5/6-
Naturally, I woke up a bit later than I wanted, so I rushed to the post office to ship a package home, and then took the subway, and then the special, expensive train ($20!) to the airport. I checked in just in time, weighed myself on the baggage carousel and got some sushi I hadn't tried, to take with me on the flight.
I don't know if I mentioned it specifically, but I have, of course, had sushi while in Japan before this, and it was good, but didn't blow my mind. This sushi, that I ate on the plane, didn't either, though that's probably because I was trying the weird stuff I hadn't gotten to before; unagi (eel) and sea urchin, though the other piece was a safe bet of grilled salmon. The unagi was okay, but the sea urchin was truly revolting. I'd heard it described as having the consistency and texture of wet brains, but that didn't bother me too much. The bright orange, the coldness of it, all of that was okay, but the true texture: solid and thick outside, giving way to gross, oozing orange pus and foam with a terrible taste, that was horrible.
They gave me something to eat on the plane that was edible and the rest of the flight was uneventful, though we had a fair bit of turbulence at one point. Even so, it was a perfectly decent flight and I have no complaints, which, for a flight, is saying a lot.
I'm a little sad to leave Japan and it's definitely somewhere I'd love to go back to and see more of in the future. For such a small country, there's just so much. I also really liked Tokyo.
I was able to disembark quickly and get through immigration without too much time or trouble, changed a tiny bit of money and walked out. Mei, a teacher friend of a friend of my Moms, who lives in Taipei and is sort of helping me out and sort of just annoying and a little bit crazy, was there with a sign to meet me.
Her "help" turned out to be more of a pain and more expensive for me than if I'd had no connections whatsoever. She was just a bit spastic and anxious and really didn't seem to know her city very well. Additionally, she kept telling me that Taipei is very difficult and confusing for foreigners if you don't speak Mandarin (it isn't- it's actually easier than Tokyo as more people speak English here) and implying that I really needed to rely on her and should be SO grateful for her help. On the bus ride, she asked me if I had a hotel for the night. I said I didn't but that I had looked up a few places. She said that was okay, that a student of hers was a travel agent so she called her.
Her student said she's found a place for around $40 USD. I said that was too much and that she really didn't have to worry or do anything about that for me- I'd find my own. Eventually, I did get a hostel and then after much unnecessary fussing, she left for a while, before forcing me to go out to a bar (which sounds like an oxymoron but I was tired and really didn't want to go out to this crap ex-pat bar with a 50 year old woman). After about two hours, she let me leave, though I wasn't allowed to go to sleep until she finished giving me a crash course in Mandarin pronunciation- yes, at 2 a.m. Not fun.
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Beautiful Neon Explosion
5/5-
Though I got a slow start, I did actually do and see quite a bit today. I started by going to asakusa, an old temple, blah, blah, blah. It was no better than any other temple, even with a nice garden and vaguely interesting history. I spent some time in the area shopping for souvenirs to send home and found a cheap kimono for myself. There's some argument about kimonos. A truly traditional kimono that a geisha would wear, made of silk and embroidered, is wildly expensive and can get into the couture price range (tens of thousands of dollars) so many tourists set on getting a kimono of sorts, opt to buy a yukata which is kind of like a thin bathrobe geishas wear underneath a kimono. Even these are very expensive so many opt to buy them second-hand. Unfortunately, second hand stores selling kimonos and their accessories are very difficult to find. The kimono stores near tourist areas often sell some high end kimonos, but sell many more cheap ones to tourists or Japanese who wear them traditionally. Some people argue that these are not "real" kimonos, and while they are much, much poorer quality than the ones geisha wear, they are still kimonos and that was good enough for me and my slim wallet.
I found a blue-greenish one that was actually fairly plain, though it has a basic bamboo leaf pattern. It fit well, though it was a little long and I liked it emotionally more than I logically should have aesthetically. It was also my last day to possibly buy one and was the right price.
Taking the Tokyo Metro from one station to another should be simple. The stations and trains are fairly clean, there are Women Only cars for peak hours so you don't get molested by a chikan (yes, they have an actual word for subway sexual predators!) because you're so packed in, most signs are in Japanese and English and trains are reasonably fast Unfortunately, there are serious organizational problems that make stations illogical and transfers ridiculous. Amazingly, I never actually had too much trouble, but the system was so illogical and bizarre, I don't know how I didn't. My trip today emphasized that. On the map, Asakusa station is one a particular line, Asakusa. It stops at Bakuro-yokoyama station, where I could transfer to Shinjuku line to get to, Shinjuku. So I entered Asakusa station but didn't see a single sign for that line, despite seeing several for the Ginza line (though I did later find a very small single one, squashed in between other, useless information, that I'd missed). There was a man at an information desk I asked and he told me to leave this station to the street through a particular exit then follow the signs to Asakusa station Asakusa line. In other words, there were two unconnected Asakusa stations. It wasn't a long walk, but just shockingly unplanned. I got to the station, got a train to Bakuro-yokoyama, my transfer point and was again shocked at the confusing directions. To transfer to the other line, I again had to leave the station, go aboveground and walk. Again, it wasn't a long walk, just a few blocks, but there were turns so it wasn't just walk two blocks straight, and few signs, through a neighborhood that didn't feel unsafe exactly, but underpopulated- a place I wouldn't feel completely comfortable walking through at night. Like I said, I somehow managed all this without getting lost or confused, but I just thought it was an insane system. I took a picture of one of the signs to show the craziness, but lost the picture with my camera.
In the middle of the transfer, I stopped at a Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast-food place, for a beef bowl for dinner. Finally, I arrived at Shinjuku. Shinjuku is probably the area closest to the super busy Tokyo at night stereotype you imagine. It's just all neon lights and people and noise and it was wonderful. It was the sort of place where I think other people might feel overstimulated, but I felt like "Finally! A place I won't be bored!" There was also this area of three tiny alleyways nearby filled with tiny bars, most with only the bar and three or four stools before you ran into the wall. Many of them had vague themes and apparently many of them are so exclusive that you can't go in unless you're a regular (so how one becomes a regular in the first place, I don't know, maybe it's hereditary). Anyway, it was just really cool and dark and dingy and off and low-key and happy. I don't know, but I thought it was fantastic.
Though I got a slow start, I did actually do and see quite a bit today. I started by going to asakusa, an old temple, blah, blah, blah. It was no better than any other temple, even with a nice garden and vaguely interesting history. I spent some time in the area shopping for souvenirs to send home and found a cheap kimono for myself. There's some argument about kimonos. A truly traditional kimono that a geisha would wear, made of silk and embroidered, is wildly expensive and can get into the couture price range (tens of thousands of dollars) so many tourists set on getting a kimono of sorts, opt to buy a yukata which is kind of like a thin bathrobe geishas wear underneath a kimono. Even these are very expensive so many opt to buy them second-hand. Unfortunately, second hand stores selling kimonos and their accessories are very difficult to find. The kimono stores near tourist areas often sell some high end kimonos, but sell many more cheap ones to tourists or Japanese who wear them traditionally. Some people argue that these are not "real" kimonos, and while they are much, much poorer quality than the ones geisha wear, they are still kimonos and that was good enough for me and my slim wallet.
I found a blue-greenish one that was actually fairly plain, though it has a basic bamboo leaf pattern. It fit well, though it was a little long and I liked it emotionally more than I logically should have aesthetically. It was also my last day to possibly buy one and was the right price.
Taking the Tokyo Metro from one station to another should be simple. The stations and trains are fairly clean, there are Women Only cars for peak hours so you don't get molested by a chikan (yes, they have an actual word for subway sexual predators!) because you're so packed in, most signs are in Japanese and English and trains are reasonably fast Unfortunately, there are serious organizational problems that make stations illogical and transfers ridiculous. Amazingly, I never actually had too much trouble, but the system was so illogical and bizarre, I don't know how I didn't. My trip today emphasized that. On the map, Asakusa station is one a particular line, Asakusa. It stops at Bakuro-yokoyama station, where I could transfer to Shinjuku line to get to, Shinjuku. So I entered Asakusa station but didn't see a single sign for that line, despite seeing several for the Ginza line (though I did later find a very small single one, squashed in between other, useless information, that I'd missed). There was a man at an information desk I asked and he told me to leave this station to the street through a particular exit then follow the signs to Asakusa station Asakusa line. In other words, there were two unconnected Asakusa stations. It wasn't a long walk, but just shockingly unplanned. I got to the station, got a train to Bakuro-yokoyama, my transfer point and was again shocked at the confusing directions. To transfer to the other line, I again had to leave the station, go aboveground and walk. Again, it wasn't a long walk, just a few blocks, but there were turns so it wasn't just walk two blocks straight, and few signs, through a neighborhood that didn't feel unsafe exactly, but underpopulated- a place I wouldn't feel completely comfortable walking through at night. Like I said, I somehow managed all this without getting lost or confused, but I just thought it was an insane system. I took a picture of one of the signs to show the craziness, but lost the picture with my camera.
In the middle of the transfer, I stopped at a Yoshinoya, a Japanese fast-food place, for a beef bowl for dinner. Finally, I arrived at Shinjuku. Shinjuku is probably the area closest to the super busy Tokyo at night stereotype you imagine. It's just all neon lights and people and noise and it was wonderful. It was the sort of place where I think other people might feel overstimulated, but I felt like "Finally! A place I won't be bored!" There was also this area of three tiny alleyways nearby filled with tiny bars, most with only the bar and three or four stools before you ran into the wall. Many of them had vague themes and apparently many of them are so exclusive that you can't go in unless you're a regular (so how one becomes a regular in the first place, I don't know, maybe it's hereditary). Anyway, it was just really cool and dark and dingy and off and low-key and happy. I don't know, but I thought it was fantastic.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Another Day of Very Little
5/4-
Today, I didn't get out much just because I didn't feel like it. I had ramen again for lunch, wrote a lot and talked to the owner of the hostel for a while. He was very interesting. He was born in Japan but had moved to Oakland, California when he was under a year old. He grew up there and started selling drugs and at some point he was caught and sent to jail for three to five. He told me he was caught just for selling pot, but with that sentence, especially in Oakland, I don't quite believe him. Regardless, while he was in, a California law was instituted that any naturalized citizen felon would be deported so he was sent back to Japan. Imagine being sent back to a country that you've never known and having to start a whole new life.
I asked him how to get to the station since I was so lost yesterday and with his directions, it was about a five minute walk FROM A DIFFERENT STATION, though on the same line, just one more stop. It pissed me off, but at least I now knew. He also told me where a 100 yen shop was nearby so I could pick up a few things. 100 yen shops are like dollar stores, but with a much larger variety and much cleaner. Somehow, they really are similar but yen shops are just much cooler. Grabbed some chicken for dinner and spent the night writing, fussing about online and watching t.v.
Today, I didn't get out much just because I didn't feel like it. I had ramen again for lunch, wrote a lot and talked to the owner of the hostel for a while. He was very interesting. He was born in Japan but had moved to Oakland, California when he was under a year old. He grew up there and started selling drugs and at some point he was caught and sent to jail for three to five. He told me he was caught just for selling pot, but with that sentence, especially in Oakland, I don't quite believe him. Regardless, while he was in, a California law was instituted that any naturalized citizen felon would be deported so he was sent back to Japan. Imagine being sent back to a country that you've never known and having to start a whole new life.
I asked him how to get to the station since I was so lost yesterday and with his directions, it was about a five minute walk FROM A DIFFERENT STATION, though on the same line, just one more stop. It pissed me off, but at least I now knew. He also told me where a 100 yen shop was nearby so I could pick up a few things. 100 yen shops are like dollar stores, but with a much larger variety and much cleaner. Somehow, they really are similar but yen shops are just much cooler. Grabbed some chicken for dinner and spent the night writing, fussing about online and watching t.v.
Sleeping in the Shower (Still Stuck on Stupid alliteration)
5/3-
I woke up in the shower at around 9 a.m., tired and with a bit of a hangover. Since I was already there, I took a shower then left the hostel through a side door. Looking around for a breakfast place, I found loads of options but few that really appealed to me so I ended up getting something random. On the way, I passed a brand new internet cafe. The rates seemed high but I really wanted a nap and it was brand new, just opened in April, so I went in. They didn't have free soda, which made me sad, but I had a very nice, actual room (about 4' by 6') to myself, instead of just a cubicle. There was also a gorgeous, huge new flatscreen for a monitor and a sort of mat/chair that could fold down flat instead of a regular chair and it was more comfortable than my bed at the hostel had been! I did, however, notice some things that were rather odd.
At the entrance to the cafe, they had some random things for sale. This is normal, but it's usually something like snacks. This cafe seemed to be selling vibrators. I was surprised and looked closer to make sure I was seeing correctly, since the writing was all in Japanese and the women were in, let's say, compromising, position. They weren't vibrators. They were fleshlights (that is what they're called, right?), the, um, rubber/silicon/whatever tubes some men use to masturbate with to approximate a vagina. I then realized that the library of what I'd assumed to be manga books (most internet cafes have large manga collections) were actually adult books and magazines and the DVDs available for sale were all porn! Well, okay, that was weird, but I'd already paid, and it was like 10 a.m. so it wasn't busy at all and as bizarre as it was, it was totally clean and safe.
In the basket the guy gave me, there was: a clipboard with my bill, a pair of headphones, and two wet wipes. Inside my room, besides the above mentioned, was a box of tissues. I turned on the moitor and was immediately greeted by a naked Japanese woman moaning in a very squeaky annoying voice. Apparently the monitor was also a t.v. and they had one channel of free porn, which, unluckily for me, had been the last thing turned to by the previous occupant. Immediately, I turned down the sound, embarrassed, as I hadn't plugged the headphones in yet, and tried to figure out how to change it to computer use. It seemed to take a long while, though it was probably only about a minute. Finally, though, I got everything working and checked my emails and took a nice nap.
When I left, around noon, there were several people dressed up in traditional Japanese costumes, beating drums, marching and carrying a portable shrine which kept bouncing up and down as they jumped in unison. Everyone seemed so happy and excited and as I walked away, I saw two other such groups with portable shrines. I remembered that the next day was a festival in that area and assume they were all practicing, but it was still very cool to see.
I'd decided to try to check into a capsule hotel early to put my stuff down and then go sightseeing. In Asakusa, there was one that accepted women, so I found that. It was a hugely touristed area, though with an admittedly very cool view of part of Tokyo's skyline, and bizarrely for a capsule hotel, they were already completely booked for that night! I made a reservation to stay the next night, just for the experience and asked them if I could use their phone to call another place to see if they had room. For some reason, they made this into a BFD and wouldn't left me, even though it was a local call and I'd wanted to stay at their hotel and had just made a reservation. They told me where a payphone was, but I was really annoyed and felt their behavior was quite uncourteous.
I did use the payphone to call my next choice, New Koyo Hostel, since it was sort of far out, but very cheap. They had a single room available, so I said I'd be right over. Using the directions from my POS Lonely Planet guidebook, I tried to find the place and ended up wandering around for about 45 minutes. I asked one person for directions and they weren't very good so I ended up lost in an area that I later found out was called Soapland. It was very strange- the buildings looked like love motels; I saw castles and harems, most with towncars and men in black suits with white shirts parked in front. Even though they looked like love motels, they almost all had signs showing women in lingerie with prices that were far too high for an hourly rate at a love motel. This all indicated that they were strip clubs.
Later, I asked the hostel owner about it and he said they were actually brothels and the area was the original Red-Light district in Tokyo (though I read somewhere else that another area held this distinction). Regardless, it was a sort of creepy area (though not terrible, I felt relatively safe and think it was semi-upmarket as far as brothels go) and I was glad I was lost only in the daylight and not at night.
Eventually I did find finding New Koyo and even though it was only late afternoon, I felt exhausted and discouraged and depressed from the difficulties, so I just stayed in, wrote, watched t.v. (both in Japanese, and online) and had ramen for dinner.
I woke up in the shower at around 9 a.m., tired and with a bit of a hangover. Since I was already there, I took a shower then left the hostel through a side door. Looking around for a breakfast place, I found loads of options but few that really appealed to me so I ended up getting something random. On the way, I passed a brand new internet cafe. The rates seemed high but I really wanted a nap and it was brand new, just opened in April, so I went in. They didn't have free soda, which made me sad, but I had a very nice, actual room (about 4' by 6') to myself, instead of just a cubicle. There was also a gorgeous, huge new flatscreen for a monitor and a sort of mat/chair that could fold down flat instead of a regular chair and it was more comfortable than my bed at the hostel had been! I did, however, notice some things that were rather odd.
At the entrance to the cafe, they had some random things for sale. This is normal, but it's usually something like snacks. This cafe seemed to be selling vibrators. I was surprised and looked closer to make sure I was seeing correctly, since the writing was all in Japanese and the women were in, let's say, compromising, position. They weren't vibrators. They were fleshlights (that is what they're called, right?), the, um, rubber/silicon/whatever tubes some men use to masturbate with to approximate a vagina. I then realized that the library of what I'd assumed to be manga books (most internet cafes have large manga collections) were actually adult books and magazines and the DVDs available for sale were all porn! Well, okay, that was weird, but I'd already paid, and it was like 10 a.m. so it wasn't busy at all and as bizarre as it was, it was totally clean and safe.
In the basket the guy gave me, there was: a clipboard with my bill, a pair of headphones, and two wet wipes. Inside my room, besides the above mentioned, was a box of tissues. I turned on the moitor and was immediately greeted by a naked Japanese woman moaning in a very squeaky annoying voice. Apparently the monitor was also a t.v. and they had one channel of free porn, which, unluckily for me, had been the last thing turned to by the previous occupant. Immediately, I turned down the sound, embarrassed, as I hadn't plugged the headphones in yet, and tried to figure out how to change it to computer use. It seemed to take a long while, though it was probably only about a minute. Finally, though, I got everything working and checked my emails and took a nice nap.
When I left, around noon, there were several people dressed up in traditional Japanese costumes, beating drums, marching and carrying a portable shrine which kept bouncing up and down as they jumped in unison. Everyone seemed so happy and excited and as I walked away, I saw two other such groups with portable shrines. I remembered that the next day was a festival in that area and assume they were all practicing, but it was still very cool to see.
I'd decided to try to check into a capsule hotel early to put my stuff down and then go sightseeing. In Asakusa, there was one that accepted women, so I found that. It was a hugely touristed area, though with an admittedly very cool view of part of Tokyo's skyline, and bizarrely for a capsule hotel, they were already completely booked for that night! I made a reservation to stay the next night, just for the experience and asked them if I could use their phone to call another place to see if they had room. For some reason, they made this into a BFD and wouldn't left me, even though it was a local call and I'd wanted to stay at their hotel and had just made a reservation. They told me where a payphone was, but I was really annoyed and felt their behavior was quite uncourteous.
I did use the payphone to call my next choice, New Koyo Hostel, since it was sort of far out, but very cheap. They had a single room available, so I said I'd be right over. Using the directions from my POS Lonely Planet guidebook, I tried to find the place and ended up wandering around for about 45 minutes. I asked one person for directions and they weren't very good so I ended up lost in an area that I later found out was called Soapland. It was very strange- the buildings looked like love motels; I saw castles and harems, most with towncars and men in black suits with white shirts parked in front. Even though they looked like love motels, they almost all had signs showing women in lingerie with prices that were far too high for an hourly rate at a love motel. This all indicated that they were strip clubs.
Later, I asked the hostel owner about it and he said they were actually brothels and the area was the original Red-Light district in Tokyo (though I read somewhere else that another area held this distinction). Regardless, it was a sort of creepy area (though not terrible, I felt relatively safe and think it was semi-upmarket as far as brothels go) and I was glad I was lost only in the daylight and not at night.
Eventually I did find finding New Koyo and even though it was only late afternoon, I felt exhausted and discouraged and depressed from the difficulties, so I just stayed in, wrote, watched t.v. (both in Japanese, and online) and had ramen for dinner.
Annoying Alliterative Appetite
5/2-
The idea of doing anything seriously touristy or requiring much effort never even entered my mind today, so I looked at a map and saw that the East Imperial Palace Garden was nearby. My guidebook confirmed that I wouldn't have to do much besides walk around and told me that it was free, so I set off. They were very nice and it was a lovely bit of green. I planned on reading The Shadow of the Wind , which I'd brought with me, but after reading the prologue- or was it actually the first chapter? Who knows? Oh well- I realized that this was going to be a really good book that should be savored and that I didn't really feel like reading right then anyway. I'd save it for the flight to Taipei.
I walked over to Marunouchi Brick Square, the food area Saveur had recommended, and immediately was pulled into the La Boutique de Joel Robuchon. I bought a gorgeous "Religeuse Chocolat" a large cream puff topped with a profiterole with a very thick chocolate cream/pudding inside the cream puffs, covered in a dark chocolate ganache, topped with two discs of carmelized chopped nuts I couldn't quite identify; walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkling of gold leaf. It was a wonderful treat and quite reasonable for how good it was- around $5. I wandered around the corner and saw a long line outside one store, Echire. The plaza had a very strong Parisian influence so the name didn't surprise me, but the product did: butter.
Completely random sidenote- the square also had a strong Boston influence in the form of its fauna and masses of red brick/ architectural type. I thought this was quite strange as the Japanese have an obvious (and one sided) love affair with French culture, but nowhere else did I see a strong, particular American region/city influence.
But I'd better get back to the bountiful bevy of brunettes bartering for butter. Sorry, that was a bit much, but I couldn't stop myself. Alliteration: I am an absolute addict. There really were quite a few people waiting to go into the roped off butter store, and since I'm in Japan, they did all have dark hair. Like in Singapore when I waited because I had the time and wanted to know if it was really worth waiting for, I got in line here.
Besides selling butter, they also had a small bakery inside. Unfortunately they were all out of croissants for the day, so I got a rectangular Madeleine and a large pat (30 grams) of demi-sel butter. You may be wondering why I bought butter and what the fresh hell I thought I was going to do with it, but here's the thing: I really like butter. I don't know as much about it as I'd really like to, but I do like tasting it, using it in unholy amounts, and I've even made my own (which was good, better than the regular kind you'd get at the grocery store, but not as good as I'd expected).
So I bought it just to taste it, basically, with bread. But now I want to start alliterating again and you don't deserve that. I didn't know where I'd get the bread, but I knew I wanted good bread, not packaged white crap. And I was still sitting right next to the Robuchon cafe which had just put out a bunch more bread products, so I bought a croissant to eat my butter with. Croissants, of course, already have a devilish amount of butter layered into their soft sheets, but I always like it better with butter (stop me! It's a disease!) especially when cut open lengthwise, toasted and then with butter on top, which somehow never seems too buttery, but just buttery enough.
This croissant however, was already too buttery to put anymore on, so I just had to eat it plain. It was great, but this meant that I was just randomly carrying around a bunch of butter since I was now full, and had to bread (to butter it on, upside down or right side up).
Butter in bag, bag in hand, croissant in mouth, I got on the loop line which circles Tokyo. My guide book had suggested it as a good way to get a feel of the city as it was cheap and mostly above-ground. Part of it was quite interesting, but much of it just snaked past gray buildings. However, it also went to the station I'd decided I had the energy to go to; Harajuku, to go to Baird Brewing Co., the microbrewery bar Food & Wind recommended, as today was obviously a fine food and drink day. To see the whole city, I ended up doing a 1.5 loop around the city which took about 1.5 hours but again, why not, I had the time.
Wandering through this part of Harajuku was a bit more interesting, but still uninspiring, as most of it was the fleetingly trendy childish, typical "Japan-Harajuku" look, with lots of cartoon/ manga images. I found the bar easily, thanks to their websites excellent directions, and entered.
They didn't have a sampler (which I LOVE for drink tasting) but you could buy their beer in very small (I think less than half-pint) glasses so I could try several different beers without getting sloshed. They also had overpriced, overthought and underwhelming bar snacks, one of which I ordered (chicken and blue cheese deep friend egg rolls) since I hadn't had a proper dinner, just good food previously. They also had great T-shirts, one of which I almost bought for my Stepdad, but they were expensive for what they were, so I refrained.
I wish I could describe the beer as well as I would like to, or even tell you the names of all the different ones I tried, but I can't remember them. In anticipation of this, I had cleverly taken a photograph of the menu with all the beer descriptions. Stupidly, I hadn't written this or downloaded those pictures before I lost my camera.
What I do remember is that the beers were all excellently made and more bitter than I really like (as many well-crafted beers are). I also tried one beer that was memorably called Black Sails. While drinking, I remembered how just how much I enjoy beer and that I really do love beer tasting and microbreweries. I'd really like to learn more about them. To this goal, I flipped through a book they had at the bar, showing and describing the World's Greatest Beers. Neither Oranjeboom, one of my favorite mass produced beers, nor McMenamins Raspberry Ruby, my favorite microbrew, were listed, but I did write down the names of a few other raspberry beers that I wanted to try in the future (as much as I like beer, I like it in a very girly way, preferring very light, slightly sweet beers with fruit flavors). They also had a free magazine aptly called The Japan Beer Times, the first edition, which was all about beer, especially microbreweries, though they don't seem to like to use that term, in Japan. Obviously there's a microbrewery revolution in the U.S. but I had no idea they were also having a quiet one in Japan, so it was very interesting to read.
Slurring my way back to the hostel, I got out my netbook and started writing, as I seem most inclined to write when drunk (I also think that the readable bits are some of the most interesting and creative writings I do). I sat on the Cafe porch and started talking to the group of three French guys at another table. This turned into a very long conversation in French and I didn't do as badly as I might've expected, given my distaste for Frenchness and how long it has been since I last spoke it. One of the guys told me he wished his English was as good as my French, which I thought was quite a nice compliment.
I was working on a Cherry Blossom Suntory beer I'd bought at 7-11 (I'd bought some special pack of two beers for cheap, and very oddly, they'd given me a free orange juice with it,) when Marybeth came back. I asked her if she wanted to go out and she said no but that we should just hang out at the hostel. So we went and bought a flask of vodka and a Coke Light and just chatted with each other and two other English guys she'd met previously. It was nothing special, but a relaxing, enjoyable evening.
For the past two nights, I'd stayed at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbocho, which was were I was drinking. It was a decent place in a good area so I'd wanted to stay longer but they hadn't had any beds available that night, so I'd made up my mind to sleep in either a capsule hotel, a love motel or an internet cafe. Each of those options were very "Japanese" experiences I wanted to try and both the love motel and an internet cafe would be cheaper if I checked in after 11 at night which was why I was hanging out at the Cafe at the hostel. Marybeth went to bed at around 1 a.m. I stayed up for another hour writing and then decided that it would be dangerous and bothersome to walk around somewhere trying to find an internet cafe/love motel/capsule hotel that would take women (the large majority, like 95%+ don't).
At some point, I went downstairs where the dorm rooms and bathroom were. I had my purse and my backpack, everything I own (well, that I have on me) with me. I don't remember making this decision, but I decided to sleep in the shower. It locked from the inside and was a bit larger than a bathtub, split down the middle- half of it for the shower itself and half for a changing part outside it, separated by an accordian glass door. I locked myself inside with my belongings and slept for about seven hours. I think my body is just adapting to insane and horrible sleeping conditions because it didn't seem that bad, and, it was free.
The idea of doing anything seriously touristy or requiring much effort never even entered my mind today, so I looked at a map and saw that the East Imperial Palace Garden was nearby. My guidebook confirmed that I wouldn't have to do much besides walk around and told me that it was free, so I set off. They were very nice and it was a lovely bit of green. I planned on reading The Shadow of the Wind , which I'd brought with me, but after reading the prologue- or was it actually the first chapter? Who knows? Oh well- I realized that this was going to be a really good book that should be savored and that I didn't really feel like reading right then anyway. I'd save it for the flight to Taipei.
I walked over to Marunouchi Brick Square, the food area Saveur had recommended, and immediately was pulled into the La Boutique de Joel Robuchon. I bought a gorgeous "Religeuse Chocolat" a large cream puff topped with a profiterole with a very thick chocolate cream/pudding inside the cream puffs, covered in a dark chocolate ganache, topped with two discs of carmelized chopped nuts I couldn't quite identify; walnuts or pecans, and a sprinkling of gold leaf. It was a wonderful treat and quite reasonable for how good it was- around $5. I wandered around the corner and saw a long line outside one store, Echire. The plaza had a very strong Parisian influence so the name didn't surprise me, but the product did: butter.
Completely random sidenote- the square also had a strong Boston influence in the form of its fauna and masses of red brick/ architectural type. I thought this was quite strange as the Japanese have an obvious (and one sided) love affair with French culture, but nowhere else did I see a strong, particular American region/city influence.
But I'd better get back to the bountiful bevy of brunettes bartering for butter. Sorry, that was a bit much, but I couldn't stop myself. Alliteration: I am an absolute addict. There really were quite a few people waiting to go into the roped off butter store, and since I'm in Japan, they did all have dark hair. Like in Singapore when I waited because I had the time and wanted to know if it was really worth waiting for, I got in line here.
Besides selling butter, they also had a small bakery inside. Unfortunately they were all out of croissants for the day, so I got a rectangular Madeleine and a large pat (30 grams) of demi-sel butter. You may be wondering why I bought butter and what the fresh hell I thought I was going to do with it, but here's the thing: I really like butter. I don't know as much about it as I'd really like to, but I do like tasting it, using it in unholy amounts, and I've even made my own (which was good, better than the regular kind you'd get at the grocery store, but not as good as I'd expected).
So I bought it just to taste it, basically, with bread. But now I want to start alliterating again and you don't deserve that. I didn't know where I'd get the bread, but I knew I wanted good bread, not packaged white crap. And I was still sitting right next to the Robuchon cafe which had just put out a bunch more bread products, so I bought a croissant to eat my butter with. Croissants, of course, already have a devilish amount of butter layered into their soft sheets, but I always like it better with butter (stop me! It's a disease!) especially when cut open lengthwise, toasted and then with butter on top, which somehow never seems too buttery, but just buttery enough.
This croissant however, was already too buttery to put anymore on, so I just had to eat it plain. It was great, but this meant that I was just randomly carrying around a bunch of butter since I was now full, and had to bread (to butter it on, upside down or right side up).
Butter in bag, bag in hand, croissant in mouth, I got on the loop line which circles Tokyo. My guide book had suggested it as a good way to get a feel of the city as it was cheap and mostly above-ground. Part of it was quite interesting, but much of it just snaked past gray buildings. However, it also went to the station I'd decided I had the energy to go to; Harajuku, to go to Baird Brewing Co., the microbrewery bar Food & Wind recommended, as today was obviously a fine food and drink day. To see the whole city, I ended up doing a 1.5 loop around the city which took about 1.5 hours but again, why not, I had the time.
Wandering through this part of Harajuku was a bit more interesting, but still uninspiring, as most of it was the fleetingly trendy childish, typical "Japan-Harajuku" look, with lots of cartoon/ manga images. I found the bar easily, thanks to their websites excellent directions, and entered.
They didn't have a sampler (which I LOVE for drink tasting) but you could buy their beer in very small (I think less than half-pint) glasses so I could try several different beers without getting sloshed. They also had overpriced, overthought and underwhelming bar snacks, one of which I ordered (chicken and blue cheese deep friend egg rolls) since I hadn't had a proper dinner, just good food previously. They also had great T-shirts, one of which I almost bought for my Stepdad, but they were expensive for what they were, so I refrained.
I wish I could describe the beer as well as I would like to, or even tell you the names of all the different ones I tried, but I can't remember them. In anticipation of this, I had cleverly taken a photograph of the menu with all the beer descriptions. Stupidly, I hadn't written this or downloaded those pictures before I lost my camera.
What I do remember is that the beers were all excellently made and more bitter than I really like (as many well-crafted beers are). I also tried one beer that was memorably called Black Sails. While drinking, I remembered how just how much I enjoy beer and that I really do love beer tasting and microbreweries. I'd really like to learn more about them. To this goal, I flipped through a book they had at the bar, showing and describing the World's Greatest Beers. Neither Oranjeboom, one of my favorite mass produced beers, nor McMenamins Raspberry Ruby, my favorite microbrew, were listed, but I did write down the names of a few other raspberry beers that I wanted to try in the future (as much as I like beer, I like it in a very girly way, preferring very light, slightly sweet beers with fruit flavors). They also had a free magazine aptly called The Japan Beer Times, the first edition, which was all about beer, especially microbreweries, though they don't seem to like to use that term, in Japan. Obviously there's a microbrewery revolution in the U.S. but I had no idea they were also having a quiet one in Japan, so it was very interesting to read.
Slurring my way back to the hostel, I got out my netbook and started writing, as I seem most inclined to write when drunk (I also think that the readable bits are some of the most interesting and creative writings I do). I sat on the Cafe porch and started talking to the group of three French guys at another table. This turned into a very long conversation in French and I didn't do as badly as I might've expected, given my distaste for Frenchness and how long it has been since I last spoke it. One of the guys told me he wished his English was as good as my French, which I thought was quite a nice compliment.
I was working on a Cherry Blossom Suntory beer I'd bought at 7-11 (I'd bought some special pack of two beers for cheap, and very oddly, they'd given me a free orange juice with it,) when Marybeth came back. I asked her if she wanted to go out and she said no but that we should just hang out at the hostel. So we went and bought a flask of vodka and a Coke Light and just chatted with each other and two other English guys she'd met previously. It was nothing special, but a relaxing, enjoyable evening.
For the past two nights, I'd stayed at the Sakura Hotel in Jimbocho, which was were I was drinking. It was a decent place in a good area so I'd wanted to stay longer but they hadn't had any beds available that night, so I'd made up my mind to sleep in either a capsule hotel, a love motel or an internet cafe. Each of those options were very "Japanese" experiences I wanted to try and both the love motel and an internet cafe would be cheaper if I checked in after 11 at night which was why I was hanging out at the Cafe at the hostel. Marybeth went to bed at around 1 a.m. I stayed up for another hour writing and then decided that it would be dangerous and bothersome to walk around somewhere trying to find an internet cafe/love motel/capsule hotel that would take women (the large majority, like 95%+ don't).
At some point, I went downstairs where the dorm rooms and bathroom were. I had my purse and my backpack, everything I own (well, that I have on me) with me. I don't remember making this decision, but I decided to sleep in the shower. It locked from the inside and was a bit larger than a bathtub, split down the middle- half of it for the shower itself and half for a changing part outside it, separated by an accordian glass door. I locked myself inside with my belongings and slept for about seven hours. I think my body is just adapting to insane and horrible sleeping conditions because it didn't seem that bad, and, it was free.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Random Ranting and Wandering in Trendy Tokyo
Saturday May 1, 2010
Lately, I'm having crazy cravings, like the kind you hear about women getting when they're pregnant (I'm not, don't laugh, it's not something funny, and never something to joke about). Right this second, I would be willing to die for: cottage cheese, a really good salad, and caramel, the hot liquid kind you'd put on ice cream, though I really just want the caramel, though maybe with some whipped cream and peanuts in my mouth at the same time.
I really want to go running again, and I think the weather would finally be nice for it, but I'm afraid that I'll hurt my ankle. I twisted it on my most recent all-nighter in Osaka at some point, but barely, it really didn't hurt much, just bruised and swelled up a bit. It doesn't hurt at all anymore, but it still feels weak and I don't want to push it because then I'm afraid I'll really hurt it and I won't be able to run, or even walk long distances, for ages. Actually, I seem to twist my ankle a fair bit, though it's usually (including currently) no big deal, though it was pretty bad once when I nearly broke it. Anyway, irrelevant.
Tonight, while uploading pictures, I realized that I only have four pictures of me in Japan and two of those are at the Sapporo factory; good thing I've got my priorities straight.
I can't believe it's May already! How the hell did that happen?! That means I've been traveling for just under two months (8 weeks on Monday).
In all that time, and in all my time staying in the hostel upon my arrival in Oz, I have yet to meet a single American female traveler (in the way of doing what I'm doing). I've met single American male travelers, single female travelers from other countries (including Sweden, the U.K., Germany and France,) I've met American couples traveling and two or more American females traveling together, I've even met single American females traveling within a country in which they were based (by which I primarily mean, English teachers in Korea and Japan) but I have yet to meet any other single American female traveler backpacking around countries. This makes me really sad. I know I'm not so unusual or special, so why aren't more American women doing this type of thing?
What it really makes me wonder is if we don't have (additional) sexism in the U.S. that we're unaware of. I don't think I've spoken about it much here, but in Australia, there is extreme sexism (more than I saw in Western Europe in my time there, or in Japan, now) but Australians barely seem to notice. It's a difficult type of sexism to explain; quite subtle, but very obvious if you come from somewhere, like the U.S. that doesn't have it (at least in that way). Most of it is the judgmental views of women (especially, as is true everywhere I've ever been, in regards to their sexuality) that are so totally different from the views on men, but additionally, it is the type of subtle sexism, that if you saw it in the U.S. you'd think, "Huh, that's weird that they'd say that/ That's kind of offensive/ rude/ I wonder how they get away with that," but you don't think too much of it, because it happens so rarely. In Australia, it's still those little things, but they occur constantly. Constantly.
Anyway, that's all in Australia. My point here is that perhaps it exists much more than we realize in the U.S. in a way that we don't recognize, much as they don't recognize it in Oz. About two years ago, I read a book called After (P.S. shout out here to Google for knowing the name of it when I could only remember a few random details). It's meant for teenagers, but is an excellent book that feeds into all my paranoia about privacy and rights. In it, the school slowly becomes more and more restricted and controlled; with extraordinarily harsh punishments, metal detectors and, if I remember right, nationalism in the form of high school rivalry. Throughout, the parents are kept "informed" by emails explaining the additional dangers facing teens and why the restrictions and privacy invasions were so important, essentially brainwashing them (the parents).
I'm not some conspiracy theorist, and I don't really think we need to seriously worry about high schools being controlled, and parent brain washing anytime soon, but I do worry about the effects of what we see and hear, particularly with the recent passing of a law that allows lobbyists greater access and input than ever before.
Again, I'm getting away from my original point, and this really isn't supposed to be political, but what I mean is that perhaps in the U.S., we've convinced women that they are in so much danger, that we are restricting them and their freedom in a way that we simply don't restrict male freedom.
This also isn't to say that women don't face a greater danger than men do. We do. We shouldn't have to, but, shouldn'ts don't really matter in the real world do they? I know I take a risk, and yes, it is a bit of a greater risk than most women take. I'm not denying that in of itself. I'm suggesting that the actual risk has been overblown and that the rewards we miss out on, may be worth it. They certainly are for me.
*This entire post is discussing sexism outside of the spectrum we obviously know it exists in: wages, promotions, reproductive rights, etc.
Quick Note: The above was all actually written on 5/1 and is mostly rambling. The long sexism rant was partially inspired by Marybeth, who you'll meet below. The rest of this entry was written later and actually tells what I did that day.
I finished Lucy this morning, had a very slow lunch at the Cafe that was part of the hostel (margarita pizza that was obviously not really margarita pizza but more edible than I expected upon ordering) and wrote for a while.
I met Marybeth, an American woman teaching English in Japan, about my age. She was pretty interesting to talk to, and very interested in me, which the narcissist in me adores. It had been a while since I'd really spoken to pretty much anyone so I had a fairly long conversation with her. One of the most interesting things she told me was that she had a boyfriend back in the U.S. even though she'd been in Japan since last August! She said that he had been in Japan for three months too, but that still leaves six months, which to me is just insane, but then I'm not a believer in long distance relationships. I told her maybe I'd go out with her that night.
Since I had a few days in Tokyo, I slowed down a bit and decided that today I just wanted to read some magazines at a bookstore and look at a guidebook for Taiwan. Of course, it's not as simple as running out to Barnes and Noble and picking out a comfy chair.
First, I had to look up a place with English books and magazines in my guidebook, then I had to buy a pass, take the subway, transfer once, and then wander for about an hour looking for the right place. I happened to be wandering in a very nice and interesting area: Shibuya up to Harajuku. Shibuya is full of several small boutiques and restaurants in side alleys and huge designer stores on the main Omote-sando street so it was fun to look around. As it was a Saturday it was fairly busy but I didn't feel crushed by the crowd or anything like that. I didn't get too far into Harajuku but what I saw was surprisingly ordinary and trendy/fashionable only in a boring, overdone way, like hipsters. It wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped/expected.
I finally found the bookstore on my way back towards Shibuya since I'd missed it on the way up and read Cosmopolitan and Saveur almost front to cover, sitting on a stool I found in the Childrens section. Sitting there for at least two hours, I also skimmed: Food and Wine, Marie Claire, Vogue, Lucky and glanced at a few others. Food and Wine recommended a beer place in Tokyo, while Saveur recommended a particular area to eat. I walked out, much happier, into the semi-darkness. Night had come while I was reading, but the lights, everywhere, were so bright that it would be misleading to actually call it dark.
And now I could feel the crush of people and density of Tokyo. There was particular point when I was right before a large intersection, like a smaller Oxford Circus as the light changed.
In Sydney, at the huge intersection of George St. and the street Woolworths and one end of the QVB is on, people walk in straight, bulging cords as the cars stop. All at the same moment, people walk either way on each four sides of the square and diagonally across, forming a human square with an X in the middle. Though it's a large rush of people, and every once in a while a straggler swerves into one of the four triangles of concrete created in between the X and the square, the crowd always retains this structure. Somehow, the rivers never burst from their path.
This intersection in Shibuya reminded me of that one in Sydney, but with three times the people and none of the order. It was like a fishing net in the open sea where some fish are visible and then, instantly, something changes, and all the fish are caught wildly squirming in the net. It was a vibrating block of people, with nothing below them. I took a picture because it so perfectly captured the idea we sometimes have of Tokyo, as a big city totally filled with people, but of course, lost that picture when I lost my camera in Taiwan (which is why there are no pictures from this point until 5/23).
It was a nice afternoon and I enjoyed my wandering and seeing areas of Tokyo I had wanted to see on the way, but I was tired so I got some ramen and beers at 7-11 and went back to the hostel. I went to bed at around 12 and Marybeth told me that was about the time she'd come back looking for me but we'd somehow missed each other. After how busy I'd been lately, I really didn't mind missing out and getting some extra sleep.
Lately, I'm having crazy cravings, like the kind you hear about women getting when they're pregnant (I'm not, don't laugh, it's not something funny, and never something to joke about). Right this second, I would be willing to die for: cottage cheese, a really good salad, and caramel, the hot liquid kind you'd put on ice cream, though I really just want the caramel, though maybe with some whipped cream and peanuts in my mouth at the same time.
I really want to go running again, and I think the weather would finally be nice for it, but I'm afraid that I'll hurt my ankle. I twisted it on my most recent all-nighter in Osaka at some point, but barely, it really didn't hurt much, just bruised and swelled up a bit. It doesn't hurt at all anymore, but it still feels weak and I don't want to push it because then I'm afraid I'll really hurt it and I won't be able to run, or even walk long distances, for ages. Actually, I seem to twist my ankle a fair bit, though it's usually (including currently) no big deal, though it was pretty bad once when I nearly broke it. Anyway, irrelevant.
Tonight, while uploading pictures, I realized that I only have four pictures of me in Japan and two of those are at the Sapporo factory; good thing I've got my priorities straight.
I can't believe it's May already! How the hell did that happen?! That means I've been traveling for just under two months (8 weeks on Monday).
In all that time, and in all my time staying in the hostel upon my arrival in Oz, I have yet to meet a single American female traveler (in the way of doing what I'm doing). I've met single American male travelers, single female travelers from other countries (including Sweden, the U.K., Germany and France,) I've met American couples traveling and two or more American females traveling together, I've even met single American females traveling within a country in which they were based (by which I primarily mean, English teachers in Korea and Japan) but I have yet to meet any other single American female traveler backpacking around countries. This makes me really sad. I know I'm not so unusual or special, so why aren't more American women doing this type of thing?
What it really makes me wonder is if we don't have (additional) sexism in the U.S. that we're unaware of. I don't think I've spoken about it much here, but in Australia, there is extreme sexism (more than I saw in Western Europe in my time there, or in Japan, now) but Australians barely seem to notice. It's a difficult type of sexism to explain; quite subtle, but very obvious if you come from somewhere, like the U.S. that doesn't have it (at least in that way). Most of it is the judgmental views of women (especially, as is true everywhere I've ever been, in regards to their sexuality) that are so totally different from the views on men, but additionally, it is the type of subtle sexism, that if you saw it in the U.S. you'd think, "Huh, that's weird that they'd say that/ That's kind of offensive/ rude/ I wonder how they get away with that," but you don't think too much of it, because it happens so rarely. In Australia, it's still those little things, but they occur constantly. Constantly.
Anyway, that's all in Australia. My point here is that perhaps it exists much more than we realize in the U.S. in a way that we don't recognize, much as they don't recognize it in Oz. About two years ago, I read a book called After (P.S. shout out here to Google for knowing the name of it when I could only remember a few random details). It's meant for teenagers, but is an excellent book that feeds into all my paranoia about privacy and rights. In it, the school slowly becomes more and more restricted and controlled; with extraordinarily harsh punishments, metal detectors and, if I remember right, nationalism in the form of high school rivalry. Throughout, the parents are kept "informed" by emails explaining the additional dangers facing teens and why the restrictions and privacy invasions were so important, essentially brainwashing them (the parents).
I'm not some conspiracy theorist, and I don't really think we need to seriously worry about high schools being controlled, and parent brain washing anytime soon, but I do worry about the effects of what we see and hear, particularly with the recent passing of a law that allows lobbyists greater access and input than ever before.
Again, I'm getting away from my original point, and this really isn't supposed to be political, but what I mean is that perhaps in the U.S., we've convinced women that they are in so much danger, that we are restricting them and their freedom in a way that we simply don't restrict male freedom.
This also isn't to say that women don't face a greater danger than men do. We do. We shouldn't have to, but, shouldn'ts don't really matter in the real world do they? I know I take a risk, and yes, it is a bit of a greater risk than most women take. I'm not denying that in of itself. I'm suggesting that the actual risk has been overblown and that the rewards we miss out on, may be worth it. They certainly are for me.
*This entire post is discussing sexism outside of the spectrum we obviously know it exists in: wages, promotions, reproductive rights, etc.
Quick Note: The above was all actually written on 5/1 and is mostly rambling. The long sexism rant was partially inspired by Marybeth, who you'll meet below. The rest of this entry was written later and actually tells what I did that day.
I finished Lucy this morning, had a very slow lunch at the Cafe that was part of the hostel (margarita pizza that was obviously not really margarita pizza but more edible than I expected upon ordering) and wrote for a while.
I met Marybeth, an American woman teaching English in Japan, about my age. She was pretty interesting to talk to, and very interested in me, which the narcissist in me adores. It had been a while since I'd really spoken to pretty much anyone so I had a fairly long conversation with her. One of the most interesting things she told me was that she had a boyfriend back in the U.S. even though she'd been in Japan since last August! She said that he had been in Japan for three months too, but that still leaves six months, which to me is just insane, but then I'm not a believer in long distance relationships. I told her maybe I'd go out with her that night.
Since I had a few days in Tokyo, I slowed down a bit and decided that today I just wanted to read some magazines at a bookstore and look at a guidebook for Taiwan. Of course, it's not as simple as running out to Barnes and Noble and picking out a comfy chair.
First, I had to look up a place with English books and magazines in my guidebook, then I had to buy a pass, take the subway, transfer once, and then wander for about an hour looking for the right place. I happened to be wandering in a very nice and interesting area: Shibuya up to Harajuku. Shibuya is full of several small boutiques and restaurants in side alleys and huge designer stores on the main Omote-sando street so it was fun to look around. As it was a Saturday it was fairly busy but I didn't feel crushed by the crowd or anything like that. I didn't get too far into Harajuku but what I saw was surprisingly ordinary and trendy/fashionable only in a boring, overdone way, like hipsters. It wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped/expected.
I finally found the bookstore on my way back towards Shibuya since I'd missed it on the way up and read Cosmopolitan and Saveur almost front to cover, sitting on a stool I found in the Childrens section. Sitting there for at least two hours, I also skimmed: Food and Wine, Marie Claire, Vogue, Lucky and glanced at a few others. Food and Wine recommended a beer place in Tokyo, while Saveur recommended a particular area to eat. I walked out, much happier, into the semi-darkness. Night had come while I was reading, but the lights, everywhere, were so bright that it would be misleading to actually call it dark.
And now I could feel the crush of people and density of Tokyo. There was particular point when I was right before a large intersection, like a smaller Oxford Circus as the light changed.
In Sydney, at the huge intersection of George St. and the street Woolworths and one end of the QVB is on, people walk in straight, bulging cords as the cars stop. All at the same moment, people walk either way on each four sides of the square and diagonally across, forming a human square with an X in the middle. Though it's a large rush of people, and every once in a while a straggler swerves into one of the four triangles of concrete created in between the X and the square, the crowd always retains this structure. Somehow, the rivers never burst from their path.
This intersection in Shibuya reminded me of that one in Sydney, but with three times the people and none of the order. It was like a fishing net in the open sea where some fish are visible and then, instantly, something changes, and all the fish are caught wildly squirming in the net. It was a vibrating block of people, with nothing below them. I took a picture because it so perfectly captured the idea we sometimes have of Tokyo, as a big city totally filled with people, but of course, lost that picture when I lost my camera in Taiwan (which is why there are no pictures from this point until 5/23).
It was a nice afternoon and I enjoyed my wandering and seeing areas of Tokyo I had wanted to see on the way, but I was tired so I got some ramen and beers at 7-11 and went back to the hostel. I went to bed at around 12 and Marybeth told me that was about the time she'd come back looking for me but we'd somehow missed each other. After how busy I'd been lately, I really didn't mind missing out and getting some extra sleep.
Samurai Culture at a Great Sight
4/30
There was absolutely nothing I wanted to see in Sendai and since the cherry blossoms in Kitakami still hadn't bloomed (I'd checked on my way down yesterday), I found a random daytrip in my guidebook.
On my way to the station, I saw these cherry blossom trees, perfectly in bloom, but not a whole orchard of them, the dream I'd pretty much given up on. They were inside a school yard and the two little girls you can sort of make out were running around trying to catch the petals as they wafted to the ground. It was really cute, but I didn't want to be creepy so I just took one picture.
Matsushima is another of the "Three Great Sights" in Japan (remember, I visited Miyajima, one of the other two, near Hiroshima?) and it's another place that's extremely popular with Japanese tourists but not really with foreigners (which was why it was so amazing that even though it was the Friday before Golden Week, it wasn't too crowded). It's basically a town surrounded by tons (about 250) of little islands that dot the ocean like large stepping stones. One of the islands, Fukuura-jima, has a botanic garden on it while others are renowned for their rock formations.
From Sendai, it was about 30 minutes on the train to Matsushimakaigan Station (confusingly, that's the stop, not Matsushima Station) and as I walked out there was a Visitor kiosk, manned with people beckoning me over and smiling. A very helpful woman gave me an English map with descriptions of the different places to visit.
First I went to Godai-do, an old wooden temple that is only opened once every 33 years, last in 2006. It provided a nice view and I got to walk over a funny bridge that didn't actually pose any threat of falling down, but was very awkward as the slats were too far apart. Besides that though, it wasn't too exciting. The botanic garden island was pretty much the same- nice but boring. The views were lovely, but as with almost anywhere, I think it would have been much more impressive had the sun been shining.
Matsushima really is still a small fishing town and locals were collecting oysters in a very dark, stinky black mud. I walked on the beach and saw that this island was actually connected by said mud to another of the little islands. I decided that I really wanted to go to this island, just because. Very gently, I stepped on the dried or stronger parts of the mud and oyster shells so I didn't fall through the mud and get wet and dirty.
For a while, I did very well, accumulating only a tiny bit of mud. But then, that's how life is, isn't it? It's going well, going well, going well, and then you take a wrong step and BAM! you're up to one ankle in muck and you're getting the other foot filthy in an attempt to get the first one out. One of the shell collectors laughed at me and started talking to me, fairly extensively, in Japanese. I didn't mind the laughing and laughed back a bit. I'd known I was taking that risk and it was just kind of fun. Maybe I was just in a good mood, but I felt happy.
I made it over to the island, only to discover that I could only get about four feet onto the island unless I wanted to swim. The return to the larger island went much the same way- very good until it wasn't. It was at about this point, when both shoes were soaked and covered in grime, that I stated to think it hadn't been my best idea ever. I had to wash my shoes off in the public bathroom sink and then try to wait for them to dry while I played my cell phone game I'd just discovered. Since it was going to take forever, I knew I had to put them at some point and just deal with the uncomfortableness. My socks had somehow stayed relatively dry, so I tried to cover them to keep my feet warm. I covered one with the plastic tissue holder, taking out the tissues, and the other with my sunglasses case which is made of some cloth/ not really but sort of waterproofy stuff. It wasn't great, but it worked, kind of.
Hoping to buy some indoor slippers, which I'd seen at 100 yen stores (about $1 USD) I went back to the town. I didn't see a 100 yen store so I tried some tourist shops but all they had was the traditional wooden flip-flops which were too expensive for something I'd only use for a few hours. Oh well. I passed by the Zuigan-ji temple but decided to skip it since I wanted to get back sooner rather than later. The one thing at the temple that sounded interesting was closer so I just looked at these Buddhist rock carvings. They're tablets or whatever carved directly into the cave walls. It was okay, but not quite as cool as I'd imagined.
Next I went to the Kanrantei tea house, which means "a place to view ripples on the water" which was beautiful and had a spectacular view of the bay. In the late 16th century, it was given to Date Masamune, a famous samurai Lord who nearly became the shogunate to control the whole of Japan. He was known as the One-Eyed Dragon as he was blind in one eye from a childhood bout of smallpox. Due to his influence, this area seemed to display more samurai culture than any other place I went in Japan.
The walls and sliding doors of the teahouse were decorated with gorgeous gold paintings by Kano Sakyo, a famous painter of the period.
Inside the back part of the teahouse building was a samurai history museum. The museum was small, but fantastic. They had a lot of samurai stuff used in daily life, including suits of armor, makeup brushes and a case, clothes, an old painted map of Matsushima and a golden shell game (all shown below in order), which was all really interesting and even better, they had information in English!
I bought a bit of squid on a stick, and some large scallops on a stick from two different food windows on the main street and headed back to Sendai, to pick up my backpack, which I'd left in a locker at the station, and to try gyutan (cow tongue).
My Mother makes tongue sometimes and I love it. She prepares it by boiling it for a very long time with cabbage, potatoes and carrots and then slicing it. I usually put butter on top of the slices and eat them like that. Every once in a very rare while, I'll also enjoy a tongue taco at Papis, my favorite taqueria. So the idea of cow tongue, far from appalling me, appealed to me and I was looking forward to seeing how they cooked it here.
It's a specialty in Sendai that was first cooked during one of their many "hard times" and I'd been told there were several good places to get it in the station. I chose one that had a somewhat decent price (since it's a specialty now, it's fairly expensive, though still, not really, I'm just cheap) and went in. I sat at the counter and watched them prepare it. They grabbed raw slices and just threw them on the grill and cut them in half and served them on a bed of rice, with some other accoutrements, including tongue soup, in which the tongue tasted more like I'm used to. It was very good though. I had it with a large beer and a bit of sake that a man sitting near me shared.
From there, I caught my last shinkansen to Tokyo, found a hostel and relaxed a bit. I found two books that looked good on the communal shelf; Lucy In the Sky and The Shadow of the Wind. Lucy was a chick-lit book that was reasonably well written, though with mostly dislikable characters, and since I didn't feel like thinking, I went with that, though I took The Shadow of the Wind with me as well. After reading in bed for a while, I fell off to sleep on my granite bed.
There was absolutely nothing I wanted to see in Sendai and since the cherry blossoms in Kitakami still hadn't bloomed (I'd checked on my way down yesterday), I found a random daytrip in my guidebook.
On my way to the station, I saw these cherry blossom trees, perfectly in bloom, but not a whole orchard of them, the dream I'd pretty much given up on. They were inside a school yard and the two little girls you can sort of make out were running around trying to catch the petals as they wafted to the ground. It was really cute, but I didn't want to be creepy so I just took one picture.
Matsushima is another of the "Three Great Sights" in Japan (remember, I visited Miyajima, one of the other two, near Hiroshima?) and it's another place that's extremely popular with Japanese tourists but not really with foreigners (which was why it was so amazing that even though it was the Friday before Golden Week, it wasn't too crowded). It's basically a town surrounded by tons (about 250) of little islands that dot the ocean like large stepping stones. One of the islands, Fukuura-jima, has a botanic garden on it while others are renowned for their rock formations.
From Sendai, it was about 30 minutes on the train to Matsushimakaigan Station (confusingly, that's the stop, not Matsushima Station) and as I walked out there was a Visitor kiosk, manned with people beckoning me over and smiling. A very helpful woman gave me an English map with descriptions of the different places to visit.
First I went to Godai-do, an old wooden temple that is only opened once every 33 years, last in 2006. It provided a nice view and I got to walk over a funny bridge that didn't actually pose any threat of falling down, but was very awkward as the slats were too far apart. Besides that though, it wasn't too exciting. The botanic garden island was pretty much the same- nice but boring. The views were lovely, but as with almost anywhere, I think it would have been much more impressive had the sun been shining.
Matsushima really is still a small fishing town and locals were collecting oysters in a very dark, stinky black mud. I walked on the beach and saw that this island was actually connected by said mud to another of the little islands. I decided that I really wanted to go to this island, just because. Very gently, I stepped on the dried or stronger parts of the mud and oyster shells so I didn't fall through the mud and get wet and dirty.
For a while, I did very well, accumulating only a tiny bit of mud. But then, that's how life is, isn't it? It's going well, going well, going well, and then you take a wrong step and BAM! you're up to one ankle in muck and you're getting the other foot filthy in an attempt to get the first one out. One of the shell collectors laughed at me and started talking to me, fairly extensively, in Japanese. I didn't mind the laughing and laughed back a bit. I'd known I was taking that risk and it was just kind of fun. Maybe I was just in a good mood, but I felt happy.
I made it over to the island, only to discover that I could only get about four feet onto the island unless I wanted to swim. The return to the larger island went much the same way- very good until it wasn't. It was at about this point, when both shoes were soaked and covered in grime, that I stated to think it hadn't been my best idea ever. I had to wash my shoes off in the public bathroom sink and then try to wait for them to dry while I played my cell phone game I'd just discovered. Since it was going to take forever, I knew I had to put them at some point and just deal with the uncomfortableness. My socks had somehow stayed relatively dry, so I tried to cover them to keep my feet warm. I covered one with the plastic tissue holder, taking out the tissues, and the other with my sunglasses case which is made of some cloth/ not really but sort of waterproofy stuff. It wasn't great, but it worked, kind of.
Hoping to buy some indoor slippers, which I'd seen at 100 yen stores (about $1 USD) I went back to the town. I didn't see a 100 yen store so I tried some tourist shops but all they had was the traditional wooden flip-flops which were too expensive for something I'd only use for a few hours. Oh well. I passed by the Zuigan-ji temple but decided to skip it since I wanted to get back sooner rather than later. The one thing at the temple that sounded interesting was closer so I just looked at these Buddhist rock carvings. They're tablets or whatever carved directly into the cave walls. It was okay, but not quite as cool as I'd imagined.
Next I went to the Kanrantei tea house, which means "a place to view ripples on the water" which was beautiful and had a spectacular view of the bay. In the late 16th century, it was given to Date Masamune, a famous samurai Lord who nearly became the shogunate to control the whole of Japan. He was known as the One-Eyed Dragon as he was blind in one eye from a childhood bout of smallpox. Due to his influence, this area seemed to display more samurai culture than any other place I went in Japan.
The walls and sliding doors of the teahouse were decorated with gorgeous gold paintings by Kano Sakyo, a famous painter of the period.
Inside the back part of the teahouse building was a samurai history museum. The museum was small, but fantastic. They had a lot of samurai stuff used in daily life, including suits of armor, makeup brushes and a case, clothes, an old painted map of Matsushima and a golden shell game (all shown below in order), which was all really interesting and even better, they had information in English!
I bought a bit of squid on a stick, and some large scallops on a stick from two different food windows on the main street and headed back to Sendai, to pick up my backpack, which I'd left in a locker at the station, and to try gyutan (cow tongue).
My Mother makes tongue sometimes and I love it. She prepares it by boiling it for a very long time with cabbage, potatoes and carrots and then slicing it. I usually put butter on top of the slices and eat them like that. Every once in a very rare while, I'll also enjoy a tongue taco at Papis, my favorite taqueria. So the idea of cow tongue, far from appalling me, appealed to me and I was looking forward to seeing how they cooked it here.
It's a specialty in Sendai that was first cooked during one of their many "hard times" and I'd been told there were several good places to get it in the station. I chose one that had a somewhat decent price (since it's a specialty now, it's fairly expensive, though still, not really, I'm just cheap) and went in. I sat at the counter and watched them prepare it. They grabbed raw slices and just threw them on the grill and cut them in half and served them on a bed of rice, with some other accoutrements, including tongue soup, in which the tongue tasted more like I'm used to. It was very good though. I had it with a large beer and a bit of sake that a man sitting near me shared.
From there, I caught my last shinkansen to Tokyo, found a hostel and relaxed a bit. I found two books that looked good on the communal shelf; Lucy In the Sky and The Shadow of the Wind. Lucy was a chick-lit book that was reasonably well written, though with mostly dislikable characters, and since I didn't feel like thinking, I went with that, though I took The Shadow of the Wind with me as well. After reading in bed for a while, I fell off to sleep on my granite bed.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
On the Rainbow Express
4/29
At around 6 a.m., the train, not nearly as comfortable as the one on the way up, rolled into Aomori. I took the Express train to Morioka, then got on a shinkansen, sleeping as soon as I got on each train and waking up only as we arrived.
The train stopped at Sendai, and I was aware of it stopping, and woke up for a moment, but I decided that I still wanted to sleep some more so I stayed in my seat as we left the station, Tokyo bound. I didn't quite sleep all the way to Tokyo, but far enough to make it worth it so by the time I arrived in the busiest train station in the world, I felt pretty good. I had previously considered taking a long, slow train route from Sendai on my way down to Tokyo that would travel along the ocean but I now decided that I would take it that way back up. I had the time and my rail pass so it wouldn't cost me anything extra. I went to Information to make sure it would actually be along the ocean for most of the time, and the tracks indicated that it would be, so I reserved a window seat on the sea side.
On the map, the tracks had looked closer to the water, but it wasn't until just before Hitachi that I could first see the ocean, and even then it was just bits, never a solid ride along the water like I'd hoped/thought it would be when looking at the map.
This train ride has been very disappointing overall, as I could only see the ocean for a very, very short time. However, the rain stopped and the sun came out and showed the most extraordinary rainbow I've ever seen. It arched clearly all the way across the sky, solid from one end to the other, and had three layers of the rainbow colors in it (ROYGBIVROYGBIVROYGBIV)!
It also, randomly, made me think of the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Surprisingly, it wasn't over an ocean but on a stopover in Zurich on my way to Prague. The snow covered mountains were black and white, reflected in the lake and covered by a gorgeous dark pink/orange/red/purple/gold sky. I remember wanting to take a picture at the time but I was in an aisle seat so I would've had to reach over someone to do so. Now I think I should have done it anyway.
After all that rambling, I made it to Sendai and found a hostel. I did my laundry, got some take away dinner and just slept.
This picture does it no justice but was the best I could get.
At around 6 a.m., the train, not nearly as comfortable as the one on the way up, rolled into Aomori. I took the Express train to Morioka, then got on a shinkansen, sleeping as soon as I got on each train and waking up only as we arrived.
The train stopped at Sendai, and I was aware of it stopping, and woke up for a moment, but I decided that I still wanted to sleep some more so I stayed in my seat as we left the station, Tokyo bound. I didn't quite sleep all the way to Tokyo, but far enough to make it worth it so by the time I arrived in the busiest train station in the world, I felt pretty good. I had previously considered taking a long, slow train route from Sendai on my way down to Tokyo that would travel along the ocean but I now decided that I would take it that way back up. I had the time and my rail pass so it wouldn't cost me anything extra. I went to Information to make sure it would actually be along the ocean for most of the time, and the tracks indicated that it would be, so I reserved a window seat on the sea side.
On the map, the tracks had looked closer to the water, but it wasn't until just before Hitachi that I could first see the ocean, and even then it was just bits, never a solid ride along the water like I'd hoped/thought it would be when looking at the map.
This train ride has been very disappointing overall, as I could only see the ocean for a very, very short time. However, the rain stopped and the sun came out and showed the most extraordinary rainbow I've ever seen. It arched clearly all the way across the sky, solid from one end to the other, and had three layers of the rainbow colors in it (ROYGBIVROYGBIVROYGBIV)!
It also, randomly, made me think of the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen. Surprisingly, it wasn't over an ocean but on a stopover in Zurich on my way to Prague. The snow covered mountains were black and white, reflected in the lake and covered by a gorgeous dark pink/orange/red/purple/gold sky. I remember wanting to take a picture at the time but I was in an aisle seat so I would've had to reach over someone to do so. Now I think I should have done it anyway.
After all that rambling, I made it to Sendai and found a hostel. I did my laundry, got some take away dinner and just slept.
Sapporo Means Beer
4/28
Amazingly, I had a very good nights sleep on the train- it was a bit older so the seats were wider and soft from years of use, like an old sofa chair, and ugly, of course. I woke up right before we got to the Sapporo station at around 6 a.m. It was freezing. Literally. Of course, I only had my black hoodie, which I'm sad to report is insufficient for Siberian weather. Since it was too early to check into my hostel, I left my backpack in a locker there and started to walk around the city.
The weather really sucked and I wanted a hot chocolate in a warm cafe to keep me hot but it was too freaking early for any of the coffee shops to be open, so instead I walked over to the Nijo Fish Market. As it started raining I wished I'd brought my umbrella- safely stowed in my backpack in the locker- with me. The fish market was not fully open, again because it was too early, though by now it was about 6:30, but some of the stalls were and one kind fisherman let me try two different types of crab: Hair Crab, which he told me comes from Hokkaido, and King Crab. It was really good, but it was, as it should be, cold. I walked over to see the T.V. Tower, which was less than thrilling.
I was completely miserable; it was cold, wet and windy. I found an internet cafe, which is expensive, but gets you free soda/tea/coffee and a private half-cubicle booth, and hung out there to dry.
Two hours later, I was ready to face the rain and walked bravely out of Comic Land Sapporo into the slush rain. I looked dutifully at the Clock Tower, which apparently we're supposed to recognize as the symbol of Sapporo, though it also has the real symbol of Sapporo, the red beer star, on it. From there I walked along the Odori-koen promenade, where they hold a giant ice sculpture festival during the winter, thought I couldn't ever imagine it getting colder than this. A LED display showed the temperature as 5*C but I assume that wasn't taking the windchill factor into account because it was really much colder. I was cursing myself for the lack of umbrella and feeling sorry for myself because it was so gross when it started to snow. Just barely. Very light snow that didn't stick, I admit, but those white clumps of frozen water doused my hoodie. I wanted to kill someone. I hadn't seen snow since last winter sometime, December of 2008 or January 2009. I don't necessarily dislike snow, but I wasn't in the mood for it and I like snow to either be pretty, falling gently, or on the slopes. Otherwise, I don't want be cold. I wanted my permanent summer back ASAP.
It didn't help that I couldn't find the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art I was looking for. I finally went into a strange looking building and found a woman to give me directions. That got me as far as another random art museum and they were able to give me directions from there. The museum was small, but actually quite good, though that may have been simply because it was warm and I hadn't been to an art museum in a while. An interesting exhibit was on called On the 750th Memorial for Shinran Shonin: The History and Treasures of Hongwanji. Most of it wasn't that good, as the majority of it was scripts with descriptions exclusively in Japanese, but near the end, they had lovely gold paintings, exquisite windows and jewelry to die for. I also quite liked the permanent exhibition which had several woodblock prints by Sadao Abe, an exhibit of Arinori Ichihara's prints which played around with different textures, effectively, in my opinion, which seems to be difficult to do in abstract art, and a Contemporary Glass Art exhibit and I always love glass exhibits.
Though it was still snowing, I braved the cold looking for the subway station which was supposed to be just two blocks away. A lady at the information desk inside the museum had even given me a copied handrawn map and had told me it was easy. Ten minutes lost in the snow is equivalent to about an hour lost in the sun so I was again, miserable. At this point I decided that there was no freaking way I was going to stay in a place where it was snowing, so I would have to take the night train back in the opposite direction. I finally asked someone else who gave me better (and just verbal) directions and found it tucked away in the side of a building with a small sign indicating the station. This experience, of someone telling me that getting somewhere is easy and giving me a copied handrawn map with some English writing on it, and me trying to use that map and ending up lost, seems to be becoming a pattern.
I freely admit that I'm terrible with directions, but that's why I get so excited when someone tells me it's simple. The problem is that these maps tend to omit certain intersections or street names or alleyway/streets or will show most, but not all, of a certain type of business on the map. I'm sure most people just assume they're going the right way anyway, but even when I try that, it just doesn't work. I'm also much better with visual cues for directions than numbers or names. For example, I can tell you, even now, that to get to the place to go up to the observation deck at the Petronus towers, you exit the subway station, going up an escalator with an advertisement with a northern asian woman who is crying about love in one picture and happy above love in another. You turn left from her, then pass by several bakeries and a juice stand on the left side, through the mall, and you walk until you see the Shisheido makeup area (with a Dior makeup ad visible on the floor above it) and turn right to go up an escalator, passing Chanel. Go towards the Prada store, and just past that exit into the main lobby (past the two banks of ATMs on either side) and turn right. Walk a short while and you'll see an escalator you go down and turn to the right at the bottom.
Now ask me the name of the street my hostel was on, that I left about an hour and a half ago. I want to say it was Nanjing. I just looked on the business card. It was on Changan West. How many blocks was it from the bus station I walked to directly from there? Maybe half of one up, then two or three over, then 2?3?4? blocks down. I know people would normally say 1 block North/East/South/West but I have absolutely no clue which direction was which. I can't even guess.
So, that was random.
There's a tiny little underground alleyway of noodle shops in central Sapporo called Ramen Yokocho that's supposed to have incredible, wait for it, ramen. Ramen styles vary regionally, though they're ubiquitous and I never noticed a huge difference, but Hokkaido style is supposed to be really good, and with the weather as it was, hot soup sounded great. I got a bowl in one of the shops and spent a while working on it. It was good, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Once I was slightly drier and slightly warmer, I headed out to the subway station to go out to the only thing left to do, and the most important thing, the Sapporo Factory.
The one I saw was the original factory- they don't make any beer there anymore, just keep it for historical value, tourists and events. My guidebook had said I could take a 50 minute tour which was followed by 20 minutes of all you can drink beer, without stating the price. When I got there, after another ten minute walk in the (at that moment) rain, I saw an old wood stove lit by the entryway, inside the vestibule. I pushed back the guarding grate so I could stand just inches away from the fire and just huddled for about ten minutes, hoping the two Receptionists wouldn't yell at me. Finally feeling nearly warm, I headed in. As it turned out, there was no actual tour, just an exhibit that was only in Japanese. They had a large English packet that they gave me though, which was actually quite complete so I learned a bit. Even though the exhibit was free, sadly, the beer was not, though it was still cheaper than it would be even to buy it in a convenience store. I walked through the exhibit, learned a bit that was very interesting at the time, but which I forgot almost immediately and got someone to take a picture of me.
The two things I learned that stuck with me were that: Sapporo Classic beer is actually the original beer they made and is only available in Hokkaido because it's formulated without preservatives and only lasts for two weeks, and Yebisu cans or bottles with two red fish on the label are lucky because only one such label is printed per hundreds produced (most Yebisu labels show the red fish in the front but not the red fishtail sticking out of the basket on the left).
After all that hard learning it was time to drink! I started with a sampler that included these beers: Black Label, Yebisu "The Black" and Kaitakushi Beer. Surprisingly they were all very good. I expected them to be more bitter, especially "The Black" but they really weren't. I liked them all enough to get another sampler, but I had other beers to try instead.
At this point I went to their other bar inside the factory, passing by this awesome photo opportunity on the way. It's a terrible picture of me, but it's a fantastic picture (currently my Facebook photo).
Now at the other bar, I tasted the Sapporo Classic, which was also very good, Yebisu, which was pretty good, and their beer of the month, a German inspired/type beer. Lastly, I bought a Naporin orange soda because it's also only available in Hokkaido (nothing special).
Back in central Sapporo, I stopped at Hall Stairs Espresso Bar which my stupid, useless guidebook described as "unique." It wasn't. It was just a normal bar, with black walls. Quite disappointing. Still with quite a lot of time to kill and not wanting to drink anymore, I went back to Comic Land Sapporo internet cafe for a couple of hours.
I think I grabbed some dinner in the train station while waiting for the train back, then left that hell that was white; snow white. (You'll get my undying respect if you can guess what I paraphrased that quote from. Also, I think Sapporo might be quite a neat city in proper summer, it was just frozen hell when I was there.)
Amazingly, I had a very good nights sleep on the train- it was a bit older so the seats were wider and soft from years of use, like an old sofa chair, and ugly, of course. I woke up right before we got to the Sapporo station at around 6 a.m. It was freezing. Literally. Of course, I only had my black hoodie, which I'm sad to report is insufficient for Siberian weather. Since it was too early to check into my hostel, I left my backpack in a locker there and started to walk around the city.
The weather really sucked and I wanted a hot chocolate in a warm cafe to keep me hot but it was too freaking early for any of the coffee shops to be open, so instead I walked over to the Nijo Fish Market. As it started raining I wished I'd brought my umbrella- safely stowed in my backpack in the locker- with me. The fish market was not fully open, again because it was too early, though by now it was about 6:30, but some of the stalls were and one kind fisherman let me try two different types of crab: Hair Crab, which he told me comes from Hokkaido, and King Crab. It was really good, but it was, as it should be, cold. I walked over to see the T.V. Tower, which was less than thrilling.
I was completely miserable; it was cold, wet and windy. I found an internet cafe, which is expensive, but gets you free soda/tea/coffee and a private half-cubicle booth, and hung out there to dry.
Two hours later, I was ready to face the rain and walked bravely out of Comic Land Sapporo into the slush rain. I looked dutifully at the Clock Tower, which apparently we're supposed to recognize as the symbol of Sapporo, though it also has the real symbol of Sapporo, the red beer star, on it. From there I walked along the Odori-koen promenade, where they hold a giant ice sculpture festival during the winter, thought I couldn't ever imagine it getting colder than this. A LED display showed the temperature as 5*C but I assume that wasn't taking the windchill factor into account because it was really much colder. I was cursing myself for the lack of umbrella and feeling sorry for myself because it was so gross when it started to snow. Just barely. Very light snow that didn't stick, I admit, but those white clumps of frozen water doused my hoodie. I wanted to kill someone. I hadn't seen snow since last winter sometime, December of 2008 or January 2009. I don't necessarily dislike snow, but I wasn't in the mood for it and I like snow to either be pretty, falling gently, or on the slopes. Otherwise, I don't want be cold. I wanted my permanent summer back ASAP.
It didn't help that I couldn't find the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art I was looking for. I finally went into a strange looking building and found a woman to give me directions. That got me as far as another random art museum and they were able to give me directions from there. The museum was small, but actually quite good, though that may have been simply because it was warm and I hadn't been to an art museum in a while. An interesting exhibit was on called On the 750th Memorial for Shinran Shonin: The History and Treasures of Hongwanji. Most of it wasn't that good, as the majority of it was scripts with descriptions exclusively in Japanese, but near the end, they had lovely gold paintings, exquisite windows and jewelry to die for. I also quite liked the permanent exhibition which had several woodblock prints by Sadao Abe, an exhibit of Arinori Ichihara's prints which played around with different textures, effectively, in my opinion, which seems to be difficult to do in abstract art, and a Contemporary Glass Art exhibit and I always love glass exhibits.
Though it was still snowing, I braved the cold looking for the subway station which was supposed to be just two blocks away. A lady at the information desk inside the museum had even given me a copied handrawn map and had told me it was easy. Ten minutes lost in the snow is equivalent to about an hour lost in the sun so I was again, miserable. At this point I decided that there was no freaking way I was going to stay in a place where it was snowing, so I would have to take the night train back in the opposite direction. I finally asked someone else who gave me better (and just verbal) directions and found it tucked away in the side of a building with a small sign indicating the station. This experience, of someone telling me that getting somewhere is easy and giving me a copied handrawn map with some English writing on it, and me trying to use that map and ending up lost, seems to be becoming a pattern.
I freely admit that I'm terrible with directions, but that's why I get so excited when someone tells me it's simple. The problem is that these maps tend to omit certain intersections or street names or alleyway/streets or will show most, but not all, of a certain type of business on the map. I'm sure most people just assume they're going the right way anyway, but even when I try that, it just doesn't work. I'm also much better with visual cues for directions than numbers or names. For example, I can tell you, even now, that to get to the place to go up to the observation deck at the Petronus towers, you exit the subway station, going up an escalator with an advertisement with a northern asian woman who is crying about love in one picture and happy above love in another. You turn left from her, then pass by several bakeries and a juice stand on the left side, through the mall, and you walk until you see the Shisheido makeup area (with a Dior makeup ad visible on the floor above it) and turn right to go up an escalator, passing Chanel. Go towards the Prada store, and just past that exit into the main lobby (past the two banks of ATMs on either side) and turn right. Walk a short while and you'll see an escalator you go down and turn to the right at the bottom.
Now ask me the name of the street my hostel was on, that I left about an hour and a half ago. I want to say it was Nanjing. I just looked on the business card. It was on Changan West. How many blocks was it from the bus station I walked to directly from there? Maybe half of one up, then two or three over, then 2?3?4? blocks down. I know people would normally say 1 block North/East/South/West but I have absolutely no clue which direction was which. I can't even guess.
So, that was random.
There's a tiny little underground alleyway of noodle shops in central Sapporo called Ramen Yokocho that's supposed to have incredible, wait for it, ramen. Ramen styles vary regionally, though they're ubiquitous and I never noticed a huge difference, but Hokkaido style is supposed to be really good, and with the weather as it was, hot soup sounded great. I got a bowl in one of the shops and spent a while working on it. It was good, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. Once I was slightly drier and slightly warmer, I headed out to the subway station to go out to the only thing left to do, and the most important thing, the Sapporo Factory.
The one I saw was the original factory- they don't make any beer there anymore, just keep it for historical value, tourists and events. My guidebook had said I could take a 50 minute tour which was followed by 20 minutes of all you can drink beer, without stating the price. When I got there, after another ten minute walk in the (at that moment) rain, I saw an old wood stove lit by the entryway, inside the vestibule. I pushed back the guarding grate so I could stand just inches away from the fire and just huddled for about ten minutes, hoping the two Receptionists wouldn't yell at me. Finally feeling nearly warm, I headed in. As it turned out, there was no actual tour, just an exhibit that was only in Japanese. They had a large English packet that they gave me though, which was actually quite complete so I learned a bit. Even though the exhibit was free, sadly, the beer was not, though it was still cheaper than it would be even to buy it in a convenience store. I walked through the exhibit, learned a bit that was very interesting at the time, but which I forgot almost immediately and got someone to take a picture of me.
The two things I learned that stuck with me were that: Sapporo Classic beer is actually the original beer they made and is only available in Hokkaido because it's formulated without preservatives and only lasts for two weeks, and Yebisu cans or bottles with two red fish on the label are lucky because only one such label is printed per hundreds produced (most Yebisu labels show the red fish in the front but not the red fishtail sticking out of the basket on the left).
After all that hard learning it was time to drink! I started with a sampler that included these beers: Black Label, Yebisu "The Black" and Kaitakushi Beer. Surprisingly they were all very good. I expected them to be more bitter, especially "The Black" but they really weren't. I liked them all enough to get another sampler, but I had other beers to try instead.
At this point I went to their other bar inside the factory, passing by this awesome photo opportunity on the way. It's a terrible picture of me, but it's a fantastic picture (currently my Facebook photo).
Now at the other bar, I tasted the Sapporo Classic, which was also very good, Yebisu, which was pretty good, and their beer of the month, a German inspired/type beer. Lastly, I bought a Naporin orange soda because it's also only available in Hokkaido (nothing special).
Back in central Sapporo, I stopped at Hall Stairs Espresso Bar which my stupid, useless guidebook described as "unique." It wasn't. It was just a normal bar, with black walls. Quite disappointing. Still with quite a lot of time to kill and not wanting to drink anymore, I went back to Comic Land Sapporo internet cafe for a couple of hours.
I think I grabbed some dinner in the train station while waiting for the train back, then left that hell that was white; snow white. (You'll get my undying respect if you can guess what I paraphrased that quote from. Also, I think Sapporo might be quite a neat city in proper summer, it was just frozen hell when I was there.)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Pinwheels, Spinning in the Wind
4/27
Aomori doesn't have a lot to see and I'd already seen most of the things I was interested in last night so I slept in and took my time getting up and ready. I made an obligatory stop at their fish market (which I could smell- yay, except...ewww) and got some takeaway. I was eating it in a large plaza and kicking at pigeons simultaneous when I saw the largest crow I've ever seen. It was probably three times the size of a normal crow and was really intimidating. I felt like I could finally understand why Tippi Hendran would be afraid of them in "The Crows" as I made a plan for what to do if it attacked me (kick, mostly, and whack with my purse).
Since I still had lots of time, I shopped around a bit, walked a bit farther and got a cup of Haagen-Daaz cookies and cream ice cream (I was PMSing, or at least, used that as my excuse). Finally it was time to get on the bus to see the one thing I particularly wanted to see in, well, outside of, Aomori; Seiryu-ji.
Showa Daibutsu is the largest outdoor Buddha in Japan. The complex it's in, Seiryu-ji, also includes numerous statues and a temple and five storied pagoda (the tallest one North of Kyoto). Amazingly, they had a very detailed brochure (4 pages of explanation on computer paper stapled together) in English! Usually this would be nice, but full of basic, vaguely interesting information that you'd forget in an instant but this brochure had a diatribe discussing the problem of secularism, a decline in ethics and insincere Buddhist priests! It was funny, bizarre, unexpected and fascinating. Western Honshu is seen by many Japanese in the same way that many Americans see the deep south: as a deeply religious, outdated place full of agriculture and bigotry and lacking education and pretentiousness. This rant made me understand this stereotype a bit better and amused me because if I replaced just a few of the words and removed a sentence of two I could easily imagine a middle aged white woman saying it in a Southern accent. Below, I've typed the best part, using parentheses to show words I would replace to make it work.
"There is another big reason for building the Daibutsu. (church.) After World War II in Japan, (the United States,) religion was excluded from the education curriculum due to separation of state and religion. Is moraland emotional education capable without religion? The answer is obvious when we look at the current situation. We have witnessed a decline in ethics. Such miserable cases as parents who have killed their children and children who have killed their parents and indiscriminate murders have often been reported. In contrast to the poverty-stricken society after WWII, (during the Great Depression,) we now enjoy the benefits of a developed economy, high quality education and scientific culture, which enable us to lead a very convenient life. However, there has been a growing concern that moral degenerations is progressing year by year. Although our economy, education and culture have developed, if we don't cultivate richness of the mind, Japan (the United States) will be in ruins someday. Then, who takes care of the issue of the mind? Religious people do. However, many Japanese Buddhist priests (American Preachers) behave as if priests' mission were only to perform rituals like funerals and memorial services."
Weird, right?
The temple was nice, as was the pagoda, but the real reason I came was to see Jizo Bosatsu (Boddhisattva) and put a pinwheel on this hill. The pinwheels are left by parents for their children who have died. Since my mother couldn't be there, I bought a green one and left it as high as I could get on that hill to catch the breeze for Joseph.
I walked up to the Giant Buddha and inside the hall underneath where you could see part of the structure. There was one group of Japanese tourists who came through while I was there but for the most part I had the place to myself.
Walking away from Buddha, I ran into Ichigan Kannon, who grants you just one wish.
Then I passed this fearsome god, Fudo Myooh, who is actually supposed to be good because he slays your negative thoughts with his sword and lassos people back onto the path of righteousness.
Kobo-Daishi is the statue on the other side of this pond and the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Each of the plates around the pond holds sand from one of the 88 temples associated with the Shingon sect. According to my brochure, it would be "a great experience to follow the footsteps of Daishi by stepping on the plates one by one, chanting his honorific name (Nama Daishi Henjokongo)." I tried it and it was just okay, not great.
This part, outside the main complex, is Kobo-Daishi-do, and these are the cool things that were inside it.
My overnight train to Sapporo (included in my rail pass so I didn't have to pay extra or for a hostel one night!) didn't leave until 10 p.m. but since I had nothing to do, from 8 onwards, after going online at the free internet place and getting dinner: a small crab and cheese omelette that was awesome and remarkably cheap and fantastic calamari, I just sat in the train station and finished reading The Lady and the Unicorn. On the train, I brushed my teeth and curled up with my mini tempurpedic pillow, my microfiber towel as a blanket, and an Ambien, and shortly, I was out.
Buddha's Head, Watching You Over the Treetops
Aomori doesn't have a lot to see and I'd already seen most of the things I was interested in last night so I slept in and took my time getting up and ready. I made an obligatory stop at their fish market (which I could smell- yay, except...ewww) and got some takeaway. I was eating it in a large plaza and kicking at pigeons simultaneous when I saw the largest crow I've ever seen. It was probably three times the size of a normal crow and was really intimidating. I felt like I could finally understand why Tippi Hendran would be afraid of them in "The Crows" as I made a plan for what to do if it attacked me (kick, mostly, and whack with my purse).
Since I still had lots of time, I shopped around a bit, walked a bit farther and got a cup of Haagen-Daaz cookies and cream ice cream (I was PMSing, or at least, used that as my excuse). Finally it was time to get on the bus to see the one thing I particularly wanted to see in, well, outside of, Aomori; Seiryu-ji.
Showa Daibutsu is the largest outdoor Buddha in Japan. The complex it's in, Seiryu-ji, also includes numerous statues and a temple and five storied pagoda (the tallest one North of Kyoto). Amazingly, they had a very detailed brochure (4 pages of explanation on computer paper stapled together) in English! Usually this would be nice, but full of basic, vaguely interesting information that you'd forget in an instant but this brochure had a diatribe discussing the problem of secularism, a decline in ethics and insincere Buddhist priests! It was funny, bizarre, unexpected and fascinating. Western Honshu is seen by many Japanese in the same way that many Americans see the deep south: as a deeply religious, outdated place full of agriculture and bigotry and lacking education and pretentiousness. This rant made me understand this stereotype a bit better and amused me because if I replaced just a few of the words and removed a sentence of two I could easily imagine a middle aged white woman saying it in a Southern accent. Below, I've typed the best part, using parentheses to show words I would replace to make it work.
"There is another big reason for building the Daibutsu. (church.) After World War II in Japan, (the United States,) religion was excluded from the education curriculum due to separation of state and religion. Is moraland emotional education capable without religion? The answer is obvious when we look at the current situation. We have witnessed a decline in ethics. Such miserable cases as parents who have killed their children and children who have killed their parents and indiscriminate murders have often been reported. In contrast to the poverty-stricken society after WWII, (during the Great Depression,) we now enjoy the benefits of a developed economy, high quality education and scientific culture, which enable us to lead a very convenient life. However, there has been a growing concern that moral degenerations is progressing year by year. Although our economy, education and culture have developed, if we don't cultivate richness of the mind, Japan (the United States) will be in ruins someday. Then, who takes care of the issue of the mind? Religious people do. However, many Japanese Buddhist priests (American Preachers) behave as if priests' mission were only to perform rituals like funerals and memorial services."
Weird, right?
The temple was nice, as was the pagoda, but the real reason I came was to see Jizo Bosatsu (Boddhisattva) and put a pinwheel on this hill. The pinwheels are left by parents for their children who have died. Since my mother couldn't be there, I bought a green one and left it as high as I could get on that hill to catch the breeze for Joseph.
I walked up to the Giant Buddha and inside the hall underneath where you could see part of the structure. There was one group of Japanese tourists who came through while I was there but for the most part I had the place to myself.
Walking away from Buddha, I ran into Ichigan Kannon, who grants you just one wish.
Then I passed this fearsome god, Fudo Myooh, who is actually supposed to be good because he slays your negative thoughts with his sword and lassos people back onto the path of righteousness.
Kobo-Daishi is the statue on the other side of this pond and the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Each of the plates around the pond holds sand from one of the 88 temples associated with the Shingon sect. According to my brochure, it would be "a great experience to follow the footsteps of Daishi by stepping on the plates one by one, chanting his honorific name (Nama Daishi Henjokongo)." I tried it and it was just okay, not great.
This part, outside the main complex, is Kobo-Daishi-do, and these are the cool things that were inside it.
My overnight train to Sapporo (included in my rail pass so I didn't have to pay extra or for a hostel one night!) didn't leave until 10 p.m. but since I had nothing to do, from 8 onwards, after going online at the free internet place and getting dinner: a small crab and cheese omelette that was awesome and remarkably cheap and fantastic calamari, I just sat in the train station and finished reading The Lady and the Unicorn. On the train, I brushed my teeth and curled up with my mini tempurpedic pillow, my microfiber towel as a blanket, and an Ambien, and shortly, I was out.
Friday, May 14, 2010
My Japanese T.V. Translations
4/26
I was too late today to get the train I originally wanted to Kitakami so I had an extra 50 minutes, which I thought was the perfect amount of time to go sightseeing in Morioka, which didn't have much to see. I rushed through the main street shopping area, which was really very cute and over to see the corner of the castle park area, which I had no interest in seeing anyway as the "castle" is only it's foundation walls since it was destroyed in the 19th century, and made it to the one thing I did want to see, the 300 year old Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree.
The people who live in Western Honshu (this region in Japan) have had a rough time of it. Land doesn't freely give itself as much as in other places so for centuries, Western Honshuites (?) have had to fight nature for everything they've got. Their stories, food and culture all reflect this. The culture respects perseverance and especially, the triumph that comes from it. So they adore this tree, even if it is nature triumphing over itself, at least it's the pretty part. The signs around it say that the tree "split" the rock to grow out of it, and then say that's impossible. I don't know why it's impossible though; the idea that a bird could have dropped a cherry blossom seed in a crack in the rock and it could have taken root and pushed the two sides of the rock apart, seems plausible to me. If it could happen at Ta Prohm, why not here?
Anyway, I liked it very much. I also like the fact that it was in front of the district courthouse. It occurred to me that this struggle to survive might well explain part of the samurai culture; the idea that you have to fight and keep fighting until you die, and eventually you either win or commit seppuku. In the old times, Western Honshuites had to keep fighting and struggling because otherwise they would die, of starvation. Just a thought.
I made my train on time and got to Kitakami, which was fairly cold and, worst of all, not pink. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of their cherry blossom festival, the flowers were tardy and barely any were out. This was particularly disappointing because this was the area I'd counted on since it got few foreign tourists (as towns of 900 are wont to do) and it was far north enough from Kyoto and Tokyo (where the blossoms had already come and gone) so that it should've been the right time and temperature, and because I could tell that it would've been perfect- exactly what I wanted- if they were in bloom.
But they weren't, so I got on the next train back up to Morioka, and from there I caught a Limited Express Train to Aomori (after a transfer) since the Shinkansen trains don't go that far. To me, that was the ultimate sign that I was in an area far from the typical tourist trail (though I don't in any way claim I was roughing it).
Around 4, after a train ride partially along the ocean, I arrived in Aomorii. I prefer to be checked in to a hostel before nightfall so I went to do that first. Sometimes this takes longer than others, and today, when it was very, very cold, was one of those days. After about an hour, I ended up at a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. You don't actually sleep on the tatami mat; they make your "bed" up later, though it's only a sleeping pad with sheets and a pillow and comforter, no actual mattress is involved. But it was my own room and close to the station and the right price (about $30). It also had a t.v., though all the stations were in Japanese.
I went out to a free internet place, grabbed something to eat, I suppose. I have no memory of it, so it's safe to assume it was forgettable. Then I walked around for a bit, saw some things I wanted to see: this pyramid thing and the bridge and a ferry boat that used to be important.
There were also quite a few random, surprise things, like the following:
I love, LOVE, stuff like that, that's bizarre and doesn't really seem to make sense, so I walked home happy, grabbed a few Kirin World beer cans and watched t.v. for a while, writing the part below.
I'm watching Japanese t.v. with no English translations, just because that's what's available in my ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn, see photo). So, as I sometimes do when talking to people when I have no understanding of what they're saying, I just make it up. Based on that, this is the cartoon I watched.
Main guy: "What the hell?!?!?! You dyed your hair light blue when you used to look almost exactly like me? You bastard! I told you I was going to dye my hair blue because everyone knows the girls go for that!"
Blue haired guy: "Oh well, you didn't do it soon enough and you don't own the rights to blue hair- everyone knows it's cool."
Main guy: "Jerk, I hate you. I've got to go calm down."
(Main guy goes to smoke a cigarette on a newly built roof. Blue haired guy shows up, on roof.)
Blue haired guy: "I thought we should settle this once and for all."
Main guy: "Oh it's on, let me frighten you with my awesome sword."
Blue haired guy: "I am not scared."
(In a flash, Main guy runs over and all we see is a flash of blood and cloth stripped off. We look around and see nothing. Suddenly, blue haired guy is in front of us, before we even realize what is happening. There is a brief moment, and then...)
Blue haired guy: "Aiiiaiiiaaiiiyaiiiyaaaiii!"
(The blade of Main guy's sword falls to the ground, chopped by Blue Haired Guy, and we see him stare in disbelief for a moment.)
Main guy: "You have beaten me, humiliated me a bit; the blue hair, and all the girls, will be yours."
(Blue haired guy nods in a short sort of bow and walks away. We see his traditional kimono/ shirt thing is torn and he is bleeding, not fatally, but a fair bit, and the credits begin to roll against a backdrop of blue sky and a cherry blossom tree in full bloom).
Here's another channel (non cartoon):
One of the Japanese men (guy 1), dressed in loincloths in a forest, carrying a box secured to one long bamboo pole so that it can be carried by two men: "We have to hurry to get this box up the mountain before the feral people get us!"
Another man in loincloth (guy 2): "Yes, but look, there's a man on the side of the road who's been decapitated. See, there's his body [with the neck blurred out] and there's his head [blurred out]."
Yet another guy in a loincloth (guy 3): "Well, shit-son, that is hardcore. We need to pray for him before we continue on our way."
(All pray for a very short moment.)
Guy 2: "The feral people probably got him, we don't have time to put him in the box as well because we don't want them to get us, so we have to hurry to continue up the hill."
Cameraman: "Yes."
(They begin to run up the mountain and are surprised by the feral people (who are also dressed in loincloths and actually don't look that different from them) who chase them partially down the mountain before letting them go.)
Guy 3: "I sprained my ankle [he's a whiny baby, I sprain my ankle all the time] and can barely walk."
Guy 2: "Let me wrap it for you, crudely and paying no attention to the fact that you are in extreme pain."
Guy 3: "I'll try not to scream in the meantime and just make awkward faces."
Guy 2: "Cool, you're all set, let's go."
(Everyone continues up the mountain, Guy 3 limping. The feral people re-attack and the group somehow ends up in a weird concrete structure, very Blair Witch style.)
Guy 1: "OMG, what are we going to do? I'm so scared, but the cameraman is still alive so I can't film my snot running down my nose."
Guy 2: "I don't know, I'm terrified, about to pee my pants. Ahhhhh!"
(The feral people are suddenly, somehow inside the structure and sort of gently attack the group, who run wildly. The camera drops.)
Cameraman: "I've found my camera again, I don't know what happened to the others. I'm trying really hard to make this scary- is it working? I don't know what to do."
(Tape ends and somehow, we end up at an Evening News desk after the advertisements.)
Some of the t.v. honestly isn't even funny, but I still can't help but laugh at it, it's just so obvious and/or bizarre.
I was too late today to get the train I originally wanted to Kitakami so I had an extra 50 minutes, which I thought was the perfect amount of time to go sightseeing in Morioka, which didn't have much to see. I rushed through the main street shopping area, which was really very cute and over to see the corner of the castle park area, which I had no interest in seeing anyway as the "castle" is only it's foundation walls since it was destroyed in the 19th century, and made it to the one thing I did want to see, the 300 year old Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree.
The people who live in Western Honshu (this region in Japan) have had a rough time of it. Land doesn't freely give itself as much as in other places so for centuries, Western Honshuites (?) have had to fight nature for everything they've got. Their stories, food and culture all reflect this. The culture respects perseverance and especially, the triumph that comes from it. So they adore this tree, even if it is nature triumphing over itself, at least it's the pretty part. The signs around it say that the tree "split" the rock to grow out of it, and then say that's impossible. I don't know why it's impossible though; the idea that a bird could have dropped a cherry blossom seed in a crack in the rock and it could have taken root and pushed the two sides of the rock apart, seems plausible to me. If it could happen at Ta Prohm, why not here?
Anyway, I liked it very much. I also like the fact that it was in front of the district courthouse. It occurred to me that this struggle to survive might well explain part of the samurai culture; the idea that you have to fight and keep fighting until you die, and eventually you either win or commit seppuku. In the old times, Western Honshuites had to keep fighting and struggling because otherwise they would die, of starvation. Just a thought.
I made my train on time and got to Kitakami, which was fairly cold and, worst of all, not pink. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of their cherry blossom festival, the flowers were tardy and barely any were out. This was particularly disappointing because this was the area I'd counted on since it got few foreign tourists (as towns of 900 are wont to do) and it was far north enough from Kyoto and Tokyo (where the blossoms had already come and gone) so that it should've been the right time and temperature, and because I could tell that it would've been perfect- exactly what I wanted- if they were in bloom.
But they weren't, so I got on the next train back up to Morioka, and from there I caught a Limited Express Train to Aomori (after a transfer) since the Shinkansen trains don't go that far. To me, that was the ultimate sign that I was in an area far from the typical tourist trail (though I don't in any way claim I was roughing it).
Around 4, after a train ride partially along the ocean, I arrived in Aomorii. I prefer to be checked in to a hostel before nightfall so I went to do that first. Sometimes this takes longer than others, and today, when it was very, very cold, was one of those days. After about an hour, I ended up at a Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. You don't actually sleep on the tatami mat; they make your "bed" up later, though it's only a sleeping pad with sheets and a pillow and comforter, no actual mattress is involved. But it was my own room and close to the station and the right price (about $30). It also had a t.v., though all the stations were in Japanese.
I went out to a free internet place, grabbed something to eat, I suppose. I have no memory of it, so it's safe to assume it was forgettable. Then I walked around for a bit, saw some things I wanted to see: this pyramid thing and the bridge and a ferry boat that used to be important.
There were also quite a few random, surprise things, like the following:
I love, LOVE, stuff like that, that's bizarre and doesn't really seem to make sense, so I walked home happy, grabbed a few Kirin World beer cans and watched t.v. for a while, writing the part below.
I'm watching Japanese t.v. with no English translations, just because that's what's available in my ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn, see photo). So, as I sometimes do when talking to people when I have no understanding of what they're saying, I just make it up. Based on that, this is the cartoon I watched.
Main guy: "What the hell?!?!?! You dyed your hair light blue when you used to look almost exactly like me? You bastard! I told you I was going to dye my hair blue because everyone knows the girls go for that!"
Blue haired guy: "Oh well, you didn't do it soon enough and you don't own the rights to blue hair- everyone knows it's cool."
Main guy: "Jerk, I hate you. I've got to go calm down."
(Main guy goes to smoke a cigarette on a newly built roof. Blue haired guy shows up, on roof.)
Blue haired guy: "I thought we should settle this once and for all."
Main guy: "Oh it's on, let me frighten you with my awesome sword."
Blue haired guy: "I am not scared."
(In a flash, Main guy runs over and all we see is a flash of blood and cloth stripped off. We look around and see nothing. Suddenly, blue haired guy is in front of us, before we even realize what is happening. There is a brief moment, and then...)
Blue haired guy: "Aiiiaiiiaaiiiyaiiiyaaaiii!"
(The blade of Main guy's sword falls to the ground, chopped by Blue Haired Guy, and we see him stare in disbelief for a moment.)
Main guy: "You have beaten me, humiliated me a bit; the blue hair, and all the girls, will be yours."
(Blue haired guy nods in a short sort of bow and walks away. We see his traditional kimono/ shirt thing is torn and he is bleeding, not fatally, but a fair bit, and the credits begin to roll against a backdrop of blue sky and a cherry blossom tree in full bloom).
Here's another channel (non cartoon):
One of the Japanese men (guy 1), dressed in loincloths in a forest, carrying a box secured to one long bamboo pole so that it can be carried by two men: "We have to hurry to get this box up the mountain before the feral people get us!"
Another man in loincloth (guy 2): "Yes, but look, there's a man on the side of the road who's been decapitated. See, there's his body [with the neck blurred out] and there's his head [blurred out]."
Yet another guy in a loincloth (guy 3): "Well, shit-son, that is hardcore. We need to pray for him before we continue on our way."
(All pray for a very short moment.)
Guy 2: "The feral people probably got him, we don't have time to put him in the box as well because we don't want them to get us, so we have to hurry to continue up the hill."
Cameraman: "Yes."
(They begin to run up the mountain and are surprised by the feral people (who are also dressed in loincloths and actually don't look that different from them) who chase them partially down the mountain before letting them go.)
Guy 3: "I sprained my ankle [he's a whiny baby, I sprain my ankle all the time] and can barely walk."
Guy 2: "Let me wrap it for you, crudely and paying no attention to the fact that you are in extreme pain."
Guy 3: "I'll try not to scream in the meantime and just make awkward faces."
Guy 2: "Cool, you're all set, let's go."
(Everyone continues up the mountain, Guy 3 limping. The feral people re-attack and the group somehow ends up in a weird concrete structure, very Blair Witch style.)
Guy 1: "OMG, what are we going to do? I'm so scared, but the cameraman is still alive so I can't film my snot running down my nose."
Guy 2: "I don't know, I'm terrified, about to pee my pants. Ahhhhh!"
(The feral people are suddenly, somehow inside the structure and sort of gently attack the group, who run wildly. The camera drops.)
Cameraman: "I've found my camera again, I don't know what happened to the others. I'm trying really hard to make this scary- is it working? I don't know what to do."
(Tape ends and somehow, we end up at an Evening News desk after the advertisements.)
Some of the t.v. honestly isn't even funny, but I still can't help but laugh at it, it's just so obvious and/or bizarre.
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