politely asked the caretaker there if it was alright to eat a box lunch, and he gave me the go ahead so I sat myself down and had a really delicious lunch of the sushi that Eunja's friend Megumi had given me the night before. It. Was. So. Good. (Even a day later.)

Belly full and refreshed, I began walking the grounds. I went first to the hondo (main hall) and adjoining daishido (great master's hall). The painted carvings and smooth, strong doors, walls, and pillars were all very, very wonderful. The steadily falling rain gave a sense of enveloping quietude and peace. (The rains have actually been extremely problematic here of late.)

As I was sitting in the hondo, Tenjin-sama welcomed me to his city with a resounding crash of thunder that shook the timber-framed hall to its foundations. I couldn't help but feel as if I were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Shortly thereafter, the temple priests performed an afternoon ritual for gathered believers and I sat in on that as well, although it must be admitted that my legs didn't hold out. When the ritual began I was seated in the Japanese fashion, but about a minute before it ended I had to shift my weight. I am getting more acclimated to it, though.

I walked through the open areas of the grounds, spending a particular amount of time by the Karamon, a Chinese-style gate that has been designated a National Treasure for its elaborate and beautifully painted carvings. I took many pictures of the Karamon in order to compare it with the Karamon of Kitano Tenmangu, which was built around the same time. Then I walked back to the exit and made my way over to Higashi Honganji.

Higashi Honganji was far, far more crowded with visitors, and I - frankly - had a really hard time figuring out why. It was neither as beautiful, nor (at this particular moment) as accessible as Nishi Honganji. And they prohibited photographing in all indoor spaces, which made me all pouty.

It would actually probably have been impossible for me to like Higashi Honganji more than Nishi Honganji. Originally, there was only one Honganji - the one now known as Nishi (West) Honganji. It was built on the current site through a land grant from Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1591. Some ten years later, in 1602, the second site of Higashi (East) Honganji was established by a breakaway sect through the influence of the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu. Supposedly, he did this to break the power of the Jodo Shinshu Sect, but I suspect that a desire to trump the Toyotomi family also factored into his decision as well.

The upshot of all this is that Nishi Honganji is the underdog temple, and we all know how I love an underdog. (And also... for some reason, I find Tokugawa Ieyasu rather dissatisfying as the founder of a dynasty. I don't completely approve of him, really.)

At any rate, I did quite like Higashi Honganji's tagline for the celebration of the 750th death anniversary of Shinran (the founder of the Jodo Shinshu Sect): Ima, inochi ga anata wo ikiteiru. "Right now, life is living you."

It was nearly time for check-in, so I walked the streets until I found a conbi to stock up in. I picked up some things for dinner and a snack and then made my way back to the hostel. I got checked in, made my bed and put my things away, discovered the joys of wifi, and have been since sitting in the common room - having on-and-off conversations with the other guests. There's a girl from France, from England, and from Germany. They all, of course, speak English. The English girl also speaks French, and part of the early conversation was in French. Since I understand French (although I really can't speak it anymore), and I can report that the French girl also speaks Japanese and Chinese.

Wow, do I feel outclassed.

Lots to do on the morrow, so it's planning and an early night for me.