An Adventure in Fushimi Inari Taisha (Rylee)

Imagery of Kyoto is everywhere. If you were to see Japan as the topic of something, e.g. television episode, magazine article, movie, imagery of iconic places in Kyoto are almost certain to appear. No image more than Fushimi Inari Taisha’s countless torii gates has appeared in popular culture back in the United States when concerning Japan that I have come across, therefore I had to visit the grounds to find out why this place is so popular.

The famous torii path

Finding the place was no difficult task as it is always at the top of tour pamphlets and marked on Google Maps with thousands of positive reviews. Fushimi Inari Taisha is located near a JR train station making it easily accessible compared to other shrines I have previously visited. Shuffle your way through a narrow street of shops and suddenly you reach the main path to the temple grounds. There is no entrance fee and I saw no opening and closing times, therefore you may come and go at your own pace and without the need to hurry or worry about paying admittance. This brings the impression that these temple grounds are more akin to a public park. Free for anyone to use without restrictions, with the added bonus of the beautiful sights.

Main path facing away from the grounds

Fushimi Inari Taisha had a steady number of guests on the day that I visited. It was not crowded to the degree of Nishiki market or downtown Kyoto but there was a noticeably large crowd. Many Asian tourists other than the Japanese seemed to be visiting as the slight majority and the other half seemed to be half Japanese and half Westerners. The Asian tourists seemed to interact with the temple’s amenities to a greater degree. A large crowd of Chinese tourists always seemed to be swarming around the offering boxes, buying gifts, and in general being more energetic. Westerners seemed to stand back and take pictures and spectate.

Stickers everywhere

The area has definitely shown its popularity through its physical features. Stone steps and paths were worn down to be quite slippery and vandalism seemed to be quite higher in comparison to other shrines and temples through litter, stickers and people trying to engrave stuff into the torii and trees. Some of this is to be expected as this temple gets so much traffic to make it feel like a train station but stands as evidence as to why some people do not tolerate tourists. The most important part of my experience though was to see the beauty of the temple grounds. Fushimi Inari Taisha is one of the most quintessential Japan-esque places boasted by many and it definitely shows. It may be due to the overloading of cultural symbols of torii, folklore, and the serene nature of the forest on a mountain, or just our predisposition as tourists as we have seen pictures of this place many times before coming. Our expectations were set beforehand and were well surpassed. The temple’s popularity is expected due to its ease of access and its sheer size. However, Fushimi Inari Taisha does not use any gimmicks as seen in other temples to attract guests, therefore further pushing the point that the temple grounds itself though seemingly rarely modified to meet modern demands can still attract plenty of visitors and remain relevant.

Places to Find (Shelby)

Two weekends ago, October 13 and 14, I met with Furukawa-sensei in Kyoto. After we went to various places for those two days, Furukawa-sensei sent us on our way to find somewhere we hadn’t been yet. There are no shortage of places to visit in Kyoto-- places for tourists, history buffs, or just places you can happen upon by chance. For me, I wasn’t thinking about going to a well-known place that people are likely to know or can easily look up. While those places are important and often nice places to visit, I opted to take another route in finding a place to go, one that I preferred to be on the way back to Hirakata City. Thus, I took to Google Maps to decide for me, and I chose a temple at random to find and visit.

My decision took me to Tobakaido station. From what I saw of the town and the size of the station, the town is likely small and relatively unknown to tourists. I saw few people there and only two foreigners. That being said, from the station, it took roughly 3-5 minutes to walk to the temple I had chosen. Based on what I saw of the town, I wasn’t expecting a large temple, but what I found was even more out of the realm of what I expected; in fact, I almost walked right past it. It was right in between two housing complexes, with one stone post and a wall that you would expect to see at a temple. While I can’t read what was on the stone post, I’m assuming it had something to do with the temple.

Post by the temple entrance

The temple wasn’t really a temple at all-- it was a small space in between the houses around it, where a small, orange altar had been set up. That was all. There were no people, but there were bikes, likely belonging to the people who lived in the houses whose front doors were right next to the small altar. I could tell that it was visited at least kind of frequently, as there were cups that I guessed were offerings on the altar.

Temple gate

I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed in my choice of actions, but I was very surprised that such a small temple would show up on Google Maps. I know, just from going from my house to school, that there are small places like that everywhere in Japan that you can walk past a hundred times before you realize it’s a shrine. I assumed that it was probably just a neighborhood temple.

Site Discovery in Kyoto (Keaton)

For my field notes, I looked at Nishiki-Tenmangu shrine. Strangely, this was not my first choice in selecting a site to research. I decided to look do my report on this place because of its surprising appearance. The shrine itself is in the middle of a busy shopping district with an arcade, samurai museum, and Wendy’s just a few feet away. While in the middle of this chaos, Nishiki-Tenmangu is behind an open gate which feels like it takes you to another world.

What you see when you walk in

Unlike the rest of the shopping district, the shrine is outside, and like many other places like it, Nishiki-Tenmangu has all the materials most other shrines have: hand washing station, omamori for sale, and ema. The ema, which people write hopes and dreams on, were the most interesting. Since the shrine is right in the middle of a tourist heavy area, there were many ema written in non-Japanese languages. While there were some ema written in various European and Asian languages, about one-fifth all the ema were written in english. From reading the Eenglish ones, I found that most wished for general things like good health and a happy future.

The shrine also has unique characteristics that set it apart from shrines that I have seen in the past. One of the first attributes I notices was the brass bull towards the entrance of the shrine. I saw many times during my visit the bull getting touched and rubbed. It is clear that it is a common occurence from the obvious color change on the statue’s head. Other unique features I spotted were two machines near the head of the shrine. One machine was a robot Kamishibai that told a story by selecting different pictures for each part. The other machine took me a while to understand, but eventually, I saw that it was a fortune teller that uses a mechanical dragon to pick a fortune out of a bowl.

The fortune telling robot also comes with English fortunes 

This place is on of the shrines for Tenjin, a kami for studying. While some may use this shrine for that purpose, I found no English ema about this topic. This may be because of the high amount of tourists that visit this shrine. The shrine does contain many resources for english visitors. This includes detailed maps of the shrine, warning signs, and instructions on shrine etiquette. The shrine seems overall welcoming to tourists, and it is nice to see a shrine that welcomes both the local and the visitor.

A Tourist's Perspective - Namahage (Zowie)

On October 12, 2018, I traveled to Oga Peninsula with Professor Furukawa and Gray. During our time there we visited Godzilla Rock, Akagami Shrine Goshado and climbed its 999 steps, the tip of the Peninsula to eat lunch at a delicious restaurant, and the Namahage Museum. Even though Oga is only about an hour away from my university I felt like I had been transported to a completely different place.

The shrine allegedly has 999 steps that were built by the Namahage 

The trees that grow up the side of the mountain appear to be stripped of their leaves and the buildings were dusted with rust from years of salt water eroding the metal. These harsh weather conditions are a reflection of how Oga was formed as a landscape, as a people, and the traditions that came about. And yet, there is still something absolutely breathtaking about this area regardless of its rugged appearance.

Godzilla rock stands fiercely next to the sea.

While in Oga I wanted to look into how the Namahage traditions are being kept alive, as the population decreases. Specifically, I focused on how Oga is marketing to tourists and what has changed as a result of trying to preserve this tradition. While the Namahage has a few different stories about their origin their main purpose is the same. During the New Year Holiday, they come down to the villages to scold and threaten lazy children and sometimes even family members. They come into the house scolding the lazy people and try to take them back to the mountain in a sack. Many kids cry to their parents in fear and run into their protective embrace as it can be quite frightening. However, after eating and drinking sake the Namahage leave good wishes for the family and leave the house only to return again the next year.

At the Namahage Museum you can see the different types that are located in this area. Some Namahage masks are intricately carved while others are made from paper mache or even wood bark.

Fast forward to today, the purpose of the Namahage has shifted in numerous aspects in order to adapt to the new conditions which mostly comes down to the lack of people. Apparently, there are only a dozen, or so, children in Oga and they probably won’t stay to carry on the tradition. Therefore citizens in Oga are forced to adjust the tradition or watch it fade away along with the people. There is a divide between many citizens, some want to create a nicer version of the Namahage as a way to attract tourists and check on the elderly during the winter months; however, some refuse this and would rather have the tradition stay within the community.

I bought a keychain souvenir with the cuter image of the Namahage. This image can be seen in numerous products when marketing to tourists.

The nicer Namahage image popped up often as we traveled around the peninsula. There are cute versions posted on fliers and items such as souvenirs are paired with popular characters such as Hello Kitty and Tamago making them appear much less terrifying then they are intended to be. Even during the performance I watched which is supposed to replicate a night with a Namahage, they didn’t act as they would during a local home visit. They greeted me with good evening and didn’t act out trying to take someone from the home. It was much less fearful than I thought it would be. The other tourists seemed to be smiling and laughing, enjoying the performance, rather than feeling afraid.

There are numerous reasons behind the attitude shift towards how the Namahage should be presented to “outsiders”. But it is apparent that the nice Namahage is the most popular. In the future, I wonder if the Namahage tradition will be sustained as there are less people to take over and what other aspects the community is willing to change in order to keep it alive.

Goshado Mountain Trek (Gray)

We went to the Oga penninsula this week on a field excursion, and decided to climb the 999 steps of the famous Akagami Shrine Goshado. The shrine is built into a mountain, with three large shrine buildings at the peak, along with a holy well and a small building where you can buy good luck charms and fortunes. The main feature of the shrine is the long stone path carved into the mountain. It is nearly vertical in places, but has a couple forgiving slopes. It was used for ascetic training when it was founded as a Buddhist temple in 860, and was converted into a Shinto Shrine in 1860. 

There a five identical shrine buildings at the top, with the center one being larger because it houses the head god of the shrine. 

The shrine also holds interest for those looking to learn about the possible origins of the Namahage, the ever present spirits that are a mascot of the peninsula. According to legend, a Chinese emperor in search on immortality brought ogres to Oga, where they terrorized the local populace. The locals made a deal where if the ogres could build a thousand stairs to climb the mountain up to the shrine in a single night, they would be given a maiden every year as tribute. If they failed, they must never descend upon the village again. The villagers trick the ogres into thinking sunrise has come by making a rooster sound and the steps remained unfinished. This is just one of the many theories as to where the Namahage ritual comes from.

It was quite a trip to the top!

The experience of climbing to Goshado was interesting due to many factors. At the bottom of the mountain there was a basket full of bamboo and wood walking sticks that had clearly seen some use, so our party each decided to take one, yet none of the Japanese climbers had one. It also struck me as strange that there was a whole party of men in dress shoes going up what was very rough terrain without the assistance of a walking stick.

As is typical of most shrines, there was a small building to buy good luck charms that was closed when we arrived. It was very different to the high traffic shrines I had been to in Kyoto and Tokyo and provided valuable perspective on what these historical sites look like in more isolated regions such as Oga.

Second-Hand Games and Goods in Japan (Rylee)

I am not the most enthusiastic shopper compared to most people. I try to avoid spending money on non-essentials often, especially as a college student, but over my life I have carved out a fairly large niche for retro games. So, when I discovered a store dedicated solely to the sale of second-hand classic video game hardware and memorabilia called Super Potato I was instantly amused. Accounting for my past trips to Japan and now, I still firmly believe I have visited this store more often than shopping for groceries or food. I consider myself a regular as I visit every week as stock always cycles through frequently and there is always something new to see.

A wall of Super Famicon in box games.

Super Potato has two stores in Tokyo, a conveniently located East Ikebukuro store, and a much larger Akihabara store. I take pleasure in going to these stores not for the purpose of buying things but for the sights. Many people state that Super Potato is much as a museum as it is a store and I couldn’t agree more. What makes Super Potato stand out is the sheer quantity and quality of its collection making it unmatched to other used games stores around the world. Super Potato attracts a lot of foreign visitors and surprises them with a working demo unit of a Nintendo Virtual Boy, obscure game systems and much more that you would be bewildered to find back in places such as the United States.

Nintendo Virtual Boy Demo Unit

The people who come from afar usually buy a lot at Super Potato even though the prices are not exactly bargains. Enthusiasts are excited to see things such as more working Sega Saturn units stacked on a shelf than all listings on eBay combined, and to have all of the accessories and games sitting right next to them for sale. Super Potato is an archive of Japanese video games where you will find anything released between 1980 to the early 2000s.

The beauty of it all is that you see gently used stuff from ages ago on display as if it were brand new. The ability to have places such as Super Potato and many other second-hand stores within Japan selling used goods as if it were bulk is definitely surprising. People surprisingly take care of their possessions in Japan allowing for the second-hand market to thrive and allows us visitors to witness parts of history such as through the evolution of consumer Japan.

Stacks of Famicon Systems

In the home entertainment or video game sense, the prevalence of old electronics and media can be also attributed for Japan’s stubborn nature towards adoption of more advanced and more complicated technologies. Games from the 80s and 90s were fun and easy to understand with their plug and play nature. Why would someone want to spend more money on something more complex for the same result on what you already have? Thus, the abundance of second-hand game stores unparalleled to any other place on earth. There is certainly evidence for and against this, but the fondness Japan has developed for older technologies and mediums is well beyond what I have experienced in America. The surging economy in the 80s is another factor into the prevalence of luxury goods, so the record-breaking sales numbers in the mid 80s are no doubt a contributor to the abundance of Nintendo Famicom systems and the sort. The surge of home computer systems and game consoles in Japan had far reaching effects on countries such as the United States, and without it today’s video game scene would be very different.

Nintendo Game and Watch

My Trips to the Grocery Store (Zowie)

A sweet treat from Aeon Mall.

Over the past month in Akita, the place I have become a frequent visitor to is the grocery store. It is about a 15-minute bus ride from Akita International University and located in the basement of Aeon mall. Every Sunday without fail I head to Aeon around 9 am or 11 am. While a grocery store may seem like a lackluster place there are plenty of new foods to buy and samples to try (during the morning hours). Every week I feel like I find a new section of the store I’ve never seen before. The main reason is there is only a limited time before the next bus comes so I try to get in and get out as efficiently as possible, but every week I try to buy something I have never had before. For example last week, I discovered the section that sells pre-made goods like fried chicken, grilled pork on a stick, and seafood. It is similar to the deli section at Walmart that has pre-made food, but at Aeon, there is a larger variety of delicious food to choose from. As funny as it sounds, I was overjoyed and relieved that I could buy something to eat after returning to campus without having to cook first.

Like most stores, it has a separate alcohol, fruits, vegetables, meats, cereals, hygiene products, sweets, and pre-made goods sections. However, something that I don’t see in the United States is the gift section. They have sweets like cookies, cakes, that are packaged nicely and some have cute designs specific to Akita, like Namahage, which is a type of mythical creature that is like a demon, mountain ogre, or spirit.

These are Namahage (https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Namahage_,_なまはげの像_-_panoramio_(1).jpg)

Aeon isn’t as big as large chain retailers in the United States, but it has everything I need and more. The workers who are giving out samples always have a smile on their face. There have been a few times when they tried to hold a conversation with me, but I only could pick up less than half of what they were saying. But we were still able to communicate through gestures. Also, I have noticed that I am used to hearing my professor speak clear concise Japanese but most of the students and locals speak fast and somewhat unclear.

Even though this is the place I have frequented the most I hope to find other places to go to over the next few months I am here. There are so many things I want to do, but transportation can be extremely inconvenient when trying to plan a trip off campus. But I am hopeful I can travel off campus more frequently on the coming months.

Student Lounge (Shelby)

One place that I go almost every day of the week is the student lounge in the center for international education on campus. The room is large, with many chairs, tables, and couches, and a large wall in the back showing the time for various places of the world. International students and native Japanese students alike come to the lounge to hang out, do homework, recruit people for events, or take naps. Some people even use the building next to the lounge, where there are large, reflective windows, to practice dancing. I, personally, like to watch them sometimes while I’m there.

People use it as a mutual meeting ground when they need to meet up with someone or get a group together because almost everyone knows where it is. Often times, the Japanese students who are not part of the study abroad prep program go to the lounge to find students that can help them correct their English homework or help them with a project. I’ve been approached by several girls who have asked me to help them correct papers or understand a part of their class reading. Just recently, I was asked by a trio of students in a Japanese linguistics group to help them with a project where they have to teach someone ten Japanese words, so they decided that they would teach me ten words of the Kansai dialect. I was also asked by a few people if I was interested in participating in field trips or volunteer activities.

Volunteer Opportunity Flier from Last Week

The student lounge provides a unique dynamic on the campus, as it is not an exclusive area for international students or students who want to study and it’s not a place where there are any particular set of expectations. People are loud, they play games, do homework, nap, or just do whatever they want to do. Japanese students seem to go there to hang out with other Japanese students rather than to meet international students, which I find surprising, as it’s probably one of the most densely populated places in terms of where international students go. And, as someone who has the chance to sit in the lounge for extended periods of time, mainly over lunch, it’s interesting to see the amount of people who come to the lounge to eat lunch. As soon as lunch is over, the room quickly empties and becomes incredibly quiet. And even then, when people are in class or eating lunch, there’s almost always people dancing outside.

Japan’s Gashapon (Keaton)

When looking at what I was consuming here in Japan, the gashapon, or gacha, is a strange decision I settled on. This is because I have not been buying a lot of gachas (compared to my friends anyway), but I believe this is not the only thing involved in the culture of gachas.

First off, gashapons are small dispensers that give out a small item depending on the gacha you use. These items range from small magnets that cost around a 100 yen to a modest size figure that can cost around around 500 yen. These little machines can be found almost anywhere and can be found in groups. While you find a lot of these in groups of around six, there are some places that can contain rows and rows of these dispensers.

Example of a typical gacha station.

America also has gacha, but on a smaller scale. Supermarkets may have a small candy or bouncy ball dispenser near the entrance that costs 25 cents, but Japanese gacha give off a different feel. The items you get from gacha differs depending on the machine; however, most of the gachas are anime related. By appealing to fandoms, Japanese gashapon gain more incentive to buy than a 25 cent bouncy ball. Not only this, but the items you receive are quality products you could buy at comic stores like keychains and pins.

One of the items I was able to get.

But like I said, I have not purchased from a lot of gacha, but I still feel like I am a consumer unlike some customers I have watched which come to machines with a cup of 100 yen hellbent on getting the one they want. For me, like the gambling high of getting the right keychain, there is also a high in finding the right machine to use. Since gashapon cover many properties, there is always new gacha to find, and finally finding the one with the show that you like is a exhilarating feeling. I even biked an hour out of my way to just use the gacha because my friend told me of a gacha I was looking for.

Gacha are more than just a machine on the side of the street. However small they may be, the nicknacks you can get from gashapon can be a way to show off your interests for just a small small price. While the item may be nice, finding the gacha you have been searching for is half the fun. While I do not buy a lot, I am always waiting to find the the one gacha that will make my day.

Yokoso, YouTube! (Gray)

My prompt for this week was to become a “fan” of something. Though I am a regular at the campus conbini, I decided it would be interesting to take my research to a digital space: YouTube! In the course of my time in Japan so far I have picked up several Japanese YouTube channels that I watch regularly, though I had started watching one while I was still in the U.S. The ones I’ll be talking about, because I watch them most regularly, and have participated in their comments section, are a prank/comedy channel called SUSHI RAMEN [Riku] and a cooking/vlog network of channels run by Rachel and Jun, an American/Japanese married couple living in Japan.

Banner from Rachel and Jun's main channel, where they mostly post in English about life in Japan. Jun has a cooking channel of his own.

The general flow of consuming these videos is dependent on if a new one has been uploaded. While some channels have a more regular upload schedule, others are more scattered in their upload times. When a new video was uploaded, I would watch and comment, usually in Japanese but there were some channels with majority English comments. The content of the videos on these channels varies but I’ll give an example of a recent video by SUSHI RAMEN [Riku].

Thumbnail and description from SUSHI RAMEN [Riku]'s most recent video.

By the thumbnail and editing you can tell that he takes a lot of inspiration from Japanese comedy variety shows, with colorful subtitles in Japanese as well as general absurd video concepts, like building a slide from the front door to the living room with guitars attached to the sides so he can play a song when he comes home from his part time job. This, while patently ridiculous, is enjoyable because of [Riku]’s personality and his unique editing style. 

The majority of comments on [Riku]’s channel are in Japanese, with the occasional one-off English comments remarking on how “Japanese” his videos are. My attempts to engage in the comments were mostly in Japanese, garnering a couple likes but no replies, which I in general expected. The comments section of a Youtube video is not the best place to have conversations with other fans as there are a lot of comments and it is easy to get lost in the shuffle.

I think in future I should also ask my Japanese friends and my roommate what YouTube channels they watch, so I can watch the same things and have discussions with them from that. I was particularly interested in investigating a form of pop culture created by the individual instead of by larger companies and industries. It was interesting to see how the content on YouTube borrows from more traditional mediums like television, and the cultural specificity of those references. But all in all, I encourage my fellow students and blog readers to check out Japanese YouTube! You never know what you’ll find!