To Another Adventure at The Pond's Edge: June 2011

30.6.11

The Beatles in Toyko 06_25_11

I'm sure that if you ever looked at Tokyo from above it would just look like a while lot of little ants going in and out of buildings, shrines, and temples. The population is huge and in some ways the city reminds me of New York... but in most ways it's completely different!

In the morning we met up with some of Zeb Sr. and Emily's friends that they had known from back in Fairbanks, Alaska. We had breakfast at the US navy base... or what I think was a base that looked like a hotel. It's interesting to live in the US in Japan. I don't even know how to describe it, but I don't think I mind it. I think it may actually give me a way to experience the culture and then sit back and really think about it in a relaxed way.

After breakfast we went to Asakusa. In Asakusa there are some very large markets with every type of Japanese souvenirs that you can think of. I bought a few things, but I'm saving most of my souvenir shopping for later. At one of the stores where I bought some chopsticks one of the ladies gave me a present; a little paper crane. It was very sweet and nice.

At the temple itself, there was incense burning, people purifying their hands and mouths, people getting fortunes, and most importantly people praying. It was a very fasinating sight to see. I figured I should join in, so I watched as others fanned the incense smoke onto themselves, poured water onto their hands and washed out their mouths, and got fortunes, then I followed suit. My fortune said

"The Last and Small Fortune: If everything goes quite well up to the half way, there will be no more harm. A bad person may fetch you into the wrong way, there is a good and effective medicine in the vase. Even when you get sic, you can get well soon.
*Your request will not be granted at once, *The patient can get well, even if it last lone. *The lost article will be found. *The person you wait for will come, but it takes a little time. *Building a new house and removal both well. *To start a trip is all right. *Marriage and employment, it is fortune will be up to a half."

I'm not sure what it all means, but it doesn't sound too bad.

All of the cultural rituals made us hungry however, so we went to find lunch. On the way there we stumbled upon a gentleman making noodles. We were happy to have gyoza at the next place though. Mmmm Yummy! We had noodles the first full day I was here. That was good, but gyoza is better.

Following lunch, we made our way to Ueno Park. There we watched a talented street performer do some Diablo tricks and made our way to the National Museum.

The National Museum had some fascinating exhibits, but because there wasn't much written in English, Zeb and I found ourselves making up stories for each interesting painting and statue... a lot of things were made in the Edo Period (which seems to be mostly true). Zeb Sr. tried to tell us that Chippendales appeared in the late Edo Period/early Showa Period. That Zeb is a silly man. :) We had no more time for silliness at the museum though. It was off to Beatles Night at the hotel!!

I got dressed in my finest sequin dress (my gay pride dress), ate very nice food, and danced to the music of four Japanese men play Beatles music. They're English wasn't perfect, but when they sang the Beatles they were. A good time was had by all, but by about 10pm Zeb and I headed to bed. We needed to be up at 4:30am to catch the bullet train to Kyoto.

For pictures of the day, see: :)

http://toanotheradventure.blogspot.com/2011/06/pictures.html

29.6.11

Sake and Shopping

My second full day in Japan consisted of relaxing and drinking sake. Although not much exciting happened in the morning, by early afternoon Zeb Sr. was ready to go to a town that has a sake brewery. The plan was to go to the small village of Sawai and drink sake at the cafe by the river.

Getting there was not a problem, and the train ride was just beautiful. It was amazingly green and lush compared to Tokyo! It was really quite a quaint town really. The problems started when we couldn't read the "closed" sign for the cafe; all we knew was that it was closed. It was time for a new plan!

We spent a good 15 minutes wandering around the nearby temple and forest before Zeb Sr. had come up with a new plan; sake from the convenience store by the sake brewery! It was a great plan! We even found a place to sit on some rocks down by the river! It was a wonderful experience! Between talking about jobs, the weather, family and colleges, a Japanese man even showed up to take samples of the water and wildlife of the river (at least as far as we could tell, that's what he was doing).

We were all in good spirits by the time we got on the train to head back to base. Once at base we finished the evening with pizza, beer, and water! All in all, it was a great day!

The next morning it was time to pack and get ready for a weekend in downtown Tokyo. Zeb's parents, Emily and Zeb Sr., were treating us to a good time on the town and a night of Beatles music, done by Japanese men.

On Friday we got on the road by about mid-day. The traffic wasn't too bad, but I can see how it might get to be horrible. The streets were tiny and there were a lot of cars. At least here they follow road rules. I'm interested to see if road rules are followed in Malaysia. After "taking the scenic route" to the hotel we dropped the car off at the hotel and caught the bus to Shibuya, home of the busiest crosswalk in the world and some of the most interesting shops too!

We had a good time just wandering the streets and looking into shops. I bought myself a pair of what I would call "sandal or thong" socks or not quite toe socks, but "big toe" socks. They're pretty funny. I have yet to wear them, but I'm sure I will soon.

I also noticed a lot of people passing out packets of tissues. Most of them had some type of ads on them and were passed out with little pamphlets as well. When I stepped up to one lady however, she wouldn't let me have any. I thought it was very strange for someone passing out things to stop passing them out to people who didn't look Asian. After buying a Japanese shirt at the "second hand" shop (which didn't look too much like a second hand shop) though I had better luck getting tissues. Actually the guy handing them out seemed quite keen to get rid of them!

While in the area of Shibuya, we also tried to go to the Energy Museum. We had heard there was a small nuclear reactor on display there. It was a shame that the museum was closed however. We think it had something to do with the fact that no one in Japan is very happy with the company that runs all of the nuclear reactor operations in Japan. Understandably so.

That evening we had dinner at an amazing Garlic restaurant! Zeb's parents have treated me so well! I can't even start to describe how thankful I am! They're great friends! It's been so much fun to be here with them!

After Skype-ing with my mom it was time for bed... it was a busy day the next day!