Happy Ending to a Research Day

As some of you know, I'm in Kyoto at the moment. I took the cheap train, about a 10hour ride, coming down, meaning that I saw EVERYTHING there is to see between Tokyo and Kyoto. Nayce. Today, I have solved two great Japanese administrative mysteries that relate to my work. 1) when I called to ask about housing, two different telephone-answering secretaries at the archival library where I work, after asking around a bit, explained that there was no such thing at Doshisha. So I'm in a youth hostel. And you thought I was told old for that! Not only were the secretaries wrong, but I would have had a student discount! I found this out today, after 3 days here, when I met with the archival library director/history professor Hara Makoto who was REALLY helpful. He gave me all kinds of information, some books to read, and even started a discussion about the intricacies of the missionary movement in cases where it accompanied formal colonialism. From the same wise mouth came the second solution to an unsolved mystery. 2) I work on Tokyo churches and I need to look at documents from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that pertain to church activities (membership info, construction info, small group activities etc.) The pastor of one Tokyo church, not to be named here, has been extremely kind but unknowledgable. "What documents?" he said. "Well there were some, but they're at Doshisha". (in Kyoto where I am) A younger pastor of the same church knew even less. Here at Doshisha, the super awesome, if at times a bit stiff and boring, librarian who most likely gave me wrong info about housing, but has also given me access to tons of data and helped me to sort through it all, said that the documents on that church had all been sent back to said church. After a week of slight panic, Professor Hara explained the Japanese system, which surprisingly enough is pretty much like the French system as I recall it: In bureaucratic situations, one person always knows the answer to your question and the other ones, who don't know, avoid appearing ignorant or doing too much extra effort by just giving the most simple of responses: "No!". In fact the documents are hidden somewhere at the church and only one person has the key and knowledge of their existence and whereabouts. I now have the ultimate authority to call the keyholder and make him show me those files. If there are any stories about aliens or sunken treasure, I'll let you all know (unless it's something I want to keep).

It's been a good day. The pics that I just put up are of Doshisha University where I am doing my field research this week and where it all started for many of Japanese protestantism's native pastors.

Just next door is the Kyoto imperial palace, literally across the street. On the other side is a big but not so fancy Buddhist temple. So if you ever meander through Kyoto, you'll know exactly where I was. It is a 3 minute walk from the big gate of the imperial palace to the big gate of this buddhist temple (daihon soukoku tera). And the pathway runs right through the southern end of Doshisha. Funny, huh, emperor worship, buddhism, Christianity all one big happy family.

Coming back, with a victorious smile and another bag full of photocopies, I stopped for a burger at Kyoto Station. To my surprise, there were children disguised in school uniforms playing instruments. I rode the 11 floors of magnificent escalators (it is honestly what I think going to Japanese heaven is like: slow, orderly, and clean with fattening food at the top and some really out-of-place music to make your trip a pleasant one) to the theme from Gladiator as interpreted by one of the dozen or so middle school orchestras playing today. The last pic is the view from way up (pics were forbidden, so I went higher and got permission from the bureaucrat on top of the pile:) The kids are pretty small, but you can probably see that they're making song.