Totoro!

Today was a very nice day, indeed.  We got up a little before 9 and talked with Ian's folks and Alena for nearly four hours.  We just cycled through people.  It was very nice to catch up and see everyone, since we don't get to talk to them often.

By the time we were showered and ready for the day, it was nearly 3pm.  We hadn't eaten anything, so we decided to splurge and go to Mr. Pizza.  Then we saw the movie The Crazies.  It's a remake of a 1970s horror film about a town whose water supply gets poisoned by a biological weapon.  This is one film I highly recommend.  Even if you're not a horror fan.  The Crazies stays away from cheap shock and gross out shots (there's very little gore) and focuses mostly on psychological trauma.  The cinematography reflects the era of the original, sharp and edgy.  The general texture of the film leaves the viewer simultaneously uncomfortable and completely absorbed.  The smart story and skillful execution make for a very stressful (in the good way) and enjoyable movie experience.

We wandered into one of the Daiso-like stores downtown after the movie and I bought a little Totoro character.

He's from a 1988 Japanese anime called My Neighbor Totoro.  He's not a rabbit and the character in the movie isn't yellow, but you get the picture.  It's actually a cell phone charm, but I like him on my purse.  Men and women alike have charms (sometimes rather large ones) on their phones here.

From My Neighbor Totoro or Tonari no Totoro (in Japanese), which we will be watching tonight.  Neither of us have actually seen the movie.

Good night!

Japan in Retrospect

Tokyo was amazing.  We loved every moment of our trip.  One thing we talked a lot about is how our perception of Tokyo might be vastly different than that of other Westerners.  Because we came from Korea, Tokyo felt very Western to us.  For some people that might ruin the experience and leave them with the feeling that their trip was inauthentic.  But, for us, it gave us the opportunity to visit another culture, one in some ways like Korea and in others very like America.  I won't say we don't see any downsides to industrialization and Westernization (or Americanization, which may be a better way to put it), but it's difficult to be disapointed in Japan's Western qualities when the nation has been embracing elements like open trading and capitalism since the Meiji period.  Of course, Japan is still it's own culture and we tried to experience that as organically as possible in less than a week.  We went to anime shops, ate Indian food in the Harajuku district and ate sushi in a cloud of cigarette smoke near some Japanese salarymen having a very passionate discussion.  We scarfed down tempura while people waited in line to come into the shop and we went into 100 yen stores to see what was there.  We were lucky to stay in a district less visited by Westerners, but no one stared at us or acted confused during our interactions with them.

That was the main difference we found in Japan.  The people.  While Korean's are very friendly, everything feels phony here.  The nation is very conscious about how it conducts itself that the mentality bleeds right into its people.  South Korea wants desperately to be a world power, but it has some strange notions about who it needs to be to get there.  If Japan is middle aged person (feeling comfortable in their own skin, but open to new ideas) then South Korea is its awkward teenage sibling (trying on personalities until something fits and works).  It's very difficult to explain and I'm not studied enough in Sociology, History, or Anthropology to feel comfortable really diving in and analyzing this.  But, I can tell you that the structure of feeling (the "feeling" that a culture has which is made up of its memories and shared experiences) in Korea is still so isolated and isolating that we've been here four months and we don't think we'll ever be a part of it, but we spent six nights in Japan and felt as though we could easily be absorbed.  Now, admittedly, this could come from how much more Japan has in common with the U.S. than Korea does, but I never once felt judged or alienated in that country.  I never felt like I was a burden and while everyone always helped us when we asked, it never felt like a false transaction of kindness, as it tends to here.

Only one person stared at us.  A little girl (around 12, maybe) in line for coconut ice cream in Disneyland could barely keep her mouth shut.  And her gaze was one of awe and interest, rather than of confusion and judgment.  On a somewhat side note, living as minorities has changed our perceptions of the world.  And not all for the better.  Though it's mostly in jest, we tend to assume that our race is always accounted for in dealing with people.  That person didn't hold the elevator?  It's probably because we're white.  Your students didn't show you any respect?  It's probably because you're white.  It's difficult not to do.  But, in Japan, there wasn't any of that.  Granted, we spent the large majority of the trip in the capital city, but we've been to Seoul numerous times and while it's more Western and convenient than Jecheon, it still packs the same alienation.

The one time we did leave the city (other than for Disneyland) was to go see Mt. Fuji.  That adventure did not go as planned.  It wasn't a great decision in the first place, but I really wanted to see it.  The weather was clear, but freezing and we didn't realize that transportation would be so expensive and time consuming.  Log story short, we made it to one bus stop before the recommended station for viewing and got of the train under the impression that we need to transfer.  We didn't.  We should have stayed on the one we were originally on.  So, three missed trains later, we decided to pack it in and go home.  No one's fault but our own.  We got a couple good pictures, though.  My advice is that if Fuji-san is important to you, visit Japan in any season but winter.  The stop that we accidentally stayed at for an hour and a half (we kept missing trains and making poor decisions) was in the country.  The station had a little mall and the whole thing was a lot more reminiscent of Korea than anything else we'd seen in Japan.  But, the people were not like small town Korean people.  The teenagers in the mall never gave us a second thought and the station manager pitied our stupidity, but never showed an ounce of judgement.

An innovative bottle/can of coke from one of the vending machines at a station stop on our way to see Fuji-san.

Fuji-san with some fog.

Proof that we were there.  Standing on a train platform.  Travel is not so glamorous.

Fuji-san is very symmetrical.

We saw Fuji-san on New Year's Eve day.  But, after missing our train(s), it turned into night.  It was a full moon.

Other than the general mental and emotional atmosphere of Japan, we did notice one very specific difference.  Sex is a big part of the culture there and there seems to be less stigma.  Granted, I'm not so sure I think Hentai with graphic covers and toys and comics for kids should be two feet from each other in the same stores.  But, in anime there is a very fine line between what's appropriate for children and what's intended for adults and anime is a huge part of Japanese culture.  We didn't take any pictures because I didn't think they'd be appropriate to post and I figured a simple Google search would give you any necessary visuals.

I know that I've been very broad and that I've spoken in generalities, but that's what we gleamed from our short stay in Japan.  Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.  I'll be happy to answer them, as I can't ever remember everything myself.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Tomorrow it's back to the daily grind for us!  Good night!

New Years at Zojoji Buddhist Temple

When Ian and I decided to go to the Zojoji Buddhist Temple we thought it might be a quieter way to ring in 2010. Let's just say we hadn't done our research. This was immediately obvious when we left the train station. It was a little before ten and the streets were already pretty clogged and everybody seemed to be headed the same direction we were. We should have known, the temple is an important one and New Year's Eve is one of the most important holidays in Japanese culture. They used to celebrate the Lunar new year (in February or toward the beginning of Spring), but the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1873. When we got to the temple, there were quite a few people there, but it was by no means packed. Considering we didn't know much about the event, we were lucky to have gotten there ahead of the crowds. The rest of the night was equally lucky, as we seemed to catch on to things just before the majority of the crowd, so we always had a decent view.

Though there were many people, the atmosphere was very different from any public celebration of New Year's Eve that we've ever experienced. People weren't really drinking, though there was beer there and the whole feeling was pretty mellow. No one tried to bother the monks (though they probably wouldn't have succeeded if they tried) as they lit fires with sage, chanted and prayed. The only thing we knew in advance was that people let go of balloons with prayers tied to them at midnight. We didn't stand in line for balloons because we didn't want to waste the experience in line. It was all very amazing. Here are some pictures. I wish the quality were better, but it's difficult to use our camera at night.

The temple gate.

An early (around 10pm) view of the temple with Tokyo Tower in the background.

Inside the temple hall. Monks (and maybe nuns, too) are sitting around the shrine and chant singing. The head monk (I'm sorry, I don't know enough about Buddhism) is in the middle (in orange) with two others dressed in blue.

This video gives a better view of the monks and their attire.

The cemetery.

Prayer before fire lighting. The fire had sage in it, so, I assume it was for cleansing. It smelled nice and it filled the air with sage leaves.

Perspective.

Lighting the fire.

Big fire. It kept getting bigger until it was as tall as the trees around it.

The temple all lit up.

Balloons.

Vegetarian yakisoba. Not actually soba (one of the lucky dishes), but Ian and I called it close enough because all the soba had meat in it.

There was a high rise apartment building near by. We could see all the people standing at their windows watching the temple and the tower.

There were many many people there. It took us about 15 minutes to get out. I'm glad we got there at10pm.

2010 on Tokyo Tower.


It's the final countdown! Do do do do.... do do do do do...

New Year's Eve Teaser

Our New Year's was fabulous and it deserves a detailed blog.  So, I thought I'd invite you to guess where we spent it and I'll blog about it on Saturday (no blog tomorrow, as we'll be in transit).  So, what's your guess?  Please comment below.  Also, it'd be great if you shared where you spent (or will spend) the evening.

Here's a hint for our New Year's:

Happy 2010- Year of the Tiger!

Highlights from Tokyo Disney Resort

Tokyo Disneyland

General Consensus:  It's a nice park and it's very interesting because it's an inexact replica of Disneyland California.  If you're only going to make it to one park in Tokyo, this is not it.  It's ridiculously crowded and it takes so long to do anything that it takes away from the experience; plus, there's very little that's truly new and original to Tokyo Disneyland.

Best 'Moment': We were pulled out of line for Space Mountain so that the cast members could be sure that Ian could use the safety bar (Space Mountain is the park's narrowest ride).  They took us through the exit to the back rooms of the ride and had Ian sit in a dead car.  He fit fine and I couldn't resist putting my hands in the air and saying, "Yattah!" (it's a Japanese expression that is close to "I did it/yay!").  The two cast members did it, too.  They made an experience that could have been terrible and made it fun and relaxed.  It was one of the most bizarre things that has ever happened to us.

Worst 'Moment:' The two and a half hour wait for Space Mountain (that's with the shortcut the cast members gave us toward the end since we were originally pulled out of line).  The last half hour felt like a mental breakdown.  I feel lucky that the California park is so close to home and so much more mellow than this one.

Favorite pictures:

The line to get in 30 minutes after opening.

It's alive and well in Tokyo.  Granted, two thirds of it is in Japanese.

The Holiday Jack's Skellington (Nightmare Before Christmas) Haunted Mansion was really cool.

My Disney ears winter hat.  It's ridiculously warm.  And just ridiculous!

Tokyo DisneySea

General Consensus: This park is supposed to be a trip around the world via ports, harbors and bays.  It's pretty amazing and worth seeing.  It's more for adults and the rides reflect that.  But, be prepared to wait.  It's not as crowded as Disneyland, but it's still pretty packed.  We expected killer wait times for rides, since we had seen them before, but it's amazing how long people will stand in line for food here.

Best 'Moment:' The initial awe upon walking in.  I mean, this park is impressive and you walk right into the Mediterranean area.  We also successfully ordered a sandwich without meat at the New York Deli restaurant in the American section of the park.  There wasn't even any hassle.

Worst 'Moment:' We've got a tie between the wait times and finding out that the seatbelt for the Tokyo Tower of Terror goes over your shoulder.  Talk about safety precautions.  It reduced the antigravity effect by probably 80%.  But, it was still fun.

Favorite Pictures (mostly the park grounds!):

Looking toward the Arabian section. The real sea air really adds to the affect.

America.

Near 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Boat!

Arabian section.

Ariel's Grotto.  It's pretty impressive underground.

What do you think this line is for?  It's not a ride.

Caramel corn!  The little red roof is the cart.  There is also salted, soy sauce and butter chocolate, curry, strawberry, and black pepper.  We tried the caramel, strawberry, soy sauce and butter, and black pepper over our two days.  Black pepper was the best.

Raging Spirits!  It was cool, but the line was long.

Well, I'm completely exhausted.  If you have and Disney questions, let me know.  Also, if you need help planning a trip, we' be more than happy to help.  Good night!

Tomorrow... land

We had a good time at Tokyo Disney today, but we were way off on our capacity expectations.  The park was unbelievably clogged.  Downsides included wait times and very little vegetarian food (though there was enough t get by) and highlights included the Jack Skellington Holiday version of Haunted Mansion and soy sauce and butter popcorn.  Tomorrow we're going to Disney Sea, so I figured I would post all of the photos together and tell you about the parks tomorrow when I can compare and contrast.  It'll be better that way because Tokyo DIsneyland is largely the same as the one in California, just with some slight differences.  Tomorrow will bring more new things, so I"ll combine the posts.

Good night!

Ueno, Tokyo Dome and Electric City

We have and early morning ahead of us and I am very tired, so this post will be mostly pictures and few details (I'm sorry that I'm too tired to write much other than captions, I'll be sure to revisit our stories from today in later posts). We saw a lot today and we experienced a little of the diversity that Tokyo has to offer.  By the way, we went to the post office this morning and had no problem withdrawing funds from that ATM.

The 100 yen (about a dollar) shop near our hostel and Okachimachi Station.  There's some pretty good stuff in there(mostly stuff to meet everyday household needs).  They're much better than American dollar stores.

There's a Hard Rock Cafe in Ueno Station.

We went to this really amazing seven story toy/anime/gaming shop called Yamashiroya near the station.  We got this guys out of a capsule machine.  We had to put him together.



Inside Yamashiroya:

This is a whole section of plushies, figurines and memorabilia for horse racing (and specific horses).  I didn't even know that sport was here.

Replica weapons from anime.

Marvel action figures from 1994.

Ninja Turtle action figures from about the same time.

Lots of Thomas, but not as much as I expected.

Brush up on your skills because we got these for Grant!

Ueno Park area:

20oz can of Dr. Pepper.

Balloon man with a hat we made in front of us.

Building protecting a Buddha statue.  The originals in this area were much bigger than the current one.  The first one was destroyed by earthquake and the second was melted down to make weapons for WWII.

We weren't supposed to take this picture, but we saw the sign too late.

Huge Buddha face from one of he originals.

The lake.  It's dirty and reedy.

But, there are still a lot of birds.



Monuments and shrines around the park:

This five story pagoda is actually in the zoo, but we had a view of it from outside.

Under construction (behind the gate is just a picture on the scaffolding).  We have terrible luck with that.

So many birds.

Perspective on how big the koi are.



Tokyo Dome area:

The area is a lot like Seattle Center.  Lots of shopping and entertainment.

Ultra Man!  Ian says is live action stuff like Power Rangers.



After the dome, we went back to the hostel to charge the camera.  While the camera was charging we ran back to Harajuku to get a sweater/dress that I had wanted.  Then we picked up the camera and went to Electric Town.  We didn't have as much time there before things started to close as we would have liked, but w still had a good time and we might go back.

Outside of the station.

Space invaders!

Anime Ian!

Slot/arcades/anime places were everywhere.  We played a little bit in this one, mostly on the arcade floor, but Ian did lose $5 trying to figure out a slot machine, it's a lot harder in Japanese.

This photo booth area is only for girls, but Ian and I made some purikura (tiny sticker photos for trading with friends) pictures anyway.



We wanted sushi for dinner, so we found a place in Electric Town.  It turns out it's a chain, but the place was packed with comisserating business men.  It was awesome and tasty.  We just ordered a customized collection of rolls we knew we could eat (we found the names on the internet).

The sake was very smooth.  The red base is filled, too, and this is only a small.

In the forefront: inari (fried tofu stuffed with sushi rice), and tomago (cooked egg with sushi rice and a band of nori).  In the background:  vegetable rolls including kappa (cucumber roll).

After dinner we went for a beer at a smoky, little hole in the wall place.  The beer wasn't excellent, but it's better than Korean beer.



Tomorrow we'll set out for Tokyo Disneyland.  It should be a thoughtless, relaxing day.



Happy belated birthday, Bruce!  I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you today like I thought I would.



Good night!