July 12, 2009
Hakuba and snow-covered monkeys
Obligatory Engrish
After reams of fanmail *cough* I had to come back and tell you about adventures in Hakuba
Hakuba is in Nagano Prefecture, where the air and water is clean and soba (buckwheat) is king. Soba noodles are nice, but just eating the fruit is good too.
So father and I descended upon the unsuspecting small town of Hakuba, which was unseasonably warm. The owners of the Minshuku (Like a B&B, but Japanese) called us the week previously, apologising profusely about the lack of snow (for it was surely their fault) and expected us to cancel, but I stubbornly insisted that we go and see Hakuba anyway; it was a place I’d not visited before and the alternative was Kyoto which, though interesting, is not inherently exciting.
Getting to Hakuba from Tokyo was 2 long bullet train rides to Nagano station and a 50 minute bus ride from there to Hakuba station. Mother, always overplanning things, had informed the owners of our accommodation the minute details of our travels, just to make sure the completely clueless father and I were unable to get lost. Mother had also insisted that we call the accomodation owners when we were 30 minutes away from Hakuba. When I did this, the voice on the end of the phone took this news with the bored-yet-polite tone of someone who’d heard it at least 4 times previously from a overprotective control freak with a high pitched voice.
So there we were, in the vaguely cold weather and enjoying the quaint feel of the small town of Hakuba. The Minshuku was almost empty; the only other guest was an English teacher and seasoned skiier. We ate lovely home cooked meals and managed to hold very long conversations with the owners about travelling around to see the sights of the ‘Shinshuu’ area using leet skills and an electronic dictionary. This was the point of the trip where I was having an astonishingly large problem with speaking English, so this probably helped.
One of the trips was to Nagano, where we looked at the local temple, Zenko-ji. As you will see in the link, historical does not even begin to describe it. 
After looking around there and snacking on more soba-based products, we made our way to the station to get on a train to Yudanaka. Now Yudanaka is the closest station to Jigokudani (Hell Valley), which is known for one thing: Monkeys. When the local monkey population are feeling a tad cold, they go and take a dip in the naturally occurring hot skills, much to the delight of tourists. No one had bothered to mention to us that not only was Yudanaka in the middle of nowhere, the walk from the taxi drop-off point at Jigokudani to the actual hot springs was very long. Urk. But the monkeys were adorable. Attempted to get some photos, but mostly my camera liked to focus on steam.
Then, on the bus ride home, it started to snow.
BUCKETS
Did I mention it was Christmas Eve? Overnight, the landscape became a snowscape, and I had my first White Christmas.
This and the Wayne Brady and Over the Hedge CDs I received Christmas morning meant I was fairly over the moon.
Later that day, I was given the opportunity to have snowboarding lessons. I joined legions of way too talented schoolchildren and close to pro adults and wobbled my way down the face of the mountain with the help of a seasoned ski/snowboard instructor, who was very patient and understanding. Snowboarding is quite tiring, but easy to pick up. I suggest you go and try it now. Go on, I’ll wait.
Great, right?
That’s all for now; I’ll be posting pictures on this post late, so don’t forget to visit again~
March 11, 2009
Asakusa
So yeah, I happened to be in Tokyo at the time of the yearly Hagoita (badminton racquet?) festival. Hardly sports equipment, these boards are decorated with intricate embroidery in the form of women in Kimonos and white makeup or actors from Kabuki theatre.
So Isuzu, her husband and I ventured out to Asakusa (Ginza line, last stop)
We ate Fried Manju (wow, Linda just exploded with joy) and Kaminari Okoshi; hard rice/bean sweets. Both were delicious
After this, we had eel for dinner (further Linda explosions) and wandered around a bit.
Basically, Asakusa is your one stop shop for all kinds of Japanese souvenirs. “Ninjya” shoes, sake bottles shaped like gourds, prints (the cheap kind, mind you) and dolls are all on offer for visitors. This means you will see many many foreigners here, all with terrible or no Japanese skills. I find this entertaining; not sure if that’s weird.
“So this is like, a shrine?”
It’s a temple, actually. Sensoji is large, red, and very famous. One of the main attraction is the How-is-it-being-held-up-it’s-fucking-huge Lantern at the front gates. Walking through that leads to an elegant display of true Japanese culture souvenir shops.
My tip? Only go there for the relatives or friends you feel obligated to get generic gifts for…or for intentionally tacky souvenirs.
Nest stop: HAKUBA!
March 1, 2009
Takarazuka
Apologies, I just remembered that I did do something new and interesting after adventures with Tarou and Souda. I went to a Takarazuka performance.
Because of the strictly Male-only Kabuki theatre (which is one of the main causes of the cross-dressing phenomena now seen in the Japanese entertainment industry), a Female-only theatre was set up which was called the Takarazuka. People in Takarazuka have to be gorgeous and sing, dance, and act. They put on large, glamorous productions and have been doing so for many decades.
The reason why I went along was because my Great Aunt, a massive lifelong fan of Takarazuka, told me that an iconic old theatre in Shinjuku was about to close down. This was the Koma Gekijyou (Top [like a spinning top, so name because the stage has a number of sections that spin] Theatre) in Kabukicho, well kown as a rather sleazy area of central Tokyo. More about that later.
So I sat down in the magnificent theatre, wondering why anyone would want to demolish it and build a new one. My great aunt me told me of times when there was a weekly Takarazuka radio program with singing and other entertainment. She sang me the theme song. I was also told that one of my mother’s cousins, the beloved Seio-san (now one of the excecutives at Mitsubishi and yet still only able to afford a 5 room apartment) used to perform in the Koma Theatre as a child actor. Yet another person in my massive family who is into the arts. I guess this explains why mother think it’s a shame that I want to be a Psychologist when I can sing and dance. More about that in another post, perhaps. So, while trying to imagine Middle Aged and portly Seio as a small child in Period dramas, the show started.
And I was completely blown away. There were large dance numbers about Sukiyaki, and at least 4 subplots all kept together with surprising strength. The show was about, of all things, Takarazuka during World War 2. There was much underlying sadness and resentment about the war. and then someone announced that they had to become a famous Takarazuka star quickly, as they had a terminal disease.
Cue Clare desperately trying not to cry. Terminal disease is a cheap shot damnit *sniff*. That, and long dialogue about performing on stage being the best part of life and the girl wanting to die on stage at the end of a big number.Then a scene where the girl, lying in bed, with her fellow performers singing the song she loved most.
Cue Clare crying her eyes out. Blast.
So the show ended, and I was in love. Shame I fell in love with a theatre that was due for demolition in the following weeks. Mmm, spinny theatre.
Isuzu, my great aunt, told me that her friend owned a nearby Tonkatsu (Crumb fried pork) restaurant so we went there for dinner. Doing so meant we had to walk through a large crowd of hosts. Unfortunately they ignored me (rejected ;_;) so I can not report on their luring techinques. I can note appearance.
- They all had similar hair, and this in turn was similar to Mimasaku Akira’s hair in the first seasonof Hanadan
-
Host hair. But it was pointier at the top
- Most of them had expensive, tailored, shiny suits
- Pointy shoes. So very very (very) pointy o_O.
- Oh, and they were all mildly attractive, if kinda sleazy looking.
- Pointy pointy pointy
Isuzu and I walked through the group completely unharmed. How disappointing.
Tonkatsu = delicious. Especially the Tonkatsu in Kabukicho. Omunomu
Next time I post, it will be about Hakuba. Until then~
February 28, 2009
The Adventures of Clare, Tarou and Souda
“medical reasons for window tint excema”
“stupid gaijins”
“will cannabis buds regrow once picked”
“i has”
“yelling hippos”
All of these, for some reason, are search terms that led to this blog. I am Sorry about your excema, those 5 people and cannabis person…well…um sorry, can’t help.
So yes, last time I wrote I went to Shinjuku and my poor second cousin was made fun of by the entirety of my massive family.
Then next day it was organised that I would meet Daijirou’s older brother, Tarou, at Takadanobaba the train station in Tokyo which is closest to Waseda University, which is where Tarou goes. Daijirou The Failure (:P) goes to Chuo University. So I met Tarou at Takadanobaba and he was throwing around ideas as to where we could go. He also brought along his friend, Souda. He would be Linda’s type, if any of you understand what I mean by that.
It was finally decided that we would go to Kamakura. After a trip to Yokohama to pick up Tarou’s car from his house, we were on the road
CUE ROAD TRIP MUSIC.
Thankfully, Tarou and Souda liked The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jet, The Arctic Monkeys and Collective other things that were not generic j-pop, which was good. On the road I saw a lingerie shop called, get this, Sexy Miser. It seems that once you leave the centre of Tokyo, the Engirsh pops up again.
After a longer than expected time on the road, we stopped in Enoshima to eat the local speciality, baby sardines. That’s right, small scaleless baby fish scattered over everything. I had kakiage don- a bunch of vegtables fried in tempura batter, covered in a special tempura sauce. This was placed on rice and covered with baby sardines. The baby sardines themselves have very little taste, but have a smooth and almost rubbery texture that I, for one, quite enjoyed. However, the Kakiage were so huge that I had trouble finishing off my meal.
The brown disc is the kakiage, and the white is the shirasu (baby sardines). There were originally two discs, much effort was made to eat all of one.
After the meal, we went up a nearby mountain to look at the illumination and flowers displays. The lookout points gave a great view of the general area. We also went up a large lighthouse to look at the small number of visible stars and the views from there.
Tulips and Illumination
Souda on the left, Tarou on the right. Taken from the top of the lighthouse
I’m not sure what Souda is looking at there. Oh well.
So after a leisurely time walking around and admiring the natural wonders around the mountain, we made our way towards Kamakura.
Kamakura contains one of the most beautiful historical sights in Japan. formerly being the capital of Japan, there are dramatic, multicoloured building dating back from that period. Definitely worth seeing.
After that there was a long drive home (made even longer by neither Tarou nor Souda knowing how to get home and Souda’s ipod being an ok but not fantastic map) where I found the Clothing Store: Atrantis. Mother’s dire warning to get home before dark rang in my head as the time approached 10.30. But my great aunt and uncle were fine with it and forced food upon the boys until they made their excuses and ran away to the nearest convenience store.
(and now for a brief public service announcement
Because I rushed past a number of things in my adventures, the rest of my time in tokyo was spent revisiting places. This means there aren’t exactly new Tokyo adventures after this. So I will continue on to writing about Hakuba in Nagano prefecture, which is where I went after Tokyo. Will post soon! xx)
February 18, 2009
Shinjuku with Daijirou
Hah, my second cousin (Daijirou) intended to meet me at 2.15 in Shinjuku
He was late and, aware of the punctuality-is-God thing that the Japs have going I was rather worried. Turned out that he got lost.
We walked around Shinjuku for a bit, got rather off-track, and ended up walking around the train line in the rain.
He admitted that he hadn’t known of my existence before the previous week, when his father announced it to Daijirou that he was to guide me around Tokyo for a couple of hours. I doubt that this meant getting us completely lost, but that happened anyway.
We finally ended up close to where we started, a Maccas right by the train station, where Daijirou said he would like to meet my (and his) great Aunt Isuzu. So we went to Numa (numa)bukuro, where she fed us both until I could hardly stand.
Afterwards, I got a call from Daijirou’s father (My Mother’s cousin) apologising for his son’s incompetence.
“Getting you lost and then eating Isuzu’s food? Stupid son” etc etc etc.
I heard this same thing at least 3 times, from different people quoting him.
Tomorrow? Adventures with another 2nd cousin (Daijirou’s older brother) and his friend.
Oh, just a warning. I will be inserting photos in past blog posts, so keep an eye out for the changes/ improvements.
December 13, 2008
Shitamachi/Nippori
Today I went to Nippori (it’s on the Yamanote Train Line). It is considered the ‘poor/commoner area’ of Tokyo
With a guide (and his grandson) who knows my great aunt and mother, we wandered around the streets, looking at the unique Meiji/Taisho/even earlier era buildings that littered the streets.
Things to Do:
- Walk around the streets near the station and look at the old buildings
- Eat food-
- Ramen - Chinese style noodles in thick broth. I can give you specific directions if you comment.
- Pork- Same shop as the Menchikatsu, see below
- Dango – Small balls of rice paste that have been cooked over a flame. Nippori is known for ‘Habutae dango’, which are abnormally non-spherical and not very glutinous
- Manju – Small cakes; the ones found in Nippori are hitokuchi (literally: one mouth, indicating they are small enough to be eaten in one go) and come in delicious flavours such as Black Sugar, Green tea and yuzu (a Japanese winter citrus)
- Crumbed mince- you will immediately be able to tell when you come across the famous stall selling these menchikatsu (mince katsu, ‘katsu’ referring to the Japanese answer to Schnitzel); out the front of the store are a number of signs plastered with screenshots of various Japanese TV stars eating the famed menchikatsu. They are really very nice, and there is often a queue.
- Karintou - hard biscuit-type things covered in sugar.
- Go to the puppet shop - 笑吉 is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If there are more than 3 people about you can watch a cleverly performed puppet show and you can even have the puppet draw a picture of you. Or, if you’re feeling particularly spendthrifty, you can have a puppet made to look like you. Unfortunately today was closed because the shopowners had a special event to perform at, but I may go back.
- Buy Chiyogami- Chiyogami is Japanese paper, often hand made, with designs printed on using traditional carved wooden blocks.
My experience of Nippori was somewhat rushed. My guide kept insisting on taking photos of me with everyone in sight and was slightly inebriated, which was unpleasant. Trying to avoid him unwittingly led to me walking through the interesting parts of Nippori too quickly. I hope to go back alone sometime, at which time I can tell you more about the area.
December 12, 2008
You stupid Gaijin
Due to the number of tourists visiting Tsukiji who are not following rules when watching Tuna auctions, the tuna auctions are no longer open to the public
Mother$%&’ers
People should realise that using flashes on their cameras are going to upset and irritate the auctioneers and bidders. Eating, drinking and leaving the containers of these lying around is UNHYGENIC.
As is resting your camera ON FISH to take photos.
What the hell. There are signs, and barriers set up.
-End Rant-
Goth-loli, bitchez
Hello everyone. I went to Harajuku today; shopping there is always always entertaining. Having existed in relative obscurity until Gwen Stefani introduced it to the western world, it is considered a teen fashion capital.
Things to do/Places to go:
- Takeshita doori- this bent road is home to many small shops offering relatively inexpensive clothes, and knock-offs of the latest trends.
Really long socks, anyone?
"Pardon Meeee, I'm hitting on you."
- Laforet Building – it is worth going there for the imaginative shop names (Like Jane Marple, and Malko Malko) many shops may contain ‘free’ (F) size clothing, but they’re only for small people.
- Aoyama Doori- this shopping street is lined with designer stores and has many flagship stores of Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake, Comme de Garcons and A Bathing Ape. I bought my lunch from here
My Lunch, bought from an upmarket bakery
- Jingu-Bashi- On Sundays, this bridge becomes a fashion parade for cosplayers and those in -loli (Lolita) gear.
- Meiji Jingu – Nice shrine, lovely garden/grounds
- Condomania- Need I say more? It’s more an oddity than an actual thing to, er, do.
Shopping (window and otherwise) is nice here, and you can look at the unique style of the Tokyonese teenagers. Get into the spirit of it by buying a crepe from a shop on Takeshita doori and dodging gaijin who have been hired to try and sell street gear to people on the street.
Oh, and the name of this post refers to my purchase of a Goth-loli outfit. It only cost 4000yen, which pleases me.
December 11, 2008
Omunomunomu
This, rather than being an outline of what Japanese food there is, will be more of a description of what I ate/ food things I saw.
So, I will skip the plane food
Drinks! Cold tea is my drink of choice in Japan. Oolong, green, and houji tea are the most common. They are available for 120-150 yen at any vending machine.
Green tea and/or water are offered as a service when you sit down in any restaurant
Ice coffee does not mean what it means in Australia. It means straight coffee, on ice. Ice milk coffee （アイスミルクコーヒー） is more like the ice coffee in Aus.
Hot, loose leaf tea of many many varieties are on offer, mainly in department stores and other food establishments. My personal favourite is Kaga Bou Cha, tea made with tea plant stems.
Readinf up on your katakana will help you successfully read and order from the menu of most coffee/tea places. One acception to this is 抹茶, which is green (ie unfermented) tea. It is pronounced Ma(slight pause)tcha. A common form of this, found in coffee shops and the like, is Matcha Latte, where milk and green tea are mixed. This is slightly sweetened and generally quite delicious.
Coke and all those other soft drinks can be found in Japan, of course. They come in cute bottles that are made of the same thing as cans are. Vending machines are your friend; take a few minutes to look at the ones that will inevitably be on the end of your street or in the lobby/basement of your hotel.
I can’t really help you with alcohol, though I can recite a few facts. The Japs invented dry beer; Amie will tell you that Asahi Super Dry is quite nice, and should be tried if you are a fan of beer. There is also sake, which is generally made by fermenting rice. Shochu is also popular and can be made by fermenting just about anything; most prefectures have their own special type made from local produce. This ranges from citrus to various tubers to other fruit.
Now, food is not restricted to raw fish. Japanese food has many many layers, and it would take a lifetime to describe them all fully.
Fish- Being a small, island nation, Japan has always loved fish. Fish is more commonly consumed than steak, and steak is very expensive. Handy tip: if you want to order a steak in a restaurant in Japan, remember that any steak you order will cost a lot more than it should, and will be half the normal thickness. Sushi and sashimi, though cliche, are good if you know where to go. Sometime next week I will probably be going to Tsukiji fish market, where tuna are bought for millions of dollars. Fresh fish is, surprisingly, hard to come by at times. Sushi comes in a number of types, such as nigiri (slice of fish or other sea creature on top of a small portion of rice) maki (seafood, rice and sometimes some sort of vegetable wrapped in nori (roasted seaweed) and also temaki (the roll, as above, but done yourself; the ‘te’ means hand). Other types include chirashi (where a number of vegetables and plants and herbs are mixed with seafood and egg and spread over rice, often in a round bamboo container) and oshi (vinegared fish is put on rice, in the nigiri style and then pressed for a period of time). The rice in all these is vinegared.
Fish is also grilled on a wire net and can be mushed.
My favourite type of sushi is with Ikura (salmon roe).
Also: the mystery of toro.
The Japanese love their fatty fish. Especially the fatty part of tuna, and it is found in the belly and tail of certain fish. It’s delicious flavour is sought after by restaurants and shoppers, and ou toro (literally: big toro, meaning it is very fatty) is considered a delicacy and is very expensive, followed by chu toro (middle toro) and toro.
Up until a short time ago, tuna toro could be bought in Australian fish shops for approximately $2 a kilo, such was the ignorance of Australian fish shops. Those were good days.
I will write more, about noodles, tomorrow
There will also be a recount of my trip to Harajuku
‘night folks
December 10, 2008
Undead Panda, pretty please
Wow, the bathtub just started playing music and talking, to announce that it was at the right temperature. Go Japan.
More interesting facts about Japan
- Well, the singing bathtub is pretty interesting
- Due to the smaller meal sizes and healthy nature of Japanese food, I have already lost something close to a kilo. Japanese food is nice ^^. There will be a separate post describing different types, what I have eaten etc.
- This is less a fact than a warning, and the warning is about creepy people. Today, I accumulated no less than 2 stalkers. One of them approached me on the steps of a temple. The following conversation occured. ‘(In Japanese) It’s hot today, isn’t… oh (upon seeing my face, he switches to English) Hello, how are you? Where are you from? Looking at Ueno park today? I will follow you.’ Clare: *Hurries away* I thought I had lost him , but later he walked by me again, staring and leering. The second man happened to be sitting down near me when I sat to write down, of all things, a draft for this blog post. He started to stare at me, continued to do so, and then disappeared. He then mysteriously appeared in front of me and, standing slightly to my right, he stood and continued to stare at me. These incidences were both, naturally, rather unnerving. Oh and there was a guy on a train with his phone camera aimed directly at me, but that may have just been me being paranoid.
This slightly detracted from my day trip to UENO, specifically Ueno park, which houses many museums, temples, shrines and art galleries and even has a music hall (said to have perfect acoustics) and a Zoo.
Places to go:
- Ueno Zoo: The main attraction of this Zoo was the giant Pandas, but as I bought my ticket I noticed a small sign announcing that the Zoo no longer housed pandas, which saddened me.
Though the Pandas are dead, it seems the merchandise must go on
Apparently the last one they had had died. But, being a fan of animals, I walked around anyway and saw a bird that looked very close to my image of a Jabberwocky.
Do you see it too?
There were also 2 hippos lying in the sun, napping, with the dopiest grins on their faces.
N'aww
Also, I bought a chameleon hand puppet, the significance of which is lost on anyone who has not watched Hanayoridango.
- Ueno Museum of Western Art: Pretty and well laid out, and houses a number of Renaissance era paintings and some Impressionists.
In the front area of the Museum of Western Art
- Ueno National Museum: I did not go there today because of the very long queue but the queue, and other sources, suggest that it is worth looking at. Get there EARLY or face queuing with a bunch of people that will make you feel very very tall and conspicuous.
- Walking along ‘Doubutsuen dori’ (Zoo road) you will come across a number of shrines and temples. The shrines are generally marked by large red ‘torii’, tall gateways/entrances. My picks? Go to Toshogu and Bentendo. Toshogu is, in a word, amazing, though my view may be biased by my love for the Tokugawa period. This shrine was built for Tokugawa Ieyasu’s spirit. Though entry into the grounds
Taken from the grounds of Toshogu
is free, for 200 yen you may enter inside the shrine . and by may I mean MUST. The inside contains a number of artworks and other things from the Tokugawa period (my personal favourite was an old map of Japan, engraved on a round slab of stone). The bulding itself has beautfiul ornate carvings around the edge of the ceilings. The outside of the building is surrounded by a pebble garden, looked after by an old man in a robe wielding a homemade broom.
Toshogu: unaltered since the Tokugawa period.
Bentendo is a temple for Benten, a patron goddess to the arts. It is surrounded by a lake which, in spring and summer, comes to life with beautiful lotus flowers. You can rent a rowboat or paddleboat and go out onto the lake, though you will need a few friends to accompany and assist. While walking between these two places, you will find a shrine, the entrance of which is a tunnel of torii. This makes for both an interesting walk and an interesting photo.
Shrine entrance with Torii
NEW segment: Things you must try
- Japanese bath
- Japanese tempura
- Tachgui soba/udon (literally: stand and eat noodles)
- Ride the Yamanote train line the whole way round; this train stops at all the major hubs of Tokyo, so you can look at the various parts. It is a circular line, so you can rest assured that you won’t end up somewhere crazy.
- Ramen. Find a nice place, sit and eat.
- Japanese sweets are unique, unusual, and utterly delicious. They centre around red bean paste and black sesame, as well as custard type things and sweet biscuits. I found a Rice Bran kit kat today; you will notice that kit kat has a number of special, Only in Japan flavours like Cherry Blossom, Rice bran and green tea even
- Cold tea is delicious in any form, grab some from your friendly local vending machine.
- Dango.
The food items will be explained in tomorrow’s edition: Japanese food, how and what to eat.
That’s all for now; tomorrow will not be very eventful but on Friday I will be going to HARAJUKU; teen fashion capital of Japan.
Good night folks
