Free Hugs and Big Bellies

This past weekend was certainly an action packed one, and I am exhausted.

When I told my friends about the job offer it started a chain reaction of celebratory dinners and drinks in some interesting night spots. On Thursday night we went to a German pub in Roppongi, which is by far the sleaziest area of Tokyo. Notorious for its high concentration of dodgy foreigners and equally dodgy Japanese men going to hostess clubs filled with Eastern European call girls, it is definitely my LEAST favorite area of Tokyo. I can't say I was too impressed with the German pub, what with $10 US beers and overpriced sausages. And I can't really explain why being in an area with so many other 'gaijin' (foreigners) makes me nervous... maybe it has to do with my desire to blend in to daily Japanese life and try to be as inconspicuous as possible. That's kind of hard to do when all these Nigerian touts are on the sidewalk trying to get you to come into the strip clubs. Eww. Roppongi is just gross. (Note to self - never go back there again.)

Saturday was an extremely lovely day, and I went with two friends to a very funky part of the city called Harajuku. We started off checking out the costumed freaks in French maid outfits and panda bear costumes who hang around by the station every weekend, and we came across a group of people who were holding up signs offering free hugs. They explained that this movement started in Australia as a way to make people smile and now it has spread to Japan. What a bunch of hippie crap!




But this guy was sort of cute, so Machiko and I gave him a hug and went on our way. The next destination in Harajuku was the famous Meiji Shrine, where we were fortunate to see the very solemn procession of a traditional Shinto wedding.





After playing paparazzi, we did some clothes shopping in some very funky shops in the trendy Takeshita Street, ate some crepes, and had dinner at a Thai restaurant where we feasted on green curry and tom yam soup. After a few beers we decided that it was absolutely imperative that we do some karaoke, so I called up my buddy Rich who would drop everything in order to pick up a microphone, which is exactly what he did. Two hours and many drinks later, we all had sore throats and noticeably thinner wallets, but god how I love karaoke.

But the busyness didn't stop there! Oh no! There was no resting at any point this weekend, because Sunday was the big day... the final day of the Grand Sumo Tournament of Spring 2007! I was really excited to go with my pal Jana and her colleagues to see the final day with the best wrestlers and it was a great time.

We started off our day in Ryogoku eating a traditional sumo wrestler meal - chanko nabe - which is a huge, tasty sort of soup that helps the wrestlers get big and bulky.





Filled with chicken, mushrooms, cabbage, sprouts and all kinds of tasty goodness, you put it all in this massive soup pot on the table and cook it yourself. But there was one thing that disturbed me a bit -- there was four egg yolks to put in the pot, and I was told that these eggs are very special because they are not laid by a chicken... they apparently kill the chicken and remove the egg from its belly! Very strange. But you know me, I'll try anything once...

After the nabe, it was time to catch the afternoon sumo matches, so we headed for the nearby stadium.




These guys are truly massive, all towering giants with thighs as big as my waist. Sumo is highly ritualized, with each step and movement having a specific significance. For example, clapping the hands together attracts the attention of the gods; showing your open palms demonstrates that you have no weapon; and lifting the leg into the air and bringing it down with a heavy stamp drives away evil spirits. Each fighter then throws some salt onto the ground of the ring to purify the fighting area. After a lot of belly-slapping and riling up the audience while intimidating their opponent, they assume the position, and charge at each other with the force of a raging bull. It is incredible the kind of power these guys have to be able to lift each other up by the loincloth.




There are many, many other steps of the match that I won't bore you with. Instead, I invite you to watch this wonderful video of the very last fight, from start to finish. In fact the best part is at the very end!





Apparently if the guy you were cheering for loses the final match, you have the right to toss your cushion down into the ring in disgust! It was great fun... I think people do it just for the heck of it, even if their guy wins!

There's Something About Natto

Since I moved to Japan I have eaten some very strange things -- raw horse, raw sea urchin, raw lobster, raw scallops, deep fried tiny whole fish (head and tail and ribs and all), grilled octopus balls, roasted cow tongue, green tea ice cream, rice balls and red beans for dessert, seaweed salads, corn and potato pizza, curry buns, and deep fried spaghetti sticks, just to name a few. Surprisingly, most of these things taste very good, and did not induce any kind of vomiting. However, over the weekend I had the pleasure and pain of tasting Japan's most notorious stomach-turning food... NATTO.

To put it bluntly, natto is fermented (rotten?) soy beans. It usually comes in small plastic containers, with a packet of mustard and a small packet of sauce, which is all mixed together. It doesn't look so bad before you mix it, but once you do, everything changes. It's an extremely smelly thing, akin to a very strong moldy cheese, and its texture is sticky, slimy, and often compared to the stuff you find in your handkerchief after blowing your nose. Even Japanese people hate this stuff -- or at least it seems that you either try it once and hate it, or love it for life.

This famous foul food is, naturally, very healthy and provides many benefits to the consumer. (Why do we have the cruel life irony that the things that taste so good are awful for us, while nasty natto is a cancer fighting food? It's simply not fair!) So, I figured that I had to give it a try.

Before....



And after...



Ah well. You can't win them all. But at least I can say that I tried it once, right!

To learn more about natto, please watch this fascinating video with instructions in English.

Hong Kong Trip - Golden Week 2007

I returned to Tokyo earlier today suffering from exhaustion, a lack of sleep, and a wicked hangover after an extremely decadent and indulgent last night in Hong Kong, rubbing shoulders and sipping gin and tonics with the rich and not-so-famous of the city. It sure was a hell of a way to end a jam-packed trip to this very exciting city, but I am paying for it today!

All in all the trip was great. The food was fantastic and cheap, the people were surprisingly friendly and spoke a lot of English, and Hong Kong proved to be an easy city to navigate through. But what struck me the most about Hong Kong on a daily basis was the dramatic scenery which seemed to fluctuate violently between being utterly grotty to incredibly classy. On one corner there might be a dirty little shop hanging deep fried whole duck on the sidewalk, but the next corner has brand name shops like Swarovski, Gucci, Prada and Marks and Spencer. At times it was hard to figure out whether Hong Kong was a nice city or not, but I suppose that is the charm and attraction of a place that cannot hide its colonial history while still keeping with its Chinese heritage. I think that contrast is what makes it such a fascinating place.




Dried goods such as fruits, fish and meat hang in a typical sidewalk shop.


From the second that I stepped off the bus in Causeway Bay to stay in what has to be the worst hostel I've ever slept in, my senses were affronted by strong new smells, a mass of human traffic, skyscrapers looming right in front of lush green towering mountains, and the guttural barking of Cantonese that makes everyone sound as though they are constantly arguing. Even though the hostel was awful, Causeway is a great location because it is close to everything and the transit system is so much smaller than Tokyo.

Of course, half of the joy of traveling is trying out the local food, so we made sure to have a lot of dim sum. Dim sum seems to be a way of life for these people, where families and friends spend hours and hours at the restaurants, ordering a little of this, a little of that, while drinking jasmine tea, chatting and reading the newspaper.




Steamed pork dumplings in a bamboo basket, with hot jasmine tea and a sweet vinegar dipping sauce. A dish such as this costs about US $1. Dim sum is the best way to taste a variety of different things without breaking the bank.

After filling our bellies, we went to do some shopping and saw many cheap street markets and some very expensive shops in the downtown area. Hong Kong is actually quite a visual city, being a place that has developed around the waterfront, so the downtown Victoria Bay area is very scenic. People often commute from other islands or peninsulas to the downtown business and financial center by ferry for just a five minute ride that costs pennies. As we took the ferry over to the Kowloon island, I could only imagine what it was like hundreds of years ago when the bay was full of junks, such as the one in the picture below, but today there is only one that is still in use.





A red sailed junk floats past the Hong Kong Convention Center in the heart of the financial district.


Just behind the Central area is Victoria Peak, which must the country's most popular tourist attraction. It is the highest point in Hong Kong and on a clear day you can have perfect views of the different sides of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, air pollution is so bad visibility is often quite poor. You get to the top by taking a tram, which was opened in the late 1900s by the colonialists who, of course, enjoyed living high above the city, looking down on the locals.




The tram to the top of the peak gives you views of both the city and the exclusive homes on the Peak.


The day that we went to the Peak it was raining, but we did get some nice views. The Peak actually reminds me quite a lot of all the million dollar homes on Chancellor Hill. Even though we could not see the Kowloon side too well, it was still a nice view of the downtown area. This picture shows the contrasts of a 'lush concrete jungle'.




Only the rich and famous can afford to live in downtown Central, which must be the equivalent of living at Central Park in Manhattan.




We also had the unique opportunity to do a very unusual activity in Hong Kong -- we went on a kayak and snorkel trip! We took a bus to a far away peninsula of Kowloon called Sai Kung, which is quite different to the city life, with its tiny European-style waterfront homes, quaint street cafes, yacht club, and no skyscrapers. We caught a boat trip with a group of four others to some of the outlying islands, where the water was crystal clear and very blue, with very dramatic volcanic rock formations. Certainly you can't compare Hong Kong to somewhere like Thailand, but the water was surprisingly very beautiful and clean.




Myself and Seiji, with a retired couple from England, and two German flight attendants. At the captain's wheel was Paul, the director of Kayak and Hike Hong Kong, one of the only tour operators of this kind in a country not known for its natural beauty.





A lone fisherman floats close to the massive concrete pieces of a man-made dam that created a fresh water reservoir while also displacing thousands of locals who lived on the river bed.


The kayaking was great but very demanding, lasting almost three hours. But we did see some wonderful rock formations, caves, coral reefs, and even white sand beaches. We stopped at one beach to do some snorkeling, but only myself and the English gentleman Peter were brave enough to go into the cold sea.




Afterwards, we were all exhausted and hungry, and Paul took us to a fishing village where we were treated to an endless feast of seafood, from steamed whole grouper to crispy calamari, washed down with cold Tsing Tao beer. It was positively divine. Seafood is definitely one of the best aspects of Hong Kong!

The trip ended, as I mentioned earlier, with a wonderful boat cruise sponsored by Seiji's company, who happens to own nine beautiful catamaran cruisers that they use for staff parties and for entertaining guests. We were wined and dined on the boat, and given spectacular views of the sunset at the harbor front as we cruised around. The bright lights of the city certainly made for exotic scenery.





After the joy ride, we were taken to Lamma Island, where we feasted at the famous Rainbow Restaurant that specializes in the freshest and tastiest seafood. It was a bit strange being the only lady amidst a large group of pilots, but they were lovely company, very friendly, and the red wine flowed all night. Just before landing back at the harbor front, I was surprised with 17 very drunk captains and first officers singing 'Happy Birthday' at the top of their lungs. It was a great time, but unfortunately the penalty for such libation was a mind-bending hangover that stuck with me all through the flight back to Tokyo... but it was worth it.

As for the interviews, I believe they went well, so I can only now play the waiting game and see if either of the companies gives me an official offer. If I get the job with the large financial company in downtown Central area I would be thrilled, but in the meantime I suppose I have to wait for that day when I might get the email with either some good news or bad news.

I am just glad that I enjoyed myself so much during this trip because even though Hong Kong has a lot of good jobs, I wasn't sure if I would like the place enough to move there. After all, I am so comfortable in Tokyo and there are so many things that I love about living here. But the more time I spent in Hong Kong, the more that it grew on me - the noise, the smells, the people, the food, the sights. I think it is a place that has a lot to offer, so, we will see if there is an offer there waiting just for me.