Crafting in Reception

Decoupaged some "suggestion boxes" for the Travel Channel offices. My sneaky plan to be crafty and creative at work. Suckahs!

KB

Japan!

In late March I flew across the country and over an ocean to visit Japan for the first time. I'd always been interested in the culture and artwork, so I had to see for myself where the beauty and bizarre came together in this island nation. Please enjoy my observations and activities through the six destinations of my trip!

Sendai

My first real taste of Japan outside the Narita airport and Tokyo shinkansen (bullet train) was the seventh designated city of Japan, Sendai. Sendai was a city completely rebuilt after being wiped out as a result of World War II. It was a great first impression of incredible urban planning and an appreciation for every space, no matter how small. Every tree that lined the street was strictly pruned into a specific design. I found temples and shrines snuggled underneath the shadows of office building and apartments, immediately preferring these calm oasis' of reflection over the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping district (because apparently the Japanese invented department stores).

Staying with my friend Tara, currently an Asst. Language Teacher (ALT) for the JET Programme, I got a glimpse into the life of foreigners or "gaijinn" living in Japan. When not crammed into an apartment the size of a closet (don't be sad, it's incredibly efficient), she took me out and about to shopping arcades, technology stores and booze halls. She opened my eyes to world of "purikura," capsule games, 7-story "manga" and video game shops, chuu hai and karaoke. Throughout the day I had remarked how everyone moved about the city in a slow lurch, zombies clunking their way to their quick lunch and back to the office until 8pm. When night fell we found ourselves in the drinking district and it was as if everyone was shocked to life. People were falling over each other everywhere, the old man with the siren peddled his steamed sweet potatoes to drunken customers.

With Tara by my side I had my very first bowl of "real" ramen, complete with fatty slices of pork, hand pressed garlic and the most delicious soft-boiled eggs I've ever stuffed into my mouth. We also sampled "zunda-mochi" and "gyutan," both specialties of the region. Zunda-mochi is pounded rice balls cakes slathered in pounded edamame soybeans. Incredible! Gyutan is beef tongue, sliced thickly and slightly marinated in soy sauce before being grilled. I devoured my share with a side of ox-tail soup (a bowl of fun until you have to pick the vertebrae out with your teeth). "Taiyaki" should also be eaten only when it is filled with goopy custard and after you just watched it be made.

My favorite experience of Sendai was learning to pray at my first shrine. As an "obaasan," or grandma, was walking down from the main sanctuary area, she stopped to stare as I fumbled through the wrong way to wash my hands in order to purify myself before praying or making wishes. After what I'm guessing was a pitiful attempt (when someone is shaking their head and smiling at you you assume so), without a word, she walked me through the entire process. First wash your left hand. Then your right. Scoop water into your hand and wash your mouth. Walk to the shrine and toss your money into the box. Ring the bell, bow twice and clap twice. And with that she said "Sayonara" and left.

After 3 days, with the initial shock of time-traveling and cultural opposites, I set out on my own for the largest heritage city of Kyoto.

Kyoto

Kyoto blew me away right out of the train station. Kyoto Tower greets you, a block down from the train station is a true, blue old a snot temple, public bath houses, and young girls dressed up in kimonos just happened to walk by and let me take a photo with them. A sweet "ojiisan" (grandpa) also saved my life when I was making getting lost into a sport. Eventually I arrived at my hostel, the Gojo Guest House. After dropping my things, setting up my futon the only way an American can (cushion-cushion-sheet-blanket-done) I set out for the Gion District and the Yasaka Shrine where a brilliant light festival and ikebana showing was being held and my camera batteries decided to revolt.

Unlike Sendai, Kyoto was filled to the brim with temples and shrines. Everywhere. My first day went very much like "Temple, Shrine, Temple, Temple, Shrine, Shrine, Shrine." Every single one prayed to a different god, had a different guardian animal and damnit, I stopped into each one I saw. After hiking from Gion to the Imperial Palace park to the Silver Pavilion, I made it back to Gion just in time to meet up with Couchsurfers. We danced, we "okonomiyaki"ed, we karaoked and stumbled into the night, chuu hai's in hand.

The next day I met a New Yorker named Tim. After chatting over some toast and honey we set out for the other half of Kyoto, the south and west. Our first mission was the Fushimi Inari shrine, essentially a mountainside covered in thousands of bright orange torii gates (some city folk may recall the Jean-Claude and Christo piece "The Gates" from Central Park). Celebrating our hike up a flippin' mountain, we grabbed a 150 yen beer (Kirin is the Coors Light of Japanese beer, blaugh!) from a vending machine and hopped the train to the west-side, the Togetsukyo Bridge and Bamboo Forest in Arashiyama. On this side of the city, exhausted to the point where sweet potato, green tea and brown tea ice cream could not cure your ills, we hopped a rickshaw back to the train rails and boogied back a sushi restaurant called Yamabiko in the heart of Gion.

Now my big lesson here in Kyoto was that the Japanese (especially sushi chefs who want to travel to America) absolutely love Americans from New York and Americans from "Obama-san's house." Obamamania hit hard in Japan (especially in the Japanese city of Obama!) and the questions were punctuated with free beers (Sapporo this time, thank God). Amongst the extra attention, my taste buds had the chance to savor "toro", the prized fatty tuna nigiri, salmon roe so delicate and fresh it melts in your mouth the only way salt flesh bubbles can, crunchy, crunchy abalone and sea urchin. Oh my God, the sea urchin. I have never known that these spiny critters could taste like anything but a briny sea booger! But Japan, oh Japan, you are welcome to prove me wrong with food anytime you want.

Osaka

Moving on, Osaka was a little lackluster seeing as my host was working all week and I had no one to party with across Osaka's extensive nightlife. I was here for about a day, and a majority of it was spent on the Dontonburi. One of my missions in Osaka was to show up that Bourdain punk and to munch some grilled crab. I sure did and damn it was delicious! Washed that down with a heaping helping of takoyaki and topped all the nonsense off with a green tea cake roll and sweets. But not soon after it was time for third lunch where the Osaka-style of "okonomiyaki," or pancake omelet, was sampled. After leaving my guide I resumed my solo traveling and biked around a good chunk of the city arriving just in time to see the Osaka Castle. While a reconstruction, it was an incredible sight to see.

Later in the evening my host took me to "the best bar in Osaka." Forgot the name of the place, but I thought up a better one; "Where the White People Hide." Apparently this was where the English teachers came to drown their sorrows (if they've been there for awhile) or plan all sorts of adventures (if they had arrived earlier that week). I got my chuu hai on regardless, but I can report that the ziggy-zaggy bicycle ride back home was one to remember. You just can't scratch Engrish catcalls from your memory.

Miyajima Island and Hiroshima

Deciding Osaka wasn't quite my scene I took a day trip to Miyajima Island and the Hiroshima Peace Park, all a fun ferry ride between each other (and FREE with my JRail pass). Imagine my surprise upon discovering all the fuzzy deer wandering everywhere surrounding the Itsukushima Shrine! We snuggled and then I ran off to get as many photo ops of deer and the floating torii gate as possible. Eventually I became hungry and found a stand selling grilled oysters. And by oysters I mean the critter is bigger than your freaking hand. The lady cooking them was really nice and gave me an extra one for free!

Hiroshima's Peace Parka and Memorial was haunting. That's the only way I can describe it. After the past few days, it wasn't until this point in my day that truly felt like an outsider. Being an American, the guilt just weighs you down, as if a fog rolls in and you try to claw your way through. I mean, my family helped rebuild this country! Where was I getting off with this guilt? Upon finding my way to the Memorial Cenotaph, instead of praying in the Japanese way I'd been practicing for over a week, over and over in every shrine I visited, the Hail Mary's just came out. For some reason I can't explain, it only felt fitting to pay my respects in the way I knew and felt most sincere. I'd been imitating these rituals for a week and this way only felt the most respectful. I moved on to the atomic dome. If the sight of that skeletal structure doesn't twist your gut then you sir, are not human. The train ride back to Osaka was deep in thought.

Shizuoka

I met up with Couchsurfers in Tokyo for a dinner before departing for Shizuoka. Ride of choice? Not the train this time, but the WISH-CLUB bus! Myself and eight other couchsurfers were going to stay at the home of Mochan, a man who I have come to idolize as the perfect traveler.

Mochan's house is modest and surely not a luxury hotel. All of the walls are plastered with artifacts from around the world, a sombrero collection, flags from several countries along the ceiling and maps. Maps from almost every continent, all signed by the people he met, tacked with pictures taken with them. I was in awe. Mochan's hospitality showed no bounds with a full day planned of Mt. Fuji viewing and themed sightseeing. Our first stop was the Seikenji Temple, famous for its hundreds of stone statues of monks and students of the temple. We them moved on down the street for a tour of a previous Prime Minister's summer home, a prime example of traditional Japanese architecture and use of natural supplies for practicality and aesthetic.

We hopped the bus and made our way to the Fuji Sengen Shrine, where climbers go to pray before attempting to reach the summit of Mt. Fuji, a very spiritual place for the Japanese I am told. Chickens and roosters were the guardian animals here, very fun! From the shrine we headed to Lake Kawaguchi, supposedly one of the best places to see Mt. Fuji. The only problem? Clouds, clouds and a touch of fog. We moved on to the Shiraito Falls, a collection of waterfalls depositing the icy cold waters from the summit of the mountain to a gorgeous display to watch while you munch on grilled squid on a stick.

Mochan resolved to try to show us the VERY best place to view Mt. Fuji. As we attempted to get there though, the bus was overtaken with a dense, dense fog. So heck. It wasn't all in vain thought. We got out and made our own Fuji-san.

Heading Home

As I boarded the shinkansen back to Narita, I was ready to come home. Don't get me wrong, the Japanese people were the nicest folks I have ever met. I especially appreciate all the obaasans and ojiisans who welcomed me and helped me find my way when I originally thought they would be the most vehement on avoiding my little American self. If anything, the foreigners living in Japan left me with the worst feeling of being an outsider. This trip grounded the idea of the mixing of romantic and bizarre I had thought of Japan. It is the land of two extremes; the calculated beauty contrasting with the flamboyantly bizarre. This juxtaposition only enhances the appreciation for the other. It hit me very hard and only left me wanting to learn more, to talk more and to discover more about Japan.

KB

Back from Japan, time to clean up the photos!

One bummer about my time in Japan was the very hazy and cloudy weather. Slowly but surely, I'm going through each decent photograph and messing with some color editing. It's great practice since I will need to apply the same to the footage I took with the camcorder.

Nishio Conservation Studio - TCA Video

Nishio Conservation Studio
Travel Channel Academy
Rosenblum Associates
Travel Channel Media

Travel Channel Academy

So we just wrapped up the Travel Channel Academy on Friday. It is essentially UMBC's Visual Concepts IV without the bullshit, the wasted time and where they actually teach you how to use Final Cut Pro in an idiot-proof way that gives you a product. On the whole it was a fun expierience, but a grim reminder of what a 9-5 can do to one's creative time. Essentially in 3, 8-hour days I was able to work on a creative project and see the final product in an extremely quick turnaround; something I haven't been able to do much of since I began working behind the reception desk at Travel and since the shelving of the Paul Rand project. It was a truly terrifying shock back to reality after I set foot out of that conference room and was asked to order a taxi.

The Nishio Conservation Studio, one of the only private studios to specialize in treatments for Japanese folding screen paintings and scrolls was kind enough to allow me to come in, slip into some slippers and film them as they do their mind-boggling patient work. Yoshi, the founder, taught me more in that 2 and a half hour period about the politics of these works, the degradation and the technique than I learned from months sitting in Spain. Shoot, I want to go back just to hang out.

I need to look into the legal junks and see where I can share my video or at least post some stills. I'm very proud of what came of this project and have a deep appreciation for the subject matter and the people involved. It's defintely niche, so it couldn't measure up with Arlington's changing of the guard, Google Earth or some sushi, but hell, those were some ridiculously nice videos coming from people who've never touched a camera. It breaks my heart that these sparks of creative talent are smuthered by lack of confidence. "I'm not a creative person" is such complete crap. Creativity is not synonymous with hoity-toity, artsy-fartsy, starving artist, elitist or shiny Macbook bullshit!

K