Today was Bunka no Hi (Culture Day), so what better way to spend it than a trip to Japan's former capital and home of really old things, Nara. Besides, it's only a quick trip from Mukaijima and we were meeting the SOAS contingent of Nagoya's Nanzan University for the weekend. We arrived in the afternoon and headed through Nara park towards the Todai-ji. The deer had seemed to disappear from my last visit, replaced with bustling crowds in town for the Shosojin Treasure exhibition displaying national treasures that only see the light of day for a brief period each year, and this being a national holiday, it seemed like everyone in Kansai was making the pilgrimage. We focused on seeing Nara's big attraction, the Todai-ji and its massive Daibutsu-den (Hall of the Great Buddha - pictured above), the largest wooden building in the world and only two thirds its original size as well. I came here in 2004 and still knew my way around, but was again impressed at the scale of everything. The lovely afternoon sun and autumnal colours were out in force, and the deer were now far more plentiful (though recently rendered antler-less). We met Mikael and Bobby inside the Daibutsu-den and then took a walk around the eastern side of the complex, climbing up to the balcony of the Nigatsu-do for sunset views of Nara. It was dark as we passed through Nara park to meet up with Lenka and then we all went out for a delicious okonomiyaki supper (mmm...Calpis Chu Hai and Pizza Okonomiyaki) with Aussies Natalie (from Doshisha) and Jarred.We then descended upon the nearby Sega arcade for games of Street Fighter, Rockman 2, Air Hockey, Virtua Fighter 5 and Taiko no Tatsujin 8 (see Lenka and Baptiste getting into the beat above), before rounding it all off with a photo-sticker booth session. The whole procedure was very confusing and really pushed you to make quick decisions for photo selections, print methods and the like - at one point, we thought we weren't going to get any photos at all, but lo and behold, out they came and by golly are there some choice gurns and positions being pulled. Shortly after, we headed back to Kyoto, Lenka to Tal's place, Bob and Mike to Mukaijima, where we ate snacks and watched Space Travelers.
Saturday 4th November - Balls and Torii
My glittering football career continues apace! This time, Kenta and chums were playing in a football tournament taking place at the Kyotanabe campus as part of the Doshisha Sports Festival. Our team, Onahaku F.C. International (being the only non-Japanese player, I geuss I'm the 'international' part), was one of 32 competing in the two-day knock-out tournament at the campus, which is home to the large university sporting grounds. I hadn't been to Kyotanabe before, and it was a lovely agricultural area, with the campus itself comparatively massive to the Imadegawa one.
We were to play the first match of the day, so it was an 8am start to meet up with Kenta at Mukaijima station, even though are actual game did not begin until 11am. Nevertheless, we met up with other members of our team (some from last time, including the irrepressible Uza, others I hadn't met before), and started to do a bit of kick-about practice. Unfortunately, Brett, who can actually play football and does so in a team based in Osaka, was under the weather and couldn't make it, but we managed to get someone on temporary loan to fill the gap (it seemed that between match transfers were being employed by every team anyway). The pitch itslf was located at the top of the campus (near the horse-riding area and the inline-skating) and the astro-turf was a welcome change from the sandy baseball grounds of my previous match.
Again, I opted for right midfield. I figured that as the matches only lasted 15 minutes each this time round, that the match would be over before I got too knackered. I think I played a little better this time, and while my input had little bearing on the overall score, I was happy that we actually won this time, a convincing 2-1 victory. This time, I only picked up a minor injury from punting the ball too hard, causing a little bleeding from my right big toe, but nothing too traumatic. Our next game would not be until tomorrow, so I bid my team-mates adieu and headed back through Kyotanabe.
I had not realised that this weekend was a broader Kyotanabe festival at the campus, with the sports competitions and demonstrations just a small part of it. There was a music stage with a beatbox pop song covers group called FullTone perfoming and many Doshisha societies were running a variety of stalls. I stopped in my tracks when I saw a Chicken Kebab stall, with Japanese onlookers marvelling at the food preparation which I consider so matter-of-fact in the UK with the same kind of awe I probably feel when I see your average Japanese meal being prepared. It was 500 yen for not very much and I had to queue for 20 minutes, but it was so worth it and I had a nice little conversation with the Turkish guy running it.
I returned to Mukaijima and Bob, Mike, Baptiste and I decided to head to Fushimi Inari-taisha for a late afternoon/early evening stroll. Famous for its thousands of red torii lining up the mountain path and its numerous stone foxes, a walk up Mt. Inari at night is a thrilling atmospheric experience, like a ghost train without the "boo!"s, allowing you to fully appreciate the eerieness of it all. As we passed through the winding gates as it became dark, we stumbled across many small graveyards and shrines, encountered various cats and spiders and walked through an area not unlike Ewok village from Return of the Jedi.
We dropped back into reality when we ate at Shakey's again (can't beat pizza/pasta buffet) before an evening of bowling with Doshisha, Kyoto Gaidai and Nanzan students. The Japanese organisation of the bowling experience is perhaps more complex than a typical Pure 3 Maths question, as we had to be split up into two groups of 8, then into groups of 4, then into pairs. We were told that half of us would have to wait half-an-hour to play, but then we played at the same time on the same lanes anyway! Plus I had to get special shoes for my (comparatively) colossal feet. Nevertheless, we had a good time and I managed to get a few satisfying strikes.
Unfortunately, I'd been led to believe this was to be just the start of a heady evening of entertainment and that I wasn't going to sleep before my next footie game the next day (which kicked off at 9am). As a result, I deliberately missed the last train home, only to find the majority of people calling it a night and everyone us saying there was no plan afterwards all along. Downtrodden, those staying in Mukaijima walked from Shijo to Kyoto station (about 20 minutes) and got a taxi back home (which worked out as only 600 yen or so each).
Sunday 5th November - Fireworks on the Field
Well not literally, but with a lack of Guy Fawkes festivities, I was going to explode on the pitch - a soccer explosion that is! Unfortunately, it isn't ideal waking up at 6am on a weekend morning, and much of the time getting ready was panicking about not being able to get in touch with LiLiang. He'd been at the bowling the night before and had promised to play this morning, but was not responding on his mobile, room phone or room buzzer (it later turned out he had missed the last train back and had to stay with one of our classmates - but again, player transfer was easy). Brett was coming, but a difficult train journey meant he was running late.
Nevertheless, the team got themselves psyched up for round two. It was a very warm morning (warmer than any November morning had a right to be - you could see the wibbly waves of heat at pitch level). We played to our best abilities this time around, but it was not as easy a match as last time. Brett arrived a few minutes before the end of another brief game with the final score 1-1. Penalty time - eep.
Either out of politeness or foolishness, they nominated me to take the 5th crucial penalty. As my time approached, both teams had seen all their shots hit the back of the sack. No pressure then. I stepped up to the plate, positioned the ball, and turned to face the goalmouth. And so worried was I that I'd miss the goal entirely, I decided to play it safe - and pretty much passed the ball to the keeper. Hnnnnnn...oops! Never mind. I returned to my team-mates who were supportive of my crapness; besides the game wasn't over yet. Our opponents' turn...and they miss! Joy of joys, and sighs of relief all round. Now it was captain Kenta's turn. He runs up, kicks...and the keeper saves! Oh dear. And when the other team scored their next penalty, it was all over. At least our loss wasn't completely my fault, and I guess if our team captain couldn't score, then I can't be expected to do much better, right? Though admittedly Kenta's shot was far better.
We were out of the tournament, but spent the rest of the morning kicking about some more. Brett joined in the game following ours, and we stormed the pitch every time there was a gap between matches or one of the halves was taken up with another penalty shoot-out. We even squeezed in another full fledged friendly with another team in between official games, which was far more enjoyable with the pressure off. It was a good morning's entertainment and exercise and I still had the rest of the day to do absolutely nothing - what else are weekends for?
Be sure to check out MyFlickr photos in My Links for more Nara and Fushimi piccies!
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