Friday September 19, 1997: 12:40pm
I HATE CUSTOMS! Oh, this is SO annoying. Right now they're all on their 1.5 hour lunch break, so I have to hang around. Gimme a break! An hour an a half?!? Potatoes. But anyways, let me start at the beginning of the day.
5:30am. My eyes fly open. Huh? Why's it already light out? I check my alarm clock... what? 5:30? But... but, I set the alarm for 5:10! What's up with that? So I bound outta bed, waking Jon as I do so.. we do the mad rush to get ready and out the door and to the station.. of course, it starts to POUR before we've even left the apartment. Argh. Does it ever end? Apparently not. So we each grab our $4 umbrellas (technical name: cheezy vinyl brollies) and head out. We're at the Hino satation, sufficiently soaked, by 6 or so. Not bad for 2 university students. We get to Tsukiji at maybe 7:20 - and we walk to the fish market. That's when I remember that I never DID like fish... especially the fish smell. Ew. Ah well, I can grin and bear ... so we wander around the market, which is supposedly the largest in Asia. It was pretty neat, I guess. I mean, it's kinda hard to appreciate it if you're a vegetarian who really can't stand fish, mabybe. But I saw lots of different disgusting raw things - some of which I don't want to even *guess* at what it is... Ooo, Jon bought something there for breaky.. some kind of fish on a stick with funky sauce - I don't think he enjoyed it much though..
Next we went to Hongan-ji, a really weird-looking temple right beside the fish market. It was wierd because it was NOT your average Japanese temple... it looked more like the Taj Mahal (not that I've ever been to see the Taj Mahal) than any temple in Japan. Strange.
Ok, so then Jon and I walked to the Hama Rikyu Gardens but he was the only one to go in... I had to go to the office of the shipping company which had shipped the stuff my mom sent. Anyways, that was 9 o'clock, and it has gone downhill ever since. I'd rather not go into the details but let's just say that I've already been brought to tears (from frustration - I like getting what I want!) more than once. And so far I've had to go to 3 different buildings (in 3 different parts of town, of course) and I still have at least two to go. Thne I have to go back to another one of them. Argh! I am ticked off! But I must go bug a customs officer now because it's end of lunch-time...
10:30pm
Wow, things really got baaaad after that... *everything* went wrong at customs - so I'm not going to get into it at all.
So Jon and I had made 3 different meeting times.. one at 2pm, one at 3pm, and one at 4:30pm - oh yeah, make it 4 meeting times - and one at 5pm... just in case we couldn't find eachother, we had made lots of backups. Anyways, I didn't even come close to making the 2pm meeting, and I was really racing the clock for the 3pm one. We'd decided to meet at the Asakusa station, but I hadn't known that there were 2 station (for 2 different subway lines) and hence about 8 different exits. Oh well... so I wandered the exits for awhile, but saw no Jon, so I headed over to the Asakusa temple, to look around (I've already been there twice now) - and just as I'm getting to the Sanmon (Main Gate) I see Jon walking ahead of me. Couldn't miss the pink hair from a mile away (note: actually, it's really fading). Cool. So as it turns out, Jon had a pretty tough afternoon too.. he got lost and couldn't read signs and he didn't have a good map, etc etc etc. BUT, he went to the Fukagawa Edo Museum which has a recreation of old Edo (former Tokyo) and he said that it was REALLY cool. Neat, I'll have to go there for sure. Oh, at least the weather cleared up this evening and it was actually really nice out! It was about time!
So we walked around Asakusa and then to Kappabashi-dori, the restaurant stuff street. I bought a frying pan so that I could make real pancakes now (as opposed to the funny things I make with my deep pots). Grrrreat! Hmm, then we headed back home, picking up all the stuff my mom sent me, which I'd dumped into a locker at the Tokyo station.
When we got back to Hino we headed to the grocery store to buy a few "essentials" - you know, the usual ice cream, ice cream, sake, ice cream, milk and butter. Oh, and some ice cream. Why? Well because I just HAD to try out my new frying pan for dinner - that's right, pancakes! Mmm - these things were good! See, we had the pancake, topped with Reese's Peanut butter Cup (courtesy of Mom's shipment) topped with ice cream, topped with syrup. Oh wow, tasty! Very filling!
And now we're bumming around - I had to unpack that shipment - it felt like Xmas - that make *3 times* in a month! Can't beat that.
Saturday September 20, 1997: midnight
OK, so today was the big city of Tokyo! Oh yeah, we got up early (well, early for students) and we were downtown at Yasukuni Jinja by 9:30-ish, a pretty decent time. So I'd already been to Yasukuni Jinja before, but that was no problem because it is so cool. Ah, so there we were, hangin' around the main shrine, near all the doves, when suddenly a bunch of SUMO WRESTLERS come around the corner about 100 m from us.. and they're heading right to the shrine. Wow, there was a lot of the. And ya know, sure I'd seen Sumo on TV before, but seeing these guys up-close for real - you realize just how skimpily they're dressed! I mean, they basically only wear, like, underwear, but it doesn't even cover their butt really. I didn't know quite what to think about it. So I took a picture and will think about what to think later.
Ok, so we took a walk around the shrine, then walked on down to the National Museum of Modern Art through Kita maru-koen. On our way we passed by the Budokan, from which we could hear yells.. so we went up closer to investigae. Ah, there on the balcony were 3 guys practicing kendo (kinduv like fencing, but Japanese style) - neat, I'd never seen kendo before. Ane they were makin' lots of noise.
Yeah, so the National Museum of Modern Art. I'd also been here before, but most of the displays had changed! Oh, these things were great - the screens (Japanese folding screens) were just incredibly beautiful. And the scrolls too. I was very impressed.
Next we went to the Imperial Palace East Gardens, where we wandered for awhile. It's a really really nice and green place. So clean! Peaceful. And from the garden we walked along the moat for a short while until we got to Niju bashi (Niji bridge) where everyone must take a picture. Hey, I've already been there twice to take pics, so I'm double as guilty! But it really IS a nice view of the palace itself. And yeah, we got there while they were changing guards - it looked a bit similar to the changing of the guards in Ottawa. Perfectly timed, of course. Neat.
Now it was time for some grub. We had originally wanted to find a Shakey's (restaurant chain) because Simon had told me that they do an all-you-can-eat pizza lunchtime special, and well, I *do* love pizza (what student doesn't?). But we couldn't find one, and since it was already 1:30-2-ish, we were starved and impatient! So we went to this restaurant in Ginza called Ciao, where we ate, yep, pizza! Ooo - it was good. Why? Well, because not only did it have CHEESE, but PIZZA SAUCE too! I was so impressed. [ed. note: You'd have to have read many previous entries to realize how impressive this actually IS!] Ahkay, so now we started doing Ginza. We walked to the International Arcade, where they supposedly sell lots of interesting goods. Well, the International Arcade that WE found wasn't really anything special... there weren't very many stores, and most of them were closed! Ah well. Oh, we found the Hachikan Jinja (Hachikan shrine) which is a neat little shrine because they built a high rise over top of it! Really! See, most shrines/temples in Ginza have supposedly relocated to roof tops, etc, because of high land prices around the area. So this Hachikan Jinja hung in there, but got built over! Neat.
Next we went to the Japan Sake Centre, which was suprisingly small. One little room. I had hoped to find something on the history of sake (rice wine), but there really wasn't much. Oh, there WAS an illustrated sequence on the process of making sake, which was neat. It really IS made of rice! Oh yeah, they don't give out free samples at this place (although you can buy the sake for a pretty decent price...)
So we walked just a bit further to the Kabuki-za - the Kabuki theatre. What a funky building! It's very Japanese looking, yet oddly not. And it's stuck in the middle of all these high-rises, high-tech show rooms, and flashing neon lights. Wierd. So we bought tickets for a Kabuki show on Monday! We got 4th floor tickets so they were only Y2,300 ($28) - not too bad. I haven't seen kabuki yet, so this should be neat.
Oh yeah, on the way to the Sake Centre, we passed a huge promotional booth for Sapporo Super Star beer. Now this was just set up on a street corner - they put up a biiiig TV screen and showed their new add. They had these young women (not wearing too much, of course) holding cans of beer - and they were also handing some out free! So we stood in line and got some, just a small can. But 7%. Woah. Anyways, I haven't tried it yet.
Ah yes, so we were basically finished with Ginza, and it was only about 4 or so, so we decided to try our luck finding the Kite Museum. Uh yeah, sounds a bit random, but it kinda sounded neat. Indeed, it was - these kites were amazing! Old, new, small, BIG, detailed, simple, funny, etc - you name it! A nice place, not big, so you couldn't get bored.
So we decided to finish up the day with the Yaesu underground arcade. At this point we were both really tired, from the combination of 3 hours sleep and 7 hours walking.. so we just did a quick drop-by. I bought a REAL Japanese-English dictionary (as opposed to the lousy thing I had before), and the next (and last!) kanji textbook in the series I've been doing. Cool.
Oh, on the train home there was the funniest guy.. he was balding big-time, I guess, so in order to hide this fact, he had SPRAY-PAINTED his head black! [ed note: Dad, please don't ever do this ;-)] Like, being bald and all, you could obviously tell that it was just his scalp that was black... plus, he missed some spots.. and also he went a bit too far down on this forehead. Anyways, the guy just looked hilarious!
We stopped off at Kunitachi to buy... and ice cream cake! Yummy! Of course, we couldn't find the Baskin' Robbins anywhere, and when I asked in a store, and at a Koban (police box) they'd never heard of it... but I found out that that's because they don't call it Baskin' Robbins.. no, they call it "31". Yeah yeah yeah, just give me my cake please!
So when we got home we immediately dug into the cake, and made dinner afterwards! Jon watched some Japanese baseball, and then we watched "Back to the Future" on TV. Amusing in Japanese. I'd forgotten how much of a clutz Marty is.. hee hee! Darn Canadian!
Sunday September 21, 1997: 10:30pm
Whew, I feel like poo poo. My cold seems to have gotten worse, so my nose is a never-ending source of gook. [ed. note: I'm sure you wanted to know that] It hurts from using so much kleenex. I hate it when that happens. Also, the 5 hours sleep last night along with the 3hrs the night before, plus my neck/shoulder/back/foot ache - yeah. I feel lousy. Btw, today is "complain day", be forewarned.
I'm gonna sleep soon and just sleep forever! Aaah, that should be so nice!
Ok, so today was exploring Ueno. We were at the Ueno station by 9 or so, again, a pretty decent time. Now the main attraction in Ueno is Ueno Koen (Ueno Park) where there was some huge battle a long time ago (kids, check up on your Japanese history). Now it's a huge park filled with paths, trees, temples, museums, more museums, and people. Let's not forget the pigeons. Quite the nice place.
We started of with the Ueno-no-mori museum which we wanted to go to because it usually has interesting calligraphy displays. Yeah, neat! Not only was there calligraphy like I've never seen before, but there was tons of brush painting (I think it was brush painting) and it was really nice. We spent almost an hour there, so it must've been good!
We then walked on to the Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple, which is supposed to be an imitation of the Kyoto Kiyomizu Temple, but on a smaller scale. What's neat about this temple though is that women bring dolls there as a sacrifice so they can have good luck in childbirth. And then once a year the priests of this temple ceremonioulsy burn all the dolls... cool, this happens next weekend so I should go check it out!
We walked around the pond in the park, which is really beautiful. It was full of lily pads and peddle boats.. row boats too... and there were birds and stuff. Quite nice. We then headed to Toshu-gu Shrine, which is really neat. First of all, the path that leads up to the temple is lined with 200 stone lanterns.. very nice. And then the shrine itself was so colourful! Bright reds, greens, golds.. and a bit o' white. Very neat indeed.
Ah yes, so now we were making our way to the Tokyo National Museum. This actually proved harder than we had thought because of an unexpected obstacle. Pigeons. Yes, pigeons. Like, these weren't your regular everyday pigeons - no - these were Ueno Park's PSYCHO PIGEONS! Why were they so psycho? Well, because they wouldn't move out of your way, even if you were about to step on one, and then they would take off AIMING right for you! I am NOT joking! I did quite a few life-saving last-minute pigeon dodging!! Wow, these birds were crazy!
But, we made it through unharmed, *whew* what a relief! I thought it would've been just a tad embarassing to miss out on the National Museum because of psycho pigeons.
The National Museum. One HUGE place. We spent a good part of 4 hours there - woah! First of all, their temporary exhibit for the autumn is on the treasures of Indonesia! Crazy. So we wandered through that exhibit for awhile. Quite extensive! Lots of old statues and gold trinkits. Neat. Also, we saw lots of pots (suggested motto of the museum: "You haven't seen enough pots until...") - we saw a ewer (a pot with a fancy-schmancy name) that was dated to 2000-3000 B.C.!!!!!!!!!!!1 Now THAT's old!. Artwork, clothing, and archeological finds of Japan... it was really interesting!
At 4 or so we left Ueno Park, and went to the Ameyoko Arcade near the station. This place is PACKED with people. And it's got some really neat shops - selling everything! Fish, squid, cashews, nuts, overalls, shoes, t-shirts, watches, sunglasses, jewellery, shampoo - you name it! Anyways, we didn't hang around there for too long because now we were _really_ tired. I mean, I just didn't feel so great. So since we were done Ueno, we hopped on a train to Akihabara because Jon hadn't yet seen Electronic City before (and it's a "must-do" for any geek) but we didn't stay long because (a) JOn didn't actually want to buy anything, and (b) we were both tired (did I already mention that?)
Home. Ah, couldn't wait til home. I tried to sleep on the train but I kept on falling sideways and hitting my head on the bar beside me. Ow. Just what I needed to feel better ;-)
So we got home (finally!), ate some soba, some ice cream cake (finished it off!), and figured out tomorrow's plan for Nikko. And now, we're going to sleep because we need it!
Monday September 22, 1997: 4:05pm
Ok, so we went to Nikko today. Unfortunately, it took us WAY longer to get there then we had originally planned (well, an hour longer) so we only had about an hour and a half to walk around. Well, we had to leave at 2 because our kabuki play starts in about 10 minutes, and we're still on the train! Ack! Will we make it? I dunno... it'll be a sprint for the finish...
Nikko! What a place! You may think that spending Y2,600 ($35) and 5 hours on a train ride is just too much for an hour and a half of a place.. but you'd be wrong if it were Nikko! No way! This place is cool! We musta gotten to the station 12:30-ish. The train ride up was pretty cool - we were well-rested (>8 hours sleep last night! Yes!) so we slept for most of the way :-) BUt the parts I was awake for were pretty nice - kinduv like the train ride up to Kawaguchiko - rice fields, pale blue mountains, the occasional sunny break (probably the first sign of sunshine since Jon got here 9 days ago!), trees, cliffs, ...
So we set off right away for the Shin-kyo bridge. Legend has it that Shodo-Shonin (the monk who founded Nikko) was carried across the gorge at this point on the back of two huge serpents. And after seeing the gorge, I realized that those serpents definitely weren't ones I'd like to meet down some dark alley! The gorge was somewhat deep - it had rapids passing under the bridge with trees all around, and mountains in the distance.. .very beautiful. And of course, the bridge itself was really nice.
Next we walked through all these backpaths - up old stone stairs through lush greenery and the occasional waterfall or brook.. until we got to Rinno-ji (Rinno Temple). Now the main attraction here is the 3 statues inside the main hall, which indeed are very spiffy. Extremely gold. Jon said taht he thought it was probably the most gold he'd seen in one place ever - and yeah - maybe! There was a buddha on a lotus leaf, a thousand armed eleven-headed dude, and a half-wolf man! wow, really, they were incredible.
Of course, looking back on this now, these statues are completely overshined by what we saw next.. the Tosho-gu Shrine. Wow. Wow. I can't emphasize this enough... this was one cool shrine. First we got to the main gate, which was so exquisite with all its incredible detail and beautiful bright colours, that I was pretty sure IT was the main attraction of the place. Nope! Next, just through these gates, were the 3 sacred Storehouses, which were so detailed and beautiful that I thought THEY were the main attraction! Nope. Then there was the horse stable, which was neat because (a) there's actually a sacred horse in there, and (b) carved along the perimeter is the life-cycle of a monkey. Hmm.. there was also the funkiest belltower thing, so much detail. Really. It's just too hard to explain.. ah, and then, THEN came the most amazing piece of architecture that I've ever seen.. the Yomei-mon (Yomei Gate). Incredible. There was so much detail - carvings and painting - and it wasn't like any gate I've ever seen before.. it was mainly white, with all colours - gold, red, green, blue... details. Actually, legend has it that the monks who built this gate (a looong time ago) put one of the pillars upside-down so as to not make the gods jealous about their near-perfect gate! Jon and I looked for the pillar, and I think we found it. If anything, that "flaw" makes it so much more interesting! What a cool gate.
That whole temple was fabulous. It was worth the trip to Nikko in itself - seriously. And actually, after that our time was up so we had to go back to the station. But I'm definitely going back there - we barely saw anything and yet it was great! I'm gonna go back when the leaves are changing colours because I just know it'll be the most beautiful place. Oh, and plus there are waterfalls all over, and those'll be cool.
Anyways, kabuki calls...
11pm
Kabuki is so cool! We were late (of course) but only by about 15 minutes - and considering that the show went on for 4 hours, we could afford to miss a few minutes. So how do I explain kabuki? I dunno. I guess I'll start off with the Kabuki-za, or the kabuki theatre. It's a theatre, kinda like the NAC, so it's not exactly small. Fancy stuff (that's why I'm decked out in jeans and a t-shirt). There are at least 4 floors cuz our tickets were at the back of the 4th.. quite far away from the stages, but that wasn't a problem. Oh yeah, I shouldn't forget to mention the seats in this place - they were made for people of Japanese proportions, ie, 5 foot 3 on average - so even MY legs were really cramped! Jon looked a bit miserable (well, just the leg space thing...) - and after 4.5 hours, no wonder! But the show made up for it...
So kabuki is an old style of Japanese theatre, characterized by strange costumes, wierd acting, loud drums, and only using male actors. Let me elaborate.. .the first play we saw was titled "Narukami" and although we couldn't understand a word (but I knoew enough that I could tell they were talking funny!) we caught the main idea. So these guys are saying their lines in a very mechanical/slow way, but on purpose.. and this play was so funn! And the dancing at the end was incredible - with the monks in the play doing flips all over the stage - it ws so cool.
Now a few things that are peculiar about kabuki; for one, every once in awhile this guy to the right of the stage would beat 2 wooden blocks together, in conjunction (wrong word?) with the actor posing on stage (yes, like the actor would stop in some pose and hold it for a few seconds, then resume). That was neat. Also, when this guy beats the blocks, some people in the audience would yell out the name of the actor! I mean, this is what you're supposed to do - if you know the appropriate times in the play at which to scream. Usually it would be about 3 guys (2 of which were sitting directly behind us so as to give us the full effect ;-) - just a quick scream. Funny. Oh yeah, and as I mentioned before, the actors are only men - so there are kabuki actors who specialize in women's roles. The "women" we saw were quite convincing - of course, their faces were all painted white and stuff, and they were dressed in kimonos (these are old plays, so the clothing is all traditional).
So the first lay lasted about an hour and a half - then we had an intermission. And this is when everyone (EVERYONE) took out their pre-packed dinners and started to eat IN thhe theatre. Hmph. Since Jon and I hadn't thought of that at all, we felt quite left out. Awwww...
After the intermission was the 2nd play, called "Sumidagawa Gonichi no Omokage", or in English, "The Priest Hokaibo", and this lasted the remaining 3 hours! With 2 short intermissions. Long! But so GOOD! Not only was it really funny, but it was interesting! A true Japanese experience.
And now we just got home - we're about to start a tequila binge... Jon brought a 26er from Canada for my bday, so we're going to try to do 19 shots between the 2 of us (I'm the lucky one who gets 10).. here we go...
Tuesday September 23, 1997: noon
Oops. Well, we drank the tequila, I guess, cuz the bottle is basically finished. And my stomack don't feel so hot... sheesh, we were supposed to go to Hakone today, but I woke up at 9:30 - realizing that the alarm hadn't gone off at 7:30 as it was supposed to.. and it is POURING rain. Since neither of us feel in tip-top shape, and since I have to be at a Japanese lesson at 6:15 tonight, there was no real point in going. Too bad, cuz I really wanted to go. But, they DO say that it's no good to go in the rain... maybe Jon'll go tomorrow (I have to work).
11pm
Well we went and got lots of pics developped - wow, they're so cool! And there are so MANY. Neat...
Ooo - I went to Hachioji for my Japanese lesson, but they were closed. Oh oh - I think I mixed up the holidays and I was probably supposed to go yesterday and not today. Ack, how rude is that, for me to just not show up! Argh...
Wednesday September 24, 1997: midnight
Well, it was extremely difficult to stay awake at work today. I was extremely tired, for one, but then I also had this mega-headache, and of course I still have my horrible cold. Oh yeah, and I have this mysterious rash on my chin that just "appeared" yesterday and it's disgusting. I'm not happy 'bout any of it. BUT, I'm feeling better now, even though I haven't gotten sleep yet.
Ah so tonight after work I went to Kokubunji, where I met up with Jon to go do some KARAOKE! AWyeeah, I couldn't *possibly* let him leave tomorrow without trying the karaoke! So we get a room for an hour, and start the singing! Of course, it took me forever to figure out how to input the songs (yet I could do it 2 weeks ago... what's up with that?) and we never DID get both mics working, so we were both singing into one mic which is OK, but you don't get the funky background vocals that way - ah well.
Anyways, we sang all the classics. Ya know "Hey Jude", "Africa", "Faith", "Paradise City", "Holiday",... ya get the idea. Lotsa fun for an hour! Then we headed home.. .Jon had to pack and stuff since he leaves tomorrow. I guess he mostly did some souvenir buying today, wandering all over Tokyo while he was at it.
Oh, we saw the FUNNIEST show on TV tonite, ohmyGod, I was doubled over for the longest time, and my sides positively hurt. It was a show where they showed pranks played on people, but absolutely unbelievable ones! For example, one prank was an outhouse that had a raisable floor. So 10 seconds after a person got into the outhouse (just enough time for them to get crouched over the hole in the ground) suddenly the roof would flip up like a Jack-in-the-box and the floor would lift up right to roof level so that the victim would be sitting, pants down, way up high where everyone could see him. This is hilarious. Sure, a violation of people's privacy, but this didn't seem to matter.
They put these outhouses in the parking lot of a them park, and those were *really* funny. Then, they put them at the top of some mountain, in a tourist spot. HIlarious! Then the last one was at the beach... but instead of the roof lifting up, the floor was pulled out of the outhouse (with the person on it) by a BOAT, and it was dragged over the beach, onto the water so the person was body boarding - still buck naked and extremely surprised!! I think at this point I fell ONTO the floor I was laughing so hard.
Oh yeah, this morning we got up at 5 (am!) to go for a run - I had to show Jon one of my running routes! I can't believe that we only ran once the whole time he was here since we used to run everyday back when we had that apartment in Ottawa.. woah.. .flashback! Ah well, we were doing enough other walking, I guess.
Thursday September 25, 1997: 8pm
Well, we got up at 7:30, and we were on the train to the Tokyo station by 9 or so... with all the baggage. I brought Jon as far as the Tokyo station but I had to get to work so I couldn't go any further. Waduh, it'll be 7 months til I see him again!
I got to work just past 11, and they were all so worried! See, I've never gotten to work later than - oh - 9, so me not being there by 11 got them a tad worried! Hirabayashi-san even said "Oh good, you're not dead!" Ha ha! Anyways, my day was relatively uneventful - I left after only 6 hours or so because I _really_ needed some sleep - my cold not getting any better. So I think I'm gonna snooze now - and sleep til I feel like gettin' up! Yeeeah!
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