Arako Kannon-ji, the old temple where Enku-botoke statues stay

While I was traveling in the Nagoya with a friend, we visited Arako Kannon-ji temple.
Before the departure I had searched information about "Enku-botoke", the handmade wooden Buddha statues by monk Enku.
I had known many Enku-botoke exist in Chubu region which including Nagoya.
Then I learned the Arako Kannon-ji was famous for possession and exhibition of the statues.
So I made a plan to visit the temple in my travel.

Me and the friend came to Takabata station by subway.
Both of us had no sense of direction, so we strayed a bit, but finally arrived the temple.
Arako Kannon-ji temple was founded as a temple of Tendai sect in 729.
Also a warlord and later daimyo of Kaga province at the Sengoku period, Maeda Toshiie born near the temple.
In addition Arako Kannon-ji was the family temple for Maeda clan.

The temple had buildings, a big gate and a pagoda.
We entered a building.
We took off our shoes at the entrance and entered a hall.
There were some docents and other visitors like us.
At the front side of the hall there was an alcove and inside there the Enku-botoke were set on the altar.
After we took some instruction from an docent we went to near the altar.
There were various size and type of the statues.
According to the temple, totally 1240 of them were there.
Enku (1632-1695) left about 5300 of his handmade wooden statues in travel through Japan, so almost twenty five percent of them are in Arako Kannon-ji now.
Each statue had own gentleness and primitiveness.
That made me imagine the personality of Enku.
We appreciated the statues until we became tired.

I did a long train travel in asleep

As I wrote before, recently I traveled to Nagoya, Aichi.

I got on local trains for the travel.
It took about 3 and half hours from Osaka to Nagoya by the trains.
I had to transfer trains 2 times.
My first train of the day was from the Osaka station to the Maibara station.
2nd one was from the Maibara station to the Ogaki station.
Last one was from the Ogaki station to the Nagoya station.

I had not reserved any special seats as usual.
Fortunately, I could sit a free seat every time I got on a train in the day.
At the travel season local train is always crowded, so I was lucky to find seats so soon.
I had awoken earlier time than usual for a long travel, thus I was very sleepy.
As soon as I got on the first train, I fell asleep.
When I woke up, the train was almost arriving at the Maibara station.
I got off the train at the station.
I had some waiting time to got on the next train.
While I was waiting on platform, I was half asleep standing.
Next train arrived, I got on, found a seat, sat there and fell asleep.
When I woke up, the train was almost arriving at the Ogaki station.
I don't have any clear memory about my stay at the Ogaki station at the time, anyway it seemed I got on the correct train.
When I woke up, well, the train was almost arriving at the Nagoya station.
After I got off the train, I was getting awake.
I wandered around the station and after half an hour, I could meet my friend.
We enjoyed chats and a little trip in Nagoya.

I don't describe that again, but I was same in my way home as the way come.
I traveled in asleep again.
The Interesting fact was, while I traveled in asleep, I felt the long travel very short.
Sleeping in local trains is not very safe, because sometimes there are thieves or perverts.
So I don't recommend everyone to try it.
But in some cases, you can try a travel in sleep like me.
If you do, you will have a strange experience.

A nice green tea for your hungover

I have a terrible headache now.
Maybe I drunk too much yesterday.

This pain reminds me of a legend at the Kamakura period.
According to the legend, the last regent of Kamakura shogunate, Hojo Takatoki was suffering for terrible headache which came from hungover.
One day, Eisai, the founder of Rinzai sect of Japanese Buddhism served a cup of green tea for Takatoki.
The tea eased the headache of Takatoki.
In addition, Eisai dedicated "Kissa yojo-ki"a book about green tea to Takatoki.

From this legend, we can learn that the green tea was drunk as also a medicine not only a refreshment at that times.
A custom of drinking tea seems to be introduced at the Nara period to Japan.
Only noblemen and monks had enjoyed the custom long time, but since the Edo period, even common people came to drink green tea.
Green tea works for both refreshment and easing headache in your hungover.

I want to drink a green tea now, but I can't find any of them around me.
I hope I have a nice monk like Eisai who serves a tasty drink tea every morning for me.

You can enjoy the local food Kishimen at the platform in Nagoya station

I went to Nagoya, the capital of Aichi prefecture to meet a friend who lives in Nagoya.
We met at the Nagoya station.
It is a big station and also Shinkansen (the bullet train) stops there.
It was noon, and we were hungry.
The friend suggested me to eat Kishimen at the small restaurant which was located at the platform of the bullet train.

Kishimen is famous as an local food in Aichi.
It is a kind of noodles, and it is made in flat strips.
We see it as like an udon, but it's unique shape makes the taste quite different to ordinary udon.
The friend told me there are less Kishimen restaurants in Nagoya nowadays, besides Kishimen in those restaurants are a bit expensive as first food.

We bought an entrance ticket to the platform of the bullet train for 140 yen, and entered to the platform.
The friend explained Kishimen which served by the restaurant is very good in the history of Kishimen.
Also he said the Kishimen is cheaper than other foods in restaurants around Nagoya station even though we have to pay entrance ticket to eat the Kishimen.
The name of the restaurant is Sumiyoshi.
I guess the name come from the great Sumiyoshi shrine in Osaka.
Anyways, before entering the restaurant, we needed to buy food ticket from vending machine outside of the restaurant.
I bought a ticket for "Kakiage tamago-iri Kishimen (Kishimen with a raw egg and a mixed tempura of vegetables and sea food)" for 570 yen.
It was recommended by my friend.
My friend bought a ticket for "Nagoya Kochin Kishimen (Kishimen with the local chicken in Aichi)" for 870 yen.
We entered the restaurant.
There was a very limited space inside.
Also there were no stools.
Usually such type of small noodle restaurants at platform of train station serve noodles as a stand-up meal.
In the restaurant, customers faced to a counter and were slurping their Kishimen in hurry.
They were passengers of the bullet train or customers like us, who entered the platform for only the Kishimen.
We put our tickets on the counter and waited a bit.
Soon a worker inside the counter set our Kishimen front of us.

The Kishimen was beautiful.
In a bowl, there were that flat shaped noodles, a raw egg, a pile of minced green onions and a big Kakiage in soup.
Over them sliced dried bonitos were sprinkled.
Me and my friend ate our meal in hurry.
For there was only a limited space for customer, we had to finish our meal quick.
Even though that, the Kishimen was very nice as my friend told me, and I enjoyed a lot.

If you have a chance to get off the bullet train at Nagoya station, don't forget the nice small Kishimen restaurant at the platform.

Kokyuu choco (The chocolate which breathes) in Osaka

Kokyuu choco is a famous chacolate brand in Osaka.
A discount candy distributor Marushige provides the chocolate at their shops or online.
They claim the Kokyuu choco is so fresh as "it breathes" and it have been popular among people in Kitashinchi, the stylish town in Osaka.
"Kokyuu" means breath or to breathe.
Almond and mascarpone cheese is used for the chocolate, and it covered by cocoa powder.
I have tasted the chocolate once or twice, and it was quite tasty.

By they way, today I had a terrible experience for the chocolate.
I have a plan to visit a friend who lives in other prefecture, so I thought the Kokyuu choco will be a souvenir for him.
Kokyuu choco is sold only in Osaka, so sometimes people buy it as souvenir.
I went to a local Marushige shop.
I searched inside the shop, but their weren't any Kokyuu choko products.
I asked a worker in the shop about the chocolate.
"Excuse me, do you sell Kokyuu choco?"
She stared at me.
She looked a bit surprised.
"No, we don't."
I was a bit confused.
"But..."
"Marushige-san sells Kokyuu choco, don't they? It isn't Marushige shop."
I was shocked.
I have thought the shop was Marushige for long time, but it wasn't.
Long time ago Marushige shop was located same place.
However they moved away, then the other candy shop started their business at the place.
I haven't noticed the fact, because their interior were almost similar.
Anyways, I apologized to the worker and went away without Kokyuu choco.
I was ashamed so much.

If you want to buy Kokyuu choco products, please go to Marushige shop, not other candy shops.

I read a play "Chichi to kuraseba (English title:The face of jizo)" by Inoue Hisashi

Fukuyoshi Mitsue is a young lady who lives in Hiroshima city.
She has a job in the local public library.
She is afraid of thunder and lightning so much.

One day she escaped to her house from a thundering, calling her father for help.
Her father was in the closet at the time and invite his daughter near him.
Her trustworthy, lovable father.
Every time she hopes that her father stays with her, he appears.
He know everything what happened to his daughter in a day, moreover, what she felt with events.
They talk about the recent events on Mitsue.

Recently, Mitsue got to know each other with a young gentle man.
The man seems to love her, and also Mitsue has a good feeling to him.
However, each time he tried to befriend with her, she has refused him.
Because she has no right to be happy.
She believes so.
In the 6th day of August, 1945, she survived alone.
Her friends couldn't.
Her father couldn't.
Mitsue believes she has no right to be happy over the terrible deaths of her people.

However, her father encourages her to have a relationship with the man.
Also he tells her that the deaths of her friends and himself wasn't Mitsue's fault.
He tells her she has a right to be happy, moreover she have to be happy.

I tried to write a short outline of the play.
How do you feel of that?
The play consists of conversations between the daughter and the father.
They talk in the dialect of Hiroshima and their talks are humorous for the nice character of the father.
So even it is a very sad story, you will enjoy it somehow.
Simultaneously, you can learn how people in Hiroshima suffered and survived at the severe life after dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Tweeting in foreign language to learn

I have restarted tweeting in English since May.
I had used twitter long time ago, but my English at that time was worse than current my level, so it was hard to continue.
Besides, I didn't have enough motivation to continue tweeting in English.
Soon I stopped tweeting.
It took long time until I restarted tweeting again.

From my experience, I can say tweeting in foreign language makes improvement in the language.
Unfortunately I stopped my tweeting for lack of motivation, but if I have continued tweeting in these past years, my English must have improved so much.
I regret a little that I stopped that.

So I suggest you to tweet in your learning language even if you are still at beginner level.
You don't need to worry about making mistakes, because your first purpose for tweeting in foreign language is, to get used to the language.
Let's tweet about things in your mind without hesitation.
Do you care if some native speakers points out your grammatical errors?
In case like that, just appreciate them and fix your errors.
No need to be ashamed.
If your errors will be pointed out, that is lucky for you.
If no one does, well, someday somebody will, or you will notice by yourself.
Don't worry to start new things, just have fun.

A breakfast at the place everyone knows

This morning I went to a local McDonald's restaurant to buy my breakfast.
Recently I have been working at night shift, and I was hungry after the work.
I bought a breakfast set of avocado muffin.
I bought it to take out.
An avocado muffin, a hash browns and a large coke costed me 510 yen.
I guess it is not very cheap, but when you are very hungry and other restaurants haven't opened yet, you will be thankful that you can buy the meal at an early morning.
I enjoyed the meal.

In Japan, it is a bit difficult to find restaurants or cafes which open from early morning.
If you are in countryside, it is more difficult.
In contrast, McDonald's restaurants are open from 6:00 am or 5:00 am.
Some of them are open in 24 hours.
Besides, in most of the restaurants "Asa Mac (a breakfast menu)" is served from 6:00 am to 10:30 am.
If you want a breakfast or a little break with a cup of coffee at an early morning in Japan, try MacDonald's restaurants.

Cup noodles in a hurry

I need to go out in a half hour for job tonight.
I don't much time to eat, so I eat a cup noodle instead of a proper meal.

Cup noodles are kind of instant noodles which are sold in a paper cup.
Maybe you already have known them better.
The cup noodles are not very good meal for your health, but if we are in a hurry, they are so convenient.
Also for a budget travel, they will help you.
Sometimes I take some of them with me in travel, get some hot water in a destination and eat them.
I can't eat them as our every meal in travel, but I often feel they are helpful.
Moreover, there are always brand-new type of cup noodles in supermarkets or shops, so it is kind of fun to find and try these new type of noodles.

If you have a chance to visit Japan, I suggest you to search local cup noodles here.
You will find a one which can be a souvenir for yourself.

Let's find what you want to do with the foreign language

We can do anything we want.
We don't need any patience or effort for doing something we like.
So if we need patience or effort on to do something, maybe it is not the thing we want to do very much.

On learning foreign languages, many people are suffering to keep their study.
They say they "have to study" the foreign language.
If you are forced to learn or study foreign languages by someone or situation, you feel it is like a torture.
Sometimes we have to learn something we don't want to, because our school or job require that.
However most of time language learning which we are forced to do doesn't produce a good result.
Because we need much patience or effort to continue such unwilling learning.
We want to finish such learning as soon as we can.
That's not good to improve.
As long as we continue, we will improve the language.

When we do things we want, we can continue forever.
Then, if we want to learn language, we can continue it without patience nor effort.
Because we like that.
To come to like to learn, let's focus on what you want to do with the language.
Is it for speaking with foreign people, reading a foreign books or something another fun?
Keep what in your mind clearly, it will help your learning a lot.
If you want to learn speaking, you will improve better on speaking.
If you want to learn reading, you will improve better on reading.
You can do it without patience or effort.

In case you are being forced to learn language, I'd give you an advice.
Let's find a fun in your purpose of the language learning.
Even you are learning because your job require that, there are benefits for you in the learning.
If you improve, you may get promotion or new job.
Maybe you will get attractive foreign friends in business if you will be fully fluent with the language.
Imagine your future benefits, then you can continue your learning more enjoyable.

Tamagoyaki aka Akashiyaki in Akashi city, the noble twin of Takoyaki

Akashi city, Hyogo, is a famous place for seafood such as sea bream, conger and octopus.
Also there is a nice food which is famous among people in Kansai region.
It is Tamagoyaki aka Akashiyaki.
Akashiyaki is a small ball shaped dumpling.
The food is called tamagoyaki by local people in Akashi, but generally tamagoyaki means Japanese omelette in Japan, so in outside of Akashi, it is called Akashiyaki to distinguish.

Akashiyaki was one of origin of Takoyaki in Osaka, thus they look almost similar.
But there are differences between Akashiyaki and Takoyaki.
For both foods octopus is used as a topping, however in contrast to Takoyaki which has various toppings such as green onion or dried bonito shavings, Akashiyaki has only octopus.
It doesn't have another toppings except octopus.
Moreover, the quantity of eggs in the dough of Akashiyaki is more than Takoyaki has.
The most big difference is, we don't put any sauce on Akashiyaki as we do for Takoyaki.
We eat Akashiyaki with dipping it in a special soup.

The egg flavor in the dough is stronger than Takoyaki, using a soup instead of a sauce, so Akashiyaki has very different taste to Takoyaki.
If you have known the taste of Takoyaki before you eat Akashiyaki, you will have strange feeling when you eat Akashiyaki.
Both Akashiyaki and Takoyaki are different but tasty foods.
However in my opinion, I thought Akashiyaki is a bit more refined, because we need chopsticks to eat the food and we need some manner to dip the dumpling into a soup.
It is not similar to eat Takoyaki.
I am sure you will have new experience with Akashiyaki.

Suna-mushi onsen, the sand bath in Ibusuki

Suna-mushi onsen (natural sand bath) is a very unique style of onsen in Ibusuki, Kagoshima.
Along the coast of Surigahama in Ibusuki city, there are hotels or onsen facilities which serve suna-mushi onsen style bath.

When you take the bath, you will take the procedure below.
At first, you change your cloth into a yukata (Japanese bathrobe) in a building.
Then you go outside, and walk to the suna-mushi onsen place on beach side.
They set a roof over the onsen place.
You enter under the roof, cover your head with a towel and lie down on the sand bed following instructions of onsen workers there.
Then, the workers put plenty of sand on your body by spade.
You are buried in the sand bath except your face.
Onsen is go through under the sand bed, so you will feel a heat on your back soon.
You begin to sweat all over youｒ body.

When I went to the onsen place and tried the suna-mushi onsen, an onsen worker told me 10 minutes is enough to get the effect of the onsen.
Also he told me some customers didn't follow the instructions of the workers and stayed far more than 10 minutes.
According to the worker, finally the customers got burned by heat of the onsen.

Actually the suna-mushi onsen is very comfortable and good for your health, but it is not good to spend too much time on the hot sand bed.
When you go to there, please follow the instruction by the onsen workers and enjoy safely.