Last day in Japan

Ohayoo gozaimasu....

It is Friday about 530 am here in Tokyo on my very last day here.  We will be checking out and heading for the airport soon and it will sayonara to Japan (for now anyway....).

Yesterday was our last full day in Japan and it was a holiday.  It was Showa no hi (Emperor's Day).  It was the beginning of Golden Week although this year it is a "split" holiday week with Thursday being a holiday, Friday being a workday and Monday -Wednesday next week being holidays again.  Emperor's Day celebrates the birthday of Emperor Showa who died in 1969.  The other holidays during Golden Week are: Monday May 3 Kenpo kinenbi (Constitution Day) to celebrate the day the post war constitution was put into effect in 1947.  Tuesday May 4 is Midori no hi (Greenery Day), this used to be celebrated on 4/29 until 2006 when they made that date Showa no hi.  Midori no hi is dedicated to the environment and nature. Before it was declared a holiday of its own, it was a holiday due to a law that declares a day falling between 2 national holidays is also a holiday.  Wednesday May 5 is Kodomo no hi (Children's day).  Tengo no Sekku (the Boy's Festival) is celebrated on this day with families praying for the health and success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls which both symbolize strength, power and success. 

Well, for our Emperor's Day celebration, guess what... we met at Starbucks... routine but good and then I talked Karen and Michelle into riding the Yurikamome train with me and getting off at every stop to take pictures of the station art.  And you thought I wasn't a fun person.  We first rode it toward stop 1 (Shimbashi) - we live at stop 11 Daiba -  and got off at stop 2 Shio dome so I could get some better pictures of that cool "steam punk-ish" clock.  It is even cooler close up cause it has feet on it like eagle claws -- kind of reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle.

We met another co-worker Jeff for coffee at ... wait for it... Starbucks.  He took a picture of the 3 of us which I will need to remember to get from Karen.  Then you guessed it back on the train to get the pictures of the rest of the stops...  Excitement overbounds when you hang out with me!  But as I look at the pictures, it seems in the excitement of train hopping - tee hee tee hee - I missed the sign at Telecom Center... hmm, maybe I can talk Michelle into getting a shot of it for me....

My favorite station's art is at the end of the line - Station 16 at Toyosu.  It is called Mizu-ni-amayrou monyou. Amayrou is a fictitious dragon. Surprise, Dot picks the dragon!  According to the sign, it says that people thought dragons went up into the sky and made it rain.  And it is also said to be a sign of luck that brings good fortune. 

As we read the signs for each of the stations, it seems most of them are patterns that are meant to bring good luck and fortune which makes sense, who would want to put bad luck signs up, especially in train stations that are fully automated!

At Toyosu we went to the mall at Lala port (yep that's its name) and walked around and then went to lunch.  We then headed back home, this time in one complete train ride.  I think the girls were relieved.  Michelle got off at her station - Kokusai tenjijo seimon, by the office and we headed back to Daiba for a bit.

I got back to the hotel and took some pictures of the room - guess I should have done that the first night but...  including the toilet which has more bells and whistles than I know what to do with.  Even the public toilets are fancy.  Except for the one in the train station which was just a hole in the floor - granted it was a porcelain hole in the floor, but hole in the floor it was. 

This apparently is the way the maid wanted me to arrange my stuff in the bathroom, because every time I moved it she moved it back!  After a day or so, I gave up.

We also had the funky electric tea pot/water boiler which is actually pretty cool after you figure out the Japanese directions.

I packed up everything but what I needed for last night and today.  I just piled everything on the bed and threw it into the 2 suitcases.  It is amazing how much faster packing goes on the way home when you really don't care what gets wrinkled and what doesn't.  Pretty much everything is going to get pulled out of the suitcase and thrown into the washer when I get home anyway, so...  Pity the customs inspector who goes through my luggage if they decide to open it.

Hung out in the room for a bit and then, you guessed it, met with Michelle and Karen for one last run at Starbuck's in Aqua City.  Walked around the mall a bit - one last look see - and then we said good-bye to Michelle.  She is here in Japan for another 3 weeks (total of 6) before she gets to go home to the UK.  We will miss her company, she is great and was a godsend to us on our first days here.

Although yesterday did not seem very exciting or busy, I was exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open past 9:30!  Of course once I shut the lights off and actually tried to go to sleep it was a different story....  I had set the alarm for 745 just in case but as you can see I was up much earlier than that.

Well our plans for today are to check out at around 8:30 this morning -- yes, you actually have to physically check out of this hotel!  In fact, at 10 days we had to go down and present our credit card and pay the bill for the first half of our stay! 

Then we are going to catch the 9:10 bus from the hotel to Narita Airport.  That should get us there between 10:30 and 11:00.    Yes it's true, our flight does not leave Narita until 3:30 but thank goodness Karen and I are of the same mindset about airports...  would rather be AT the airport early and ready to board than to be running late and miss the plane.   We figure we can eat there and maybe do some really last minute shopping!

We should be landing back in LA on Friday at around 9:30 am -- which is totally freaky since we are leaving Japan on Friday at 3:30 in the afternoon!  Also it is only like a 10 hour flight home rather than the 12 hour flight here -- sounds like some pretty strong tail winds to me!  Of course by the time we get through customs and back out of LAX traffic, who knows what time I will get home. 

Speaking of home.... wonder if my cats will remember me?

So this is my last post from Japan, she says with just a little bit of a tear in her eye.  I will probably have one more post after I get home - probably not til Sat Ca time since my body will think it is 330 am Sat when we land! -- and then we will end this chapter in the book of my life.

Sayonara

dot

Last weekend in Japan

Don't forget.... all the pictures are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotc/


Ohayoo gozaimasu....  it is Thursday morning (around 630 am) here in Tokyo.  Today is the start of Golden Week - the big holiday week in Japan.

Figured I had better get the rest of my trip details out to everyone before I am back in the States and this entire experience becomes just a fond memory.

Our 3rd (and last) weekend in Japan we really lucked out.  The weather (according to the ultimate authority - the iPhone) had originally said early in the week that it was going to rain on Friday and Saturday but then it changed and we had very cold and windy rainy days on both Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday turned out to be nice days -- sunny with highs in the low 60's - perfect for doing a lot of walking around.

On Saturday the three of us - Michelle, Karen and I - met for lattes at Starbucks over here by our hotel and then we were off.  We started going back to Asukusa to take a better look at the market and because Karen had not been there before.  It was fine with me going back.

We headed out on the Yurikamome train line (we refer to that as our "home" line because it is the one we take back and forth to work.  I think I told you that each station has a pattern printed on the glass like a therme with a sheet saying what it means.  This is the Daiba station art (the station by our hotel).  It is a wave pattern called Ohnami monyou.  Some of the other art patterns are cherry blossoms, dragons, etc.  Didn't get a chance to get off at each station to get a picture of each sign with its explanation -hmm we have nothing planned for today, maybe I will do that!  I did get some pics of all the art from a sign at the Shimbashi station. 

At the Shio dome station - the one before Shimbashi - they have this cool clock that I have named the "steampunk" clock because that is what it reminds me of.  

Once we got to Shimbashi we had to change train lines and go on the subway... we had a choice of taking the Ginza line or the Asukusa line.... we went with the Ginza line because that is the one we found first!  And got to Asukusa.  The market and temple were much less crowded on Saturday - not sure if some folks were scared away by the rain the previous day or if Sunday (when I went there the previous week) is just a bigger day out.

We walked around the market and Michelle, who has been there before, took us over to the other side of the main temple where there were more shrines and statues as well as a little brook with  a bridge and fish in it and a small waterfall.

We walked around a bit more and did some shopping and browsing and then decided to head over to the Imperial Gardens.  BUT after the previous week, I knew to try to get something to eat while we were here in Asukusa so we found this little place where we had lunch.  I had the "mixed sandwich" which turned out to be just that mixed with meats, tuna and egg salad.  No, it wasn't all mixed between 2 slices of bread! The way they do their sandwiches here is like 3 half sandwiches cut on the diagonal WITH crusts cut off  (many a kids' dream!) and there are 2 "halves" with 2 pieces of bread and whatever filling and one "half" with 3 slices of bread with filling.

After lunch we headed back to the train station and found our way back to the correct train line and headed to Otemachi station (the stop for the Imperial Gardens).  Again we got on the Ginza line to Nihombashi where we changed lines to the Tozai line to Otemachi.

Scarily enough, I was the navigator!  Ok, it was me and the iPhone app I bought!  Best $$ I have spent on an app yet!

We got to the Imperial Gardens without a missed step -- no missed ones but gads there was a LOT of walking and lots of stairs and that was just to get out of the subway station!

The Imperial Gardens -- yes that is where the Emperor lives, though I am sure he wasn't home that day because if he and the family were, I am sure they would have asked us up for tea! -- is this huge garden and grounds smack dab in the middle of the financial district.  Apparently it is one of the few places in Tokyo that was not leveled during WW II.  Pretty amazing the contrast from nature to industrialization within a few feet of each other.

It is really quite beautiful and we only covered a very small part of it.  It wasn't exactly what we had expected.  Guess we thought it would be what we in the West think of as Japanese gardens -- little bridges and ponds with sculpted landscaping.  This was more like a big park that had some "tended" areas and others that seemed to be "wild".  But like I said we only covered a VERY small part of it so maybe what we were expecting was somewhere else on the grounds.

This was the Imperial grounds for centuries and as such there are still remnants of the former fortress walls as well as the guardhouses.  One of them, the Hyakunin Bansho guardhouse once housed 100 samurai as the first line of defense against attacks against the emperor.

nevermind.! 

We didn't see many buildings in the areas we walked around.  They did have a small museum that had a display of more recent (20th century mainly) silk screens, enamelware and such.  There was also this building with intricate mosaic tile work on the 2 sides that were visible.  I am sorry that the picture does NOT do the building justice but...

There was also a building that was called the Ishimuro Stone Cellar where they kept the emergency stores for times of siege. Although there are rumors it was an emergency escape passage from the palace.

Saw a lot of bamboo of various types as well as different trees and bushes and flowers -- and being the great horticulturist I am, I have NO idea what most of them are, other than pretty!  Have lots more shots of them on the flickr page  if you want to see them.

The gardens also seems to be a place where families come to picnic as there was at least one lawn we saw that had people sitting around just relaxing.

There were several times when I began to think Karen and Michelle were trying to leave me behind... BUT since I was the one with the directions "home", I figured I was safe!  JUST KIDDING GIRLS!

So, that was our Saturday.

Sunday, Karen had to study so  Michelle and I planned to head off to Harajuku and Akihabara.  There is a large Meiji shrine and bazaar there in Harajuku as well as the "young people's street" (where cosplayers hang out.  And Akihabara is a really big electronics area as well as a place for anime stuff.

Once again we met for lattes at Starbucks and then took off with me and the iPhone app in charge of navigation.  We took our "home line" to Shimbashi and then the Ginza line subway to Omote-sando.  We got off and walked around looking for the bazaar but when we found it, it was less of a "bazaar" and more of a high end shop! So we went further down to the Meiji Jingu shrine -- again a huge shrine right in the middle of a bustling city!  

Before we got to the gates (torii) of the shrine we were met by folks wanting us to sign petitions as well as those giving out religious material.  Same all over the world I guess!

Got to the main entrance to the shrine, said to be the largest torii in the world.  Unfortunately, I had not read up on my Shinto customs and did not pay proper reverence to the sacred place.  I am sure I will be forgiven since it was out of ignorance not irreverence.

There was a "wall" of what looked to be very large ceramic jars with various symbols on them.  I have no idea what they were and unfortunately the sign beside them was only in Japanese.  Across the road from the jars was a "wall" of wine casks -- labelled with French names -  that were for consecration.

There were also several inner torii before we got to the temple itself.

The temple is quite beautiful with a lot of wood carvings... not a lot of statues like Buddhist temples because from what I understand about Shintoism, they are more into nature.

Saw another wedding...  not sure what it is about me and weddings in Japan.  These photos were taken on my phone because somebody forgot to recharge the camera battery, so they are not very detailed.  The bride and groom are under the umbrella and the attendants - I believe them may be priests/novitiates or the like are in the orange hakama pants. Surprisingly, all the guests in the procession looked quite somber.  Not sure why that would be.

I thought about buying some charms for everyone -- for good luck, health, etc. -- but I figured maybe they would only work if you bought them yourself.  I did buy myself the "bells of yasuragi" (tranquility).  I had forgotten what they were called and had to translate the Japanese characters to get the name right.

We ate at the little restaurant there at the shrine.  Michelle said it was the best pizza she had ever eaten.  I opted for more traditional fare -- udon noodles and something  not sure what it was... think one thing was fish and another some sort of fried tofu.  There was also what looked like an eggroll but I think that was sweet rice rolled in fried tofu and served cold.

We then got on the Yamanote line -- above ground train -- and headed to Akihabara. We opted for  - ok just took that one by accident both trains went the same way, that line is a loop - the long way on the train and it was a quite pleasant ride.

Akihabara was a madhouse and unfortunately we didn't have a really good sense of where we were going.  I was looking for anime/manga stuff but..... 

OH YEAH, I got interviewed for Japanese TV!  They wanted to know if I liked anime.  I of course said yes.  Unfortunately, he was more interested in my feelings about Sailor Moon which I have never watched.

We found what was supposed to be the biggest book store and while they had a lot of manga there... guess what, it was in Japanese!  Couldn't really find any of the titles I am familiar with so...  Also couldn't really find any anime stuff that I knew other than these dispensers which I think are toy dispensers for something Bleach related since that is Captain something.

I am wondering if either what we in the states are familiar with is either done here in Japan or not as big in Japan OR I was just in the wrong place.  Probably a bit of both.

After that we headed back home for the day.

Well that was weekend 3 -- the last weekend.

talk to you soon

dot

2nd weekend in Japan

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS GO TO   http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotc/

Konban wa again... well it is about 9pm on Tuesday night of my last week here and I am finally getting around to updating all of you on what has been going on.

On the 2nd Saturday I was here, we actually had snow flurries in the morning.  Other parts of Tokyo had actual snow on the ground - from what I hear and read in the paper, that is NOT the norm for mid-April in these parts.  It then rained for a bit but by mid afternoon it was up in the mid 50's -- very strange weather!  We have had a lot of rain over the 3 weeks but most of it has not been too heavy, except for one night when the rain wasn't too hard but it was really cold and the wind was blowing something awful and naturally we had to walk a ways from the train station to the restaurant.  But all in all the weather has been ok but I sure am glad I bought that coat!!

Michelle (the girl from the UK) and I  (Karen was studying!) took the Yurikamome train (the one by our hotel) and went to Venus Fort.  It is a 4 story outlet mall that has a big kiddyland on the ground floor.  We did some window shopping -- prices were a bit steep and I really don't think they had anything in my size since I am a bit taller (and wider, ahem) than most Japanese women.  It is a really big place and has a small casino in it on one of the floors.  Not sure if it is a full blown casino or just one that is open for certain events.  There is also an amazing fountain on one of the floors and another has a painted ceiling that looks real and even goes from day to night!  There is also a car museum showing various American, British, European and Japanese vintage cars.  Pretty cool.   There is also and actual Toyota dealership there too.

But I have to tell you that the wackiest thing we saw was the shop that was full of clothes and strollers and toys for DOGS!!  They always say Americans are a little bit crazy about their pets but I think we have been outdone!  They were also having some sort of thing with Dachsunds cause they were everywhere....including on the mall flyer.  Most were dressed up and some in the strollers.  I think Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) would be shaking his head in amazement.    We did see a few dogs that were actually walking and some that were au natural, but....

When we were done at the outlet mall, we got back on the train and came back to Daiba (where the hotel is) and did some walking around Aqua City -- if you remember, it is a mall NOT a water park!-- and just hung out and relaxed.  It was really nice... there is a little park down there by the harbor and it has a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

On Sunday some of the group went to Disneyland but 2 of the guys -- Mike and Aaron -- and I decided to go visit the market and Buddhist temple at Asukusa (it is a section of Tokyo).  We took the Ginza line of the Tokyo Metro subway.  The subway and train system in general is pretty amazing and it doesnt take too long to get your bearings in it. 

We got to Asukusa and it is pretty amazing that right in the middle of the bustling city, with all the modern buildings there is an area with an open market and a large Buddhist temple surrounded by numerous statues.

I stood by the cleansing cauldron -- doubt if they call it that but that's what it looked like to me -- and cleansed myself in the smoke before I entered the temple.  I bought some ebony prayer beads and made an offering.

We also got to see the arrival of a bride and groom for a traditional Buddhist wedding.... something I found out the next day was very rare.There were also several women in traditional dress with extremely elaborate obis -- not sure if they were part of the wedding party or just there visiting like the rest of us.

And I was able to find a shop selling kimono fabric and obi brocade remnants -- leave it to me to go halfway around the world to go fabric shopping!

We were going to go to the Imperial Gardens but by that time we were hungry and by the time we walked around and found a restaurant -- an Italian pizza place with pretty good food -- we were too tired to go back and walk any more so we called it a day!