My many wanderings....

I have been terrible at posting anything on this blog but will attempt to re-cap on some of the things I have done. (7/23/12 ~ 8/26/12)

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After reading great reviews on the national Tokyo Museum, I felt compelled to go. Nestled in a small museum district in Ueno, the National Tokyo Museum is one of several museums in Ueno. While the Edo-Tokyo museum was full of replicas to recreate the period, the National Tokyo Museum is filled with real masterpieces centuries old. Pottery, paintings, wood-block prints, and various old relics allow the visitor to get a glimpse of life in Japan many years ago.

In the summer, Tokyo is filled with festivals. As Japan doesn't have a Fourth of July, their summer matsuris are where citizens enjoy 花火ーはなびーhanabi, fireworks. Hanabi is quite an easy word to remember because it is composed of two kanji 花-hana, or flower, and 火ーfire; flowers made of fire is a beautiful way to describe fireworks.

Of course, not every matsuri has fireworks. After visiting the National Tokyo Museum, the morning glory matsuri that I went to near Ueno is one such festival. In addition to hundreds of morning glories available for purchase, the street was lined with food stalls offering delights to all of one's senses. 

This festival offered me my first opportunity to eat okonomiyaki, a sort of savory pancake with vegetables, egg, and various tasty additions; I asked them to hold the Mayo, which Japanese people love to load on, however.

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On a separate occasion, another festival that I went to was the Summer Matsuri, also in Ueno.  Despite having been there before to visit the Tokyo National Museum, I had never walked to the area just a few hundred meters south of the museum center. This area houses a few small shrines and a stunning lake covered with lotus; had I not gotten lost on my run to meet up with my friend, I never would have known it existed.

The path surrounding the lake held small stalls selling knick-knacks of all sorts. I saw strange, ordinary, exotic, simple, and ornate items of every category.

The flyer that I read online for the matsuri mentioned a parade, although one wasn't to be found. While wandering into the city area and exploring some of the things Ueno had to offer, music could be heard in the distance and a small gathering of people lined one of the streets in the distance. I had fortunately walked right into the parade! Traditional dancers of many varieties displayed their talents in intricate garb. Musicians played drums drums, keeping the beat of the parade. A giant panda and badger float made its way through the street. It was certainly a contrast to the parades that I had seen at Mardi Gras in New Orleans a few months ago. No beads or items were thrown, and oddly long pauses divided each act.

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Looking for another adventure on yet another lazy weekend, I have no idea what prompted me to go to Setagaya, as it isn't a big or touristy area, yet I decided to go. My first stop was Gotokuji Temple, the supposedly origin of the maneki neko, the had waving cat you see all over Asia. The temple was slightly confusing to get to, as it's placed in a small town, but the vision of countless maneki nekos residing together was quite interesting and oddly beautiful.

Deciding that I would walk the entire day rather than use the train, I set off for the Carrot Tower, a free observatory boasting beautiful views. Randomly, it is also the home of the Pokemon headquarters! Unfortunately, I didn't meet Pikachu as the public elevators were limited to certain floors.

Next, I wandered toward Kamazawa Olympic Stadium, one of the venues of the 1964 summer Olympics. Had I the time or proper shoes, it would have been a lovely place to run. Lacking such necessary running gear, I stumbled upon a gymnasium where a dance competition was going on. 

The Olympic venue is now a nice park where families get together in their spare time. 

My last stop was at Todoroki Valley. Hidden in the middle of the city, the valley is tucked away so that no evidence of urban life is present once you enter the forest area. Despite one or perhaps twenty mosquito bites, I enjoyed the brief getaway from the bustling Tokyo life.

I took the wrong bus home, extending my trip commute time quite a bit, but as I've consistently made it home alive up to this point, I cannot complain.

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Although I live mere minutes from Gokokuji Temple and Zoshigaya Cemetery, I never took the time to explore them. Prompted by Meikosan, who told me that people gather at the temple everyday at 6:30 am to do exercises in the summer, I finally overcame my laziness to go.

I was shocked at how beautiful the place was. After entering the gate, one is greeted by 'Rocky' steps that lead you to the main area. A larger Buddha, various statues, and stunning buildings litter the area. The back hides a cemetery that is just as intriguing.

The following morning before class, I took a jog to Zoshigaya Cemetery. The cherished icons frequently displayed certainly contrast with those at a typical American cemetery. I couldn't help thinking about the movie 'The Night of the Living Dead', and feared that I would find a zombie following me every time I turned around. Despite the reminder of the famous horror movie, the cemeteries in Japan always seem more honorific and peaceful than grim or spooky.

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The Sunday after Mt. Fuji, with nothing better to do, I went to Kawagoe. Intrigued by tour guides' tips of an old town echoing the Edo period, I was slightly underwhelmed. Taking the longest route possible to the distant town due to train confusion made me question my spur of the moment decision to go. Despite a rather ordinary town (in my opinion), I was lucky enough to go on the day of a festival! Dancers paraded the streets in colorful costumes, and bands rocked peculiarly modern music. (Bob Marley was definitely played at one point.)

Satsumaimo, sweet potato, reigns as their famous food, so the tasty item was served in countless ways: candy, chips, cake, roasted, and fried. After sampling many goods, I settled with a grilled onigiri filled with some sort of fish, basted in shoyu, and topped with either flakes of いわし-iwashi, sardine, or かつお-katsuo, bonito. I chose いわし, and it was delicious. 

The random festival made my long commute (which was made even longer due to a train delay on the way home) worth it.

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Instead of class one day, KCP had a speech contest where each class had a representative to recite a speech to the entire school. Every speaker was introduced by their class in some sort of a dance, song, or skit, so I embarrassingly took the stage for [thankfully] a mere thirty seconds in a dreadful rendition of 'Nobody but you,' a crazy popular song in Asia that I had never heard before the competition. 

Most of the speeches I could barely understand, but it was still nice to listen to speakers of various Japanese levels. We got out about two hours earlier than a usual class day, so after the speech contest was over, I elected to continue my random travels to Yokohama, a neighboring city a half an hour south of Tokyo.

Having taken a Chinese Diaspora class in Hong Kong and learned all about Chinatowns, I always yearn to see a city's Chinese district. Yokohama's Chinatown, like most Chinatowns, greets you with elaborate and colorful gates and is filled with chinese food stalls. Maybe it's because I'm in Japan but it was perhaps the most expensive, yet least appetite satisfying Chinatown I have been to. All the shops sold exactly the same thing, chestnuts, azuki bean desserts, or dumplings. The あんまん-anman, bun with anko filling, that I had, was rather disappointing, but thankfully the spinach dumplings were tasty...however, in all of my travels throughout China, I would not call them Chinese.

Although I went for chinatown, I was happily surprised to see that the Yokohama harbour offered amazing views. Reaching the water around sunset allowed a rainbow sky to set the backdrop for the tall buildings, ships, and ferris wheel. Yokohama port is also home to the Cup of Noodles museum, although I didn't have the time to stop in.

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For my Nagano journey, I woke up bright and early at 5am to leave the house by 5:30 and make it to the shinjuku bus terminal by 6:30 for my 7:00 am bus. The trip started off a little rough when the bus arrived an hour and forty five minutes after the scheduled time. Rather than arrive at 10:12am, I reached Matsumoto at 11:45. This of course limited my time, as well as forced me to take a later bus. I jogged from the station to and from Matsumoto Castle to save time; this was quite enjoyable as a woman told me it was 37 degrees Celsius.Despite the scorching heat, surrounded by a moat filled with carp and blessed with the mountains as its backdrop, Matsumoto was a sight to see. The six story castle was refurbished due to wood deterioration, and some of the original structures are missing; however, what is now standing is essentially the original building. Due to time constraints, I could only climb to the third floor before I needed to catch the train to Nagano. Stopping in Matsumoto just to see the castle was a bit out of the way, but it has been one of my favorite sites to see in Japan.

The electric train to Nagano was almost exclusively outdoors, offering exquisite views of the 田舎ーいなかーinakaーcountryside. The seats had me facing and older man and woman, and the woman and I had a conversation throughout the train ride. I learned that the plants dotting the landscape were apples, as well as the term to call my family: 女系ーじょけいーjokei, a word to describe the Takemori clan being all girls. Random conversations with Japanese people are always my favorite part of the day and the reason that I have grown to prefer traveling alone.

Reaching Nagano, I caught the bus straight to Zenkoji Temple. The heat was incredibly intense as I walked around the temple area. The central structure allows you to enter the shrine area and go to the basement area. It was at this point that I thought I was going to die.

I knew of the bottom floor from one of the office workers at KCP, Tanakasan, who told me that it holds a statue or something that is supposed to allow you to reach heaven or the like if you touch it. He also said that the basement was in the dark; this statement, I underestimated. If you have never been in a pitch dark place without a light switch, flashlight, or any type of light source whatsoever, you are in for a new experience. Perhaps this lovely experience was intensified by the overwhelming heat, but once I was in the darkness, I literally thought I was going to suffocate. I'm not claustrophobic, but I felt like I was in Indiana Jones and the Hidden Temple; any moment a giant boulder was about to roll over me or skeleton about to collapse on top of me. Hearing the Japanese people ahead of me announce that we weren't in the seventh level of hell and that we had reached the end relieved my soul.

After escaping hell the basement of the temple, I browsed the many stalls surrounding the temple and waited for the procession of people waiting in front of the temple to start walking. I was aware before that soba was a local specialty, as everyhing was made of it, but くるみーkurumi, walnut, was another food item integrated into everything. While in the office of KCP the day before, one of the staff members also told me that they sold a blend of seven spices, known as ちしみーchishimi, that was particularly delicious. With hopes that my dad will toss it in a random concoction to make something delicious, I undoubtedly bought one. I believe it's supposed to enhance the flavor of soba or other noodles, but I expect my father will use the spice assortment like Old Bay.
When I felt I could wait no longer, I headed for the station, only to find that the parade of dancers was never going to start at the temple area since it was along the main street! Along this street I also found a woman selling some various food items that I tried and was rewarded for my curiosity. The tasty pockets were filled with various vegetables; I tried 2 at one stall and 2 at another. At the second stall, I also tried an onigiri covered in a shoyu sauce.

The dancers overwhelming the main road wore various outfits depending on the group they were associated with. Their faces were full of enthusiasm, which made me excited to be there, but also sad that I hadn't realized that the matsuri was going on sooner.

Everyday the cost of fresh foods saddens me, so I was ecstatic to buy 4 peaches and 2 なすーNasu-eggplant for a mere 120円. Towards the end of the procession stood a strange float; a large group of men, some wearing speedo swim trunk like pants, were lifting the float containing one man tossing an item that I was unable to identify to the crowd. Seeing the pantless men was certainly bizarre but ever the more amusing. Finally I took the bus home and was happily surprised when it arrived in Tokyo on time so that I could take the train back to my home.

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Despite traveling all day to Matsumoto and Nagano, at 2 am, I was still struggling to purchase sumo tickets; if it were not for my Japanese friend who was helping translate, I don't know if I would have made any progress. Even though my bed time was rather late, I was up for my 5:20am wake up call. After a few confusing train rides, which included the doors closing on me, I met my friend at 6:45 to head to Nikko.

Nikko is a the home of many World Heritage sites: Toshugu Shrine, Nitenmon Gate, and Rinnoji Temple, among others. It also has the famous Shinkyo Bridge, as well as countless shrines and halls. Because all of the sights close at 4:30 and the sheer number of things to see, I thought we would be pressed for time. 

Due to the close proximity of the structures, we were done before noon! Kegon Falls is a forty minute bus ride from the World Heritage area, so I initially hesitated to take the bus, running back to see the Shinkyo bridge. Realizing I had plenty of time, I took the next bus to see one of Japan's three most famous waterfalls. At 97 meters, spectators are covered in a refreshing mist from the viewing area. Nearby, with Mount Nantai in the background, Lake Chuzenji gave a spectacular view.

Accustomed to traveling alone now, I've learned that I need to be more flexible and open to the desires of others. It's frustrating when kindness is constantly thrust upon me, and I don't reciprocate. Everything is an experience and learning process, I just wish I would learn a little quicker.

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Japanese people love baseball. I would even almost as much as Americans love football. Knowing their obsession, I got tickets to the Tokyo Giants baseball game. After class one day, a friend accompanied me to the game, which was only about a ten minute train ride away. The stadium was completely inside; I had never had the experience of entering a baseball stadium with a roof before.

The atmosphere was also nothing like an American baseball game. Modern music isn't being blared out of the loudspeakers; instead, fans seem to sing songs cheering on the home team. In addition, when the opposing team makes a spectacular play, they recognize the athletic feat rather than get angry or jealous as Americans would. The Japanese baseball culinary experience also differed from the American one. Bentos, yakisoba, and hot dog creations are served rather than the traditional hot dog with ketchup and mustard, burgers, or popcorn.

The Japanese also have the right idea with the beer girls. Rather than old men lugging tons of beer cans throughout the aisles, adorable girls wear mini kegs on their bag and serve draft beers to thirsty customers. If I were a beer seeking man, I would much rather have my beer served to me by a cute girl with a kegerator than an old, dirty man.

We went to a game against the Osaka Tigers, Tokyo's rival, and fortunately Tokyo won!

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The same friend that accompanied me to the Tokyo Giants game also joined me when I went to Namjatown. Namjatown is a tiny amusement park nestled in Sunshine City mall near Ikebukuro, Tokyo. You can buy an unlimited ticket for around $40USD, or pay 300円 just to enter the area. I just paid the entrance fee to walk around. 

We walked around Gyoza stadium, getting dessert gyozas, essentially fried wontons filled with red beans. 

After, we walked to the ice cream area, where you can buy some of the strangest ice cream flavors I have ever seen: wasabi, coal, eel, sake, rice, shark fin, natto, .... We first tried rice ice cream. It wasn't a traditional flavor, but didn't seemed like it would completely repulse us if we tried it. It was a success. 

Then for some bizarre reason, he wanted to try coal. I can see how wasabi or fish flavored ice cream could somehow be tasty since it was food at one point. However, coal never was and never will be food. In my mind, this flavor could not be delicious in any realm. Convinced on trying it, he bought the coal flavor. To my surprise, it was actually tasty. I cannot begin to explain why, but it was delicious. If you ever get the chance to go to Namjatown, try coal ice cream. It's better than the rice ice cream, even.

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Meikosan invited me to go the Ueno Zoo with her to see the Pandas one Saturday morning. I met her at the church, and her husband drove us to the zoo! Having grown up in Washington, D.C., where the zoo always has pandas, and having gone to China, whose zoos have tons of pandas, seeing the pandas in Japan wasn't a huge deal. In addition, the Japanese zoo was possibly the smallest zoo I have ever gone too. Nevertheless, it is also interesting to see the Japanese tourists' reactions to even trivial things.

After the zoo, we walked around the shrines in the area throughout the shopping district near Ueno station. Meikosan also took me to Kappazushi, a sushi place where you tell the chef in front of you what you would like to eat, and he makes it fresh, right in front of your eyes. It was like subway, only sushi. A little old lady, Meikosan was exhausted, so in the early afternoon, we took the train back home together.

I always enjoy my time with Meikosan, absorbing as much as I can from her. I love listening to all of her stories and learning random new vocabulary words that I would never encounter on my own. It is also always a delight to have meals with her, as her typical culinary treats are much different than what my own grandmothers would make me. At the zoo, for example, she packed us onigiri and some Japanese bread, along with chilled Japanese tea.

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Feeling the urge to go for a hike, I headed to Mount Takao one Sunday afternoon. Webpages said the ascent would take over an hour, but determined to make it to the top, it was a quick forty minute hike. Compared to Mount Fuji, it was nothing. It was of course amusing to see the refreshment stands at the stop selling beer alongside water and shaved ice. After a hike in 90 degree weather, the last thing that I would want would be a beer. 

The descent was a much longer trip, as I took another path that passed through temples and many food stalls. Buying some dango, mochi heated on a stick and coated with shoyu, I walked around the shrines, taking countless photos of the unique area.

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Japanese train stations are never just train stations. They are always accompanied by malls, food stalls, hotels, and complexes of every type. The Tokyo station has a little place called character town: an area with stores dedicated to characters of tv programs, manga, anime, and various popular brands such as Lego. As I was unfamiliar with almost all of the characters except Lego, Character Street was quite foreign to me, but as usual, it is always interesting to see the excitement of Japanese fans for their various obsessions.

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Tsukishima is a manmade island in Tokyo. This area is famous for two things: okonomiyaki and manjayaki. As I've described previously, okonomiyaki is a pancake type dish filled with various vegetables or seafood and covered with a brown sauce, seaweed, and bonito. 

Manjayaki is quite similar, but the consistently and flavor are a little bit different. Rather than being firm, manjayaki is much soupier. The difference in flavor cannot be described but only experienced, and in my opinion, I think okonomiyaki is tastier. Of course, both are quite delicious!

When I was studying abroad in Hong Kong, I met Natsumi, a Tokyo native! I met up with her in Tsukishima and we went to a restaurant where we could have both okonomiyaki and manjayaki cooked in front of us. It was the first time I had ever seen manjayaki, and the first time I had ever made okonomiyaki. In past experiences, I have only ever seen okonomiyaki at festivals where they quickly cook it up for the masses. It was great to see Natsumi after over a year, especially in her own city.

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Since my dad works at a closed-captioning company, he works with many companies in the TV industry. One such company is NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Through his work, he got in touch with one of the employees there. Although he now works for a subsidiary company, Mr. Akira Negishi gave me a tour of the NHK Studio. Had I gone by myself, I would not have learned much as any sign was written in Japanese. With a personal tour guide, I was able to get great explanations on what NHK is doing, as well as answers to tons of questions about NHK. Mr. Negishi also told me his experience as a Japanese businessman for NHK. Waking up early, he would often be unable to return home until very late in the evening, delaying dinner to 10pm or later. Having to overwork daily, you become exhausted quickly, and gain weight due to unhealthy, ill-timed meals. 

Fortunately, Mr. Negishi gets to work at the subsidiary for 3 years. During this stay, his work hours are much more normal and he gets to enjoy normal dinners with his family. Additionally, he gets the opportunity to travel internationally and work with companies all over the world. While his position at NHK sounds quite burdensome, I am extremely jealous of the opportunities he has at his current position. It is my dream to be able to work at an international company and travel the world.

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Growing up with scary looking puffer fish models purchased from Topsail Island, the thought of eating the poisonous delicacy was never a priority of mine. Considering the fact that eating fugu in the United States is illegal, even if I had that bizarre dream I would be unable. Coming to Japan, where the laws are different and the delicacy is edible if prepared by a licensed chef, my opportunities have changed. Risking one's life for a single meal seems to be an undeniably dumb idea. However, when everyone who has had the bizarre flavor experience tells me it's incredible, my curiosity undoubtedly grew.

Upon telling a Japanese friend that I had this desire, he made reservations at a fugu restaurant. Taking off my shoes and sliding into the tiny booth, we were served fugu prepared in many ways. Fugu sashimi, fugu skin and potato karage, fugu skin in ponzu with green onions, yakifugu with a Korean style seasoning, and fugu in a rice dish mixed with various vegetables and raw egg. I even had a sip of sake that had been soaked in fugu!

For dessert, we were served cantaloupe. My favorite dish was probably the rice dish, but since then I've had egg with rice seved similarly and I think the egg is the reason that I enjoyed that particularly dish most. 

Overall, fugu was underwhelming. Of course it wasn't bad, but I don't think that it deserves the overwhelming hype that everyone makes. Moreover, I don't think it's worth risking your life over. I'd take a McDonalds ice cream cone over it any day.

Despite the lack luster experience, the ability to have such an opportunity again makes me overwhelmingly thankful. While fugu seems to be ordinary in the East, when I return to the states I will be one of few. In my opinion, that's pretty cool.