Ann in Japan

I finally have a minute...and just barely a minute, to catch up here.  Mostly pix - just nooooooo time!!!

My friend Tom from NY came for a 10 day visit!

He was pretty excited about EVERYTHING...he loved EVERYTHING....it was awesome!  This is a picture of our reflection on the train window looking out onto the Tokyo station sign.  Guess we were both pretty excited....

Got into Shinjuku station, stuffed his luggage into a locker and started seeing the sites.  I love this image - the riotous modern drugstore next to the traditional Japanese lantern...advertising a restaurant.  It's just soooo Tokyo...

Some sweets I'd bought earlier that day to introduce Tom to "wagashi"...Japanese sweets.  They look better than they tasted.  Well...it was just that the outer glaze that makes them look so cool was a thick gelatine like cover that had a not-so-great mouth feel. 

So off we went, Tom's first day in Japan, to Kamakura - which is written with the characters for sickle and for warehouse.   I never tire of Kamakura.  My third visit this trip, and I'm up for another one, still!

Gorgeous carving....this at a side building at Hachimangu Shrine.

Set against the hills of Kamakura, it's a beautiful shrine.

And my favorite shot....because you see these fire buckets at this monstrous shrines, and I just don't get it... what good will these little things do?  But they're such a pleasing sight, somehow...

A priestess, in her beautiful red robes...one thing I've really noticed here....everyone has amazing posture!

So I take a shot of Tom washing his hands (this was actually before going up to the shrine)...

Then decide to take an artsy shot...

Never realizing till I looked at in on my laptop that I'd also captured a bit of trash someone stuck into the bamboo pipe.  So much for artsy shots...

A few minutes after getting to the shrine, we got all excited because we saw a little girl all dressed up in kimono, as well as her mother..

But then soon realized there were a lot of kids dressed up!  These two were having the best time trying to chase pigeons.  I loved their rubber shoes!

Why the kimonos?  Shichi-Go-San!!!  7-5-3!  November is the time of year that 3, 5 and 7 year olds are dressed up and taken to shrines for a blessing.  We just lucked out!

I was completely taken by this doll.  What a beauty.  What a face.  Then she saw me and decided to be friends and gave me a whisper of a smile...

But then of course....being Japanese.... PEACE SIGN!!!

And one last beauty....a very tall 7 year old!  Gorgeous kimono...

 We left Hachimangu and did a ridiculously touristy thing that turned out to be not at all ridiculous...and a highlight of our day - rickshaw with Mickey!!

This guy "Mickey" had personality pouring out and pooling on the streets around him.  He was a gas, and worked hard....sweat dripping by the time he got us back - and it was just a 10 minute ride.  I promised him I'd lose weight before taking another ride!  Anyway, in 40 seconds flat, he had us down narrow, winding, quiet streets...it was thrilling.

Here's a sweet shop nearly hidden from the street...he stopped briefly here so I could take a picture.

If you are ever in Kamakura and you see this guy...go on a rickshaw ride.  He's so completely memorable.  You'll love him!

By the way, that red thing around his neck is a sort of charm - it's an infant in a red cloth cradle. Very cool.

So then we went down the shopping street and Tom bought cool stuff and worked up an appetite, and we stopped at a fabulous restaurant where we had this mouth-watering ten-don - prawn tempura over rice, with a sweet sauce.  Different sauce then I'd ever had...but it was so yummy, and soooooo beautifully presented.  Friendly staff.  2nd floor view of the busy, interesting street.  Wish I knew the name of it! Hachi-something, I'm guessing from the chopstick cover..

That's it....all I have time for....but I'll leave you with a haunting photo.  We ended our day in Kamakura at the Daibutsu - big buddha.  I have seen him many times, but each time has been a little more intense...like returning to see an old friend.  I'd never been there at nightfall though.  Oh.  My.  What an exerience.  His face is just very gently lit...and as the sky darkens he starts to glow.  By the time we left, the sun was down, the Daibutsu radiated... and we were the only two people in the entire place.  Just us and the Daibutsu and a few hardy crickets chirping as if it weren't fall.  He's been sitting out there, in the heat and sun, mornings and long winter nights - out in the open, in front of the hills for nearly 600 years. Kinda sends chills through me just thinking about it.  It was, um....impossible to put into words.

Busy week...then got sick.  Yuck. More on that later...

For now, a last post from my daughter Katie's visit. On her last night here, we went to Asakusa, which I already wrote about. 

I didn't tell you about her getting her "omikuji" (fortune), though...

It's easy as pie...even if you don't speak a word of Japanese...

First, you walk up to one of these things, and put a 100 yen coin into the clearly marked slot on the counter. Katie looks a bit worried...a darned right unusual look for my Katie.  A premonition, I wonder?

In goes the coin... (a bit over $1 US)

Next she shakes the cylinder until one of the long, chopstick like thing comes out of the one hole at the bottom.  (It's on the counter now.) It makes a heck of a racket as you shake it...

You pick up your stick and read the tiny number imprinted on one end.  This part is a little tricky if you don't read Japanese, since the numbers are in Japanese...but it's only 3 characters...you can figure it out!  You then look through the characters written on each little drawer, finding the one that corresponds to the number on your stick.  Katie's definitely looking apprehensive.  Does she know something I don't? Inside the drawer you will find your fortune...

Oh....sad day for Katie!  She got a BAD FORTUNE!

I mean, seriously bad.  If she tried to cross on a boat, "a pid and high wave" would be in her way, and who would want that??

Fortunately, bad luck just gets left at the temple so it doesn't follow you home, and that's just what Katie did, tying it amongst all the others!

So while my Katie was still here, we decided on the spur of the moment one morning to go up to Mt. Takao (Takaosan) because the weather was so pretty.  It's about an hour west of Tokyo...so it's close, which was good, because we had plans in Tokyo that night. Hopped on a few trains, and intended to then take the chair lift half-way up the mountain, then climb at least part way up to the temple...but...as we walked out of the Takaosanguchi train station, the first thing I saw was the shuttle van to Ukai Toriyama - the restaurant I thought we might go to after a little hiking.  Quick change of plans...let's go!

8 minutes or so later, we were both like, huh??  Tingles and amazement and a little awe as we saw kimono clad men and women (at least 8 of them!) positioned along the roadway in front of the restaurant, all bowing to us in the van as we passed.  Was there royalty in the van with us, or was this actually for us??

Yep.  Turns out it was for us...and the most amazing afternoon began, just like that!

Entrance to Ukai Toriyama....we didn't have reservations, didn't know we needed them, got in anyway...thrilled already, can you tell?

The "lobby" of the restaurant. By the time I saw this, I was beside myself.  Pure, enchanted glee. OMG. I mean, I'd seen pix of this place online, but never expected it to actually look their website! 

Our server guided us through a path and over than red bridge to our own private dining cottage.  Katie and I were both just silly with amazement. I kept saying "We're in a movie!  We're in old Japan!"

One view of our room.

And the view from our veranda - other cottages across the way so artfully placed that you could never see inside to other diners.

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Koi in the pond right outside our room.

Katie looking awfully cute on our veranda...It's a wonder she wasn't pinching herself...I sure was!

Our very sweet server, bringing us tea and "oshibori" - steaming hot towels.

We can hear the water and bird song, smell the tatami, taste the tea, see the beauty all around us. Yeah. We're happy.

We chose the smaller set course...which was around $60 each.  For getting to be in our very own Japanese movie set, I figured it was a steal.  ;-)  Course #1. Based on the season - autumn - mushrooms, some kind of little tempura stems, and a roasted mountain potato, meant to be reminiscent of the full moon, which we'd seen the evening before...

Plenty of time between courses to enjoy the room and the garden...

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Second course - a chicken dumpling, winter squash and okra.  Other than the okra, it was delicious...Just can't really go for the slime factor of okra...

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She brought this into the room, but left it at the door.  It's for much later...

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Course #3 - a mushroom soup. So fragrant.  Earthy, toasted smells and tastes.  I loved it.  Katie...well, remember, she's picky....

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This is so Katie...that expression. I assume she's just said something smart to me...that's the look she gets when she thinks she's pretty clever...

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And this is probably me bent on ignoring her smart comments!

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Or maybe I just gave in and laughed!  Or maybe I'm just so happy I can hardly stand it.  I am in HEAVEN at this place!!!

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The fish course arrives...on display!

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She tells us it's skewered to look like it is still alive and swimming...

Hmmm...swimming yes...alive, not so much.

But Katie is soooo excited about this fish since it's "shioyaki", which she seems to know all about, though she's never had it. The fish is encased in salt, then after 30 minutes of so, it's grilled over hot coals.  You can see all the salt still on the tail. It was delicious.

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Next came the hot, hot coals, brought in by this friendly guy.  He looks pretty happy to get his picture taken with Katie.

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Then our server brought in chicken, green onions and some other vegetable on skewers and showed us how to cook them.

This is the only course we didn't really get a picture of because it was crazy yummy.  I mean, seriously, seriously delicious food.  The chicken was half raw, but tender as all get out, and the sauce!  Oh. The. Sauce.

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Last course - rice, misoshiru (miso soup) and pickles.

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Reluctantly, we left our room...but we had to get back to Tokyo and we wanted at least a few minutes to walk through the garden.  Here's the view as we stepped out of our room...

And the bathroom

And tea hut...look at that thatch!!

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Inside the tea hut.

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It's probably a good thing we had plans that night or I'd still be there taking pictures.  Unbelievably beautiful.

We headed back to the lobby to pay...and it turns out that when you hand over money, even a lot of money, to someone as adorable as this girl, it doesn't hurt a bit!

I'm playing with my new point and shoot camera today....taking pix of the only picture-worthy thing in the house.  My last onion from a package of 3, hanging out on my apartment windowsill.

Onion with a View

Third Story Onion

Yesterday's dinner.  Nashi.  Yum.  My favorite fruit.  (Japanese pear)

This is the apt. house across the way from my kitchen windows.  It looks far away in this shot, but it's not...Anyway, yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, so everyone put their bedding out to sun.

Whether folks sleep on a western style bed, or on the floor...they still use futon (which is not a sofa) Futon is the general term for the bedding consisting of a padded mattress and two quilts, one placed on top of the mattress as padding, and one used as a blanket.  The quilts are put out to air and to allow the sun to sterilize them.  The futon smell so nice after you bring them in from a day sunning!

Here are my futon on my veranda - late afternoon sun.  Also a new addition to my veranda - that big tan box on the upper left with tubes coming out of it?  More on that in a minute!

I love how these two rooflines meet - this is seen from my balcony. The last sunlight of the day make them look especially nice.

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Looking the other way, my neighbor to my right.  Green, blue, golden sunlight...

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But really...the scene is a little more prosaic. How much of life do we mentally crop without even realizing it, I wonder?  We see what we want to see.

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So three days ago, Katie and I came home from Shibuya, wet and tired, but needing to get ready to go back out again.  Showers, makeup, etc.  However, Japan had other plans for us!  Instead, we hosted 5-7 busy workers inside my apt.  Kinda hard to keep track of how many were in and out over the course of the two hours we were home before leaving for dinner out.  They were there to install some new piping/tubing.  Install, as in, install right smack on my wall.  As in, yes, that lovely tan tubing is the newest addition to my apt.  It's supposed to make the water in my sink and shower hot more quickly, but I can't tell a bit of difference, to tell you the truth.  It still takes 2-3 minutes for the water to turn hot. 

Here's the patch job on the inside of my bedroom wall:

You know I'm not a hater.  You know I love Japan.  Maybe I even love this...kinda hard to tell.  It's just such a crack-up!  I mean, really??  This is totally cool with everyone? 

Could someone PLEASE explain how that patch job and the following place setting all make perfect sense to the Japanese mind?

I think it's my favorite place to hang out in all of Tokyo...Asakusa's nakamise leading up to the Sensoji Temple.  It's really a perfect place for Katie to spend her last night.

Won't go into detail - I hope you can just get a taste of Asakusa from mostly just the pictures...

Restaurant front

Fake food...enticing...

Menu

Decidedly un-Zen...

Molded sweets - sweet bean paste nestled in a fish shaped wafer-like coating.

Everyone else likes Asakusa, too! Especially the night before a national holiday. All these shops lead to a temple.

Very cute osembei.  (rice crackers)

The gate to the Sensoji Temple...it's called Kaminari-mon. (Thunder Gate)

VERY cool things in this last store on the right, right before Kaminari-mon.

Food stalls - only here because the next day is a holiday.  Or maybe they put them up especially for Katie's last night?  :-)

Nothing says yummy like a blue banana on a stick, right?

Grill ready.

Man...I wanted some of this roasted corn, just for nostalgia's sake....I remember these stalls as a kid. But $5 for an ear of corn just seemed a bit rich...

Sensoji Temple - past the Kaminari-mon.

Pagoda to the left.  My new camera and I are fighting, by the way.  We don't seem to see eye to eye on how to take night scenes quite yet....

Lining up to say a prayer.

Katie's wearing out.  It's a lot to see - a lot to take in...

We leave the temple area by taking a quiet side street...and happen upon this little guy...