One of my favorite places that I've been in the world is Japan. Tokyo is the center of most of the fun but there are other places that are great around Tokyo to visit, too.
There is so much that I have seen in my three trips to Japan that I will just write about different elements of my trips in concentrated paragraph form, if that makes any sense. Well, here goes:
Akihabara is known as the electronics center of Tokyo. There are business after business here stacked to the ceiling with all types of electronic items. Computers, cameras, cell phones, TV's, radios, etc, are everywhere here. During the day, it is very crowded here. Anyone looking for a good deal, this is the place to go. There are also many arcades, Manga shops and other interesting places. I saw a seven-story building with only Hello Kitty inside! Holy crap! No, I did not enter, I swear.
Ueno Park is one of the largest parks in Tokyo. It was very close to where my friend, Paul, lived the three times that I visited. There were lots of people at the park during the days that we went. A few large ponds with giant lillies everywhere were here. Very serene and a perfect spot for the many ducks and other water birds that called it home. One morning before heading to the park, we were watching TV. The news showed a story about how someone had gone to the park and had shot blow darts through some of the ducks on the pond. They showed a video of a duck that was walking around with a little pink dart going right through it's head. Not a nice thing to see. We went over to the park and saw people gathered around an area. Sure enough, we saw the very same duck, pink dart and all. It was just waddling around like nothing was wrong. I will include a picture in my photobucket link below. There were a few temples, places to eat, huge lawn areas and many trees.
Most of the trees were in full bloom with cherry blossoms during two of my trips. In Tokyo, Ueno Park was a major spot for celebrating Hanami, the viewing of the cherry blossoms every year. It is a national holiday and is celebrated at parks all over Japan. On the designated day set up by a bureau yearly, people gather to eat and drink to excess. Some are just there to spend time with family and friends. It is really like a celebration of Spring. Booths are set up that sell food and drinks, including alcohol, throughout the park. Most of the prime areas are obviously situated around the concentration of cherry trees. From what I understand, it can turn into a real puke fest when people really get into the spirit of the event. I have missed being there twice by about three days. One day, I will be there for Hanami and I'll participate in the ritual purging, if it's the last thing I ever do!
As we walked from the train station to Paul's apartment, an interesting segment of Japanese society can be found. Yes, there were several "companions for hire" near the stations within a block or so. Coincidentally, or maybe not, there were several what are known as love hotels close by. These hotels have signs for three different price points. You can "rest", "extend" or "stay" at these places that are plentiful in Tokyo. According to my guide books, many of the rooms are themed and getting one of these rooms is done very discreetly. Most places only take cash. In Japan, these hotels are plentiful. It caters to a part of Japanese society that isn't very prevalant or accepted in many countries around the world.
Onsens are hot spring baths that are located all over Japan. They are retreats where many people get away to a few times per year, if possible. You really have to book them early in Spring to get a nice one reserved as they are usually full as you get closer to Summer. One year, we had tried to find one but we were a bit too late. Paul's boss at the language school, Mr. Hirate, was so kind to offer to take us to an onsen near his house in the mountains. It was amazing! We drove for a few hours outside of Tokyo into a wooded area where his property was located. It was a two bedroom, small house but it was very cool! We walked down into the town after arriving and went directly to the local bath. After cleaning yourself thoroughly, you immerse yourself in a very hot pool outside of the building. Being in the mountains, the stars were amazing and with a clear sky that night, we could see a million! After sitting in water almost too hot to bear for long, you get into an even hotter pool. I couldn't last more than a few minutes in that one. Eventually, we dressed and left to have dinner.
My favorite place in Tokyo, as it is for many, is Shinjuku. They have the busiest railway stop in the whole world with around 2 million passengers using it per day. There is so much to see and do there. Around the station, it is crowded with entertainment, restaurants, clubs and shops. The famous pictures of Shinjuku at night don't do the place justice. Seeing the lights at night are unreal at times. Giant big screen TV's with advertisements on the sides of buildings are everywhere. Walking up and down the smaller streets and alleyways offers many different options for eating, drinking and karaoke. There are people that walk the street trying to recruit people to go to their karaoke business. You negotiate a price with them and you are off! They sign you up and take you and your party to a small, private room with a full karaoke set-up. They best thing about it? For the hour you pay for, it is all-you-can-drink! You can order food, too, and the hour seems to fly by. You always tend to stay one or two more hours as it is much more fun with friends than with strangers. I am all about Oasis "Wonderwall" whenever I sing!
When eating in Tokyo, people always think about sushi but there is so much more to japanese food than that. Popular sushi restaurants in the city are small and have one main oval area. The counter goes all the way around the oval and the chefs are inside the oval. A small water conveyor goes around with plates of food. When you see one that you like, grab it off of the small river. The plates have different designs on them and each corresponds to a monetary amount. Once you are done eating, they add up your bill based on the empty plates left in front of you.
Mind you, there are many great sushi restaurants but you can find alot of themed restaurants, too. We went to a labratory-themed restaurant one night and sat in a jail-cell like room while we ate our meal. It was dark and blacklights were everywhere with random yelling and action for ambience. The drinks were served in test-tubes as you mixed them yourself. Many restaurants are great for groups of people. On several occasions, we ate with large groups where several ala carte items are ordered and everyone just takes off of every plate. When you need more, you order more. A meal can go on for a long time this way, depending on how much drinking goes on. One of my favorite dishes is freshwater eel, or unagi as it is called in Japan. When you go into a restaurant that specializes in unagi, you will see a tank of eels as you walk in. When you order it, they pull it out of the tank alive and it is on your table in minutes...yum! People think of eel as slimy but it is anything but.
When drinking in Tokyo, beer and whiskey are very popular wherever you go. Sake is also served everywhere. It is served cold as well as hot. It is an honor to have someone buy you a cold shot of sake as the best quality and more expensive sake is always served cold. Guinness stout has become very popular in Tokyo. Due to this national affection, many breweries now have dark stouts in honor of this affinity for Guinness. You can also find vending machines on the street that dispense everything that you could possibly want. Besides unusual items like school girl underwear (no joke), you can buy beer, sake, and a hi-ball drink called Chu Hi from these vending machines. They are lined up along the sides of building and in alley ways, especially on train platforms and outside of the stations. Paul and I went into a few nice whiskey bars that have a few hundred different whiskeys from around the world. Single-malt is my favorite where many people prefer a blended whiskey. I'll have more on whiskey in my Scotland blog.
On our way back from the onsen in the mountains, Mr. Hirate dropped us off at the train station near by so that we could visit an interesting theme park called Ninja Land. Yes, as the name would imply, it is all themed around the legendary stealth-fighting ninja. They had many exhibits, reenactments, dramatic skits and other types of events. It was very family-oriented and there were lots of small children there. It rained off and on so we found ourselves finding cover alot. They did have a somewhat gruesome exhibit called the History of Torture Museum. Besides the mutilated body parts and torsoes in various positions, the sound effects of shrieks and screams made it more than a little strange. I really didn't see alot of children at that exhibit. After leaving, we took the train back into the city.
One of best side trips that we took the last time that I was in Japan was to Kyoto. We hopped a train and booked a nice traditional Japanese-style room. The floors are matted and you sleep on tatamis. Of course, all shoes are kept at the front door of the building and only slippers are used inside. The rooms were small but nice. I am not very good with sleeping on the floor and I might not venture to do so again but I am glad that I tried it this time.
There is so much to see in Kyoto. We hopped on a bus and took off towards downtown. We found a bus hub and decided to see the Golden Palace, one of the nicer historic places to go. Unfortunately, we got on the wrong bus and proceeded to see the Silver Palace, which was also very nice. The huge palace is situated on a lake with huge rooms and ornate decorations that are hundreds of years old. No flash photos allowed. The tours are very informative and each room has descriptions in different languages to help with your understanding what you are seeing.
Kyoto has beautiful places to walk where it is green and some of the streams have alot of coy in them. We came across some wild cats that were very friendly, a few photos of them in the link below. With the 1,600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines, there are countless historic buildings available to visit. We visited a few of the larger temples situated in remote areas on hills and such, surrounded by small, serene communities.
The night life is active, due in large part to the university in town. On the weekends, many of the restaurants and bars are very crowded for this reason. We stayed two nights but could have stayed longer with all that there is to see here. We ate at a very unique restarant that specialized in yakiniku, or a Korean-style barbeque. You sit at a table and order different types of meats and other items suitable for the small grill at your table. When they bring your order, you place the items on a small, pre-heated grill that has flames from below. Once your food is done, you eat it with rice and other accoutrements provided. We ate ALOT of different types of meat that night. I even agreed to try something that I had never had before, horse sashimi. It was very lean and not alot of flavor due to the low-fat content. It reminded me of emu or ostrich, if you've ever had them before. If you ever make it to Japan, I highly recommend a side trip to Kyoto.
I really enjoyed my trip to Tsukiji Fish Market. You need to get up very early to get the full effect of just what happens there on a daily basis. However, this trip the morning after you land in Tokyo after a 12 hour flight can be a little painful when you are severely jet-lagged. We did get up around 3am and headed down to the coast. The market is huge! You always have to watch where you are going or you will get run down by some sort of mechanical beast. The market handles nearly 2,000 tons of fish daily making it one of the largest fish markets in the world. Walking the endless aisles of vendors selling fish is interesting. There were so many varieties of fish that I had never seen before. We witnessed an auction going on for freshly caught and flash frozen tuna. Each person at the auction takes a tool and takes a sample of the fish to see the quality and fat content of the tuna. The higher the fat content, the higher the price. Once the winner is determined, a tag is slapped onto the side to identify the person to take it after payment has been made. We ate sushi at a very small counter right off of the main market area. I'm sure that I will never have any fresher meal than I had that day, it was amazing! When I say that it melts in your mouth when it's that fresh, I really mean it.
Asakusa is a very nice place to go for a few hours. It is an area situated around one of the larger temples in Tokyo. Like many of the other tourist areas, there are lots of places to shop. The vendors line up in very organized booth areas stretching from the main entrance all the way to the temple and five-story pagoda. You can find anything that you are looking for here. T-shirts, kimonos, food, souvenirs and toys are everywhere. It is easy to spend several hours here and not be able to see every booth.
I'm sure that I have not included some of my adventures. I may add them to this blog as I recall them. Airfare and lodging in Japan are not inexpensive. It is one place in this world that I can say that you can find whatever you are looking for. I may not get back there this year but I definitely will be back again. It helps to have someone with you that speaks Japanese but it is not mandatory. Most of the signs have english translation. If you are tall like I am, always look for low-beams in buildings and stations or you will hit your head.
Here is a link to see some more of my pictures from Japan:
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/squish033/Tokyo/
More music and other themed blogs to follow.
Be well,
K
No comments:
Post a Comment