Good Bye Asia, Me Love You Long Time by Katy Jane

well, pictures are first again. i can't figure out how to get them in the middle! or at the end! well enjoy them and then read up below to put them in some context.



me and greg outside his cute little house, either looking for the space shuttle or trying to explore the ramshackle building next door. you decide.


bullet train! see how FAST its going?


i think this is that famous intersection that they always show on tv when they talk about japan, where a ZILLION people all flood into the intersection when the light changes and there are bright lights and big billboards. tokyo's time square. i'm such a tourist!


fish market! so many squiggly things!


mr and mrs yajima, keiko, and haruna! so cute and great!


closed temple at the top of like 1000000 stairs.


cherry blossoms and lanterns that i LOVE and want a bunch of. at a temple.


temple life! and greg with an umbrella that the universe (in the form of a sweet nun) gave to us when we were stuck under an awning with no way to get home.


right? thats what i want to do EVERYDAY!


osaka! so bright! saturday night!


kitty chan! at the most peculiar parade ever. other attractions include: vcr's and air conditioning units, boys dressed as female cartoon characters, and a whole bevy of girls dressed up like french maid. oh, and a marching band.


temple and more lanterns.


temple. can i live here please? this temple claims to be the biggest or the oldest or something and inside is a HUGE buddha.

deer in nara that are TAME. although i didn't try to pet any.

----------------------------------------------------------

it has been a while since i have last posted, as it is not always easy to come across a computer whose default launguage is english. right now i am in hong kong, but very soon (in several hours, this very afternoon!) i will be boarding a flight to tel aviv, israel to do a little relaxing with the family. i have been in hong kong for only a day and a half, but have really liked it. being here and having spent several weeks in taiwan really makes me want to travel around mainland china, although i hear that things are very different over there. and i would have to work on my chinese. having spent (relativley)so muc time in taiwan, it was maybe a tiny bit like coming to a familiar place here in hk, but not really. i am lucky to be hosted by some family friends, the Weisner's, who have been kind and accommodating hosts, with cute kiddos and an east coast perspective (which, i have to admit, i've been missing).

for the last two weeks, i was in japan. it was unreal and incredible and wonderful and cold and kind of like waking up in a dream. i bet i will feel the same way when i go to london or paris, places i have only heard about and have only heard fabulous, fabled, magical things about. i expected japan to be a little something like disney land mixed with the jetsons plus ten times more people than new york times geisha, samurai, ninja, and zen gardens. plus or minus bullet trains, green tea, and sushi. needless to say, i had high and varied expectations. japan was and was not what i thought it would be, with excellent sushi, women in kimono, a ride on the bullet train (so fast!), and bright lights to even exceed the tristate area. but in some ways (not in tokyo) there is a quite slowness to life in japan. there are temples EVERYWHERE, buddhist and shinto (some both at the same time), the architecture is thoughtful and the food is refined and prepared with both skill and thought.

i spent the first week in japan in and around sakurai, a wee country town south east of kyoto and osaka. living in sakurai is one greg wazowicz, a friend of mine from college who is teaching english through a program called JET. greg has been in japan for 7 months and in that time has acquired all kinds of insider knowledge about japan, some good, some bad, but all of interest. i think japan is a hard nut to crack for foriegners, and perhaps intentionally, but it seems like greg has a fairly good handle on the workings of the world he is in, into which i got a little insight. while staying in gregs tiny, darling, very japanese house, i was able to explore osaka (bright lights!), nara (tame deer!), and kyoto (geisha and cherry blossoms!), as well as around sakurai (temples! small town life!). the thing that struck me most about my time in and around sakurai was sheer abundance of gardens, smaller than the size of our argentine huerta, where folks were growing (in the middle of the city) all manner of veggies. this coupled with, and like in taiwan, so many homes having potted plants near the door or on the balcony, made for such a pleasant, sustainable looking, and environmentally connected landscape. i wonder why we don't do that in the us? and more importantly, why don't I do that in the us? cause i never thought about it, but now i will. oh the joys of travel! but on the flip side of this green paradise is the knowledge that japan burns most of their garbage (waste is shamelessly separated into combustible and non combustible, with plastic in the combustible category) and most items for sale are beneath two if not three layers or packaging. making up for this, at least in the very short term, is the country's national obsession with cuteness. this goes for everything from cartoons, food items, clothing, and little dangly doodads to hang from your cell phone (even old men have them!). and also comfort and personal enjoyment of life, seen in a culture of hot spring appreciation, exquisite food, and a rich history of arts and theatre.

after spending nearly a week in sakurai with greg, meeting his friends, cooking yummy meals, and exploring expat life in small town japan, i went up to tokyo for nearly a week to take in the city. frenetic and crazed, tokyo really is a big city. maybe even the definition of what a big city is. bright lights, tons of people, good shopping, fancy restaurants, fast, fast, fast pace, and always on the cutting edge. in tokyo, i was hosted by some family friends, the Yajima's and the Kuriyama's. keiko (kuriyama) and her parents, mr and mrs yajima, were such excellent hosts! i satyed with keiko, her darling daughter haruna, and cute dog daigoro in the home in shinjuku. it as great to be around a baby and a doggy and a mom. i AM spoiled. keiko took the best care of me, and i enjoyed the luxury of being in a real house. she also took me to a tea ceremony, which was unique and enjoyable. the yajima's are excellent cooks and made the most delicious tempura i have ever had in my life. mr yajima took me in the very wee hours of the morning to the fish market in tokyo and then to a fabulous sushi breakfast, where he picked all the fish and i got to try all kinds of new things! i was truly sad to leave keiko and the family, but am glad for the new friends. so i left tokyo, which was getting to me a little bit (as you all know, i'm not quite a i big city girl and i was actually a little worried that the stress, hustle, and bustle of tokyo might give me an ulcer.. which it didn't), headed to sakurai for one last night, and then on to hong kong.

so this is it, i suppose. i am really, really, really sad to leave asia. i have had a wonderful time here and realized that i NEED to come back. china is calling my name, as are southeast asia and india. ah, but for another trip! i am glad for the time spent here and am so lucky to have been taken care of so well here. AND! i am excited to head to the middle east to be with my family and eat so much hummus that i absolutely explode. as always, i miss you all a ton a ton, and apologize for not being such a good blogger.

love love love love LOVE and hugs and kisses,
katy jane