Day 6 Japan

Socializing!
Today we were invited to join Nicolas and Francois, the French and French-Canadian researchers we met on Wednesday, along with some of their friends. The plan was to visit a famous Buddhist temple and then go to an izakaya, a Japanese pub.

Our group was a great cultural mix: Nicolas and his girlfriend Nina, from France, Francois and his girlfriend Hiromi, from Quebec (though Hiromi is also Japanese), Jeff from the US and his wife Mery from Singapore, Kuna from Japan, and Jim and I. Fortunately for us, everyone spoke English. (We are very lucky to be native English speakers since it has become the international language between people. Of course, that also means that native English speakers--Brits, Aussies and Kiwis included--often are less fluent in other languages!)

It turns out that Jeff is also working as a science researcher at Kyoto University and has the same fellowship that Jim has. Small world!

We all met near the University and took a bus down to the temple, Sanjusangen-do. According to our guidebook, the temple was originally constructed in 1164 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1249 and rebuilt in 1266. (Still a very long time ago...) It is apparently the longest wooden building in Japan and is so long in fact that archers used to shoot arrows down its corridor. (There is a festival here in January to commemorate the archery, so hopefully we'll get to see arrows flying!) The temple is to honor Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and there are 1001 (!) wooden statues (each maybe 5 feet tall) of her in the building. The statues are all as old as the building—around 750 years old—and I must say that they look pretty good for their age. The statues are painted with gold and to see so many, all in rows positioned on steps, is breathtaking! In the center of all these is a huge statue of Kannon that reminded me of a big Buddha, sitting on a lotus flower. Each statue of Kannon had 40 arms (4 in front, the rest to the sides) and elaborate headpieces. Apparently each arm is able to save 25 worlds, so with 40 arms, 1000 worlds could be saved. Wow, the power.

After feasting our eyes on gold statues, we all made our way to Kyoto Station because Hiromi needed to meet her brother there. Jim and I had not yet seen downtown Kyoto and whoa, was I surprised! Suddenly there were bright lights, big buildings, the huge Kyoto tower and shopping center...I felt like I was in Tokyo. (Yes, those of you who have been to Tokyo are probably amused. I can only imagine how overwhelmed I will be by that city.) We waited in the very modern and sleek mall attached to Kyoto Station (the main rail and subway hub) and ate donuts. Yes, in addition to French bakeries, there is a donut chain called “Mister Donut” which seems to always have a line. The donuts reminded me very much of Dunkin' Donuts, mmm. Once Hiromi was able to meet her brother, we all headed out to our izakaya for dinner and drinks.

The izakaya we went to was downtown on the 5th floor of a building, and I was very glad that we had several Japanese speakers with us since they had to order for us. (To their credit, all of our new friends speak and read at least some Japanese—and everyone in this group knows more than us since we are such new arrivals. I have been impressed that every (non-tourist) foreigner I have come into contact with here has known some Japanese. Of course, it really is a necessity for living here any length of time.) As soon as we entered the izakaya, we all had to remove our shoes and the greeter gave us each a plastic bag to place our shoes in. We had also had to remove our shoes in the temple, so this was the second time we had been walking around in public in our socks. [Word to the wise: when in Japan be sure there are no holes in your socks!! :) ]
The izakaya was really cool since, as a group, we got our own little room surrounded by wood and rice paper walls. The tables were low to the floor, but fortunately underneath the tables was open, so we didn't have to sit on our knees. (Jeff said that you do have to sit on your legs in some izakaya, which gets a little uncomfortable after a while if you are unaccustomed to that position.) Kuna and Hirumi expertly ordered for us a scrumptious selection of tasty plates. Izakaya food is probably the most unhealthy in Japan (much of it is influenced by the West) and is sold as small plates which everyone shares. (Think tapas!) We had fried cheese, omelet-type eggs with soy sauce, fried noodles, terriaki chicken on skewers, egg-tofu, fried shrimp, chicken wings and breaded ice cream balls for dessert. Not bad! For drinks, Mery and I had peach fizzy's (a peach mixed drink), others had beer and sake. We went to relatively inexpensive izakaya and Kuna had a coupon on her phone for this place, so our total bill was pretty comparable to what Jim and I would pay in our dinner club at home. However, many
“going out” meals with people can easily be from 5000 yen ($50) per person on up, so we may not be able to afford to socialize too much. Fortunately our new friends our all limited by small post-doc salaries as well, so we can all budget together. :)

After calling it a night, Jim and I discovered on our way home (on bikes at midnight—so nice that it's so safe here) that our local grocery store was still open. We needed milk, bread, etc, so we popped in and shopped. Surprisingly there were other shoppers—women, young people—as if it wasn't after midnight. We are so amazed by how late everything stays open here!