japan

  • Japan At Last! Part 8- Kyoto and Nara

    I caught a shinkansen down to kyoto, about a 3 hour ride from tokyo, and enjoyed a nap and a bento box…yum!

    All throughout the train stations were big brother-ish signs like this
    one. The childlike mannequins only add to the eerieness…is this how
    the japanese see themselves?

    Luckily those tiny little mannequins children can seek comfort from
    good old uncle sam, known to those of us in the states as the colonel
    of KFC. This was the first pic I took after getting off the hour long
    train ride from Kyoto to Nara

    Following that, vinh picked me up from the train station (not to
    mention let me stay at his place for a few days-thanks buddy!) and we
    met up with another friend of his and went out to dinner at a local
    izakaya

    Naho, who doesnt like pics being taken of her, and Vinh


    If you look closely you may notice that my beanie has the letters CMS
    on it in green. These letters stand for CHicago Medical School, not
    “centimeters” as so many japanese people thought. Eventually, i got
    tired of explaining, and simply answered one gentleman who asked me why
    i had centimeters on my beanie  in my hardcore surfer/rockstar
    voice and said “cuz the metric system FUCKING ROCKS DUDE”

    He tried to make a subtle escape. I tried not to laugh. we both failed miserably.

    karma got me back in the end when several days later, this beanie was
    stolen Now someone else in Japan who loves the metric system has my
    hat

    The next morning I decided to visit a few haunts in Nara before continuing on to Kyoto

    Shrine near the center of Nara

    engraved stone and cat on the grounds of Kofukuji temple

    5 story pagoda on grounds of Kofukuji temple, located in the center of Nara

    According to Japanese Mythology, when the first emperor of Japan,
    Jimmu, descended from heaven, he rode on the back of a deer and arrived
    in Nara. All deer in Nara are considered to be descendants of that
    first deer and are considered holy sika deer, or messengers of the
    gods. They are wild, given free run of the city, and very not afraid of
    people. However, for security reasons, a number of the bucks will have
    their antlers removed to minimize infighting or some such


    Kofukuji Temple, central Nara

    See what I mean about no fear from deer?

    All throughout the city are vendors selling various deer related and
    themed products, as well as cookies/biscuits that you can give to the
    deer. 1 dollar buys about 10 biscuits. As soon as you give to one deer,
    other pick up telepathic signals and bum rush you

    See what I mean?

    This time around i tried to feed just the babies and does, figuring
    they would be a little bit less agressive. No such luck…this little
    guy followed me around half the park, jumping up onto my bag and pawing
    at me when he wasnt trying to stick his nose into my pockets looking
    for more biscuits
    r>

    Just a short walk from Nara Koen is Todaiji Temple, the largest wooden structure in the world, and home to the Daibutsu of Nara



    The original building of this buddha took up half of Japan’s bronze and
    nearly left the country bankrupt. However, the current incarnation has
    had a little touch up work done here and there by the monks and temple
    staff

    One of the guardians of Todaiji Temple

    In the back corner of Todaiji Temple is a solitary pillar with a hole
    in it. Legend says that if you can fit through the hole when you come
    to todaiji, you will be blessed with a year of good luck (aka juju)
    Once again, i made it through, and lo and behold, good times are
    rolling! Note to self: continue returning to Japan to crawl through
    lucky hole

    Behind me is the buddha of healing. According to legend, if a
    particular body part is ailing you, you are supposed to rub that part
    of the buddha, and then the corresponding part on yourself, and your
    pain/illness will be taken away. And look at all this time I have been
    wasting in medical school

    The gate of Todaiji Temple from the inside of temple grounds

    With the morning pretty much over, i caught a train back to Kyoto to visit a couple more old haunts

    Kinkakuji, or the golden pavilion,  One of my two favorite temples in Kyoto…i could stay here all day

    Covered in Gold Plating, this was the residence of an emperor who requested it be turned into a temple upon his death


    Bonsai!…They dont have to be Karate Kid, little, just miniaturized compared to the surrounding foliage


    From there it was a short bus ride to my other favorite temple in Kyoto, and possibly one of my favorites in all Japan

    The Zen Garden that started it all

    It is normally a little prettier in springtime when all the flowers and trees above the temple are in bloom

    There are many interpretations of what the rocks and their arrangements
    are supposed to represent…I like thinking of this one as Japan itself
    with a monjo sized fuji rising out of it

    What do YOU think, blogosphere?

    So there are a total of 15 stones in the zen garden, and while there
    are multiple angles from which you can view them, there is only one
    place in the entire temple that all 15 at once can be seen. I pointed
    this out to a group of visiting school children and became an instant
    celebrity

    I had to stay in this pose while every single student you see in this
    pic got it on their camera with the cool hairy american who knew about
    japanese temples. The kid to the right of me was asking me about gang
    signs and all the cool stuff in america

    The kanji on this fountain mark it as the fountain of knowledge and
    three other virtues. I figured it would be a good place for a little
    purification washing

    More schoolchildren whose assignment from their teacher was to hold a
    english conversation with the first tourist they saw…i am a-ok
    suppaaa numbaa one celebrity
    I even got to sign autographs in their schoolbooks…really!

    The grounds of Ryoanji temple in winter

    Soothing, isnt it?

    From there it was another bus ride over to Gion, the shopping district
    and also the location of Japan’s famous geisha and maiko (apprentice
    geisha) Now geisha are not prostitutes, although that is what they have
    ended up being forced to become…they were the original courtesans
    trained in the art of conversation, instruments playing, dance, and
    many other hobbies of the aristocracy,…think a bling bling escort
    service with no nookie guarantee

    Temple in center of Kyoto at Gion

    Temple by day

    The red/orange paint dates these building back to the Heian era of
    Japan, when they were all still super impressed and influenced by
    China, to whom red is a holy color
    there was a festival going on this day too, so the inside of the temple
    was closed, but one could still ring the bells attached to those giant
    ropes and make prayers.



    This famous okonomiyaki resturaunt in gion is totally not ripping off the johnsons baby.

    Now one of the things i really love about Kyoto is that you can have a main street like this

    And then turn a corner and be confronted with







    juxtapositioning of old and new, temples and apartment complexes are part of Kyoto’s magic


    The photo above is two maiko, apprentice geisha as seen from behind.
    They tend to be camera shy and so i had to pull some sneaky guerilla
    tactics to get them at all. Unlike geisha, they are not allowed to wear
    the white face paint or anything until they gain full geisha-hood. Here
    was the first shot, and then once i remembered andysensei’s teaching

    and after…blurry cause i was running to catch up with them. Turns out
    they were going back to the same temple for services that i had just
    left





    I finally headed back to Nara where I joined Vinh, Naho, and another friend of Vinhs for dinner and some quality karaoke

    (3RD MENTION OF JOSH DOING KARAOKE IN JAPAN)

    Tomorrow, the real adventure would begin…

    -J

    Note: Sorry to all of you for taking so long to get this post up, xanga
    kept eating it or my comp would shut down. The Japan at last posts are
    almost finished…just 2 or 3 more parts remaining…hope you all enjoy!

  • Japan At Last! Part 7- Odaiba

    Since Andy had to go back to work the next day, I was on my own in
    Tokyo. So I decided this would be a good day to get some touristy
    shopping time in. To that end, I decided to catch the train over to
    Odaiba, home of my favorite mall in all of tokyo.

    Odaiba is built on the remains of the six Shinagawa batteries (daiba)
    that were built in 1854 to protect Tokyo from attacks by the Black
    Ships. In fact if i recall my nihongo correctly Odaiba means big
    cannon,

    First of course I had to take the subway/monorail over there


    Every time I ride this shuttle, it honestly feels like I am going to
    disneyland or something. Also, the subway goes through the divider of
    the freeway before going over the harbor and finally touching down at
    odaiba. Good times, good times

    Once there Odaiba basically consists of two giant malls, the toyota
    history garage, and of course the famous ferris wheel which makes an
    appearance in every anime movie based in tokyo and probably a live
    action films as well

    Not too impressive during the day but…

    But check it out at night! and onyl the inner 2 rings are lit up!
    Now this ferris wheel is well known for both the excellent romantic
    view it gives rubu-rubu couples, but also it’s height-115 meters tall,
    the  3rd tallest in the world!


    A pic of the corridors of Venus Fort, one of the shopping malls
    inside palette town and one designed with women in mind. No, seriously,
    this is actually known as the mall for ladies, with all of the stores
    carrying clothing boutiques, jewlery, perfume, or chocolate.

    Luckily, the desginers of this mall were clever enough to see how cruel
    and unusual that is to subject the male race too, so attached to the
    mall is the Toyota History Garage with a number of famous vehicles

    Such as this Toyota 2000 GT, aka the bond car from You only Live twice

    or the 1986 Toyota Trueno from Initial D

    Or even this 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS

    Tired?

    Me and this racer show you that only “dummies” wear helmets

    Acht nein! where are the breaks on this crazy german scooter

    Next stop, Toyota’s concept Cars


    Isn’t this what George Jetson Drove?



    After the Toyota History Garage, I crossed over to Palette Town
    mall…which is the awesome because they have a dog cafe. No, not like
    the maid cafe…but all the food courts and most of the stores allowed
    pets, and one place even had little water bowls and a dog park built
    into it’s dining area

    The Palette Town mall also contains the exciting book store, which
    always ends up costing me a fortune in the various toys..erm…i mean
    collectables, i purchase there to add to the toy cabinet back home.
    Notable Acquisitions this year: curious george, the gremlins, some
    nightmare before xmas, and a few other geegaws

    Next it was over the rainbow bridge to nearby Joyopolis…home to
    Sega’s gameland park, and a number of other wonderful oddities, like
    Condomania

    The prophylactics…lubey, pokey, and bob…i mean rubber

    You may have noticed my new hat. Japan is the only place I can buy hats
    because I have a pinhead too tiny for american hats ;-P So i purchased
    some  varied articles of clothing when the opportunity arose

    Happy Josh, and Happy Cat!

    Afterward, it was a brief walk around ginza, too expensive for my broke
    loan taking butt, and then back to meet up with Andy for dinner at a
    famous curry place.

    Tomorrow it was off too kyoto…

    -J

  • Japan At Last! Part 6- …Shinjuku and Whale by Night

    So Andy and I decided to walk from takashimaya back to shinjuku to grab
    some kujira for dinner. On the way, Andy wanted to show me one of his
    favorite places in tokyo, and gave me an impromptu photography lesson.

    Before…

    And after…

    And may i take this opportunity to mention that Andy takes some amazing photos and you should all go check out his page.

    The government building in Shinjuku, complete with a free 45th floor
    observation deck offering a marvelous panoramic view of tokyo


    The Dark blob in the middle is Meiji-Jingu Park, surrounded by Harajuku

    .

    So finally we left the observation deck of tokyo nights and
    proceeded toward our dining place, with one or two minor stops along
    the way


    Elton John…erm…I mean elton andysensei

    Blue Steel baby! cuz there’s more to life than being really really ridiculously good looking



    The above three pics are all of shinjuku and kabukicho, which is the
    sex/porn district of shinjuku. However, in addition to being a
    well-known home to smut peddlers, Kabukicho also offers a resturaunt
    that serves kujira, also known as whale.

    Now most of you know of my deep hatred for the ocean and all things
    that live in it, and my one man quest to consume them all until the
    seas are once again safe for the likes of me…so long story short, we
    decided this would be another fabulous place to enjoy dinner and try
    something new…

    Our table for the evening…another knee basher

    I want THAT one!

    Andy can’t wait to begin his meal

    The parts of whale on which we will be dining this
    evening…including but not limited too the heart, liver, pharynx,
    larynx, intestine, skin, muscle, and i can’t read the rest of those
    kanji

    Our meal began with sake served in a very traditional manner…we
    purchased a somewhat pricey, but highly recommended bottle, which was
    then poured into the two wooden containers until they overflow onto the
    plate…you then drop a pinch of salt onto one of the corners of the
    square, and then sip up the sake over that salt, slurpin until it is
    gone. Just like a japanese tequila shot ;-P

    First course…I may need Andysensei’s help to remember what some
    of these dishes are, but this one was whale skin on buttered toast, a
    delicate aperitif with the texture of the whale skin and the saltiness
    of the eggs excellently matching the sweetness of the butter

    2nd course…back muscle, possibly latissimus dorsi or trapezius , very chewy, a little salty, but otherwise good.

    I completely forget what this is, but whale is involved, and it has
    spicy mustard on top of it…which gives it flavor as well as texture

    .
    4th course…whale larynx/or pharynx if i recall correctly in some kind of sauce with kabocha

    close up view

    Fried whale, whale pharynx sushi, and i think eggplant, but
    andysensei is more than welcome to correct via the flooble chatterbox
    to the right
    <———–

    This dinner made for a whale of a tale…or is that the tail of a whale

    No whale here…course 6 was just some good old fashioned fresh made tofu

    Served with this whale (liver?) and hot pepper soup…tangy, AND delicious

    Course 7…some whale sashimi…from top right whale heart, skin,
    larynx, pharynx, and intestine. The muscle, being the fattiest had the
    best taste…many of the others were unique mainly for their texture
    and the things we ate them with that provided contrast. But thtne
    again, this much food for only about us $30 is a deal no matter how
    good the food may taste

    And what would a multi-course japanese meal be without the traditional hot pot?…and whale?

    mmmmm….Nabelicious!

    And to round out the meal some ice cream made with whale…and yes, i
    ate a few bites, and yes, the expected results of the lactose
    intolerant consuming dairy happened, but it was worth every bite

    So apparently whale is not the hot trendy cuisine of nihon that I
    thought it might be…since the average age of the resturaunt patron
    was 50+, it seems that with the whole ban on hunting whales thing, this
    is a dish that is mainly known and liked by the elderly and a few rare
    traditionalists…but it was an excellent deal for an excellent meal

    Afterward, as we were exiting the resturaunt, a girl ran up to
    andysensei. She asked him to identify a song on her ipod since he
    looked like he spoke english, and it was an english song, and all
    english speaking people know all english songs However, while
    neither andy nor I knew the song, the girl and her friend invited us to
    go to a post dinner karaoke session with them for a bit

    THAT’S RIGHT! THE 2ND MENTION OF ME GOING TO KARAOKE IN JAPAN! and again with people i just met that day!


    And here they are Chi, and Shin. Chi is a nurse in a hospital in tokyo,
    and Shin is a musician. FOr the record, Shin spoke damn near perfect
    english, a complement to andysensei’s amazing japanese, while chi could
    speak a little. I spoke mostly with SHin, as Chi was a little on the
    tipsy side, and understanding a sober person talking that fast in
    another language is hard enough. Between the four of us however, we all
    managed to communicate and have a grand old time


    And i sang my favorite Japanese Song, Tsunami by the Southern All Stars…

    And thus ends that day…what adventures did the next day hold in store?

    -J

    The Whale is not a fish, but a mammal

  • Japan At Last! Part 5- Asakusa by day…

    Continuing on with the visiting of places I have been before in Japan,
    Andy and I decided to visit Asakusa next, home of the bargain shopping,
    temples, delicious street food and the like.

    riksha’s at asakusa are actually not worth the money, as it is far more
    fun to walk around on your own terms, but these guys still made a cool
    looking pic

    here is a pic of andy and I beneath the famous lantern at Asakusa. Yes, I am flashing the peace sign again. I do that.

    here is the main thoroughfare of asakusa temple. Asakusa is the actual
    neighborhood, but the touristy part is this street of shops leading up
    to the temple of kannon which can be seen in the distance

    the inside of one such stall in the marketplace…

    and here is a tasty snack purchased from another such vendor…fried bean cakes!

    a toy store…a very expensive toy store

    a pagoda at asakusa kannon temple

    The temple of kannon at asakusa, so named when two local fisherman
    fished (duh) a statue of 42 armed kannon out of the river and brought
    it back to the village

    A fountain outside the temple where you purify yourself with washing your hands and mouth before entering

    this is the way we wash our sins, wash our sins, wash our sins…

    Next we did one of the big touristy things at asakusa and paid for
    our fortunes…it costs about $1, and you shake the box until a stick
    falls out. Then you look at the number on the stick, find the
    corresponding numbered drawer, and PRESTO! INSTANT FORTUNE!


    click on the pic for a larger view. We got a regular fortune..not
    too good, not too bad, the future is what you make of it…as it should
    be

    If you like you’re fortune, you are supposed to tie it in a little knot
    to one of the nearby poles, at which point the monks will come around
    later and burn it with prayers, and hopefully it will come true

    Next we stopped at a tourist booth on the way out and made some origami paper cranes while we waited for friends to meet us.

    …Well, Andy made paper cranes. The man is an origami whiz, and
    quickly had the japanese oohing and aahing in appreciation as he made
    single cranes, kissing cranes, double flying cranes, and an origami
    tank. I, however, am origami retarded, and could not fold my way out of
    a paper bag

    However, with the assistance of only 3 other people, i was able to make
    a down’s syndrome crane (yes yes, i’m going to hell, get over it). Now
    the story behind the cranes in japan and why they are so popular is
    that when you fold a crane, you are supposed to make a wish, and it
    will carry your wish up to the ears of god (well, one of them anyway)

    Therefore, the more cranes you make, the more likely it is supposed to
    be that your wish will come true. There is a famous statue in Hiroshima

    Click to Close

    This one.

    It is of a girl who contracted some disease after the bombing, and made 1000 paper cranes in hopes that she would get well.

    For more pictures of Josh’s trip to Japan 2003, CLICK HERE


    Eventually, we met up with a few of my friends from the med
    school…barry, on top right is a friend the other two, but a nice guy
    for all that ;-P Steve and Phil are my fellow sufferers in the
    wonderful world of medicine. Phil’s nickname is the machine, because he
    is just that damn competent

    Yeah, that’s right.

    We decided to go grab a bite to eat at a local do it yourself cookery…

    deee-licious! thinks steve.




    Steve: golly gee willikers barry, this is fun!
    Barry: Sure is, steve!

    Josh: It’s out of control!
    Andy: Why do i keep letting iron chef Josh do this to me?
    But at last! okonomiyaki! aka japanese pizza…don’t worry, there is no lactose involved so i can eat it without imploding

    After a hearty meal we decided to wander around asakusa a little more

    This is what Asakusa is famous for to Japanese people…these tiny
    little red bean filled cakes come in different shapes and sizes, cost
    about a buck for a bag of 10, and are delicious enough that you feel
    you must have done something wrong by getting them

    A statue of the bosatsu Jizo. I always find these oddly
    compelling/beautiful whenever i see them. Jizo is the guardian of
    children and and the unborn, and is supposed to help escort them to the
    next world. The red cloth this statue is wearing means some mother lost
    her child either pre or post partum, and put the bib on the statue as a
    prayer to guide her child to the next life.

    Samurai Warriors The Machine, The Josh, and Steve


    What would Phil and I look like as geisha? it is for pictures like this that digicams were invented…

    The Asahi building… designed to look like a giant glass of beer with a foamy head.

    And after such a large glass of beer, how about some tasty golden building. MMMM. now that hits the spot!

    Finally we left Asakusa and decided to head to SHinjuku to do some shopping at everyone’s favorite Mall…




    The view from HMV, a 12th story music store in the takashimaya
    times square window where i purchase my fix of Japanese punk and
    hardcore rock…and Phil gets video game soundtracks


    shogun dolls…and i thought I had an expensive toy collection...


    Finally we decided to go our separate ways, as andy and I had
    seperate dinner plans than the rest of the gang. While they were off to
    meet a relative, Andy and I had another uniquely Japanese food
    experience awaiting us hidden deep in shinjuku…

    -J

    Fun Fact: In the Dutch language, the restaurant idiom “let’s go American” means to not leave a tip

  • Japan At Last! Part 4-Akihabara, Izagaya, and Maid Cafe

    After wandering around Harajuku for a while, Andy and I decided to take
    a walk down tokyo’s equivalent of rodeo drive. This is a normal sunday
    crowd. Well, maybe not entirely normal, since a new department store
    was opening up, but nevertheless, there were a lot of people there. And
    if these pics arent showing up, go here or click on the pic itself, as i have hyperlinked the photos to where i posted them individually
    The image “http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/249/3459/640/IMG_0211.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
    From the shopping mall scene, we caught a train over to akihabara, also
    known as electric town. Why might it be called this you may wonder?
    well wonder no more! After ww2 the army and navy sold off their
    surplus electric
    equipment here…students would buy the parts and make radios then
    return to akihabara tio sell them…ever since this is the place to buy
    electronics in japan, no matter how strange or unwieldy…in search of
    electric nose hair clippers? well this would be your best bet to find
    them!

    This is an alleyway in Akihabara. An alley. at night. electric town starting to make more sense now?


    But i get ahead of myself…You see akihabara is not just a place
    to by various electric geegaws and doodads or even whatchamacallits. It
    is also a place with video game arcades stretching up 7 stories high,
    and department stores even higher. Whoever said New York is the city
    for shopping has clearly never been to tokyo, where anything you can
    imagine is available for purchase…

    for instance, ipods and panties. The machines above the lights are
    called “dream gets” You place sen en (or about $10) into the machine,
    and a little opaque plastic ball comes out. Inside the ball will be
    ,depending on the display case, either a ticket for an ipod, a
    playstation two, or more commonly, a wadded up pair of womens
    undergarments. The picture was taken because i know you would not
    believe me



    steve, however, was only too happy to test the machines (this pic
    courtesy of my friend the machine, who will appear in a later post

    A famous chain store in Japan is Don Quixote. It pretty much sells
    anything you can think of. Hence the panties. Anyway, one other thing
    that Akihabara is known for besides electronics and randomness is
    maids. The Japanese have a strange fascination with being served and
    waited upon by women in elaborate costumes. So when andy told me about
    a maid themed cafe in Akihabra, I was all for it.

    which way to the good eats, ladies?

    You would not believe how many dirty old japanese men were clustering
    around taking pics of these two and every other girl so dressed up. But
    then again, since most of you probably consider me a dirty old man,
    perhaps you would…

    What Andy did not know however, were exactly how many maid cafe’s exist
    in akihabara, and how long the wait was. We found one in Don Quixote on
    the 5th floor,


    but the wait was over an hour, and no pictures were allowed
    inside…the dirty old man rule again. So we ricocheted from corner to
    corner until we found all 9 of the maid themed cafe’s, at each one a 1
    hour wait or greater. Seeing as how we were too hungry to wait that
    long, we opted to go to a maid massage parlor instead

    good decision…

    We paid for the back and leg massage which was about 20 dollars for 20
    minutes. However, since we were busy chatting up our masseuses in
    Japanese, we managed to stretch it out to about 30…score one for
    andysensei and The Josh on charm and wit…

    Now that’s what i call a happy ending
    Following the massage, as part of the service, you receive a cup of tea
    and a biscuit. Enjoying our tea, Andy and I began a conversation with
    the only other patron in this particular establisment. Well, Andy
    actually began the conversation because after almost two years of
    living there, his japanese is far superior to mine

    Anyway, we learned that the gentleman was named Sekiya San, and was
    a food critic for a well known tokyo magazine, which he is holding.
    Having learned this useful little bit of information, we invited him
    out to dinner with us, and then asked if he could recommend anywhere
    good, considering that i wanted to try a number of foods unique to
    Japan.

    btw, here are our maid masseuse. The one on the right is named
    maria, and speaks english and hindi in addition to japanese…hello
    kitty!

    I don’t actually know why they dress the maids up as cats, but i am
    totally okay with it. But I digress…Sekiya took us to a famous
    akihabara izagaya for dinner. An Izagaya is a japanese version of a
    tapas bar. You go with a group of people, and you order several
    different dishes which everyone shares.

    A few examples of what we ate from the top: grilled squid, chicken
    cartilage, broiled fish, and okonomiyaki, which is basically japanese
    pizza (DONT WORRY! It’s non dairy, i was safe…)

     
    If  you ever get the opportunity to eat with a food critic, by
    all means i encourage you to do so! Sekiya San kept up a running
    commentary on a number of the dishes being served to us while we were
    eating, and knew what things to steer us to and away from

    On the plate above, you are looking at chicken sashimi (the white
    meat) and basashi (horse meat) Now I am not a big consumer of the red
    meat, but if i go to another country, i suspend my personal dietary
    preferences to try things out, and ya know what? Horse meat is a hell
    of a lot better than i would have given it credit for…it is a very
    sweet taste and delicate texture. The chicken sashimi on the other hand
    tasted pretty much like you would expect raw chicken to taste like
    …not bad, but nothing to write home about. Except I guess I am
    writing about it right now. ANyway, If the Japanese prepare it raw, i
    will probably eat it

    I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse….oh wait…I AM!

    Mmm thinks andy…tastes like chicken!

    Another fun fact we learned from sekiya san. After WW2, there was
    no beer to be found anywhere in japan because the barley had all gone
    into food production. So students would go to these izagayas with very
    little money but wanting to get drunk. What they would do is order a
    bottle of super cheap sake, which was still in abundance, and then add
    to it some non-alcoholic hops, which were still plentiful. PRESTO! You
    now have a drink that is cheaper than beer, but tastes just like it,
    called hoppy! Hence the label on the bottle above

    The hidden skills of the people at the table next to us

    Finally, we finished our meal, and went our separate ways, although
    both Andy and I still have sekiya’s contact info, and I fully intend to
    look him up again.

    -J

    Fun Fact:
    The world record for holding ones breath is 16 minutes and 24 seconds.

  • Japan At Last! Part 3-Meiji Jingu Park and Harajuku

    So a new day dawned bright and early, and after finishing up our fugu
    and living, we decided to revisit some of the places we had been on our
    last trip to Japan…such as Meiji Jingu Park…so this post will be a
    little segment called “then and now” where you can see the contrast
    between Japan Winter 2006 and Summer 2003 which was the last time I went

    SO lets begin, shall we?

    here is me at the tori marking the entrance to meiji jingu park, and
    yes i am holding up the peace sign…i just can’t help myself

    kept on walking along when what to wondering eye should appear bull a wall made of barrels filled with sake, not beer!

    Let’s flash back to 2003

    Yup, sake sure does make me happy…

    Moving right along…We came to the shrine in the center of the park.
    Now last time i was here, there was a shinto wedding taking place…and
    guess what? 3 years and 2 seasons later, there was again…the gods
    must have been smiling upon me, and I took a few more pics for you guys
    (well, for me too…)


    pretty neat, huh? and even in focus this time around…

    2003 shinto wedding…not sure if i was allowed to take pics, so it was some serious guerilla photography…

    Anyway, because it was apparently some holiday, there was even some
    street theater going on in front of the temple as well…some story
    about someone who slays a dragon, and meets an old woman, and some
    other stuff…probably a fairly well known japanese legend, but seeing
    as how the last time i studied this stuff was in undergrad, i am a
    little rusty, and my japanese had definetly gone down a little in
    quality…

    As part of the show there were two competing teams telling parts of the
    story, and each team had to make their own dragon, just like they did
    for chinese new year by balancing on each other and what not….this is
    the pink team. Even priest were in attendance which is how i know this is some important story…or maybe he just likes s



    here is the blue team…

    Pink team let is take a picture with them and the dragon

    good dragon…want a scooby snack?
    After, Andy and I went to the iris garden…while it was definetly nice
    to walk around there in the winter, the scenery was
    somewhat…anticlimactic

    contrast this with what it looks like in the summer

    2003 with mikey, navy mike, michelle, me and andysensei…we are on the brigde you see in the upper photo

    and a painting of us too! no, really…

    in summer the iris garden was filled with people…in fall it was just
    andysensei, myself, and a few birdwatchers who were all camo’d out

    For more pics from 2003 Japan trip click here
    or here
    or just go to entry june 24th 2003 and look around at the surrounding entries and whatnot

    Afterward, we went outside the park to surrounding harajuku, another
    suburb of tokyo where the teens gather to dress in the latest fashion,
    which by our standards is goth…

    see? even scary goths make the peace sign…


    in japanese fashion AND  culture, maids play a large role. i dont quite know why, but i like it…you will see why later

    The girl in the middle is pretty cute…the red contacts she is wearing
    only add to the effect…but can you tell if the two flanking here are
    male or female? dont be so sure…

    And one more pic of last year with the harajuku people…i used to be
    all about the crazy ninja suit…but now how cute is that little
    hat….seriously? its adorable in a terrifying way. And yes readers, i
    do in fact have dyed blond hair in this pic…
    here is what i look like with it up close and personal…

    what do you think folks? going to china this summer to study
    acupuncture…back to the blond hair and thin beard, or stick with the
    natural dark and thick…oh yeah baby

    anyway that’s it for this post…until the next one

    -J

    Fact of the Day:
    In liquid form, the entire population of the United States could fit into ten major league stadiums, filled to the brim.

  • Japan At Last! Part 2-Yokohama and Fugu!

    Well okay folks, now that all my guests are gone, and i dont have to
    worry or lose any more sleep over the talent show (which went off
    fantastically thanks for asking it will be in another post) I can
    finally get back to posting pics from my japan trip…

    again, all the photos are located in albums at www.photos.yahoo.com/rveblade but i will be putting up highlights over myahh

    so lets get to it shall we?

    After returning from the sapporo snow festival, I spent the next
    several days in tokyo and its surrounding suburbs with my good friend
    andysensei. Andy lives in musashikoganei, which is approxmately 30
    minutes west of shinjuku and almost 45 min to an hour away from
    downtown tokyo.

    So Andy had the weekend off teaching, and he and i decided to take a
    train ride to nearby yokohama, one of the largest citites in japan
    besides tokyo to go see the festivities going on for chinese new year

    why dont they design more U.S. resturaunts all cool like this?

    Gong hai fa choi! but why so crowded, you may wonder?

    ohhhh…because of the dragon!

    So Andy and I watched the parade for a while, and this dancing dragon
    which is basically two guys balancing on each others shoulders, AND
    balancing on six poles as they walk around and do all this jumping
    about.

    That is why you can see them above the crowd.

    We also ate a ton of chinese new year food like niku man…those little
    buns stuffed with pork or beef. Although I also purchased some japanese
    hot dogs. How are they different from american dogs?

    After watching the parade we walked around chinatown until we found
    some temples. I have this unknown need to walk into asian temples…i
    know, go figure. So we did and we took some pics



    Look! It’s Sexual Harassment Panda! (south park reference, for those of you not in the know)

    I dont know what siegfried and roy thought was so hard about this…

    Oh well. After that it we wandered over toward the harbor and came
    across a street performer…I am a sucker for these kind of things, so
    we stayed and watched the guys whole performance. He was darn good
    too…he juggled knives and an apple and took a bite out of it while
    juggling…not to mention the unicycle and the flaming pins and the
    yoyo and other good stuff




    the statue of liberty street performer

    Around this time we finally started to get hungry so we decided to head
    back to tokyo…or more specifically shinjuku to track down a
    resturaunt where we could dine on the delectable dangerous delicacy
    known as fugu…or blowfish to the rest of all y’all

    here’s to hoping i don’t die!

    Now the reason the puffer fish is so poisonous is that it contains a substance known as ttx or tetrodotoxin.
    Basically, tetrodotoxin stops the action potential from releasing any
    neurotransmitter to propagate the action potential to the next neuron.
    tetrodotoxin affects the amplitude
    of the presynaptic action potential which has an affect on the
    following postsynaptic potential. Or in more simple terms…your
    neurons wont fire, and therefore your brain cant make your body do
    anything it should…like breathe or make your heart beat.


    long story short, the chefs prepare it so only a little bit of the
    poison remains and it just gives your tongue a pleasant tingle. Above
    you see some fugu salad and sake, course 1 of the meal


    hmmm…i am not so sure about this tomfoolery…

    followed by some fugu sashimi

    followed by course 3, fugu prepared in yet another way which i do not recall

    then fugu tempura

    grilled fugu…aka teppan fugu

    OH NO! THE POISON IT’S GETTING ME! HELP! HELP! ANDY!

    OH NO! ANDY’S POISONED TOO! WE’RE GOING TO DIE!

    heh…j/k folks

    i forget what this is, but you can bet it has fugu in it

    hmmm…it appears i mean nabe fugu…or fugu stew! Basically they give
    us a pot of boiling water…or rather than pot, i mean a wicker basket
    with just a piece of PAPER in it, and we cook the fugu in the boiling
    water for like 5 minutes then eat it

    like so…

    <br>


    Ah well, at least we went out happy…

    -J

    More pics to come!

  • Japan At Last! Part 1-The Snow Festival

    At last I am finally getting around to posting about my japan trip.
    Photos were done a little differently this time. Since I took around
    600, it will be damn near forever before they get up on the usual
    picture site. Instead, they are all posted in albums under my yahoo
    account.

    So go to www.photos.yahoo.com/rveblade and just search through my
    various albums to see the parts I am talking about. I will also even
    post a few photos here.

    So let;s begin, shall we?

    After a 13 hour flight, crossing the international dateline, and
    dealing with a 15 hour time difference, I arrived at tokyo Narita
    Airport tired and excited as all get out. I then traveled a couple
    hours by train over to my friend andysensei’s place. Andy lives in
    MusashiKoganei about half an hour west of shinjuku, a major suburb of
    tokyo. But more on that later.

    One of the first things I noticed was that in two and half years, I had
    forgotten a lot of my Japanese. I still remembered all the basics like
    grammatical structure, and how to ask where how, why, how much, and
    could make myself loosely understood, but my ability to understand what
    people were saying to me had been severly compromised due to my lack of
    practice since i graduated. Sad but true. Even more unsurprising, I had
    lost my ability to read Japanese nigh completely. Well, Kanji anyway.
    Ever had a word on the tip of your tongue, and cant quite get it out?
    know how frustrating that makes you feel? Well imagine that feeling,
    but with a WHOLE FREAKIN LANGUAGE!

    But I digress. The first part of my trip was a 7 hour train ride up to
    the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido. Once there, I checked into
    my hostel and went about visitng the Yuki Matsuri, or snow festival the
    city of Sapporo Holds every year in Febuary. Yes, Sapporo, like the
    beer.

    (My Shinkansen to Sapporo-these can travel up to 200mph!)

    The Snow Festival began in 1950
    when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori
    Park. In 1955 the Japan Self Defense force the nearby Makomanai base
    joined in and built the first massive snow sculpture for which the Snow
    Festival has now become famous. In years when the
    accumulated snowfall is low, the Self-Defense Force, for whom
    participation is considered a training exercise, brings in snow from
    outside Sapporo.

    These stautes are ginormous, and often feature well know movies,
    celebrities, or anime characters. Some can be built by a few dozen
    people, and other works take thousands!

    Above is a pic of the ice queen from the movie narnia, with a couple
    people in front to put into perspective how large these scultptures are

    looks pretty dont it?
    The main site where all the fancy snow sculptures are located is Odori
    Park, a 13 block (maybe 3 mile long) walk of sculpture after sculpture.
    Here are some of my favorites, with the rest in the yahoo photo album

    I dont know what this is, but it looked awesome

    It me and Doraemon! the robot cat from the future

    I stayed and watched a concert for a while. There were three main
    stages, all of which were built of snow and ice and lit up beautifully
    like so.

    Luke, I am your snowman

    Every year, a castle or temple of Japan is built in the snow festival
    to represent the culture and history. This year, the sculpture is the
    oldest buddhist temple in Japan. The Emperor Yomei decreed
    a temple should be built to house a Buddhist image. This temple was the
    Horyuji Temple built in 607 AD. UNESCO has listed the temple as the
    world’s oldest wooden structure.


    again, I am not really accurately representing the huge size of these sculpture, which you would have to simply see to believe.

    This is an ice sculpture of the Japanese television character, “Hard
    Gay” Google search for good times. And no it is not a porn thing.

    Kakoui! (super cool!)


    There were also several ice sculptures which were lit up rather beautifully at night

    pretty neat, eh?
     
    I had a nice ramen dinner that evening (i ate a TON of ramen while in
    Japan…not instant noodles either, but the real deal and man my
    stomach goes to happy places just thinking about it) and returned to
    bed to continue on the next day with my adventuring.

    Day 2

    The Sato Land site was new this year. Previously, it was located at the
    makomanai military base. Either way however, the things to see here are
    the fantastic slides, sculptures, and snow maze all built by the self
    defense force as a exercise in training and cooperation.

    DOnt be fooled these are not members of the self defense force. The
    military helps the kids build a bunch of snowmen, and then they line
    them all up. It has some significance, i’m sure, but i dont know what

    It’s like a tiny little snow army!

    You can’t tell from most of these pics, but it is snowing like nobody’s
    business. Luckily, 2 years in chicago has acclimated me to cold weather
    and I dont need more than my trusty leather jacket to keep me warm!

    Turn your head sideways. Now look at the bright red snowball in the
    center of this misshapen snowman. I PUT THAT THERE! Then I got into a
    snowball fight with like 30 little japanese kids. They won. Easily.

    How cute is this kid? I must have seemed like the biggest pedophile to
    the Japanese, just taking random pictures of their children in the
    snow…but tell me this isn’t awesome. That’s right, you cant

    Did I mention the fully stocked bar made of SNOW? Drinking is going to be a common theme of the pics from my trip.


    snow maze from above

    me lost in the maze

    Next it was on to the Sapporo Beer Museum, and their wacky ingrish!

    i flowed much beer that day, with friends i met in the hostel

    From Left to Me, Matt, I forget, Caris, Matt’s Sister, Tammy
    We are all enjoying the sampler of sapporo brews, which is 4 full beers
    for about 4 full dollars. We drank about 4 of these samplers, or 16
    beers each before leaving the museum.

    Beer Goggles! No really, the history of beer was shown to us in visor
    form through these things. Did i mention we were tipsy by this point?

    you are what you eat…or in my case, drink

    So Matt, the gang and I walked from the beer museum back to odori park
    to get dinner. On the walk back we played the red light green light
    drinking game. The rules are very simple. In Sapporo, you can walk
    around with a open container of alcohol in your hand…just like vegas.
    So we would walk into a conbini (convenience store) and purchase a
    beer. Then we would resume walking toward odori park which was some
    miles away. Everytime we had to stop, say at a red light, we would all
    say kanpai! and then down the beer and walk into the next conbini,
    usually located conveniently at every stoplight.

    Then we had more ramen

    The Chef was happy to see me return to his shop again, and I was happy to eat his food

    After a hearty dinner, we all went to Susukino Park, known for its ice sculptures.



    But the sculptures arent all just works of art to be looked at. SOme of
    them are more functional and serve as food stalls or even a KARAOKE BAR!



    Inside, they were serving hot wine and beer for FREE! Care to take a guess how much alcohol i have consumed today?

    we packed that place solid too…

    Finally it was time for me to bid my new friends goodbye, and catch the
    last train back to tokyo, another 8 hour ride which doubled as my
    sleeping time and got me back to tokyo at 9am the next day. Not bad
    sightseeing for 36 hours, eh?

    Next Post: Tokyo!

    -J

  • The ocean will fear me

    Things to do yada yada yada:

    today i ate whale meat. A 7 course meal of it in fact, including the skin, heart, back meat, tongue, intestine, throat, and other delicious parts. Had it in sashimi, nabe, sushi, deep fried, and even n ice cream (which was well worth the suffering it led to later)

    I will make the ocean my bitch.

    Also, I got another valentine from another japanese girl. This country rocks my socks. If it werent for the fact that i am broke as a joke, i would stay here indefinetly. *shrugs* shikata ga nai, ne?

    for those of you missing my long posts, again i will give the stories in full when i get home, for now these are updates for you and reminders for me.

    for those of you who prefer my short posts….live in the moment

    -J

    The JOsh hates the ocean, but finds its creatures delicious

  • What the Josh is up to, part 2.

    Things to do before I die #783, 784

    eat horse sashimi
    eat chicken sashimi

    check and double check.

    I am so about living abunai da yo! (dangerously) and thankfully (and somewhat amazingly) my japanese is coming back to me much faster than i expected it to. Not by any means fluent again, but only a few days back and i can once again hold a conversation, ask for directions, and get about with relatively little difficulty.

    The kanji reading skills however? gone the way of the buffalo i’m afraid.

    Other fun things i did today to be posted about at lenght later

    1) Got a massage
    2) Got a valentine from the girl who gave me a massage (andy got one from his masseuse as well)
    3) met a magazine japanese writer/food critic at the massage parlor, andy and i ended up going out to dinner with him and learning about a whole bunch of things we wouldnt have otherwise

    Have i mentioned how much like home japan feels? Though it has been years since my last trip, it is like i never left. and this makes me happy in ways that words cannot accurately describe.

    ALright…tomorrow we will hopefully meet up with steve and the machine for good times.

    -J

    The Josh will apparently eat just about anything you put in front of him, provided it is foreign