Spontaneity thy name is RowStein.

Ok, ok, so maybe that is a bit of hyperbole, but hey!  I, DW, have totally bought frivolous things before . . . if the money was a gift . . . and I had a few months to research. . . I mean, you can't rush frivolity, am I right?!

. . . sigh . . .

Ok, fine.  So everyone reading this blog already knows I'm the exact opposite of a spontaneous person, but that just makes what happened two weeks ago all the more shocking.  Whit and I were sitting on the train heading back to the homestead.  Things were moving at a crawl because of "something in Japanese I didn't understand" (the usual culprit), and Whit was killing time on her smart phone.  After a few minutes, she looked up and we had the following exchange:

       WR:  Do you want to go to Taiwan this weekend?

       DW:  Heh, that's funny.

       WR:  No really.  Fares are cheap and I have a three day weekend.

       DW: You do?

       WR: (nods)

       DW: How cheap is cheap?

       WR: About $280 for a round trip, nonstop flight from here.

       DW:  . . . Sure.

So, we did it.  We booked the tickets.

Needless to say, the fear of insufficient planning time quickly sank in and I did my share of frantic research (everything from attractions and currency conversions, to housing and Mandarin).  But 6 days later we boarded a flight to Taipei . . . while a super typhoon approached the island from the other direction.

In the interest of our new briefer format, I will spare you the blow by blow (hehe typhoon . . . blow), and just say that Taipei was AWESOME.  The typhoon made things windy and rainy for the first day and half, and kept us from really exploring outside of the north central part of the island, but we still got to see and do some amazing things.  The "Exploration" section of the photos at the end of the post will be a bit more robust than usual, so if you see things you want more details on just shout.  As for the focus of this week's little snapshot, I thought I would tackle one of the major hallmarks of our trip: the Night Markets.

There are over 100 night markets scattered over Taiwan.  Unsurprisingly, Taipei boasts some of the most celebrated, and while each person seems to have their favorite, our hostel was right on the doorstep of arguably the biggest and busiest in the metro, the Shilin Market.

While words can't give you a sense for the sounds or smells (cue PTSD style flashbacks of stinky tofu), I'll do my best to set the stage.  The streets are flanked with small stores during the day time and at night they either spill their wares onto their associated sidewalk or that space gets co-opted by a small stand.  Next, take any intersection of small streets and cram extra vendors there, and fill in any remaining gaps with push-carts, a bajillion people, and (mindbogglingly) mopeds attempting to make their way through it all.  The following is what you get:

To offer a bit of perspective, here is what that last shot looks like during the day.

At least in Shilin, there is everything from the occasional brand name store to obvious knock-offs and chachkis, but the reason we found ourselves at a night market each and every night of our trip was the food.

At the night markets street food is king, and we did our damnedest to eat as much as humanly possible.  Here are some highlights:

Do we look giddy in these pictures?  And these are our attempts to look slightly less manic.  I still "sqweeeeee" thinking about it.  There is also a "food court," which feels like a re-appropriated subway station, that is hard to capture in pictures.  Fortunately some kind soul did a nice walk through video and put it up on YouTube, so here ya go!

As if all of this weren't enough, I don't think we bought any single item on any evening that cost more than 55 New Taiwanese Dollars.  So yeah, that fried chicken breast as big as my head?  It cost under two dollars US.

While I could wax philosophical about the night markets practically indefinitely, I will cut myself off there as the return to Japan marked the return to counting calories and this is making me seriously hungry.  Be sure to scroll through the remaining space as there are some amazing shots from the rest of our trip.  

Thanks as always for reading, and don't forget to feed the fish!

DW

FOOD.

Have you picked up on my love of steamed buns and dumplings?

Ok, so Bibimbap isn't Taiwanese . . . but it's still awesome.

Happy IS yummy potato chips.

Part of our brunch at a place called The Pig and Pepper we
found through a food blog. It tasted as good as it looked :).

One of the few misses on the culinary journey of Taiwan.  The
three defining adjectives would probably be salty, sweet, and
pulpy, in that order.

STUDY.

Just before we left on the trip we found a couple of extremely helpful videos on Taiwanese Mandarin. This is the first of the two, and having the exact scenarios they demonstrate play out for us during our trip was a constant source of entertainment.

EXPLORATION.

Our base of operations in Shilin.

We felt a lot like these giant metal ostriches after landing
on the outskirts of a Typhoon.

The National Palace Museum has an AMAZING collection
of Chinese art and a STAGGERING number of Chinese
Tour Groups.

A picture of the National Concert hall, taken from the steps of the National Theater.
The shear size of the space is daunting.

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.

A beautiful afternoon in front of the National Theater.

Sunset at 228 Peace Park.  A few blocks away from Chiang
Kai-shek Memorial and the National Theater, but a world
apart in terms of aesthetics.

A view out of the MRT station in central Taipei at night.

Storefronts in Shilin

View of south-eastern Taipei from the Maokong Gondola.

Enjoying high-mountain oolong in a tea-house in Maokong.

Prayers tied to the boughs of a pine tree outside Zhinan temple, a Buddhist shrine
on one of the peaks leading up to Maokong.

A profile shot of Zhinan Temple.

The winding steps leading up to the top of Elephant Mountain.  The jungleish mood
was nominally spoiled by the elderly Taiwanese woman following her husband up
the mountainside providing encouragement by blasting Usher's "Yeah" from the
iPhone in her outstretched hand.

One of the many pictures we took from the top of Elephant Mountain.

Matsuri and Matsuri

Welcome back, readers!

All is well in the Rowstein household!  We’re busy as can be, making progress in our Japanese / other studies, eating well, doing our best to get into better shape, and embracing adventure as it comes to us.  (But more about that, next week!)  In keeping with the snappy new blog format, I’m going to get right to the heart of this post: This week’s snapshot of Japan . . .  

Hojouya Festival!

A view of the temple grounds.

Maybe you heard me talking about this festival last year.  I went twice, with two different friends, and it made a huge impression on me.  (Partly, that’s because the first trip to the festival was so epically AWESOME, and partly because on the second trip I got a cripplingly bad case of food poisoning, which nearly put me in the hospital.  But, I digress….)

Hojouya is one of my absolute favorite festivals on Kyushu.  Why?  Well, because it boils down to the two core aspects that I like best about Japanese festivals: 1.) A central spiritual, cultural component that I can understand and support (in this case, Buddhist ceremonies where animals are released, celebrating the sanctity and preciousness of life).  And, 2.) An unbelievable spread of delicious street food and raucous stall games.  There’s no giant parade, no race, no competition, no teams, none of that.  Just a dressed-up shrine, some Buddhist ceremonies, and at least a square-flipping-kilometer of food on sticks.  This combination makes for a strange and wonderful sort of hypocrisy, doesn’t it?  Spectators, a cold beer in one hand and a stick of salty yakitori in the other, cheering as the monks release the blessed birds from their cages.  It’s one of the many odd combinations that make Japan such a great place to live in / visit / experience.

What we really came for.

Hojouya is a relatively long festival, and it lasts for about 6 afternoons & evenings.  It isn’t a big draw from the rest of the country (people don’t come down from Honshu, as they might for some of the bigger cultural festivals), but it is very popular in the region.  Maybe because of this, Hojouya feels more like an American State Fair than any other Japanese festivals I’ve been to.  (Maybe that’s why I like it so much!)  But the popularity within the area means it can get incredibly crowded.  Lucky for DW & I, the festival takes place at Hakozaki Shrine (which is reasonably close to my school).  So, it was an easy train ride to get there and a quick escape when things got too packed.

The crowds were just starting to roll in.

We went last Friday night, after my school day had ended.  DW & I spent several lovely hours in the cool, almost-fall evening, wandering between the stalls, buying tasty (sometimes mysterious) food, chatting with vendors in our terrible Japanese, praying at the shrine, browsing the ikebana exhibition, and watching children catch crab and eel on tiny hooks.  We too played an animal-catching game (well, sort of…), and the entire strange encounter basically went like this:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

            (We approach the stall, looking interested.  I smile and nod at the vendor.)

MR. V: [Japanese] “Oh, you will play?  Okay!”

(I pay the fee and he hands me a plastic kids’ bowl and a paper catching-screen. [Like a tiny fish net, but made with paper].  Ms. Vendor uses a large net to unceremoniously redistribute the quarry, which were hiding in the corners of the tank.  I hesitate.  Mr. Vendor gestures for me to stand in the center.  I continue to hesitate.)

DW [English]: “I think he wants you to stand in the middle.”

WR [English]: “But everyone’s looking…”

MR. V [Japanese]: “Go ahead.”

MRS. V [Japanese]: “Do your best!”

WR [Japanese]: “Okay… I’ll do my best….”

(I move to the middle of the tank.  A crowd of people is forming, watching the gaijin at the game.  I fail miserably, breaking the paper screen right away.  I try again, failing more and more.)

DW [English]: “Maybe, you could… you know, a little faster…?”

WR [English]: “NO.  I CAN’T.  I SUCK AT THIS.”

DW [English]: “You don’t—”

WR [English]: “YES, I DO… [Japanese]… I am awful at this!”

(Mr. and Mrs. Vendor try to cover their laughter as I shove the mostly-ruined paper screen to DW.  He tries once, too, but I’ve messed up the screen so much that there’s really no chance of success.  Mr. Vendor leans in and takes the screen from DW.)

MR. V [Japanese]: “Maybe… you can… maybe try this way… you don’t need the screen, right?”

MRS. V [Japanese]: “No, you don’t need the screen!  Just use the bowl!”

MR. V [Japanese]: “Yes, just use the bowl!  That’s okay!”

            (DW turns to me, confused.)

DW [English]: “What are they saying?”

WR [English]: “They’re telling us to just scoop one up in the bowl.  Without using the screen.”

DW [English]: “But… isn’t that the entire purpose of the game?”

WR [English]: “They’re taking pity on us, because I suck so much.”

            (A pause, as we look over at the patiently smiling Mr. and Mrs. Vendor.)

DW [English]: “Oh.  Well.  Fair enough.”

(DW scoops successfully, using the bowl and *not* the screen [which is the entire point of the game].  The Vendors and the crowd all cheer warmly and enthusiastically as DW and I laugh, walking away with our prize.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And that’s how we met our newest little friend!  Her name is Matsuri (祭り), the word for “Festival.”  She’s absolutely adorable.

Swimmin' like a champ!

Atop Pride Rock surveying the turtle kingdom.

Turtle? What turtle?

To close out today’s post, here are various photos from our weekly exploits in the categories of “food,” “studying,” and “exploring.”  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading, everyone!  And don’t forget to feed the fish!

WR

FOOD.

No food poisoning this year damnit!

Onigiri (rice ball) experiment 3.2

A picnic for the park!

STUDYING.

Fun with Histograms!

EXPLORING.

Higashi Koen a lovely park near WR's school

LOVELY I say!

One of the Ikebana arangements from Hojoya

A lantern lit street leading the way to the festival, and another
rousing game of follow the yukata.

The Central Park of Fukuoka: Ohori Koen

My Nihon Life.

'Ello again reader(s).

DW back again.  Things have definitely settled down here at the RowStein household, my original goal in writing this post (and I suppose the goal of the blog itself) was to give our family and friends snapshots from our lives. And encompass both the photo-op worthy and possibly interesting daily drudgery of living abroad.

While that is definitely still the goal, after the massive posts of the past few weeks I want to try something a bit different.  Effectively my days boil down to three things:  exploring Japan, making and eating food, and studying.  With that in mind I am going to aim for a single story or anecdote for a given week, and then close with some assorted pictures from those three categories.  If you see a picture you want to know more about or a food you want the recipe for, just leave a comment and we'll be sure to hit it on the subsequent week. The Metrics from our early posts may also be seeing a revival in future weeks, but in a bit more rigid format.

Hopefully it will make a fast entertaining read for you all and a quicker write for us, which will make being timely a bit easier ;).  Let us know what you think of the change in the comments!

So what is the tidbit for this week?

Sports Day

While those two words may accurately label the nigh ubiquitous Japanese school event, they are wholly insufficient to describing it.  I had heard the term bandied about, and I had a vision of track and field type events, and maybe some relay events . . . INSUFFICIENT.

WR and I had the good fortune to attend Sports Day at our friend Eleanor's school, and it was a vivid reminder of exactly how different American and Japanese high schools are.  While there are certainly track and field events for individuals and small relay teams, it is the group events which took the cake.

The entire school is divided into four mixed age groups, they have to design a theme, choreograph their own routines, make their own costumes, and play their own music.  Points are tallied for each team throughout the day.  So the most important thing to remember  is that unless they have an injury EVERY STUDENT in the school participates in the group events.

The first group event we saw was Kumitaiso, which had been summed up to me as building human pyramids.  What I didn't know was that it is not just a competition for height, it was a ~5 minute choreographed event with the approximately 150 boys for each team.  There were elaborate patterns, and tall towers, but also people being flung through the air and what amounted to trust falls for three people stacked on end, with taiko drums and rhythmic chanting keeping it all in unison.  For privacy concerns I didn't take pictures of Eleanor's school, but I did try and collect an assemblage of photos from the interwebs.

The next event was group cheering.  This involved  each of the four groups being subdivided into two dance teams, a group of musicians providing, and the remaining students forming the cheering section. One dance team was effectively western style cheerleaders, the other was a sort of dance/martial arts thing called dan (yup now you know what I was named after).

The two would dance independently and together, and if that weren't enough to look at, the students behind them would be using different colored pompons and colored flip boards to spell things out or do coordinated cheering.

The final group section was a more formal group cheering using the whole student body called ouendan.  It feels a bit millitaristic by comparison, with formally dressed leaders, more taiko, and precision flag work.

This is a good representation of what Ouendan outfits look like.

When I wasn't clapping or cheering, my mind was busy reeling at the thought of trying to get everyone in my highschool to participate in something like this.

Well that's all for now.  Here are some snapshots from the week past to round it out!  Don't forget to let us know what you think of the format or if there is something you want covered.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to feed the fish!

DW


Food

Okonomiyaki!

Whit's fancy new bento.

My new grill :D

The efforts of my new grill.

Studying

And I thought taking a semester off would allow me to escape
flashcards . . . 

The Japanese class bowling excursion

Exploring

Rice fields near where we live.

Unsupervised playground zipline . . . yes please.

A big dam about 10km from where we live.

You can't really tell but this slide is about three stories tall and is lined with rollers,
again unsupervised . . . SCORE

The view from the top of Mt. Tenpaizan.