4-H World Citizenship -

Harajuku was above and beyond Amazing!!!! XD The Harajuku district of Tokyo is a Mecca for artists, free spirits, and fashion! Shopping areas including Takeshita-dori shopping are the cutting edge of fashion in Tokyo where you can see all the latest in Japanese street fashion and then buy in the boutiques. It is very crowded. I am told it is a 'must see' for Japanese tourists.

I leave for the airport in one hour. I will be home soon about 24 hours actually.

4-H World Citizenship

I spent my last night with my host family. On my last day, we went to a five story building for Manga/Shine figurines and other collectibles. Then we ate sushi that was very nice and the "cook" liked me so much he gave me a sushi calender and a sushi mini book! :)) Wow, what a nice last day. Today, I flew to Tokyo and I am staying in the Shinjuku District until I fly back to America on Thursday!

4-H World Citizenship - Indian food, potrtaits, and rain boots

We just finished eating Indian food! It made me wish to go to Taj (an Indian restaurant in Oklahoma City that donated to my trip!). Also, I drew portraits of my parents and sis this morning. Only a few days till I am home, I am ready to hear English around me.

I bought rain boots today! They make me think of my Grandma Honey; strawberries and cranberries!!!










The cutest Japanese plastic cutting boards!

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4-H World Citizenship - 4-H Labo Camp, Kyoto artist

I have been at a Japanese 4-H Labo Camp the last few days. I climbed 2 mountains in 4 hours on the second day, the view from the top of both mountains I climbed were beautiful! I slept on a thin blanket, they called it a futon. At camp I gave away Oklahoma peanuts from the Oklahoma Peanut Commission! They loved them!

Below, I am posting more pictures of father’s artist friend’s house - all are working on the second floor of his house, in Kyoto.




One of the people working on a painting of a temple name.













This artist is working on the details of the sakura blossoms. This is the paper for the inner skidding screens/doors of a temple. This is for the summer festival time. Click on the link at the top right hand side of my blog to see sakura (cherry blossoms) in Japan.













The flower that Buda sits on, he is painting the Golden lines all by hand! :O

4-H World Citizenship - Artist, dinner, wasabi, Ponyo

Garage room of father's artist friend (not him in the picture), they are sculpted from wood sections and painted. He is a "certified master craftsman of Japanese traditional arts and crafts" he's younger than my parents and has a child in fathers preschool. He owns his own company. He paints, lays gold leafing, sculpts, etc. He did the tiles on the ceiling of the new temple. He has a 6 story building for the sale of his work as well as the garage room at his house and a few large rooms inside the house.

We visited both places, got to make gold leafing sauce dishes and mom bought me one of the bracelets he sells, which is like a small version of their praying beads.





View from our restaurant on the the 19th floor while in Kyoto

















Metal dish with a point in the middle that sits over a gas burner(all in the midle of the table). They put water unit, bring it to a boil with one kelp leaf in it, can boil thin beef in it within seconds. Add mushrooms, cabage, rice cakes oudon, clear noodles, tofu, et. It's very healthy!

































Wasabi: The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan (Izu peninsula). Wasabi is known as "Japanese horseradish", its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavour. I buy the paste back in the U.S., which I use in making sushi, yum! Sushi chefs usually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice.




This is Hayao Miyazaki's newer movie, Ponyo, (of course this makes me think of my dad back at home, he bought me my first Japanese animated movie many years ago!)

"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" is a 2007 Japanese animated film by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is Miyazaki's tenth film for Ghibli. The plot centers on a juvenile fish named Ponyo who wants to become a human girl. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke.

Ponyo has won several awards. It was released in Japan on July 19, 2008 and will be released in theaters in the U.S. on August 14, 2009. (view the clip by clicking on the 1st link on the right hand column of my blog)

4-H World Citizenship - Nishi-Honganji Temple

My parents walking to the Nishi-Honganji Temple.















The Nishi-Honganji Temple is the biggest wooden temple in Japan.









Mom, Riho, and me!


















Buddhist kneeling.
Father says it was built 400 years ago and it took 10 years to repair, finished repairs last year.

4-H World - Kyoto, Binto Box, Fukuoka

Today I arrived in Kyoto by train with my host family. Kyoto Station is the center for transportation in the city. The second-largest in Japan, it houses a shopping mall, hotel, movie theater, department store, and several local government facilities. It is a fifteen-story building! It took us about 3 hours to get to Kyoto. Japan's high speed trains (bullet trains) are called shinkansen.





This is Kyoto Tower I could see it when we arrived. It is an observation tower. The steel tower is the tallest structure in Kyoto, 131 meters (430 ft). The tower is built atop 9-story building, which houses a Kyoto Tower Hotel and several stores. The complex is just opposite from Kyoto Station.













I am at the Castle Kiyomizu. Kiyomizu-dera temple dates back to 798, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water or pure water.














I bought a Bento Box, a Japanese lunchbox!
And now in that I am in Kyoto this is the cookbook I bought! This is something I have seen in pictures and read about, then I saw them at the 4-H Kansas City Global Conference - now I am so happy to have one!





















Fukuoka: this is the stadium I saw the Softbank Hawks play baseball, Fukuoka Dome opened in April 1993, it was the first baseball park in Japan with a retractable domed roof. Its dimensions also made it the largest indoor stadium: it seats 48,000. And it is "green" one example is that rainwater that falls on the roof is collected, filtered, and used for the flush toilets.














These are some pictures of Fukuoka Tower, it is 234 meters tall and it is the tallest seaside tower in Japan. Fukuoka Tower was finished in 1989 and was built on reclaimed land out of Hakata Bay

4-H World Citizenship - Art, Riho's band, and dinner

My second painting while in Japan - Mother Nature, watercolor












Riho is the drummer! The concert went well!
At the "ja ja"




















In the temple kitchen five band members didn't know how to cook, so....Japanese dancing instead of cooking








And some how curry was produced. We had a sleepover and slept in one of the temple rooms.











The Rolling Stone bar, one of my host fathers favorite bands.


















Vietnamese style dinner at a the Rolling Stones bar last night.
We left at 10 till midnight. (two nights ago).

















Still at the Rolling Stones bar, woo I love eating gritty snail livers.

They are snails, but the majority of what you eat is gritty liver and poo. According to what they told me as I bit into it.





















Dad's friend makes jewelry and dream catchers. We visited
The art gallery/shop/class that she and several other artists
share. (Dream catchers make me think of Bobbie Heath and my Granddad, Bobbie made me a dream catcher when I was about 4 years old)
Also, while I'm Kyoto, I will
Get to go to a famous artists
House, because my dad is friends with him and he would like to meet me!

4-H World Citizenship - Temple, my home, and maps

This is a picture of the Temple where I live, it is newly built. I am at the front of the temple, standing in the parking lot.













Building front garden covering the kitchen building. The trees and plants are all freshly planted.

















Walkway to the main Temple.
















The kitchen, eating room and sitting room on the left, walkway, main Temple building on the right, it has the computer room, praying room and "altar"















Side of two car garage and walkway to the family house door and panel with mailbox..., also walk way from the house door to the music room which it has a double door inside and is sound proof.











This panel has name, box with camera and intercom, slot for mail.

This picture is of the main part of the Temple.















This picture is
the back of family home (on the right) beside the temple.













Before I left for Japan, I had many people ask me questions about the "facilities," I also had many people tell me their experiences! So, I am going to explain how the one where I live works. Please keep in my that my host family home and temple are both newly built!


(in my family's home)
It opens on it's own when you open the door, it heats up when you sit on it, there is a panel on the wall, telling you the time, temp, and has several buttons (for the spray there is a girl button, boy button, and an extra strong button; their is an extra flush button and a close and open button in case of a malfunction; their is a tiny water faucet (not in this picture) and a small hand towel, no soap), it flushes as soon as you stand up and it closes when you open and close the door on your way out. All together, it is maybe 2 feet wide and 4 feet long. Also, many families in Japan like the function of singing toilets, not my family.

In other places, there are singing toilets and also, holes in the floor (which sadly I had to use one time, :/ but I guess it's a good thing so I can tell people that I have had that experience).
















Also, here are some pictures that show the Islands of Japan, I am on the Island of Kyushu (South). The nearest large city close to where I live is Fukuoka, on the northwest side of the island.







I am on the south island named Kyushu. And the last picture shows my Island in detail with Fukuoka at the Northwest side.

4-H World Citizenship - Theater and Studio Ghibli

Yesterday I saw the Lion King Musical at the Fukuoka City Theater, nicknamed the Ramen Stadium. It is located in a uniquely designed mall, which includes the theater as well as clothing stores, restaurants, and rare shops, including a Studio Ghibli store! So…. I got to go to the Studio Ghibli store!!!! :D

A little about the Studio Ghibli: Studio Ghibli, which is considered Japan's premiere animation studio, was founded in 1985 by two of animation's greatest creators: Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Studio Ghibli has made numerous animation masterpieces. Among the many are two of my favorites - Princess Mononoke and Academy Award Winner Spirited Away. Studio Ghibli is not only respected and loved by all Japanese, animation fans and film lovers, but is loved by people from all over the world, including me!

A note about Manga, (Japanese comic books) which I have been reading for several years – a Manga in Japan is 100 yin, about $1.. Wow suddenly $10 sounds like a horrible price to pay for one in the U.S.