Prior to flying to Japan I read various books and took classes that prepared me for the differences between America and Japan(preparing to limit culture shock).  The two countries are quite similar from the exterior, but when you peel back a few layers the two can be polar opposites.

For example, shoes are removed before you enter a persons house.  However, this is not only restricted to houses.  Schools, restaurants, and other public places require you to remove your shoes before you step onto the main floor.  It may be confusing when you first experience it, but you catch on fairly quick.

Next are convenience stores.  Convenience stores truly are convenient.  You can do just about anything at a convenience store.  It’s comparable to a gas station on steroids.  To name a few things, you can:

• buy sports tickets, movie tickets, bus tickets, or concert tickets.
• buy school supplies, electronic goods, or everyday household goods.
• buy umbrellas, gloves, hats, simple clothes, or standard beauty products.
• buy shampoo, detergent, deodorant, soaps, etc.
• buy beverages, eggs, fruit, sandwiches, pre-made meals, snacks, candy, fried or boiled food, or alcohol.
• buy magazines about travel, news, sports, entertainment, or even promiscuous stories.
• pay your bills.
• use an ATM, photo copier, or restroom.

And the best part about it, they are located EVERYWHERE.  Some big names you may be familiar with are 7/11, Circle K, Thanks, Lawson, and Family Mart.

Another difference can be approached when shopping.  Foods are in large varieties, shapes, and sizes.  Although the sizes vary, the largest size is typically not so gargantuan.  One example can be found quickly when buying milk.  Milk does not come in one gallon, half gallon, or pint size containers.  Instead, milk is found in 1,000ml cardboard boxes, along with every other fruit juice, healthy beverage, or sometimes coffee.  You can of course find smaller sizes, but never one gallon jugs.  Another thing you may commonly see is 1.5L bottles of Coke and Pepsi rather than the standard 2L.

Of course, changes do not stop with beverages.  Bread can be a horrific sight in Japan.  I may be exaggerating a bit, but the lack of wheat bread is borderline ridiculous.  Not only that, but the variety of bread consists of all sorts of strange mixes.  To name a few, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon, coffee, and buttered.  I mean come on, pre-buttered bread?  On top of that, bread comes in bags of 4-8 pieces.  Each ‘loaf’ is the same length, but the slices are cut bigger or smaller depending on whether you prefer 4, 5, 6, or 8 slices of bread.  I go with eight slices considering all others are monstrous.  To top it all off, each bag is roughly $2.00 and would probably be close to double what a loaf goes for in the U.S. considering the sizes.  I’m not sure what book can prepare you for something as treacherous as this. *slight sarcasm*

In addition to the bread, you can always find a large assortment of sandwiches, rolls, doughnuts, and other breaded items when shopping around.  Even convenience stores are stocked heavily in such items.  The sandwich below is a Cookie Cream Sandwich Roll.  In other words, chocolate cookie cream was added along with 450 or so calories. *Yum!!*  My only question is, where’s the lunch meat!!?

And next to the breads, you can find plenty of fruits and vegetables that look somewhat similar to what you will see in the U.S..  The only difference being is the variety.  Vegetables are a lot more abundant in terms of variety, and some of them I have never seen until I came to Japan.  The same goes for fruits considering Japan is close to some countries with very tropical climate which fruits can thrive in.  Please enjoy these pictures, I got quite a few strange looks and a few workers were laughing at me when I was taking pictures of the produce.

While we’re discussing shopping items, why not include something that you might not be able to see a lot of places in the world.  People in Japan love to eat everything.  Whether it’s seaweed or strange animals, it’s possible you can find it at your local grocery store.  How many of you have looked at an octopus or a squid at the zoo and thought, wow that looks good!  Well, I have.

Moving on, clothes dryers are something of little importance in Japan.  Although they are not uncommon, they are rarely used.  Instead, clothes are hung outside in the sun for a more natural way of drying your clothes.  It is said that the sun helps to kill certain bacteria that remains after washing.  As a result, doing laundry takes a lot more time.  I have also heard that a downside to women hanging their clothes outside is that some of their delicates can go missing.  Hopefully nobody is interested in what I hang outside.

Pocket tissues are one of the first things you are introduced to at large train stations.  People will approach you in or around the station and simply hand you tissues filled with advertisements.  They are usually innocent, however that is not always the case.  The top and left ads are for couple matchmaking.  Hello Kitty at the bottom is advertising a potential Christmas present.  Not so innocent, on the right, is a club to meet girls.  The clubs can be found throughout Japan and are mainly based in big cities or by train  stations.  Their main targets are middle aged men or college students, but I’ll get into details in another blog.

The last custom I would like to address is gift giving.  Japan is well-known for its gift giving skills.  More specifically, it is extremely common to give souvenirs or gifts to close friends and family members.  In other cases, teachers can benefit greatly from this custom.  All teachers are not included, but I’m one of the lucky ones that is treated to some souvenirs from time to time.  I’ve been given snacks and candy souvenirs from Okinawa, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and others amongst them.  In addition to souvenirs from Japan, I’ve been lucky enough to receive gifts from Korea, Canada, America, Sweden, France, and Brazil for no reason other than being a part of the culture.  Here are a few I’ve held onto.

There is no special rule concerning what to give.  I once had a teacher who told me you could give hand towels with strange logos attached to them as gifts.  Chances are you won’t need to use the hand towels for anything, but it’s a good idea to keep it and write the senders name on it.  Next time the person comes to your house, you can take it out of storage and present it in your bathroom.  The point of it all being that importance is placed upon the gesture and not so much the gift itself.

So if you ever go to a different country, there will always be things you’ve never read about.  Some differences are so simple that after a while you forget what’s different about it.  Other things stick out no matter how long you are there.  Some differences are better than others, and some you’ll wish to change everyone’s mind about it (dryers dryers dryers).  Otherwise, you will be hit hard with culture shock.  Sometimes you can’t prepare for what happens, but it’s good to hear from others that have experienced it to soften the blow.

The most surprising thing about this temple is that it resides across from a ten-story apartment building.  It is surrounded by houses on every side and the only private part about it, is that it is located half a block from the main road.

I wasn’t so sure if I was allowed to venture around the grounds, but I decided to try my luck anyway.  There seemed to be nobody interested in coming to the temple at that particular time so I’m not fully sure of the specifics of this temple.  What I did notice was, again, the presence of a bell that seems to be common with most every temple.  Surrounding the area were bushes, shrubs, and smaller trees.  What I noticed in particular was the attention to detail in each plant.  They all seemed to be well maintained and cared for despite the area feeling deserted.  Keep in mind, it is winter currently so the flowers and bushes look amazing compared to how things are fairing in Ohio.

Just to the left of the temple itself was a smaller graveyard.  Graveyards are somewhat different in Japan considering they don’t bury any bodies.  Instead, they cremate the body and place the bones into the front of the grave.  In front of each grave are candles, flowers, and incense to help accompany the grave and pay respects to the person that remains there.  It’s funny how similar culture can be even when at other times they are so different.

As I made myself more at home in the area, I took a closer look at the temple itself.  It is quite large and seemed to be in rather good shape.  I walked a bit closer and a monk made his way out a door to the side of the temple.  He was holding a bushy orange cat and didn’t say a word.  I greeted him by lowering my head and asked if it was okay to look around.  He responded as if he were trying to limit his speech, “Hai”.  I then made a comment that the structure was beautiful and I was simply admiring the grounds, again he responded, “Hai”.  From there he didn’t even watch me anymore but still stood in the doorway as I closed in on the front door to the temple.  There was nobody inside and the doors were shut so I took that as a sign to mind my manners and stay out. 

There are places similar to this all around me and I’ve been meaning to go to them, but it’s not so fun riding a bike in freezing weather.  When it starts to warm up I’ll be sure to put plenty of pictures up related to my surroundings or wherever else I may end up going.

Anyway, I am receiving the benefit of a two hour class, once a week, without any fees.  Additionally, I have the opportunity to make friends from all over the world.  Following my most recent class, I had intended to say goodbye to my classmates, thank my teachers, and be on my way home to study.  However, the instructors had another agenda.  Since I am the only American, I am an easy target when they want a variety of students.  I was quickly rounded up and told to sit and wait without being given any further information.  Considering I had just received two hours of free class, I figured I could give them a few extra minutes of my time.  But a few minutes quickly changed into something a little bit longer.

I was quickly given a survey to fill out in Japanese.  It was a culturally based survey asking where I was from and some differences between my country and Japan.  Other questions asked about any hardships I experienced or any problems I needed help with now or in the foreseeable future.  I was not so interested in going into detail because I was being interrupted by teachers and classmates alike.  Before I could finish I was pushed into another room and given some お握り which is a rice ball wrapped with seaweed and filled with different things in the center and some お茶 which is tea.  I finished my survey, ate my food, and packed up to leave when I was told not to leave yet again.  At this point I had given up hope of going home anytime soon.

We then proceeded into a 和室 which is a Japanese style room.  It was much different from the other classrooms.  The classrooms have large white walls, white floor, white curtains, and carry an echo which makes listening difficult.  The Japanese style room had a place for you to remove your shoes and painted walls.  The floor was covered in tatami mats and women were standing in Kimono’s awaiting our presence.  Here is where I became more interested in what was taking place.

We sat in a row on our knees, which was very uncomfortable, over a red carpet laid out on the tatami mats.  One of the women dressed in a Kimono stood before us and gave a serious speech in regards to the earthquake that took place in March 2011.  She thanked all of us for the support from our countries and wished us well with whatever it was we were doing in Japan.  Afterwards we were presented with a snack and 抹茶 which is a special type of tea.  Each person was presented with a different handmade bowl and we were shown the etiquette when receiving this particular tea and snack.  It was interesting, because when you are presented with a piece of paper for the snack, there are certain steps you must take when receiving it.  For example, The paper is first folded in half.  Then you should lay it on the ground and turn the fold towards yourself.  Once the snack is brought out, you should break it in half and eat one half at a time.  The tea requires similarly miniscule etiquette.  You are supposed to turn the bowl twice with your right hand clockwise.  Then you should take three sips and leave only a small amount of tea in the bowl.  After your three sips, you can finally finish the tea that remains.  Lastly, you turn the bowl counterclockwise two times and set it down on the ground.  If you are interested in admiring the bowl, it is poor etiquette to lift it over your head or hold it up to your face.  Rather, you should put your elbows on your knees lower your head and tilt the bowl in whichever direction you wish to admire.  In my opinion, it’s equally as annoying as having three or four forks when eating at a fancy dinner, but nonetheless, something to admire.

Soon after the tea etiquette, two new women dressed in Kimonos presented themselves and prepared an instrument called the Koto.  It is the national instrument of Japan which has 13 strings which are connected to a long strip of kiri wood.  The first time I heard this instrument played, I was not so crazy about it.  However, when the two women played together, you could see the true skill and talent that was required when playing this instrument.  Not only that, but the sounds that they created were beautiful.  After the performance we were given the chance to play some parts of the songs we listened to.  The song we attempted may be familiar to anyone familiar with Japanese culture.  It is called “Sakura Sakura”

During this time I noticed an older Japanese man across the room that was keeping his eye on me for some time now.  Slowly he made his way over to me and did exactly what I expected him to do.  From the second he laid eyes on me, he wanted to practice his English and poorly mannered jokes on me.  This type of person, for some reason, is quickly identifiable and unavoidable.  He was very kind, but he like all the others, liked to practice his English despite the fact that his English consists of less than 20 words or phrases.  One being that he continuously told an older woman that I wanted to marry her for some reason.  She saw his jokes for what they were, and politely thanked me for honoring her with a compliment.

After escaping the old man, five hours later, I was finally told I could go home.  Although they didn’t say to me, “you can go home now”, but instead I had no longer been barricaded whenever I tried to exit.  All in all it was a great experience.  I did not know what to expect initially, and even though I have experienced most of those things at other times, it was nice to experience it all by myself within an all Japanese context.  Experiences such as this push me closer to the idea of pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sociology or Anthropology.

My books filled with over 2000 characters and 8000 vocabulary words.

There are a number of people in the world that are capable of speaking more than one language.  However, in the U.S. it is not nearly as common or sought.  Given that English is the primary language used throughout the world, it is not seen as such a desirable skill.  Instead, people decide to focus their talents and time in other areas.

Although language is not stressed in American schools, it is implemented into the curriculum.  Of course, there are always the standard English classes required in high school that study old English, or how to create a lengthy paper.  In addition, French, Spanish, or German language classes are being taught at younger and younger ages.  I personally began learning Spanish when I was eleven years old.  The sad part is, I can’t speak more than a few sentences in Spanish and each sentence takes a minute or so to remember.  The problem isn’t that the language teaching system in our schools is poor, but rather we have little or no interest in these other languages.

When students ask, “What can I do if I know Spanish?”, teachers may often respond, “You can go to Mexico/Spain!”.  However, the reality of the matter is: after high school, who really wants to go to Mexico for an extended period of time?  People have different goals and ambitions that turn language into somewhat of a hobby rather than a career.  If you plan to use Spanish someday, you may want to have a background in business before mastering the language completely.  Otherwise, you’ll be finding yourself in a career completely unrelated to what you expected.  Language is something that helps to experience the world and explore other cultures, but it is difficult to use solely language as a pathway in life.  This is not meant to discourage learning a foreign language, but instead redirect encouragement towards a different mindset.

Finding an interest in a foreign language is the utmost important thing when learning any new language.  Following high school, I had no idea I would someday travel to Japan, let alone live here for a few years.  I had a friend that helped me to develop my interest when I was still an undecided third year college student.  I had not known at the time that I was waiting for this interest to come around, but once it did I never looked back.

My breakfast during a homestay with my name written in Japanese.

Despite the fact that learning Japanese is hands down the hardest thing I’ve done in my life, I find each day that I am quite passionate about it.  There are constant setbacks and plenty of barriers to overcome, and with each step studying becomes even more difficult.  After understanding one concept, the next is twice as hard, but that sort of challenge is something that drives a person.  Finding the motivation to study for something is a daily battle, but once you find that motivation, once you find that meaning for studying so hard your life becomes less stressful.

Over the next six months I’ll be studying for a test that I possibly will not pass.  As a result, I will be studying constantly, whether I’m in my room working on new grammar, or out meeting people and fine tuning my speaking skills, or even going to the free classes offered at city hall.

Today I attended one of the free classes offered at city hall.  It helped me to realize how important studying is.  Another thing I noticed is that out of all the students, I was the only American.  That out of 50-70 students, I was the only ‘westerner’.  The only significance I could derive from this was that I have an advantage over all of these students.  The reason being, every student was interested in me.  They felt like they had something to gain from speaking with me.  I was constantly being approached by people from Vietnam, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, etc.  Even the teachers at the school seem to be extra interested in me.  (I mean, it is pretty obvious that I’m different.  With as pale as I am, I truly stick out like a sore thumb).  And each time, the first questions they asked were, “Where are you from?  How old are you?”, as if my name were irrelevant at first.  Anyway, I find myself in a quite advantageous situation.  Not only will I be able to study Japanese intensively, but also I have the opportunity to learn about other cultures.

It’s kind of funny when speaking to someone from Vietnam and using Japanese as a common language.  I never thought I’d be in a position to do so, but here I am.  My favorite part about today had to have been when they were looking to interview people for the local paper, and blatantly chose people from a variety of racial backgrounds.  After they had interviewed students from Taiwan and China, they were not so interested in interviewing the Korean student as much as Indonesian and Malaysian students.  Japan can be extremely racist at times, but more than anything they are racially ignorant.  Only 2% of the population in Japan is foreign so given their experience with other cultures is limited, it is much easier to shrug off anything that could be labeled as offensive.

For what it’s worth, learning a second language is an amazing experience.  The ends certainly justify the means.  For all the people that grow up speaking multiple languages, I am envious and jealous of your experience.  Although, those people will never know the feeling that I have after having a conversation with someone, in Japanese, with a complete understanding of everything that was said.

On New Years Eve it is tradition amongst the group I was with to eat Nabe and watch the countdown at a friends house.  Nabe is an assortment of vegetables and meat poured into a stone pot that is cooked in Japanese sauce.  The type of vegetables, meats, noodles, and sauce all vary depending on what kind of Nabe you would like to eat.  Of course there were also drinks for everyone, but again we were somewhat relaxed due to the night before.  Afterwards, the mother of the home brought us hot soba with green onion slices.  There was no ball drop in Japan that we watched, but instead there was a famous idol group that counted down with the timer on screen.  The idol group was an all boys singing group, of which I’ve seen a few times, but don’t much care to learn or remember the name.  After the countdown, we decided to take two cars to a temple on Mt. Hatta or otherwise known as Hattasan　法多山.

Cars in Japan are not the biggest thing you’ll ever see.  Most Toyota or Honda brand cars are very standard size, however, contrary to those brands are mini cars.  They seat 4 people and are shaped like a box with wheels.  I’m sure they are gas efficient and capable of carrying luggage for 2-3 people if necessary, but I would never in my life buy one of them.  The point of me explaining this is we managed to fit 6 people into this car for an hour long trip.

Following the trip, we headed up the mountain.  It was all dark on the path towards the hills which made it difficult to see where you were going, and as you made your way up you realized how monstrous the temple really was.  I didn’t bring my camera so all of the photos were from Yuuki.

Our friends ran ahead of us so we had gone through the lines, said our prayers and resolutions, and continued on to look at the charms.  There were many types of charms being offered that you could buy.  They are meant to help with luck, safety, health, studying, etc.  I bought a charm to help me study Japanese so we’ll see how much it helps me.

After we had our charms we found our other friends, except now one was missing.  He had fainted as he ran up the hill to keep up with the others.  After he fainted one of the people at the temple helped him into a room much like an expensive Japanese-style inn.  It had been more funny for us than anything, because this person is normally finding himself in situations similar to this.  I told him to get better and everyone followed sarcastically.

Soon after, at around four in the morning, we made our way back down the mountain and headed home.  The next morning we had been greeted by a special New Years breakfast from Yuuki’s mother.  The box is called an Osechi, which is customary to eat on New Years day.  There was also Omochi, which is comparable to thick taffy in texture with nearly no taste.  The rose shaped box is salmon, the orange balls are fish eggs, the pink and white are vegetables, yellow is smashed and whole melon, the 3 pieces next to the shrimp are a type of sweet egg, and the big thing in the middle is raw shrimp.  We each had eggs with eel cooked into it and a thick piece of ham.  Feel free to let me know what looks good to you.

Happy 2012!!

Disneyland is a place where you can ride character themed rides and meet the characters in person.  Have you ever seen Mickey face to face?  Well if you have then it was probably at Disneyland, nothing short of a child’s fantasy.  Christmas is even better with all the adjustments that are made.  Disneyland during Christmas time has extra attractions and other themes that draw in visitors from all over the country.  There are two parades aimed towards Christmas, a Christmas parade during the day, followed by a parade of floats covered in Christmas lights.  Some of the rides even change their themes slightly to add to the Christmas spirit.  Souvenirs have their own special changes by adding Christmas hats to characters or a Santa like beard.  Chocolates are put into Christmas tree shaped packages and tins and decorations all around the park are altered to fit into the idea of Christmas.

The entrance alone was extravagant.  Structures and buildings surround the path to the main gate.  We arrived at 8:00 a.m. and despite our promptness there was already a line of a thousand plus people waiting to enter the park.  Upon passing through the gate we were greeted with more crowds and characters scattered throughout the entrance.

Amongst the characters was Eeyore.  Most of the characters had a long line to have their picture taken, but Eeyore on the other hand was not so popular.  In order to have your picture taken with a character, you need to gain their attention and a park employee will come take your camera in order to snap a photo for you.  In my opinion, Eeyore is pretty awesome, so I quickly seized the opportunity.

Proceeding on from the initial chaos and excitement, we went through the next standing gate to be welcomed by a small shopping district and a massive Christmas tree.  The crowd was too much for us so we made our way to the next area to find some open space.  Upon escaping we came upon all kinds of decorations and views.

The views are great and all, however our main goal of getting to the park early was to ride some rides without too much of a wait.  Contrary to our goals, our first ride, Splash Mountain, took two hours of our time.  Although, we were able to get two fast pass tickets each to other rides.  Fast pass tickets allow you to wait in a line for approximately 10-20 minutes depending on how many other people have the tickets.  You can get a new Fast Pass every few hours but you have to use it between a given time period.  Back to the ride, it was great and filled with colors.  I wasn’t so excited to get wet with how cold it was, but how I do love roller coasters.  Other rides we experienced included rides such as the 3D Movie Theater which included smells, wind effects, water effects, and of course amazing 3D animations(all in Japanese).  Afterwards we went on the Monsters Inc. ride and the Haunted Mansion which was inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas.

From here on, I hope you’re ready to see some pictures, because it’s difficult to narrow down the choices.  There were four parades throughout the day.  We missed the first one, the second one was an all Disney character standard parade, the third being a Christmas theme, and the last one was a spectacle of lights.  Each parade was filled with colors and excitement.  Music played as the characters waved, sang, and danced.  The size and design of the floats were something you could only see at a place like this.  My favorite part was the dancers with their unique costumes.  Their mood was euphoric and quite contagious.

During the Christmas parade we didn’t have time to get a seat so we walked around the perimeter and took pictures.  The only problem is the park employees don’t want people to take pictures in the walkway, so instead they urge you to continue walking.  Lucky for me, I look as if I don’t understand any Japanese.  We found a spot and a bit of a crowd gathered around us as we took pictures.  The staff pushed the other people away while Yuuki and I continued to take pictures.  Eventually, they realized that their hand motions are easily understood internationally, but had they taken the effort to ask me in Japanese they would’ve been surprised to see that I understood them just fine.

The last parade we saw we made sure to find a proper seat.  People began sitting in the best spots 3 hours before the parade began.  An hour before the parade we had barely any options for seats.  However we managed to find a seat in a great spot only two rows back from the front.

After the parade we were pretty beat.  A day full of parades, rides, shopping, and fighting for a table to eat at.  It was my first time in Disneyland, anywhere in the world, so it was quite a surprise seeing everything.  Before we left we had our picture taken in front of the central gate.  There is a system set up at the most popular photo spots.  People form a line a proper distance away to take the picture.  The people having their picture taken give their camera to the people behind them.  Those people take their picture, give the camera back and repeat the process.  I found it to be interesting since in America it would always be a money making scheme.  Maybe it was only because Disneyland wants to be disassociated from that idea.  Anyway, we had our picture taken, waved goodbye to Disney Hotel, and called it a night.  With special thanks to someone, my first time in Disneyland was a memorable one.

In Japanese, the word konderu 混んでいる means crowded.  The word can be heard quite often when traveling the city or while waiting at stoplights.  Pay close attention to the sidewalks.  This area is a shopping district with cafes and restaurants that are fairly spread out.  Despite it being a plain area, the number of people passing through reminds you of a sporting event or a concert that just finished.  Promotional buses and trucks circle the area with advertisements and videos displaying messages.

Aside from the crowds we went to take in some of the sights in Tokyo.  There is a monorail that goes around the city and gives a breathtaking view of Tokyo.  Surrounding the bay view were a series of stores and shopping malls.  Shopping in Tokyo is not recommended for people who like money, however the variety is great.  We even saw a famous building where a number of TV programs are filmed and broadcast from, although I’m not sure of the building’s name.

A bit of New York came to Tokyo.  You can also see Sky Tree, the tallest structure in Japan(2080 feet high), in the background in the picture below.  In the other pictures, illuminated behind the bridge is Tokyo Tower, the second tallest structure in Japan.

Speaking of Sky Tree, we went for a closer look before we came for the scenic view of the city.  We thought it had been completed, but apparently they’re taking another three months or so to finish up with the last of the plans.  Either way, it was quite a site from the outside.  A jaw dropping 2,080 feet tall.Along with the awesome scenery were of course more decorations, especially since these pictures were taken just before Christmas.On Christmas, following the sights and shopping we went to search Shibuya for some dinner.  Knowing that Yuuki likes to have plans ahead of time for food, I was surprised when she asked me what kind of food I wanted that night.  Since it was Christmas, it was too late to make any reservations and she assured me that she had no plans.  As we walked around searching for a place to go, I had been “wowed” by my first time in Shibuya.  The lights, big screen TV’s, people, it was all so overwhelming.  I’ve also never seen a five-story, Forever 21 store before.

We stumbled into a restaurant to ‘check’ for any available seats.  It was an Italian style restaurant about five minutes from the station with not such an appealing outside.  On the inside the dining area looked nice, but a bit crowded so I had little hope of finding a seat.  Before I knew it I was being lead past the crowd to a stairway.  Down the stairs the noise began to fade and music was playing.  I ducked under the low ceiling only to see that downstairs there were not as many tables and each was spread out to give a sense of privacy.  There was a pond in the center with a fountain and a marble bottom.  The owner lead us to our table and left.  Then Yuuki followed with, “Merry Christmas”.  The meal was delicious to say the least.  A five course meal with drinks, wonderful service, and a beautiful girl.  Merry Christmas!

Salmon and Avocado Salad

Purple Potato Soup

Roast Beef with Cream Potato and Fried Asparagus

Tomato and Ham Fettucini

Strawberry Ice Cream and Powdered Cake

]]> http://bradmaloney.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/a-tokyo-vacation-%e6%9d%b1%e4%ba%ac%e6%97%85%e8%a1%8c/feed/ 14 IMG_3531 bradmaloney IMG_3013 IMG_3026 IMG_3508 IMG_3503 IMG_3504 IMG_3510 IMG_3513 IMG_2946 IMG_2955 IMG_2969 IMG_2978 IMG_2996 IMG_2994 IMG_2930 IMG_2935 IMG_2956 IMG_3528 IMG_3524 IMG_2963 IMG_3520 IMG_3531 IMG_3534 IMG_3537 IMG_3552 IMG_3539 IMG_3541 IMG_3561 IMG_3545 IMG_3565 IMG_3521 IMG_3567 http://bradmaloney.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/asakusa-temple-sensouji/ http://bradmaloney.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/asakusa-temple-sensouji/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:27:19 +0000 bradmaloney http://bradmaloney.wordpress.com/?p=625 Continue reading »]]> The temple in Asakusa consists of a variety of shops for tourists, three towering gates, a five-story pagoda, a separate shrine, and the main temple.  Originally, the temple had been built in the 600′s, but following WWII and the massive fires in Tokyo, the temple had been destroyed and rebuilt to model the original structure.  It is located within about a minute from the Asakusa main station and is surrounded by restaurants and other tourist attractions.

Each gate has a large, lantern shaped object hanging from the center and two statues on either side of the entrance.  As you can see, the gates are no ordinary, plain structures.  Instead they are immense, carefully crafted woodwork that required nothing short of a team of highly skilled individuals.  The colors of most temples are kept plain to show the beauty of the wood, however it is not uncommon for gateways to be decorated with gold and red colors.

The statues at each gate are not particularly kind looking.  The idea of the statues is to scare and prevent spirits from entering the temple.  Some are more terrifying than others, of course.

The second gate was much like the first.  The words written on the lantern are, 風雪神門, 平成十五年八月百日.  It sounds as if it’s referring to a snowstorm in August, 2003, but Japan doesn’t see a lot of snow until December or later so obviously there’s a word I’m not translating right.  風雪 can also mean hardships, so I’ll go with that.  One hundred days worth of hardship starting in August, 2003.

On the way, lining the streets to the main temple are a series of shops.  They sell souvenirs and at this time of year are decorated with New Years colors.  They sell foods, snacks, fans, masks, swords, keychains and anything else typically sold as a gift.

The third gate was the tallest of all the gates.  It is the last gate preceding the view of the main temple and the entrance to the five-story pagoda.

Finally arriving at the main temple, we hurried to the line formed in front since the wind that day was not so friendly.  The closer you were, the more impossible it was to take pictures of the massive structure.  At the entrance was another lantern, followed by a golden plaque, and inside there was a place to throw a coin and say a prayer.

The inside of a temple is always stunning.  Gold gleaming, statues of all shapes and sizes, chandeliers and lanterns hanging from the ceiling, flowers, banners, foods, and other offerings.  The colors are beautiful, but the crowd made it difficult to capture.

People take prayer very seriously.  Although this temple is easily accessible, the journey to each temple is not always so easy.  Many famous temples are structured on a mountain or in a remote area which may cause people to focus on their prayers more carefully.  Some people take 5-10 seconds, others stand for a minute or two with their eyes closed and hands together, focused on their thoughts.

Last but not least, you can see Sky Tree, the largest structure in Japan, from Asakusa Temple, but that’s another trip.

I have about three new entries I’ll publish soon, I’m just sorting through the pictures and finding the time to write about them.  Things have been a bit hectic lately, hope you enjoyed the read!

Yuuki and I set aside a day for the two of us.  To begin we started by taking the subway from 千種Chikusa to 覚王山 Kakuouzan.  Kakuouzan has some cafes and some old Japanese-styled shops that lined the streets.  The style is much different from the rest of the buildings.  You can see them on occasion standing by their lonesome anywhere, but it looks tacky if they are not grouped with like-structures.  On our way to the cafe I picked up another typo.  I thought it would be nice to leave a note explaining the mistake, but I doubt they would have cared much for my opinion.

After a short walk, we made it to the cafe we set out for.  On our way we saw a Domino’s with more, “travel friendly” delivery bikes.  I also saw my first olive tree on our way.

Cafe’s are more of a hobby in Japan than a restaurant.  The location is not as important as it may be in the U.S. or maybe just in other industries.  Customers will search for and find cafe’s with appealing pictures or interesting responses from blogs or other social media.  Especially women are interested in the design and style that is represented by the owners.  Additionally, the food is set to look stylish in accordance with the atmosphere.

Accompanying the cafe on the second floor was a book shop.  I found two books that may look quite familiar to anyone from the U.S.

Following the cafe date, we stopped in for some dessert at a French inspired cake shop.  I hope you’re not too hungry.

We were stuffed after the cake shop, they don’t look so big, but they can fill you up fairly quick.  By the time we finished we went to the last destination in Kakuouzan.  On our way we passed the old, Japanese-style houses and shops.  A young woman was making glass items by the register, so Yuuki and I stopped to have a look.

It was dark by the time we arrived at the temple.  It was a Thailand inspired temple if I’m not mistaken.  We were asked to leave immediately so I’ll have to go back for some better pictures someday.

Since it became dark, it was the perfect time for us to continue on to Nagoya to finish the date with a bang.

We went to a place called Sky Promenade.  You take an elevator up to the 46th floor, buy a ticket, and continue up some escalators to the 48th floor.  From there, you can see the entire city.  Nagoya caste, which is actually in Sakae, can be seen from the building.  The highway also makes for some ideal lighting.

Something else I may have noticed, but never really thought about is how tall the train station is in Nagoya.  Well I found out that Nagoya train station is actually the tallest station in Japan.  Both from above and below you can see that it’s quite impressive.

Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas!

Lets begin with the present’s.  Something that is quite popular during the winter months is an item called a コタツ kotatsu.  A kotatsu is a table with a built-in heater underneath it.  Underneath the tabletop is a thick blanket that traps the warm air beneath the table in order to keep a cozy place for your legs.  Japanese people commonly use a kotatsu to stay warm during the winter months and cut down on energy costs.

Also, I got a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree in the mail, compliments of my Aunt Karen.

Although it is common to see Christmas trees now, the ornaments in Japan vary in style to keep Japanese people satisfied with their undying desire for anything cute.  Nearly every restaurant, clothing store, convenience store, or even professional businesses have a Christmas theme presented in the front of their store.

Decorations are always key during Christmas season.  My parents home is always filled with countless snowmen, reindeer, Santa’s, and candy.  Why should it be any different in other parts of the world?  Luckily, Japan loves decorations so much that Christmas started in mid-November.  Stores are filled with decorations, everywhere I look a Christmas tree is in the window, Christmas lights are beginning to line the streets, and let’s not forget about the music.

At my school we just celebrated Christmas.  There was a party that all the students could come to in order to play games and receive presents.  The activities were based off of American games, but it had been ‘Japanified’ in a sense, meaning the games were cute first, Christmas second.  For example, we made gingerbread men from cork materials and did races with Santa clothes.  However we ate chocolate fondu and at the end we did the, “Cha Cha Slide”, which is commonly played at weddings or large parties for an audience familiar with the dance.  Despite its relation to Christmas being vague to say the least, the parents enjoyed watching the students dance to a song in English and snack on chocolate covered sweets.

Some areas of Japan are very serious with their Christmas decorations.  They enjoy the theme and embrace the spirit that surrounds Christmas.

With all of the decorations shown along the streets you would think you were in America.  In addition to the street decorations are businesses that have taken on the idea of Christmas as a part of everyday business opportunities.  As you can see, one bakery had taken on the idea of Santa bread.  There are even Christmas trains that are decorated and filled with Christmas music.  If you’re REALLY looking for some Christmas variety, there’s always Santa lingerie.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and I’m loving every second of it at this point.  I’ll follow up with more that I notice related to Christmas soon, but until then Happy Holidays.