The Occidental Tourist, Part 2

Guest Bloggers:  Sarah Jayne (aka Rosie) and Bruce Jayne (aka Papa)

Rosie, Papa, Ethan, and Ryan visiting Hachiko

 A note to all our friendly readers--We had a non-eventful flight across the Pacific (thanks to 120 mph tail winds, 3.5 hours shorter than the trip over), spent the night in LA and then flew to Charleston.  We had a great time in Tokyo and with Stephanie, Kevin, Ethan and Ryan.  Now we are settling down to paying bills, mowing the lawn and washing clothes.  HO-HUM

Here's our last entry on what was an everlastingly memorable trip.

Exploring the Tokyo Observation Tower...

Imperial Palace 

Our excellent tour guides, Stephanie, Ethan and Ryan, took us on a half-day venture to the Imperial Palace.  A touch of serendipity as we crossed a river near the palace:  an elderly man was tossing bread to ducks, swans, pigeons and sea gulls.  He gladly shared the bread with Ethan and Ryan, who took great delight in tossing pieces into the air to be grabbed by the gulls mid-flight.  The palace buildings are not open to the public, but we enjoyed a guided tour (aided by an English audio guide) of the grounds, the moat and the exterior of the buildings.  Unlike Tsukiji, the Imperial Palace Tour was almost all Japanese tourists.

Ethan and Ryan sketching the guardhouse, while waiting for the tour to start

More cherry blossoms

On the tour through the Imperial Palace grounds.

The "eyeglasses" bridge

The cute little American boys strike again; this tour guide was smitten by them.

Mt. Fuji 

The fabled mountain drew us to his base, a lovely area of several large lakes, for a long weekend getaway.  We traveled by bus, and enjoyed the scenery along the way.  Steph had almost despaired of finding lodging, due to the school holiday and cherry blossom season, but, as mentioned in our earlier post, a friend of hers arranged with her parents to offer us the use of their club membership in the Mt. Fuji Hotel, where we had two adjoining rooms.  The hotel was truly luxurious, with a gorgeous view of the mountain, sometimes called the "Shy Mountain", and we were fortunate enough to have a few hours when the clouds were not obscuring the view.  It is a majestic sight--when you can see it.  

 Our stay at the hotel also afforded us the opportunity to experience the Japanese custom of onsen (pronounced with a long o), the public baths consisting of large pools of hot mineral water, with separate facilities for men and women, of course.  The bathing is done au naturel, and preceded by a very careful washing of the body, sitting on a stool side by side with other bathers.  It was a relaxing experience, and we indulged in it twice.











We engaged in some other activities while there: a tour of a bat cave (ceilings so low we were almost crawling in some places, and the bats were on vacation elsewhere, but an interesting experience nevertheless); a brief trip in a swan-shaped pedal boat for the young family, and a longer trip around the lake in a very large, swan-shaped tour boat; and many games of Skip Bo around the table in our hotel room.

We also indulged in the hotel breakfast buffet one morning and one of the most intriguing things on offer was something labeled "Post Larvae."  Next trip, we 'll have to try that.

Tsukiji Tuna Auction

Before our trip I, Sarah, had done some online research on things to do in Tokyo.  One article struck my fancy, The Top Ten Non-Touristy Things To Do In Tokyo, in general--and specifically one activity: the Tsukiji tuna auction.  You may have heard about the 489 pound tuna that was sold at auction for a mere $1.76 million in early January (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-06/japan-sushi-chain-pays-record-1-76-million-for-tuna-at-auction.html). 

Auction begins very early at 5 AM and space is limited.  Steph, Kevin, the boys and Uncle Scott had tried to go some months ago but were too late to claim one of the 120 spots!  Stephanie and I were up for the challenge (Papa, not so much, Kevin was out of town, Ethan had school and Ryan decided to wait to go with Ethan).  Up at 3 AM, in a taxi a little later, at the Tsukiji Market by 3:45 and into the "waiting area" a little after 4 AM.  We were numbers 60 and 61.  Whew we made it!!  I was by far one of the oldest tuna watchers.  At around 5:20 AM we were escorted into the very cold auction area where hundreds of frozen tunas were spread out on the concrete floor.  Tunas are auctioned off by groups of twenty or so--lots of bell ringing, loud talking, nods of bidders and much we didn't understand.  The whole thing lasted 30 minutes or so and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  The only thing is that it wasn't very non-touristy. . . all the people there were clearly tourists! 

Afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful sushi and sashimi breakfast at one of the many sushi counters in the market area.  I never knew I could enjoy raw fish so much.

Kamakura

Sarah and I gave our hosts a little relief from entertaining us by taking a day trip on our own to Kamakura, an ancient town that is the site of 5 of the most significant Buddhist shrines in Japan.  One of the shrines is the home of the Great Buddha, a hollow bronze stature some 30 feet tall. 

After walking from the train station to pay our respects to him, we followed a hiking trail along a ridge overlooking the town. Portions of the trail were steep and/or muddy, but we persevered and had an enjoyable, though challenging, hike.  Following an interesting lunch in a small cafe, we treated ourselves to a green tea/sweet potato swirl ice cream cone, before boarding the train to return to Tokyo.

Sarah's Impressions 

Taxi drivers dress professionally in business suits and ties and drive spotlessly clean cars.  It was like having a personal driver except for the meter that was clicking away! 

Police don't carry guns.  They have billy clubs instead.  Seems like the Japanese don't have guns either. 

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't figure out what side of the sidewalk to walk on.  Since cars drive on the left, one would think that you would walk on the left. .. that's about a 50/50 guess.  No matter where I walked I was always in the way of a bicycle, of which there are many, chatting students, or businessmen on the way to the train.

One of my greatest pleasures was the heated toilet seats in Steph and Kevin's home.  I wanted to unplug them and put them in my suitcase.

And last, but not least, vending machines that were readily found in residential areas and all along the commercial areas.  My favorite drink for only 120 yen or about a $1.25 was a canned latte--just the right temperature for drinking.  Hard to imagine drinking a hot drink from a can, but don't knock it until you've tried it! 

Bruce's Impressions

Litter-free streets, and not a trash can to be found.  Apparently there's a strong societal expectation that everyone carries his trash home to dispose of it.

No "beater" cars.  Every car we saw was a late model, very well-maintained.  We're told that the government requires a very expensive maintenance process after a car has reached a certain age, so people sell them (probably to a company that ships them to another country) and buy a new one.

The white collar "uniform," a black suit, white shirt and conservative tie, is the only attire you see office workers wearing.



Courtesy and politeness is the norm.  We witnessed no rude behavior from anyone.

We almost never saw anyone who appeared to be living in poverty.

Ethnic homogeneity--except at the major tourist sites, we saw very few people who were not Japanese.


That's it from us.  Better get your reservations in to visit Tokyo at the Hoteru Steph, Kevin, Ethan and Ryan!  I understand they have a 5 star rating at TripAdvisor.

 

The Occidental Tourists in Japan--Part 1

Guest Bloggers:  Sarah (aka Rosie) and Bruce (aka Papa) Jayne

Our first trip to Japan--when we first set out planning our visit to Japan there were two things we wanted to do.  First, was to spend time with Stephanie, Kevin, Ethan and Ryan and the second was to experience cherry blossom season, or Sakura as it is called in Japan.  The rest, as they say, was icing on the cake.

After a bumpy twelve hour flight across the Pacific, we were expecting to follow Stephanie's careful instructions about taking the train to the station near their home where they would meet us.  What a delightful surprise we had: to be greeted in the airport by two jumping-up-and-down little boys and their grinning mother.  An hour train ride later they led us on foot to their traditional Japanese home where we began to settle in.

Adventures with Ethan and Ryan

Consistent with our primary objective, we set out to experience something of the lives of five-and-seven-year-old boys, who've been busily adjusting to the Japanese culture for 14 months.  Despite some brief childhood illness, and some fairly frequent cold rainy weather, we covered a lot of ground:

• Visited each of them in their schools during the last week of the school term, and witnessed Ethan's soccer practice;
• Introduced them to the card game Skip-Bo;
  
• Learned how enamored they, and every other kid in Japan, are with Pokemons (strange little creatures who do amazing things), and set out to go to the Pokemon Center in Yokohama.  Turned back by violent winds and cold rain, we spent the morning at home huddled around a pretend campfire, drinking hot chocolate and playing Skip-Bo.  A week or so later, when spring weather had returned, we had a delightful day trip to Yokohama, which included not only the Pokemon Center, but a serendipitous encounter with a multi-talented street performer (juggler, balloon animal creator, and magician) who recruited Ethan to be his assistant, lunch at McDonalds, and snack time at Krispy Kreme where we sampled the speciality of the season--Sakura Doughnuts.  
  
  
   

• Enjoyed watching Ryan and Ethan cruising around a really neat bike park nearby, laid out with streets and traffic lights, and with a fleet of bikes and pedal cars for the kids to use.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Walked to a small garden center where the boys picked out flowers to plant in their yard.  We then had a fun time digging holes and planting the flowers.

• Kidzania: an amazing place, where kids can sign up to do very realistic jobs in dozens or so workplaces.  Ethan and Ryan bottled Coca-Cola, delivered packages for Black Cat (Japanese equivalent of UPS), engaged in a very sophisticated form of soccer training (complete with stop-motion video) and drew cartoons in a publishing house.  Ethan worked as a photo journalist and an auto mechanic, and Ryan worked in an ice cream shop.  In our view, it has Disneyworld beat all to heck!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Observed an amazing degree of self-confidence and independence on the part of these two delightful little boys, who negotiate the crowded sidewalks and train stations with ease, and often served as translators for us.  

Cherry Blossoms  

What an extraordinary display of sheer beauty!  We had the misperception that we would see cherry trees blooming in only a certain area--were we ever mistaken.  They were everywhere!  They appeared to be approaching their peak when we arrived, so we soaked up the glory of their beauty as we traveled around, then witnessed the "snowfall" as the falling blossoms carpeted the ground.

The beginning of the season

They're everywhere. . . adding much to our pleasure

Our little family in front of the illuminated cherry blossoms
FYI: Ethan isn't mad; he's just tired.

Look closely and you can see the full moon peeking
through the lighted cherry blossoms

Cherry blossom "snow" as the season wanes

Picnics

We experienced the beauty of the cherry blossoms especially in the parks, where we enjoyed several picnics.  The first was at a significant Buddhist shrine, with Stephanie and the boys.  A later one was with friends of Stephanie and Kevin's (typically parents of Ethan and Ryan's friends).  Those created some special memories--children playing, jumping rope, varieties of Japanese picnic fare, cordial attempts at conversation with people whose English proficiency far exceeded our feeble efforts with Japanese.  And an especially nice small picnic was with a friend of Stephanie's, and her parents, who had graciously allowed us to use their club membership for a weekend at the Mt. Fuji Hotel.  They introduced us to some new foods, including heart of bamboo, and we enjoyed getting to know them. 

Our first cherry blossom outing, at a major shrine

New friends--lots of warmth even though it was a chilly
spring day

More new friends

Japanese Cuisine 

Wow!  What a variety of new and interesting foods we ate, many of them at Stephanie and Kevin's table, and quite a lot at various eateries as we made our rounds.  Some highlights of our food experiences: 

• Becoming fairly proficient at using chopsticks.  They work very well, even for us novices.
• Okono miyaki--a kind of cabbage-based pancake topped with meat, shrimp, cheese, or some other tasty item.  Sarah and Stephanie attended a Japanese cooking class to learn how to make them, and Stephanie then served them for dinner one night. 
  
  
  

  

  We were joined by two other "students" (one from Australia
  and one from Switzerland.  We had such a good time that no
  one thought to take pictures until AFTER we had eaten!
  
  

• Various forms of sushi.  We had our greatest exposure to sushi at the Electric Sushi restaurant, where we sat at a counter, ordered items on an electronic menu at each place and received our orders rapidly on a conveyor belt in front of us.  A quick, tasty and inexpensive meal.
  
• Items new to us, such as octopus on a stick, grilled chicken skin on a stick, meat dishes topped with a raw egg, dried fish flakes as a flavoring, fried lotus, horse meat, and a wide array of vegetable and meat items accompanying sobe (thin) or udon (thick) noodles.

  

  Octopus on a stick
  
  
  

• Another culinary delight was more French than Japanese:  the parents of a 14-year-old girl, Emo, whom Stephanie is helping to learn English, hosted us for lunch at the beautiful Happo-en gardens, where the restaurant serves a truly elegant meal.  Emo is heading to an international school near White Plains, NY, in August, and we hope to have some contact with her and her parents while she's in the U.S. 

Emo told us that she most enjoys the cherry blossoms in the
 rain and after walking through the gardens we agreed with her.

Emo, Ethan and Ryan hamming it up

•  Had our "farewell dinner" in a classic Japanese restaurant, leaving our shoes at the entrance.  That's where we had the horse meat and lotus, among other interesting delicacies.  Amusing incident:  Because it was getting late, Kevin left with the boys before Steph and we were finished.  Steph sent me running after him with the house key, and as I dashed out of the restaurant, still in my sock feet, a waitress came running after me with Sarah's and my shoes in hand!  We were both a bit sheepish as I returned to our table.  The boys had been given neat little toy airplanes, and as Steph, Sarah and I were leaving, we were given gifts as well: each of us received a bag containing a carrot, onion and potato!

A Dose of Classic Culture  

Our major high-brow experience was Stephanie's taking us to a kabuki performance.  Kabuki is the classic Japanese theatrical production, which resembles opera, but with a more stylized and formal flavor.  The performance we attended had two parts:  a dramatic story that portrayed a kind of palace intrigue, and then a tragic love story that had some elements of dance.  We followed the custom of buying bento boxes (a kind of lunch-in-a-shallow-box arrangement) and eating it in the theater during intermission.  We were surprised that no one is allowed to eat on the street but is expected to eat inside a grand theater.  As Steph adds the comment "only in Japan".                

Our intermission bento box meal

This concludes Part 1.  We're leaving in a few hours to fly back to the US and will save the rest of our report for later.  Sayonara.

Our much-loved Hibachan

We have gained much over the past year in Japan, but we have also experienced significant loss.

Hibachan and the boys, February 2011

On Saturday afternoon, as we stood in front of Mt. Fuji, we learned that we had lost Hibachan, Kevin's grandmother and the boys' great-grandmother.  She was 91 years young and a force to be reckoned with.

She supported and appreciated our move to Japan in a way that no one else could.  Whenever we skyped with her, she always said how much she appreciated hearing our stories "because it reminds me of all the things I did when I was in Japan."  And she always said that she wished she could come visit us.  In some small way, I feel like she is here with us, helping us to explore a land and a people that is part of her history.  Now more than ever we feel her presence, as her history becomes ours.

There are so many things we loved and still love about Hibachan.  We will have a Hibachan Day soon to help us celebrate her life as we also mourn our loss.

Hibachan visiting us in Tahoe, June 2011

It is fitting that we were visiting the majestic Fuji at the precise time that Hibachan passed away.  It was  cloudy that afternoon and though we couldn't see the mountain, we knew it was there.  Much like Fuji-san, Hibachan's spirit is strong and we know she is with us .... even on a cloudy day ... even when we are sad and ... even when we can no longer see or touch or hear her.

Her kind, fun-loving, outspoken spirit lives on.  But we will miss her more than we can say.