Shrines of all shapes and sizes...

What happens when you drag your tired self out on a Friday night?

Short answer: 2 am jam session in an izakaya.

The long answer:

You discover a neigborhood that (like so many) you didn’t know existed, with a pulsing late-night bright-light beat.

You learn that the bar you are going to is run by a Minnesotan, has live music every night, and feels like a concert in your living room.

You hear great live music from some fellow teachers.

You ride the train home packed in like sardines, holding on for dear life as the crush of people sways as one.

You stop for a bite to eat near the station and discover delicious food…

And as the talk turns to music, the guitars come out, playing and singing commence, with neighboring young people joining in, waitresses listening, and the rest of the patrons staring at you as you make your way out into the moonlit streets. 

************

Kichijoji is an area of town a mere three train stations away, and this Saturday I spend a few hours exploring, from the bustling shopping area of Sun Road....

To the peace and quiet of Inokashira park.

My wander through the park reveals the usual (walkers, joggers, nappers, readers, paddle-boats that look like swans), the weekend attractions (the puppet show, the man making balloon animals), the performance artists (the poet reading his works aloud, walking in circles as he shares his wisdom, the man playing the electric keyboards). …

Today is a matsuri - a festival day where the people of the nearby areas parade through the streets with their mikoshi, portable shinto shrines.  I leave the park just in time to one the shrine procession take off - heaving the shrine onto their shoulders using long wooden planks, surrounded by others all wearing the name of their area, moving through the streets as the policemen clear the way. They chant, bobbing and moving in rhythm in their cloven white shoes. I follow shamelessly in tourist mode, clicking away. 

 (This next one might be my favorite from the day!)

I leave them as they turn down a side street and head into the chaos of Sun Road, where more groups are approaching. Many shoppers continue with their business, barely paying attention, but I am fascinated at what is happening, trying to process the the juxtaposition of this ancient religion and the Shoe Plaza that is a terrible background for all my photos.

After seeing my fill of mikoshi I wander off, down the shopping street as it leaves the busy station and enters a stretch of apartments, shops, and restaurants. The usual quiet has returned, low murmurs of conversation and spinning bike tires interspersed with occasional spurts of children's laughter.

Back again, and into a maze of tight alleys full of restaurants, popping out into the bright sun and girls with microphones trying to entice me into their electronics stores, then down below to a whole world beneath the train station - delicious air conditioning, gourmet treats, clothes.... 

Sunday brings an excursion to a shrine a bit farther afield...

..with a beautiful garden and koi pond in the back and a beautiful set of torii (gates)...

..and a great shrine sale, a great place to browse and photograph....

It was a good weekend full of explorations, adventures, and getting to know my new people and my new city. Has the transition been perfect? Of course not. This is new territory for me, this packing up and leaving a life behind, and trying to carve out a new one here is not without its challenges. My past adventures have begun because of the inevitable and expected end of a phase in my life, but this was a choice. It was easy to be so sure from the comfort of summer vacation, but there are moments where I do miss the life I left behind...and usually those moments are the challenging ones, when I miss the security of knowing and being known.  Being at a new school is hard work; collaborating closely with others who teach the same course is something I deeply appreciate but am having to shift my mind and my habits into. I love the connections I am forging here already, but of course I miss my friends and colleagues who have been in my life for the past 5 years....

...and I still can't translate my microwave!

These challenges are also opportunities for growth.  I'm content to take them on in exchange for the rest of it, and as I coast through a shaded section of park each morning, I am so thankful to be here. 

Shrine from Erin Wick on Vimeo.

Three weeks in....

.... and I feel confident that coming here was an excellent decision!

I won't bore you with the details of settling in (lots of getting shuttled around in a van, shopping, apartment hunting, decorating decisions, exploring, sweating in the heat, meeting people and promptly forgetting their names, using only the Japanese words I'm confident with,  jet lagging, and anything else you can imagine associated with moving).

Now I've moved on to more interesting pursuits - putting together the shelves, organizing my stuff, trying to figure out the various appliances (me + washing machine + translator app  = clean clothes!), deciphering the garbage/recycling calendar and instructions (even in English, I was at first perplexed), learning how to ride my bike without crashing/falling over, and looking for the perfect local restaurant to by 'my place.'

My apartment is wonderful - very spacious and on a corner with lots of natural light (which includes, for better or worse, the 5 am sunrise!). Things are almost put together - just waiting for my couch to be delivered!

(I'm on the top floor on the right). 

(My couch is green, so that should make the room a lot more interesting!)

My neighborhood is excellent - very quiet (sometimes a bit too quiet), but close to both a main train line and the line that goes to school. There are restaurants and shops that I'm still getting to know, but I can also take the train a few stops to more happening areas if I feel the need.

I've done a bit of exploring downtown, yesterday there was a folk-dancing festival that was great entertainment, and a great opportunity to get the camera out:

School starts tomorrow, and I am ready for the return of a routine, and to see those smiling faces!

This was hardly a thorough post, but more will follow soon. There are of course some challenges (which can be amusing if you let them, but I'll get to those later. For now,  I will leave you with a list of things I have been enjoying:

• Iced coffee in cans dispensed from vending machines, on average every 10 meters
• Noodles!
• Parks - my morning commute by bike or foot is 50% through the lovely Nogawa park. 
• My window nook (I’m sitting there now!)
• The other new folks as well as the returning faculty - everyone has been so welcoming!
• Not falling off my bike (yet), and the  freedom a bike gives me to get places.
• Constant discoveries - just turning one block earlier on the walk home brings surprises!
• Not having a car
• Efficiency! Lots of efficiency!
• The garbage collection truck plays a happy song to facilitate a last-minute bag 
• Trees
• Rain

Sayounara for now!

What's in a name?

Midway through my first year in Dubai, I wrote the following post:

"Just as I find myself settling in, things are changing all around me.

It's the time of year when international schools start looking ahead, when teachers decide to move on or move back, when schools make tough decisions about who to let go and who to bring in, when we all start thinking about how long we'll be here...

we live our lives like it's forever - make friends, fall in love, find routines and favorite views, open our heart to people and places; willingly set ourselves up for a fall - because people will leave, move on... and so will I.

Someday, a new adventure. A new city to explore, a new experience to embrace - changes that bring the giddy excitement of the unkown...
...and the ache that comes with leaving.

i already miss two places, two sets of faces, two climates... a dull ache that flares with a simple reminder... how many lives will i miss before i say "enough"?

perhaps that's why we keep moving - because without the next great adventure, we'd be left alone with only our missing.

I could shut myself out, keep my distance, knowing that my existence here is not forever; keep my heart safe from hurt, move on before i feel too much.

but that would negate the whole purpose that I feel right now - to know the joy of new places, the company of friends, and the knowledge of old friends and good memories waiting to be relived, the amazing people I have known and will know - and the peace that comes from being content with where i am right now, and also being content with the unknown that lies in front of me, knowing that it is better to have lived and lost, than never to have lived at all."


Little did I imagine the adventures in store for me in the next four years... two trips to the edge of the earth and back, an unforgettable African adventure, explorations of countries now embroiled in conflict...


if i could go back in time and counsel my earlier self, i would have agreed with her on some level: the act of moving on brings a certain amount of sadness. but i would disagree with her wholeheartedly on the point that i would keep moving to keep from missing what was left behind. 



there was so much to love about my life in dubai, but there were also so many subtle hints that my time had come... and i don't regret leaving, nor do i regret staying that last year. the friendships I made over those five years have not ended, they have just enriched and expanded my world a little farther. and while even at this moment, sitting at my gate in the airport, i have a hard time imagining the new adventure i am about to embark on, i know that  it will indeed be an adventure, and that the unknown is part of what makes it so appealing. 


i set out with the intention to live my life in Tokyo to the fullest, to embrace the wonders and the challenges, live the life like it's forever. 
because right now, it is. 


my blog may not have the perfect name yet, but I know that there will be plenty of wonderful,  fascinating, puzzling, and frightening experiences to share in the coming weeks, months, and years. 


stay tuned :)