Dark Spies
...written on 12.22.02, @ 1:20 p.m.
Sun December 22, 2002
What weighs no more than 60 kgs (132lbs),uses seven disguises, a favorite being that of a candy seller, wears only navy blue when on a real mission, and has very strong toes and fingers?
A ninja!
Yep, I learned all that from the Ninja Museum in Ueno yesterday. Nine of us piled into a bus and went to Ueno castle, which has the highest stone walls of any castle in Japan (about 30 meters). The castle was surrounded by a water moat, which between the other two kinds of moat, dry or swamp, would have been relatively easy for a ninja to cross. The swamp moat was the hardest, but the ninja developed special shoes for walking across swamps. They even made convenient portable models!
The reason they wore navy blue, was that on nights that weren't totally dark, black suits would be more visible than the navy blue. Ninja usually waited to enter either on rainy nights or nights of the new moon. Often they had women ninja inside the castle walls posing as maids who would let them in.
There were many ninja schools, but unfortunately no description on how they were recruited was given. We saw a video illustrating many ninja fighting techniques and had to forego the live outside drama presentation due to the incessant rain.
Ninjas trained themselves to be able to lift 60 kgs (132 lbs) with their thumb and forefinger. Their fingers and toes had to be powerful to scale rock walls and such. We got a tour of a ninja house and were treated to the many secret passages and places to hide contraband. Our guides were all decked out in the latest ninja wear and I bought souvenir throwing stars made out of rubber for my coworkers. I didn't take a single picture, but go here for some shots that someone else took when they were there:
I took some dramamine before the trip because I get car sick easily. I felt fine, but slept at every opportunity. Maybe it was due to the lack of sleep the night before, but when I got back I just flung myself down, clothes on and all, and with the light on, slept for hours. I felt quite uncomfortable and managed somehow to turn the light off sometime during the night, slept through my 7 am alarm to 9 am and got out of bed all crinkly and muddleheaded and thought this is how a hangover must feel (I don't drink and so have never had a hangover).
One of the guys who went on the trip with us yesterday mentioned that he was leaving the next day (today) to go back to America. I was surprised that he was going on the trip, knowing that if it were me, I'd be packing everything up and getting ready, but I guess he fell for the allure of the Ninja Museum as much as I did.
This morning as I opened my door and began to slowly move down the hallway to the bathroom, I spied the same young man almost hyperventilating as he sat on a huge black suitcase trying to get it to shut. His room was in a huge disorder and clearly he had more to pack, but not a bag to put it in.
Groggily I offered my assistance and gave him an extra shoulder bag I had, told him just to leave out the inessentials that I would sort them and take them to the "free stuff for all" table, and then I would clean his room for him. He bowed deeply to express his gratitutde after he managed to get his suitcase shut and then he howled with anger when he realized that he had left out his best pair of pants. He said "Give me twenty seconds" and he shut his door. I'm sure he is now traveling wearing two pairs of pants.
Anyway, his room wasn't too tough to clean and I recovered something from there that was worth the price of having to clean it. I managed to secure a 3 ft LAN cable, so I am now directly connected to the internet from my room and don't have to wait in line at the other machines in the lounge! Woohoo!