||\ JOEL IN JAPAN /||

ichi gatsu

jump to section 2
jump to section 3



[ my shamisen teacher's grandson and grandaughter. ]


[ an avergae nagoya alley at night. this one had several chinese restaurants. ]



[ the enterance to atsuta jingu shrine, this was during "oshogatsu" the new year holiday. it's the busiest time of the year for the shrine. people go to pray/wish, sometimes just out of tradition, for good things for year. it was by far the most crowded i've ever seena shrine. ]


[ the actually center shrine at atsuta jingu. i couldnt really get much closer because it was too crowded. ]





[ sake donated to the shrine for the new year. ]


[ a purifing tradition when entering a shrine is to scoop water into you mouth and laightly rinse out your mouth before entering the shrine. ]


[ two of the possibily hundreds of food vendors set up just outside the shrine. ]

section 2




[ i stumbled across this unique temple on my way home from the shrine. ]


[ vegetable curry at a curry place called "coco ichi". ]



[ shop 99. where i do much of my grocery shopping. its a very small chain grocery store in which everything is 99 yen. the video below is inside the store. ]





[ the winter beard. ]



section 3

mike, chikage and i went to shitori garden to hear a koto and shakuhachi performance.


[ koe, or carp, in the garden's central pond. ]


the performance. the long stringed instrument is called the "koto" and the flute is the "shakuhachi".








[ i think the shakuhachi player was really hoping he could become my teacher but one japanese instrument is enough for now. ]

[ me and mike in front of the place where the performance was. we were the only foreigners. ]



[ waiting at the unagi restaurant, after the performance. this place had the best unagi i've ever had. but you would've never known is was a restaurant from the outside, it looked like an old house. ]



[ higashi middle school, my monday and tuesday school. ]


[ the package i got from kelly, inside was a handmade scarf!]