Japan: Day Four
Since I'm unloading my pictures after every day and don't need to store them all on the camera, I've increased the resolution I'm using. Here is the next batch:
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/japan/aug-30/
The first thing I did Monday morning was write my Sunday LJ post, then drink a coffee milk I'd bought at a convenience store a couple days ago for my breakfast. Yay, coffee milk! Like it does for the evil robot Valdigus, the coffee milk provided me with power to start my day. We spent the majority of the day around Ueno. There was very little rain on Monday for a change, so the first place we went to was a tourist area around a large shrine complex. There were a lot of little shops and stands around there, and on Seth's recommendation, Kris and I bought some candy thingies made out of bread with a red bean paste on the inside. They were extremely tasty, especially when they were still fresh and hot from the cool spinning machine that cooked them. It would pour batter into both sides of a mold, then drop a lump of the bean paste, then close the mold and cook it like a waffle iron.
The shrine was the largest one we've been too yet, and there was a sign off to one side about one of the smaller structure which, it seems, may explain the origin of the whole prayer-cards thing that is done at so many of these shrines. Seth wasn't sure about that, though, so if I remember I'll try to ask some of his Japanese friends about it later in the week.
After the shrine we walked through some more narrow streets with restaurants and such, and then went into the "kitchen district" where you can buy pots, dishes, equipment for your restaurant, and very appetizing-looking plastic food to put in your display cases. We also went by a street named after Kappas, a kind of turtle-man creature from Japanese folklore. There were a bunch of wooden Kappas standing around outside of shops. Kappas are mischievous, and like to do things like kidnap and eat children, so I had Kris pose for a picture negotiating with one of them for protection. They really enjoy cucumbers, so offering them some is a good way to gain their favor.
We kept walking from there to Ueno proper where Seth took us inside a gigantic toystore called Yamashiroya. They had a decently-sized collection of Ghibli merchandise there, as well as lots of other fun stuff. I bought a Totoro mug, a plush Teto / fox-squirrel (YAY!), a Catbus tie tack, and some surprise gifts for Walky. I wanted to get a big 12-inch Jigen for Graham, but, it was awfully expensive so I had to pass it up... After spending nearly two hours in that store, we went on to another market district and got lunch. We ate at what was, sort of, an "Italian" restaurant. Most of the dishes still had a lot of Japanese touches, but the place was called "Don'A Spaghetti-Ya". It was pretty good, and a little refreshing to eat something more like what I'm used to. They even had silverware there instead of chopsticks.
At this point the next scheduled item on our agenda was to meet one of Seth's students at 8:30, where he was giving a private English lesson at a coffeehouse. He had emailed the student earlier in the day to ask if he would mind Kris and I coming along, and he said he would be happy to meet us. Seth likes his English lessons to be as much about just having conversations as possible, since the mechanics and vocabulary can be practiced alone or without a native speaker. His private lessons are almost entirely conversation-based, and I thought it would be cool to sit in on one. So, until then we still had some time. I had told Seth before I was interested in seeing a Japanese Toys R Us, since I've often read about them in Transformers forums, so he took us to Sunshine City mall where there was not only a TRU, but an official Studio Ghibli store. We were getting pressed for time, so I didn't look too closely at the Ghibli stuff, nor did I buy anything there. I'll probably finish up my Ghibli purchases at the museum's shop on Wednesday. The TRU was a huge success, though. I got (yellow) Binaltech Tracks, reissue Stepper, and two Gamecube controllers in colors that aren't available in the US: turquoise and silver. At a game store the other day, they had had the bright orange "spice" Gamecubes still in stock, and the TRU had a spice Gameboy-player attachment, which I thought was pretty awesome. Both Yamashiroya and the TRU had a lot of imported American toys. For example, TRU had two pegs completely full of Energon Towline. (No Downshifts, though. It must be straight cases.)
After that, we headed back to the trains and returned to Shinjuku, where Seth was meeting his student, Yu. Seth and Kris got a little to eat at an AM/PM convenience, then we went into the cafe to meet Yu. While we were sitting outside, though, a couple Japanese girls were standing in front of a storefront a little ways down practicing hiphop dance moves. Seth says that a lot of young Japanese come down to Shinjuku at night to do that, using the glass buildings as mirrors while they learn. At the cafe I got what was essentially a icee, and Kris got a hot dog. Yu came in and we all talked for about an hour. He is a post-doc in oceanography (specifically, he studies water chemistry in some tropical regions), and in a couple weeks is going to visit some American universities as part of a job search. He is thinking that U of Hawaii is probably the best choice, but he's also going to look at some places in California. It was neat talking with him; it was my first in-depth interaction with a Japanese person since we got here, outside of buying food and toys. At Seth's birthday party on Thursday night we'll get to meet a bunch more Japanese people who will know enough English for us to be able to converse, and that will be fun, too.
It's now Tuesday morning. Overnight there was a lot of wind and rain from the typhoon, although things are pretty clear right now. Kris' shoes, which have been wet for several days, got soaked again on the balcony, so we had to put off a trip to the early-morning fish market. Seth has just left for another private lesson, but Kris and I are meeting him in a couple hours, and then we're going out of the city to a place called Ohyama where there's a shrine up on a mountain.
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~sstoneb/japan/aug-30/
The first thing I did Monday morning was write my Sunday LJ post, then drink a coffee milk I'd bought at a convenience store a couple days ago for my breakfast. Yay, coffee milk! Like it does for the evil robot Valdigus, the coffee milk provided me with power to start my day. We spent the majority of the day around Ueno. There was very little rain on Monday for a change, so the first place we went to was a tourist area around a large shrine complex. There were a lot of little shops and stands around there, and on Seth's recommendation, Kris and I bought some candy thingies made out of bread with a red bean paste on the inside. They were extremely tasty, especially when they were still fresh and hot from the cool spinning machine that cooked them. It would pour batter into both sides of a mold, then drop a lump of the bean paste, then close the mold and cook it like a waffle iron.
The shrine was the largest one we've been too yet, and there was a sign off to one side about one of the smaller structure which, it seems, may explain the origin of the whole prayer-cards thing that is done at so many of these shrines. Seth wasn't sure about that, though, so if I remember I'll try to ask some of his Japanese friends about it later in the week.
After the shrine we walked through some more narrow streets with restaurants and such, and then went into the "kitchen district" where you can buy pots, dishes, equipment for your restaurant, and very appetizing-looking plastic food to put in your display cases. We also went by a street named after Kappas, a kind of turtle-man creature from Japanese folklore. There were a bunch of wooden Kappas standing around outside of shops. Kappas are mischievous, and like to do things like kidnap and eat children, so I had Kris pose for a picture negotiating with one of them for protection. They really enjoy cucumbers, so offering them some is a good way to gain their favor.
We kept walking from there to Ueno proper where Seth took us inside a gigantic toystore called Yamashiroya. They had a decently-sized collection of Ghibli merchandise there, as well as lots of other fun stuff. I bought a Totoro mug, a plush Teto / fox-squirrel (YAY!), a Catbus tie tack, and some surprise gifts for Walky. I wanted to get a big 12-inch Jigen for Graham, but, it was awfully expensive so I had to pass it up... After spending nearly two hours in that store, we went on to another market district and got lunch. We ate at what was, sort of, an "Italian" restaurant. Most of the dishes still had a lot of Japanese touches, but the place was called "Don'A Spaghetti-Ya". It was pretty good, and a little refreshing to eat something more like what I'm used to. They even had silverware there instead of chopsticks.
At this point the next scheduled item on our agenda was to meet one of Seth's students at 8:30, where he was giving a private English lesson at a coffeehouse. He had emailed the student earlier in the day to ask if he would mind Kris and I coming along, and he said he would be happy to meet us. Seth likes his English lessons to be as much about just having conversations as possible, since the mechanics and vocabulary can be practiced alone or without a native speaker. His private lessons are almost entirely conversation-based, and I thought it would be cool to sit in on one. So, until then we still had some time. I had told Seth before I was interested in seeing a Japanese Toys R Us, since I've often read about them in Transformers forums, so he took us to Sunshine City mall where there was not only a TRU, but an official Studio Ghibli store. We were getting pressed for time, so I didn't look too closely at the Ghibli stuff, nor did I buy anything there. I'll probably finish up my Ghibli purchases at the museum's shop on Wednesday. The TRU was a huge success, though. I got (yellow) Binaltech Tracks, reissue Stepper, and two Gamecube controllers in colors that aren't available in the US: turquoise and silver. At a game store the other day, they had had the bright orange "spice" Gamecubes still in stock, and the TRU had a spice Gameboy-player attachment, which I thought was pretty awesome. Both Yamashiroya and the TRU had a lot of imported American toys. For example, TRU had two pegs completely full of Energon Towline. (No Downshifts, though. It must be straight cases.)
After that, we headed back to the trains and returned to Shinjuku, where Seth was meeting his student, Yu. Seth and Kris got a little to eat at an AM/PM convenience, then we went into the cafe to meet Yu. While we were sitting outside, though, a couple Japanese girls were standing in front of a storefront a little ways down practicing hiphop dance moves. Seth says that a lot of young Japanese come down to Shinjuku at night to do that, using the glass buildings as mirrors while they learn. At the cafe I got what was essentially a icee, and Kris got a hot dog. Yu came in and we all talked for about an hour. He is a post-doc in oceanography (specifically, he studies water chemistry in some tropical regions), and in a couple weeks is going to visit some American universities as part of a job search. He is thinking that U of Hawaii is probably the best choice, but he's also going to look at some places in California. It was neat talking with him; it was my first in-depth interaction with a Japanese person since we got here, outside of buying food and toys. At Seth's birthday party on Thursday night we'll get to meet a bunch more Japanese people who will know enough English for us to be able to converse, and that will be fun, too.
It's now Tuesday morning. Overnight there was a lot of wind and rain from the typhoon, although things are pretty clear right now. Kris' shoes, which have been wet for several days, got soaked again on the balcony, so we had to put off a trip to the early-morning fish market. Seth has just left for another private lesson, but Kris and I are meeting him in a couple hours, and then we're going out of the city to a place called Ohyama where there's a shrine up on a mountain.