Day trip to the Castle

It's been my third Tuesday here, so my third day off from my "tenuous" work week.

Earlier that week there was talk about visiting Kumamoto castle and other sights around the area that day, and then swinging bundles of hay lit on fire that night, provided the weather held out.  But I was a little lost, and believed that the whole day's events had been called off because of the rain.  So my plan was to sit inside all day reading Nodame, but I was pleasantly (yet confusedly) awoken by a phone call at 9 from Umeki-san explaining that we were going to Kumamoto that day.

On the trip to the city my host mom pointed out the blackened fields that had been charred the previous day from the "nouyaki."  This serves to restart and promote new vegetation, and eradicates pests and diseases that could inflict damage on grazing cows.

The arrival to the castle town was embraced by blooming cherry blossoms which were still lovely despite the rain.  I could go into more detail about the Japanese feelings of fondness for cherry blossoms, but I will save it for another post.

Kumamoto castle is one of the three most prominent in Japan.  It took 7 years to construct.  The walls were curved to prevent ninjas from surprise attacks.  My host father explained that his great great great great great grandfather was one of those who stood guard.  Afterwards, we entered neighboring Honmaru palace and viewed it's massive kitchens (there are 2) and wall paintings.

The emperor's room is at the far end

And then the annual castle festival, which was comprised of a tent featuring booths of curry, yakitori, fruits and other famed regional snacks.  I tried a sweet potato dumpling, grilled doughnut and... bamboo shoot burger (tempura-fried 'take no ko' on a bun!)

Afterwards we headed to the mall for lunch and a movie.  Incidentally, food courts in Japanese malls are about as noisy as American one's, and as Umeki-san asked me if food courts exist in American malls, I realized how completely antithetical they are to Japanese culture.

Japanese-style omelette rice (although omelette rice is native to Japan, as far as I know)

The Umeki's are movie buffs, and are more knowledgeable about U.S. films then I am!  Everyone chooses whatever movie they want to see, buys tickets and bums around the mall for awhile before their movie starts.  I chose avatar, although there were no English subtitles for the time I wanted (I like to think that seeing it in 3D makes up for that).  It was my first time to experience a Japanese movie theater (as tickets are about ¥1800 per adult) but it wasn't too different from American theatres.  The restrooms are more luxurious, you can order curry-flavored popcorn, and you choose your seat when you buy your ticket.  The previews were interesting to watch... some in English and some in Japanese.  I basically understood the premise of the movie, so following along wasn't too tricky, but I found myself spacing out and thinking about what it would be like to go to sleep in Japan and wake up in America every night.  It no longer feels like I'm dreaming when I'm in Japan, but it makes me feel weird to imagine that I will be going back to the U.S.  I feel like I've gone to a new world and won't be returning.  I think I would like to switch back and forth between worlds day and night.  But it was refreshing to see a "foreign" film for a change, and a little bizarre to hear the director address a Japanese audience before the movie began.

Afterwards, we headed to the Aso shrine that I visited earlier in the month, for the fire swirling that hadn't been called off by the rain after all!  It was rather intimidating at first though... the taiko drummers were heralding our entrance to the shrine, and my host mother excitedly urged me into the arena of fire swirling.  You basically take a bundle of hay tied with a rope, ignite it in one of the fire pit, and swing it over your head as hard as you can.  In spite of trying to train my conscious to avoid dangerous circumstances, I was now prodded to embrace this flagrantly dangerous practice of swinging an open flame with little seemingly discretion for those in your proximity.  So I did, and numerous times my bundle of hay came loose and went flying in an arbitrary direction like an extinguishing comet.  Nevertheless, no incidents emerged, and I was photographed with a professional-looking camera on one instance!  The image turned out magnificently, with a ring of fire over my darkened sillouhette like a gigantic, devilish halo.  Unfortunately, you will have to settle for the images my camera took.

This man provides a good example of how it's done.

Afterwards we went out for kaiten zushi (always a treat).  It was late and the store seemed like it was wrapping out, but still had another 2 hours to go.  I made the unfortunate mistake of placing a sushi order twice, despite the obvious signs that it would be a bad idea.  It took forever to deliver the first batch of orders, it was late and everyone apparently wanted to go home, and I happened to pick this intricate looking sushi on a whim.  Afterwards everyone else ordered as well (maybe they could forecast that it would be an awkward wait and wanted to abate any potential uneasiness from my bad idea.  Maybe I am subconsciously trying to make people angry at me, even though I know no one will ever show their disapproval.  What am I, 5?

The offender!  Carpaccio sushi!!  Not a bad concept, just a bad decision.

But that was yesterday.  Today I hoped to redeem myself by making some scones to replace some earlier ones that had lacked baking powder and didn't rise.  But I gave when I found out that I was using the wrong recipe (I needed to use one with sake by-product flavoring) and ended up making sweet potato mochi cake (properly) instead. ;)