Japan - 2006 | MirandaCastro on Xanga

Sunday, 15 October 2006

Japan - 2006
It's hard to believe that this time last week I was teaching homeopathy to 400 homeopathy students
and practitioners in Tokyo plus another couple of hundred in two other locations in Japan by
simultaneous video transmission.

Japan is a long, long way away. Twenty-four hours door to door (more on the way home),
including two flights (three on the way home). 14 hours on one flight is just too long. After about 8
hours I just wanted to get off or go for a walk. While most people slept I walked a circuit of the plane
- 100 steps each time around meant I did 1000 steps stretching all the way! That helped!!

My first impressions of Toyko were affected by the weather. It was dreadfully gray and wet - so gray
that the sky merged with the gray concrete of the skyscrapers and the streets and motorways all
around.

The view from my 22nd floor hotel room!

Looking down!!

ZEN Curry & Piano Cafe! What could that be?!

A soup kitchen - like so many restaurants, beautiful, organic design.

A peak into the restaurant.

My time in Japan passed in a blur of exhaustion and wonder. I never managed to catch up on my sleep
and after a few days I just stopped trying. Maybe it was the double jetlag, not having recovered from
my UK trip the week before, or maybe it was the extra hard beds! There was so much to wonder at ...
so much that was new or different. While I hate to travel I love to experience another culture -
meeting the people and eating the food is always fascinating.

My first impressions of Japan started at Narida Airport. There were lots of people but hardly any noise.
A reverential hush best describes the atmosphere - almost church-like. The airport itself gleamed and
sparkled like a new pin and the 'staff' were all very smiley and polite! Compare and contrast the shock
of Chicago on the return journey. A filthy, hellish experience. Masses of noisy people. Rude,
intimidating airport staff. What a shock this must be to Japanese people visiting the US for the first
time.

Then there was the food. It was out of this world. I was lucky to to eat with Japanese people - in
restaurants or their homes. The food was a far cry from the Japanese cuisine that I have eaten in
restaurants in England and America. It made me think of how different it is to eat Italian food in Italy.
Japanese food explodes with freshness and with taste and texture contrasts. There was so much new
to discover - some of it rather strange. A Japanese ice cream sundae with gray and green ice creams,
cubes of gray and sea green jelly (jello) and a dollop of cream and a red bean on top! The gray ice
cream that looked as if it had been made with the ashes from a coal fire. Dirty gray with dark gray
flecks. It was black sesame ice cream and absolutely delicious. Udon soup with a variety of gray,
brown and beige 'items' (not one of them a noodle) most of which were delicious but largely
unidentifiable. There was one rubbery item that resisted chopsticks - it squeaked against my teeth
when I chewed it and tasted of nothing. Everyone I asked about it said 'oh yes - no calories.' Another
day, another soup. We cooked this one at our table. It was full of vegetables zinging with freshness,
big slabs of soft tofu, glutens (rubbery lumps of various shapes and colors), and rolls of tofu skin. This
highly nutritious food stretched my culinary adventurousness to its limits and slightly beyond.

Here are just a couple of memorable meals - without smell-o-rama i'm afraid they aren't great.
The first is from the breakfast buffet at my fancy hotel. Scrunchy salads, steamed broccoli fish and an
umeboshi plum! Great way to start the day.

A lunch box! Always a hot towel. Always pickles and fresh fruit. So healthy and varied.
This box had rice and steamed vegetables, a selection of grilled and skewered meats and fishes, and
salads. On the saucer are pickled crysanthemums. I told my hostess I loved bitter foods and this was
the bitterest delicacy she could find. They were delicious.

Ah - sashimi! A work of art. The fish folded and placed just so. Fresh wasabi. A mound of minute,
fragrant, purple, sweet basil sprouts. A basil leaf behind which hides a pile of grated daikon raddish.

Pickles are required at every meal. They come in an unimaginable number of colors, shapes and sizes.
Here are just a few from the pickle booth at the covered market in Kyoto.

Did you want to know what a wasabi looked like?! In one restaurant the fresh, green root was served
with a special grater so you grate your own into the soup.

I loved the covered market: half a mile of booths selling all sorts of weird and wonderful foods.

And so to work!!!
I spoke for three days on using homeopathy during pregnancy, birth and the post natal period to
students and practitioners at the Japan Royal Academy of Homeopathy. The principal is Torako Yui - a
powerhouse of love and dedication for homeopathy. She trained in the UK and became Japan's first
homeopath in 1995. In just ten short years she has spread homeopathy throughout her land, with
schools, offices and clinics in three main locations. There are 600 graduates and 400 current
students. She has a pharmacy and has bought land to build a manufacturing facility. She has written
two books on homeopathy and translated a dozen more into Japanese. She is also president of the
Japanese Homeopathic Medical Association (which she inaugurated in 1998), the standard setting
organization for homeopaths in Japan. Her plans include many more translations (including my book,
Homeopathy for Pregnancy, Birth and Your Baby's First Years), and a hospital. Her school is a miracle
of technical sophistication with huge flat screen monitors absolutely everywhere, including at two
remote locations showing the seminar at the same time and allowing for students at those locations to
participate by asking questions.





Torako Yui

Homeopathy Japan's main pharmacy and clinic - a blend of beautiful old and new woods, custom
design, fresh flowers and friendly courtesy.

The school! What fun to see the Union Jack flying!

Just thinking about where all the shoes were going to go was deeply puzzling to me. It didn't occur to
me that the 'empty shelves' in the school shop were empty for precisely that reason!

One student looked beautiful in her kimono

The equipment!

The office - a hive of quiet efficiency.

A 'nursery' classroom housed the mothers and babies who also watched the whole seminar on a big
screen while, feeding, changing and playing with their babies.

I was full of trepidation at having to teach through an interpreter, but that trepidation all but melted
away as soon as I met Midori, the translator, a bright and vibrant woman who laughed happily when I
said she must feel free to make my jokes funnier if she liked. The last shreds of trepidation
disappeared after just a short while. Row upon row of attentive students who appeared to be
understanding my everyword made it hard for me to remember to stop after every sentence or so for
Midori to 'catch up'.

A professional photographer took photos which I taught the first morning - he must have taken
hundreds of photos if not more. It was so embarrassing I pretended he wasn't there. On the last day
one of the teachers at the school took more photos. I was over my embarrassment by then and
whipped out my own camera to take one of him photographing me!

On my last day I was presented with an album of photos showing 'me' in at least a hundred
expressions and stances. Rivetting. And what an interesting way to make a visiting lecturer feel
appreciated.

This building, around the corner from the school, houses the school's pharmacy and overspill classrooms.

The Kyoto Office, Clinic, Pharmacy and Classrooms!

Mount Fuji

Kyoto Temples - ancient buildings and gardens full of peaceful spirits

Five hundred year old trees

Balance everywhere





Finally - some quirky or beautiful sights in no particular order!

A tree trunk wrapped around a lamp-post. Yes how? but more importantly why?

This is the most beautiful bath plug I have ever seen.
It is a triumph of practical, beautiful design.

Changing trains we have to make our way from one platform to another - via
an archway that is 4 foot 6 inches high!!!

Hilarious plant. Solanum mammosum (solanaceae) originated in Brazil.
Due to the shape of its yellow fruit, this plant is known as Fox Face.
With Midori - my wonderful guide/companion in Kyoto

Hilarious traffic signals



Hilarious socks

I am so sorry these photos are out of focus. The dog has a matching helmet.

Mushrooms at $600 for a box (4 in a box). Wow.

The special stones at this shrine are wearing aprons.

Beautiful beautiful drain. So simple.

A bamboo fence merges effortlessly with nature.

One of the 'joys' of jetlag is being able to catch the sunrise!