Shinjuku and Akasaka ... again (Wed 2/24)

I went to Shinjuku and found another coffee shop and practiced some more shuji, and waited until it was about time for me to leave to meet up with Mina in Akasaka.

After we met up, we went to eat in one of the restaurants attached to the station, and then headed over to a jazz club called The B Flat, where a friend of hers was playing jazz saxaphone in a big band gig. It was a great evening. I'm so glad I'm getting to meet all these nice people this trip.

Again, sorry, no pictures. Gotta get to sleep now, tomorrow I'm going to finally try to wake up bright and early and get over to Tsukiji fish market.

Akasaka and Shinjuku and Laundry (Tue 2/23)

This morning I went to Akasaka to have lunch with someone I met last week at the dinner with Miho and her friends in Ebisu. We went to a shabu shabu place called Musashi, and it was really good.

After I walked her back to her office I went walking around Akasaka, stopped into a coffee place and read for a little while. I eventually went back to Shinjuku and had a bite to eat, and practiced some more shuji (calligraphy). A chinese guy tried to tell me something in Chinese (I think he thought I was studying Chinese, since I was writing Chinese characters). He eventually pointed at the paper and gave a thumbs up. People around here are some complimentary. Great for a guy's ego =)

Then I went home and did a bunch of laundry. Now I have enough clean clothes to last until 1 day short of the end of the trip (nice planning).

No pictures today, sorry.

Asakusa and Shinbashi (Mon 2/22)

Today I decided to head over to Asakusa. I'd been there last time, but I figured it'd be good to go back. It's a really touristy place ... but I'm a tourist. I stopped at a little place that was selling mitarashi dango (mochi dumplings covered in a sweet soy sauce). Then I walked around the temples a bit.







After a while I saw a sign that had the English written on it "Keeper of the Red Seal", and it made me think of something my Japanese teacher told me. So I took out my dictionary and looked up the kanji characters from the sign and it said 御朱印所 (ごしゅいんじょ), which is a place where you can use a special little folding paper booklet to get the name of the temple you've visited written in nice caligraphy. So I bought a booklet and had them write the first entry (I need to talk to my teacher before I can say too much about what's written there).







I found the same monjayaki place I went to 2 years ago, and had some curry mix monja. It was delicious.



Then I set out for Shinbashi and found a bunch of really interesting looking restaurants. I'll have to go back there again for dinner.

Yoyogi and Shibuya (Sun 2/21)

Today I was supposed to meet up with someone I met on Friday, but I waited for a half hour and never saw her. Anyway, I was in Harajuku, so I walked over to my standard Sunday spot of Yoyogi park. There was an acapella group singing in the little amphitheater, and there was a farmer's market called the earth day market. I got to sample some 米あめ (komeame) which looked and tasted exactly like honey but is made from rice. I also stood in line to get some fresh taiyaki (fish shaped bean cake). There were some cheer leaders practising outside; I think there was some sort of cheering competition going on in a little athletic hall nearby. There was also a couple walking around with their pet monkey ... it was really cute.



Especially since the pet monkey had a stuffed monkey of its own. Then I took a train to Shibuya to walk around some more and try to find some live music. I finally found an area with lots of live music clubs, and decided to pay the cover to get into one. There were 6 or 7 bands that played there. The ones that I remember are The Baddies (a British band) and The Mirraz (seemed to be extremely popular, and their music was pretty good.

Also, one of the DJs that played between bands played a bunch of songs that had people singing "Nanananana" somewhere in them, and he kept holding up a sign that had "8-1=" or "4+3=" (nana is seven in Japanese)





Afterwards I caught a late train back to the apartment and went to sleep with a ringing in my ears =)

Ebisu and Karaoke (Sat 2/20)

Today made the entire trip worth it. I started out going to Shinjuku and sitting at a coffee shop reading (or trying to) the Totoro book I bought at the Ghibli museum. That was nice. Then I took a train to Ebisu and sat at another coffee shop and read some more. That was also nice.

Then I met up with Mina and her friend Satomi for dinner. We had shabu shabu, and it was delicious.



They tried speaking Japanese around me, and I did an okay job understanding what they were talking about, I think. Then we went to karaoke for a few hours, and that was the most fun I'd had in a while. Mina and Satomi were so much fun. And Satomi's singing voice is amazing. I seriously would have made this entire trip for only this evening. Thank you guys for keeping a lowly tourist some company =)

Ghibli and an Irish Pub (Fri 2/19)

I went out to Mitaka for my noon appointment to get into the Ghibli museum. And they don't allow pictures inside, so I just have a few from outside (pretty much the same as last time). I had a great time. I was able to read entire signs talking about their process for creating Ponyo. I didn't recognize two or three words, but I was able to infer what one of them was (a different kanji for つくる than I was used to : 造る), and I asked someone next to me for help with the others 文具 (stationary) and 鉛筆 (pencil ... which I should've known)

Then I got to see the short film ちゅうずもう (chuzumo) which was about a old man and woman that worked a farm on the side of a mountain. One night the old man gets up and finds the mice from his house sneaking off to take part in a sumo tournament. He notices that one group of mice keep beating everyone, so he tells his wife, and they decide to help their mice. They make a bunch of food for them to help build their strength, and then they go with them to cheer them on. It was absolutely the cutest short animated film I've ever seen. It's a shame they don't release these on DVD. I would love to be able to watch it again without having to travel half way around the world to see it .. once =(





Anyway, I walked back a different way, through 井の頭 (Inokashira) and stopped in a little cafe because I saw a giant 甘酒 (amazake) sign out front and had lunch. Then I took a train from there back to Shinjuku. Here's something I got a picture of in Inokashira park.



In the evening I went wandering around Shinjuku for a bar, and found an Irish pub. I went in and started having a few drinks, and ended up sitting next to a girl at the bar that just came back from a year in Toronto. She was waiting to meet up with a friend of hers, and we ended up going to McDonalds and they taught me some Kansai dialect slang. All in all it was a great evening.

Wandering around Shinjuku (Thurs 2/18)

Today I woke up to see snow falling outside the window. That was a nice start for the day. After about an hour or so it stopped snowing, but a little had accumulated (which then mostly melted after another couple hours)



Then once I had gotten ready, I headed out to walk over to Shinjuku station. I decided to walk because I hadn't been to this part of Shinjuku before, and hadn't realized that there was a giant park called Shinjuku Gyoen. So I wandered through there a bit. I saw a cat chilling on a little mat someone had left for him. He meowed a bit in protest when I pointed the camera at him, but I took the shot anyway.



Then inside the park I found a pond, some trees that were already in bloom and stayed a bit to take some more pictures.











I wasn't the only one that was taking advantage of this relatively clear day





And a bird that was enjoying the scenery, as well



Then I left the park and spent the next 5 or 6 hours wandering around the eastern part of Shinjuku. I stopped into Shinjuku station to grab a cup of coffee at one point, but I realized at around 4:30 that I hadn't eaten anything today, so I dropped into a little restaurant and had some ramen (no pic .. sorry). Then I headed back to the apartment to rest; I was exhausted at this point. And I ended up just falling asleep until around 10pm. Then I watched some TV and went to sleep again. Tomorrow I need to get going early to make sure I get out to Mitaka by noon (my appointment at the Ghibli museum =)

By the way, since I got here, and I've been walking for a solid week, I've lost another 5 pounds ... woo hoo!

Oh, and I posted most of the photos here, but here's a link to the while photo set.

Move to Shinjuku and Ebisu (Wed 2/17)

I moved from Ikebukuro to my Japanese teacher's apartment in Shinjuku today. Here's a little hotel room walkthrough I did just before I left.



I got to meet my Japanese teacher's mother, which was really interesting. She talked a little too fast, but I understood the important parts (don't leave the electric or gas things running otherwise you might risk starting a fire).

She brought me a bunch of things to eat, and I ended up just having these while I started a load of laundry. Thankfully, I had picked up a box of treats called Goma Tamago (sesame egg) for her from the train station.



Then I ended up doing laundry all day .. so pretty boring, but I was going to meet up with Andrew's (a coworker of mine) friend he stayed with in Japan when he was an exchange student. It turns out that she was meeting 5 other girl friends in Ebisu. It was interesting being the only guy in a girl's night out. It was an interesting experience, and it was good to make some new friends. I just wish that _one_ of them had been single =)

Akihabara and Shinjuku (Tue 2/16)

I didn't do much today, just had a lazy day.

I went to Akihabara and I figured I had to do it for the experience ... I went to a maid cafe. What a bizarre place! Unfortunately, you can't take any pictures One nice thing, though, since the waitresses are so much more attentive, I ended up talking to them quite a bit and it was pretty good Japanese practice. For those that don't know, a maid cafe is one where the waitresses are dressed in French maid outfits, and they try to make everything as cute as possible. When I went in, they explained the system: you pay per hour as well as paying for whatever you eat, or any activities you do. Then they sat me at a table, and the waitress took out a little fake LED candle, and said that when the candle is lit, I'm magically transported to a dream land where I become her master (ご主人様). Anytime she brought out food or drink, she made me recite a "magic spell" with cute little hand motions to "make it more delicious". She used ketchup to draw a cat face on my rice. It would have been really embarrassing if not for the fact that everyone else in the place was doing the same thing. They had a little stage where you could pay to have your picture taken with one of them, or you could play a game with them, or pull a random name from a box and get a pre-printed picture of the maid whose name you drew. These were the things that you could pat extra for, and since they had a Wii I played a round of Mario Kart with one of them, and she actually ended up beating me. Now that was embarrassing.

Anyway, once I was done there I went back to Yodobashi Camera, wandered a bit, and then headed back to Ikebukuro to pack up a few things to take over to the next place I'd be staying, so that I didn't have so much to carry tomorrow. I'm going to be staying in my Japanese teacher's apartment for the last two weeks of my trip, and I managed to find it pretty easily with the map she drew for me. The place is huge (compared to my hotel room). Thank you so much, sensei!

On the way back from dropping things off, I stopped for my first visit to Shinjuku to grab something to eat. As I was wandering, I passed a curry place and any time I'm hungry and I catch that scent it makes up my mind for me. So I went in and had pork shabu curry with a little salad (nothing picture worthy =)

Okonomiyaki (Mon Evening 2/15)

I went down the street to one of the many okonomiyaki places close to the station. I had a couple beers, and pork/squid/corn/cheese okonomiyaki and spinach/bacon/oyster sauce stir fry.









At one other table, a girl folded a chopstick holder in a way I hadn't seen before, and she did it again for me and someone else at another table that was interested. I need to see if I still remember how to do it.

Then I went to a game center and saw a bunch of totoro / ponyo keychains in a UFO machine, and I managed to get 3 of them to fall in at once (after many tries).



That's it for today .. here's a link to the photo set for today. おやすみ

Tokyo and Jimbocho (Mon 2/15)

Today is really rainy, so I stayed in late, and started looking for a good onsen ryokan in Yamanouchi for a few days of my last week here (it's near an outdoor hot spring called Jigokudani where macaque monkeys bathe in the snow). Anyway, I headed toward Tokyo thinking I would find Jimbocho the same way I did last time ... walk straight north from the north-east side of the imperial grounds. Then I remembered the rain.

There's a fancy shopping complex attached to Tokyo station called the Marunouchi building, and I found a oden place on one of the restaurant floors. You take your shoes off when you go in, and put them in a little cubby on the wall. Then all the seats are around a big pot of various stewing things (sorry I didn't get pictures, but it felt weird since everyone in the place was effectively sitting at the same table .. maybe I'll go back later and take some). I ordered the saborodon gohan set (rice covered with ground chicken and a little ginger), which comes with oden with either 3, 4 or 5 items. I got the daikon (of course), a little round potato (something like じゃが丸 or jyagamaru), an egg, and then something I had no idea about .. just to be a little adventurous. Now I really wish I had taken a picture. Anyway, it's served as kind of a hodgepodge of all the things you ordered in a kind of broth. And it was delicious.

Then I took the train back up to Kanda (since I figured that was a closer way of getting to Jimbocho), and finally managed to find the place (after going down into a subway station just to see a map).

I found the same antique book store I went to last time, and I got a few books. Then I found a regular book store and found an entire section on shodo (書道) or the art of writing (with a brush). I picked up a few reference books there, too. Here's what I got



From the top left shodo lesson book specifically for the kaisho (楷書) style or printed style of writing, to the top right book which is a dictionary of how around 850 characters are written as well as hiragana and katakana. The bottom books from the left are: an old book showing examples of how to write 1000 characters, a book of Buddhist poems, and a book of a bunch of old art prints.

Here's some samples from them. The lesson book:



The dictionary



The old 1000 character reference (unfortunately some of the pages are marked on ... like the first couple of pages that have a drawing on them)





The Bhuddist poems



The old art prints

Yoyogi Park, Tokyo Tower and Roppongi (Sun 2/14)

This morning I went to Yoyogi Park (代々木公園) pretty early and walked around a bunch. I saw that the flea market (the way its pronounced here makes it sound like "free market" ... but don't be deceived =) The food stands were just getting set up as I arrived, and I got a giant butaman (pork steamed bun).





There was some live music playing in the little amphitheater there, but it wasn't the bustling scene I remember from last time. I think it might be because the live Olympic broadcast is set up right now ... maybe my last Sunday here will be better.

I walked around a bunch and found a dog run on the other side of the pond. I stood around and enjoyed watching everyone playing with their dogs. While I was standing outside the fence, a girl came up to the fence next to me and tried to get the attention of one of the dogs inside. She bent down and tried to reach him through the fence, but the dog just turned sideways and started peeing. She jumped back a bit, and I said ”ご挨拶。。よろしっこおねがいしますって" to which she laughed and replied "そういう意味ですか？". Explanation: yoroshiku onegai shimasu is something you say when you meet someone, and shikko means to pee, and so I said "Its a greeting, he says 'yoroshiKKO onegai shimasu'", and she laughed and said "Is that what that means?". Hmm, I guess you could translate it as "Pees to meet you" ... yikes ... I'm just as corny in Japanese.

Then I decided that because it wasn't raining, I'd head to Tokyo tower, so I headed back to my room to find directions (only to find out that I was half way there in Yoyogi ... take the Oedo line from Yoyogi toward Roppongi, and get off at Akabanebashi ... then just keep walking toward the giant tower ... you can't miss it). I took a crazy number of pictures, so here's just a few.















Then I figured that Roppongi was on my way back, so I got off there and walked around a bit. I found the restaurant where I went with Tina last time.





Then I came across this nice looking little place called Izakaya Kurahachi. I saw they had a $30 omakase course, and that sounded like fun, so I stopped in. I tried to open the door by pushing ... that didn't work. So I pulled, but that didn't work. I was thinking they might be closed, but the waiter came up and slide the door open sideways .... I think it's a trick to keep the foreigners out =)





They first gave me some sort of little radish in two halves with some sort of sauce (I'm guessing it was sesame based)



Then a salad with broccoli, sliced cherry tomatoes, baby corn, cucumber, and regular old lettuce covered with what I'm again guessing was some sort of sesame seed based salad dressing.



Then the kushi (skewers) started coming. Shishito (peppers), I'm guessing pork, and some kind of seared fish with dots of wasabi came first.



Then they gave me this rediculously delicious ground chicken sausage. It wasn't really tough like you might expect from a sausage, but came apart pretty easily. For those of you I go with to Shinsengumi, it had similarities in taste with the saborodon we get there. Update: My Japanese teacher tells me that this is called つくね (tsukuneh).



The last two skewers were, I believe, chicken meat and roasted beans of some sort (they tasted like little tiny baked potatoes). Update: What I thought were roasted beans are ginkgo seeds, or 銀杏 (ぎんなん, ginnan).



Then karaage ...



and miso with a roasted onigiri.



Finally a tiny scoop of green tea ice cream. Just as I was finishing up, a couple from Australia came in. They made the same push/pull mistake with the door, so I felt a little better.

Here's a link to the whole photo set for today.