My Japan Adventure18829
 I'll probably wake up constipated.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd Okinawa is noted for it's pine forests. After I left Taekwondo, I studied Shorin Ryu Kenshin Kan (along with Kobudo and other stuff) for roughly 14 1/2 years. SRKK = the pine forest style of unarmed combat. |
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| @Pre_Coder The southern end of Kyushu (north of Okinawa) has a very tropical climate, and even has some small rainforest/jungle regions. I think you'd have to pay me to get me to go there in the summertime. High humidity is not my favourite. Ugh. Did you study martial arts in Asia, or did you do that in the States? |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd I studied here in the states with the masters. The SRKK Masters were here training our Marines and Special Forces in unarmed martial arts. Exactly after 3 years, on off nights I trained with 2 of the head masters. It was pretty brutal. Bushi mentality,.. not Bushido. Also, they demanded that Brussels Sprouts become a major staple in my diet,... along with fish and white rice. Like pretty much everyday. LOL |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Pre_Coder That's pretty awesome. Brussels Sprouts is an interesting choice of cuisine, though. Not much Asian connection there, but they really are very good for you. You just have to be one of the people who can stomach them (I'm one of those - Brussels sprouts = yum)  |
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On December 27, we did some more exploration of Fussa as we walked over to my brother's apartment. First up was Nakabusa Park, just a small (but pretty) little city park with a couple of fountains.   From there we went to nearby Seiganin Temple, one of the nicer temples I've seen in person. A sign indicated that the temple was built between 1394 and 1428.        After leaving the temple, we meandered along (and partly through) Tamura Sake Brewery. They usually have guided tours available, but not in December or January, because that's when they are at their busiest making sake. Next we cut a path through another couple of city parks and found Chotokuji Waterworks Botanical Garden, which wasn't much to look at this time of year. It's also a fairly small patch of land. But I followed a trail uphill through the woods and found a tiny, hidden shrine.  And that about did it for that day, though I did also see my favorite anti-littering so far.  |
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| December 28 was my return trip to Akihabara, the electronics and nerd culture hub. I made a return visit to RECOfan and found a few more goodies. I also spent quite a while at the area's large BookOff store, mostly going through their CD section. For dinner, I decided I should experience one of those maid cafés at least once. Of the dozen or so in the immediate vicinity (maybe more), I chose the cat-themed one, Akiba Zettai Ryôiki, where a maid's "magic spell" turned me into a cat (with a cat-ear headband) and I was instructed to summon a maid for a service request by saying "meow meow." Spells were also cast over my food and drink, and the photo below shows my spaghetti dinner. It's all quite silly but fun, though a bit awkward to do alone. I didn't spring for a photograph with a maid--it might have been fun to have one, but I felt enough like a big dumb oaf without highlighting it by posing for a picture with a tiny young Japanese woman in a maid outfit. So my spaghetti is all you get.  Next I found the Mandarake Complex, an eight-floor store full of used manga, doujinshi (amateur manga), anime, and fan merchandise of all kinds. It's a really interesting place to browse, though I wish I could flip through some of the manga and doujinshi on the shelves (it's all sealed in plastic). On the other hand, a great amount of it is porny by western standards, so maybe they don't want people looking through it in the store. It just makes it hard for me to judge whether I might be interested in something--it's hard to go by covers alone. My final stop for the day was Studio Goodman, where I saw my final rock show of 2022. The band, called 1000s of Cats, were new to me, but their name had piqued my interest when I was looking through concert listings. Then I looked them up on Bandcamp and liked their sound--indie and edgy but catchy, sometimes reminding me of indie bands like Schwervon! and House of Large Sizes. They are based in Tokyo but their most recent album on Bandcamp was recorded in Minneapolis. I enjoyed their brief set quite a bit, but the other band, Mekare-Kare, was not for me (too screamy, not enough melody) and I left after three songs to get going on the trains.  The following day was a slower one with more family time, though I did hit the closest BookOff, here in Fussa. |
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Awesome! Seigan-in Temple looks very nice and has lovely grounds. It's a Zen sect temple, founded a couple hundred years after Zen was introduced to Japan in the 12th century. Zen Buddhism, with its emphasis on discipline, self-awareness, and knowledge of the emptiness ('mu') of existence, was very popular with the samurai class, so this may have been the temple where local samurai practiced Zen discipline Back in the Day.  |
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That may be the cutest spaghetti I've ever seen. I have yet to experience a maid cafe, but I'll confess that I'm curious. Maybe I'll see if my friend would be interested in checking it out in March. I fully agree that going on my lonesome would be a bit awkward.  Was the Mandarake you went to the big one in Nakano? I've been there a bunch of times and it's very impressive. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrd No, the Mandarake I visited was the "Mandarake Complex" in Akihabara. I have been to the one in Nakano once, on my trip in 2018. I've been hoping to go back to Nakano Broadway on this trip, but it may not happen. |
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| I've been to the Complex in Akihabara, too. It's very nice with lots of great stuff. I've just had better luck at the one in Nakano. I've usually been looking for OOP manga and stuff like that, not CDs and vinyl. | ||
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| My inability to read Japanese, or to look beyond the covers in the stores, has kept me from spending much time looking at manga and doujinshi. I'll look at some things for the sake of curiosity, but there's nothing I'm specifically looking to buy. I did buy some publications in Japanese at Comiket (that'll be my next post), because there I was able to browse through the pages of items on sale. I'll be relying on Google Translate and the visual component of comics to help me read those. I really wish I could read and speak Japanese. I've learned that I hate feeling illiterate when looking at a menu or a sign, or attempting to navigate an order screen. I know it's not too late to start learning, but it's hard to fit into everyday life when you won't be using it regularly. And I know from taking Spanish that my facility for other languages is not that great. Fortunately there is a lot more English here than there is Japanese at home. |
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| @scratchtasia I've studied several languages (Spanish, Italian, German), and as crazy as it sounds, I found Japanese to be the easiest one. It's part of the reason why I wound up focusing on Japan as opposed to a different country that had a language I struggled with too much. What I found easy was the regularity. My biggest issue with Spanish was always the rote memorization of all the irregular verbs and exceptions to every rule. Japanese has only two irregular verbs, and with the notable exception of anything involving numbers, it's a very regular language. It was actually easier for me to deal with the total lack of any relation between English and Japanese than it was to handle all the rule-breaking in Spanish. If you'd care to dabble in it enough to read things like signs or menus, I'd recommend downloading the Duolingo app for free. It's not perfect for learning a foreign language, but it's great for doing it in your spare time and going at your own speed. To start checking out the writing systems, go to the bit where you learn the kana first (kana are the Japanese phonetic symbols and not the Chinese kanji, which is more advanced). A lot of signs are written in hiragana (the kana used for native Japanese words), and any restaurant that doesn't serve exclusively Japanese or Chinese food will have its menu written in katakana (the kana used for foreign words adopted into Japanese, like the words for non-Japanese foods). After you sign up for Japanese, look for this squiggle あ which is the Japanese hiragana symbol for 'A'. Click/tap on that and you will start with learning kana. |
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| I spent December 30 and 31 at Comiket, one of the world's largest comic conventions, which has a focus on self-produced manga (doujinshi) but includes self-produced publications and merchandise of all kinds. I saw photo books, travelogues, craft items, poetry booklets, amateur computer games and software, episode guides for anime and TV shows, publications for railway enthusiasts, and zines of all kinds. Among my purchases were a comic from someone whose work seems to involve editorial cartooning and an issue of a magazine that celebrates Japan's mailboxes. I also found the cat section. There were also plenty of comics that we westerners would describe as porn. That was not on my list. For one thing, I'd prefer not to be detained at Customs. But its prominence highlights some cultural differences for sure. At its peak in 2019, pre-COVID, Comiket had 750,000 attendees! I can't imagine it. This time it was said to be limited to 90,000 per day, and that was busy enough. For comparison, peak attendance at the San Diego Comic-Con was 167,000 a few years ago. For as many attendees as they attract, Comiket is very well-organized and managed. Tickets were assigned in timed batches, and lines were managed efficiently, even though they snaked around the convention center (Tokyo Big Sight) in an almost comical way. I don't think I've ever been in such a long line, but I never felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I took one quick photo as I first entered one of the six massive halls on the second day. The crowd did thin out beyond this initial congestion, enough so that it wasn't so onerous to move around.  On my first day, I had little idea of what to expect and no game plan. I entered one of the halls and began methodically roaming the aisles. This is not the way to do things at Comiket. It will be impossible to see everything, so aimless browsing is very hit-or-miss and open to chance. I certainly found some things of interest, but within about two hours of my arrival, many of the vendors were starting to pack up already (either because they had sold out or they wanted to get going) and I felt like I missed a lot. I did miss a lot, having barely covered one-sixth of the collective floors. Before the day ended, I purchased the official Comiket catalog--not inexpensive, but I thought it would make a good souvenir. You can buy the catalog in advance and make notes on who or what you want to see, giving your day more focus. So in my hotel room between days 1 and 2, I browsed through the day 2 listings and took notes on which areas seemed most promising. (Of note: Most vendors do not have the same locations from day to day, and might in fact be set up only on one of the days.) Most of my haul from day 1 is shown below. I'll be giving Google Translate a workout, though I generally chose things that aren't excessively wordy. One guy eagerly showed me the English version of his publication, so I bought it. Otherwise, it was down to art style and subject matter. I'm generally attracted to things that don't look like typical professional manga and remind me more of things that might be published by indie publishers in North America.  And after I got the hang of it on day 1 and was more focused on day 2, I ended up with a bit more. I found one more English-language publication, Bakemono Bank, and bought the last copy the creator brought.  I also wound up with a fair bit of cat-related material on day 2. There was a lot more than this! I had to be really selective.  Most of my purchases were comics, but I did buy a couple of photographic publications and a couple of zines (there's the one about mail posts, and there's Nani, the English issue, which is about a car used in the Ultra-Seven TV series. I had a great time and would go again if I ever had the opportunity. It was a fun and fascinating way to spend my birthday and wrap up 2022. I ended day 2 with blisters on my blisters, though, and needed a few low-activity days with less walking to recuperate! Luckily for me, those days coincided with national holidays in Japan, and there was less available to do even if walking wasn't painful. |
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So awesome! Love the great haul, especially the kitty stuff  So glad you had a good time, especially on your B-day!!! |
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| I was nearly caught up posting about my trip, and then I dropped the ball again. My time in Japan is winding down now--I only have one full day left, and one partial day, before I have to go. For as long as this trip has been, there are still lots of things I didn't get to do. You can never do it all! I guess that means I'll have a head start on my list for next time. I hope it's not another five years before I get back here. My wallet will need some time to recover from this trip, though. Even with the favorable exchange rate, I've been spending a lot to do a lot. And I have plenty of comics, CDs, and souvenirs to stuff into my return bag. I sure hope it doesn't go over the weight limit. I do have a few things to post about, but I don't think I'll spend my few remaining hours working on that. I guess it will all be retrospective now. It's been an amazing trip. |
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 I have a problem with fattening women up.
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| https://www.zmescience.com/science/rock-face-museum-japan/ | ||
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| Japan has some really amazing museums, some of which are a bit unusual. There are museums for sumo wrestling, salt, parasites, tobacco, salmon, soil & plows, kokeshi dolls, cattle, kaleidoscopes, silk, insects (I've been to the insect museum - it's amazing), model railroads (I would love to see this), spinning tops, Tale of Genji, cup noodles, beer, carpentry tools, music boxes, sand, glass, footwear, poison gas, paper, gloves, soy sauce, sake, rosaries, coal, disease, manga, butterflies, fireflies, and erotica. Keep in mind this is not a comprehensive list by any stretch. | ||
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| WOOT!!! My next adventure is scheduled. I'll be back in Japan in April. I leave on the 5th and I'll be home on the 24th. A few things will be different from the December trip: I'll be flying in and out of Haneda (HND) Airport instead of Narita (NRT), and except for my last day I won't be by myself this time. I'll have my usual traveling companion with me. We'll have lots of awesomeness on the itinerary: A daytrip to Yoshino, a small mountain town known for its spectacular displays of cherry blossoms (we may be a little late for that, but we'll try anyway); a visit to Maruoka Castle, one of only TWELVE remaining original extant castles - it dates from the 16th century; an Azalea Festival at Nezu-jinja Shrine; the Buddha's B-day on the 8th  ; and a visit to a b**by temple!! |
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| Gratz!!! I look forward to living the adventures on round 2 with you. Assuming you do a journal again. |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte That's the plan! I already have a preliminary OK from my friend, so I should be back to posting some info and pics every day. We'll be on the look-out for Spring flowers this time around, so expect gardens and prettiness. |
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| Plans are solidifying for the April trip, and I will be posting photos and a travelogue while I'm there. I have a few places we'll be going nailed down now, too. Chûson-ji Temple is a large temple complex wa-a-a-ay out in Iwate prefecture in northern Japan, over 50 miles north of Sendai. For this one I'll be on my own because I won't meet up with my friend until the next day. This temple is famous for its stunning Amida-dô Hall covered in its entirety in gold leaf and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Yoshino is a mountain community that has a number of temples and shrines that were founded by En-no-Gyôja, founder of Shugendô, a syncretic faith, incorporating both Buddhism and Shintô mountain worship. Practitioners of Shugendô are mountain ascetics who gain spiritual power through intense training and hardship. Ever seen naked men meditating while seated or standing under a waterfall? They are usually Shugenja, practitioners of Shugendô. Maruoka-jô Castle is one of only twelve remaining extant Japanese castles. During the height of castle building in Japan, it is estimated that there were around 20,000 ~ 40,000 castles. Maruoka-jô dates from 1576, and is one of the extant castles I haven't seen yet (I've seen nine of the twelve so far). Maruoka-jô is known for having some particularly harrowing Stairs of Doom which I will be climbing.   Jison-in Temple is a b**by temple in Wakayama prefecture. It's a bit of a chore to get to, but we need to deal with it because it's on a pilgrimage that my friend and I are trying to complete. I will need to know whether or not I can post certain photos of the temple.  I won't be seeing actual bare bosoms there, but there will be ema (votive tablets) with representations of bosoms on them. Lots of ema. Lots and lots and lots. |
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| More information on my upcoming April trip! I said I would be visiting Chūson-ji temple in my previous post, but sadly that is no longer the case. I thought I would be staying in Tōkyō for one night after my flight lands, but instead I'll be booking on down to Ōsaka that day. It'll make for a very long and tedious day with about 4~5 hours of train following the 12 hour flight  , but I'll cope.In return for missing out on Chūson-ji, I will be getting a CAT SHRINE  . I will also be finishing up a pilgrimage on this trip: Tōkyō 10 Shrines. I have 3 stops remaining and we have all of them on the itinerary. I'll see about posting some information on the 7 I have already so that y'all have some context. We will be visiting a number of Flower  Temples, too. Flower Temples (hana-no-tera/花の寺) are temples with particularly noteworthy displays of seasonal flowers. Hopefully we'll have things timed right and I'll be posting lots of pretty photos. |
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| @Byrdibyrd, you are so lucky to go back so soon! I'm excited for you. I want to go to a cat shrine. I'm sure that springtime will yield some gorgeous photos. I never finished posting about my trip. I was afraid that would happen. Between an overload of work, a hard drive failure, and a serious bout with post-vacation depression and exhaustion, I haven't been able to find the time and inspiration to post. Maybe I can aim to get back to it and finish up before your next trip starts. As time goes on, I lose the details, but I have photos and notes to work from. |
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| Wow. A cat shrine? I've always wanted one, but could never shoulder the responsibility. Gratz on shat should be an awesome place to visit. | ||
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| @scratchtasia @Bronte Thanks! I'm hoping for pretty places and lots of nifty history. The cat shrine was a surprise addition to the itinerary. I just happened to find it when looking at shrines/temples near a park we'll be visiting that's known for spring flowers. It's just a sub-shrine that doesn't appear to have a goshuin, but it does have a nice cat ema, and I'll get one of those for sure. Quote: Originally Posted by scratchtasia Don't sweat that. Just do it when and if the spirit moves you. I was being especially diligent because I'm gearing up to have my travelogues be a regular side-hustle. I'd love to see how the rest of your trip went, but if it's a hassle, then don't worry about it. One more special addition to my trip might be a clip-on camera. Y'all might get to see a very special video: me negotiating the Stairs of Doom at Maruoka Castle from my POV! |
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| Things I'm looking forward to on my next trip: More fun Kit-Kat!! Here's purple sweet potato & rum raisin  |
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| I gotta admit, I am not that adventurous with food. But how bad can chocolate be though? | ||
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Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte These are both good. So are a lot of the fruity ones like passionfruit, strawberry, or melon. Some flavours are regional, like wasabi in Tokyo, or green tea in Uji & Kyoto that are both famous for green tea, or apple in Nagano, which is well-known for its apple orchards. I've also had chili pepper, royal milk tea, cafe au lait, banana, chestnut, corn, miso, creme brulee, cherry blossom, and ginger ale. |
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| Wow. I had no idea there was so many variations. Are we going to have to worry about you coming home to USA after another visit? LOL |
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Quote:Originally Posted by Bronte People have asked if I want to just go live there, but it's not all green tea and yummy Kit-Kat. There are certain things that I wind up missing while I'm there, and I'm relieved to have when I get back home. One would be sidewalks, oddly enough. There are sidewalks in urbanised areas, but aside from that, you'd be amazed at how often you encounter busy streets with pedestrian traffic, but no sidewalks. It gets a little unnerving at times. Another would be - drum roll, please - two-ply toilet paper. Seriously. If I could go through life and never have confetti up my backside again, that would be awesome. No such luck for me, though, because I go to Japan, land of the confetti-bum. Then there's the weather over there. OMG, the heat & humidity in the summer. I can definitely do without that. |
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