Thursday, April 26, 2007

Spring Holidays -- Bye Bye Tokyo!

Well folks, things have been hectic in Tokyo these last few weeks. I went to the big interview yesterday and *think* it went well, but now the best that I can do is wait and see if they decide to hire me.

Going to the interview itself was a real mind trip -- Akasaka is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world and home to the biggest and swankiest offices in all of Tokyo. I must have looked like one country bookie walking down the street looking up at these fancy places, with people all around in expensive suits and Louis Vuitton handbags and Burberry briefcases! The office that I went to has ITS OWN STARBUCKS inside the building. You know you are big when you have your own Starbucks.

Anyways, I will be off tomorrow for Hong Kong for a week and am really excited. Hong Kong really sounds like an interesting place... But this trip is really more about new jobs rather than just holiday. I have one interview at a massive international financial company with over 113,000 employees worldwide, and another interview with a magazine publishing house that has big names such as Maxim, Seventeen, and Men's Health. It is exciting, but also a little daunting trying to break into the big leagues! I sort of feel like a tiny sardine swimming with a school of killer sharks. But it will be great if one of these interviews works out, and I can finally get away from Classroom Clownery and back into the real world of work and editing. So, keep your fingers crossed for me.

In the meantime, here are some older pictures from when Bob was still here that I've been meaning to put on the blog. One day we made a major day trip to Mount Fuji and Hakone. Fuji was beautiful, but I think it is a much more impressive sight from a distance when you can see the whole thing.





After going to the 5th station of Fuji, the bus took us to Lake Ashinoko, and then to Mt Komagatake. Below is a shot of the Komagatake Cable Car that took us up to the top of this volcanic peak, but unfortunately it was so incredibly foggy we couldn't see very much at all!




A few days later we went gallavanting downtown in Harajuku and went to the famous Meiji Shrine. Because it was a Saturday, there were a number of traditional Shinto weddings taking place, and I managed to go paparazzi-style and snap some shots of the wedding party.





We also had a great day visiting the Yebisu Beer Museum, where we had a brief tour of the small gallery of the history of beer in Japan. But the main attraction of the Beer Museum is the tasting area -- for a mere 400¥ you get a tray with four glasses of four different beers. Take into account that in a popular bar, you can pay up to 900¥ for ONE beer. So this Museum was full of drunk people! It was awesome.





These two old geezers -- or 'jiji' as they are called in Japanese -- had Bob and I in stitches. They were quite pickled and kept saying, 'Handsome Papa! Beautiful daughter! She has High Quality Face!'. They kept buying us drink after drink after drink, even when we tried to say no thank you. It was like being trapped in beer heaven with no escape. Eventually the museum closed and we said goodbye, with our bellies full of beer, and our bladders begging for mercy.




I apologize for the blurriness, but let's see how stable YOUR hand is after drinking six beers!

Well that's all for now folks. Coming soon -- pictures from Hong Kong!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Tokyo's favorite mountain - Takao-san

Not even 50 minutes from the neon chaos of Shinjuku is a small town at the base of a very big mountain - Mount Takao, or 'Takao-san' as the locals call it. Last week I was very lucky to have a day off in the middle of the week for a school holiday, and took the opportunity to take Bob hiking on Tokyo's favorite mountain. With a backpack full of goodies, and a bottle of whiskey pre-mixed with water, myself, Seiji and Bob headed off for the wilderness.

We started off walking through the Takao town, a quaint little place, like all of these mountain towns are. Pretty little buildings, traditional architecture, and beautiful temples and shrines.



A shrine hides shyly behind a sakura in full bloom.

The hike itself was quite easy -- since Takao-san is such a popular hiking spot, the routes are all clearly cut and often paved. There is also a cable car and a chair lift that takes you up a steep slope and deposits you up to the start of the trails.




Above, Seiji and Bob take a look at long panels with names of all the people who had died hiking Takao. Just kidding! These are all names of the sponsors who help preserve Takao and take care of the buildings and trails.

There are six different routes you can take, but the most popular one takes you to the Takao shrine.



Takao - and many other mountains in Japan - is said to be inhabited by mischievous forest spirits, known as 'tengu'. These spirits are a combination of bird and human, have wings, and wield swords. They are apparently excellent swordsmen and have no qualms about using their weapons.

According to legend, there are two types of tengu. The first is the 'konoha-tengu' with its red nose and extremely phallic long, long nose. This tengu also carries a magic fan made from a large leaf.



The other type of tengu is the 'karasu-tengu', which has green skin, feathers and a beak. The one below is seen brandishing his sword menacingly. The karasu-tengu is apparently the servant to the konoha-tengu.




I also saw something that always makes me smile -- offerings of sake to the gods. That is something I love about Japanese culture... they certainly celebrate and embrace their alcoholic natures! I mean look at this guy! Look at how happy he is! But then again, I'd be a happy god too if people kept coming up the mountain to bring me massive bottles of sake.




Anyways, we continued on hiking after checking out the shrines, and were stunned by the beautiful and expansive view from the top of Takao. The blue mountains just seemed to roll on and on and on.



At the top of the mountain, many people were picnicking and setting up shop under the sakura trees to cook food and drink a wide variety of alcohol. The funny thing about Japan, is that even when you go hiking in the mountains, at the top there is always some kind of tuck-shoppe selling food and vending machines selling booze! We took a spot at a picnic table, drank our whiskey and ate our cheese and raisin bread and took in the scenery. It was really lovely, a perfect, perfect day for hiking.




After lunch we started our descent on a real trail - not a paved one - and walked for a long time alongside a small river. The area was covered with massive, massive trees (I wish I knew what kind), chirping frogs, and singing birds. Eventually we came out back into Takao town, and found these guys on the side of the road...



My dad said it reminded him of the little dudes on 'South Park' in their snow hats. Cute. After that, it was back through town, back on the train, and back home. I'm just glad I live on the west side of Tokyo and that these mountains are so close. I would definitely like to return to Takao-san one of these days and hike more of the trails.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Too many pictures!

So I have too many pictures and I'm not even sure how to put them on the blog! In the past week Bob and I have been extremely busy. We climbed three mountains in the space of four days, saw a multitude of temples and shrines, and sampled a wide variety of Japanese beers. But I will tackle them one by one.

This set of pictures is from Asakusa, the oldest and most recognizable Buddhist temple in Tokyo, dating back over 1400 years. We went on a Saturday morning and walked around this historic and scenic area, made even more scenic by the blooming sakura.



Above, Bob stands under the famous red lantern at the Kaminarimon entrance, said to be one of the most recognizable symbols of Japan.





The walkway leading to Sensoji main temple, lined with sakura.



Here a vendor is making 'senbei' - really delicious crunchy rice cakes. I eat senbei all the time but this was the first time I've ever seen them being cooked!


I also decided to get my fortune, again, even though I know that every time I go to a temple and get my fortune paper, it is ALWAYS a bad luck reading! Check it out below.



Fire breaks out from the sky! Your dreams will not be realized! Marriage and hiring employees are both bad! Sheesh... seems like I just can't win... Bob got a good luck reading... why do I always get bad luck?

After visiting Sensoji, we walked around the streets of Asakusa and next to the Sumida River, and sat down on a street bench and drank a beer. Out of nowhere, this dirty old vagrant appeared and started chatting with us. 'Otosan,' he said, addressing my father, 'chotto samui, ne?' It's a bit cold, isn't it? My father humored the old vagrant, and kindly refused to take the vagrant's rice crackers that he kept offering to us. But things almost turned ugly when the vag took his long, wiry goatee, twirled it into a point, and then rubbed it lovingly on Bob's face. Man, I laughed so hard I almost fell right off the bench. The look on Bob's face was priceless as this random vagrant tickled his cheek! This is why mothers always tell their children not to talk to strangers.

Well, tomorrow you will get some pictures from Mount Takao, where we went last Thursday when I had a blessed day off. And coming soon, pictures from Mount Fuji!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Big Squeeze

So the other night, Bob and I went out with my dear friends Taeko-san and Emi-san to everyone's favorite expat pub - Dubliners - downtown in Shinjuku.



It was the typical night of drinking and chatting with random strangers, but that night Bob got quite a few stares from the people around us, because he had a bag of tobacco and was rolling handmade cigarettes. You never see that in Japan, so people are quite curious about what it is. I bet some of them even thought he was rolling a joint!

We left Dubliners to go catch the last train home, and found a state of pandemonium in the station. Apparently there was a big accident on my train line (the busiest one in all of Tokyo) that shut down all the trains for a good 20 minutes. Now, you must understand the Tokyo transit system is extremely punctual, so a 20 minute backup on the train system in the busiest station in the world can cause some serious bacchanal.

Bob, myself and Taeko held on to each other for dear life as thousands and thousands of intoxicated Tokyo-ites, unaware of the train delay, pushed and shoved to try to get up to the platform. The crowd was pushing against us, a mass of bodies all swaying with the force, people crying out in shock at the sudden surge. To be quite honest it was a little scary to be trapped in the melee because crowds can quickly turn into mobs, and mobs can quickly cause some serious damage.

The train finally arrived, and the next challenge was for the people ON the train to get OFF the train and through the mob of people waiting to get on. More pushing and shoving and falling and tripping. This was the first time I've seen the train conductors pushing people into the door to get the doors to move.

Finally, the three of us got to the front of the crowd, and were next in line to get into the next train. I stood there, my arm linked with Taeko's elbow, and suddenly realized... we're next in line, but we're also now standing at the edge of the train tracks, with thousands of confused commuters pushing and shoving all over the platform. I though to myself, what if someone falls, and pushes someone, and they then push some else, who causes more pushing, until finally the crowd accidentally pushes us onto the damn train tracks?

Miraculously, we didn't get pushed onto the tracks, we made it onto the train, and made it home. But it definitely showed me that it only takes one glitch in a well-oiled machine to screw up everything! That, and the fact that Tokyo is just too damn overpopulated.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

A World in Bloom -- Hanami at Koganei Koen

I honestly don't know if words can do it justice, but let me just say I am absolutely in awe of the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Japan.




Everyone kept telling me how marvelous the sakura season is, how beauuutiful it is, but I thought I've seen Poui trees in bloom in Trinidad, so what could be the big deal about these cherry blossoms? But seeing the Koganei Park in full, full bloom today was really a jaw-dropping sight. The flowers are so very dense and so intense, when you look up and around you see nothing but pink. No sky... no clouds... no leaves... just flowers. It is like the entire world above your head has suddenly blossomed violently, which, I suppose, is exactly what has happened.




When the sakura trees blossom, the whole of Japan heads outside to enjoy the weather and the flowers, and to reflect on the fleeting beauty of the flowers, and the fleeting beauty of our own short lives. This kind of party/festival is called 'Hanami' and is an important annual event all over the country.




Today was 24'C, so apparently all of western Tokyo had the same idea of going to Koganei and the park was swamped with blue plastic picnic blankets, overflowing with extremely happy people of all ages eating, drinking, singing, dancing, cooking, taking pictures, and simply admiring the beauty of the sakura. Plenty plenty food and drink! In fact, some people enjoyed the hanami a bit too much and had to take a nap to recover!




Bob and I planned to go to a museum today, but we were so damn relaxed at the park we ended up just parking our bikes, buying some drinks, and sitting to people watch, and take in the atmosphere. Also, at most Japanese outdoor festivals, you will find a group of musicians playing flutes and drums, wearing masks and doing traditional dances. Watch the video below to see and hear it!