This being our last day in Japan, we wanted to be sure to accomplish a few key things. We knew we'd be running around town, so we got the Toei-Tokyo Metro Day Pass (1000 yen) to cover all of our movements. We started by heading up to Hamacho Station, which is just a short walk from the sumo training grounds (the "stables"). During the off-season, the public is allowed to watch their morning practice from the street. We joined a large crowd gathered around a glass window, and watched as these men grappled with each other in short bouts. It was impressive how they moved their mass so quickly and powerfully; I would certainly not want to tussle with any of those guys. [Note from Katie: Every time someone got a cut or otherwise bled, the crowd gasped. Sumo is more violent than I realized!]
After watching sumo practice for a bit, we headed to Kappabashi-dori, a street dedicated to cooking and restaurant goods. Chefs from all over Japan (and sometimes outside Japan) visit this area to get their knives, pots, dishware, and other necessities. We popped into a knife store to look at some whetstones, and they actually carried the chef's knife I have at home! The attendant (whose English was nearly flawless, which really helped for detailed questioning) was excited that we had a Japanese knife in the US, and Katie was happy to see the knife she bought me was in a high-end knife shop here as well. We ended up skipping on the whetstone, but really enjoyed stopping in that store. [Note by Katie: I thought it was really interesting how many shops on the streets were dedicated to one niche product: signage for stores or plastic food models or uniforms or lacquerware. It was fascinating!] We continued on until we were satisfied we would not find souvenir chopsticks, then headed back to the hotel to regroup. I picked up a bento, and Katie had some croquettes, which we ate while waiting for the shuttle. Back at the room, we finished off with some scones and cherry-blossom spread we'd picked up in Kyoto, which turned out to be quite yummy indeed!
We packed up the room, left our bags at the front, and headed back out on the town, this time to the Ginza shopping district. First, we visited a stationery store named Itoya. I had been discussing getting a scrapbook for our tickets, brochures, and other flat keepsakes from the trip, and I also wanted some high end Japanese paper (both for letter writing, and practicing my calligraphy once I learn Japanese - which is happening, btw). We found both in this multi-level store. We had decided a few nights ago that we couldn't leave Japan without buying chopsticks, so we headed into Mitsukoshi, a huge department store known for its food court as well as household wares. We eventually found both everyday and special occasion chopsticks that we both liked, and picked those up before heading to the basement to try and find dinner.
The two-level food court was in basement levels 2 and 3, but we couldn't decide on anything to eat, so we instead consulted the book for a recommendation. It suggested a hole-in-the-wall place a short walk away, so we headed in that direction. On the way, we passed the Sony building, where an outdoor wall hanging of Spiderman was installed for the 2nd Amazing Spiderman installment coming soon (or out already? I don't know). It had gathered a crowd, mostly because there was a man in a Spiderman costume doing a promo as well. The installation was pretty cool though! Anyway, we arrived at the dinner place only because Katie recognized their food setup - family style in large bowls on the counter - through the window; none of the writing outside matched what the book had, and there was minimal signage. We ordered by pointing at which items we wanted, and were served heaping helpings of each item on a large shared serving dish, which we ate happily. My favorite was this scallop-and-cabbage stew. Delicious.
We decided to head back to the hotel and hang out for a bit before heading to the airport, since we knew we'd have internet, so we gathered our things and caught the train yet again. And that brings us to now. Soon we'll be leaving the Park Hyatt (goodbye, old friend) and heading for the airport, where we'll hopefully be able to hook back in for some last-minute stuff before our 12 hours of traveling. I meant to add notes about certain aspects of Japanese culture and city living that I found interesting interspersed with the other entries in the blog, but it seems that will not be possible, so I will be adding postscripts tonight and/or over the next couple days as I can. I am certainly very happy with everything we were able to do on this trip, and definitely look forward to the next time we are in Japan.
-B
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
My Neighbor Ghibli.
Yesterday morning - finally! - we went to the Ghibli museum (Hayao Miyazaki's studio museum). It was an easy train ride from Shinjuku station, and there was a shuttle bus that took us directly to the museum's gates. We'd gotten our tickets from Jon when we first arrived, but tickets are for a specific date and time. Ours were 10am on 14/4/14, which was pretty cool. We first watched a short film of some kids pretending to build a ship, which led to them piloting a ship into the ocean to go whaling. After that, we went to explore the animation exhibit room, which had various types of stop-motion machines and looped reels of interesting animation. Across the building, there were multiple exhibits on lenses, which I found particularly interesting. Katie told me about pinhole cameras while we looked at one. On the second floor, there was a recreation of his work studios, which were chock full of drawings, models, and sketches from various movies. It was interesting to see the layering of scenes in that room as well. We spent some time in the gift shop on the third floor, and made various purchases, before heading upstairs to a rooftop garden and exploring the remainder of the grounds. The whole experience was wonderful, and I'm glad we got to go; I look forward to re-watching all of his movies.
After the museum, we dropped off our items at the hotel, then walked to Meiji shrine in Yoyogi park. The shrine was built in honor of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shokun, grandparents of the current Emperor. There were extremely large torii gates at all entrances to the shrine, and the shrine itself was rather large as well. We paid our respects, then left the park and walked to Harajuku, where we tried in vain to spot some Harajuku outfits. (We eventually saw a couple of Harajuku girls, but it was slim pickings.) We did see some interesting, if profane, t-shirts and sweatshirts while in Harajuku, but nothing really worth mentioning. Then we headed to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest crossing in the world. We watched a few crossings, which were mind-bogglingly busy, then crossed ourselves. (It is said that at the busiest times, 1000 people will be crossing the street during one walk sign.) We caught the train back to the hotel, and got ready for dinner.
Dinner last night at the New York Grill was spectacular. We arrived on the top floor to an amazing view of Tokyo, which extended around the entire rooftop through huge windows. We were shown to our seats, which were beneath a mural of baseball players meant to symbolize the Yankees. We looked over the wine menu, and were surprised to see Scribe Riesling on it! Being members of Scribe, we were excited that their wine is doing well enough to be found overseas. We ended up getting glasses of reds, and steaks for dinner. My steak was a delicious New York strip of Australian beef, cooked perfectly mid-rare. It was a fitting dinner for our last night in Tokyo.
We're nearly packed, so it's time to sign off. Looking forward to finishing our Tokyo time in style!
-B
After the museum, we dropped off our items at the hotel, then walked to Meiji shrine in Yoyogi park. The shrine was built in honor of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shokun, grandparents of the current Emperor. There were extremely large torii gates at all entrances to the shrine, and the shrine itself was rather large as well. We paid our respects, then left the park and walked to Harajuku, where we tried in vain to spot some Harajuku outfits. (We eventually saw a couple of Harajuku girls, but it was slim pickings.) We did see some interesting, if profane, t-shirts and sweatshirts while in Harajuku, but nothing really worth mentioning. Then we headed to Shibuya Crossing, the busiest crossing in the world. We watched a few crossings, which were mind-bogglingly busy, then crossed ourselves. (It is said that at the busiest times, 1000 people will be crossing the street during one walk sign.) We caught the train back to the hotel, and got ready for dinner.
Dinner last night at the New York Grill was spectacular. We arrived on the top floor to an amazing view of Tokyo, which extended around the entire rooftop through huge windows. We were shown to our seats, which were beneath a mural of baseball players meant to symbolize the Yankees. We looked over the wine menu, and were surprised to see Scribe Riesling on it! Being members of Scribe, we were excited that their wine is doing well enough to be found overseas. We ended up getting glasses of reds, and steaks for dinner. My steak was a delicious New York strip of Australian beef, cooked perfectly mid-rare. It was a fitting dinner for our last night in Tokyo.
We're nearly packed, so it's time to sign off. Looking forward to finishing our Tokyo time in style!
-B
Swish-swish.
Yesterday (Sunday) we headed to the Tokyo National Museum first thing in the morning. We'd heard it was a great way to get a crash course in Japanese art history as well as see some interesting artifacts. We figured out how to walk there, since it was pretty close to Jon's place in Sendagi, and picked up some Mr. Donut on the way. (Mr. Donut looks and feels like Dunkin' Donuts. It's awesome.) We decided to do the main building, since it was expected to take about 2 hours; we were sandwiched between a couple groups of tourists, so the first couple rooms were a bit cramped. Still, I knew very little about early Japanese art, so it was really interesting to see and read about. There was a large increase in the amount of included art after the introduction of Buddhism to the country, and the religious artifacts were really cool. We even saw three of the Buddhas from Sanjusan-gendo on display. I was particularly excited about the swords and calligraphy, and spent a large amount of time looking at calligraphic styles where I could. After the main building, which also included fashion, painting, and amulets, we stopped in another building which housed several dozen miniature Buddha figurines. It was well worth the visit to the museum, and satisfied my desire to visit one in Tokyo.
After the museum, we gathered our things and headed to the Park Hyatt. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station, we couldn't find where the shuttle bus was supposed to pick us up. We eventually decided to walk, which was only supposed to take 12 minutes, but felt like an eternity because we hadn't yet eaten lunch and it was already nearly 3. We had to consult the map several times, and weren't sure if we would ever find it. However, when we got to the hotel, all of our stress in finding it melted away. The bellman greeted us, took our bags, and gave them to another attendant, then walked us into the foyer, took us up the elevator, and walked us back to the lobby on the 41st floor. The whole way, he talked to us about the Peak Lounge (more on that later), the other restaurants in the building, the library (yes, the hotel has a LIBRARY where you can check out books), and the top floor bar (remember that bar from the movie "Lost in Translation"? That bar) before depositing us at a desk where they had pulled up our check-in form with our info printed on it. After we talked with the desk attendant, she grabbed our keys to our apartment - that's what they called the room - and then walked us around to the elevators, rode up with us to our floor, opened the door, and showed us where everything was in the room and how it worked. It was all incredibly fancy, and so much fun!
Speaking of, here's a little about the room:
We decided to have afternoon tea at the Peak Lounge, which offered an over 270-degree view of Tokyo. Our tea service was excellent, and we both had traditional Japanese green tea, which was a big change from our usual of black tea. However, it was very good, and the food was delicious. We decided to skip the Meiji shrine for that afternoon since it was so close to the shrine's closing time, and instead decided to hang out in the room for a while. I discovered that Cartoon Network is here, and in English! It was nice to have TV we could understand after nearly two weeks of traveling.
For dinner, we met up with Katie's Harvard/Cambridge law school buddy, Brian Wessel. We met for shabu-shabu (think meat-based fondue), but the first restaurant was booked. We instead went to another rooftop restaurant for some Kobe beef shabu-shabu, and it was well worth it! The meat was tender, and the veggies were really good. It was very good to see Brian, since it had been since Katie's graduation in 2011 that either of us had seen him. It was also fortunate that we came when we did, since he's moving back to the US in May. Really, our timing for this trip was pretty stellar.
Tomorrow we'll be updating on today's activities - we're pooped, and tomorrow is our last day. It has been a good trip, but we're both looking forward to returning home. Gotta get in the last day of shopping though!
-B
After the museum, we gathered our things and headed to the Park Hyatt. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station, we couldn't find where the shuttle bus was supposed to pick us up. We eventually decided to walk, which was only supposed to take 12 minutes, but felt like an eternity because we hadn't yet eaten lunch and it was already nearly 3. We had to consult the map several times, and weren't sure if we would ever find it. However, when we got to the hotel, all of our stress in finding it melted away. The bellman greeted us, took our bags, and gave them to another attendant, then walked us into the foyer, took us up the elevator, and walked us back to the lobby on the 41st floor. The whole way, he talked to us about the Peak Lounge (more on that later), the other restaurants in the building, the library (yes, the hotel has a LIBRARY where you can check out books), and the top floor bar (remember that bar from the movie "Lost in Translation"? That bar) before depositing us at a desk where they had pulled up our check-in form with our info printed on it. After we talked with the desk attendant, she grabbed our keys to our apartment - that's what they called the room - and then walked us around to the elevators, rode up with us to our floor, opened the door, and showed us where everything was in the room and how it worked. It was all incredibly fancy, and so much fun!
Speaking of, here's a little about the room:
- Automatic blinds
- Backlit liquor minibar
- Built-in ice bucket with ice inside already
- Deep tub
- Free internet
- Internal library (including an encyclopedia and two dictionaries)
- Heated toilet seat and bidet with dry capabilities
- Lounge chair
- Refresher service for everything from used bath salts to ice in the bucket, automatically, between 6 and 9pm
- Refrigerated minibar
- Two flatscreen cable TVs, including one in the bathroom facing the tub
We decided to have afternoon tea at the Peak Lounge, which offered an over 270-degree view of Tokyo. Our tea service was excellent, and we both had traditional Japanese green tea, which was a big change from our usual of black tea. However, it was very good, and the food was delicious. We decided to skip the Meiji shrine for that afternoon since it was so close to the shrine's closing time, and instead decided to hang out in the room for a while. I discovered that Cartoon Network is here, and in English! It was nice to have TV we could understand after nearly two weeks of traveling.
For dinner, we met up with Katie's Harvard/Cambridge law school buddy, Brian Wessel. We met for shabu-shabu (think meat-based fondue), but the first restaurant was booked. We instead went to another rooftop restaurant for some Kobe beef shabu-shabu, and it was well worth it! The meat was tender, and the veggies were really good. It was very good to see Brian, since it had been since Katie's graduation in 2011 that either of us had seen him. It was also fortunate that we came when we did, since he's moving back to the US in May. Really, our timing for this trip was pretty stellar.
Tomorrow we'll be updating on today's activities - we're pooped, and tomorrow is our last day. It has been a good trip, but we're both looking forward to returning home. Gotta get in the last day of shopping though!
-B
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Don't trust guidebooks from 2009: Or, How We Found Out The Supermarket Doesn't Carry Snacks.
Saturday morning we decided to visit the Hiroshima castle, despite a warning from our main guidebook, before heading back to Tokyo. We got out of the hotel around 9:30, catching the tram west as we'd done the day before. We ended up talking with a US military family on their way there, which was interesting to me as they actively wanted to talk to us. (I've found that the vast majority of Westerners we see here tend to avoid making eye contact, let along conversation, so that was a change.) Getting off the streetcar one stop before the Peace Memorial, we walked north, under the street, and around a few corners before coming up near the moat of the castle. We entered the main gate, and walked into the gatehouse near the front, which housed a mini museum. Fortunately, the museum was free! Unfortunately, nearly all the signage was in Japanese, so we weren't really sure of the significance of what we saw. Still, there were some interesting scale models of the grounds, as well as a large drum, which did have English on the sign; drums were used to signify the time of day for the samurai in and around the castle. After finishing exploring the gatehouse, we walked up to the castle proper, but didn't have time to head in, so we saved our 350 yen and headed back out. We tried to stop by the shrine on the way out, but there was yet another wedding party and we didn't want to walk through them, so we weren't able to get in. We were, however, stopped by a man who recognized us from walking around Kyoto, and asked if we had been there looking at the cherry blossoms. That was interesting! I suppose wearing my LOZ jacket every day is a giveaway.
We went back to the hotel, gathered our things, and walked next door to the train station. I grabbed a small snack for the train, and then we were off! An hour or so later, we had a transfer at Shin-Osaka, where we decided we would find a real lunch since we had 30 minutes. Katie and I checked out a few different places, and I settled on a couple small sandwiches. She saw some steamed buns that she wanted, but when I went to order them, we ran into the language barrier pretty quickly. The clerk kept asking me a question that I couldn't understand, and eventually brought over a man whose English was pretty solid. (I really should have learned more Japanese before we came.) Eventually, we were told the buns were cold and we'd need a microwave in order to eat them, so they were not for train lunching. However, the man also gave us directions on how to find their other store, which had hot buns, just outside the ticket gate. Since we still had our JR passes, we decided to chance it, and found the place pretty quickly! I wanted to get some gyoza with the buns, but they were going to take 10 minutes, and we only had 11 until the train came, so we skipped the gyoza; still, I placed our order, and our buns were boxed and ready to go. We also picked up mini waffles to go, and made it to the platform with just a couple minutes to spare! Perfect timing, and Katie got her lunch.
A few hours (and several chapters into Divergent later), we arrived at Tokyo station. Katie and I figured out how to get back to Jon Brooks' place, and hopped on the metro. Jon was just getting ready to leave for the airport when we got there, and was a whirlwind of activity gathering his things. We took final instructions to shut down his flat when we left, and he rolled out to the airport while we looked up where we wanted to go for dinner. We then realized we would need to run some laundry before we left Jon's house, but had no idea how to run his combination washer/dryer; all the instructions were in Japanese, and we had no way to call him. We tried googling the make and model, but all the information that came up was in Japanese as well. Katie emailed him, hoping we'd get a response before he left the country; otherwise, we didn't think we'd hear from him from Australia before we had to leave the house. Thankfully, he responded later in the evening, so that mini crisis was eventually averted, although we had to start the laundry pretty late that night. However, around this time a new crisis decided to spring up: dinner.
[Back story: Katie had received a book on Tokyo from one of the firm partners before we left, similar to any other type of guidebook. However, this book was made in 2009 and, more importantly, had already burned us once. We'd tried to find a place it suggested while in Tokyo before, only to find out that place no longer exists. Still, we figured it couldn't be wrong twice...right?]
We wanted to find a place that had conveyor belt sushi which was also of a good quality, as the obvious concern for such cheap fare is questionable safety. The Tokyo book suggested a place, but the first few Google searches seemed to turn up a place that had moved, without giving the new location, and nearly all of the search results were in Japanese. Then we found their company website, which claimed there were multiple locations, but again: Japanese writing. We tried a few different search parameters inside Google Maps, and found that there seemed to be at least one more location of the same restaurant near to the original one. After confirming and reconfirming directions, we set out, our increasing hunger perhaps clouding our better judgement.
The neighborhood where we were headed, Asakusa, is geographically fairly close to Jon's house in Sendagi. However, there is no real easy way to get there by train without a fair walk to the JR line, which we didn't want to do in the dark. This made a trip which should have been 20 minutes into nearly an hour, with two train line transfers. By the time we got to the restaurant, we were famished. We found the restaurant, which really excited me. In fact, I was so excited when we walked up to it that I was willing to overlook the fact that there were no seats. When we got in, I also overlooked the fact that there was a seemingly drunk man trying to tell us how to eat the sushi: with our hands, not our chopsticks. Most importantly, however, I completely overlooked the fact that while it was the right restaurant, in the right spot, with the right fare, it did not have a conveyor belt. We had invested over an hour's worth of research, time, and travel to find a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, only to stand at a bar and order sushi a la carte. I blame myself, really; I'm the one who walked in and started ordering. (Sorry, Katie.) Still, we made the most of the situation; their fatty tuna and ebi were incredibly good.
After sampling some of their food (but leaving room for more), we left to find Sensoji, a temple where it is rumored that a golden statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, is housed. The temple is closed to the public, though, so there's no way to confirm it. Still, it is the oldest temple in Tokyo (completed in 645) and the most visited (so much so that the grounds are accessible 24/7). After seeing the temple, we decided we needed to find a second place to eat to finish dinner. We decided to head to a tempura place, but realized when we were nearly there that it was about to close for the night. (This is, of course, assuming it was actually there, and what it claimed to be.) We decided to visit the supermarket to try and find some ready-to-eat food, but for some reason, there wasn't really anything we could just take home and eat without needing to heat it up. We didn't know how to operate Jon's toaster oven or gas burner, and figured it was best not to figure it out on the fly. We did, however, see a 7-11 on the way back to the train station, where we picked up sandwiches and other snack food to make a second mini-dinner. Finally, we headed back to the flat, got Jon's message, started the laundry, ate some sandwiches, watched Adventure Time, and hit the hay. All in all, a good day. Even if Tokyo books mislead and websites lie about restaurants serving conveyor belt sushi.
We went back to the hotel, gathered our things, and walked next door to the train station. I grabbed a small snack for the train, and then we were off! An hour or so later, we had a transfer at Shin-Osaka, where we decided we would find a real lunch since we had 30 minutes. Katie and I checked out a few different places, and I settled on a couple small sandwiches. She saw some steamed buns that she wanted, but when I went to order them, we ran into the language barrier pretty quickly. The clerk kept asking me a question that I couldn't understand, and eventually brought over a man whose English was pretty solid. (I really should have learned more Japanese before we came.) Eventually, we were told the buns were cold and we'd need a microwave in order to eat them, so they were not for train lunching. However, the man also gave us directions on how to find their other store, which had hot buns, just outside the ticket gate. Since we still had our JR passes, we decided to chance it, and found the place pretty quickly! I wanted to get some gyoza with the buns, but they were going to take 10 minutes, and we only had 11 until the train came, so we skipped the gyoza; still, I placed our order, and our buns were boxed and ready to go. We also picked up mini waffles to go, and made it to the platform with just a couple minutes to spare! Perfect timing, and Katie got her lunch.
A few hours (and several chapters into Divergent later), we arrived at Tokyo station. Katie and I figured out how to get back to Jon Brooks' place, and hopped on the metro. Jon was just getting ready to leave for the airport when we got there, and was a whirlwind of activity gathering his things. We took final instructions to shut down his flat when we left, and he rolled out to the airport while we looked up where we wanted to go for dinner. We then realized we would need to run some laundry before we left Jon's house, but had no idea how to run his combination washer/dryer; all the instructions were in Japanese, and we had no way to call him. We tried googling the make and model, but all the information that came up was in Japanese as well. Katie emailed him, hoping we'd get a response before he left the country; otherwise, we didn't think we'd hear from him from Australia before we had to leave the house. Thankfully, he responded later in the evening, so that mini crisis was eventually averted, although we had to start the laundry pretty late that night. However, around this time a new crisis decided to spring up: dinner.
[Back story: Katie had received a book on Tokyo from one of the firm partners before we left, similar to any other type of guidebook. However, this book was made in 2009 and, more importantly, had already burned us once. We'd tried to find a place it suggested while in Tokyo before, only to find out that place no longer exists. Still, we figured it couldn't be wrong twice...right?]
We wanted to find a place that had conveyor belt sushi which was also of a good quality, as the obvious concern for such cheap fare is questionable safety. The Tokyo book suggested a place, but the first few Google searches seemed to turn up a place that had moved, without giving the new location, and nearly all of the search results were in Japanese. Then we found their company website, which claimed there were multiple locations, but again: Japanese writing. We tried a few different search parameters inside Google Maps, and found that there seemed to be at least one more location of the same restaurant near to the original one. After confirming and reconfirming directions, we set out, our increasing hunger perhaps clouding our better judgement.
The neighborhood where we were headed, Asakusa, is geographically fairly close to Jon's house in Sendagi. However, there is no real easy way to get there by train without a fair walk to the JR line, which we didn't want to do in the dark. This made a trip which should have been 20 minutes into nearly an hour, with two train line transfers. By the time we got to the restaurant, we were famished. We found the restaurant, which really excited me. In fact, I was so excited when we walked up to it that I was willing to overlook the fact that there were no seats. When we got in, I also overlooked the fact that there was a seemingly drunk man trying to tell us how to eat the sushi: with our hands, not our chopsticks. Most importantly, however, I completely overlooked the fact that while it was the right restaurant, in the right spot, with the right fare, it did not have a conveyor belt. We had invested over an hour's worth of research, time, and travel to find a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, only to stand at a bar and order sushi a la carte. I blame myself, really; I'm the one who walked in and started ordering. (Sorry, Katie.) Still, we made the most of the situation; their fatty tuna and ebi were incredibly good.
After sampling some of their food (but leaving room for more), we left to find Sensoji, a temple where it is rumored that a golden statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, is housed. The temple is closed to the public, though, so there's no way to confirm it. Still, it is the oldest temple in Tokyo (completed in 645) and the most visited (so much so that the grounds are accessible 24/7). After seeing the temple, we decided we needed to find a second place to eat to finish dinner. We decided to head to a tempura place, but realized when we were nearly there that it was about to close for the night. (This is, of course, assuming it was actually there, and what it claimed to be.) We decided to visit the supermarket to try and find some ready-to-eat food, but for some reason, there wasn't really anything we could just take home and eat without needing to heat it up. We didn't know how to operate Jon's toaster oven or gas burner, and figured it was best not to figure it out on the fly. We did, however, see a 7-11 on the way back to the train station, where we picked up sandwiches and other snack food to make a second mini-dinner. Finally, we headed back to the flat, got Jon's message, started the laundry, ate some sandwiches, watched Adventure Time, and hit the hay. All in all, a good day. Even if Tokyo books mislead and websites lie about restaurants serving conveyor belt sushi.
Friday, April 11, 2014
A Day of Reflection
This morning, we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. We got up early, picked up breakfast from the hotel's pastry shop, and grabbed a streetcar headed west. When we arrived at the Genbaku Dome, we were awed that so much of the building had remained after the blast. The dome building remained relatively intact due to its proximity to the center of the blast radius. We then decided to head north, stopping by the Sadako Children's Peace Monument, built in honor of Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to the A-bomb at age 2 and died ten years later from leukemia. It was inspiring to see the thousands paper cranes folded in her honor at the site, as well as viewing the monument itself. We passed the Flame of Peace, then went down into the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, which gave a history of the events on that day and some accounts of child survivors of the bombing. Entering the memorial, we walked downstairs counterclockwise (symbolizing going back in time to the day of the bombing) and then were put into a 360-degree panorama of the surrounding neighborhoods from the hypocenter of the bomb. There was a fountain permanently set on 8:15 (the time of the bombing on August 6, 1945) with flowing water to quench the thirst of the bomb victims. Upstairs, a DVD played voiced-over accounts of the childhood survivors, which were both interesting and gut-wrenching. Afterward we headed into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The bottom floor of the west building gave a history of the war effort in Japan, and the global political situation, leading up to the bombing. The second floor was dedicated to discussing the relief efforts after the attack, as well as levels of nuclear weapons and decommission efforts worldwide. The second floor in the east building held various artifacts from the bombing, both from buildings and people's personal items. The whole experience was very sobering, as it put the events leading up to, including, and after the dropping of the A-bomb in an intense perspective.
After the park, we decided it was time to grab some lunch and get ready for the afternoon at Miyajima. We walked to a nearby okonomiyaki food court, Okonomi-mura, which housed several shops that serve this regional specialty. After scoping out the various possibilities, Katie and I decided on one that was very busy when we first came in. In fact, the cook had to wipe down places for us to sit! I ordered the okonomiyaki with soba noodles; Katie got udon. We ended up splitting the dishes after all, and they were both delicious! Our cooks were very nice, even offering to take a picture for us before we ate. For our first okonomiyaki, I thought it was great. Hopefully we can go back in the future.
After lunch, we caught the tram out to the Miyajima ferry, then took the ferry over to the holy island. Miyajima is home to several shrines, as well as the "floating" torii gate at Itsukushima, although we arrived shortly after low tide so it wasn't quite floating yet. We walked to the shrine, which was partially under construction, and saw a wedding party along the way. The shrine offered great views of the torii, the main island across the water, and the mountains surrounding the area. After exiting the shrine, we walked along the beach before turning further inland to visit Daisho-in, a large Buddhist temple site. Daisho-in had many smaller shrines and temples on the site, including a long arcade of various Buddhas, and smaller renditions of the Buddha's disciples scattered throughout the grounds. We also found a dark cave that housed Buddha statues representing 88 shrines, which pilgrims believe visiting will bring the same blessings as visiting all 88 shrines personally. Unfortunately, the temple, as with many things on the island, closed at 5pm, so we headed back toward the ferries. We admired the floating gate again, which by this point had a good few inches of water underneath it, then stopped by the largest wooden rice scooper in the world before catching a ferry back to the main island.
We took a JR train to Hiroshima again, reserved our tickets for our ride back to Tokyo, and decided to visit the steakhouse at the Hotel Granvia for dinner. We nearly walked into a private party before we were properly escorted to our seats. We each ordered our respective steaks, which were cooked directly in front of us by our chef. Let me tell you, Japanese beef is absolutely delicious. I ordered the B set, which also included a couple fish dishes, a rice set, and dessert. It was lovely. At the end of the meal, we hobbled back to the room, and watched some TV while planning for tomorrow. We also found out that I had read the local baseball team's schedule incorrectly, and we were missing the game being played in the stadium we can see from our room. Oh well!
Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo. I'm looking forward to seeing the countryside again from the train, as well as getting some good reading done. Next time, we'll need to stay in Hiroshima longer for sure.
-B
After the park, we decided it was time to grab some lunch and get ready for the afternoon at Miyajima. We walked to a nearby okonomiyaki food court, Okonomi-mura, which housed several shops that serve this regional specialty. After scoping out the various possibilities, Katie and I decided on one that was very busy when we first came in. In fact, the cook had to wipe down places for us to sit! I ordered the okonomiyaki with soba noodles; Katie got udon. We ended up splitting the dishes after all, and they were both delicious! Our cooks were very nice, even offering to take a picture for us before we ate. For our first okonomiyaki, I thought it was great. Hopefully we can go back in the future.
After lunch, we caught the tram out to the Miyajima ferry, then took the ferry over to the holy island. Miyajima is home to several shrines, as well as the "floating" torii gate at Itsukushima, although we arrived shortly after low tide so it wasn't quite floating yet. We walked to the shrine, which was partially under construction, and saw a wedding party along the way. The shrine offered great views of the torii, the main island across the water, and the mountains surrounding the area. After exiting the shrine, we walked along the beach before turning further inland to visit Daisho-in, a large Buddhist temple site. Daisho-in had many smaller shrines and temples on the site, including a long arcade of various Buddhas, and smaller renditions of the Buddha's disciples scattered throughout the grounds. We also found a dark cave that housed Buddha statues representing 88 shrines, which pilgrims believe visiting will bring the same blessings as visiting all 88 shrines personally. Unfortunately, the temple, as with many things on the island, closed at 5pm, so we headed back toward the ferries. We admired the floating gate again, which by this point had a good few inches of water underneath it, then stopped by the largest wooden rice scooper in the world before catching a ferry back to the main island.
We took a JR train to Hiroshima again, reserved our tickets for our ride back to Tokyo, and decided to visit the steakhouse at the Hotel Granvia for dinner. We nearly walked into a private party before we were properly escorted to our seats. We each ordered our respective steaks, which were cooked directly in front of us by our chef. Let me tell you, Japanese beef is absolutely delicious. I ordered the B set, which also included a couple fish dishes, a rice set, and dessert. It was lovely. At the end of the meal, we hobbled back to the room, and watched some TV while planning for tomorrow. We also found out that I had read the local baseball team's schedule incorrectly, and we were missing the game being played in the stadium we can see from our room. Oh well!
Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo. I'm looking forward to seeing the countryside again from the train, as well as getting some good reading done. Next time, we'll need to stay in Hiroshima longer for sure.
-B
Shopping Day (#1?)
Katie here! Barrington's been eager for me to chime in on the blog, so here goes.
Yesterday, Thursday, was our last day in Kyoto. We woke up in the ryokan around 8:00 and were taken downstairs to our Japanese-style breakfast in a room overlooking the beautiful ryokan gardens. The breakfast was a feast--a grilled bone-in fish, hot tofu, miso soup, rice, pickles, sugared plums, warm omelets, some sort of fish wrapped in tofu skin, and something the hostess told us was "bean milk" in a tiny glass. It was all pretty unusual from a Western perspective, but nonetheless delicious and very filling.
We relaxed for a few more hours in our room in the ryokan, making the most of our down-time. At 11 am, we hit Kyoto for some shopping. We started at the women's sock store Tutuanna, on Kyra's recommendation. After our night wearing formalware at the ryokan, I'm completely obsessed with tabi, traditional Japanese socks where the big toe is separated from the other toes. I went a little crazy in the sock store, but I'm excited to say I can now wear socks with flip flops (if I am brave enough to rock that look in the US)! We then visited the food market, Nishiki Market, exploring stalls full of all sorts of unusual foods. Our ultimate destination was a knife store, Aritsugu, where chefs can buy knives for preparing sashimi, fish, and other things. Barrington got a little choked up when he finally picked out a knife to purchase (a big heavy knife useful for cutting seafood, shellfish, and poultry) and got the katakana for his name carved into it. Barrington actually gasped and covered his mouth when he learned that the knife could be engraved in Japanese with his name; the clerk, looking amused, asked if he was happy.
We got lunch in a ramen shop just outside of Nishiki Market called Ippudo, which served delicious tonkatsu ramen and yummy tiny gyoza. It was my favorite ramen of the trip so far. We then walked a mile or so to the Kyoto Handicraft Center, a multi-story building selling local crafts and souvenirs. We bought some beautiful handmade items, and then checked out a nearby sword and martial-arts store called Ippodo. We also swung by Heian shrine, where I convinced Barrington to throw up a peace sign for a picture with a dragon statue. We then walked back to the ryokan down old Kyoto streets, stopping to look at tea shops and bookstores along the way.
After grabbing our bags at the ryokan, we took the train to Hiroshima, where we are now. We both agreed that we wished we could stay in Kyoto longer; four days isn't enough time to enjoy everything the city has to offer, especially not in cherry blossom season!
By the time we got to our hotel in Hiroshima about 2 hours later, we were starving. Exhausted, we wandered our hotel, yet another hotel, and the train station in between the two looking for something we felt like eating. We finally, a little sadly, admitted to each other that we desperately missed American-style food after a bit more than a week of only Japanese fare. We settled on an Italian restaurant in the train station that was festooned with a ton of Italian flags and that had plastic models of pizza and pasta in the window. We were a little shocked to discover that the restaurant was (1) blaring country music and (2) empty except for 2 older American couples. I ordered a glass of red wine that was (predictably) awful, but the pizza, pasta, and garlic bread was pretty delicious. The only unexpected touch was that the pizza came with a salad on top, complete with vinaigrette dressing. We were eventually joined by some Japanese diners, which left us less embarrassed about our choice of restaurant. In the end, I think we felt satisfied but ready to return to the high-quality Japanese cuisine we've been eating here since we arrived.
Yesterday, Thursday, was our last day in Kyoto. We woke up in the ryokan around 8:00 and were taken downstairs to our Japanese-style breakfast in a room overlooking the beautiful ryokan gardens. The breakfast was a feast--a grilled bone-in fish, hot tofu, miso soup, rice, pickles, sugared plums, warm omelets, some sort of fish wrapped in tofu skin, and something the hostess told us was "bean milk" in a tiny glass. It was all pretty unusual from a Western perspective, but nonetheless delicious and very filling.
We relaxed for a few more hours in our room in the ryokan, making the most of our down-time. At 11 am, we hit Kyoto for some shopping. We started at the women's sock store Tutuanna, on Kyra's recommendation. After our night wearing formalware at the ryokan, I'm completely obsessed with tabi, traditional Japanese socks where the big toe is separated from the other toes. I went a little crazy in the sock store, but I'm excited to say I can now wear socks with flip flops (if I am brave enough to rock that look in the US)! We then visited the food market, Nishiki Market, exploring stalls full of all sorts of unusual foods. Our ultimate destination was a knife store, Aritsugu, where chefs can buy knives for preparing sashimi, fish, and other things. Barrington got a little choked up when he finally picked out a knife to purchase (a big heavy knife useful for cutting seafood, shellfish, and poultry) and got the katakana for his name carved into it. Barrington actually gasped and covered his mouth when he learned that the knife could be engraved in Japanese with his name; the clerk, looking amused, asked if he was happy.
We got lunch in a ramen shop just outside of Nishiki Market called Ippudo, which served delicious tonkatsu ramen and yummy tiny gyoza. It was my favorite ramen of the trip so far. We then walked a mile or so to the Kyoto Handicraft Center, a multi-story building selling local crafts and souvenirs. We bought some beautiful handmade items, and then checked out a nearby sword and martial-arts store called Ippodo. We also swung by Heian shrine, where I convinced Barrington to throw up a peace sign for a picture with a dragon statue. We then walked back to the ryokan down old Kyoto streets, stopping to look at tea shops and bookstores along the way.
After grabbing our bags at the ryokan, we took the train to Hiroshima, where we are now. We both agreed that we wished we could stay in Kyoto longer; four days isn't enough time to enjoy everything the city has to offer, especially not in cherry blossom season!
By the time we got to our hotel in Hiroshima about 2 hours later, we were starving. Exhausted, we wandered our hotel, yet another hotel, and the train station in between the two looking for something we felt like eating. We finally, a little sadly, admitted to each other that we desperately missed American-style food after a bit more than a week of only Japanese fare. We settled on an Italian restaurant in the train station that was festooned with a ton of Italian flags and that had plastic models of pizza and pasta in the window. We were a little shocked to discover that the restaurant was (1) blaring country music and (2) empty except for 2 older American couples. I ordered a glass of red wine that was (predictably) awful, but the pizza, pasta, and garlic bread was pretty delicious. The only unexpected touch was that the pizza came with a salad on top, complete with vinaigrette dressing. We were eventually joined by some Japanese diners, which left us less embarrassed about our choice of restaurant. In the end, I think we felt satisfied but ready to return to the high-quality Japanese cuisine we've been eating here since we arrived.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Hardcore relaxing.
Katie and I headed next door to the hotel this morning to visit the Sanjusan-gendo temple. It is so named because there are 33 spaces between the pillars that hold up the building's front. The temple itself houses 1000 standing Buddha, with 500 on either side of a huge sitting Buddha. Each one of the Buddha had 21 pairs of hands, and there were 28 deities and guardians standing in front of the Buddha, each with their own placard describing their original names and their role. I was astounded at the number of standing Buddha in the room; when I thought I was about near the end, I realized I hadn't even gotten to the large seated Buddha yet. I really enjoyed learning about the 28 guardians and deities as well; two of them we recognized as the same guardians from Todai-ji. I also learned that Sanjusan-gendo is the longest wooden building in Japan. (What a superlative-filled trip to Kyoto it's been!) After walking through the interior, we walked around the grounds, admiring the garden, bell, and shrine surrounding the temple. I'm glad we found postcards of the temple yesterday, because photos inside were forbidden, and photos outside don't really capture the scale.
After Sanjusan-gendo, we checked out of our room, left our bags at the hotel, and headed to Kurama Onsen for the beginning of our chill. (Onsen are Japanese-style spas, with hot springs, saunas, and relaxation rooms.) The ride up was easy to manage, and there was a shuttle waiting at the train station. Once at the onsen, we decided to just do the outdoor springs; we rented towels, paid our fare, and split up - clothing was forbidden, so it was split male and female. On the male side, there were a couple people finishing up as I was getting ready. I showered (a requirement before getting in) and settled down in a sunny spot. The onsen looked over wooded mountains just past some sakura trees, so I was certainly entertained with the view. I saw alone in the onsen for somewhere around 40 minutes before the next guest showed up, by which point I had moved to the shade and recited nearly every poem I could think of. Sitting there in the spring was very relaxing; I was so glad to just hang out for a while and not do anything. Eventually, I had to leave, which was both disappointing and relieving; I had soaked so long I was starting to get dehydrated. Katie and I finished right around the same time, which was just fortunate timing, and walked back to the train station, where we picked up ice cream while waiting for the train back. We headed to the hotel, picked up our bags, and caught a taxi to Yoshikawa Ryokan for the continuation of our relaxation.
Now, neither of us had ever been to a ryokan before, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. I think I can safely say that both of us were blown away by the experience right off the bat. Our hostess came outside to greet us at the taxi, and knew who we were before we said anything. We left our bags at the door and were ushered in to a receiving table, where we were given roasted tea and a short questionnaire before we were shown our room, which is huge. The hostess then gave us a full tour of the room, confirmed our dinner choice, and left to prepare us more tea. She also informed us of our dinner attire: casual Japanese dinner dress, provided by the ryokan itself. After she changed the kimono size thinking I wouldn't fit the provided set, she left us to our own devices at 4, with dinner scheduled at 6. Katie took a bath while I started uploading pictures to her computer. At 5:30, we started getting ready for dinner, only to find out that the outfit provided for me did not fit! (I suppose I really am big in Japan.) I called downstairs to inform them, and our hostess came back up with another size, only to inform us I already had the largest one on. (That's embarrassing.) I was told to wear it as a robe with a t-shirt underneath, and then she left. Shortly after, she returned with another one which was wider in the upper region, but shorter; however, I wasn't quite dressed, so I think I embarrassed her when she came in. (Oh well.) It fit, but I was definitely showing some shin!
Finally dressed and ready to go, we came downstairs and were escorted to the largest dining room in the ryokan, overlooking the garden. There was an immense table set for two, and we had the whole room to ourselves for dinner. Our meal consisted of ten courses of food, each one coming with suggested ways to eat. Katie took pictures of each course, and our hostess took pictures of us before the meal as well. There were several fish courses, including both sushi and sashimi, as well as various soups, vegetables, and tofu dishes. There were also multiple tempura courses, for which this ryokan is famous. The whole experience was decadent. After dinner and dessert, our hostess took pictures of us in the garden, then allowed us to enjoy the garden for a moment before we went upstairs to our room. Our sleeping mats had been set up on the floor, and a bath had been drawn as well. I took advantage of the bath while Katie read, then we watched the Japanese baseball league for a bit. All in all, an incredibly relaxing day indeed.
Tomorrow is our last day in Kyoto. The ryokan is serving breakfast for us at 8:30, then we're headed to a famous chef's cutlery shop! After shopping, it's time for the shinkansen to Hiroshima. I'm certainly rejuvenated and ready for more traveling! Hopefully, we'll catch an onsen or two in the next week.
-B
After Sanjusan-gendo, we checked out of our room, left our bags at the hotel, and headed to Kurama Onsen for the beginning of our chill. (Onsen are Japanese-style spas, with hot springs, saunas, and relaxation rooms.) The ride up was easy to manage, and there was a shuttle waiting at the train station. Once at the onsen, we decided to just do the outdoor springs; we rented towels, paid our fare, and split up - clothing was forbidden, so it was split male and female. On the male side, there were a couple people finishing up as I was getting ready. I showered (a requirement before getting in) and settled down in a sunny spot. The onsen looked over wooded mountains just past some sakura trees, so I was certainly entertained with the view. I saw alone in the onsen for somewhere around 40 minutes before the next guest showed up, by which point I had moved to the shade and recited nearly every poem I could think of. Sitting there in the spring was very relaxing; I was so glad to just hang out for a while and not do anything. Eventually, I had to leave, which was both disappointing and relieving; I had soaked so long I was starting to get dehydrated. Katie and I finished right around the same time, which was just fortunate timing, and walked back to the train station, where we picked up ice cream while waiting for the train back. We headed to the hotel, picked up our bags, and caught a taxi to Yoshikawa Ryokan for the continuation of our relaxation.
Now, neither of us had ever been to a ryokan before, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. I think I can safely say that both of us were blown away by the experience right off the bat. Our hostess came outside to greet us at the taxi, and knew who we were before we said anything. We left our bags at the door and were ushered in to a receiving table, where we were given roasted tea and a short questionnaire before we were shown our room, which is huge. The hostess then gave us a full tour of the room, confirmed our dinner choice, and left to prepare us more tea. She also informed us of our dinner attire: casual Japanese dinner dress, provided by the ryokan itself. After she changed the kimono size thinking I wouldn't fit the provided set, she left us to our own devices at 4, with dinner scheduled at 6. Katie took a bath while I started uploading pictures to her computer. At 5:30, we started getting ready for dinner, only to find out that the outfit provided for me did not fit! (I suppose I really am big in Japan.) I called downstairs to inform them, and our hostess came back up with another size, only to inform us I already had the largest one on. (That's embarrassing.) I was told to wear it as a robe with a t-shirt underneath, and then she left. Shortly after, she returned with another one which was wider in the upper region, but shorter; however, I wasn't quite dressed, so I think I embarrassed her when she came in. (Oh well.) It fit, but I was definitely showing some shin!
Finally dressed and ready to go, we came downstairs and were escorted to the largest dining room in the ryokan, overlooking the garden. There was an immense table set for two, and we had the whole room to ourselves for dinner. Our meal consisted of ten courses of food, each one coming with suggested ways to eat. Katie took pictures of each course, and our hostess took pictures of us before the meal as well. There were several fish courses, including both sushi and sashimi, as well as various soups, vegetables, and tofu dishes. There were also multiple tempura courses, for which this ryokan is famous. The whole experience was decadent. After dinner and dessert, our hostess took pictures of us in the garden, then allowed us to enjoy the garden for a moment before we went upstairs to our room. Our sleeping mats had been set up on the floor, and a bath had been drawn as well. I took advantage of the bath while Katie read, then we watched the Japanese baseball league for a bit. All in all, an incredibly relaxing day indeed.
Tomorrow is our last day in Kyoto. The ryokan is serving breakfast for us at 8:30, then we're headed to a famous chef's cutlery shop! After shopping, it's time for the shinkansen to Hiroshima. I'm certainly rejuvenated and ready for more traveling! Hopefully, we'll catch an onsen or two in the next week.
-B
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Stairs, unending stairs.
Yesterday morning Katie and I decided to head to Inari, to visit Fushimi Inari-taisha, a set of shrines surrounded by hundreds of torii gates leading up to the top of a mountain. We rode the local train down from Kyoto (a first for us; we've been taking "Rapid" and "Special Rapid" trains everywhere) and exited the station to walk right into the entrance gate. We decided to walk up to the halfway point of the site, as it was estimated to be about two hours to the very top, but after the first hour the number of gates drops significantly, and there is a lookout point at the halfway mark to look over Kyoto. Soon after starting, the density of gates became sobering, as we walked underneath hundreds of gates close together within a matter of moments. At various points up the mountain, we encountered several clusters of shrines, each containing between a few and dozens of shrines and in various states of use. We even found a couple that had candles and incense burning, recently visited by worshipers. We continued up the unending stairs to the lookout point, which had indeed taken an hour, and admired the view of the city, before heading back down those same stairs (there were, seriously, hundreds of stairs; thousands, maybe) and getting back to the entrance plaza.
Taking the train down, we switched to a Rapid train at an exchange stop and headed down to Nara, one of the old capitals of Japan. We had previously decided to do a city walk suggested by Katie's guidebook, so we got started heading to Nara Park, picking up a bento and some drinks on the way. Nara is known for its friendly deer, which will come up to you on the street looking for handouts. We didn't buy any deer snacks, but they certainly came up to us anyway! It was kind of cool seeing the deer roaming the sidewalks and little parks alongside people, although various signs reminded visitors that the deer are wild animals. Seemed tame to me.
Anyway, we first came to a pair of gardens on a side street right by the park's entrance, one of which was free to foreign visitors. We filled out a short survey for foreign visitors, and entered the park. There was a teahouse with handblown glass windows, a pond garden, and several dry gardens around the grounds, all of which were very interesting and beautiful. Additionally, we could see over the wall into the paid garden, so we felt comfortable skipping that one. We stopped to eat lunch by the stream that flowed between the two before heading into the park to see a huge gate, Nandai-mon, with two Nio guards on either side. The guards were huge and terrifying, and marvelous to behold. Behind the gate, and in a secondary complex, was the largest wooden building in the world, Todai-ji. (This claim seems to be disputed, but they still call it such in the park.) The building is actually 2/3 the original size, due to earthquake and other structural damage requiring it be rebuilt in the 1700s. We entered to look at the largest bronze Daibutsu statue in existence, which was humbling beyond words. Even though we took pictures, they don't really convey the scale of the statue. We walked around the whole complex, admiring various smaller statues around the Daibutsu, before heading out of the complex.
Outside, people were greeted by more deer, one of which was so excited at the prospect of food that it pooped right on the sidewalk. Katie and I decided to go up - more stairs - to a Shinto shrine called Nigatsu-do. Overlooking Todai-ji and all of Nara, it juts out over a hill and houses a few different shrines. We decided after this to head back to the train station, and walked through the park following a different path. We saw several herds of deer eating sakura from the ground before exiting the park. We stopped by a 5-story pagoda on the way back, which was next to a temple under construction, then continued to a souvenir shop where I picked up a statue of a guardian. Finally, after thousands of stairs and a few miles of walking, we made it back to the train. We ate dinner at the hotel, where each of us finally got to try some Japanese beef. It was succulent, in Katie's words.
Today is our day of rest. We are off to Sanjusan Temple, followed by an onsen, and then a high quality ryokan where we will get some much desired R&R. Naptime sounds awesome.
-B
Taking the train down, we switched to a Rapid train at an exchange stop and headed down to Nara, one of the old capitals of Japan. We had previously decided to do a city walk suggested by Katie's guidebook, so we got started heading to Nara Park, picking up a bento and some drinks on the way. Nara is known for its friendly deer, which will come up to you on the street looking for handouts. We didn't buy any deer snacks, but they certainly came up to us anyway! It was kind of cool seeing the deer roaming the sidewalks and little parks alongside people, although various signs reminded visitors that the deer are wild animals. Seemed tame to me.
Anyway, we first came to a pair of gardens on a side street right by the park's entrance, one of which was free to foreign visitors. We filled out a short survey for foreign visitors, and entered the park. There was a teahouse with handblown glass windows, a pond garden, and several dry gardens around the grounds, all of which were very interesting and beautiful. Additionally, we could see over the wall into the paid garden, so we felt comfortable skipping that one. We stopped to eat lunch by the stream that flowed between the two before heading into the park to see a huge gate, Nandai-mon, with two Nio guards on either side. The guards were huge and terrifying, and marvelous to behold. Behind the gate, and in a secondary complex, was the largest wooden building in the world, Todai-ji. (This claim seems to be disputed, but they still call it such in the park.) The building is actually 2/3 the original size, due to earthquake and other structural damage requiring it be rebuilt in the 1700s. We entered to look at the largest bronze Daibutsu statue in existence, which was humbling beyond words. Even though we took pictures, they don't really convey the scale of the statue. We walked around the whole complex, admiring various smaller statues around the Daibutsu, before heading out of the complex.
Outside, people were greeted by more deer, one of which was so excited at the prospect of food that it pooped right on the sidewalk. Katie and I decided to go up - more stairs - to a Shinto shrine called Nigatsu-do. Overlooking Todai-ji and all of Nara, it juts out over a hill and houses a few different shrines. We decided after this to head back to the train station, and walked through the park following a different path. We saw several herds of deer eating sakura from the ground before exiting the park. We stopped by a 5-story pagoda on the way back, which was next to a temple under construction, then continued to a souvenir shop where I picked up a statue of a guardian. Finally, after thousands of stairs and a few miles of walking, we made it back to the train. We ate dinner at the hotel, where each of us finally got to try some Japanese beef. It was succulent, in Katie's words.
Today is our day of rest. We are off to Sanjusan Temple, followed by an onsen, and then a high quality ryokan where we will get some much desired R&R. Naptime sounds awesome.
-B
Monday, April 7, 2014
Everyone should go to Osaka.
Today we got an early start, heading out of the room around 8:30 to pick up where we left off in our shrine-visiting. We headed back to Maruyama-koen to visit the Chion-in temple right when it opened at 9am. The temple is the headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, Japan's most popular form. After observing the humongous gate (which sent the gate's builder and his wife into such penury that they killed themselves) we visited several shrines on the premises, as well as two beautiful gardens. We also saw the largest bell in Japan, and got to observe a worship service taking place.
After the temple, we decided to head towards the theater where the geisha dancing was being held. Along the way, we stopped at several shops in the Gion district. We tried out some sweets, purchased postcards, and picked up some interesting food and drinks. At 11:30, we headed for the geisha dance, which, since we had purchased Special First Class tickets (that's right, suckers), included a tea ceremony with the geisha prior to the show. We entered a room where two geisha were sitting, were served a sweet bun and green tea, and got to keep the bun saucer as a souvenir. Afterwards, Katie and I headed to our seats and purchased a program. Fortunately, we were able to read about the various acts of the dance prior to it starting, so we had a good idea of what was happening on stage.
The dance itself was amazing. There were musicians on either side of the stage in their own booths, while the geisha dancing and acting came from side entrances as well as backstage. The kimonos were beautiful, the stage sets were intricate and brightly colored, the music was interesting and moving, and the choreography was fascinating. I believe my words after the second act were, "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me." That may have been a slight exaggeration, but only slight. (Katie and I remarked that we really chose the best time to come to Japan, because this dance, as well as many other activities happening while we're here, only happens in spring.) I am still thinking about the geisha dance, and how amazing and interesting the performance was.
After dropping off our stuff in our room, we headed to Kyoto station, where we had a ramen lunch before catching the train to Osaka. In Osaka, before we could do anything else, we headed to the Pokémon Store on the 13th floor of the Osaka station mall (I can't remember its actual name; oh well). That place is nuts. There was everything from Pikachu dish towels to magnetic Squirtle dolls (which we bought, by the way). We picked up some more souvenirs, then headed out to the aquarium in Tempozan.
This aquarium is considered one of the best in the world, and I have to agree. It's certainly one of the best I've ever been in. The whole aquarium covers several floors, and is laid out over a kilometer of walking from the top down. We started by checking out the sleeping river otters at the top level, which was above the water line. As we went lower and lower, we discovered several tanks that we walked around. Each little area offered snippets of information regarding an environment, a region, or a specific animal, so we were constantly given new info on the featured tanks. In addition, most of the aquarium featured a huge central tank teeming with life, and as we continued to wind around further and further down, we saw more and more of the creatures inside. It was like walking a Japanese garden, which I imagine was the point: every new turn gave us a different paradigm. We also had a very friendly seal in the seal tank, which we saw from underneath; it would just swim right to the edge of the glass, and look out at us. seemingly smiling contentedly. It always returned right to the same spot after getting some air. Too cute. At the end, Katie petted some rays and sharks in a shallow petting tank. We finished our time in Tempozan at the vending machines, where I got a very interesting electrolyte-replenishing beverage (more on that later) and she got some water.
Heading back to the station, we decided I needed to have my Osaka ramen experience before leaving. We had no idea how to find a ramen place, and the station at Osaka is mind-bogglingly huge. Eventually, I found myself staring at a food court sign, guidebook out, looking for the character for noodle anyway. A lady approached me and asked me in Japanese if I needed help. (I'm assuming this is what she said, anyway.) In my desperation, I just said, ramen. She nodded, looked at the sign, and then pointed me to the only ramen restaurant listed. It was like a sign from above. The ramen at this place was HEAVENLY. The broth was flavorful, spicy, and unlike any broth I've had before (I couldn't place the base, even!), the noodles were well-cooked, the pork was melt-level tender, the egg was creamy and yummy, and there was a sauce that I'd never seen before that added an extra kick which I loved. Osaka is well known for its ramen, and now I get it. I only wish I could go back.
After that perfection, we boarded the next express train back to Kyoto, caught a bus to the hotel, and cracked open a bag of taco-flavored Doritos. Tomorrow, we head to another shrine (to the gods of rice and sake) and to the old capital, Nara. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing day!
-B
After the temple, we decided to head towards the theater where the geisha dancing was being held. Along the way, we stopped at several shops in the Gion district. We tried out some sweets, purchased postcards, and picked up some interesting food and drinks. At 11:30, we headed for the geisha dance, which, since we had purchased Special First Class tickets (that's right, suckers), included a tea ceremony with the geisha prior to the show. We entered a room where two geisha were sitting, were served a sweet bun and green tea, and got to keep the bun saucer as a souvenir. Afterwards, Katie and I headed to our seats and purchased a program. Fortunately, we were able to read about the various acts of the dance prior to it starting, so we had a good idea of what was happening on stage.
The dance itself was amazing. There were musicians on either side of the stage in their own booths, while the geisha dancing and acting came from side entrances as well as backstage. The kimonos were beautiful, the stage sets were intricate and brightly colored, the music was interesting and moving, and the choreography was fascinating. I believe my words after the second act were, "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me." That may have been a slight exaggeration, but only slight. (Katie and I remarked that we really chose the best time to come to Japan, because this dance, as well as many other activities happening while we're here, only happens in spring.) I am still thinking about the geisha dance, and how amazing and interesting the performance was.
After dropping off our stuff in our room, we headed to Kyoto station, where we had a ramen lunch before catching the train to Osaka. In Osaka, before we could do anything else, we headed to the Pokémon Store on the 13th floor of the Osaka station mall (I can't remember its actual name; oh well). That place is nuts. There was everything from Pikachu dish towels to magnetic Squirtle dolls (which we bought, by the way). We picked up some more souvenirs, then headed out to the aquarium in Tempozan.
This aquarium is considered one of the best in the world, and I have to agree. It's certainly one of the best I've ever been in. The whole aquarium covers several floors, and is laid out over a kilometer of walking from the top down. We started by checking out the sleeping river otters at the top level, which was above the water line. As we went lower and lower, we discovered several tanks that we walked around. Each little area offered snippets of information regarding an environment, a region, or a specific animal, so we were constantly given new info on the featured tanks. In addition, most of the aquarium featured a huge central tank teeming with life, and as we continued to wind around further and further down, we saw more and more of the creatures inside. It was like walking a Japanese garden, which I imagine was the point: every new turn gave us a different paradigm. We also had a very friendly seal in the seal tank, which we saw from underneath; it would just swim right to the edge of the glass, and look out at us. seemingly smiling contentedly. It always returned right to the same spot after getting some air. Too cute. At the end, Katie petted some rays and sharks in a shallow petting tank. We finished our time in Tempozan at the vending machines, where I got a very interesting electrolyte-replenishing beverage (more on that later) and she got some water.
Heading back to the station, we decided I needed to have my Osaka ramen experience before leaving. We had no idea how to find a ramen place, and the station at Osaka is mind-bogglingly huge. Eventually, I found myself staring at a food court sign, guidebook out, looking for the character for noodle anyway. A lady approached me and asked me in Japanese if I needed help. (I'm assuming this is what she said, anyway.) In my desperation, I just said, ramen. She nodded, looked at the sign, and then pointed me to the only ramen restaurant listed. It was like a sign from above. The ramen at this place was HEAVENLY. The broth was flavorful, spicy, and unlike any broth I've had before (I couldn't place the base, even!), the noodles were well-cooked, the pork was melt-level tender, the egg was creamy and yummy, and there was a sauce that I'd never seen before that added an extra kick which I loved. Osaka is well known for its ramen, and now I get it. I only wish I could go back.
After that perfection, we boarded the next express train back to Kyoto, caught a bus to the hotel, and cracked open a bag of taco-flavored Doritos. Tomorrow, we head to another shrine (to the gods of rice and sake) and to the old capital, Nara. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing day!
-B
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Temples, shrines, and pretty lights.
Today we got our JR passes! We left Jon's house a little later than planned, but made it to the train station on time just the same. The station was unbelievably busy, so we were concerned getting around would take some time. We didn't realize how easy it would be to get our rail passes, but it was a breeze! Once we had those, we reserved some seats on the shinkansen, picked up some food, and waited a short while until the train arrived. The train itself was spacious, and it was really cool looking at the countryside as we traveled west. It seemed that the tunnels to get through the mountains were strategically placed between patches of beautiful water and rural views; every time we exited a tunnel, it was like staring at a painting through the window, and then back into darkness. A very neat experience indeed.
Kyoto station seemed much more difficult to navigate, but we made our way out and walked down the mile or two to our hotel. After getting complimentary drinks while we waited for them to finish the room, we dropped off our stuff, relaxed for a bit, and then headed out on a temple-rich hike. Fortunately for us, Kyoto allows night visitation of various temples and shrines during March and April, during which they light up the temples for locals and tourists. Unfortunately, the first temple was about an hour out from their shift change, which meant we were rushed through the temple grounds, and many of the shrines and buildings were already closed. Notable landmark, though: the Temple of the Aborted Fetus. So...there's that.
After the first temple, we headed further along the path, getting cream puffs on the way. I was distracted by some really nice looking chopsticks in a shop, so we went in. Fortunately, Katie found two different models of kendama, which I bought. (Duh.) We also checked out some of the other toys and trinkets they had, including weighted rocking dolls, wooden helicopters, and dog-shaped chopstick rests. Toys in tow, we walked down a beautiful side street, which was as quiet as it was pretty. It was nice to be removed from the bustle of the city for a moment. When we returned to the main street, we decided to check out another temple, and walked up a bunch of fairly steep stairs. When we reached the top, we saw the largest Buddha statue I have ever seen. It was breathtaking. The area in which it sits was closed, so we couldn't get closer, but it was so amazing I snapped photo after photo. Its size was humbling; it could be seen from most places around the temple, and from afar as well. We walked through the temple, visiting the main house, the tea house, the rock gardens, the bamboo garden, and finished by heading down to the street to find the temple museum. It was really interesting to see old letters displayed in shorthand, and comparing them with the modern writing displayed alongside.
We continued along the path into a busy park, where the most famous cherry tree in Japan lives. Seeing the tree, we were not surprised at all; it was very big, and certainly pretty. There were street vendors all around, stalls with carnival games, hanging fires, and hundreds of people were hanging out and having a good time. Katie and I walked down to Gion-san, a famous shrine, stopping at a smaller shrine along the way as well. We finished up walking through the park and headed north to a tempura restaurant called Asuka, which was both delicious and slightly intimidating. Up until this point, all restaurants had been Western seating; this restaurant was sans chairs. It was cool sitting on pillows and mats and eating a full meal again - it reminded me of Dushanbe.
After dinner, we stopped by Lawson's before heading home. Again, I was distracted by shiny things, so we headed down a street in the famous Gion district while Katie looked up where we were. We decided to take a chance, and looked for what our guidebook claimed was "one of the prettiest streets in Asia". We were NOT disappointed. We found ourselves walking down a perfectly canopied tree-lined boulevard, surrounded by gorgeous cherry trees on both sides. Though a little out of the way for us to head back, it was probably the best decision we've made on our trip so far, and absolutely worth the extra few minutes' walk. Finishing in Gion, we caught an express train (which we did not realize was express) that dropped us off just a few minutes away from the hotel; lucky break, considering we were about 2 miles away and the temperature was still dropping!
All in all, today was amazing. Between the temples and shrines, buying toys, and seeing beautiful streets, our first day in Kyoto was lovely. Tomorrow, we are going to a tea ceremony with some geisha, and then will watch the geisha dance before heading to Osaka! I. can. not. wait.
-B
Kyoto station seemed much more difficult to navigate, but we made our way out and walked down the mile or two to our hotel. After getting complimentary drinks while we waited for them to finish the room, we dropped off our stuff, relaxed for a bit, and then headed out on a temple-rich hike. Fortunately for us, Kyoto allows night visitation of various temples and shrines during March and April, during which they light up the temples for locals and tourists. Unfortunately, the first temple was about an hour out from their shift change, which meant we were rushed through the temple grounds, and many of the shrines and buildings were already closed. Notable landmark, though: the Temple of the Aborted Fetus. So...there's that.
After the first temple, we headed further along the path, getting cream puffs on the way. I was distracted by some really nice looking chopsticks in a shop, so we went in. Fortunately, Katie found two different models of kendama, which I bought. (Duh.) We also checked out some of the other toys and trinkets they had, including weighted rocking dolls, wooden helicopters, and dog-shaped chopstick rests. Toys in tow, we walked down a beautiful side street, which was as quiet as it was pretty. It was nice to be removed from the bustle of the city for a moment. When we returned to the main street, we decided to check out another temple, and walked up a bunch of fairly steep stairs. When we reached the top, we saw the largest Buddha statue I have ever seen. It was breathtaking. The area in which it sits was closed, so we couldn't get closer, but it was so amazing I snapped photo after photo. Its size was humbling; it could be seen from most places around the temple, and from afar as well. We walked through the temple, visiting the main house, the tea house, the rock gardens, the bamboo garden, and finished by heading down to the street to find the temple museum. It was really interesting to see old letters displayed in shorthand, and comparing them with the modern writing displayed alongside.
We continued along the path into a busy park, where the most famous cherry tree in Japan lives. Seeing the tree, we were not surprised at all; it was very big, and certainly pretty. There were street vendors all around, stalls with carnival games, hanging fires, and hundreds of people were hanging out and having a good time. Katie and I walked down to Gion-san, a famous shrine, stopping at a smaller shrine along the way as well. We finished up walking through the park and headed north to a tempura restaurant called Asuka, which was both delicious and slightly intimidating. Up until this point, all restaurants had been Western seating; this restaurant was sans chairs. It was cool sitting on pillows and mats and eating a full meal again - it reminded me of Dushanbe.
After dinner, we stopped by Lawson's before heading home. Again, I was distracted by shiny things, so we headed down a street in the famous Gion district while Katie looked up where we were. We decided to take a chance, and looked for what our guidebook claimed was "one of the prettiest streets in Asia". We were NOT disappointed. We found ourselves walking down a perfectly canopied tree-lined boulevard, surrounded by gorgeous cherry trees on both sides. Though a little out of the way for us to head back, it was probably the best decision we've made on our trip so far, and absolutely worth the extra few minutes' walk. Finishing in Gion, we caught an express train (which we did not realize was express) that dropped us off just a few minutes away from the hotel; lucky break, considering we were about 2 miles away and the temperature was still dropping!
All in all, today was amazing. Between the temples and shrines, buying toys, and seeing beautiful streets, our first day in Kyoto was lovely. Tomorrow, we are going to a tea ceremony with some geisha, and then will watch the geisha dance before heading to Osaka! I. can. not. wait.
-B
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Captain's Log, Day 2: In which we find ourselves eating sushi at 8:30 am.
Katie and I got up early to head to the Tsukiji Fish Market. We had considered getting there at 3:30 am to line up for the tuna auction, but decided against it and instead headed out around 7. When we arrived, there was a sign along the opening walkway with cartoon characters acting out Do's & Don'ts with English writing, which I, of course, forgot to capture on film. It reminded visitors that the market is NOT a tourist destination, but a real, working market, and requested that we stay out of the workers' way. My kinda place.
The food and goods stalls near the entrance were a bit busy selling everything from Wellingtons to Red Viper Ointment. We looked around at some of the shops, admiring the knives and cookbooks and food, but Katie really wanted to see the fish and other seafood. First, though, we needed to eat, so we got in line at a place called Sushi Bun. We had to order before we got inside, but the hostess gave us a nice hot cup of roasted tea while we were still in line, which really made me feel good off the bat. After two rounds of people ate, we were in.
The food stall (I'm not entirely sure what else to call it) sat about 8-9 people at a time, around a long but narrow L-shaped counter in front of the sushi chefs. As we sat, we were given hot green tea and the beginning of our food sets. I had ordered the C set (the big one), while Katie got the B set. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but there were multiple rounds of food. First, I was given a cold, sweet omelet piece, which was interesting; I'd never had a chilled omelet before. After that it was round after round of sushi. All of the fish, eel, octopus, and urchin pieces had wasabi already placed between the rice and fish, which I was not expecting, but really enjoyed! Wasabi first thing in the morning: delicious. We also had a few rolled pieces, and a couple things I didn't recognize. I got a few more pieces than Katie did, including a creamy tuna roll which was amazing. By the time we were done, we were both fairly full, and ready to see the rest of the market.
To say this place was large would be an understatement. Even huge doesn't quite do it; this place was MASSIVE. There were hundreds of stations where people were selling fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, mussels, oysters, octopus, squid, tuna, and the list just kept going. Many of them were still alive, or were being killed, gutted, and cleaned by the shop workers right in front of us. I was especially excited to watch a man break down a fish; I'd never actually seen that live before. It was really cool. We walked around for a while, checking out the variety and the sheer amount of food available for purchase. If I ever live in Tokyo, I'm getting my fish there every day.
After the market, we stopped by a pastry shop for snacks, then returned to the hotel, heading to the gardens in the back. (Pretty neat, actually!) We walked around for a bit, bumping into a wedding party heading out for their pictures as we made our way back inside. We checked out of the hotel and headed over to Sendagi station to meet Katie's law school friend Jonathan Brooks. We stopped by his place to drop off our bags, met his girlfriend Yukari, and then we all headed to the market to pick up some items for a going-away hanami in the park. At the market, I learned more about Japanese craft beer, picking up a few bottles. I also learned you can drink in public here, and asked Jon a bunch of questions about Japanese whisky. We gathered some food, hit the metro, and walked in the largest crowd of which I've been a part to the park. We found the group in a prime viewing spot, and sat down to hang out. One of the group, Doug, had brought a few toys to play with, including two different types of wooden helicopters, and a kendama. When he busted out the kendama, both Yukari and I got really excited, trying different tricks and showing off our skills. She was surprised that I'd seen one before, let alone have one at home! Anyway, Katie and I had a good time, and shoved off for dinner after a couple hours.
We found a ramen place at the Omote-sando Hills mall, which reminded Katie of Westfield in their offerings. (They had an American Eagle.) Dinner was pretty good, although there was an American guy sitting down a couple tables from us who kept singing whenever American songs came on. Who sings "Sailing" at dinner? Like, the whole song? "And soon I will be free" and everything? You're on a date, dude.
After dinner, we picked up more snacks (I hope by now you've gotten the theme; just assume I'm always picking up snacks) and headed back to Jon's flat. We weren't sure if he would be home, but all the lights were on, so we assumed so. He was getting ready for a big date, and tried to convince us to come out last night around bar time to meet the hanami group for some continued celebrations. Katie and I declined, realizing if we were out past midnight, we'd have to take a taxi back to the flat, and would have no way of doing so. After Jon left, we went right to bed. Two full days in Japan complete!
Today, we're heading to Kyoto via shinkansen (bullet train) in a couple hours. I'm excited to see some of the countryside and to check out another city! I'm also excited to get some reading done. Tonight, if we're lucky, we're going sock-shopping (thanks to Kyra for the suggestion)!
-B
The food and goods stalls near the entrance were a bit busy selling everything from Wellingtons to Red Viper Ointment. We looked around at some of the shops, admiring the knives and cookbooks and food, but Katie really wanted to see the fish and other seafood. First, though, we needed to eat, so we got in line at a place called Sushi Bun. We had to order before we got inside, but the hostess gave us a nice hot cup of roasted tea while we were still in line, which really made me feel good off the bat. After two rounds of people ate, we were in.
The food stall (I'm not entirely sure what else to call it) sat about 8-9 people at a time, around a long but narrow L-shaped counter in front of the sushi chefs. As we sat, we were given hot green tea and the beginning of our food sets. I had ordered the C set (the big one), while Katie got the B set. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but there were multiple rounds of food. First, I was given a cold, sweet omelet piece, which was interesting; I'd never had a chilled omelet before. After that it was round after round of sushi. All of the fish, eel, octopus, and urchin pieces had wasabi already placed between the rice and fish, which I was not expecting, but really enjoyed! Wasabi first thing in the morning: delicious. We also had a few rolled pieces, and a couple things I didn't recognize. I got a few more pieces than Katie did, including a creamy tuna roll which was amazing. By the time we were done, we were both fairly full, and ready to see the rest of the market.
To say this place was large would be an understatement. Even huge doesn't quite do it; this place was MASSIVE. There were hundreds of stations where people were selling fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, mussels, oysters, octopus, squid, tuna, and the list just kept going. Many of them were still alive, or were being killed, gutted, and cleaned by the shop workers right in front of us. I was especially excited to watch a man break down a fish; I'd never actually seen that live before. It was really cool. We walked around for a while, checking out the variety and the sheer amount of food available for purchase. If I ever live in Tokyo, I'm getting my fish there every day.
After the market, we stopped by a pastry shop for snacks, then returned to the hotel, heading to the gardens in the back. (Pretty neat, actually!) We walked around for a bit, bumping into a wedding party heading out for their pictures as we made our way back inside. We checked out of the hotel and headed over to Sendagi station to meet Katie's law school friend Jonathan Brooks. We stopped by his place to drop off our bags, met his girlfriend Yukari, and then we all headed to the market to pick up some items for a going-away hanami in the park. At the market, I learned more about Japanese craft beer, picking up a few bottles. I also learned you can drink in public here, and asked Jon a bunch of questions about Japanese whisky. We gathered some food, hit the metro, and walked in the largest crowd of which I've been a part to the park. We found the group in a prime viewing spot, and sat down to hang out. One of the group, Doug, had brought a few toys to play with, including two different types of wooden helicopters, and a kendama. When he busted out the kendama, both Yukari and I got really excited, trying different tricks and showing off our skills. She was surprised that I'd seen one before, let alone have one at home! Anyway, Katie and I had a good time, and shoved off for dinner after a couple hours.
We found a ramen place at the Omote-sando Hills mall, which reminded Katie of Westfield in their offerings. (They had an American Eagle.) Dinner was pretty good, although there was an American guy sitting down a couple tables from us who kept singing whenever American songs came on. Who sings "Sailing" at dinner? Like, the whole song? "And soon I will be free" and everything? You're on a date, dude.
After dinner, we picked up more snacks (I hope by now you've gotten the theme; just assume I'm always picking up snacks) and headed back to Jon's flat. We weren't sure if he would be home, but all the lights were on, so we assumed so. He was getting ready for a big date, and tried to convince us to come out last night around bar time to meet the hanami group for some continued celebrations. Katie and I declined, realizing if we were out past midnight, we'd have to take a taxi back to the flat, and would have no way of doing so. After Jon left, we went right to bed. Two full days in Japan complete!
Today, we're heading to Kyoto via shinkansen (bullet train) in a couple hours. I'm excited to see some of the countryside and to check out another city! I'm also excited to get some reading done. Tonight, if we're lucky, we're going sock-shopping (thanks to Kyra for the suggestion)!
-B
Friday, April 4, 2014
I have never been this hungry in my life.
Did you know the flight to Haneda International in Tokyo is 12 hours from Los Angeles? Neither did I, but that's how long our flight was. (Actually, we were 10 minutes early, so really I shouldn't be complaining.) After customs, we caught a taxi, and Katie and I made it to bed at 1am local time. After a few hours of sleep, I answered emails and played chess online until it was time for us to set off at 9am.
Having never been to Japan before, we were very excited to start the day. I was worried that we wouldn't get an early enough start, since it wasn't clear how difficult the rail system would be to navigate, so we didn't eat breakfast before we left because I was rushing. Turns out it's about as easy to get around Tokyo as it is to use the MUNI in San Francisco (read: ridiculously easy). Every rail station, and most maps, had English posted everywhere. Plus, the train lines are color-coded, the stations are numbered, and each side of the platform indicates the next number station along the line, just to make sure you're going up or down along the chain. It's awesome, and cheap!
We started in the southern part of the city, and headed up to Koishikawa Korakuen garden clear in north central Tokyo, stopping at a burger chain called Becker's for breakfast croissants. (Don't question it.)
The garden was absolutely beautiful. It claims to be the oldest garden in Tokyo, and the original grounds were 4 times as large as this 7 hectare park. Fortunately, we took lots of pictures, which (eventually) will make it up here.
After the garden, we decided to try and find the cherry blossoms along the imperial moat. However, we also needed some serious food. Well, at least I did; walking around for 2 hours destroyed all traces of the croissant. Katie and I walked towards the moat, looking in at nearly every restaurant along the way. The problem was, either they were too busy, or we didn't know what the options were. Places with picture menus were packed; places without them were, well, illegible (to us, anyway). The whole time, I just got more and more whiny, but we couldn't find a place we wanted to eat. Thus, after walking a mile trying to find someplace to eat, we ended up at the moat anyway. Since I demanded we grub first, we walked into a basement restaurant, where we spent 15 minutes watching group after group get seated in the smoking section while we waited for a non-smoking table to open up. Finally, we were seated, and ready to eat! We figured out how to order, and Katie got a noodle dish while I got grilled salmon and a bunch of sides. We also figured out how to say "water" correctly, which was key, as we had been walking all morning, and would be for the rest of the day.
Our order in, we took a look around the restaurant. Here's where my most important observation of the day comes in: everyone wears suits in central Tokyo. I realized this because above each and every booth in the restaurant, there were a plethora of hangers for suit jackets. Many of the people sitting near us had jackets hanging above them. Even though we'd seen plenty of people in suits earlier, it didn't click just HOW many until that moment. Actually, it's kind of cool, thinking about it. Best dressed city I've ever been in.
After wolfing down lunch, and waiting for a more-civilized Katie to finish, we headed south to enjoy the sakura (cherry blossoms) along the moat.
There were hundreds of people lined up along the fencing, and even more walking along the pathway, so we got in line and started the trail. It was breathtaking. The trees seemed to lean over the moat, as if looking at their reflection in the water, and the petals were in full bloom and falling from the branches like snow. There were people in rowboats in the moat struggling against the strong headwind, trying to row back to the small tourist port, enjoying the snowfall of pink and white in the meantime. We walked a mile or so around the moat, slowly, before deciding to head to Akihabara.
We picked up some snacks in the metro station while waiting for the train: Katie got a Belgian waffle - prepackaged, buttery, and delicious - and I got some ramen-flavored chips. My chips were fantastic. (For those of you that don't know, I am OBSESSED with ramen. Like, seriously, you don't understand.) Then we arrived at Akihabara, an electronics, anime, and video game-centric neighborhood. We spent some time exploring a Sega-based arcade before checking out some fandom-geared shops. Some of the items were run-of-the-mill action figures and figurines; others were really interesting trinkets and t-shirts. All around, there were women in cosplay outfits handing out coupons and information for different restaurants.
Around this time, I got hungry. Again. After walking for a bit longer and seeing some more cool shops, it was time for me to eat. We rode the metro back to our station, and stopped by the 7-11 (yes, that's a thing) to pick up some snacks. I got two pastries and a bag of chips in the event we were unable to find a substantial dinner place; we walked to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and asked concierge about local dinner options. She informed us we could take a shuttle to an area where there were more Japanese dining options, as everything around the hotel was foreign.
We decided to ride to an Izakaya called Watami. It was so good! I had the gyoza and the ramen, and Katie had some chicken kabobs. The ramen was miso-based, and oh-so-tasty. The gyoza were good, although they came on the skillet so they were VERY hot. Katie's kabobs were really buttery and interesting, and we're pretty sure one of them was a liver kabob. Never had that before; score one for Japan.
When we got back to the room, it took about 30 minutes for me to get hungry again. I ate the cheese danish I had been waiting for, and then took a bite out of the other pastry...which turned out to be a rice-and-gravy deal I was not expecting! It was really good though, and I finally felt full for the first time all day. Thank you, Sebun-elebun. (That's how you pronounce it here if you need someone to understand what you're asking for.)
All told, it was a great first day in Japan! Looking forward to hitting up the fish market today, then meeting Katie's friend Jonathan Brooks on the north side and going to a hanami! (Sakura-viewing party.) Check in later!
-B
Having never been to Japan before, we were very excited to start the day. I was worried that we wouldn't get an early enough start, since it wasn't clear how difficult the rail system would be to navigate, so we didn't eat breakfast before we left because I was rushing. Turns out it's about as easy to get around Tokyo as it is to use the MUNI in San Francisco (read: ridiculously easy). Every rail station, and most maps, had English posted everywhere. Plus, the train lines are color-coded, the stations are numbered, and each side of the platform indicates the next number station along the line, just to make sure you're going up or down along the chain. It's awesome, and cheap!
We started in the southern part of the city, and headed up to Koishikawa Korakuen garden clear in north central Tokyo, stopping at a burger chain called Becker's for breakfast croissants. (Don't question it.)
Our order in, we took a look around the restaurant. Here's where my most important observation of the day comes in: everyone wears suits in central Tokyo. I realized this because above each and every booth in the restaurant, there were a plethora of hangers for suit jackets. Many of the people sitting near us had jackets hanging above them. Even though we'd seen plenty of people in suits earlier, it didn't click just HOW many until that moment. Actually, it's kind of cool, thinking about it. Best dressed city I've ever been in.
After wolfing down lunch, and waiting for a more-civilized Katie to finish, we headed south to enjoy the sakura (cherry blossoms) along the moat.
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| This couple was painting the art museum together. |
We picked up some snacks in the metro station while waiting for the train: Katie got a Belgian waffle - prepackaged, buttery, and delicious - and I got some ramen-flavored chips. My chips were fantastic. (For those of you that don't know, I am OBSESSED with ramen. Like, seriously, you don't understand.) Then we arrived at Akihabara, an electronics, anime, and video game-centric neighborhood. We spent some time exploring a Sega-based arcade before checking out some fandom-geared shops. Some of the items were run-of-the-mill action figures and figurines; others were really interesting trinkets and t-shirts. All around, there were women in cosplay outfits handing out coupons and information for different restaurants.
Around this time, I got hungry. Again. After walking for a bit longer and seeing some more cool shops, it was time for me to eat. We rode the metro back to our station, and stopped by the 7-11 (yes, that's a thing) to pick up some snacks. I got two pastries and a bag of chips in the event we were unable to find a substantial dinner place; we walked to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and asked concierge about local dinner options. She informed us we could take a shuttle to an area where there were more Japanese dining options, as everything around the hotel was foreign.
We decided to ride to an Izakaya called Watami. It was so good! I had the gyoza and the ramen, and Katie had some chicken kabobs. The ramen was miso-based, and oh-so-tasty. The gyoza were good, although they came on the skillet so they were VERY hot. Katie's kabobs were really buttery and interesting, and we're pretty sure one of them was a liver kabob. Never had that before; score one for Japan.
When we got back to the room, it took about 30 minutes for me to get hungry again. I ate the cheese danish I had been waiting for, and then took a bite out of the other pastry...which turned out to be a rice-and-gravy deal I was not expecting! It was really good though, and I finally felt full for the first time all day. Thank you, Sebun-elebun. (That's how you pronounce it here if you need someone to understand what you're asking for.)
All told, it was a great first day in Japan! Looking forward to hitting up the fish market today, then meeting Katie's friend Jonathan Brooks on the north side and going to a hanami! (Sakura-viewing party.) Check in later!
-B
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