snow

We must all be anxious to get home. We are lined up in the hotel lobby at 10:15 AM waiting for our bus to arrive to drive us to the train station, which will take us to the airport. Jason, Kat, and I are early – a new revelation for this tour.

Ruben asks the question: what was your favorite part of this tour? I'm having a hard time narrowing it down to one thing. We have just spent the past two nights in the most gorgeous setting in Japan (Yatsugatake). Our venue had glass windows all the way around the intimate 150-person hall, looking out on Mt. Fuji, surrounded by powder snow. It was idyllic, and when we played “I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.” I was transported back to my childhood in New York, where snow and snowmen abounded.

Kat and I took a hike yesterday morning with our villa owner's dog Chobi, a Shiba-type dog (related to the Akita). He dragged us along to a trail that went to a very small lake, completely covered in two feet of snow. After attempting to check the ice, Kat and I followed the deer prints on the lake and walked across the lake's frozen cover. That was FUN - and probably stupid for city slickers.

I built a snowman outside the villa, complete with stick arms and pebbles for eyes and the smile. I didn't realize how hard it was to make a large snowball that was actually round. By this morning, his head had fallen off. And then when the sun came out, his midriff slipped off too. Although the snowman will melt away, my memory of Yatsugatake will not.

Crazy Night in Tokyo

I'm blogging my experience to Kaguwa Theatre, because I was the only one crazy enough to go. This show in the Roppongi district was described in a review on the Internet as “totally meaningless” and saying something about ”the hollow schizophrenia of modern Japan.” I knew going into the show that there were twelve actors - 4 men, 2 women and 5 “new halves,” New halves are transexuals, or boys dressed as young women. The dance show ranged from a kimono-wearing short story imitating kabuki, to an S&M piece, to a strip-tease selection (showing new half legs mostly). The redeeming value was the wonderful two-tier bento box dinner placed in a beautifully carved box, with the added bonus of all-you-can-drink beverages.

I was placed at a table (about 25 feet from the stage) with four bottles lined up in a row: green tea shochu, apricot liquor, Suntory whiskey, and a large water. The waiter came by and offered me a pitcher of soda to mix with my drinks, along with a small ice bucket. I was wishing Michele had joined me in this intimate theater of perhaps 100 customers. This evening would have been SO Michele.

The show was only one hour long, but by the end of the evening, everyone was enjoying the decadence as the action flashed by, along with hydraulically raised stage in 24 rectangular sections. There was one other Caucasian present. Reif was visiting from England, in the process of traveling the world in six months, having just finished her PhD in Psychology.

After the show, Reif and I visited the 24-hour Don Quixote store, which sells really “sleazy” cheap junk. You won't believe the logos that are placed on men's underwear and thongs. We laughed our way through the store. Reif needed to leave, but she promised to look me up when she comes to the United States at end of February.

I decided to find the Mori Tower and take the elevator to the 52^nd floor to view Tokyo at night. The windows looking out over the city are probably 25 feet tall all the way around the building. Couples were sitting on the benches lined up at the windows, wistfully gazing into each others eyes and occasionally gazing out the window. It was all so very sweet. As one couple left, another couple would quickly take their place to continue gazing.

Early hours found me staring through the window of a noodle restaurant, watching noodles being made from scratch. The noodle maker was on display, similar to the way a pizza maker in the U.S. might be.c I ended my evening enjoying a cafe latte at Cafe Le Boheme, which was a lively joint open until 5 AM. Tokyo seems to never sleep, and the subways were packed after midnight as though it were the morning rush hour. People rushing to catch the last train.

As I exited the subway for the hotel, I saw the homeless comfortably sleeping under their cardboard covers on the subway stairs. I say comfortably, because the heat from the subway kept them warm. I've been told the homeless are also allowed to use the subway restrooms at night, and they apparently do not abuse this privilege. Japan must hold the prize of the cleanest restrooms in the world.

Fun with Language (long)

I've been studying Japanese for a couple of years now. I'm by no means fluent, but I know enough to get by. That's because the textbook we used at Soko Gakuen (literally San Francisco School) is made for adult learners of the language.

We didn't spend loads of time learning verb conjugations or parts of speech (at least not at first). The textbook is organized so that each chapter is a different situation. We learned how to greet people, how to ask for prices and count money, how to answer the phone, how to buy train tickets, how to shop, how to talk about the weather, that sort of thing.

I've been able to communicate with most shop keepers and waiters and other people by applying the lessons I learned from the textbook. However, it's when the situations vary from the script that I run into trouble (witness the Adventures in Dining post from a few days ago). I'm not great at improv in Japanese (yet).

Fortunately, most situations here in Japan do go according to script - and so it was that the day we all went to Kyoto, I found myself in a small coffee shop with Kathie, Rick, and Kat. Kathie & Rick sat at one tiny table (Rick couldn't even get his knees under it) and Kat & I sat at the other. We ordered cake - two slices, one for each table (keeki o futatsu betsu betsu ni oneigaishimasu [insert appropriate hand motions]). I ordered hot tea with milk (kocha to miruku), Kat ordered coffee with milk (kohii to miruku), Kathie - in a rare break from her "living la vida mocha" style - ordered tea with milk, and Rick ordered hot tea plain (kocha sutoreeto).

Of course, it wasn't as simple as that. Both Rick & Kathie changed their minds once or twice so I had to change their orders. In the end, the little old coffee shop lady - who seemed tickled pink that I spoke even a modicum of Japanese - confirmed our order with a string of rapid-fire Japanese that would put any auctioneer to shame and then finished with wakarimashita desu ka? (Do you understand?)

After pausing for a moment to let my brain finish parsing her super-fast speech, I realized with a start that Hai! Wakarimashita! (Yes! I *do* understand!) and we both laughed.

After we finished our snacks and paid, the little old coffee shop lady walked with us to the outside, smiling and waving and bowing. She seemed totally delighted that we had come into her shop that cold rainy day. We certainly were!

***

A word about the way English is used in Japan: it's a phenomenon known on the web as "Engrish" - a perhaps politically incorrect term to use. There's even a website dedicated to it!

Basically, English is very chic in Japan and so it is used when advertisers want to give an impression of the exotic or mysterious. Witness Jason's pachinko sign in Osaka:



or this sign from an American-style hamburger restaurant near the Tokyo Dome:



or these sweets in Osaka:



(cat tongue? what?!?)

or these business names:





Sometimes English isn't used for ambience, but instead sincere attempts at translation go terribly wrong:








(I'm told that the other languages are translated equally badly - especially the Spanish!)

Back in the US, there has been a growing trend in the past few years to use Asian calligraphy to decorate anything from wall hangings to tattoos - and I have to wonder if we're not committing some of the same mistakes we see here!

***

In other news, some people expressed disbelief about the types of pizza available here in the Japan. In response, I submit this photographic evidence:



The Japanese seem to really really REALLY love mayonnaise!

Day 5: The Aquarium

Ruben has already posted about our trip to the Osaka aquarium, but I had such fun there that I wanted to share some of my pictures as well. This was the first time that I really felt like I got great use out of my new camera, a Canon EOS 30D. I walk around with three lenses:

Sigma 17-70 DC 2.8-4.5
Canon 70-300 IS USM II 4.0-5.6
Canon 50mm 1.8 USM III ("plastic marvel")

And I also had my 430EX flash. All of this is new to me, as is pretty much all DSLR photography, so I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. The aquarium was a *perfect* place to really shake out my gear!

Canon's super low-noise at high-ISO (1600) made it possible to get shots that I *never* could have gotten with my previous point-and-shoots. The plexiglass walls made flash *very* challenging, so the relatively fast speed of my Sigma and plastic marvel captured scenes unavailable to me. And the AI Servo focus was great for following fast moving fishies as they swam around their tanks. And the 430EX was great because I could turn it completely around with a diffuser and reduce the glaring light on plexiglass.

Essentially, I had a ton of fun. Yay!

So, here they are:

The aquarium is in the same center with "Tempozan Giant Wheel," the largest ferris wheel in Japan. We went on it last year, but it was pretty overcast this time, and the group I was with wasn't interested. Takes about 12 minutes to get around the entire thing.

At the entrance to the aquarium is a shell whose owner I wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley. It was about 10-feet tall. A little bigger and it could have been Gamera's! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

The otters were seriously cute. Very frisky and obviously having fun together.

This is in contrast to this bad boy, who was obviously way too cool to mug for the camera.

How about a slow motion fight - between two obviously perturbed turtles. Can't you see the fire in their eyes??

How about the Fu-Manchu fish?

Jim loves the kiddos, and they love him.

Everybody loves dolphins! Hey, that's flipper!

Apparently these are all fish native to the Chilean seas.

I found the leopard rays to be very changeable and present many facets to their personality. This one looks *just* like Dumbo:

And now he looks like a pig! Same fish? I dunno!

And this is the prize catch of the aquarium for this season, the Shamu of the Osaka aquarium - a whale shark.

Apparently, this guy knows that he's the reason for the season - look at his entourage! A rapper couldn't wish for more!

The "strangest fish in the ocean" is the California Sunfish. Cheryl said it looked like the poor thing had been run over, leaving only the half with the head. ;)

These tiger sharks look *wicked* - they knife through the water, without a fear in the world.

I hate bugs, especially bugs at the bottom of the sea.

Anchovies and few others (I think):

But jellyfish are cool!

Who's that guy behind the lens??

I'm just learning to take interesting pictures, but reflections fascinate me - can't get enough of 'em! And who's that down in the corner?

Three of us went to an IMAX 3-D movie (narrated by Johnny Dep and ... rats, I forget), all about creatures of the deep sea. As we left, I was thrilled to catch this kind perspective view. Isn't this stuff great?

On the way out, we came upon a street performer, an American juggler who spoke perfect Japanese. Tons of fun:

Finally, there was a really cute kid:

With a woman we assume is his mother. (Can you guess why we thought that?)

On the way back, while Tess was waiting out the mild rain, perhaps the best picture of the day:

It didn't make any sense to us, either. Perhaps you might submit *your* interpretation. Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did taking them,

---Jason

Pics from Disneyland Tokyo

Tess, Kathie Jukka, Missy, Sunghee and Ruben

Tess, Jukka and Sunghee at Space Mountain.

Main Enterance

Inside World Bazzar

Cheesy Disney Show

Disney Sea - Dec. 18

Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade - Dec. 17

Kamakura for a day

Jim and Tomoko led a Jason, Kat, Dee, David, and me on Monday to Kamakura to see the temples and shrines.

This is Kiriku. You can see why Taiko named her bell ensemble after him!
It was a beautiful day. Although it was cold and wintry, there were still many reds and yellows to make the trees glow.

This is the Great Buddha. He was huge, and you could actually go inside it (from the back)! The story goes that he was originally enclosed in a temple, but a fierce storm leveled much of the town. However, the statue remained serenely intact. It must have been quite a sight.
We saw several temples, many were serene and calmly decorated. We enjoyed the trees, views, bamboo groves, cemeteries, and each other's company.

But it was cold. We dressed quite warmly (long underwear if you had it). Some of the locals had even dressed the statues to keep them warm too.