hinagiku

Parks

One of the nicest things about travelling without a fixed itinerary is that you can take time for a nice relaxing walk in the local park if the weather and geography seem to suggest it. If you get a park that the people of the city actually use, it can be a nice way to catch a glimpse of what life is like in a foreign country. And, you get to see some pretty weird stuff too.

So far, we’ve taken two walks in large parks in Japan and here are some of the things we’ve witnessed:

The end of a race (it was unclear as to how long it was, but I’d guess it was pretty long.)
A group of four young gentlemen wearing masks and matching outfits filming themselves doing a dance routine. My guess was a game show demo tape.
A Japanese mariachi duo. Guitar, pan flute, ponchos, singing a mariachi type song in Japanese. It was weird.
A large group of people standing around clapping poorly in time to the music that the balloon animal creator had playing. It turns out, his balloon creations were pretty impressive. We walked by later when he was packing up and saw an ecstatic little girl carrying a balloon Minnie Mouse that was almost as big as she was.
Japanese guys trying to skateboard. Again, not many places in Japan that have the space available to practice. What benches are available have arm rests and they have a habit of putting things that stick up off their handrails as well. So even though the guys looked to be in their 20’s, their skill level was about that of the 10 year old who lives in our neighbourhood back home.

The first park we went to was the Osaka-Jo park and it was immaculate. It was pleasant to walk around and the people of the city obviously enjoyed using it as well. We saw lots of people walking or running, people practicing martial arts, kids practicing musical instruments, dog walkers, etc.

In the park in Tokyo, Ueno park, it’s got a little more Tokyo-big-city influence to it. Still lots of people enjoying it, but it’s definitely dirtier (my time spent in New York felt cleaner to some parts of this park). We’ve also seen some of Japan’s homeless living here. But, they seem to be mostly left alone to do their thing and have some pretty permanent looking shelters set up. Even the gardeners seem to avoid conflict with them and just work around them. One of the people living there had even managed to set up a cook stove and kettle. I didn’t see any of them begging for change and most of the Japanese people walking by just ignored them. My overall memory of the day was still pretty good, as we stumbled across an Irish pub at the train station on the way back from the park. But, perhaps we’ll save the critique of their “Irish” pub for another post.

The Story of Photos

So, I just sat down to review my photos of the last few days. The good news is that there were a lot. The bad news is that there weren’t a lot. What kind of story do they tell?

From Osaka:

And then from Kyoto:

You’d think that we’d been spending most of our time eating our way through Japan, but we’ve been doing more, really we have! Most of it just isn’t the type of thing you capture on camera. There’s also been shopping, and lots, and lots of walking through two of our favourite cities in Japan. Generally just taking things easy and enjoying the feel and culture as we wander and explore. Most of the really picture worthy things we managed to snap photos of last time, but we do have a few random ones that will probably merit their own blog post, when we get time to write them.

A Photo From Ise and Tale of Samurai Defeat

We went to ~~umbrella land~~ Ise Shrine today. Unfortunately it was very misty and busy so I didn’t get many good pictures. Not to mention that at the very inner part of the shrine, where all the really cool stuff is, I spent a few minutes lining up a really good shot only to be told “shashin o kakimasen” = no pictures 🙁 (Lance tells me he snapped a few good ones while I was “cleverly distracting them,” but I’m too lazy to upload any of his photos right now).

Somewhere in the general area was also supposed to be a Samurai Theme Park, but when we tried to ask one of the workers at the bus station for directions, there was a communication error somewhere and he instead gave us directions to the place in the picture above, which is a shopping area done up like historical Japan. This photo was taken from one of the bridges leading out of the neighbourhood. It was really crowded on all the inner streets, which were narrow to begin with, so I didn’t feel like snapping any pictures in there. It was kind of neat to look around in there, but we decided to try one more time to get to the Samurai Theme Park. This time, we got directions to the bus stop that would take us there. After walking for nearly 15 minutes in an increasingly misty afternoon and not yet arriving at the bus stop we decided to turn around, not get lost, and grab the next bus back to the train station.

A couple more photos

I thought I’d post a few random photos for my blog contribution today.

First is a shot of Lance and I on a train heading somewhere. One of the few shots of us together so enjoy it!

This next one will give you a sense of the spring-like weather we’re currently enjoying. The plum blossoms were just starting to peek out at Osaka-Jo-Koen (Osaka Castle Park) when we went walking through the other day.

I’m not posting any of the wonderful snow pictures for a couple of good reasons. One, I’d rather forget just how cold it was. And two, it looks like I only thought I copied all the pictures off my memory card before clearing it. In fact, I did not, so I don’t have any of my snow festival pictures 🙁 Lance still has all the ones from his camera though, so maybe I’ll post some of his once the sting of losing all of mine wears off. As we’re currently in Nara, I think I’ll blame it on the deer. The deer ate my photos! Makes perfect sense since they do eat everything else!

For the Wiffers, a Wine Review

First, a bit about the differences in finding and consuming alcohol in Canada as compared to Japan . . .

What Lance and I consider one of the best things about visiting Japan, is the proliferation of access to alcohol and the laissez-faire attitude towards its consumption. In Canada, you can only really get alcohol at certain licensed restaurants and specialty liquor stores. The liquor stores are really of two varieties: private owned and government owned. They usually suffer from at least one, if not several, of the following flaws: bad hours, poor selection, and high prices. Also, liquor cannot be consumed in public. At certain events it is permitted, but you can’t just crack a can of beer open on a train and go on your merry way.

In Japan, the situation is quite different. You can readily find alcohol for sale at convenience stores, in vending machines on public streets, and even at train station kiosks. While it’s considered rude to be walking around in the open eating and drinking, it’s perfectly acceptable to eat and drink while sitting down on a train or bus. In fact, many seats will have flip down trays and/or cup holders to make it more convenient for you. Also, many of the bottles that have twist off caps, now come equipped with little pull tabs, so you can very easily open your beverage.

Now, to set the stage for the wine review . . .

We were heading back from Asahikawa (where we had just visited a sake brewery, sampled, and purchased some bottles to bring back home) and it had been a very long day. We were faced with almost 2 hours on a train to get to the city where our hotel was (and we didn’t really know exactly where in the city our hotel was located, so there was that adventure still to come), we had done a lot of walking, and my ankle still hurt like hell. And did I mention we’d just been walking around in the snow in -10 degrees Celsius? Anyway, we got to the train station and had a bit of time before our train was set to arrive so we stopped for snacks and drinks. They had mostly beer and a few bottles of wine, so I decided to pick one up for the train ride ahead. Here are the basic details (keep in mind, this is what I could discern from reading the label, which was mostly in Japanese).

Now, the wine . . .

Furano wine. Lavendar fragrance. A white. 360 ml Bottle with a
real cork – no screw cap. Best served between 6 & 12 degrees
Celsius. A decent 12% alcohol. The little blurb on the front of the
bottle seems to indicate that this might be an expermental brew –> “Furano
viticulture and enology experiment station Shimizuyama Furano Hokkaido
Japan.”

The very nice girl at the check out was kind enough to ask if we wanted cups, to which I responded in the affirmative. As I said, it had been a long day, and when I grabbed the bottle, I hadn’t really given any thoughts on HOW I would drink the wine, just that I wanted to try it. Once we were settled on the train, I pulled the cool bottle out of the bag, and my heart sank a little when I realized that it had a real cork. My husband came to my rescue though and pointed out that the girl at the store had also put a little corkscrew in the bag. Yup, they provide tiny cups and a corkscrew too. Oh, and did I mention the price? It was 480 Y, which works out to around $5.

As for how it tasted, I thought I could actually detect a hint of Lavendar in the wine. But, it might have simply been the suggestive power of the bottle. since it was one of the few English words on it, and it had a picture of a Lavendar field on the front of the bottle too. It was a fairly sweet wine, and I found it pretty good after the long day we’d had. Probably not something I’d serve with dinner, but to kick back and relax a bit while travelling back to the city on the zoo train filled with hyper children and life sized stuffed animals at the front of every car (I kid you not), it was very much worth the price. I’d give it a solid 3 out of 5. Oh, and it paired pretty nicely with the Pocky too.

On a purely side note, I’m quite glad I opted for the white over the red variety, as you can’t see at all where I spilled the wine all over the front of my pants when the train zigged just as I was pouring another cup for myself (did I mention they were tiny, jello-shooter size cups?)

Should I feel so inspired, I may pick up another variety at some other locale on our trip and post another review.

A few pictures to complement the montage . . .

One of the things we learned from our first visit to Japan, was ‘when in doubt, follow the school children.’ It worked this time as well. The picture is a bit blurry because I was taking it while walking up the stairs of the Kamakura train station. It’s a smaller tourist spot and we didn’t really have a map of where anything was. But, when we got off the train and saw hordes of school children, we just started following them, and sure enough, they knew their way to all the different tourist locations already.

Yes, we ran across an Amish cafe. Did not stop in to eat though. They might not have let us after taking a picture of their sign.

The second largest Buddha in Japan. I think it would look bigger if the original surrounding building were still there. But I guess they were only willing to rebuild it so many times after various disasters before they finally gave up. Did Lance mention that you could go inside this one? Yup, for a measely 20 yen per person (which works out to about 20 cents) you can walk inside. You go down super-steep unlit stairs and then you’re inside the Buddha. People were slapping his belly from the inside because you can’t reach it at all from the outside.

And finally, Anata-no Warehouse. This is the outside of the arcade Lance mentioned.

And this is what the inside of the ladies room looks like.

Empire State Building

I didn’t think I’d be terribly impressed by the Empire State Building, but the experience ended up being thought-provoking for a number of reasons.

First, it was our first real taste of the security measures many of the major US attractions now have. I was kind of amazed at the process we had to go through – line ups, x-ray scans of all belongings, metal detectors, etc. I spent the whole trip expecting to be stopped because I had a metal water bottle in my purse/coat all the time, but no one ever even blinked at it. I guess I’m lucky that I don’t ‘look like a terrorist’ (whatever that means).

Secondly, the style of architecture also really resonated with me. I think it’s the Art Deco style and for some reason it just gives me a moment of pause. Seeing such a large building in real life done in that style was impressive.

Third of all, we unexpectedly got to have a ‘behind the scenes’ peek at what goes on with all the security. After seeing the view from the observation platform and heading back down, Kim had a moment of panic when she thought she had dropped her camera somewhere (inside the building). So we went to the nearest uniformed person to tell him what happened and he immediately began escorting us around the building, checking with the various places that it might have ended up. Everyone was very polite about it and it was kind of neat getting to stand in the hallway outside the main security office. In the end, Kim found her camera in her purse afterall.

Lastly, we got a bunch of neat tidbits of information about the building process when we went on the Circle Line Tour. The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building were a kind of architectural pissing contest. The Chrysler building thought they had won it when the Empire State building pulled out all the extra building parts they had been storing inside the empty building to add on the final crucial stories to make it the tallest building in the city. They were both built by car manufacturing magnates. Oh how times have changed! I think the last thing car manufacturers are thinking of right now is erecting ostentatious buildings.

First Day of New York

The first day we arrived in New York, we decided to take it easy. We were going to be meeting Barbara’s friend Jane at 4 in our hotel for dinner, but had no other fixed plans for the day. Our first order of business was finding some food for breakfast . . .

This place had some great bagels that were very large and tasty. So large that we couldn’t finish them for breakfast so they came with us and served as some snacks throughout the day as well.

I wanted to go to a large electronics store that I had heard of to buy myself a small digital camcorder. It took a while for me to pick one and I’m pretty happy with my choice. Unfortunately, it looks like I lost the software CD somewhere along the way. So until/unless I order another one, I’ll have to transfer files directly off the memory card with a card reader.

Then we headed to the Empire State Building. It has a New York Skyride attraction that takes you through a virtual tour of the city (the cheesy narration is provided by Kevin Bacon). Then up to the observation platform on the 86th floor.

That evening we walked around Greenwich Village and had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant. It was really fun hearing about the city from someone who lives there.

Finally! A Post from NYC

Ok, I gotta be quick because I only get 10 minutes and then my session ends. I don’t want to stand in the line up again.

So, things have been fabulous so far. We’ve done pretty much everything we set out to do.

Broadway
Circle Line
Statue of Liberty
Central Park
American Museum of Natural History
M&M World
Madame Tussaudes
Some shopping too

The Hotel is fabulous! We’ve either been out or too tired to hit up the free wine and cheese in the evenings, but they did have a free Merlot in the room when we checked in, which I’ve been greatly enjoying. The room is fairly quiet and very centrally located. The subways are great, but some of the stations are a bit smelly.

Ok, apparently typing registers as idle for the computer, so I may end the post sooner than I thought I would . . .

The weather has also been quite agreeable. One day of a bit of rain and today we got a bit of snow. But, now the sun is shining again and it’s just nice and crisp.

We’ve yet to spot any celebrities in the city, but I’m not sure if I’d recognize them if I did see them in the street – too busy watching everything else. Oh, and this city is definitely a bad influence on jay-walking! Though I feel safer jay-walking with a crowd of New Yorkers than I do crossing legally at some intersections back home. Well, time to wrap it up. Still need to look up some actual info.

On Packing Lists

When preparing for this trip, I was trying out a bunch of online travel organization sites. Largely, none of them really had me coming back again and again.* I didn’t want to super-organize the trip, I wanted flexibility for weather and how we felt each day, so the itinerary planning sites didn’t work too well for me. I enjoyed checking out the suggestions and such, but they just didn’t click with my travel personality.

However, for those who enjoy packing lists, I do want to recommend “don’t forget your toothbrush.” Basically, you get to create a personalized packing list. They provide you with a list of things that you choose to add to your trip list. Then they email you with your list of things for 2 weeks before, one week before, one day before, and the night before. Very handy for list type people like me. I do have one small criticism about the site. Under the “day before” category they list the item “Tell your wife/husband you are going away.” I sure as heck hope that when people travel without their spouse, they have the sense to tell them further in advance than the night before!