Golden Week

Hey y'all! Happy Golden Week!

For those who are unfamiliar with this fancy dancy holiday, it is the longest string of holidays in Japan. This is when most people go out traveling with their friends, visiting family and traveling about a bit. I, along with two other exchange students, took the bullet train to Nagasaki for a three day visit. It was a very enlightening trip and I had a good time exploring the historical sites. I didn't have the opportunity to hit up on any of the Confucian or Shinto Shrines, but I was able to see Dejima Island, the Martyr's Museum, Urakami Cathedral, Peace Park, the Hypocenter of where the atomic bomb hit and the Oura Church.

Japan loves to promote it's local specialty foods and Nagasaki proudly claims the title as the "Castella" center of Japan. Castella is a special pound cake brought over by European foreigners which is dearly, dearly loved by the Japanese. And if I have to catch even another sniff of the stuff, I will ride that Shinkansen back to Nagasaki, find and burn every existing recipe for the cake. It was alright the first time I tried it but wherever we went, sellers pushed samples of the cake on you and they can be pretty pushy, considering how intense the competition is.....ooooh, I hate castella.... And I had to buy a block of the damn stuff as a souvenir for the people I know back here in Kyoto....

While in Fukuoka, we also went to "Huis Ten Bosch," a.... very odd amusement park which in my opinion was a complete waste of money and time. It is modeled after Holland and caters to all of your Dutch chocolate, cheese and amusement park-food needs. Of course, these places are the Japanese idea of what Holland is, and it works very, very hard to market the West to the Japanese. I've spent four years studying "Orientalism" and the exoticizing of Asians by the West and there I was, in a place that prided itself on bringing the "exotic" West to Japan. Oh irony. All of the rides were PG-kiddie amusement shows, though there was also a huge port section dedicated to the manga "One Piece", not a manga I follow, but the two girls I was with were very happy.


Anyways, I was very happy to come back to Kyoto. I met with an old friend in Osaka, wandered around Kyoto University which is close to my home and which happens to have a few vegan/vegetarian/health food restaurants/stores, (WIN!!!). There is the Falafel Garden, which has hummus worthy of my...very...picky best friend's palate (I <3 you), and there's the Sunny Place which is closed for Golden week, and then Cafe Proverbs (15:17), my favorite. It reminds me of a wonderful mix of the Naam in Vancouver and the Rebar in Victoria. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is relaxed and the staff are great. :) They seem to have something of a seasonal menu and right now, blueberries are the focus. Yuuum! I hope to go by there to study and enjoy their organic soy lattes again soon. It's such a cute place. If you happen to be in Kyoto, definitely make a stop by Cafe Proverbs (15:17).

<3
Rocketfrog