Parents normal, kid is a southerner

My youngest sister arrived in Kyoto today, and we did some more of that hanging out thing. She only got about 2 hours of sleep on the train over, so she spent much of the day snoozing (falling asleep on the longer bus trips, falling asleep on the sofa in my hotel room, etc. etc.). Nathan had a work emergency, so he ended up stuck in the hotel room while we went to explore the silver shrine (he assures us that he's feeling a bit shrined out anyway, so this was no big loss). The silver shrine is not, as you might suspect, made of silver. No, it's made of wood. I think the only reason it's called the silver shrine is because there's a golden shrine on the other side of the city, and they wanted the names to match (the golden shrine IS gold-plated, so that's cool and all).

The silver shrine has awesome gardens. There's a cute display informing you that there are several types of moss. There's 'intruder moss,' 'normal moss,' and 'VIP moss' (with the latter being the most desirable). And sure enough, you may spot a gardener crouched down on the moss somewhere, hacking away at intruder moss to try and help the good moss flourish. It seems that all moss is not created equal! Japanese gardens are kind of interesting--they're deliberately kind of rough edged, with no obvious organization, to make it seem more like a natural forest. But they're also not natural at all--everything is just a little too perfect, the waterfalls arranged a little too conveniently, the bushes a little too round and the lilies a little too numerous for it to be completely natural. And of course, there's no bad moss.

After the silver shrine, we ate out with my sister's home-stay family from Kyoto. We had a very pleasant Korean barbecue. I think that the Korean barbecue in Los Angeles might be a bit more authentic, ironically, but it was very good Japanese/Korean food :-). The meat is Korean style, but they have to bring it neatly arranged in geometric patterns on decorative plates. If you order scrambled eggs and toast in this country then it's going to arrive in a geometrically arranged pattern on a decorative plate. Soup? It'll be in a decorative bowl, with approximately three separate garnishes, selected for their harmonious colors. Even at really cheap restaurants there's going to be some kind of effort to make the food decorative. It's kind of funny, but the Japanese expect it and like it, and it's also kind of fun. Oh, I tried both tripe and cow tongue, and they were fine.

One of the most entertaining things about the silver shrine was the sand gardens. The sand is carefully arranged with a rake into various geometric patterns. The sand is wet (naturally; dry sand happens to Other People in Other Countries), so it tends to stick together and keep its shape. Some of the shapes leave you wondering how they pulled it off -- large, perfectly flat plateaus with patterns raked into the top, much too large to reach across by hand. We were wondering if they have rakes with very long handles -- or perhaps they build the plateaus piece-by-piece, smoothing out the joins as they enlarge them? It is a great mystery.

My sister says she has photos of a lot of this stuff, so even though my own ability to produce photos has been cruelly removed, she should be able to supply handy supplementary materials later. Just as soon as I can get my hands on her laptop. Possibly after I get home.

The post title is in reference to the 12-year-old son of the homestay family. His parents have quite a normal, standard-Japanese accent, but the kid has a strong, slangy southern edge in the way he speaks. The accent in the Kyoto area is called "kansai-ben," and it tends to be a lot rougher and more informal than standard Japanese. The usual "wakarimasen" (I don't understand) becomes "wakarimahen." There are also a lot of different hesitation noises, and he has a bit of a schoolyard "tough kid" speech style. At least it's very entertaining to listen to.