2010年3月21日日曜日

Enjoy your meal!


Last month, I showed around Italian speaking people. At the lunch time, when lunch was served and when we were about to eat, they said, "Enjoy your meal". And last week, a new member of our service, Ririko and I showed around the guys from Italy. At the lunch time, I heard the same words."Enjoy your meal".

The words sounded nice to me! In Japan, we usually say "ITADAKIMASU". The direct translation is "I am going to have the meal " in a polite way. And we also say "GOCHISOUSAMA (DESHITA)" whose literal meaning is "It was a good meal" or "Thank you for the meal" when we finish a meal.

We, Japanese tend to show gratitude to a person who makes a meal. On the other hand, "Enjoy your meal" tells us that we should enjoy our meal! The expression related to the meal interests me a lot.

So, Let's enjoy our meal and express thanks to a person who makes our meal!

2010年3月4日木曜日

Visiting sightseeing spots with an Italian




This time I picked him up at Ks house which is near JR Kyoto station. As he arrived in Kyoto on early morning, I went there at 10AM so that he could take a shower and a little rest.

He had a two-day schedule in Kyoto, I recommended him to vist the eastern part of Kyoto by himself the next day. In the eastern part, as temples and shrines are close to each other, visitors can walk one temple to another enjoying tiny shops along the path.

So, I made a plan for the first day to visit the western part.
First we visited Golden Pavillion, one of the world heritage sites in Kyoto. After walking around the garden and seeing the tea house, we headed for Daitokuji temple.
Usually we visit Ryoanji rock garden before or after visiting Golden Pavillion. However until Feb. 25th, it had been closed, so instead we visited Daisen-in in the precinct of Daitokuji. Daitokuji is also a Zen temple, which has rock and sand gardens.
I talked about Zen spirit and enjoyed Japanese tea usually served in a tea Ceremony.

After that, we visited Kotoin in the same precinct.

He didn't want to be rushed for the tour, so we stayed there for a while and enjoyed its atmosphere . As it was fine, we felt a breeze coming through some bomboo trees and heard birds singing. The garden consists of just moss and one stone lantern, but still makes us feel comfortable and calm.

Then we went to Nijo Castle.
He said it was not cold so much in the castle in Japan as in those in Europe, because European castles are mainly made of stone.
We enjoyed this historic place and visited Nishiki Food Market.

He tried steamed fish-paste.
How is it? He said nh~ nice!

Photos tea room of Koto-in

Lunch ( OYAKODON ) oyako means a parent and a child.
( chiken and egg )
DON means a rice bowl.

2010年3月2日火曜日

Calmness in Koto-in





There are a lot of places to see in Kyoto. Some are very well-known and others are not. Some places in guide books are visited by so many people, especially in sightseeing seasons. We cannot enjoy those temples themselves, just looking its beauty and scene.

Why not visit Koto-in? It is one of the small temples in the precinct of Daitokuji temple. It is deelpy related to HOSOKAWA family, one of the feudal lords in 17th century. In this temple, there is the family's grave and the family's tea room.

However, what I want to tell you more than anything else is a calmness of this temple.
Once you step in the area, you will forget bustle of the big city. There exist a quiet calmness. Just sit toward the garden and listen to the sound of wind. Its calmness refresh your heart.

When I took a tourist here, he said " However hard you try to put this whole thing in a picture, it is surely impossible. The breeze, the birds, air, shade, moss...everything makes you calm."

Just stay here for a while and feel everything around you.

Certainly, you will have peace in your mind.