Sanzenin in Kyoto

I’ve been to Kyoto countless times, but due to friends from out of town visiting back in March, we rented car and decided to stretch our legs a little. We went to Sanzenin (三千院) in Ohara in Kyoto.

There a Wikipedia article on sanzenin in Japanese, but actually I’m not having much luck finding information on it in English… Ah, here’s some good Sanzenin stuff on Japan-Guide.com. They’ve done a good job on the write up, so I’ll leave you with some pictures.

A picture is worth 1000 words huh?

After wading through the crowd at the more famous Kyoto temple and shrine locations, the sparsely occupied Sanzenin area was a great change. I could sit and look at that garden for hours…

- Harvey

A lump of reserve

If you’ve been in Japan for a while you’ve probably heard the phrase 遠慮 (enryo). It basically means to hesitate, to have reserve, or to constrain yourself.

It can be used in many ways…

To refuse an offer…

Kid 1: 明日またカラオケ行こうよ！ - ashita mata karaoke ikouyo! - Let’s go to Karaoke again tomorrow!

Kid 2: えっ、また？行きたいけど、遠慮しとくわ。- eh? mata? ikitaikedo, konkai ha enryo shitokuwa. - Eh? Again!? I want to go but I’ll pass this time.

To tell someone not to hold back…

うわぁぁぁ〜ステーキだ！- uwaaaaaaa suteeki da! - Wow! Steak!

遠慮せずに食べてください。- enryo sezuni tabetekudasai - Don’t hesitate to eat all you want.

There is also a famous saying that goes, 遠慮の固まり。(enryo no katamari)

Katamari refers to a lump or clump of something. You might know that word from the video game Katamari Damacy actually… Anyway…

This, is an enryo no katamari.

As you can see, an enryo no katamari is the last piece of food (or other desired item, but usually food) that no one touches because they don’t want to seem like the greedy person who rudely grabbed the last bite.

Typically in Japan, this last tasty morsel will sit around for a few minutes while people carry on, and then at some opportune time ssomeone will offer it to somebody else in the group. “Hey, eat this Joe!” Joe will refuse, and insist that Sam be the one to eat the last bit.

After some more of this someone will finally eat it and the party will be over.

Or everyone will just hang around and watch more comedy shows on TV.

- Harvey

Spiderman Goods

My friend nicknamed “Babie” loves Spider-man (Check her blog to see her dancing with Spider-man in Japan.)

She’s got a ton of Spider-man goods.

A ton.

The English word “goods” is used in Japanese (グッツ pronounced, gudtsu). It usually means “character goods”, and refers to things such as… figures… or tissue box covers… that are themed after a particular character.

In this case, the wondrous web-slinger.

This cover wraps around a tissue box, so you can pull tissue from… eerrr. so Spider-man can shoot tissue into your nose from the web-slinging apparatus in his wrist.

Push Spider-man’s head for soap.

Spider-man twins help you carry steaming pots of spaghetti.

Spiderman-face magnet.

Half of Spider-man’s body is stuck inside of the refrigerator!

Memorabilia from Spider-man the Ride at Universal Studios Japan.

Spider-man hanging on the side of a building that looks kinda like a coffee mug.

A Spider-man Bear Brick!

Spider-man key cover.

Now that’s a lot of Spidey-goods!

- Harvey

Dango - だんご３兄弟

Mmm…. Dango.

Three individually flavored balls of sweetness.

There was a Dango 3 Kyoudai (The 3 brothers Dango) song made popular years ago in Japan. Thanks to the wonders of youtube, you can enjoy it over and over again today!

Check out the Dango 3 Kyoudai video on YouTube.

Also, if you are into cute school supplies, you can get a dango shaped eraser set from The Japan Shop.

You know. I just noticed that even the eraser set has the dango in order, pink, white, green. It just occured to me that all dango with these flavors all over Japan are ordered the exact same way… I wonder how that got started…

- Harvey