3/30 gretchen meets a whale shark

Make that two whale sharks. Brace yourselves for pictures, folks.

Today Ben treated me by going with me to the Osaka Kaiyukan aquarium, home to two whale sharks! I had been so excited about this that I had been dreaming about aquariums, fish, sharks, and the ocean for several nights. While some people look forward to the superbowl or the oscars as their annual TV event, I always look forward to shark week on the discovery channel. So you can imagine my excitement.

The exhibits focused on oceanic habitats in and around the pacific ring of fire, which allowed for a broad range of creatures to be featured. They had two kinds of otter (aleutian sea otters and a river otter), sea lions, penguins (Ben's favorite exhibit, we watched a handler enter the habitat and shovel snow onto their eager heads), gigantic amazonian fish, ... don't get me started, I could go on and on.



In several parts, the hallways were so crowded I felt like I was stuck in a Tokyo subway at rush hour, but with more interesting things to see.



But the highlight of the aquarium was the massive tank containing the two whale sharks (both small for their species, less than 5 m, but still...), manta rays, other sharks (Ben patiently listened to me prattle on about them all), and schools of brave little fish.





After the main exhibits, we found some creepy deep sea giant crab, a bonus jellyfish room and later a petting pool (not of the jellys) with rays and little sharks. Of course I stuck my hand in and pet the sharks.







This was by far my favorite day!

3/28-29 dancing in osaka

For the first time of our trip, Ben and I were able to connect with the dance scene in a city! We arrived in Osaka (after a 5 hour train trip from Matsuyama) on Saturday afternoon, and went out to a weekly swing dance that night. We were warmly embraced by the small group of lindy hoppers, and were even treated to a jam (for my non-dancing readers: they circled up around us and everyone took turns dancing with us during a song.) Their skills were solid and playful, and the owner of the venue, Charlie Nishio, made us feel more than welcome.

We were invited to join a small group the following day for a dance under the cherry blossoms at Osaka-jo castle in honor of Frankie Manning. Another translation for non-dancing readers: Frankie Manning is the forefather of the subset of swing dancing, lindy hop, that is so very popular today, and he is turning 95 this year so the dance community is flipping out. Our understanding was that there would be a videotaped dance of the shim-sham (a short choreographed dance that almost every swing dancer worth their shoes knows), and the video would be sent in with many others to be shown at his birthday party bash. We wanted to support Frankie, and dance under some cherry trees, and were planning to visit the castle anyway (of course) so off we went.

Once we arrived, we found out that in fact they were going to videotape a brand new choreographed dance that had been created specifically for Frankie's birthday, in addition to the shim-sham. We watched the video of the new choreography on someone's ipod nano screen, and within an hour of cramming felt pretty comfortable with it. However, the afternoon went much longer than we expected as other dancers were trying to grapple with it, and we practiced over and over under the direction of the organizer of the event. Concrete and street shoes plus lots of lindy hop is not a good combination at all (especially with the massive amount of hiking we're doing on a daily basis), so we decided to stick it out until the first round of filming and pack it in. I'm really glad we participated, and it was fun to learn choreography, which I so rarely do as a social dancer, but I wish we had just done several renditions of the shim sham at various locations around Osaka (especially since Frankie invented the shim sham too!). I also didn't get any pictures of the event because I was too busy dancing, but am hoping to add some later from other sources. And I also wish we had put on sun-screen before dancing in the sun for four hours. I am a bit crispy.

So we gracefully bowed out, with promises to come to their Wednesday swing dance, and moved on with our plans for the day. Yes readers, another castle. But unlike the others, Osaka castle has actually seen real battles, and fallen! Sieges, invasions, battles, etc! Inside the castle was the usual museum displays of katana swords, tools and pottery shards, model replicas of the castle and surrounding city circa 1400s, and so on. However, two of the floors featured amazing original painted screens, some in series, of famous battle scenes.





After an eight story climb (elevators schmelevators) we were exhausted, but I opened my eyes enough to appreciate yet another spectacular view. You can see my skin matches my sweatshirt, too!



We were so tired on our way back to the hotel, but decided to grab dinner because we knew we would crash hard once back at the room. We found a decent place between the subway station and our hotel, with plastic food models outside (always an easy meal choice, just point and motion for one), and a vending machine that dispensed meal tickets to hand to the waiter. Easy. We ordered double salads and got a whole jug of water, entrees (Ben accidentally ordered a cheese-stuffed hamburger steak instead of a cheeseburger) and set about replenishing ourselves. Back at the hotel, I enjoyed a nice soak in the onsen (have I mentioned how much I love onsen?) before crashing into sleepy oblivion.

eating habits

I've never gone this long without cooking. I think one of the most difficult things about this trip for me is the lack of control I have over what I'm eating. Ben and I try to buy groceries for ourselves when we can, as mini-fridges are standard in even the most modest lodgings, but we are still ignorant about the ingredients in most things. Even our standard choice of yogurt for breakfasts contains many unknown ingredients. At best we can decide what flavor we think it will be. Label illiteracy is pretty frustrating.

In our first week it was so exciting to try all the crazy snacks and candy. In Tokyo we filled a shopping basket with random things to try, and brought our kill back to the room to sample. As the days ticked by, shopping trips became quests to supplement our restaurant fare with healthy necessities. Proteins, fruits, and vegetables became our trophies. And peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Compare week one with week three:

(ignore the apple, it was a fluke)


(ignore the sake, it was for my birthday)


When I get back, just try to drag me out of the kitchen.

3/27

The only thing on our itinerary today was to visit the Dogo onsen, one of the oldest bath houses in Japan. Life is rough, I know.

But a bath on an empty stomach is not so good, so we found a local brewhouse (shock of shocks, beer that isn't Asahi!) and had our first stout in several weeks. It was dark and mellow, without too much character, but we were pretty pleased to be drinking a beer darker than beige. Now a hot bath with a full stomach is not safe either (so say oldwives everywhere), so we decided to walk around the nearby Dogo park to earn our baths.

Winding our way around the park, we found some idyllic picnic spots being put to good use, and swarms of kids being kids. It was as if all the children in town were in that park, enjoying the weather to its fullest.





Matsuyama is in full sakura season, and I caught a cherubic picture of Ben.



Geared up for our bath experience, Ben and I chose the first class treatment from the somewhat confusing menu. For about $15 each, we were given a tour of the historic rooms (including the emperor's toilet), a private tatami room to relax in, access to the semi-exclusive bath room (away from the larger, more populated (and cheaper) bath), and tea and sweets in our tatami room after our baths. Oh yes, life is hard.



While we've been to many onsen during our trip, I think the Dogo onsen was the most beautiful. The bath itself was made of polished dark stones, and was fed from its ancient geothermal source by a beautiful spout. I found out later from Ben that the men had two spouts feeding their bath, but I won't hold grudges. After our lounging time was up, we walked back to our streetcar station feeling slightly euphoric but more relaxed than we've been all trip. I will definitely miss onsen when we return to the states.

3/26 matsuyama

Our pace was leisurely. One day we visited Matsuyama-jo, the major castle in town (we have and will visit many castles on this trip, as per Ben's itinerary.) This was a pretty spectacular one, though it was never actually tested in battle. It's really too bad, because the structure of the outer wall is quite maze-like and disorienting, and could quite easily trick an invader. Now it just confuses the tourists.



As we walked the inner grounds, I heard a small voice from far away, "bang bang!" Looking up at the guard tower wall, I could see a small set of fingers poking through the firing slits and an impish face. I quickly assumed evasive maneuvers, ducking behind a sakura tree, then running out and returning fire ("bang bang") before diving behind a large sign post. We kept up this small impromptu battle for a while, until he dealt me a lethal blow, and I slowly and dramatically died in the dust. Much giggling ensued, including Ben and the handful of onlookers. I'll never know who my opponent was, but I'm glad we were able to put the castle to good use.

After climbing around inside the castle, we reached the top and (once again) were treated to fantastic views of the city. For some reason, Ben and I always seem to pick activities that take us to the highest point in a city. I'm feeling very spoiled by all this scenery.



A short jog across the expansive moat, and we found lunch at Amitie, an adorable French-style bistro. As most of you know, I had just graduated from a French cooking school before setting off on this trip, so it's still very fresh in my mind. I was pretty pleasantly surprised by the obvious care in such an inexpensive meal. We've had some pretty "French" food here (croissants with red bean paste filling, etc.) so finding bread with an actual crust was quite amazing! Ben will demonstrate:

3/25-27

Another ferry trip (my favorite way to travel) across the inland sea brought us into the warm arms of Matsuyama. Though I slept through most of the ride, Ben was pretty pleased by all the sights, and would occasionally wake me up to come look at a surfaced submarine, or the beautiful mountain islands and narrow straits. He even got to try his hand at Pachinko again, though we are both still thoroughly baffled by the game (if anyone has pointers, we'd appreciate it.)

I think Matsuyama can be described as "charming." We got off the ferry and walked to the tiny streetcar station, admiring the beachside town vibes. It's one of the smallest cities we've visited (1/2 million population). However, the "mass" transit system is still quite wonderful, and even includes some old style steam trains (mini sized) as part of the streetcar system. Cute!



We primarily used Matsuyama as our last outpost of relaxing and recharging. Every city after this will be quite large (Osaka and Tokyo). It was also the last place of sparse English, so it was a final test of our abilities. I think one of the most exciting interactions was when we were checking out of our hotel and the manager called us back, gruffly waving what looked like a bill for the last two nights and pointing at it. His tone suggested something bad, so we assumed he wanted us to pay (again), but I couldn't find the receipt in our wallet. After a few minutes of confusion, I'm sure he could read the anguish on our faces, and finally softened his tone enough for us to realize he was trying to GIVE us the receipt. Yeah, glad I was wearing deodorant that day.

3/24

On perhaps one of our most unexpectedly adventurous adventures, Ben and I decided to take the short ferry ride from Hiroshima across the Inland Sea to Miyajima, famous for the giant floating torii gate. According to the tourist propaganda, the water-locked torii is one of the three most photographed sites in Japan, so many readers are probably quite familiar with it. Of course we had to ham it up.



The tour guide maps and numerous signs on the island mentioned a deer park in the middle of the island, and had many dire warnings about deer eating peoples passports and JR rail passes (the unlimited access, $600 irreplaceable variety). How silly, we thought. Who would let a deer get at something that precious, and how much interest could a deer have in it anyway? Just don't go waving it around, right? As it turns out, as soon as we stepped off the ferry, we were almost tripping over deer, forget the park. At first it was cute, and I was playing Snow White and posing with them.



As we sat down by the pier for a quick picnic of onigiri (stuffed rice pockets), Ben and I started rustling the plastic wrap. Almost immediately, a doe that had been zonked out in the sun 20 meters away perked up, and resolutely started stalking towards us. Apparently the deer are extremely well conditioned by any *crinkle crinkle* noise, be it paper or plastic. I quickly shoved the onigiri in my mouth and ran away, stuffing the plastic evidence in my pocket. Ben got up and walked away, calmly munching, with the doe about 5 feet behind him, keeping pace. We soon learned to avoid crinkling any material, or at least glance fearfully around whenever we took a map out, lest we attract the wrong kind of attention. As we circled the tourist area, we saw maps and slips of paper being snatched out of peoples hands and happily devoured by the deceptively cute deer. Lost rail tickets, indeed!

Another major attraction on the island is a ropeway that takes visitors to a high look-out point, connecting to a short hike to an even higher peak, over 520 meters above the sea. Ben and I debated hiking up ourselves, but none of the maps gave us any scale of use; since my foot has been bothering me a bit, we decided to pay the ticket booth for a round-trip ropeway fare (at the time we felt a bit gouged, but we later found out it would have been over two hours of steep climbing to get up, so we didn't mind paying in the end.) So onto the gondola we go, oohing and aahing the views (and me somewhat successfully trying to ignore my fear of heights.)



At the top station, we see some warnings about monkeys. Don't look them in the eye, etc. But really, how many monkeys could there be? As it turns out, a lot. And they were only slightly more wary of people than the deer. Speaking of the deer, we figured out why the deer on the island are missing tufts of hair: monkeys apparently make poor barbers.





After we get over watching the monkeys, we start the 2 km trek to the highest point on the island. The hike took us through dense pine forests, and we stopped along the way to take in the incredible views. When we reached the top, we stood around in awe for a good half hour. We had a full panoramic view of the neighboring islands, and could even pick out the floating torii far below.





On the way back down, we passed by a shrine which claimed to be housing a flame that was over 1200 years old. It was smoldering fiercely, so we didn't see the actual fire, but breathed in the thick acrid smoke instead (gee, thanks). We also heard beautiful Buddhist chanting by the resident monk, which was interrupted by a phone call. I snapped some pictures of the odd scene (and the offering of cans of Dole fruit).



As we neared the ropeway station, violent rustling in the bushes signaled the onslaught of a wave of monkeys. I posted the video of this interaction in a previous entry. It was quite amazing!

escape from mokey island

We had no idea of what we were in for...

3/23

As you can gather, we are in Hiroshima. We put in a good full day in Hiroshima the city, visiting Hiroshima-jo, the local castle (complete with Ben dressing up as a samurai with the assistance of an amused local), a half-day of sleeping in and resting followed by the hiroshima peace memorial museum (a somewhat misleading title), and all the while looking for our next okinomiyaki fix.



Japanese cuisine is not as homogenous as one might think. Each city we visit has its own local speciality. Hiroshima and Osaka each claim to have the supreme okinomiyaki, so we feel it is our duty to take many samples of each style to make an informed opinion. Okinomiyaki is basically a layered dish, somewhat like a pizza in structure. There is a crepe on one side and a scrambled egg crepe on the other, with noodles, cabbage, various seafood bits, and whatever else have you sandwiched between, all cooked down and slathered with a savory dark brown sauce. It sounds (and looks) like a horrible mess, but it is so so tasty and comfortably filling. The appropriate pairing is with whatever mass-produced draught lager is available at the counter. One building in town has 28 individual okinomiyaki counters on four floors! It was so difficult picking out the right places to try. With three delicious data points from Hiroshima, I feel ready to take on the competing style.

silent witnesses

It has taken me a few days to process our visits to the Nagasaki and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museums. I am still quite sure that this blog post will be utterly inadequate. How can I convey the overwhelming pain and sorrow in the exhibits? Each museum ended with positive notes of peace, and dire warnings of the use of future nuclear bombs, but those parts were such a blur. My heart basically stopped in the aftermath portions of the museum. In Nagasaki, by far the most intense experience for me was touching a twisted glass bottle and a scorched brass name-plate, and almost hearing the screams of pain from those long dead victims. In Nagasaki I let it all inside, and almost lost myself in the empathy for the scarred bricks and carbonized rice, if that makes sense. Of course I completely lost it when reading the survivor accounts. Afterwards, we sat in the neighboring peace park for a bit, where I cried my eyes out.



In Hiroshima, I was able to put up some defenses and blocks, mostly for my own sake, which helped ameliorate the pain, but also helped me see past the blinding anguish to appreciate how far each city has come. It is truly amazing to walk the streets of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the friendliest cities we've stayed in so far, and see the peace and happiness of the people. Everywhere there are long strings of colorful paper cranes, an homage to Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died of leukemia from exposure to the radiation from the bomb. There is almost a joy in the memorial statues and plaques that dot the city, and a firm emphasis on supporting all people lucky to be still living.

It's Never What You Expect

I was under the impression that Japanese TV programs were absolutely crazy. It's not quite so. While there are some very strange panel format entertainment programs, only a couple programs really stood out.

The first was a program we were inspired to watch after hearing an older woman laughing loudly at the TV in our hotel lobby. It took the format of a panel of (famous?) people who were watching short segments of serious people making fools of themselves. It included a senile magician, and a man who invented a "keibeki" (or at least that's what I thought they were saying) which was a diaper of some sort... oh, and then went on to demonstrate its... uhh... capacity (and I don't mean #1) in the back of a car with plastic-wrapped seats. We cried from laughter, but not to the point of needing a keibeki.

The second was another panel format show all about cute animals. This included adorable and... less than adorable puppies, a segment showing the adventures of a chimp and its pet dog, and then the same chimp trying to get lucky by displaying itself in lavish clothing, or by giving the other chimp gifts of food (which it instead ate before giving, much to the very visible irritation of the chimp being courted).

Otherwise, it's the commercials that are the highlight of Japanese television. Usually they are too fast for me to understand any of the Japanese. However, they work on many levels. We just happen to be missing the level that causes the commercial to make sense.

Making even less sense is the reason for airing an episode of ALF just now. It's been 15 years since I've seen an episode! Good thing I found the button on the remote for an english audio stream!

3/20-21

Nagasaki: the land of adorable small dogs and children....





.... and fat koi.



Coincidence?

how to keep Gretchen entertained for two hours

On our train trip from Kyoto to Nagasaki (about five hours total, mostly by bullet train (wahoo!)) I was finally able to use a mysterious kit of "make your own sushi" that Meridith had picked up in the candy aisle during our first week in Tokyo. Even after she left, and Ben and I moved to the next town, I couldn't bring myself to throw away the DIY candy sushi, even though the box was so bulky. Finally I would have several captive hours, and my only book (the Thin Man) had to be rationed out.

After studying the back of the box, and poking Ben from his gameboy stupor to read me some of the directions, I set to work. It was a carefully designed plastic tray with specific compartments for each packet of dry powder, which mixed with water yielded: rice, egg omelet, salmon roe, tuna. There was also a small dark green cube to be rolled out for the seaweed. It was all so very cool, and I was completely absorbed for two hours. Ben kindly documented the results:










I think it was mostly for looking at, not for eating. Bleh!

3/18

Apparently Ben and I had been hanging out on the wrong side of the river in Kyoto. The charm and beauty of the West side is a rare (but worthwhile) beast, requiring some extra work to uncover. The East side, however, is overflowing with it, fully marinating in all it's glory. And it knows it too. We had multiple (real) Geisha sightings, and posed with meiko (geisha in training) at one of the many fabulous temples in Kyoto. Ironically, as we watched everyone clamoring for a picture with the harrassed geisha, I saw an old Japanese woman ask to pose with a group of sullen punky looking American teenagers. And then more groups of Japanese women lined up to pose with them too!





After the temple, we wound our way down to the flatland of Gion, the historic capital of Kyoto's cultural scene and Geisha. Our guidebook announced that we were on the "most beautiful street in Kyoto" and I think it was right, but the beauty was so understated and minimalistic that I didn't realize it until we were back on the conventional streets. Behind the wooden slats and fences, we could catch glimpses of little entry ways with miniature fountains, arranged stones, moss gardens, and a row of shoes on the edge of a tatami floor. These were the hidden exclusive tea houses of Gion, where new patrons must have a personal introduction to even get in! Most didn't even have signs, leaving the outside world completely oblivious.



Unfortunately, I think we were about a week early to appreciate the full splendor of Kyoto, as we could see all the buds on the cherry trees, but none were really blooming. I tried to imagine what the celebrated gardens would look like, and I'm sad we couldn't actually see it. However, I do love the quietness of the touristy areas now, and can only imagine the chaos of these areas when the sakura season peaks.

3/16

Today we really earned our mochi! We visited on Fushimi-Inari Taisha Mt. Inari, a series of shrines and over 10,000 vermilion torii gates over a 4 km hike up the mountain. The whole complex dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. What color is vermilion, you say? We had not a shadow of a doubt about that after this hike!



After hours of walking through torii gates, you could feel the meditative quality of the hard climbing and the sun / shade rhythm each post created. Sometimes, especially in the lower areas, the gates were so thick they created dark tunnels, and we would come out from them blinking in the sun.



Lots and lots of steps, mostly up, but sometimes also down.



As we were winding down from the mountain, we realized it was completely necessary to eat inari on Mt. Inari, so we pulled over to one of the many tiny shops lining the path, and had some of the best inari we'd ever had!



Ben liked posing with all the cats populating the hill side. Nekko!