3 posts tagged “odaiba”
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.
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 1st 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 start of term school festival was last week. It was a lot of fun—I got to buy some pottery, see shows by the gymnastics and synchronized swimming teams, as well as the nationally renowned school band. Apparently a movie came out a few years ago about boys’ synchronized swimming so now it’s all the rage. There were also song and dance numbers (including a rather memorable one by the school principal), a fashion show, a tea ceremony, and some amazing drawings and paintings by the students in the art department. Much as I enjoyed the two-day festival, it did mean I had to work seven straight days, which is why I’ve been falling behind on the blog.
Yesterday I went into Tokyo with some friends to see a world travel fair, with some very nice food and sights in an interesting upside-down pyramid-shaped building. (Still not able to insert pictures into blog entries with this internet connection--so please look under photos.) Afterwards we headed to Odaiba for a good Indian restaurant. We found one along the waterfront with great view of the Tokyo skyline, and ate some incredible Indian food (I probably should have taken a picture of the nan and curry too). Finally we went to a ginormous ferris wheel in Odaiba, despite the fact that I’m afraid of heights. It was totally worth it though, to see the Tokyo skyline from so high up. And today I’m off to visit a beer garden in Shinjuku, which should be spectacular.
