As I mentioned in my last post, my Christmas plans were fairly low-key. Skyping with my family, eating delicious American foods that are hard to find in Japan, and spending time with friends. But Japan really came through and took Christmas to a whole different, memorable level.
It began as I walked out of my apartment on Christmas morning to find that it was snowing. Though it gets cold in Nara, it rarely snows. I took this as a sign that this was going to be a good day. And so I hurried off, whistling "Good King Wenceslas" (which somehow seemed appropriate, and made me think of my uncle, who loves it), to meet my friends so that we could attend Christmas mass together. The "church" was located in a renovated two-story house and fit about 50 people uncomfortably. The service was in Japanese, and I struggled to keep up with the various gestures and appropriate responses from the congregation. Luckily, I think mass for most Catholics is about being on autopilot. I was also aided by the missalette, which was in Japanese, English and Spanish. The songs, however, were in Japanese, and played at about 3/4 their normal time, so that when we sang the gloria during "Angels We Have Heard on High," I had to come up for air.
Attending mass in foreign countries is like going to McDonald's abroad- you assume that it will be a fairly uniform experience, but it's always interesting to spot the small differences. There's a lot more genuflecting in Japanese mass than elsewhere. But by far the best part is that there is NO TOUCHING. No holding hands during the Our Father, no shaking of hands during the sign of peace (instead, you press your hands together in front of you in a namaste pose and bow). As someone who has been self-conscious about her cold hands (but a warm heart) her entire life, this was welcome. Furthermore, the priest got us in and out in 45 minutes. Actually, it was about 48 minutes with the prayer after the processional hymn honoring the missionaries who brought Catholicism to Japan. The priest, however, fled after the final benediction. I learned later that he was making an escape before the parish Christmas party started. Apparently he frowns on "partying."
We got pulled into the parish Christmas party on our way out, and I had a hard time figuring out what temptations or evils the priest felt needed to be avoided. The event consisted of platters of sushi rolls, Ritz crackers with tiny little cubes of cheese and ham, cream puffs and Coca-Cola products. The members of the congregation could not have been nicer or more welcoming, and we met several interesting people, including an obachaan (grandmother) who mistook me for the mother of the group. (I will insert here that my married friends are 29, and Paul is 32 with salt-and-pepper hair, so I felt this mistake quite keenly.) We eventually left the party and retreated to a friend's house for feasting ("I want to be in a food coma by the end of the day," said one) and movie watching. First, A Muppet Christmas, where our takeaway lesson was that the Dickensians had a solid idea when they invented dressing gowns and heavy curtains around the beds to trap in the heat, and that maybe we should try that here in Japan. The next feature was "Die Hard," which is apparently technically a Christmas movie. But before Bruce Willis could save those people with the Farrah hair from the insanely young and handsome Alan Rickman and his less attractive German thugs, we had to brave the cold yet again and make our way further north for a Christmukkah potluck, singing carols and yelling "Merry Christmas!" to all the Japanese who were pointing and laughing at us (the Santa hat I was wearing might have had something to do with that). All in all, a lovely Christmas.
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| My adult eikaiwa group dressed me up as a red samurai at our Christmas party. I thought they were going to have a stroke from laughing. |
LAND OF THE BUBBLE TEA
My trip to Taiwan was kind of a mixed bag, due mainly to my own expectations. It rained pretty much every day, Westernization was everywhere, the food was mostly Japanese, the couple of day trips we'd planned were frankly boring, and I came away underwhelmed. This is probably controversial given Taiwan's history, but I wanted it to be more like China- a little crazy, fun, and completely fascinating and foreign. Instead, what had promised to be an adventure was in fact a fairly safe trip to someplace slightly warmer and infinitely cheaper than Japan.
On the other hand, Taiwan was clean, cheap, green, easy to navigate, cheap, occasionally delicious, and the people were incredibly kind. We had no fewer than 3 people stop to ask us if we were lost, and then point us in the right direction. One woman walked us about half a kilometer out of her way to lead us to the nearest train station. In fact, the Taiwanese seem happier than the Japanese on the whole. (As a non-sequitur, I will also mention that while Japan has a significant population of androgynous men, Taiwan has a predominance of androgynous-looking women.)
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| Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world |
I was shocked by the fact that everyone seemed to speak English in Taipei, whether old or young. Unlike the Japanese, who are extremely hesitant to speak English for fear they will make a mistake, the Taiwanese speak easily and fairly fluently. There's nothing patronizing about the exchange, as in "Oh, I know you can't speak Mandarin, so I'll have to dumb it down and speak to you in English." Nor is there a mortal fear in their eyes as they string sentences together. When they can't remember a word in English, they shrug it off and try to express themselves in another way. They also appreciate any effort to speak Chinese, no matter how much you botch the tones.
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| Chiang Kai Shek Memorial |
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| CKS Memorial Square |
Best of all, there was a bubble tea place on almost every corner, which I thought appropriate, given that it originated in Taiwan. In 4 days, I think I drank 11 bubble teas. There was a lot of eating in general, at street markets and small neighborhood restaurants. We actually devoted an entire day to a food tour, which took us to (among other things), the Wistaria Tea House, which is famous in Taipei. Political dissidents used to meet here to discuss strategy and philosophy. The shop itself is small, with wicker furniture, warm lighting, and beautiful art. We ordered the "Tipsy" tea, which derives its sweet, fruity flavor in part from katydid saliva. We were taught the proper way of preparing and pouring tea into Turkish coffee-sized small cups, a process that was part chemical experiment, part sensory experience, like a wine tasting. We spent over 2 hours drinking thimblefuls of the stuff, until our bladders protested.
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| Trying stinky tofu. The reaction was more due to the spiciness than the stink. |
I broke down on our last morning in Taipei and bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The barista announced my order, and said in heavily accented English, "Have a nice day, and a Merry Christmas." Well, folks, my Grinch heart grew two sizes too big right then and there. It wasn't just the effort she made in speaking English to me, or how proud she clearly was of herself and her hard work, but the utter sincerity with which she spoke. And with that, I made my way back to the Land of the Rising Sun, properly imbued with the Christmas spirit.
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| Temple at night market. One of the few places with character I saw. |
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