Enjoying Simple Pleasures

These days have been treating me well, perhaps to make up for the Nine Week Silence. I went with friends to a beautiful organic Japanese restaurant in Koide a few days ago. It was located in a gorgeous old fashioned Japanese building, complete with a pond and traditional garden. Inside, the ambiance was amazing in every detail, and they offered things like sakura scones and imported pastas and soya. The menu sounded so delicious cover to cover that deciding was an extremely painful experience. I ended up with a Tempeh Burger, and was not a mite disappointed.

Today, my cycling buddy messaged me shortly after class and we met with our bikes to face the ‘chance of rain’ forecast. It was perfect cycling weather, except for the unusually strong winds which actually pushed us around a lot! We went to the park and explored every corner. I bought some veggies at my favorite veggie vendor, after which the two of us sat out by the pond taking in the view. Luckily, she was up for fuwa-fuwa dome after a while, and we spent half an hour or so enjoying the bizarre trampoline and laughing like children. It was very refreshing. Check out the quality of this cell phone shot from the park!

After riding around the park for a bit, we caught a bite to eat for lunch at Budou no Hana and then headed back to campus. We took a totally new route neither of us had explored before, and found an enormous and beautiful old sakura tree, as well as a whole huge line of younger trees planted not 15 minutes from campus. They were all in bloom, and looked amazing against the still snow-capped mountains.

I think after today we have a pact to go to the park at least once a week. I’m looking forward to next time already.

A Day Without Shoes! (but with a bicycle)

April 8th is the Toms Shoes event – a day without shoes. This is an awareness raising campaign seeking to highlight the health problems caused for children in developing countries and poorer regions of the world, most of whom grow up without shoes. Learn more at their website: One Day Without Shoes.

I’m participating, although I didn’t get the rest of my act together ahead of time in order to drum up support on campus (there’s still next year!). It really snuck up on me. Anyways, we do still have snow on the ground, but today has been one of the clearest and therefore warmest days we have had in ages. It is fully 50 glorious degrees fahrenheit, and feels warmer with the sun filling up the cloudless sky.

To take advantage of this good fortune a friend and I took a bike ride. It was a little awkward riding without shoes at first (I threw some in my basket just in case), but I adjusted soon enough. We spent and hour and a half of the warmest part of the day basking in the gorgeous changing landscape around us, and exploring previously unknown roads that hug the curves of a nearby mountain. Here are some cell phone shots I took today:

And this last bit is where I walked through the puddles formed by melting snow. We couldn’t stop laughing at my footprints. It was a lot of fun.

Homeless in Osaka for New Year’s 2010

During the mid afternoon of December 30th, a couple of friends and I decided to go to Osaka that evening.  We had all idly discussed it before, but no solid plans had been made, so it felt very spontaneous and exciting.  We caught an overnight train called the Kitaguni Express which runs from Niigata to Osaka, which was in itself quite an interesting experience for me.  Riding an overnight train full of sleeping passengers through snow blanketed countryside created an almost surreal atmosphere. Actually, our whole trip had that kind of a feeling.  We arrived in Osaka in the wee hours of the morning, and apparently a major cold front was moving through because it was actually snowing!  When I lived there for a year and it barely flurried once or twice.  Needless to say it was pretty cold this time.

We spent the day shopping, sightseeing, people-watching and enjoying each other’s company.  I always have found people-watching to be interesting in Japan, but after living in farmland for these last few months, being in Osaka with the fashionable and metropolitan citizens striding by held a renewed thrill.  Eventually, after much striving and repeated failures, we managed to purchase tickets to the Universal Studios Japan Countdown 2010 Party from a Lawson in Umeda.  After getting the tickets, we had a fantastic dinner at Cafe La Boheme (the sister restaurant located one floor below my beloved Monsoon).  They also had a great deal going on for New Years’ that we would have gone for if that ticket situation had not resolved itself (Yes, of course I  made sure that we all split a Gorgonzola Honey Pizza with our meal, for those who I’ve exposed to this restaurant before).  After dinner we headed to Osaka Station and joined the mob of 20 somethings also en route to USJ.

When we arrived at the stop for the theme park, a massive, unbelievable wind picked up and we had to plough through the air just to reach the gates. It was made even more dreamlike by the fact that the park itself and the area surrounding it pretty much look like a movie set.  USJ was packed, and we froze our butts off there for a few hours before enjoying the countdown.  By then, while we still had a couple hours during which the park was open, we turned tail and sough warmer ground.  Apparently every other patron had the same idea though so it wasn’t the quickest exit ever, and unfortunately the crowd’s bodily proximity did not keep anyone warm.

From there we went to a Big Echo karaoke place and got a room for “all night” – pretty much meaningless at this point in the am.  My intention was that we do a little karaoke and then sleep in the private rooms we were paying for, but after warming up my friends to the new experience of japanese karaoke, they both became rather addicted.  We were there for about four hours, and I slept for about three of those, but my companions stayed up singing the entire time! It was great to see someone enjoy it, because usually when I introduce people to karaoke I get a much more lukewarm response.  After the karaoke time ended around 5:30 am, we rode on the HEP 5 ferris wheel over the night view of Osaka.  The only things open in the whole complex were the ferris wheel and the 7th floor Starbucks, where were bought drinks, rested and enjoyed free warmth for about an hour.  Then we gathered our things, and headed yet again to the train station.

We were using something called the 青春１８切符 (Seishun 18 Kippu) to travel at a discount, which limited us to local trains.  A trip that takes about 5 hours by bullet train ultimately took us around 14 hours by local trains only.  We transfered almost a dozen different times, and by the time we were back in Niigata prefecture we found out from a station employee that heavy snowstorms had reduced the already reduced holiday train schedule.  In fact, some of our trains were also late and went at below normal speed due to high winds. That man who we spoke to about the delays searched for a way to get us to our station, and actually called a special train for us (a single car train that was no longer supposed to run that evening).  We still only managed to get as far as Muikamachi, two stations from our destination.  We then took a taxi, which was tricky initially because it was a bit far and the driver wasn’t confident he knew the way, and then because of the roads being yet again snowed over.  Our final turn towards the campus barely looked passable by car.  We made it back to our rooms, with tremendous feelings of both fulfillment and relief.

It was a great experience.

Happy New Year! Have a great 2010.
明けましておめでとうございます。今年もどうぞ宜しくお願いします。

New Year’s 2010 photoset

10 Things You Should Not Miss in Japan

Clearly I am some form of a Japanophile – I did one year of study abroad in Osaka, and came back for more to attend the  International University of Japan for my Master’s degree. Well, I’m not delusional so I realize that Japan is not some kind of Utopia, entirely free from blemishes or problems, but that is beside the point of this post. After my month of travels prior to school, and also taking into account my previous one year stint living in Japan, I have certainly found that I enjoy it here overall.  I love the language, the food and the majority of the locals. Obviously, through my experiences here I have formed my own opinion of what you should and should not make it a point to experience during a trip to Japan. Shockingly enough my list does not include a 6 am trip to Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market, nor am I particularly impressed with Harajuku girls (though they’re interesting enough in their own way, I suppose).

(Oh and the order has no significance, besides perhaps displaying my train of thought, which is rather Kansai-centric)

1. Osaka
Dotonbori, Ame-mura, Namba, Osaka-jo, and food! Do NOT miss the delicious foods that Osaka has to offer!

2. Hiroshima
The Peace Memorial, Museum, and the extra hour or so you’ll need to go to Miyajima. If you’re lucky, there will be free tour guides wandering the park, so keep your eyes open!

3. Kyoto
You cannot run out of sights here, but aim for being there during a matsuri (festival) if at all possible

4. Nara
Experience the quiet city of Nara between busier days, feed some tiny adorable japanese deer, and visit Todaiji to see the great statue of Buddha (wiggle through the hole in one of the columns to up your chances of achieving nirvana!)

5. Go Hiking, anywhere!
Especially if you can get a native obaa-chan guide. It’s fun!

6. Fushimi Inari
You will not regret it. Plus, the whole area is a great “JAPAN” photo op.

7. Take the trains!
Train rides are great! I think I’ve said enough about them on other posts.

8. Onsen
Japanese hot springs, full of nice minerals. If the idea of pubic nudity bothers you, my advice is just suck it up and try it, at least once. That was one of my regrets after my first time in Japan, especially now that I know how awesome it is. Being in the nude with a bunch of same sex total strangers is not awkward or scary enough to outweigh how awesome an onsen is. (No photos for this one! 笑)

9. Open-Air Museums
There are a number of open-air museums scattered across Japan, full of authentic traditional japanese homes and farmhouses nestled in gorgeous parks. I personally recommend Hida no Sato in Takayama, but I know there is a good one in Osaka too.

10. Food that you cook yourself
There are so many different foods in this category – you can go for things like okonomiyaki, kushikatsu, shabu shabu or yaki niku

And my last piece of advice is this: I recommend that you talk to the locals! Even if you don’t speak a word of Japanese, by and large people in Japan are very friendly and helpful. Don’t be afraid to ask for directions, a recipe, recommendations, or even strike up a friendship over hanami. I have had a lot of great experiences and hilarious conversations by adhering to this rule.

This is my two cents on the topic, and I’m stickin’ to it!