The Language Barrier

Japanese is a complicated language – particularly in its written form. Three different alphabets (or character sets, more precisely) are used: kanji, characters of Chinese origin; and two home-grown syllabic scripts called hiragana and katakana (together called kana). The Latin letters and Arabic numbers we're familiar with are also sometimes thrown into the mix. Sometimes Japanese is written western style with horizontal rows read left to right and top to bottom. Sometimes it is written in traditional Japanese style with vertical rows read top to bottom and right to left. Wow, huh?

But the language barrier has been much less than I anticipated on this trip. Deborah has noticed a big improvement since she was here 18 years ago in the existence of English translations on, for instance, street signs at major intersections. When we take a train or bus the station/stop announcements are displayed in English as well as Japanese. Ticket vending machines often have an English Guidance button. ATMs always do (although not all work with international cards). A lot of the temples, gardens and other attractions have English language brochures. Some restaurants have English menus, if not the equally useful displays or pictures of food.

It also helps that this is a very efficient, well organized society that is easy to navigate, and that the Japanese people are very kind and helpful to foreigners. They take one look at us and have absolutely no expectation that we will speak a word of Japanese, and so will use what little English they have, if any, in combination with whatever pointing and pantomiming is necessary to get the point across.

I feel a bit guilty at how lazy I've been about learning a few Japanese words, especially since I went to the trouble to buy a couple of Japanese phrase books, which I've since hardly opened. Mostly we just say konnichiwa (hello) and arigato (thank you), with the occasional kudasai (please), hai (yes), and sayonara (goodbye) thrown in. I also know how to say toyu (kerosene) and ippai no (full) when I visit the gas station to fill up the container for our heater back at the house. It's not always elegant, but somehow we always manage to be understood.

It's really interesting how the Japanese have adopted some European words, especially English ones in recent decades. So you have “resoturan” for restaurant, “intaanetto” for internet, and “basukettobooru” for basketball. They also use unaltered English (or French or Italian) words, particularly in business names. This is particularly common in eating establishments, beauty salons (or saloons, as they are sometimes called), and clothing shops. The use of English words is often awkward, however, and ends up sounding at least odd if not absolutely perplexing. Sometimes they are so incongruous or nonsensical as to be downright hilarious.  It's probably the same for us back home when we buy plaques or tee shirts with Japanese or Chinese characters on them that we think say "Peace" or "Love" but actually say "cabbage."

Here are some examples of creative uses of the English language we've come across in Japan:

 The wording for this one is a bit odd, but at least we get the idea that they do facials.

 A gourmet magazine called "Colon"

 Do I really want to drink something called "The Pungency"?

 Japanese sentence structure is a bit different and doesn't always get properly reordered for English.

 Clothing store.  This just feels like an incomplete sentence.

 Hey, at least this clothing store isn't called "Below Average".

 I'm not even sure if they only sell women's clothing here.

 Not a dentist office - a supermarket.

 A hair salon - apparently for pretentious people who used to be attractive.

 That's Tommy Lee Jones.  If you saw the film "Lost in Translation" you know about American celebrities doing commercial endorsements in Japan.  We also saw a whiskey commercial on television featuring Leonardo di Caprio.

 If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't be a restaurant.

 "I Love Woody Life" - I guess he likes camping.

 Hopefully this isn't a tattoo parlor or a brothel.

 Sometimes no translation is necessary.

Random Shots

Here are a few random shots taken here in Kyoto:

 Nijo-jo Castle

 Kimono fashion show in the textile district.

 Count your calories as you climb the steps out of the subway.

 Not all Kyoto's buildings are ancient temples.  This is the huge, modern Kyoto Station which services trains, subway, and buses, not to mention shopping, restaurants, food courts, and other businesses.  There are also observation areas on the upper floors with nice views of the surrounding city.

 Deborah in one of the gardens at the Nanzen-ji Temple complex.

 Detail on a temple gate.

 A beautiful sub-temple at Nanzen-ji.  Note the blooms starting on the tree (probably plumb).

 Choose your dinner at this restaurant.

 The restaurants here have mastered the art of food display, including this frozen wave of fried rice.

 A book, a computer, and two cats - what more could a guy ask for?

Ginkaku-ji, aka The Silver Pavilion.

Gardens in Winter

Given a choice, we of course wouldn't have chosen winter as the time to travel in Japan. The preferred times are spring, when the weather is pleasant and the cherry blossoms are blooming, and fall, when the autumn color displays will dazzle you. Instead we are seeing high temperatures generally in the 40s and lows in the 30s – not exactly comfortable sightseeing weather, especially when all you have to come home to is an old drafty house without central heating. But in the house sitting racket you take the assignments you want when you can get them.

Winter does actually have some advantages, though. The crowds are smaller at the popular sights. The lines are shorter. The prices for hotel rooms (when not house sitting) are considerably less. Kyoto's many beautiful gardens make good use of coniferous trees, which stay green in winter. They also have their share of bare-in-winter deciduous trees, but that can make views possible that would otherwise be blocked by the leafy canopy. And many temples and shrines have moss gardens which thrive in winter.

But we're glad we're here at the end of winter, rather than the middle of it. The temperatures this week have started rising into the 50s, with predictions even for the 60s (!) for a couple of days later this week. The trees are budding up and we're looking forward to being able to venture outside without three or four layers of clothing weighing us down (also an easy way to look instantly thinner, says Deborah).

Here are a few photos taken in the the Arashiyama/Sagano area on the western outskirts of Kyoto (home to the Monkey Park mentioned in the previous post), including some lovely moss gardens.

 Pond at the garden at Tenryu-ji Temple.

 Moss Garden at Tenryu-ji

 Boats on the Katsura River.

 Villa of a late famous silent screen samurai actor.  Its gardens are open for tours.

 The actor in question.  Don't step on his petunias.

 Path through a bamboo grove.

 Moss garden at Gio-ji Temple.

 The same moss garden.

 Geishas or Meikos (apprentice geishas) or tourists who pay to be made up like Geishas.  I suspect the latter but it's hard to know for sure.  Nice to see in any case.

Monkey Business

The Arashiyama Monkey Park lies in the mountains just to the west of Kyoto and is home to some 130 Japanese Monkeys, also known as Snow Monkeys or Japanese Macaques. They are the most northern living non-human primate. Researchers have been tracking this troop since 1957 and have named each monkey and know it's age and lineage. Technically the monkeys are wild as they live and forage out on the mountain, but they are also fed by the park staff, as well as by tourists like us who can't resist buying little bags of cut-up apple or peanuts. Cheetos are discouraged. We're not to touch the monkeys but they can grab the little morsels from our hands as long as we're in the feeding station. We're also not supposed to stare them in the eyes, which they apparently find quite upsetting. Evidently no one is concerned about encouraging begging among the monkeys. Interestingly, they are the only beggars we've seen since we've come to Japan.

 Don't feel sorry for the monkeys - they are actually outside the cage; the humans are inside.

 Deborah handing out apple chunks.

 The feeding station.

 Grooming

 Double Grooming

 From atop the Arashiyama Monkey Park, a nice view looking down on Kyoto.

 

 Waiting for a bus?

Market at the Shrine

Every 25th of the month a huge market is held at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in northwest Kyoto. This has to be one of the most scenic locations for a market anywhere. Here you can find clothing, antiques, pottery, jewelry, fabric, old coins, hats, tools, toys… you name it. Deborah found a kimona. There are also plenty of food vendors, which allowed us to snack on desert crepes and takoyaki, or octopus balls. (Mind you, the latter refers to the shape of the fried, batter-encased octopus morsels, nothing else). 

 Kitano Tenmangu Shrine Market (one of the temple buildings in the background)

Shopping - hopefully for better coordinated outfits.

 Big crowds for a weekday

 The market doesn't preclude religious services on site.

 I think they're selling religious devotional items at these booths - another kind of market.

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kyoto was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years (imagine!) until Tokyo was given that designation in 1869. The present Kyoto Imperial Palace was used from about 1331 although, like many of the temples and other wooden structures around here, it was repeatedly destroyed by fire and then reconstructed, most recently in 1854. (Thankfully the Japanese are persistent and didn't resort to building fireproof but ugly concrete boxes).  The palace compound consists of several buildings which, in addition to their significance to Japan's cultural heritage, are still used for ceremonial purposes. We took advantage of one of the twice-daily guided tours in English to get a peek inside the walls.

 One of many grand gates to the Imperial Palace compound

 The Shinshinden, the most important building on the palace grounds - which is why they don't allow us to get very close to it.

 The royal crest with chrysanthemum incorporated into the facia.

 The orange-red color, a derivation of that used in Chinese architecture, is meant to symbolize light and fire.  Deborah says she's not sure that's such a good idea given the building's history of burning down.

 Cross section showing roof laboriously made from Cypress bark and bamboo pins.  It takes 25 years to reroof the palace buildings, and the roofs last 30 years.

 The royal couple

 Tiger and elephant carving detail on a shrine in the Palace Park.

 That's craftsmanship

 The Oikeniwa Garden on the Palace grounds.