Golden Week Adventure - Part 3

Tokyo is big. No, I mean Tokyo is really, really big. Tokyo is so big, I’m pretty sure that it’s considered its own prefecture. Yeah, it’s so big it’s a city and a prefecture. It’s so big I don’t even fully comprehend it. Now that I’ve been there, I understand it a bit better, but I still don’t understand it.

Tokyo is big. Tokyo is so big, if you want to go there, you need to pick one or two wards or areas to go see a day and just stick with that. Maybe you can have a third place in mind as a back-up plan, but don’t try to be a hero. Tokyo is big and there’s a lot to see, so take your time.

For our second day, we had a plan that was pretty packed. First, we were off to Harajuku. Harajuku is another area of Tokyo that is popular amongst the young folk. It’s where you go if you want to buy clothes to look like a Goth, cos-player or if you’re like me and can’t survive without some sort of outfit that includes cat ears (if you’re not a cat fan bear, dog and rabbit eared outfits are also available). You can also find posh stores like Louis Vuitton, but they’re not very interesting to me.

The stores that I am interested in are all located on Takeshita Dori, a very narrow street lined with funky clothing shops, shops filled with nothing by posters of Japanese celebrities, cafes, and one of the largest Daiso’s (a Japanese dollar stores) in Tokyo.

This is all well and good, if you can get into the street. Actually getting into the street wasn’t the problem, navigating my way through the street was the problem. This is what I get for trying to go to such a popular spot on a Sunday during golden week. The street was packed! Tokyo stereotype packed. I’m surprised that my friends and I were able to find each other whenever we parted ways. It was just crazy. Oh yeah, I plan on going again. But this time maybe a Tuesday morning.

Ah, but why did we go to Harajuku on a Sunday? Sunday is the day when all the kids are out and about in their funky outfits. We saw a few Gothic Lolita girls (sorry, it was too crowded to try and get a picture), a few cos-players, and a few Goths. A few people were willing to let the gawking foreigners take their pictures, but a lot of them were against it, which I find kinda funny. If you’re going to go through all the trouble to look like that, then why not let people take your picture. You must be dressing like that for some kind of attention, right?

Now if everything I talked about sounds boring or immature for you, oh one of such impeccable tastes, you may want to visit Harajuku for Meiji Shrine. Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to “the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.” Emperor Meiji was emperor in the late 1800’s. He was a pretty great emperor who did a lot of things that shaped Japan into the country it is today. For example, he was responsible for making Japan modern and westernized, and for bringing democracy to the country. No wonder he was deified and got his own shrine.

The shrine itself was completed in 1920, but rebuilt after it was destroyed in WW2. I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures, but the torii gate that acts as the entrance to Meiji Shrine is huge! And according to plaques on the torii gate, these are the original torii gates. Meaning they’ve been standing there for almost 100 years. I guess coming from such a young country, it’s hard to imagine anything that old still existing.

Having explored Harajuku to the point of exhaustion, we decided to make our way to Shibuya. Shibuya is another youthful place in Tokyo filled with trendy fashion, but the fashion here is much more upscale.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I really don’t care about fashion. And I don’t. Give me a plain solid color tee with a pair of jeans any day. Oh, and maybe a kitty hat to go with it. That’s as far as my fashion sense goes. But Shibuya is Japan’s Times Square, it’s just one of those places you have to see. Also, Shibuya was the main location for one of my favorite animes, Super Gals, so I had to go experience it for myself.

We got our first glance of Shibuya from a window inside the station. Seeing all the tall buildings and department stores was pretty amazing. And then the traffic lights changed and our world was changed forever. When the lights at this crosswalk change, they allow people to cross in six different directions at once. I don’t remember how long the lights stay green for, but the amount of people that crossed there was staggering. It was a seemingly never-ending stream of people crossing the street. They seemed to come out of nowhere and I have no idea where they went. It was like they disappeared once they finished crossing. Watching the people below do something as simple as cross the street was amazing, scary (because I knew at some point I would be among that throng of people) and just really, really cool. It gave me one of those “wow, I’m in Japan” moments.

Outside of Shibuya station there is a statue of a dog. The dog’s name is Hachiko. According to tales, Hachi used to wait outside of Shibuya station everyday for his master. One day, his master passed away before he made it to Shibuya station, but Hachiko still waited. He waited and waited until he finally passed away. And thus, there’s now a statue of him. There’s more to the story so if you want to find out more you can check out the movie, Hachi, starring Richard Gere. Seeing Hachiko was high on my list of “Things I have to do in Japan,” so I was thrilled when I got to take a photo with the famous statue. That’s one thing checked off of a very long list.

The rest of time is Shibuya was spent looking around fancy and trendy shops and acting like yokels who’ve never seen tall buildings before. We also had a quick stop in a McDonald’s. I realize that doesn’t seem very exciting, but this was the fanciest McDonald’s I’ve ever been to. Everything was a little bit more expensive (they didn’t have a dollar menu) but considering the service you get, it was worth the extra 50 yen. After we got our order, we headed downstairs (many McDonald’s have multiple floors) to find a table. When we got there a hostess took our tray and found us a table in the cramped space, passed the trendy teenagers and empty tables with reservation signs. At our table we found a laminated menu card, much like the kind you would find at fancier restaurants. After we finished our food, someone came and took our tray threw away our garbage for us. We left quickly after that since the place was packed and we felt bad taking up such precious real-estate. I also felt bad taking pictures in there, so I only snapped a quick one of the inside of the dining area. Maybe next time I’ll have the courage to try and get a picture of an employee in their cute outfit that included a skirt and pastel colored beret.

Last stop on day two of our adventure was Akihabara. Unfortunately we got there really late, so majority of the shops were closed, but we still enjoyed what we found. I wanted to get purikura (picture stickers) with everyone, so we headed to Club Sega, a multi-leveled arcade and amusement centre. Well, first we got lost and got directions from an employee of a different Club Sega dressed in school girl cos-play. The purikura area here was pretty interesting. They had costumes you could wear while taking your pictures, and areas with scissors so you could cut out your page of stickers and divide them amongst your group. After we got our pictures, we headed to the arcade. Kris amused himself at the drumming game, as usual, and Giselle and Scott tried out a Tetris game with a giant arcade stick. I think they even vibrated.

Our quick trip to Akihabara was the perfect end to a very long day. We hopped on the last train back to our hostel and passed out.

Golden Week Adventures - Part 2

Okay, now where was I… oh right, we were exploring Akiba. Well more, Kris was exploring, and I was running out the clock until I had to hop on a train to go pick up my first visitor, my buddy Scott.

Like I said earlier, our hostel was in Asakusa, which, according to the Tokyo transit map, is the last stop in Metro Tokyo before Narita Airport. What they don’t tell you is just how much things have been scaled down to fit everything onto this map. Therefore, what looked like only a 15 min subway ride was actually an hour long trip outside of Tokyo and into the Japanese countryside. So much for being early and looking at souvenirs…

And to make matters worse, I was held back at the train gate over some misinformation about the cost to the airport. Then I got totally lost. This left Scott lost and alone in the airport for about an hour. But we found each other, and we made our way back to the hostel.　　

Our travel group now complete, we headed to Roppongi to have dinner at The Hard Rock Café (I know, so Japanese, right?) and to see Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is very pretty at night, all lit up with lights that really just makes the skyline of Roppongi breathtaking, but, up close, it’s not as impressive. Or, maybe it’s just not as impressive to a group that has been inside The CN Tower which is almost twice the height of Tokyo Tower. I guess in a couple of years we'll have to go visit Tokyo Sky Tree, which is already taller than Tokyo Tower and it still has 18 months worth of building to be completed.

Roppongi is a pretty interesting area of Tokyo. It’s another area of Tokyo that is very popular with “the young folks” and it’s easy to see why. The streets are lined with clubs, pubs, and numerous American restaurants. If you’re looking for the Tokyo nightlife, Roppongi is the place to go.

A warning: if you’re a blond boy, like my buddy Scott, you’re going to get harassed by Samoan club owners looking to fill their clubs with blondes in order to attract Japanese women. It was pretty bad. Within the span of a block, Scott was approached by four different men all trying to convenience him to go to their club. As soon as one man left, another one swooped in to take his place. Even if you’re not blonde, you could be approached by club owners just trying to fill their clubs. Only these ones won’t follow you as you walk away.

Hey, look at that, I finished day one! Next time… day two!

Golden Week Adventures - Part 1

Sorry about the delay lately, folks. But your favorite stranger in a strange land is back and ready to talk of adventure.

One of the reasons for the radio silence of late was that I was busy planning a major vacation for my first golden week in Japan. One of the reasons why I was making this trip so spectacular was because I got my first visitor from the homeland and I wanted to make sure that his first, and probably only, trip to Japan would be memorable and action packed. While it was as action-packed as I had hoped, I didn’t think it would be so crazy, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s just say I learned a lot from this trip. A lot about Japan, a lot about myself and my friends, and a lot about how a sardine feels.

Moving on… Golden Week is a wonderful time between April 29 and May 5 that includes 4 days off and, when mixed with a weekend, gives the average employee seven days off. This is one of the things in Japan that would never happen in North America. Since almost everyone in the country has so many days off, it’s the busiest travel season of the year. And after touring a good chunk of the country, I can definitely say that that is one of the most factual statements on this blog.

After weeks of trolling Japan travel websites, reserving hostels and transportation, and triple checking everything, the big date had finally arrived! On April 30, after school was done, Kris and I grabbed our bags, locked up our apartment and headed to the train station, about to start on our grand adventure.

There are a lot of ways to get across the country; the very reliable JR train, the super speedy bullet train (or Shinkansen), highway buses and overnight buses, or by airplane. For this part of the trip, we opted for an overnight bus. Now, as a North American, I know what kind of images the term “overnight bus” or even “highway bus” brings to mind. But, like most things in Japan, it’s not the same here. While overnight buses are a much more affordable way to travel, they aren’t nearly as dingy, dirty or disgusting as their North American counterparts. They’re very well maintained, modern, and, in some cases, incredibly comfy. The bus we took from Kobe to Tokyo, wasn’t the incredibly comfy kind (we cheaped out on this ride) but the one we took from Tokyo to Kyoto was like a cloud, complete with a cone of silence.

The next morning, we found ourselves in the very large and busy Tokyo Station. This was our second time in Tokyo Station and, if I can help it, our last. Tokyo Station seems to be in a constant state of construction and is very hard to navigate through. I think we were lost for about an hour trying to find our way to the Tokyo subway station that would eventually take us to our hostel.

Ah, there’s another word that would make a normal North American squirm. While this hostel does have rooms that hold eight or so people, they also have nice and clean private rooms that can hold one to four people. We stayed in a private room that held the four of us. It had bunk beds, which is a lot of fun for me, because I have the maturity of a five year old. While the hostel in Tokyo was nice, the hostel in Kyoto was amazing, but we’ll get to that later.

Our hostel was in an area of Tokyo called Asakusa. It’s a very old area of Tokyo, but a very beautiful area. Asakusa hosts an area with a few temples, shrines, old fashioned market and an old amusement park. This area is also famous for making and selling plastic food. Almost every restaurant in Japan has displays outside of it that shows the food you can order. The displays are pretty amazing. They look real enough to eat, and it seems like you can get anything in plastic form. And this is where they get it from. I didn’t get a chance to look at the shops, but there’s always next time. As it was, we didn’t have enough time to explore the area with the temples and shrines as much as we would have liked. But we did get some nice pictures, and I got some great ideas for presents for family and friends.

After we checked in and got our bags safely stored away, we headed to Tsukiji Fish Market. This is Japan’s largest and busiest fish market. The market comes to life at about 5 am. At around 6 am, the tuna market opens up. This is a big tourist attraction. Unfortunately, it was closed during Golden Week, and, thanks to our adventures in Tokyo Station, we would have been too late for it anyways. It was pretty cool to see. Even though there were a bunch of tourists, business never stopped. Men were packing fish in ice, conducting business and just going on as if they weren’t being stared at from on-lookers. Another reason to head to the fish market is to check out the different shops and the restaurants that serve the freshest raw fish you’ve ever had. There’s nothing like a raw tuna over rice for breakfast. Yum! But what really stuck out to me about the fish market is that there weren’t any stray cats in the area, which is pretty impressive considering that the fish smell is so strong that you can smell it while you’re still in the subway.

Having finished our adventures in the fish market, we headed to Akihabara. Akihabara is Tokyo’s anime and electronic district. This is where you go if you want to find the crazy anime and manga toys, play a bunch of video games, and find the crazy electronics that Japan is known for. This is the only part of the trip that Kris really cared about. Since he didn’t get enough time to really experience Akihabara this trip, next time we head to Tokyo, I’m just gonna leave him there and meet up with him again for dinner. Like a daycare…

Wow that's a lot, and we're not even finished the first day.  Okay, I'm going to go take a break and I'll be back with the next chapter next week!

Beginnings

Spring brings more to Japan than just pretty colored trees.  Spring also marks the beginning of a new school year.  While all around us nature is refreshing and beginning anew, so is our school.  I kinda like that.  Spring has always been used as a metaphor for beginnings, so having the new school year start in the spring makes sense.  With the long break in the summer, it doesn’t necessarily work as well as having the school year start after the long break, but it still makes sense.

Now, for many, a new school year doesn’t mean much more than just a return to the same schedule after a short break.  For others, like the 7 new teachers and 161 new students that just entered my junior high school, it means a brand new life.  And in the case of the students,that includes 2 brand new uniforms, brand new gym clothes, a brand new school bag (which is an official school duffel bag and a complete change from the hard and sturdy backpacks they used for the last 6 years), 2 brand new pairs of shoes, and, of course, new teachers and new classmates.

Oddly enough, at least to me, beginning your time at a new school is so important that there’s a big entrance ceremony to commemorate the occasion.  While it was rehearsed less than the graduation ceremony, it seemed to be much more important.  At least, that’s the feeling I got from the parents.  While there was a good crowd at the graduation ceremony, which was held barely a month ago, the entrance ceremony was packed.  We had to put out more chairs to accommodate the happy and tearful parents.  It also felt like it was more important because a lot more of the mother’s were dressed in kimonos, while the only kimono to be seen at the graduation was worn by one of the teachers.

Actually, now that I think about it, the level of importance of the two ceremonies seems to be complete opposite.  What I mean is, the graduation ceremony was held in great reverence by the teachers and the school in general.  There was a lot of prep time, the teachers were dressed to the nines, and it just felt like a very important occasion.  While there were parents there, and they were dressed nicely, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal, especially when compared to the kind of reception a graduation back home gets.  Then there’s the entrance ceremony.  Very little time was spent getting ready for it, the rehearsal took thirty minutes, while the teachers were dressed nice, they weren’t dressed as nicely as they were for the graduation and it just felt like an average ceremony.  But the parents came out in huge crowds, were dressed a lot more formally, and just seemed like this was one of the most important ceremonies that they could attend. Interesting how the two different parties put different levels of importance on the two ceremonies.

Speaking of the parents, it was really cute to see them get excited about the class placement of their child.  Before a new school year begins, the teachers have a meeting and divvy up the students into equal classes.  Right now, there are four classes for each grade at my school.  Every year, the students are separated into different classes.  It’s fun to watch the students crowd around the board that lists each class.  There’s a lot of commotion; squeals of delight by friends who discovered that they’re in the same class, mummers of unhappiness from the students who are stuck with a less-than-favorite person, and just general pushing and shoving of people trying to find their name somewhere on the giant list.  Today, not only did the first year students act this way, but their parents also did before entering the gymnasium and finding a seat.  Many parents also took photos of their child’s name on the list, or a photo of someone pointing to their child’s name.  It was quite entertaining to watch these groups of grown people act like, well, junior high students.

As for the new students... eee... they’re so cute!  Some of them are so tiny they barely fit into their uniforms.  But I know that won’t last long.  They’ll fill them out before the year is done.  Still, it should be a fun year.  I can’t wait to get started!

Cherry Blossom Parties

Every spring, millions of cherry trees (or sakura) come to life.  The different shades of pink and white flowers can be seen as far as the eye can see, a bright touch of color in the middle of the usual green landscape.  It reminds me of the inspiration poster that tells you to be unique or an individual and shows a single yellow flower surrounded by a sea of red flowers.

The sad thing about sakura trees is that their beautiful blossoms don't last for long.  Within a week or so of their blooming, they will fall off of the trees in a storm of pink and white petals.

Since the beauty doesn't last long, people take time out to go and sit under the trees, usually with a picnic and some alcoholic beverages.  Apparently this practice (known has hanami, or flower viewing) started in China and has since become very popular in Japan.  Hanami is so popular in Japan that it's almost like a holiday season.

In Canada, or America, when the next upcoming holiday approaches, the stores are filled with items for that holiday and everything and anything comes out with holiday versions in order to celebrate.  The same happens with hanami.  The stores are filled with products to help you enjoy your picnic; like picnic baskets, tarps to sit on, temperature controlling bags for food or drinks and even mini-BBQs.  Sakura themed products fill the shelves; dishes, chopsticks, boxes of beer, and even kit-kats.  Also, to help with the planning of hanami events, the news has a sakura viewing forecast on after the weather.  There are also quite a few websites dedicated to reporting on the blossoming around the country as well as tips about the best locations for sakura viewing.

If you ever want to visit Japan, I highly recommend coming at the end of March or beginning of April, when the sakura are in bloom.  Its incredibly beautiful and there's nothing like a picnic under the trees with some good friends and a couple of cold drinks.