11.25 - 11.27
To think we’re already past the first week of December…at this rate, it’ll be 2023 faster than my kiddos devour their favorite kyushoku meal, curry rice.
What’s happened since Naoshima and Teshima?
1. I’ve received one of the largest daikons and I’m researching how to use the whole vegetable…pickling the skin, using the leaves for furikake (rice flakes), pickling the sweeter part of the daikon, and boiling the bitter part in soy-sauce are some methods I’ve experimented, and I must say they haven’t all been failures! Though Mimura-san was polite enough to eat, then completely fix the furikake I gave her…we’re learning all the things left and right.
2. Yuki, a high schooler who I’ve been tutoring for his college exams, finally took the big test and…passed!!!! It was such a feeling of joy to hear this news because I felt like I finally made a difference via my English language skills. At the preschools, it’s more just repeating vocab words that the kids forget (if I try to make it too much of a lesson, the teachers get a little uncomfy) so being able to teach, then have my teaching result in a success feels gratifying. The tutoring came with some of the best sweet black beans I’ve ever had also, of course handmade, by Yuki’s grandma.
3. Along with tutoring for an exam, I studied for and took my very own –the JLPT N1. My thoughts? Firstly, good riddance. Secondly, after leaving the exam room scolding myself for having gone too slowly, I quote Hamilton’s “In the Room Where it Happened,” “we’ll see how it goes.” Thirdly, I am grateful for having had the chance to buckle down and study to the degree that I did. Even if I don’t pass, I am far more literate and fluent in the Japanese language than when I first stepped foot on Yakage soil. So…something to be proud of, I suppose.
4. I’ve been told I’m probably 8 years old (according to K-chan) 32 years old (according to S-kun) and 55 years old (according to R-chan.)
5. But the biggest November happening would probably have to be my visit to the land of tofu, green tea and temples…KYOTO!!! I kid you not, it felt like there were more temples in Kyoto than Dunkin Donuts in Boston. That’s saying something.
FOLIAGE!
At Kiyomizu Temple, there were tunnels of crimson Japanese maple trees drizzling their leaves above me; at Arashiyama Bamboo forest, the merging of bamboo and maple made it seem like rainbows could grow into forests; at Tofukuji temple, the sunrays greeting the trees made it feel like petals of strawberry glass candy engulfed me; at Sumiya house, the inner garden boasted a yellow maple that seemed to drip honey from its branches. This is all to say, I can fully declare that Kyoto’s autumnal beauty deserves ALL of its worldly fame.
FOOD!
I believe I was successful in actualizing “I came, I saw, I conquered” when it came to the Kyoto food scene. But I’m finding that’s not hard to do anywhere in Japan. From matcha soft serve to red-bean mochi snacks to a Kyoto delicacy tofu lunch to street market pickle samples to some of the best grilled unagi-don I’ve ever had (the meat was so crisp on the outside, so soft on the inside, and just melted in the mouth), I think I dined quite, quite regally.
Kyoto is also known for their very high-class, expensive kaiseki and omakase food scenes, which is when a chef curates his meal course as an art show…from the color palettes to the tasting order to the ingredient origins to the weather of that day, the 5-7 plates all are thought through 110%. Now, this here 23 yr old could only dream of having such a $200 gourmet experience, so the kaiseki food scene had to wait. HOWEVER, I did end up befriending a kaiseki michelin-star chef unknowingly…long story short: I entered into a cozy looking hole in search for good soba (another kyoto food) and ended up talking about my machiya undergrad research with an ojisan next to me. He recommended I visit an art gallery his friend owned, and instructed me to mention his name once entering the gallery. So, I did.
The next day, I did as I was told and spoke the magic name. And the gallery owner was like “ohhh YOURE the person he called me about! How did you find such a hidden gem? You know, the man you talked to is a Michelin chef who trained the chefs at that soba shop…your soba was good, wasn’t it? There’s a reason for it, ahahah. You must have a good sense for food, neh.” That was probably one of the greatest compliments I've ever received.
ARCHITECTURE!
Another huge happening was finally getting to visit the Sumiya, a building I spent over 6 months researching for my Hannah Holborn Fellowship and my undergraduate thesis. Explained simply, the Sumiya is a former elite entertainment machiya (traditional Japanese townhouse) that served Edo Japan’s first entertainment district, Shimabara. My research revolved around the empowerment architecture gave to the women that dwelled within it; however, all my knowledge of the building was gathered an ocean way during peak COVID quarantine via odd travel blogs and google map pictures that I scavenged. I didn’t think I’d ever get to actually step into the building…but low and behold, I made it. And what a completely different understanding I now have of the building! It was unreal getting to move about and see the light, shadows, woodwork, details, all in the flesh. And standing in the rooms and seeing, imagining, where the geisha would sit, how the customers would come in, what corners would block whose vision, what smells would be roaming the halls and what noises would be seeping through the fusumas…again, unreal.
Of course, the other architecture I encountered was nothing short of amazing. Since my mode of transport was solely biking and walking, there were many spontaneous stops made at eye-catching temples, gardens, craft stands, and more. Further, it’s not everyday that one just walks into a monthly flea market (with kind grannies that give you free sugar senbei) happening at a temple from 947 AD (Kitano Tenmangu Shrine), bikes around the oldest Zen temple in Japan from 1236 (Tofukuji Temple), and sees the Kyoto skyline atop a UNESCO world heritage site that is the Kiyomizu Tera from 778 AD. I even stayed in an Edo period machiya repurposed as a snug hostel and curry cafe! I could blabber on and on about the architecture of the city (the grid-planning! The restaurant lined Gion streets! The Starbucks’ built into 17th century homes!) but alas, I’m sure this will do for now.
I’m head over heels in jubilee from yet another successful solo-trip, especially since this one was wished upon for years and years. And there’s so much more I got to do than what's written above, which I’ll quickly list here so 30 year old Kai can revisit this trip: go to a rare architecture/art bookstore! Go to a children’s book store and art gallery recommended to me by the rare book collector! Meet a fellow PiA friend who also happened to be in Kyoto that weekend! Have one of the most real and tasty breakfasts made by a fellow Moomin/Finland/design fan, share a breakfast with a military family from Rhode Island! Creep into a very eerie and remote art center located in a 20th century college campus at 10PM! Take long night walks along the river next to the Gion storestreets! Wait for a grandma-run bakery’s famous red-bean sandwich! Enter into a super cool recycled paper shop! And more!
But out of these moments, my biggest takeaway was getting the opportunity to seek and find realness (or maybe honesty is the better word) during my travels. Kyoto is Japan’s #1 place for tourism, history, sightseeing and general Japaness–of course all for good reason–but it’s also a city way beyond its infamous instagram spots. I found Kyoto to be a city that is its own self and very alive in the present, in the now. This discovery came from having rich conversations and exchanges of laughs with so many Kyoto-ians, from my Michelin chef friend to the breakfast cook who dished out rare moomin gallery books for me to look through. To get such interactions, all we have to do is be willing to smile, really mean our “thank yous” and embrace the adventure that can come with any unexpected detour. Any unexpected pause. Any unexpected “excuse me.” Any unexpected “aaah please help I have no idea what I’m doing!”
And these unexpected moments speak realness, honesty, to me since they’re not planned for, but they fall into place with such “this feels right”-ness. I guess these are a lot of words just trying to say being honest will return honesty to you. And we can reap so much from such an exchange.
Okay. Whew! I’ll stop speaking weird nonsense that may sound like I’m trying too hard to be all meta and deep. Thank you for reading up to here, and if you didn’t, don’t worry, I understand.
