Disney Tokyo Sea

Russell and I had no intention of ever going to anything Disney during our stay in Japan. As I have been working here, though, my mind began to change. This is mostly because whenever one of my students said they had spent the weekend/ vacation in Tokyo and I asked them what they had done, they unanimously responded "go to Disneyland." We were also constantly getting Disney treats as omiyage (gifts you bring back when you go on vacation). When I asked students what I should do in Tokyo, they always said, "go to Disneyland!" I started to feel like there must be some magic left in Disney Tokyo. Clearly it still enchanted my 19 and 20 year old students (boys and girls) in a way I wouldn't expect to see in the U.S. I decided I was officially curious and informed Russell that he should be too. To make things a little bit easier on both of us (we hoped) we picked the Disneyland sister resort, Disney Tokyo Sea.

The two resorts are right next to each other and share hotels. One is a very close model of the classic Anaheim Disneyland and the other is a secondary resort with new attractions - some are at least loosely connected to water. For example, there is a Little Mermaid, under the sea area, they moved the 20,000 leagues under the sea ride to this side of the park and they have a lovely little recreation of Cape Cod (that one I wasn't expecting). They also have an Aladdin corner, an Indiana Jones corner, a tomorrow land-esque corner (with different rides) and the Tower of Terror.

To start this story out, you have to understand that both Russell and I are, at our core cheapskates. We are willing to splurge on some things some times (like tickets to a theme park we are suspicious of), but we quickly draw the line when expenses seem ridiculous.

When we got off the Tokyo train station that lead to Disneyland, there was a clearly marked path that led right to the Disney Monorail. Russell had fond memories of the monorail in Disney World, Florida, so we were happy to follow the crowd. It turned out, however, that you had to pay $5 each for round trip ticket on the monorail. We knew the front gate was walking distance, but there were conveniently no signs to show us the way.

We were up to the challenge.

We broke out our iphone maps and tried to figure out what the fastest way to Disney Tokyo Sea was. The maps didn't show exactly where the entrance was, but we were pretty sure we could skirt the parks to the East and get there eventually. It had to be better than shelling out $10. So we started walking. Note the picture of Russell NOT taking the monorail. This needn't have been such a long hike because there was an (unmarked) path that went right down the middle of the parks to the front gate. Instead we walked all around the circumference of Disneyland and the Cirque du Soleil venue next to it before finding the center walk that eventually took us to the front gate. We were a little footsore, but very proud that Disneyland hadn't gotten our money. Until they got it in the form of ticket fare - but, you know, we were expecting that expense.

My hackles were already up over the monorail, so I may have started the whole adventure biased, but about 20 minutes into the park I was kind of ready to go. I didn't say anything to Russell because I had dragged him to the park against his will in the first place. While I knew that Disney was a well-oiled money-sucking machine, it really hits its stride in Japan. The builders of Tokyo Japan clearly had a different business plan than Walt in 1955. Where the Anaheim resort is still trying to catch up (and battling space restrictions, Tokyo Disney Sea (and I would guess Tokyo Disneyland as well) could really capitalize. There were gift shops at every corner. Kiosks, restaurants, specialty items you could only get in one store - which meant many people spent most of their time in Disneyland shopping through all the stores to see what was special in this next one. It was amazing. One of the most irritating parts (and one I think is shared by Disneyland in Anaheim) were the $15 popcorn buckets. If you wanted popcorn or caramel corn, you had to buy a cartoon character bucket for $15. After you had the bucket, though, you could refill it for only $7 dollars! What a deal! Of course, after smelling popcorn at every turn for 5+ hours you really start to crave it. We did hold out, though it was a bitter victory.

Russell did succumb to the sausage baguettes being sold from another vendor, though. After waiting in line 30-45 minutes to get one, he decided it would be wise to get two. He couldn't eat them both , though, so he insisted on stashing one in my purse for later. Great. While it isn't the greatest picture, this one shows the crowds, the fleece mouse ears and the line for sausage. See if you can spot Russell.

One thing I had heard from my students and was interested in checking for myself on this trip was that people love buying ears at Disneyland. At Disneyland in California, you can get the Mickey and Minnie ears, the Goofy hats, etc, but I had heard that it was really quite common to buy a different set of ears every time you visit Tokyo Disneyland. One of my students, when preparing a cultural survey to give Americans in Oregon about Disneyland asked: "How many ears do you have?" Which, as you can imagine, met with some puzzled looks.



So I was curious - just how many ear options are there in Disney Tokyo and do people really buy them in droves? The answer? There seem to be seasonal ears (somehow I shouldn't have been surprised) and some standards (like the Mickey and Minnie ear headbands. The big hit this season were the fleece hood/ mouse ears (in black, white and pink leopard spot). Note picture. While only about a quarter of the people in the park were wearing ears (which is still pretty impressive) there was no age or gender group that seemed more likely to be wearing them. We saw teenage girls and boys wearing ears, young children, 50-something year old couples. There seemed to be a widespread appeal. That I was also not expecting. My favorite was the teenage boy in goth make-up who had tied a daffy-duck stuffed animal to his head with a bow.

So what did we actually DO? We were in the park from about 10am to 5 pm and we went on 4 "rides." These included a boat tour of the park (we could walk right on in the morning, so we went for it), an acrobatic jungle production (no plot, but pretty), the spinning shells (like teacups that you can't actually spin for yourself, and the big one - Journey to the Center of the Earth. The last one was the only roller coaster we saw. Once we had spotted it, we tried to get Fast Track tickets but they were already sold out for the day. 3 hour wait in line? Meh. Might as well. At least it was free!

After standing on concrete for 3 hours we were definitely ready to go home. There was only one more thing I had to do before I could leave the park. I had to figure out where people were all getting this Disney Bear-thing. All day long I had seen this non-descript stuffed bear in the arms of nearly ever female that passed us. The only sign that it had anything to do with Disney was the Disney silhouette paw print on the bottom feet. But EVERYONE had one (albeit in different costumes). Even more people than had ears. While were were standing in line we looked it up on the Internet. It turns out, the bear's name is "Duffy" and he was a gift from Minnie to Mickey so he wouldn't be lonely while the two of them were apart. The bear was completely created as something to turn around and sell and while it failed to capture the American consumers' hearts, it had found a home in Japan. Now that I know what it is, I have spotted them outside of the park as well.

So where were they getting them? Why, Cape Cod of course!! There was one store in the park that sold Duffy bears and it had a line out the door and around the corner of people waiting to get in. I took a picture, but it was dark and you can't see anything.

While the lines (all over the park) seemed daunting to us, they weren't that much worse that in California and Tokyo Disney Sea clearly has a much larger capacity than Disneyland in Anaheim. There were huge numbers of people in the park, but they seemed well distributed. The regular large shows also seemed to help draw crowds around the park throughout the day to help keep ride lines down - plus, there was all that shopping to do.

Russell and I walked back to the train.

Shibuya

As I mentioned before, Shibuya is known as a nightlife spot in Tokyo. It also seems to be a shopping hub, but we were only really there in the evening, so that's the side we saw. Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk away (close enough to walk, but far enough to be nice and quiet). The first night, we walked over just to see what the place was like. It was certainly crowded. One crosswalk in particular is especially impressive as it is flooded with pedestrians from all directions for a few minutes periodically. I wanted to get a picture, but my iphone camera is no good at night.

We browsed around in some of the shops and generally people watched. Then we used Russell's restaurant finder and located a little izakaya that was known for its special yakitori (grilled chicken). We went off in search of it. It took quite a bit of work to find the place beause it was so small and out of the way. We got close with Google maps, but almost had to give up when Russell spotted it down a tiny alley. We ducked in.




At first, there seemed to be the stereotypical, music screetching to a halt, everyone in the place turning to stare, moment when foreigners arrive. But the place was run by an elderly couple who had had foreigners before (once) and the lady was very quick to make us feel welcome and start chatting with us. Music back on, locals go back to whatever they were doing. The owners asked us if we had found the place on the Internet, and we admitted we had. They seemed very pleased. The food was delicious and we had a good time.

Russell and I had made plans to see my host family on our last day in Tokyo, so we looked over our schedule and decided that we would be brave and go to Tokyo Disney the next day.

Changing Hotels

I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We did manage to find a bed every night of our Tokyo adventure. Our next three nights were spent at a hotel just south of one of the well established nightlife districts: Shibuya.

Before we headed to our new hotel, we decided to head south of Ueno and explore one of the best known districts to Americans: Akihabara. This neighborhood is famous for all things geeky and nerdy. It is the home of electronics mega stores, parts stores with every electronic bit you could hope for, comic book (manga) stores, and comic book figurine stores. Akihabara also has a reputation for people dressed in outlandish costumes, "maid cafes" or cafes where the hostesses dress up in frilly maid costumes, etc.

Unfortunately, we chose early Monday morning to drop by. I imagine that this is probably the tamest time you an imagine for this district. We just didn't think it through. Nothing opened until 11am, so we spent about an hour getting our bearings and eating donuts. At 11, we started browsing shops. Russell had spotted a used Mac store, so we started there. It was three floors of tightly packed Mac stuff. The first floor was ipods and iphones, the next floor was laptops and the top floor was desktops and displays. The prices were excellent, they had a good selection of older models and brand new models. It was actually quite impressive. I took a picture of one corner. My apologies to the poor guy in the shot.

We also found a nice selection of oscilloscopes at another store and store after store after store of plastic manga and anime figurines. We tried to find a board game store (it seemed like a good place to look) but we never located one. That is to say, we located a store that sells board games, but it had four or five branches of all sorts of games, hobbies, figurines, etc. and we weren't able to figure out which one had the games in it.

As for gawking at local geeks (something everyone had recommended) - we really didn't see too much out of the ordinary. There were a bunch of young tourists and guys in business suits, but that was about it for people watching. Again. Early monday morning.

After Akihabara, we continued south to the Ginza district. This district is famous for quite the opposite clientele. Namely, the wealthy elite. This is the place to find streets and streets lined with top end designer names and people out doing some serious shopping (or tourists doing some serious window gazing). The costumes changed from jeans and t-shirts to pumps and furs. We had found a recommended restaurant in our guidebook that featured Omurice. That's the chicken fried rice seasoned with catsup and covered in a thin egg omelet. I have often heard omurice referred to as Japanese comfort food and it is a lunch-time standard at many restaurants - usually for $5-$10. We love omurice, so recommended omurice drew us right in. We headed for the 5th floor of the Shiseido building.

As you can probably guess, this was no ordinary omurice restaurant. First, we were not allowed to operate the elevator ourselves, but were escorted by be-gloved hostesses. When we arrived we had to wait for about 15 minutes before having our coats checked and being escorted to a table set with fine china and silver. Our waiter was wearing tails. Seriously. A bottle of water cost $6 and a (small) bottle of Perrier cost $8. I know, because they were the cheapest drinks on the menu and so that's what Russell and I ordered. When we were given the real menu, we quickly searched out omurice and found it to also be the cheapest dish on the menu - at $30. This is for something flavored with catsup. It was gorgeously presented, with the egg perfectly even and tucked in on the edges, but the taste was far inferior to the omurice we get down the street from our apartment. The sauce poured over the top could have come straight from Chef Boyardee. I was disappointed.

Conclusion: This appeared to be the kind of restaurant where very wealthy grandmother's take their picky grandchildren. We could come to no other conclusion. Oh, and misguided tourists. They clearly get those too.

It was quite an experience. We did share the elevator down with a group of elderly ladies who were absolutely taken with Russell. Once they realized he spoke Japanese the whole elevator erupted with giggling.

Bellies full and wallets lighter, we headed to our new hotel. Russell had managed to find it on the internet (not so hard, as it turns out) and had called to make sure the reservations had actually gone through. The new hotel was more what you would expect from a Western style hotel, but it also doubled as a spa during the day - which meant we had access to the fancy public bath downstairs. There was also a nice breakfast spread every morning - and for a reasonable price. We were very pleased and starting to feel much more relaxed about our Tokyo adventure.

First Two Nights in Tokyo

We managed to get tickets for the bullet train with no problem. I had no idea they came so regularly - several every hour. They are on a different rail system than the local trains, so I wasn't ever very aware of the bullet trains before. The train was comfortable and fast - just as we had been promised. There are apparently domestic flights that are cheaper, but we really wanted the experience - at least once. It was fun. I recommend it.

At some point along the way - I can't remember when, Russell called a hotel out of a travel book we had bought the night before. They had room for the next two nights, but were booked solid after that. We decided to take what we could get and figure out the rest of the nights later. The hotel we had found was a ryokan, which is a kind of more traditional inn. This one was not a fancy once - it was just a traditional style room with tatami mats and a lovely fluffy futon. There was also a low table with a map of the area and an electric teapot. That was it. So what would have made it a fancy Ryokan? At least one meal and a hot spring for soaking before going to bed. Doesn;t that sound nice? We didn't end up in one of those this time, though. Alas. The fluffy futon was great, though. Much better than the alternatives we had been trying not to imagine.

So we had a two day grace period before we had to find our next bed. We decided to explore!

By the time we found the hotel it was already evening. We decided to go for a walk, find some food and figure out the lay of the land. We were situated right next to Ueno Park which, among other things, has a well known zoo and is bordered by a large variety of important museums. It was a pretty nice place to land when touring Tokyo. We walked to the other side of the park (everything was closed by then) and found the nightlife district on the other side.


We quickly found a busy street (Ameyoko) with tons of little shops. The street was absolutely packed and bustling as people bought things for the end of the year. We walked along in the flow of people, bought some grilled mochi to snack on and eventually decided to find an izakaya where we could get out of the crowd and have something to eat. We found a nice looking place in an alley off of the main road. When we tried to go in, though (and despite the many open booths) the waiter came hustling towards us, smiling in a friendly manner, and saying, "no, no. No room" and pushing us right out the door. Since the waiter wasn't willing to offer an explanation, we were both pretty sure it was because we were foreigners. We were both pretty bummed out about that, but then we were walking down another alley (which was full of izakayas) and a lady practically dragged us into her store. Appreciative of the change, we went along with it and ate there. The food was good, and Russell even got to do some translating for a young couple that spoke Chinese and English, but no Japanese. We went back to the hotel feeling redeemed.

Once we were back in our hotel we decided that we weren't ready to turn in yet. We went back out into the neighborhood on our side of the park and looked around there. Eventually we happened on a whisky bar with a very friendly bar tender who wanted to tell us all about his whisky, and some regulars who at first gave us confused looks and then discovered Russell could speak Japanese and started joking around with him. In the end we asked the bartender for a recommendation that would be similar to the 12 year Yoichi I've been getting fond of. He came up with another Japanese whisky that Russell had heard of and later informed me would be expensive. It was, but not as bad as Russell had feared. About $20 per glass.

Did I mention we managed to burn through a lot of money on this trip? Yay for vacations!


The next day we decided to start out with a trip to a museum that the guide book said was THE museum to see if you are only going to see one in Tokyo. We walked over, went in, and started looking around. It had the decided feel of being a much larger collection where the museum curator had chosen only the best pieces to highlight whatever they want to the guest to focus on. While this seems like the way a museum should be run, I'm not sure I have ever been to one that was so clearly doing that. They had amazing artwork, metalwork, crafts, etc. on display, but you often only saw one amazing piece - not a whole display jammed full of them. Many of the pieces throughout the museum were connected to the new year, too, which gave the impression that maybe at other times of the year, we would find completely different displays. Maybe that's not the case - after all, New Years is a very important time in Japan and it makes sense that a lot of art would revolve around that time, but it still gave the museum a nice atmosphere. It felt like what we were seeing might be hidden away again in another month.


Both Russell and I were so taken with the central building of the museum that after a quick rest to eat lunch, we went back to see all the auxiliary buildings. It turned out that these were not as interesting. Most of the buildings were even spaces for other things that werent happening that day, and when we did find nooks of artwork, it tended to be a small nook. We did a lot of walking and were very tired, but were still mostly thinking about the cool things we had seen in the central building.


By the time we left the museum we were both tired and decided not to go to the zoo after all. We had had enough of being on our feet. After a bit of a rest, though, we headed off to a neighboring neighborhood - Asakusa. The guide book described this neighborhood as being as close as you could get anymore to what it may have been like in the Edo period - not because the streets are anything like old Edo - but because the buildings are still old fashioned and made of wood and there are many small shops. We decided to check it out. The area was definitely full of people. It had a generally seedier feel than the other parts of Tokyo we had been in, but there was tons of activity and the shops were fun to look at (though too tightly packed to bother going into.


At some point we got hungry and Russell pulled out his phone to search for good food in the area. This turned out to be an excellent tool. The first place he spotted was a highly rated taiyaki shop. Tai means "sea bream" (like the fish) and yaki - as you have likely figured out by now, means "grilled". This is not a grilled fish, though. Not exactly. Taiyaki is like a very think waffle layer with the middle filled with red bean paste (which is very sweet). The grilling molds for taiyaki are shaped like the fish that gives it the name. This particular shop had a line outside of it when we arrived (always a good sign) and ended up being about a 15-20 minute wait as the taiyaki man very carefully grilled two taiyaki at a time. The end result was worth it, though. The outer waffle part was very think and crispy and the red bean paste was clearly homemade with lots of beany chunks. It was delicious and has spoiled me forever on Taiyaki. No other compare. (Though I will continue to grudgingly eat as many of any variety of Taiyaki that I can get).

Next we headed back into the center of shops and found the restaurant area. We ducked into one place that had hot wine advertised. It was a cross between mulled wine (with not quite as much spice) and sangria (with easily that much citrus, if not more). The end result was delicious and made up for standing in the cold for 20 minutes (and it was cold out). Across the way was another taiyaki place. We hit it up later.

We also managed to find a good place for dinner, though I have forgotten where we ended up. In the end, we tumbled back to our hotel to rest our aching feet and find a place to stay for the next few nights.

*secret: it didn't really dawn on me to take many pictures in Tokyo. To make the blog more interesting, I have stolen most of the images from Google Images. I hope no one cares.*

Going to Tokyo... In Theory

After Christmas Russell and I decided to go on vacation and finally spend some time in Tokyo. Tokyo is about three to four hours away from Kobe if you take the Shinkansen (bullet train) and more like 12 hours away if you take slow trains. The Shinkansen is expensive (about $120/person one way) so we didn't really want to spring for tickets just for a weekend trip. The slow trains, though, were too slow for a weekend trip. Instead, we have been devoting ourselves to exploring the more immediate region - which offers plenty to explore.

Finally, though we decided to head north to Tokyo. Among other things I wanted to do, a high priority was to visit my host family from Sapporo, who had moved to Tokyo at some point in the last four (five?) years since I stayed with them. We called ahead and they were free during our whole stay, so we agreed to make plans and set a day to meet with them.

Then came the hard part. Making plans. We had been discussing making plans for weeks, but had never actually sat down to do it. We knew it would be New Years and while we had heard that most people flood out of Tokyo during New Years (so the subway is more comfortable to use) we had also heard that hotels would be booked tight. I was a bit nervous about that and wanted to make sure we had a place to stay before we headed off. Russell, on the other hand, was not so concerned with finding a place to stay, but was very worried that there wouldn't be any Shinkansen tickets when we went to take the train. We went back and forth about where we should start planning and finally came to this conclusion:

We would assume that Tokyo was a big enough city that there was a bed in it somewhere for us - even if that was a couch at a 24 hour internet/comic book/cubicle shop. We packed light to make all scenarios less intimidating (light meaning we wore one change of cloths and each packed a spare outfit into one backpack). We packed gifts for my host family, the Nintendo DS and our electronic dictionary and set out. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering how we managed to email everyone, iphones rock.

Before we set out to *hopefully* buy train tickets, we split the wish bone Russell had been saving from the Christmas Party roast chicken. Since we both wished for ease of bed-finding in Tokyo, it didn't really matter who won.

Christmas Party!

During my last class with my Japanese teacher, we started talking about how much fun it would be to have a Christmas party and a gift exchange. I offered to host the party and we agreed to both help with the cooking. We set the gift exchange price at about $10 and set about inviting friends. In the end there were 6 of us. My Japanese teacher and her friend Noriko (who went to Kyoto with us earlier this year), one of my conversation partners, Masako, and Russell's conversation partner Kenji.

This didn't turn out to be the best planned venture. Please understand that I am going to have to explain everything in minute detail because I still can't believe how well it went considering how *ahem* slapped together it was on my end. It ended up going amazingly well when you consider that the day before the party Russell and I hadn't planned anything, had no food, had no idea what we were going to cook, hadn't cleaned (since before Russell's sister had visited), and generally didn't seem aware that we were about to host a party.

The day before the party I decided that we needed some activities, so I went out and bought one of the afore-mentioned gingerbread house kits from Ikea and all sorts of crafty stuff for making Christmas stockings. The evening before the party I made up a bunch of basic Christmas stockings out of felt (since that was the time consuming and boring part).

The morning before the party, Russell and I cleaned and then ran down to the grocery store to figure out what we were going to cook. End decision: Pasta salad and Waldorf salad along with a variety of snacks. At this point we still thought my Japanese teacher was going to be providing the sukiaki (meat cooked in broth and dipped in raw egg) though that ended up falling through and she brought a roast chicken instead.

Masako and Kenji came right about on time. Culture note: according to Kenji, a good Japanese guest tries to arrive about 10 minutes before the set start time of the party. He was aware that the tradition was different in the West, so he very kindly asked beforehand when he should actually plan on arriving. We were way not organized enough to give him an answer, so we agreed on "anytime!"

Once they had arrived, we needed to wait for our last two guests (who were wrangling roast chickens) so I had them start on the ginger bread house. Neither of them had ever made one before and after dutifully gluing the broken pieces together with frosting, they weren't too sure how to go about decorating. I demonstrated some shingle patterns, a window and some flowers, and they had the idea. By the time everyone had arrived, we had a gorgeous little gingerbread chateau, which to the amazement of the decorators actually stood up (and stayed up through the whole party no less!).

Once the gingerbread house was moved to another table, we broke out some snacks, did introductions, and then got down to stocking decorating. This also took some prompting to get everyone in the groove. I started cutting out letters for mine and gluing on holly leaves, etc. Once everyone started gluing the creativity started to come out. Noriko created little Christmas packages for her stocking, Masako made a tinsel ball face, Kenji expanded on the face idea and made a tinsel ball Santa face, and Keiko (the desinger in the bunch) kept hers neat and simple with a sophisticated "K" set just so at the bottom of her stocking. We had a lot of fun and by the time we were finished we were ready to eat.

With the help of the roast chicken and a creme brulee cake from Keiko and Noriko, our two salads turned into a feast. None of us had much experience carving a chicken, but Keiko turned out to be the most intrepid meat stripper in the bunch, refusing to waste the slightest bit of chicken goodness, and we soon had a huge pile of meat. The salads went over well - especially the Waldorf salad, which no one else had heard of before (apple, walnuts, raisins and some mayonnaise if you count yourself among the confused). The mayonnaise bit had always turned me off to this dated side dish, but we had recently had some at Cafe Kei and Russell was familiar with it, so we decided to go for it. I have to admit I am coming around to it - so long as it has had some time to sit.

After dinner was the cake. This was really a fancy cake. It had a thick cookie base with a thick pudding layer and was nicely "bruleed" on the top. It was originally decorated with a pile of 5 strawberries and a sugar Santa. Since there were 6 of us, we cut the cake and then gave each person a strawberry or a Santa. Russell called the sugary fat man.


The last event of the evening was the gift exchange. Everyone drew numbers and then chose a gift (or stole a previous gift) in the order of their numbers. Russell went first and got a scented candle (Japanese-style scent, it was noted). Kenji went next and got the hat I had knitted two days before the party (when I probably should have been cleaning or otherwise planning). Masako went next and got a lego giraffe kit. She was very pleased. Noriko followed and got a scented candle (this one from Yankee Candle and deemed decidedly American in scent). I was #5 and since there hadn't been any stealing yet (which seemed a shame) I stole the giraffe and Masako ended up getting the chocolate whack-an-orange from Russell. Keiko was last and since her own gift was left on the table, she stole Russell's scented candle and he opened the last gift: a Monburan shaped candle (Monburan is the Japanese version of Mont Blank and is a kind of cake/sweet with chestnut paste and cream). The gift bag also included a cookie from the cafe Keiko helped design and a spongy, not-for-eating faux french toast key chain.

The gifts had been given.

I set to work on my giraffe, we chatted a bit and when it was time to go, I retrieved everyone's stockings (which had allegedly been drying near the space heater in the bedroom) now stuffed with (rather cheap) stocking stuffers. We said goodbye to everyone and then sat around marveling at the fact that everything had gone so well. It was a lot of fun and definitely put us in the Christmas spirit.

Preparing for Christmas

Leading up to our frist Christmas in Japan, things were surprisingly similar to home. I wasn't really expecting that in a country where Christmas is by and large adopted for its commercial appeal and not its religious significance. But then again, I guess its the commercial appeal that we mostly see at home too. Right after Halloween the Christmas decorations went up - there were colored lights and Christmas trees (either made of lights or of the plastic variety - one does note the absence of pine scent, unfortunately). Christmas carols - both in English and Japanese - started playing in most public areas. Ikea was selling gingerbread house equipment (even though most of my students had never heard of a gingerbread house before) and overall it was easy enough to feel like the season was right on schedule. The shopping, which is traditionally a serious pass time in these parts, was clearly stepped up a notch. Nana, one of my conversation partners, and I went shopping to get Christmas cards and wrapping paper at the local LOFT home store. When we went to get in line at the register, we soon discovered that the line didn't just make one small snake (something which we started to gripe about) but actually snaked around the corner, across the entire floor of the building, back, down again and then up the small snake we had originally seen. In the photo we are half way through the long half of the line. It took about 40 minutes to pay for our stuff.

But that wasn't the only thing that reminded me of Christmas! We clearly needed a tree, but we didn't want to buy a plastic tree that we would have to get rid of at some point. My Japanese teacher came to the rescue! As a Christmas gift, she gave me a "grow your own tree" kit. I was expecting something like a chia-pet, but the set up was different. There was a cardboard tree with branches cut out, "magic water", a petrie dish to stand the tree in, a garland, a plastic star for on top, and some sparkles to sprinkle over the end result. She told me to wait until a few days before Christmas, spread out the branches, stand the tree in the dish and add the water. I was starting to imagine more of a mold bloom. As it turned out, however, the reaction was (I think) chemical. The green color was probably die in the tree branches, but the mass appeared to be like tiny crystals. It took about 48 hours to reach full bloom and it is still just as nice as the the picture (actually a bit more plush). Perfect Christmas tree and a fun experiment!

You may also notice the fancy white blob with the left with the orange on top. This is kagami mochi. When I bought it, I had no idea what it was, but I saw a picture of one sitting on a desk and it was clearly connected to New Years, so I decided to go ahead and buy one and then figure it out with the help of the Internet when I got home. Here's what wikipedia says:

The kagami mochi first appeared in the Muromachi period (14th-16th century). The name kagami ("mirror") is said to have originated from its resemblance to an old-fashioned kind of round copper mirror, which also had a religious significance. The reason for it is not clear. Explanations include mochi being a food for sunny days,[2] the 'spirit' of the rice plant being found in the mochi,[1][2] and the mochi being a food which gives strength.[2]

The two mochi discs are variously said to symbolize the going and coming years,[2] the human heart,[2] "yin" and "yang", or the moon and the sun.[3] The "daidai", whose name means "generations",[4] is said to symbolize the continuation of a family from generation to generation.[1]

Now, I'm still not 100% sure what the story is behind these mochi decorations. Clearly they may or may not symbolize a lot of things. I can say that I have seen them everywhere. Even Disneyland was selling them with a Mickie figure on top instead of a bitter orange. They could be found for sale in convenience stores, grocery stores and beyond. Russell and I are looking forward to the second Saturday of January when we get to try and eat whatever mochi is inside the plastic outer shell.


Finally, I got to do one thing I usually don;t get to do in Oregon. I got to assign my students really long writing assignments to do over the break. I love teaching! I did volunteer to correct papers if students brought them to me before the break. One came decorated. My students are awesome.

Luminarie

Shortly after Carolyn left, the Luminarie got under way in Kobe. The Luminarie is a yearly event put on by the city to commemorate the Great Hanshin earthquake. For about two weeks in December, a huge light display is put up down one of the downtown streets leading to an even larger display in the park along Flower Road (the main drag). From 6pm to 10pm every night during the event, the roads around the Luminarie are shut down to allow for huge crowds of tourists and locals to flow (or at times push) though the display. The lights were apparently donated by the Italian government and are all hand painted. The event started the December after the earthquake and was suppose to continue for only 10 years as Kobe recovered from the emotional and economic devastation of the earthquake. It has become so popular, however, that it continued even after 2005, which was suppose to be the last year. There are apparently rumours ever year that this will be the last one. The even attracts several million people every year. While this is clearly an economic boon to Kobe, many of the shop keepers apparently complained when the even was closer to Christmas because the huge lines of people block pedestrians from getting to the stores along the lighted walk - many of them major department stores. It really is a mob scene. The Luminarie has since been pushed to earlier in December, though I suspect the shops along the lighted boulevard probably still dread Luminarie season.

Almost everyone I had talked to gave a tepid reaction to the event. I heard stories of hours in line only to be quickly pushed through the display by the crowds - no time for photos, cold, long waits. It wasn't sounding all that great, honestly. We decided that we had to do it at least once, though, so the first Friday that the display was up, Russell and I met downtown after I got off work and we headed to the line. We timed it right, as it turned out. The line was long, but it wasn't tightly packed and moved along at a walking pace. It was easy to pull aside and take pictures, there was little pushing or waiting and everyone was generally in good spirits and enjoying themselves. There was an impressive mob of people, though, and it apparently grew and grew as the nights wore on. I can;t imagine what the last night must have been like two weeks later... ugh.

An unexpected bonus was the huge spread of food carts at the end of the display. Russell and I happily plunged in. Fair food in Japan is simply awesome. In fact, we skipped the show on a later night and just went for dinner at the carts. I had a roasted sweet potato that was about the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. I have eagerly kept an eye out for further stands selling sweet potatoes, but have had no luck.

Autumn Leaves in Kyoto

Our last big adventure while Carolyn was visiting was one more trip to Kyoto to try and see some of the mythically gorgeous autumn leaves that everyone was raving about. I had heard stories about the autumn leaves in Kyoto and how hotspots like the Kinkakuji (the Golden Temple) are packed like commuter trains from the entrance to the exit. Several people had warned me not to go on the weekend out of fear for my safety. Seriously. First, we headed to Nijo-Jo (Nijo Castle). This is the castle with the Nightingale floors you may have heard of. The floors chirp when you walk on them. They were designed that way to prevent espionage and potential attacks by warning the residents that someone was coming. The floors still chirp to this day. We had a good time - I had missed this stop when Gwen and Nicole visited because I had to work. I'm glad I got a chance to go, though. Did I mention that Kyoto is full of awesome things to see?

Even so, Carolyn and I are made of stout stuff. We did forgo the Kinkakuji, but decided to head to the Kiyomizudera - another extremely famous temple in Kyoto with a large deck that overlooks the city and surrounding hillsides. This turned out to be an especially good place for autumn leaf watching. We were there right at the peak of the color and the temple grounds are large enough that you aren't suffocated by people - though the crowds were still impressive. The narrow streets up to the temple were a bit daunting.

In fact, the crowd flow was good enough that we could fairly easily get up to the front to take the best pictures of each view. I had assumed we would just have to take pictures over the crowd, but that wasn't the case. Nice! Of course, as you may remember from our previous trip to Kiyomizudera with Gwen and Nicole, there is a large iron post for people to attempt lifting as you enter the temple. I believe I got a shot of Russell trying to lift the post last time. Like brother like sister. I don't think Carolyn had much more luck.

Result? The views were impressive. The foliage was gorgeous and even though we were there as the sun was setting and caught more dusk than daylight, we got some amazing pictures and had a really good time.

Back to Nara

Feeding deer in Nara may well become our standard visitor activity. We haven't done a very good job of branching out and exploring other parts of Nara (and I understand its worth it) but we just love the area around the station and the parks around the main temple. Not to mention the main temple and its woodland friends. This time, I found a new favorite stop in Nara - a shop close to the station that makes fresh mochi treats. The day we happened by the shop, they were making mattcha (green tea) mochi with ahn (sweet red bean) filling and a kinako (toasted soy bean powder) dusting. These are my three favorite parts of Japanese sweets. Getting them together in a warm, sticky, fresh lump was awesome. While a machine did most of the mochi-fying of the rice, the shop workers pulled out the nearly finished mochi and finished it off in traditional style, whacking it with large wooden mallets while folding it over on itself. A definite crowd pleaser. I didn't have a good angle for this, but Carolyn got a great picture. If she ever sends it to me, I will be sure to post it. In the meantime, you will just have to arrange a visit - we'll be sure to take you. :)

News Year Resolution...

To catch up on posts...

I have been accumulating stories and pictures since November and have been too busy and too lazy to post them all.

This, of course, can only mean one thing. Prepare yourself for a deluge of posts over the next few days. I have a few more days off, so I should be able to get caught up.

With that in mind, I need to rewind quite a ways back to November when Russell's sister Carolyn visited. I got a few posts out, but there is so much more.

Let's see...

Fushimi Inari Shrine! We finally made it. I have been wanting to go here since I first started researching Kyoto. The problem is that it is just far enough outside of town that we never quite made it. As you may recall from previous posts, Kyoto is the kind of place you can easily get lost in over and over again without ever repeating the sites you visit. It really is amazing that way. It means you really have to make your first destination Fushimi Inari Shrine, though, or you are never going to make it. And it is definitely worth going.

Here's some of the information I have gathered about the shrine. I know not whether this information is complete or even accurate, so if you know more, please respond to this post! From what I have gathered, Inari is the godess (?) of grains and by extension, of business and wealth. Her messenger is the fox (a common statue throughout Inari shrines). This particular shrine is extensive. Beyond the main buildings, there are trails that go up into the hills and which are largely lined by Torii - or orange/red gates. From what I have gathered online, the gates are donated by businesses from around Japan in hopes of successful business (since Inari is the goddess of business).

I had heard about these torii before and I had seen some beatiful pictures on the internet, but I had no idea how many there actually were. It was a pretty serious hike to see the whole grounds. Keep in mind that these trails all weave up a hillside. While the trails are exceptionally well kept with stone stairs neat trails, we found ourselves out of breath pretty regularly. By the time we had finished hiking most of the trails we were pretty tired. We got lost several times, but never for too long. The trails are designed to keep you headed towards key points - you can't wander off too much. By the second time we reached the top of the hill we were honestly tired, so we sat for a while, ate toasted soy (kinako) soft serve and watched the shrine cats start to come out on the hunt for dinner. We also tried to ignore all of the runners out training by running the paths - over and over again. The old ladies next to us were less shy. At least one time they called out "gambatte!" (Do your best!). Russell, Carolyn and I dragged ourselves back down the hill.

Merry Christmas!

I have tons of things to post right now, but I am jumping ahead again to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

My bosses realized that since classes ended on the 24th, there probably wouldn't be any students coming to the school today, and therefore, no English teachers would be needed.

Christmas off! Hooray!

Russell spent Christmas Eve making chicken soup. We had a roast chicken carcass left over from the awesome Christmas party we threw on Wednesday (there will be a post coming). Not wanting to waste even a morsel of roast chicken, Russell set about making delicious soup. I was very lucky when I came home.

So after the soup we started staring at our little pile of Christmas gifts. We had originally intended to wait until Christmas morning (especially since I knew I wouldn't need to go into work after all) but the gifts won out. We opened them on Christmas Eve.

Russell got a Takoyaki pan and related utensils along with a bottle of Glogg and a bag of hard gummy ninja treats. I got convertible glove mittens, a cell phone charm with a compass in it and here's the best part:

Gift certificates to the Cat Cafe!

Apparently, the cat cafe is a small cafe with tons of cats in it. For $10 you can spend an hour snuggling cats. For $12 you can snuggle cats AND drink a beverage and for $15 you can snuggle cats and drink an alcoholic beverage. I can't wait! I kind of feel like I'm cheating on my cats at home... I hope they'll understand...

So wherever you are, if you are celebrating Christmas, Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to everyone.

Unwelcome Surprises

Its been a long time since I have felt the urge to fret over mold. Most of the worry passed with the muggy summer weather. Fall has been lovely and considerably less damp. Winter, however, is now setting in and bringing with it cold winds and rooms covered in condensation in the morning.

Pop quiz:

Let's say you were to go to flip your futon over one morning and upon flipping it over found a dark spot in the middle. Upon further investigation you discovered that the good side of your futon had a spreading infestation of mildew and the bad side of your futon was turning colors.

Would you:

A: Put the $60 futon out in the sun for the day, wash the sheets and pretend you didn't see anything.

B: Buy a $90 futon dryer, dry the $60 futon, wash the sheets and pretend you didn't see anything.

C: Consult a professional cleaner in the hopes that someday in the near future you can drag your oversided futon to their shop and have it cleaned for $20.

D: Buy a disposal tag for your ruined bedding and go out to buy a new $60 futon.

E: Get full use out of your super deep bathtub and give your bedding a bleach bath. Rinse and hang outside for a few days until it is dry enough to bring in the house, use your new $90 futon dryer on it and ignore any remaining spots (they're just stains, right??)

Russell and I are still working on this logic problem. Russell is all geared up for E. I'm prepared to follow up with D when the inevitable hilarity ensues.

Wish us luck.

Jazz Live

Today we got a fun treat. My Japanese teacher has a friend who plays piano for a jazz band. The band was playing at a local restaurant, so she invited us to go with her and one of her friends. How could we pass up a live jazz concert??

The restaurant was a small place - it held about 20 customers and the band and not much else. It also served gourmet curry. It came to the table in a little earthen pot still bubbling away. We arrived early, so we got our dinner first. This turned out to be lucky as later orders didn't come out for over an hour.

Everyone at the concert had reserved their seats ahead of time. The concert lasted two hours and then everyone paid an agreed on $20/person to the band. After that anyone could take the stage. It may have been possible to request backup from the jazz band - I wasn't clear on that. We left before the audience took the stage.

The jazz band was really fun. The pianist and bass player were great. The singer was also good, though she had some moments that were better than others. She definitely had good presence on stage. I tried to take a picture but my iphone couldn't handle the dim lighting. I really should bring my normal, and more reliable camera for times like these.

My favorite part was when, during the last song, the bartender broke out egg-shakers to go along with the clapping and everyone joined in the music.

All in all, it was a great night out. Good food, good music, good company!

Thanksgiving in Japan

Our lack of oven kind of tied our hands when it came to Thanksgiving this year. That and our general indifference to American feast cuisine. The friends and feasting part of Thanksgiving was not to be missed, however. With that in mind, this is what we came up with:

Friends: Russell, Jaci, Carolyn (Russell's sister) and Kenji (Russell's conversation partner). Sorry for the small numbers keep in mind we only have four plates and one chair.

Feast: Homemade okonomiyaki and eggnog!

We actually jumped the gun a bit and had our impromptu Thanksgiving on Wednesday, not Thursday. Russell, Carolyn and Kenji were on their way back from visiting Himeji castle and had the idea for our feast. Kenji offered to show us how to make okonomiyaki and while explaining eggnog, Russell got the bright idea to just go ahead and make some (no matter how much we wish for it, it isn't going to appear in Japanese grocers any time soon).

When I came home from work the trio had already purchased everything they needed and were ready to set to work.

First, the okonomiyaki.

I am fairly certain I have described this particular cuisine before. It is kind of like a vegetable pancake, You take a healthy dose of sliced cabbage mixed with egg and batter and various other vegetables to taste and then grill it. Kenji made pork okonomiyaki by placing strips of pork (not cured like bacon) across one side of the pancake. Once both sides are fully grilled the pancake is taken off the griddle and smothered in a special brown sauce that is extremely popular around these parts. Other toppings can include mayonnaise and bonito flakes among other things. Check out chef Kenji.

At the same time, Russell and I set to work on the eggnog. Russell separated the eggs and we started taking turns beating the egg whites. We were suppose to beat the eggwhites until they held stiff peaks. Ha! We only had a fork and our enthusiasm, so we only got the egg whites to the thoroughly fluffy stage - no peaks. The cream, luckily, whipped up easily. In fact, it was almost butter by the time Russell was ready to use it. We mixed a good cup and a half of vodka and cup of a half of whisky into the eggwhites along with the egg yolk and sugar and then tried to fold the cream into the mixture. The problem was that we were suppose to fold the mixture into the cream. The result was a bit lumpy (check the picture) but oh so tasty and worth a repeat effort. I mean, what's the point of knowing how to make homemade eggnog if you can't perfect your technique?

As experienced eggnog drinkers, Russell and I thoroughly enjoyed our new version of the classic holiday nog. It was, well, not what you get at the grocery store - and yet somehow better. Carolyn felt it was perhaps a bit strong.

But what did Kenji, our new eggnog drinker, think?

In the first picture, Carolyn directed Kenji to pose with a thumbs up.

In the next picture, she directed him to pose with his real reaction. This was paired with the vocal reaction, "Eggnog is a mysterious drink."

And there you have it. Mysterious eggnog in Japan for Thanksgiving.

Japanese Dentists

I am safely through my first dentist's visit in Japan.

I had heard all sorts of horror stories going in. Everyone I talked to - both Japanese and foreigners - agreed that Japanese dentists were something short of what one might expect in the U.S. One suggested reason I heard along the way (I can't remember who told me this - so take it with a grain of salt) was that dentists in Japan are basically med school drop-outs. People who can't finish a medical degree are presented with dental degrees and sent on their way. I have no idea if that is even remotely true, but the reputation around dentists here definitely makes you wonder.

Both Russell and I were surprised by this. In a country that is so focused on customer experience and making things as gentle and painless as possible, it seems impossible that dentistry would be some back-alley practice.

Even so, we weren't going to just wander into the first dental clinic we saw. First I asked at work. No one was from Kobe so they couldn't recommend any local dentists. Next I asked my conversation partners. No luck there either. One of my conversation partners, though, was kind enough to look for local dentists (she had just moved back to the area and was also interested in finding someone good). She suggested three dentists that seemed to have good ratings and highlighted their use of technology (so how behind the times could they be?). She did warn me, though, that Japanese dentists are usually about 5 years behind the U.S. and privacy in dental clinics was unheard of. More warnings.

Russell and I called the first one and got an appointment. I have had an uncomfortable feeling in my molar for a couple weeks and I was pretty sure I could see a cavity. Russell told them I had a toothache and we got in the next Tuesday.

Post Dentist Report:

Turns out I didn't have a cavity after all. The dentist did use all sorts of technology (including a painful-looking animation of a root canal - didn't need one of those, thank goodness. The hygienist cleaned the plaque away from the molars that were bothering me in case it was causing inflammation and then she applied some topical medication (which made my cheek numb but didn't effect the discomfort in my tooth). The work that was done was super gentle and the staff were friendly and explained things to us. Russell was a little worried about the repeated use of the root canal animation, though.

Hopefully we won't be doing that any time soon.

In the end I am comforted to discover that Japan is not the original staging ground for Little Shop of Horrors. Decent dental care can be found - so far as we have tested it.

December!

Man... shouldn't it still be October?

In honor of the new month (and in spite of the lovely weather we have been having here) I dug out my best chilly-looking photo to ring in the end of the year. This picture was from last Saturday when we were walking home from the train. We had to go under the busy street instead of over it. Unfortunately, however, the city planners didn't plan on an invasion of Mulls. Things were a bit cramped.

Carolyn Arrived

I was unfortunately unable to participate in many of the early activities with Carolyn. I had to work. :( I did, however, catch a few of the highlights. The first night I joined Carolyn and Russell after they spent the day wandering around Kobe. Russell took us to the all you can eat Japanese buffet his Japanese teacher had introduced him to. It was pretty awesome. The food was probably only mediocre quality for traditional Japanese food, but it was super healthy, there was tons of variety, and it was still pretty darn delicious.

As an added bonus, we got trays with little compartments for all the morsels. We could take as much as we wanted, but there was so much variety, it was probably best not to take more of anything than a compartment could hold. We each had two trays of food and a tray of dessert. It was lovely.