Return to America!

Tuesday I headed back to America over the longest day of my life (quite literally, with the international dateline my November 24th lasted 38 hours). There were no real hiccups to speak of except for when I tried to get through Japanese customs with my new passport. The clerk was a little puzzled as to why I had no entry visa. Thankfully, after a little conversation and more puzzlement, I was allowed to pass through.

My last great view of Tokyo from my hotel room

A great view of Tokyo Station from the hotel

Before I left I had one final Japanese meal!

Yum. Unagi, rice, and cold soba.

Then it was off to America! The flight back was pretty smooth, I pretty much slept the entire way. Now I’m back home in lovely old East Tennessee! It’s nice to be able to read signs again!

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic trip!

Last Day in Japan

Monday was my last full day in Japan. I left my hostel in Asakusa pretty early before heading over to the Marunouchi hotel to check in. I had a little time to kill so I wondered around Central Tokyo for a bit.

Right near my hotel is the Emperial Palace. Of course, pretty much all of it is closed to the public, but it is allowed to walk around the eastern grounds. It was a pretty, perfectly manicured area, but that was only because you aren’t allowed to walk on the grass at all! There’s an extensively paved area reserved for walking! The palace also had a beautiful water garden, including a fountain specifically designed to generate rainbows!

Palace moat

Bridge to the grounds

The rainbow fountain!

The water garden

Further proof that the Japanese are the leading makers of uncomfortable seating

After wandering a bit I headed back to the hotel and had an incredible bowl of hot and sour noodles. It was so good it’s what I had for dinner as well. Yes, that’s right, my last dinner in Japan was Chinese food.

mmm... hot n sour noodles

Finally, it was time to pack. Amazingly enough I managed to fit all my stuff into my backpack after shedding disposables and expendable items!

I wrapped up the evening with a Cuban cigar and a few drinks at the hotel’s bar. I wish I’d discovered this bar earlier. I would have spent every night there!

Harajuku and the Meiji Shrine

Sunday morning I headed over to Harajuku to check out the Meiji shrine. This is the shinto shrine that they created to house the spirit of Emperor Meiji. For those of you who don’t know of Emperor Meiji, I suggest a wikipedia history lesson. The short story is that he is responsible for encouraging Japan to end its isolationist tactics and to also adopt many aspects of Western culture.

The shrine itself was amazing, there were many cute kids that were dressed up and getting their photos taken for Shichigosan, a holiday for children that occurs in their 7th, 5th, and 3rd years. For the holiday they are dressed up, taken to a shrine, photographed, and showered in candy. There were also at least 4 or 5 simultaneous weddings occurring while I was there!

Rows and rows of flowers dedicated to the Meiji

One of the girls being photographed for Shichigosan

More kids for Shichigosan

One of the five or so weddings that was going on

Some sort of offering- entirely made from vegetables

The shrine itself. I rather like this angle, with the ancient and modern in one shot...well, not really ancient, this shrine was built in the 1950s

Next I decided to head back over to Harajuku proper. Harajuku is famous for being a gathering spot for weirdos, goths, cosplayers, and other people who just dress strangely. Supposedly they meet on the bridge to the Meiji shrine on Sundays, but all I saw was a single lonely goth girl (though I guess that works for her image).

So I decided to wonder down a nearby shopping street. Again, holy crap, people. Lots n lots of people.

Great sign. No smorking? Okay, cool. But what is tout? Unless we're speaking French I have no idea.

About that time I wondered back to the park area and finally found some weirdos! It was a 1950s dance party! Half of the people looked like extras from Happy Days and the other half were dressed to the nines in biker/greaser gear complete with gigantic pompadours.

I had to capture this man's epic pompadour. I got some great video of these guys.

Monday’s my last full day in Japan! What will I do with myself? I predict it will involve the tetris-like planning of how to pack everything!

Kichijoji and Asakusa

On Saturday I headed to the far west side of Tokyo to visit Kichijoji. I’d heard there were some neat bohemian shops as well as a beautiful park. I was a bit discouraged in that, after an hour and a half of wondering around all I’d found was people. Tons of people. Endless people.

This would be a good time to bring up one of the major differences I’ve noticed between Japanese cities and US cities: How everyone behaves in a rapidly moving crowd. (Prepare for a little generalization on my part) In a US city, say, New York, most people are aware of their location in a crowd and act accordingly to move out of the faster moving zones into one more their speed. Also, if they get a text or have to search their bag for something. They move into an alley or out of the way of the crowd (Of course in NYC this is because the person behind you will generally body check you if you don’t). Not so in Japan.

First off, EVERYONE IS TEXTING. CONSTANTLY. Those of you that know me well now know that, because of this, I could never date here. Secondly, everyone’s so devastatingly polite that stopping in a crowd and holding up a whole column of people is simply overlooked. As a result, I find myself alternating between rapidly dodging people and trying to avoid hitting people at all times. At first it was novel, now it’s just annoying.

So my point is, after an hour and a half in Kichijoji I was about ready to find a bar and stay there the rest of the day (I should note, the few bars I saw were jam packed). Finally, I found the park. It’s true, it was a really nice, pretty park. The lake had koi so big they would probably take your arm off.

After wondering around the park for a bit, I exited from a different direction and, lo and behold, There was the street of bohemian shops. Nothing too exciting, but it was fun to look around.

At that point I decided to go to the opposite end of town to check out Asakusa. The main thing to see is Senso-ji temple (you’ve all seen the entrance in various films, I’m sure) as well as Nakamise-dori, the shop-lined street that leads to the temple. Once again, tons of people.

Entrance to Senso-ji

Nakamise-dori

Nakamise-dori was billed as the place to get traditional Japanese souvenirs. That’s true if, by traditional Japanese souvenirs, you mean endless stalls of plastic crap that’s for the most part made in China. I must admit, I did find one gem hidden in the street, but I must keep it a secret for the person the gift is for!

At this point I was still looking for that bar. So I headed across the Sumida river to the Asahi Skybar at the top of the Asahi building.

The Asahi building, on the left, with the Flame d'Orr on the right. Apparently the Japanese have nicknamed the Flame d'Orr the "Golden Turd"

The view from the top was fantastic! I stuck around long enough to see the sunset over Tokyo. Great way to end the day!

Senso-ji temple from a much less crowded perspective

This has become one of my favorite bar snacks here, fresh edamame!

 

 

Tsukiji Market and Being Nerdy at The Park Hyatt

First off, Thursday wasn’t too exciting. It was raining once again and I decided to go to a museum. I headed over to the Tokyo-Edo museum. It was really amazing; however, it would have been more amazing had there not been literally every elementary school class in the Tokyo area also touring while I was there. There was one really good part when I could see this kid (seven or eight) really working up his courage with his buddy before striding over to where I was sitting on a bench:

Kid – Hello.

Me – Hello, how are you?

Kid – Where are you from?

Me – America.

Kid – Thank you. *walks away*

Hehe, fun times. But yeah, the museum was about all I did. It was an ugly day.

Now Friday was a much more interesting story. It was sunny for one- here’s a picture of the Kanda river that runs right by the hostel. Apparently a lot of the shopowners along the river live in those houseboats.

So I rose about 6am, hopped the train, and threw myself headfirst into Tsukiji market. Tsukiji market is Tokyo’s main receiver of all things from the sea. If you’re eating fish in a restaurant it was purchased that morning in Tsukiji. The tuna auctions are apparently really fun to see; however, they happen at 4 or so in the morning and I hear they’ve started barring tourists.

Anyways, Tsukiji was a pretty intense experience. I walked in and sort of “joined the organism”. There’s no care for tourists whatsoever. If you’re in the way of a tram car, it’s going to hit you. If you’re in the way of a merchant, he’s going to yell at you. If you’re moving any slower that the requisite 100 mph of the market, then get the hell out.

So yeah, it was really fun but super intense! I snapped away as many pictures as I could without derailing the show!

Whew! It was really interesting. After surviving for awhile, not getting hit by a tram guy, and taking it all in. I branched out to the sidestreets of the market to look for a sushi place. It was still a little early for most everyone, so most places were empty. I was lucky enough to randomly choose a fantastic place! Here was the spread I had:

It was absolutely fantastic- savored every bite. The green tea was top notch as well.

After I was done at Tsukiji I walked up through Ginza in order to explore Hibiya Park a bit more. It’s actually a decent sized park with some very pretty features. It was fun seeing bums and businessmen alike catching a few winks on the benches!

This wall in the park was formerly one of the outer walls of Edo castle.

Next, I wondered towards Shibuya, killing time before I picked up my passport. Once I got to the area of the American Embassy I wondered around there for awhile. I saw the Prime Minister’s home (lots of guards, didn’t get a picture). I also saw the Diet, the main Japanese government building.

The Diet

As I wondered around I saw a few more sights, including one for my dad in particular:

About then it was time to hit the American Embassy. Hooray, I have a passport again!

After the last bit of serious dealings (hopefully) for this vacation, I headed over to Shinjuku to complete one of my primary goals for this vacation: The New York Bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Once I got to the top, I ventured to ask if there were any reservations open for dinner. To my surprise there were! So I set myself up for a 6:30 reservation and plopped down at the bar. THE bar. THE BAR from Lost in Translation!

Really surreal experience. The view is every bit as incredibly as the movie made it seem! I killed a great martini while waiting on the table.

Once I was seated I dove right into the set course menu. They had a visiting Chef in orchestrating everything.

Homemade garlic bread

Foie Gras Terrine, Kyoho Grape Focaccia, Beaumes de Venise and Grana Padano

Black Cod Prepared Two Ways (Grilled & Fried), Squid, Fennel and Eggplant Puree

Australian Lamb Rack with Chorizo crust, Chick Peas, Green Onions, Lamb Chorizo Jus

Espresso Custard Filled Chocolate Cake, Lemon Chiboust with Raspberry Sauce

Finally, I wrapped up the meal with a little Lagavulin back at the bar.

Ginza, Kabuki, and Shibuya

After chatting with Dad for a bit on Wednesday morning I headed over to Ginza to wonder around. Ginza’s kind of like the 5th avenue of Tokyo. Lots and lots of shops that are incredibly expensive. Still, it’s pretty!

The main Ginza crossing

Another view

Once I was tired of walking around I stopped off at Hibiya park and read for a little bit. The parks I’ve found in Tokyo have thus far been very nice, but also extremely small!

Hibiya Park

After awhile I met up with Donna and Alex once again. This time we were going to catch some Kabuki theater. Kabuki is the traditional theater of Japan. Again, Wikipedia could give a better history and explanation than I can. We saw our show at the Kabuki-za theatre in Ginza. It’s one of the most famous theaters in all of Japan and actors consider it the pinnacle of Kabuki performance.

One thing I didn’t know about Kabuki theater is that an entire show can last up to 10 or so hours! That being the case, we got into the line for people who just wanted to see one act. We actually got to see two acts for the price of one! It was a really cool show. We were thankful to have a translator’s headset to let us know what was going on.

The story was the famous tale of the 47 Ronin. A ronin is a samurai that’s lost it’s master. The general story goes that Lord Enya Hangan was attending a meeting at the Shogun’s palace when a palace official Moronao insults him repeatedly. After a while Enya Hangan can’t take it anymore and draws his sword, striking at Moronao. Moronao escapes with just a wound, but Enya Hangan is ordered to commit seppuku (drawing a sword in the shogun’s palace is punishable by death). So Enya Hangan commits suicide and his samurai are left as ronin.

For the next few years the samurai bide their time, working in mundane jobs and appearing to have forgotten about their duty for revenge. Yet a plot lies just below the surface. They secretly band together years later and storm Mornonao’s palace. They behead Moronao and take his head to their master’s grave. At that point all 47 ronin commit seppuku.

The story is beloved because it’s a perfect example of “bushido” or the way of the warrior. It shows honor and loyalty to the highest degree.

The acts we watched focused on a particular subplot of the whole ordeal. Kampei was one of the samurai, but he was not present when his lord died because he was off on a romantic tryst. As a result he has always blamed himself for not being with his lord in the time he needed his samurai most. Now he is a hunter living with his wife’s family. While hunting one day he meets a fellow ronin of Enya Hangan. The other ronin lets him know of the plot and that they need to raise money.

The next scene is of Kampei’s father in law. He is on his way back from Kyoto after selling his daughter into prostitution for 100 gold pieces. They’re all doing this for Kampei, so he may help contribute money. Unfortunately he is slain by a highwayman and the gold is stolen. At that point Kampei enters, he’s hunting a wild boar. He shoots, but hits the highwayman, killing him. Because it is dark, Kampei can’t see who he has hit. He’s horrified that he’s killed someone, but when he finds the gold his desire to help his deceased lord overwhelms his sense of honor and he takes the wallet.

Upon arriving home Kampei learns of the plans to sell his wife into prostitution. At first he doesn’t believe it, but the mistress of the pleasure house details to him how the father came and signed the contract. She then tells him that she even lent the father a wallet of striped material. Kampei compares this to his own and is horrified as he believes he has killed his own father in law.

After his wife has been taken away several villagers bring the body of the father in law to the house. The mother in law deduces what has happened an curses Kampei for his cruelty. Kampei is distraught. His dismay is heightened when two fellow ronin arrive to tell him they cannot take his money for the plot because it is tainted with his dishonor. Kampei stabs himself in the belly. As he is dying the two ronin slowly understand what has truly happened as they examine the father’s body. Before he dies they tell Kampei the truth and that he is no longer dishonored. They allow him to sign the contract of the plot in blood and he becomes the 46th ronin to join before he dies.

Kabuki-za theater

It was an incredible show. The music was incredible and you get the feeling that nothing has changed in hundreds of years. The really cool part was the revolving stage in action. As one act would end, the stage would revolve with guys in ninja outfits seamlessly changing the side scenery as the new scene comes around.

After the show we headed over to Shibuya for dinner. We didn’t find much in the was of decent restaurants (all chains), but it was fun to just walk around Shibuya.

Shibuya crossing. I really only took video of this. Pictures can't describe the sheer number of people moving at once.

After dinner, a walk, and some ice cream, I said my goodbyes to Alex and Donna, they’re headed back to London and Melbourne, respectively on Thursday. Oh well, it was fun having travel buddies while it lasted!

A Day Spent With The Tokyo Police Force And The American Embassy

A word of advice on losing one’s passport: don’t.

Yesterday I got into Tokyo just fine, checked in to my cubby hole (pics later) and zonked off to sleep.

Tuesday morning I rose about 8, wondered out into an uninviting, rainy, cold day and started walking. I’d barely gone a block when I realized I forgot my camera. I went back, got it, and started walking again. That’s when I noticed that my passport, which is always in my left back pocket, and was when I left this morning, was no longer there. Calmly, I retraced my steps several times, looking along the sidewalk, I turned my bunk upside down, looked in all the lost and founds, but to no avail. By this point it was about 9:30.

After doing more searches I broke down and went to the Koban (police box) nearby where it was either stolen or fell out of my pocket. Unfortunately, the officers spoke zero English, but I got the point across. I filled out the lost property forms, then one of the officers took me over to the Asakusa main station. There I sat in the waiting area for about an hour as they processed everything. I should really emphasize this bit: Everybody was INCREDIBLY friendly and wanted to help. The police officers at the Koban were truly concerned about this dumb gaijen (foreigner) and his lost passport, one of the police officers actually walked me across town to make sure I could find the police station, and the girl that was working on my case even bought me a hot coffee while I waited. So I left there with the documentation that I need to take to the embassy to get a new passport.

 

Wheee, Happy Police Magic Mouse

 

After leaving the station I looked all over the place for my passport once again, but to no avail. At that point I jumped into the familiar realm of convoluted American bureaucracy at the American Embassy. Actually, it wasn’t too bad, they were very friendly (though less so than the Japanese) and set me up with an Emergency Passport that I’m picking up on Friday.

So yeah. I’m the prize idiot yet again. Nothing’s changed, I guess I just can’t get through a vacation without losing my wallet, car keys, passport, room key, backpack, Teddy bear, or Transformer toy.

So- now onto less stressful news.

After this whole ordeal I decided I needed a nice night to take my mind off losing the passport. Thankfully, my faithful hostel buddies Donna and Alex are in Tokyo as well. We met up at Shinjuku station and hit the town.

They took me to an incredible mess of little avenues and shops. You could barely walk single file down some of these streets. At every corner shop mamas were gesturing and demanding you come into their eatery. Of course, the one we finally settled on actually seemed a little more clique-ish and they didn’t seem to like us too much. Oh well, it was still great food:

Shinjuku

One of the bigger streets we saw, or rather on of the streets that I could pause long enough to take a picture without aggrivating the 20 businessmen waiting behind me!

Best chicken wings ever.

The guy leaning over in the background joked that there would be too much glare from the flash off his bald spot...or at least I think that's what he was getting at.

After that first place we hopped over to another small eatery. I ordered randomly (though, because there was an English menu, I at least knew what was coming). The waiter told me I should definitely order their specialties, grilled scallops, clams, and turban snail. I’m glad he said something, they were delicious!

Throwing the Scallops and Clams on the grill

The clams were good, but the scallops were the best I've ever had!

I should mention that all these things were very much alive. These turban snails tried to leave the plate before we put them on!

Cheek of Tuna Sashimi

Fried Octopus with Lemon

Squid poached in its own guts

All in all it was a fantastic night to wrap up a nightmare day. I’ll hopefully be getting together with Donna and Alex again tomorrow to catch a little Kabuki theater!

To wrap up, here are a few pictures of my lodgings, it’s actually quite cozy, aside from it being another hard floor mat. I will enjoy getting back to a proper mattress!

The bunk room

My own little cubby hole in Tokyo

 

A Day with Family in Nagoya

Sunday was one of the highlights of this trip, I traveled to Nagoya to meet up with my first cousin once removed (I had to look up the terminology, in any case, my mother’s cousin), Bonnie Fujita. Bonnie mostly grew up in Hawaii before moving to Japan in the late 80s. She has three children (for those who care, my second cousins) of whom I got to meet two, Lisa (17) and Eri (13).

They actually live in a town outside Nagoya, but it was a convenient and fun meeting spot. After we met up Lisa and Eri guided us through the railways to Uso Kannon, a beautiful temple in the middle of the city. Yet again, it was an amazing juxtaposition of old and new that I’ve seen everywhere in Japan.

Eri, Bonnie, and I at Uso Kannon

Bonnie said "Look contemplative."

Next we headed over to a covered shopping arcade (covered arcades seem to be the preferred mode of shopping in this country) and shopped around while catching up on the two branches of our family that haven’t gotten in touch for some time.

Lisa, Eri, and creepysmile display guy.

We looked for the parlor where girls in French maid outfits would give you a hand massage, but alas, all we found was a maid themed pachinko parlor.

Andy Warhol?

After a while we found a cafe in which to take a break. I had to get a picture of the drink Eri ordered. Apparently it’s a melon soda float…to me it looks like the stuff that transformed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Mmm...I bet this stuff would kill Superman.

Wondering around some more Bonnie and the girls took me up on a giant ferris wheel set into the side of a building. Great views of the city!

Next, the Fujitas were kind enough to take me to the one quintessentially Japanese thing I had yet to do: Karaoke. I have to say. It’s pretty awesome. I was amused by which English songs were available. The first song I tried was Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” (about the only one in my range). to my surprise, they had it! More examples- they didn’t have any Grateful Dead, they had Beatles, no Oasis (I wanted to do one for you, Anders), they had R.E.M. but they didn’t have the best R.E.M. song to attempt to karaoke- “The End of the World As We Know It”. Anywho, my amusements aside, it was really fun!

"Just a small town girl! Livin in a loooooonley world!"

I had mentioned that, previous to coming to Nagoya, my only knowledge of the city was of it’s most noticeable landmark, “The Big Spiral Building”. So Bonnie took us down to it! We even tried to get to the top. It was funny watching the difference between Bonnie and myself versus the girls. Bonnie and I were looking for any way to the top while the girls were worried we weren’t allowed to be in there on Sunday (the place was technically closed). We got up to the 23rd floor, saw all the lights off, and decided that we probably weren’t getting any higher!

After the building we headed over to Nagoya Station and waded through endless crowds in the department stores. Before we’d bought anything we were exhausted from dodging people! At that point we headed over to Shooters, a popular expat bar in the area. Apparently Lisa and Eri were excited to see typical American food (I expected them to be underwhelmed, never quite gauged their reaction).

It was actually novel to be in a random American style bar in the middle of Japan. I ordered a pint-sized G&T while laughing at the fact that a Budweiser cost Y800 for a small glass, but a Sapporo or Asahi cost only Y650 for a full pint!

While Bonnie and I caught up on every subject imaginable, the girls seemed most interested in the pool table. Apparently it’s not too common a sight over here. Eri and I had a game, I taught her a few pointers and generally appeared to be a pool shark (I kind of felt bad, it was probably the best game of my life, I was hitting all these random trick shots by complete serendipity). Over all it was a fantastic time! Bonnie even surprised me with an incredibly nice sake set (I’ll post pics of that later).

It’s sad I was only able to spend a day with the Fujitas, but maybe we’ll meet up again soon. Lisa’s heading to Arkansas next year to study English, so I told her we should meet up in Memphis or something.

The pool sharks.

I would say the girls were pretty decent dart players!

The cap off to the evening was the light show at Nagoya station! It was great! They have all their Christmas stuff up- anime cartoons done in lights, trees, and even a big wall of lights that showed the progression of the seasons.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

It was a really great day! I hope to see the Fujitas again soon!

 

National Museum of Kyoto and Sanjusangen Temple

This morning I woke up to rain yet again, so I headed for the National Museum of Kyoto. There was a beautiful exhibit on the creation and early days of the Lotus sect of Buddhism. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around how old all this stuff is. Once again, lots of ancient scrolls with writing I can’t understand, but it was still amazing!

When I emerged from the museum the rain had let up and I got to take some photos of the beautiful building that houses the museum.

Next I crossed the street to visit the Sanjusangen Temple. This temple is famous for it’s 1001 Buddhas. Yes, you heard right. There are 1000 life sized Buddhas (to be more specific, they’re multiarmed Buddhas known as Kannon) and one gigantic one. This place was amazing. It’s at least as long as a football field and incredible to behold. Unfortunately it is prohibited to take pictures of the Buddhas, but thankfully it apparently wasn’t prohibited for tons of other people to take photos and put them online (see link below).

The outside of the temple

Link: Actually, just search for “sanjusangendo kannon” in google images.

After the temple I wondered around a bit and found a random lunch spot. Of course this obscure, neighborhood joint had some of the more amazing food I’ve had for next to nothing.

Udon, sashimi, tempura, bamboo shoot salad, pickled veggies, and rice. YUM.

After lunch a feeling struck me….I had to be….a geek. It was irresistable. I needed to do something incredibly geeky quickly or I wouldn’t make it. Thankfully, just across the river was the answer to my prayers:

That’s right. The original building that housed the Nintendo company. Before video games they made playing cards and other children’s novelties. Maybe I’m just strange but I thought visiting this was just awesome. Buddhist temples: check; Shinto shrines: check; High temple of people who love Super Mario:….Check.

It's-a-me, Mario

Lazy Day and a Night Stroll

After making it back from Osaka and refreshing myself, I wondered around looking for a good lunch spot. I ended up at a Hokkaido-style ramen shop. Apparently Hokkaido style just means real thick, yummy miso broth. I ordered the tokusen toroniku ramen, which is ramen with pork cheeks. Holy freaking crap, pork cheeks are delicious. It’s the precise balance between fat and tender, tender, tasty meat. Unfortunately, they told me only about 20g can be harvested from each animal, so it’s relatively rare.

After that I shopped around a bit, but I spent most of the afternoon reading by the river.

This evening was pretty fun. Yashi took everyone out for a midnight stroll through the Yasui Konpira shrine, the Yasaka shrine, and up the hill for a look over the city from the east.

Yasui Konpira shrine is known (unusually) as a shrine where you go to separate from something: marriages, bad luck, jobs, etc. There’s a sculpture of a big hole that one has to crawl through while thinking about what they want to separate with, and then crawl back through before sticking their wish onto the sculpture itself. Yasaka is the shrine that guards the Gion district of Kyoto, it is also known for having one of the most famous pagodas in all Japan.

Cranes waiting for lunch in the river

The Yasui Konpira Shrine

The Giant Separation Tunnel (I'm sure it has a more elegant name in Japanese)

The Yasaka Pagoda

A different view of the pagoda, with Kyoto Tower in the background.