You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'japan' category.
Already 10 days that I am back in Switzerland but I cannot let Japan out of my head. Coming back from a “long” stay abroad is always hard and it proves me that I am not going to stay in Switzerland for a long time. As a matter of fact, this will be the last article on my life in Japan but still, I will add side notes and other comments later because there are still stories to be told.
Last day at work and final presentation… I feel anxious because I have worked hard during the past months but I did not get the results I expected for my research. I bet you do not really care about that but I will just say that I am still working on this project (I asked for it) and it will probably lead me to my next destination… The presentation went pretty well and I was relieved and happy at the end to get acknowledgement from the other team members. I spent the rest of the day packing and cleaning my workspace, offering Swiss chocolates to my colleagues and waiting for theend of the day… for the farewell party, which is also the welcome party for Thomas.
We only knew it was on Friday but they did not care about telling us at what time…As I was just bringing back some books to our library, one of the researcher had an exclamation and started packing too, it was around 6:25 pm. By 6:30 he was ready and asked if we were also ready to leave to catch the 6:35 bus, I knew it would be something like that so I was ready but not the other interns who shut down thair computer in a hurry. Well, I am not too bad at sprinting I guess as we managed to catch the bus.
Remember in May we went to an Okinawan restaurant, to make the cycle complete it should end also in an Okinawan restaurant, plus they have delicious food and alcohol… Before we get too drunk to say something meaningful we talk about Japanese language and how difficult it is to read kanji. To argue how difficult it was even for Japanese I took out one of my “meishi” and hand itto the boss telling him that Japanese could not read that name. The funny thing is that he looked at the address and asked if this guy was working at NAIST, the university next to our lab, and I answered that in fact he was working for NEC. He was surprised he did not know him then so I suggested him to flip the business card and then he understood. That was a big laugh! And I was honored as he asked to keep it saying it was his treasure (just look back at the meaning of the kanji for my name).
Speaking about Japanese language, it was time to make my speech (which took me hours to write and try to make it interesting). I might leave a transcript later but for now trust me, it was not too shabby eventhough the first part was in English I tried to translate most of it in Japanese then.
And finally came the drinking game… in May one of the manager asked what strong alcohol exists in Switzerland, as we were drinking awamori, to what I replied absinthe. Thanks to a friend who visited me during the Summer I could get a bottle of the “green fairy” (it was from Neuchatel and 53% for the curious). They were a bit intrigued by the process of pouring water slowly on a sugar but they drank it. Sweet and tasty! We got to try also an Okinawan liquor with a sleeping snake inside… tastes like fire and you can really feel the snake taste! We finished the bottle, some even drank it without sugar nor water and figured out it was a bad idea.This was a great party and I was happy it ended up like that.
Of course it is always sad to say good bye or “sayonara” should I say, but we will meet again once a page of our life has turned. Until then, I wish that NEC C&C Innovation Laboratories succeed in getting closer to build a new world where we will communicate heart to heart, from my point of view I will go on to figure out how we can communicate mind to mind and in 30 years we will lead people to the light we followed during our research.To all the people who passed by and read my articles, I address my thanks. I am not sure if I gave you enough of a glimpse of Japan but at least I tried. I would encourage anyone who has the chance to go to Japan, it is a mind blowing experience and I learnt a lot from those 6 months. This adventure fulfilled one of my dreams and I reallywant to come back so as final worlds:
“Believe in your dreams and make it happen, because dreams really do come true.”
Bien que je sois déjà rentré de mon séjour au Japon (que je conclurai à l’occasion), j’ai encore quelques expériences à partager avec vous. Une des grandes questions que l’on se pose quand on va partir pour un certain temps dans un pays étranger, et encore plus le Japon, est : “Est-ce que je vais réussir à me faire des amis la-bas?” Il y a bien évidemment plusieurs types d’amitié et je ne garde pas un souvenir très profond de mes amis des Etats-Unis. Pourtant au Japon, je me suis dit, ça doit quand même être plus sincère et durer plus longtemps…Encore faut-il passer la barrière de la langue qui empêche une communication normale entre 2 personnes.Je pense avoir eu 3 types d’amitié au Japon:
- celle du travail, rien de particulier, cependant lors des soirées entre collègues la retenue japonaise n’existe plus et libre de s’exprimer comme on le souhaite. De toute façon, le lendemain tout sera oublié, du moins pour le protocole.
- celle des étrangers qui sont au Japon depuis quelques temps, véritable réconfort que de pouvoir communiquer avec d’autres personnes sans tous les codes japonais, même si ces personnes s’imprègnent de la culture locale.
- les Japonaises qui cherchent un partenaire pour pratiquer une langue étrangère (généralement l’anglais mais le français ne se porte pas trop mal), le temps d’un après-midi et de visite dans diverses villes ou autour d’un verre. On passe un très bon moment à découvrir la culture de l’autre.
Mais alors, tu n’as pas fait la connaissance de Japonais pour sortir et faire les 300 coups? Et bien non pas vraiment… oui j’ai quelques amis japonais avec qui on est sorti ensemble mais de manière générale, les Japonais sont des gens occupés et refuser une invitation n’est pas un manque de politesse. Je regrette donc de ne pas avoir pu faire la connaissance de plus de Japonais, certains me reprocheront ma timidité et c’est vrai que je ne suis pas une personne extravertie. Ce qui pose encore plus problème car rare sont les Japonais qui engageraient directement la conversation avec un parfait étranger (aussi japonais soit-il visuellement…), généralement un ami commun présente les 2 parties et après libre à eux de gérer. Il y a une exception toutefois, ce sont les soirées “internationales”.
Ces soirées sont faites pour faire connaissance et justement permettre aux différentes personnes présentes d’échanger quelques mots et numéros de téléphone selon affinité. Le but premier est bien entendu de pouvoir trouver les partenaires de langues (cités plus haut), mais rien n’empêche d’essayer de trouver une relation plus intime.
Ainsi, 2 semaines avant mon départ, j’apprend l’existence de ces soirées, l’une se déroulant à Kobe et sur invitation d’un nouvel ami (français) rencontré la veille, nous nous y rendons. Bien m’en fait car je repartirai de la soirée avec 4 numéros de Japonaises, ce n’est pas dans mon habitude d’aborder une fille pour une conversation mais l’alcool délie ma langue et puis je n’ai plus rien à perdre, il me reste 2 semaines au Japon. Que les mauvaises langues se taisent, si je n’ai plus que 2 semaines au Japon, je n’ai nullement l’envie de commencer une relation longue distance, l’expérience m’aura prouvé de toute façon que je ne suis pas chanceux dans ces cas. Je passerai mon dernier week-end sur le sol nippon en leur compagnie, à Kyoto et à Himeji puis Kobe. Essentiellement pour converser en anglais mais aussi pour faire plus amples connaissances, car le milieu bruyant des soirées ne se prête pas à la conversation.
Au final, j’ai un regret, c’est de ne pas avoir eu plus de temps pour découvrir le Japon par ses habitants, j’ai donc laissé la-bas l’espoir de revenir prochainement et continuer la conversation là où elle s’est arrêtée avec ces Japonaises très aimables et accueillantes. D’ici là, j’espère avoir fait suffisamment de progrès dans la langue de Soseki pour tenir une conversation plus longue que “Bonjour je m’appelle Bao-Lan, je suis Suisse d’origine vietnamienne et je travaille pour NEC”. Ceci dit, ces quelques mots ont généralement suffisamment d’impact pour attirer l’attention, après il faut espérer que l’interlocuteur possède un vocabulaire plus varié en anglais que le mien en japonais.
I have not written for a long time, not that I did not have anything to say but I was too busy at work (and it’s getting worse) but also not in the right mood to write. Well, did you ever had that feeling that when something goes wrong, everything else will follow the same way till you are broken down? Or maybe it is just that something is wrong and you cannot appreciate anything for a while…
So yeah, the couple of past weeks in Japan have been quite disappointing. The end of my stay in Japan is nearing fast and I still wanted to do and visit so many places and there is no time to spend thinking of what is the next destination. So as I woke up on a Sunday morning, I decided to go to Ise; Ise is not far from where I live, I mean speaking in Japanese distances… it is still a 3 hours ride by train. By the way, why did I choose Ise? Because I had that picture of two bounded rocks, with sacred rope in the water, in my mind. But in fact, Ise is known for two famous shrines, or should I say 1 shrine, Ise Jingu, divided into 2, the inner (Naiku) and the outer (Geku) shrines keeping 2 of the 3 symbols of Japan’ emperor family. As a matter of fact, everything that is sacred has to be protected right? so are the shrines, hidden by wooden walls; you can barely see the roofs… and the artifacts? do not even think about it. Eventhough those shrines are among the most venerated in Japan, I felt I was wandering in the countryside (yeah Ise is pretty drab) with a walk in the forest to see trees and shrines’ roof.
Funny story, I met one NEC researcher a few weeks ago and he said he was from Ise, which at the moment I thought it was nice. Now I understans why he said it was not really a good place! Even Ishikiri, the place I am living in, is more exciting than Ise.
Alright, it was rainy, the sightseeing was not extraordinary but I did not see the 2 rocks yet! There are just a train station away so let’s head for Futami and the Meoto-iwa! It was not raining that hard but being on the coastline, wind was pretty strong so you get soaked anyway. And there they are… (Ise is lost in the middle of nowhere but Futami is even more lost than that) the 2 wedded rocks… wait… aren’t they supposed to be bigger? I was cheated again, the illusion of 2 big rocks comes from the size of the tori on one of them, a dawrf would not be able to go through it! Well you got the idea, an optical illusion, really dissapointing.
So this was my last sightseeing in Japan, I wish I could go to Hokkaido but money is getting short and I have met new friends so I am gonna spend some time with them before i leave.
Oh I almost forgot, I went back to Hakone to see Mount Fuji but guess what… yeah clouds were in the party again! But being in Tokyo for a week-end and meet friends there was fun though.
Pictures will come shortly…
Mid August is the usual holiday’s season in Japan. Especially as Obon is taking place, many Japanese go back to their hometown to welcome their ancestors. This is for the traditional part… Obon’s week is probably the busiest week in Japan or maybe just after the Golden Week and every single hotel is for sure booked a long time ago in every touristy city. Luckily I decided to take my vacation one week before the rush and got to several beautiful places in Japan. The schedule was pretty tight but we (note that “we” does not refer to Sébastien and me this time) managed to enjoy the sightseeing despite the many hours we spent in trains, subways, boat, bus and other transportation.
We started at Osaka obviously on Saturday 4th, I have been in Osaka for 4 months already but never visited the castle, Ōsaka-jō. No need to say it twice, we headed there and even if the castle looks beautiful from the outside, also considering the surroundings, once inside we were a bit disappointed. The 7 floors were rebuild as a museum and not much from the original interior were kept but it is still nice to have a idea of how this castle and the surrounding evolved through the years. And as every tall building in Japan, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city (which looks endless except for the mountains far far away and the sea).
For the following days, we took the shinkansen (probably the most convenient way to travel in Japan, I wish there was shinkansen everywhere) for Tokyo and stayed there for 3 days. Of course you can spend years in that city and still have something you did not visit, but as simple tourists we just got a glimpse of it. (After all, it is the purpose of this blog right?) Also as far as I remember, I did not write a second article on Tokyo when I went there 3 months ago so I will take the chance to show a couple of pictures I took in addition to some new one. Osaka is known to be the city for food, but as a poor student I never tried the numerous delicious restaurants there. However as a tourist who wants to experience good food in Japan, we tried as many restaurants as we could during those couple of days. Maybe I should not stay a poor trainee once back in Osaka… it was so good!
The next stop of our journey was initially Mount Fuji, as I had that crazy idea and wanted to climb it (and come back in one day). It is for sure possible but many guides warn that it is not an easy walk and you should be prepared beforehand… which we were not unfortunately. Giving up that idea, I still wanted to see Mount Fuji and a good place to see it is to go to Hakone. About 1 hour from Tokyo and located at 1000m in altitude, the place is famous for its onsen and the sulphur scented hot water that comes out of the mountain. We were just 1 hour late as by the time we reached a high and god spot to see Mount Fuji, an gigantic cloud chose to take a nap up there before we could admire the sight. This is too bad as we spent hours in train, bus and rope way to get there. The good thing is that after 3 days in the Tokyo excitement, a walk in the mountains we nothing else than nature, the strong smell of sulphur (and a load of tourists…), was truly pleasant and cleared our mind.
Back to Osaka for the night, the next day is for Hiroshima! Travelling is exhausting and we got up a bit late and hit Hiroshima only around 6pm… not to say that it was quite hard to get a hotel or ryokan just for one night as the holidays are very close and something like 62 years ago on August 6, around 8 o’clock a tragedy took place in Hiroshima. You bet there have been ceremonies and people attending them. The city was not the main reason of our visit in itself, we walk around the (in)famous Genbaku Dome and the Peace Memorial Park and though the hope living in a world free of nuclear weapon is honourable, it sounds a bit unrealistic when you see the damage that occurred during the last century in the city. Also wandering at night near the dome, somehow gave me the goose and I felt uncomfortable.
The clou of the journey was Miyajima, supposedly one the three most beautiful views in Japan! And indeed it is wonderful! From Hiroshima, you go to Miyajimaguchi where you take a ferry for the island and enjoy the sight as the ferry is getting closer to the famous tori (or shrine gate). The place is delightful when the sun goes down as the water will have covered part of the coast thanks to the tides. We did not stay long enough to see that as we had a long road back to Osaka but we stayed long enough to see the tori in the water. Be warned that the deers on the island are much friendlier than their relatives in Nara, and they will not hesitate to empty your pockets, bags if you leave them unwatched for a second, in search of food or whatever that can be chewed.
Seven days passed already and this is the last week-end but no resting time! Months ago I booked tickets for the Summer Sonic Festival. A two day festival held both in Tokyo and Osaka at the same time, featuring lots of international artists as well as Japanese ones. In the heat of Osaka and a radiant sun, we enjoyed live performance of Rooney, The Fratelis, The Pillows, Kasabian and The Arctic Monkeys but there were many more artists. It is just to hard to choose among them as they were not less than 6 stages and performance started from 10am till 9pm. The incredible thing with Japanese organization is how they keep everything clean and no trouble happen… except of course for the transportation but when you think about it, thousands of thousands of people are not easy to move from one place to another in a short amount of time. That was the only bemol of the festival and I am pretty sure many people missed the last train back to Osaka’s downtown.
The journey ended in Kyoto but again, tired to the bones by the festival we were lazy and got there at 4pm… unfortunately every museum, shrine, temple and other touristy place close around 5pm. Bus are convenient in Kyoto as they go pretty much everywhere but it takes time to go through the city… luckily we arrived at the Golden Pavilion at 4.55pm and got the chance to see at least one of Kyoto’s monument, though it is a quick visit.
Initially written for the already too long previous post, I decided to separate the two as wanted to write more about my week-end trip to Koyasan. Right after the Summer Cooling Evening on Friday, I decided I will go the origins of the Shingon Buddhist school, namely Koyasan. Located at about 1000m above the sea level, the place is surrounded by 8 mountain, as it should be to reflect the lotus flower, a symbol of Buddhism.
I left my place on Saturday morning as if I would go to work, except I aimed at a more peaceful and resting place south from Osaka, in the Wakayama prefecture.
The city was founded by Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師) in 818 A.D., it is known as the headquarter of the Shingon (or True Word) school of Buddhism. The place features a lot of temples and pagodas but one of the main interest lies below the ground… in fact the cemetery next to Kōbō-Daishi’s mausoleum is gigantic! The reason is that many people are buried here in the wait of Kōbō-Daishi’s awakening, in the hope to reach the Nirvana. I am not quite sure of people are really buried here but at least, believers buried hair or bone to be somehow here for the awakening. Also, among the tombs many monuments were erected in memory of famous historical persons such as Oda Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, Mitsuhide Akechi and so on. There are probably thousands and thousands of tombs and my kanji reading disability prevent me from knowing if I was taking a picture of Oda Nobunaga’s monument or a probably wealthy guy. Still, the cemetery is surrounded by a pine forest so once you entered it, you really feel like you are somewhere out of the real world, the nature is taking over the man’s buildings. During the day, you can still see the sunlight when dusk is here, there is an eerie atmosphere taking place and it would be perfectly normal to see ghosts or spirits wandering at night… I got bitten by mosquitoes pretty bad when walking through it at dusk but maybe it was just the inhabitants playing hide and seek with me…
Koyasan being 3 hours away from Osaka by train, I decided I would stay for the night here, I mean, not in the cemetery but at one of the many temples offering a place to sleep and 2 meals (not for free of course). As I did not visit everything around here, I thought it would be the best choice anyway. Speaking English does not help to book a room for the night so I had to do with my crappy Japanese and I apologize (as any Japanese would do) for being hard to understand, but we managed to do it.
Of course monks do not eat meat or fish, so the meal is essentially made of vegetables and tofu and it was truly delicious. I recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to stay in shukubo, to do it; monks are really kind and careful persons. Part of the experience is the Morning Prayer which you are expected to attend at 6 in the morning. Normally, you would have to sit in seiza position but it is acceptable if you take a more comfortable position if you are not used to it. Well, let’s try to do it the right way, I was telling myself. I could not feel my legs anymore after 30 minutes, so I had to switch to another position and hopefully I did because the prayer was still going for another 30 minutes. After a good breakfast, it is time to hit the road of temples again, it was a pleasant and replenishing stay though it is a bit commercialized as I ended up with a souvenir from the temple as I signed out.
I am using a slideshow again for a couple of pictures but you can also find all the the pictures for this pilgrimage on the following url
Les Japonais sont de durs travailleurs mais ils savent aussi faire la fête et se décontracter le temps d’un week-end. Si les dernières semaines ont été épuisantes avec des deadlines à tenir pour l’ouverture officielle du laboratoire et la venue de la presse et des officiels, la tension est retombée et il était temps de passer un bon moment sans stress avec les collègues.
Ainsi, sur proposition d’un collègue, nous avons organisé un BBQ, un dimanche de juillet. Le soleil n’a pas été de la partie et finalement c’est tant mieux, une légère pluie nous a rafraîchi, nous évitant une lourde humidité. En route pour le mont Ikoma, le même mont dont mon logement se situe au pied, mais sur l’autre versant (je suppose). Une batisse en bois perdue en haut, nous offre une belle vue sur Nara, la hutte à pizza est tout aussi perdue la haut et je me demande bien qui vient manger une pizza la-haut…
Un grand foyer en pierre, de quoi faire griller un bon BBQ ! Au menu, saucisses, poulet, porc, boeuf, patates (pas cueillies cette fois), oignons, poivrons, carotte, potiron et maïs, il y a de quoi remplir un régiment ! A peine arrivé, les femmes s’attèlent à la tache, rinçage, épluchage puis découpage des légumes, ces messieurs installeront tables et chaises et sortiront les boissons. Il est amusant de voir les collègues décontractés en dehors du cadre du travail et c’est encore plus amusant de faire la connaissance de la famille de certains membres. L’organisation des Japonais n’est pas un mythe, chacun à sa tache et s’y applique, évidemment en tant qu’internes (étrangers), nous ne savons aps où nous mettre et finalement s’asseoir et la meilleure solution, après tout ce qu’on nous demande c’est de profiter des grillades.
Si le BBQ occupe une majorité des personnes, d’autres se sont faufilées derrière la cabane à la recherche d’un grand bambou creux… oui parce qu’en plus du BBQ, il y a aussi les nagashi somen ! Le principe consiste à faire couler de l’eau dans un bambou creux coupé dans le sens de la longueur et d’y verser des somen qui seront alors emportés par l’eau. Les gourmands qui seront placés de part et d’autre du bambou pourront alors à l’aide de leurs baguettes, se servir des somen, les tremper dans une sauce à base de shoyu et déguster tant que somen il y a. Une expérience inédite et voir la fabrication du dispositif est des plus ludique. Le fait de voir ces chercheurs qui sont toute la journée devant un écran, couper un bambou et bricoler avec application est curieux. Après tout, il faut bien se changer les idées de temps en temps.
Une autre façon de se changer les idées avec les collègues de travail ? « Summer Cooling Evening » ! une petite fête qui a eu lieu vendredi passé au centre de recherche. Pour une modique somme, chercheurs et familles peuvent se joindre à la soirée composée d’un buffet et de boissons à volonté. La soirée est animée par différentes activités comme une tombola, un loto, différent quizz collectifs ou encore la performance scénique des nouveaux employés… et des internes.
Evidemment nous sommes toujours les derniers informés et ce n’est que 10 jours avant l’événement qu’on nous propose de faire quelque chose sur scène avec les nouveaux employés. Ces derniers ne sont pas beaucoup plus avancés de toute façon ; ils ont décidé de refaire la chorégraphie de Thriller mais n’ont pas encore maîtrisé la danse. N’ayant pas d’idée sur le moment, nous nous joignons à leur répétition, cela déclenche les fou-rires de certains et nous ne sommes pas convaincu de la faisabilité dans un laps de temps si court pour danser sur Thriller. Qu’à cela ne tienne, Mary, une nouvelle interne qui vient de Stanford, nous propose de nous faire couper les pieds avec une danse traditionelle philippine ; tinikling. Une paire de bambou, 2 danseurs et 2 personnes qui frapperont les bambous en rythme. Oui mais il faut danser sans se faire haper les pattes par les bambous… nous nous sommes entraînés une dizaine d’heures je pense, en sautant des pauses de midi, en restant plus tard que d’habitude au bureau (provocant par la même occasion, des tremblements de terre dûs à nos bonds répétés pour les étages inférieurs) et même chez nous, empéchant apparemment les voisins de trouver le sommeil…
Au final, aussi bien Thriller que le tinikling sont exécutés avec brio le soir venu, les compliments des collègues sont réconfortants, après toute la peine que nous nous sommes donnés. Par la même occasion, je pense que maintenant tout le centre de recherche sait que les internes dansent le tinikling…
Une autre anecdote de cette soirée, nous sommes affectés à la distribution du pop-corn… étant donné que les familles sont les bienvenues, il y a aussi des enfants friands de pop-corn ! Comme partout ici, les instructions de la machine à pop-corn est en japonais… mais nous nous en sortons bien jusqu’à ce que nous changions le parfum du pop-corn pour du lait fraise…
- Je te dis qu’il est brûlé
- Non, je ne trouve pas, ça donne un petit goût certes…
- C’est le sucre qui fait ça…
La file d’enfants commence à grandir, ils attendent le pop-corn au lait fraise avec impatience ! Même si le pop-corn a légèrement un goût de brûlé, cela n’empéche pas l’odeur du lait fraise de se répendre et attirer les gourmands ! Après quelques essais, c’est parti ! Tout le monde en veut !
La soirée se terminera par un feu d’artifice suivi de feux du bengale distribués à chacun. Tout le monde s’amuse et passe une bonne soirée.
C’est tout de même différent de l’atmosphère de travail du quotidien qui avait encore place quelques heures auparavant. Les Japonais aiment s’amuser et quand ils s’amusent, il n’y a plus cette retenue de rigueur dans la monde du travail. Ceci dit, une fois la fête terminée, et c’était aussi valable pour le BBQ, tout le monde y met du sien pour ranger et nettoyer les lieux. D’une efficacité redoutable !
En prime, vous avez droit à une vidéo du plus grand feu d’artifice (hanabi en japonais) du monde, pas moins de 120′000 feux d’artifices pour 1h15 de plaisir pour les yeux! Bon, j’ai juste pris une minute de vidéo et elle fait 100 méga… Par patriotisme, j’aurai dit que le spectacle était pour le 1er août, fête nationale suisse, mais c’est en réalité pour commémorer la fondation et le fondateur de la ville de Tondabayashi au sud de Osaka.
Il est venu le temps des festivals! La saison des pluies étant terminée (mon oeil… elle n’a jamais eu lieu ou plutôt elle continue mais sans trop être là), le beau temps est donc propice aux festivals et pourquoi pas pendant qu’on y est, prendre le temps de découvrir une autre ville que Osaka. Je vous propose donc de faire un tour à Kyoto.
Durant le début du mois de juillet, se déroule à Kyoto le Gion Matsuri.
Ce festival consiste en une gigantesque parade depuis le Yasaka Shrine jusqu’au palais impérial de chars, décorés de trésors familiaux, tirés à travers la ville par des hommes. La parade a lieu le 17 juillet et les trésors ne sont visibles au public qu’à partir du 16 juillet, data à laquelle les maisons familiales exposent les-dits trésors, que ce soit tapisserie, étoffe ou armure de guerrier d’antan. Avant la grande parade, il se déroule le tirage au sort de l’emplacement des chars dans la parade, ces chars ont un nom, yamaboko (hoko pour les grands et yama pour les petits).
Pour l’histoire (et ceux qui ne lisent pas les liens wikipedia), le Gion Matsuri prend place quelques 1100 ans plus tôt, alors que la peste se propage à travers le pays. Pour contrer l’épidémie, les habitants érigent 66 lances (représentant les provinces) et décident de faire une procession de chars, chacun d’entre eux, afin de célébrer et honorer les dieux. Ainsi lors du festival, autour de chaque yamaboko, il est possible d’acheter des chimaki, que l’on accrochera à sa porte pour s’attirer les bonnes faveurs et la protection du ciel.
Bien, Kyoto étant renommé pour le design de ses kimono et autres yukata, ni une ni deux, il faut absolument porter un yukata (le kimono étant hors de prix) pour le Gion Matsuri. Non pas que celà soit obligatoire, mais le yukata étant un habit léger et “pratique”, il est souvent porté l’été durant les festivals. On ajoutera les geta (sandales en bois) pour ajouter au folklore. Une question traverse l’esprit, mais où mettre argent, appareil photo et autres? Il faut avouer que se trimballer avec un sac ferait perdre tout son charme et à la peine qu’on se donne (car oui, marcher avec des geta n’est pas aisé). Dans les manches pardi! Les manches servent donc d’immenses poches et si on est dubitatif au premier abord, c’est très fonctionnel (on est juste anxieux de savoir si tout est toujours dans les manches vu le nombre incroyable de personne lors du festival ou si un petit malin n’a pas pensé à vous couper les manches pour vous faire les poches…).
Une fois équipé, il ne reste plus qu’à faire la visite des yamaboko, admirer les trésors et se laisser porter par la joie et la bonne humeur (malgré la pluie). De jour ou de nuit, l’atmosphère est bien différente, ainsi à la tombée de la nuit, de nombreux étals et stands se mettent en place et l’animation ne se porte plus sur le festival en lui-même mais plus sur la découverte des plaisirs du palais et autres petits jeux pour les plus jeunes. (NB: je pense que ça fait partie du paysage japonais maintenant mais si j’étais un enfant de 3 ans et que le marchand de bonbons avait des piercings, les cheveux décolorés et limite un maquillage à faire peur, je ne suis pas sûr que je lui achéterai des bonbons…) Kimonos ou yukata, les filles sont plus colorées et les motifs plus divers et variés, l’essentiel étant de mettre de la couluer pour apporter de la vie au festival!
Le port du yukata est une expérience à vivre lors d’un festival, je retenterai bien l’expérience la semaine prochaine pour le Tenjin Matsuri à Osaka mais je partirai du bureau et je ne pense que travailler en yukata soit apprécié… je note aussi que les geta ont quelques avantages pour contrebalancer leur inconfortabilité (essentiellement due à mes grands pieds je l’avoue), du fait de leur hauteur, on évite de se mouiller (s’il pleut) et avoir les pattes à l’air c’est aussi agréable quand il fait chaud!
Les photos du Gion Matsuri sont sur cette galerie.
Prochainement:
- Le musée international du manga à Kyoto
- Nijojo, Heian jingu et Jishu jinja shrines à Kyoto
- Tenjin Matsuri à Osaka
Powered by Qumana
It is a fact that Japan is culturally different from the places I have been to before. So after 3 months here I finally decided to introduce myself to other people in the proper way, meaning presenting a business card or meishi to my interlocutor. The reason you do that usually is obviously to know the other person’s name but also to know what position he has in the company and to some extent how polite you talk to him. Also, anyone that has gone to the process to learn kanji, knows how tricky it can become with their readings and meanings…I thought it would be fun to have a business card with kanji for my name so I took on Sunday afternoon to look up my name and to find the right kanji. As close to the original meaning but also as close as possible to the pronounciation as vietnamese is partly derived from chinese and that Japanese borrowed the chinese characters (kanji). Did you get the picture? Before I show you the results of my search, there are 2 main issues with my choice:
- some chinese characters do not exist in japanese and vice-versa, so one of the character is an old writing that do not exist in japanese. (but this is the fun part where you can explain the reading and meaning of your name to your interlocutor as he is probably puzzled)
- japanese would probably not be able to pronounce my name correctly. Even vietnamese and chinese differ, so including a third language can be quite off the original pronouciation, but anyway intercultural exchanges have to be fun.
Here we go: 黄 寶 麟
- 黄 : pronounced “huang” in chinese and it is probably one of the most common name for Chinese also. It refers to an emperor and the meaning is “yellow”
- 寶 麟: pronounced “bao lin”, it literally means precious unicorn. In fact 寶 does not exist in japanese and 麟, pronounced rin in japanese is well-known thanks to kirin, the unicorn of one the most famous japanese brew.
By the way, if I make meishi why don’t I make an inkan or hanko with my name to sign papers like they do here in Japan. Well, it is done also as I do not have to look up the kanji again. Normally I would have to go to the city hall then to register my inkan so it would be my official signature. The fact is that I do not have many official papers to sign and it is just for fun whenever I received parcels or letter and so on. Not to say that I would probably not know how to register it at the city hall anyway.I will post the pictures soon but for now you can have a look at how I look in traditional man kimono (though it has another name I cannot remember).
“Bonjour! Je m’appelle PaPeRo (Personal Pet Robot) et je suis votre compagnon quotidien.”Le centre de recherche de NEC a toujours des surprises pour égayer le quotidien de ses chercheurs. Après les récoltes d’oignons et de patates, un aspect plus technologique et plus en rapport avec les activités de NEC, PaPeRo! Ce petit robot haut comme 3 pommes, peut reconnaître un visage humain ainsi que certaines phrases pour y répondre après. Aussi doué d’une forme d’autonomie, il se promène tout seul dans le bureau en évitant les obstacles que sont bureaux, chaises ou chercheurs. Il donne une atmosphère bon enfant durant les après-midis mais peut aussi devenir parfosi agaçant quand il se met à chanter et danser à tue-tête juste à vos côtés quand vous essayez de vous concentrer…
Jusqu’à la semaine passée, 1 PaPeRo nous tenait compagnie (en fait 2, mais l’un deux n’était jamais activé). Depuis, c’est pas moins de 6 PaPeRo qui ont élus domicile dans nos locaux! Evidemment l’arrivée des nouveaux, qui sont en fait des mini PaPeRo, donne des idées à certains chercheurs et des mises en scènes se mettent en place. Je vous en propose quelques clichés, je suis sûr que vous avez assez d’imagination pour trouver d’autres légendes à ces photos mais voici ma version.
Voici la PaPeRo Family!Avec de gauche à droite et de haut en bas, maman, papa, grand-maman et les 3 mioches
Soyez sages avec le monsieur les enfants, je viens vous chercher ce soir après l’école.
Pendant ce temps, petits commérages entre dames…
Et quand arrive le soir, “Mais que vais-je bien pouvoir faire pour le dîner… Ah! un petit jus évidemment!”
Chérie, je suis rentré avec les enfants. Rose n’a pas été sage aujourd’hui.
On s’amuse comme on peut durant la phase digestive et ça rajoute encore plus l’impression d’être dans une boîte à jouet avec les couleurs des meubles, mais c’est normal après tout, il faut stimuler la créativité!
The busy life of a kaishain is not only made of meetings and reports, in fact there is also a little time for harvest. For those of you who missed the first episode of tamanegi crop, they can catch up with the potatoes crop. Right, we as researchers like to dig deep subjects that matter and sometimes output weird ideas. So like last time, we went to the small field next to the research center and joyfully dig to take out potatoes from the earth. It is sure a lot of fun, especially when everyone is there to get their potatoes, even the big boss.
The big discussion after the crops is “what are we going to do with them?” The most common answer is obviously curry rice (pronounced kare raisu), after 2 months in Japan, it is probably one of the most common and appreciated dish here. And of course my answer is the same as my Japanese colleagues but just mentioning I will do it in the betonamu style.
Back to work, each of us carrying 1,2 or more kilos of potatoes, you get a strange feeling entering our open space as you see many bags of potatoes next to each researcher but hey ! that how it is, the fruits of our hard work. Speaking of hard work, it was not really that yesterday. Everybody was excited for sure but because we were going to watch the fireflies after work (you bet we or they left the office at least 3 hours earlier than they usually do). We all met at the station to get to Nara and except that they were no one around Todaiji, we really looked like a school excursion… taking pictures of the deers and playing with them.
Once we got to the little water and forest place, perfect setting to see fireflies, we waited for a couple of minute, gazing in the dark to be sure we do not miss the first one. Unfortunately we did not see many of them or were I expecting too much, I don’t know. What’s the point in watching fireflies? Well, it is part of Japanese culture, it is relaxing outside the city and you remember your mother telling you that story of fireflies close to a small river and a forest just like that one. Or maybe because it is the boss’ idea and that we are going for drinks after that…
You said drinking, but are we not eating first? Well there will be some food… Like the welcome party one month ago, we went to a Japanese style “restaurant” or izakaya. Food is of course delicious but so are the drinks! And you cannot read the drinks name, you let your colleague choose for you and hopefully till the end of the night, you will have taste enough of them to remember some names for next time…
Anyway, those social parties are really made to make abstract of the hierarchical relationship you have during the day, more or less, and freely chat and joke on any matter. This is during those nights that you discover how fun are your colleagues but don’t get me wrong, tomorrow, you will be at work and forget about what I said tonight.
People think that Japanese cannot stand alcohol very well, the thing is that alcoholic drinks tend to be cheaper or slightly more expensive that the dishes they served in izakaya, so let’s drink! The corollary is that you may get drunk easily then. An interesting point is that those izakaya usually take the last order at 10pm so customers can recover, just enough if needed, to catch the last train. Social analysis of the last train population is something to experience.
What people said recently