These “temples” can feel more like a hotel than a temple at times, but still offer a refreshingly unique experience for anyone weary with Japan’s capsule and business hotels. Mt. Koya is also famous for its momiji, or fall scenery – the reason we went when we did.

No idea why some of the pictures are appearing stretched out a little… I’m finding myself increasingly frustrated with WordPress’s post editor! Anyways, here are some pictures of the temple we stayed at:

The temple served a traditional Buddhist breakfast and dinner, and we were also fortunate enough to get to meet with the mother of the temple’s current head priest (and wife of the previous head priest, who’d passed away) who told us (in very good English!) about her experiences as a Japanese woman who chose to study English right before World War II began, and about her life in Koya during and after World War II. Her story made for a  rather trippy backdrop to our traditional Buddhist meal, but it was truly humbling to hear about her experiences and she really helped remind us that even in the midst of this serene mountain retreat we were affected by the cares of the world below.

Breakfast was less impressive… And also REALLY early – like 7 AM sharp:

Aside from Buddhist fare, there was plenty of other good food too. This includes a special type of tofu called goma-dofu (made from white sesame seeds) that Koya’s inhabitants decorate with momiji!

Of course, the elephant in the room here is Oku-no-in. Japan’s largest cemetary. It houses everything from the graves of several Emperors, to the graves of powerful daimyos (including several mortal enemies in life, buried right across the aisle from one another), would-be conquerors, and even memorial plots Japanese companies have erected for their employees! All under the watchful eye of Koubou-Daishi, who, like Elvis, isn’t dead. He’s just entered a state of eternal meditation in a cave under the temple at the end of the cemetery’s path. Don’t believe me? You should – the monks bring him two full meals a day! Apparently he’s been craving lasagna of late. Vegetarian, of course.

The best view of the cemetery, in my opinion, can be had at night. Visitors are allowed to wander the paths of the cemetery without the constant press of tourists at night, and the interplay of lamp-light and shadow produces an atmosphere that can only be described as holy. It’s hard not to feel awed and humbled by the feeling of a thousand years of history breathing all around you in the forest at night. No pictures (my phone couldn’t hack that…), but if you ever have the chance I highly recommend it.

First, some deep, philosophical words regarding the cemetery:

Oh, Engrish. On to the historical section of the cemetery:

Pebbles are a running theme at Oku-no-in. They are placed on graves, the gates to grave plots, trees, trunks, and even paths. Thousands of years’ worth of visitors paying their respect to the noble dead of this place.

The cemetery is home to thousands of these Jizo bodhisattvas, who are seen not only in their traditional role as a protector of children and travelers, but generally viewed as all-around benevolent deities. There are also some similar statues of Koubou-Daishi, of which the picture above may be one (I don’t recall…). Apparently this particular deity is said to grant beauty to those who clothe, pay homage to, and put make-up on him!

Apparently I didn’t manage to take a picture of it… But one of my favorite stories from the cemetery is that of Akechi Mitsuhide, who caused the death of Oda Nobunaga in an attempted coup d’état. His grave in the cemetery is remarkable for being cracked down the center. Every time the monks attempted to build a new memorial for him, the memorial cracked. So, eventually they left it as-is. It is said that his immoral behavior ensured that he would never rest easily, but that he is allowed a grave at Koya-san because in killing Oda Nobunaga he saved Koya-San from the same fate Nobunaga visited on other esoteric Buddhist meccas. Nobunaga, it’s worth noting, is also buried at Koya-San. His grave is fine.

A close second, however, was the grave of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier of Japan. (He generously allowed his mom and some counselors to share his plot… Over his dead body.)

No pics of the Imperial graves, or of Koubou-Daishi’s final resting place. Sadly, photography was not permitted beyond a certain point. So… On to the relatively modern parts of the cemetery!

First, in honor of my first car, the Nissan Corporation grave plot:

Panasonic’s plot is nearby, and much more interesting:

The black stone is designed to reflect light in such a way that those who look at it see a good reflection of themselves in it. Get the symbolism? It’s a high-def TV!

UCC is a company that makes coffee for vending machines, etc. Joe is showing off their plot here:

The cool thing about their plot (aside from how HUGE it is!) is that each coffee cup is actually filled with brown stone to simulate coffee!

Nice, huh? The last picture I have of Oku-no-in is a picture for one of the grave plots for a certain aerospace corporation:

The shape (five-segmented rocket) is designed to evoke the traditional 5-layer Buddhist grave marker. Each layer represents one of the 5 elements of the universe: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Void (in that order, from the ground up). All together, this monument expresses the company’s desire to remain rooted in the past while reaching for the future. Quite the image to greet visitors upon their entry to the cemetery!

Apart from Oku-no-in, there are many other temples and shrines on Koya-san. One of these is the Tokugawa Mausoleum, which enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada. The two shrines are identical except for the animals decorating their exteriors – each shrine has the appropriate zodiac animal for their inhabitant, though I can’t remember which two they are.  Pictures below!

Tokugawa Hidetada’s shrine:

Another interesting thing to note is that they’re doing reconstruction work on one of the gates at the main temple complex! My dad’s really into such things, so I snapped some shots:

Apart from that, the rest of my pictures are just of random temples, buildings, and other things. I’ll try to note info about them as it applies!

This next one is a sutra wheel. Essentially, turning the wheel is akin to reciting all of the sutras inside the wheel. As you can see, it’s a big wheel – that’s a LOT of sutras. Karma grinder, anyone? You work for it, though… As you can see, it takes as many as six people to turn the thing!

And, lastly, shenanigans. Always good to end on shenanigans, isn’t it?

That’s all for now. For anyone on the fence re: a visit to Koya-San, don’t be. It’s an amazing experience, and well worth the difficulty in getting there. I’ll probably go back again next year just to spend more time wandering the cemetery at night!

I’m off to ATEX and the US of A tomorrow, so no posts until the new year most likely. Safe travels to all of you who are flying, and happy holidays!

E

I’m finding that this attitude permeates a lot of modern Japanese life. One other really good example is the phenomenon of “wasei-eigo” (和製英語), or “English made in Japan”. When Japan incorporated western ideas and technologies into its society during the Meiji Restoration and after WWII, they borrowed a lot of foreign (mostly English) words to describe the new things being brought in. In some instances, though, the existing English words were too long or difficult for Japanese preference, so the words were shortened or altered (or in some cases entirely fabricated) to suit the needs of the Japanese. This resulted in words like “handoru” (from “handle” – “steering wheel” in English), “jetto ko-suta-” (from “jet coaster” – “roller coaster” in English), and “makudo” (“McDonald’s” in English). Certainly these changes made it easier for the Japanese to incorporate new and strange-sounding words into their vocabulary (to the point where, these days, a native English-speaker who doesn’t know a word in Japanese can simply say the English word in a manner that apes Japanese pronunciation and have a good chance of being understood), but true-to-form the Japanese have actually taken it a step further: they no longer even recognize the original pronunciation as valid. Don’t believe me? Try asking a Japanese person where “McDonald’s” is. You’ll get a blank stare. They won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Say “makkudonarudo“, however, and they’ll at least know what you’re talking about (though, they’ll think you’re weird for not abbreviating it). Some Japanese you might encounter will even insist that their pronunciation is correct! Naturally, this can be a bit frustrating to someone trying to teach the English language to young (and sometimes apathetic) Japanese. (I was actually called out once for going to extraordinary lengths not to spell things out in Katakana – one of the Japanese alphabets – and had to explain to the teacher that I didn’t want to encourage the kids to think of the words in Japanese syllabic pronunciation… I’ve since given up on that with the older kids.)

Just to clear my conscience with regards to my Japanese friends and teachers, it’s worth noting that the English-speaking world most definitely does this same thing with Japanese loan-words (like karaoke, typhoon, tempura, etc. – try pronouncing them in the correct Japanese manner to an American if you don’t believe me). What makes Japanese use of English loan words extraordinary, in my opinion, is the fact that they tend to shorten or invent words where the existing words don’t serve their purposes.

Where Christmas is concerned, however, I tend to point out to Japanese who ask me that Japan has generally adopted the best parts of Christmas anyways. I can certainly understand enjoying present-giving and good cheer without all the religious trappings, and fastidious attention to tradition is hardly the point of Christmas. In my mind, my job with regards to Christmas is more to share new and additional ways to have fun with the holiday. That’s why about half the Elementary Schools in my town now have VAST collections of student-created paper snowflakes. The dirty looks the school principals have been giving me are totally worth it!

I’m heading home for Christmas next week, but since most of the time between now and then is down-time I might have time for another post… So many pictures to share, and so little free time to write posts in! Instead, I’ll just leave you with some Xmas Cheer™ from Japan!

Xmas Donuts at Mister Donut in Japan!

Strawberry Snowmen waiting to be adopted (by my stomach)!

“Please don’t eat me! I have a wife and three starving children!”

Too bad for you, mister Green Tea Snowman. Too bad for you.

… Alright, so I might have had to force myself to eat the eyes first. Was icing in just the right place to resemble tears REALLY necessary, Mister Donut?

E

When I signed up for JET, I think I had this image of moving to a small Japanese town and becoming immersed in the culture and daily life of the place by virtue of the circumstances. I’d heard so many stories from previous ALTs that it didn’t occur to me that I might not be that lucky. Consequently, I was a little surprised when I arrived to find that my town is actually a little bigger than many in this area, and that my Board of Education (the body responsible for the schools in the town, and my employer) is very hands-off. They don’t really seem to care what I do, as long as I show up where I’m supposed to and get my work done. Unlike my friends in the prefecture, who seem constantly dragged to a never-ending stream of festivals and cultural events, I find myself needing to actively seek out involvement.

I think this really set in when I arrived home one day from visiting my friend in the next town over to discover that my entire town was drunk and dressed like zebras (Apparently our traditional yukata is black-and-white stripe – go figure!). Having missed one of our major festivals, I decided that it was time to get out and explore the town a little. Since I’d been eating at home most nights, restaurants seemed like a good place to begin, and I started trying to eat at a couple new places every week. I’ve since found some damned good Yakitori, an (arguably) Gundam-themed restaurant (run out of a truck, sort of), quite a few really good izakayas, and a slightly run-down aquarium! (That last one’s not food-related. Though, this IS Japan…) I’m kind of enjoying it, though it is getting expensive. Hopefully, one of these days I’ll get around to posting some pictures and discussing in greater detail the “gourmet” (and other) options my town has to offer!

Since then, I’ve also managed to make it to a 文化祭 (Culture Festival – basically, the kids sing, dance, and put on skits for the parents, as well as showing off their art from the year so far. It’s a big deal – such a big deal, in fact, that they get a day off after it to recover!), and today I stuck around at one of my elementary schools in order to partake in a “焼き芋大会”　（体会?). Don’t speak Japanese? Don’t worry – even for Japanese speakers that’s a weird one. It’s a “roasted potato rally”.

Yeah, I was surprised too.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it sure as heck wasn’t “Hey, let’s let the kids build fires and roast some sweet potatoes over the coals while they play games for our amusement!” And yet, I walked out to discover this:

Yep. That’s one of my students enthusiastically fanning the flames. Yay burning!

The Japanese use charcoal that looks like logs rather than the briquettes we use in the states:

Mmm… The smell of grilling! Made me not want to change clothes when I got home that night!

Once the flames had hit a sufficient heat level/reduced a fair percentage of the charcoal to coals, the kids helped load up the sweet potatoes (technically satsuma-imo – more on that later)!

Mmm… Roasting yaki-imo! (Technically “yaki” imo are potatoes that have been roasted – “yaita” -> “yaku” -> “yaki”. These are just “imo” – potatoes – at the moment!)

Now? Well, apparently it takes about an hour. I sense a flaw in their carefully-constructed plan. But wait – there’s more! We’re just gonna make the kids run around in circles until they’re too tired to do anything but eat sweet, delicious roasted sweet potatoes*!

Yep. That’s what they did. We played tag. And dodgeball. Turns out the kids are way better than me at both. Go me!

It was worth it, though, for the awesomeness that is yaki-imo:

So, what IS a yaki-imo? Basically, it’s a roasted sweet potato. Japan, however, doesn’t have the same type of sweet potato we have in the states. Instead, they have what they call a “薩摩芋” – “Satsuma-imo”. It’s similar to an American sweet potato (and, in English it’s called a “Japanese Sweet Potato”), but its flesh is a golden yellow or yellow-white color, its skin is a light red/burgundy color, and it tastes a little different. When you roast them, they look like this:

All I can say is YUM! Glad I stayed this time!

Hopefully, more pics in the near future. The JLPT is coming up, so I’m under pressure to study… But we all know that just means I get better at procrastinating!

-E

At the moment, I’m more focused on the fact that my wordpress installation seems a little glitchy. It has, for instance, eaten no fewer than three versions of this post – one of which included almost a full catch-up to the present. So… I’m gonna blame this one on WordPress. Screw you, wordpress.

In the article linked above, Michael Ellsberg comes to a bit of a startling conclusion. He posits that college education hampers creative drive, harming American’s competitiveness by churning out a disproportionate number of doctors, lawyers, and engineers (professional jobs); along with a high number of writers, literary critics and historians. Wait – what? First off, it sounds like we have the two sides of American politics right there. I mean, has anyone else read the supposed diatribe by a college professor that’s been making the rounds recently that describes doctor, lawyer, and engineer as the bastions of conservative professions? I’m pretty sure writers, literary critics, and historians stereotypically fall on the opposite side of the political divide. So right off the bat, this guy is telling us that both political parties have it wrong.

Well, at least his argument fits the general sympathies of the time.

Also, how is “disproportionate” ever going to be a fair portrayal of “pretty much every other discipline except the right one”? Because, really, that’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that there’s only one RIGHT discipline. That being, of course, entrepreneurship. And naturally, it’s not one that can be taught in colleges, so we should just tell everyone that they should go out and found a business instead of going to college. If everyone was getting out there and starting new businesses the American economy would fix itself, right?

Except that it wouldn’t. For starters, what about all those entrepreneurs who fail? Granted, I don’t have numbers, but there’s at least one study that suggests that the success rate is about 1/3. Imagine if one out of every three Americans succeeded in creating a “successful” (defining “success” is a whole other ball game) business and the other two were basically failed entrepreneurs with no “hard” skills. How, exactly would that work? Who does he think makes these businesses succeed? I guarantee it’s not *only* the entrepreneur. As Ellsberg himself mentions, start-ups NEED talented workers to succeed. Where does he think these come from? Are talented workers only people who magically understand their field of expertise with no formal training or education? Can you see your neighbor taking it on him or herself to learn Calculus just so he or she can be more competitive in the job market? Can you see middle class Americans everywhere doing it?

But I digress. Let’s assume that everyone is equal, and we should all be trying to be high-powered entrepreneurs so that we can create jobs.

It’s true that the category “entrepreneurship by Americans without college degrees” has seen some pretty spectacular success cases. I still don’t buy his argument. That model just doesn’t work for 90% of America (or 90% of humans in general). For a start-up to be successful, the entrepreneur behind it needs creativity. Creative product or service, creative structuring, creative hiring – whatever it is that makes their business successful. Even assuming that increasing entrepreneurship should be our end goal, creativity is like anything else with human beings: it’s different for everyone. Some people need formal education to prod them in the right direction. Some people don’t. Some people will be interested in creative careers, some people won’t be.

I get that Ellsberg’s point is that we should be trying to focus on turning out more entrepreneurs, but I don’t think that blaming academia is the solution. Colleges and Universities (“colleges”) are the way they are in the US because their alumni have proven to be successful historically. Colleges are well-known precisely because their graduates have gone on to do great things (and in many cases gift large sums of money to the institutions that they credit with their success). Even if you accept that the “world has changed” and “what worked in the past doesn’t work now”, it doesn’t follow that colleges don’t perform a valuable role. The students who attend those colleges are products of their times. If our economy is defining success as entrepreneurship, then the students who are highly-motivated and attend college will use the resources of that university to succeed in that environment or, if they don’t value what the college has to offer, they’ll leave. I know this because my graduating class (’08 all the way!) alone has many members who are already highly-successful entrepreneurs – and that’s only three years after graduation. Can you really say that their creativity was stifled because they chose to graduate? Incidentally, many of them started their businesses before they left the school and chose to graduate anyways.

If these people are genuinely creative and talented enough to be a successful entrepreneur, don’t you think they’ll know enough to gauge whether graduating from college is a good investment for them? Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg did. They left college when they found opportunities that appealed to them more. I hardly think that someone who’s smart enough to invent the next iPod will fail to see the cost of staying.

Those that stay do so because colleges are more than what they teach in class. Smart people who go through college know that they’re not really there for philosophy class or even economics class. They’re there to learn how to reason from their professors and how to live from their peers. I don’t remember much from my freshman year statistics class, but I do remember the people who suffered through it with me, the negotiations it took to talk our professor into building a break into the class, and how long it took me to figure out what the professor wanted to hear from us on the essay portions of our tests. What is that if not “networking”, “sales” and “comfort with failure”?

I concede that not everyone needs that push. For those who do, however, college is still the best way to get it. Don’t blame college for the failure of American students to develop entrepreneurial spirit.

Emery

You’d be wrong.

About a month after I arrived in my new home town we were hit by a major Typhoon (Typhoon #12 to the Japanese media, or Typhoon Talas to those of you in the west) which knocked out train service, power, and most of the wiring around town for internet services. Pre-existing internet connections have long since been restored, and the trains are running to my town again, but apparently they weren’t able to complete enough repairs to set up new connections until Friday. So, finally, I have an internet connection at home!

I’m working out a few kinks in the blog software, and trying to make sense of what all’s happened and how best to present it here, but now that I have internet access the blog WILL be receiving regular updates.

Emery

For now, I’m sitting in the Chicago airport with less than an hour to go until my flight to Tokyo leaves. For the record, that’s 10 flights complete!

It may be a little while before I can post again. Apparently it can take up to a month to get internet set up. Look forward to Part 3, as well as tons of pictures of my new home when I get everything up and running!

Emery

Remind me to re-examine whether or not I consider AC a “necessary” condition for sleeping, because DAYUM. Aside from that, though, I had a great time. Ate some good contemporary food at Hillstone (whose chicken tenders, which are not on the actual menu, perfectly walked that line between “cooked” and “as tender as if they weren’t cooked” – definitely a different take) and some truly superb Japanese food at Sakagura, and returned to Ess-a-Bagel for another marvelous breakfast. There may also have been an epic quest for Red Velvet cake, which involved encountering snooty waiters in multiple restaurants, a man who was (probably) not having sex in a bathroom stall at the Waldorf-Astoria, and more city blocks traversed than I really care to admit. Ultimately, it’s a little disappointing that the night DIDN’T end in the world’s best Red Velvet cake.

The wedding was also quite fun (indoors wedding FTW!), and was by far the most unique wedding I’ve ever been to. I doubt they’re reading this, but my heart-felt congratulations go out to Gabe and Jacob – I cannot imagine two people better suited to one another!

Finally, there was the small matter of a 7-hour stay in JFK which, while not the longest amount of time I’ve spent in one airport at once, seemed rather grueling given my sleep-deprived state. Despite my misgivings, not too much exciting there. I briefly pondered founding a religion to honor and glorify AC, and I discovered that my phone’s charger works for my kindle. Naturally, any thought of studying died with the latter discovery. Why study for the GMAT when I have book three of the Song of Ice and Fire to finish?

After a whirlwind 48 hours at home, during which the movers finally dropped off the rest of the stuff from my apartment in Arlington, I’m now headed off to Seattle to say adieu to the lady love. Flights 4 and 5 await me!

Flights #1 & 2 are today, and are carrying me off to NYC!

More pictures/stories when I get back?

The pit at Smitty's in Lockhart

The meat has almost always been “marinated” in a dry rub before being smoked, and has sometimes been generously slathered with BBQ sauce. As a side-note, BBQ sauces in texas tend to be mustard or vinegar-based rather than molasses or tomato-based (see this site for a LOT more information on regional sauce variations and nothing remotely resembling humility). Some proper Texas BBQ pits even feel that sauce is for basting – not for serving with the meat. Smitty’s, in Lockhart, is infamous for just about making you beg for sauce if you absolutely must have it.

BBQ is a long-standing tradition in Texas – our “national food”, if you will. Each community has its favorite, and the styles and flavors are as varied as the people who eat them. (In fact, it’s hard to find two people in Texas who agree on their top five BBQ pits. About the only thing most Texans can agree on when it comes to BBQ is that we’re the only ones qualified to judge it. In Texas, the “Texas Monthly Top Ten” is highly regarded, while other, non-Texan, “authorities” are widely ignored.) Typically, though, BBQ pits in Texas serve at least beef brisket, pork roast, sausage (jalapeno and normal), and pork ribs. Beef ribs are a little less common.

Too much awesome for a single bite.

Some of the best pits in Texas have been around long enough to be on their second, or even third, generation of owners, resulting in a nest of feuding BBQ pits owned by siblings, cousins, and would-be rivals, all striving to out-do each other. Here, BBQ is serious business.

This is what several generations of BBQing does to your walls.

In case you can’t tell already, I’m more than a little in love with BBQ. So much so that it’s become tradition for friends of mine to get together each summer and go on what we jokingly refer to as a “BBQ Odyssey” – an all-day pilgrimage to all the finest shrines to BBQ that the state of Texas has to offer (or at least as many as we can fit into a single day). But of course this year’s trip has special significance to me. I can’t really imagine a summer without the likes of Snows, Smitty’s, Cooper’s, and Luling City Market (all, ironically, located in towns whose names begin with “L”), so today I mourned my loss the only way I know how: I ate.

And oh man, I may never want to eat again…