Photologue.

Hi guys...I'm back. I FINALLY finished sifting through and uploading the best pictures to my Flikr account. You can check them out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/havenleah/sets/72157604119398244/

I hope you enjoy them.

We still have a bunch of videos from Nara and Tokyo to upload- so check back periodically for new posts.

I've gone back and read the blogs I've posted. I want you to know that they are in no way representational of my writing chops. I have always prided myself on my talent for spinning a well-crafted phrase and this blog certainly doesn't reflect that. I used it as a "mental dump" if anything. I wrote as fast as I could to get get all the experiences documented while they were still fresh in my mind. By the time I was done writing, it was time to sleep or begin new adventures so any blog quality control or proofreading fell by the wayside.

Hai hai hai hai.

We're back home in Milwaukee. It's about 4 am and I can't sleep due to the jet lag. I thought I'd take this opportunity to blog about the last few days in Japan while it's still fresh in my mind. Michael still has videos to post and we also have oodles of pictures to sort through and upload. We may be back but we're not finished with this blog just yet!

In the last blog we were in Nara and I had a little vent about my food frustrations. That evening we were determined to find some good food so we looked online for vegetarian or Middle Eastern food. We found a listing for a place called Ragamala. It was a situated down a dark tiny alley that you would have missed if you blinked at the wrong time. I found it by seeing a large colorful poster of Ganesh down the dark alley...and Hindu deities are not something you see everyday in Japan so I figured it had to be down there somewhere. Upon entering the place we immediately felt at ease. It was decorated in a beautiful sort of Japanese/Indian style, with low Japanese tables and Indian textiles draped everywhere. The menu was a set course of vegetarian kaiseki Indian/Japanese fusion dishes. "Kaiseki" means it is food prepared from what is available during the season. This is healthier and more environmentally responsible way to consume food, but this blog is about my travels to Japan and not my views on the politics of food (wink.)

The food was fantastic. The set included a curry, roti, ghee with fruit, a soup (onion?), and rice. We also ordered a banana sesame lassi. The chef successfully managed to fuse Japanese ingredients with Indian spices to create incredible, unique dishes. Combined with the beautiful atmosphere, we were highly pleased and all the previous fretting we had done over the food problem was forgotten.

The next trip we do, I am going to do more research on places to eat ahead of time. Many times we were out on the streets or didn't have time to get online to search for hidden vegetarian restaurant treasures, so were stuck eating crappy food just to fill the void. When we were able to get online to find information, we were totally rewarded.

We lingered so long at this great place that we missed the Omizutori (water drawing festival!) We biked up to Nigatsudo Temple to see if anything was still going on. There was still a good chunk of people milling about outside and a small crowd packed inside the temple to witness the Buddhist priests praying inside. I do regret missing it, but it was still intriguing anyways.

The next morning we had Western style breakfast at Ryokan Matsumae. This time the breakfast was served in a common room area overlooking a small garden. We sat near a couple from Massachusetts and had a quick conversation about our trip. When we've encountered other Western tourists on this trip, they mostly look away and totally ignore us (why?) or engage us in a short conversation about Japan. White people totally stick out in Japan. It is not a mixed society like here.

Speaking of conversation, I noticed that the few times Japanese people did speak to us it was a very narrow conversation. It usually went as follows:

"Where are you from?" We would reply "U.S. ... near Chicago." Usually then they would say "ah!" or "Chicago Cubs!" (baseball in popular in Japan) and one guy said "E.R." (The TV show we think?) Then they would ask "vacation?" We'd say yes. Then "how long" We'd say "2 weeks." Then "where are you visiting?" We'd rattle off the city names. They would usually end with "have a nice day!" That was usually about the extent of the conversations. When I tried to ask them questions like "have you been to the U.S.?" they wouldn't know how to answer. At one of the temples we visited I showed a group of elderly Japanese women my engagement ring and they shouted "honeymoon!" and erupted into giggles.

I have to give these people credit. All I know how to say is please, thank you, hello, goodbye, good morning, I'm sorry, excuse me, platform (for trains), one, two, yes, no. Japanese people seem to say "hai" (yes) a lot and we've both picked up the habit of saying it nonstop. I have to stop saying it so much or people will think I am crazy.

It took a long time to get back to Tokyo but we got going early. We still wanted to get some shopping done at Kiddyland in Harajuku. This place had 6 floors of Japanese toys. Totally fascinating. Why are we so absorbed by these toys? I don't know. I found a Gloomy Bear (a bear who has a bloody mouth and likes to eat people) and a charm of a dour looking radish man in a kimono. Michael found a drip thingy from a video game he likes to play.

We spent the evening in Shibuya. I found the record store district but didn't do any shopping. I had already blown way too many yen on the trip and knew if I went in any of the stores, I would probably drive my fiance (ha ha ha) crazy with boredom while I dug through the crates for any hidden gems.

We searched online for a Middle Eastern place in Shibuya to eat at that night. I just don't think they exist in Japan. The closest we could find was a place called Luxor which claimed to be a futuristic Egyptian bar. Like all the other places, it was hidden and hard to find. We had to buzz to get in and were seated at a little table totally surrounded by curtains. The only lighting seemed to be black light which made everything seem very surreal. The menu didn't really seem very Egpytian to me, but the atmosphere was definitely interesting.

We left Luxor around midnight. This was the latest we had ever stayed up in Japan, since we usually dozed off around 10 from being so busy all day. I was suprised to see that normally crowded streets of Shibuya had emptied out and all the crazy Pachinko places had shut down. Or maybe the people were in the bars?

The last day we stored our ridiculously huge and shameful bags in Tokyo Station coin lockers and did some last minute shopping and exploring in the Ueno and Akihabara areas. I felt a pang of sadness knowing this was it for us.

The plane ride home was not that bad. We arrived around 4 yesterday afternoon and drove home. It felt very strange to be back. The thing that always strikes me about the U.S. when I return from a trip is the ridiculous HUGENESS of it. The highways, cars, buildings, and people seem so excessively large and space gobbling. I am also very frustrated by the abysmal public transit system. It bothers me. I get so used to hopping around the train and subway system that cars seem like such a pain in the neck to me.

However, I am glad to be back in my apartment with all it's creature comforts. It's nice to be able to shower in my bathroom and doze in my own bed. It's nice to get my clothes out of a closet and not extract something stinking and wrinkled from a suitcase. It's great not to beholden to Japanese ryokan proprietors. Most of all, I am happy I don't have to struggle with the English barrier or do the exhausting food ritual anymore. Last night we had one of our favorite dishes at one of our favorite restaurants- vegetable moussaka at Apollo on Brady. It was a relief to stroll in and order in English and know exactly what I was eating. I'll probably regret feeling this way next week when I am bored with Milwaukee's food choices again, ha!

Stay tuned for more. I know Michael still has videos to post and we have tons of pictures.

Video: Revolving Sushi

Link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e5ROJMn39M

March 10, 2008, Namba Station Area, Osaka, Japan. Eminem played in the background as a sushi conveyor belt revolved around a handful of chefs in the center. The patrons sitting around the counter took plates down just about as fast as the chefs could put them on the belt. There was a flat per-plate fee: just over $1 per plate, regardless of what was on it. Between us, we had about 10 plates stacked up at the end of our meal, but compared to the customers around us, it looked like we had merely eaten a light snack.

Video: Sumo Tournament

Link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKXdlDLg7oE

March 10, 2008, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan. The annual March sumo tournament nicely coincided with our trip to Japan, so we decided to go check it out on its second day. Each bout is very ceremonial; it begins with about 4 minutes of entering the dohyo (circular ring), staring down one's opponent, leg lifting-and-stomping, exiting, and then re-entering and repeating by both of the rikishi (wrestlers). Every time the rikishi re-enter the dohyo, they toss a handful of salt out onto it, both for good luck and to purify the ring area. The whole process is mesmerizing. In this video of the final match of the day, yokozuna (the esteemed top rank) Asashoryu handily defeats his opponent, Kakuryu, in a dazzling finish. Quite an ending.

Video: Shuriken in the Mall

Link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rdjk7Erx48

March 10, 2008, Tempozan Harbor Village, Osaka, Japan. We found a ninja-themed store in the mall near Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and it had a booth game where you toss shuriken ("throwing stars") at targets and try to win prizes. Naturally, I decided to give it a try. Lots of fun, and much harder than it looks. Although I only ended up hitting one bullseye, that was good enough to win a small rubber shuriken prize.

Nara

Sorry if my formatting is odd. I can`t figure out these Japanese keyboards.

I blog to you from Ryokan Matsumae in Nara. When did I last blog to you? Was it about Osaka? I think so. Our trip is beginning to wind down. Our days have been less eventful and more mellow. We're totally temple and shrined out. After you've seen so many of them your eyes begin to glaze over and they don't seem as impressive anymore. I never thought I'd hear myself saying these things. But don't get me wrong- they are beautiful and we like them very much but there are so many of them. One could spend years seeing all the temples and shrines of Japan.

I never thought I'd hear myself saying I am sick of Japanese food either, but I am. I miss things like salads piled high with fresh, raw colorful vegetables. The salads here are usually doused in some sort of mayonnaise soy dressing and consist of pale shredded cabbage and maybe one pale tomato sliver. I miss cheap fruit- it's so pricey and often low quality here. I miss Middle Eastern food- I'd die for some tahini, hummus, pita, and falafel balls right now. I would like a good coarse loaf of dry wheat bread- the bread here is too fluffy, greasy, and white. I would like a vegan breakfast muffin or blueberry pancakes from the Riverwest Co-op. I want applesauce and a steaming bowl of plain oatmeal. I have no idea what I'm eating half the time since I can't read ingredients or the menu and Japanese people often mistake fish and chicken as vegetarian. We've identified the udon and tofu bowls as safe, but oh god... I just can't eat another bowl of those noodles. We've eaten so many but it's one of the few things we can identify that isn't something weird like pureed salmon roe or raw beef. We're only bird/fish vegetarians now but we eat mostly vegetarian simple foods when we're at home. I just want basic boring vegetarian food right now so badly. No more processed mysterious food please. What I also miss is being able to go to the grocery store or a restaurant and be able to know what it is that I am getting. Everytime we get hungry it feels like such an ordeal to me. We have to walk or bike around until we find a place that seems like it might be English speaker friendly, doesn't cost a gazillion yen, and serves food we might like. I am usually so hungry and desperate that after awhile we just settle for anything. Then we have to figure out what we want, which is often very confusing since we can't read the menu and what looks like tofu in the photograph might turn out to be deep fried pork liver in reality. Then you have to try and order in broken Japanese or point at pictures to tell them what you want. You can't really ask the server questions because they often don't speak English either.

I've discovered an interesting fact about my body while in Japan. I've noticed that I've been having a lot less digestive problems since I've been here. It's because there's little to no dairy in the Japanese diet. I knew I was slightly lactose intolerant, but I didn't know the extent of it until now.

What I am going to miss about Japan is the ingenius design and the transit options like the Shinkansen. The Japanese have so many clever little things that are extremely simple in concept and design, but make so much sense: sliding windows and doors, water efficient toilets, and bike lights powered by the spinning wheels are some I can think of off the top of my head. Speaking of bikes, I am a huge fan of the bikes everyone rides here. We've been renting them cheaply from our hotel/ryokan everyday now and they're just fantastic. The baskets are perfect for holding our bag and the lock is built into the rear wheel. Since they're so ubiquitous you can ride them on the street or sidewalk in any direction you choose with nary a raised eyebrow and unlike at home, you aren't going to get run over by some inattentive driver since bikes outnumber cars. I also love all the shoe rules and rituals since I don't care for people tromping their dirty shoes all over my apartment either.

Anyways...yesterday was spent shopping around Kyoto by day and exploring the city center by night. I wanted to purchase some traditionally Japanese things like a yukata, paper stationery, and a woodblock print. I think I bored my poor fiance to death (ha ha, I have a fiance now) while I dithered endlessly over boring things I find fascinating like handmade pottery and numbered woodblock prints. I feel like I am turning into my Mom. At night we had dinner at a place that the guidebook said had good organic vegetarian American/Japanese fusion food. We ordered two small tapas-like dishes and some sake but it didn't satiate our hunger. The waitress seemed to be too busy to pay attention to us after that so we paid and left. It's hard to get the attention of a person who doesn't speak your language.

After that we found a game arcade and played some games and took some pictures in the photo booth machines. Japanese arcades put American arcades to absolute shame. They have so many crazy games and the players are incredibly good.

Today we took a train to Nara. We expected this place to be a bit smaller and in the countryside, however it's very urban. We checked into our ryokan and rented bikes and rode to the park where all the tame deer are. There are so many of them and they are very cute but naughty. We bought some deer snacks from a vendor and they went crazy. A few began to headbutt me (including one with painful pokey little horns) and one began to eat my shirt. After I gave them all my wafers I ran to get away from them. They all just kind of hang out and amble around the park and remind us a lot of overgrown dogs.

Todaiji Temple is quite impressive- the world's largest wooden structure! It houses Japan's largest Buddha. I was awestruck by the large size of it all. In the back of the temple is a pillar with a small hole. If you can crawl through the hole you achieve instant enlightenment. We both managed to squeeze our massive tall American bodies through it successfully while tiny Japanese women couldn't even get past their chests. Ha!

We're in our ryokan now having a rest. It is a darling little place that has a rather artistic sort of feel to it. The proprietor is quite skilled at woodcarving and his wife is very talented at calligraphy, so it's decorated very beautifully. It is kind of nice to be back in a ryokan after staying in that Western style hotel. I am considering taking an onsen before we head out to the Water Drawing Festival. I have yet to experience a Japanese festival and my curiosity has definitely been piqued by all the posters I've seen around Nara.

Type to you soon,

Haven

Osaka

I'm in the hotel lobby waiting for our load of laundry to finish. It's going to be super nice to finally have some clean clothes. We've been here about a week and a half now and our clothes are really beginning to reek. I feel like a filthy stupid lumbering oaf a lot of the time here. Japan is designed for short small people and has a lot of weird little steps so I am always banging my head on doorways or tripping on the various doorway entries. I have caused a lot of Japanese people to giggle at my clumsiness or my cultural misunderstandings. If I'm not twisting my ankles over some artfully arranged rocks in a garden I am wandering around with my mouth open in total confusion. Eh well. I have to give the Japanese credit for being incredibly patient with us.

Yesterday we took the Shinkansen to Osaka. It was about a 15 minute ride- unbelievably fast. Compared to Tokyo and Kyoto, Osaka is rather drab appearance wise. It is not as fiercely extreme or culturally rich as the aforementioned cities, but the people there seem a bit more down to earth, youthful, and gaijin friendly. I noticed they all jaywalk there too. In Kyoto and Tokyo people always silently queue up and wait at intersections, no matter if there is traffic or not.

We got around the city by subway. For once I knew what was going on! It was a refreshing feeling after always feeling perplexed by the various transit systems Tokyo and Kyoto. The charts on the wall were very easy to figure out since they used a lot of Roman numerals and color coding. We found the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium very easily and bought presale reserve tickets. The major matches didn't go on until about 3 so we had the day to explore the city.

We took a subway to the Kaiyukan Aquarium. It was huge and very impressive. I particularly liked the jellyfish section. What fascinating creatures! The aquarium was situated in an area that seemed to be targeted towards families with small children. We wandered around the shopping arcade and found a store that was full of ninja paraphernalia. Michael played a game there where you had to toss throwing stars at targets for prizes. He should be posting a video of it soon.

Then it was time for the sumo competition. This particular tourney stretches for two weeks and has just begun, so it wasn't hard to get tickets nor was the arena full. Our seats were pretty far up but we could still see pretty well. It was really interesting to watch. There's a lot of ritual to the spectacle- salt throwing, ring sweeping, flags, singing, spiritually cleansing, appeasing the gods, stomping. Each match lasts a max of 4 minutes. The first 3 minutes and 30 seconds seem to be devoted to psyching each other out and the last 30 to actual wrestling (if you can call it that.) Two mountains of flesh pushing and pulling at each other for about 10 seconds before someone gets pushed off or out of the small ring.

After that we wandered around the downtown Osaka district of Namba. It was a lot like Tokyo in that it was full of neon and stores. Osaka seems to really come alive at night. We found a karaoke room building but couldn't figure out how to work the karaoke rooms since everything was in Japanese. At least we got pictures. We ate dinner at a conveyor belt sushi bar. I loved it. You sit down and watch a conveyor belt go by with plate after plate of mysterious sushi. Pick whatever looks good to you, grab it and eat it. I couldn't figure out what most of it was so I stuck to the tuna, grilled eel, sweet egg, and some sort of leafy greens. I wish we had conveyor belt food places at home!

After that we saw a band called "The Amateur" playing near the subway station entrance. Apparently Osaka is famous for having bands set up in a random places and play live. I wish we had more time in Osaka since it seems like a fun place.

Today I think we're going to rent bikes again and check out central Kyoto. I haven't done any souvenir shopping yet and our trip is almost over. I don't want this vacation to end! I love Japan...we're having so much fun. It's going to be such a culture shock to be back after this.