Murakami For Beginners

Posted by Emily

Wednesday Ellen had to work so Sarah and I were left to our own devices. We drove Ellen to the school where she was working for the day, watching closely the whole way there to make sure that we could correctly find our way back. Getting lost was not a very good option because there are not really any street signs and I doubt anyone would be able to point us in the right direction in English if we stopped to ask. We made it back just fine and since it was still early in the morning, we decided to hang out at Ellen's for a while and plan the rest of our time in Japan. We got that partially accomplished and have an idea of where we are going. There are a few more people that we are going to visit who are teaching English on that same program (JET - Japan Exchange Teaching) as Ellen. This is quite a good thing because there aren't really any budget accommodations here. A dorm bed costs about $30 if you are a member of Hosteling International. We aren't so we would have to pay $40 for a night in a dorm bed. That is a bad deal. For our first stop, Kanazawa, we will be staying in a business hotel. It was cheaper than the hostel for a double. Does that make any sense?

We did have access to Ellen's car for the day but we decided to walk around because it would be easier to stay oriented and have a better chance to look around. We started by visiting a house that used to belong to a samurai. There were no signs in English and the woman at the front desk kept trying to talk to us in Japanese, which didn't exactly work. Needless to say, we weren't quite sure of the significance of the things that we were looking at the whole time but it was interesting to see anyway. It was a traditional Japanese style house if nothing else, with tatami mats (tightly woven straw-type mats), very little furniture and sliding papers doors.

Next we walked around town looking for temples to visit but they seemed to be closed so we didn't go in. We could see into one of them because of the glass windows in the doors but there was a sign that couldn't read on the front steps so we didn't go in, assuming that the sign probably said something about not entering. I did see a Buddhist shrine inside. The shrine itself was similar to what I saw in Thailand but the surroundings themselves were more Japanese, obviously, with tatami mats and the like.

From there we walked a ways to the Salmon House and Museum. I think I said it before but this area is very famous for its salmon. We went to the Salmon House first and looked around at the very wide arrays of salmon products. I didn't sample any thins time. I think last time I managed to eat an organ. Or should I say, bite into and then immediately spit out an organ. It kind of smelled like a high school dissection project. Not something I want in my mouth! There were also other random merchandise and plenty of Hello Kitty paraphenalia. It really is everywhere here and people are crazy about Hello Kitty phone charms. Many of them reflect a certain region of Japan and what they are famous for. I bought Rice Farmer Kitty, Leaf-Wrapped Famous-Dessert-Of-The-Area Kitty and Pink-Bird-Sitting-In-Cracked-Egg-Shell Kitty. Very funny. We didn't actually end up going into the Salmon Museum because there was nothing in English.

By this time in the afternoon we were getting very hungry but hadn't managed to find a place to eat. We walked back into the center of town and found a shop that we had been to with Ellen's Japanese teacher a few days before. We went in because I wanted to by another of the really sure post cards that they have there. We ended up using our Japanese phrasebook to ask them where we could find a restaurant. Since we couldn't understand the answer, the guy ended up walking us there. Then the only thing that we knew how to order were soba noodles, so that's what we got. Maybe this doesn't sound very funny in retelling but the language barrier is pretty funny sometimes and it's quite funny to communicate with people by reading phrases out of a book.

That's about it for the day. We checked out another park and then headed back to Ellen's. We managed to not get lost, which I thought was a very good accomplishment. Although, I think getting lost might have been a funny communication situation. I'm sure we'll be getting ourselves into a lot of those in the coming days when we are no longer with Ellen!