It Just Gets Better in the Dark at the Tanabata

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Yesterday was the final day of the three-day Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata and since it’s the biggest in our region of Japan and in its 66th year, we decided to make the hour-and-a-half, approximately $14ow trip out to Hiratsuka to see it.

Being we weren’t really sure what we were going to see, we wanted to make sure it was either the biggest or the oldest or the best of whatever a Tanabata is.

I found this July 4, 2016 description written by Tiffany (so it must be true) on the TokyoCheapo website:

“Tanabata is a celebration of the meeting of two legendary star-crossed lovers, the cowherd Hikoboshi and weaver girl Orihime. It is usually celebrated on July 7th, but different areas or regions have different dates to celebrate it. Generally, festivities, which entail writing wishes on strips of paper and tying them to trees (or bamboo strips), take place between July and August.”

Because there was a limited amount of info provided in English, and from the pictures on the website, we gleaned it was like a street festival for locals. There are music groups (though we didn’t see any), and those big, weird-looking creatures with a person inside to pose for pictures with, sometimes parades (which we also didn’t see), and food booths. This Tanabata according to their website also had dinosaurs, for some reason, which we also didn’t see.

We based our trip on a photo of brightly lit-up things that looked like balloons or floats or something equally big and festive. Nothing like spending your energy, time, and money going out to see something that you weren’t really clear on.

What we DID see once we got there was lots of men and women wearing the traditional kimonos, as well as little kids looking especially adorable.

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There were colorful streamers and paper decorations along and across the main streets all around the northern section from the train station. Just follow the crowd.

So pretty.

And it got even more beautiful in the evening. Seeing these at night made it all worthwhile.

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Though this was our first—and I still am not quite sure what a Tanabata is exactly for—it WAS colorful and it was packed with people like Times Square in the summer.

But unlike Times Square, it was worth the time and expense to see this interesting slice of life in Japan.

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Thursday, July 7, 2016

As our time is winding down in Tokyo we are in a mad dash to see those things that are still on our list of must-sees.

Thursday’s event was a trip to the CupNoodles Museum out in Yokohama. There is also one in Osaka but since I’d never been to Yokohama either, I decided to kill two birds with one Cup of Noodles.

We transferred at Shinjuku for the express train headed for Minatomirai and about 45 minutes later we were there at their very fancy train station/shopping center. Following the signs for Queen’s Square we stopped and asked at the Info desk on the top level where to go. Whipping out a map, the young girl drew it out for us and pointed us out the door into the 90⁺degree (Fahrenheit) day. Ugh.

Exiting the A/C we were thrown into an area that looked very much like Odaiba—fun, family-oriented-theme-park-type stuff. We headed for the huge ferris wheel, and across the bridge next to it. About five minutes or so further down the wide thoroughfare we spied the very uninteresting looking building of the CupNoodles Museum on the other side of the four lanes of roadway. I’m guessing it’s usually much busier than it was on this hot Thursday afternoon because none of the rides were going, the amusement areas were all closed and there were very few cars on all of these big streets.

Anyway, we made a dash for the museum in hopes of finding A/C again.

Admission is 500yen per adult. I think this buys you admittance to see a museum of sorts but we didn’t go to it. I understand it’s mostly in Japanese. Besides we were there for one thing only. The making of our own personal Cup of Noodles! This requires a reservation as it sells out I understand. We were able to score space at the 2pm opening—which meant we had about ten minutes to get upstairs to the 3^rd floor Ramen- and Cup-of-Noodle-making area. There are also Ramen making classes (cost extra and reservations are also required), but we weren’t interested in those.

First there was this unforeseen stop.

Then we headed up to the 3^rd floor. For 300yen, you get a cup out of a vending machine.

Then after a quick explanation, and the handing over of the plastic lid, you are seated at tables and you can decorate them however you desire. The only requirements are no coloring beyond the red line or on the bottom or top of the cup.

It was like kindergarten art time!

Mine featured the words “Eat Me” and a Godzilla blowing fire on Tokyo!

When we were done, we went up to the soup ingredient assembly line. Handing over our cup to the nice lady, she put our cup on the noodle adding machine and allowed us to turn the handle the required 6 times to send it around the wheel and get the noodles dropped into the cup.

Then our cup was passed to the nice, smiling man who took our order for the soup flavor (I chose tomato and The Professor chose original), and then four dried ingredients. Me: green onions, egg, something green-which I think was seaweed, and corn. The Professor: pork bits, shrimp, garlic, and onions. We have one month to eat them if we decide to. The Professor says he’s not planning on eating his, but I’m not decided yet.

After choosing our ingredients, and stopping to let us photograph the ingredients, the nice man passed our cups with the lid now snapped on to the next nice lady, who showed us how she shrinkwrapped our cupofnoodles. After it shot out into the official CupNoodles Receiving Area we were instructed to take the cup to the packing area.

The packing area is where you stick it in a plastic bag thing, blow it up by hand pumping, then tie a lovely red string to it for carrying purposes.

Then voila: we were immediately the proud owners of our very own carefully constructed cupofnoodles that is safely sealed, packed, and ready to go. All for less than $3.00US!!

We made a quick stop outside their restaurant area for this quick photo op.

I then went to the gift shop and bought a soon-to-be magnet of a small Cup of Noodles. For my 100yen, I got an amazing bag covered in words of wisdom and inspiration that cost way more than the 100yen I spent on my goofy souvenir. 

Everything was class and designed to bring joy at this weird little museum, right down to the philosophic words on my gift bag (see full text below). It opens with ‘there is no such things as “too late” in life’ (okay, well the grammar is a bit off, but it’s the message of inspiration I Iiked). It goes on to express how tenacity is the breeding ground for inspiration, how one should develop the habit of thinking up new ideas day and night and to never fall into complacence, and ends with the belief that the origin of all activities of human kind is related to food and that “human beings are noodle beings”.

All of that wisdom, career development, and life-living direction on a simple shopping bag. That was the best 100yen I ever spent. Whoa, mind blown!

Thank you Momofuku Ando (the man himself, who invented this empire) for providing some inexpensive fun in an often dark world. (If this were Disney, we’d have had to fork out a whole lot more money for all this fun! And I wouldn’t have gotten the free life advice either.)

Only in Japan, my friends, only in Japan!

Doctors. Nachos, and Godzilla. Only in Tokyo.

Yesterday was overcast and cool.  We went for a long walk through the neighborhood getting lost in the winding roads around our apartment. It was cool and the gray skies made the colors of the many flowers in bloom pop. There are a lot of random plants and gardens scattered throughout the neighborhood and it makes for some really pretty floral surprises. Yellows, pinks, fuchsias, purples, oranges, reds, whites and periwinkle await you at every corner.

Not to mention the cool shrines and cemeteries.

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Wednesday it was hot and we had plans.

First at 5pm we had a doctor appt. The Professor had been sick for a week, but of course miraculously healed in the hours right before his appt. And I had been having issues from an old war wound and agreed to go to the doctors so I could see what it was like to go to a doctor in Japan.

It was easy.

We arrived about 10 minutes before our appointment and I answered about five questions, including the one that said I did not have a Japanese insurance card.

We went in and about 20 minutes later we were both back out again. Cost of our two appointments without insurance: about $100. Not too bad.

Then we walked to a bar that we had seen the last time we were in the neighborhood—called Mother’s. It was totally cute and looked like it belonged in Mendocino California. It was very 70s-inspired with burl redwood furniture, and reggae playing in the background. It feels like it was carved out of a tree or built of mosaics. It feels very old school and it felt very Northern Californian hippy--and The Professor and I loved it.

The girl who waited on us was really nice and spoke English. We ordered a beer and an Oolong Hai which was tea and shoshu. Ummm. Then we ordered some nachos ‘cause I’m still needing my Mexican food fix.

They were delish.  After sitting in the bar for an hour or so, we headed off to our next destination: Godzilla!

Above the Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku is Godzilla’s head.

I love Godzilla.

The Professor did some research and found out if we went to the hotel next door, they have a terrace on the 8th floor where we could get photos of the monster up close and personal. So off we went.

Googling the directions for the Toho Cinema, we winded our way through the craziness that is Shinjuku in the evening. It’s like Times Square but without the Mid-western tourists, filth, and corruption. There’re lots of lights and visitors and people vying for attention and money.

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Heading towards the monster head, we made for the Hotel Gracery and  followed the signs to the 8th floor terrace and restaurant.

If you don’t make eye contact you can rush out to the terrace where the monster head is. There is a sign that says only hotel or restaurant guests can go, but this being Japan, I don’t think they’d stop you.

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We decided to order and sit for a spell so we ordered a beer, a glass of wonderful rosé and a plate of sliced duck to share. At only $30 for everything,  it wasn’t so bad and the rosé and duck were excellent, so I think it was worth it.

There is also a gift shop right outside the restaurant where you can purchase Godzilla gifts. I bought a magnet ‘cause I love the big fella. But of course it’s not mandatory.

Where else but Tokyo can you start with a leisurely stroll through flower- and shrine-filled neighborhoods one day, then the next go from your doctor’s appointment, to oolong tea with booze and nachos, to ending your evening with Godzilla doing a photo bomb?

Keeping the River on My Right in Tokyo

Saturday, July 2, 2016

It was hot and humid yesterday so what better place to head than outside to sweat? I decided to go walk along the river near our apartment because it’s not only one of my favorite areas within walking distance—but it’s also much cooler along the water.

The scenery along the river is always beautiful and its looks vary, depending upon the season. I enjoy stopping to peer down into the water below to see what types of fish and fowl are hanging out, too. It’s a regular Wild Kingdom episode sometimes.

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I decided to explore and to walk further along the river than I have so far to see what I could see. I figured if I kept the river on my right I wouldn’t get lost and it would give me a direction.

Turns out about 30 minutes down the road, the river actually disappears though. I had two choices: move inward a couple of blocks to see if I could find it or to continue down the straight, and very busy, Shin Mejiro Dori. I decided to walk along the road to see what would unfold. It seemed easier. And it was hot.

I walked past old, intriguing restaurants and some familiar names.

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I then walked past an old shrine area located directly off of this very busy, modern road.

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After leaving the shrine area, I continued down the main road another ten minutes or so, and noticed a gate to what appeared to be a garden or a park a couple blocks away. It looked cool and green and very inviting--so I turned right, leaving the crazy traffic behind and headed towards it.

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Walking in was not a mistake. It was beautiful, and instantly much cooler. Unsure of what I’d walked into though, I began quickly taking photos and preparing to be kicked out.

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I followed the path in and then made for the stairs at the end of the path. Up, past the red-bibbed guys I climbed, snapping photos all along the way.

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Then at the top of the stairs I found myself entering a cemetery. I had a quick look, took a photo, then turned back to go down the stairs. There wasn’t a lot of shade and frankly it wasn’t nearly as nice as the garden area I’d just left.

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Finding the garden had been  a nice respite and a very pleasant surprise. But just like that, I was deposited back out into the hot, sunny day with a long hot walk ahead of me.

I decided to head back—this time on the other side of the road. Soon I came upon the river again, looking very different from our little neighborhood slice. 

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 I headed toward Takadanobaba, stopping at a used bookstore, before walking back home.

Fireflies Live a Fulfilling Life, Even in Tokyo

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Friday was the first day of a five-day firefly extravaganza at the Botanical Garden Fureai in Shibuya. When I say extravaganza I am being extremely generous. What it is, is a small botanical garden about a 15-minute walk from the Shibuya train station that no one would ever visit without this much-touted event. It runs from June 17-21, 5:30-9:00 pm, and is free.

We got there around opening and waited in a short line for about ten minutes or so. Once inside, we followed everyone up the stairs to a film-viewing area and sat down. For the next 20 minutes or so we watched the film detailing the life cycle of the Japanese firefly. I’m sure it was very educational, but since it was in Japanese, I split my time of watching the film with watching all the people jumping up and down out of their seats. 

Thinking we needed to kill time until it got darker, we sat there longer than we wanted, but finally, the film—shown on a loop—came round to the beginning of its riveting beginning. Glancing outside at the still rather light sky, we reluctantly got up to follow the others down the stairs. As it turned out, we could have cut out way before the bug’s life story ended, because the garden is shrouded in a black-out drape and it is really dark inside.

The garden area is very small and broken into two draped off areas. And from the dark depths one sees the bright glow of the little buggers as they try to make a date with the other fireflies.

These Japanese fireflies have much longer-lasting lights than the ones in NYC. It was pretty cool. We walked through and a few moments later, we exited the building to find quite a crowd waiting in line to enter.

Glad we went and glad it was free. No photos were allowed inside the room so picture above is for mood only!

We then took off for the crowded firefly-free Shibuya area in search of an izakaya for food and booze.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

This past weekend was the two-day Shibuya-Kagoshima Ohara Festival with the highlight on Sunday: the parade of dancers. It is touted as one of the biggest festivals of this type…or something that made it a don’t-miss. I honestly couldn’t remember what its claim to fame was, but since I had added it to our calendar, I knew we had to make the trek.

Exiting the Shibuya station at the Hachiko Square side is the important first step, because as anyone who has been to Shibuya knows, the place is huge. We have exited on the wrong side many times, and it will instantly put you in a foul mood. Trust me.

Once we exited, we headed for the giant 109 sign that is across, and to the left, at the infamous Shibuya Crossing. For this event, they also had added a giant blow-up arch at the entrance to the parade area, so it really is hard to miss.

According to the program we picked up: the event is a traditional festival that Shibuya City and Kagoshima City have been jointly hosting for, I’m assuming, 19 years (since this is referred to as the 19th Festival).  It consists of 65 groups representing the different areas around Japan all dancing in the parade to—according to the program—the ‘rhythm of the Ohara-bushi and the Shibuya ondo dance songs.’

The program also depicts the eleven steps to the dance if one wants to join in.

The parade is held on the Dogenzaka and Bunkarmura-dori streets that run along either side of the 109 building.

The parade started sometime after 12 with the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency Band marching past, playing a song, and carrying a banner showing some big object falling on a guy (nice). Their mascot was a big alien with a helmet for a head and weird antennae, who marched along in front of them waving, and was accompanied by a guy with strange mutton-chop sideburns who looked to be an escapee from the 1800s (not sure who he was).

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Then Taiko drummers started drumming as the sixty-five groups gathered on the streets, preparing to dance, and posed for pictures. All the groups eventually lined up in two lines on both sides of the 109 building.

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Once the singing began, one of the lines danced clockwise while the other one danced in a counter-clockwise direction. It was an ingenious way to keep the parade footprint small and to maximize the exposure for all sixty-five groups.

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Here is a very short video of part of a song. I thought these older ladies in their kimonos were adorable—so petite and so elegant: https://youtu.be/eEHi2NJS3kY

There were little kids, old people, and every age in between participating. They all danced the same dance moves (more or less) over and over again, accompanied by either a man, or a trio of women singing the traditional songs. Sometimes to speed it up, a recorded fast song was played and then everybody hightailed it quickly along. 

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All the colorful costumes were beautiful, and it was so enjoyable watching all the ages participating and sharing their passion. The music was interesting and inspiring, and the recorded dance song was snappy, too.

The parade went until about 3-ish with a thirty-minute break and a few little breaks along the way. I think there will be lots of tired dancers this morning.

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