I met the third best English speaker on Kanda University's campus a few weeks back via Megan (one of my fellow classmates and study abroad students) named Kazuki Terao. He's pretty funny and hanging out with him is a breeze because he goes back and forth very easily with all of our humor, AND, he tolerates my absurdly loud way of greeting him with "HEY YOU!". So on day while we were chillin' on the yellow couches in the SALC (a facility where the Kanda students can go to practice their English skills) we - Megan, Kazuki, and Rebekah - were all invested in playing the cup game together (here's a video for those who aren't familiar with this amazing pastime).
This is where I first learned the cup game but here is another, more recent example of the awesome game put to song:
Okay now that that's out of the way . . . we played for a good amount of time before getting a bit exhausted from our collective triumph. While resting on the yellow couches chatting and watching BBC (the only channel that ever plays in the SALC), I noticed Kazuki twirled his pen when he was thinking about something. So I watched him. And I was amazed. So I kept watching . . . and could not stop. Like at all. Long story short I realized that this phenomenon of pen twirling, which I have only ever seen my Asian friends do with any great proficiency, is indeed an Asian thing. This may not be a solid proven fact but I do not know of any other people who can do this stuff like he and others have done. If you know of anyone else who is good at it be my guest and tell me otherwise but for now I will stick with my conjecture. Check it out for yourself!
Another fun example from YouTube:
Tell me I'm wrong . . .
Okay this is just cool . . .
I think I win on this one. ;]
Kamakura 鎌倉
Briefly talking about our hilariously hot excursion to Kamakura I would like to just say that I am glad I got more time to spend with our lovely e-pals because I do not really have the opportunity to do so on any given day during the week. This trip, a part of the trips sponsored by our study abroad program, was a really fun and chill sort of adventure just a few hours away from the Tokyo area. We began our journey at Engaku-ji 円覚寺 - a very important and essential Zen Buddhist temple - along the way to Kamakura.
I really love the gardens and the ponds with the koi fish, it just feels like such a great and serene place to become one with nature and gather an understanding of the universe.
Hearts to the left and right!
Next up was Tsurugaoka Hachimagu Shrine 鶴岡八幡宮 - the shrine dedicated to the patron god of the Minamoto clan. There we had our lunch break in the nearby town. While walking down this wide walkway in the direction of the food we passed several different food stalls on both sides. I would have to say the most hilarious one was the pineapple on a stick. Sounds pretty harmless right? Well in order to get this tasty treat after paying about $2 you had to beat the older lady selling them in a friendly game of Jon-Ken-Pon (rock-paper-scissors). If you win, you get two sticks; lose, get one stick; tie, get one stick. Everyone wins in reality so that was nice but the best victory is a true one, which I was capable of doing for once in my life and man were those some delicious pineapple slivers!
We were pretty disappointed, however, with the fact that the shrine had a special rock hidden somewhere on the shrine grounds. This rock, when touched would bring good luck to the individual skilled enough to reach it. Unfortunately for us the trouble was not touching it but finding it! One of our trip coordinators painted this really magical picture of this rock, a veritable philosopher's stone, and I'm sure that the majority of the people in our group wanted to find this illustrious barred off stone. Oh well, better luck next time right?
Next up was Kamakura's very own 大仏 [だいぶつ] or Great Buddha. The second largest bronze statue of Buddha, next to the largest housed in Todaiji Temple 東大寺 in Nara, is a historic landmark once housed in a large temple hall that was later washed away by a tsunami tidal wave. Many a great picture was had here, even inside the statue which is actually hollow!
Very tired, beaten down, sweaty and disgusting, we ended our day at Hasedera 長谷寺, a shrine famous for it statue of Kannon - goddess of mercy. The most amazing thing about this place for me was the garden you see immediately upon entering. It was certainly the best one I have seen in a while and I would love to have one like it (despite the maintenance). I had a lot of fun with my camera here because I discovered the +/- button on it. This remarkable little button does wonders because it takes the place of the flash which destroys photos in the daytime (well duh) and just makes things clearer without all the work. See for yourself!
I hope you all enjoyed what little I could capture of Kamakura. As always, if you ever have the chance to bring yourself to this corner of the world I highly encourage you to get a taste of everything that Japan has to offer and not because this place is a tourist haven but because there is beauty in everything you lay your eyes on. じゃまた！
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