Fundraising event

I am on the organizing committee for a great fundraising event being held down at Woodsworth College, hosted by UT/OISE Students to raise money for Japan Relief Efforts.  Please see media release and poster for more information.  I invite anyone and everyone to attend, and please spread the word.  We have some great performing artists lined up, including my own odori group Ayame-Kai.  Yakudo will be performing one of their new numbers, and the wonderfully talented cellist Rachel Mercer will be playing a few pieces. 


JAPAN RELIEF EVENT WITH EXPERT SPEAKERS & JAPANESE PERFORMERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

TORONTO, ON –

Join us for an evening of presentations by experts to update us on the relief efforts in
Japan; there will also be performances by Japanese-Canadian musicians and dancers.
The event will raise money for the Canadian Red Cross, Japanese Earthquake Relief
Fund and Ashinaga, (www.ashinaga.org/e/), a Japanese-based charity providing
education and support for traumatized and displaced children in Japan.

The evening begins with remarks by Mr. Masaya Otsuka, Director Japan Information
Centre, of the Consulate General of Japan. Following this, Mr. John Saunders, Director
of Disaster Management in Ontario, Red Cross will update the relief effort in Japan. Ms.
Kristin Kobayashi, a presenter and an eyewitness to the Japan earthquake, says “My
experiences as a Japanese-Canadian in Tokyo during the earthquake gave me a unique
insight into the essence of the Japanese spirit.”

The artists for the event are confident that their performances will contribute to awareness
and restoration. Rachel Mercer, a cellist, says, “Bach’s music helps us ponder the fragility
of humanity.” The YAKUDO Drummers offer, "You don't just hear our drums with your
ears, you feel it within your body, like a heartbeat. We hope our performance can keep
the hearts of those in Japan beating strong."

What: OISE/UT Woodsworth student-organized Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief
Event.

Where: Kruger Hall, Woodsworth College, 119 St. George St. (south of Bloor St.)

When: Thurs. March 31, 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm (Remarks from 7 to 8 pm, each talk
followed by a brief Q&A session.)

Speakers:

• Mr. Masaya Otsuka, Director Japan Information Centre, Consul, Consulate General of Japan
• Mr. John Saunders, Director of Disaster Management in Ontario, Red Cross (expertise in the Japanese situation)
• Ms. Kristin Kobayashi, eyewitness to the Japanese earthquake, artist and community activist.

Performers:

Rachel Mercer, Cellist

http://www.rachelmercercellist.com/index.html

Ayame-Kai Odori Group

YAKUDO Drummers

http://www.yakudo.com/

Note from Tomo

Got an email from our friend Tomo-san in Nagano, Japan last night.  He said he drove back and forth from Sendai twice this past week, 8 hour drive each way.  He said the second time they got there, there was a line-up for gas down the entire street, and that cars lined up from 3am to wait 6 hours for their 10L ration of gasoline.  There was a lot of snow on the ground and covering the cars, and on one day they didn't even have any gas so they put a sign on the door saying they were closed, and the people waited for nothing.  Here is a photo he sent me of some of the cars waiting in line.

He did say that his 15 coworkers from Sendai are doing ok though, they are trying to get by on what they have, though there is an extreme water shortage.  Dad pointed out the irony that all this damage was caused by water, and yet water is one of the most critical necessities of life and there is a country-wide shortage of potable water.  Life is funny like that... count your blessings everyday, we all have a roof over our heads, water to drink and electricity to heat our houses during this bitterly cold winter (especially in Toronto since we just got a fresh dumping of snow yesterday). 

Hug your loved ones, be thankful for what you have, and life each day to it's fullest because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

   xox Kris

The temples of Kyoto

My apologies in advance to anyone using dial-up or who has a slow internet connection.  This will be a very graphic-intensive post with lots of photos (as with all of my updates, lol).  I'm sorry if all of the photos don't load for you, I wanted to incorporate them into the body of my entry so that you can follow along with me as I talk about each stop.

Kyoto was by far my favourite stop on our short trip, as it is a culturally rich town full of old temples hidden amongst the houses, just waiting to be discovered.  We didn't know where to start, so we figured we would start with the biggest attraction (Kinkakuji) and work our way backwards.  That way, if we didn't get to see more of the city, we thought we would at least have that one under our belts.

First, breakfast at the Crepe place in the food court of the shopping mall down the street from us.  We had been eyeballing those crepes the night before when we were in there for dinner, and since they had both dessert and breakfast crepes, we figured it was the perfect start to our day.  And it was.  Yummm.









Before we left the hotel we asked the front desk how to get to Kinkakuji, which on the North side of Kyoto.  She showed us which busses we could take, so off we went to Kyoto Station to catch the bus.  How hard could it be, right?  Well..... turns out what we thought was the bus terminal was actually just the airport bus pick-up with a few other city busses stopping there, and all the signs were in Japanese so we were thoroughly confused.  Managed to ask a police officer nearby where we might find an Info booth (put our favourite phrase to good use again - "Ego wakarimasu ka?").  He pointed us into the station... Who here has been to Kyoto Station?  That place is MASSIVE!  It is at least 12 stories tall not including the basement shops, it has multiple indoor shopping complexes, restaurants galore, and the whole station is very sleek and modern.  Not the busiest station we encountered on our trip, but then again these weren't exactly normal circumstances.

This is only from the 3rd platform, there are another 8 levels above/behind us

Anyhow, we found the bus, took us about 30-35 mins to get to Kinkakuji.  The bus system is so neat, they have announcements in Japanese, English, and Chinese, and the lady not only announces what stop you're at but also what stop comes next and all the major attractions in the area with some background info on each one.  That was the only reason I found this next temple - one of my favourite little shrines tucked away between two buildings as we were walking down the street.

The following photos are from Wara Tenjin Shrine, which I understand is for easy childbirth and possibly fertility as well.  I think, based on what little information I was able to gather, tenzin or tenjin means straw?  And based on how the straw is laid out, the Gods are able to tell an expectant mother whether she is having a boy or a girl.  I also think you can make sake offerings for plentiful lactation.  Very interesting to say the least.  I was caught a little off guard by the baby bibs, as part of the reason that we decided to return home when we did was because I was reminded that although radiation exposure might not seem like a big deal at the moment, the potential harm down the road is far more dangerous, particularly in terms of my future ability to have children.  So of course as I approached the altar, said my prayers, and saw the bibs, I immediately started bawling.  As one of my best friends always tells me, everything happens for a reason and I think this was the last sign telling us it was time to go home.

(Not to get all academic on you but one of my former UoG profs posted a short article on his website about risk perception, if you're interested in reading it I found it really enlightening and very applicable to our situation in Japan.)

Performing the washing ritual before entering the temple

Beautiful springtime display

Baby bib offerings

I think I'm talking too much, so I'm going to try to tone it down a little.  I think the next series of photos is pretty self-explanatory anyway.  We arrived at Kinkakuji Temple (The Golden Pavilion) with a handful of other tourists, but the grounds themselves still seemed relatively deserted compared to what we were expecting.  As usual, it was eerily quiet in all of the temples, the grounds were so big you couldn't even hear the normal city sounds from where we were.

We could see this symbol etched into the mountain, I'm not entirely sure what it means but if it is what I think it is, I think it means "big" or "great"?  Please correct me if I'm wrong!

The Golden Pavilion was just as gold and just as beautiful as it is in photos.  

We had lunch next, because we got lost looking for Ryoan-ji Temple (turns it it was 1.6km down the street...).  Found a tiny little restaurant off one of the main streets and ordered the two things we knew the names of - tempura udon and oyako donburi.  It was wonderfully delicious.  And I had my first (and only) experience with one of the Japanese squat toilets at that restaurant.  How's that for enculturation?

We eventually found Ryoan-ji Temple, which was situated on 120 sprawling acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and orchards.  This temple is most famous for the Zen Rock Garden, one of the most tranquil places on earth.

This was the first (and only) place we had to remove our shoes so far

"The Zen garden is an austere arrangement of 15 rocks rests on a bed of white gravel, surrounded by low walls. The moss-covered boulders are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle, only 14 are visible at one time. In the Buddhist world the number 15 denotes completeness. So you must have a total view of the garden to make it a whole and meaningful experience, and yet, in the conditions of this world, that is not possible." (As quoted from Sacred Destinations)

This photo doesn't do it justice

Note the buckets: think that would pass Canadian fire safety codes?

Self-portrait under the tori in the gardens in the middle of the lake at Ryoan-ji

We did see a few early blooms while we were there

In this photo you see two traditional screens that depict the "Four Accomplishments" and the "Immortals".  The Immortals refers to the Chinese Immortals, and it is said that in order to be considered a wise man, one must first achieve the four accomplishments - playing zither, mastering chess, and practicing painting and calligraphy.  These two themes have been used in paintings for folding screens and sliding doors since the 14th Century.  These particular pieces were on display to celebrate their return to Ryoanji after 115 years (there are 6 in total).

Our last stop on our Kyoto tour was the Ninna-ji Temple.  We had done quite a bit of walking by this point, and the skies were turning grey, but I'm glad we made it to this one before we had to turn in for the day.  It was a little bittersweet too because this turned out to be our last stop on our Japan tour as we made the decision that afternoon to return home the next day.

This particular Temple was even bigger and more deserted than the other ones we visited.  It was  hauntingly beautiful, being less "polished" than some of the other places we visited.  This temple was completed in the year 888, but was destroyed by fire and fighting during the Onin War in 1467.  It was rebuilt with the help of the Shogun approximately 150 years later, around the same time they rebuilt the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.

Front entrance

It was set at the foot of the mountains on the outskirts of Kyoto, so who knows how far the grounds extended beyond what we explored.

It just went on and on

 This 5 story pagoda was constructed in 1644, it is 36.18m tall, and the particularity of it is that from top to bottom you can barely see any difference in width.

That basically concludes our journey through Japan.  We went back to the hotel after our long day of sightseeing, did some last minute shopping, and had a really delicious dinner at a katsu restaurant we were dying to try.  They also didn't speak English there, so Dad ended up taking the waiter outside to point to the special we wanted.  It was sooo much food but sooo good.

3 types of breaded meat (pork, hamburger, shrimp), homemade tonkatsu sauce, rice, miso soup, OISHII!

Thank you for following along with me as I journeyed through Japan.  As I've said many times in the last week - we're just itching to get back there, hopefully we can go back in the fall when the nuclear threat has subsided and regular travel has resumed.  My love affair with Japan has only just begun.  <3

Recap of Tokyo Day 1

I haven't had nearly enough time to provide a full account of my trip, so I'd like to start at the beginning again and work my way through so that I can provide a little bit of insight to those of you who haven't had the opportunity to experience all that Japan has to offer.  Now I know that I barely skimmed the surface of this amazingly beautiful country, but I loved every moment of what I did see.

Our trip started out on a dreary Wednesday in Toronto, foggy, rainy, even snowy.  We were more than happy to leave all of that behind.

Our flight was long but uneventful.  The funniest part of the day was watching the poor woman two rows ahead of us struggle with her tray table.  She appeared to be trying to suspend a furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloth) from the table, perhaps to put her valuables in?  In any case, she managed to rip the clasp for the table right out of the seatback and thus her table would not stay up.  The cabin crew fought back laughter as they first tried to duct tape the table up, but ended up using a seatbelt extender to literally buckle it to the seat in front of her.

We arrived in Tokyo and took our obligatory first photo in front of the "Welcome to Japan" wall at Narita... how many of you have a similar photo?  I bet lots of you do from at least one of your trips!

We took the Narita Express train from Narita to Shinagawa Station (one stop past Tokyo Station), took just under an hour and was "free" with our JR Rail Pass.  Dad fell asleep but I was too excited to sleep at that point, even though the sun went down halfway into the ride so I couldn't even see out the window.

 

Got a little lost looking for our hotel but check-in was easy and we got settled in right away.  They had Shiseido shampoo/conditioner/body wash in the bathroom - I think this is one of the first times in history that I've ever used the in-house toiletries instead of my own!  I also loved that all the hotels had a hot water pot in every room with complimentary ocha (green tea).  

Don't judge us, but we definitely had McDonalds for breakfast the first morning.  It was just so convenient and oh-so-tempting.  We ordered off the picture menu (egg mcmuffin and coffee) and took it back to the hotel to eat.  Their packaging was so clever, they put the cardboard drink tray in the bottom of the paper bag and piled everything else on top.... it was brilliant! 

The first stop on our Tokyo tour was the Meiji Jingu Shrine in the Shibuya area.  It is dedicated to Emperor Meiji, the great grandfather of the current Emperor Akihito.  It is one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan and the largest in the Tokyo area.  While I was there I picked up an Omikuji (poem-drawing) composed by Empress Shoken, who was said to have written over 30, 000 of them in her time. 

We made a brief stop at the main gates of the Imperial Palace, which is surrounded by a huge moat.  The tour would normally take us through the Palace's East Gardens, which is the only part of the compound that is open to the public, but it is closed on Mondays and Fridays.

From there we went to Asakusa to see the famed Kannon Temple.  This temple is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo and is set in the heart of the old Geisha district.  There is also lots of good shopping in the surrounding areas, including the Nakamise Shopping Arcade which is the long row of shops that leads up to the front steps of the temple itself.  This is where we were when the earthquake hit, as you might have read in some of my earlier posts.

While I was there I purchased another Omikuji fortune scroll, which I had to read 3 times before I realized that it really wasn't a very good fortune.  Lucky for me, I tied it up on the special rack so the bad luck can be blown away by the wind.

 We did a bit of shopping since we had some time to kill before we had to go meet Tomo-san and Hiromi-san for dinner.  I bought a lot of odori (Japanese dancing) supplies like new shitagi (undergarments for kimono), tabi (traditional Japanese socks), and a new hairpiece. 

 The streets were lined with hundreds of shops selling everything you can imagine, like this little store that only sold senbei (Japanese rice crackers).  It smelled amazing.












Another example of some of the hilarious stuff they sell in Japan - hats for dogs!&nbsp; They had tons of stores specifically for pets, even though we didn't see as many "purse dogs" as we thought we would, you can tell that the Japanese consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as their human counterparts.

We watched this guy make ramen noodles for a good 25 minutes, it was incredible.  He had such an attention to detail, he would put Paula Deen to shame.  Made us hungry so of course we had to go find somewhere to eat lunch after that.  Lots of restaurants will advertise on the door whether they have English menus available, to save us from having to go inside and ask, "Ego wakarimasu ka?" (informal way of asking "Do you understand English?").  We ended up picking the one that had the best looking display in the window, and it tasted even better than it looked.

You've already heard about the rest of our day, because about an hour after lunch the quake hit.  Please click here for details if you haven't read it yet.

I know I'm going backwards by starting at the beginning but my journey tells the story about how Japan changed me.  I really value every detail of my trip, and I hope that through my stories and photos that you can feel a little bit of that magic too.

Fundraising efforts

I know many of you have already made donations and for that we are forever grateful.  To anyone who still wishes to make a donation, please consider the JCCC Foundation's Earthquake Relief Fund.  I believe the JCCC's reputation speaks for itself and my family and I can personally vouch for their integrity.  

With gratitude and appreciation,
    Kristin

http://www.jccc.on.ca/japan_earthquake_relief_fund.htm

Why I'm proud to be Japanese-Canadian

As I posted last week - it seems like eons ago now - my trip to Japan was, first and foremost, a way for me to experience first-hand what it means to be Japanese, because I already know what it means to be Canadian.  When we first got there, it was a little bit of a culture shock at first, not because we felt like outsiders but because we were in awe of how orderly, polite, and methodical the Japanese people are.

They rely heavily on their extensive subway and rail systems to commute to and from work, so their train stations operate at a significantly higher volume than anything you or I would ever experience in Canada, even at it's peak I read that Toronto's Union Station accommodates about 200 000 passengers a day.  Shinagawa Station accommodates on average 1million commuters a day, and over 1.2million people pass through Tokyo Station in any given day, being Tokyo's main hub with over 3000 subway, JR line, and Shinkansen trains making stops there.

So imagine that kind of volume in North America.  I don't know about you, but all that comes to mind when I try to picture that many people trying to catch a train here is madness.  Complete and utter chaos.  But in Japan, that is not the case.  Even during the quake, people were obviously confused and concerned but even through everything that was going on, they were calm, organized, and methodical.  In the 5+ hours it took us to walk from Asakusa to Shinagawa, we saw more and more people evacuated from their buildings and flooding out of the closed train stations, all of them forced out into the streets of Tokyo.  Even then, with likely 4 million people trying to get home, there was still no evidence of chaos.  Line-ups for busses spanned entire city blocks, 1000 people long, but the displaced commuters waited patiently, without pushing and shoving, resigned to wait their turn in line knowing that they were all in the exact same situation.

All of these examples of Japanese culture only solidifies my respect for their customs.  I was constantly in awe of how strong, poised, and proud they are in every aspect of their lives. 

I think my visit to Mount Fuji was a pivotal point in our trip.  I said in an earlier post that standing up on that mountain, I felt entirely insignificant.  And I don't mean that in a negative way, it was more so that my problems and worries seemed so far away compared to what was going on all around me as I stood up there 2020m above sea level, staring out at the countryside from halfway up the tallest mountain in Japan... I gained a sense of perspective that I hope I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

I talked to a lot of friends before I left for Japan, and they all kept telling me that I was going to get there and that I would feel the spirits of my ancestors all around me, that I would fill the missing void in my life that I might not have even known was missing in the first place.  I won't lie, a small part of me rolled my eyes and thought "yeah, right..."  But I understand that now.  It wasn't a 'Eureka' moment where I felt a sudden rush of Japanese spirit, that only happens when I drink sake.  Instead, I don't think it even hit me until I came home, and I realized that the reason I felt so safe and so secure there was because I felt like I was a part of the very fabric of Japan herself.  I felt a sense of belonging there that I only ever feel in a handful of other places in the world (the JCCC being one of them).  And it wasn't because I felt like my ancestors had embodied my spirit or anything like that, I just saw so much of myself in the people around me, and so much of my family in them too.  I felt connected to them through cultural similarities that I never knew existed, and at that moment I finally understood why the JCCC's motto is "friendship through culture".  I might be 4th Generation Canadian but I am very much a JAPANESE-Canadian at heart.  It may have taken me 25 years to fully appreciate it but the important thing is that I have finally embraced that part of my life that has laid dormant for so long and I never want to give it up.

Mom and I at Haru Matsuri at the JCCC, March 5/11