Sumo!!!

Honda is a generous company. Since they realize those of us in Japan can't make it to the big Christmas party, they give us some budget to throw our own. This year, we took that money and went to the sumo tournament this weekend. So now I'm inspired to eat a little more.

We all gathered up at the train station, the OAPs, the wives, and the kids, about 24 of us in all. We filled up a train car (the slow kind), and got down there around 2:30, plenty of time to watch the big dogs, but not make the kids sit through the lower ranks. Unfortunately, something about the way the lighting is in the sumo stadium, the action shots don't come out well. But I did get you these nice shots of a big guys rear.

I also got his nice movie of the most psyched up sumo of the day. Too bad for him, it didn't work.

After sumo, we all went to dinner at TGI Friday's, since it was American Christmas party day. the fajitas weren't as good as I remember them but they were fajitas, and that's enough.

The single (or single in Japan) guys went down to Roppongi for the night afterwards. That's a part of Tokyo that's full of bars for foreigners and the women who love them. Not just the ones you pay, although there are plenty of those, but also the kind you just talk into stuff. We drank ourselves silly until around 4 and then called it a night. Good or bad, I lack the memories to really make for any interesting stories, so that's all you get.

I was supposed to meet some guys from my department back home in Roppongi, but there was a communication problem, so we made plans to meet the next day. I got over to their hotel in Shinjuku around 11 and took them over to Akihabara. I think I've covered that place before, so no stories this time. After that, we went to a nice touristy temple, Senso-ji, in Asakusa.

While we were standing at the front gate (Kaminari-mon, "Thunder Gate") taking pictures, and this girl walks up to us and says "Excuse me, do you speak English?". Lucky for her, we do. Suddenly 5 of her friends rush up, and she explains they're the "English Speaking Society" at some college nearby. The club is giving tours of the temple to practice speaking English. So the 3 of us got 6 tour guides. I got to practice my Japanese, they got to speak English, and we got a little different Senso-ji experience than I've had in the past. These girls were all 19, but they seemed 11. I couldn't help behaving myself. I did make them take a picture with us, but stopped there.

Kyoto Day 4 - Last day

On my last day in Kyoto, I had until 6 before I had to catch my train, so there was still enough time to check out a few more things. First, I finally got to check out Nijo-jo, an old (1600) shogun's castle right across the street from my hotel. I would have gone sooner, but they were closed for new years. Still, it was nice passing by this everyday on the way to the subway.

This is just the guardhouse on the corner, but it's the part you can see best from outside. I went in, plunked down 500 yen for the self-guiding audio tour, and I was off. Inside, there was another "World Heritage Site", a palace that was the official Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. I walked through the palace, and it was of course full of beautiful paintings, which I didn't realize until later were just reproductions. The originals were in the climate and humidity controlled building on the other side.

The most interesting thing about the palace were the "Nightingale floors". The floors in the palace were designed specifically to creak whenever someone walks on them. The idea was to ninja-proof the floors, keep assassins away.

Next stop was across town to Heian Jingu shrine. Just seemed like a geographically convenient shrine, although there were other more famous places to go. After only a tiny bit of wandering outside of the train station, I found the right way to go. Pretty easy once I spotted this.

Biggest torii I've ever seen. Usually, these are made of wood or stone, but I guess that a wood one this size isn't earthquake proof, so they used steel. I followed the road, and they had the last remnants of the new year party at the temple, so that's where I grabbed some lunch. I tried takoyaki for the first time. It's pretty similar to okonomiyaki, but in balls, with a nice chunk of octopus inside. I took mine across the street to watch some kid playing baseball, on Jan 5, in front of the big ass torii.

After watching an inning and touring the shrine, it was time to go back to the hotel to pick up my stuff and head towards the station. Plan was to shove my stuff in a coin locker and look at the tourist stuff near the station so that I could make a run for my train when the time came.

Last temple I had time to go to in Kyoto was Toji. Famous for having the tallest pagoda in Japan. I really liked it, but all the cool stuff was in "No Picture" zones, so no pictures. It was the first pagoda I saw where you were allowed inside, at least on the first floor. It was really pretty small and crowded with statues. They also don't want too much light to fade the statues, so it was dark, too. There was a temple employee inside who would occasionally shine a flashlight on some of the statues, but you really couldn't see anything.

On my way back to the station, I had just enough time to go into one of the subtemples of Toji. I was glad I made time for it, because it was my favorite temple of the whole trip. It was small and quiet and you could go anywhere you wanted, for the most part. I liked that it was just open and there were no people there. Very peaceful.

Unfortunately, I had to run from there to get to my train. For the first time ever, my shinkansen was delayed. Only 5 minutes, but it was strange. And, over the course of the 2 1/2 hours to Tokyo, somehow they made up the time. Got home around 10 that night, and I was so beat I did nothing all day Sunday.

Well, that's it for Kyoto. Hopefully I painted a pretty picture, because I wouldn't mind going back. If anyone wants to come and check it out, I kind of know my way around now, so it should go more smoothly.

FYI - Peacemakers

Here's what the Peacemakers are up to. I think it's a step up from the last album, but I may be starved for new music in English. I particularly like "I speak your language". Fits my barroom experiences here pretty well. Check it out and share your opinion.

http://www.azpeacemakers.com/jj/

Postscript to the above post:

One thing that I've rediscovered since moving to Japan is drinking before I go to the bar. That way if there's nobody I know there I'm a little more ready to start talking to random strangers right away. Therefore, I was drinking a beer and a tequila (cabo waba anejo, very good) while I wrote that last bit. Once I got to the gaijin bar, it wasn't the gaijin bar. The only other gaijin in the bar was on the guiness tap. Drank 2 beers, read a newspaper, and waited, but nobody showed, so I decided to go to another bar named "Suckerpunch". Despite it's Refreshments ties, it was closed at 11 on a Saturday nigh, so I don't know if it's even in business anymore. But I did sing that "I speak you language" song the whole walk there.

Kyoto Day 3 - temple, temple, temple...

When I got home from Nara, I sat down to kind of chart out what I wanted to see on my last 2 days in town. I unfolded my map and pretty quick I could see that there was too much to do in 2 days. I had to be a little selective. I charted a course, but it was going to be a lot of walking again.

My plan was to go a couple subway stops North and follow the temples southwest until I came to a train station a few stops West of my hotel. As the crow flies it was about 2km, but with wandering around the temples and taking a few wrong turns, I knew it would be a lot longer.

The first stop on my plan was Daitokuji. I walked all around it and it seemed to be closed, so I had to decide whether to wait around to see if it opened or keep moving. Since I didn't see any sign showing when it would open, I decided to move on. On wandered past one of the subtemples, and it was open so I went in. It was a small temple famous for it's tea room, but it also had a big, beautiful garden, and I pretty much had it all to myself.

Next stop was probably the biggest tourist temple in Kyoto, Kinkakuji, the golden pavilion. Famous for having a golden pavilion. It's originally from about 1400, but was burned down a few times since then, most recently and famously in 1950 by a disturbed monk. They rebuilt and slightly improved on the original, replacing all the gold leaf that was mostly gone before it burned. I scraped together enough Japanese to get someone to take this picture.
At the temples, they sell these little fortunes. Usually they monks sell them, but sometimes they have fortune vending machines. I mostly just pass them by, since I can't read much Japanese, but being really touristy, they had English versions. I love the sign on the right. Hard Money, Pay Down!
A woman I talked to back at Daitokuji said that that was the nicest landscape garden, and the best rock garden was at Ryoanji. As luck would have it, it was next on my to-do list. I took off my shoes and put on the visitor slippers and walked in.

It's a pretty little temple, but the real claim to fame is the rock garden. It's about 25m by 10m, and you can only look from the one long side. There were people packed in 2 deep looking at the garden and meditating. It's just white gravel and 15 stones, laid out by a famous painter around 1500. Very beautiful, but sometime I don't really get the Japanese sense of beauty.
Did my 15 minutes of sitting and meditating, but mostly just resting up for the next part of the day.

After Ryoanji was Ninnaji, a big temple complex that dates from the 9th century. Seeing as they mostly build with wood, the original buildings are all gone and most of the buildings there now are from the 17th century. There were more gardens, temples, and a 5 story pagoda. It was probably my favorite temple of day 3.
The plan was to walk south through Myoshinji temple on the way to the train station, but it seemed to be closed. I made a pretty full lap of a pretty large temple wall before I found a way in. It was really only one corner of the temple that it seemed like I could get to, and by then I was pretty tired and didn't want to keep looking for another way in, so I looked around what I could and headed for the station. 250yen and 1 transfer later I was back at the hotel to come up with a night plan.

Plan was to follow the wiki recommendation and go to an okonomiyaki shop on Shijodori and try to find one of the bars they list in the travel guide. I found the okonomiyaki place, and it was exactly what wiki promised: "pleasantly grubby". That seems like the right way to do okonomiyaki. Plus, the name was "Mr. Young Men", but not in a gay way.
Turns out Shijodori is a big, crowded shopping area, and Mr. Young Men is down a covered shopping street just off the main street. They have one of these outdoor malls in Utsunomiya, but this place was way bigger. I walked down the one covered street and then realized that there were more covered streets branching off, maybe 3 or 4, each about 3 blocks long.

After eating and wandering, I found a bar to have a couple drinks at. Unfortunately, it was still early and I was already beat, so it wasn't very exciting. I just had my 2 beers at what I can only describe as the Japanese version of the American version of an Irish pub and headed back around 9:30. Only one day left, and lots to see before I catch my train.

Kyoto Day 2 - Nara

Day 2 I went to Nara, home of giant Buddhas, tame deer, and namesakes. I saw the first 2, but didn't track down any of the third.

I go on the same train as I did on Day 1, but this time it was the right train, so 30 minutes later I was in the first capital of Japan. I had an aggressive sightseeing plan, but I promised myself I would take more breaks and not be as tired at the end of the day. Didn't work.

First I walked through the nearest temple, Kofukuji. The big attractions there were a 5 story pagoda, some hexagon shrines, and a "Treasure House". The treasure house was 500 yen, but I went in anyway. It was a bunch of statues that were originally all around the temple, but since they were all designated "Important Cultural Assets" they moved them inside.

Next on the itinerary was Todaiji and it's giant Buddha, or diabutsu. But on the way there, I found the first of the tame deer and decided to feed them.
Apparently, if you day "dozo" (it's like "here you go") before you give them the deer snack, being that they're Japanese deer, they bow. Unfortunately, I didn't hear this until I got back, but maybe next time.

These deer pretty much have the run of the town. Todaiji, like most famous temples, has a street full of tourist shops leading up to it. This is right across the street from the park, and the deer seem to feel welcome in the shops, too.
There was also this shop, which I'm sure will entice many of you to come visit, once you see how cool it is. Don't worry, the ninja's fake.
Once I worked my way down the street, I finally got to Todaiji. It's huge, and it has to be to hold the giant Buddha inside. It's supposed to be the biggest wooden building in the world. Holds up pretty well for 300 years old
Inside is the giant Buddha, or diabutsu, which just means big Buddha. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It's 15 meters tall, and all bronze. It's originally from the 700's, but has been re-cast a bunch of times to fix damages.
When you work your way around the back of the diabutsu, one of the pillars holding the building up has a hole in it. There's some tradition that says you squeeze through the hole for good luck. It's mostly just kids who can fit through. I took one look and knew not to even try. Just as I found my opening to take a picture of the hole, this little old lady started through.
I think she had the size to make it through, but she didn't have the flexibility. She got the top half in and then just sat there for almost long enough for me to get worried before she backed out.

I walked all around town looking at all the "World Heritage" sights before heading back. I was much better prepared this time. I brought not only my map but my compass, and didn't get lost at all. It helped that there were waves of people all moving in the same basic rotation around town. Just follow the flow. I finished the day off at the Nara National Museum. They have all sorts of ancient art and archaeological stuff like pots and cups from ancient Japan. The most interesting thing I saw was a series of displays showing how the wooden Buddhas were made. There was also a nice explanation of the different hand gestures that Buddhas have.

Stopped in the train station Starbucks on the way home and took this picture. Notice the kimono girls in the window. Just made me laugh.

Sorry this didn't get up sooner. I had a party Monday, and last night I went to another guys apartment to watch the debacle.

On the bright side, when I got there to watch the game, another OAP who took his family to Thailand for vacation had brought me back a bottle of Mekong.

Kyoto Day 1 - Mostly Lost

First off, let me apologize for not getting to this while I was in Kyoto. I decided that the laptop was just to heavy to carry and left it behind.

I woke up early Wednesday morning, packed up my big backpack and walked to the station to catch my 8:20 Shinkansen to Kyoto. I got there about 3 hours later and started getting lost. My plan was to drop my big backpack off in a coin locker and grab my small backpack to carry around my map and stuff, and to pack up any souvenirs I might buy. I wandered Kyoto station for about 15 minutes before I could find a locker, and then grabbed a quick lunch at McDonalds's while I figured out the next step.

Here's where I made my first mistake. I planned on going to Fushimi Inari shrine in the south of town first, so I got out my train map and looked for a station named Fushimi. That was on a different, private company train line that was on the other side of the station. I followed the signs until they just sort of petered out. I looked turned around, saw the name with an arrow pointing the other way and followed it until I was back where I started. Did that 2 or 3 times and asked for directions. The guy at the information booth gestured to go outside and turn right, with a big, sweeping gesture that I took to mean go around. I went outside, saw construction that I took to mean this entrance was closed, and went around the building (which is a long way). When I got to the other side, I followed the signs that led me back to the same side of the building I started on. Turns out there were some stairs I was supposed to take that I missed.

When I finally got on the train, I sat down and looked into my guide book to see what to do when I got to Fushimi station. There, it clearly said that Fushimi Inari is close to both Fushimi Inari station and Inari station, but no where near Fushimi station. I had to re-check my train map and come up with plan be, which meant going past Fushimi station and transferring to another line to come back up to Fushimi Inari station.

Once I got there, I just followed the crowd. It was pretty easy to find the temple.
New Years is a big time for this shrine, apparently. Wiki says last year they had 2.7 million visitors over the 3 day New Year festivities. They set up basically a carnival just outside (and slightly less inside) the temple. I went with the flow past all the food and souvenir stands into the temple.
Fushimi Inari is famous for having thousands of the bright orange torii gates lining the paths up into the mountain behind the shrine. I wanted to hike through at least some of these paths, thinking it would be a nice, peaceful hike in the woods. I found where the path started pretty easily, since it turns out I wasn't the only person with this idea.

I took a picture of the crowd on the trail, and just now noticed that this guy thought I was taking a picture of him. Or maybe somebody was taking a picture of him, I don't know, either way I got the peace sign.

I followed the crowd up the mountain, step by step. It was like there was a roller coaster at the top or something, the line was so slow. I finally got to the end of the toriis and took a look around the shrine there, only to find more toriis leading up. I said to myself "Where do these stairs go? They go up" and kept following. I walked a while, came to the end, and saw more gates leading up. I'd come to a clearing, and there would be either another shrine or a small rest stop, snack bar thing, and another trail lined with toriis going up. The crowd started thinning out, and I started thinking "I've come this far, might as well finish". Seemed like a good idea the first 5 or 6 rest areas, but eventually it became less sightseeing and more just wanting to finish something. Sometimes the only path leading away would be downhill, and I would think I was finished, but it would turn a corner and keep going up.

Finally, after an hour of climbing, I found the top and started going down, still on a torii lined path.

I don't know if I was getting delirious or just got my second wind or what, but when I saw a non-torii path branching off down the mountain with nobody on it, I decided to take it. Road less travelled and all that. I thought it may be faster, since the steps looked steeper. The further I got from the torii path, the steeper this path got, until I started doubting the safety of my choice, but I was too tired to go back up, so I kept going. I got to the bottom, and instead of the temple, I was in some body's back yard. I had come down the wrong side of the mountain.

This isn't a huge mountain, so I figured if I kept the mountain to one side of me I could follow the road around and find my way back to where back. All part of the adventure, I figured. I was wandering around a basically rural area outside of the city, and it was getting late. The sun goes down around 5 or so here, and it was 4 and overcast. I started getting a little worried. I didn't have a backup plan, so I just kept walking. About 30 minutes later, I saw some people walk out of a little shrine, looked inside and saw a torii lined path. I took the path, and the torii's stopped about 100 yards further on. It was still going the direction I though I wanted it to, so I kept going, One of the stones slipped, and I fell down, but I felt good to be on the right path again. I finally popped out a trail at the first shrine on the way up the mountain. So that's why I look so worn out and happy in this picture. Did I mention it was cold?

After picking up some lucky charms as souvenirs, I went back to the station (the right way) to pick up my stuff and check into the hotel. I was staying right across the street from Nijo-jo castle, but I'll get to that. I checked in and rested for an hour before starting stage 2.

I took the subway over to someplace close to Gion, the geisha section of town. My plan was to do some geisha spotting, eat dinner, and then find one of the western style bars I read about. I either got there too late or was looking in the wrong place for the geishas, so no luck there. I was wandering around looking for either a geisha, food, or finding the bars when I saw another temple with a crowd. I figured there were probably food stands there, so I decided to make that dinner.

While I was eating my cup of chicken nuggets and wandering around the temple/carnival, I ran into Todd (one of the other OAPs) and his family. I knew they were going to be in Kyoto, but I figured with 2000 shrines and temples, the odds of running into them were pretty slim.

I went back to the bar for a couple beers and the end of a soccer game (they're all Irish pubs here), then, since the place was dead, went back to the hotel to rest and plot out my next day. Since this is already way too long, I'll get to that tomorrow.

Nihongo no OBL

I finally found an American style bar near my apartment. All the other bars I've seen are the sit around a table and eat some Japanese food style, and I can't just wander into those and start talking to people. Seems like I'm barging in on some party.

Anyway, I've ridden by this place a few times and I though it looked like a real bar, so I went there last night. First, I lubricated my Japanese skills with a couple of beers at home, which put me a little closer to my Japanese speaking OBL. Not enough, of course, but close.

I walked in through the honky-tonk style swinging half doors, and saw a big wooden eagle, a route 66 sign, and 3 guys who looked like a Japanese Stray Cats tribute band. All slicked pompadours and cowboy-ish shirts, ready to rockabilly the night away. These were the guys working there. Other than them, there was a couple at one table and 2 older ladies at the bar, and a couple of dozen Elvis pictures.

I asked for a beer, rockabilly bartender asked what kind and started listing my choices. When he came to "Buda-why-za", I gave him my "really?!!" face, which I find to be quite useful when talking broken Japanese. He yelled to the rockabilly waiter to bring me a Bud, and when he did, it came with a mug in the shape of a boot, and I knew this was a place I could get used to.

I drank my boot-beer and listened to the ladies ordering a drink. They were just listing off liquors and juices, making it up as they went along. She finally had a tequila, watermelon schnapps, and OJ. I reached deep into my 3rd beer Japanese skills and asked what the name of that drink was, and she said "it's original" in English. They were very nice to me the rest of the time they were there, even reminding me the word for salt when I ordered a tequila (they actually had Cuervo).

They left and another guy came in, who seemed very interested in talking to an American. I talked to this guy about cars, motorcycles, and baseball for about an hour (10 minutes of actual conversation, 50 minutes of trying to get the other person to understand).

It was definitely a fun place, with oldies on the stereo and Tom and Jerry on the TV, and 4 seriously rockabilly guys wandering around. Other than the fact they were Japanese, something about the place really reminded me of "Swingers". I will be going back for sure. Next time I'll bring my camera.

Today, I'm going to watch football this morning and make an itinerary for my upcoming Kyoto trip tonight. I'm going to go to the Lion's Head tomorrow for whatever New Years festivities they have, then on Tuesday I'm going to check out what sort of activity there is at the local temples and pack for Kyoto. My hotel says they have internet access, so maybe there will be updates from Kyoto, but my itinerary may be too packed.