The Ancient Capital of Nara

We travelled by three different trains for an hour to get to the center of Nara. As it was the original capital and the birthplace of Japanese Buddhism it is well preserved. A major street that is full of shops from Kimonos to expensive statues took us to the treed park where ancient buildings are preserved.

We made our way with the crowds into the park and saw deer everywhere. Nara promotes the city by encouraging the tourists to see and feed the almost tame deer. It was like a giant petting zoo. Tim took Lucas closer to take photos and Eleanor and I watched from a distance. We saw a woman get butted in the behind and another with her child be swarmed and bumped as their food offerings disappeared. Eleanor and I looked at each other and remembered why we don’t feed the wildlife. The deer were very bold and Eleanor decided she was quite afraid of them. We made our way through the poop, which gave the park a dirty feel, to the museum only to see huge line ups. We kept encountering more and more deer as we went.  

We walked along the path to the towering gate of the Todaiji Temple (Great Eastern Temple) one of Japan’s most famous temples. The pillars were enormous and so were the wood carvings of the gatekeepers, usually meant to represent thunder and lightning. Then we walked toward the strong scent of incense calling us to the entrance. After paying to enter we wandered through the gardens happy to be free of the deer to the cleansing spring where we washed away our impurities.  

The Temple towered above us with its golden horns pointing to the sky. Todaiji Temple was built in the period 710-794AD for Emperor Shomu. The current building, which is the largest wooden structure in the world, is actually a third generation of the structure built in the Edo period as it burnt down several times. It serves both as a place where one prays for peace and affluence on earth as well as being a center of the Kegon school of Buddhism. It contains the very large Vairocana Buddha which has the meaning ‘Buddha that shines throughout the world like the sun’. The statue is made of gold plated cast bronze and instantly calms you just by beholding it. On either side are golden Bodhisattvas, one of whom was Kannon, the merciful female. We followed the massive crowd around clockwise getting views of the craftsmanship from all angles. We saw a guardian statue which depicted the saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. Lucas has questioned why this is the case ever since. He is pleased to know that his drawings have power but he still likes playing with his swords.

The pillars are massive and are said to be ‘healing pillars’ so if one can crawl through the open space at the base then they are given a place in heaven. The line to do this was so long that we decided to take our chances to reach heaven by other means.

We exited the temple and made our way to shrine that wasn’t so crowded and only had one deer which, we were please to see, was eating grass. Then we wandered through the forest finding very old trees with bases so big that four of us couldn’t wrap our hands around. We informed the children that these would have been cut down to make the massive pillars in the temple and Eleanor said she liked them better in the forest.

We walked a loop back out past the Five-tiered Pagoda and the Three tiered Pagoda along an old stone wall to the main street which took us back to the train station. It was almost dark (4:30) so all the signs were lit up and the smells of food cooking in the restaurants encouraged us to get home for dinner.   

Lost and Found in Translation

No one said it would be easy bringing such young children to another culture with a different language. But they are quite resilient. Although I am doing my best to remain flexible there are challenges, especially when it comes to figuring out the kindergarten.

It has been good for our children to attend this Montessori school where it is play-based and not too structured. Eleanor and Lucas are enjoying it and Lucas is learning a little bit of the language. He comes home singing a new song almost every day but I have no idea what he is saying. He thinks it is great that he teaches his mommy.  Eleanor is pleased that she aids the teacher when they read English books but as her class is more advanced she gets frustrated with not knowing the language. As neither of them get to talk a lot while they are at school I am besieged by two chatty little ones for the rest of the day.

It is helpful that Tim speaks the language but most days I take them to school and pick them up so communication is limited as I can only say formal greetings and basic comments. This leaves room for all kinds of mixed communications. I tried to learn as much as I could about the culture before arriving but some things you just learn as you go.

The children started school on the fourth day after our arrival. Their first day was a short day so I picked them up at 10:30am which is their usual snack time. I brought some raisins to avoid a meltdown on the twenty minute walk home in thirty-nine degree heat. They were hungry so they each grabbed a handful and began to eat as we made our way to the exit. I received some strange looks until my neighbour came over and told me what I was doing was not acceptable. In that moment I learned a valuable lesson about feeding children in Japan. These parents do not give kids food on the go. Food is a ritual where you sit at a table to eat, unless it is a picnic. In two months of being here I have never seen a mother give her child food unless we were at a restaurant or a picnic. (I have seen one baby get a bottle and no breastfeeding). The children who attend this kindergarten are able to stay and play after school without needing to eat. My children are always so hungry they don’t want to stay and play. How can they be so different? Is it because of what they eat for breakfast? The Japanese do have fish and rice and miso soup as a normal way to start the day. Maybe this provides more lasting energy than cereal and yogurt.

The school, like most, sends home a lot of notices. They need to be translated and even Tim isn’t always able to figure out what they say. Some are really important and contain information about upcoming field trips and all the items the children need to pack. Others are focused on building a community among the mothers. I am lucky to have mothers in both Eleanor and Lucas’ classes who lived in the U.S. for a short time so they speak English well enough to ensure I get the basic details. There is still always a lot of discussing back and forth and some confusion that needs to be cleared up. None of it is easy.

Lucas’ teacher translates and writes down what she wants to say to me. I also get extra help from an overly kind mother who lived in Australia for a brief time and although she has five children I think she has taken me on as a project. She has arrived at my door with notes both translating information and explaining some of the politics among the mothers to help me know what is going on (which is unnecessary). She often causes more confusion though as her English isn’t fluent and misunderstandings occur. One day, after digging up a lot of sweet potatoes from the school’s garden, I asked her for her recipe for sweet potato pie (they were not the nicest potatoes we were to taking home).  The next day she brought a pie for our family. That was just what I needed. I was trying to figure out what to do with them all and she added to the abundance. She does mean well and is trying to ensure we have a wonderful time while we are here, so she has also baked us a delicious chocolate cake and brought the children toys.

A terrible misunderstanding occurred when Lucas was given a snack that contained peanuts by mistake (he is allergic to all nuts). They didn’t know that he was having a reaction but when I went to pick him up he didn’t look well and said his stomach felt really sore. He said he was going to be sick. I stood up and tried to take him out of the class but it was not allowed. The teacher had a mom translate that it was probably heat stroke as I had forgotten his hat that morning. They took his temperature and it was fine. I waited through end of daily announcements as I had been made to feel like I was overreacting so I didn’t feel comfortable running him out of there. I felt trapped and I really didn’t like it. A friend drove us home and Lucas threw-up just as I got him out of the car. He said it was the snack and I knew what had happened.  I gave him some medicine and he sat on the couch for two hours before he returned to normal. It seemed that no one takes a woman seriously so I brought Tim with me the next morning to explain that Lucas had an allergic reaction. The teacher got out the snack and went over the ingredients and sure enough it contained peanuts. She had made a huge mistake and I felt really bad for her as she got really upset. Then the administrators became involved and there was a lot of apologising. To ensure it never happened again we were given a list of all the snack ingredients and we had to cross off all the ones Lucas couldn’t eat. I tried to explain that I would rather always provide his snack but they wanted me to trust them. They wanted Lucas to trust them again. It was hard to agree because I didn’t trust them anymore but they really wanted to save face. I talked about it with Lucas and assured him he was safe. He laughed and said they only give him two little crackers for snack anyway and that caught me by surprise. I asked Eleanor about snack time and she also complained that they get the smallest bit of food and that is the reason she is always so hungry when I pick them up. On the days they stay for lunch they are not given a snack at all. Well, it was good for me to know this but it took a month for me to find out. I am sure it was written in the information booklet we were given at our initial meeting but Tim and I never took the time to do a detailed translation of it.

Another story about Lucas was when his class was going on a field trip to the insect museum and they were travelling by bus. I was asked if he gets car sick and I answered ‘yes’. He does if the journey is over an hour. Before I could ask how long of a drive it would be everyone was getting involved and translating what I needed to know about procedures to follow to allow his teacher to give him medicine for the trip.  His teacher ran off to photocopy papers and the kind mother went on about the medicine I needed and where it could be purchased. She ended up bringing some to school the next day as she wanted to be sure I used the correct one. I thanked her over and over as is customary. Tim looked up the place and informed me how long of a drive it would be. It was only a half an hour drive but I gave Lucas some medicine in the morning just in case. I didn’t want it to be a problem for the school.  I brought a note to Lucas’s teacher the morning of the trip stating that Lucas had taken some medicine and that he should sit in the front of the bus just to be sure. His teacher looked relieved and it all turned out fine.

One day Lucas was running around at recess with a pylon on his head pretending to be a wizard when he ran into a boy on a scooter. They both fell down and Lucas bit his tongue so it was bleeding a lot. They called Tim on his cell and he had to go to the school. He told them Lucas would be fine but they wanted the Vice Principal to go with him to take Lucas to the Children’s Clinic. There was a lot of discussion and in the end they went to see the doctor. The doctor laughed and said Lucas was fine. The amount of bureaucracy we had to deal with around medical insurance was not. 

I am really flying by the seat of my pants here and I wonder about the children. I hope that they are drinking water when they are thirsty and that Lucas tells them when he has to do his business. He recently informed me there are only urinals in the bathroom and I assured him that couldn’t be true as there are girls in his class. I am told a mother’s job is to learn to let them go and this trip is really testing me on my ability to do that. I know in the end it will have been a good education for all of us.

Halloween

The act of re-connecting with ones ancestors seems to cross several cultures. Halloween originated in Ireland and Scotland with roots in Celtic tradition and spread to Canada and the United States. Mexico celebrates the Day of the Dead and the Japanese have a Buddhist event in the summer called o-bon. Their event is a period of praying for the repose of the souls of one’s ancestors. During this festival ghost story-telling and kimo-dameshi (traditional bravery tests) where people walk through creepy places occur, and walks through haunted houses (obake yashiki) are popular.

Halloween has not been celebrated in Japan until very recently but it is becoming more popular especially in regards to costume play (cosplay) among youth. As the Japanese are amenable at taking things from outside cultures and filtering them through their culture the youth have really embraced it. However it is still not accepted by the population as a whole.

We saw a few items that reminded us it was Halloween time. A booth in the central train station was selling ‘pumpkin’ pies which were actually made with Kabocha squash. The dollar store had witches hats, plastic pumpkins for collecting treats and other tacky stuff and our grocery store carried little cakes with ghosts on them and had a small display of candy for treats. Lucas brought a book home from kindergarten about it that included how to make a ghost costume and to carve a pumpkin.

The kindergarten classes ended early all week due to parent-teacher interviews so on Wednesday Lucas’ class got together at the nearby campus grounds to have a mini party. I would have liked to have taken the opportunity to provide my comments on the commercialization of Halloween in our country to prevent it becoming soulless here but the politics between some of the mothers prevented my being in charge of the event. It was kept basic to achieve harmony which these people are known for.

All the mothers brought O-bento lunches and picnic blankets and we ate under the trees which had not yet turned. After lunch the kids put on witches hats of all colours, cute pink capes, ghost costumes and Eleanor wore her Venetian princess mask and Lucas put on his Pikachu hat. They all ran around while we got the treat bags organized. Then we pulled them together for photos and Eleanor gave them a lesson on how to say ‘trick or treat’ in English. Then I was in the honourable position of sitting on a bench with Eleanor and they had to say those words to us in order to get their little bag of sweet snacks.

Lucas and Eleanor were able to make those sweets last until the day of our Halloween celebration.

We started the day with a typhoon in the forecast so the daytime sky was dark and the wind was really blowing. We had chosen to have a party at our house because we have a lot of privacy in our property here. We have a lot of yard surrounded by a big hedge on a dead end street which provided the perfect spot for a bunch of children to play outside in the dark.  

According to its Celtic roots this night was a fire festival so we used a lot of orange and yellow material (which we borrowed) for our decorating. We stuffed orange gauze with paper to make Martha Stewart-like pumpkins and sat a bunch of them on green chiffon as a pumpkin patch. We strung white and orange ribbons in the trees everywhere for affect. We had collected glass jars over the two months which we turned into tea light lanterns which we set about on the path to our house. Because we did not have pumpkins to carve we cut faces into brown paper bags (held down with rocks) and used tea lights for illumination. We sat them on dirt in our garden in case they went up in flames. We bunched up yellow chiffon to make the spirits of our ancestors which hung from our carport. The way they moved in the wind was perfectly ghostlike.

The Celtic tradition calls this night Samhain and the belief is that on this night the veil between the worlds is thin so spirits can visit with us. It is a time to ask ancestors for guidance and to dress up to trick the walking spirits so they don’t know who is who.

The concept of ghosts and spirits seems to be universal and they are not always fearful. The famous Japanese Director Miyazaki made our favourite film ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. It is about friendly wood spirits that live in a giant Camphor tree who help two little girls that are dealing with a lot of emotions while their mother is ill. We have a Camphor tree in our backyard which the children believe holds a Totoro that keeps them safe here. Lucas brought a book home from school about how ghosts make nice music and can be your friends in the dark. It taught him that you can enjoy their company if you chose not to be afraid of them. It only made sense that we made spirits be our theme for the night.

Indoors we decorated the mantle with lots of candles and Eleanor and Lucas each had a wall that displayed all their art they made just for the occasion. The French doors were covered with orange crepe paper and were backlit with a sign above the door that read, ‘Madam Joejoe’s Fortune-telling parlour’.

Lucas and Eleanor and their friends from next door played for a while as dusk settled in and the bats began to appear. The weather had turned in our favour and it was warm (18 degrees) and calm. I lit all the lanterns and then we went inside to receive a Morse code from our friend Suki and her family who live ½ km across from us on the other side of the river. They sent us a ‘happy Halloween’, so we sent back, ‘to you too’. We knew they were on their way to our house.

There were nine children and the costumes included witches, devils, brave knights, a confused professor, an Indian brave, Pikachu from Pokemon and a cow.

Our feast consisted of pumpkin soup from a caldron, spaghetti and baguettes with a Caesar salad, toffee apples on branches and an apple tart with whip cream to top it off.

After dinner anyone who had a silver coin could go into the parlour to have their fortunes read. Madam Joejoe the gypsy sat in candlelight and called the spirits to help her read special acorns. Some of the kids, including Eleanor, loved it so much they went in twice for her advice.

In keeping with spirits and the dead the next activity took us on a walk up our dark, treed road to the base of the mountain to see an ancient tomb that is preserved there. It was from the Kofun era in the seventh century and would have been the burial mound of a local chief. The tomb was made of large rocks forming a deep rectangle. It was a bit spooky to see right into its depths with our flashlights so we didn’t linger.

There were no homes close by to do any ‘trick or treating’ so we came back to our property and the children were given the first clue to a treat hunt. In order for it to be fun and not frightening we had stuffed animals in trees and tucked into the roots of trees holding bowls of treats. The only thing they had to watch out for were the real spider webs holding rather large spiders that are everywhere. They worked together really well and eventually found lots of yummy treats which they went inside to eat. The big treat for Tim and I was that we had found such good friends to share our celebration on this festive night.