Gyoda

So today I went to Gyoda for a...warehouse walk? Don't worry. I had no idea what it was either. Anyway, I was confused when I was invited on this walk, not knowing what it entailed, but the curiosity bug infected me, and before I realized it, I had agreed to go. Unfortunately, the meeting time was at 9:30 which meant I would have to get up at around 8:30 to be able to make it to Gyoda by that time...on my weekend. Oh well.

I woke up and began to get dressed. While picking out my clothes I thought it would be a good idea to check the weather, so I popped my head out from behind my curtains and did a look around. Sky : Cloudy. Ground : Wet. I went over the possible scenerios for how it became that way...hmmm...A cloudy day so someone decided to water the cement? Nah. Giant ape with city covering wet farts? Not likely. It was raining earlier and might rain again? *ding* *ding* *ding* We have a winner. I decided to pack my raincoat into my bag just in case it decided to rain again, hopped on my bike and headed toward the station.

I got to the station with a couple of minutes to spare, so I popped into a bank to grab some cash just in case. From there I went to the station, got on my train and headed to Gyoda. I reached the station a little earlier than 9:30, so I had a little bit of time to look around outside before my ride arrived. When I went out the main exit, I got a major case of deja vu. Was this the station I took a bus to when I first arrived in Japan? At the time, I was convinced it was (I mean, seriously. How could I forget a place that I had been to once for about 10 minutes while still drowsy from a nap on a bus from an airport in a foreign country after having stayed up for over 24 hours straight?). Turns out...it wasn't. What an anticlimactic end to a pointless anicdote. Sorry for wasting your reading skills on nonesense. I'll continue with my story.

Anyway, Kato Sensei eventually showed up and drove us near the start of the warehouse walk where we met up with his wife. She guided us to the commencement ceremony/information desk/start building where we caught the end of the opening ceremony. We then paid a small fee, got our information packets, and set off on our "journey" (旅 tabi). The first thing we saw was a "split toed sock" (足袋 tabi) warehouse. We "often" (度々 tabitabi) used the word tabi during this tabi to see various tabi.


Getting back on track, we then visited a place that was manufacturing tabi. By this time, the clouds had cleared and it had become a nice day. This factory was neat because we were allowed to walk through the building while people made tabi. A nice lady found out that I was a foreigner and got her friend to play the shamisen for me. We enjoyed her songs, then continued upstairs where there was a little museum dedicated to tabi. It had pictures of people making tabi from before the industrialization of Japan. It also had old equipment used for making tabi.


After the factory, we continued on to the next stop. What was the next stop you ask? I can't remember. Every stop after the first was a huge blur of "What is this and why am I looking at it?". I remember visiting a place with a crazy woman playing a flute, a place selling paintings and wooden goods, a place with dyed clothes, a place with pottery and a place with sake. Each and every one of those places ends up in a blur when I try to sort out what order I visited them and which building they were in.

On another note, there were a couple of places I remember. First was a building that had a bunch of toys for people to play with. They had tops (the type that you spin with string), yo-yo's, and various other goods to use. That was fun because I had an old guy teach me how to use a top. On my first try, the top got off to a wobbly start an proceeded to stop rather quickly, but by my third, they were straightening out and spinning for a lot longer.

After my top lesson with the old man, I went inside the building to teach him how to make an awesome paper airplane (the one I always resorted to when I was having trick plane competitions with my friends in elementary school). After finishing the plane, I let him test throw it. He threw it up, it did a loop, then glided for a bit before finding its way onto a roof. Whoops. At least it gave the people a show (it impressed one bystander enough for him to take a picture with his camera phone...I think. I really don't know why anyone would take a picture of a paper airplane on a roof though. I think they've just got really mundane lives in Gyoda).


The second place I remember is...the castle. I guess it's not too difficult to differentiate between a castle from the rest of the buildings I saw though. Anywho, turns out that it was called "The Floating Castle". This was because the castle was surrounded mostly by water with only a few ways of gaining entrance. These paths were found connected to small village areas meaning one would have to pass through a village before being able to get on a road connecting to the castle...making it an easy place to defend.


As the day finally wound down, the grey clouds began to appear again, first slowly, then with ever increasing speed. They brought with them thunder and lightning, heavy rain and strong winds this time. I got a ride to the station, and my arrival it had begun to rain really hard. At the station I said my goodbyes, hopped out of the car and jumped up the stairs, still getting quite wet for the two seconds I had been exposed. Inside the staion, I bought my ticket and headed down to my track.

While waiting for my train, I witnessed some unfortunate people on the platform across from mine. Without any major structure to block the wind and rain, a couple and another person valiantly attempted to get out of the elements. At this point, the wind was at its strongest, blowing the rain nearly horizontally. The couple shared an umbrella (which the wind was in the process of ravaging) while the lone soul pressed forward in their short sleeved shirt. I couldn't help but laugh as I huddled between a vending machine and a pole as I watched their struggle. They finally made it to the stairs, albeit not unscathed. All three of them were dripping fresh rainwater. Man, this country has crazy weather.

So, yeah...that's my trip to Gyoda. I was fortunate enough to have native guides (Mrs. Kato was born and raised in Gyoda, so I was even more fortunate to have a local guide) on my visit, so I was able to see many things I would have otherwise never seen. I also learned a few things. I learned that Gyoda manufactures 60% of the tabi in Japan and that a farming town can be called a "Hyakumangoku". I learned that old men can be exellent teachers in the way of the top and that it can be normal to have a castle across the street from your elementary school. Some of the things I did and learned in Gyoda were boring and some were interesting, but all added to my experiences in Japan which is good.

Oh yeah. Just as a sidenote, did I mention that I the other day I was riding my new bike, the "EXPLWORA", back from school and *WHAM*. I get hit by a car...ahhhhhhhh...such a great feeling. Anyway, I've got almost no visible mark to prove I was hit because, thank goodness, I was allowed to play soccer as a child, which helped improve my balance and reaction time and also taught me how to fall when getting hit unexpectedly. I was also able to land without destroying my laptop which was in my backpack. *Phew* My bike, on the other hand, didn't have such an experience as a child, so it came out of the crash with two crooked wheels, a bent seat (until I bent it back into shape) and a bunch of scratches. The driver gave me some money to help fix it, but unfortunately I'm much to lazy to go get it fixed, soooooooo...I'm back on the Captain Stag. Woot!

How about this one. I recently burned my lips while trying to get the remaining marshmallow off of the fork that had just been used to toast it? How'd that story go? Let's see. I cooked the marshmallow, pulled it off, ate it, then noticed some had been left on the fork. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be smart of me to get that bit of marshmallow off of the fork before it hardens? And if I eat it off the fork, what a delicious cleaning I will have performed". Feeling rather proud of myself for having come up with such a brilliant plan, I popped the fork into my mouth...but decided to remove it when I heard something begin to sizzle. What could have been sizzling you ask? My lips? That's right. The fork was still hot enough from the toasting session that it blistered the insides of my lips. Woot! I'm very not smart.

Smooches!