12 Hours in Tokyo

On Saturday Mom, R and I traveled by Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo for a 12 Hour tour. Our first stop was the worlds largest seafood market, Tsukiji Market.
Our next stop was Ueno Park park. The most interesting thing in the park was a line(mass) of people waiting to receive food from a charity. Below is an unusually shaped temple in the park.
Our third stop was the Tokyo National Museum located in Ueno park. We visited the Japanese galleries of the permanent collection.

Our fourth stop was the Imperial Palace, the guidebooks recommended the East Gardens of the palace, but I wasn't that impressed, I like the Higashiyama Botanical Garden better.

Our final stop was Shibuya, with the specific intent of seeing the Shibuya Crossing which is 'Immortalized' in the movie Lost In Translation. I cannot take credit for this amazing photo of Shibuya Crossing.

Stove Top & Fish Broiler Cooking 7

I've been missing the Tartine sandwich from Bastone in Royal Oak so I attempted to create my own version. The original is grilled veggies with goat cheese. In my version the goat cheese was replaced by Ricotta, which was hard enough to come by. I also added olives and thinly sliced carrots which are not in the original. If only I could find some decent bread I'd have a winner.

Kyoto

A, M, Mom, R and I went to Kyoto on Monday~Tuesday this week. Despite the less than stellar weather we were able to see three temples and the philosopher's walk.Gold Temple what would normally be the reflecting pool is ruined by rain.Kiyomizu light up at night.
Philosopher's walkOur Hotel

Newly Discovered Smart Apartment Feature

When I first moved into my apartment, there were several convenient features that I found pretty cool. Since the weather has become cooler, I discovered another feature that I love. The bathroom mirror has a switch for くもり止め - in English stop the cloud, this switch activates a heating coil behind the center portion of the mirror that clears away the fog that remains on the mirror after a shower.

Men Carrying Women's Purses

Note: He is carrying her purse (and its not an unusual thing to see)

Evidence of the Economic Down Turn

At 7:00 pm on a Monday evening just a few people remain in the CAD room. Our allowable OT hours have been cut to the point where even cheating the system, many of my coworkers have 'run out' of available OT. The Japanese government limit is 80 OT hours per month, prior to the economic problems the company maximum was 45 which could be exceeded three times per year. Starting in October everyone's allowable hours were reduced according to a formula involving how many hours the group averages and how much the company need to cut to meet a requirement set by Toyota for all of the Toyota group companies. My OT limit for October was 30 hours, and in November it was reduced even further to 15. At first I was disappointed but now I wouldn't want to go back to 45.

korankei

On Sunday R, Mom and I attempted to see Korankei, which should have been the site of many beautiful fall colored trees. Instead it was the site of an 8 hour traffic jam. The 33km drive which should have taken under an hour instead took 6 hours, most of which was spent behind a tour bus.We ended up not even getting out of the car except to use the porta-johns that were stationed along the route toward the display. The traffic was so bad that no one even needed to stop their car to use the bathrooms, just keep someone in the driver's seat while the others go and then meander slowly back the car still putting along.

The first time we drove by the main attraction it was still light out, but by the time we were able to turn around to head back it was dark enough that we were also able to see the trees in their lit up display as well. It was an experience, but I wouldnt reccomend it to anyone.

Meiji Mura

My brother arrived on Friday for what is planned to be a busy week of sightseeing. Our first stop, on Saturday, was Meiji Mura, an open-air museum of Japanese buildings from 1867 and later. The most famous of the more than 60 buildings which were relocated to Meiji Mura is the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo which was designed by Frank Loyd Wright. We chose a beautiful day to see the museum, which blue skies and great fall colors.
My favorite building in the collection was a church moved from Kyoto and had a bamboo interior ceiling.

Fall Colors

Looking up into a Japanese Maple tree this fall is like looking into a multi-colored lace canopy.

Stove Top & Fish Broiler Cooking 6

Vegan tortellini with a non-vegan filling of ricotta, caramelized onions and spinach. I was amazed by how easy the pasta was to make the ingredients were simple, flour, silk tofu, and olive oi,l and it rolled out like a dream especially given that I had to use a canned coffee beverage in lieu of a rolling pin.

Clock

It is common to see large clocks in the subway stations of Nagoya. They make great meeting places. The clock at Yoba-cho station is particularly interesting.Water fills the larger 'hour' glass spheres on the right and the smaller 'minute' spheres on the right to mark the time. In this photo the time is shortly after 5.

Manhole Covers 2

City Life

So much for thinking I would be living city life in Japan. On my way from the office to my parking lot last night I heard hissing and screeching in the bushes, but assumed it was just fighting cats. I almost leaped into the street when two raccoons ran out of the bushes nearly tripping me as they brushed past my feet still howling.

Ise Shrines

Over summer vacation I visited Ise shrines with A, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera that time around. Sunday I was able to go back with my Mom.The shrines are Shinto, so the style is plain.

The grounds of the shrines are beautiful with large trees and a mountain backdrop.The area surrounding the Inner shrine is filled by small, old souvenir shops on narrow crowded streets.

It rained the entire day except when we were walking back to the car.

Matsumoto Castle

I took my Mom to Matsumoto Castle on Saturday. It was 209km from my apartment to the castle, which was about a 2.5 hour drive on $50 (each way) worth of toll roads.The castle is one of only four castles in Japan that are considered National Treasures, and it is approximately 400 years old with much of the center tower castle being original.After the castle we wandered into a shrine where we were able to see even more beautiful fall colors.
As we were headed back the car, it started to rain and a rainbow appeared over the mountains.

Rokuyō

It is rare for a Japanese electronic dictionary to not find a translation, but we ran across this case the other day.

Rokuyo (六曜): are a series of six types of days that supposedly predict whether there will be good or bad fortune during that day. Upon further investigation I discovered that each day in the Japanese version of Microsoft Outlook is labeled as one of the Rokuyo. The six types of days are:

先勝 Senshō: Good luck before noon, bad luck after noon. Good day for beginnings (in the morning).
友引 Tomobiki: Bad things will happen to your friends. Funerals avoided on this day (tomo = friend, biki = pull, thus a funeral might pull friends toward the deceased). Typically crematoriums are closed this day.
先負 Senbu: Bad luck before noon, good luck after noon.
仏滅 Butsumetsu: Symbolizes the day Buddha died. Considered the most unlucky day. Weddings are best avoided. Some Shinto shrines close their offices on this day.
大安 Taian: The most lucky day. Good day for weddings and events like shop openings.
赤口 Shakkō: The hour of the horse (11 am - 1 pm) is lucky. The rest is bad luck.

For the engineers, my Friend A made me a chart to illustrate the information above.

Stove Top & Fish Broiler Cooking 5

Veggie Fajitas with homemade tortillas, I couldn't find any in the grocery store so I have to make 'em myself.

Sick Masks

It is common to see Japanese people wearing surgical masks when sick to prevent the spread of germs, Wikipedia even mentions this in their entry on surgical masks. In the office today I observed a major fault with this precaution. In my office each person doesn't have an individual desk phone, instead an extension is shared between several people. When a mask wearer answers the community phone they remove their mask in order to speak, is there an easier way to spread germs than with a phone receiver? A second problem I have with the sick masks is what overkill they seam to be, when from my observations hand washing isn't a common habit (reference 9-11-08 post).

Dry Cleaning Hippos

These hippos live in front of one of the dry cleaners down the street. I love the unique touches that the small shops in my neighborhood have.

Women Only Train Car

It's true, the Japanese subway systems do have Women Only cars.

Nara

Over the weekend I went to Nara with my Mom, M, and A. Our first stop was the five-story pagoda at Horyuji.
Our second stop was Nara Park, famous for its fearless deer.

Our next stop was the giant Buddha located in Nara Park.
After visiting the Buddha we went to the National Museum which was showing the 60th annual exhibit of National Treasures. There are 64 buildings and 143 pieces of art in Nara prefecture that are designated as National treasures and yesterday we were only able to see a few of them. Nara is definitely not a place to be seen in one day, even if it is a day that starts at 6am and ends at 11:30pm.

Crazy Pizza

I received a brochure for this pizza place in the mail, it is by no means out of the ordinary for me to receive unusual advertisements, but I found this one exceptionally unusual. Baseball bat shaped meat toppings? If I weren't Pescetarian I would have to try one of these out.

Doughnuts

My plea for Michigan Fall was not in vain, my mom showed up with doughnuts from Ashton Orchards in Ortonville MI.

Stove Top & Fish Broiler Cooking 4

Grilled cheese with spinach and Farmers Market tomatoes.

Random Visa Check

I was the victim of a random Visa check on Monday at the airport. Shortly after I arrived in the International Arrival South Meeting Place and started to snack on an orange I was approached by an airport police officer.

I immediately stuffed the orange in my purse thinking that was my violation, but she assured me that my orange was OK and I was chosen for a Visa overstay check. Because I have a work visa and will stay in Japan longer than 90 days I have an alien registration card that I keep with me rather than having to carry my passport everywhere. The officer was speaking to me in Japanese so I was a bit confused, but she asked if she could copy of the information on my card into a notebook that she was carrying with her that contained the information from other foreigners whose visa status she had checked. I didn't see any other choice, or any issue for that matter with her copying my information, hopefully I gave the correct answers. She seamed most concerned that I was there waiting alone, she kept saying ''一人'' meaning ''one person?'' and then ''気おつけてね'' meaning ''take care''

First Visitor

I am super excited to have my first visitor, my mom arrived on Monday.

She brought with her enough of my random ''things I can't get in Japan'' requests to fill my entire kitchen table.

Uniforms

The OLs (Office Ladies) have the option of wearing uniforms to work. Some wear a blue apron, which supposedly protects against harmful computer rays, and others wear a gray skirt and vest combination with a collared shirt. School children also wear uniforms here and some of the high school girls (infamously?) modify their uniforms, shortening the skirts to varying degrees. I have recently noticed that this trend seams to have carried on past high school, some of the uniform wearers in my office have shortened or added slits to the otherwise conservative skirts.

Nagoya Aquarium

Saturday, M, L & I took the trip to the Nagoya Aquarium, for which we had heard rave reviews.The aquarium is situated prominently in the Port of Nagoya, on the right in the photo above. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but M&L were nice enough to share their photos with me.

Highlights included a giant sea turtle exhibit complete with a sand area for the turtles to lay their eggs, a penguin exhibit, and a two story dolphin tank with observation areas from ground level through glass or above ground looking down into the tank. The lowlight was learning that the Aquarium's Killer Wale recently died, and seeing a memorial for it, complete with its toothbrush.

It was a bit frusterating being unable to read or understand most of the display descritions. I was able to learn that sea turtle sex is determined by the temperature during hatching. A temperature >29° C produces more females while cooler temperatures <29°>

Happy Birthday Ron!

Catch it Yourself Restaurant

Today was going away party 2 of 3 that I have been invited to for K. The last party was at a DIY BBQ restaurant (http://ictjapan.blogspot.com/2008/10/uotaro-bbq.html), today's event was at a chain restaurant where you catch your own food.
Tables are arranged next to 'streams' running throughout the restaurant. The lower tables have windows to block splash when other groups catch a fish.


We were provided with shrimp bait and a fishing rod.


The bait was drooped in the water and we tried to catch a tai, our desired fish, out of the 5 types priced roughly $5~25 swimming near our table.

Netting up the catch...

...to be sent away with the waiter to be done in our choice cooking styles.