zen = pain

i just spent a week in a zen monastery on a mountain.

 forget whatever you read in zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, zen is lots of pain.

 more specifically 5 days of 15 meditation hours a day, with green muck resembling food

you have no choice but to eat (it is the practice to eat everything that is put infront of you, they almost kicked me out when i showed some mild problem with this. usually i am considered a good guest for not eating a lot…)

plus no talking or showers allowed

 so yes, it was a very interesting experience, i am happy i did it. no, i dont want to do it again any time soon.

 the abbot is german (which might explain the extra cruel nature)

this guy is really very cute when you get to know him but when he creeps up behind you

with a bamboo stick and breaths in your ear it is no thing to trifle with.

plus all the doors are sliding here

there is a shrine in the bathroom door you bow every time you go in

because shit is also sacred (everything is sacred or nothing is)

 you eat everything you are served, everything, this means puring your

drink to your plate after you are finished and drinking everything that remained

every move calculated. no space between thought and action

well thats it in a nutshell for more detail punch it out of me in person.

i hope to put up more pictures soon, and anyway ill be home next year

oh and there is no place like home

Zen

clean your rice bowl.

 talk to you in 5 days.

kyoto 2

ok like, so i was feeling tired of all these japanese

things around me , you know ?

 so descided to take a shower, rent a bike and go to that english bookstore the guide

book talks a-but.

the shower aperently had a timer. you press the handle and you get 10 seconds of water.

then it stops.

and you have to press again.

great relaxing time.

on the bike i got pulled over by a police officer who handed me a nice comic strip showing a man riding a bicycle in a crowdy street hitting everyone.

if i didnt get that square the next one had a bike with a large X on it.

i continued on foot.

by the time i got to the english book store the sign ‘closed’ did not surprise me much.

the river sunset was nice though

Kyoto (tokyo upside down)

at first sight kyoto is just another big japanese city

at second sight it also has lots of fake authentic touristic historic wooden houses and made up geishas

on a third glance it has sabiwabi allies and a wild river

a playfull moon and plenty of humidity

i am taking my time enjoying my last day of autonomous action -  as of tomorrow i will be controlled by a crazy zen monk

breakfast breakfast

big in japan ?

not really.

yesterday i played near the canal of a small tourist town. i played my guitar for one hour.

about 1839 Japanese , 2938 Chinese and 3877 Korean tourists passed by.

i got one 100 en coin (about 1 dollar. no, less)

so i learned my lesson and today i went to Sapporo, the big city

i sat on Sunday in the park surrounded by bohemian intellectual Japanese

i played my heart out for one hour.

i got one unenthusiastic clapping and no coin. i might have lost a coin actually.

well my music is excellent we all know so we must conclude that Japanese have no ear for music.

big in yafo it is then.

conversation skills

japanes are active listeners

that means that if somebody is talking to you, you are expected to be active while listening

active means muttering meaningless phrases like -so des ne- and -so des ka- between the talker’s sentences

but also mainly the output of a special humming sound, that goes upscale or downscale according to

innumerable factors, resulting in a continuous melody of vibrations.

all this would not upset me too much, if i had not started doing that sound myself, without even noticing

i am not sure but i think this pheonomena is a direct result of eating too much kari rice for breakfast

today i ate fish and rice for breakfast

finally some secret photos of japan in:

http://www.noamkovacs.com/photos/show/recent/

 came back yesterday from an hokkaido car trip with my friends. we covered a lot of distance and slept in the van,

like the good old 60′S

 i even had a yukaleyli to play

i have now started to dream in japanese. dangerous times

but seriously, Hokkaido cows are the happiest around

fire flowers

there were fireworks in otaru yesterday. no special reason. fireworks are specail reason.

 everyone whent out to the dock, with folding chairs.

5 fireworks went up to the sky.

5 minutes of quiet.

5 fireworks again.

quiet.

the japanese take their fireworks seriously, in a controlled manner. you have enough time to apriciate each one, and you

wait till the smoke has cleared for the next one appear.

the clolours and directions are all predetermined acording to some secret aestetic code.

its a show.

it has structure, the fireworks getting larger and prettier, then suddnly only two small ones are fired.

you think there are no more, then they light the fire ants

then the spliting murasaki’s

then the dock rope in front of you lights up and showers fire to the sky.

they have it down. been doing it for years

gifts i got during 24 hours

4 complete meals

entrence to 3 temples and one live volcane

a japanese stamp with my name in chinese characters

2 geish wind makers

one completly new long sleve shirt

2 boxer shorts

1 lucky charm from the biggest shinto shrine in sapporo

4 ice green tea

2 coffee

2 make up accesories

1 toothbrush

 6 colour prints of pictures of me in turist sites

all this (more was offered) by one japanese family who hosted me for one day.

i am a bit exausted.

with friends

the way of the train

i got to my friends house in otaru.

they have a Ramen shop.

 they got me a jappanese samurai dish washing hat

 i may use it yet.

 and the bonus – its cold in here!

updates to come