Monday, November 25, 2013

Minpaku; National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka field trip

Friday I and two other CMU students went with a group of junior high school students to Minpaku, or National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka for a field trip. 
Large display in the Oceana section.

We were on our own each on a different bus and told to speak English with the students, but personally it was hard to just communicate in English with them so I cheated and spoke a mixture a lot.

After the bus ride where I was asked all sorts of questions about my favorite music, and whether I had a boyfriend or not, we made it to the museum. 

The grounds of Minpaku are gorgeous and show a great deal of detail, and was especially inviting for a museum.
Replica of early Australian rock paintings.

I went around the museum looking at the various world areas such as Oceana, Southeast Asia, Europe... as shown in the websites video.
Display of Native American foods.

After looking at and interacting with the many intricate, numerous, highly informative and interesting artifacts, displays and such we all had lunch in the park area together. 
One of my favorite displays. This one about Mexico's skull culture.

The park, just like the museum was huge. I just couldn't believe how large the museum was and how much it had packed inside.

 I would love to go back again and just spend as much time as I like wandering around and I love that they allowed photography in nearly every location inside.
Entrance to the European section.


This was from floor to the ceiling.
It was amazing to be able to have access to some of Japan's Anthropological side.
 In their record collection.

Display of Guitars near the Woodstock section.


The Woodstock area in the music area.
One of the many masks on display.
In the India Exhibit.
From the India exhibit.
In the park we played dodgeball, volleyball, soccer, jump-rope and frisbee while we walked around enjoying the beautiful fall weather and the changed colors on the trees.
In the India exhibit area.



From the India Exhibit.
In my group thethe volley ball was either lost in the river or in the top of a tree three times until a student climbed up the tree and got it out, and from the river area they had to wait for the ball to get on the other side to resume playing again.





But it was great fun and I was happy to get out and have fun doing something so free.  


Students finishing their field trip notes in the park.
I was also happy to see they had much more freedom on their school trip than the international students at my University had on our field trip in some ways (it was still fun but I wanted that freedom that the junior high school students had).
A view of the river area in the park.

A view from the top.

After we were done playing in the park we left to walk through the woods and then to a wooden tower structure where you could see for a long ways.

This one was NOT the large tower, this one is a baby in comparison.


This one was the big one.
An example of the gorgeous fall colors in Osaka.
After everyone had had a chance to climb up and get a view we returned to the bus area thanked the students and teachers for having us and then chose a bus to ride back with the students.


On the walk back to the bus area.







Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Kyoto, Fall colors, and Finding Starbucks


Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji

I recently took a trip to Kyoto looking for beautiful Autumn colors and found them. 

A group of Japanese students and international students decided to go to Kyoto, and I joined them.

The interesting architecture and inclusion of gardens, koi ponds, bridges and stairs in the shape of a dragon were really calming. 

It was a perfect way to embrace the season. Now it has gotten colder and winter is coming- perfect weather to curl up with a book and a hot cup of tea or talk with friends.

It's getting closer to the time for me to return home to America and I am getting a little nostalgic since I've met so many cool cats here. I really do like the Kansai people and many of the internationals here, and know I will miss them.

I will be happy to be home, see my boyfriend and family, and quite frankly there are things I like and dislike about both countries, so I feel like I am having to say goodbye to more than just the people.

For example I love Japan's food culture, but find the 'cute' culture (emphasis and constant use of 'cute' things) to be irritating and ubiquitous and do not feel like I will miss it.

American's are known here and among the internationals as basically doing what we want regardless of the rules and I think that is partially true with us especially compared to Japanese who have a lot of legal and social rules and structure compared to America, which is a vague statement but emphasizes my current feelings.

I really do love the mountains and scenery and emphasis on nature that is prevalent in Japanese culture especially in the Nara and Shiga area.

Finding Starbucks

The last time I went to a Starbucks in Japan was 2 years ago, and it took forever walking around in the pouring rain.

This past week there was a Starbucks grand opening so I asked some internationals if they wanted to go. Little did we know it was going to be a long night searching for the place. 

We even saw a tower that looked like a mini Tokyo Tower, and finally found the mall after about an hour of looking and walking through the city and then the country side area.

After we found the mall, we discovered just how enormous it was, 3 floors and packed with stores.

Then we found Starbucks which was really neat, but the selection of food was really small and expensive, so we ate at a Viking or all you can eat buffet that had various types of foods. 
Yamato Koriyama area is well known for goldfish that were raised by Samurai as a part time job.

We looked around the mall a little and then took a bus to the train station. Then we took a short train ride home and then walked from the station to do all night Karaoke.

It was nice but I didn't even realize it was 5am when we were walking home- I thought it was maybe 11 at night or midnight, but was surprised when an old lady said goodmorning.



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Nara Prefectorial Art Museum - Yamato Jikara

At the Nara Art Museum Yamato Jikara exhibition.
Today I finally got off my lazy butt and went to the Nara Prefectorial Art Museum to see the Yamato Jikara art exhibition.
 
Looks like the wolves in the film Princess Mononoke

I usually don`t have class on Tuesday`s until 2;40 so I thought it would be a good day to go. 


I got there later than I originally wanted and so could only see maybe half of the exhibit, but it is free for me since I have a Museum passport that gets me into exhibits cheap or free (If you are interested just ask Hosonosan or the people in the office for an application).
If you wander around Nara you will often see this guy.

Nara seems to have a lot of great cultural opportunities and art exhibits so if you are interested it`s really easy, inexpensive (remember to tell them you`re a student), and close by.

I am often going around wandering and finding new places but if you`re not like that then talk a friend into coming with you so you can have motivation if you need, but there are so many great places well known and off the track too.