Tokyo Pictures

At the "News Deli" restaurant and bar in Shinjuku.
The News Deli Restaurant and Bar in Shinjuku.
A park next to the Shinjuku Center Building

Akihabara

Samurai armor in the National Museum in Ueno Park

Ueno Park

A performer in Ueno Park

The "pepper" statue in Akasuka, near our hostel.

"Engrish" on a bag in Shibuya

An Asahi poster in Shibuya

At the main bus terminal in Shibuya

The main intersection in Shibuya around 11PM

The bar 'Rooney 2008' in southern Shibuya

The Shibuya station with newly installed art.

Shibuya

A department store sign...

Some Japanese are Obama fans

Get an 'explosive' haircut in Shibuya

Kanye West sunglasses in Shibuya

My favorite clothing store, Uniqlo, in Tokyo

Shibuya shopping district

The busiest intersection I have seen; in Shibuya.

Shinjuku

Harajuku

"Sexy Dynamite" in Harajuku

The Harajuku shopping district

A sign on the subway reminding you not to drink on the train.

Another Lively Friday in Kyoto

On Friday the 14th, I went to a local grade school again. This time I was at Inae-Higashi, which was considerably farther than the last school I went to; Kawase. Unlike the visit to Kawase, I spent considerably more time with the children than in the principals’ office. I was again ushered into the office upon our arrival, and tea was served. Yire, Andrew, and Braden were much better than the students were over the summer, and the three of them engaged the staff in Japanese unlike the summer group. The principal offered us Japanese sweets and then we went over to the gymnasium to meet the children.
Over seventy-five first-graders were waiting for us. A song from the children greeted our entrance; some played cymbals, recorders, and triangles while some formed a choir. After the song, we played games with the children and then made some crafts. The children all seemed pleased to see us; I had a few children holding each of my hands. Before we left, the class played dodge ball; and I had a blast. There is something great about dodge ball that I cannot really explain; but the kids loved to play. If you were hit, you went behind the other team and then if you were able to catch an errant ball you could strike at the opposing team from behind and get back in. I always had a group of students surrounding me, running and jumping out of the way of the flying red balls. The children never threw at the JCMU students, but we attacked each other and the hit I scored on Andrew drew a great cheer from my team of first-graders.

After a brief rest back at JCMU, I set out with my friends to Kyoto. The Koka Women’s University, a private Buddhist college, had invited JCMU to send students to Kyoto for a party. The Koka people had sent ahead vouchers for the taxi fares, and once we arrived at the university, our contact at Koka gave us gift certificates for ¥3000 to cover the ¥2000 train fare. In short, Koka University paid to attend a party thrown for us where the Koka University fed well and entertained by the members of the English Speaking Society of the university. After eating Domino’s pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a plateful of sushi, we played bingo and a few other social games before the party ended. Taxis drove us back to Kyoto Station where Adam, Kevin, and I set out for dinner. After a nice walk through the eastern part of Kyoto, we met Yui and Kelly and made for an izakaya: a Japanese restaurant style, which serves every types of Japanese food and even some foreign foods. The few izakaya, which I have been, are generally large affairs, occupying a few floors of a building. Usually my group has eaten at a section of a long table, our portion of the table marked by curtains hung for privacy. Yui ordered us raw horse, which was delicious. After a few beers at the riverfront, I caught the last train back to Hikone.

Habituated

I seem to have fallen into a routine and before I realized it, time has flashed by. I am not ready to think about leaving, but with a four-day break at the end of the month and a trip to Tokyo and maybe Hiroshima in mind I am excited.
During the week, I spend a few nights at Starbucks. One of the office women works there part time and Ishihara-san will usually come by our table for a bit to chat with us. Ishihara-san is young and talking with her helps me practice speaking informally. Besides, Ishihara-san is hysterical and jokes well with us.
The Japanese did not get the memo that the Christmas season does not start until after Thanksgiving. Starbucks plays Christmas music constantly, and I think I may have to buy better earphones to drone out ‘Silent Night’ and ‘White Christmas’. The local stores are already selling Christmas decorations. At Starbucks Ishihara-san pointed out to us that the ‘Chrismas’ blend had been misspelled.
For all the talk about the Kansai region (where I live) having a rude nature, the people overall are very nice. Storekeepers are happy to hear me speak Japanese to them, even thought I am at a low level. One of the Starbucks clerks told me that I was very skillful, which is not true but still nice. Even though storekeepers are generally friendly, it is nice that so many Japanese encourage us.
I have developed an unhealthy addiction to the clothing store Uniqlo. Uniqlo sells everything except shoes, but I have bought a few shirts and sweaters there as well as a snappy looking flat cap. Every time I try on something I am amused that in Japan I wear and XL size shirt.

A Blast from the Past

So I typed up this post a few weeks back and I didn't get around to publishing it until now:

The weekend of October 10th through 13th

Last weekend was eventful as far as typical weekends go in Hikone. There was another national holiday this past Monday, a Sports Day, so we had a long weekend. Friday brought about the usual relaxing and lazing about. I roused myself around six in the evening to catch a train with Megan to Minami-Hikone, one stop south, where there are two sushi restaurants. We met Adam, Austin, and Shawn at a mall and got sushi at the cheaper, noisier restaurant. Afterwards we blew some money at the arcade. The arcade games in Japan seem to be geared more to the novice player than seasoned experts. I ended up playing a racing game while Adam improved his score in the Gundam game. For those not familiar with Gundam, it is a giant-robot anime from the 1980s. In the arcade game, you sit in a cockpit and get a card that tracks your score for you. The Gundam game is ¥500, which is a little steep for me.

On Saturday, I went with Katherine to Shiga University, where we have our economics class. The director of JCMU, Dr. Reagan, delivered a lecture on one of the feudal lords of Hikone: Ii Naosuke. We joined about ten of our fellow students there, taking up positions in the back of the old lecture hall built in the late 1890s. Midway through the first half of the lecture, Dr. Reagan was bored with the format and decided to have the Japanese engage the students in conversation about the topic of the arrival of the Americans in Japan in 1853. Before Katherine and I could beat a hasty retreat Dr. Reagan saw us, and with my history background, there was no getting away. I’m thankful that we stayed, because my group of five Japanese pensioners was actually very interested in what I had to say. Luckily, two of them spoke English; unluckily my Japanese is still to poor to communicate the concepts I wanted to. I started with Manifest Destiny, and then went into the Mexican-American War and somewhere in there, I got lost. When Dr. Reagan came by to see how the groups were doing, I was able to get him to explain the whole thing. Right after Dr. Reagan resumed the lecture by answering the questions of the group the second lecturer of the day publicly yelled at Dr. Reagan for using English to talk with the American students. Apparently, Dr. Abe was of a different opinion about Naosuke than Dr. Reagan, and the lectures were intended more as a contest between the two viewpoints. Since Dr. Abe is apparently a staunch nationalist, Dr. Reagan offended him by talking about Naosuke as a great reformer by working with America to modernize Japan.

The whole episode had greatly disturbed Dr. Reagan, who really is quite a passive person. In attendance at the lecture were some friends of Dr. Reagan from around Hikone, amongst them were Dr. Reagan’s dentist, Nakajima-sensei, and his wife Tomiko-san. The couple took seven of us, and Dr. Reagan, out to dinner in order to cheer him up. Our group went to a Chinese restaurant, Ryu Rin, in downtown Hikone. Adam and I arrived late since Dr. Reagan came back to JCMU to collect us; when we arrived, dishes had already been placed on the tables and alcohol had been served. Nakajima-sensei and Tomiko-san ordered us food and beer for a few hours. I had some excellent beef as well as some new spices that suite the Asian palate.

On Sunday, I roused myself early and got to Kyoto at ten in the morning. Adam was still sleeping off the round of drinking we held after the dinner at Ryu Rin. I walked for miles along Kawaramachi Street, which runs north to south parallel to the Kamo River. While I did not find the fencing store I had intended to find, I had a great walk and found more shopping districts. I walked down a shopping arcade full of fishmongers, another for fabrics, and a few more arcades selling typical tourist wares. I found a book at the Random Walk bookstore in the Teramachi Arcade and made my way to a McDonalds to wait for Adam, where I promptly fell asleep next to my book and coffee.

Once Adam found me at McDonalds, we called the ladies (Bethany, Caitlyn, Liz, and Megan) who were at the Heian Shrine. There was a festival that Sunday; the temple precinct was full of small stages where student groups performed synchronized dances and cheers. Each team had their own music, choreography, and cheer making the whole festival a loud, confusing, and thoroughly entertaining. At the shrine, Megan ran into our friend Joram and together the eight of us walked south into Gion where we met up with Eleanor and Ryan. Eleanor, Joram, and Ryan are all English teachers for a private company and they spend their weekends in Kyoto as the surrounding Kansai region is boring compared to the city. We spent the rest of the evening hitting a few ex-patriot bars in the city.

The latest photodump

Katherine, Yuta, Nathan and I at Yuta's apartment.
The JCMU Halloween Party '08
Kevin, Ishihara-san and I at the Halloween Party
Adam, Nathan and I in Kyoto.

Myself, Nathan, Austin and Adam in Nagahama.

Kyoto in the fall of '08.

Adam and I cover 'Journey' at karaoke.

In costume for the 150 anniversary of the first treaty between America and Japan.

At a Shiga University party in the summer of '08.

My summer '08 class.

With the Mekata children Mai-Mai and Ha-Ha and their friends at the JCMU Halloween Party in the fall of '08.

My conversation partner Akio.

Kevin, Yui and I at the Gnome in Kyoto.

With Dr. Reagan and his Japanese friends at the nicest Chinese restaurant in Hikone.

With Shoko at the Toyota Museum at Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture.

Myself, Kevin, Nathan, Adam and Austin drinking in front of a Lawson in Kyoto.

Adam and I on a train to Kyoto.

"The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time." - George Bernard Shaw

I’d like to write that more is going on here, but I’ve settled into a routine during the week. My diet now consists almost exclusively of curry, pasta and sweet breads from a bakery down the road. Thankfully my friend Katherine has taken it upon herself to attempt to improve my diet by cooking for me on occasion. Most of my time is consumed by studying Japanese, as I have fallen behind. I’m no longer putting in much time in the library, since I don’t have time to spare.

My class at Shiga University has been fun but rather easy. I’m convinced that the class is billed to the Japanese students as an English-language course and not a business course. The Japanese students in the class are friendly and try hard to speak English, but overall contribute little to a subject that would be difficult if taught at a proper collegiate level. Since very few American students have a background in business most of the input from the JCMU students is painfully bad. Apparently coming from America is enough of a qualification for them to speak at length about American businesses. I don’t have the hubris to think that my own experience qualifies me to speak at length about economics, so I’ve been reading the Economist online. However, the professor does not have a background in the American economy so most of the time the lectures simply praise the Japanese economy and work ethic. I’m disgusted that so many of my classmates have jumped on-board with blindly following the lectures. What I have learned outside the class is that Japan has just as many problems as the Western world.

Last weekend I went to Kyoto for the night, eating at a traditional Japanese restaurant with one of our Japanese friends: Megumi. Afterwards we went to a few bars and a club. The bars we went to were imitation British bars and had live English football games on the televisions. I could have spent more time there if Kevin had not wanted to dance as bad as he did. The club was fun again, but I’m still struck by how disheveled and surly most of the locals appear at the clubs. I’ve been told that clubbing is a foreign concept to the Japanese, so the people who go to clubs are not generally mainstream.

At a party thrown by the Shiga University students a few of our acquaintances got ridiculously drunk and vomited in the bathroom and out front. My friends fortunately shared my disgust at them for doing something like that at a party we were invited to. The rest of the party was useful, as I got to speak Japanese to a few friendly Shiga University and Shiga Prefecture University students. I’m still amused at home many Japanese kids who are under the legal drinking age, 20, do not drink even when offered alcohol.

Most of the ‘drama’ amongst the students has fallen away as people have become more honest with each other. Everyone has pretty much fallen into their own camps, and people like the drunkards get ostracized for embarrassing the school. Everyone has gotten tired of apologizing for them to the Japanese. To many of the Japanese we meet we represent America, and in our orientation the staff reminds us to be good cultural ambassadors for America.

September Round-Up

This morning there was a minor tremor while I was in class. My first earthquake experience in Japan was mild and uneventful to be sure, but now I can check that off the list.

The last few weeks have been rather eventful. Two weekends ago I went to Kyoto with a Japanese friend of ours who took us to a cool bar and a mediocre club. We drank some on the banks of the Kamo River beforehand. On Saturday nights on the promenade along the Kamo a troupe of fire-dancers used to perform over the summer; a jazz quartet has taken their place. The jazz music changed the atmosphere, instead of drumming and the sounds of the crowd the area feels more relaxed.

At one we went into the Hub Bar. The Hub caters to the expatriate population of Kyoto by creating a fake English pub atmosphere. I cannot help but be jaded to that sort of experience since most of the foreigners there are simply obnoxious. Since Japan seems to tolerate public intoxication more than America, the foreigners drink with a reckless abandonment of judgment. If I had not found Strongbow Cider and the Arsenal game on the TV I think I would have been much more miserable.

Around two everyone had finished the drinks at the Hub and we left to follow our stumbling guide down the street to a club our Japanese friends knew of. I found myself walking down a small side street populated by intoxicated Japanese shuffling between bars, clubs and love hotels. The club I was escorted to, ‘Sam & Dave’, from the outside looked awful. The line of boisterous, rude and surly Japanese and foreigners out front did little to convince me that this club was going to be worth my time or ¥2000. Once I was convinced we rode an elevator reeking of urine and vomit up to the second floor entrance.

My expectations were lowered still when the bouncer searched me for, I assume, weapons. However, the first floor of the club was actually nice. The first floor has a posh bar serving a good amount of American and European beer, some couches and billiards. The second floor was longer and narrower with some tables but predominately open space for the dancing. Any notions I had about Japanese fashion were thrown out the window. Most of the people were dressed like cheap extras in a music video, and the whole place smelled like sweat. However, it was hard to not enjoy myself with the light show and the music once I found someplace to not bump into sweaty Japanese and seedy foreigners. At about five we left the club, had breakfast at a corner restaurant and then made our way back to Hikone once the trains had started to run.

On Thursday my Japanese Economy and Business class took an eight hour trip to the Toyota headquarters in, of all places, Toyota City. Toyota city is an industrial town lacking the usual charm of small Japanese cities. During the factory tour the docent informed us that there are over a dozen Toyota factories surrounding the city in Aichi Prefecture. Nevertheless, the grounds of the factory and the museum we visited afterwards were meticulously clean, with well manicured landscaping. After visiting the museum designed to impress upon visiting employees the greatness of Toyota, my class went across the street to an office building to have an informal lecture with an American about his experiences with Toyota. The lecture was the high-point of the trip, since I was very interested to listen to what Mr. Ostreicher had to say about making the transition to the Japanese corporate lifestyle.

This past Saturday I went to Nagahama with Kelly, Adam, Austin, Kevin and Nathan. After leading a group of fourteen around Kyoto, the six of us made a much better group. It was a real delight to crack a beer at the train station and just relax. The weather has just turned cold, and on a bright fall day the cities are much more tolerable than the oppressive humidity of the summer. Nagahama is a tourist city, with a much larger shopping district than Hikone. Unlike Hikone, Nagahama is not a castle town. In 1600 the lord of the Nagahama castle was defeated, and the military presence left the town as Hikone became the regional power until the decline of the Ii in the late 1800’s. Therefore, Nagahama has a much more open and cheerful populace. Nagahama is also much more affluent than Hikone. The streets are cleaner, the landscaping more pleasing and the numerous canals are not consumed by green scum as in Hikone.

Overall my experience this semester is going very well. I’m close with less people, but the friends I have are excellent people and very adventurous. I’ve also gotten Kevin and Nathan to appreciate football, and we spent last Saturday at Yabs watching Liverpool and Manchester United games. Rich will be moving out towards the end of the month, and I’ll have the dorm to myself. Rich is a good roommate, and since he studies elsewhere I rarely see Rich until late at night or early in the morning. Otherwise I’m looking forward to getting a chance to return to the fencing stores I found in Kyoto.

Class at Shiga University

Thursday I had the first session of my Japanese Economy and Business class at Shiga University. I had been to Shiga U before for field trips and a festival, so I knew my way around the campus and cafeteria. I biked over early with a group of JCMU students to get lunch in the cafeteria, and I had an excellent squash curry. Eating lunch made us late for the class, so I’m going to have to work out something for eating lunch.

The class is about 15 JCMU and 15 Shiga U students. The room was small and hot, but Professor Maeda said we’ll be moved to a bigger room later. Professor Maeda has a master’s degree from Indian University and therefore speaks English well. Unfortunately, few of the Shiga U students seem to have a firm grasp of English. Since we work in groups to give presentations on newspaper articles, I can see the JCMU students doing a lot more work translating for the Shiga U students. Nevertheless, meeting the Japanese kids is a great experience. One of the group members, Shoko, lives at the JCMU and is taking English language classes. The other Japanese student is a kid from Kobe, who makes a 5 hour commute to Hikone. My JCMU partner is my friend Kevin, so that at least will work out fine.

A group of students from Waseda University in Tokyo came out on Tuesday and is staying in Hikone until Saturday. Last night a group of girls came by JCMU and hung out for a while. The program at Waseda is taught in English and all the Japanese students I’ve met are nearly fluent. We’re supposed to hang out with them more tonight, which should be fun. Also, the typhoon heading for Osaka is now going to Tokyo so there shouldn’t be any insane weather this weekend.

Adventures in Cooking

Tonight Kevin and I decided to eat the steak we bough from Iruha. Marie-Angela provided the recipe and when we seemed to vacillate in the face of cooking such a nice piece of meat she graciously seized the initiative and did the cooking. We fried the steak on a skillet before it went in what passes for an oven in my small kitchen. We put some pepper on the steak before cooking, and Marie-Angela put margarine on it in the oven. The steak exceeded out expectations. If the cut of meat cost less than $18 I would likely be making that every single night.

The Respect-for-the-Aged Long Weekend

On Friday after a grueling first exam the afternoons’ entertainment was provided by the front office staff. At one Fujii-san, the Shiga Prefecture bureaucrat in charge of the front office gave the student body the safety lecture. We are to maintain our “composure” if there is a fire and leave without causing a “commotion”. There are defibrillators in both the dormitory and the academic building, and Fujii-san instructed us that in the event of a person losing their “conscience” we were to defibrillate the person. Afterwards the municipal fire department visited the center with an earthquake simulation truck. We sat around a table and the truck vibrated up to the highest level earthquake the Japanese have experienced. Hikone is pretty safe as far as earthquakes are concerned, yet the locals take earthquake prevention seriously here. At three representatives of the American Consulate-General for Osaka-Kobe came by to offer us ballots and give a recruiting speech. Since I ought to have a ballot on the way from Lyon Township, I skipped most of the forms they brought. Friday night was relaxing; we hit Yabus’ bar and I nabbed a few Heartland beers before we took off at midnight to get some sleep before Kyoto.

Kyoto is still awesome; while not as big as Osaka or Tokyo, Kyoto is much more manageable. Nate and I guided twelve other students around Kyoto, which was a mistake. I took everyone to the Seibu Burger restaurant on the tenth floor of the Kyoto station. After two weeks in Japan that was a mighty good burger. Once everyone had made it through lunch we went through the station to get a good view of Kyoto, and the off to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. I’ve decided that before I leave I need to see the Pavilion during a snowfall. The building is stunning in person; pictures do not capture just how neat the Golden Pavilion is.

By the time everyone was through the Golden Pavilion grounds the sun was starting to go down, so we made our way to the Teramachi shopping arcade. The bus ride was long since we had to go from the north-west corner of the city to the south-east, but I found another fencing store in Kyoto on the bus ride. At Gion the group slit up and I took my group to Sukiya, a donburi restaurant. Sukiya is basically a diner; there are only a few items on the menu but everything is tasty. After dinner the shopping arcades were closed but we walked around a bit and enjoyed a few beers on the banks of the Kamo River, listening to a jazz quartet that had setup nearby.

When I came out of the Lawson convenience store with a beer in hand I ran into a friend of Megan’s, an Australian named Jerame. Jerame lives in Hikone and teaches English for a private company. Jerame had a friend of his from the same company with him on Saturday, and both the guys really seem to hate Japan. I met a guy at Yabus’ like this as well. I’m really thrilled to be here, but I’m not contractually obligated to stay in Japan as these guys are. Still, I continue meeting foreigners who don’t really appreciate what being abroad really means. We’re definitely going to be seeing Jerame again, so I’m going to have to pick his brain about why he’s in Japan.

I’d like to say something interesting happened on Sunday and Monday, but I pretty much wasted time and did some work. Nothing remarkable happened. Everyone has formed cliques and after a few weeks I am not surprised. There are a lot more odd people at JCMU this semester than the last, and I’m disappointed. I cannot escape the feeling that the anime freaks bring down the Japanese image of Americans. The summer had a lot more interesting people, but at least the core of my clique is made up of some rather awesome people.

Sayonara

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

Toyo-san and I enjoy a bottle of Heartland at Yab's Bar

Last night Kevin and I went over to Yab’s for an evening beer. Wednesday nights are slow at Yabs’; when we got in at 8 there was only one other patron. The Japanese slowly came in and Kevin convinced me to talk to one of the locals. Toyo-san ended up being very friendly, and with two dictionaries and nearly all the other bar patrons we were able to have a pretty decent conversation about the American music videos on the TV.

During the day we found an awesome family-owned liquor store in Hikone: Sazanami. The old man behind the counter offered us some Nihonshu brand sake to try. While he described it as gasoline the sake went down smoother than any liquor I’ve have recently. The nearly two liter bottle was a mere two thousand Yen, and Breanne bought one. Nathan and I stuck to beer. Sazanami has an extensive offering of European beers; mainly Belgian and German but a few British as well. I grabbed a few cans of Tokyo Black, a rich and smooth porter while Nathan is trying the Aooni India Pale Ale. We’ll see if that’s good.

"The Return of the Native"

Air guitar at 'All Days' karaoke parlour

I’ve been in Hikone now for a little over a week and it is great to be back. The city is the same and the familiarity has been a gat comfort. Several times I have encountered Japanese who came up to me to say it was good to see me, although they’ve all been shopkeepers. When I went back to Yab’s bar the waitress Minami had my usual bottle of Heartland beer opened for me as soon as I walked through the door.

The first few days in Hikone were a lot of fun. Along with my fellow returning students Nate and Katherine, I gave the new students tours of the best spots in Hikone. We’ve already been to a few restaurants I only tried briefly. I got a chance to take the group to CoCo Curry House for dinner, and then to karaoke.

Last Friday some high school students from Maibara, the city one train stop north of Hikone, came by the JCMU to speak English. The two girls in my group ended up knowing very little English, so I got a chance to practice my Japanese. The one girl kept lying to us, stating with a straight face that her father was a professional golfer and that her family owned four cars. The lying students’ friend was in complete hysterics over my skepticism. The other American student in our group was a first year, and had only studied Japanese for two days, and had no idea what was going on.

Yesterday another group of English language students came by, but this group was mainly college students and adults. I spent most of the time talking to a middle-aged housewife who was not confident speaking in English. I helped her translate the ice-breaker questionnaire and then we talked about sports; she plays golf and I explained fencing to her. The other housewife nearby kept told us we were very “attractive young people” and invited us all out to dinner sometime soon.

On Saturday we went for brunch at the coffee shop across the road. For a mere 950 yen I got one cup of coffee and two pancakes! Never again…

On the top floor of a local mall I found a museum to feudal Japanese horsemanship. Models of horses decked out in 16th and 17th century military armour decorate the room, and there is a fantastic view of the city from that floor. I got a chance to use my Japanese with the docent who attempted to explain Japanese riding to me with limited success, yet I think it was a rewarding experience.

Right now the biggest shock for me is that the students have already split up into cliques. Over the summer the cliques seemed larger and much more permeable, now there are distinct groups. I think this may be because there are a lot more otaku, the slang given to fanatics of Japanese anime and culture. I’ve not gotten into any arguments with these people yet, but they irk me. I feel like their complete adoption and emulation of the strangest fashion trends casts all foreign students in a poor light.

However, I’ve found a group of pretty interesting and adventurous students. I’m looking forward to exploring the local area more thoroughly. Starting next week I’m taking a class on the Japanese economy at the local Shiga University. I’ll be in the class with some local students who I’ve already met before, so getting better acquainted with them will be nice.

The Latest Pictures

The Daibutsu or Buddha Vairocana
The Sika Deer at Nara
Petting a friendly deer
Lauren, Will, myself and Jon at a local festival. Lauren paid good money for her yukata, I got the male version for $15. No one told us only foreigners wear yukata to the festivals here...
Horyu-Ji in Nara
Horyu-Ji in Nara
The group before the Horyu-Ji gates. I'm in the back under the guy with his arms spread.