Kamakura sakura

Had to make another trip to Kamakura during sakura season! Anyone who goes to Tokyo needs to visit Kamakura; it's such a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the big city, though it was pretty crowded and the Kamakura visit marked the first time I've seriously been shooed out of a restaurant. And we were only there for 15 minutes! Yipes!

Honest-to-goodness otaku

Just a couple posts back, I told you all about otaku and their certain, ahem, proclivities. Well, strolling through after Akihabara after a particularly fiesty hanami party in Ueno Park, we ran into a great example of an otaku, playing Taiko no Tatsujin on double... with pieces of notebook paper stuck between his eyes and his eyeglasses so he couldn't see the notes on the screen and COULD ONLY HEAR THE BEATS. Needless to say, our little otaku gained quite an audience.

So here's to you otaku-san, oh titan of taiko, master of manga, anime aficionado! May your dreams be full of big-eyed, big-chested, well-drawn beauties, and may you continue to blindly full-combo whatever Bemani arcade game your heart desires.

It's hanami time!

It's hanami time in Tokyo, where the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom and Japanese spend their lunch hours sitting under the sakura drinking sake and enjoying their lunch in the breezy comfort beneath the trees. The whole act of viewing the sakura is called hanami. Sakura are in their peak season only one week out of the year, so it is a large event, with entire magazines devoted to letting Japanese people know when the sakura have bloomed in various parts of Japan and where the best places for viewing are. Different parts of Japan have different sakura seasons, with Hiroshima and southern Japan's buds opening as early as January or February, middle-to-northern Honshu prefectures from late-March to early-April and Hokkaido in mid-April or so.

Primo spots for hanami are highly contested, and Japanese will spread out mats in the wee hours of the morning and write their names on the mats in Sharpie pens in order to "claim" the spot for the entire day. Some of the most famous viewing spots are extremely crowded, and unfortunately the beauty of the sakura is somewhat eclipsed by the ubiquitous blue tarps and food stalls serving everything from fried ika (squid) and tako (octopus) to yakisoba and roasted sweet potatoes. [Hmm, this reminds me that I really need to do a Japanese food write-up soon!]























Jeremy, Kaitlin and I went to Hommon-ji, a little-known temple in the Nishi-Magome area of Tokyo to view the sakura and escape the crowds. We found that even the workers in the area didn't know where Hommon-ji was even when we asked them about it! But it was indeed a hidden treasure, with not so many visitors, but beautiful sakura throughout the koen (park) area and in a cemetery near the temple complex. There was also a nice pagoda which many folks were photographing.




Later on, Jeremy and I went to Yasukuni Shrine and the nearby Chidorigafuchi and Kitanomaru Park, the only Imperial Palace grounds that are opened to the public on days other than January 2nd (the day after New Year's) and December 23rd (The Emperor's birthday). It was absolutely gorgeous, and the beautiful blossoms *almost* make one forget about the controversy surrounding the shrine. At the shrine, a Book of Souls commemorates Japanese soldiers killed in war, and includes 14 Class A war criminals such as Hideki Tojo which are enshrined there as well. This angers many Korean and Chinese protesters, especially when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the shrine. No protesters this day, and luckily there were no right-wingers there either, with their loud booming megaphones and creepy nationalistic songs! The shrine itself has a nationalist perspective in its War Memorial Museum, which calls war "sorrowful," but fails to mention any atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II.

But I digress! Let's not forget the pretty, pretty sakura!

The interminable transport (and terrific onsen!) of Hakone, Japan

TUJ was good enough to subsidize a trip for the class to visit Hakone, which is a two-hour train ride from Tokyo and famous for its mountain views and hot springs, and in my opinion, infamous for its tricky transportation situation. The day consisted of a crowded two-hour train ride to Hakone, a 40-minute slow-moving train which moved back and forth to get up the mountain. Usually I like the recommendations of the online Japan Guide but it is neither a "spectacular mountain train line" nor a "treat."

After the treat, we went on cable car rides totalling another 20 minutes, followed by a half-hour ride on a pirate ship (yes, a pirate ship) and another 20 minute bus ride back to the train station for the two-hour ride back home. Yup. So if anyone is planning on doing a trip to Hakone, I would recommend staying overnight or just not going at all. While many of the sights were pretty, there was nothing there that absolutely took my breath away, though perhaps it was because it was a kind of cloudy day when we visited.

First stop was Odawara Castle, which was originally built in 1495, but reconstructed only in 1960. Thus, it's a little disappointing and antiseptic inside, with a yawnfest museum with old armor, weapons, clothing, and the like. On one of the floors are photos of all the castles in Japan, which was a bit disheartening to see other castles that were probably nicer than the one you were standing in! The top floor had an observation deck that would have been interesting if they hadn't decided to erect a photography inhibiting fence for safety's sake. Yeesh.

Thank goodness it's sakura (cherry blossom) season, so the presence of the beautiful trees really redeemed what could have been a pretty disappointing visit. I've been able to take so many beautiful shots of the sakura so I will save my further descriptions for yet another post. And yes, that is in fact a real elephant that shares a home on the grounds of Odawara Castle with some peacocks and other exotic birds. Very strange. You could also rent kimono or samurai costumes. Check out these happy guys in their Triforce samurai get-ups! I was pretty amused to find the Triforce symbol on everything at Odawara Castle, but later found out that it is based on the symbol of the Hojo clan, which claims that the triangles represent the scales of a Shinto dragon.


























After the cable car ride, we visited Owakudani, the home of the hot springs, where the air smells faintly of rotten eggs due to the sulphur emanating from the mountainside. Capitalizing on the smell, you can visit the food vendors outside of the cable car, who sell hard boiled eggs that have been cooked in the hot springs. Because of the mineral content of the water, the shells have turned black, but the egg ... well, it tastes like a normal egg. But it is said that the eggs are supposed to extend your life by seven years, so I had to give it a shot. I only ate half an egg, but 3.5 years ain't bad either, I guess. The area around Owakudani can be seen below. While it is said that you can see Mt. Fuji on a clear day from the lookout spot, it was cloudy, so alas we did not get our view of Fuji-san, as they call it here in Japan. We saw a faint outline of Fuji-san when we took the ride in the pirate ship, so it was gratifying to get at least a little taste of what the large mountain looks like!






Our ship awaits! It started to get really windy at this point, so it was nice to sit below deck like a true landlubber and keep warm. Wow, I really am sounding cynical, ain't I, mateys? Yarrr!

But wait! Thar it is, the faint outline of Fuji-san! See it, there!

By far the best part of our visit was a trip to the onsen (温泉), the public hot springs bath. Hakone is known for its onsen due to the volcanic activity, which naturally heats the water. Onsen are very popular in Japan, and while I was a bit shy to walk around and bathe stark naked, it was definitely a terrific experience. (And yes, the onsen is segregated by gender!) The onsen we visited had an indoor hot tub, a sauna, two individual hot bubbling baths outdoors and a larger outdoor jacuzzi-type bath as well as a cooler bath and a bench for lounging between dips.

There is a strict regimen at the onsen. First, you take your shoes off and place them in a locker. Then you buy your ticket for the baths and collect your towel and get a key to another locker. That's where you strip down! If you think this is when you jump right into the baths, you are wrong. The Japanese scrub themselves clean before heading into the water, so there are individual stations for soaping down, lathering up, and scrubbing away. It is only after completing the cleaning ritual that you can hit the tubs. It was an incredibly relaxing experience to sit outside in the hot water and breathe in the mountain air and it (almost) allowed me forget the hours of the day spent on some form of transportation or another.

Perfect day in Bintan, Indonesia

Another place I visited during my spring break was Bintan, Indonesia, in the Riau archipelago, about an hour ferry ride from Singapore. There I spent an overnight at the Nirwana Resort Hotel, a fantastic place with a huge pool with a swim-up bar, friendly staff, and hotel rooms right on the beach. It was a lot cooler on the island, and there was plenty of time for snorkeling, lounging by the pool, taking walks along the beach, etc.


While usually I like to see as much as I can during a vacation, I realized that I needed a break, so I spent the whole of my two days at the resort, catching up on my sun and swim, ordering room service and watching movies. It made me feel a twinge guilty when I learned that the Bintan resorts are actually a colony of Singapore. While the rest of the island was teeming with cultural excursions and architecture, I just hung out and drank coconut drinks, something that really isn't my style. But it was fantastic. While I detailed my experience getting back from the island that wasn't quite so pleasant, my time on Bintan was great. After coming back from a day of sunning on the beach, I was happily astonished to find that my favorite TV show was on the air! I even took a photo to commemorate the occasion. Alas, I am now back in Japan and will not be able to catch anymore episodes, but I will comfort myself with wacky Japanese wrestling shows and game shows which I will surely miss when I am back in the States.

Another photo tour of Singapore

Thought I would share more of my visit to Singapore! The above photo depicts some storefronts in Singapore's Katong district, home of some cute crafty stores and delicious Peranakan cuisine. Below on the left is the exterior of the Raffles Hotel and on the right is the entrance to Singapore's Chinatown.























Next up: A cityscape of Singapore and the old Supreme Court building, complete with palm trees























Now some religious buildings. Check out the imposing, but beautiful Masjid Sultan mosque and some architecture from the Sri Mariamman Temple, the largest and oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. On the very bottom right is a lantern from a Chinese temple in Singapore's financial district.
















































And here is a (sort of fuzzy view) of Singapore's Esplanade, an arts center on Marina Bay. While I was there, there was a music festival going on, so it was pretty lively and full of souvenier and food vendors.


And finally, some more views of Clarke Quay and the riverside. As you can see, Singapore was quite lovely!

Anime Convention

Can I consider myself an honest to goodness otaku now? Click the link if you want to know what otaku are. I'm not there yet, and probably never will be, but I did have great fun at the Tokyo International Anime Fair this weekend, which featured everything from Spongebob (not what I consider anime) to celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the much-loved, much puzzled over Evangelion series. And yes, of course, Pokemon. They even had previews of new Nintendo consoles and games, which of course, made me wish that my favorite Nintendomaniac cousin John was there with me.

We caught the Yurikamome Line to Ariake station, and while the line is above ground and resembles a monorail, we mostly passed amusement-type stuff like bumper boats and huge malls and ferris wheels. All and all, a pretty good view of some of Tokyo's seaside amusements, though everything we passed was manmade AND the train had no driver, which was somewhat omnious and Brave New World-ish.

The convention itself was fun, but not as huge as I thought it was going to be. I was expecting all sorts of anime crazies wearing costumes and acting like true stereotypical otaku, but no go. The only costumes were worn by the anime exhibitors, and most of them were these extremely skinny girls in hot pants and bras. The most deviant behavior I saw was some Japanese men with video cameras zooming in on particular body parts of these lovely, yet scantily-clad ladies. Nobody was even sitting at the makeshift maid cafe at the concession part of the convention center. Harummmph!

For those who don't know what a maid cafe is, it's basically a place where the waitresses dress in little skimpy maid anime type outfits and call the patrons (mostly otaku men) "master" and talk in those helium-induced anime babe voices. It's exceedingly gross, and there are host of these places around Akihabara, the electronics capital of the city and a huge otaku hangout in Northern Tokyo. I will try to post more about Akihabara soon.

Best part of the convention was scoring all kinds of free swag, thanks mostly to Rachel's free-wheeling, no-holds-barred bargaining techniques. We ran the circuit and saw all the costumed vendors, took lots of ads and goodies, listened to some J-Pop bands, etc. My favorite part was watching a 60-year-old woman do a reading of this really high-pitched anime voice, surprising everyone to find out that she was the actually voice of this really buxom anime babe. Awesome. Also great was finding the grab bags of real anime cels for only 500 yen for 10 hand-drawn cels and Tamahome postcards. Oh yes. I scored Tamahome postcards.

Here is me doing my best Charizard impersonation. And here is a big saw sticking out of the ground for no particular reason.

Melaka, Malaysia

During spring break, Yvonne and I took a side trip to Melaka, Malaysia, which is about three-and-a-half hours north of Singapore including immigration delays, etc. It's amazing how incredibly cheap it is to travel using the little travel agencies in Singapore. For the equivalent of less than $150 U.S. we got round trip bus transportation in a 'luxe coach, two nights in a five-star hotel with a crazy buffet breakfast every morning. And we only spent about $75 on food (lots of it), drinks, transport and other goodies.

Melaka was incredibly hot, but it was beautiful and colorful too. During the day, it was difficult to even walk around too much, but it was easy to duck into a little cafe for some watermelon or starfruit juice to cool down. It was a lot more pleasant and tolerable to walk around in early evening or late night.

Everything in Melaka was a bit shabby, from peeling paint to roughtrodden streets and stray garbage, but it was in a way that really worked. The city was alive with people, from makeshift food stalls selling satay and nasi goreng in the evenings, to the lively guys in their wildly decorated bike rickshaws, calling out to tourists looking for a lift to a different part of town in the shade.
























Melaka is also an incredibly diverse community, with 50% Malays, 40% Chinese, and minorities of Indians and Kristang (people with partial Portuguese ancestry, left over from when it was a Portuguese colony). This of course, makes for some interesting architecture, including vibrant Malaysian buildings and Chinese Buddhist temples, but most importantly some excellent food. But I'll leave the food for another blog entry ... Hehe...
























These are two of the churches left over from the Dutch colonization of Melaka. Christ Church, on the left, was built in 1753 and the leftovers of the facade of St. Paul's Church, the oldest Catholic Church in Malaysia.

Here are some buildings along the Melaka riverfront.

And colorful dragon sculptures atop a Buddhist temple in the Chinatown quarter of Melaka.

More views of Melaka

Dueling bike taxis often congregate at the center of town and many of them decorate their rides with plastic flowers, shiny tinsel, and bright lights during the night in order to compete for the business of tourists. They're friendly, but not too in-your-face about garnering your business. That was one of the other things that I really liked about Melaka.

Views of the Melaka town center at night

Here's an *erm* interesting bathroom/hostel/tattoo parlor