New experiences

This weekend was definitely one of new experiences. On Sunday morning, Seiji and I woke up at the crack of dawn, packed the car with gear and booze, and headed on my first Japanese fishing trip. We drove about two hours north of Tokyo to Gunma Prefecture to a small town called Oigami. The drive was quite beautiful, heading north into the snow capped mountains, driving next to lots of cars with skis and snowboards on the roof rack. It was also really lovely to see the always majestic Mt Fuji standing proudly in the distance.

By 10 am we had arrived at the Oze Fishing Lake, and after making sure we had on many, many layers of warm clothes -- long johns, pants, snow pants, turtleneck sweater, hoodie sweater, fleece sweater, heavy jacket, and of course a hat -- we were ready to catch those trout.



The Master Fisherman with his weapons of mass destruction.

Now, anyone who knows me knows I am not a fisherwoman, but rather a golfer. So Seiji had to show me the ropes of how to use a rod -- how to hold it (similar to a golf club, actually), how the reel works, how to release the line, how to reel it in, how to cast, and of course what to do if you feel a bite. It took me quite some time to get the hang of it, and the first time I tried casting I almost tangled my line with this woman next to me. MOST embarassing! However, within the first 15 minutes I had a little beginner's luck and got my first trout! FISH ON!!!! Yay!

By the end of the day, we had caught five plump rainbow trout and were starving and exhausted. In fact, we were so starving and exhausted by 5 pm that we gutted the fish and packed them away before realizing that we hadn't taken a single picture of our catch! Very unfortunate to have no proof of our fish. You'll have to take my word for it.

After packing up the van, we headed to our 'ryokan' for the night - a traditional Japanese inn - with 'onsen', natural hot springs, which are plentiful and incredibly popular in Japan.



Staying at the ryokan was a really interesting experience, the room was beautiful with the traditional style tatami mats and futons. Everyone sheds their clothes and wears 'yukata' - a very nice and comfortable robe tied at the waist with an 'obi' sash. I felt a bit strange walking around the hotel in the yukata, but hey, when in Japan, do as the Japanese, right?

The food that they served was incredible. Luckily we DID remember to take pictures of that.



Here I am, feeling very shy in my yukata, surrounded by many little dishes of wonderful food.



Grilled salmon served on hot rocks, with marinated walnuts.




Little salads of picked vegetables, and a bowl of soup.




Tempura mushrooms, nice and crispy.

You will notice that with Japanese food, much importance is placed on appearance. The food is meant to be visually stimulating and so food is served in very small amounts so that you can enjoy a wide variety of tastes, colors, textures and cooking methods. You would be amazed at how filling this meal was!

After dinner, it was time for me to experience the onsen. Oigami, the town where we stayed, is an onsen town full of ryokans and hot springs. The onsen are separated by sex, so women and men have their own onsens, both indoor and outdoor. I felt a bit nervous going into the women's onsen because I wasn't sure about what I was supposed to do and of course felt a little shy getting naked in front of the other women. But heck, you only live once right? The water is hot hot hot, but once you get in it is fantastic and extremely relaxing. You feel all the knots in your shoulders just melt away. Just lovely.

The next day we checked out of the ryokan and headed back to Tokyo with three bags full of trout. Seiji cooked two fantastic meals with that fish, and it was the first time I ever ate something that I caught. It was quite a satisfying feeling, so we are planning to go back to Oze for trout fishing again in the near future. Next time I will remember to take pictures of the fish!

Purikura

Today I had a GREAT time with my friend Kyoko when she took me to my first 'purikura' experience - the crazy Japanese photo booths! This very popular phenomenon in Japan comes from the English phrase 'print club', which, when pronounced in a Japanese accent comes out as 'pu-rin-to-ku-ra-bu', which is then shortened to 'purikura'. Katakana is a hell of a thing!

Anyways, you step into the photo booths and you and your friend(s) can strike poses and do goofy things and then play around with the pictures to your liking.




First you have to choose goofy backgrounds in which you can be inserted - for example, you can get you and your friends put into a pot of soup, or sitting on a bicycle. Then after you finish taking the shots, you play around with the shots.



Here is Kyoko adding some touches to a shot using a touch sensitive pen. There are so many different things you can do it is mind boggling!!!!



Above, in the picture on the right, Kyoko and I are drowning in a bowl of takoyaki - grilled octopus balls! Here's a close up!



You can add ALL kinds of things to the photo - stars, umbrellas, tiny cartoon octopuses, cigarettes, Einstein, animals, food, nature, words, phrases, captions, calendars, anything! It is so much fun and the options are endless.

Purikura is my new favorite thing! I can't wait to go again!

Tokyo Tour Guide

Exciting news!!! Watashi no chi-chi wa Nihon ni kimasu!

(My father is coming to Japan!)



I have many exciting things planned to take him around Tokyo, and also day and weekend trips to some other nearby areas with famous sights, such as, of course the magnificent Mount Fuji. We'll also go to the temples, check out some museums, eat loads and loads of good food, take a boat cruise in Tokyo Bay, and many many other wonderous things.

Also, the best part is that he'll be here in late March, during the important Sakura (cherry) Blossoms when all of Japan is bathed in beautiful pink flowers. Sakura season is the time of year when EVERYBODY goes outside with a picnic blanket and sits under the cherry trees and gets drunk on sake.

Right now in February is the time for Ume (plum) blossoms...







These pictures were all taken close to my apartment. The last picture is of Teruko-san, the lovely lady who gives me origami lessons and helps me practice Japanese. Anyway, ume blossoms are very beautiful, but apparently when the sakura blooms... well apparently it is just mind blowing.

When Bob comes it will be great to have someone to do the sightseeing with, because most of my friends here have already seen it all and done it all and don't want to do it again. But this time I can be both tourist and tour guide and have a travel companion to check all the things I haven't done yet. Awesome. I can't wait!

You want it, you got it

This is in response to many requests for pictures of these Japanese ladies parading around in short shorts in the middle of winter in high heel boots. Well, you want it, you got it!



I caught this yesterday just outside the train station. Now, I hope all of you are satisfied.

Well I haven't written much lately because sadly I've been sick as a dog. You know, something that nobody tells you about the so-called glamorous life of a roaming English teacher is that you will spend the first 6 months or so going through a vicious cycle of sickness and health in your new country. And I'm not referring to the kind of sick you get from drinking tap water in Turkey. In fact, the tap water in Tokyo is amazingly clean, I drink it every day and it tastes wonderful! It has such a good reputation in Japan that Tokyo Tap Water is now being bottled and sold across the country.

Anyways, enough about tap water. The point is, foreigners are easily susceptible to getting sick in new countries due to climate changes, dry air, or even air pollution from China, like what Gino has been experiencing over in Korea. Ironically, my diet is better and healthier than it's ever been, I exercise and ride my bike daily, but even a good lifestyle is not enough to ward off Japanese germs. That's why you often see people walking around in shops, or especially on the train, wearing this:



Luckily, I have The International Man of Mystery visiting for 6 days to take good care of me and make me lots of delicious mouth watering soups, like nabe.

It is simply wonderful having my own personal tour guide in Tokyo who knows so many great spots with the real, old fashioned authentic Japanese food - you know, the kind of places that only the local knows about. Tonight we are heading to Ikebukuro for a yakitori (grilled meat) place that serves the most amazing grilled liver. Mmm. I'll make sure to take some pictures and put them up tomorrow.

Out all night........ again

There are only two types of people who ever ride the first train at 5 am on a Saturday morning -- drunks who are making their way home from the bar or club, and hard working citizens on their way to work. I hope to god I am never one of those citizens!

Last night was one of those nights that end with you crawling into bed at 6 am. I work in the evenings, so sometimes on a Friday I decide to paint the town red all night since the trains stop at 12.30ish. First, I met with some lovely people in densely overpopulated Shibuya for some karaoke. Rich, Jon and Tomomi had all been at nomihodai - all you can drink - and were already quite happy, so I had some catching up to do.

Four drinks and a lot of bad singing of 4 Non Blondes, Elvis, and Japanese pop boy-band sensation SMAP, we jumped on the Yamanote line's 12.30 train and got off at Shinjuku to go to the notorious Ni-Chome gay bar district. We barely made it, after a very drunk Tomomi kept trying to put money onto her phone card instead of her train pass.

I love the gay bars. Gorgeous men dancing in tiny shirts? Total eye candy.
Rich spent most of the night talking to Tomomi and avoiding the gay guys, but Jon got a lot of attention. Jon is a very cute Kiwi of Malaysian descent so he could pass for Japanese, and with short spiky black hair and a cute bod, it is no wonder so many guys came and hit on him. In fact, quite a few came and asked me 'whose your friend? is he single?' I think Jon was flattered. Can't say I blame him.

We left the club around 4 am, and stumbled to one of the many 24-hour eateries that serve up hot, tasty food for Tokyo's many night owls. We feasted on bowls of rice, tonkatsu (pork cutlet), chicken, and beef, and sat around for about an hour, talking shit, rehydrating ourselves with glasses of water, and sobering up.

Finally, as the sun came up, we walked to the station and saw a brilliant full moon gently dipping behind Tokyo's skyscrapers as the sun was coming up. Then it was a lot of goodbye hugs, and onto the train. I always feel kinda funny sitting there, tired, red eyed, smelling like an ashtray, opposite some fresh salaryman in his pressed suit heading to work. Poor dudes. Anyways, in the bitter morning cold I rode my bicycle home and went directly into bed. Another successful deviant night out on the town! Mission accomplished.