Kyu Asakura House

On Friday December 14th, I went with two other members of the Exploring Tokyo class to visit the Kyu Asakura House in the Daikanyama area. We walked there from the JR Ebisu station. Like most neighborhoods in Tokyo, Ebisu seemed to have it's own unique feel. To me, Ebisu seemed calmer than other parts of Tokyo, but still had a big city feel. All sorts of people were walking around that afternoon. One person, Japanese, even asked to take a picture of us since there were doing a project where they were taking pictures of different people he encountered in the city.

Anyway, for only a 100 yen, we were able to explore the beautiful garden grounds and the inside of the Kyu Asakura House as well. Since we went late Friday afternoon, there were not too many other people there. We weren't the only ones visiting however. First we decided to walk around the garden area while it was still light outside. We walked through a small gate into a lush area. I was surprised at how many trees still had leaves changing color since a good amount of trees had already lost their leaves in Tokyo. It was so beautiful!  I was also struck by how the garden had different levels. According to the pamphlet, the garden "follows the cliff line in the design of its paths" which was really true. There was one path which lead around the main house, a path the lead around the middle area, and then another path which followed the slant of the ground further down. As the sun started to go down, the area became even more beautiful. I'm glad we went there when we did!

After exploring every path in the garden, we finally went inside the actual house. According to the Pamphlet, the Kyu Asakura House is an "Important Cultural Property" which means is has a "particular significance academically and in terms of cultural history." The house was apparently built by Torajiro Asakura, who was a Chairman of Tokyo's Preferential Assembly and served in the Shibuya City assembly as well, in 1919, during the Taisho era. The house also survived the Great Kanto Earthquake as well as the bombings during WWII. Therefore, the house preserves the sense of the Taisho era.

The house itself was very large. There were two stories and many rooms. When we first walked in there was a western styled room on the right called yohma which was used for visitors and as the butler's office. To the left there was the drawing room, ohsetsuma, where guests would be greeted. Straight from the entrance was the diichi kaigishitsu or the conference room. The conference room was pretty large; we actually thought it could have been used to hold small parties in! There was also a beautiful wall with glass doors that looked out upon the garden which was beautiful. From there we walked down a small wooden hallway, which had views of the inner garden which is surrounded by the house, and went to the suginoma,or the "cedar rooms" which were designed in the sukiya-zashi style to show off cedar grain and texture. According to the pamphlet, "Torajiro would use this area to meet his private guests coming to make petitions." Other rooms were also located on the first floor, such as the storeroom, which we were not allowed access to. There was also an upstairs area which held some Japanese styled rooms with tatami mats (as the cedar and drawing room also had), but it was not as big as the first floor.

Overall, I thought the house was beautiful. These types of houses definitely don't seem to be common now. It was pretty big and had many rooms. I can't imagine what it would be like to live there. It was also interesting to see how Western influences had started to appear in houses of this time (such as the Western styled room and the garage area outside). I'm glad I was able to go to this house!

Yasukuni Shrine

On December 13th, 2012, we visited the Yasukuni Shrine and the Yushukan museum there. I was first surprised by how big, and beautiful the shrine itself is. First there was the Daiichi Tori (the fist shrine gate) and a pathway filled with yellow ginkgo trees. There was also a second Daiichi Tori which was the entrance to the actual shrine where many cherry trees were spread throughout the grounds.
Before checking out the main shrine area, we went to the Yushukan, a museum which according to Jeff Kingston "symbolizes the nexus of imperial expansion, militarism, and the cult of the emperor during the war years, ensuring that it remains a contemporary battleground over history" (Kingston 185). The Yushukan has been very controversial over the years, especially due to it's "enshrinement of 14 Class-A war criminals" (188). All the soldiers and certain citizens who are enshrined there (more than 2,466,000), were turned into kami or "gods." Therefore the enshrinement of war criminals as "gods" who fought for their country upsets many people. 

I had heard a little bit about the shrine and museum before coming to Japan, but actually seeing the place was quite an interesting experience. The actual museum was pretty modern. When I had read or heard about the place before, I had pictured a smaller, dimly lit wooden building with exhibits all in Japanese. But the museum was bright, had multiple English translations (though not everything was translated), and has about 19 exhibition rooms. The first few rooms from "The Spirit of the Samurai" up until "The Satsuma Rebellion" seemed somewhat normal. Not too incredibly informative, but there didn't seem to be too much that was controversial (that I noticed).

Once I got to the room on the Sino-Japanese War, and from there on, the phrasing started to become more...interesting. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the "interesting" (or inaccurate phrasing I saw there, pictures were not allowed, since I had the greatest interest in this area, and the WWII area. There was one sign which talked about the "Korean Problem" and how Japan was trying to help Korea and wanted it to be free (but a later sign states how Korea was later annexed by Japan). There was also an interesting section which stated that other countries were inspired by Japan's time in Korea to fight for their own independence (which is ironic since Japan had conquered/tried to acquire some of those countries). In the Sino-Japanese war section, one sign made sure to point out how soldiers took "great care" in order to to harm civilians or loot the area in the Chinese city they were in...In the WWII rooms (which is called The Greater East Asia War in the museum), I found more controversial phrasings. One section mentioned how Roosevelt "went behind Japan's back" and gave Russia the islands which is why there is still problems with who owns those islands today. The list of sentences like this could go on and on. One section of the museum that really struck me were the exhibit rooms where pictures and items of the "Noble Spirits" where shown (somehow I ended up not seeing the war criminals here just because the museum was about to close). Seeing the pictures and letters from so many soldiers who died made me feel something that is hard to explain. I guess it just made me really sad. State Shintoism at the time seemed really, really scary to me. It's hard to believe that people felt so strongly about dying for the emperor. It's also scary to see how intense and disciplined Japanese militarism is in some ways since it seemed so focused on honoring the emperor and the country at the time.

In my opinion this museum shows a very nationalistic view of the war. The exhibits there shows a very one sided view of history as well, and makes Japan seem like victim in almost all situations and that it was never at fault. As Kingston states, the museum "makes no mention of Japanese atrocities or its victims" (187). The massacre and rape at Nanjing and the infamous Unit 731 are not mentioned at all; "Japanese suffering is the only suffering on display" (188). To me it seems like the very nationalist people almost realize how horrible some things were and don't want to admit it so instead they completely deny it. I can understand the desire to acknowledge and pay respects for soldiers who died for you country; I think people should be thankful for such a thing. Yet at the same time denying or hiding brutal facts of history sullies the respectability and actions of these soldiers. Horrible actions were committed on all sides of during the the second Sino-Japanese war, WWII, as well as other wars/conflicts in the past. Hiding those actions does a disservice, in my opinion, since it tries to turn the situation and the soldiers who fought there into something they were not. And war crimes should not be praised or honored. If the government just came out and apologized, and therefore at the same time recognizing the horrible actions that were permitted at the time, I think the relationships between Japan and other countries would be better. Since the government has never really properly done this, they cannot move beyond these past stains or rebuild relationships. It just seems ridiculous to me to not acknowledge things that so obviously happened in the past. I guess overall it's a difficult situation. There are many views on the Yasukuni shrine in Japan and throughout the world.

As of now I'm still not sure how I feel about going to Yasukuni. A part of me wants to go back to the museum and spend more time reading all of the signs there, but a part of me never wants to go there again. Although it's a beautiful place, when I think of all the atrocities during wartime that are denied or never mentioned,it  makes me sad and angry that such a place exists.

Shimbashi and Ginza!

On November 29th, 2012, we went to The Shimbashi and Ginza area! Unfortunately we were not able to go inside the reconstruction of the Old Shimabshi Station, which is where Japan's first railway was opened in 1872. It's amazing to see how much the transit system in Tokyo has developed since that first train, and how much the city depends and has been shaped by the trains and subways here. In "Tokyo in Transit," the author states that "Tokyo vehicles are social and cultural spaces different from the New York subway, London Tube, Paris Metro, Mumbai railway, and other metropolitan commuter networks" (Freedman 2).
Never having been to the stations Freedman mentions, I can't personally confirm whether his statement is correct or not. But the stations which their multiple floors filled with stores of any kind, and the way people commute everyday without seeming to notice anyone else around them, do seem unique to me. Freedman also states "behaviors and interactions not possible elsewhere occur inside passenger cars and in stations" (2). People use these trains and stations to commute, to go shopping, and to meet friends at. A major station hubs such as Shinjuku, it is not even necessary to leave the station if you want to eat, try on clothes, or buy omiyage. It always surprises me how crowded these areas are as well.

Since we weren't able to visit the museum in the Old Shimabshi Sation, we next went to the Panasonic Living Center, a showroom of different styles of furniture and other things you could use in your home. This showroom definitely intrigued me. Essentially I didn't really understand the purpose of such a showroom. Who was the showroom made for? It seemed like there were business people on tours, so I guess the showroom is an area to show off new products to certain clients? There were also some non-business looking people there as well, who must have been looking at products to buy (I'm assuming you can buy the products you see at the showroom, but it could also just strictly be a showroom).
A lot of the styles I saw there seemed more Western; I could imagine a lot of those rooms being in a Western magazine about interior design, etc. There was some mixing of Western and Japanese culture, however, such as a tatami room with a kotatsu, as well as the traditional bathing area where the shower is outside of the bathtub. Most of the items there seemed high tech. For example there were multiple examples of toilets with various (and probably not needed) functions. There was also an area that showed some sort of machine which changed the water you used to bathe in (to make the water better for your skin possibly?).
One thing that surprised me while I was there was the size of the rooms and the furniture. True, a lot of the items there were made to maximize the use of space (such as a chair with storage under it, etc.), but a lot of the furniture seemed to be on the bigger size for Tokyo living. Most of the living spaces in Tokyo are incredibly small, and a large amount of people live by themselves, so the items shown in this showroom are most likely not made for those people. These rooms seemed to represent an "ideal" or "dream" home. Many of the items seemed very expensive as well, so I do not think most typical Tokyo families would own most of the things shown in the Panasonic showroom.

The host family I am living with now is a bit more on the affluent side, so some of the products in the showroom could be owned by my family. My host family does have a decent sized table and dinning area, but the kitchen here is no where as big as some of the kitchens at the showroom. The bathroom here is also a decent size, but many of the bathtubs at the showroom were bigger. Here's a picture of the layout of the mansion room I live in (not to scale).

After the showroom we walked around past the Nippon Television Tower and headed for the Caretta Shiodome building where we stopped at the ADMT Advertising museum which showed the progression of advertising in Japan over the years. The area around the Shiodome building was so quite and empty at the time we were there. It was quite unlike other sections of Tokyo which are constantly bustling with activity. Since the area seems to be mainly a business section, most people must have still been working at that time. After 5pm, however, it was pretty crowded in certain areas, especially by the lights. One of our group members stayed at a hotel in the area before and said there was a great view of the city, so we went to that hotel to see the view. It really was amazing, the city looks so different from above.

When we were done at the advertising museum, we saw the Caretta Shiodome lights for Christmas. It was very crowded there! I saw the crowd before the lights, so I was expecting something amazing, but the lights seemed pretty normal; there was nothing too exciting about them, although they were pretty. Christmas is definitely a couple holiday here. Throughout Tokyo there are multiple illumination spots, and so far every illumination place I've been to has had something aimed at couples and there were many couples there. At Shiodome there was a lighted tree that couples could stand under and have their picture taken. I also recently went to an illumination area at Shinjuku, and there was also a machine where couples could put there hands on and then a colored light would appear which had a certain meaning (When I did it with one of my friends we got red which stood for courage). I think it's interesting to note that in the states lights are usually a residential experience, towns usually don't have too many big illuminations, but here the city has multiple illuminations throughout the month.

From the Shiodome area w walked to Ginza, a popular shopping center in Tokyo. The main street of Ginza is filled with many brand shops, although there are also more typical shops such as UniQlo, Forever 21, Abercrombie and Fitch, etc., as well. The area was a bit crowded with people shopping or just taking in the sights. There are not as many department stores in this area either. I've gotten the impression from Ginza that the area is a bit more high class than some other popular shopping areas in Tokyo such as Harajuku. It seems to be a richer area, and definitely has different feeling from Shinjuku or Shibuya where the streets wind and curve. The Ginza street, Chuo Dori, was straight and big (I'd like to go sometime on a Sunday when the main street is closed off from traffic so pedestrians can walk there). During the Taisho era, the mobo and mogo "'Modern Boy' and 'Modern Girl'" could be found in Ginza since it was the main fashion center at the time (Mansfield 164-165). According to Mansfield, Ginza used to be a popular cafe area back then. While I was walking down Ginza I did not happen to notice any cafes, but I could have just not seen them. It also seems that while Ginza is still a popular shopping area, other places such as Omotesando and Harajuku have become more popular and have taken over as the main fashion centers.

Roppongi Area!

   On November 15th at around 2:45, my group and I headed to Roppongi area. First we checked out the Nogi Shrine, which was right by the subway exit. The first thing I noticed was the white torii shrine gates. Usually torii are a red/orangeish color, and I don't think I have ever seen a white torii before, so I was a bit surprised. Although I tried to research if a white torii has any specific meaning, I couldn't find any answers. I never knew there was a shrine for General Nogi until I took this class. I learned about Nogi in a class I took at Earlham (he was a/n in/famous general during the Meiji period who was prominent during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 where, although many soldiers lives were lost including his own son's I believe, he captured Port Arthur. He also commited ritual suicide on the funeral day of Emperor Meiji.) Since I've learned about Nogi before, it was really interesting to see this shrine! There were a lot of people there (mainly from our class), but the atmosphere was calming. The shrine was giving out free barely tea (which I've never seen done before), but it ran out by the time I tried to get some. Some of the leaves where changing color, so it was a really beautiful area. Supposedly there is a 300 year old tree there, but I'm not sure if I saw it/where it was.

   Next we moved on to the garden area towards Nogi's house. It would have been really interesting to see inside the house, but unfortunately no one can go in anymore. After than we walked down Gaien Higashi Dori to Tokyo Midtown. I noticed on the way there was a mix of newer and older buildings. When we left Nogi's house, there was a old brick building on the left (brick seems pretty rare here). And one building had a nice, expensive looking store on the street level, but the rest/top of the building was pretty shabby and old looking. Around the Midtown and later Roppongi area we went to, I noticed that there were various types of stores and restaurants. I saw a couple of fancy car showrooms, Japanese-esque style restaurants, tons of bars and clubs, and even a Wendy's and a Friday's restaurant (my first time seeing either in Japan)! In the Roppongi Crossing area (which I will talk about more later), I noticed that there were more "young" people looking shops. I thought it seemed like a fun and interesting area, and I hope to go back there again.

   Anyway, at Midtown we checked out the Fuji Film Square which had some camera and photo galleries. I saw a lot of cool old cameras as well as new cameras such as the instax mini 8 which I want! After walking through Fuji Film, we passed by a fountain/sculpture area where there were snowmen statues! It seems like the Midtown area puts up various Christmas decorations. After walking through a expensive looking department store/mall area, we headed towards the garden grounds. There was a huge area with lights (for Christmas?), but since it was still light outside, they weren't on. I really want to go back at night sometime though! It looked pretty intense even without the lights on. To the right of that, there was a park area that we passed through. Most of is was pretty grassy, but there were a couple of sculptures/play areas which I thought was interesting. Some kids were playing around there, but overall there were not many people. We also checked out the Hinokicho Koen, which was a small Japanese garden that dates back to the Edo period. I can't even imagine what it looked like back then. I've gotten used to seeing skyscrapers in the background while at gardens, but it must have been incredibly beautiful back then. A lot of the leaves were changing at the park, which struck me as beautiful. Not many people (other than students from our class) were at this park either, but my group did notice a cute high school couple holding hands and napping on a bench. You don't see much public affection here in Tokyo; holding hands is about as much as I've seen.

   After leaving the garden/park area, we headed to Roppongi Crossing. I've already mentioned some of the shops I saw in this area. Another thing that I noticed was that by the cross walk, there was a sculpture/flower pot area with various flowers. Sometimes you see plants on side streets here, but I'm not sure if I ever noticed potted plants on main streets too much. I'm sure they exist, but this was the first time I actually took notice to it. Anyway, I learned from the reading that Roppongi used to be a significant military center and was known as "heitai machi, a 'soldiers' town'" (Cybriwsky 79). This area has certainly changed over time, from being a place were multiple daimyo lived during the Edo period, a military area, and to the entertainment and pleasure center it is now. Although a lot of the area has been rebuilt because of bombings, I guess that since it was a popular place for bars during its military years, that role has somewhat continued over time. But while I was there, I would have never guessed the area used to be the center of military activity.

   Next my group headed towards the Tokyo Tower area. Since we walked slow, it took us a while to get to the place we were aiming for, the Ichijo temple. By the time we got there it was closed, but it was interested to note that temples and shrines like Ichijo, which are surrounded by buildings on almost all sides, exist in little pockets throughout Tokyo. We also didn't get to experience the Reiyukai Shakaden, a building for one of the newer religions in Japan, but we saw it from the street and the architecture seemed pretty amazing. We also noticed the St. Alban's Church and the Masonic building across from it. I though it was interesting that so many different types of religious buildings are in one area. I wonder if that has any effect on the area/neighborhood such as who lives in the area, etc.

   We also stopped by Tokyo Tower for a bit! It was mt first time being that close to it. Someday I want to go to top! But today we just stayed at the bottom and looked at all of the Christmas lights/decorations that were set up. They were so cute but a bit random. I wasn't really sure why they were there. Since there aren't as many Christmas decorations here as there are in America, I haven't really noticed that it is getting closer to Christmas...After Tokyo Tower we also stopped by the Zojoji Temple, but since it was dark (and closed) we didn't actually get to see much. I did notice the rows of jizo (statues devoted to stillborn/miscarried and aborted children), but I would like to go during the day to see more of the temple and to figure out where the graves of former shogun are! After the temple a few of us ate ramen and took the crowded train home from Hamamatsucho station.

   After going to various parts of Tokyo, I fell like each neighborhood has it's own distinct atmosphere. That's part of why I love Tokyo. The Roppongi area was a mix of quieter areas, such as by the Nogi Shrine or park areas, high end areas, such as the Midtown buildings, and areas which featured more "seedy" places such as bars and clubs. I noticed that on the back of some street signs there would be graffiti or stickers, which I have noticed in Harajuku (which isn't too far from Roppongi), but don't really see in areas such as Marunouchi for example. While walking by Tokyo Tower I noticed one "green" building which had plants growing up and down the building's walls, which I haven't seen in Tokyo before. Roppongi was an interesting and intriguing area for me, and I hope I get the chance to explore the area again!

Wasedasai 2012

On Saturday November 3rd, I meet some friends at Waseda for the first day of Wasedasai, the school festival that happens once a year. It was pretty intense. Clubs work super hard to prepare for the festival, and people from all over (not just Waseda students but students from other universities, families, and just random people) come for the festival. Therefore, it was super crowded. Like really. It took like a half hour to walk through the food stall street. The street with the food booths were especially crowded. People would be shouting, trying to get you to buy what they were selling. And flyers were constantly being handed out. Some students were dressed up in costumes for the event as well. We found the Niji no Kai waffle stand, however, and I bought a waffle (maybe it was one I made the other day?)! At around noon we headed over to one of the main stages to wait for the Male SNSD dance cover group performance to start. At Earlham I saw a video of them preforming, so I was determined to see them during my year here at Waseda. And they were amazing and so entertaining to watch. I never knew a man could look so attractive in high heels and make-up! Haha. I've noticed how cross-dressing is a pretty popular thing here. I mean it's funny, but even so, it seems weird that it is so popular here... Anyway after their performance (which is apparently their last!), we went over to a different stage to check out our friend who was dancing there.

We stayed at that stage area from basically 1:55 to 5 (which a food break in between). We saw a musical/broadway group, the international dance club (which my friend was in), some hip-hop and breakdance dancers, and a k-pop cover dance group. The K-pop dance cover group was amazing. My friends and I were cheering and singing along, but most of the time the rest of the crowd didn't cheer (or even move really) till the end of the performance...we thought it was kinda weird that people weren't being more enthusiastic. We had a great time though. We even went to talk to the K-pop dancers after they were done. Most of them weren't even Waseda students (which was weird since they were performing at the Waseda Festival).

On Sunday the 4th, . I didn't get to Waseda until around 12, so I missed a lot of the morning dances. I was pretty exhausted after standing so much Saturday though, so today I was slow moving.

At around 2 I went to watch some more dances with some of my friends. One of my Japanese friends who studied abroad at Earlham for a year was appearing in a dance, so I was pretty excited. The style of dance she does is called yosakoi, " highly energetic, combining traditional Japanese dance movements with modern music" The dances were seriously amazing.  Everyone in the dance was so expressive and energetic; it looks like a lot of fun! I might ask her about joining (even though they seem way to intense for me). After that I headed over to the Niji waffle booth to help sell waffles. We held signs advertising the waffles and would yell out at people asking them to buy our waffles. Although people usually ignore you, it was a lot of fun getting to take part in selling the waffles. One of my program friends was so good at being a salesman, it was hilarious. He kept pointing at me and saying "mite, gajin! nihongo hanasemasu yo! sugoi desho! waffle kattekudasai!" which is basically: "look, a foreigner! she can speak Japanese! amazing right! please buy a waffle!" Sometimes we would do certain cheers too to try and get people to buy a waffle. We ended up selling out, so I guess some of our advertising worked!

I also ended up participating in the Wasedasai parade with some other Niji no Kai members. At first I was a bit wary when one of the members asked if I wanted to be a part of it, but I'm so glad I said yes. Being in the parade was such a great experience. Our group was behind a car that was playing music and in front of a male cheer leading group called Shockers (who are seriously like celebrities at Waseda). As we walked around Waseda we danced, cheered, and energetically waved our glow scks around. The parade was a bit slow moving at times, but it felt great to be a part of the parade. At the end of the parade we all gathered in the middle of Waseda campus where I ended up meeting my friend who I saw dance earlier. There we did some more cheering and all sang the Waseda school song together (which I don't know yet). It was so energetic and exciting, 盛り上がっていた！Seriously so much fun. This was my first and last Waseda Festival, which is somewhat sad, but I'm glad I had such a great time and was able to participate in the events as well.

It was weird being at Waseda today after all the festivities have ended. The campus seemed so much quieter and less crowded (even when it was a bit crowded at lunch time as usual). It felt as if there wasn't a huge festival there the day before; everything returned to normal. I wish that there was an equivalent festival at my home university. There is really no event that goes on at Earlham, or most American colleges, that can compare to the scale of the Waseda Festival. True there are certain dance performances and other events, but they are no where near the scale or intensity as Wasedasai was. From what I saw, it seems that the students here really put a lot of time an effort into making the best festival that they can. Some groups practice for months so they can perform the best they can at the festival. When the waffles sold out at the Niji no Kai booth, one of the organizers started crying because she was so relieved and happy and had put in so much energy and emotion into Wasedasai. The festival really is a time to acknowledge and appreciate all the amazing things people are doing here. Looking back at Wasedasai I really am so happy that I was able to help sell waffles and participate in the parade. Just going to performances and walking around is fun, but it's a completely different experience actually being a part of the festivities. I hope I never forget this experience!