Advertisement
Published: January 24th 2010
Dec 26: Re-orienting in Tokyo A xmas flight to Narita arrived 2hrs(?!) early. Smoothly got thrrough the customs, rented a cell phone, and got on Narita Express. Destination: Shinjuku. It's about 1.5hr ride. It was just getting dark outside when the train left at 4:15p. As I was familiarizing myself w the phone, the vending cart came around. Ahhh yes, I'm in Japan. The cart has snacks and drinks for sale. Convenience and service, I can definitely expect for the next few weeks 😄 At Shinjuku station, I was to meet Toshi at the west entrance, in front of Yodobashi camera. Shinjuku station is one mammoth station with like entire Tokyo population passing by. I got to the west entrance, saw no sign of Yodobashi, weaving through ppl w my luggage, I called it quits!
Picking up a cell phone paid off and Toshi found me shortly. We went to his place to drop off my stuff. The place is not too far from Shinjuku. Tomoko, Toshi and I went to neighborhood soba place, a mini super market, then picked up yakitori from a yakitori window. You pick the skewer of your choice and they grill them for you
right there. All of these within short 1 block. Buildings are small and a block goes a long way here.
Dec 27: Tokyo revisited After a quick breakfast/lunch of hot cake at home (thanks guys xoxo), we headed out to town. The biggest debacle - taking cash out. I mean we tried all possible ATM. Some of them only dealt w Japanese banks. It seems that the only place that dealt w Star was 7-11 but even then, it said that Star was somehow not available as of Dec 14...what a luck 😞 Using plastic has been difficult here. For example, a bullet train vending machine only took Japanese credit card.
Anyway, we walked around Shinjuku. As usual, there were hordes of ppl in front of Alta. While browsing through high rises, including the new fashion school's cocoon tower, we headed toward the city hall. City hall is a nice-looking high-rise w two towers connected. It's free to go up to the 42nd-floor observatories on each tower. Although it wasn't crowded, there were enough tourists. The view was amazing...building after building after more building 360-degrees!! City's so-called symbols are buried in the concrete jungle!
From there,
we headed to Omotesando to check out Omotesando hills/Midtown, new developments since my last visit. Toshi and I met up w Tomoko to "ocha" at Pierre Hermes. The Paris patisserie was totally turned into a swanky chocolate boutique here - bright, spacious and clean. Upstairs is a cafe and there were like 10 ppl waiting. While we waited for about 30min for our seats, there were mini museum-like display of Pierre's macarons and books, and an offering of hazelnut wafers 😊 The cafe offered various samplers, parfaits etc. Definitely yummy but the atmosphere and price wouldn't have done justice otherwise.
Since we sat for an hour and half, we had to run to the main event of the day before I took off. The main event? Ramen, of course 😄 We skipped Omotesando Hills all together and ran to Shibuya. Ichiran was the pick of the ramen champion. Luckily the line was short but the place had only 20 seats. Bought tickets and filled out our personal preferences on soup, noodle and toppings. Shortly after, we were seated. This place not only has personalized great ramen, but also offers a unique experience that screams Tokyo. The eating counter is
divided by walls, creating sort of an eating cubicle. Each cube is equipped with a water fountain. You place your orders on the counter and shortly after, your bowl arrives. Last but not least the bamboo curtain closes in front of you. Now your view is completely isolated and all you need to worry about is the bowl in front of you!! What's more, there is an instruction on how to order more without saying a word. Again, nobody will ever have to know about it. Who cares? Tokyoers do. They seem to be extra sensitive about Japan's slogan: "manner". This word, to me, is one of the elements that make Japan so unique. The word in essence means 'consideration for others' or 'paranoia of self-conscience' in context and includes taking it upon themselves to putting the cell on silent mode and making ways for walkers on escalaters. Especially the latter is perfectly followed by everyone although it is unwritten and unspoken. I mean nobody is making mistake and there is zero sign!! In fact, standing ppl go on left-hand side in Tokyo and right-hand side in Osaka. It is, for good or for worse, impressive to obtain this level
of order from a mass of ppl in metropolis. Blocked escalaters must annoy everyone so much that rule-busters would get in trouble w their peer cuz there is no authority involved.
Intrigued and stuffed, I left Tokyo on a late Shinkansen to Osaka.
Dec 28: Settling in No plan. It's been relatively warm in Japan. In the late morning, I rented a bike for a whopping buck a day and went for a jog on a trail along the neighborhood levee. On the way back, mom and I stopped by the farmers market to pick up local greens, then a bakery for fresh-baked bread, mmmmm. It suddenly got cold and started sprinkling along the way but by the time we got home, the sun was back already. But because of the spike of cold I wasn't used to, I became under the weather already, arrrrgh. How my skin got so thin in Cali!! So spent the afternoon w TV 😞 besides getting fresh air at a store 2min walk from home. At home, mom made hot pot full of local greens. She had all kind of homemade winter concoctions, btw.
Dec 29: In search of national 
Pierre Hermes
Omotesando, Tokyotreasures
Today's destination was Nara. It is an ancient capital before Kyoto (which was the capital before Tokyo) and the home to one-third of all national treasures!! I for one remember a fair amount from my elementary school history education - many important events took place there, especially the work done by Shotoku Taishi, who was the face of 10,000yen bill for a long time.
7:30 train via Osaka stn took us to Horyuji by 8:40. Train ride through Nara was slow w mountains in the background. 10min walk from the stn took us to the temple originally built by Shotoku Taishi and later many dedications were added in honor of him. It houses many many statues and artifacts that are mentioned in textbooks. We went through all 3 sections, remembering and reconnecting with them. It took us about a few hours to savor what Horyuji had to offer before making a pit stop for kuzukiri, yumm 😊 A bus & a train ride took us to the next destination: Yakushiji. Unfortunately, more original of two towers was under restoration and completely covered up. Nevertheless, we made it to the annual Buddha wipe at 1p. Statues are about
5m tall. The monk team consisted of ~6 chanting monks, ~6 cleaning monks and bunch of other helpers. After a prayer, the ceremony started. 2 monks climbed onto the statue and the helpers handed over the wet rags w bumboo rods while the chant continued in the background. What a sight...a TV station was there to capture the action too. The crew went through 3 bldgs in 2hrs.
From Yakushiji, a short walk took us to Toshodaiji where the first buddhist monk from China, Ganjin, lived. It was also well restored and again housed many treasures. As I was appreciating the history and its significance, honestly, was a bit templed-out...and hungie. Around such well-known sights, there was nothing commercial - no touristic cafeteria nor gift shop. This I really liked and had a lot of respect for, but the reality was that it was 3p and we hadn't eaten lunch. By the time we made it to Saidaiji stn, our priority was to find food!! Luckily, the stn was decently big. We decided on takoyaki Kukuru from Dotonbori, Osaka. Akashi style is super fluffy and eaten w dipping broth - yummmm!!
It was getting cold and dark and
we made our way back to Osaka. On the way home, we stopped by Kyoto stn where there is an observatory. More importantly, we picked up a bottle of extra super premium sake (yes it tastes clearly better than other grades) from Fukushima 😄 and Kyoto sweets incl Ajarimochi and Otafuku 😄 😄
Dec 30: Today was a chill day in Osaka. I had an appt w Hitomi san, my favorite hair stylist and a friend. I spent ~3hrs there putting life back in my hair!! After the pampering session, I spent that evening just going around stores. I bought enough and was ready to call it a day but then I saw a cute sweater. As my discipline was speaking to me, I heard the saving voice of a sales girl saying "isn't it sooo cute?". Yeah I know, which color do you think I should get? And the rest was history...
Dec 31: THE shrine Today was dedicated to visiting Ise shrine. The inner of the two locations of Ise jingu is dedicated to the highest god of Shinto, Amaterasu no omikami. The legend has it; he let the sun rise when darkness
encapsulated the country for some time. After ~2.5hrs of train ride, we arrived at the outer location, which is dedicated to the god of the basics of life. The place was decently crowded w ppl making the new year visit. Shrines are completely different from temples, although people go to either one to take care of their traditional what-nots. Shrines don't charge entrance fee though. This one, being the Vatican of Shintoism, gods are housed behind 3bldgs away from us and rebuilt every 20 yrs. Buildings are not painted either, showing bare wood surface - simple and beautiful. Made our rounds of the outer shrine along w my wish for 2010.
A 30min bus ride took us to the inner shrine. It's no top shrine for nothing. The road was completely stopped except for buses and taxi. Right next to the inner shrine, there is a few strips loaded w local products and crafts. This was really neat!! Ise is known for akafuku, udon, seafood, matsuzaka beef and soy to name some. Akafuku is especially famous and can be purchased everywhere in the west. Surprisingly, I liked Ise udon. In spite of its simplicity, well-done noodle and thick soy
sauce made a pleasant match 😄 Besides original and nostalgic food, there were mini shows here and there.
From here to the end of the new years day was typical relaxing time, incl traditions like new year soba, lots of tv etc. Many places are open on the new years day these days. We went to Mr Donuts for pao de ring 😄
Jan 3: Kyogen Spent a nice new year at my uncle's overnight. We ate beautiful osechi, ozoni w homemade mochi and various nagoya delicacies. We left the house at 3:30 to make it to the kyogen show. Kyogen is comedy that dates back 600yrs. It requires good penetrating voice and specific tone. This show was by the main clan, incl the human treasure. It's amazing that the same joke is being told 600yrs the same way and it's still funny.
Jan 4: Himeji 9:30 train arrived at 11 at Himeji stn. THE spot there is Himeji castle, a national treasure. 10min walk on the main street connects directly to the castle. Right outside the castle was a hi-tech public bathroom. Public bathrooms are generally clean but this one was exceptional, equipped with
washlet, otohime and flush all on the wall. Shortly after a quick pit stop, we arrived at the castle.
The weather forecast said rain later in the day but it was a pleasant day 😊 The castle was decently crowded but totally doable. A short climb took us to the main bldg. The main bldg is 6 stories plus a basement. Visitors can go through each floor loaded with artifacts. Although it was rebuilt 60yrs ago, most parts are original. It seems that because the castle didn't play a history-defining role, it survived the time of samurai. By the time we got to the top level, the room became the size of a living room...
After visiting the main and the west bldg, we checked out a mini row of Himeji specialty shops. Hmmm, nothing particularly stood out. I had kuzumochi (like a big slab) dotted w nice plump kuromame - pretty good. For dinner, mom whipped among other things, tenshin gyoza, paper-thin dumpling that accentuated the crispiness, yumm!
Jan 5: Tower of the sun Reminescence of last night's rain created gloomy cold day. It was best to stay local. Destination: The expo park from the
world expo of 1970. The park is mere 4 train stops from the house. With the weather and season combined, there was hardly anyone at the park. Park is huge and has many gardens. It would be a perfect picnic spot during the blooming seasons. Japanese garden takes up a large chunk of the park and it would've been amazing all seasons whether it is with flower or snow. Unfortunately, there was neither but we got to relax at the tea house.
After few hours visit, we headed back via Ibaraki. There, we picked up the priciest beef...just for fun. Expensive beef has fat distributed evenly through red meat, creating ever so soft piece. On top of that, cows are raised so that fat melts at lower temp. Indeed, my piece melted away in my mouth in no time, amazing!! So it can't be cooked for any length of time - shabu shabu is the way to go. Consequently, kobe beef burger really defeats the purpose…please don’t mince that beauty.
Jan 6: Return to Nara - the deer run Nara would just be appropriate to wrap up my stay in the west. This time, the route was
in the west side of temple galore where deer hang out. Deer are just about everywhere and so are the deer wafers. Anyone can buy a stack of wafers and feed them. They are so integrated in the tourist scene and they'd walk right by you no problem. They also tend to hover around places that sell the wafers.
It was a cold day with patchy sun. A 2hr ride took us to JR Nara stn. Kofukuji is at the end of Sanjodori that connects the stn and the temple. On Sanjodori, I had just seen on TV, the rice cake shop known for their super fast mochi-beating technique!! Speed...no joke - this is serious stuff. As we walked by the store, it looked like they just finished making the first batch. The owner and his helpers were already lining up the finished products. It was the rough-looking owner that I saw on TV!!! I was a bit afraid but went up to him to ask when he'd make the next batch. He graciously answered an annoying tourist. To show my appreciation, we each bought a piece, yumm-O!! Good red bean paste & smooth mochi that tastes like herb
Buddha wipe
Yakushiji, Nara 薬師寺 the way it should be 😄
In the same vicinity, there is a strip where the old style neighborhood scene is preserved - photo op. A drug store was really cute. It's not that they were trying to be cute. It's just that it's so rare these days to see grandma sitting by a little char stove surrounded by herbal products. Ginger candy was as spicy as the one I like from TJ. Kofukuji includes the famous tower and houses crazy treasures. Especially Kongo rikishizo, also in the textbook, are powerful-looking statues. One signifies the beginning and the other the end, and the pair encompasses the entirety - deep.
A bit shy of a few km walk took us to Kasuga temple. Actually, you can see the first gate from Kofukuji but the walkway stretches for >km to the entrance. Never ending dedicated stone lanterns took on moss and the sight was impressive. I saved one chance to see my fortune for the year. This is one of the new year tradition. Nnnnnnn, I pulled one with much expectation...omg!!! The best luck!!! Awesome! I haven't had that too many times in my life. I tied it to complete
the fortune reception. I also did ema, a little wooden plate where you write your wish for the year - another tradition.
The next destination: Todaiji, which is ~km walk from Kasuga. It was getting cold and passed lunch time, and we went into an eatery just outside of Kasuga. We weren't expecting much as it was on the hot touristy spot...absolutely incorrect! Out of this world from the beginning to the end!!! Warabimichi was freshly made as opposed to pre-made block stuff. Since it was dropped into cold water, it was unbelievably fluffy. Dipping kinako was yummy. Chagayu...I don't know how you can go wrong but every little condiments were incredible from umeboshi to onishime. Re-energized, we continued our journey via more deer.
Todaiji holds a large real estate and many well-known temples etc. Since we approached from southeast, the first stop was Nigatsudo. It is built on a hill and very picturesque and has a good view. Mom's been to the annual event w fire and sounds impressive. Continuing on - to Shosoin, an ancient warehouse famous for its architecture and treasures that it held. Last but not least, the main temple, an unproportionally ginormous temples
that houses equally gigantic buddha. I remember learning about how this buddha was built.
Totally Nara'd-out, we made our way back to the train stn. A side note: you can find lots of souvenir snacks related to deer doo-doo...enticing. Totally in the random spot, there was a roasted sweet potato stand. The lady only had the ginormous potato (i.e. $$) but it looked sooo good and was not able to resist. Soooo yummy. Definitely not-to-be-missed during this time in Japan!!
Jan 7: Getting rid of bad luck We left home at 6:30 to catch the 7:30 shinkansen to Tokyo. Shinkansen was full with business men & women. I realized how fast the bullet train was going when I was trying to capture the view of snow-capped Mt Fuji. Via Tokyo, the first destination was Sano where there is a shrine that specializes in bad-luck elimination. As I will hit the last year of 3yrs of bad luck, I wanted to have it taken care of :p There, I was pleasantly surprised to find abundance of Tochigi products. Nobody really knows that I'm from Tochigi mostly because sadly, it's not known or memorable. But these days, gyoza and
strawberries became nationally-known staples 😄 Even Kit-Kat Tochigi strawberry version exists...so excited!!
Anyhoo, we registered for the ceremony, got the wooden bar, and lined up for our turn. Ceremony was held approx. 50 ppl at a time. Like 10 monks come out to chant around fire. After the chant while we pray, we were to go around the fire to absorb the power onto the bar and on ourselves. Each ceremony lasted ~30min and the next group came in.
Bad luck was taken care of by ~2p and we made our way to Kaminokawa where my uncle and aunt live. It's not too far from Sano or where I grew up. Made brief stop to greet my grandparents and arrived at the house. The house is big and is in the farming area. It hasn't changed a bit: the same greenhouse, warehouse and the yard. I made frequent visits here as a kid. It was nice catching up with my uncle & aunt over dinner that my aunt went all out with 😄
Jan 8: Ebizo Mom, aunt & I left the house at 9:30 Yokohama bound. We arrived at Ishikawacho (the stn for Chinatown) just
in time for lunch. We kicked it off w "the world's best pork bun" created by the champion chefs. It was the smallest butaman I've ever had... We continued through the strip and picked the lunch place for dim sum. The stroll further continued onto Motomachi, a high-end shopping strip. At the end of the strip, we grabbed coffee and cake. Coffee is usually good here - deep and flavorful, the kind that's hard to get where I live. This place whipped a pleasant cup w a hint of sweetness - exactly how I like my brew 😄 At 2:30, we had to start making our way to Ginza where we had kabuki tickets for. I wanted to see Kabuki again - it's been 5yrs since my last visit. Mom got the box seats next to hanamichi, a street that leads to the stage where the actors enter. Compared to last time, right next to hanamichi, the view was better as my face was not leveled with the actors' feet but still very close to capture the facial expressions and the details of the costume. Box was more relaxing with tea service too. This particular piece was going to run
Akafuku 赤福
Okage yokocho, Ise 伊勢、おかげ横丁 from 4p to 9:30. Ya, no mistake, 5.5hrs. I could just say that I didn't make it through Wagner's 5hr opera before. Breaks are more frequent and long totalling ~hr...but still. Not only that it's going to be a long show, Ebizo was going to play the roles of 10 characters. He is a young and popular kabuki actor. I had no idea how he was going to pull this off - 10 completely different roles! The play was fast paced with trick after another, Ebizo samurai here and Ebizo princess there the next moment!!! He even swapped costume and wig in an instant right before our eyes. This production also had Ebizo hanging in the air which is so rare as Kabuki dates back 600yrs. After 5.5hrs of art, I was in complete awe of flawless endurance of amazing voice and facial expressions. Boredom and exhaustion were nowhere in sight throughout. And to think of performing this day after day for a month •(o)• ?!?! You rock, Ebizo!!!
Mom and I stopped by a coffee shop as we waited for Toshi to wrap up at work. This one was kodawari and overpriced out of scale. It was deep
Sake dedication
Ise shrine 伊勢神宮 but lacking the sweetness...bahhh 😞
Jan 9: Taking the capital to the east side Today is the last whole day in Japan. We took it easy in the morning - went to buy bread at a neighborhood bakery - and left the house at ~11. We reached Kamakura shortly after noon. Kamakura is where the Minamoto clan established for the first time a government overtaking the emperor. Lots of drama there but that's for some other time. The mission of the day was to complete shakyo (a prayer tracing?) at Hasedera. Tracing the buddhist prayer is a form of making wishes. We did it for experience as I'd never done it. It turns out, even if the temple offers dedication of the trace, some temples require that you write it at home and mail it in. Other places only offers tracing of part of the prayer. Hasedera, on the other hand, has tracing facilities and let you complete the whole thing right there. Despite much enthusiasm in the beginning, I lost confidence of completing it shortly into the activity. Although I pursued calligraphy in my youth, that's already an ancient past. Brush strokes were awkward. After about 3
lines, my legs were already numb and my neck was sore. I still had 20 more lines to go! Aging is a bitch. But I wasn't gonna leave what I started hanging. Suddenly, something magical happened. Let us believe that the almighty heard my determination. After about half way, my brush stroke suddenly became smooth and I was going twice the speed with more precision. I was on a roll!! It wasn't easy but 2 n half hrs later, the masterpiece was completed (o)/
The streets of Kamakura were much more happening than I'd ever expected. You can find all kinds of munchies of local specialties. Especially Tsurugaoka hachimangu was loaded with ppl, it was hard to walk. The strip was hustling and bustling and I'd totally come back here. To name a few, the easily accessible munchies were rice crackers grilled in front of you, various dango and steamed manju.
As it was already close to 5p, we left Kamakura to meet up w Toshi in Shinjuku. There are so many choices of restaurants in such close proximity and it would take years to be familiar with them all! We went to Koganeya for motsunabe (hot pot
Milk coffee!! え～っ
Okage yokocho, Ise おかげ横丁 intestine...ok, it sounds scary but it's not at all gross😊). They have creative appetizers, all kinds of alcohol choices and, of course, the hot pot. Everything was an explosion of tastebud!
Finished packing late - the luggage expanded!!! Just had nuff time to scope out the neighborhood and it was time to go. Toshi took me to the last stn in Tokyo and I was on the SF bound. I definitely reconnected with Japan but it's becoming more and more as an outsider, an outsider with an advantage of knowing their history and daily lives - a strange position to be in... As I try to be exposed to as many cultures as I can, Japan still stands to be unique. Let's see what comes out of it in future.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.381s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 18; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0789s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
