Friday, October 13, 2006

Day Thirteen & Early Morning of Day Fourteen

I really didn't do much yesterday. I did go out to Good Day Books to look for a few things. I found a set of Kanji flash cards and the book "Being a Broad".

I swung by Tokyo Station to check out the character stores as well as the Ghibli Store. I got a few things there as well. Then I walked over to the Ginza and picked up "Pompoko" and a CD for a friend (he asked me to find something and I won't tell him which one I found). ;-)

The rest of the afternoon I chilled.

This morning, I woke up to some shaking and rattling.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/3/14065900391.html

What a way to start my last day here. Flight is in less than 9 hours...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Day Eleven & Twelve - Winding Down

Okay, so I really have not done too much these past two days. Maybe it's a case of "there's only so much you want to do on your own". Whatever.

So on Wednesday, I decided to exercise a bit of consumerism. So I went shopping! First off, I wanted to Check out the Charles Tuttle bookshop in Jimbocho. I took the subway over. The last time I was in the Jimbocho area was last year when the ex and I stayed at the Sakura Hotel. The price was right and the location was great. Anyway, I went to where I thought the bookshop was. However, when I got there it looked pretty closed. There was a paper sign on the metal roll-down gate, but I couldn't figure out what it said.

After walking around Jimbocho a little bit, I headed over to the Ginza. I had scoped out on the net where there might be a Kipling store. Of course there was one in the Ginza! ;-) I just had to find it. So I took the subway over to the Ginza. I swung by the HMV there and picked up two CDs. Then along the way, I came across the Sanrio store. Hello Kitty anyway? I picked up a couple of items there. Then I found the Kipling store. Hmmm... I had to satisfy my need to buy a bag. Yes, another bag. I found one I liked. I originally would have liked it in black but they didn't have it in black, so I settled for the dark blue. The Kipling Basic Amour bag. :)

After that purchase, I made my way over to the Sony Building to check out what they had on display. I'll have to admit that I was dazzled by their new LCD televisions. The picture quality was amazing. Of course, it goes without saying that the quality is dependent on what's going through it. After that, I meandered over to the Apple Store. Found and bought a set of in-ear headphones. Okay, starting to get a little hungry, so I decided to head back.

Thursday, I had a commitment in the afternoon, so I decided to just chill until then. :-) Plus, it was pretty warm and humid. :-p So yeah, that was it.

Sorry, no pictures were taken. Batteries for the camera were being charged.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Day Ten - Kamakura

Since the weather has improved a lot over last week, I figure I'd at least try to get one day-trip in. So it was a little trip over to Kamakura.

Kamakura is about an hour (depending on which train station you get on the Yokosuka Line) from Tokyo. Grabbing the train from Shinagawa, it was about a 45 minute ride out to Kita-Kamakura. Some guide books will suggest starting from here and making your way towards "downtown" Kamakura and Kamakura Station. Along the way are a good number of shrines and temples. I managed to visit a few along the way.


Right next to the Kita-Kamakura station is Engaku-ji. This a Zen Buddhist temple. There are a number of interesting statues on the temple grounds.


Afterwards, I hoofed it over to Kencho-ji Temple. Another Zen Buddhist temple. The grounds of this temple are rather nice. It's right next to a school, so it wasn't as peaceful as one would hope.


Then I made my way over to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine. It's a Shinto shrine. I think there was a wedding going on when I got there. From here it was maybe about a t 10-15 minute walk to the Kamakura Station. From there I caught the Enoden line to Hase Station.


From Hase Station, it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the Daibutsu. This is what most people to visit Kamakura come to check out. It's quite impressive.

After that, it was back to Tokyo to rest my weary feet. :-)

Monday, October 09, 2006

Day Nine - Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!


Last morning in Kyoto. The Shinkansen back to Tokyo is at 12:35PM. We decided to swing by the Higashi Hongang-ji. One of the structures is undergoing some restoration work, so they've built this huge thing around it. To some degree, one can still explore parts of it. Afterwards, we went to visit the nearby gardens associated with it.

Train ride was uneventful, but since it was a nice clear day, Mt. Fuji was actually pretty clear and visible. Not much snow yet on top.

That evening, we went to a Thanksgiving dinner organized by one of my buddy's colleagues (fellow Canuck). There is a restaurant here in Tokyo that's owned and operated by a Canuck. The place is called Good Honest Grub. They put together a Thanksgiving meal for folks here in Tokyo. Na bad. :-)

[Update: 28 August 2009]
Sadly, Good Honest Grub has since closed its doors.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Day Eight - Gokonomiya & Fushimi Inari

We got an early start today because there's suppose to be a matsuri happening at Gokonomiya-jinja. This shrine is somewhere south of Kyoto.


I couldn't remember exactly what time they were suppose to parade the mikoshi (portable shrine), so we got there around 8AM.

It turned out to be a little too early, but we saw some guys getting dressed up in period samurai outfits.


Eventually, a whole bunch of mikoshi carriers arrived. After some ceremony and speech, the parading of the mikoshi commenced. We followed the mikoshi around for about and hour or so. Every so often they would stop and heave the mikoshi up and down. There were also a couple of stops along the way for the mikoshi bearers to refresh themslves.


Afterwards, we headed off to Fushimi Inari. This shrine is dedicated to the fox god. It is most famous for the thousands of red toriis that wind their way up the mountain. There was a brief scene in the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" where the young Sayuri ran within the toriis.


We made the climb all the way up and around the mountain. I forget how high the mountain was. something tells me it's around 238 meters. In any case, I was pretty tired after that hike. Afterwards, we caught the train back to Kyoto. Took it easy the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Day Seven - Kyoto, Gion, Temples, Shrines and More Rain

The day started out rather gray and questionable. We weren't sure if the skies were going to clear. In any case, I took my jacket with me, which tuned out to be a good idea.

We started out by heading to the Kyoto Museum. There was supposed to be an artists' flea market. We got there a bit too early. They were suppose to start up around 11:00AM. So to kill some time we went for a walk around the area.


By the intersection of the Teramachi and Sanjo covered arcade was this huge animated crab. Quite the site.


And here is a view of the Kamo River. You can see by the sky what the weather was like. There were passing, frequent showers. Thankfully, my jacket has a hood.

After the walk around the area, we made our way back the Kyoto Museum. By then a number of artists has already set up their wares. We strolled around to see what there was that was interesting. There was a craftsman who made some nice leather handbags. Unfortunately, none on display were for sale. They had to be ordered. I did pick up a set of 5 bowls and a mug. They had a rabbit motif on them. :-) I don't have a picture of them as they are still wrapped up in newspaper. Maybe another time if I remember. After we had our fill, we walked towards the Gion area.

The Gion is best known for being the area where the geishas worked. There are a number of traditional teahouses where the geishas entertained their clients.


We eventually made out way to Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park. From there we went north towards Chion-in. If you've seen The Last Samurai, you might recognise the set of stairs here. Unfortunately, Hollywood "modified" the stairs for the movie. So here's a pic (above) of me with the stairs behind to give you an idea of the scale.

Afterwards, we went back to Maruyama and headed south towards another old part of Kyoto. Here there are many narrow streets and stone walkways. Along the way we encountered some maikos taking a stroll.

Now when we came across them, there were already a few people snapping away with their cameras at them. So I asked my buddy whose Japanese is much better than mine, to see if they wouldn't mind a picture. They obliged and above is one of the 2 shots taken. I feel it was more polite to ask these ladies for their picture rather than indiscriminately take shots of them like the papparazzi. I think it would make them feel less like some spectacle.


We eventually made our way to Kiyomizudera Temple. Here's a classic shot of the main structure of this place. In the distance you can see downtown Kyoto. We walked around the grounds of the temple before we decided it was time to head back. We had covered quite a bit of ground.

After taking a break at the hotel, we went to a nearby kaiten sushi bar for dinner. It was pretty good. :-)

And that's the end of our first full day in Kyoto.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Day Six - Trip to Kyoto

The day started out pretty gloomy. Then it started to pour. I guess I won't be doing much during the day before catching the train in the afternoon for Kyoto. This was rain with some wind. Yuck! :-p

My buddy and I caught the 16:15 Shinkansen to Kyoto. We were suppose to catch the one an hour before but my buddy got caught up with some stuff at work. Thankfully, I was able to exchange the tickets for the later one.

We got an eki-ben to eat on the train on the way out. After we got to Kyoto and settled in we went to the hotel bar for a couple of beers. The weather's too misrable to do much in the evening.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Day Four & Five

I apologize for not updating yesterday. I was pretty pooped yesterday and, since I needed to be somewhere this morning, I went to bed early. I think I was out by 10:30 or so.

So, yesterday, the weather still being somewhat overcast, I decided to make my way over to the Tokyo National Museum by Ueno Park. This was about a half hour train ride on the Yamanote line. When I got to Ueno station, I had a hard time finding the right exit. Either I wasn't looking in the right place or proper signage was lacking in telling you which way to go to get to the park and/or museum. In any case, I did find my way to the park.

Walking down the main thoroughfare of the park, one could see quite a few homeless people hanging around the park. There were a lot of "thing" covered with a blue tarp. Blue tarpaulin seems to be the material of choice in covering and protecting one's remaining personal possessions. I noticed that these folk do not seem to bother anyone and general keep to themselves.

Anyway, I managed to make my way over to the museum. There was a special exhibit called "Shaping Faith — Japanese Ichiboku Buddhist Statues". It cost a little extra, but what the heck. It was an interesting exhibit on wooden statues and the technique and history behind the creation of these statues. Afterwards, I went off to explore the rest of the museum.

This museum has quite an extensive collection of ancient Japanese artifacts and a huge variety of things between then and now. I highly recommend a visit to this museum.

Today was more of a runaround type of day. I was meeting a few people today at various times. As a result, I was hopping on and off trains most of the day. I had one meeting in the AM. Then I had to scootch over to Shinagawa to catch the Shinakansen to Shin-Yokohama to have lunch with R. Then it's back on the Shinkansen to Shinagawa and then to Roppongi for a 2PM meeting. Whew!! Needless to say, I'm pretty pooped right now.

Tomorrow I've got to get ready for the train ride to Kyoto. I promise to take a whack load of pics from that trip. :-)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Day Three

Okay, so the weather decided to improve a bit today. In fact, I think the sun actually made an appearance! I figure I'd take advantage of this and head out.

Today, I decided I would check out Meiji-jingu Shrine. It's tucked away into this nicely wooded area next to Harajuku Station. The torii at the entrance is made entirely of wood. It's a rather awsome looking structures. There's another one like it further down the patch.



After that little jaunt around the shrine I headed off towards Tokyo Station. From there I walked over to the Imperial Palace grounds. Before heading up the ramp of the fortress it might be a good idea to check out a nearby garden first. :-) It's a rather nice little walk.



Another thing I remember about walking through the park before are the big colorful spiders! I don't know how dangerous they are, but just the fact that they're so colorful is quite fascinating.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Day Two - Rain

For the second day in a row, the weather has been less than ideal for doing any outdoor sightseeing.

This morning I got up early and headed out with my friend to take care of a few things. Later in the morning, I was meeting with someone at Roppongi Hills. By noon, I had had it with the weather and decided to head back to the apartment. :-p

At some point mid-afternoon the skies has started to brighten a little bit. I think I might have even seen a hint of blue sky behind the clouds. This was the opportunity to go out and pick up a few things. On the way back from the store, I could see that the dark rain clouds were starting to roll in again. Drat!

So, to maybe make this entry a bit more interesting, I'll say a few words about the area I am staying in.

This area is called Minami Azabu. It's not far from Roppongi and it's right in the middle of the area were many of the foreign embassies and consulates are located. As a result, a good number of people who live here are foreigners. The supermarket I went to caters to this ex-pat community. There you can find quite a few items from "home" (jeez! the good coffee is expensive!). Unfortunately, I couldn't find the fresh fish I had wanted to get! ;-)

My friend's apartment is located right next to the Korean Embassy. When we went by it the other day, there were no less than 4 security personnel at the entrance. It's also worth noting that most of the shops here have staff that speak some English. Considering the neighborhood they're operating in, this benefits the shops and patrons.

A few words on fashion here: I can't wear it. Since I got here, I've been taking note of what some of the women here wear. There doesn't seem to be any one trend being followed by the young and the hip. Some things I have seen: cowboy boots with a short skirt or shorts; knee-high hosiery worn with a skirt; lots of high heels. I give these women credit for being able to run around in these things, even in rainy weather! I think I would just end up tripping and breaking my neck wearing those things. :-p

I get the impression the people here have very long days. As a result, I see many people catching a few Z's on the trains and subways. I wonder how many of them end up missing their stop. Yesterday, on the way back from the Ginza, we saw this woman sitting across from us applyin make-up. Now it takes a bit of talent to put on eye make-up on a moving vehicle!

Anyway, let's see if I'll have the energy or motivation to head out tomorrow in this crappy weather.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Day One - Tokyo


So, I arrived late yesterday afternoon. The flight was about 20 minutes late since we actually took off from ORD about 45 minutes after we actually pulled away from the gate. The flight itself was uneventful. At least I managed to get my seat changed to Economy Plus (more legroom!). Didn't do to much after getting in but to freshen up a bit. Went out to dinner with my friend. We went to an Indian/Nepalese place calles Lakxmi (sp?) near Meguro Station. The food was pretty good. :-)

Today, we went out to Togo Jinji near Harajuku to check out the flea market. Somehow there were less vendors than when I was there last year. In any case, there were still a fair amount of vendors. The weather was starting to get a little wet. After the fleamarket we headed towards where the Harajuku cosplay folks and goths and the like were hanging out. Didn't explore too far since it started to sprinkle a bit more. Aftewards, grabbed some lunch and then met up with a friend of my buddy. Had more food, then afterwards we swung by Ginza and the Apple Store. :D By then it was showers instead of some sprinkles. :-p Thank goodness for cheap 400 yen umbrellas! Afterwards, we came back to chill and watch some Firefly episodes and Jim Jarmusch movies.

Friday, May 05, 2006

DesMoinesRegister.com

DesMoinesRegister.com
Is this the current state of some people's attitudes? I hope not. At least some of the reader's comments side with the restaurant!
It seems that more and more people have the attitude, "Well, I paid for this. I should be able to do whatever I want." :-(