Ahh… Where are we again?

On February 21st Anne and I went to a man made island on the south west side of Tokyo call Odaiba. The island was originally built for military purposes in the 1800s, but was changed to a commercial area in the 1990s. We took the Yurikamome (it’s an un-manned elevated train) to the island and got off at the second stop. What we didn’t realize is that the Yurikamome apparently is really really fast as we discovered that we were now on Ellis Island in New York. Well, that was what we thought from looking at the Statue of Liberty. As it turns out we were still in Tokyo. We were only looking at a replica of the Statue of Liberty called the Goddess of Liberty. Behind the statue is the Rainbow Bridge. It does not look like much of a rainbow during the day, but at night the solar powered LED lights come on to complete the look.

Odaiba Island is also home to some very odd looking buildings. One of them is the Fuji TV Building. This building reminded me of a building you might see in an 80s sci-fi movie (Robocop comes to mind for some reason). The Island also has a 7 story shopping mall (of sorts) called the Decks. It has the video game themed park "Sega Joypolis" as well as "Daiba Little Hong Kong". Since I usually can’t pass up a video game Anne was nice enough to indulge the kid in me. Joypolis is a 3 story gaming and theme ride adventure land. We enjoyed a car racing game (in a full size car). We walked by a game show, US TV themed rides, snow board like half pike rides, and much more. We enjoyed lunch at a Chinese-go-round restaurant in Little Hong Kong. The restaurant was like a sushi-go-round, but with Chinese food. If you are not familiar with the sushi-go-round style it is a restaurant were dishes are put on a conveyor belt and you take what you want off the belt as it comes near you. Each plate is color coordinated with a dollar amount. At the end of your meal the waiter/tress adds up the total amount of your plates to tally up your tab.

We then went to Italy. Well, once again these clever Japanese designers fooled us. We actually went to Venus Fort in Palette Town (which contrary to the name, does not actually have any palettes). It is an indoor shopping mall made to look like an 18th century South European town (like the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas or Macau). It looked gorgeous!

Part of Palette Town, but opposite of the Venus Fort was Mega Web. Which strangely enough did not have giant spiders or the Internet. It was a Toyota showroom. We did not stay there long, but we decided that we would have to come back in the future. We did enjoy looking at the cool futuristic models though.

The last part of Palette Town we saw was the ferris wheel. It is 115 meters (377 feet) tall and is one of the worlds largest. It is one of the 3 ferris wheels visible from our apartment (you have to squint to see the other two).

Kamakura

On 2/11 Anne and I went to Kamakura. It is a small town located in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo. Kamakura is known for its large concentration of shrines and temples. Having been told that it is difficult to find your way around in Japan we opted to take a tour guide. This turned out to be good advice. After a train ride we arrived in Kamakura and walked through some small residential streets which lead us to the beach. Though not much of a beach by US standards we did see one Japanese man attempt to go surfing. Since the waves did not exceed 1 inch we figured he would have a hard time. After what appeared to be aimless wondering through some more local streets we came to our first temple (or shrine – I forgot which distinguishes the two already). It was quite pretty. One of the two buildings housed 2 mobile shrines.

After a brief visit we went to the Hasedera Temple. It was at this point that the tour guide came in very handy. We walked through more local streets and took a left turn into a parking lot. This parking lot then turned into the Temple. We would never have found it on our own. The temple was built on a hill which required you to ascend a couple flights of steps to reach. At the bottom of the stairs was a small park like area. It was very beautiful (considering it is still winter time here and the flowers and trees are not in full bloom). There were a couple of small buildings where people were practicing their calligraphy (or something to that effect – once again I was not paying attention – my self appointed task on trips is to take the best pictures I can and leave Anne to learn about the details). There was also a small cave, that required you to bend in half to pass through. I assume it was some kind of shrine or other (Once again I was not paying attention – this being caused from a 50% increase in the amount of blood in my head from bending over). To make it worse, most of it was not lighted. So the goal became who can get out the quickest while still pretending to show interest and not walking into the several people all around you. On the way up to the Temple was a small area where little statues where set up in remembrance of children that had died. The Temple at the top was quite beautiful.

The next stop on the tour was a giant Buddha. In an attempt to keep this blog from getting much longer I will simply say it was BIG and move on. To our amusement we found a souvenir/ice cream shop no more than 100 feet away from the Buddha inside the Temple.

After a Japanese lunch we went to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. Again, we would never have found it on our own. It was quite amazing. Our day ended with a walk back from the shrine and a train ride back to Tokyo.

Tea Ceremony

On 2/7 Anne and I went to the Okura Hotel to experience a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The experience starts with viewing a traditional Japanese rock garden (basically just looking out the window at it to see if it is still there – and yep it still was). Following which we washed our hands and took a small drink from a stone fountain while kneeling on a flat rock (more comfortable then it sounds). We then entered the tea room. We were served 2 hard sugar candies (they tasted kind of like sugar cubes). After the tea candies we were served a red bean dessert. Following which we watched as the Tea Master (not to be mistaken with Dr. Tea – see previous blog entries) methodically made the tea. Actually I have no Idea what her name or title was since her English was not great (but still infinitely better than my Japanese). We where then served the tea and had to methodically drink it according to the Tea Masters directions. After we finished our tea we moved to a tatami style room (mimicking a traditional tea room in a small Japanese home). This resulted in us having to remove our shoes before entering which is common in Japan. It is actually very rude to leave your shoes on. We then enjoyed another cup of tea and when the Tea Master stepped out of the room commented on how small the traditional room was (my head was an inch from the ceiling). Once our tea was finished the ceremony ended.

Bean Scattering Ceremony

On February 3rd I attended a traditional Japanese Bean Scattering Ceremony at a shrine near our apartment. The ceremony is preformed to provide good luck in the coming year. Having heard that the Japanese has very methodical and strict ceremonies, I was interested in seeing how one played out. I was told that the ceremony would start at noon and at 12:30 I could scatter beans for my own good luck. I left the apartment at 11:35 and arrived at 12:05. Contrary to the length of time I traveled, the shrine is only a 5 minute walk from the apartment. The problem was that there are several areas around our apartment that might appear to be a shrine to a none shrine aficionado like myself. Fortunately for me the ceremony didn’t actually start until 12:30. Well, not so fortunately as that left 25 minutes to stand in one spot and wait with 50 some other Japanese people. I could see as the time ticked closer to 12:30 that the crowd was getting excited (in a quiet calm Japanese way – in the US you probably wouldn’t have even noticed). All 50, or so, of us were lined up on a side walk in front of a red arch with a banner barricading us from passing through it. At 12:30 a woman on the other side of the banner removed a cloth, covering a table full of small packages. I couldn’t see it clearly so I assumed this would be the beans to be scattered.

What happened next will stay with me always. To set it up I want to explain a little bit about what I have seen regarding Japanese behavior/social etiquette. I have not seen a Japanese individual raise their voice above a conversational level (in any situation). I have not seen them push or even nudge each other in very very crowded areas. They tend to be very polite and always calm in nature. So at 12:30 about 7 Japanese men in kimonos walked up to the banner from the other side and the crowd got very excited and then… the men in kimonos started throwing candy, beans, and sweets into the crowd. The crowd went nuts trying to grab as much of the thrown items as they could. This lasted for around 10minutes. I saw one woman with 2 large handfuls of goodies at the end. After the 10 minutes the crowd very calmly walked away. I included a picture of my gathered goodies from the event.

Women - more alike than different

Here is a short-list of similarities & differences to make you feel right at home, or totally out of your element…

S – No matter how many stalls there are in the women’s restroom, there’s never enough. (2 in Shanghai and 6 in Tokyo – at work)
D – US: what I would call “Typical restroom usage” Tokyo: Lots of flossing and brushing. Shanghai: Washing lunch containers

S – Women love shoes
D – US: women tend to wear walking shoes and then change to their heels at work (at least in New York) Tokyo: leather boots and high-heel shoes, grey, black and brown, worn like they are just as comfortable as Nike’s. Shanghai: the one that really sticks out in my mind is clear heels and clear tops… like the glass shoe that Cinderella wore

S – The cosmetic counters swamp the first floor of every department store
D – US: bronzer for a tan, healthy look. Shanghai: Whitening lotion, mask, toner, cream, etc, so you can look ivory white. Tokyo: On top of all whitening products, there’s also whitening liquids for you to drink. I guess you become whiter, from inside out!

S – Always need to lose a few pounds
D – US: well, a lot of us do actually need to lose a few pounds. Tokyo: the diet aisle takes up more space than the candy bar aisle. Shanghai: Most girls look like a size 0 but still dieting!

S – Cramped subways during rush hour
D – US: It’s tight, but I still have circulation to my fingers and toes. Tokyo: Cramped, but enough room for women to get groped by men, thus the creation of women-only cars during rush hour. Shanghai: Once, my feet weren’t even touching the ground.

Sensō-ji Temple & Tokyo National Museum

On February 1st Anne and I explored a couple more of Tokyo’s tourist locations. Our first stop was the Sensō-ji Temple located in the Asakusa area. It is Tokyo's oldest temple, and one of its most significant. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, also known as Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy. It was built in 645AD and it looks like there have been a number of renovations since then. There is a long road that leads up to the temple called the Nakamise-dōri (dōri means steet in Japanese, by the way). This street is packed full of people and shops. The shops sell everything from Godzilla toys, sweets, purses, swords, miscellaneous decor, and souvenirs. After navigating though a sea of people I purchased some grilled tako (octopus) and Anne had some hand made red bean desserts.

Our next stop was to the Tokyo National Museum. The museum is located inside Ueno Park. Unlike the traditional idea of housing all of the exhibits in one building this museum thought it would be more fun to house them in 5 buildings. The facilities consist of the Honkan (Japanese Gallery), Tōyōkan (Asian Gallery), Hyōkeikan (Western-style architecture), Heiseikan (Japanese Archaeology Gallery), Hōryū-ji Hōmotsukan (the Gallery of Hōryū-ji Treasures), as well as Shiryōkan (the Research and Information Center). I think the primary reason for this was to make us think there was more there then in the previous museums we had been to. What we have come to discover is that after awhile all Asian museums (Shanghai’s, Taipei’s, and now Tokyo’s) start to seem the same. Sorry folks, no camera’s were allowed inside so you have to settle for pictures of the buildings.

More Dough, Less Pizza

So, Anne and I have been looking for some good examples of how we can show our readers back home how much more expensive life in Tokyo is. This last Friday night we found our best example yet. It was cold and rainy all day. Deciding that Anne probably would want to get delivery I went down to the front desk of our apartment and asked for pizza delivery options. They gave me a couple menus and I headed back to the room. After work Anne arrived home with the same pizza menus in hand. To our amusement, we apparently had the exact same idea. So we ordered garlic marbles (not actually marbles, more like donut holes), buffalo wings, and one 14 inch sausage and mushroom pizza. The meal came out to be 5,160 yen. Just in case you are curious, 1 US dollar is currently equal to 89.52 yen. Since I am assuming you are like me and want to avoid doing any more math then is absolutely necessary I did the math for you. The pizza itself was $39.32 and the meal all together was $60.05. Now just in case you think we ordered from a very nice pizzeria I wanted to let you know that the pizza would have been the same price at the Pizza Hut or Dominos here.