Hachimangu Shrine and Wanting to Kill Certain People

Monday morning (23rd) I somehow managed to get up before my alarm which was impressive since I hadn’t gone to bed that early and also since I had set my alarm for around 7:15am. I checked my email and saw that Todd had responded but that he was operating on the old instructions we had which told us we had to be at the shrine by 9am. I almost wish now that I had let him keep assuming that but we’ll get to that in a minute.

So, I sent him back an email saying that we had to be there between 10-10:30am. I didn’t get an answer from him by 7:30m so I called him after I had gotten dressed and packed all my stuff back up. I got him the second time I called and we talked for a minute. I told him that I would see him at breakfast since he sounded asleep. He said had read my email and gone back to sleep for a bit.

Since I was all ready I decided to go down to the free breakfast and enjoy it so I didn’t have to be rushed. I had a choice between the Japanese breakfast and the Western one and since I didn’t feel like being overly adventurous with breakfast I went for the Western one. It was a buffet style and very nice. The waitress who sat me was trying to tell me in English about the drink part of the buffet and she forgot a word. I felt bad so I told her I actually understood some Japanese and she switched to Japanese. I think she felt relieved.

After I had gotten my food and began eating, Todd arrived. He came over to sit with me and we chatted as we ate our breakfast. It was a very nice meal. I had some eggs, a roll with orange marmalade, something like Canadian bacon, corn flakes, milk, coffee, OJ, and yogurt with honey. As we were finishing up Michael came in and said hi to us but he was going to go to the other restaurant for the Japanese breakfast. It was already a little after 9 and I was getting worried that we hadn’t heard from Casey yet.

After Michael left we finished up and headed back to our rooms. We had all agreed to meet in the lobby between 9:45-10am so that we could leave at 10am by the latest to get there on time. I knocked on Casey’s door on the way back to my room and sure enough she hadn’t eaten yet and wasn’t done packing up her stuff yet (it was about 9:20am). I told her when we were planning on meeting and she asked me about the breakfast choices. I advised her that if she was worried about time she should probably opt for the Western one but that if she went down then she could probably catch Michael and ask him about the Japanese one.

At about 10 minutes to 10am I went down and checked out. Michael and Todd were waiting in the lobby. I went over and sat with them while we waited for Casey. It got to be 10am and still no Casey. I was getting nervous now because they guys had said she was going to breakfast as they had come down.

At 10:05am Todd called Casey. She said she was at breakfast and that she would be done in 10 to 15 minutes. Now I was annoyed because at the fastest it would take about 15 minutes to get there and I hated rushing around. Mike and Todd decided to run across the street to get snacks for lunch, why they hadn’t done that earlier or the night before was beyond me. Now I was annoyed at them too.

At 10:15 Casey finally gets to the lobby and doesn’t even notice me sitting there waiting for her as she nearly walks out the door. A minute later the guys get back and we all go hop in a cab. Sure enough the cab takes about 20 minutes to get there. We get there and Todd is talking to the cab driver but since the right door doesn’t open, the one I’m sitting next to, I get a little short with him and basically tell him to move because I want to get my luggage out of the trunk since we’re already 10 minutes late. That got him moving.

After he paid the driver and we grab our luggage it’s now time to hurry over to the building where we’re meeting Miyata-sensei. I hate being late especially in Japan. I was fuming at this point. And I had to rush around carrying a backpack that easily weighing 30-40 pounds and I was walking in wedge heels.

So we hurry in and Todd locates the building on the map. We rush to the other end of the shrine and go down a WHOLE LOT OF STAIRS. I mean A LOT! When we get to the bottom of them he’s like, “Oops, the building was right before the stairs, we have to go back up.” I wanted to kill him for that, and Casey for making us late.

So we get all the way back up and we find the building. We drop off our luggage, introduce ourselves to the head of the shrine, present him with the chocolates and business cards, and then head off for a tour of the shrine. Normally, since the shrine is a national treasure, pictures are not permitted but the head of the shrine said he would make a special exception for us and I felt extremely honored.

We headed over to the shrine and got a short explanation of how they have to replace the roof after every so many years, the process of that, and how they lacquer the outside of the building. It was really quite amazing. After that we got a special ceremony and blessing in the shrine itself. I was amazed. Then we got to take pictures there too. As we were about to leave the building connected to the shrine we got bags of gifts from the shrine. We got DVDs about the shrine, a book about the architecture, and even postcards with photos. I was so happy.

After that we headed back to the building with our luggage because that was where the Mai class we were going to watch was. The class was very interesting and we got to watch a few of the priestesses of the shrine practice their dances. After that class was over we had some time for lunch and to look around the shrine as well.

I ate my jam bread that Todd had picked up for me earlier (only because I didn’t want to have more chocolate chip melon bread) and then excused myself to go out and take some pictures. I stopped back in after wandering around a little and found that I had a cherry and a cup of coffee waiting for me. I was so happy. I quickly finished them off and then we all went back out to explore the shrine a little.

I prayed at the shrine and walked around a little. Then we all headed back to the building for our group gagaku lesson. The shrine priestesses were going to join us and I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be the only ryuteki. It was a fun lesson and I liked the girl that was sitting next to me, she was very cheerful. After the lesson I somehow ended up showing them Bharta Natyam (again). They were all fascinated at the odd positions and movements.

Then it was time for us to leave and one of the men at the shrine was kind enough to drive us in a van back to the train station. We chatted on the ride back. Then we said bye to Miyata-sensei because she had to run to catch her train back. Then we all went in to bye our Shinkansen tickets for the ride back. Todd, Michael, and I all ended up on the same train going back but Casey bought an unreserved ticket. This basically meant she couldn’t be on our train since it didn’t have any unreserved cars.

Apparently she had bought the suit that she was looking at when she was out with Todd and was now going to pick it up from the store. I guess she didn’t want to get a reserved ticket in case there was going to be any problem with picking up her suit. I myself was tired of carrying around my heavy bags and was eager to get back to Kita-Urawa to relax a little.

On a side note the tickets were cheaper coming back and wondered why that was. In the conversation we were having about this I found out that the ticket for on the way up covered me from Kita-Urawa and so I didn’t need to use my Suica card. This made me mad because no one told me that and even though I went to the window before going to get on the Shinkansen I think they took the money off my Suica card. I was mad, but it balanced itself out because I didn’t have to pay for the ride from Omiya back to Kita-Urawa so I felt better.

Todd and Michael wanted to look around since we had some time before the train. I wandered with them for a little bit and then went to the bathroom. Todd ended up getting some omiyage (gifts) for some of his friends and I think Michael went off to look for a cheap ekiben (bentou lunch box bought in train stations).

When I got back from the bathroom Todd was finishing up buying his stuff and was looking for food. We went upstairs and he went to get some udon or something while I sat in the waiting room for a bit. Then before I headed up to the tracks I stopped in to say bye and Michael was there. We headed up to the train together but he went off to buy his ekiben, apparently he hadn’t found a cheap enough one before, and I went to wait for the train.

When we got back to Kita-Urawa I ran into him again on the platform. We both were trying to figure out if we had to pay from Omiya to there because of the way we bought our tickets but we ended up not having too and so we were both happy about that. We headed back to the center and I relaxed in my room while watching some TV and anime.