MY
2009 TRIP TO JAPAN
Sunday 26th July
I am sitting on a plane heading to Japan and I’m feeling
very excited! The plane is
experiencing a fair bit of turbulence, I hope we don’t crash (that Air Crash
Investigations television show really makes me nervous!).
We stopped at Cairns airport to get something to eat, and I can’t wait
to arrive at Narita airport. I am
very happy that we all have mini TV’s for the flight. I have just finished watching ‘17 Again’ and ‘Hannah
Montana the Movie’.
We’re just beginning our descent into Narita now. I didn’t go to sleep on the flight at all, I have been watching movies the whole time. This flight was very fun and it certainly didn’t feel like we’ve been flying for 7 hours and 11 minutes. Hearing all of the announcements from the cabin crew, in both English and Japanese (Nihon-go), is making me feel even more excited about our arrival. I can’t believe that we are almost there now. I have got my ‘ear planes’ in to help my ears cope with the descent, but right now my ears are not very comfortable and are feeling the pressure quite a bit. So, I might just sit back now and enjoy our landing!
Thoughts For Today
It is very exciting to have a wallet FULL of money. For one Australian dollar you receive around 75 Japanese Yen, so it seems like you have lots of money!
Monday 27th July
I woke up very excited and happy to be in Japan this
morning. I was still very tired
from yesterday’s flight though. I
had two bowls of Cornflakes for breakfast and then we headed to Asakusa by
train. The Japanese train system
really is amazing!
Asakusa has an amazing temple called Senso-ji and lots and lots of shops to buy souvenirs and local Japanese snacks and food. The first temple was built here in the year 645 and it is Tokyo’s oldest temple. We walked under a humungous Japanese lantern and into the narrow street lined with shops selling food, fans, prints and gifts. A little way down the street we saw this fantastic green tea stall where we could buy special iced green tea for 100 yen (that is around about $1.25 in Australia). It was very refreshing and perfect for such a hot day. Not long after, a group of Japanese students asked to interview me for their school project for their English class. They asked me different questions about myself to practice their English and wrote down my answers. It was hilarious seeing them trying to speak English and me trying to interpret their attempts!
Further down the line of shops we found a brilliant fan and souvenir shop. I bought a fan with the Japanese flag on it. At the end of the shopping strip and in front of the temple is a special cauldron with small pieces of wood making smoke. The Japanese people believe that the smoke will heal the body parts that you blow it on to. So everyone stands around the cauldron waving the smoke over their bodies for good health. Afterwards, we discovered a stall selling rice crackers and there were lots of different sorts to taste (yum!). I chose a plain flavour to buy, and they were delicious! On the way back to the train station I was then able to have another cup of that wonderful iced green tea.
From Asakasa we caught the train to Shibuya and went to a few department stores to try and find me some new sandals. We couldn’t get them in Australia before we left because it was winter time and summer sandals hadn’t arrived in the stores. I bought a new black ballet bag from Chacotts ballet store, but still no sandals.
We stopped for lunch and ate sushi sitting beside the footpath, which must have looked pretty funny! We weren’t sure how appropriate it was to eat there because all the Japanese people walking past kept staring at us with peculiar looks on their faces. It felt better having eaten, and funnily enough, the next store we went to had sandals which were just perfect for me. What a relief! Surprisingly it was raining when we went back outside and we had to wait before moving on as the rain just got heavier and heavier. When the hotel shuttle bus arrived, Mum put a plastic bag over her head to keep the rain off. It was hilarious!
Back at the hotel we had dinner, I had Yakitori, which is chicken on a skewer, and some green tea. We were all very tired, so I went to bed early, very excited about what we might discover tomorrow.
Thoughts For Today
Culture – The Japanese hold strong beliefs about their health. It was very interesting the way that they believe the smoke at the temple will heal your body, I guess by removing evil spirits. There were also statues at the temple representing ‘good’ and ‘bad’ which were most interesting.
Food – Japanese love quick pre-prepared meals in boxes called ‘Bentos’. These are WONDERFUL and give you an opportunity to experience many different types of Japanese food all at once. Green tea is very traditional is Japan and is definitely one of the things that I love most about being here!
Tuesday 28th July
I sprung out of bed today as we were going to Odaiba in Tokyo. Odaiba is an island in Tokyo Bay built on reclaimed land. We had to catch a shuttle bus to Shinagawa station, and it was a VERY busy station. There were people everywhere coming from every which direction! In Japan most people travel by train, and Shinagawa station is one of the stations in Tokyo where you can catch the Shinkansen (bullet train), so it is extra busy. From Shinagawa we went to Shimbashi station where we caught the monorail that goes over the Rainbow bridge to Odaiba. Odaiba has a huge Toyota Exhibition Centre called Toyota Megaweb. It has rides and simulators and every car that Toyota makes for Japan. There is also an amazing ferris wheel that once was the world’s biggest (we rode on it in 2005!).
In the Toyota Megaweb, my first stop was the racing car simulator. It was like a real racing car and I had at least eight attempts at improving my lap time. Next was the children’s eco ride where you had a cart type machine that you pedalled and charged the battery which also helped power the cart. In the Mega Theatre, was a simulation of a lap around the Fuji track and the seats moved up and down and sideways so that you felt all the forces. I hit my head a few times on the seat back!
We then went to the History Garage which had many old cars, posters and hundreds of miniature model cars on display. It had a Ferrari Dino on display and I learned that it is one of the most expensive cars in the world to buy. Enzo Ferrari had a son named Dino who died when he was young from lung disease, so this car was named after him.
A big highlight was when we did a lap around the whole complex in a car that drove all by itself, steering, braking, everything! I imagine this is what it might be like one day in the future. I heard Hamish and Andy a few weeks ago on the radio call Tokyo, ‘Future City’, and I can certainly understand why!
Before lunch I had a go on a bunji activity where I wore a harness and jumped up really high on a trampoline.
After a bento box lunch, we travelled to Ginza which is a
well known shopping area of Tokyo with lots of exclusive department stores.
The day flew by so quickly and it was already time to head
back to the hotel for dinner and an early night in preparation for more
adventures tomorrow!
Thoughts For Today
Language – Shin means new in Japanese.
Some train stations are called Shin-Yokohama or Shin-Osaka, which means
new Yokohama station or new Osaka station.
Food – In the basement of all the department stores in
Japan is a food level where you can taste and buy all sorts of wonderful and
amazing Japanese food, all beautifully presented in special boxes and made to
look fantastic. There are plenty of
things to taste, my favourite was something like a sugared jam.
The tasting is an adventure all in itself!
Culture – The Japanese people love technology and all sorts of gadgets. They have a gadget to do everything you could possibly think of. I love the way that the Japanese use technology to make their life easier and more comfortable, like with their toilet seat warmers and the special handles to carry plastic shopping bags.
Today we travelled to Shinagawa station to catch a bullet train to Kyoto. Bullet trains are called ‘Shinkansens’. There are a few different models and we went on the latest and fastest one called a Nozomi, which travelled about 270 km/h. It was like travelling on an airplane, it goes so fast that it made me feel a bit queasy in the stomach! It took about two and a half hours to travel the 500km to Kyoto and it was quite nice watching the Japanese scenery, especially the green country side. When we arrived, we checked into a beautiful hotel right at the train station, a very elegant hotel with nice and friendly staff. I knew straight away that I was going to love this hotel! From the window of our room I can sit and watch the bullet trains coming and going.
For lunch we had another bento box. I love the Japanese food, the sushi and tofu balls are DELICIOUS!
Kyoto was once the capital city of Japan for more than 1000 years, until the late 1800’s, so it has lots to see and do. There is an old Imperial Palace here where the Emperor used to live many years ago. In the afternoon, we visited the famous Kiyomizu temple, which is built up the side of a hill overlooking Kyoto. The view from the top is incredible! It is an amazing structure made of wood with lots of supports underneath to hold it up. I washed my hands using the ‘spiritual’ water before going inside. Of-course, in Japanese style I had to take my shoes off to look inside the temple, where there was a huge statue of Buddha. The street up the hill leading to the temple was full of stalls selling souvenirs and food. Just watching all of the people around and the interesting Japanese items being sold was really interesting.
Next stop was Kinkakuji temple which is known as the Golden Temple. It is painted in a gold leaf paint and in the sun it shines so brightly, it looks like it is made completely out of gold. It is built on a pond that has lots of fish in it, and was built around 1400, more than 600 years ago. Whilst we were there, many Japanese people wanted to take my picture, they are not used to seeing someone who doesn’t have black hair! When Mum was wondering why I was so far behind, Dad told her that I was doing some modelling!
It is easy to see why Kyoto is considered such a famous and important City in Japan and why so many people, Japanese and international, come to Kyoto to enjoy and learn all that it has to see and do.
Thoughts For Today
Food – I tried these soft dough like triangles which had flavoured bean paste in them. I didn’t think I would like them, but I LOVED them!
Language – Tonight I asked the concierge at the hotel where the supermarket was by saying, ‘Supa wa doko desu ka, kudasai’. He said my Nihon-go (Japanese) was very good! We all said ‘ma-ma’, which meant so-so. I was very proud that he understood what I was asking!
Culture – Japanese are so very respectful, especially at shrines and temples. They take their shoes off, bow and clap their hands when praying, wash their hands and throw coins into wooden boxes. Worshipping at temples and shrines is very important to them. I think that the importance of respect in the Japanese culture has a big influence on their general character.
The Japanese also love their dogs, they carry them in bags or prams when they are out shopping and there are lots of pet stores for buying clothing and toys for them. Seeing a dog all dressed up as a Samurai was absolutely hilarious!!
Thursday 30th July
I must have been exhausted after our busy day yesterday, because I woke up this morning to find myself on the floor. I must have fallen out of bed while I was sleeping and not realised it! It has been a very exciting day today as we visited a place called Nara. Nara is about 45 minutes from Kyoto and was actually the capital city for a short while from the year 710 to 784. It is best known for Todaiji temple, which is the world’s largest wooden structure and which houses a huge statue of Buddha which is 15 metres tall. The temple was originally built in the 700’s but was burned in fires of war in 1180 and 1567 and was rebuilt in the 1700’s, 33% smaller than the original structure. The statue of Buddha was made from bronze and plated with gold. It has been damaged and repaired several times over the years. Around the Buddha there were four statues of warriors. The temple is SO amazing. It is hard to believe just how amazing and significant it must have been when it was originally built. Because everything was built out of wood in those days it must have been the world’s largest building for some time. Just standing in front of it, it is easy to feel that you are back in the 700’s. In the parklands surrounding the temples and shrines, tame deer roamed freely everywhere, which you could pat and feed. They were so cute and it was very funny trying to feed them at the same time as dodging their antlers! The deer are a symbol of the city of Nara.
This afternoon we were back in Kyoto and had a look around some shops. I noticed that some things are more expensive than Australia, but some sale items were much cheaper. We then went for a walk and looked at another big temple. It is very hot and humid in Japan in summer, so I bought a little battery operated handheld fan to help keep me cool. Thank goodness!!
Thoughts For Today
Food – Dad had a local famous Kyoto dish for dinner called Okonomiyaki, which is a pancake with vegetables, seafood and noodles, with barbeque sauce spread over it. I love Japanese food!!
Culture – Many people in Japan are Buddhists and they pray to huge Buddha’s. They take great care to look after their temples, and you can see how important it is to them when you watch them standing and praying to the Buddha.
Kyoto Protocol – Today we talked about the Kyoto protocol and did some research on the Internet about it. In 1997 in Kyoto, representatives from many countries around the world met to discuss climate change and greenhouse gases, and they agreed that they all had to reduce their carbon emissions to help the world. Most of the countries signed up to reduce their emissions but some didn’t, like the USA and Australia. They didn’t sign because developing countries like India and China were allowed to increase their emissions because their average emissions per person were much lower than developed countries. When Kevin Rudd became Australian Prime Minister, one of the first things he did was to sign the Kyoto Protocol. It was really interesting finding out about all of this!
Friday 31st July
I jumped out of bed in excitement today because we were going to Himeji Castle. It was a long train ride of one and a half hours on a special express train to get there. For the first half of the trip we had to stand up and I was very worried we were going to have to stand up the whole way! When we arrived and walked out of the station you could see the castle at the end of the road, higher than everything else. It was about a 20 minute walk from the station to the castle, and it was very, very hot and humid.
At the castle, there were lots of children participating in a painting competition of the castle. The castle is considered the best original castle in all of Japan. It started as a fort built around 1333 and was expanded on until it was completed around 1609. In 1601 the Shogun’s son-in-law lived here and his annual salary was 520,000 koku of rice (one koku is 5 bushels of rice). The Shogun was a ruler in Japan in the old days. Inside the castle everything was made of wood and the stairs were very, very steep and hard to get up and down. It was worth the effort thought because from the top the view of Himeji was spectacular!
I imagine that the castle was very impressive in the old
days when it would have dominated over everything around it.
The castle has small holes in the walls so that they could fire arrows,
or pour boiling water, through the gap at anyone attacking.
Some of the wooden supports to hold the castle up were one metre wide!
There was an area where beheadings took place and there was even a well
(like a big deep pit) there where they would wash the body.
It had gotten even hotter as we walked over the moat to leave the castle grounds. We had a nice sushi lunch at the station before hopping on the express train back to Kyoto.
Back in Kyoto we spent some time browsing around the huge shopping centre underneath the Kyoto station. Because the railway stations are so busy in Japan, the railway companies often build department stores at the station, which are like an entire town themselves. One of the shops was Bic Camera which had seven floors of every possible electronic device you can think of. What an experience!!
Thoughts For Today
Food – We had Tonkatsu for dinner which is fried pork cutlet with rice and grated cabbage. Very delicious!
Culture – Japanese castles have their own special look about them. They don’t look like castles that I have seen in England, although they still do have a big wall and moats around them. In the castle we had to carry our shoes in a plastic bag, in Japanese culture you don’t wear shoes worn outside, inside. The dirt on the bottom of soles is something that the Japanese take very seriously!
Saturday 1st August
Today we had to take a taxi to an expressway a few kilometres south of Kyoto to catch a bus to Takayama. The bus stop was on a raised expressway and we had to carry our luggage up these huge stairs to get there, and then stand in the hot sun for 40 minutes, as the bus was 30 minutes late. A Japanese gentleman also waiting for a bus explained to us that it is always a long wait on a Saturday now, because the Government has recently reduced the toll price for people to travel on the expressways on a Saturday, from around 20,000 Yen down to 1,000 Yen.
We were very hot and sweaty by the time we got on the bus. Takayama is an old Japanese town up in the mountains that is known for its traditional houses and parts of town. It is very famous for the way that it has maintained the traditional style of Japanese living. It was about a four hour bus ride to get there and it was raining heavily as we got closer to it.
Takayama has streets that look like Japan from hundreds of years ago and they sell lots of wonderful local food and snacks, and woodcraft. There was plenty to taste, even Miso soup. There are sake breweries and Dad got to do lots of tasting of sake! The town tries to make itself accessible to all and doesn’t have gutters in the old town so that people in wheelchairs can get around easily.
Even the structure of the streets have stayed the way they were many, many years ago and everyone who lives there has to drive very small cars so that they will fit on the narrow roads and laneways. Even the small cars do not fit in most of the housing garages and many cars stick out!!
Thoughts For Today
Food – I went into a shop that makes soy sauce and was able to taste some miso soup that was bubbling away. Miso soup is made from a soy sauce base and is usually a part of every Japanese meal.
Culture – Takayama’s symbol is this weird looking creature called Surubobo. It is everywhere in the shops and comes in different colours which each mean something different. One colour is for family (red), and another for study and career (blue), one for success, one for love (pink), one for money and financial success (gold), and many, many more.
Language – I had to re-learn how to say the time in Japanese so that I knew what time the bus was leaving from each of the service centres we stopped at. Ji is the same as o’clock, so ten o’clock is ‘ju ji’. Knowing how to ask for and keep track of the time has already come in very handy!!
Sunday 2nd August
This morning we had breakfast at the hotel. You could choose either a Japanese set or an English set. The sets are not negotiable once you have chosen your set, you can not change any part of it. I chose English, but Dad got the Japanese which was a great plan because we got to sample it all! The Japanese breakfast had cooked salmon, rice (with a delicious miso paste which you cooked on a leaf at the table!), miso soup, potato and vegetables, and some seaweed sheets with different pickles and things that I didn’t even know. It was not what I would generally choose to have for breakfast, but it was really fun to sample and cooking the miso paste for the rice was fantastic!
It has rained all day today and I had to huddle under an umbrella whilst we explored the streets of Takayama. We went to a temple, Mum went to some shops and we got to do a LOT of tasting of traditional Japanese foods like rice cakes and bean paste at a morning market. The market was next to a raging river because of all the rain we had!
After lunch we went to the Hida Folk Village. This has many houses from the 1700’s and 1800’s in Japan and you can go inside and see how they lived in those days. I even got to make rice crackers and Japanese paper as an activity. It was like stepping back in time in the village. The pond in the middle of the village was full of fish which would go crazy when you fed them. The houses all had fires lit in the rooms and the roofs were made of very thick straw bundles. The smoke from the fires inside helps protect the house and keeps insects out. They had no lights back in those days, so farmers would go to bed early and get up with the sun. There was a mill that used a creek rushing down the hill to turn the big wheel which would do the grinding of the grains. The village is definitely a highlight of my trip so far!
It was raining quite heavily when we left the village and headed back to town. Takayama is quite famous for its beef and Dad and I had a beef and Miso bun that was very yummy.
It has been another busy day and I’m quite weary now after having had a chicken curry and rice for dinner.
Thoughts For Today
Language – ‘Kyo ni ame desu’, which means it is wet today. We used this a lot today and it helped us create a lot of conversation with other Japanese people!
Food – Doughy buns are very common and popular in Japan. They fill them with all sorts of different fillings (mostly bean paste!). I also learned today that Takayama is the only place in Japan that you can get Beef Sushi!
Culture – The old village houses had fires in them and all the rooms had tatami mats which are made out of woven straw.
I never realised that side mirrors on cars can actually fold in. In Takayama they have to do that all of the time just to get their car into the garage.
Before bedtime the Japanese change into robes like dressing gowns in the evening. The hotels always provide the robes and Nanny and I always look forward to arriving at a new hotel to see what the robes will be like!
After having another Japanese/English breakfast at the hotel and checking out, we caught a bus from Takayama to Matsumoto. It was very exciting as this was the last step to arriving at the Piano Summer School. I couldn’t wait! The bus ride was over the mountains and through lots of tunnels. The longest tunnel was over four kilometres long, at the entrance to every tunnel a sign that said how long it was. There were also many dams which I found out had been built for power stations to make electricity. My ears were popping on the drive because we were up at such a high altitude.
We arrived at Matsumoto and immediately noticed the different type of heat there. It is not so humid here, but it is MUCH hotter than Kyoto. After checking into our nice hotel in Matsumoto, we went for a walk to Matsumotojo, which is Matsumoto Castle. The Matsumoto Castle is over 500 years old and considered very famous in Japan, as it is one of the few original castles that remain and which has not been destroyed by fire or war. It is 241 feet high and is made mostly out of timber wood and bamboo. We didn’t go inside, because we did this last year. I will never forget how steep and high the steps inside the castle are!
It was not hard to imagine what it would have been like to live in the Castle 500 years ago, with Samurai running around, keeping watch through the ‘peep holes’ and attacking the enemy by firing arrows through the little ‘look out’ windows. The way that the moat is built around the castle to protect it from the enemy is something that still amazes me! The moat was very beautiful with swans swimming through it so peacefully, and carp fish waiting to be fed!
We had dinner at the hotel, I had yakitori and marinated pork. With the long bus ride, it sure has been a big day!
Thoughts For Today
Food – Yakitori is chicken grilled on a stick. ‘Yaki’ means grilled and ‘tori’ is chicken. In Japan they use every part of the chicken, so you can get yakitori with chicken feet, chicken skin, necks, liver, kidney, everything from top to bottom!
Language – ‘Dozo’ is used to invite people to go in front of you, it is the same as saying ‘after you’. The Japanese people always appreciate it, especially the older people, when I say ‘dozo’ and invite them to go ahead of me.
Culture – Some people say that burping after eating in Japan is a sign that you have enjoyed your meal. I’m not 100% sure if this is true, but if it is, I have really enjoyed my meals here!!
After breakfast today we headed for Day 1 of the Suzuki Summer School. First we had to register and then attend an introduction for the international students in English. We met up with the grand-daughter of my original Japanese piano teacher (who is nearly 90 years old now!). I also met up with a boy that I met last year who lives in the USA but is half Japanese. It just feels as if we were here yesterday. It seems so easy to get around this year when we already know the buildings and the general program. We can really focus on enjoying the whole experience!
The opening ceremony was held in the indoor stadium of the city gymnasium and had hundreds of violinists playing. It is so great to be back here again. It is always so amazing to be a part of something like this where there are so very many people who have all come together for music from all over the world. This year there are people from nine countries here, but a lot less internationals than last year. My dad says this might be because of the global financial crisis.
After the opening concert we went to a piano concert. My concert performance is tomorrow and I have my portable digital piano here with us, so that I can practice in our room in the evening. The Japanese take their performances very seriously and I must say, I am feeling a little nervous now that my performance is so close!!
Thoughts For Today
Food – Japanese people love noodles, and today I had Ramen, which are noodles in a pork broth or sometimes miso or soy broth, with some pork pieces and other vegetables in it. Apparently it is a real art to be able to produce the perfect Ramen dish here in Japan (before we left Australian I watched the movie, ‘Ramen Girl’, and now I have a completely different understanding of what eating Ramen is all about!)!
Language – Today I have learned how to say that I am
starving – in Japanese it is ‘onakaga suita’.
I always seem to be hungry here in Japan and I’ve already used this new
phrase several times today!
Culture – At schools in Japan they are not allowed to
wear shoes inside that have ever been worn outside.
All of the children have indoor and outdoor shoes and it is something
that is very important in Japanese culture.
They obviously never wear socks with holes in the toes!!
In Japan it is considered rude to eat whilst walking. If someone buys an ice cream or drink from a street vending machine, they will always stand there and eat or drink it all before moving on. This is why all vending machines have big rubbish bins right beside them. The Japanese take a lot of pride in cleanliness and it is amazing the way that everyone follows these unspoken rules of manners so carefully.
Today was the first day of lessons at the Summer School so I was quite excited. It was also the day of my concert performance, so I did some extra practice this morning to make sure I was extra ready! I have waited so long for this day!
It was a twelve minute walk to the Matsumoto City Auditorium where my lessons were. It is a very modern fancy looking building which has a long travelator that goes up to the second level. We had a bit of trouble finding our room on level 3 and after using different stairs and lifts we eventually found it. The Japanese certainly know how to make good use of their limited space!
In the group lesson with about twenty two students, it was all in Japanese so the boy next to me, Evi, was able to translate for me. There was also another mother who helped me last year who was also helping me translate. The lesson focused on music theory and sight reading so the language didn’t really matter that much. There were a number of students in the class I had met last year, so that was really good to see them again and funny enough they were very, very excited that we had returned again to Matsumoto this year.
Next was my tutorial with two teachers and three other students. Two of the students were in my tutorial last year! Sometimes the language barrier makes it a bit difficult, but at least music is the same everywhere. Music is a language all in itself! The tutorial focused on a Sonatina by Beethoven, which is a piece I am working on now. I got lots of things to work on for the piece and it is a really lovely piece that I am really enjoying!
After lunch was my big performance! I was feeling very nervous and had lots of butterflies in my stomach. I normally don’t feel like this before a concert, I’m normally quite calm and confident. Maybe it is because it is such a big occasion to be selected to perform here in Japan on Dr Suzuki’s grand stage. It was really fun listening to the compare reading out the items in Japanese, I had to keep up with the Japanese numbering to make sure that I went backstage at the right time to perform.
I tried to stay calm and to prepare myself for the main event! It went really, really well and I was very happy and proud with the way that I played. A lot of people afterwards told me ‘well done’ in Japanese and kept using people to translate to tell me the things that the other piano teachers had been saying about my performance and the way that I played the piece with such emotion and attention to the dynamics. All of my hard work preparing seemed so worthwhile!!!
After my performance we had a look at some stores and bought dinner. Early to bed tonight as I am VERY tired.
Thoughts For Today
Language – My number in the concert was ‘ni-ju nana ban’, which means ‘number 27’. Ni means two, ju means ten, nana means seven and ban means number. It really was great fun, and a game all in itself, to be tracking the numbers thorough the program items!
Today was another day at the Suzuki convention. After breakfast the first session was a group lesson focusing on music theory. I sat next to Evi again, I found out he goes to an international school in Tokyo, where all the lessons are in English, so that is how he is able to help me translate.
Part of the lesson was using instruments to follow the musical notes and melody and I used castanets to do this. This lesson was a lot of fun!
Next was my Sonatina tutorial and we focused on the different parts of the piece and how they are all different (yet similar). We also spent time talking about the history of Beethoven (the composer). I can’t believe that he was still writing even after he had gone deaf!
It is just so wonderful to share the lessons with the other Japanese students. They are all so focused and so committed to their piano learning and I feel very lucky to be able to listen to them play and learn so much about the pieces that I am learning along with them.
After lunch we went for a walk to a temple, every city in Japan seems to have special temples that are very interesting to see. I always wash my hands in the special trough and inhale the special healing smoke.
Dinner tonight was tonkatsu again, I just love tonkatsu! And we never seem to have enough sushi!!
Thoughts For Today
Language – ‘hijojo’ means the do-re-me-fa-so-la-te-do music scale. I can’t wait to tell my piano teacher this!
Food – Japanese love green tea, hot or cold, and today I even had a green tea flavoured ice cream, the green tea flavour is called ‘mocha’ and it is the most refreshingly delicious ice cream ever!
Culture – on the bridges crossing the river in Matsumoto are many pink Japanese lanterns. It is part of their summer festival and the way that the Japanese symbolise their festive celebrations.
Today was the final day of the Suzuki summer school. Whilst having breakfast, Mum told me what she saw on her morning walk. She saw multiple taxi drivers asleep in the front seat reclined right back, with the motor running and air conditioning on, one even had his back door open waiting for a passenger. She also saw newspaper delivery men who study the address three times on their delivery list before getting off their motorbike to carefully place the paper in the letterbox. In Australia, they just drive down the road and fling the paper out the window to land somewhere near the front door, or garden, or wherever!
I had my final tutorial class this morning, where we did a lot of playing in sequence where the next player would take over playing during the piece, making full use of the two pianos in the room. We determined the order of play by doing rock-paper-scissors, which I thought was funny that it was used in Japan in the same way that we would use it in Australia to work out the order.
It was actually quite sad finishing up the last tutorial lesson. Because it was the last day we gave some Australian souvenirs gifts to my classmates, which they really loved. It seemed to be a great honour for them to receive a gift. I received a wonderful origami family of dinosaurs which one of my classmate must have spent hours making! And she even wrote me a letter that was translated in both English and Japanese. These would have taken a long time to do. I was very touched and happy to receive these gifts.
At the end of the tutorial we each did a performance of Beethoven’s Sonatina, and everyone had progressed the piece amazingly. It was so much fun sitting back and realising how much we had all learned with the teachers and each other.
The final big farewell concert of the convention was in the gymnasium stadium again, and had about 1000 violinists, flautists, and cellists playing together. The final pieces are always Dr. Suzuki’s Twinkle Variations with all the students playing together. It always sounds so amazing and is very special to see. After this they played a recording of Dr. Suzuki, who died 10 years ago, and him giving his ritual closing remarks at the end of each convention. This was the 60th Matsumoto Suzuki summer school. It is amazing to think about what he has created. Dr Suzuki founded the Suzuki Method for teaching children how to play musical instruments, many years ago. He loved children and knew how to make learning a musical instrument fun and exciting. Most importantly, he focused on using music to help children become caring and kind people with good character. Dr Suzuki brought much joy and happiness through music to many children and people all over the world.
There were lots of photographs afterwards and I was so very sad to say goodbye to my friends and to the convention. Very, very sad.
We then caught the bus back into Matsumoto.
It took a couple of hours for our highway bus to get us back to Tokyo. I spent the time reading and playing games. The bus stopped at Shinjuku station in Tokyo, which is Tokyo’s busiest station. It was a bit difficult getting on a train with all of our luggage, but we made it back to the hotel by about 10:30pm. A very big day and one that I will always remember!
Thoughts For Today
Culture – Japanese take their job very seriously, no matter what it is. They consider it to be an honour for them to do their job and to do it well, whether they are a cleaner or a big business executive. This is one of the things, I think, that makes Japan so special, the way that everyone has such respect for themself and others.
Saturday 8th August
Today was our last full day in Japan, tomorrow night we fly home. Today was all about last minute shopping and souvenirs. First we caught the shuttle bus to Shinagawa station and then onto Shibuya station, near where a lot of shops are and lots of people! Hachiko crossing out of the station is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, more than a 1000 people cross every minute, especially in the evenings. You always see lots of tourists there holding up their cameras to take a photo of all the people crossing the road. Shopping for me was a little bit boring but then we went to Starbucks for a small snack which was really good. The green tea lemon frappaccino was AMAZING! I had to save my appetite though for the sushi restaurant we were going to tonight.
We then caught the train one stop to Harajuku, which was jam packed with people in every direction, mostly young people wearing weird and outrageous clothing. I spent the time just watching the people. Oriental Bazaar is a great souvenir shop for tourists, it has everything you could want, and Dad says that they are reasonably priced too. We always spend lots of time there!
Tonight we met a work colleague of my Dad and his family for a sushi dinner. When Dad worked in Tokyo he worked with Mike and he is a good friend.
It was fun getting all dressed up and taking the train to get to the restaurant. On the train there, I was surprised at how many Japanese women were wearing kimono’s. Apparently this was because of a special fireworks show that was on over the river.
The sushi restaurant was in Yurakucho underneath the raised railway train tracks. Dinner was fantastic! I tried lots of sushi I hadn’t tried before, crab, prawn, sardine, salmon, tuna, it was all GREAT! Behind the men making the sushi was a big fish tank with big tuna swimming in it. At one point in the night, there was a lot of excited yelling and one of the men caught a tuna in the tank, got it out and then killed it. The tuna was very feisty and flipped away from him onto the floor! Great food and GREAT entertainment!
Mike is married to a Japanese lady and they have a 13 year old daughter, Mia. She is fluent in both English and Japanese and attends an international school (which is considered a very prestigious thing in Japan). It was wonderful and very interesting talking to her about what she does at her international school and how their curriculum compares to ours.
Mike showed us a bit of Japanese writing and what the symbols mean which I REALLY loved.
It was a really great night and hopefully they will come and visit us in Sydney one day very soon. I am not so sure of what restaurant would be as special to take them to though!!
Thoughts For Today
Language – ‘hikoki’ means airplane and ‘densha’ means train. Today at the bookshop I asked the lady where the English book section was by saying ‘Eigo hon wa doko desu ka’. She immediately replied in Japanese, so I was proud!!
Culture – Bowing is a great tradition in Japan. Whenever people meet they always bow to show respect to each other, and for important people they bow even lower to show more respect. I even saw someone come out of a bank today, and on the footpath turn around and show respect by bowing continually getting lower each time. When you get on buses in Japan, the bus concierge line up and bow as the bus departs. It is always quite funny to see,. but also very nice to show this sort of respect.
Sunday 9th August
This is a sad day. Our last day in Japan today. The hotel shuttle buses are funny. If they fill up before their scheduled departure time, they just leave and people who miss out have to wait for the next bus.
First thing this morning we went to Akihabara, which is the ‘Electric Town’ of Japan. Here you can buy everything electrical and electronic possible. It was a lot of fun looking at all the amazing gadgets! We bought a Japanese rice cooker and a shaver as a present for my Pa. My Mum really wanted to bring home a heated Japanese toilet seat! We didn’t have time to research it properly but I am SURE she will come home with one next time!
Then we went back to Oriental Bazaar to pick up a few of the things we looked at yesterday, like some Japanese plates and bowls to go with the Japanese cherry blossom dinner set that we already have. Then it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and pack, before catching the bus to the airport.
As we drove to the airport a big storm came over Tokyo. I did start to become concerned about our flying conditions!
What a trip! It has been very hectic and busy, but lots of fun. Even though I have been to Japan several times before, I am always amazed at the new things I learn and understand more each time we return. I do love Japan. We say it is like our home away from home. I am really hoping that I will get to go back to the Suzuki summer school again next year, but at the moment we just don’t know, I will have to wait and see.
So, no ‘sayonara’ (good-bye) to Japan from me, but rather ‘ja mata ne’ (see you soon) ……