Hanatouro (花灯路)

Established in March 2003, Hanatouro is an event held at two points of the year during which the beautiful landscape, architecture, and art of Kyoto are grandly illuminated beneath the moonlight, such as the two trees shown above. Although both are known as Hanatouro, the “Kyoto Higashiyama Hanatouro” held in March and “Kyoto Arashiyama Hanatouro” held in December. Having become quite a popular event, the website run by the Kyoto Tourism Council claims that “it attracts over 2 million people every year from both Japan and abroad.” As shown by the official Hanatouro website the winter hours are from 5pm to 8:30pm while in the spring they are from 6pm to 9:30pm. This spring I attended the “Kyoto Higashiyama Hanatouro” which occurred over the span of nine days (from March 13 until March 22).

The path for the “Kyoto Higashiyama Hanatouro” stretches 4.6km long from Shoren-in Temple near Sanjo Station down to Kyoto’s famous Kiyomizu Temple near Gojo Station. The streets and admirable surroundings are lit up and decorated to make for a very pleasant walk. For example, along the path elaborate flower arrangements called ikebana are on display. The photo above is one of them that I was able to see. Not only are the flowers carefully arranged, but the vase too is beautifully crafted and painted with detailed plum blossoms.

Along this strip there are numerous temples and shrines, each having something to offer. Unfortunately only had the opportunity to go to one, but I found that taking my time slowly in one of the temples was well worth the time. The view to be seen in Shoren-in Temple was romantic and breathtaking. The architecture alone was stunning, giving the feel that you were in a true historic Japanese structure. Then as you walk along the outside, the open space is illuminated like the stars in the vast night sky with blue lights (pictured above). Next, you can walk along a path that takes you through the temple’s gardens and up next to the mystical bamboo forest (shown below).

Although I did not get a chance to see them myself, there are other events such as the “Fire Watch and Ohayashi Music Group” in which school children sing songs and play music, and the “Bamboo Lanterns/Profound Stream” where a thousand bamboo lanterns are put on the stream and flow through Maruyama Park.

I definitely enjoyed the sights illuminated during the nighttime, so if you ever get the chance I recommend going.

Popular Inexpensive Foods

Meal Ticket Restaurants

 Although Japan does have fast food restaurants as those of us from the United States (and perhaps from Europe too) know them such as McDonald’s and KFC, Japan also has their own versions of fast food. These come in forms such as Japanese noodle bars, yatai or rotensho (movable and temporary food stands made for quick meals), or “meal ticket” restaurants. I want to take a look at the last one. Spread throughout the more busy areas of Japan such as bigger cities and train stations, these “meal ticket” restaurants can be found. I had never encountered anything like them.

Before entering the restaurant or just past the entrance, you stop to take a look at the vending machine that sells the meal tickets. The machine has an array of buttons, set up to act like an interactive menu. Each dish is pictured on a separate button, and once you have decided what you would like to eat, you insert money into the machine, press the button that matches the dish you want, and out comes a ticket. You then walk fully into the restaurant and hand your ticket to one of the cooks behind the counter. Most of the ingredients are pre-prepared (though not necessarily pre-cooked) to facilitate a fast cooking process. Depending on the restaurant, you can either pick your meal up from the bar when it is ready or they can bring it out to your table, like the one pictured here.

These types of restaurants usually have an assortment of inexpensive Japanese dishes such as, donburi (a dish with the ingredients cooked with eggs in a soy-sauce like sauce and topped over rice), curry rice, or noodles.  

These restaurants actually seem to be quicker than the American-style fast-food restaurants in Japan. I say this because when you go to McDonald’s, instead of having food pre-cooked and waiting as they do in the States, they cook it fresh each time you order.

焼き鳥 – Yakitori

Yakitori is another popular, inexpensive food in Japan.  These are often found at yatai or rotensho (as I mentioned above), but they can also be found at an izakaya (a Japanese style location that sells alcoholic drinks along with various small dishes to eat), or at a small restaurant that specializes in yakitori. Literally yakitori means “grilled chicken,” and may include a large number of chicken parts. Some that I often see—however these are by no means a complete list—are the following:

ねぎ間Negima – alternating pieces of chicken and leek

つくねTsukune – chicken pieces pressed into meatballs

かわKawa – chicken skin

ハツHatsu　こころ – hearts

レバー(Rebaa) – liver

エレンギ (erengi) – type of mushroom

The setting of the Izakaya (居酒屋) is actually very interesting in itself, but I won’t be able to go into great detail about it in this post. The first kanji居(i) holds a meaning of “sit” or “sitting” followed by 酒(sake/saka-) meaning “alcohol”, and屋 (ya) meaning something like “shop.” All together, an Izakaya is a place where you can sit down and have a few drinks and snacks. It is known that many Japanese “salary men” go for a few drinks after a long day of work where they might talk about how work is going.

お好み焼き – Okonomiyaki

The term breaks down into お好み (okonomi) which translates as “liking” or “preference” followed by焼き (yaki) meaning “fried.” Together お好み焼き(okonomiyaki) literally means something like “fried to your liking.” I find this interesting because it is a simple dish in which from a range of ingredients people put in whatever they like. The base is somewhat like a pancake batter (but the product is not sweet). The necessary ingredient is cabbage, but others may include onions, bacon, octopus, shimp, etc. The ingredients may either be mixed together or layered and fried up in a skillet or a hot cooking surface. In the photo I show here, you can cook it yourself right in front of you on the table. The finished product is usually topped with an okonomi-sauce, mayonnaise, and sometimes crushed のり (nori, which is seaweed) or fish shavings.

Okonomiyaki styles may vary across Japan. The photo I took was taken in Osaka where I understand they mix all of their ingredients before cooking, whereas in Hiroshima, they supposedly layer their ingredients. There is also もんじゃ焼き(mojayaki) in Tokyo, which is sort of a different take on the same idea.

Hachiko: a lesson of "on" (恩)

Over spring break I had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo, where I saw Hachiko statue at Shibuya Station. I chose to do a post about Hachiko because it is true story that has worked its way into the hearts of most Japanese. Every Japanese person that I have asked is familiar with the story. There are probably hundreds of different publications of the story, and perhaps some with different variations, but the underlying base and themes are the same. The basic story is that a man named Hidesaburo Ueno raised Hachiko from a pup, and the two grew quite fond of each other. Every morning when Hachiko’s owner would leave for work, Hachiko would follow him to Shibuya station to see him off and go back home only to return again to wait for his owner to come back at the ticket gates each evening. This happened every day, but one day his owner suddenly died—it is said that he died either from a stroke or heart attack—while he was away at a meeting. Even though his owner did not return, Hachiko continued to go to the station to wait for him every day for years up until his own death. It is said that those who saw these events were touched at the loyalty and devotion Hachiko showed for his master, and the story became widespread in Japan after it was published in Asahi Shinbun, a major newspaper in Japan.

 Now, the story has been made into at least two movies, and if you search the internet you can find various videos and books dedicated to Hachiko’s tale. The tale has even been issued by the government in textbooks for primary schools as a way to teach moral lessons what the Japanese call on （恩）. Although there is no exact translation of this term into English, it touches along the idea of faithfulness and moral indebtedness to those who have been good to you or taken care of you. Ruth Benedict wrote in her in depth study about the Japanese culture titled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,

"The moral of this little tale is loyalty which is only another name for love. A son who cares deeply for his mother can speak of not forgetting the on he has received from his mother and mean that he has for her Hachi's single-minded devotion to his master. The term, however, refers specifically not to his love, but to all that his mother did for him as a baby, her sacrifices when he was a boy, all that she has done to further his interests an a man, all that he owes her from the mere fact that she exists. It implies a return upon this indebtedness and therefore it means love. But the primary meaning is the debt, whereas we think of love as something freely given unfettered by obligation (100-101)."

Although Westerners who hear the story of Hachiko may think the moral to be more along the lines of love, the Japanese define the meanings of love and loyalty in a different way. I understand that the meaning of on goes deep into the way Japanese define their relationships to others. The way my Japanese friends explained it to me, it's almost as though they are always conscious of their position in a relationship and feel a desire to thank and pay back those who have sacrificed something for their sake.

I do think that this often has ties to some sort of social ranking system as well, which can be seen throughout the Japanese culture such as the honorifics in the language, the sempai-kohai relationships, and even the ideal picture of what love is. First, the Japanese language has many different levels of formal language, including very casual language used among close friends, a standard formal language which is most used with people you don't know well, and a very formal language used to talk to your superiors, such as your boss or teacher. There are more divisions of the various formalities, but I won't get into that for this blog post. The sempai-kohai relationships are those in which the sempai is the older, more experienced one to be respected, and the kohai is like the trainee, who looks to his sempai for guidance. These relationships can be found in school clubs and in the work place. Finally, the Japanese picture that embodies the ideal relationship of love is the relationship between mother and child. In this way, love is not seen as much as an equal relationship as we see it in the West, but rather a sort of vertical dependency on both ends. What I mean by this is that the child is relatively helpless; he has to depend on his mother for fulfilling his basic needs. The mother, however, also depends on the child in some way because she devotes her life to raising the child, especially because child rearing is almost entirely up to the mother in Japan.

In the end, while the story of Hachiko seems to be a simply children's tale of unconditional love, the Japanese society has come to understand it as something deeper than that. It has come to be something of much greater cultural significance, something that holds ties into what it means to be Japanese and the true picture of relationships with others. That tie has something to do with on.

If you are interested in reading more about the story of Hachiko, please check out the links below:

          http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=445511

          http://dailyme.com/story/2010032100002546/jury-system-japan-quits-league-hachiko.html

          http://www.akita-of-rasproki.eu/info_teil3.en.php

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

          http://www.northlandakitas.com/pdf/hachiko.pdf

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3s11acb7Z8&feature=fvw