My Japan Adventure18829
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Is that the green tea flavor I see? |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd From what I've gathered (and I don't claim to be the authority), translated western comics aren't much of a thing in Japan. There have been scattered attempts, so you can find examples if you look hard enough in the right places, but it doesn't seem to have taken off. The Marvel and DC characters are primarily known through the movies and TV shows. Peanuts and Snoopy are very popular, but I don't know if it's because of translated strips or TV specials or just some "kawaii" thing. There is so much manga that maybe there's little appetite for imported and translated comics. I found a couple of western-style comics shops in Tokyo online, and I'm hoping to visit at least one of them before my trip is over. But I haven't done that yet. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Every time I'm on a train, I hear the English announcements for stops and then I listen to the Japanese announcements and try to hear the same place names. It's not always easy! |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Oh my gosh. Finding a restroom in Tokyo has occasionally been a challenge. I have almost chosen KFC just for that. I also kind of want those Snoopy mugs they're promoting right now. |
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| @Byrdibird has flown from Japan, but I'm still here and I may file a dispatch every now and then until I leave. I left off the other day with my arrival in Fussa (outer Tokyo), where I am now sharing a small apartment with my parents. Much time has been spent getting everything situated, planning meals, and visiting the new grandchild/nephew. But we're also trying to give the new parents (my brother and sister-in-law) some breathing room. Reflecting these domestic concerns, maybe I'll use this post to share photos of a few products I've encountered. First up: Japanese cat litter. I thought my cats back home might like to try out some Japanese cat litter, but then I thought about how heavy and bulky it would be in my baggage. Sorry, kitties. I'll try to find a different souvenir for you.  I drank one of these lightly alcoholic pear drinks and it was delicious. I've got a couple more in the refrigerator now.  I saw some Peanuts-branded soy sauce at the grocery store.  It was unclear to me whether or not this Appletiser drink was alcoholic. It was right next to some alcoholic drinks in the café where I ordered it. After drinking it, I don't think it was alcoholic, but it sure had a tasty apple flavor. Would definitely drink again.  And then there was this blue soda I found at a convenience store. I could not tell what flavor it was, but I decided to give it a try. When my brother saw it, he said it was something to do with grape, but to me it had more of a bubblegum flavor (and smell). It wasn't bad, but I probably wouldn't opt for it again. I did like the slogan on the bottle: "Go with your study." Hmm.  Baskin-Robbins is doing a holiday promotion with Sanrio featuring the characters My Melody and Kuromi. A friend of mine at home loves My Melody, but I don't think ice cream would survive the long trip back.  And of course Japan is the only place I've been where you can get fresh-squeezed orange juice from a vending machine that selects an orange and squeezes it in front of you. I have not tried it, but I may yet! It seems almost Rube Goldbergian.  |
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It was nice out the other day, so we walked to a nearby shrine and park. I don't think there's anything especially significant about this shrine, and I'm incapable of giving the detailed history and background that @Byrdibird gave about all of her shrine and temple visits. But I did take a few pictures. This is Ninomiya Shrine in Akiruno.        |
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Across the street from Ninomiya shrine is a cozy little spot called Oike Park. It was probably part of the shrine or temple grounds in the past. Now it has a pond with fish in it, a statue, a little foot bridge, and some ducks.       |
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| On Friday, I went back to Shinjuku to shop and see some bands. I hit a half-dozen record stores: Tower Records (which still exists in Tokyo and only sells new albums, not used), Strangelove Records (which primarily has bootlegs and gray-market releases), Nat Records (a small specialist shop), and multiple locations of Disk Union, which are separated by genre and scattered throughout Shinjuku. For all that, I didn't buy a whole lot, but I also didn't want to carry too much around. I also went to the big Disney Store location in Shinjuku, but I didn't buy anything there. Also in Shinjuku is this Taito arcade. Arcades are all over the place, with lots of claw machines and other amusements. I like that Taito uses the old Space Invaders alien as its mascot (or at least its logo). This is the biggest I've seen so far. If only a whole row of them were dropping in formation from the sky...  The evening's entertainment was an indie-pop/shoegaze extravaganza at a subterranean club called Marz. The headlining act was Singaporean shoegaze band Subsonic Eye. I didn't know about them until just before this trip--somehow the listing for their concert caught my attention, I looked them up on Bandcamp, and I liked what I heard enough to want to see them. Three Japanese bands of similar styles opened the show. My favorite of these was the third, April Blue (not to be confused with a British band of the same name). I'll have to check out their recordings.  And Subsonic Eye didn't disappoint at all. I'm not that familiar with their music, but I really like their sound--tuneful shoegaze with appealing female lead vocals--and their singer has a charming stage presence. This was such a cool opportunity to see a band that probably doesn't get around the U.S. much (although I do see they had some stateside dates this year).  Subsonic Eye played another show the next night, and I wish I'd gone, but I didn't make it. I'm not sure what my next adventure will be, but I will find one. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by scratchtasia Yes, it is! And it was tasty & refreshing. Any flavour can be deer poo'd, but on that day I had green tea.  |
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| I'm waiting on my bus right now and it's pretty excruciating. Stinky fumes and douchebags parking where they shouldn't. My bus cannot show up soon enough. | ||
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Quote:Originally Posted by scratchtasia Some do okay, but quite a few hurt to listen to. There's a British woman whose voice is on a number of JR trains. She does okay. The others, especially the ones on buses... |
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Quote:Originally Posted by scratchtasia I almost got one of those mugs! I just wasn't sure I could get it back home safe. My suitcase is not a hard-sider. |
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| @scratchtasia I'll see what I can find on that shrine once I get home and become coherent.  |
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| @scratchtasia Loving your posts!! Don't stop now!  |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Can you go into more detail about this one? Their guardians look like cats not lion dogs.Quote: Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd And green soda! Score!!!! |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Can you go into more detail on this one #3? Their guardians look like cats not lion dogs!  |
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| Post 441 • IP flag post | ||
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| @dfoster43 That is Chanoki-jinja in Tokyo, and it is an Inari shrine. Inari is the god of rice and prosperity (because Japan had a monetary rice standard - opposed to the western gold standard - rice and wealth are inextricably linked) and his messengers are foxes. Rather than the traditional komainu (lion-dogs), Inari's shrines are flanked by foxes. That green soda is tasty melon soda that a number of fast food chains in Japan have on tap, so it's a regular bevvy choice. Some of the ones that don't have melon soda will have grape Fanta instead. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Truly a fantastic privilege getting to follow along every day! Thank you!!!!  |
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Bit of trivia: Did you know that shrines have gender, and many can be sexed by looking at the roof? Take a look at these:  See the difference? The key is to look at the chigi, which are the crosspieces that you see sticking up. That first one is a photo from a previous trip to Kumano Hayatama Taisha Grand Shrine. The chigi are on the roof of a shrine dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami, goddess of the sun and progenitor of the Japanese Imperial family. The second one is of Fukuyama Hachiman-gu. Hachiman is the god of war (and other, less bellicose things). Female chigi have the flat end of the chigi horizontal, so the chigi 'point' to the side. Male chigi have the flat end vertical, so they 'point' upward. By the way, those lozenge-shaped roof billets are katsuogi. The original purpose of them is not entirely certain, but they were probably used to weight down the rooves of shrines to keep them from blowing off in inclement weather. They are no longer necessary for that purpose, and haven't been for a very long time. They are now strictly ornamental and can be found, along with chigi, only on the rooves of Shinto shrines. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Fun update on the douchebags parked where they shouldn't have been! Someone called the cops, and po-po had a field day out there. At first, he was just shooing them off and giving them a lecture, but then one of them pulled away just to go straight back to the curb to continue waiting for their pick-up not even 50 feet away. The officer went right past me, and I clearly heard him say, "Do they think I'm f***ing stupid?" All those cars - seriously, dozens - double parked and unable to escape, like a big conga line of stupidity and sadness. No one was allowed to pick up whoever they came for, but they all got to pick up that juicy ticket from Officer Do-They-Think-I'm-F***ing-Stupid. Dude is my hero. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by dfoster43 That festival is a howl. Just incredible fun. If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate to go. It's held on the first Sunday in April at Kanayama-jinja Shrine in Kawasaki. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd I think I saw James May there on one of the Amazon 'Top Gear' spin-off's he has there. Crazy stuff.   |
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Quote:Originally Posted by dfoster43 Wouldn't surprise me at all. Lots of foreigners go to that festival. |
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The last couple of days have been fairly quiet and domestic. Yesterday I mostly shepherded my parents around to do some shopping, about which there is little to say. I did spot this sign warning of crow attacks: Apparently, crow attacks are a serious problem when they are raising their young. I've seen a couple of massive crows here, and it would certainly be scary to be attacked by them. Today we took a short trip to Ome, which is closer to the mountains than where we're staying, and we visited a quiet attraction called the Ome Railway Museum. I was not anticipating the steps we'd have to take to get there:  But we all made it up to the top, eventually. For a nominal entrance fee of 100 yen (76¢ today), the Ome Railway Park Museum lets you look at photos of Japanese train history, scale models of various trains, and running model trains. If you can read Japanese, you'll probably get a lot of historical information that I missed. But the train cars parked outside are the bigger attraction. The park has numerous steam locomotives, one electric locomotive, and the front car of a Shinkansen bullet train. You can climb into several of them and examine where the train operators sat and what the controls looked like. Most of them looked very complex, cramped, and uncomfortable.    There are also a whole bunch of coin-op trains and other rides suitable for very small children. After looking at all the trains, we made our way back down the stairs, where the view looked something like this:  And here's a sign that was posted on the side of a building near the Ome train station. The cat caught my eye, and I thought it was one of a group of vintage signs until I read it more closely.  And that's been about it since the last time I posted. Tomorrow will be another slower day with family, but then I'm planning a solo trip to Yokohama for the next day, and maybe I'll get to fit a little more in. For fun, here's a picture of some fish from the little park just steps from our door, Hotaru Park. I didn't notice the fish pond until my third time walking through.  |
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| I may be interested in collecting some yen... | ||
| Post 450 • IP flag post | ||
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| @scratchtasia Oh my word, the dreaded stairs. The number of times I went places just to find the only way to get where I was going was to take some massive, possibly multiple, flight(s) of stairs, often with no handrail. One of the dangers of sightseeing in Japan. That railway museum looks pretty cool. History of railroads is amazing, and it'd be particularly interesting in Japan. Ome is one of those areas I'm hoping to get to one of these days soon. Lots of things to see out there, but my traveling companion and I will be aiming for a Spring visit because there are a number of spots there known for stunning displays of Spring flowers.  |
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Quote:Originally Posted by WMorse Buy some yen while it's still tanked! It's dirt cheap right now. Never too soon to start planning your trip.  |
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Quote:Originally Posted by scratchtasia I am a fan of Tower Records and buy vinyl on line from them regularly. I was wondering if their store and logo says Tower Records in English or is it all in Japanese? |
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| @BrianGreensnips When I've seen Tower Records in Japan, the signs were in English. Very easy to spot. I haven't been inside one for many years, though. @scratchtasia may have been in one far more recently than I have! |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Yes, their store and logo are in English. It's the same logo they used in the States. I have only been in one of their stores so far on this trip, and I was somewhat surprised there wasn't more vinyl. They are still primarily selling CDs, which have continued to have stronger sales here in Japan than elsewhere. However, I've seen a shift to more vinyl in other stores I've visited (HMV, Disk Union) compared to my last trip in 2018. Personally, I'm OK with more CDs because they're easier to lug back home. I often remove the jewel cases to lighten the load, unless they're unique in some way. And the used CD prices are often dirt cheap. I've yet to visit the massive seven-story Tower Records in Shibuya on this trip, but I'll probably get there before I head home. |
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