Jan. 2, 9:28 AM

Already this AM we’ve had an episode of Ojamajo Doremi and an episode of
Dragon Ball Z. Goku has a girly voice!

4:00 PM

What a great day!

We decided on doing Tokyo Tower early, because the weather was nice right *now*, if you know what I mean. Plus, evening brings smoggy haze – mornings are usually better for sightseeing anyway. We knew that we were tempting fate by wanting to see the Tower, that clearly there’d be an alien or demon invasion, or my energy woukd be sucked away, or something else horrible, because, hey, after all I *do* watch anime, but we wanted to see it, dammit!

We, with some help offered by a random passing woman (who reacted favorably to
Pattie’s blonde roundness, as all people seem to) we made our way to the southeast –
oddly referred to as Central Tokyo. We had a fairly long walk, because ultimately the
woman had been wrong, but we could see the Tower, so we knew where to head. On the way, we passed a little fox spirit shrine tucked in between buildings, so we stopped, prayed and left them shiny money to play with, or trade for dog biscuits or something.

As we got closer, we found yet another shrine/temple complex thing, with bunches of
little shrines and offering places. It was clearly a mixed bag, with a really elaborate shrine to one god of good fortune, and teeny little ones to others, including a Buddha for kids, who was surrounded by Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty dolls.

The line at the Tower wasn’t too long, by which I mean it was really long, but
didn’t yet run outside the waiting area. We decided just to go up to the Main
Observation Deck, which was actually two stories. It was cool – they had the usual signs telling what you were looking at. Fuji-san was very clear, which made Pattie happy. We were, as usual, the only foreigners there, which surprised us, because there isn’t a day of the year where you won’t run into foreign tourists at the Empire State Building. The line for the Upper Deck was way too long, or we might have done that too – it was up another 100 meters. We were at 150 meters at this point. Tokyo has lots of little clusters of high buildings. Nothing like NYC’s dense conglomeration of skyscrapers.

From the observation deck we found that there was a large temple/shrine complex right
across the street, so we headed there after taking in the floor filled with little booths of ticky-tacky crap. It was such crap we couldn’t even find anything bad enough to buy as a souvenir for friends. (Mostly because we couldn’t figure out how to carry the 3′ tall fiber optic Tokyo Tower/clock thingy home.)

On the way to the shrine, we bought an imo (sweet potato) from a street vendor. They
have a distinctive call they use to hawk their wares, but of course, this is the 21^st century…he had his recorded and playing from speakers on the truck. The imo was really good – I love sweet potatoes in any form.

The temple/shrine complex was called the Zenjo-ji; it was the Tokugawa family shrine.
The first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, had it moved here from further away to “protect” the southeast of the city. Ieyasu is the Shogun in almost all samurai stories we see, as well as being the model for Torinaga, the Shogun in James Clavell’s Shogun. He was an interesting example of extreme micro-management. He set up laws that regulated everything from when people could change their winter for summer clothes, what colors they could wear and even what names they could take – and we’re not just talking court etiquette here. These laws applied to everyone, and were different for every class, trade and region. He made rules for *everything.* Kind of
creepy, really. Everything he did affected Japanese culture for the next 400 years and still has repercussions today.

The Temple was really nice. It’s a big tourist attraction and at New Years was
pretty was pretty hopping. Lots of music, and stands and even a performing monkey –
which was actually pretty dull, as it just walked back and forth, but hey, how often do *you* see a performing monkey?

We bought O-mamori, good luck charms, and ate soba noodles for long life and listened
to the monks play instruments and chant at the Temple, walked the grounds, made friends with a child (the only child the entire time we were there who smiled at us and didn’t hide. She even said, “Hi!” and “Bye!” and waved at us when we left.) The grounds were beautiful and festive. There were hundreds of little statues decorated with crocheted bibs and hats in red, which we guessed were for children, and we later learned we were right. I tried to strike the gong over the temple door, but didn’t put enough oomph to it and got a kind of “buh” noise. We also watched the priests bring out the charms and arrows and papers and stuff that people wanted to burn. There were even purses which, assumably, had failed to become filled with money last year…or maybe they just hated the purse. Or the boyfriend who gave it to them. Who knows?

After we had savored all the joys the Zenjo-ji had to offer, we decided to go back to
Asakusa to the Senso-ji, with about a million other people. Pattie wanted to see the
shrine to Tanuki (a sort of a badger spirit) but it appeared to be closed, so we just
enjoyed the crush of people (and I do mean *crush* the placed was mobbed, as it
traditionally is this time of year.) We got stares every time we spoke, as usual. We were the only gaijin, as usual, until we were leaving when we passed two Spanish women, one of whom was in kimono, which was interesting. There were quite a few women in kimono there, and a few men, too. We were both glad that some women still bother getting dressed up.

The crush of people on the Nakamise-dori – the road that leads from the Kanarimon
Gate to the temple – was really amazing. It was one of those crowds that if you left your feet, it would keep carrying you along. We threaded our way through the crush, to the amusement of everyone around us, mostly just surfing the humanity. Eventually we went back to the hotel. We opted for dinner in, because we were so tired, as usual.

On TV right now is a Japanese Beatlemania with one guy – the one playing George
– who keeps singing in Japanese.

Next time:Me, Myu and 1000 four-year olds

New Years Day

Morning TV selections – have I mentioned how distracting TV is here? There were days we were barely able to tear ourselves away from the variety shows, or the gymnastics horse-jumping competiton…how *does* one avoid New Year’s Day? By watching TV of course!

Changed channels – 30 children at a time doing a three-legged race kind of thing…only it’s a 60-legged race.

Because this morning is cold and grey and a major holiday, we’ve decided to take it *really* easy. We’re not going to bother with Tokyo Tower today – we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway. When we get going, eventually, we’ll try to find the local Buddhist temple. Or not. We have to leave so they can clean the room, anyway.

We’re now watching (a very dull) show on onsen. Pattie wants to go on one – not me, I’m not big on baths much.

I have a new magic power! I can tell a plot complication from a mile away. We’re watching a drama about a boy and a girl who switch bodies. So, she’s doing judo and he know wants to do ballet. The kids are doing a good job of acting as the other gender.

We’re back from a long, amusing and productive walk. Pattie wanted to see Sunshine 60 (a mall not too far from here) and I wanted to visit a local temple. The temples were not touristy and we didn’t want to bother the people visiting graves and worshipping, so we ended up walking around and through the surrounding park, right through the tent city of homeless people. It was pretty large – about 25-30 guys living there.

At Sunshine 60, we wandered aimlessly, much as we would at home at a mall on New Year’s Day. We found the Sanrio store, were creeped out by the variety of Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel for sale (yes, the boy Hello Kitty has a name…) and noted that Swatches are not really regional, despite what the guy at Newark Airport said.

Oh, forgot to mention – last night at the train station, we were approached by a young, Japanese woman who was a Jehovah’s Witness, with a Watchtower. Some things are universal…

We had lunch at Ojyuja, a place in the mall’s food court, and I had the world-s best katsudon. It was incredible! Perfectly crunchy outside, tender cutlet, the miso was good and we had a nice variety of four appetizers: tamago (sweet egg omelet), a pickled veggie/octopus/shrimp thing, pumpkin and something Pattie thought was a potato, but could have just as easily been an eyeball for all we knew. Pattie said that if it had been an eyeball, it would have been pupil up, for presentation. It was probably a potato.

Amusingly, as we wandered Sunshine 60, we learned that tomorrow a new Sera Myu (live action Sailor Moon Musical) begins. I want to go, just to see Uranus and Neptune, of course. There was a “Sailormoon World” setup there, so we went in and watched the little munchkins all dressed up as Sailor Senshi…it was spectacular. I bought some Sailor Uranus keychains (she was clearly not the most popular with the 4-year-old crowd…) and P bought Sailor Moon’s Sera Myu locket and we had a good laugh or three. I said that if she wants to got to Fuji, fine, but I want to suffer through, erm, watch a Sera Myu.

We also watched some wonderful mall-type entertainment. Originally, the man who came up with the idea of the mall, envisioned them as a kind of all-weather town square. It took a while, but that’s what they basically are, now, if you think about it. With performances of local groups doing “cultural” things. (At my local mall, I’ve seen the NJ Symphony Orchestra, Santa, a Hispanic dance and song troupe and many other culture-type things.) We were able to see a guy doing a dance as a dog demon (with white fluffy hair, ala Inu Yasha) and a female Taiko drumming troupe. (And what I wouldn’t have given to get them to Yuricon…)

We made our way back onto the streets and found the local Manga no Mori (a manga store chain) and dropped more yen on manga, cause we didn’t have enough already, obviously. Now we’re back in the room relaxing.

TV continues to entertain. We’re watching a “Whose Line Is It?” kind of show, except that it consists of the host giving a first line and the participants having to fill in the rest of the Haiku. They are cracking themselves up to the point where they are falling over in hysteria. Other than the first line, I cannot understand a word, but they are having so much fun, we’re enjoying watching them. Now they are asking questions of each other. I was able to follow one joke. Something along the line of, “Biji-san, are you like god?” “Yes!” (They all say “yes!” because they have signs that say “Yes” in English and they can’t say “no,” apparently.) “Bzzt, you are like a corpse.” Where “corpse” is a word that can also mean “Buddha.” Hysterical, isn’t it? And they could not stop laughing. I love this show. The ten guests are arranged in two rows facing each other – one in dark colored traditional men’s clothing – the other row in traditional men’s clothes in neon colors that are blinding.

Iron Chef personalities we’ve seen so far on TV:
Prof. Hattori (twice)
The Italian Guy on the tasting panel
Rokusaburo Michiba
Hiroyuki Sakai

Dinner is alien-flavored ramen (I’m serious – you should see the commercial!) and endlessly amusing TV. We were having so much fun watching TV the evening just slipped by.

Morning Musume has made it to 38 jumps and they are getting tired and angry. They’ve been on 4 shows so far. 3 live, one taped. Make that 5 shows, 3 live. And the guy with the stage thing.

In a perfect endidng to our night, Shomuni is on. But the show went on so long I fell asleep before the end. I assume that the Office Ladies of the second section saved the day one more time and they all live happily ever after.

Next time: Once more, with feeling

Interlude

This is a good place to stop and talk about the toilets in Japan. I know, every single Westerner who has ever visited Nippon in the latter part of the twentieth century (or beginning of the twenty-first,) has had to mention the bathrooms in Japan, but mostly because, although we’re warned in advance by every other travel writer on the planet, it’s still a shock to stumble off a plane after 14 hours (not including the extra few at the airport) and be confronted with a “traditional” bathroom. It’s basically a urinal set into the ground. I imagine that guys don’t have too much problem with it, but for women, it’s a bit more complicated. If I were in the habit of wearing skirts, it might be a little less difficult, but with pants it was a fairly steep learning curve. Anywhere we went, it was a crap shoot as to whether we got a “traditional” or a western-style toilet. Except in temples, shrines, and other old places…those we had *no* chance of a western one. We did a quick market research poll with the one Japanese person we could ask about it (poor Emi…) and she stated unequivocally that she like western ones better. So, despite all our faults as a culture, we’ve done one thing, at least, right.

I might as well also mention breakfast, while I’m at it. Of all the things that I’d be facing in this entirely new country, the only thing I was really worried about was …breakfast. I feel pretty strongly about my three squares and I don’t function without brekkie. The first two days in Tokyo we ate at the hotel, because we didn’t have much mental wherewithal to do anything different. After the second heinously expensive, yet bland and uninteresting breakfast, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Every night as we headed home, we’d stop at one of the local combi and buy stuff…usually for dinner, as well as the next day’s breakfast. Pattie favored egg salad sandwiches, while I preferred the combo-packs of tuna, egg and ham and cheese. These made a great breakfast, I have to say. For dinner, I picked up whatever I fancied, sushi, rice balls, ramen noodle (alien flavored – we kept a label to prove it!) or any number of other items, mostly fresh food. I had katsu salad, or whatever they had made that night. Ya gotta love 24/7 places for this – you can always get reasonably priced food that doesn’t entirely suck there. (And now you know *why* egg salad sandwiches make me nostalgic for Tokyo. We ate a lot of ’em.) You may wonder why we didn’t eat out at various restaurants every night – but trust me, we ate as well as any of the young yuppies who filled the 7-11 every night. But the real reason was simple – we were utterly exhausted every night and we didn’t have bazillions of bucks to spend on nice places to eat – even if we were capable of figuring out the menu, which was yet another crap shoot. But really…why? We ate a really nice lunch every day out, and we were glad to have cheap places to eat at night, when we dragged our sorry, tired asses back to the hotel.

Which brings me to Day 5, Part 2.

We armed ourselves with a guide from the Cheap Bastard’s Tokyo Shopping Guide and headed out. This site is a mixed bag – it’s got directions, but it’s of the “Look, I’m so cool, I’m cursing in public” variety of sophomoric humor. Nonetheless, the directions for Ikebukuro were *brilliant* and I heartily recommend this site if you plan a trip to any of the sections of Tokyo and want to know where to buy anime and manga related goods. Have I mentioned that there are few streets that have names and almost none of the buildings have numbers? Best bet – take a map and get good directions.

We hit up the Info Desk for a little local information – the two women who helped us were hysterical in a way that is completely untransferable to text, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. We set out and had no problem finding the first landmark, a closed bookstore. From there we walked down the coolest street in Ikebukuro, a little alley full of game arcades, restaurants, food stalls, stuff stores and more game arcades. We loved this street and visited it repeatedly, because you can never have enough of crowded streets with New Year’s revelers playing on crane games for cheap toys, IMHO. We were immediately sidetracked by an arcade with One Piece toys, which was deafeningly loud. We watched some guy play the Taiko drumming game, where you try to drum in time to the music. There was also a game where you are taking a dog for a walk…I’m totally serious. We did not play that.

The first anime store we found, Animate, was closed, but the next, K-Books, was open. There were actually several K-Books – one anime store, one manga and one doujinshi. We dropped a few thousand yen on extremely cool items we needed desperately, as you can imagine. The doujinshi were arranged by audience, and there was a feeding frenzy in several of the yaoi sections. I decided to go elsewhere, while Pattie fished.

We stopped at a Family Mart to get supplies for that night and the next morning, and absolutely thrilled the girl at the counter no end with our foreign antics. She probably went running home and told her boyfriend. But we didn’t know what (if anything) would be open the next day (New Years, in case you forgot) so we wanted to have food just in case.

We decided to try our luck and walk back through the Seibu side of the station, and hope we didn’t get lost. It worked! We were so pleased with ourselves. We wandered through some of the Tobu side food displays…like Harrods in London, Seibu and Tobu sell high-end food on the bottom floor. We couldn’t afford most of what we saw, but if we had had to buy a high-end food gift, we saw some cool ideas. The sake’ area was packed and they were handing out samples. We watched ’em decant warm sake from wooden buckets right into bottles. If I liked sake, I could have been plastered by the time I walked through that section of the store.

We walked back through the station and bought a new bag to put all the dirty laundry in, so we could pack all the toys and doujinshi we had bought. The sales guy was SO excited to tell us our total and change in English.

After dinner in the Metropolitan Plaza (calzones, because we could) we dragged our tired, sore asses home and scrapped our nascent Temple-going plans, because we were beat. I had bought snacks and drink to celebrate the New Year, if we made it up that late…we didn’t.

We spent the evening watching really awful “top ten” type shows, because I love suffering and the only anime on was Doraemon.

Next Time: How to Avoid New Year’s Day