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Day 7: Ryogoku & Akihabara

Posted on April 7, 2015 by kmah88

This was our latest start to a day yet. It was raining ~again, and we didn’t get going until after 10. We took the train to Akihabara and then transferred to the Sobu Line. After only two stops, we got off at Ryogoku Station. You can see both the Kokugikan Sumo Arena and the Edo-Tokyo Museum from the platform.

The roof of Kokugikan Sumo Arena is visible from the train platform.

Just to the right, you can see Edo-Tokyo Museum too.

The area of Ryogoku is famous for sumo. The arena is there, obviously, as well as most of the stables (not my word for them!) where the wrestlers live and train, and many restaurants catering to their diets. Sumo wrestlers need to eat a lot and mostly foods rich in protein. One dish that is almost synonymous with sumo wrestlers is chanko nabe – a hot pot stew. (Sad to say, we did not partake in any sumo-specific fare. Maybe we’ll try it out next time.)

We are almost experts at the whole ‘get off the platform to get to the right station exit’ thing now. It was easy. Everything is well-labelled.

The main entrance area of the station is almost like a museum – it has some sumo-related displays including giant pictures of the current yokozuna (top-ranked wrestler), some height measurements and handprints of famous past wrestlers so you can compare your size to theirs, and some paintings of what the area looked like in the Edo period.

ukiyo-e (wood block) painting of what the area looked like in the Edo period

Nihon Bashi (Japan Bridge)

Just outside the station, there are a bunch of vendors selling Ryogoku-themed omiyage, like sumo wrestler-shaped cookies.

The arena is next door. I had read online that there is a small museum inside that has free admission so I wanted to check that out. It also said that no pictures were allowed so I had no idea what to expect.

The stairs were roped off so we couldn’t go up to see the top.

Before we went inside, we took some pictures of a few sakura and I noticed that there were flags on display. I also thought it was odd when we first walked up that there were security guards around. I had no idea but there is a big tournament going on right now. While we were taking some pictures, we spotted two wrestlers.

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We went inside and were somewhat disappointed. The “museum” is just one room with some pictures and a few clothing items. The displays set up in the station were actually more impressive.

When we went back outside, there were even more security and men in suits posted at various doors and a lot more spectators lined up at the ticket gate. There were also barrier gates that had been set up separating where we were from the main hall entrance.

The guy closest to us, who looked to be quite young, dressed in a fancy black suit, seemed to be talking to something in his hand. Turned out to be an injured bird. No idea what events led up to him holding it or how it had been hurt but that didn’t matter. He ended up walking across the courtyard and putting the bird gently into the branches of a bush, after conferring with a fellow suit-man. He spoke quietly to the bird before standing up, presumably some words of encouragement. After hesitating for a few seconds, he bent back down and rearranged the bird a little further back and then returned to his post.

From there, we walked over to behind the arena to where the Edo-Tokyo Museum is. It’s a bizarre, spaceship-looking building. Pretty cool. It’s somewhere I had wanted to go on our first visit but we didn’t fit it in. Edo is the old name for Tokyo and refers to a two hundred fity(ish)-year period of Japanese history before modernization. (Think Samurai times.)

The general museum displays are on the 5th and 6th floors. There is a “special” ticket you can get that give you admission to the temporary visiting exhibit but we opted to just see the permanent display.

Totally worth it! It’s amazing. And huge. There is a large section that is basically a bunch of miniatures of Edo, which is absolutely incredible. Then there are life-size replicas of what certain rooms would look like or shops, façades, etc. A recreation of a kabuki theatre and a mock up of a stage with statue actors, paintings, a model of Nihon-bashi bridge and what the fishing area would have looked like, and an area that runs through the 20th century in a timeline manner with rooms falling into chronological time. A lot of really cool stuff to look at. We ended up spending several hours there – much longer than I had planned for. By the time we left, my feet were aching and I could hardly stand up.

I’m just gonna dump all my pictures with little information ’cause there are so many. And really, they aren’t going to mean that much to anyone other than ourselves.

Anyone who knows a little about Japanese history will know who Matthew Perry is.

Hiroshige’s Evening Snow at Kambara – used as the cover of Weezer’s Pinkerton album (as mentioned already in Day 5)

A museum tour guide that gave a very animated explanation about a moving diorama of a kabuki stage… of which we understood absolutely nothing.

Hubby took special interest in the Subaru – because he drove one. (Not the 1950s K-car, obviously. Before his current vehicle – Mistubishi Evo – he drove an Imprezza.)

from an upper floor window, looking down on the station (Kokugikan is just out of view on the far right.)

We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant called Finn’s attached to the museum. Hubby had the spinach and eggplant bolognese and minestrone and I had the carbonara pizza. It was pretty expensive (over 3000 yen for the 2 of us) but tasty.

It was a good thing that we had made a quick stop in Akihabara the other night, since I had inadvertently cut into our time today by spending over 3 hours at the museum – oops! But at least it was still light out when we got there. We were mostly there for Hubby’s benefit this time around. He did a lot of looking at figures and other otaku goods in various stores. We started back at Radio Kaikan again, where Hubby picked up several new figures, then headed toward the main street – Chuo dori.

Akihabara Station Electric Town Exit on the far right, looking down the street towards Onoden

Sega, LABI, and Radio Kaikan

Radio Kaikan sign – It’s mezmerizing to watch.

just trying to rest my feet – and got in trouble

And no one steals them!

On a whim, we popped in to a maid café. Actually, we were somewhat accosted by a maid on the street who convinced us to “go upstairs with her”. That just added to the whole seedy feel of it. LOL. We had already decided we were going when she approached Hubby and she seemed surprised we took the bait. She spoke a little English and that was her hook.

MaiDreamin’ is one of the most prolific maid café chains but this location was … underutilized. From our experience, how it usually works, is that the company will have several locations around the Akihabara Station vicinity and a few actual cafés in each location. For instance, this building had one on the 2nd floor AND 3rd floor. I think the 3F one was the main café. We were at 2F. There was ONE other customer. And only one maid at first (until the one who spoke to us on the street came up to join her). It was… unsettling. But our waitress/maid, Kiriko, was super genki and spoke English well enough for Hubby to converse a little bit with. OR at least place an order with.

This is Saya, the English-speaking maid, not Kiriko, the maid who served us. We found it strange that they took the picture with my phone rather than with the standard mini-Polaroid.

After our somewhat awkward maid encounter, we continued with Hubby’s wishlist of stores to visit. Pretty much the whole trip to Japan is for me, so I let him enjoy the bits he actually takes an interest in… no matter how bored I get. Haha.

We walked across the street to Laox first but it was closing. The metal gate was actually halfway down and still going but Hubby didn’t notice and tried to go in. LOL. We got several ‘batsu’. 🙅🏻 Instead, we went into Onoden next door. It amused us that Weezer’s latest hit “Back to the Shack” was playing. =W=

Onoden has a cute animatronic-type moving mascot outside and plays a theme song that’s really catchy. IDK why but I didn’t take video of it. There are only shitty versions found on YouTube from other people but at least you can get an idea. We had fun taking pictures anyway.

This store was unbelievably cramped and panic attack inducing. I left after about 15 seconds and waited outside.

I love this little Inari shrine in the middle of Electric Town. We’ll take better pictures during the day when we come back.

This is another MaiDreamin’ location with a balcony where maids entice you to come in by bellowing into megaphones. Not sure about the genius of that plan.

Lots of maids from various different cafés and chains will be in the street, handing out ads – but they all turn their backs on you when you are taking pictures. They’re quick!

Kotobukiya is a really cool store. When we were here last, it was located in the ground floor or Radio Kaikan, I think, but when the building was torn down and rebuilt, Kotobukiya moved out on it’s own. Hubby wasn’t into figures in 2010 but he sure is now.

I’m enthralled by Japanese parking garages. What an ingenious use of space!

My friend had told us at lunch the other day when I brought up Gundam Café that it was a huge disappointment and not worth it. By the end of the night though, I was starving and it was on our way and I was still curious, so we went in with low expectations. Maybe that’s why, but I ended up really liking it. Yes, it IS overpriced for regular food, but as a theme café experience, it was kind of awesome. I’m not a Gundam fan but I wish I was because it would have made it that much more enjoyable.

Hubby was impressed by the light-up bathrooms. I thought that was the least impressive thing there. Watch this video. It was filmed when the café first opened. The bathrooms are featured at the 9:35 mark.

All the staff seemed to be able to speak English fairly well, so that was nice at the end of a long day. Sometimes it’s hard to understand and make yourself understood in another language and when you’re tired, even more so.

I ordered a drink called ヒイロ・ユイ (Hiro Yui) that was milk and, I think, matcha flavoured syrup (750 yen), a ハロドラ (Haroldora) – a matcha dorayaki (210 yen), and assorted ice (580 yen). Hubby got apple pie (680 yen) and the hot latte (390 yen). It was very expensive and the portions were teeny, but tasted good. (Actually, the green tea dorayaki thing I ate was one of the most delicious things I’ve had all day.)

We peeked into the AKB48 Café, which is right next door to the Gundam Café, but didn’t go in. It looked… creepy-ish and we had just eaten and it was time to go home.

One downside of Tokyo is that things aren’t open late. Apparently, there is quite a lot to do in certain areas for night life, but since neither of us are into clubbing anymore and since neither of us speak Japanese enough to converse with locals at a pub, we aren’t able to really enjoy the few things that are still open past 8 o’clock. All stores close around 8 (some earlier) and most restaurants aren’t open past 9 either. It’s like the active, bustling city you spent the day in just dies after the sun goes down. I have heard about this amazing Tokyo nightlife, but I’ve never seen it. So after we left Gundam Café, there wasn’t much else to do but go home again – which really is fine. By the end of our days, we are both so exhausted and in pain that that is all we want to do. But it makes me feel better that I don’t feel like I’m missing hours where I could be out doing more.

Posted in japan | Tagged Akihabara, Edo-Tokyo Museum, Kokugikan, Ryogoku, Tokyo, trip to japan | 1 Comment

Day 6: Yokohama

Posted on April 6, 2015 by kmah88

Today, we left Tokyo and headed south to Yokohama to visit Chinatown – the largest Chinatown in Asia – and the Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum.

the courtyard on our floor of the hotel

We are both sooooo tired – not the best way to be starting the day.

Every morning, there is a parade of suits. Everywhere you look, men in very similar black suits, white shirts, and conservative ties are heading off to work. (Women are dressed just as conformingly, but in skirt suits.)

NOT the right track…

I had preplanned all of our out-of-Tokyo train trips. We had to go first to Tokyo Station. That part was easy enough. My plan had said track 7 was where to catch one headed to Yokohama. It wasn’t the same time as my plan though. (I think we had just missed it – I woke up later than I had planned but took less time getting there than I thought.) It didn’t LOOK like the right train. (*Note: I learned later how to figure out which train is coming on a multi-train track – as in the sign in the picture above.) I popped my head into the train that was there and just asked no one in particular, “Yokohama?” Several people answered me ‘no’ (or gestured X with their arms 🙅🏻). What happened next illustrates how wonderful travelling in another country can be – especially when that country is Japan…

A lady on the platform behind me, in pretty good English, told us we needed to be on the next platform over. (We were currently on 7/8 and needed to be on 9/10.) After thanking her profusely, we headed back down the stairs to get to the right area – but for SOME reason I’m unclear on now, we thought we should get this new information confirmed by someone who actually worked there. We went into the JR office and asked the man working there how to get to Yokohama. He however did not speak English very well and confused me further. I switched to my pygmy-Japanese and asked “nan sei? kyu-sei?” (Which platform? Number nine?). I realized afterwards that he said “juu-sei, kyu-sei” meaning ten or nine, but I thought, in my frazzled mental state that he said 19. Oddly enough, the singage back outside the office stated that track 19 was a Shinkansen to Yokohama… I was SO confused and flustered that I almost started crying. But we just made the decision to stick with what the helpful lady has said IN ENGLISH and hope for the best. We got on the next train that arrived on that platform and crossed our fingers. Turned out, we just should have done that from the beginning. But it made for a rough start to the morning.

Seifuku (high school uniforms) are a complex and fascinating thing in Japan. Each school has their own and neighbourhood people can identify students and base reputations of the school on the behaviour of the students out in the community.

We had to transfer at Yokohama station to Ishikawacho. That wasn’t too troublesome. But once we got there, we learned another lesson (or at least had another one reinforced). DO NOT LEAVE THE TRAIN PLATFORM UNTIL YOU LOCATE THE CORRECT EXIT. We just got off the train and went down the nearest set of stairs. Things are a little different there than they are here in Toronto. Back home, we have only 2 lines and stations are teeny tiny in comparison. You just get off the subway and walk upstairs, and if you want to exit the station from a certain door, you just walk through the station to that door. In Japan, stations are HUGE. And there doesn’t seem to be the option to walk through to another exit. We only saw the one way out at the bottom of the stairs so we went that way. Once outside, I had NO clue where we were. Since we weren’t in Tokyo anymore, I didn’t think the stations would be massive as they are there. I was so wrong.

Also, since were weren’t in Tokyo anymore, the preloaded maps on Hubby’s phone were useless to us. We hadn’t loaded Yokohama when we had WiFi and the GPS doesn’t seem to be working without it.

Apparently, we exited out into the Motomachi shopping area and had to walk even more (ouch!) and hope for the best. I was pissed because I had a whole route planned out to see the 10 gates of Chinatown in the most efficient manner. Oh well.

Motomachi is sort of a cool looking area. Hubby said it reminded him of old Montréal. Everything was still closed though.

Hubby had to check out what the pharmacy looked like.

river under the highway

The first gate we encountered, Suzakumon – the south gate.

information for tourists… who read Japanese

From the other side, showing where we had just come from.

I also learned my camera phone doesn’t do well with backlighting.

I’m always fascinated looking down alleys.

entrance to Ma Zhu Miao (Masobyo) temple

I totally got “Chinatowned” here. (Hubby’s expression – meaning talked into buying something you don’t want with a long-winded spiel.) We walked in, all touristy, taking pictures and stuff and approached the temple itself. There was a lady up there who I guess wanted to show us around and explain the significance of things and how to make a prayer. At first she asked (in Japanese) if Hubby spoke Japanese. They obviously go to him first since he COULD possibly be Japanese (but is second-generation Chinese-Canadian – as in doesn’t speak Chinese really either). I answered her in Japanese that he doesn’t understand anything in Japanese at all (“zenzen wakarimasen”). I’m always reluctant to speak any Japanese to anyone because a) I REALLY suck at it, and b) I don’t want to mislead them into thinking I can carry on a conversation. I mentioned this to my friend yesterday and she said, “but they are so appreciative when you even try”, so I thought I’d chance it. And exactly what I was worried about happened. She started prattling away in Japanese. I told her (after she asked) that I could only speak a little bit, but I am not sure if she realized exactly how little I could understand. She tried so hard though to say things in English as much as she could. I felt kind of dumb throughout the entire exchange but I appreciated her effort. I understood maybe about 20% of what she told me, but she was sweet anyway. So, I paid my 100 yen, made a prayer, and listened to the explanation of the statues (one for students who want to do well in their studies and the other for pregnant ladies for safe and healthy carrying and baby, from what I caught). Regardless, it’s a beautiful temple.

The detail is captivating.

Up the street from the temple, is the China museum – Daisekai. It opens at 10 (it was about 9:30 when we got there) but the gift shop on the first floor was open. It was just a bunch of panda trinkets and regular souvenir stuff. Nothing great. We planned to come back later on once we had all our pictures of all the gates, but ended up skipping it. Directly across from it is another gate. Everything is very busy and overwhelming so it’s easy to miss the gates, but I had mapped them all out and knew exactly where they were.

One of the “inner” Chinatown gates, Chikyuumon. There are two of these ones at opposite ends of the street.

pair of gold Fu Dogs outside Daisekai

There was a fortune in his mouth.

“Why are you making me do this?”

misplaced – This is where my fingers were inside the gloves.

I love the sign pointing this out as a “photo spot”.

The upper floors weren’t open yet.

fu-butt

This is what China is famous for? Just pandas? And back off, ladies. He’s all mine.

gate with Daisekai in the background

another alley

paintings all over the side of a building

A painting of the Monkey King, Sun WuKong. I have a mild obsession with him. I may even get a tattoo of him one day.

I was so pissed when we got to the third gate and it was covered up for construction. As it happened, 4 of the 10 were. Boooooooo.

the east gate – Chouyoumon

not impressed

Sega game arcade, China-fied

koban – Chinatown version

Merry Christmas?

That’s an impressive sanpuru display.

Roasted chestnuts are a Chinatown treat. I wasn’t interested but he did try to sell them to us. (I’m not getting Chinatowned twice in one day…)

He seems thrilled with the sesame ball I bought for him, doesn’t he? (I don’t know what they’re called in Japanese – goma something – but they are called ti doi in Cantonese and are Hubby’s favourite thing at dim sum.)

another gate – one of the Ichibadoorimon (There are 2 of these too, running perpendicular to the other 2-fers.)

Crappy camera. This WOULD have been a good shot.

Yokohama Chinatown is interesting, but a bit of a letdown if you’re expecting an ‘authentic’ Chinatown experience. I have been to a few Chinatowns (Toronto, San Francisco, etc. – and Hong Kong really is just like one giant Chinatown), but this doesn’t really seem like one to me. It seems more like a China-themed Japanese town. One thing about all the Chinatowns I’ve been to is that they are full of Chinese people. Passing people on the street and listening to them speak, everyone who actually worked here was Japanese and the only Chinese people we encountered were tourists.

I saw a YouTube video that had these dumplings in it. They are filled with soup.

gate #5 – the second Ichibadoorimon

more chestnuts

fun with statues

gazebo = old people hangout

back-tracked to the second gate again from the other side

‘Sup, Dawg?

Fu-Dogs are another one of those little things I love (This time, an example of a Chinese thing, not Japanese, even though they are seen a lot in Japan too.) – probably stemming from this book I had as a kid.

preschool in the background – This is where I’d like to work if I were ever move to Japan. (Well, not here specifically, but a Japanese preschool.)

entrance to Kwan Tai (Kanteibyo) Temple – We learned our lesson from the first temple and just took pictures from a safe distance.

The roof is kind of amazing.

Pandas, pandas everywhere! (Although pandas are my favourite animal and I love them, I find it almost offensive that this is what the foreign view of China has been reduced to. There are SO MANY other fantastic elements to highlight.)

ANOTHER gate under construction – second of the Chikyuumon

Ma Cooking School 🙂

still not impressed

Aaaand another one under construction. Yokohama Chinatown, you suck! I was sad because this is one of my favourite ones – the west gate, Empeimon. (It’s very pretty, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.)

I had a feeling this was the end of the blossoms. They are mostly on the ground now.

A Jamaican store? I’ve never felt closer to China…

and across the street from that was a Hawaiian store

Part of the fun of researching a trip is using Google Maps. There are quite a few locations in Chinatown that feature the insides as well, and because of that, I know what the interior of this restaurant looks like.

probably the most famous of the Chinatown gates – Zenrinmon

Stores and restaurants were now open and things were getting busy.

It’s hard to get a good shot without people in it. At least their selfie session was cute.

China Square – a mall thing we did not go into because we were annoyed and just wanted to finish and get out

Cut or Uncut: dyeing your dog’s fur

EVERYWHERE you look, they sell nikuman (meat bun) in Chinatown, so I had to try it out.

And I got a Bikkle!

It’s… not awful.

Watch out, kids!

The north gate – Genbumon. One of my favourites. I’m glad this one wasn’t covered up.

Once we had hit all the gates (within actual Chinatown), and I had food in my belly (I also bought 2 cha siu bao – BBQ pork buns – at a bakery), we left and headed back for the station. We were both ready to move on. I’m not sure if I will ever go back to Yokohama again. And right now, I’m okay with that.

Seiyoumon (or Nishibimon) – the last gate, outside Ishikawacho Station (where we were supposed to exit this morning). This one technically isn’t IN Chinatown.

My feelings on Yokohama Chinatown, summed up.

But at least we did it! – the 10 gates of Chinatown

randoseru – backpacks for elementary school kids – These things are like $350 each and are usually bought for a child by their grandparent when they start school.

I decided to stick to exactly what was in my plans to get us to the ramen museum. It was a few hours earlier but I had learned from our morning debacle and made sure we took the right train. (This was a multi-train track too.) Luckily, the trains are colour-coded so it’s easy to tell which one you need to take. We took the Keihin-Tohoku line rapid train to Higashi-Kanagawa and transferred to the Yokohama line train to Shin-Yokohama.

I matched up the last stop listed to the “bound for ~” written on the train.

Success!

Getting out of the station to the right exit and on the move towards the ramen museum was really easy. Within the station, things were well-labelled and once we got outside, I knew where I was going from my ‘wandering around’ on Google Maps street view.

There is a different line up of konbini in this visit from last. AM/PM seems to be completely gone. The main players are 7-11, Family Mart, and Lawson. Daily Yamazaki is rare and New Days is not as popular as the big ones but the most popular in train stations.

Starbucks is a nice place to stop and rest your feet. I am REALLY going to miss matcha lattes.

Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum

You may notice ramen is ‘spelled wrong’… In Japanese, it’s written RA~ ME N. Part of the phonetic lengthening of vowels sometimes adds a U, but usually only after O (and E is lengthened with I). It’s not pronounced like ‘au’ in English, but just held longer. (Aaaa , instead of the clipped a. So you say ‘raaaamen’.)

The “museum” is very cool. The ground floor has a few exhibit-y type things but it’s more a just a gift shop (which carries completely non-ramen-related things) with a few displays. It’s the two basement floors that are of interest. The lowest level (B2) is staged like an outdoor area of the 1950’s and has 5 ramen restaurants there and a performance area where shows are put on daily. Today, there was a guy spinning light-up stuff, like yo-yos or something. IDK. I wasn’t really paying attention to him. B1 has 3 more restaurants, I think, and the hallway running around the back (including one of the restaurants) is supercool, like a winding Tokyo backstreet at night. Hubby managed 2 bowls while we were there. I had one and a dessert. The first place we went to was in B2 in the left-hand corner at the back (pictured below). Hubby had tonkotsu and I had chashumen. It didn’t taste bad but freaked me out because it had a film on it as it cooled.

The place we ate at is in the bottom right of this picture.

the performance area and more seating for eating

signage of the first ramen spot we visited

view inside – We ate in the “patio” area and didn’t actually go inside. It was pretty busy.

view behind me, looking back at the stairs

The 50’s street atmosphere vibe is really cool.

Hubby’s tonkotsu and my chashumen

The filmy scum on the top was strange. I’ve never seen that on ramen before.

Even the ticket machines are made to look old. I’m not sure if they actually existed back then though.

Our orders were right next to each other – and I could actually read most of it.

server cleaning up our food after we left

Security guards are always so serious.

guy doing a light-up stuff performance – spinning and juggling something

Is the basement sacred? IDK – but people do take their ramen very seriously.

crappy blurry picture of the second spot we ate at (B1)

There were only a few people in this one. It was much bigger though.

One bowl was enough for me, so I got almond jelly (annin tofu). On top is a piece of pickled plum.

order ticket that comes out of the machine

Hubby got shoyu (soy sauce) ramen this time.

From where we ate, to the right starts a snaking alley around the back of the museum.

The detail they put into it is incredible.

Dagashiya were an intergral part of neighbourhoods back then.

It really is like stepping back into the past. I suppose it’s a pretty nostalgic experience for the older generation.

There is one more restaurant back here too.

always always waiting

tiny shrine on the ground

Old-fashioned koban!

Even the stairway was treated in 1950’s fashion to look like a train station.

another view of B2 before we went back upstairs – B1 runs along the back of those upper facades

entrance to the gift shop and display area (ground floor)

weird and creepy

You can buy prepackaged ramen ingredients separately and create your own flavours and combinations.

I’m sure it was all very interesting but it was all in Japanese and I couldn’t read anything.

The “gifts” actually had nothing at all to do with ramen.

This was the only section that had ramen-related things to buy.

And… a racetrack – ’cause it has nothing to do with ramen, but why not?

And anime figures, of course. Hubby actually bought one here.

display about ramen around the world

This is a drawing of a lady who I’ve seen on TV a lot while we’ve been here. (Spot her in my Day 4 post!) No idea who she is or what her name is or what she does, but I keep seeing her everywhere. (Update: “She” is a male TV personality – Matsuko Deluxe – who dresses in drag and is known for his outspoken persona.)

Captain Jack was hanging out outside of a restaurant on the way back to the station.

His expression – like “Did I say you could have some of my drink?” LOL. I’m a dork.

Shin-Yokohama JR Station – It’s quite big inside. There is a Bic Camera and a Uniqlo and other stores. Hubby did some shopping while I sat on the floor and rested my feet.

Peking Opera Monkey King mask I bought in Chinatown. I seriously want to incorporate this into a tattoo design.

Our first trip on the Shinkansen so far this trip. Tickets can be expensive but are covered with our JR passes.

MUCH better travelling on one of these instead of the regular trains.

Shinkansen selfie

I think the lady behind us can see us being stupid.

This doesn’t seem safe – 2 kids standing up on the seats while the train was moving.

views from the train

Since it was still early in the day, we wanted to cross another thing off our list. Nakano Broadway was actually on our “Plan B” list of things to do. Since we aren’t going to the Ghibli Museum anymore 😦 we were planning to go to Nakano on Wednesday, but we had extra time (due to the disappointment of Chinatown).

To get there, we went back to Tokyo station (on the Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama – a much easier experience from the morning. The guy in the JR office spoke English and gave us reserved seating tickets when we showed him our passes.) where we transferred to the Chuo line (I believe that is the MOST ridden line in Tokyo…). Nakano is on the Chuo line. I had researched how to get to Broadway from the station, so it was easy.

Nakano Broadway is sort of like a mall – not the super huge shopping centres we have now, but the old style ones (ie. small and dingy and usually a straight line with a few floors). For the past several years, it has been a destination for otaku (anime and manga geeks) aside from Akihabara. The 2nd and 3rd floors are mostly all stores dealing in geek stuff (figures, comics, DVDs, collectibles, etc.). Mandarake is a chain that is well-known for this stuff. There are several locations (including Shibuya, which we had been to on Saturday, and Akihabara, which we will go to tomorrow) and Nakano Broadway is one of them. I could give you more info about the mall, but… you can Google it. (Or just click on the links I provided already.) I was in too much pain to follow Hubby around as he shopped so I just parked it in a hallway and waited for him. I got a lot of strange looks for sitting on the floor, but I was beyond caring.

Kinokuniya – a supermarket chain – is another name I recognized from my Japanese on the Go audio tape (that I mentioned a million times already). I saw a satellite bakery store in Nakano Station and had to go in and buy something.

I bought a baumkuchen cake and a mint green tea.

Baumkuchen is another “thing” in Japan. I had been hoping to come across one of those shops where you can see them making it, but no such luck yet.

Right outside Nakano Station is the entrance to Sun Plaza – a covered shopping arcade leading up to Nakano Broadway.

love that sign

ramen place we passed on the way – a possibility for dinner after shopping

a side street off the main covered area

I really want a tanuki statue! They are pretty expensive though and might get broken in my suitcase on the way home.

The entrance to the shopping centre is at the very end of the stretch.

Just inside the door to the right was a large display case filled with Studio Ghibli stuff. I love that Mononoke mask.

The coolest things were these sculptures of the DVD art. Crazy expensive though.

The first floor shows off the “former” purpose of Nakano Broadway – a shopping place for old people. ;P

Peko-chan statue standing outside a Fujiya shop – dressed for Easter? I’m not sure.

outside of the main Mandarake store (3F) – There are a lot of little shops throughout the 2F and 3F that are part of the chain as well.

What I do while I’m the one waiting – organize!

A must-have souvenir to bring back from your trip to Tokyo – Tokyo Banana. We bought this package of 8 at Tokyo Station while we were transferring.

Instead of having more ramen, we just opted for McDonald’s for dinner, back out in the Sun Plaza. There was another gaijin in line and I was jealous that she spoke Japanese. She ordered for the people she was with after they discussed their options in English (making it clear they were a party of tourists).

After taking the train back from Nakano, to Shinjuku, to Tamachi, I COULD NOT take another step so Hubby sprang for a cab from Tamachi station back to our hotel. It was so close that the meter didn’t even go up, but worth it.

I may have mentioned how much I love Japanese taxis already ~ but I’ll say it again. I love Japanese taxis. They are NOTHING like the cabs we are used to in Canada, or America, or anywhere else I’ve seen. It feels much more like hiring a private driver than anything else. They are professional and clean. And the entire inside is covered in… lace doilies? LOL. Just the fact that the doors open and close automatically is a win in my point of view.

(P.S. Those cards I made with our hotel info on them came in handy.)

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged Chinatown, Nakano Broadway, ramen, Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum, Tokyo, trip to japan, Yokohama | 1 Comment

Day 5: Harajuku

Posted on April 5, 2015 by kmah88

breakfast of champions – dorayaki (sweet red bean paste sandwiched between 2 pancakes)

Another crappy weather day. *sigh* Doesn’t slow us down much but does get in the way of picture taking. It’s hard to get a good shot of something while holding an umbrella. Also, a million other umbrellas crowd the scenery.

We had plans to get up early and go to Meiji Shrine first thing, but skipped that due to the rain. I also knew that it would be highly unlikely that any dancers would be in the park today, so we didn’t bother walking over to Yoyogi Park either.

I did, however, get to meet up with my friend from U of T. We met in 2008 when we both took first year Japanese and kept in touch after that. She’s been living south of Tokyo for 2 years now.

While we were waiting for my friend, Hubby and I walked down Takeshita Street to see what had changed in the five years since we had been there. Turns out, a LOT. It seems to be more commercial now with a few mall-type buildings – lost of bit of its subculture gathering spot charm. There were hardly any girls dressed in ‘unusual’ fashion. Maybe it was just because of the rain…

There are also 3 times as many crepes shops. That’s… good, I guess.

I love Japanese taxis! And there are those yellow jacket tourists again.

too many people, too many umbrellas

They have also made new gates for the 2 entrances to Takeshita Dori. I’m not sure that I like them…

Daiso – the hundred yen (dollar) store

Jeans Mate – I’m not sure what to equate this store chain to, but I’m sure we have something similar. (Bluenotes, in Canada, I think.)

the 2 “original” Harajuku crepes shops – Angels Heart and Marion

flavours are displayed in wax replica – makes for easy ordering if you don’t speak the language

“Sushi Ninja Toilet” – best public restroom ever

there is a shrine directly behind the super famous teenage shopping street – I love Japan!

Hi.

Wickett behind the counter, ’cause, why not?

A lot of the crepe places, if not all, also serve bubble tea. I’m sad to say I did not partake.

Once back out on the main street, we popped into a store which had a group of cartoon characters that we had been seeing everywhere but had no idea what they were from. Line Friends. My friend explained this to us at lunch. Line is an instant messaging app and the “friends” are the mascot-type characters that are used in the stickers (emojis). They apparently have this whole backstory and everything and have become super popular. So much so that they have their own store in Harajuku…

Anyway~ Hubby kind of fell in love with the bear (whose name we found out is ‘Brown’) and bought a stuffie for himself. (His head is very round and Hubby has since renamed him ‘Mochi’.)

Murasaki Sports – note the Star Wars skateboards (This store chain is much easier for me to relate to a Canadian equivalent. It’s just like a West 49 or Boathouse. IDK about you Americans though.)

Forever 21 is just as popular here as anywhere else

Line Friends store entrance

Brown

GIANT Brown

If you have to be sick, may as well still be cute.

Guess who my favourite character is ???

Amazing service – the cashier put a rain cover on our bag so our purchase would stay nice and dry

This guy came home with us – he has been renamed Mochi Brown.

where we had dessert last night – but a better picture in the daytime

Harajuku Station

We wandered back to the head of Takeshita to meet my friend at Noa Café for noon. The waffles they serve are incredible! There are a few other things on the menu but none of us tried them so I can’t say how they are.

Hubby’s choice – blueberry waffle

mine – black syrup, kinako (soybean flour), mochi, and green tea ice cream waffle

my friend got choco-banana – our whole table looked delicious

P.S. Getting out from the table, I broke a glass and was so mortified, I almost started crying.

After eating, we walked towards Omotesando (a street in Harajuku known for upscale shopping). We had plans to get a ton of souvenir toys and stuffies for all our nephews and niece (as well as ourselves) at Kiddy Land. On the way, we went in to the new(ish) Tokyu Plaza. The entrance is almost creepy. A huge escalator takes you up and into a mirrored…. something. I don’t even know how to describe it. But seeing so many reflections of myself at all different angles is somewhat unsettling.

Hi again.

mirrors everywhere

Good to see you, tomodachi!

I don’t know what I was expecting on the inside – but it’s just kind of like the 109 complex in Shibuya but not as… young. Many shops of clothing, shoes, bedazzled phone cases, etc. There is supposedly a really nice terrace at the top of the building but, for obvious reasons, we didn’t go up there.

When we left Tokyu, we parted ways with my friend since she had to catch her bus back home, and headed down Omotesando to Kiddy Land and Oriental Bazaar. There are a ton of “fancy” stores that I’m sure would be a destination for many shoppers – like Dior, Chanel, etc. – but we are not fancy people.

Of all the high-end stores, I only took pictures of the Dior store – for my friends (They know why.)

I can’t afford that kind of customer service – although service in general in Japan is pretty astounding.

sort of like Toys R Us, but SO MUCH BETTER

4th floor is split between a Hello Kitty store and a Rilakkuma store (together but with different cash registers)

Gudetama! Yes, he is everywhere right now but I still get excited and bought stuff for myself.

I really don’t understand but balancing figures on the edge of your glass seems to be a big thing

Rilakkuma makes your food cuter

I loved this guy – Tarepanda – years ago. It makes me happy that he’s still around.

He’s eating taiyaki! Cute.

“Happy life with Rilakkuma!” – I agree

Pom Pom Purin – I love purin, so I love him too. Bought one.

Kirimi-chan – another example of how weird Japan can be… Sanrio held a competition last year for a new character and this salmon-fillet-headed-thing is what won.

Sumikko Gurashi – my new favourite characters. So freaking cute!

I’m so sorry, Niecey! The one thing she said she wanted… I wasn’t sure so I took a picture to compare to what she sent me when we got back to the hotel. When we came back to get them days later, they were completely sold out. 😥

the rest of the 3 floors are sort of a mishmash of characters – Star Wars is always a win

Be@rbrick – I’m kinda glad this obsession never really took hold for me. It’s endless.

Japan’s superhero – Ultraman

Licca-chan – Japan’s super popular answer to Barbie

these scare me

one annoying thing is that you have to pay for your purchases on each floor the items come from (everywhere in Japan, not just at this store)

always my favourite section (and yet, never where I buy anything…) – GHIBLI!

Mei dressed as Catbus – adorable!

another of my favourite characters – Kapibara-san

Hubby: “Hmmm, do I need a Miffy?”

Monchhichi – I used to love them when I was a really little kid

Minions are cross-culturally cute

there was a big Disney section – I didn’t look much because it’s something I can find at home, but these frying pan mold things were cool

iconic Japanese characters – Doraemon (on the left – a robot cat) and Crayon Shin-chan (on the right – a foul-mouthed, troublesome Kindergartener) – both popular manga/anime

even Harry Potter had a little section

more cup balancing girl

even your latte must be cute-ified

…IDK

Ted is very popular… for young kids, ’cause… he’s cute, right? They have no clue.

a new character just introduced, Ojipan – ojisan is the Japanese word for “old man” (kind of like “Pops”), so he’s an ‘old man panda’. I’m down!

Popin’ Cookin’ is still a thing

these were in every single souvenir shop we’ve seen – solar-powered bobble thingys

our next stop was Oriental Bazaar – a store specializing in Japanese-y gifts

noren – these curtains hang at the entrances of restaurants and shops

kimono for the whole family

the 2nd floor is all antiques and expensive things

noh masks

I’ve always loved these step chests – very multifunctional (People used them to get up into attic spaces.)

Night Snow at Kamabara, one of my favourite ukiyo-e paintings because it’s used as the cover art for Weezer‘s 2nd album, Pinkerton – This was just a print but it was still 2,450,000 yen (about $25,000)

…so I bought a cup for $6 instead

After I had already taken about a million pictures in the antiques area, someone told me it wasn’t allowed. Oops. I hope you enjoyed all those illegally taken shots. The basement floor is where the cheap souvenir things are (where I bought that cup and also the silk kimono and the cotton yukata set). IDK if pictures were allowed in that area but I didn’t bother taking my phone out again after I put it away upstairs.

traditional Buddhist statues stand guard at the entrance

a lot of old ladies have various unnatural colours of hair, like purple, bright red, blue, etc. – and they also always seem to be coordinated with their outfits

the ever-present trench coats

even in the rain, still SO. MANY. PEOPLE.

When we were all shopped out and laden with bags, we decided to call it a day. There was just one more necessity. You just can’t do a day in Harajuku and NOT get a crepe. So we went back up Takeshita Dori ONE MORE TIME and I got the necessary treat. It’s really more the experience than the taste. Because they have to make so many so quickly, they pre-make the crepes and have them ready to fill. The result of that is that they are very rubbery. And there is too much filling, if you ask me.

Hubby wanted to stop off at the Nike store on the way

I’m an athlete.

he had to check out the Kobe section, of course

you could see this display from anywhere in the store, even other floors – VERY bright

we passed by a shoe store – ABC Mart – with a nice selection of Chucks (one of the things on my to-buy list)

This is the pair I bought. They remind me of the salior-style high school uniforms (seikfuku) worn in one of my favourite anime series, Clannad.

big line up of people for I don’t know what

This place had the smallest line, so that’s what I picked. Strangely, they were playing Disney soundtracks. (I was singing along with Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo.)

This is the one I got – and to make ordering easy, I just showed the girl this picture. (“custard whip, banana, choco brownie & choco whip” is what the tag says)

Instead of being done, we dropped off our bags at the hotel, rested up a bit, and popped over to Akihabara. Hubby has a huge agenda for the day we have planned there, so we thought it would be a good idea to get some of the destinations out of the way while we had the time and energy. Things were pretty much closed up by the time we got there, but the bigger department stores were open later. We had about 15 minutes in Radio Kaikan and then hit up both LABI and Yodobashi Camera. For as small as most places are and a cramped as things can be, these stores are HUGE. Floor after floor of electronics, figures, home goods, whatever. I bought a hair dryer~

At every hotel we went to last time, they all had this one model of hair dryer – Panasonic Ionity. I used them instead of taking mine in and out of my suitcase each time and I loved it. (It’s at this hotel too.) I was determined to buy one this time. Another thing to cross off my list!

Something else I was looking at was water heaters. I’ve seen people use them on anime and in YouTube videos. It’s basically a container that keeps your water hot and has a spout. I saw them at LABI but hubby wants to save big purchases for a particular store that has a tax-free discount for foreign visitors as well as an extra discount for using his Visa card. I hope I see more with English buttons. I looked at Yodobashi Camera too but they only had Japanese.

We had a snack on the way at our “home” station. The guy that worked there surprised us by speaking flawless English.

I had what was called poutine on the menu (it was really just fries with gravy and some melted cheese… good, but NOT poutine) – another thing I did not expect to ever find in Japan

taken from the Akihabara Station platform – IDK if you can appreciate how huge it is

the newly rebuilt (well, new to us since we’d been here last) Radio Kaikan

Akihabara-themed souvenir sweets

water heaters – I WANT!

there is a picture of me at this exact same spot from last time… now it’s Hubby’s turn

One of the things I was dying to eat that I loved during our 2010 trip was vanilla chiffon cake from Starbucks. I think I ate 3 or 4 pieces of it then (but never took a picture) – probably the best cake ever. And of course, I found out upon returning home, that it was only available on the menu in Japan. There was none of that precise description to be found, but instead this “rich milk” chiffon cake. I thought it would be the same thing… Sadly, it is not. I have only my memories to sustain me now. 😦

It tastes like being on a diet. But it’s still cake. This confused me. And it is so not worth the calories! – Matcha latte, on the other hand, is scrumptious and will be drunk innumerable times before heading home again.

So big. So Bright. So clean. So many helpful staff people.

very efficient escalators – and lots of them

In one of my pre-trip posts, I mentioned possibly buying a heated toilet seat (called washlets – They also have built in bidet functions but I’m not sure how I feel about that and have never tried it out). Most of the hotels and public restrooms have them. I had no idea they were SO EXPENSIVE though. Also, they are more oblong than our toilets at home, so this is not something we will be buying. (Gotta look into other methods of having a heated toilet seat though. I miss that so much at home.)

After ramen, we were officially done for the day.

The 11th floor of Yodobashi is a collection of restaurants. There is no map and it’s sort of a maze so it took us awhile to find it. (Hubby knew about it from a guide they had for the entire building.) We even asked a girl who worked at another restaurant and she had no clue. Eventually we came across an ‘information girl’ who walked us over.

Hubby had to have his ramen…

…but I just had gyoza

a gaggle of women doing purikura – photo booth stickers

There is an issue with perverts taking pictures of under girls’ short skirts while behind them on escalators – yikes! Hubby has an album on Facebook dedicated to the various warning signs we’ve been seeing.

When I was in Hong Kong, 7-11 had this promotion going on that when you spent a certain amount, you got a sticker (I think it was 1 sticker for every $10HKD) and if you collected enough stickers, you could trade them in for a Rilakkuma stuffie (which I ended up getting). Hubby noticed today that the baked goods at Lawson had little Rilakkuma stickers on them. We figured that there was probably a similar thing going on. On the way home, we stopped in at the Lawson we usually go to and asked there if this was the case. The guy spoke a little English and said we had to get 35 stickers to trade in for a bowl. Hubby is kind of pissed that we wasted the first 4 days (who knows how many stickers we’ve already thrown out?!), but he is determined to get it. And I have a good track record with this kind of thing. We can totally do it. Challenge accepted.

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged Akihabara, crepes, Harajuku, Kiddyland, Line Friends, Noa Cafe, Takeshita, Tokyo, trip to japan | 2 Comments

Day 4: Shibuya

Posted on April 4, 2015 by kmah88

2018-09-27: I originally posted highlights for Day 4 and rather than just filling in the blanks, I’m doing a whole other post to add the commentary and all the pictures.

We had big plans for the day but mis-timed some things so we missed out on crashing the annual YouTube Hanami party and a chance to meet several of the J-vloggers I’ve been following for several years. That took place in Yoyogi park, as it does every year – it was a coincidence that I was going to be IN Tokyo for the first time at the same time it took place and wanted to take advantage of it so I could personally thank a lot of the people who had given me such inspiration to plan this current trip and our last one.

Alas, we spent way too long in Shibuya and too long recharging at the hotel afterwards and by the time we were headed over to Yoyogi, it was getting dark and they were long gone. Boooooooooooo. 😦 I was a little disappointed but I’m not much one for mingling with strangers anyway and part of me had not made it much of a priority. We still had a pretty great day!

The station wall art mural is several depictions of the famous Akita inu (dog) Hachiko.

The Shibuya eki (station) koban. It’s an iconic scene from a silly anime series I watched a few years ago, Super Gals!. (Just be prepared to see pictures of koban whenever I come across them.)

Tokyo is interesting. You can’t smoke on the street unless it’s in a designated smoking area. I don’t know how fencing off the people who are smoking makes the smell any better or the air any cleaner. The air still moves in and out easily. Maybe it’s a shame thing – it does make the smokers look like a zoo exhibit.

It was early in the day and rainy when we got to Shibuya. I have never seen the iconic famous “Shibuya Scramble” so deserted. Of course, it wasn’t completely empty (Is it ever?), but every time the light changed, it only looked like a regular crosswalk, size aside.

The area in front of the station around Hachiko (the famous bronze state of a legendary dog – Google it if you’re unfamiliar!), was still crowded, but much less so that usual so we took advantage and took a couple of pictures with the faithful metal canine.

Drain covers are a “thing” in Japan. They are designed by artists and usually have a motif that is indicative of the area. I like this Hachiko one.

I wasn’t expecting the sakura trees around Hachiko and was impressed by the beauty. Something about an object of nature, so delicate and ethereal as a tree full of cherry blossoms, in juxtaposition with the technology, concrete, and crowds of modern Japan was striking.

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There are usually at least a few interesting characters in the Shibuya area but it was amusing to see one so interesting so early in the morning. I wonder where she was headed… I’m not sure how to classify this girl’s style. I don’t think it’s really gyaru but has elements of it. I like it though.

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After taking the few obligatory crossing pictures and videos, we went into Tsutaya to take a look around before going upstairs to the Starbucks. I know it’s cliché, but I still enjoy taking a few minutes people-watching there with a nice hot drink.

The super-famous youth fashion hub, the Shibuya 109 building, is off to the left and up the street a bit from the crossing.

Hachiko isn’t the only metal statuary in the area. These little naked boys look like they are playing in water, which makes some sense because the area around the station was allegedly built on top of a river. (I’m sure the plaque says something about the meaning, but of course, I can’t read it.

I was hoping to get some sakura themed cake or some similar sort of treat but I guess the cherry-blossom menu comes and goes earlier than the actual flowers. They actually had no cake at all at this location so I just got my obligatory matcha latte. Oishii!

I don’t know if it’s just a Tsutaya thing or if all Japanese music stores put these liners along the shelves to draw your eye, but as someone who used to work in retail and had to merchandise product in creative ways, I was really impressed with this tactic.

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I also spotted the Japanese editions of the Twilight and Harry Potter movies. I can’t read kanji so I don’t know if they are just subtitled versions or if they actually have Japanese dubbed tracks. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t know because I totally would have bought them for that and they were expensive.

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After that, we walked up the street to the 109 building. It seems that not a lot has changed there in the past 5 years. The stores have ridiculous names that Hubby and I enjoyed. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the building at all, but… I snuck some. (Lecture me when I’m in hell.) Most of them didn’t turn out anyway.

It’s fun to see these cute little carts zip down the street, making take-out deliveries. The box on the back is where the food goes and is kept hot or cold inside.

That’s some delicious looking sanpuru.

Store fronts and window displays are impressive.

The fashion is a lot tamer now that it was in 2010. Last time, there were gyaru everywhere. Now, everyone looked fairly… normal. The only notable trends were blonde hair, flared skirts, hats, and the ever-present trench coats.

There is literally nothing in there that would ever fit me but we had fun wandering around and adding our commentary to the interesting fashion and dubious store names. And I did actually make a purchase. I bought a Shibuya-styled blinged out Rilakkuma stuffie. You are supposed to hang it from your bag but he (she?) will have a prized place on my stuffie shelves back home.

There is a balcony area on the 2nd floor with vending machines and another zoo exhibit style smoking area. From there, you can see a cool view of the area looking back down to the crossing.

view on the left, up Dogenzaka Ave (We got donuts at the Krispy Kreme 5 years ago.)

view on the right (I don’t know what this street is called.) – Note the Fujiya family restaurant on the 2nd floor of the building across the street which I’ll mention again later.

We were hungry by then so we were ready for lunch. After seeing this video, I was set on the idea that we HAD to eat at Genki Sushi. It was just as fun as it looks in Kyde & Eric’s video. I even won a prize from my digital Jankenpon battle – a gatchapon sushi keychain. I really wish we had kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurants back home!

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I love Japan! It’s common in restaurants to have baskets or shelves under the table to hold your bags so they don’t get dirty touching the ground. The umbrella holder on the back of the chair is great too. Saves so much space. (Just don’t forget your stuff!)

You can choose between a discount coupon for your next visit or a gatchapon prize if you win your pack-rock-scissors game. I chose the toy since I’m not sure if we’ll get a chance to come back. I got a little plastic squid (I think?) nigiri. It says “Don’t put this in your mouth”. Hahaha. I guess Japanese people need reminders not to be stupid just like we do.

After lunch, we wandered around the area and ended up in Loft for awhile. It was a cool store but nothing I actually wanted to buy. There was a lot of trinket-y stuff and a sort-of art gallery.

Loft is at the top of the slope and you can see Genki Sushi about halfway up on the right hand side.

Hubby likes to buy himself a watch as a souvenir for our big trips. He has one from our last time in Japan and is on the lookout for a new one.

I’m not sure if the 50,000 yen price tag is for the set or just one panel but… O.O

WTF?

This guy was giving some sort of live demo of a beauty product and drew quite a crowd.

We did a bit more aimless wandering, then hit one on Hubby’s List of Things to Do – Mandarake.

I took a very similar picture in this same spot last time. The nickname of this restaurant still amuses me. Fa-kin. Ha.

This guy would not move out of the way so we could take a picture. He just stood there, not doing anything for several minutes. (Not EVERYONE in Japan is super nice.)

Something else we’re beginning to notice is that these thin puffy jackets are super popular. If you’re not wearing a trench coat, you’re probably wearing a puffy jacket.

This is probably the coolest looking koban I have ever seen. I like it so much, I couldn’t choose just one picture.

On our way in to Mandarake, a gaijin family was in front of us and we overheard the following conversation:

Daughter: What is this place?
Son: Mandarake. It sells anime stuff.
Mother: (*scoffs*) Honey, it’s pronounced mandrake.

LMAO. Hubby and I now have a new inside joke to replace our “organtuans at the zoo” whenever someone mispronounces something with an air of authority. (The correct pronunciation, in case you can’t read phoentical Japanese, is man-da-raw-kay.)

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When I came back out to wait, I noticed this Croissant Taiyaki place. I was intrigued but didn’t want to move from my spot in case Hubby couldn’t see me. I wish I had got one though. They look yummy.

It’s located in a basement so I could only handle it for a bit before I decided to wait on the street outside for him to finish up browsing. He took FOREVER and I was suddenly transported back to my childhood when I used to wait for my mom in the car and have horrible premonitions that a psychotic murderer on a spree was holding up the store and that she’d never come out. She did of course, and so did Hubby. Eventually. (I’m sure it wasn’t really that long in reality.) At least I got to rest my achy feet for awhile.

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Something about this print seemed familiar to me so I snapped a picture. I knew it was of yōkai but I realized later that I had seen work from this artist before. It’s Kappa no Sanpei from Gegege no Kitarō – a famous manga series from the 60s.

Mandarake does sell manga and figures, of course, but they are best known for their vintage items. Lots of toys and collectables from ages past. This particular case is a bunch of various kaiju – monster villians.

Were you paying attention earlier? This is Peko-chan. She’s the mascot of the Fujiya company, particularly as the face for Milky candy. There is an “urban myth” about her too (which is absolutely not true, BTW). These dolls are usually posted outside of the Fujiya bakeries and the toys are retro and super collectable.

I actually love Milky candy and buy them frequently. Once, I got some in a souvenir tin and now I keep my business cards for my Etsy shop inside. 🙂

There was another area we had never been to before that I wanted to see before we left called Supeinzka (Spain Slope). We walked up Inokashira dori to hit it from the top and come back down. There’s a famous photo spot right at the top where the stairs are but the building there was under construction and covered up, therefore kind of spoiling our pictures. It was kind of a cool area but compared with the hype, somewhat lacklustre.

Remember this lady’s face… (It shows up again.)

Trench coat AND a hat. Double points!

There always seems to be some themed pop-up café going on. This one is pretty meh on the scale of awesomeness.

The entrance to Supeinzaka is on the left (behind me). You can see the start of the construction wrapping.

I like this guy’s shirt.

There are a lot of ~OFF stores – Book Off, DVD Off, etc. It means discounted (like half off or something). I have no idea what this one sells, but the exterior looks cool.

As we passed these billboards, Hubby said, “I’d hate to see what sexy 1 & 2 look like”. Granted, I was super tired by this time but it seemed like the funniest thing I’d ever heard at the time.

It was somewhat jarring to see an Outback here.

Shibuya Donki

It looks like a fancy hotel check-in or something but it’s just karaoke.

In my plan, I had added the possibility of going to the Gyaru Café but, honestly, I was too intimidated. I had also planned to check out Love Hotel Hill but we were already so tired and it seemed like too far to go just for a few pictures.

We walked back down Dogenzaka Ave and I was surprised by how different an area can look in a month. It’s early April now so the trees are bare or have only buds. Our last trip was the middle of May and the trees were full of leaves. It had a completely different feel. Still, it was interesting to see a lot of the same places again, including where Hubby had real ramen for the very first time.

We stopped off at this Family Mart for a drink.

Hubby took a sitting up nap while he was waiting for me.

I noticed that some of the tea bottles had these packages attached. I bought one and opened it up and it was a …sock? It’s actually a bottle cover. And Rilakkuma! I’m a sucker for “collect them all” so now I have a new mission.

While we made our way back to the station, Hubby wanted to buy a few things at a few stores. He was specifically looking for a golf shirt at Uniqlo (no luck) and a bottle of whisky from Bic Camera (success!). The Shibuya Bic Camera store is interesting because it takes up two adjacent buildings – A & B. You have to go outside to use the exterior stairwell to access the other building. I also bought a USB there to store all the pictures and videos we’ve taken so far.

A-ha! Now we know where all the puffy jackets are coming from.

Bic Camera A & B

It got quite a bit more busy throughout the day.

We aren’t the only people who have “fun with statues”. Haha.

We also popped into the Tokyu attached to the station, just to see what it was like. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting although my experience with Japanese departments stores is limited.

This is the route we walked today.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Hamamatsucho station to have an epic photoshoot with the Little Peeing Monk – something else I had seen in a random YouTube video once and needed to see for myself.

Last time, we stayed in the Hamamatsucho area and had been through the station several times but somehow had missed seeing him. This time I knew he was there but not where exactly to look. We got off the train on the opposite platform but I spotted him so we went down and came up the other side.

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Amusingly, we weren’t alone. Two other men were there (at separate times) taking photos of him as well. One of them was quite intense. Something tells me he comes every month to take shots of the peeing statue and has an album full of all his ever-changing outfits.

Oh, how I love Japan!

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After resting for way too long, we hopped back on the train to Harajuku to take a peek at Yoyogi park, even though we knew we had missed all the fun. If I didn’t have so much packed into our short trip, I’d make it a priority to come back to see all the sakura there. It really is impressive, even in the dark.

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Lots of people were cleaning up after their long day of Hanami partying while we strolled through. It seemed like everyone was drunk, having (or had had) a great time, and still, they were all conscientious, tidying up their space and throwing out their trash. There were gigantic piles of garbage at designated areas.

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We passed one particularly enthusiastic group, many of whom were dressed up in various costumes. One large man was in school girl attire and a shirtless Santa yelled over something unintelligible to us. It was pretty funny.

There were also food stall areas, like what they typically have at the approach to a temple or shrine. I didn’t know they had them at parks too, although it makes sense because hanami is like a festival and they would make a lot of money from the crowds.

We walked back towards Harajuku station and noticed a huge crowd standing on the street at the corner of Omotosando. We were curious so we decided to walk past to see if we could determine what they were excited about. Turns out that they were lined up (ever so orderly) because a Garrett Popcorn store was having their grand opening. It was a good thing we did walk down that way because I saw that Sembikiya was still open.

I mentioned Sembikiya in my 2010 Harajuku entry. This fruit store is one of the locations from my Japanese on the Go language tapes. It’s been sort of a bucket list for me to go to as many of the places highlighted by them so this was a perfect opportunity. During the day, it’s always busy but now, there were only a couple other customers there.

I had a melon parfait and some apple cinnamon tea and Hubby had a banana waffle. It was pretty good although I wouldn’t want to pay those kinds of prices for fruit on the regular.

Our last stop for the day was unplanned but Hubby was hungry and hadn’t had any ramen yet today. We happened to walk past a place that looked quite lively on our way back to the station. Hubby was sold by their “We have English menus” sign. That was good enough for him at 8:00 pm.

The details about the place are in my ramen post so I won’t repeat that. I’ll just say I didn’t get my own bowl but I should have. It was good. We may go back there again during our next trip to Japan.

Posted in japan | Tagged Genki Sushi, Sembikiya, Shibuya, Tokyo, trip to japan | 1 Comment

Day 3: Kamakura Part 2 & Tokyo Station

Posted on April 3, 2015 by kmah88

Here’s the rest of our day in Kamakura. (Part 1)

Remember before I went to Japan the first time and I bought myself my first ever pair of Chucks? Now, I’m obsessed. These 2 are cool!

How much is that tanuki in the window?

Our next stop was Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, a Shinto shrine not too far from Kamakura Station. The main torii gate marks the entrance to the pathway leading up to the shrine buildings. Along the way, instead of the usual food stalls, there were stalls selling vegetables, fruit and candy.

After the gate, there are two bridges – one for walking across (the red one) and one (the curved stone one)… for looking at??? It was blocked off with a gate at either end.

The tree on the other side of the bridge reminded Hubby of Goku… which is funny because he doesn’t even watch Dragon Ball.

Even though it looked like rain, this man was spraying down the gravel. Not really sure why since heat wasn’t an issue. Maybe dust? – Although I can’t read the name of the stall in the background, it looks like they were selling those “one stroke” paintings.

Konpeito is one of my favourite traditional Japanese treats. Like probably a lot of gaijin, my introduction to these “sugar stars” came from Spirited Away.

I love how this “beer garden” is surrounded by plastic, something that’s often done with outdoor eating areas. I guess it’s in an attempt to keep the patrons warm.

Hubby really likes these sake barrel displays for some reason.

The stage where kagura dances and other performances are done.

Miko-san are so kawaii.

I bought a Hello Kitty omamori.

Tie up your bad luck omikuji so it doesn’t follow you home.

They have special ginko-shaped ema here.

There was a steep drop off on the right hand side of the stairs. With no railing and a lot of children and elderly going up and down, it made me nervous.

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There is no photography allowed inside the shrine area. We didn’t realize but that seemingly blase looking security guard let us know!

There was a separate Inari shrine off to the side and up a hill. It was so windy up there. Look at the flags whipping around.

When we finished at the shrine, we were exhausted and could barely walk. We needed to rest our feet so we thought the best way to get back to the station was in a rickshaw. They usually only have certain routes you can choose from and none of those went to the station but we were lucky that they modified one for us. Our driver, Takuya-san, gave us local history and information while he wove in and out of the backstreets on the way to the station. He was really funny too. If you ever find yourself in Kamakura, we recommend the rickshaw tours!

After resting our feet, both while being pulled around and then taking the train back to Tokyo, we were able to fit in one more stop for the day – Tokyo Station! In most countries, a train station wouldn’t be exciting or considered a place to visit in itself, but the stations in Japan are so much more than JUST a place to find transportation. The basement level of Tokyo Station is massive and like a whole other city. Ramen Street, Okashi (Sweets) Street, and Character Street are must-see destinations.

This year is the 10th anniversary of this underground area of Tokyo Station. It was nice for us to get back there again.

Our first stop was Ramen Street. We chose Hirugao for our dinner. (Read about what we thought in the 15 Ramen in 15 Days post.)

Okashi Street was interesting to see but we didn’t buy anything. It was really crowded too.

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On Character Street, we spotted a little pop-up booth selling this adorable “Old Man Panda“. He’s apparently a brand new character. I regret not getting one for myself!

The Rilakkuma Store is always a winner. We bought a giant Korilakkuma stuffie for Niecey for Christmas and a mug for ourselves (mostly for me 🙂 ). The stuffies with Skytree are cute but since we aren’t going there this time, I decided to pass.

Funassyi – What even is it?!

The Kapibara-san store! Although the one Hubby got yesterday was great, it was a little small for what I wanted. I found one for the perfect size here and we will give the smaller one to Nephie.

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I didn’t recognize him at the time but this Kiddyland satellite store was featuring Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro. (Look out for him tomorrow. *Hint, hint*)

Finally some good Gudetama merch!

I bought this guy. He’s so soft.

Look at his lil bum. Awww. LOL.

I had to stop for another rest. My feet felt like they were bleeding! (I covered up my sock-clad toes under my coat as I tried to stretch them out a bit.) There was nowhere to sit at all so I just plopped down on the floor and hoped I didn’t get in trouble. The timing was great though because as I sat there, a crowd gathered and a little show was put on a few feet away. We couldn’t understand what was being said at all but they introduced Kapibara-san to the crowd. (There is a person inside that tower of Kapi who “danced” around – as much as one could inside such a suit.)

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And then, my absolute favourite – Donguri Garden – an official Studio Ghibli store! I wanted everything in there, but it’s all ridiculously expensive so I didn’t buy anything. I especially loved the Deidarabotchi (Nightwalker) figure. It was several hundred dollars!

Off in one corner, there was Frog & Toad merch, which I found really strange because that’s obviously not Ghibli. I took a couple pictures to show my mom. She used to read us the books when I was little.

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Since there was no ramen had yesterday, Hubby felt he needed to catch up. Before we went home for the night, we stopped off again at Ramen Street and Hubby had one more bowl at Tonari. I was still full so I just sat there with him, glad for the rest, even though it was unbelievably cramped in there.

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We have begun our Kit Kat hoarding already. A portion of them will be for souvenir gifts but we will be taste-testing them all at some point for our video series – although who knows when I’ll get around to uploading them since I haven’t even posted the ones from 2010 yet. Oops.

2 different boxes of strawberry cheesecake

a special “bakeable” plain cheesecake and matcha

citrus blend, rum raisin, azuki sandwhich, Shinshu apple

Quick snack before going to bed. I loved that omuraisu onigiri I had the first night and found some more. They’re really good! Such a simple snack but it’s something I know I’m going to miss when I go home.

The liquid sugar cup collecting has begun.

Because WordPress is weird, when I group pictures together I can’t put links into the photo descriptions. I’m too tired to deal with it now so I’m just going to list some things here.

Nameko – the phallus-looking mushroom character (Get your head outta the gutter.)
Funassyi – Funabashi’s charcter mascot (He’s a pear? Really?!?)

Posted in japan | Tagged japan, Japan Travel, Kamakura, ramen, Tokyo, Tokyo Station, trip to japan | Leave a comment

Day 3: Kamakura

Posted on April 3, 2015 by kmah88

Again, WAAAAAAAY too tired to write or post all the pictures. Enjoy these ones for now and I’ll come back and edit later. Today was epic! (FIRST edit (more to come, eventually) started January 24, 2019.)

We took the Yokosuka Line and headed out to Kamakura. It takes just under an hour.

At this time of the day, most people sleep on the trains.

To get to our first destination of the day, we had to transfer at Kamakura station to another line. It seemed strange to us that we actually had to physically leave the station through one door and come back in another right beside it to get to the Enoden line. This one is privately run and not covered by our JR passes so we had to pay 190 yen each for a one-way ticket.

a cute toad statue on the end-of-line stopper

You know you’re in Kamakura when the vending machines are wrapped with bamboo pictures.

The most zen-like station I have been in.

The Enoden line runs around the coast and is where most of the major tourist spots are located.

It’s a super-cute, retro-looking train that is kind of famous. Train otakus love it.

I’ve heard it can get very crowded but it wasn’t busy at all at this time.

It kind of reminds me of Spirited Away a little bit.

Arriving at Hase Station, we saw a film crew doing… something. Apparently this station is on TV a lot.

To the left of the timetable/map board, you can see the table with a stamp. A lot of train stations, museums, castles, etc. (any noteworthy spot) will have an ink stamp you can collect in a book.

For those leaving from this station, this is the ticket booth and entrance stalls. (We’ll be going back home a different route though.) From here, it was about a 10 minute walk to Hasedera Temple.

They seem to really like frogs here?

The entrance is gorgeous and looked slightly mysterious in the light rain and fog.

SO helpful when there is actually a sign! The first thing I did was to get my book stamped, right inside the gate. (Future note: Now I know better. You are supposed to complete your visit and pay your respects beforehand and get your stamp on the way out. Sort of like proof you actually did it.)

Hasedera is known for it’s jizo statues. This one stands alone but he’s really really kawaii!

Outside this cave, there is a stand covered with ema plaques. It is not uncommon to see a some Shinto-related things at a Buddhist temple.

Some people make their wishes quite artistically.

The cave inside is U-shaped. The torii marks the entrance.

There are 2 different options here: the ema for 500 yen or for 300 yen, these papers (I forget what they are called) where you write your prayers, put them in the envelopes, and the priest will burn them as an offering for you.

Payment is made through the honour system.

Inside the cave, there were thousands of these little Bodhisattva statues (I think it was Benzaiten) wedged into every little nook and cranny possible. It was pretty dark in there – and had quite a low ceiling – but various alcoves were lit up. It was a cool atmosphere.

Beyond the entrance gate, there is a lovely garden (with the cave off to the right) and then a trail leads up the mountain to the rest of the temple complex.

The first stop up the mountain had an area with thousands of jizo, a joukoro (incense burner), and an altar where offerings could be made.

joukoro

It was kind of a somber moment when I stopped to think about what allllll these jizo are for.

They have such sweet faces.

This one has a ladle near him. You’re supposed to pour water over his head along with your prayers. (Jizo takes care of the souls of the departed, so taking care of him passes on your wishes to your loved one.)

The next stop up the mountain is the main temple hall. It was under construction but we could still go inside. Photography is prohibited but, if you’re ever here, GO IN! There is a huge gold buddha. It’s impressive.

More Shintoism sneaking in. This mini-shrine is for Inari and you can make your prayers here for good business and prosperity.

bonsho (bell)

a beautiful sakura tree just outside the main hall

When the weather is better and it’s later in the day, I’m sure this terrace area gets pretty crowded. We were pretty much the only ones here. It was a little cold, rainy, and windy.

lovely view of Sagami Bay

We are a little bit further south from Tokyo and the blossoms were perfect here!

The petals have already begun falling though so we made it just in time.

We were hungry already so we stopped at this restaurant. All of the food is prepared by the monks.

Look who followed us here!

The restaurant is lovely! And apart from the film crew, we had the place to ourselves. (I don’t think they were technically open yet, but they let us in.)

To start off with, I got some mitarashi dango. They were so good. And, as always, sweet tea,

Dango is mochi (rice cake) balls on a stick. Mitarashi refers to the sauce. It’s a thickened, slightly sweet soy sauce.

I ordered plain udon. It came with tsukemono (Japanese pickles). I had never had them before but they were yummy.

Behind the restaurant, there is a little bamboo grove with a small trail around it going a bit further up the mountain. These little jizo triplets are at the base. I had seem them in various other people’s pictures for years and was so pleased to see them myself in real life. They are adorable.

It just keeps going up and up.

Looking back down where we were. (You can see the sakura tree we took pictures of earlier on the left.)

Yet another area of statuary. I love this temple and all it’s hidden spots!

These ones were really old. Their faces were crumbly but that just seemed to give them even more serenity and power.

I take too long taking pictures and exploring, so he just sits and waits for me. A lot.

Heading back down…

Things were starting to get a bit busier. This stall wasn’t open when we were here earlier. They are selling dango and manju.

The beauty of this place makes my heart happy.

This pond is in the shape of the backwards swastika – a scared symbol of Buddhism long before Hilter came along, jacked it, and perverted it for his uses.

Another set of triplets I had missed on the way up.

Something amusing about a monk taking a selfie…

Back out on the street, I noticed this very extravagant sanpuru display.

A street-vendor was selling freshly made sembei so I had to get one.

We walked over from Hasedera to Kotokuin – home of the Giant Buddha – probably one of the most famous places in Japan.

This little boy making faces at the Kongorikishi (guardian statues at the entrance gates to temples) was adorable.

komainu – guardian lion-dog

I think chozuya (water troughs for purification before entering) are usually for shrines so this could be another Shinto-Buddhist crossover ritual.

First glimpse. I have been waiting to meet him forEVER!

We came on a perfect day. I like it best when it’s cloudy and misty. It makes the Buddha pop out of your picture.

He’s so big!

My advice: take your time and look at all the little details. There is a lot to see!

3rd stamp

On the street, headed to our next stop, I saw this old-timey post box. Cute!

Where the Cullens would live when they are in Japan. (I think it’s a ryokan, actually.)

Third temple – Hokokuji

I was thinking, “WHY is this girl wearing heels? That’s ridiculous.” She tripped right after I took the picture.

The main attraction of this temple is the bamboo forest. I’m excited!

See? Heels would be dumb.

Damn my shakey hands and terrible photography skills.

In the middle of the bamboo grove is a tea hut where you can have a bowl of matcha while you admire the view.

Traditionally made matcha like this is not sweetened so they give you a little sugar candy to eat right before your drink it. Delicious!

One of these things is not like the other…

I didn’t ACTUALLY deface the bamboo. I just scraped the waxy, dusty coating. It’ll be gone by the end of the day.

Poor Hubby. It’s been an action-packed morning already.

The garden here is also well-known. And pretty.

When a path has a rock tied with a black rope like this in the middle of the way, it means “do not enter”.

I like looking at regular Japanese houses. Nothing special but super interesting to me.

Looking back at the gate before we leave.

The bus driver and I have the same shoes. (Well, I’m not wearing them right now but I brought them with me.)

That’s only half of the day. I need at least a little sleep. More tomorrow.

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged Buddha, Daibutsu, Hasedera, Hokokuji, Kamakura, trip to japan | 1 Comment

Day 2: Ueno

Posted on April 2, 2015 by kmah88

The previous post was all the pictures from Asakusa in the morning. This one will be the pictures from Ueno. As I said before, I’m too tired to edit and write more. I’ll come back and do it later. I SHOULD be sleeping already! (In fact, I’ve fallen asleep several times while waiting for them to upload.)
(Note: Coming back April 28th to add captions.)

“Are you taking a picture of me?” It’s okay, I gave him money right after this. I think he tried to give me a blessing too but I just sort of ran away.

This area between Asakusa and Ueno is known for making sanpuru – plastic or wax replicas of what’s available on the menu for display outside – for restaurants all over Tokyo. It’s pretty freaking realistic.

tanuki are often displayed outside restaurants that serve alcohol

the street known as Kappabashi sells sanpuru to restaurants as well to the general public as souvenirs – I was going to buy some for gifts to bring back but they are really expensive!

each ‘bowl of ramen’ is the equivalent to about $50

Kappabashi is known as the kitchen district – not just sanpuru but kitchen supplies in general. Knives and dishes are 2 of the most popular purchases.

this building with the chef on top and the one below with the tea cups are the stores of the Niimi company

another koban attached to the bottom

starting from here and going up a couple blocks is the well-known Kappabashi shopping area

Ueno station

Shitamachi Museum in Ueno Park – I’ve wanted to go here for a long time. We missed it on the first trip.

The museum shows what the Ueno area was like during the mid-Showa era (WW2ish period) and what life was like for the lower class townspeople. Shita means under and machi means town – so it’s sort of like ‘downtown’.

This was our tour guide (or her back at least). She was super kawaii.

dagashi-ya – an old fashioned neighbourhood candy store

according to our guide, back then, people ground up orange peels to use as multi-purpose medication

extra storage under the floor

teeny tiny genkan

kamidana

tatami feels SO NICE on sore feet

As she opened the cupboard to show us some details like the yutanpo, a group of little old ladies coming up exclaimed “natsukashi!” (meaning ‘that makes me feel so nostalgic’). It was really cute.

Our guide took us around the first floor, pointing out various highlights and explaining things and then left us to explore further on our own. We popped upstairs briefly but I didn’t find it as interesting as the first floor so we went back down and spent a good chunk of time looking all around again.

You are allowed to take as many photos as you would like on the first floor, but aren’t supposed to on the second (which is where this one is from…)

I was very impressed with the detail.

He’s always waiting for me. 🙂

bunches of… stuff (IDK) to keep evil spirits out

they made diapers out of old kimono sleeves

Another cute little old lady walking through with 2 young girls (presumably her granddaughters), giving them tidbits of info as they went. I wish I could have understood her and followed her around for her take on the ‘good ol’ days’. In 20 years or so, there won’t be any more people around who were alive (or were old enough to remember) during that time.

a little mini Inari shrine – very important to farmers and merchants

they even had a little mini omikuji (fortune) table

Instead of being ‘rude’ and doing graffiti, you can leave behind a sticker with your name. (We ended up seeing this at a lot of places.)

Ueno Pond right outside the museum

At this point, my phone battery died. We have one of those charger brick things (thank goodness!), so Hubby upped his picture taking while it recharged in my pocket. I may eventually post his pictures too, but for now, I’m only blogging my own. We walked through Ueno Park – it was INSANELY crowded and hard to move through but an interesting experience in and of itself. Hanami is a big thing and Ueno is one of the most popular places for blossom viewing parties. We saw hundreds, if not thousands, of people sitting on tarps, drinking, hanging out with family/friends/coworkers/etc. and enjoying the day.

Since we had so much to do and a lot of things close before 5 (museums and such), we didn’t take time to ~stop and smell the flowers~ and made our way to the National Tokyo Museum. It is huge and you could probably spend the whole day wandering through it. We did a whirlwind walk through because we were tired, hungry, and both had aching feet.

They had a sheet that they handed out near the entrance (presumably for children, mostly) and explained there were “stamps” in 5 or 6 different places throughout the museum and if you collected them all, you’d get a pin on your way out. They were actually paper embossing stamps and pretty cool. I put them on the sheet as well as the souvenir book I made.

There are actually 5 separate buildings, each housing various artifacts (one national treasures, one religious relics, one European art, etc.) but we only went to the main building with the Japanese displays.

garden and tea house within the museum grounds

dinner at McDonald’s – pretty much the same wherever you go in the world, with slight differences

Ueno Park koban

entrance to Ameyoko shopping market – reminded me a lot of the markets in Hong Kong

golf equipment is a big seller in this area

checking out a golf store, but nothing really of interest

Ameyoko is also a destination for army fatigues

…and seafood

…and cheap American clothing goods

more Be@rbricks

girls handing out packets of Kleenex with advertising on it is a common sight

but they are also helpful in giving directions

Yamashiroya toy store – great place

ginko leaf detail on a street-side guard rail – this motif is common in Tokyo, I noticed

Ueno Station – a lot more crowded as night was falling

display promoting Ueno Zoo (which is not on the agenda this time)

heading back to the hotel after a VERY long day

random appearance of American actors in Japanese advertising is always amusing

more station art

There is a very cool area in front of Tamachi station with tiny, windy streets filled with restaurants that we discovered by accident on the way home. We will have to come back when we are less tired.

My two favourite purchases at Yamashiroya: Kapibara-san (that Hubby surprised me with while I was waiting for him) and two Sumikko Gurashi characters – Penguin? (he’s not sure if that’s what he is) and Tonkatsu (who is mostly fried batter and only has meat in his nose). Oh, and a little weed.

the book I got at Asakusa temple to collect my shuin stamps

an onna Noh mask I got on Nakamise dori

no idea where we are gonna hang this ‘ramen’ curtain at home, but it’s awesome

Also, if we are Facebook friends, check out the photos Hubby posted. He added me as a contributor (even though I have yet to contribute) so my friends can see too.

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged Ameyoko, Shitamachi Museum, Tokyo, trip to japan, Ueno | 2 Comments

Day 2: Asakusa

Posted on April 2, 2015 by kmah88

I am soooooo tired. I only slept about 2 hours last night (and that was interrupted from a nightmare that woke me up ~ Um, excuse me, subconscious. I’m on vacation!) and we were walking pretty much non-stop from 8am to around 6pm. ATM, I can barely move my legs. I have to get to sleep pretty much right away because tomorrow is another long day and I have to be up at 5. So, for now, I’m just going to post the pictures and I’ll come back and add anecdotes and edit later. (I have notes!) (Back to add more info now! – April 17)

much better view from our hotel room – This will be our home for the next 8 days.

Gudetama display in some business building we popped into on the way to the train station because they had a Starbucks (which we didn’t buy anything from).

Tamachi Station

morning rush hour

JR Yamanote line train – This line makes a loop around central Tokyo. It’s basically the only one we use.

For those that don’t know~ No, those aren’t SARS masks. Japanese people (and many other Asian countries) wear masks when they are sick so they don’t spread their germs, if they are suffering from allergies, or if they are susceptible to becoming ill. It’s a politeness thing. There are so many people densely packed into a small area. No one wants to be sneezed on.

First stop ~ Ueno Station. From here, we had to transfer to the Ginza line (not a JR line – the ONLY train we had to pay for) to go to Asakusa.

trying out melon flavoured Calpis – not bad, but I didn’t drink it all

not too busy

Our JR passes will cover almost every single ride for our entire trip except this one. There are many different companies operating train/subways lines in Tokyo. JR (Japan Rail) is owned by the government, I believe, and the largest. The Ginza Line is part of the Tokyo Metro Subway company… I think.

There is helpful signage to know which exit to take out of the station.

station art mural

Many restaurants display plastic replicas – sanpuru (sample) – of their menu to tempt passersby and make ordering easier.

Another koban. My collection is underway. (See? Giving directions. Haha)

Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Center

Kaminari Gate – the entrance to the temple & shrine complex

There are a LOT of rickshaw in the area. The drivers give tours with information and anecdotes about the sites.

How they can keep up with traffic… pretty amazing.

Tokyo Skytree in the distance – It was on our Plan B for the day, if we had had more time, but didn’t make it.

Skytree and the Asahi Breweries (It took me years to realize that the building is supposed to look like a glass of beer.)

awesome hair

The Asahi Beer Hall/Flamme d’Or is barely visible. It is affectionately called “the Golden Turd” by locals.

rickshaw guy waiting for customers or taking a break

one of the guardians

famous Kaminari (thunder) lantern – one of the symbols of Asakusa

the other guardian

No, not a Nazi symbol. (Hilter ruins everything!) Read this FMI.

LOLz

The beginning of Nakamise-dori – the shopping street leading up to the temple, where you can find all kinds of Japanese-y souvenirs and street food.

statues (here and below) on the back of Kaminari-mon

backside

When we got there, some of the shops weren’t open yet.

Shops are small, cramped, and somewhat overwhelming.

LIARS! (not that we could find anyway)

About halfway up, there is an intersection leading to a covered shopping street called Shin-Nakamise. We didn’t go that way because we had too much to fit in today and we had been there before anyway.

many different confections to be found on Nakamise

This little old lady was adorable – and so friendly and smiley.

I didn’t even see that ninja until right now. There is so much to see, you are bound to miss stuff.

The mask on the top right is coming home with me.

My attention was caught by the kamidana shelf above the cash register. It’s a personal shrine found in Shinto homes and businesses.

sembei (rice crackers) – a speciality in this area

No idea what this guy was selling since I couldn’t get close enough. There was a big line though.

These masks are common at summer festivals stalls too. They are featuring Noh theatre caricatures.

Another intersecting street at the top of Nakamise. (We’ve never explored this street.) Asakusa is known for keeping the old feel of Tokyo

This was our first good look at cherry blossoms in the daylight.

I noticed these 2 buildings had lifesize (bigger?) figures sitting on the roofs when I was looking at Google Maps streetview. I had to get some real life pictures.

The sakura were gorgeous…

…but there were literally thousands of people.

daruma & tanuki

maneki neko

You can frequently find food stalls leading up to temples and shrines.

Hubby got a chocolate banana on a stick.

The second gate to the temple – Hozo-mon – is bigger and has 3 lanterns.

nikuman (meat buns)

Another famous treat to get in Asakusa is soft-serve ice cream in various unusual flavours – such as cherry blossoms, pudding, sesame, chestnut, etc.

Gotta make use of that selfie-stick.

lantern detail

Behind this couple is another koban (in disguise – note the policeman)

He bowed every time he passed the entrance.

the famous pagoda

Waft the smoke over your head and body to ensure good health and freedom from pains.

Get your fortune for 100 yen – on the honour system.

I accidentally ripped it when I was tying it on. Oops!

It took forever and trying to understand several different people, but we finally located where to get shuin – in this building.

Pretty good camera for an iPhone! Take your pick.

even more food stalls

We ended up seeing this tour group in yellow jackets EVERYWHERE

Hubby and I like make fun of people and their staged poses.

I saw videos and read blogs about this great taiyaki place on Shin-Nakamise dori.

I can now attest personally that they are great!

I got custard and Hubby got chocolate.

Another ‘must-have’ treat in Asakusa is ningyo-yaki – a small pancake-like shell filled with red bean paste.

They come in shapes symbolic of the area: the famous Asakusa Kaminari lantern, a turtle, the Asakusa Temple pagoda, and a bird.

another ice cream place – I couldn’t pass it up this time

Okay, I understand taro and orange… but buckwheat and bean powder?

Each serving is pre-packaheg in a cup and put through some sort of extruder.

I got white peach.

yummy

I’ve decided to split this into two. ‘Cause… Damn! I take a lot of pictures. (And this is with my battery dying halfway through the day so I missed a big chunk.) Click here for part 2 ~ Ueno.

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged Asakusa, Nakamise, ningyo-yaki, omikuji, sakura, Sensoji, taiyaki, Tokyo, trip to japan | 2 Comments

Day 0: Flight & Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo

Posted on April 1, 2015 by kmah88

Not much to tell from the flight. It was long. I slept mostly the entire time, only waking up to eat and to watch Big Hero 6 with Hubby. (I feel bad. He had downloaded all this anime for us to watch together on the plane. I was just too overwhelmed and cranky. Sleep was the better option.)

Not sure when this became my official travel attire, but it’s what I always wear when I go on airplanes.

fancy-pants departure gate

interesting tattoos

specially made playlists

meal # 1: chicken in some creamy sauce and potatoes, corn salad, bun, and a brownie

I guess the movie he was watching was pretty funny.

meal # 2: cup noodles, sandwich (bleh), and cookies

girl beside Hubby “startled easily”, according to him

meal # 3: omelet (I guess?), bunwich, and fruit (inedible)

I wish…

Welcome to Tokyo!

After we went through customs (which took longer than it needed to because the people on the plane told us both forms were one per couple. No. One was. The other, we both needed but only one of us had so I had to get out of line and fill one in and wait for my turn again.), we had to find the JR ticket office and turn in our exchanges for passes.

And then we had to find where to buy tickets for the airport limousine bus. I didn’t see a counter like there had been in Narita Airport but there was an information desk. I asked the chick and instead of just answering the question, she asked me which hotel we were going to. I told her and she had a blank look and repeated me. Smart and overly organized as I am, I had made cards with the hotel name and info on them for each of the places we have booked. I handed her the right one and she did some clicking on her computer. After a few seconds she said the bus didn’t go to that hotel. I was confused. I was 95% sure I saw online that it was one of the stops, but I was too tired and confused to argue. She pulled out a Tokyo Rail map and highlighted where we were and told me there was a Keisei Line train that went very close to our hotel. I asked her, since the JR passes we just got didn’t cover the Keisei Line, if we were better off taking the monorail to Hamamatsucho station and walking the rest of the way. She said we could do that but we should transfer at Hamamatsucho to the Yamanote line and get off at Tamachi (one more stop). Hmm. Why didn’t I ever notice that station before?

Super handy cards I made for each of the hotels we will be staying at – English on one side, Japanese on the other. If we get lost and need to find our way home, we can just show someone the card and hopefully they can direct us. Or for taxi drivers. (Etc.)

So that’s what we ended up doing. It’s pretty easy to navigate the Tokyo trains if you know where you are going. And they have attendants that speak English to help if you need it. With the passes, you have to go through the sections with the man in the booth behind glass. Everyone else mostly buys tickets at a machine or has a Suica or Pasmo card (rechargeable fare cards) where both are swiped or entered at gates.

Tokyo Monorail

While we waited for the monorail, we both got a drink from a vending machine on the platform. Hubby got an apple flavoured tea, and I just got plain old jasmine. (He downed his. Mine is now sitting in our fridge.)

The ride wasn’t long. Hamamatsucho station is a lot bigger than we ever really noticed last time. I figured out pretty easily which train we needed to transfer to. (Hubby was worried so I asked the ticket guy and he said to do exactly the same thing as what I was thinking.) The problem really began when we tried to leave Tamachi station. We had never been there before and I had no clue which way the right exit was. There was a fairly unintelligible area map posted, but we pretty much did the ‘start walking in one direction and hope it’s right’ thing. We didn’t do too badly. By the time we really needed it, Hubby had gotten the GPS on his phone to start working and we were on track. (I STILL can’t get mine to realize we’ve left Ontario.)

On the way, we were passing a Lawson‘s convenience store. They are the only place WITHIN Japan you can get tickets for the Ghibli Museum. Armed with my cheat sheets on which buttons to press on an all Japanese screen, I tried my best. It was our last option. But they are indeed sold out. 😦 So sad.

cute old style payphones

Lawson konbini

*waaaaaaaah*

I also bought another drink – tried and true Royal Milk Tea, and an omurice onigiri – with Gudetama on it! I had seen someone eating one on a video I watched while “researching” and it looked good. (It was! We did a taste test video. Not sure if I’ll ever post that nonsense or not… *Future Edit: posted below*) Also, an umbrella, because it’s raining. And cold. Boo.

I ate it before I took a picture, but I have video for later.

*Note: Finally added in the videos 2 years later. The one posted below basically recaps everything this blog post says. The “taste test” doesn’t start until 4:27.

We finally got to the hotel and as we were checking in, I noticed a pamphlet on the counter with a picture of the airport limo bus and it’s departure and arrival times to the hotel. ……Argh! Thought so. Anyway~ shouganai.

After a brief stay in the hotel room to check it out and freshen up (see Hubby’s first official bathroom review), we were planning to go to Tokyo Station to see their shopping area – Character Street, Ramen Street and Okashi Land. But apparently Japan is not participating in daylight savings from 2010-2019 (?? Ooooooookay – could have sworn they did when I was there last) so it was an hour later than I thought it would be. It was already nearing 8 and those places close at 8:30. (Another crappy thing about here is the non-standardization of opening and closing hours.) So, I made the executive decision to walk down to Hubby’s favourite ramen place from last time and take some Tokyo tower pics along the way. On the way back, we stopped at 2 more convenience stores and bought more snacks but I’m too tired to detail all that too. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves for now.

view from our window

This is the first sakura picture I ever took personally.

They’ll be better in daylight…

Tokyo Tower

Hubby’s favourite ramen place. No idea what it’s actually called… I call it Daimon Ramen (’cause it’s next to Daimon gate). Hubby calls it “Boots Ramen”. You’ll see why.

A small dish of salt is placed near the entrance of restaurants to drive off bad spirits. (See? Supernatural DOES make some sense.)

Order vending machines are typical at ramen restaurants. Just put the money in, pick what you want, take the ticket that is printed and give it to the staff. Seems to be a unnecessary step but saves a lot of hassle when there is no bill to settle.

Boots!

chashumen

All My Bags Are Packed – I’m Ready to Go

Posted on March 31, 2015 by kmah88

In exactly 24 hours, my plane will be landing in Tokyo. I’m so excited! How can I possibly sleep?

I just finished packing. No matter what anyone tells you, there’s something to be said for doing things last minute. I may be slow and somewhat inefficient, but I’m extremely thorough. And for once, I don’t have that “what am I forgetting?” feeling. (I probably just jinxed myself. I’ll let you know. LOL.) (Future Note: The only thing I forgot was an eye mask to wear on the plane to keep out 13 straight hours of sunshine.)

I’m going to do my best to keep up with the blog this time. *fingers crossed*

Oyasumi~

(originally posted to Japan – Here I Come!)

Posted in japan | Tagged trip to japan | 1 Comment

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blah blah blah

Day 7: Ryogoku & Akihabara

Day 6: Yokohama

Day 5: Harajuku

Day 4: Shibuya

Day 3: Kamakura Part 2 & Tokyo Station

Day 3: Kamakura

Day 2: Ueno

Day 2: Asakusa

Day 0: Flight & Day 1: Arrival in Tokyo

All My Bags Are Packed – I’m Ready to Go

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