Travelog for: Eebee

Hi! Finally, I arrived to Japan after long long trip. I am exhausted, but I arrived sound and safe! I met my new host, Fadoua. She lives in Tsukuba, a small university city about 60km north-east Tokyo.

You cannot imagine how much I am excited to start my adventure in the land of rising sun... but, Fadoua, suggested that I rest today and sleep well in order to recover from jet lag. She promised that tomorrow she will show me something beautiful and very popular in Japan... I wonder what is it?

Hi ! I feel much better to day after a good night sleep
Lucky me, I arrived to Japan during the Sakura full bloom (cherry blossom). We went for a walk around Fadoua's house and here my pictures enjoying Sakura.









Fadoua told me that  Sakura blooming is a huge event in Japan. There is a special "Sakura forcast" on TV channels, where the progress of the bloom is watched carefully! During this period, people celebrate Hanami, which is a Japanese word that means literally "flower viewing". It is custom to pic-nic and party with friends under Sakura. Last year, because of March 11 disasters, people restrained from celebrating Hanami as a gesture of respect to the feeling of those who lost their beloved ones. This year, Hanami is back!

In the evening, we went to movie theater and watched the new movie "The Artist". It was fun!

Hi! Today, I slid myself into my host's bag and accompanied her to work. I look comfortable, don't I?



My host is a researcher at University. Here, I am in her lab trying to understand what she is doing! Her speciality is "theorem proving". Basically, it is about methods and techniques for proving theorems automatically using programs. The machine can do much more powerful computations and therefore proving is fast and sound. In Industry, theorem proving has important applications such as system verification and validation (checking, in a formal way, that systems perform their tasks correctly and according to the specifications).



Meet "Jerana", a cute frog-toy in the lab. We played together in one corner while my host is working.



It is lunch time! We have exactly one hour to take lunch and visit the campus. We bought a light lunch from 7 eleven. I must say, it is not easy to use chopsticks... I still need practice!



This is Prof. Jigoro, one of Meiji-era (1868 ~ 1912) educators and founder of Judo. Some of his achievements are the inclusion of physical education in Japanese Schools and the participation of Japan in Olympic games.



Last Monday was the first day of spring term. Students are back from their vacation and classes have started. Bicycles are everywhere. It is certainly not easy to find a parking spot .

We visited a small museum dedicated to "School of Health and Physical Education". Last year Japanese women soccer team won the World Cup. The university is so proud that two of its students are main players in the team!



Waaaaw, so peaceful and serene... Don't you wish to study here?



At night, we joined two friends and treating ourselves with "Washoku" meals. Washoku means Japanese traditional meal. Today, we read in Japan Times that Japan is applying for the inclusion of Washoku in UNESCO world heritage like French and Mediterranean cuisines. I enjoyed a collection of colorful raw fish served over rice and soba noodle.

Hi! It has been raining all day long .

Polishing, dusting, laundry... this is what my host has been doing all morning. I waited impatiently until she finished... I offered to help... but she wouldn't hear of it.



We watched the news about French presidential election. This is a popular program on French public TV where each of the 10 candidates have 16min34sec to answer questions. My host is doing the interpretation for me

This is Melenchon in the right. He is far-left wing candidate. Surprisingly he is rising in polls. Hot topics were debated such as immigration issues. It is clearly THE topic that differentiates one candidate from another...



Then, my host went to work... I am not happy to stay at home all day

Hi!

Today, the sky has cleared up and sunshine filled us with warmth!! So, we decided to take this chance and go for hiking at Mt. Tsukuba... We set a mission for our journey: We have to find a rare flower called "Katakuri". Anyone who smells the fragrance of Katakuri enjoys a long life, if not become immortal............................ (joking )

Here is me studying the map of Mt. Tsukuba before we start the journey.



The bus ride took about 40min before reaching the mountain. We get off at 200m.



The mountain has a strange shape... like letter "M" (Can you see it in the map above?). It has two summits, the highest (877m) is called "Nyo-tai" (literally means female summit) and the other one (871m) is called "Nan-tai" (literally means male summit). There is a legend behind these names. Let me share it with you:

Shinto is the religion of majority of Japanese. There are thousand of deities in Shinto. Maybe, the most famous one is "Amaterasu-O-Kami", the goddess of sun, who is symbolized by the red disc in Japanese flag. The parents of Amaterasu-O-Kami are "Izanagi-no-Mikoto" (the father) and "Izanami-no-Mikoto" (mother). One day they decided to descend to the earth from heaven. As they were looking for a place to stay, they asked Mt. Fuji to host them. Mt. Fuji refused, he was so proud... Then, Mt. Tsukuba offered them his summits. Izanami-no-Mikoto stayed in the highest  summit and Izanagi-no-Mikoto stayed in the other one. Thus the names . According to the legend, Mt. Tsukuba received a lot of  blessings from the deities, therefore: The mountain is green all year long, warm, accessible and rich in flora and fauna. Whereas, Mt. Fuji is a desert of black lava, covered with snow all year long and inaccessible most of the year! Mt. Tsukuba is also known by the name "The romantic mountain". It is common to meet couples visiting the mountain and praying for happy life together at the shrines of the mountain .

Mt. Tsukuba is famous with a beautiful Shinto shrine dedicated to Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto. The picture below was taken in front of "Tori", a huge gate that indicates the entrance to Mt. Tsukuba shrine.



This is Mt. Tsukuba shrine. The building is ancient and beautiful, isn't it?







When visiting a shrine, one should perform a simple ablution by rinsing the mouth and washing the hands with water.



These are "Ema", wooden blocks where you can write your wishes and then you hang them next to the shrine so that they become true.



I wrote my wishes too . With my host's help, I managed to hang it.





To be continued...

This is the continuation of my description of our adventures at Mt. Tsukuba.

We took the cable car to reach higher level of the mountain.




When I got off, I could see the Nan-tai summit.



We decided to hike until the highest point of Mt. Tsukuba, Nyo-tai summit. The hiking trail was difficult, especially after Saturday's rain the rocks were slippery...





In our way to Nyo-tai, I finally found Katakuri flowers. They are tiny and purple, can you see them between the dead leaves?



Finally, I am at the highest point of Mt. Tsukuba!! Despite the clouds, I could enjoy a nice air-view from 877m hight.





At the summit, there is a small shrine for praying to Izanami-no-Mikoto.



Plenty of "Gama" (type of toad) live on Mt. Tsukuba. A substance is made from the sweat of gama and used to stop bleeding. It has been proven scientifically that the substance has a chemical composition that facilitates the coagulation. Therefore, it is used as medicine to apply when injured. The usage of this medicine has a long history. There is a story that in the 16th century, the priest of Mt. Tsukuba shrine sent samples of the medicine to Tokugawa's army during the civil war.



I met a man in traditional costume (take a look at his shoes) who performed a show to sell the medicine. He actually injured himself with Kata (Japanese sword) then applied the medicine to stop the bleeding. Scary... 

Hi! How are you?

I am fine... but my host is so busy and we couldn't update my travelog!

On Saturday,  the weather was great! My host could finally free half a day. We joined a group of friend and went for cycling and hiking.  It was fun!

Hi! Today I learned how to make grilled salad. This is an easy and healthy recipe from Tunisia, it is called "Salata Mechouia".

For 2 servings, the ingredients are:

4 green peppers

1 green chilli (optional)

2 tomatoes

1/2 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 table spoon lemon juice

2 table spoons olive oil

Salt

Olives

Tuna

Preparations steps:

1. Wash the vegetables and dry them with kitchen cloth.



2. Grill the vegetables until they get black skins. Turn the vegetables from time to time to grill all the sides.



3. Peel the skins from all the vegetables. Remove the seeds from peppers and chilli.

 

4. Use food processor to chop the vegetables after adding olive oil, salt and lemon juice.

 

5. Garnish with olives and tuna.



Can be eaten with French bread. Bon appétit!

Hi!  4th of May is a national holiday in Japan: Midori-no-Hi, which means Greenery Day. People usually spend this day in parks or mountains.  Some participate in environmental activities, such as cleaning streets, recycling workshops, etc. As for us, we visited Gyoen park in Shinjuku, which is a business district located west of Tokyo. Here is a picture of me near Shinjuku station. I am so excited!



I had a lot of fun in the park. The fresh green colors of trees and grass is so pleasant to the eyes.







I also learned names of trees and flowers. These are the majestic Somei-Yoshino trees.





Tsutsuji (Azaleas) are blooming. The building behind me is "NTT Docomo", a mobile phone company.




What a beautiful flower the Magnolia is! The smell is so sweet! We all fall in love with it!



Before our visit to Gyoen park, we went to the Museum of history and literature of Shinjuku. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside. We were lucky to receive explanations from a volunteer guide. We learned that between 16th century and 19th century,  Shinjuku was the first stop for those who travel along Koshu road. The Koshu road runs from Nihonbashi (central Tokyo) to Yamanashi (West of Japan). Therefore, at that time, Shinjuku was an area of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. One of the interesting things we saw is the sophisticated system of water pipes. Water is brought all the way from central Tokyo by underground wooden pipes. Now, Shinjuku has changed greatly! It is famous with skyline buildings and home to major Japanese companies.



By the way, did you notice that I removed my scarf and hat? Actually, my scarf kept falling and I was afraid to lose it. My host suggested that we keep the scarf and hat somewhere safe. Anyway, the weather has become much more warmer (around 18 degree).

Hi! Today is another national holiday: Children's day! Actually, it should be called Boys day because it is the day for boys (girls day was March 3). Usually, families with boys celebrate this day by displaying Samurai ornaments at home, going out together, visiting shrines, etc.

We went for cycling through rice fields around Tsukuba!





These are Koinobori, flags in the shape of koi fish. They are hang every year in the occasion of children's day. More details about the origin of Koinobori flags are presented here.




This is a cheerful children's song about Koinobori, usually sung by children and families on children's day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jrd2GlCCOc&feature=related

Hi !! It has been a long time!

Last May, I visited Asakusa in Tokyo. Asakusa is the old Tokyo that flourished during Tokugawa reign (from 17th century). Now, Asakusa is a main touristic place of Tokyo. It is famous with a beautiful Buddhist temple "Senso ji" and a long street of souvenir shops called "Nakamise".