Racist chocolate

Yes, young people do love hip hop culture in Japan, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy a little racist chocolate while they're at it, right? This Mexican chocolate bar (sold at a toy store in Tokyo) features milk chocolate covered peanuts ("conguitos", if you will) enveloped in a bar of white chocolate. Unable to assimilate, the conguitos maintain their dark color even in the mass of whiteness. To be fair, most Japanese are not aware of the minstrel shows complete with blackface performers with the pitch black skin and the exaggerated lips that later turned into the all-out offensive ads for watermelon and pancake syrup.

Japanese obviously don't understand the history behind blackface (at least I hope not), but that doesn't mean they're immune from controversy. One of the once wildly popular Pokémon characters was clad in blackface until they were forced to change it to "purpleface" in response to criticism from some African Americans. Jynx, complete with big lips and huge boobies, seduces with a special hip sway. Her very special Pokémon episode does not air in the U.S. or U.K. and she has been cut out of some other episodes airing in English speaking countries. Poor Jynx.

American hip hop culture, meet Japanese propriety

Yeah, you've seen the pants hanging off those rapper types, usually revealing a bit of bootay or at least a glimpse of those multi-colored boxers. You may know that Japan teenagers have a love affair with American hip hop and rap culture. But in some cases, like in this particular guy's case, we maybe have a bit too much Asian shyness. So we want the hanging off pants effect, but not the underwear bearing bum. The solution? Why of course! We can sew a pair of jeans to another pair of jeans, so when the jeans hang off, oba-chan's family honor won't be destroyed. Win-win!

Can't say the same for this Harajuku guy below though. I wonder if some of these Harajuku types change their Gothic Lolita ways when they hang out with their parents. What's important to note that while you might think that most of these teens are outgoing and outrageous, they're actually pretty quiet when you try to talk them up. I wonder if that's just because I'm a gaijin with a camera? Who knows?


























Harajuku girl photo found here.

Asakusa

The closest you're going to get to what first-timers think they'll find in Tokyo is Asakusa, the closest thing to old Edo, with its quaint shops and buildings, rickshaws, and shopping streets. I saved it for my last few days in Tokyo because I figured I might need a respite from the neon of Shibuya and Shinjuku or the wonderfully crisp pages of a book on international arbitration. Of course, when I finally did visit Asakusa, I was not disappointed. Along with visiting the temples, we feasted on one of my favorite Japanese foods, anmitsu, which is a delicious dessert of agar jelly, fruit, azuki beans, mochi, and sweet black syrup. Chocolate-loving Americans are often critical of Japanese desserts (though the puddings are wonderful), but anmitsu is a delight, trust me.

Asakusa's highlight is Sensoji (Asakusa Kannon), Tokyo's oldest and most famous temple. While it is packed with tourists, it is still quite a sight to behold, especially coupled with some browsing in the stationery and kimono shops and some tasty treats from the street vendors.

The Hozomon main gate to Asakusa Kannon

Old Tokyo buildings in Asakusa

Another view of Asakusa Kannon

Vendors in Asakusa sell candy apples, candy grapes, candy strawberries...
They tend to give you a perfectly pink smile, like so.

One of the packed shopping streets

A pagoda at the complex and the famous lantern at the Kaminarimon, the outer gate to Sensoji

Tiantan Park and the Temple of Heaven

A visit to Tiantan Park and the Temple of Heaven in Beijing brought tears to my eyes. It was amazing to see hundreds of people so happy, so active, so full of spirit in spite of decades of repression and oppression. Here, the rain was eminent, but still, both young and old folks took part in several activities despite the dreary weather. Most interesting was this man, who was practicing water calligraphy, writing poetry in the park with his large brush and a dab of water. Unfortunately, his verses would soon be washed away, as it did in fact begin to downpour about 15 minutes after I took his photograph. Along the long corridor to the Temple of Heaven, old men were busy playing card games and women sang karaoke and young men played odd-looking homemade instruments in the hopes of earning a few yuan for their efforts.

I could still smell the fresh paint at the Temple of Heaven, as the government is busy repainting and renovating all of Beijing's historical sites for the 2008 Olympics. As a result, all the stories that you hear about Beijing being unclean and disorderly are largely untrue today. Of course, I was still surprised to see so many people spitting (One sign read: "No spitting! We are an Olympic country now!") and nose picking, but it's nice to see that things are getting a lot better in terms of cleanliness.

This other man, dressed as an emperor (see the red and yellow?) was playing the Star Spangled Banner (albeit poorly) on the saxaphone, which was strangely funny (shows how things have changed since the demise of Mao?) but also eerie, especially since a few meters down, lots of people who probably aided Mao in his Cultural Revolution (largely due to fears of death or torture) were still singing revolutionary Communist songs. To see a random guy recalling China's imperial days while playing America's national anthem. Yeah, I needed a moment to take in the odd juxtaposition, that's for sure.

Below see some of the other activities in Tiantan Park, Beijing's answer to Central Park, along with some photos of the Temple of Heaven complex, where emperors fasted before offering ritual sacrifices to the gods.

Tai Chi

Ballroom dancing

Fan dancing

A funny game where you have to not drop the tennis ball
while swaying around a raquet to the music

Gathering around the Temple of Heaven

One of the Temple of Heaven halls

On the left is the Hall of Annual Prayer, the Temple of Heaven's main attraction and largest building. On the right is an example of some of the architecture around Tiantan Park.

More views of the Hall of Annual Prayer

Jeremy in a cool entranceway at the Hall of Abstinence, where the emperor rested and fasted before he made his sacrifices, and a view of the amazing architecture at the Temple of Heaven

Dude, I walked on the Great Wall

Touristy, sure. Crowded up the wazoo, of course. But c'mon, it's the Great Wall! It's visible from space! And all the pushy postcard vendors and annoying Europeans couldn't ruin this moment for me. Huzzah!

At one point, it was about a 75-degree incline to the fifth tower at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, but watching little old Chinese ladies make it up, we could not falter! And indeed, I have returned to the United States as a "real man," since the Chinese proverb goes 不到长城非好汉 bú dào Chángchéng fēi hǎo hàn, with the rough translation of "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall." I wonder how far you must climb to technically reach "real man" status? I mean, you could basically walk up a couple of steps, turn around and buy a commemorative t-shirt, but how "real man" is that, eh? Not very.

Forbidden City

Welcome to the Forbidden City, (紫禁城) just north of Tiananmen Square, which was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The city is massive and boasts at least 9,999 rooms (9 is a number reserved for the Emperor), and is the largest such palace complex in the world. Most of the buildings here were the lucky color red with the imperial color yellow reserved for the rooftops. It took quite a while to traverse the Forbidden City and many of the exhibits housed inside.

The majority of these photos were taken by Jeremy, since it was raining that day and many of my photos came out very dark and foggy. As you can see, he did a fantastic job with taking photographs amidst sporadic torrential downpour.

One of the canals in the Forbidden City

I really loved the bas-relief sculptures in front of a lot of the palaces. They were quite gorgeous.

My favorite part of the Forbidden City was its garden, which was filled with a number of curious sites, including this temple atop a rock formation that is apparently habitable. Unfortunately, we could not go inside, but I was especially intrigued by the sign above, which explained that "A single act of carelessness leads to the eternal loss of beauty," an interesting, yet poignant, proverb to introduce the building for sure. If anyone can read the Chinese characters and could provide me with a better translation of that proverb, it would be much appreciated.

I could have stared at this building forever. I've seen far more beautiful temples during my travels, but I found it hard to peel myself away, and kept wondering what I would find inside if I was permitted to enter. Would it merely be a dank cave-like room or would it be all decked out in the fineries fit for an emperor? Whether it is a testament to my love of weirdness or my becoming tired of red and yellow buildings at this point, the world may never know.

One of the main Forbidden City imperial palaces

On the left, one of the massive doors of the palaces. The number of gold knobs signifies how important the building is; Chinese enjoy rubbing them for good luck. On the right, one of the pretty, pretty buildings in the Forbidden City gardens.

Really cool doorways within the Forbidden City, and oh yeah, I do love me some Forbidden City Starbucks. It was really strange to find a two-table Starbucks within the ancient walled-in city and apparently the Chinese don't want to advertise it (all signs point to "Coffee Shop") and the baristas will not allow you to take photos inside the shop, but whatever. I sipped my tall black coffee among the ruins, as I'm sure the emperors would have approved. Alas, if only it were a Dunkin' Donuts.

The well on the left is apparently where the concubine and Emperess Dowager Cixi drowned one of her concubine rivals, so it was appropriate that a 魔女 such as me should pose while cackling gleefully at the tragic drowning. Just kidding. I'm a good person, seriously. Just ask the lions.

Tiananmen Square

One of the first places we visited in Beijing was Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world (it can hold more than one million people). Of course, it is infamous for the 1989 protests against the Communist Party which led to the massacre of about 800 young people. It was surreal to be there, with Mao's content face staring at the masses, and plenty of Communist monuments and tributes peppering the square. It was raining that morning, so we didn't get to see a lot of the kite flying and other activities that apparently take place during the early morning hours.

Tiananmen Square is also home to the enbalmed body of Mao Zedong, who is on display in an eponymous mausoleum. Here, hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects to Mao, and here is where I was rendered speechless by the man in front of me who was largely missing the soles of his shoes. I watched him purchase a rose from a vendor, solemnly trod into the building, place the rose by a statue of Mao and pay his respects to the body. Sneakers and shoes in China can be bought for less than $5 in Beijing, but this man was willing to spend money on a rose for the man who was largely responsible for this poverty. It was mind-boggling, and reminded me again that I need to reread Orwell's 1984. Most people seem to still respect Mao, but even the government has acknowledged that he was 70% correct and 30% incorrect, the 30% unfavorable perception apparently stemming from his destruction of ancient Chinese temples, treasures and artifacts.

Here is the line of people waiting to see Mao's Mausoleum. Folks need to check all their luggage and cameras across the street before entering the mausoleum. Once there, you can only get a quick glimpse of Mao before being shuttled off by the soldiers who guard the place. Mao looks pretty much like the photos, except shorter and well, more dead.

Soldiers guarding one of the monuments in Tiananmen Square

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Just returned from Beijing this afternoon and I'm still reeling from how wonderful of a trip it was. I was expecting an exciting time to be sure, but I guess I'm just surprised at how great everything turned out. Still need to upload photos and share tons of stories, but that will have to wait for later.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Tokyo before I return for Boston and I'm a bit heartbroken over it and all-in-all angsty about the next few turns that my life will take. But it will not be the end, as I will continue to post my thoughts and stories about Japan in this space for at least a little while longer, particularly since I've decided to continue to pursue my study of Japanese this summer.

Last day in Ginza

Well, it hit me again that I was leaving as I walked down the streets of the Ginza, the poshest shopping district of Japan for the last time today. I paid homage (and money) to my favorite store in Japan, Kyukyodo, a paper store that has existed in Ginza since 1880. Kyukyodo my personal paradise, with every sheet of handmade, fine-pressed paper like a new friend, a chance for a new beginning. So most of you back home getting souveniers from me will be getting something from Kyukyodo. Today I bought poster-sized sheets of washi (和紙) tougher paper made from wood pulp. My 和紙 depicts beautiful Japanese scenes with cranes in flight, a gorgeous castle, and traditional kabuki players. I can't wait to display them at home along with my new gold paper fan and tons of other products to store knickknacks.

Ginza has every classy store imaginable, from the hateful Louis Vuitton to the lovely and crazily expensive Mikimoto, and lots of bakeries with intricate pastries and sweets and florists with hugely blossoming bouquets of hydrangea and lilies. During the weekends, they shut down the main thoroughfare and throngs of shoppers convene at umbrella-covered tables to compare their items and take in the neon and people-watching.

I'll miss you, Ginza!

わ たし は 魔女 Kristina です

Rachel was good enough to get us free tickets to Joypolis, a pretty cool Sega indoor amusement park in Odaiba, man made islands that have been turned into a strip of malls, arcades, futuristic onsen, amusement parks, and a huge ferris wheel.

We went the day after our last exam, which unfortunately, was in the middle of Golden Week, so it was packed, but we rode a sideways rollercoaster called Speed Boarder which was a lot of fun, kicked butt at air hockey per usual, played with fish, went into an attraction based on the movie Zathura, and watched this freakish 3D movie about a witch named Kristina. 魔女 (Majyo) Kristina took over this chapel and played with these demons before ultimately capturing the heart of the priest. She was hot. Can't wait for Halloween. I'll just mix anime babe with witch, and I can be 魔女 Kristina.

Oh, have to mention that while we were waiting to see 魔女 Kristina, we saw this restaurant that happened to have this huge inflatable cockroach-type thing next to the menu. The restaurant was all pretty and pink and kawaii and... *BAM* a cockroach! See for yourself.

Wish we could have done more, but the lines became too oppressive later in the day, and the push of the crowds and the roar of the megaphones got a little too much for me; we went to Decks, a mall next to Joypolis that's supposed to look like a beach boardwalk. My favorite part of Decks was a food amusement park called Daiba Hong Kong (Rachel and I went to one in Ikebukuro called Gyoza Stadium and Ice Cream City awhile back) that resembled the food markets of Hong Kong. As such, they had delicious buns filled with baked ham, which really hit the spot! Overall, a very fun and futuristic day!

[Photo of Joypolis by James Wong found here.]