typhoon!

Update 10:02 a.m.: Hey, Alison just called and said that apparently a typhoon is on its way! Pretty exciting...it's supposed to hit tonight or tomorrow.


For those who have not checked my Blatherings in a few days, be warned that I've done a number of extra entries as a result of my visit to Kyoto and Kobe. To catch up, you can start here.


Monday, Sept. 10, 2001 7:30 am, Tokyo time


Only two days left in Japan! I have to say, I love it here. Love the food, the people, how different the customs are, the challenge of the language barrier. I definitely want to come back someday.


Anyway, here are some collected random observations. To be honest, these are more for my benefit than yours, just because they don't really fit into regular Blatherings but I'd like them recorded somehow. I will likely keep updating this page as I think of more things to add.


I've also included some mystery pictures. I'm hoping some of you will be able to help me with some questions (see "Today's Blatherpics" section for questions). Please answer in Blatherchat if at all possible, thanks.





- It's difficult to find a wastepaper basket when you need one. Jeff and I have frequently carried around an empty drink container or paper wrapper for some time just because we couldn't find anywhere to toss it. Mental note: make sure I always carry around a spare plastic bag next time. I can't help but notice that Japanese women tend to carry larger purses or shopping bag type of bags rather than tiny purses. In fact, even stationery stores will often sell shopping bags made of a thin (perhaps disposable) plastic for pretty cheap.


- No one says anything (even the equivalent of "bless you") when people sneeze.





- Saying "sumimasen" a lot will help you get by even if you don't know a lot of Japanese (thanks to my friend Shane for this tip). For me, it also helps to then ask if they can speak English, because it cues the other person into the fact that I'm not fluent in Japanese. :-)


- Larger public washroom areas (and the shinkansen) will often have Western style toilets in addition to Japanese style.





- Bring my own indoor slippers. That way I'll always have a comfortable pair that fits perfectly.


- Don't bother bringing kleenex if I plan to visit a large city. It seems like every major intersection has a young girl handing out free packets of kleenex. At first I thought they were marketing a particular brand of tissue (and everyone needs tissue in Japan, since toilet paper is rarely made available in public washrooms). Then I realized that it was just the equivalent of people handing out paper flyers back home. Each packet of kleenex came with two cardboard inserts covered with a colour advertisement. Brilliant marketing, as far as I'm concerned. I'd turned down a paper flyer, but happily take a free packet of kleenex.





- Keep lots of change handy for the drink machines, and buy bottled water when it's available. Interestingly, it's much easier to find sweetened drinks than regular bottled water. We've gone by half a dozen drink machines before finding one that sells plain water.


- Things to do/visit next time I visit: more time in Kyoto, visit Hiroshima, try a public hot bath, schedule in more people-watching time (rather than constantly going from one place to another), investigate where to find shakuhachi flutes, figure out when major flea markets take place and spend a whole afternoon at one.





Today's Blatherpics:


- Weather warning about the approaching typhoon this morning.


- There were a number of these kinds of statues in Kobe. Each was of a human figure, often naked. The metal plaque on the stand had something in Japanese, followed by a year. All the years seemed to be within the past 20 years or so. Does anyone know what the significance of these statues are?


- These were on sale in the produce department of a grocery store. Any guesses?


- While exploring Alison's old neighbourhood, we saw an old cemetery in which many of the gravestones had long wooden sticks stuck nearby. Each stick had Japanese characters written on it in black magic marker. Anyone have any idea what they're for?


- Alison told me these were pork penises, and I believed her until I noticed her trying not to laugh. Does anyone know what these really are?


- Is this Prince Planet or Astro Boy?


Today's Poll:



Did you ever own a pair of platform shoes?

lazy Tokyo sunday

(conclusion of a multi-part Blathering which begins here)


Sunday, Sept. 9, 2001 7:20 pm, Tokyo time


Yay, finally caught up in my Blatherings!





Last night, we watched The Postman on an English movie channel. Baaad movie, but part of this could have been because the original three hours had been edited down to less than two hours. We had fun tearing it apart throughout, however. :-)





My dad had warned me that two typhoons were heading towards Japan today, and Alison confirmed that she had heard something similar. The worst must have hit another part of Japan, however, because we only got a ton of rain and some wind. Weather was pretty weird today, alternating between sunshine and heavy rain. VERY humid, yuk. I was perspiring within a few minutes of leaving Alison's air-conditioned apartment.


The Japanese must be used to it, however (I know Alison's already adjusted somewhat)...many of them were walking around with sweaters and vests without a hint of any discomfort.





This morning we decided to check out the east gardens of the Imperial Palace. Very pretty, an oasis of green in the center of downtown Tokyo. I especially liked seeing the section containing all the different trees representing different prefectures (each prefecture had a symbol tree, similar to each Canadian province having a representative flower/plant). There were even palm trees! My favourite of them all was the Japanese maple.


Next, we explored the Tokyo International Forum (air conditioning, yay!) and had lunch. The Ginza area was next...the main road was closed until the early afternoon, and there were tables and benches set up in the middle.





We browsed the Matsu-yo department store, then went to the Sony building, which is supposed to have many floors of interesting high-tech displays. Alison and I accompanied Jeff for one floor but then decided to head back home, leaving Jeff free to peruse each floor as long as he liked. He also checked out the Sony Museum....perhaps I'll be able to convince him to Blather about it later on.





Alison read and I caught up on my Blatherings in the late afternoon. Jeff came back to the apartment a while later, laden with electronics brochures and lunch from Macdonalds.


As I type this, Alison is in bed reading, and Jeff is in bed snoozing. And I'm caught up in my Blatherings! Very soon we'll take out our bento boxes for dinner. We have a number of interesting things to choose from for dessert. I've made a point of buying something new or unidentifiable to eat each day. So far, everything's been yummy. My favourite so far is red bean icecream bars (I've had red bean icecream back home, but never on a stick; the texture is different). I am REALLY going to miss these when I go back home. :-(





And I went out on my own FOR THE FIRST TIME today. This may not seem like much to most of you, but I am abysmal at navigation; I've left it all to Jeff and Alison during our stay. If I have no choice, then I can do it (e.g. while living alone in Philadelphia), but I know it's definitely not one of my strong points.


So I went out to the AM/PM a short walk around the corner from the apartment by myself. It was very liberating. :-) And I never had to use Japanese even once, except to say thank you when paying for my groceries; maybe the clerk didn't realize I was a gaijin. I bought toothpaste (I bought the only brand I could recognize, which was Aquafresh) fruit popsicles, some juices, a "new soft" bun for Jeff (it turns out they're a sort of soft bun with pork inside; he really likes them).


Hm, all this talk of food is making me hungry. I think it's time to pull out my bento box...


Today's Blatherpics:


- Haagen Daaz green tea icecream! I wish they sold this in Canada.


- In the east gardens of the Imperial Palace.


- Tour group near the Imperial Palace. Note the flag-bearing tour guide...this was a pretty common sight at popular tourist attraction areas.


- Umbrella stand at a park near the Imperial Palace. I find it fascinating how prevalent umbrellas and umbrella stands seem to be in Japan. Umbrellas are used in both rainy and very sunny weather, and it does seem to rain more in Japan than back home.


- I'm nuts for Japanese children; they are so adorable. Whenever we pass a particularly cute infant, I'll tell Jeff, "Soooo cute! Let's have one!!" He knows enough about me (both of us are rock-solid in our decision not to have children ourselves) to react by laughing instead of being horrified. :-)


- Baby food in a grocery store we explored. I'll bet North America never sees these Gerber flavours: "Turbot and Cod White Stew" and "Mugwort and Sweet Potatoes". :-)


- A display in the Sony building.


Today's Poll:



If you had to choose between a temperature extreme, would you rather be too hot or too cold? (choose YES for hot, NO for cold)

conveyor belt sushi

(continuation of a multi-part Blathering which begins here)


Saturday, Sept. 8th, 2001


Today we checked out Alison's old neighbourhood...she used to live in Koen-ji about thirteen years ago, studying Japanese while working various jobs, including a being disc jockey in top-40 radio show called FM-Banana, English teacher, and had her own cable television show about Harajuku. Nice neighbourhood, prettier than downtown Tokyo.





I picked up some kanji-practice notebooks in a stationery store. LOVE Japanese stationery stores! All kinds of interesting paper and pens and other office supplies. Heck, I'm an office supply store addict anyway, and adding the unique experience of a foreign country just adds to the lure. I could have spent a lot more time (and money) in the office supply store, but there were other places to see and do. I even found some SUSHI ERASERS, woohoo!





We also visited Shinjuku. VERY interesting neighbourhood, definitely not a place to go if you just wanted some relaxing downtime. :-) Lonely Planet's Japan guidebook says, "If you only had a day in Tokyo and wanted to dive headfirst into the modern Japanese phenomenon, Shinjuku would be the place to go."


All kinds of shopping, stand-up noode bars, pachinko parlours, government offices, huge video screens advertising various products and services, crowded, noisy, the sleazy and classy shoulder to shoulder.





We had lunch at a kaiten sushi shop, where you can watch small plates of different types of sushi go by on a conveyor belt and take what you'd like. The plates are different colours, with each colour being associated with a different price. My dad had mentioned these a lot, so I was very happy to be able to visit one.


The conveyer belt had two levels...the top had the plates of sushi, the bottom had chopsticks, cups and green tea bags. If you wanted green tea, you could grab a cup, stick a bag in it, and get hot water from the small hot faucet in front of you. There were also largish containers of ginger near each person.





Relatively affordable, too...we pigged out on sushi and the total tab for the three of us only came to about 2600 yen (CAN$35).


Alison also took us to Iseten, a huge department store. Jeff and I were mainly interested in the foreign section of the bookstore. I already have some books on formal Japanese back home. The foreign book section had an excellent selection of Japanese language learning titles. After much agonizing (and eavesdropping on a few gaijin who were there commenting on their experiences with various Japanese language books with a Japanese friend), I bought four:


Kanji Pictographix : Teaches over 1,000 Japanese kanji and kana through mnemonics. This will nicely complement a basic kanji dictionary I have back home.


Once Upon A Time In Japan: Contains a number of Japanese fairytales. Each set of facing pages has the text in regular English on one side, hiragana and kanji on the other. Each kanji has the corresponding hiragana in small symbols above. There are also illustrations sprinkled throughout. Very cool.


Beyond Polite Japanese: A dictionary of Japanese slang and colloquialisms. The Asahi Evening News review blurb: "An indispensable reference to have at your side as you switch on the TV to watch a cop show or a soap opera."


Flip, Slither, & Bang: Japanese sound and action words. Looks great...each chapter/topic opens with a sample dialogue (in both Japanese characters and regular English) followed by a breakdown of various sound/action words, each with the hiragana representation, definition, pronunciation, and use in a sentence.





We also went to the basement floor, where we each picked out a bento box and accompaniment dishes to have for dinner that night. It was incredibly difficult choosing...the entire floor was filled with vendors of all kinds of interesting things to eat and drink. Great people-watching opportunities, too, with all the bustle and crowds and vendors calling out (I assume) to those passing by, trying to convince them to try their wares. Free samples, too!


Later in the afternoon we went back to Alison's apartment to relax, do laundry, nap, read. I've found that scheduling a little downtime has contributed a great deal to our not getting overwhelmed/exhausted. Plus it gives me time to do Blatherings. :-)


Hey, I'm almost caught up! One more day...


Today's Blatherpics:


- Basement of Iseten department store.


- Melon in grocery story. Cost: 4800 yen, or approx. CAN$65 for one melon. (!!)


- Fugu restaurant (fugu = puffer fish).


- Conveyor belt sushi.


- Books I bought at a foreign bookstore.


- Alison ordering food from a clerk in Iseten.


Today's Poll:



Do you prefer seeing a first-run movie in a crowded or empty theatre? Choose YES for crowded, NO for empty or if you don't care.

kobe

(continuation of a multi-part Blathering which begins here)


Friday September 7th, 2001 (cont'd)


My mother was born in Kobe, which is why I wanted to see it. Jeff and I used our JR rail passes with no problem...I'd definitely recommend these passes for anyone planning a visit to Japan. We had briefly considered going to Hiroshima as well, but realized that we'd rather spend more time in one place than very little in both.





My dad had said that my mom's childhood home had been destroyed in the big earthquake of '95, sadly, so I wasn't able to see it. Jeff and I visited The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Reconstruction Promotion Center in the Phoenix Place, which was also a community and support center for those who had been affected by the quake.





The women behind the information counter spoke flawless English, much to our surprise. We browsed the displays and watched a number of short films about the quake. The films were all in Japanese, but the center provided wireless headphones for those who wanted a translation in English.


Must admit I got all teary-eyed through some of the films, watching how the city coped with the aftermath (6400 people died, 40,000 were injured, 450,000 households destroyed), and the support that flooded in from the rest of the Japan and the world.





Other information in the center included causes of an earthquake, what steps Japan took in preparation for future earthquakes (e.g. in building construction), tips for how to survive an earthquake. Kind of unnerving, really. Allison tells us that according to local news, we've already experienced one earthquake, but it was a small one and occurred while we were sleeping.


It rained most of the day, so Jeff and I decided to take a tourbus that did an hour loop of the city. There was a pretty young Japanese woman in a tailored outfit narrating the entire trip. Jeff and I were the only passengers for part of the trip, and I thought it sort of funny that our tourbus guide was doing all this talking, and that her only passengers couldn't understand any of her narration. Perhaps she thought I was somewhat fluent and could translate for the gaijin, who knows.





Anyway, it was an interesting look at various parts of Kobe. During the entire trip, I couldn't help but keep thinking, "I wonder if Mom ever saw this part of the city? I wonder if she was ever standing where we are now, as a young girl, looking at what we're looking at?" It gave me a bit of a lump in the throat, wishing I could just call her up and ASK her. But it was also a very positive experience for me, helping me feel a connection with the young girl my mother once had been.





An amusing part of our tourbus ride was when we passed through Kitano, a pretty hillside neighbourhood where some of Kobe's early Western residents used to live. Local tourists can check out foreign-type houses without ever having to leave Japan. :-)


We arrived back in Tokyo in time to greet Alison when she got home from work, and had dinner at the same great ramen restaurant where we had eaten a few days before.


Next: conveyer belt sushi!




Today's Blatherpics:


- Some say Kobe beef is the best beef in the world. Note the price of the package shown above is equivalent to about CAN$140. (!!!)


- Shinkansen. I think these trains look very cool, don't you?


- Exhibit in the earthquake information centre.


- Ad on one of the drink-dispensing machines. We've also seen Bruce Willis in ads and commercials.


- Kobe tourbus.


- Western style house in Kobe. Tourists pay to see what Westerners live like.


Today's Poll:



Have you ever experienced an earthquake?

tea ceremony

(continuation of a multi-part Blathering which begins here)


Thursday, September 6th, 2001 (continued)


When we got back to the ryokan, we took another bath. There's something wonderfully decadent about sitting in one's room in what was basically a bathrobe, waiting for dinner to be served.


Jeff and I had wondered whether or not we would get the same dinner as the previous night...most visitors tend to stay at a ryokan only one night, after all. Instead, our maid (a different one from yesterday's, and who turned out to be the same one that JeffL and Alison had, and in fact we found out they had the same ROOM as us, and apologies for this run-on sentence) brought up a portable gas stove and pot, and then the makings of sukiyaki. My mother used to make this quite often when we were kids, and I always loved it.





Basically, sukiyaki consists of vegetables and thin slices of meat cooked in a broth of sake, soy sauce, and vinegar. Our maid also stirred in a raw egg at one point. Delicious!


Jeff and I had asked about the possibility of witnessing a tea ceremony during our stay, and the ryokan people had said there would be one that night. A few minutes after we asked the maid for a confirmation about when this would take place, the manager came to get us. He said we could stay in our yukatas.





I had half-expected to be part of a crowd of tourist onlookers, so was surprised to find Jeff and I being the only attendees. The manager took us into the garden (we had to change from our house slippers to garden slippers) where we used stepping stones to a waiting room.


After a few minutes, an older Japanese man named Ken introduced himself and gave a short talk about Yoshi-ima, which was built in 1747, and the surrounding area. He even mentioned "Memoirs of a Geisha", which surprised me since I had heard that most Japanese didn't like the book, and encouraged us to take an evening stroll for a chance to see geisha or maiko (geisha-in-training).





Side note about geisha: Geisha are not prostitutes (this seems to be a common Western misconception). They are basically women trained from an early age to entertain. Some pay more than US$3000 to spend an evening being entertained by two or three geisha, whose main function is often to break the ice at a gathering of Japanese businessmen. Entertainment consists of a wide range of visual and performing arts, including singing, dancing, playing the three stringed shamisen, as well as social entertainment such as pouring drinks, lighting cigarettes, and keeping the conversation lively. You need an introduction of an established patron before being invited to witness a geisha performance. Apparently there are about 100 geisha and 80 maiko in Kyoto. (these facts gleaned from the Lonely Planet's guide about Japan).





Anyway, Ken also gave an overview of what to expect from the tea ceremony. A few minutes after he left, a gong sounded, which signalled that the ceremony was about to begin. A woman came to take us to the ceremonial tea house. Before stepping into the tea house, we removed our slippers and stepped through the nijiriguchi, a two foot square sliding door to the room. The purpose of the small door was to force people to bow as they passed through, enabling them "to become humble enough to enjoy the tea party equally and peacefully" (quote from a booklet we were given by Yoshi-ima).





Yet another Japanese woman came into the tea house, and told us that she would be translating what was happening for us (she spoke very fluent English). We could sit cross-legged or kneel, whatever was most comfortable.


An older woman entered the tea house and began the ceremony. Every movement was carefully choreographed. Apparently it takes many years to master the art of the tea ceremony. Also a lot of money, our young guide told us enthusiastically; the courses cost a ton. Later, Jeff said he noticed the older woman (who never said a single word during the entire ceremony) giving our guide a couple of looks whenever she waxed too eloquently about the cost involved in the learning the ceremony, or how much the teachers were paid.





We were given a small block of sweet bean paste-stuff (sorry, don't know the proper terminology) which she said was supposed to counteract the bitterness of the powdered tea. It was fascinating to watch the older woman, knowing that every move was the result of a lifetime of study. Also interesting to try powdered tea instead of the usual green tea made from leaves; it's frothy on top, and more bitter.


After the ceremony was complete, the older woman left. Our young guide encouraged us to ask questions, and also encouraged us to take an evening stroll around the area. If we were lucky, she said, we might even see a geisha or maiko.


We were met by yet another young woman (this made a total of six people involved in the tea ceremony just for us, wow) who gave us a tour of Yoshi-ima as well as some of its history. I made a major gaffe as I stepped up from the garden into the ryokan: I HAD FORGOTTEN TO REMOVE MY GARDEN SLIPPERS! The slippers weren't at all dirty, of course, but the changing-slipper thing is a major deal in Japan...I thought the two women were going to jump me! I quickly removed my slippers and went inside to put on my inside slippers, much to their relief. :-)


I was intrigued by the romantic image of the elusive geisha mentioned earlier, so Jeff and I decided to change our plans (which had originally been to crash fairly early) and go for a walk. We didn't see any geisha, but we did see several inebriated Japanese men happily reeling down the sidewalk after their Thursday night binge. :-)


Next: Kobe!





Today's Blatherpics:


- Our maid making sukiyaki with Jeff observing. :-)


- One of the side dishes for our sukiyaki dinner. The stick-ball thingy was crunch on the outside, soft on the inside, was very tasty, and I have no idea what it was. The spherical thing was some kind of cooked nut, I think. The maid showed us how to peel off the outside.


- Tea ceremony out in the garden.


- Tokonoma (alcove) in the ceremonial tea house. The Yoshi-ima teahouse was modelled exactly after an authentic ceremonial tea house created by a famous tea house artist in Nanzen-ji Temple.


- My teacup and a sweet (mostly eaten).


- Sign across the river at night reads "OPEN BAR NOX". Not sure if "Nox" is an English typo which should be "Now", or if it's the name of the open bar. :-)


- This photo helps demonstrated why Jeff kept accidentally banging his head against the doorframe separating the two sections of our room. The Yoshi-ima booklet says, "Watch your head! Because the Japanese were commonly only about five feet tall in the formerdays, the basic scale for the structure in this country still has been standardized at about six feet, a unit called ken." To give you some perspective, our maid stood in the same position (after seeing Jeff bang his head)...the top of her head came to the bottom of the topmost white square.


Today's Poll:



Do you prefer black tea or herbal tea? (choose YES for black, NO for herbal) If you don't like tea at all, don't answer.