The Buddhist Version

Sunday I went to the Buddhist counterpart to the Shinto festival on Saturday night. My host mother and I went with her sister to a large temple where the monks served us lunch. The food was completely vegetarian in keeping with the rules of their sect, and it was good if simple. There was a miso soup, sesame tofu, rice, and various seaweed and pickle-related dishes. Later that evening I went with some other members of my premodern class to a demonstration of Noh and Kabuki dancers performing the same story in their particular styles. Basically, a lot of Kabuki plays draw on Noh, but the dancing is different. To be simplistic, Noh is slower and more stately and abstract, while the Kabuki tends to be more flamboyant and quick. I liked the Kabuki dancer's performance of the woman’s section, it was definitely feminine, but I like the warrior’s part of the Noh more, since it was more startling and looked effortless. After that, my host sister returned from Okinawa and gave me a pen with the Okinawa regional Hello Kitty on it! Every major region of Japan has its own Hello Kitties, and the one she got me was Kitty in traditional Okinawan dress. She also got me a sake cup that was an example of traditional Okinawan ceramics, which was also lovely. After that we went out to an Italian restaurant and ordered off the ‘set menu.’ Basically, it was a pre-decided meal that included an appetizer, bread or rice, pasta, choice of entrée, coffee or tea, and desert. It was quite good, and the smaller portions made about the perfect amount of food.
-When a family member goes on a trip, for business or pleasure, they bring back gifts for everyone in the family and then some.
-They really don’t drink much soda here. There appears to be only one major domestically produced soda, Mitsuya Cider, which is rather like Sprite, apparently.
-When you go to a restaurant or café where you sit down you will, apparently without exception, be given a little packaged wet napkin.