Japan trip

At the end of March, three colleagues and I travelled to Japan for a week. We had received scholarships (yay!) from the Swedish organization SFUB (Sällskapet för folkundervisningens befrämjande) to attend a conference, "Educating for Change" (The Asian Conference on Education and International Development).

We travelled on Finnair to Osaka (via Helsinki). I fly a lot, but I had never flown on Finnair, and I did like the experience. Food and drinks were free, and in the economy plus class that we somehow ended up in on the flight out, we received cute little Marimekko toiletry bags, and were greeted on board by two women in Marimekko kimonos. (The Asian vegetarian food was also quite good...) Our destination city was Kobe, and we had read that the best option for local transfer was the airport "limousine" bus, and this was very convenient (and we were able to purchase a round-trip ticket right away).

To me, it felt like there was almost no difference between cities as we travelled by bus from the huge city of Osaka, along the coast to Kobe, another large city. We managed to find the hotel, which was not a long walk from the station, and then we went out in search of food. After (surprisingly) being told that they did not have any vegetarian options at the first noodle place we tried, we ended up in a basement restaurant that served okay food, but it took quite a while as the waitresses seemed overwhelmed and even turned away some customers. At that point it was early afternoon, Japanese time, and I hadn't slept all day or night, so then it didn't hardly matter what I ate, just that I managed to find some food. :)

Our first restaurant in Japan (notice all the plastic bags hanging all over? We saw this, and hangers, in several other restaurants as well).

The next day was the first day of our conference, and we met the conference attendees at a the conference venue, and then left for a full day guided tour of Kyoto. Having lived in China for three years and experienced several guided tours in Asia, I was a bit leery, but our tour guide, Ken, gave us just the right amount of information about each place we visited, and only talked part of the way into the microphone on the bus. :) I was also able to ask him a little about Japanese family life (my colleagues teased me later for having started the conversation with, "Excuse me, may I ask, are you married?" :) But we had a good talk, and he had even been to visit southern Sweden once, so he was interested in us as well!

I really wish we would have had more time in Kyoto, but we at least we were able to see three famous sites. Kyoto has 17 (!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and I am very thankful we were able to see some of these. Here is a page with more information: World Heritage Sites list here.

First, we visited a famous temple, Kiyomizu-dera, which is set in a lovely natural area. According to our guide, it was founded in around 780.

The bustling (amazing) shopping street, seen behind plum blossoms, where we unfortunately only had one hour...

Here I am, posing in front of the temple area.

My colleague Eva-Lisa

My three colleagues (L-R): Eva-Lisa, Dejan, and Agneta

Agneta

Apparently selfie-time...

Plum blossoms in the temple area

After lunch we visited a famous rock garden, Ryoanji, which was surely quite fascinating for people interested in Zen Buddhism. After that we stopped at the unbelievably crowded Zen temple, Zinkakuji, also known as the Gold Pavillion. It is worth millions of dollars and is covered in gold leaf.

The next three days were filled with conference activities: seminars, lectures, coffee breaks, a banquet dinner, lunches... all focusing on various aspects of education, from all around the world. The three of us split up sometimes to attend different sessions; I generally focused on language learning, especially when ESL was the focus. Perhaps the best part of the conference for me was how international it was. Attendees and presenters came from dozens of countries, including the USA and Canada; Malaysia; Singapore; Thailand; China; Japan; Sweden; Germany; the UK; New Zealand, etc. Researchers presented their findings on studies of second language learners in Thailand, which was directly relevant for me; others presented on topics more unrelated to my own teaching, but it was still inspiring to hear. I won't go into more detail on the conference itself here, but it was wonderful to attend an international conference focusing on education. It really made me want to attend more such events, and share in discussions about education on a global scale.

As a part of the conference entertainment, we were invited to attend a tea-drinking demonstration. Surprisingly, it differed quite a lot from what I have seen during my years in China, and I prefer Chinese green tea, that is served as leaves, to the Japanese variety, but it was still fun to try. Later in the week we even tried green tea ice cream, and I can report that it tasted just like--green tea. :) Also, a group of high school students came to play the drums for us. The students were amazing. (You can watch short video clips via my Instagram account; follow me at: rachelstenback14 )

Demonstrating the proper way to drink Japanese tea (from the bowl). First, it is important to thank the hostess, and then to turn the bowl to avoid "damaging" the most beautiful part of the bowl by drinking directly out of it. (See instructions I was shown, below...)

Japanese green tea, served with chocolate (!) That surprised me, but apparently tea is often served with something sweet, and later we found local chocolate (and I think I purchased ten boxes to bring home...)

After the tea ceremony, one of the women started folding origami.

One day after our sessions, Dejan, Agneta, and I decided to visit a local attraction, the Kobe Herb Gardens. Eva-Lisa went on her own at that time due to her fear of heights. I am quite proud that I managed the lift, actually, since I do not enjoy dangling from wires high up above the ground... but we survived, and the views from the lift itself, and the top, were breathtaking. (Partially due to fear, on my part... :) Once we reached the top we were caught in rain, so we found a café, where we enjoyed cheesecake and pots of rose tea. It was an utterly lovely place, and if you are travelling to Kobe, I think it is a must-see. (I also loved the little gift shop, where I, once again, found several little items to bring home as gifts, all made locally of herbs).

Kobe/Osaka harbor and cities, seen from the Herb Gardens

Kobe/Osaka

I mentioned earlier that I am a vegetarian (but I eat fish), so I was surprised that it was hard for me to find meat-free dishes to eat. Of course, it is also quite frustrating to be unable to communicate; I had taken a screenshot of a phrase, "I do not eat meat. Is this vegetarian? Fish is ok" and showed it to the waiters whenever I was in doubt (which was often). But one evening of the conference, we attended a more formal banquet, where we had pre-ordered our meals. I had chosen fish, and was quite happy with the dinner.

There were, of course, often cultural differences that made it difficult for us to be guests in Japan; however, I was surprised to realize that I felt quite at home there. When a group of young Japanese students (in school uniform) passed us on the street, I felt like I wanted to be their English teacher. :) Of course, this comes from living in China, where my husband and I taught for three years, but I did not expect Japan to feel so similar. A colleague of mine once told me, "You'll love Japan. It's like China, but clean." And I understand what she means by that. In many ways, it is easier to travel in Japan, at least where we were, even without speaking Japanese. Knowing Chinese characters was certainly a plus, however; on a few occasions, my colleagues and I were unable to figure out how to flush the toilet (!). Finally, in one clean, complicated restroom, I found the Chinese characters for "small" and "large," and sure enough, I could flush the toilet... ! One welcome difference compared to several other Asian countries is that smoking was forbidden in many public places (with huge signs everywhere). However, it was NOT forbidden indoors, so our hotel was quite smoky. In general, the cities seemed to work very hard at beautifying public areas, and even though it was only March and unseasonably cold (several people apologized that the "Sakura," Japanese cherry blossoms, were delayed this year...)

Chinatown in Kobe

One night we ate dinner in Kobe's Chinatown, which, I must admit, was such a relief! Although it is still hard for me to read Chinese menus (also), it was nice to be able to communicate again, to ask questions and order in a language I felt comfortable using. All of us said, however, that this Japan trip was good for us; after all, we all teach at Sprintgymnasiet, a school primarily for refugees, students who are learning Swedish (and, for me, English). For us to experience what it is like to be illiterate is actually educational (if, of course, frustrating...)

Chinatown in Kobe

Our last day of the conference was another guided tour, this time to the famous city of Nara. I am quite sure that I will never forget Nara Park, as one of the most bizarre parks I have ever visited. First of all, it was huge; we walked for quite a while through paths on the forest before we came back. But most remarkably, in Nara Park there are hundreds of wild deer roaming free. Our guide explained that deer are revered now due to the legend of a white deer that helped bring an important deity. Now the deer roam freely, living off of special deer crackers that tourists purchase from snack shops around the park. Feeding large, suddenly hungry deer is quite an experience indeed (I think one started eating my dress...)

We finally tried the green ice cream! It tastes just like... Japanese green tea, but cold. :)

A Buddha statue inside one of the temples

On the last day of our trip, Dejan, Agneta, and I decided to venture back to Kyoto again. Unfortunately, the weather was not in our favor; it was cold, raining, and windy. However, we were proud to have figured out the trains to Kyoto, and we even visited the famous bamboo forest, which was a beautiful bamboo forest, with thousands of people walking down its paths, all of us taking photos of the trees, as if the other tourists were not there. :) In Kyoto we visited food markets, where there were so many people, we could hardly walk, but it was certainly exotic and interesting. We walked, and shopped, ate lunch and drank coffee, and then made our way back to Kobe for one more dinner out, and then packing.

Hotel breakfast (every day I ate tofu, soup, grilled fish, green salad, noodles, eggs, and various vegetable dishes with soy sauce.

Dessert at breakfast: it looked better than it tasted. :)

The Bamboo Forest

And so, after a week at our interesting conference, with good colleagues, it was time to go home. If you are a teacher and have a chance to attend a conference like this, I highly recommend it. Goodbye, Japan, for now...