Raw Fish Raw Fish

Wednesday was our last day in Tokyo. Determined to finally see the Tokyo fish market, Tech Support and I set the alarm for 6:30am. We'd gone to bed at around midnight, so this was quite the commitment. The alarm went off, whimpers ensued, and we got Meggish, her fiance, and Theo to join us in the adventure.



Too bad the fish market was closed. Sad and tired, we consoled ourselves by eating raw tuna on rice from a Blade Runner-esque street-side shop. It was delicious, and we almost felt healed.







We packed up our stuff and checked out, spending our last hour in Tokyo by going to a previous favorite, Trunks Ya. Then we got our stuff and headed to the subway, and then Ueno. We spent the next hour in an exciting bit of bureaucracy, messaging Jason and trying to coordinate ourselves on the bullet train. We made it on the 12:40 train. I spent the 2 1/2 hour ride catching up on blogs-to-be-posted, and then passing out against Tech Support. When I woke up, we were in Kyoto.



Tech Support and I had previously stayed in our Ryokan so finding the place again was as easy as sushi. We met up with my parents, who were having a grand time and had even rearranged the rooms to our advantage. After a brief rest the girls ventured out to Kyoto.

We wandered around the fair sized underground shopping area for a few hours (at least 1 hour too many). I remembered many of the shops from previous visits, but there were a few new faces as well. I scoured the bookstore for craft books, but passed on the lovely, but expensive, clothing.



Then we joined up with most of our party for another old friend - the Kaiten Zushi place at the South Exit. The sushi is okay and the price is cheap. To my surprise I ate a moderate amount, losing steam faster than I filled up. Tech Support and I left by ourselves and spent a few more minutes exploring the station, and finding another bookstore, before we went back.

Tech Support had reserved the public bath for us, and it was my first chance to share the bath with him. Unfortunately while Shimizu is lovely, their bath is scalding hot. I enjoyed showering and then poured lukewarm water over myself to try and combat the heat of the day and felt satisfied despite the lack of soaking.

Carp vs. Swallows

Originally Tuesday, July 24th




When I woke up Tuesday I was in a completely different world than when I'd gone to sleep. Any trace of the fog was gone. Outside Mt. Nantai was tall and impressive and it was hard to imagine we'd been totally unable to see it until that point.

Since it was 5am I had to try and sleep a bit more, but as soon as it hit 6am I got dressed and ran out. The others were asleep and I wasn't going to wait around. I walked down the street to the parking lot with the freaky vending machine. In the daylight the place was pretty benign so I continued along an asphalt path.





The area was beautiful. My mind wandered freely along with my feet and I regretted not exploring my own area of the world more this way. I only had about an hour and a half and no watch, so I walked as far as an old Italian Embassy.



I climbed along an empty riverbed with stairs that lead nowhere until I was back on the asphalt road again. The air was cold but I'd managed to myself up with all the walking. Thankfully my foot wasn't hurting much.



I got back and found that the other room, which held Meggish's crew and Lil Bro, was still asleep. Tech Support had gone off to shower and my parents were laying on their futons. They were all impressed with the change a day had made on the scenery.



We ate our breakfast, another fantastic meal prepared by the lovely people at Miharashi, and got our stuff together so take we could get going. My parents left first since they had to go all the way to Kyoto, and the rest of us ambled after. We waved at them as we went by, on our way to Kegon Falls.



The mob scene started there. Dozens of children from several different countries were running around. Still, we enjoyed our view of the huge waterfall, and paid the extra money to take an elevator down to the base and get splashed by the mist. As we got onto the elevator I realized I'd left my cell phone charger behind. My cell phone is my favorite camera.

Tech Support and I left a little ahead of the others, with him jogging ahead, to run back and get the charger. Despite our best efforts we had no chance of getting onto the next bus. Unbeknownst to us, the rest of our party hopped onto the wrong bus while we ran around. They would spend the next hour and half traveling to the top of a mountain and back down again, arriving disappointed and upset to have missed all chance of seeing anything more in Nikko.

Totally oblivious to this, Tech Support and I caught the correct bus and went down to the shrines.

We saw the famous "hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil, see-no-evil" monkeys, and heard a monk clang together two pieces of wood that made metal in the walls and ceiling reverberate. We looked at pictures of the sleeping cat and grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu rather than paying the extra 520 yen to see them in person.



The sun may have made the lake beautiful but it made walking around the shrines miserably hot. Add to that the crowds and I was already wishing it was like the day before again. I had a good time hanging with just my boy, but my pleasure was subdued by the conditions.



The sacred horse from New Zealand was a little strange. No really, that's what it is. No, I don't understand.



We managed to visit everywhere but one Shrine, but as time was running out we decided to meet up with the others. This is when we finally discovered what had happened. As we boarded the train back to our hotel in Tokyo everyone was a little quiet, because everyone was a little miserable.

The day was destined to be long however, so we went back to our hotel and rechecked in. Shigetsu Ryokan in Asakusa is lovely and they had our rooms all ready for us. After about an hour everyones feelings were mostly repaired and we headed out for a baseball game, we were going to see the Carp versus the Swallows.



Forget the game itself, American baseball fans have nothing on their Japanese counterparts. The sheer effort involved with supporting their team was noteworthy. They chanted, banged things together, let off balloons in unison and waved very large flags around.



There were also half a dozen girls wandering around with large beer dispensers strapped to their backs, which a few of us took advantage of.



The day was not quite over however, because we enjoyed an abortive effort to get dinner and a little shopping done in Shinjuku. It was too late and the shops were closed and we had to get back to our hotel, so mostly we wandered around Shinjuku at night. By then I was exhausted and mostly just wandering around, following them.





We got to our hotels just shy of 11PM and feasted on donuts for dinner before passing out. Tech Support and I set our alarms, eager to try and get to the Tokyo fishmarket for once.

After the Crash

Shopping is not something I ever do anywhere, except in Tokyo. Thus, it makes sense that my poor body should be overwhelmed by the experience. Or perhaps that was the jet lag and being unable to sleep past 5am. One of the two.

The day started out with another public bath with my mother and this time the Meggish also joined. We did girl talk while lounging around like dryads on the large wooden tub.

Once dressed we split up again into groups. I went off with my parents to Harajuku, where the Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of Art. The museum was small, but there was an interesting representation of how the woodblock paintings developed and grew in complexity from paintings, to black and white prints, to 10-color prints.

Afterwards we walked across the street and went to a sweet little French bakery. My parents were also sweet.



Then we voyaged out into the street. Harajuku, like most areas of Tokyo, is a mob scene on the weekend. My father decided to go back and rest so my mother and I braved the crowds to check out a Muji and UT.



By then, even with the prospect of Tech Support coming to hang out, I was crashing fast. He joined us and we picked out a few T-shirts and then headed towards the station.



There I saw the edge of some of the madness that was only the beginning of Yoyogi park. People were performing and dressing up and waiting for free hugs and all the people made me want to kill. I was tired, really really tired. I gave up on the idea of hanging with my boy and instead went back to the hotel to rest.

A few hours later J-Po and the gang that went off to Ghibli came back and I had a nice time chatting with them. Then the boy returned and gave me some Japanese craft books he'd found. After looking through each of them a few times I passed out, thankfully, until 6am this morning.

An Oasis

There are places in Japan where the history sinks into your skin, where the calmness of the earth can center you spiritually, and for any number of reasons, you can feel at peace.



But not in Tokyo. Tokyo is for shopping.

To prepare myself for this rigorous day I started out with a nice bath with my mother. The first time I came to Japan I refused to do the public bath with Eriko and her mother. I still dislike the idea of nudity around complete strangers, but the large room and wooden bathtub are too seductive to be ignored. There wasn't anyone with us anyway, and I had a lovely talk.

Already leery of traveling in a clump we split into two groups, and then three. My father, uninterested with the prospect of either electronics shopping or clothing and fabric shopping, went off by himself to Ueno. My mother, Meggish and I set out to the nearby UNI QLO.

But not before saying hello to an old friend, the giant gold turd.



UNI QLO would prove to be a disappointment both times today, so we moved quickly on to our next stop, a fabric store I'd read about only the night before we left.



Yes, that's what it's called. Five floors of more fabric than you can ever need. I don't even sew that much (though I guess I will now). I picked up a few pieces I'd seen on Superbuzzy and a few other odds and ends that will someday find great purpose.

We moved onto Ueno where without much difficulty we reunited with my father and had one of those lunches that involved a lot of 'what's that?' from the others followed by a shrug from me. Despite this, we enjoyed our food. The train going overhead and vibrating the entire restaurant added some extra atmosphere.

After that Meggish and I deserted my parents and joined up with the others in Akihabara. I'd never been to Tokyo during the weekend, and was unsurprised but still overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. The fabric store, while busy, had nothing on the electronics area. I hit a few old favorites with Tech Support and his gang before we split again, losing Meggish's fiance and his brother and gaining Lil Bro and Tech Support.

Ginza has been described as the Rodeo Drive of Japan. I've never been around Rodeo Drive enough to confirm if this is true, but it seems a little off. Ginza is too wide and varied and big to me. We'd walked about a quarter of the way down one street before we noticed something interesting.



The streets were closed off so we could walk freely on the asphalt. This had the odd effect of making the whole place eerily quiet despite the high number of people tromping around. We made another, unsuccessful, stab at finding good clothes in UNI QLO before hitting the jackpot at Muji. Three cute skirts for me and pants for Meggish.

Now exhausted, almost 7pm, we went back to the hotel, running into my exhausted and confused parents on the way. We were little help to them before Tech Support, Lil Bro and I wandered to a conveyor belt sushi place. I surmised, correctly, that the long line meant good food.

Back at the hotel I gloated over my loot.



Closer up on loot.



Now, exhausted, I think it's time to recover enough to survive the next day.

Again! Again!

Most of those who read this blog already know, and those who don't might not be shocked to find that I am In Japan Again. I know! I have to go to a new country sometime, but what can I say, they do a good raw fish.

It's 4am and I can't sleep. Last night at about 9:30pm local time I could no longer be awake. Travel will do that to you.

Yesterday started early, around 6am. Tech Support and I had managed to put off a large amount of packing and were determined to keep things exciting. He went for a final attempt at a good haircut and I cleaned around the house doing things I should have done at least a day ago. The cab was scheduled to come at 10am, and at 9:55am I was frantically vacuuming while Tech Support threw things together. The cats got a sadly hurried good-bye as we ran out the door.

There are definite good and bad things about traveling in a large group (there are eight of us, nine in Japan). But it is undeniably fun to see your parents and brother in the security line already ahead of you, and to sit and chat about the trip in the waiting area. On the plane we didn't talk too much, but it was nice to be able to chat through the chairs with Meggish and Her Fiance every few hours.

Unfortunately our plane did not have the super groovy little TV sets in the back of the seat in front of you, so we were forced to watch whatever they put on. I enjoyed "Blades of Glory", ignored "The 300" and put up with "Disturbia". I knit the ankle and heel of a sock and read a good deal of my new Laura Lippman novel.

And then, all the sudden (on hindsight anyway), JAPAN. The trip to Tokyo is always a little anticlimactic because Narita Airport is a good 1:15 away from Tokyo itself, and you have to take a train in. We descended on our hotel like some great horde, ("Are you the party of 8?" The receptionist asked as she watched us come in). We had to take the tiny elevator in shifts. Then we wandered around the neighborhood, waiting to meet with the long unseen J-Po.

Like a horde (we've GOT to split up more in this trip) we went to a little sushi style place with excellent food. By the end of the meal I wanted to head dive into my negitorodon I was so tired. At the hotel I was impressed by Meggish's Fiance's Younger Brother's desire to public bath, Tech Support went with him, but despite feeling disgusting was too afraid of falling asleep and drowning in the bathtub to do it myself. I made it about four pages into my book before falling asleep with all the lights on.

And now, here I am at 4:30am. I'm going to make another stab at sleeping shortly. This post was sadly lacking in pictures, I may add some later, but the next post will definitely have them.