The City of Nagaoka

~Hello again, loyal readers. Today's post is all about the city of Nagaoka, where I currently reside. Nagaoka is located on Honshu (the largest of the four main Japanese islands) in the prefecture (state) of Niigata. Since that probably dosen't mean much to most of you, here are a couple of maps to help you get your bearings:











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Nagaoka has a population of a bit over 300,000, of which less than 1% is foreign-born. Despite the small number of foreigners, Nagoka is a very international city, and has ongoing exchange programs with the city of Fort Worth in Texas and the city of Bamberg in Germany. Every summer, some high school students from Nagaoka go to Fort Worth, and a few months ago the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra performed in Nagaoka. There is an excellent International Center located near where I work, where foreigners can get assistance (and postcards, which, oddly, I haven't seen anywhere else).

Here are a couple of skyline pictures of Nagaoka, taken from atop the castle tower in Yukyuzan Park:

















Just a few short weeks ago, this entire area was covered in several feet of snow. The other native English teacher at the school I work at has been living in Nagaoka for four months, but as he showed me around the town, he said that everything was new to him--he'd never seen the city without a tall layer of snow! To give you a better idea of what this is like, here are a few pictures of Nagaoka on March 29th:
















At the moment, however, the cherry trees are in full bloom and are very beautiful. For those of you who haven't lived near Washington D.C., cherry trees grow all over Japan, and their annual blossoming is a huge celebration (as it is in D.C., where Japan gave the U.S. a gift of cherry trees in 1912). Seeing as how D.C. is the capital of the United States, I find the story of George Washington and the cherry tree very ironic. Contrast the above picture with these up-to-date shots of the same area:

From my apartment building, I can look outside and see huge, snow-covered mountains. Here are some delightful images:
















~I'll say this: it sure beats the North Carolina skyline (or lack thereof). I'll post some pictures of the downtown area in the next couple of days. Oyasumi~

"I'll Take Swords for 400"

~Inside of the castle at Yukyuzan park was a history museum with artifacts from Nagaoka's past. Here are pictures of some of the more interesting items in the museum (text in quote marks comes from the displays):

Above: "The sword carried by Yamamoto Tatewaki, a leader of the Nagaoka forces." If you click on the picture to expand it, you can make out intricate engravings on the blade. Note that this sword lacks a built-in guard near the hilt; the guard must be attached seperately.

Above: "A line-up of top officials of the Nagaoka domain at New Year, taken within the snow-covered castle grounds. The daimyo is in the center, sitting on the camp stool." A daimyo (pronounced "dime-yo") was a feudal Japanese ruler whose positon was inherited, life-long, and unelected.

Above: "The kabuto (hemlet) worn by the 9th daimyo Makino Tadakiyo."

Above: This is one of a series of scroll-paintings by the same artist, all featuring strange, surreal dragon-monkey-creatures playing games. I wonder who's winning? I think the guy on the right is saying, "Checkmate, fool!"

Above: A map of feudal Nagaoka. I'll bet none of the streets had names back then, either.

Above: Now, you might be thinking, "Sure, the guys are well-drawn, but the artist forgot the background." You'd be wrong. The men are in fact walking on snow. Invisible snow. In front of an invisible castle.

Above: The impressive hilt of a sword. The sword itself is less impressive and I doubt it would take more than one hit from the sword in the first picture.

Above: This is not a prop from The Last Samurai (starring Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise, and Tom Cruise). This artillery piece is the real thing. It reminds me of this:


Above: The blade of what must have been a very wicked weapon. You don't want to be on the receiving end of this.

The castle itself is an artifact of a sort; it's actually a reconstruction of a real castle that was destroyed during Japan's civil war in the 1860s (the original castle was located on the current site of the city's train station):

For those of you interested in history (I'm looking at you, Dad), war broke out between factions loyal to the Shogun (Japan's military ruler) and factions wanting to restore the Emperor to power. Nagaoka's feudal rulers suppored the Shogunate, which was ultimately defeated; the city itself was destroyed almost completely (only to be leveled again by B-52s during World War II. And did I mention last year's earthquake and North Korean Missile test?).

~That's all for now. Coming soon: pictures of Nagoka, since I know that you're all curious. Comments welcome and appreciated.

Back with a Vengeance!

~My internet connection here in Japan is now up, so the East Asia Dynasty Command Post is now officially online. I'll do my best to update this blog every few days from now on with pictures, stories, and of course Japanglish. I will begin by sharing more of the pictures that I took at the park. Remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger:

Above: Me, wearing the coolest damn jacket in the world, in front of the park shrine. There are Shinto shrines like this all over the place, generally with a few priests (or whatever they're called) to maintain them. I asked a Japanese friend of mine if Japanese people get offended by foreigners walking around their shrines and taking pictures. Her answer was that they neither minded nor cared in the least. How refreshing.

Above: A picture taken in the same place as the previous shot, but in the opposite direction. Note the contrast between the pink, hanging lanterns and the large stone lanterns on top of the posts. In the background, you can see the 'gateway' to the shrine that every single shrine in Japan has. Those people in the picture are friends of mine; for the record, the guy on the left is not actually pointing at anything.

Above: The shrine suffered extensive damage from a large earthquake last year. This monument (or whatever it was) has collapsed completely; further down the path, a stone bridge has been wiped out and people have to detour around it. Cleanup from the earthquake is still going on, and there are some people in Nagaoka who still live in emergency housing.

Above: An ancient sumo wrestling arena. When I saw this arena, I had the sudden urge to stomp my feet and throw salt over my shoulder. I'm told that sumo matches are still held here in the summer. Yes, that is snow on the ground (picture taken on April 17).

Above: A map of the park. The only thing that I understood was the red 'You are here' arrow.

Above: Outside of the temple is this row of stone...somethings. Grave markers? Monuments? Can anyone hazard a guess as to what exactly these are?

Above: A pastoral view of the nearby mountains, taken from the castle's observation tower. I also took several skyline shots of Nagaoka which I will share in an upcoming post.

Above: Don't be decieved by our seemingly childish behavior. We are actually discussing highly advanced and mature problems of philosophy, science, and literature. Or maybe not.

Above: What you've all been waiting for...MONKEYS! Unfortunately, the monkeys were locked into their main cage for feeding time, and they were jumping around so much that it was difficult to get any pictures (this little guy was the best one I could get). They sure make a lot of racket for such small primates.

~That's all for now. Stay tuned, oh loyal readers, for I have much to share with you! Comments are welcome (just click on the word 'comments' on the bottom right of this post to leave one).

Pictures from the Park

I'm writing this post off of a sloooow pirated wireless connection (arrr!), so I must keep this short. Since I haven't posted any new text or pictures in some time, I'll operate on a LIFO principle--Last In, First Out. So, I'll share some pictures of what I did today, then share older pictures when I get the chance.

Today, I visited Yukuzan park, a combination zoo/recreational area/forest area in Nagaoka, about 25 minutes away from my apartment by bicycle. Although the cherry trees around here haven't quite blossomed all the way yet, the park was still very beautiful. Here are some pictures that I took:



The Park had a reconstruction of Nagaoka Castle, which was destroyed in the 19th century. The 'new' castle is now a history museum, with an observation post at the top. Here is a picture that I took from the tower:
My connection is on the verge of dying, so I'll post more later.