This week, I experienced getting lost in Tokyo. To expand, I not only got lost, but also roped my friends, six or seven other TUJ students, into a confusing, hour-long bus ride to Yokohama as well. Some may see Friday plans derailing in a foreign country as a necessary evil in order to learn a lesson, or even a rite of passage. At any rate, arriving two minutes until last admission, we spent thirty minutes in the Yokohama Sankeien Garden for the last night of their Firefly Evening matsuri. Exploring festivals, especially in the Japanese summer, has been explained to me as an essential part of my study abroad experience. And even amidst confusion, this was proven true. Last week, I wrote about the vulnerability in rediscovering the senses while living in a foreign country. This small festival seemed to engage many of them, such as the sight of hundreds of fireflies from our spot on a small bridge, and the distinguished sound of bullfrogs from elsewhere in the garden. In addition, the scene was well into the evening and thus too dark to capture on an iPhone camera – which, while maybe less than ideal for blogging purposes, forced us to be present in the moment.
The weekend, however, accomplished the same with a much greater opportunity for visuals. On an official TUJ excursion, I and about thirty other students took a school-chartered coach bus to the Niigata prefecture for the annual Battle of the Giant Kites. Around halfway, we stopped at Fukiware Falls – perhaps my most photographable location yet.
Much of our trip was also spent viewing the Japanese countryside. I was struck by its contrast with Tokyo itself, but perhaps the most interesting contrast was in a much more contained scenario – in a narrow Niigata street right before the kite festival began. Researching it afterwards, I learned that what I observed was called mikoshi shrine bearing. In Japanese Shinto tradition, many festivals involve the carrying of a portable palanquin, believed to contain divinity, from one spot to another. Many locals in conventional garb moved and chanted together as they carried the mikoshi, creating a grand image of tradition. Yet here we were, taking pictures of the scene with our smartphones, and directly above it all was an electronic stoplight, a reminder of where we really were in time and space. This was intriguing as it was amusing to examine, and just another aspect of discovery here in Japan.
The rest of this week has been full of further adjustments to school life at TUJ. I’ve found that most of my classes – Development & Globalization, East Asia & The United States, and even History of Journalism, share commonalities in subject matter between them. Though definitely distinct, I feel my studies linking together and making sense, much like the combination of tradition and modernity outside of class that I’ve already been able to experience. I look forward to future observations like these. Hopefully, they won’t necessarily involve getting lost in the process – but I welcome the challenge nonetheless.