Saturday, May 12, 2007
Oh, and I also went through and captioned all of my photos on snapfish. You can go check them out here if you like.
Okay, that's all the Japan writing I'm going to do for a while. My fingers need a rest.
-N
Okay, that's all the Japan writing I'm going to do for a while. My fingers need a rest.
-N
Japanese Arcades, Addendum
I just wanted to write a little bit more about Japanese Arcades because I don't think I really conveyed the full scope of how completely amazing Japenese Arcades are, and because there was a really awesome game there that I haven't talked about yet.
So when most of you think of an arcade game, I'm sure you think of the 'cabinet'. That same shape that most American arcade games are in, with the TV above the joystick and a few buttons. First off, throw that entire concept away. Most Japanese Arcade machines are huge, sprawling things with strange control options and huge screens.
And then there's the horse racing.
I saw that game in Japan. It was...amazing. Each person had a luxurious, lounge-style chair with a big ol' touch screen in front of them. While the 200+ inch screen in front of them counted down the time to the next race, individual players used their touch screens to prepare their individual horses. I saw people watering horses, brushing horses, feeding horses, and then flowing effortlessly through menus in Japanese that I simply couldn't follow in order to bet on horses.
Now as people sat prepping their horse for the next race, the horses themselves were paraded across the screen. Most of them looked pretty normal, with statistics and numbers and the like. But two of the horses were *on fire*. Flaming horses! I don't know about you, but If I ever went horse racing and saw horses with flames licking off their haunches, I would either call the police immidately or BET ON THAT HORSE.
One of the flaming horses came in third, the other sixth.
Seriously, if burning flames aren't enough to win a horse race, then what in the world would?
I didn't play it, because I can't read Japanese (a fact that seriously irks me) but that really looked like one of the most luxurious arcade experiences one could have. These games are getting seriously classy.
-N
I just wanted to write a little bit more about Japanese Arcades because I don't think I really conveyed the full scope of how completely amazing Japenese Arcades are, and because there was a really awesome game there that I haven't talked about yet.
So when most of you think of an arcade game, I'm sure you think of the 'cabinet'. That same shape that most American arcade games are in, with the TV above the joystick and a few buttons. First off, throw that entire concept away. Most Japanese Arcade machines are huge, sprawling things with strange control options and huge screens.
And then there's the horse racing.
I saw that game in Japan. It was...amazing. Each person had a luxurious, lounge-style chair with a big ol' touch screen in front of them. While the 200+ inch screen in front of them counted down the time to the next race, individual players used their touch screens to prepare their individual horses. I saw people watering horses, brushing horses, feeding horses, and then flowing effortlessly through menus in Japanese that I simply couldn't follow in order to bet on horses.
Now as people sat prepping their horse for the next race, the horses themselves were paraded across the screen. Most of them looked pretty normal, with statistics and numbers and the like. But two of the horses were *on fire*. Flaming horses! I don't know about you, but If I ever went horse racing and saw horses with flames licking off their haunches, I would either call the police immidately or BET ON THAT HORSE.
One of the flaming horses came in third, the other sixth.
Seriously, if burning flames aren't enough to win a horse race, then what in the world would?
I didn't play it, because I can't read Japanese (a fact that seriously irks me) but that really looked like one of the most luxurious arcade experiences one could have. These games are getting seriously classy.
-N
Labels: Arcades, Horse Racing, Japan
Friday, May 11, 2007
April 21, twice.
We woke up at some normal hour or another and made our way v…e…r…r…y slowly to the airport, where our plane left at 4:00. We stopped for breakfast/lunch at Andersen’s bakery again, eating lots of breads and generally relaxing. We had repacked all of our stuff so that we could check through a duffle bag and take smaller backpacks on the plane. We knew what we were doing. Unfortunately, it was a pretty heavy bag, but Jess is good at carrying around huge bags like this (it’s what she uses for her hockey gear) and so she helped out my technique.
We took our time at the station, looking at various stores (another bookstore…man, I wish I could read Japanese!) and then took a private rail line (which just means ‘not JR’) out to Narita, since our JR passes had expired. We timed that really well. We had the passes to help us while we didn’t know how to use the rail systems. By the end of the trips, we were pro.
We arrived at Narita airport roughly 4 hours early for our flight. No problem checking in, so we walked around some stores to get rid of some extra yen and time. We had lunch at a restaurant where the cups were made in the USA. Ha!
After that we went through security (didn’t have to take off our shoes! HA HA!) and then wasted some more time at duty-free shopping where we picked up some Sake and a couple of cartons of cigarettes for me on the cheap. No, no, kidding. No cigarettes or perfume, though those seemed to be the most popular items. We could have bought more stuff, but we actually have Asian markets in America and they sell most of this sort of stuff no problem. I did get this Sake that was packaged in a container that looked like one of those old-style sake-fermenting vats I’d seen before. Really neat, I thought. After that, we wandered over to our gate, Jess took a quick nap, and then we got on our plane bound for America.
Another long, boring, overnight flight, and I don’t think I slept much. Strike that, I really didn’t sleep at all. Planes. Yuck. But we flew all through the night and landed…earlier that morning! Thanks, international dateline!
Got our bag, breezed through customs and got a ride home. That’s where we saw Jessie’s favorite surprise of the trip. One of Jessie’s hockey teammates had volunteered to come over and feed Tigger while we were gone and they also used the opportunity to raid our place and throw a party, ‘decorating’ our house in the process. We walked around and found balloons tucked away, streamers everywhere, and all sorts of things wrapped in aluminum foil. Jess was just tickled pink that she had so many great, strange friends and called everyone to tell them how much she loved the surprise.
Can you identify what is wrong with this picture?
After that, we did a little bit of unpacking before jetlag caught up with us and we both konked out around 4 in the afternoon.
Vacation: Success.
-N
We woke up at some normal hour or another and made our way v…e…r…r…y slowly to the airport, where our plane left at 4:00. We stopped for breakfast/lunch at Andersen’s bakery again, eating lots of breads and generally relaxing. We had repacked all of our stuff so that we could check through a duffle bag and take smaller backpacks on the plane. We knew what we were doing. Unfortunately, it was a pretty heavy bag, but Jess is good at carrying around huge bags like this (it’s what she uses for her hockey gear) and so she helped out my technique.
We took our time at the station, looking at various stores (another bookstore…man, I wish I could read Japanese!) and then took a private rail line (which just means ‘not JR’) out to Narita, since our JR passes had expired. We timed that really well. We had the passes to help us while we didn’t know how to use the rail systems. By the end of the trips, we were pro.
We arrived at Narita airport roughly 4 hours early for our flight. No problem checking in, so we walked around some stores to get rid of some extra yen and time. We had lunch at a restaurant where the cups were made in the USA. Ha!
After that we went through security (didn’t have to take off our shoes! HA HA!) and then wasted some more time at duty-free shopping where we picked up some Sake and a couple of cartons of cigarettes for me on the cheap. No, no, kidding. No cigarettes or perfume, though those seemed to be the most popular items. We could have bought more stuff, but we actually have Asian markets in America and they sell most of this sort of stuff no problem. I did get this Sake that was packaged in a container that looked like one of those old-style sake-fermenting vats I’d seen before. Really neat, I thought. After that, we wandered over to our gate, Jess took a quick nap, and then we got on our plane bound for America.
Another long, boring, overnight flight, and I don’t think I slept much. Strike that, I really didn’t sleep at all. Planes. Yuck. But we flew all through the night and landed…earlier that morning! Thanks, international dateline!
Got our bag, breezed through customs and got a ride home. That’s where we saw Jessie’s favorite surprise of the trip. One of Jessie’s hockey teammates had volunteered to come over and feed Tigger while we were gone and they also used the opportunity to raid our place and throw a party, ‘decorating’ our house in the process. We walked around and found balloons tucked away, streamers everywhere, and all sorts of things wrapped in aluminum foil. Jess was just tickled pink that she had so many great, strange friends and called everyone to tell them how much she loved the surprise.
Can you identify what is wrong with this picture?
After that, we did a little bit of unpacking before jetlag caught up with us and we both konked out around 4 in the afternoon.
Vacation: Success.
-N
Labels: Bread, Japan, Shopping, Tokyo, Travel
April 20, Last day…of shopping!
Slept in again, we were on vacation. We set the alarm for 6:00, then reset it for 7:00, then just turned it off and slept until 8:30. I think I got the tiniest cold in the world in Japan, going right from sore throat right to runny nose with neither aches nor pains to speak of. Yay for that and for warm lemon tea available in vending machines. Really nice on the throat.
On the way to the metro we stopped at a shrine we had walked by a couple of times. It turns out it was a shrine for travelers, and was generally visited by people who would be traveling soon, like us! So we offered some small coins and I burned some incense. I’ve always really liked the idea of burning a whole bundle of incense all at once. I’ve seen it a couple of times on video and always wanted to just grab a handful of incense and set it all on fire at once, so here was my chance! A small thing, but I liked it. Smelled nice, too.
Akehabra! It was nice to goof off there again, and we walked around checking out lots of different stores. Eventually, though, we realized the stores all pretty much fell into one of several categories.
1) Model shop: actually these are pretty impressive. There are lots of really pretty models and collections of things you can get from vending machines, like tiny little figurines and key chains. In fact, most of the gifts we got for people back here came from those vending machines, just cause they’re so ubiquitous and so very, very Japanese. So we hung out in a few of these places and went crazy buying little capsules with figurines and key chains and cell-phone accessories. As I write this, I have a couple of adorable little Gundam critters sitting on my desk. Really cute. After a while, though, all the model stores start to look the same.
2) Game shop. Lots of neat video games that either: a) are in America already or b) require too much Japanese to really understand, so I really couldn’t justify buying anything. It’s neat to see stuff that will be coming out in America soon, though, and most of the really good stuff does. After a while, though, all the game stores start to look the same.
3) Book stores. I could spend a fortune (I love books!), but it would all be a waste: I can’t read Japanese. After a while, though, all the book stores start to look the same.
4) Tech stores: Neat stuff. Cell phones that do more than I need and wouldn’t (probably) work in the US, personal organizers and PC stuff. I did see some HUGE monitors, though. Those looked amazing. Some places sold audio gear, too. Fun to browse through, but After a while…
5) Home appliance stores…nah.
6) Tech components…pass.
I could have spent more time in Akehabra, but the stores actually started repeating themselves pretty quickly. Not, therefore, perhaps that different from America.
Had some *tasty* curry, and miso soup feels good on a rough throat.
I got a trick box, which is a neat little device that requires 12 steps to open. It’s a neat souvenir, but I haven’t thought of anything to put inside it yet. :)
Also, did some video-gaming at a couple of arcades. The ‘Sega’ arcade was a little booring. I walked around and it was all games I’d played before, just a *lot* of them. Jess let me check out another one, though, (she’s so good to me!) where I got to play some fun stuff. Smaller, random games and a fighting game called “Melty Blood” that I had to play just for the name. ‘How’s your blood?’ ‘Mine? It’s a little melty.’ I just like that phrase. So yeah, even if I didn’t spend tons of money on any crazy souvenirs, at least I got to play some awesome games.
Anyway, we left Akehabra so we could do some more gift shopping in Asakusa, which Jess finally figured out how to pronounce. (a-sa-ku-sa, not a-su-casa. That’s Spanish popping up right there. Oh, and on a side note…when we first got to Japan, people would ask us questions and Jess instantly reverted to her most comfortable ‘foreign language.’ “Ah, you have customs form filled out?” “Si!”) Got some neat stuff (and neat wrapping jobs), and then called it a day.
Back at the hostel, for the *last time*, watching wacky Japanese TV (pet tricks, Quiz shows, and strange Anime). We’ll pack up tonight and get ready to head home. I say, glad to have gone, and glad to go back.
-N
Slept in again, we were on vacation. We set the alarm for 6:00, then reset it for 7:00, then just turned it off and slept until 8:30. I think I got the tiniest cold in the world in Japan, going right from sore throat right to runny nose with neither aches nor pains to speak of. Yay for that and for warm lemon tea available in vending machines. Really nice on the throat.
On the way to the metro we stopped at a shrine we had walked by a couple of times. It turns out it was a shrine for travelers, and was generally visited by people who would be traveling soon, like us! So we offered some small coins and I burned some incense. I’ve always really liked the idea of burning a whole bundle of incense all at once. I’ve seen it a couple of times on video and always wanted to just grab a handful of incense and set it all on fire at once, so here was my chance! A small thing, but I liked it. Smelled nice, too.
Akehabra! It was nice to goof off there again, and we walked around checking out lots of different stores. Eventually, though, we realized the stores all pretty much fell into one of several categories.
1) Model shop: actually these are pretty impressive. There are lots of really pretty models and collections of things you can get from vending machines, like tiny little figurines and key chains. In fact, most of the gifts we got for people back here came from those vending machines, just cause they’re so ubiquitous and so very, very Japanese. So we hung out in a few of these places and went crazy buying little capsules with figurines and key chains and cell-phone accessories. As I write this, I have a couple of adorable little Gundam critters sitting on my desk. Really cute. After a while, though, all the model stores start to look the same.
2) Game shop. Lots of neat video games that either: a) are in America already or b) require too much Japanese to really understand, so I really couldn’t justify buying anything. It’s neat to see stuff that will be coming out in America soon, though, and most of the really good stuff does. After a while, though, all the game stores start to look the same.
3) Book stores. I could spend a fortune (I love books!), but it would all be a waste: I can’t read Japanese. After a while, though, all the book stores start to look the same.
4) Tech stores: Neat stuff. Cell phones that do more than I need and wouldn’t (probably) work in the US, personal organizers and PC stuff. I did see some HUGE monitors, though. Those looked amazing. Some places sold audio gear, too. Fun to browse through, but After a while…
5) Home appliance stores…nah.
6) Tech components…pass.
I could have spent more time in Akehabra, but the stores actually started repeating themselves pretty quickly. Not, therefore, perhaps that different from America.
Had some *tasty* curry, and miso soup feels good on a rough throat.
I got a trick box, which is a neat little device that requires 12 steps to open. It’s a neat souvenir, but I haven’t thought of anything to put inside it yet. :)
Also, did some video-gaming at a couple of arcades. The ‘Sega’ arcade was a little booring. I walked around and it was all games I’d played before, just a *lot* of them. Jess let me check out another one, though, (she’s so good to me!) where I got to play some fun stuff. Smaller, random games and a fighting game called “Melty Blood” that I had to play just for the name. ‘How’s your blood?’ ‘Mine? It’s a little melty.’ I just like that phrase. So yeah, even if I didn’t spend tons of money on any crazy souvenirs, at least I got to play some awesome games.
Anyway, we left Akehabra so we could do some more gift shopping in Asakusa, which Jess finally figured out how to pronounce. (a-sa-ku-sa, not a-su-casa. That’s Spanish popping up right there. Oh, and on a side note…when we first got to Japan, people would ask us questions and Jess instantly reverted to her most comfortable ‘foreign language.’ “Ah, you have customs form filled out?” “Si!”) Got some neat stuff (and neat wrapping jobs), and then called it a day.
Back at the hostel, for the *last time*, watching wacky Japanese TV (pet tricks, Quiz shows, and strange Anime). We’ll pack up tonight and get ready to head home. I say, glad to have gone, and glad to go back.
-N
Labels: Akehabra, Arcades, Asakusa, Japan, Tokyo
Thursday, May 10, 2007
April 19, Tokyo! Again!
This morning we decided to visit the imperial palace in the morning and Shinjuku in the afternoon. So we woke up at 7 and got to the Tokyo Metro Station…AT RUSH HOUR!
Good grief, absolutely crazy. The subway showed up and had *no* space available. It was literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder along the whole subway. But we watched as people just *squeezed* their way in and everyone just kinda shuffled and squeezed to make a tiny bit more room. People would come to the doorway and just sort of stick their butt into the subway car then grab above the door and literally *lever* themselves into the car, turning their head sideways so that when the door closed it would not *crush their face*.
Eventually Jess and I managed to find a way to shuffle ourselves in, tucked in with everyone else. I actually had to try pretty hard not to accidentally molest anyone. We got to the JR station (rail, as opposed to subway) and it was even crazier! The Yamanote line, a loop that goes around Tokyo (think ‘freeway’), ran every two minutes and was still packed to the gills. There was a line to get up onto the platform! Crazy!
But yeah, we got to the Imperial Palace, the grounds where the Emperor of Japan still lives! (So you can’t go inside. He’s, y’know, walking around in there.) We walked past the fountain garden and walked around the outer moat, which sported koi and swans! One of them even had a nest.
The garden was pretty spectacular, too. Considering we were literally in the *middle of Tokyo*, that much space is pretty much the biggest luxury you can have. There were some really neat old buildings from back when such a place actually needed to be guarded and fortified, but y favorites were the mixed bushes and the bridges over the lake and waterfall. Everything was artistically done, and there was quite a lot of garden.
We walked around the outside of the palace, through a large, open space filled with Pine trees and tour groups, another luxurious empty space. More bridges and swans and the like. We took a short stroll through the nearby government district, too.
Next: Shinjuku! It took some doing to find the main drag, but find it we did. We actually saw an adult movie theatre, naked posters just all over the building. We walked around the stores but spent most of our time in…another arcade!
I went crazy enjoying myself on more games (more Mario cart!) and Jess got to rest her feet. She thinks I look adorable in this picture. :)
Evidently Shinjuku turns into more of a shady nightclub/bar district at night, but we didn’t stay that late. We found a nice curry & rice place that Jess and I really like. I need to practice making Japanese curry.
Next day, Electric town again!
-N
This morning we decided to visit the imperial palace in the morning and Shinjuku in the afternoon. So we woke up at 7 and got to the Tokyo Metro Station…AT RUSH HOUR!
Good grief, absolutely crazy. The subway showed up and had *no* space available. It was literally packed shoulder-to-shoulder along the whole subway. But we watched as people just *squeezed* their way in and everyone just kinda shuffled and squeezed to make a tiny bit more room. People would come to the doorway and just sort of stick their butt into the subway car then grab above the door and literally *lever* themselves into the car, turning their head sideways so that when the door closed it would not *crush their face*.
Eventually Jess and I managed to find a way to shuffle ourselves in, tucked in with everyone else. I actually had to try pretty hard not to accidentally molest anyone. We got to the JR station (rail, as opposed to subway) and it was even crazier! The Yamanote line, a loop that goes around Tokyo (think ‘freeway’), ran every two minutes and was still packed to the gills. There was a line to get up onto the platform! Crazy!
But yeah, we got to the Imperial Palace, the grounds where the Emperor of Japan still lives! (So you can’t go inside. He’s, y’know, walking around in there.) We walked past the fountain garden and walked around the outer moat, which sported koi and swans! One of them even had a nest.
The garden was pretty spectacular, too. Considering we were literally in the *middle of Tokyo*, that much space is pretty much the biggest luxury you can have. There were some really neat old buildings from back when such a place actually needed to be guarded and fortified, but y favorites were the mixed bushes and the bridges over the lake and waterfall. Everything was artistically done, and there was quite a lot of garden.
We walked around the outside of the palace, through a large, open space filled with Pine trees and tour groups, another luxurious empty space. More bridges and swans and the like. We took a short stroll through the nearby government district, too.
Next: Shinjuku! It took some doing to find the main drag, but find it we did. We actually saw an adult movie theatre, naked posters just all over the building. We walked around the stores but spent most of our time in…another arcade!
I went crazy enjoying myself on more games (more Mario cart!) and Jess got to rest her feet. She thinks I look adorable in this picture. :)
Evidently Shinjuku turns into more of a shady nightclub/bar district at night, but we didn’t stay that late. We found a nice curry & rice place that Jess and I really like. I need to practice making Japanese curry.
Next day, Electric town again!
-N
Labels: Arcades, Imperial Palace, Japan, Rush Hour, Shinjuku, Tokyo
April 18, not much
We left Osaka and stopped at Nagoya to check out a china factory. Really neat tour. My favorites were seeing the automated plate-making system and seeing the workshops of the actual artists. We got to watch the glazing process and see a video of the clay shrinking as it baked. We walked through several galleries of both elegant and everyday-use items, but nothing jumped out at me so I didn’t pick anything up. Still, neat tour.
Mostly, though, that was it for the day. We got to our next (last!) hostel, planned for tomorrow, and rested up. Lots of reading, lots of DS, and lots of getting ready for the next day.
-N
We left Osaka and stopped at Nagoya to check out a china factory. Really neat tour. My favorites were seeing the automated plate-making system and seeing the workshops of the actual artists. We got to watch the glazing process and see a video of the clay shrinking as it baked. We walked through several galleries of both elegant and everyday-use items, but nothing jumped out at me so I didn’t pick anything up. Still, neat tour.
Mostly, though, that was it for the day. We got to our next (last!) hostel, planned for tomorrow, and rested up. Lots of reading, lots of DS, and lots of getting ready for the next day.
-N
Aside: Engrish
English is some of that silly, strange stuff that you get when you do imperfect translations between languages. Here's a couple of photos I got in Japan, one in the mall after the Osaka Aquarium and the other in the bathroom of the Osaka Hostel, presumably asking people to do...something. I'm not sure what.
-N
English is some of that silly, strange stuff that you get when you do imperfect translations between languages. Here's a couple of photos I got in Japan, one in the mall after the Osaka Aquarium and the other in the bathroom of the Osaka Hostel, presumably asking people to do...something. I'm not sure what.
-N
April 17, a simple tour of Osaka.
In keeping with the running theme of “Less, but awesome”, we didn’t do tons of stuff today, but we had a great time.
Do to geographic concerns (it was close to the hostel), our first stop was Osaka castle. We ended up getting on the loop line at rush hour, but we got seats before tons of people showed up, so we were okay.
We got to the castle a bit before it opened and walked around a park surrounding the castle to burn time. Our first impression was…well, the park was a shantytown. People had built homes all over the park out of tarps, planks, and ropes tied between trees. I wondered why they weren’t just kicked out, but I guess that’s for the Osaka Police to know.
Walked along a bike path for a while and saw a bunch of cats getting hounded by ravens. Jess walked over to say hi and the birds flew off. The cats remained indifferent to her presence.
We walked around to the front of the castle when it opened. We slipped in while 50 tour groups had their pictures taken in front of the castle. Slick.
It was a recreation of the castle and the outside was certainly magnificent. Gold trim and everything. The inside was a museum, but it was a seriously neat museum. We started at the top and got a really nice view of the whole city. Floor 7 was a history of the man who united Japan (before Tokugawa). There was no floor 6, oddly.
Floor 5 was amazing. There was a painting commissioned about the big final battle outside of Osaka between Tokugawa and the entrenched forces that was, essentially, the last battle in the unification of Japan. It was really just amazing. We stood and watched for 10 minutes while a video explained all the details, pointing out all the generals involved, little scenes within the picture, and all the big battle fronts. The second half dealt with the aftermath: celebration for the victors, people fleeing Osaka, and bandits taking advantage of the confusion. Really an amazing painting, though we didn’t get to see the original.
The fourth floor had weapons and armor, so I was stoked. There were lots of full suits of armor, some truly legendary sword blades, and all sorts of other intricate pieces. The third floor had other weapons: bows, long pikes, etc. Second floor had information about the castle restoration, the first floor was just the entrance. Really interesting sight.
We had lunch on the way out. I had katsu don and udon, and jess had hamburger…which is really more like meatloaf the way they serve it. Good stuff. We got some vanilla-grape ice cream afterwards, too, which Jess just LOVED.
Then off to the Osaka Aquarium. Wow, Wow, WOW! I think I took more pictures here then anywhere else on the whole trip.
Otters up close, sleeping on their backs and playing in the water. Sea lions at play! Dolphins! And the gigantic main tank that had a freakin’ WHALE SHARK! WAAA! Absolutely amazing! There was this huge central tank with stingrays and all manner of huge fish and this younger whale shark just swimming around. The fish tended to follow the manta ray and the whale shark around, which was entertaining.
There was also a tank themed after the Amazon rainforest with some of the biggest fish I’d ever seen! Huge!
After that we hung out in a mall where I played at an arcade I found a bunch. Shooting games, a Taiko drum game, and a whole lot of Mario Kart 2. The arcade machine actually prints and accepts cards that list your progress in the game. I saved mine, I unlocked a few neat cups, so I felt good.
After that, we had lunch at the food court. Jess got some pizza and I had Okanomiyaki. Pretty good again, but the really interesting part was that I got some shaved, dried fish or octopus or something on top, and when I opened the box, the stuff was moving all over! It must have had to do with the drying and re-moisturizing, but the little flakes were wiggling and shaking all over. Weird, but tasty.
After that we came back to the hostel and rested up.
-N
In keeping with the running theme of “Less, but awesome”, we didn’t do tons of stuff today, but we had a great time.
Do to geographic concerns (it was close to the hostel), our first stop was Osaka castle. We ended up getting on the loop line at rush hour, but we got seats before tons of people showed up, so we were okay.
We got to the castle a bit before it opened and walked around a park surrounding the castle to burn time. Our first impression was…well, the park was a shantytown. People had built homes all over the park out of tarps, planks, and ropes tied between trees. I wondered why they weren’t just kicked out, but I guess that’s for the Osaka Police to know.
Walked along a bike path for a while and saw a bunch of cats getting hounded by ravens. Jess walked over to say hi and the birds flew off. The cats remained indifferent to her presence.
We walked around to the front of the castle when it opened. We slipped in while 50 tour groups had their pictures taken in front of the castle. Slick.
It was a recreation of the castle and the outside was certainly magnificent. Gold trim and everything. The inside was a museum, but it was a seriously neat museum. We started at the top and got a really nice view of the whole city. Floor 7 was a history of the man who united Japan (before Tokugawa). There was no floor 6, oddly.
Floor 5 was amazing. There was a painting commissioned about the big final battle outside of Osaka between Tokugawa and the entrenched forces that was, essentially, the last battle in the unification of Japan. It was really just amazing. We stood and watched for 10 minutes while a video explained all the details, pointing out all the generals involved, little scenes within the picture, and all the big battle fronts. The second half dealt with the aftermath: celebration for the victors, people fleeing Osaka, and bandits taking advantage of the confusion. Really an amazing painting, though we didn’t get to see the original.
The fourth floor had weapons and armor, so I was stoked. There were lots of full suits of armor, some truly legendary sword blades, and all sorts of other intricate pieces. The third floor had other weapons: bows, long pikes, etc. Second floor had information about the castle restoration, the first floor was just the entrance. Really interesting sight.
We had lunch on the way out. I had katsu don and udon, and jess had hamburger…which is really more like meatloaf the way they serve it. Good stuff. We got some vanilla-grape ice cream afterwards, too, which Jess just LOVED.
Then off to the Osaka Aquarium. Wow, Wow, WOW! I think I took more pictures here then anywhere else on the whole trip.
Otters up close, sleeping on their backs and playing in the water. Sea lions at play! Dolphins! And the gigantic main tank that had a freakin’ WHALE SHARK! WAAA! Absolutely amazing! There was this huge central tank with stingrays and all manner of huge fish and this younger whale shark just swimming around. The fish tended to follow the manta ray and the whale shark around, which was entertaining.
There was also a tank themed after the Amazon rainforest with some of the biggest fish I’d ever seen! Huge!
After that we hung out in a mall where I played at an arcade I found a bunch. Shooting games, a Taiko drum game, and a whole lot of Mario Kart 2. The arcade machine actually prints and accepts cards that list your progress in the game. I saved mine, I unlocked a few neat cups, so I felt good.
After that, we had lunch at the food court. Jess got some pizza and I had Okanomiyaki. Pretty good again, but the really interesting part was that I got some shaved, dried fish or octopus or something on top, and when I opened the box, the stuff was moving all over! It must have had to do with the drying and re-moisturizing, but the little flakes were wiggling and shaking all over. Weird, but tasty.
After that we came back to the hostel and rested up.
-N
Labels: Aquarium, Arcades, Castle, Japan, Osaka
April 16, ‘O’ cities.
Well we slept in this morning, all the way to 9:00! Which, by the way, is 4 in the afternoon back home. Yeesh. Got out of the hostel and took a streetcar back to the rail station, thus completing the list of every kind of public transportation known to man.
We had some time before our train left so we walked around Hiroshima station and found a supermarket. I got some rice…things. Seaweed wrapped triangles of rice with stuff in the middle. I really liked the one with fish. Yummers. Unfortunately, I can’t read the label, so the stuff in the middle is always a surprise.
The plan for the day was to make our way slowly up to Osaka, stopping at whatever little place we felt like. Our first stop was Okayama.
Okayama’s main attractions are a castle and nearby gardens. The castle exterior was very nice, but we had our backpacks on and didn’t feel like marching all over, up and down floors, having to take off our highly complicated hiking boots.
We saw this cat on the way up to the castle. It was really friendly and was super-pleased to let Jess pet him. Then, right when we left, another Japanese family tried to go up and pet him. Cat wanted nothing to do with them. Jess has super-cat-powers.
The garden, on the other hand, was gorgeous, huge, and well worth the effort it took to lug our bags around. There were all types of different section with different plant types. We just caught the end of the cherry blossom bloom so the ground was all carpeted with pedals. There were also immaculately groomed bushes, trees, islands and the like. Really pretty.
We stopped to eat lunch under a branch by the lake, which was really picturesque and nice until a swarm of pigeons descended upon us. We kept them away, though.
There was a larger building with lots of arts & crafts inside, huge lake and waterfalls, and even a tea house with a river running through the middle. That was my favorite, I think. I want a river running through my house.
We went back to the station and decided that little stop-offs weren’t quite worth the effort, what with backpack-lugging and figuring out public transportation at every little different city, so we just made our way up to Osaka. Jess, adorable again, fell asleep on my chest.
We found our way to the JR local lines and took the main loop to our hostel. A businessman chatted with us about our travels (in English) which was pretty nice. Jess gave him one of the little American keychain trinket things we brought to give away to people. Jess is getting pretty good at handing those out to helpful people.
The hostel was pretty acceptable, but the beds felt like they were just boxsprings.
We went out to look for dinner and passed a bunch of cheap business hotels, stand-up udon eateries…pachinko parlors…transient-looking types…a homeless shelter… Suddenly I’m quite glad that Jess and I are together. I wasn’t really expecting anything dangerous, Japan being what it is, but the safety in numbers felt nice. I imagine we would have felt a lot better if I could speak the language. Imagine a dirty-looking old Japanese man comes up to us and starts jabbering at us in Japanese. “Aaah! Help! We’re being robbed…I think!” Meanwhile:
Eventually we found an eatery, even thought the menu was all in Japanese. I’ll just eat anything, so I asked for a recommendation and the guy pointed at something at the menu. Sure! I’ll eat that. Jess got some rice and vegetables and the recommendation turned out to be Kobe beef! The place was what I would normally think of as a ‘Korean BBQ’ in America where there is a grill in the table and you cook your own food. In Japan, though, who knows what they call it? Anyway, we grilled our beef and tried it out, and it was some really good beef! We ordered a second set. Yum!
Then on the way home we stopped at a ‘mart’ for some desert. Came back to the hostel, took a nice, hot, long, Japanese bath (and sauna) and then fell asleep.
Tomorrow…fish! Live ones, though!
-N
Well we slept in this morning, all the way to 9:00! Which, by the way, is 4 in the afternoon back home. Yeesh. Got out of the hostel and took a streetcar back to the rail station, thus completing the list of every kind of public transportation known to man.
We had some time before our train left so we walked around Hiroshima station and found a supermarket. I got some rice…things. Seaweed wrapped triangles of rice with stuff in the middle. I really liked the one with fish. Yummers. Unfortunately, I can’t read the label, so the stuff in the middle is always a surprise.
The plan for the day was to make our way slowly up to Osaka, stopping at whatever little place we felt like. Our first stop was Okayama.
Okayama’s main attractions are a castle and nearby gardens. The castle exterior was very nice, but we had our backpacks on and didn’t feel like marching all over, up and down floors, having to take off our highly complicated hiking boots.
We saw this cat on the way up to the castle. It was really friendly and was super-pleased to let Jess pet him. Then, right when we left, another Japanese family tried to go up and pet him. Cat wanted nothing to do with them. Jess has super-cat-powers.
The garden, on the other hand, was gorgeous, huge, and well worth the effort it took to lug our bags around. There were all types of different section with different plant types. We just caught the end of the cherry blossom bloom so the ground was all carpeted with pedals. There were also immaculately groomed bushes, trees, islands and the like. Really pretty.
We stopped to eat lunch under a branch by the lake, which was really picturesque and nice until a swarm of pigeons descended upon us. We kept them away, though.
There was a larger building with lots of arts & crafts inside, huge lake and waterfalls, and even a tea house with a river running through the middle. That was my favorite, I think. I want a river running through my house.
We went back to the station and decided that little stop-offs weren’t quite worth the effort, what with backpack-lugging and figuring out public transportation at every little different city, so we just made our way up to Osaka. Jess, adorable again, fell asleep on my chest.
We found our way to the JR local lines and took the main loop to our hostel. A businessman chatted with us about our travels (in English) which was pretty nice. Jess gave him one of the little American keychain trinket things we brought to give away to people. Jess is getting pretty good at handing those out to helpful people.
The hostel was pretty acceptable, but the beds felt like they were just boxsprings.
We went out to look for dinner and passed a bunch of cheap business hotels, stand-up udon eateries…pachinko parlors…transient-looking types…a homeless shelter… Suddenly I’m quite glad that Jess and I are together. I wasn’t really expecting anything dangerous, Japan being what it is, but the safety in numbers felt nice. I imagine we would have felt a lot better if I could speak the language. Imagine a dirty-looking old Japanese man comes up to us and starts jabbering at us in Japanese. “Aaah! Help! We’re being robbed…I think!” Meanwhile:
Eventually we found an eatery, even thought the menu was all in Japanese. I’ll just eat anything, so I asked for a recommendation and the guy pointed at something at the menu. Sure! I’ll eat that. Jess got some rice and vegetables and the recommendation turned out to be Kobe beef! The place was what I would normally think of as a ‘Korean BBQ’ in America where there is a grill in the table and you cook your own food. In Japan, though, who knows what they call it? Anyway, we grilled our beef and tried it out, and it was some really good beef! We ordered a second set. Yum!
Then on the way home we stopped at a ‘mart’ for some desert. Came back to the hostel, took a nice, hot, long, Japanese bath (and sauna) and then fell asleep.
Tomorrow…fish! Live ones, though!
-N
Labels: Castle, Garden, Japan, Kobe Beef, Okayama, Shopping
We interrupt your regularly scheduled update for this special news bulletin.
I’m engaged! I asked Jess to marry me and she said yes! (Of course). I got her a nice ring and proposed to her at the Getty, the same place that I turned her down for when she first asked me out. That way her story had a happy ending.
Yay! Happy times!
-N
I’m engaged! I asked Jess to marry me and she said yes! (Of course). I got her a nice ring and proposed to her at the Getty, the same place that I turned her down for when she first asked me out. That way her story had a happy ending.
Yay! Happy times!
-N
Labels: Engagement
Thursday, May 03, 2007
April 15,
We woke up, a couple of times, and eventually got back on the road. We dubbed this place the cutest hostel in Japan because it was just adorable all over. Nice beds, too, which was a definite plus. Then, off to Hiroshima!
Jess slept on the bullet train. She’s so cute.
We met a couple of fellow travelers on the way from the rail station to the Hostel; one guy who chatted about hostels, and another couple of guys who needed help getting to Peace Park. I felt soooo experienced when I got to explain how busses work.
Walked to the hostel from the streetcar stop, found the hostel was closed (grr), so dropped off our bags in a coin locker and walked off to Peace Park, a park in memory of the A-bomb dropping and in hope for peace. We ate first and I got to try some okanomiyaki, sort of a savory noodle/sauce/seafood pancake that I’d heard about. It was pretty good.
Fueled up, we made our way through the A-bomb museum, which documented the whole incident, lead up, and atomic war since with a decided (and justified) anti-war slant. Seeing watches forever frozen at 8:15 (when the bomb was dropped) was eerie. Hearing stories about the survivors and the victims of radiation later was pretty stark, too. I half-expected it to take a one-sided pro-Japan anti-America stance, but it was surprisingly even-handed.
We strolled through the park afterwards, seeing the eternal flame which is supposed to be extinguished only when all atomic bombs are dismantled.
The Cenotaph was also nice to see, as was the children’s peace memorial, with thousands and thousands and tons of paper cranes all in display cases. You could even sign up to make your own ‘1000 paper cranes’ and have it housed there.
We also saw the a-bomb dome. Almost right under the blast and it remained standing, though gutted. It’s the one part of the city that wasn’t restored afterwards, and I think that’s what surprised me the most about the city. The bomb wasn’t dropped that long ago, 1949. That’s less than 60 years ago that the entire area where we walked through was leveled absolutely flat. Our hostel was built on land that was scorched clean only 55 years ago. To look at Hiroshima now, you’d never know. The city is alive and breathing just fine. 55 years! That’s not bad!
After all of that, we checked in at our hostel and then took a stroll through the shopping district.
I got to play at Japanese arcades! I knew they were bigger over in Japan, but good gravy! I have a theory as to why, by the way. In Japan they have 100 yen coins, which is, roughly, a dollar. It’s much easier to pop in 100 yen and think: ‘oh, it’s just one coin’ than to pop in four quarters. Four quarters? That’s a dollar! No way! So they can make more money. They certainly made some off of me.
(I love that picture). Each arcade (and there were several) had multiple floors. There was usually a floor for prizes with those grippy-arm things that never work, a pachinko/gambling for prizes floor, plenty of arcade games, and a floor where girls would go and take pictures in photo booths. Jess and I explored those, but we couldn’t quite figure the system out. We think it involved cell phones.
I spent some time and energy and yen there and had a ton of fun. Jess relaxed and played the DS. (She’s really nice to me). There were some fantastic-looking card-game based arcade games too. The arcade machines had a surface where you would place your cards and some sort of either ID chip or encoded image on the card would let the arcade machine know where the cards were. Then you *moved the cards around* and tried to beat your opponent’s cards with yours. It’s amazing. You can see a video of it here. I would have paid more attention…and a LOT of yen, I’m sure, on the game, but all the text was in Japanese, and I wouldn’t have been able to understand.
I played some drum-mania too, but I can do that at home.
We also visited a model shop. There’s a level of model-collection and creation that I’m just not able to bring myself up to. That store was that level.
Also, another bread store. We went nuts again, but that was some seriously good bread.
Lots of, I’m sure, very impressive cell-phone technology, but I really only use mine for calling people, telling time, and occasionally for calculating a tip. More than that just doesn’t appeal to me.
On the way back, we saw bats! Jess noticed them first. I tried to get a picture, but it was at night and they wouldn’t hold still. The peace flame looked nice at night, though.
Next day we would travel to Osaka, but as for where we would stop…who knew?
-N
We woke up, a couple of times, and eventually got back on the road. We dubbed this place the cutest hostel in Japan because it was just adorable all over. Nice beds, too, which was a definite plus. Then, off to Hiroshima!
Jess slept on the bullet train. She’s so cute.
We met a couple of fellow travelers on the way from the rail station to the Hostel; one guy who chatted about hostels, and another couple of guys who needed help getting to Peace Park. I felt soooo experienced when I got to explain how busses work.
Walked to the hostel from the streetcar stop, found the hostel was closed (grr), so dropped off our bags in a coin locker and walked off to Peace Park, a park in memory of the A-bomb dropping and in hope for peace. We ate first and I got to try some okanomiyaki, sort of a savory noodle/sauce/seafood pancake that I’d heard about. It was pretty good.
Fueled up, we made our way through the A-bomb museum, which documented the whole incident, lead up, and atomic war since with a decided (and justified) anti-war slant. Seeing watches forever frozen at 8:15 (when the bomb was dropped) was eerie. Hearing stories about the survivors and the victims of radiation later was pretty stark, too. I half-expected it to take a one-sided pro-Japan anti-America stance, but it was surprisingly even-handed.
We strolled through the park afterwards, seeing the eternal flame which is supposed to be extinguished only when all atomic bombs are dismantled.
The Cenotaph was also nice to see, as was the children’s peace memorial, with thousands and thousands and tons of paper cranes all in display cases. You could even sign up to make your own ‘1000 paper cranes’ and have it housed there.
We also saw the a-bomb dome. Almost right under the blast and it remained standing, though gutted. It’s the one part of the city that wasn’t restored afterwards, and I think that’s what surprised me the most about the city. The bomb wasn’t dropped that long ago, 1949. That’s less than 60 years ago that the entire area where we walked through was leveled absolutely flat. Our hostel was built on land that was scorched clean only 55 years ago. To look at Hiroshima now, you’d never know. The city is alive and breathing just fine. 55 years! That’s not bad!
After all of that, we checked in at our hostel and then took a stroll through the shopping district.
I got to play at Japanese arcades! I knew they were bigger over in Japan, but good gravy! I have a theory as to why, by the way. In Japan they have 100 yen coins, which is, roughly, a dollar. It’s much easier to pop in 100 yen and think: ‘oh, it’s just one coin’ than to pop in four quarters. Four quarters? That’s a dollar! No way! So they can make more money. They certainly made some off of me.
(I love that picture). Each arcade (and there were several) had multiple floors. There was usually a floor for prizes with those grippy-arm things that never work, a pachinko/gambling for prizes floor, plenty of arcade games, and a floor where girls would go and take pictures in photo booths. Jess and I explored those, but we couldn’t quite figure the system out. We think it involved cell phones.
I spent some time and energy and yen there and had a ton of fun. Jess relaxed and played the DS. (She’s really nice to me). There were some fantastic-looking card-game based arcade games too. The arcade machines had a surface where you would place your cards and some sort of either ID chip or encoded image on the card would let the arcade machine know where the cards were. Then you *moved the cards around* and tried to beat your opponent’s cards with yours. It’s amazing. You can see a video of it here. I would have paid more attention…and a LOT of yen, I’m sure, on the game, but all the text was in Japanese, and I wouldn’t have been able to understand.
I played some drum-mania too, but I can do that at home.
We also visited a model shop. There’s a level of model-collection and creation that I’m just not able to bring myself up to. That store was that level.
Also, another bread store. We went nuts again, but that was some seriously good bread.
Lots of, I’m sure, very impressive cell-phone technology, but I really only use mine for calling people, telling time, and occasionally for calculating a tip. More than that just doesn’t appeal to me.
On the way back, we saw bats! Jess noticed them first. I tried to get a picture, but it was at night and they wouldn’t hold still. The peace flame looked nice at night, though.
Next day we would travel to Osaka, but as for where we would stop…who knew?
-N
Labels: Arcades, Bread, Hiroshima, Japan, Peace Park
April 14, the Kobe vegetarian tour.
Here’s a quote from my journal:
“Okay, let’s get this out of the way. I didn’t try kobe beef. I’m sure it’s spectacular and all, but I didn’t get around to doing it. Why?
1) Couldn’t find a restaurant near the Hostel.
2) It’s just beef, I doubt I’d *appreciate* it.
3) If I really wanted to, I’m sure I could get some elsewhere in Japan, or even LA
4) It’s expensive
5) Of course I’d like it! I like eating! You’ll slow down and taste anything if it’s supposed to be ‘great’.
Sure I would have tried it, but it’s relatively low on my list of things to do in Japan.”
I did get some eventually, but that’s a later entry.
So we woke up at the stupid, uncomfortable, awful hostel and rearranged my joints back into proper working order. Then it was off to the station and then to Kobe.
Our first order of business was to lock up our enormous backpacks in coin lockers (we did this a lot, really nice to get rid of all that weight). After that, we hiked up behind the station and into the undeveloped mountains behind Kobe in search of, reportedly, waterfalls.
Boy did we find them! There were four of them within 20 minutes of the station, and some of them were fantastically pretty. Let me tell you, though, that was a seriously steep 20 minutes. It’s rather intimidating to look up at this enormous, huge, tall waterfall, then do some walking and later discover that you are higher than that waterfall was. That burns right in the quadriceps, let me tell you.
But yeah, waterfalls and nature. This was Jessie’s favorite stop of the trip.
And while we were hiking, what did we find? Could it be another gondola right, right next to the rail station? It is! We shuffled over there and got ourselves some tickets, taking a fantastic gondola ride up the mountain. There wasn’t anything like the first one, with that huge span over the volcanic valley floor, but it was still nice to get a view of the city and a ride up the mountain. We also got to see the very waterfall we had hiked past mere minutes before.
The top of the gondola ride was just a neat little place with some things to see, but we only bothered to walk through the ‘fragrance museum’, which was neat because they had lots of different smells to smell. I’m sure if we could have read the text that the history of perfume would have been gripping, but, you know, Japan.
After that we took some metro lines to near where our hostel was supposed to be. Then I got us hiking the *wrong way* to our hostel. Nice. Jessie got me back on track. Glad to have her along.
We got out and walked around near the hostel, but none of the recommended sights were near, which was okay by me because none of them seemed particularly gripping. (Chinatown? We have one of those back home. America town? Now you’re just being silly.)
Instead, it turns out that our hostel was near Sake breweries. Very neat. We got to try some sake, see the tools used to make sake, both in the past and today, and then walk through a tour to see how sake is made. Unfortunately, we walked through the tour backwards, so as near as I can tell; sake is taken out of bottles then allowed to ferment until it is steamed rice. Then they soak it until dry, polish it until the outer husk is back on, and then plant it in the ground. I don’t know where the alcohol comes from.
Our tour through…whatever neighborhood of Kobe we were in finished up with some local flavor. We saw some sort of Japanese percussion orchestra practicing, then a bunch of people playing baseball in a park, a guy walking some cute puppy-dogs and a supermarket, where we bought dinner. We took our meal back to the hostel and ate it in the main room while we watched some Anime with the other guests and the host. Then sleep.
-N
Here’s a quote from my journal:
“Okay, let’s get this out of the way. I didn’t try kobe beef. I’m sure it’s spectacular and all, but I didn’t get around to doing it. Why?
1) Couldn’t find a restaurant near the Hostel.
2) It’s just beef, I doubt I’d *appreciate* it.
3) If I really wanted to, I’m sure I could get some elsewhere in Japan, or even LA
4) It’s expensive
5) Of course I’d like it! I like eating! You’ll slow down and taste anything if it’s supposed to be ‘great’.
Sure I would have tried it, but it’s relatively low on my list of things to do in Japan.”
I did get some eventually, but that’s a later entry.
So we woke up at the stupid, uncomfortable, awful hostel and rearranged my joints back into proper working order. Then it was off to the station and then to Kobe.
Our first order of business was to lock up our enormous backpacks in coin lockers (we did this a lot, really nice to get rid of all that weight). After that, we hiked up behind the station and into the undeveloped mountains behind Kobe in search of, reportedly, waterfalls.
Boy did we find them! There were four of them within 20 minutes of the station, and some of them were fantastically pretty. Let me tell you, though, that was a seriously steep 20 minutes. It’s rather intimidating to look up at this enormous, huge, tall waterfall, then do some walking and later discover that you are higher than that waterfall was. That burns right in the quadriceps, let me tell you.
But yeah, waterfalls and nature. This was Jessie’s favorite stop of the trip.
And while we were hiking, what did we find? Could it be another gondola right, right next to the rail station? It is! We shuffled over there and got ourselves some tickets, taking a fantastic gondola ride up the mountain. There wasn’t anything like the first one, with that huge span over the volcanic valley floor, but it was still nice to get a view of the city and a ride up the mountain. We also got to see the very waterfall we had hiked past mere minutes before.
The top of the gondola ride was just a neat little place with some things to see, but we only bothered to walk through the ‘fragrance museum’, which was neat because they had lots of different smells to smell. I’m sure if we could have read the text that the history of perfume would have been gripping, but, you know, Japan.
After that we took some metro lines to near where our hostel was supposed to be. Then I got us hiking the *wrong way* to our hostel. Nice. Jessie got me back on track. Glad to have her along.
We got out and walked around near the hostel, but none of the recommended sights were near, which was okay by me because none of them seemed particularly gripping. (Chinatown? We have one of those back home. America town? Now you’re just being silly.)
Instead, it turns out that our hostel was near Sake breweries. Very neat. We got to try some sake, see the tools used to make sake, both in the past and today, and then walk through a tour to see how sake is made. Unfortunately, we walked through the tour backwards, so as near as I can tell; sake is taken out of bottles then allowed to ferment until it is steamed rice. Then they soak it until dry, polish it until the outer husk is back on, and then plant it in the ground. I don’t know where the alcohol comes from.
Our tour through…whatever neighborhood of Kobe we were in finished up with some local flavor. We saw some sort of Japanese percussion orchestra practicing, then a bunch of people playing baseball in a park, a guy walking some cute puppy-dogs and a supermarket, where we bought dinner. We took our meal back to the hostel and ate it in the main room while we watched some Anime with the other guests and the host. Then sleep.
-N
Labels: Japan, Kobe, Kobe Beef, Sake, Waterfalls
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
April 13,
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Labels: Bamboo, Bread, Japan, Kyoto
Japan Aside: Blind people.
Japan is *wired* for the blind. I first noticed it a few days after getting into Tokyo, but there are these yellow tiles all over the city. All over the city. Think about that. Yellow tiles *all over Tokyo*. This is one of the biggest cities in the world, and every street I walked down had a long line of yellow tiles with ridges on it. Then you’d get to the street and the tiles would terminate in bumpy tiles. I was suspicious about it for a while, and E confirmed it, these are for blind people. The ridged tiles indicate paths, and the bumpy ones indicate ‘stop, you’re about to walk into a street.’
Just imagine how much this must have cost! Not only where these tiles all over Tokyo, but all over nearly every city we visited. Millions and millions of tiles! Plus installation costs! Unreal.
The stranger part, though, the really weird part, is that I kept a running total of the number of blind people I saw while in Japan. The number of people for whom all this expense was spared. Know how many blind people I saw in Japan? Zero.
There are two working theories why this is so:
1) The prime minister or some high-up bureaucrat has a blind brother or cousin, and he pushed the legislation through.
2) The blind-assistance in Japan is so efficient that blind people can walk around without completely normally, and with no other visible means of assistance.
Me? I’m thinking #2.
-N
Japan is *wired* for the blind. I first noticed it a few days after getting into Tokyo, but there are these yellow tiles all over the city. All over the city. Think about that. Yellow tiles *all over Tokyo*. This is one of the biggest cities in the world, and every street I walked down had a long line of yellow tiles with ridges on it. Then you’d get to the street and the tiles would terminate in bumpy tiles. I was suspicious about it for a while, and E confirmed it, these are for blind people. The ridged tiles indicate paths, and the bumpy ones indicate ‘stop, you’re about to walk into a street.’
Just imagine how much this must have cost! Not only where these tiles all over Tokyo, but all over nearly every city we visited. Millions and millions of tiles! Plus installation costs! Unreal.
The stranger part, though, the really weird part, is that I kept a running total of the number of blind people I saw while in Japan. The number of people for whom all this expense was spared. Know how many blind people I saw in Japan? Zero.
There are two working theories why this is so:
1) The prime minister or some high-up bureaucrat has a blind brother or cousin, and he pushed the legislation through.
2) The blind-assistance in Japan is so efficient that blind people can walk around without completely normally, and with no other visible means of assistance.
Me? I’m thinking #2.
-N
