Blogs from Japan, Asia - page 2

Quick Donki rummage before we checked out and stored our bags and then a few last gifts hunted before the boy humoured my monorail geek out and we did a few stops on the Chiba Monorail. It’s twinned with the Wuppertal Schwebeban we rode last year when inter-railing. Back into the centre for a burger lunch before hanging out at Tokyo Beach for Gatchas, sunset, disco stairs and Gundam. We had booked Team Labs Planet as a way to kill time when our flight got moved and it was pretty good, said goodbye to Shinjuku cat and we’re at Haneda awaiting a monstrous journey home. Hopefully it helps with the jet lag. Zzzzzz... read more

From 2009: Omiyage is the art of gift giving. It is a tradition that we follow here in the United States. Japan is a perfect place to finding something that's unique. More than in most places, the Japanese continue to excel at a wide range of traditional arts and crafts, with regional gift specialties, called meibutsu, renowned for their quality workmanship and aesthetic appeal. From Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south, Japan offers distinctive, high-quality arts and crafts. Gift-giving is something of an art in Japan, where a gift, omiyage in Japanese, successfully given honors the recipient, starting with the quality of the presentation. Gifts are traditionally carried in beautiful, printed squares of fabric called furoshiki. Presented as a scarf, for which they double nicely, they make a uniquely Japanese fashion statement back ... read more

Later start today as we just have tickets for the Samurai and Ninja Museum in Asakusa which is only a 12 minute bus ride away. We were probably a bit too relaxed as we were late so had to join a later group. The guide, Akira, took us on a tour of the small museum and was very entertaining and informative, giving us a brief history of Japan during this period of time. We were given plastic star knives and had a few opportunities to practice before a competition. We were then able to dress up as samurais which was fun. We then explored the Asakusa area a bit and spent quite a bit of time at a discount variety chain store called Don Quijote(not Quixote) and bought quite a bit. Then it already past 2pm ... read more

Nagoya is the home of my grandfather. He arrived in the US at the age of 16 in 1896, having graduated from high school at age 14. I know very little about his life before our family started farming in Kingsburg. He started as a houseboy for a family in Los Angeles. They taught him to read and write English, one of the few first generation (Issei) who were truly bilingual. I will digress with a story that perhaps sheds considerable light into our family. My grandfather passed away peacefully in the summer of 1965, under his favorite shade tree in the back yard. During the days preceding his funeral, an elderly man showed up at the Greyhound stop in Kingsburg (it was at an old gas station on Simpson). They sent me to pick him ... read more

Backstreets: The Gion district of Kyoto embodies the romanticism that surrounds Japan’s ancient capital. Filled with machiya (traditional long wooden houses), it harbors several “teahouses,” where geiko — the Kyoto term for geisha – entertain their high-class guests with quick-witted conversation and skilled musical performances. Yet just north of Shijo Street, the neighborhood evolves into a very different kind of entertainment area. Narrow alleyways are filled with small bars, many of which are kyabakura, hostess clubs that sell the fantasy of female attention. It’s a pocket of Kyoto where one needs confidence or an introduction to open many a door. And it’s also hiding one of the city’s best kept ramen secrets. Mendori Hyakkei has no visible sign on the street. Instead, hungry ramen seekers must walk a few steps through a building – a ki ... read more