stranger in a strange land

A couple days after my parents returned to the US, I went to Okinawa with a couple of friends.  Okinawa is the southernmost series of islands in Japan.  The islands are famous for their shiisa—pairs of guardian dog statues.  We stayed one day in Naha, a big city on the main island of Okinawa that gave the impression of a tropical version of Tokyo.

To get more of an island experience, we went to Miyakojima, a smaller island with beautiful beaches.  Over four days we saw all of the sites on the little island.  Oddly enough, the island has close ties with Germany, since more than a century ago when German sailors shipwrecked near the island.  They were rescued by people from the island and invited to stay until they could get safe passage home.  All over the island, there are memorials of this event, hence Ueno German Culture Village.  The only low point of the trip was the botanical garden, which were under construction and not well-kept.  There was a large rooster wandering around the garden that didn’t take too kindly to our visit and tried to attack my friend.  She managed to fend it off, but her scream was blood-curdling.

What I remember from Kyoto is that the people did indeed seem friendlier than Tokyo residents.  Since it was during spring break for most of the high schools, most of the popular temples were packed.  My parents and I skipped the “must-see” temples.  We went to Fushimi-inari jinja instead on the first day, a fox-themed temple with hundreds or possibly thousands of torii.  Torii are the gates to sacred spaces.

The most memorable day of the trip, it was pouring rain, and we didn’t visit any temples at all.  We went to see a very nice botanical garden, which was very beautiful despite the fact that we were too early for cherry blossoms.  We found (after much searching) an organic, vegetarian-friendly Japanese restaurant for lunch and then went to the Nishiki market to buy plenty of souvenirs.  There was a cat-themed shop we particularly liked, and since the market was covered, it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

We also spent a day in Osaka to see the impressive aquarium and take a look at the castle.  There was a lovely Mexican restaurant on one of the upper floors of Osaka station.  We headed back to Saitama the next day on the shinkansen, which was much smoother and more spacious than an airplane.  I’m really going to miss the shinkansen.

My parents’ visit was great fun.  I got to show off all my favorite places and restaurants so we started off with the okonomiyaki (very thick savory pancakes with all your favorite ingredients in them, originating in Hiroshima I believe) restaurant in Omiya station.  My personal favorite is the mochi-cheese combination, although the kim-chi-cheese combo is also delicious.  I have yet to try the monjayaki, which is the Tokyo-style liquid-version of okonomiyaki.  My parents were exhausted by the time we made it back to my apartment and of course it was raining by then.  The walk from my local train station is very short, but it always seems miles longer when hauling heavy luggage.

The next day I thought we’d explore my small town of Ina in the morning, so we waited until 10am, when everything opens, and then walked down to Unicus, the local shopping mall.  Unicus has a Tully’s, a Baskin Robbins, and a huge grocery store with a large cheese and dessert section.  We also visited “ze Daiso”—the hundred yen shop—and my favorite shop, Passport, which always plays nice French music and sells all sorts of cute pillows, shelves and kitchen stuff.  Then we headed back to the apartment with our grocery store finds for lunch.  We caught the New Shuttle and headed to Omiya to look around my other favorite stores, Tokyu Hands and Loft.  For dinner we went to a ramen shop that also sells delectable fried rice and had annen-dofu for dessert, a slightly sweet dessert with the texture of tofu.

On Sunday we went to Odaiba to get some Indian food at the restaurant that overlooks the Rainbow Bridge.  We did some shopping and took some pictures in front of the Statue of Liberty with the Rainbow Bridge in the background.  For some reason, a heart frame had been put up in front of the Statue of Liberty in Odaiba so I got a great picture of my parents in front of a Tokyo landmark.  My dad and I took a spin the huge ferris wheel, and we all had  a quick look around Venus Fort before heading back.  We went to an izakaya, a Japanese bar for which there is no simple English equivalent, in Ina.  Izakaya are usually attached to people’s homes and the size of a living room maybe.  They sell beer and sake of course, and usually serve snacks as well.  Anyway, the people at this izakaya were incredibly nice—they kept bringing us food and beer, and even some vegetarian food (which is hard to find in izakaya) since they heard I was vegetarian.  In the end they wouldn’t let us pay for any of it.  I’ve been back to the izakaya since then and I always try to bring a gift now.

I had to work the next day, but after that, my parents came to see my schools, which was an interesting experience.  That evening we ate at my favorite cheap Italian chain restaurant, Saizeriya, in Omiya.  On the very first train, at 5:42 the next morning, we left for Kyoto.

I’ve been traveling and getting visits from people so I’ve fallen woefully behind on updating the blog, so I’ll be posting a series of short entries to let everyone know what I’ve been up to since yuki matsuri.  A week after the big snow festival in Hokkaido, I left on a 3-hour train ride into Minakami in Gunma prefecture for a Reggae snow festival.  It was a winter wonderland in a way that Sapporo wasn’t, being a big city.  In Minakami the snow was piled at least three feet high, blocking windows in many cases, and the city had a sprinkler system on the roads to keep the water from freezing.  The music was nice, and lots of people were skiing but I went for the onsen which were delightful.  There was even a nice onsen in the ryokan (traditional inn) we stayed at, although the ryokan was notably lacking in western-style toilets (as many ryokan are).  I found a lovely rotemburo (outdoor hot spring pool) in another hotel overlooking the mountainside and had the novel experience of building a snowman (well, snowcat) in the altogether.  The next day I took a 45-minute bus ride to a famous onsen nearby.  The rotemburo there were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, with snow drifts and a river flowing by just beyond the pool.  There was also an extremely hot indoor pool.  I managed to inch my way in, but it did take an effort not to leap out again.  I also encountered my first mixed-bathing rotemburo, which required some discussion about the etiquette of mixed bathing pools with my friend (“towels? No Towels? Towels.”) who was more knowledgeable about Japanese culture but, alas, had also never been to a mixed-bathing pool.  I almost didn’t make it back from the onsen, since there was a snow storm moving in and the bus I was going to take couldn’t make it that far into the mountains, but I finally got out safe and sound, and even caught the train I’d been hoping to take (also running late because of the storm).

Unfortunately, since that wonderful onsen, I’ve been falling way short of my one onsen/weekend goal.  I haven’t made it to any onsen since Minakami, but I intend to see many more before I leave Japan.  Next up:  my parents’ visit and trip to Kyoto in mid-March.

I went to yuki matsuri this weekend, the snow festival in Sapporo (as in Sapporo beer, on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido).  The flight up to New Chitose airport was a little unsettling, because not one person at the airport checked IDs, not even at the security checkpoint.  I stayed in a hotel in the red light district of Sapporo, which was probably why it was so cheap, but it was actually quite nice.  Unlike Saitama, Hokkaido is serious about central heating and insulation, so the hotel room was much warmer than my apartment on an average night.  The first day, I went with some friends to Sapporo brewery.  It was a fair walk from Sapporo station but it was interesting to see how local shops and convenience stores use the large amount of snow to advertise.  At a park the snow that had been plowed off roads and sidewalks had been heaped up into a very nice sledding hill, complete with steps, and I had to slide down a couple of times.  The brewery itself was covered in snow and it started snowing when we got there—very pretty even if the snow did keep melting on my camera.  We found a good restaurant in the brewery with grill-it-yourself fare, including lamb and veggies.  The grill itself was in the shape of Hokkaido which was a nice touch.  I ate too much and tried the beer (although I opted not to do nomihodai—all you can drink).

In the evening we found a large Ferris wheel on top of a tall building, and I had to go for a ride to look out over the city even though I’m not too keen on heights.  After that we finally made it to the festival, and considering how all the snow and ice sculptures were lit up, I think evening’s probably the best time to go.  There were a lot of small snow sculptures, and when I say small I actually mean about seven feet tall on a base of five square feet.  My favorite small sculptures were Al Gore and The Scream, and there were a number of beautiful ones in what appeared to be a special section for the sculptures more geared towards the art of snow sculpting rather than advertising.  There were also about eight stage-sized snow sculptures, one advertising the new Narnia movie complete with dramatic music and a light show and an impressive Egyptian-themed sculpture.  And then there were the delicate ice sculptures, a few blocks of which were on a street near our hotel instead of in Odori Park where the rest of the festival took place.  I got my fill of souvenirs from the festival, including a small danpa, a panda with the colors reversed that appeared to be the mascot and marketing gimmick for this year’s festival.  Afterwards we went to find ramen alley and ate some delicious miso ramen at a very tiny but very popular ramen joint.  It was quite a change to have fresh ramen with a more complicated assortment of ingredients than I find in the instant ramen lunches.

The next day I took a bus to onsen in Jozankei, a beautiful spot in the mountains about an hour from Sapporo.  I got a ticket that included the bus fare both ways and a ticket to any of the onsen in the area.  However, not realizing I had many options, I naturally chose the onsen with the scenic view of the highway.  It was still relaxing.  Soaking in hot springs with the steam rising up around me while I take in the frozen winter landscape will never lose its charm, highway or no highway.

I took another trip to Odaiba yesterday.  I think the Yurikamome trains are my favorite so far in Japan—they run through a beautiful raised track along Tokyo Bay, past some amazing architecture, the huge Odaiba Ferris wheel and the Rainbow Bridge before looping around and crossing the bridge.  I went back to the wonderful Indian restaurant along the bay, and accumulated an embarrassing amount of Hello Kitty paraphernalia (I guess any amount is embarrassing, really) in the fake Samurai village one floor below the restaurants.

After lunch and shopping, I finally made it to Oedo Onsen Monogatari, the onsen in Odaiba along Tokyo Bay.  The onsen was huge but way too crowded—I had to wait in line to take a shower before I could get into the baths.  There were about eight different kinds of baths in the onsen, including one with real onsen water, supposedly extracted from far beneath Tokyo Bay, a gold bath, a silk bath, a Jacuzzi with jets extremely well-placed to massage the arches of your feet, a couple outdoor pools and a few outdoor barrel-baths, as well as two different kinds of saunas.  The entrance fee includes rental of a yukata (like a kimono but light-weight) so I wandered around a mock Edo-period village inside the onsen building before and after soaking in the baths.  The village was a little hokey, not that I didn’t pick up plenty of souvenirs.  Actually the locker key attached to a bracelet also had a barcode on it, so instead of having to carry money around, they scan your barcode whenever you buy food or souvenirs.  It’s quite an ingenious idea really, because it makes it very easy to buy things and near impossible to keep track of how much you’re spending until you have to pay up at the very end.  Also you can’t get to the locker area where your shoes are being held hostage until you’ve paid up.  I was happy to find a manja toy (manja are ubiquitous onsen food from what I understand, a kind of dumpling with vegetables inside), and some delicious mochi balls with cocoa powder and cream on the inside.  After wandering around the village barefoot for awhile (like I said, my shoes were being held in a locker out front), I went to the foot baths.  They provided a happi coat to put over my yukata but it was still freezing.  The water was warm, and the bottoms of the footbaths were covered with small stones designed to hit pressure points in the bottom of your foot but they were actually quite painful (and I wasn’t the only one who thought so—some of the Japanese were also complaining).  Unfortunately it was too dark to see where the stones were and avoid them, although some of the stones were placed in rows across the pool so I was able to grapevine my way forward and without tumbling into the footbath with my camera.

I was just about ready to give up on the footbath and make a run for the building across the freezing footpaths when one of my friends spotted the building with the “doctor fish”—the cleaning fish.  You pay an extra fee for a set amount of time with the doctor fish and a person leads you into the footbath area and directs you to sit down on a mat and stick your feet into the footbath.  As soon as I stuck my feet in, dozens of doctor fish swam up to feast on the apparently large quantity of dead skin cells on my feet.  It didn’t hurt at all, but it tickled a lot.  I noticed there were only a few doctor fish tending to the feet of the Japanese woman near me.  I suspect she must take better care of her feet, because the fish were all over my feet and my friends’ feet.  And when my time with the doctor fish was over, I could tell they weren’t anywhere near done with me.  My feet definitely felt softer afterwards, although there are still plenty of calluses (well the doctor fish aren’t miracle workers after all).  I got some great video of the doctor fish, but I don’t know how to post it here, so I’ll just put a picture in the photo section.  Anyway, it’s not every day you see a symbiotic relationship happening on your feet, so the doctor fish alone were well worth the trip.

It snowed today and accumulated for the first time.  We didn’t get much snow before it turned to rain and washed away most of the accumulation.  Today was maybe the coldest yet—I could definitely see my breath in the bathrooms and of course there’s only ice-cold water to wash up so I can’t ever feel my fingers on the way back to my relatively-warm desk.

I’ve been trying to go somewhere different every weekend, so this past weekend I went to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro.  Shinjuku’s Kabuki-chō is mostly a red-light district from what I can gather, but there’s a pretty nice spa right in the middle of it.  There are three indoor pools, a hot pool, a cold pool and a Jacuzzi style pool with bubbles, as well as three saunas (only one of which was cool enough for me to stay inside for any length of time) and massages.  The really cool part is that the spa is on the ninth floor of the building and there’s one hot outdoor pool that’s shockingly serene considering it’s in the middle of Shinjuku.  The pool is screened off so people in neighboring high-rises don’t get an eyeful, but I could still see some skyscrapers while I soaked.  It was cool because it felt like an onsen, but with a cityscape instead of the usual tranquil landscape view.  And, since the spa is open 24 hours and is much cheaper than a hotel room, now I know where to go when I miss the last train home.

After the spa, I went to a pretty shrine, Hanazono-jinja, also in the heart of Kabuki-chō.  The shrine was all lit up at night and weirdly quiet considering it sits in the shadow of skyscrapers on all sides.  I left a single yen offering and rang the big ceremonial bells—you’re supposed to leave the offering and pull the big ropes attached to the bells while you pray.  After the shrine, I went to a hole-in-the-wall French restaurant for a very-pricey meal that was still worth every yen.  I had French-onion soup, the most amazing potatoes gratin, zucchini in a wonderful cream sauce, and topped it off with crème brûlée.

The next day I went to Ikebukuro, which isn’t quite as fashionable and shiny as Shinjuku (but close).  There’s a sort of city-within-a-city, called Sunshine City, where I found a neat planetarium, a zoo and an aquarium.  I always feel funny visiting zoos because I worry about how the animals are treated.  There were a couple of sea lions in a tank that looked a little small, but then again, the Japanese have very different standards for judging a space too small to be livable.  My apartment seemed inhumanely small on those first few nights too.  On the plus side, I got a great video of a seal doing math.  The trainer would put numbers on a board (like 5+4=) and the seal would look at each symbol very carefully then bounce down a row of numbers, pick out the right one and take it back to the trainer in exchange for fish.  I was pretty impressed.  Unfortunately, the show didn’t seem that popular, except with a few very small children, either because it didn’t seem to be a scheduled show or because it’s so cold outside.  But luckily the seal still gets fish for doing math whether there’s a big audience or not.  The aquarium was nice (although not as nice as the Chicago aquarium), but very crowded of course.  After the aquarium, I went to a kind of food amusement park, where I was able to find vegetarian gyoza (like potstickers) filled with kimchi and topped with melted cheese.  Undoubtedly not traditional, but delicious nonetheless.  I’ve been disappointed over the last few months that I rarely eat Japanese food because it’s so hard to find vegetarian versions.  I’ve been surprised at how pervasive meat is in Japanese restaurants when historically Japanese considered eating animals like cows to be exotic and not a little strange.  But even the vegetable gyoza at the grocery store turned out to contain a little bit of meat when I asked.  Anyway, I was overjoyed to find a vegetarian Japanese dish, no matter how untraditional the interpretation.  I think I just need to search more for vegetarian Japanese food, and after all, if I can’t find it in Tokyo, I probably can’t find it in Japan.

The weeks leading up to Christmas in Japan are much the same as in America.  As soon as Halloween is over, the Christmas decorations go up.  And I mean literally as soon as Halloween was over; I had been hoping to get some discounted Halloween decorations but no luck—on November 1^st it was too late.  All of the stores had removed their Halloween stuff (where did they put it all I wonder?) and started putting their Christmas stuff out.  Some of it was pretty standard fare, color-coordinated Christmas tree lights and ornaments a la Martha Stewart, but some of it was also more distinctly Japanese.  I found some gorgeous Christmas cards with famous Japanese landmarks decked out in Christmas regalia.  I haven’t seen any Christmas tree farms here, which is probably a good thing, since I’ve heard Japan is already the world’s biggest importer of lumber—a lot of which goes towards making the disposable wooden chopsticks I feel guilty about using in restaurants.   I think Christmas here is not as family-oriented as it is in the US, and I’ve heard rumors that the traditional Christmas dinner is usually a KFC dinner.  Indeed, since Halloween all of the KFC Colonel statues have been wearing Santa costumes.  Because Christmas in Japan lacks any religious overtones, there are also some items I can’t imagine seeing in department stores in the US.  I was amused to see figure-flattering reindeer and Santa outfits for women and reindeer “poop” (presumably chocolate covered raisins) sold with the slogan “Have a poopin’ Christmas”.

Yesterday, I took another trip to Odaiba with a friend, where the Christmas decorations on the docks are out in full force, and got a picture of Godzilla, complete with glowing red eyes, attacking a Christmas tree along Tokyo Bay (I still can’t add pictures in with text, but I’ve updated the Pictures).  I think we’ve all seen the reindeer figures done in Christmas lights in people’s yard displays, but if I find a Godzilla figure done in Christmas lights, I’ll have to buy it.  The weather was very nice yesterday, and Odaiba was wonderful, even aside from Godzilla.  I went back to the delicious Indian restaurant, and this time they were having a lunch buffet complete with vegetable curry and saffron rice.  Afterwards, we walked along the docks, and apparently it was bring-your-miniature-dog-in-costume-day, so there were lots of people pushing strollers, some with kids, some with dogs in costumes.  My friend got a great picture of a tiny dog parading around in a pink tutu.  On the docks they also have some shows, with magic tricks and such, and last time, a gaijin man juggling on a five-foot tall unicycle wearing a helmet with a plane on a string flying in circles around his head and blowing bubbles.  It was quite a sight.  Anyway, after watching part of the show it was time for shopping in Venus Fort, which my guidebook calls a shopping experience for women.  It was great—there was a Lego store and everything.  Unfortunately, it being a school night, I had to head back to Omiya after that.  But since I haven’t made it to the onsen with cleaning fish yet, I’ll have an excuse to take another trip to Odaiba when I return to Japan in January.  And in the meantime, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Godzilla Christmas ornaments.

The colored leaves are very beautiful here, but the weather turned cold in the second half of the month.  There’s no central heating in either of my two schools, nor do the bathrooms have hot water (although one school has a state-of-the-art toilet with a heated seat), so while it’s not that cold in absolute terms, I’m pretty cold most of the time I’m not in my apartment.  For a few days before the school decided to put out the kerosene space heaters, I had trouble marking papers because I couldn’t feel my fingers.  But on the bright side, I brought all of my wool socks with me, and the kerosene heater set up in the teacher’s room is directly behind my desk.  Also, since I’m a teacher, I don’t have to wear short skirts everyday like the female students.  The female students (and not a few female teachers) bring fleece blankets every day to cover their legs—the blankets are usually pretty cute too, often with a carrying case and everything, so I might invest in one.

Earlier in the month, I went to see kabuki (a type of traditional Japanese theater) in Ginza.  I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stay awake through all five hours of it, but it turned out to be pretty entertaining.  I understood most of it thanks to the earphone guide, which most everybody used, including the native Japanese.  I think kabuki is a little like Shakespeare, in that modern English speakers can understand it with some difficulty, and there are a lot of references which need extra explanation.  Also, kabuki is performed by men only, and there are very intricate costumes and makeup.  None of the actors used a microphone, although the auditorium was quite large, but I don’t think anyone had trouble hearing.  I didn’t get a chance to see much of Ginza itself, so I’ll have to save that for the next trip.

I also went to Harajuku, fashion street, and got a tourist-y t-shirt with the character for fortune.  Harajuku is known for the oddly dressed and made-up people who gather around a famous bridge to be photographed by tourists, like me.  Unfortunately, the photographs are trapped in my cell phone still.  My travel guide says it’s young women who dress up in costumes and come to the bridge, but there were men too, and not just younger ones.  While eating in a restaurant, I saw an older man go by wearing fake breasts and earrings with goldfish in them—he stopped and posed outside the window to let my friend get a picture, of course.

I got the chance to attend one of the many fall festivals the weekend before last.  There were interesting parades, lots of delicious food on sticks (and sweet potato ice cream!), and some pretty decorations for sale.  I took pictures but I haven’t yet figured out how to get the pictures from my cell phone to my laptop, so those will have to wait.

There was another typhoon this past Saturday, although I didn’t know it was a typhoon.  (I thought it was just raining a lot.)  I had wanted to go back to Kawagoe to have another look around, but I spent the day in my apartment except for some much-needed grocery shopping.  It was still a pretty nice day—one of my coworkers introduced me to the joys of fresh udon noodles paired with cream cheese, which doesn’t sound like a combination that should taste good but it definitely works.  After the typhoon the weather was gorgeous, so on Sunday I went to a concert given by the school band, which is nationally renowned I hear, and with good reason.

I’ve now been here for more than two months, and I’ve been thinking a lot about things that surprised me when I got here, but now seem pretty normal.  There are no paper towels in any public restrooms I’ve encountered (except for one English-style pub in Omiya), and in the older bathrooms, like the ones at both of my schools, or train stations, there are no hand dryers either, so I usually end up using my cardigan as a towel.  Most people think ahead and bring a small hand towel with them everywhere, but I haven’t gotten into the habit yet.  As far as the classrooms go, I was surprised to see a sort of stage in the front of the room where the teacher stands.  At first I thought it was so I could tower over students menacingly, but now I think it’s so that the students in the back of the very-crowded classrooms can see the teacher.  In any case, I’m convinced that someday I’m going to fall off the stage and injure myself and/or the poor students sitting in the front row, but so far so good.

One of the hardest things to get used to has been the distinction between indoor and outdoor shoes.  I thought indoor shoes would be like slippers or sandals that I would change into whenever I entered the school, and take off whenever I left the school, but it turned out that the slippers and sandals I brought with me were not proper indoor shoes.  Indoor shoes are actually exactly like outdoor shoes, except that they either haven’t been worn outside or have been washed before being worn inside.  And it also turns out that there are situations in which indoor shoes can be worn outside without getting strange looks from people.  At one of my schools, the vending machines are located outside the school, and everyday I walk through a series of covered walkways to get my chocolate milk without changing into my outdoor shoes.  But the distinction between indoor and outdoor shoes is so strong that when we had a fire drill at school today, everybody (myself included) changed from their indoor to their outdoor shoes when they exited the building.  In fact, we were all informed in advance that there would be a fire drill so we could bring our outdoor shoes with us to class.  However I was happy to hear that if it had been an actual fire, we would not be expected to change our shoes before escaping the building.  Not that I would have stopped to ask about etiquette during an actual fire, but still.