Going to the doctor with a cold

I've been fighting a cold now for two and a half weeks. Actually, I'm pretty sure I was fighting a cold for about two weeks, after which time I caught a new one. At any rate, I've had to leave school early a few times because of it, and it just doesn't seem to be getting better. I've had a runny or blocked nose and cough for ever, it seems. The nose I can deal with. The cough is really getting in the way of my teaching, as talking loudly enough to be heard by a class tends to set me off (although that's been improving, and my voice no longer feels at risk of disappearing on me). Also, I think I've had a slight temperature the last few afternoons. The fact that I was really excited about Tim being here, and wanted to take advantage of the limited opportunity to go looking at Autumn leaves didn't help as I probably overdid it on Sunday. Ok Hunter, I can leave the "probably" out.

Anyway, today I gave in to all the people who have been hassling me and decided to go to the doctor, despite my belief that there's no point going to the doctor with just a cold. In Japan, it seems that a cold is a perfectly valid reason to go to the doctor, in fact, you get a lot of puzzled looks if you don't.

Anyway, after a fairly short wait, I was admitted to see the doctor, an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist (everyone's a specialist here). I admitted that I'd been taking over-the-counter cold medication (I don't usually do even that, but I've needed help getting through my teaching day), and this got a bit of a tut-tut. Then he presumed to inform me of my symptoms, cough, runny nose, sore throat, and didn't seem particularly interested that my throat wasn't sore. He sat me down in a chair, shoved a tong-like thing in my nostrils to open them, and proceeded to spray something (I assume a decongestant) up my nose, before sticking a great long vacuum thing up my nose. This made me seriously contemplate hitting the doctor to make it stop. It was incredibly unpleasant, and he gave me no warning of what to expect. Once he'd finished torturing my nose, he stuck my tongue down, and sprayed something down my throat, which immediately triggered a really nasty coughing fit.

After my treatment at the hands of the doctor, I was taken over to a machine, given a clean mouthpiece to attach to the end of a hose, and told to breath the medicated steam for three minutes. This was difficult to do, as I was still suffering from severe coughing. After my three minutes were up, I was moved to the adjacent machine, given a clean nose-piece, and did another 3 minutes of medicated steam to the nose. It did seem to clear my nose up for a few hours, but at the same time, it turned my phlegm-producing cough into a dry tickly cough for the same duration, and I prefer the phlegmy cough.

I was then given a prescription, told repeatedly to discontinue the over-the-counter medication I was taking, and directed to the adjacent pharmacy. I was  also told to come back in three days, which I do not intend on doing. Anyway, at the pharmacy, I kid you not, I was given three days' supply of eight different kinds of medicine. Eight! These included a gargle, tablets for the cough, painkillers (I don't have a sore throat!), antibiotics (I have a cold! I don't need antibiotics, they can't possibly help me, I refuse to take them, and I disapprove of this unwarranted use), and several different preparations to target phleghm and nose-mucus. I made them explain the purpose of each different type of medication, and wrote it all down. Of this, I expect to take the tablets for cough and maybe a couple of the phlegm/mucous ones tomorrow. The rest I will do without.

At least it wasn't expensive, compared to visiting a doctor in Australia. It cost me about $15 for the visit to the doctor, and $8 for a giant pile of medication. It might make the next few days more pleasant, though I'm sure I won't get better any faster for it.

A visit to the Meiji Chocolate Factory

A couple of months ago, my supervisor Dave came to visit me at Tsunoe. While eating lunch, we were chatting with some of the other teachers, and Dave brought up the fact that he had tried to organise a trip to the Meiji Chocolate Factory, but hadn't been able to make a booking. Note that this school is close enough to the Meiji Chocolate Factory that on most days there, I can smell the chocolate. After this, Dave casually asked when the next school trip to the Meiji Chocolate Factory would be. The teachers weren't sure, but quickly found out. "Lucy, are you working here that day?" No I wasn't, however, when this sad fact was mentioned to my Vice Principal, he quickly got on the phone to the school I was rostered on to for the excursion day, and pretty soon had arranged for a swap of days. Both Dave and my Vice Principal at Tsunoe are incredibly awesome!

Fast-forward to yesterday - Meiji School Trip day with Yr. 3. A bit of work needed to be done to re-adjust my schedule for the day so that my teaching worked around the trip times, but this was all cheerfully achieved, and with that, a very excited Lucy joined 80-odd very excited eight-year olds for a trip to the chocolate factory. As I said before, the factory is close to the school. No bus required, we got into lines and walked.

When we got there, we were ushered into a media room and shown a video about the chocolate factory, starring a confectionery crazy brother and sister who went to sleep and woke up at the factory. Cheesy, yes, but to my pleasant surprise I was able to understand the gist of pretty much all of it. We also all got a bag of goodies to take home, including a bag or Kaaru (curls), which I had never eaten before, but are of the Twistie/Cheezle variety, but with a milder flavour, a packet of Marbles (Smarties), some information booklets and a couple of other bits and pieces. I shared to Kaaru with the teachers back in the staffroom, but the marbles I kept for myself.

After the video, we had a toilet break, during which I ran around taking photos of stuff. I also learnt that this is one of only three major Meiji factories in Japan. This just reinforces my belief that Takatsuki is an incredible place to live. Not only is it ideally situated halfway between Kyoto and Osaka, two of the top three cities in Japan, it also has a chocolate factory. What more could I ask for?

Some of the Meiji products

Me with the Meiji mascots. If you aren't familiar with it, the picture on my t-shirt is actually the chemical structure for Theobromine, the key chemical in chocolate

  
After this, it was time for the tour itself. This aspect had two major disappointments. Firstly, I wasn't allowed to take any photos. I guess this is reasonable for the factory windows itself, but I would have loved to take photos of the human sized confectionery in the hallway. The other disappointment was perhaps more unreasonable. Somehow, my inner child was hoping for a Willy Wonka experience, even though I knew there was no way it was going to happen. Oh well.

Inside, we got to handle and smell cocoa beans, which I could only just smell through my blocked nose, and also broken up cocoa beans, which smelt absolutely divine even through my blocked nose.

Then we walked along a windowed corridor and saw the Kaaru being made, flavoured, packaged and boxed. It was interesting to follow all the mechanics of production and to work out what was happening at each step. However, a key factor was missing. Kaaru do not contain any chocolate. The next floor was more of a success. There we were able to see the production (in reverse, starting with the packaging) of chocolate-topped mushrooms, or Kinoko no Yama. These are absolutely delicious, and had the required chocolate component, and thus this section was much more entertaining, at least for me. So much chocolate!

And there ended the Meiji excursion. The kids had another toilet stop, and I left early with another of the teachers so that we could get ready for our 4th period lessons, with a few stops for photos along the way.

This is nearly as tall as me. I wanted to kiss it and hug it and otherwise act inappropriately, but I had to pretend to be a responsible adult.

Chocolate in its natural habitat

Ginkaku-ji and the Philosopher's Path

Hunter and I visited Ginkaku-ji back in September, but somehow I never got around to writing a post about it. Looking back through my photos today, I was reminded of this fact, and decided that I really should do something to remedy that, although my memories are now a little bit vague.

Ginkaku-ji, or the Silver Pavilion, was built to complement Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, however, due to problems with expenses, the original plan to cover the pavilion with silver leaf was never carried out. Thus it is architecturally very similar to Kinkaku-ji, but much more subdued.

From Ginkaku-ji we found walked to the start of the Philosopher's Path. Apparently, it is exceptionally beautiful (and busy) during cherry blossom season, but in summer it was a little disappointing. A few interesting shops were dotted along the path, but the walk was nothing special to see, with many rather unsightly buildings also present.
However, adjacent to the path is a huge number of temples and shrines. We didn't have time to visit them all, but we picked a few to explore. Since I was too lazy to do a post in a proper time-frame, it's taking a bit of research to appropriately label the ones we visited, but hopefully it's correct.

Hōnen-in

 

Unknown Temple
We saw this one on the map and went for a look, but I can't find it now. However, I only photographed it from the road.

Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji
This temple had some really beautiful grounds and allowed for some lovely walks.

At any rate, we lots of shrines and temples, though unfortunately not all of them, not even all the major ones, but it was all our poor legs could handle.

Fushimi Inari with Tim

I've blogged about Fushimi Inari before, but after tofuku-ji today, I went again to Fushimi Inari, this time with Tim. The two are great to do together, as they are the first (Tofuku-ji) and second (Fushimi Inari) stops from Kyoto on the Nara line.

Last time I went to Fushimi Inari was with Mum and Dave, and they weren't feeling up to much of a hike, as they were already both sore from all the walking and riding they'd done (actually, my legs were hurting too, and I thought I was used to walking and riding). Today however, Tim and I found the energy, despite the odd cough and sneeze, to explore the tracks up into the mountains behind the main shrine. The gates extended along most of the paths, although the further up the mountain we went, the worse repair they tended to be in. In some areas, there were 10 or more stumps in a row where a gate had once been between standing gates. However, it was also much quieter, a welcome change from the chaos of the earlier sightseeing, and we were able to enjoy some more subtle but still beautiful autumn colours.

As an aside, I found a handy guide for how to use a squat

 

Autumn leaves at Tōfuku-ji

Autumn leaf viewing season has arrived. In Japan, kouyou, or autumn leaf viewing is as big as the cherry blossom season, and both draw incredible crowds. I heard that one of the best local sights for kouyou is at Tōfuku-ji, and it seems that half of Japan had the same idea. There must have been several thousand people there at the same time we were. The trains to get there were absolutely packed, and the approach to the temple was dotted with traffic conductors making sure that the streams of foot traffic proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Next weekend, we will go on a hike to view the autumn colours, where it should be quieter, but it was definitely worth braving the crowds for the sights today at Tōfuku-ji. Despite the huge numbers of people, Tim and I were still able to enjoy a little peace wandering through the park enjoying the autumn colours. Below is a selection of today's best photos.

 

 

My new desktop background

 
A few other non-leafy sights...

Kusudama

A couple of months ago, I decided that the Japan experience wouldn't be complete without a bit of origami. Sure, I'd folded a couple of cranes in the Hiroshima Starbucks, but that didn't really count.

Being me, I decided to jump in the deep end with something worth doing, and decided on a kusudama, an origami ball, in this case made of flowers. As a result, it took me about two months to complete. In the same timeframe, Jess saw what I was doing, liked the look of it, and folded about a dozen to send home to Australia.

Nevertheless, on Saturday, I finally found the ribbon I needed and glued the last bits together, and can show off my finished kusudama.

For anyone feeling up to the challenge, it's actually very easy to make, although gluing the petals together to make flowers, and then gluing the flowers together to make the ball is a bit time-consuming.

Kiyomizu with Tim

I'd been to Kiyomizudera a couple of times before, once shortly after we arrived, in Spring (cherry blossom season), and another time in Summer with Mum and Dave. Tim's arrival here neatly coincided with Autumn, and the beginning of the Autumn leaf season, so I'm on track for getting photos of "4 Seasons of Kiyomizu".

Below are a few photos, more of leaves than of the temple to be honest.

 

Kiyomizudera - unfortunately, not much red to be seen

Yummy! Cucumber on a stick!

On the way back down, we also visited Ryozen Kannon Temple, which I'd previously thought of as "The Big Buddha near Kiyomizu". We'd seen it before (you really can't miss the giant Buddha head), but not thought it worth the entry fee. Anyway the statue is 24 meters high and made of concrete, and was built in memory of the unknown soldier(s) who died in WWII. The "s" is in brackets above, because Japanese doesn't usually bother to state plurals explicitly, and it has been translated into singular form, though I expect it should be plural. Anyway, we got to see the statue up close, and actually walked through the base of it, where clouds of incense set my coughing off, but basically, it was nice to see, but not all that special. I got a pretty photo though.

Tim is here

Tim arrived Friday evening, and will stay for just over 3 weeks in total. We enjoyed a weekend together (quick trip into Osaka on Saturday, but it was pouring so we didn't do any sightseeing), and a visit to Kiyomizu (photos coming) on Sunday. Somehow, contrary to what I expected, we didn't really have that much catching up to do. It was definitely great to see my little brother, but we found that there wasn't all that much new to talk about, I guess that's what the Internet and Skype do.

He is now exploring the southwest of Japan, and will return to Takatsuki on Friday to spend the weekend with us.

A very full-on week

The maximum number of lessons in a day is six, with the exception of Wednesdays, where there are only five periods. Last week I had three days of six periods, and two days of five, which, at one short of the maximum possible, was a record for me. Add to this the fact that this was the week that the Toowoomba delegation was visiting, meaning dinner with Toowoomba representatives on Wednesday and Thursday nights, as well as a celebration marking the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Sister City agreement between Toowoomba and Takatsuki, which took up the better part of Saturday, and I'm wrecked. Hunter was sick earlier in the week, and I started to get sniffly on Friday, and spent most of the 20th Anniversary celebrations trying not to sneeze/blow my nose too loudly. This morning I slept until 11, and took it easy most of the day, and am feeling somewhat better, but not really ready to face school again tomorrow. Curse foreign germs! I think this is the 5th cold I've come down with since coming to Japan, two this season, and at least two, I think three towards the start of the year when it was still warming up. At least both Hunter and I have had flu shots, so we should be safe from that. Anyway, I'm hoping to write up a bit more about the various events of the visit from the Toowoomba people in the next few days, but currently, I'm not feeling particularly coherent.

Japan is as bad as Australia

Japan is as bad as Australia. It only took a few days after Halloween to clear out the Halloween stock, and the stores were filled with Christmas stuff, with Christmas carols blaring in English on the loudspeakers. This in a country where Christmas itself is virtually a non-event.

Halloween in Japan

In Japan, Halloween is huge, yet a non-event. In other words, Halloween is a great commercial opportunity to sell Halloween themed ice-creams at Baskin Robbins, special Halloween themed cookies at the supermarket, and Halloween decorations everywhere. In that regard, Halloween is much much bigger an event than it is in Australia. However, hardly anybody here seems to have any idea what Halloween is about, except that it includes spooky costumes and pumpkins, and is thus an opportunity, I suppose, to spend money.

Leading up to and immediately after Halloween, most of us AETs ran a number of Halloween themed lessons. As Aussies, none of us care about Halloween much, but it's become a bit of an AET tradition, and it means we can have a lesson that's a fun break away from regular study, and give the kids a bit of background to the holiday a well. I had some great fun making kids dress up in ridiculous costumes, as well as pretending to be various monsters, with English vocab included, of course.

Last weekend most of us also helped out at a special Halloween party for a wide ranging age of kids, from toddlers to Yr. 6s, with more adults around than children. The huge age range made things a little challenging, but we had great fun with a round of trick-or-treating where we were allowed to jump out and scare the kids (hopefully without making them cry!), and there was plenty of "candy" left over for us.

Don't we look wonderful?

As an aside, most people here seem to think that Halloween is a Christian holiday, like Easter and Christmas, and are surprised to learn that a) many Christians consider it evil, and b) it's a complete non-event in Australia.

Himeji Castle

Photo from Wikipedia

Himeji Castle (or Himeji Joo) is the iconic Japanese Castle. However, it currently doesn't look anything like the photo above, as it is undergoing a five year restoration process (due to complete in 2016), and the main castle keep is surrounded by scaffolding and a protective cover. Thus it looks much more like:

Notice the lovely big keep tower is missing?

Despite this, Himeji Castle was definitely worth a visit.


When we bought our entry tickets, we saw a sign saying "Free English guided tours available, please ask". We looked at the sign, but decided that it probably wasn't worth it. However, as we were walking in, a lady grabbed us, told us that there were guided tours available, that they were really good, and lead us over to the appropriate window. I'm so glad that this happened, as our tour guide turned what would have been a very damp visit into a truly interesting and memorable one.

Our tour guide came out, and, somewhat to our surprise, off we went, just the two of us and our personal tour guide, for over three hours. We've visited a few other Japanese castles, Hikone Castle, Osaka Castle (I've actually been there three times), and Nijo Castle, but having someone with us to explain things made the experience much much richer.

 
Thanks to our guide, we finally understood so many things that had puzzled us on previous castle visits.

• Why are Japanese castle walls always white? Because they were traditionally made of wood, which was flammable, so to protect them, they were rendered with a white plaster.
• Why do so many Japanese fortifications have arrow slits just above floor level? They're not arrow slits, they're designed to be used with a musket, lying down.
• Why does siege weaponry never seem to have been a factor in Japanese warfare? Because to win a battle, you needed the head of the opposing leader, so you couldn't risk anything that would potentially mangle the body.

Arrow slits, or a child's "which shape fits in which hole?" activity?

He also pointed out so many things that we would never have noticed otherwise, such as in the below photo, the window is behind the white bars, and the black and gold bars are just for decoration.

Something that was really interesting was how he drew attention to the attention paid to psychology in the development of the layout. It wasn't a maze as such, but at several points was designed to lead people to go the wrong way. This was illustrated when he stopped us at a gate, and asked us which way we would go next to get to the main keep. Of course having charged through a gate, we would continue through,  not turn around and go straight back through a smaller gate going downhill back in the direction we just came from (the actual path to the keep). Also, he just pointed out little details, like how the defensive corridoor had built in ventillation to deal with musket smoke.

Let me out!

Because of the restoration of the main keep, we didn't get to see it in its full glory. Somewhat (though definitely not fully) compensating for this was the fact that we got to see (for a small extra fee) some restoration-related aspects.

The roof of the keep with all the tiles removed

The process of tiling:
Wooden shingles are used
Wooden supports are covered with clay
Tiles are laid
gaps are sealed with white plaster, which then goes grey with mould after a few years

As we walked around the castle grounds, we also had a number of opportunities to pose for photos. Since it was raining, there weren't many people around, so we never had to wait long.

 

The non-ninja Japanese guy is our friendly tour guide

The fool tried to run off with a Ninja's sword...Look like I'm single again

Throughout the day, our tour guide was incredibly friendly and informative, as he followed us through the mud in his dressy black shoes. He had great English with a surprising vocabulary. Often, he had to search for the right word by trying out a number of similar sounding words, but he nearly always got the right one. We had lots of laughs, and Hunter and I managed to teach him some new English (such as murder-hole instead of the official stone-throwing-hole), as well as explaining some of the ambiguities in English (an English information board stated that the women's quarters were thought to be lively, which got a laugh out of us, and apparently plenty of previous English-speaking visitors too).

Then it was back home (after well over and hour on the train), to have a hot shower and get into some dry clothes.