Piczo

Ensoku

I often find myself wondering if the people who create Japanese school schedules have any concept of vacation, or at least down time. I'm not complaining, because I am about used to rarely being able to sleep in. That being said, Sunday was the Tosajoshi school Ensoku. Ensoku literally means 'far feet', and often ensoku are actually 'field trips', involving hiking. These trips are part of a school's official activities, and to some students, the most memorable event of the school year. It's a chance to visit places with lots of greenery and to have fun playing with one's school friends. The places and activities on Ensoku are all supposed to have some sort of educational value. In the lower grades this can be just a hike in the woods to gather seeds, and you study them in science when you get back. Usually after an ensoku you have to write an essay about what you did in Kokugo class, or Japanese. My host school, Tosajoshi Girls Middle and High School, in Kochi, Japan, is no exception to having an ensoku. But because it is such a large school, due to the fact it contains both a High and Middle school, the classes all went to different places. The Middle School 1st Years went to Kochi Castle. The Middle School 2nd and 3rd years, as well as the High School 2nd Years, traveled to Godaisan, home to a famous temple and Botanical Garden. Finally the High School 1st and 3rd years enjoyed Katsuruhama, Kochi's famous beach. My class, the High School Second Years, would be the oldest class at Godaisan, which meant we would get the best treatment due to the Sempie system. This didn't matter to me though, because I was just excited to be able to spent an entire afternoon with my school mates. The night prior to the Ensoku, I performed in the Koto concert. When it was all over with, my best friend, Chiake Yamanaka, asked me how I was getting to Godaisan. From where I live, it would probably be able an hour bike ride, which I explained was no problem. She choked thinking about the long ride, and invited to give me a ride the following morning. We both live in the same town, so it would be no trouble for her father ot just pick me up in front of the house. I felt bad, but accepted. Then she explained that I had better pick up some good food for the activities. I didn't understand what she meant by this. Before I could ask, she skipped away. I quickly learned that the first, and a probably biggest part of Ensoku is the preparation. On Ensoku, you are supposed to bring your own lunch in a Bento box, which is a cute plastic box full of various rice, vegetables, and meat. On this day, everyone gets their mother to make a lunch they especially like. There is also a thermos full of something to drink, usually cold tea or fruit juice. Then there is perhaps the important thing, 'Okashi', or treats. Picking the okasi is the major part of preparing for Ensoku. During the Ensoku, friends always trade candy and treats and compare who has the best of what. If you don't trade candy, you are seen as being stingy. Everyone gets something cheap and large and liked by everyone. Usually this ends up being some sort of chip or Pocky stick. They also buy their favorite candy just for themselves. Then with the leftover money they buy lots of cheap candy for trading. On Sunday morning, my cell phone alarm rang at 7. I quickly got dressed in my summer uniform, the white sailor suit. Yesterday, at the Koto concert, I began wore the Summer uniform again. Since the weather has gotten much nicer, it it time to pack away the Navy Winter uniform. Downstairs, I got my morning coffee, and began questioning my host Mom about the activities at an Ensoku. That's when I learned all about the candy prospect of the Ensoku. Realizing I had no candy for trading, I jumped on my bike and pedaled to the nearest Convenience Store to pick up some sweet treats. Inside I bought lunch, a Strawberry Yogurt, and a big bag of Milk Candy. I was sure that it would be enough, and that I had succeeded to doing something right by Japanese school activities. So when 8:30 rolled in and Chiake and her father picked me up, I turned bright red when she told me I got it all wrong. I showed her my lunch and the big bag of candy proudly and asked how well I did. She just rolled her eyes and said something like, "You are just really lucky you are cute." She then pulled out her own bag of candy. Her cute little Hello Kitty Bento box was 3 layered and filled with delicious rice balls, vegetables, and fried chicken, compared to my dinky little yogurt. For treats, she needed a fork lift to help her haul out the bag from her bookbag. It was filled with 5 full boxes of Pocky and Toppo, long stick like crackers covered in chocolate. Then she had 3 full bags of bulky Milk Candy, 2 Fruit Gummies packages, 2 Ume and Sakura flavored candy boxes, and a bag with over 100 pieces of milk Chocolate. Underneath these decent sized bags were well over 300 packs of little Japanese traditional sweets. Just looking at all that sugar made me gain 10 pounds, have a sugar high, and a clogged arterie. I stammmered something like, "Holy CRAP! You have ALOT of candy." She looked at me like I was crazy and replied, "Actually this year I didn't have any money. I only brought about half of what I had last year. I hope nobody says anything." Meanwhile, I sat their trying to imagine how she managed to carry twice as many sweets to Ensoku. If I thought about how she managed to eat it all, I would have probably thrown up. When we arrived on the outskirts of Kochi City, at the foot of Godaisan Mountain in front of a tiny shrine, Mr. Yamanaka parked his car. I wondered out loud why Chiake and I didn't just enter and wait with our class, which had started to form by one of the gravestones in front of the shrine. Chiake explained that one of the important things to do at Tosajoshi's Ensoku is to make an entrance with you friends. We were waiting for Taco, Casami, Yuki, Yukimi, Airi, and Yokoyama, the members of the Koto club. When everyone arrived, we all walked arm in arm through the Torii gates and into the meeting area. As we walked, I felt so happy to belong to such an amazing group. Upon entering, many of our classmates looked up and clapped for us. I was embarrassed by this, but Casami explained it was because of the success of how concert. Word had gotten around about how well we did. That was a good feeling. Soon enough, the group dispersed among homerooms, meaning Chiake and I went to check in with our teacher, Fukumoto-sensei. We were put in a line of all the girls in our homeroom. Nearly everyone congratulated us on our amazing concert, including a Paula Fabian, my friend and English teacher at the middle school. This was her last school event, because she had been fired from the school. While the homerooms all took the gruelling hike up the steep and dangerously rocky mountain, Godaisan, she and I walked together remembering all the fun times we have had teaching together. It was really difficult saying goodbye to her, but she promised that she would keep in touch. She knew I needed someone to complain to, since it's nearly impossible to white in Japanese. It was hard for me to leave her, but Chiake and my classmates were calling for me to return. And so I did. When the class finally reached the top of Godaisan, we were all out of breath from the Mountain hike and in pain from the rocks. Since we were required to wear the Tosajoshi mandatory shoes, our feet were throbbing. The shoes are these black and leather things that resemble what the Pilgrims wore at Plymouth Rock. They are by no means the proper shoes to wear on a hiking excursion, and 2,000 blistered feet could confirm that. My classmates, and the girls I spent the day with, have rather difficult names to remember. I'll just refer to them by their nicknames. First there is Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer and I became friends at a Rotary meeting in December, as her father is a Rotarian. She tries very hard to speak English, because she wants to learn it very badly. Her dream is to be able to understand 24 in English, because of her mad crush on Kiefer Sutherland's character, Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer's best friend is Chika. Chika's real name is Chika, and there is no way I can change this. The girl is not the brightest crayon in the box, but trys very hard. She gets kind of annoying, but I like her. Bucky is a Badmintton player with the worst case of Buck teeth I have ever seen. She is very nice, although a bit loud. White Eyes and I ate lunch together everyday last year. She's pretty quiet except during class, when she falls asleep and snores. Her eyes also roll back in slumber giving the eerie appearence of White Eyes. Vacuum is this little tiny girl who rarely talks. I'd even wondered if she opened her mouth, until I started eating lunch with her. She pours her Bento box into her mouth, and vacuums out the food. It usually takes her a whole 20 seconds to eat her whole lunch. And then there is Di-chan. It took me 6 months to get her name right, but in the meantime I always called her Di-chan. Her name is Ritsukaue, by the way. Bullet Train is the name another girl I spent alot of time with, although she isn't in the same homeroom. Her name is Nozomi, which is the name of the Bullet Train. There are other too, but I only gave the nicknames of the girls I really spent alot of time with on the Ensoku. As High School 2nd graders, we were given preference of where we wanted to sit. The group chose a spot under the shade of a tree. Though the stinging sun burn on my face will confirm it didn't stay shady for very long. Some girls were smart enough to bring mats, while the rest of us just mooched for space on the mats. When everyone had a seat, shoes were taken off and bags were opened. At 10:30 the feast began. The Ensoku feast rivals that of an American Thanksgiving. I watched at all the girls cracked open their Thermo's. Each was painted with Manga characters, Pokemon, Hello Kitty, and other famous Japanese characters. Inside was galleons of cold Tea, Calpis Sweat, something like a gatorade, Cola, Orange, Apple, Tomato, and Mixed fruit juice. All had little portable cups, which were used for sharing and sampling each others likings. And then there were the Bento boxes. Each was filled with a glorious portion of delicious Japanese food. The air was soon fragrant with the smells of the Bento boxes of about 10 Fukumoto homeroom students. I peered into each box, not suprised to see that each was different. Each contained a healthy balance of the food groups, while still holding the favorite lunch of the student. All filled with rice covered in seaweed or Ume boshi, pickled plum, or large dark green Nori Seaweed wrapped rice balls. Inside the Onigiri, or rice balls, were mouthfuls of Tuna, Sour Ume sauce, Dried Fish, and Mayonaise. The rice part took up one layer of the Bento box. The next tier had the main filler, which was various typed of meat and vegetable. There was Karage, fried chicken, Hamburger, Mayonaise Meat, mini Okonomiacki, Tempura galore, Shrimp, Tuna, Salmon, many variations of fish, and Katsu, or fried pork. Chinese noodles, Udon, and pasta overflowed the box, perfectly situated with Yaki Tamago, or fried egg, and pumpkin bits. Broccoli, carrots, spinach, and corn, neighbored apple slices, pineapple, mango, banana, and kiwi. There were potatos, salads, puddings, yogurts, sandwiches, and much much more. A small African nation could live for a month on everything that I was seeing 10 Japanese studemts consume at a pace that would annoy even the Tortoise. And the worst part was that the Bento made up only about 10% of what was going to be consumed today. The Okashi, or sweets, still lay nestled in everyone's school bags. While the girls practiced for the World Title of the most food eaten by a single school, and I enjoyed my low fat Strawberry yogurt. At first I felt like a total idiot, but then it turned into a feeling of being repulsed by the amount of food one girl could consume. Meanwhile, the girls talked and joked about the upcoming school year, as well as the stuff that has happened in the past. Most of the girls have been going to Tosajoshi since Middle School, and have known each other for about that long. It was difficult for me because I have to really focus on listening to understand even the simplest things they they talk about. And since they were talking about thing I wouldn't even be able to understand anyway, I found myself sitting lost from time to time. But I wasn't along, Di-chan and a few others had not gone to Tosajoshi for Middle School. So we formed our own talking crew. Jack Bauer came over, and she and I talked about alot of stuff. We fought over Avril Lavigne's new hair style, why Jack Bauer was not cute, and how Spider Man 3 is going to be amazing. For the first time since I was back at home with my friends, I remembered what it was like to be a teenager complaining about silly things and pop culture. Soon enough, other girls at the Ensoku were opening their candy boxes. The smell of sugar wafted over to where we were sitting. Not one girl could resist the temptation. Chiake led a couple girls to go and buy some Ice Cream, while the rest of us stayed on the mat. I opened my Milk Candy, and passed it around to everyone, making them all believe right away that I actually had Sweets for the Ensoku. Everyone was shocked as I chucked the little wrapped candy around the Mat. I got a bunch of thank yous. Mostly they were all surprised and asked me how I knew about the customs of an Ensoku. I just smiled and told them I was always trying really hard. Since I initiated the sharing festivities, everyone began swapping candy. I got Green Tea Caramel, Nato chips, Strawberry Parfait Toppo, Sweet Corn Chocoball, Fried Potato covered in Chocolate, Red Bean Kit Kat, Dew Bew Fruit Candies, Sesame, Sakura, Ume, and Green Tea flavored chocolate, Dried Squid, Seasoned Cuttlefish Crackers, Onion sticks, Raw Fish flavored chews, some suspicious chewy that was actually furry, and many many other odd little delights. While I was sampling probably the strangest flavored candy in the world, one at a time, pacing myself, I watched the others. Eventually I was so grossed out by their eating, I couldn't finish the rest of the food. That might have actually be the repulsive feeling I got from the Nato Chips, though. Anyway, watching these girls eat was probably one of those experiences you have to have once in your life. It's like you have to see New York City, the Eiffel Tower, and a 10 Japanese girls gorge on enough food feed the Chinese army. Earlier I mentioned Chiake's candy bag. Imagine that very same bag times two. Next picture all 10 girls gorging on every piece of that candy. I didn't have to imagine it, I watched it. I watched as Vacuum dumped an entire bag of Dried Squid into her mouth, stopping only to pull her cheek wider to make more room for the food. I watched as Chika and Bucky traded their won creations. Chika's creation was a miz of Sweet Corn Chocoballs pickled plums and Green Tea Caramel. Bucky's food was too faul for me to describe without you feeling sick. Within one hour, Chiake had finished every last piece of chocolate, Milk, Ume, and every other piece of candy she had earlier showed me. And she was not alone. Each and every girl ate the same amount of food the average American eats at Thanksgiving, over the entire course of his or her life. The proof was in the colorful wrappers, now strewn all across the mats. It was sickening for me to watch, and yet I couldn't keep my eyes of the most amazing eating festival I have ever been to in my life. During the eating festival, we all continued talking and enjoying ourselves. Besides having to watch White Eyes shovel 4 huge Kit Kat bars in her mouth in under 30 seconds, I was having an absolute blast. Chiake made sure that I was always included in the conversations and games. I can't imagine what I would do without her though. At some point, she introduced me to a new face, a girl who's name was, 'very difficurto.' I asked her to just tell me, and promised to do my best in remembering it. She nodded and said, "Nozomi." I laughed, shocking everyone, and exclaimed that that was an easy name to remember. It is after all, the name of the fastest bullet train. The girls burst into laughter and screamed how cute I was. Chiake laughed so hard that she choked on the Milk Candy was chomping on. And when she was finished devouring her weight in candy, she pulled me up and together we walked to a famous ancient Temple. Godaisan, a hill overlooking the south-east of Kochi City is host to the Chikurinji Temple. The temple is one of the 88 Shikoku pilgrimage temples, and has an interesting collection of old Buddhist statues. Overlooking Chikurinji is a five storeyed pagoda. Di-chan and Bullet Train accompanied us, as we climbed the old stair case and onto the shrine. There were many Pilgrims making the 88 Temple Pilgrimage, some even stopped to talk to us. They were mostly interested in why a Gaijin would be wearing a Japanese school outfit on an Ensoku. Chiake patiently explained that I am Tosajoshi's exchange student from America, as well as Chiake's really good friend. That even though I may look weird, as a foreigner in Japanese clothing, I am more Japanese than gaijin. She told them this as she held her arm over my shoulder, in a half hug sort of way. There is nothing like the feeling of having good friends. When we reached the temple, Chiake, Bullet Train, and Di-chan all bought fortunes, buy placing 200 Yen in a little box, and taking out a piece of paper. The fortunes use very difficult Kanji, and CHiake warned me that I wouldn't be able to understand. But monkey-see-monkey-do and I, too, bought a fortune. It's a Japanese custom, that when you get a bad fortune, you are supposed to tie the paper around a lanyard outside the shrine. This is too ward off any bad luck surrounding you in the presence of the ancestors. I must have really bad luck, because every time I have been to a Shrine or Temple, I've always been forced to hang my fortune on the lanyard. None of my host families would explain why, I needed to do this for fear of offending me. I had to do the research to understand this fact. Today though, Chiake read my fortune and assured me I wouldn't have to do any lanyard hanging. She couldn't explain to me what it meant, but that it was very good and I was very lucky to have gotten such a pleasant piece of paper. I later found out what it said, and was suprised by it's optimism. Basically I would be surrounded by friends and family that would be their for me whenever I needed them, find love in a faraway land, and be happy with everything life hands me. I had a funny feeling that this fortune was too good to be true. After some pictures with Chiake, Bullet Train, and Di-chan, we took another hike up to the Makino Botanical Gardens museum. There wasn't anything fun to do up there. But I saw some of the younger Koto players, who bowed to Chiake and I. I yelled at them for bowing to me, and threw up my hands in a high 5 over our successful concert. After we were finished walking, blisters on our feet throbbing, and cameras a little bit fuller, we headed back to the group. Along the way, I ran into Aimi and some friends from my old homeroom. I got many hugs from them, and was told how much I was missed. I was shocked that Aimi would give me a hug. She was the very girl who shyed away from my embrace at my Sweet Sixteen party back in November because of being uncomfortable with hugging. 5 months with me, has really taken a toll on her though. Back at the main mats, the group had all returned from the hikes and garden explorations. The clock was about to reach the 2, meaning that Ensoku would be officially over with. Everyone packed away their mats and garbage. That was another fascinating thing. Since Japan has almost no garbage cans, the girls had to carry all of their empty bags and thousands of wrappers. After everything was cleaned up and cleared away, the Fukumoto homeroom girls traipsed to the meeting spot. Their out class leader took attendance, and then dismissed us. Our class was the last to be dismissed because we were the slowest in getting ready. CHiake and I took the caboose of the long line of school girls. Back down the steep rocky trail, we hiked. On more than one account I found myself trip and fall. I couldn't but think that we would never be allowed to do this is America for safety issues. I'm glad that Japan hasn't been run down whining parents and lawyers. When we reached the bottom, back at the main Shrine from earlier in the morning, our thighs and knees were oozing with pain. Everyone was so tired and full from lunch. I found myself thanking god that I was getting a ride back home, rather than biking. When the offical ending of the Ensoku came, Chiake's father came and picked us up. Before we could return home, we had to drop off some presents at the Koto room at school. In our school, we ran into the Middle School 1st years who told us that their Ensoku had gone wonderful. I later met up with Yurie and some other High School 3rd years who said that the Katsuruhama Ensoku had been alot of fun, but very hot. Yurie also made a comment that mentioned Godaisan Ensoku being very hot as well. I asked her how she could tell, and she said my face was Fire Engine red from sun burn. Sure enough, upon looking the mirror, I resembled a bright red Tomato. I was assured that getting a little sun burned was part of the fun of Ensoku. All in all, my first Ensoku was alot of fun. Not many people can say that they saw world records being broken for eating as well as spending a wonderful afternoon picnic with a group of Japanese school girls and friends.