Month: September 2023

Land of the Rising Sun Day #9 “A Day of Adventure”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Kyoto, Nara

When we left you yesterday we were about to venture out to dinner. You might recall that Patrice got us a useless map from the hotel. I said, “How hard could it be to find this place? We will make a left out of the hotel and walk until we find the restaurant”. Unfortunately we were a significant distance from our hotel when I realized I had forgotten our portable wifi and could not get cell service. We were lost and in trouble. 

I saw two women and I hoped since they were young they spoke English. They did, but very little. They didn’t know where the restaurant was located but found it on their cell phones and started to lead us to the location (Yes, lead us. Not just point and say goodbye, actually take us to our destination). After a short time they seemed a little confused on how to proceed. I saw a security guard and pointed him out to the ladies as a possible source of information. The guard said something to the young girls and started walking with us. We now had 3 escorts on our journey.   Shortly after that, Patrice spotted the restaurant across the street and we could dismiss our entourage with our deepest gratitude.  (The Loin Restaurant in the New Hankyu Hotel at 579 Higashishiokojicho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8216. Now do you see why we had trouble finding it?)

The restaurant was recommended by our new friend, Tomoko. The meal was expensive but excellent. All the cooked items were made on the skillet in front of our seats, not quite the Benihana-like show but you get the idea. The staff members were great. In addition to the chef there were two others who helped fill our needs, for example trying to help us find the English words for what we were eating. At the time I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. For example what do you think of this tidbit?

Any thoughts what the rectangle with the cute little cow shape cut out might be?

Today we decided to try the Western style breakfast. Similar to yesterday the food and service were excellent. The one main difference was the sound volume. Yesterday was quiet, serene and relaxing. Today was as noisy as your typical New York City diner. Yesterday after breakfast we just chatted and enjoyed the surroundings. Today we said, “I am done eating, let’s go”. Maybe we Westerners should try some of the Zen principles?

After breakfast our first activity was planned by our tour company. We went to a small shop to learn how to dye clothes. The shop was a $20 cab ride from our hotel (I was already not excited). The people there were INCREDIBLY nice but only spoke a modest amount of English. So what was supposed to be a lesson in the art of dyeing cloth was more like a children’s ceramic class where you make a piece of “art” for your parents to enjoy. My parents have both passed away so I made something for my son-in-law, Robby. I hope he likes it. There were about 6-8 others in the “class” and the owner (a jewel of a man, named Jun) was hustling around to make sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. When it came time for us to leave he called a cab and had us sit until it arrived. He saw on his phone that it was approaching and he then took us outside and made sure the taxi driver knew where we wanted to go. Like I said, a jewel of a man.

That was the end of the activities planned by our travel agent (pretty sparse, no?) but Patrice and I were not finished. We had been told that the town of Nara, with its large Buddha, was a must see attraction. We were also told that there were some deer in the town that might interest us. Last night Patrice contacted the famous travel blogger Robert Reiss and asked him to arrange this excursion. I got busy on the internet and figured out how to get to our destination. I also developed a plan for the afternoon.

We took the taxi from the dyeing class to Kyoto Station and got tickets for our trip to Nara (many thanks to our guide from yesterday, Kiyoko, who showed us where to go to buy the tickets and which trains would be best for us to use (even famous travel bloggers need help sometime). We boarded our train and 35 minutes later we exited at the Nara Station.

Our first stop in town was the Todaiji Temple which houses a very impressive Buddha (larger than the one we saw in Kamakura). The temple was built in the 8th century under the direction of Emperor Shamu. Oops, I mean Shomu (I think Shamu was a whale). Apparently using x-rays some relics were found in the right knee. Among these artifacts was a tooth presumed to have belonged to Emperor Shomu. See the Great Buddha below.

Notice the right hand is up signifying don’t get too close. Apparently there weren’t a lot of showers in the 8th century and Buddha was very sensitive to body odor. Also note the left hand is extended with the palm up. From what I understand Buddha, like pretty much every God, was not a good money manager and always needed more. So his palm is up so you can give him a donation.

As I said, we didn’t have a guide today so all of that last caption information was totally made up. But it sounded good didn’t it?

On our way to visit Buddha we saw a few deer in town. As I said before we were told we might see some. As we walked we saw more and more. It was unbelievable how many deer we saw. With so many deer you need to tread carefully because they left samples EVERYWHERE. Here are some pictures of the lovely creatures.

Two cute little deer, just hanging out.
Patrons buy cookies so they can feed the deer. They can quite aggressive looking for the cookies (the deer, not the patrons).
This stag seems to be saying, “You know what you can do with your damn cookies!”

Following that we headed to the Nigatsudo Hall. This is a Buddhist temple also built in the 8th century. The view from the hill at which it stands was nice but there was not much to see at the temple. We also visited Kasuga Taisha Shrine which is a Shinto structure similar to others we have seen. After that is was back on the train to get to the hotel.

Tomorrow we will have another day trip. I am not sure where we are going so no spoilers are possible.

Land of the Rising Sun Day #8 “Tour of Kyoto and Making a New Friend”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Kyoto

Last night we had the kind of experience I love when we travel. We had an interaction with the local people. We were introduced to Tomoko, a friend of one of Patrice’s biking buddies. We simply met for dinner at a local restaurant and it was delightful. I could tell immediately that this was my kind of experience. When we walked in I didn’t see anyone who looked like a tourist (except us of course) and they didn’t have any menus in English. If we were alone it would have been a nightmare but with Tomoko’s assistance we were able to order a delicious meal at an incredibly inexpensive cost. When I think back to the meal we had at the Sky Tree restaurant that was EXTREMELY expensive and not nearly as good it makes me a bit nutty.

At the restaurant with our new friend. Tomoko is the one in the middle.

This morning we decided to start with my favorite activity of the trip…. Breakfast. The hotel offers a choice between a restaurant serving a traditional Japanese breakfast or another with a Western breakfast. Today (at the urging of my friend Fred) we decided to try the Japanese style. See below.

We were told what each item was but please don’t ask me what is what. I know the words tofu, seaweed, miso soup, were spoken. One thing is clear, nothing was said that I associated with breakfast or any other meals.

The breakfast was good but I certainly recognize why there are not many (if any) obese people in Japan. The Japanese diet is one of very lean foods. This reminds me of one of our earlier guides who compared the geography of Japan and the USA. “Japan is a very thin country and America is a very wide country” she said. I told her that Japanese are very thin and Americans are very wide as well. We have only seen two overweight Japanese people here. One was from Seattle the other from San Jose. We did see one rather obese boy in a group of school children today. The only possible explanation would be that his father moved here from the USA for work.

Today’s guide, Kiyoko, was supposed to meet us in the hotel lobby at 9:00. We were in the lobby at 8:55 when we found out she was going to be late since her train was delayed. Hey, I thought Hiro told us the trains might be about 15 seconds late? No matter, she arrived and we were on our way. Our first stop was the UNESCO World Heritage Site Kinkaku Ji Temple. The building was constructed in the 14th century and was burned down by a novice monk on July 2, 1950. It was subsequently rebuilt (obviously, otherwise we wouldn’t be here) in 1955 and the gold leaf was replaced from 1986-1987 at 5 times the original thickness. I am sure you will agree it is a fantastic sight.

I asked Patrice to look at this great photo I took. She thought I was joking and it was a stock photo which I downloaded. Maybe I missed my calling in life?

Here are pictures of two famous couples who have visited the temple.

My brother Stephen and his wife Fayla circa 2015 (we lost Stephen in 2016).
Patrice and I tried to recreate the photo but unfortunately we can’t recreate him. He is missed by many.

Sorry if that was a downer moment for what I typically like to make a funny experience for my readers. I suppose I can be forgiven because after all we have been taught that Buddhist temples are typically used for funerals since the Zen Buddhist philosophy deals with the hereafter as opposed to Shinto shrines which deal with happy occasions such as weddings and birthdays.

Our next stop was Ryoan-Ji Temple which houses another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rock Garden. I have to admit this didn’t do much for me. I don’t want to be disrespectful but playing with rocks never appealed to me. What do you think? See below.

The Rock Garden.

Our third stop was at the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. This place was really cool. I mean temperature wise. Today was a very hot day and the bamboo provided a lot of shade to cool us off. See below.

We were told that bamboo can grow close to 3 feet per day maxing out at about 65 feet when fully mature (Hmmm, 22 days to reach full height?)

Our final stop of the day was the Inari Shrine. This is a Shinto shrine which boasts of having thousands of torii gates. It was explained to us that torii gates are at the entrances of all Shinto shrines but this one takes it to an extreme.

Main entrance, oops I mean Torii, of the Inari shrine.
Patrice and me in front of a long line of toriis.
We were told that companies pay to have information written on the toriis. I have no clue what any of these say. We saw a woman posing along side of one. Do you think her loving look was next to a post that said, “Eat at Burger King”?

Then it was back to the hotel. The front desk made reservations for us at a restaurant recommended by Tomoko. I am excited to go but a bit concerned because we won’t have Tomoko to order for us like she did last night. The front desk printed a map for us which includes directions on how to get there. They just delivered it to our room. See below.

Can you help us get to the Loin Restaurant in the Hotel New Hankyu Kyoto?

Maybe you need a closer look at the instructions?

Is that better? Maybe this will help (see below).

ホテルを出たら左に進みます。 300メートルほど歩くと左手にレストランがあります。

Now do you have it? We better leave early since I think this will be an adventure.

Land of the Rising Sun Day #7 “Kyoto Here we Come”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Kyoto

Today we are off to Kyoto.  Our train was scheduled for a 10:07 departure.  Hiro (our guide from yesterday) alerted us that it might be early or late by 15 seconds.  You don’t mess around with the Japanese when it comes to their trains.  Hiro warned us to be sure not to board the 10:02 train by mistake and be ready to board at 10:07 otherwise we might be staying another day in Hakone.

It’s with much regret that we leave the Ten-Yu hotel and bid farewell to their Onsen, their foot baths, but most of all their breakfast.  

Arrival at the train station was uneventful.  We headed to the Starbucks for a place to sit and some air conditioning.  I then pulled out the station map that Hiro drew for us. See below. 

He drew this while we were having lunch. Note that he drew the locations of the Starbucks, the Ticket Counter, and track 13 (from which our train would leave). The map was incrediby valuable since it oriented us and let us know exactly where we needed to go.

We found our boarding area and were overwhelmed by the speed of the trains whipping by.   Since we were early we decided to wait in the air conditioned waiting room below the tracks. Everytime a train would zoom by without stopping the entire building would shake. Our train arrived on time as predicted and boarding was not a problem.  The seats were very comfortable (see below)

Just getting ready to head to Kyoto.

Shortly after the train left Hakone we were offered treats for purchase.  

No thank you, I am still stuffed from breakfast. Check back with me in another day or two.

The trip took about 2 hours and was very smooth. We had three stops prior to reaching Kyoto. It was easy to follow our course because Hiro made a train schedule for us. See below.

His drawing included times of departure and arrival, the stops prior to arrival in Kyoto, and even a seating chart.

We learned yesterday that Kyoto served as the capital of Japan for over a thousand years and is known for its temples, shrines, and beautiful gardens.  Sounds like some long walks, a lot of standing, and a lot back pain are in my future. 

According to Hiro, and further explained to me by my friend Fred, the Japanese use a series of about 2,000 characters in their written language.  These characters are called Kanji.  In Kanji “To” means eastern and “Kyo” refers to the previous capital of Kyoto.  So when the capital was moved to the eastern city of Edo it was renamed Tokyo. Kyoto is a UNESCO world heritage site and apparently is famous for many things including its tea ceremonies. 

We again arrived too early to check into the hotel but we had a tea ceremony scheduled to take up the time. This was a quaint activity where we were instructed in the history and significance of making and drinking tea. The people were nice but I wasn’t all that interested in the activity.

Here is our tea master giving us our lesson.

After our tea lesson we returned to the hotel. Unfortunately there was a long line to check in but we finally got that accomplished and made it to our room. This looks like another wonderful place for us to rest. I haven’t checked everything out yet so please let me fill you in on the details later. One thing is evident and very much appreciated is that we again have a toilet that salutes you upon arrival. I will spare you a video this time.

Tonight we have dinner plans with a friend of one of Patrice’s biking chums. More about that tomorrow.

Land of the Rising Sun Day #6. “Another Day in Paradise”

by reissmd, posted in Hakone, Japan

As you might recall I left you last night after Patrice and I had spent a relaxing evening in the hotel onsen (spa). We both slept like babies and when we awoke this morning in this incredibly picturesque and romantic environment we both had the same thing in mind…………… BREAKFAST!

OMG does not do justice to the breakfast buffet. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is the case let me cash in with these.

Nice fresh fruit to start?
Don’t forget your veggies.
How about some protein in the form of grilled salmon?
Oh, do you prefer your salmon just smoked and sliced?
Salmon not your preference, maybe grilled fish marinated with miso paste is more to your liking?
Or do you prefer crab?
Not a fish person? Try the salami instead.
Or the cured ham.
Maybe chicken is all you need this morning.
How about topping everything off with some pastries.

That was not all. They offered Japanese omelette (very good I might add), fried horse mackerel (not my favorite but I did give it a try), coffee, juices, cereals (I guess if you travel with your 6 year old), flan, yogurt, and a host of other things too numerous to name. Actually too numerous for me to remember.

After recovering from breakfast we met our guide, Hiro, for a day exploring Hakone. Hiro is a retired mechanical engineer and a great guide. He introduced us to our driver, Yoshi, telling us he is a very good driver (“He didn’t have an accident all day yesterday”). Our first stop was the Hakone Ropeway. When we approached the area we could see the cable cars traversing high above what is a dormant volcano. Hiro reassured us that the volcano has not erupted in 3000 years. Well except a small eruption about 8 years ago that destroyed a large portion of the hillside. That was comforting until I saw the line to get on the cars. See below.

Not much of a line to get on the tram. Does someone know something we don’t?

Once we entered the car Hiro told us the best place to sit and asked if we where okay. I said I was fine except I have a tremendous fear of heights. The ride was very smooth and we got some great views.

Those white smoke clouds are vapors escaping from the “dormant” volcano.
This view of Mt. Fuji from the cable car was magnificent. It was also fantastic seeing it from the ground. See below.
What a gorgeous sight (us not the mountain).

In addition to Mt. Fuji we were able to see the famous Hakone Black Eggs. Apparently these are just normal eggs but they are cooked using the local water which has a very high sulfur content. This results in giving the shells a black appearance while everything else about the egg is perfectly normal.

The famous Hakone Black Eggs.

After some more touring it was time for lunch. Unfortunately we went to two places that were both very busy. So we shifted gears and did some more sightseeing before heading to lunch. Patrice expressed an interest in having soba noodles since we had already had the other two popular Japanese noodles, udon and ramen. With our failure to find a table at two prior locations, Hiro was cautious this time and sent Yoshi in to see if the next place could accommodate us. Yoshi gave us the okay sign and we were on our way. When we entered we saw that the entire restaurant consisted of two tables, yes two. The owner, chief, hostess, waitress, and cashier was this sweetheart of a woman named, Tsuchiya. We ordered shrimp tempura with soba noodles.

The soba noodles and shrimp tempura were delicious.

I waited for the food to cool down before I started to eat and I think Tsuchiya must have misunderstood my delay and brought us two forks. Although I politely declined the forks (I am getting darn good if I don’t say so myself) I did ask for some napkins, Tsuchiya brought us this.

This is not the only restaurant in which we were given Kleenex instead of napkins. Is this a Japanese thing? Are we supposed to use our shirtsleeves instead?

We finished our meal and then it was off to continue our adventure but not before we said one more goodbye to this delightful lady.

Tsuchiya bidding us goodbye from her charming restauarnt.

Our next stop was the Open Air Museum. This is a must-see stop if you visit Hakone. In addition to a plethora of outdoor sculptures it has a Picasso pavilion with an incredible collection of the master’s works. They have some of his early works when you can see his amazing talent rather than his cubism phase when his works looked like he had a visual deficit.

The focal point of the outdoor exhibits is a bronze by Auguste Rodin of the French author Honoré de Balzac.

Rodin was able to make a superb recreation to honor Honoré and I was able to cut off part of his head.

That was supposed to be the final stop of our tour but Hiro wanted to show us an exhibit of 500 stone buddhas. It was a little out of the way so he needed to check with Yoshi and before you knew it we were on our way. At the entrance we took walking sticks. I was exhausted at this point but made my way throughout the exhibit while Hiro was bouncing around effortlessly. I asked him how old he was and found out he is only 2 years younger than I am. Hiro was definitely a colorful guy. He had no problems asking complete strangers if he could take a picture of them with us.

This couple asked Hiro if he would take their picture which he did and next thing we knew he had them posing with us.
This woman was visiting with her husband and their daughters from Hong Kong and Hiro asked if he could take their picture with us. He took several. Here is one with just Patrice and the women.

I would love to write more but it’s dinner time and you know what a feast that is. Tomorrow we are off to Kyoto.

Land of the Rising Sun Day #5. “Hakone Heaven”

by reissmd, posted in Hakone, Japan, Tokyo

Before I tell you about today let me catch you up on last night. We had a very enjoyable food tour (Arigato Travel) with a local guide from the city of Ottawa. In what part of Japan is that located you might ask, the part that is in Canada. Our guide Hanna, was not Japanese but she was very nice and quite knowledgeable about the local cuisine and culture. It was nice getting the insights from a native English speaking person who has lived here for 6 years.

This was a good food tour but not our favorite (Lance and Tasting Round Town in Memphis remains our favorite by far). We visited 5 establishments (that seems the usual number for most food tours and we have been on a lot). At the first stop we had appetizers. See below.

Front row (L to R) Pork and Lotus Root, Back Row Pickled Ginger and Rice Cake Mochi.

The mochi was okay but the others were not to my liking. I had a draft beer (yes, I had a beer) and it was very good. We then moved on to another restaurant for the main course. This place was much better. We had a number of small dishes. See below.

The potato salad was my favorite but the cucumbers (in the back), and the chicken with Japanese tartar-like sauce (not shown) were also very good. The main dish is in the picture below.
Can you guess what it is?

At the next restaurant we enjoyed some udon noodles followed by a stop for some sake at a different location. I would describe the sake as “Yuck”.

I didn’t realize sake was clear but I guess it makes sense since it is made from fermented rice.

We finished the tour with a dessert of a waffle in the shape of a fish filled with custard. It was delicious.

This morning we arranged for our luggage to be shipped to Kyoto and took some clothes in our backpacks to wear for the two nights we will spend in Hakone. Our experience with trains paid off today as we walked to Tokyo Station and found our train very quickly. This was one of the so-called bullet trains and that is a very appropriate description. These babies move and if you are sitting in a window seat when you pass a train going the opposite direction it is quite the thrill. The trains have a reputation of running very efficiently and today was no exception. We left on time and reached every stop on schedule. It took us 33 minutes to go about 50 miles from Tokyo to our destination, Odawara (stopping twice to board new passengers and let some off). At the Odawara station we were greeted by our driver who was waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby (a major improvement from our experience at the Tokyo Haneda Airport). The drive from the station to our hotel took about 50 minutes. The driver was great and we didn’t die, both good outcomes. We didn’t get to see much of Hakone on the ride but what we did see was very beautiful. Upon arrival at the Ten-Yu hotel we were informed that we couldn’t check in for 3 hours. In retrospect it would have been nice to spend more time in Tokyo instead of hanging out at the hotel waiting to check into our room.

Making the wait a little more pleasant was Patrice’s discovery of these lovely machines with a sign saying “Ask the front desk for a free token”.

Seventeen Ice: Each machine has 17 choices of ice cream.

Luckily we were able to go to our room a bit earlier than the expected time of 3:00. We were checked in by a delightful young man named Ken who after having us sign some forms escorted us to our room. He told us that our luggage was already there. We pointed out that our luggage was right next to us which prompted him to give us a very endearing laugh of slight embarrassment. Ken then brought us to the room and proceeded to explain all the amenities. See below.

Here is the entryway. Please remove your shoes and only wear sandals, socks or your bare feet in the room.
Room view: Notice the tatami mats that traditionally were made of rice straw and meant for sleeping. As you can see we opted for a room with a bed. The mats are the reason for the “No Shoes” rule.
PJs in Large, Medium, and Small. Hmmm, three sets of pajamas, are they supplying a guest?
Robes and socks that can be worn in the public baths and elsewhere in the hotel including the restaurant.
Private bath on your balcony if you are too shy to use the public bath.

Patrice and I opted for the public baths called “Onsen”. We got prepared but neither of us was clear if we wore the socks to the bath, or sandals, or both. The women’s Onsen is on the same floor as our room so I suggested that Patrice go into the bath and ask the correct protocol. Before Patrice was able to enter the spa we met a hotel employee named, Hideki. Unfortunately he didn’t speak English but he seemed to understand our question. He explained everything we needed to know at about a 1,000 words per minute but I can’t give you an exact count since it was all in Japanese. Hideki followed us to our room but never stopped talking (seemingly not even to breathe). When we opened the room door he pointed to the sandals and then escorted us back to the women’s Onsen. Lots of arigatos (thank yous) and bowing followed and we parted ways. Patrice went inside the Onsen and I got on the elevator. Upon reaching the lobby I made a right turn and waiting for me outside the Men’s Onsen was Hideki. He restarted his Japanese instructions and explained where I should put my sandals. Then he showed me the lockers for my belongings, where to get a towel, and where to enter the spa. This entire time he spoke continuously in Japanese and the weird thing was that I understood everything he was telling me. I got into the water and it was indeed very hot (40 degrees Celsius according to the thermometer) and so very relaxing. I also experienced the outside spa and dipped my toes into the cold tub.

Patrice and I are now back in the room telling each other about our experiences which were very similar. Neither one of us want to move. Yesterday we spent the day taking a train to another town and walking for hours. Then returned to Tokyo and took a walking food tour. Today we took a short train ride, a rather long car ride and then a spa experience beyond belief. No question which we prefer. We already informed our children we won’t be leaving this hotel until we have spent all their inheritance.

Dinner is approaching. I need to rest up.

The Land of the Rising Sun Day #4 “Seeing the Buddha”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Kamakura

Breakfast was again wonderful. An interesting thing that we have noticed here is that the egg yolks look more orange than yellow. We have been told that this is because the chickens here are raised on carrots and peppers, two vegetables that are very high in carotene. In humans if a person eats excessive amounts of vegetables containing carotene their skin can turn orange. Apparently a similar process occurs in chickens.

The photo doesn’t do it justice. The yolks look even more orange than this picture.

After breakfast, we were then off to Kamakura for another day of exploring Japan. We had a little hiccup when our instruction guidebook told us to take the train from the Tokyo station but our tickets had a hand written note telling us to board at the Shinbashi station. Unfortunately our maps only showed a Shimbashi station. Apparently the Japanese are trying to make people like me crazy (I know they don’t have to work too hard to do that). Shinbashi is pronounced like an M (as in Shimbashi) but is sometimes spelled with an N (as in Shinbashi). I can’t give any further reasons since I stopped listening at this point.

At the train station we felt like we were not going with the flow. Hoards of people were walking in the opposite direction and maybe one or two individuals were walking the same direction as us. Check out this photo of the hall and of the escalator heading to and from the trains.

Do you see anyone else walking in our direction?
Think that one other person on our side is as confused as we are?

We boarded our train at the Shinbashi/Shimbashi station and we were off for Kamakura. We arrived in Kamakura early and walked around a bit before meeting up with our guide Ko-Zee. This lovely man previously worked in the Japanese steel industry but retired from that job to act as a tour guide for steel-headed individuals like me. Ko-Zee was full of lots of fun facts and was very considerate of this old man (me not him). We first visited the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. It was built in 1063 but moved to its current location in 1191 by Minamoto the founder of the Kamakura shogunate.

The real gem here was the Great Buddha of Kamakura. This stunning sight was completed in 1252. It is made of bronze and has withstood numerous natural disasters. It was previously enclosed by a number of temples but all the temples were destroyed for various reasons. Since 1498 it has been unsheltered and still looks astounding. The pictures don’t do it justice but I will try

Impressive, no?
I liked it so much I had to add a second shot.

Our last stop in Kamakura was the Hasedera shrine. This structure houses the 11 headed guanyin. The entire body is covered by gold leaf. See below.

The 11 Headed Woman. A one-headed woman is too much for me to handle. Damn, Patrice just saw what I wrote. I am in deep trouble now.

After finishing our visit, Ko-Zee escorted us back to the train station so we could return to our hotel. On the trip back I was sitting next to a young man reading a book. He seemed to be annoyed, see below.

Do you think he was upset because he thought I was reading over his shoulder?

The 50 minute train ride was over and it was great to get back into bed. We had accomplished a lot for one day. Just as I put my head on my pillow Patrice said we need to get ready for the food tour. I asked if this was a joke but she said no. I think I am going to need a vacation when I get home from this vacation.

I will let you know how the food tour went tomorrow.

Sayonara

The Land of the Rising Sun Day #3 “Play Ball!”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Yokohama

Today we had a wonderful day. We started with another magnificent breakfast at the hotel. Following that we were met at our hotel by our guide for the day, Seiko, and our driver, Mr. Moto (excuse me, “Moto San”). Seiko asked us a few questions about goals for the day and then we were off to Yokohama. En route Seiko gave us all sorts of interesting facts about Japanese history and culture.

Our first stop of the day was a tour of Sankeien Garden. The garden was quite lovely but the best part was something Patrice taught me. She showed me that if you take a picture with an iPhone you can view the picture, tap “info” and then you will see the name of the plant or animal you have just photographed. See below.

Picture of a Grey Heron taken with my iPhone. If you think I would have known that this was a Grey Heron without the aid of my phone, you obviously don’t know me.

From the garden we headed to the Ramen Museum, yes Ramen Museum.  The main reason to go there was to have lunch.  Check out this display outside the museum.

Fun with ramen.

The museum has about 6 different ramen restaurants on the ground floor and each had a 20-30 minute wait to be seated.  

Who would wait 20-30 minutes for ramen? Patrice and I would.

The meal was worth the wait.  And I don’t want to brag (yes I do) but I’m starting to get pretty good with chopsticks. 

After lunch we headed to the main reason for coming to Yokohama.  Okay, my main reason for coming to Yokohama………………Baseball 

As many of you know I’m trying to get to all 30 MLB stadiums (22 down 8 to go) so why not add a Japanese stadium to my list?

We had great seats at Yokohama stadium to see the hometown Bay Stars play the Yomiuri Giants from Tokyo.  It was a fascinating experience.  It was very similar to an MLB game with a few exceptions. Most apparent was that each team had about 3 or 4 sections filled with their most rabid fans.  They were equipped with large team flags and percussion and brass instruments.  When their team was at bat there was almost nonstop chanting. All I can say is that I’m glad we weren’t sitting any closer to this area.  Check out this video to get an idea. 

I love baseball but I think if I had to sit through this I would watch on TV instead.

Just prior to the bottom of the 5th inning the home team rooting section pulled a blue banner over entire section and sang a song while cheerleaders egged on the fans from the field. 

Under that banner were hundreds of fans singing a song in support of their team. Didn’t work so well, they lost 6-0.

There were concession stands selling a myriad of items but in the seating area only beer was being sold.  The beer sells for 800 yen (about $5.40) as opposed to the $16 at Dodger Stadium.    Here is a video of one of the salespeople.

The young men to my right kept these ladies busy.

In 7th inning the cheerleaders came onto the field led the fans in singing but no one got up for a stretch like we do in the states.  

When the game ended the people sitting in our area didn’t get up to leave.  With some help from Google translate I was told that the fans of the winning team stay to hear the “Hero’s interview”.  Since my Japanese is limited to “hello”, “goodbye” and “thank you” we decided to leave. 

Upon exiting I saw fans take all their trash out of the stadium.  Here is a photo of a woman holding a large bag waiting for fans who filed by with their trash.  See below. 

I could just see this happening at Dodger Stadium. Actually I could.

We were among a large crowd heading to the train station for the ride back to Tokyo.  Thanks to our amazing guide, Seiko, we knew exactly what to do.  At the station the security team was spectacular.  They would limit people checking through the turnstiles until the previous group had exited the loading lobby.  Once we were allowed to proceed there were another group of security people who allowed passengers into the boarding zone. The process was seamless and we boarded a train very quickly. Once on the train, we heard announcements in Japanese and English prior to every stop.  I followed our progress on Apple Maps but it wasn’t necessary since Seiko had done such a wonderful job of preparing us. 

A great day in Yokohama.  The only thing that could make it better would be if I don’t wake up at 3 AM again 

Until tomorrow 

The Land of the Rising Sun Day 2 “Where Am I?”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Tokyo

The time change has been a challenge.  By 6:30 pm last night (2:30 AM in Los Angeles) we were done.  We did get a chance to walk around the neighborhood and catch some of the local flavor before heading to bed.  

Traditional Japanese coffee just steps from our hotel

We also explored the hotel.  We went to the restaurant where we were greeted by their very friendly staff.  The manager came up to me and remembered meeting me at the Gate Hotel in Osaka.  Of course I had to tell him this is my first time in Japan. 

The room is very nice.  Included are pajamas for use during our stay.  Here is Patrice modeling hers. 

So stylish don’t you think?

Here you can see me in my pair.

Notice how short the pant legs are. I suppose I am taller than most men in this country. Heck, I could get used to that.

 In addition to a variety of niceties to make our stay more pleasureable the room has an amazing toilet. The machine says hello everytime you approach. Check out this video.

In addition to saluting, the seat is warmed, has an optional bidet, and flushes once you get up. Fantastic, better than a wife!

Today was our first day touring.  Our guide, Silvia, and our driver Ogawa San, arrived promptly at 9:30. Actually they came early. Both were a delight. Silvia had us walking all over Tokyo and filled us with all sorts of interesting facts of which I remember very little. At the end of our tour Silvia walked us to our restaurant 634 Musashi (131-0045 Tokyo, Sumida City, Oshiage, 1 Chome−1−2) with is 350 meters above street level in what is called Tokyo Skytree. The structure is very impressive giving you fantastic views of the city.

The view from our table.

The food at the restaurant was very attractive in its presentation but I didn’t think it tasted all that great. The portions were incredibly small but as my friend Mike likes to say they make up for it with very high prices.

After lunch we used Apple Maps to get us back to the hotel. I love navigating on public transportation when on a trip. It makes me feel like part of the community. So I set my phone to take us to the Gate Hotel and received perfect instructions on how to get there. Unfortunately there was one small detail that I failed to consider. I used the wrong Gate Hotel for my directions. Upon exiting the train station it was immediately evident that we were nowhere near our hotel. Luckily I was able to flag down a cab and he was able to get us back to our room.

I have to stop writing now because Patrice said she couldn’t wait to get into bed. This kind of wife is better than any automated toilet. So bye for now. 

I’m back, I misunderstood her plans. She is fast asleep.  I guess I will read my book

On the toilet. 

See you tomorrow. 

The Land of the Rising Sun Day #1 “Japanese Efficiency?”

by reissmd, posted in Japan, Tokyo

Today Patrice and I embarked on our next adventure, a trip to Japan. Patrice is quick to inform you that this destination was my idea. Hmmm, does that mean that she has her doubts? She likes to remind me about our trip to Africa where we boiled during the day and froze at night (“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO COME HERE!” she daintily told me on a regular basis during that trip).

I guess it was my idea to come to Japan. My good friend Fred (who was born in Tokyo) and I frequently talked about a trip together. I finally got tired of trying to plan a mutual time for us and just said to Patrice, let’s go. In preparing for this trip our friends Ginger and Don recommended we read the book “Learning to Bow” by Bruce Feiler. The book was an interesting read and we learned a lot about Japanese culture. It stressed how efficiently everything is run in the country. Unfortunately the book was written about 30 years ago and I assume things have changed a lot since then. It will be fun to do a comparison.

My biggest concern about going on the trip was trying to eat with chopsticks. This is a skill I never even attempted to learn (Isn’t that why we have forks?). I was told that in smaller towns forks might not be an option. At my new workplace (UCLA Palos Verdes) my co-workers have invited me to join them for several lunches at a local Pho restaurant. The first time there I embarassingly requested a fork while everyone else used chopsticks. With our upcoming trip in mind I decided to use this opportunity to try to learn this new skill. With the support of my co-workers and some special tutoring from Dr. Choi I was able to feed myself. I also had lunch with Fred and his wife and they too gave me some tips. Fred did have one very good suggestion for the trip, “Order a lot of soup”.

Our flight from LAX was via Delta Airlines to Tokyo – Haneda Airport (HND). Followers of the blog might remember that we have been loyal American Airlines customers. We had heard a lot of wonderful things about Delta so we decided to switch. In reality the real reason for the switch was that Delta was much cheaper than either American or Japan Airlines. Delta offered a nice choice of dishes for lunch. Check out the menu (see below)

I chose the エビ. The food was good and I was given a fork.

The flight was pleasant (if 11 hours on a plane can ever be considered pleasant). At HND we retrieved our luggage and breezed through customs after which we were supposed to be met by our driver. Our tour agent warned us that our driver might not speak English but he would get us to our hotel in a timely manner. Unfortunately no driver was to be found. We called the local contact for the travel company who found out that the transit company said our flight was early and a driver had not be sent yet. Wait, wait, wait didn’t they read “Learning to Bow”! In addition to the book, many of our friends told us how efficient things were run in Japan. We were cautioned, “Trains are on time, don’t arrive late, you will miss your ride”. Having a driver be a no-show was not what we expected. So instead of a personal driver we went outside the airport and found a cab.

To make things easier this trip Patrice decided to get a backpack on wheels (see below).

If this works out I might get the Hello Kitty model.

The rolling backpack worked quite well but it made it difficult for her to also roll her luggage at the same time. Lucky for her she brought a sherpa (me) who rolled her bag, his bag, and wore his backpack. Definitely great planning on her part.

After dragging our luggage outside to the taxi area we only waited seconds for an available cab. The driver loaded our luggage for us. When Patrice tried to board from the traffic side he immediatedly stopped her saying “Not safe, this side please”. I was very impressed with his concern. There was some heavy traffic on the ride to the hotel, but other than that it was fine.

We are staying at the Gate Hotel. So far things seem very nice. The room is spacious. The shower/tub area is very interesting. I am not sure if this picture is adequate.

The shower and tub are in a room separate from the rest of the bathroom.

Tonight is a free night. Right now all I can think about is sleep. I think it is around midnight back home. Here it is about 4 pm. I assume most of you won’t see this until the morning which will be about midnight here. The next few days could be very interesting until our bodies adjust.