Taxi Cab Confessions

WARNING: for the most part my blog has been pretty PG-13, but this post is probably going to leave a blemish upon its previously sparkling clean image! Came across this a few days ago-- a Japanese translated taxi cab driver story. There were several amazing ones but I found this one the most entertaining.

THE CAB AS A LOVE HOTEL
Most of the time, couples are able to hold it in until they get to their destination. But in reality, love hotels fill up on weekends, so it's common for couples to "do it" in the taxi. The diver's blind spot is in the seat behind him, so that's where they start. These couples seem to think that the driver is as nonexistent as air. For some reason, I more frequently see women going down on the man than I see the man and woman kissing each other. And I'm not sure if women have become stronger in this day and age, but it's mostly the women who start going down on the man, rather than the man trying to convince the female.
If a couple says "Sorry" as they pay their fare and leave the cab, that's a dangerous sign because there's a high possibility that they've left a little "souvenir" in the backseat. There is nothing as pathetic as having to clean that up.

-- Masayoshi Ise -- translated by Hiroko Fukazawa --

KO! Kyoto & Osaka!

While Sylvia was visiting we planned a 3 day trip to Kyoto and Osaka area since it is very touristy. Yuki was able to research and find a pretty affordable hotel right in the heart of the Gion area of downtown Kyoto.


Heian Jingu, apparently a famous place for wedding ceremonies in Kyoto was overrun by a concert/performance in the late afternoon. To me it seemed a little strange to hold that type of event at a temple, but whatever. Can you count the chairs? I'll give you a hint-- there are over 400.


Giant torii gate leading up towards Heian Jingu.


On our first night we ate at a fancy restaurant along the Kamo river. My meal came out to be a little over ¥6000 (~$60), but it was totally worth it. The night after we were able to spot a few geishas in the streets as well. They were escorting an elderly man who was likely their owner out of one of the Gion restaurants.

As for Osaka, I really wish I had been able to take pictures. Went up to Sky Garden and then spent time in the Namba and Shimsaibashi areas. Namba had incredible street food, mainly takoyaki (octopus balls) and some deliciously cheap okonomiyaki. Perhaps one day I'll make a trip back with a fully charged battery >_<.

OH NOESS -- Dead Battery in Kyoto

So this morning my camera battery died in Kyoto. WTF. I probably have no one else to blame except myself since I didn't fully charge it before leaving, but still. To make matters worse I left the charger back at my apartment.


Here is the map of the surrounding area of Fushimi Inari-taisha located at the base of Mt. Inari. The series of torii gates are thousands in numbers and the entire trek through the gates takes approximately two hours to walk through.


These were the last set of shots I was able to take. It sucks because I'm heading to Osaka tomorrow and there are a few things I was looking forward to seeing.

Long Weekend

Well it's a long weekend here for me in Nihon so I'll be making a trip out to Kyoto & Osaka. Be back in a few days!

Round 2 Kyoto, bring it onnnnnnnnn!

You Can't Always Get What You Want

It's 3:00am and I should be sleeping but watching the premiere of House M.D. season 5 has kept me up way longer than it should have. Last season ended on an emotionally torn high as the cast became even more damaged than before. While I could go on for hours about how spectacular on how House accurately portrays a window to the reality of our damaged world, I'll just list a few of my favourite House-isms!

• "Lies are like children: they’re hard work, but it’s worth it because the future depends on them."
  
  
• "The great thing about telling somebody they're dying is it tends to focus their priorities. You find out what matters to them. What they're willing to die for. What they're willing to lie for."
  
  
• "Someone's gonna be miserable sometime. Accept it. That's how I stay so happy."
  

Macro Fun in Shinagawa

Since getting my new 17-70mm lens I haven't played around much with the macro capabilities it has. This changed today when I went over to Shinagawa and was lucky enough to capture nature doing its thing. I followed this thing around from flower to flower for a good 10 minutes or so. Yay.


It's some type of weird butterfly according to my Japanese sources.


Personally, I think it's a moth.

Kashiwa is Kool!

This picture was a mannequin in Uniqlo with an eerie resemblance to Kyle. Wait a minute, it is Kyle! Jeeeez! Yes he shops so much there and looks so natural I almost missed the fact it was Kyle live in the flesh. GJ.


Three stops over from me on the local train lies Kashiwa, a really cool station with the feel of a Tokyo surrounding. It's pretty much a gem to me since it is so close (only 160) with almost all the essential kind of stores I like browsing through. I'm really glad I ventured off over here and stumbled upon something I would have definitely regretted had I not stopped to explore.

The Return

Kyle and I have been warding off Shakey's to the best of our ability but finally earlier this afternoon we caved. I say it's been a pretty good streak though since it's been over a month since I last went balls out on their all you can eat pizza, spaghetti, curry, rice, salad buffet. Today I also tried a pineapple-walnut-raisin-cinnamon dessert pizza they had. It sounds like an awkward combination but it was damn good.

On another note Sylvia Li is apparently arriving in Japan in the next 16 hours or so! She's an old friend that I've known since high school in due of a vacation. Yay for visitors =].

Fothult!

Alhtough my apartment is more than I could have asked for there was something missing that would put the finishing touches on a perfect resting environment. While a hot tub would be nice, I was thinking more along the lines of a sofa. The second tatami room I had was just way too empty and now that the couch is in place, home feels much more cozy!

Oh! E-Do Dance & Blazing Cranes

The beauty of the Tokyo area is that there's always something going on at any given time. Today Kyle and I decided to head out with really no concrete plan beforehand. As we wandered the streets of Shinjuku we heard loud drumming and stumbled upon a dance competition being held in a downtown square.


This group was the last to perform and I thought they were also the most impressive. They were a little older than the other groups so they had the age/experience factor going for them. Kyle also claims since they had an African American member on the team they were destined to win. See if you can spot him in the picture...


At this point I wondered if any of these kids were forced to be a part of these teams. There's always a ton of pressure and expectations put onto Japanese students by their parents so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the dancers here today had no choice in being part of the team.


Each team busted out onto the scene with a huge explosion of energy! I was waiting for a team to play the Mortal Kombat theme song, but sadly it didn't happen. Maybe next time.


Striking a pose! You can almost see the charka flowing freely around them... haha.


The little girl off to the side holding the sign seemed to have that as her sole responsibility. If I ever joined a dance team I think I would also fill that role. And I'd totally be the best sign holder ever.


In Kokubunji we went to check out a live band (Blazing Cranes) perform at Rubber Soul. The crowd was pretty much entirely composed of ECC affiliates, although Kyle doesn't really socialize with them on a regular basis.


Shot of the drummer dude. He was pretty good I thought and maybe the only one who spoke any Japanese.


CD's were on sale for 500 each but with a heavy heart I am sad to say that not a single copy sold. The cover I thought was a bit inapporpriate as well.

北小金 祭り - Kita-kogane Matsuri

Saturday night after work I went over to my neigbouring station Kita-Kogane. This weekend they had a pretty decorative matsuri to mark the end of summer. Sad to realize summer's pretty much over but it was something speial to see up close and in person.


Outside of the station there is a round pathway (roundabout?) where the dancers paraded. Most groups had a few people playing instruments to help them keep their beat. Lanterns were set up hanging from the electrical wires and poles on a few of the main streets immediately outside of the station.


A lot of the dancers were older in age but they were all in high spirits and enjoying themselves to no ends. Alocohol is publicly served on the streets yet somehow a well-balanced composure is maintained.


Literally 5 minutes after the festival finished the streets were almost entirely empty. No idea how everyone is able to disappear that quickly and clean up after themselves. If something similar to this were to take place in Toronto it would take days to clean up the mess and get rid of the smell.

Manmanji Temple

Today I decided to venture onto the other side of the tracks at Mabashi station since it occurred to me that I haven't really checked it out since arriving here back in May. A few of my students have told me that there is a temple and a few shops, so I decided why not and gave it a go.


On the weekends I've usually spent most of my time running into Tokyo to check out what's happening in the city. To my surprise there was actually a pretty glorious temple located within a few minutes walk from Mabashi. A little strange because it's kind of covered up by the surrounding houses. If it wasn't so high I probably wouldn't have been able to spot it in the mix.


At the main entrance gate there is a large red lantern hanging inside. This remined me a lot of Asakusa, since the gates leading to Senso-ji has a very large red lantern upon entering the marketplace.


This strucutre was a bit out of place, to the side of Manmanji within a cemetary area. It looked much newer and was most likely constructed some time after the main buildings were made. Nonetheless, still served as an integral part of the scenic landscape.

Chunko Nabe!

*DISCLAIMER*
Before I begin this entry, there's a rumour floating around that three people were spotted foolishy trying to carry a sofa home from Ikea. They were stopped dead in their tracks upon arriving at the station by the Minami Funabashi station master... I'll deny every bit of it...

Yesterday's dinner was "food for the sumo soul". Ed, Yuki, Kyle and I ventured out into sumo town to find a sumo wrestler's meal properly coined as "Chunko Nabe". Similiar to everyone's favourite Chinese style hotpot, it is the meal that sumo wrestlers have in order to stay in top physical form. The good sumo wrestlers are out on tour in Nagoya and Nagano at the moment so we didn't see any at the restaurants. However we did manage to spot a couple getting off the train which were probably in a lighter weight class since they didn't look too large.