A Life Less Normal

I had one last event for the cherry blossom season planned so on Saturday night after work I headed back over Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba again. This would be the last time the blossoms were still out in force and I was looking forward to it. As fate would have it, the weather turned out to be quite cold so we had our party indoors. My friend whose house we were at, Emiko, has four wonderful young kids. The oldest I had met when I lived here before (but had grown a lot taller by now!), and the three younger ones who I had not met before. The kids don't speak any English, and my Japanese is nearly non-existent, so Emiko and another friend Teruyo had to translate a lot for me. They were great kids and we all had a great time as you can see.

After having been to and written about a few of the more traditional areas of Tokyo recently, I decided to head to the breeding ground of Japanese teen Pop Culture, Harajuku. This is a shopping district with a lot of big brands having shops here, but also a lot of smaller shops catering to the cosplay (costume play) crowd. Rain had set in for the day, so I grabbed my umbrella and set off.

I got off the train and before heading to the shopping area I went the other side of the train line toward the park where I took the cherry blossom photos recently, Yoyogi Park. Just before the park entrance, there is an entrance to Tokyo's most famous shrine, Meiji shrine. Whereas temples are the worshipping places for the Buddhist religion, shrines are the worshipping places for the Japanese Shinto religion. The entrance to the shrine is marked by a huge wooden gateway.

From here you find yourself in one of those contrast situations that I have spoken about. Just behind you is bustling Tokyo with it's crowds, traffic and bursting trains. Once you step beyond this gate, you are transferred into a different world with the only reminder of where you are is the faint sounds of the trains coming and going from the station. The deeper you go into the shrine grounds, even those noises disappear and you are left with peaceful tranquillity.

The grounds of the shrine are, quite simply, amazing. The shrine itself is quite young by Japanese standards, having been built in 1921. The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The emperor reigned from 1867 until his death in 1912. During this period, Japan underwent great change. The first national government was formed and Japan went through a period of industrialisation that allowed the country to become one of the world's great powers in a short period of time.

After walking through the outer grounds where all of the greenery is, you arrive at the shrine itself. The peacefulness that you experience walking through the grounds and around the shrine is so hard to put into words. I think the pictures do a better job than I can.

Reluctantly I walked back out the way I had come, and after walking back out through the front entrance, as tradition dictates, turned and bowed back in the direction of the shrine and made my way back into reality. The rain was continuing to fall, and the cloud cover was so low that some of the tall buildings were enveloped in the clouds.

I made my way to Takeshita street where some of the more interesting and quirky shops are. Due to the rain, at the start of the street, all I could see ahead of me was a sea of bobbing umbrellas!

This is the area that some famous fashion designers have been known to come to to draw inspiration form the fashion that the local teens wear here. Looking at some of the pictures here, you may wonder about that, but it is true!

You can find shops selling the most weird and wonderful fashion. Cute socks (and shark backpacks?), jackets, shoes, hats, all kinds of weird and wonderful shirts and tops, even spiderman has a shop here!

Walking down Takeshita street is absolutely a feast for the senses and any visit to Tokyo is not complete without visiting it.

Another reason I wanted to come to this area is that one of my housemates works at a hat shop here. A little walk from the above mentioned shopping street, it is located in an area that is home to all of the big fashion labels. The name of the shop is Harajuku Polka Dot (www.polcadot.com) and it is the hat shop of choice for Rock Music Royalty!! My housemate, Jinseul, was working one day when this foreign guy came in. Being that Jinseul is able to speak English well, she started chatting with him. She asked where he was from, the USA he answered. He then asked her if she knew the rock band, Van Halen. It was David Lee Roth!! Rock Music Royalty shopping for hats in her shop! I think he is married to a Japanese lady and lives in the neighbourhood. The funny thing is, he didn't come into the shop with bodyguards and personal helpers, he just rode up to the shop on his shopping bike like any normal person!

Here are a few photos of the shop.

Jinseul with the hat that David Lee Roth bought.

A nice shop that I will be going back to again. Thanks to Jinseul and Yuda-san for showing me around the shop.

Heading back towards Harajuku again in search for food, I stumbled upon this shop selling.......um.......Pandas and stuff..

I had the same expression on my face looking at him!!

I headed to a nearby Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) restaurant that I had heard was pretty good and also that they had an English menu too. The restaurant name is Sakua Tei () and is well and truly hidden in the little back alleys of Harajuku. I managed to find it and ordered the spicy yaki. At this restaurant you cook the food yourself. It is fun, and also, I guess, if you mess up the cooking, you can't blame the restaurant!

Luckily for me, it tasted good! The inside of the restaurant is pretty interesting, with murals covering the walls, including instructions on how to cook it.

Really nice restaurant with friendly staff.

I headed back out into the rain, my shoes now well and truly soaked through, and made my way back home after another enjoyable day off in Tokyo.

That's it for this week. See you again next week.

I know I took some photos of cherry blossoms last week, but this week they were better!! They were at their peak a few days ago, and I took the opportunity today to track some more down.

Before that, however, I went to an area in central Tokyo to grab a bite to eat. I was looking for a specific ramen (soup noodles) restaurant that I had read a review about on a blog, so armed with a photo of google maps on my phone I went in search of it. Unfortunately, being that I am in Japan, the map was also in Japanese which made the task of finding the restaurant that much more challenging. I arrived at a point where I knew I was in the right general area and stopped to look at another ramen restaurant. I knew it wasn't the one I was looking for but I stopped to have a look at their menu anyway. It was in Japanese but it also had pictures so I was able to see what it all looked like. As I was standing there, one of the staff came out and showed me a copy of their menu, in English and invited me in. I asked him what flavour soup they used (generally there are 4 main types, miso, salty, soy sauce and tonkotsu or pork bone soup). He told me they use the pork bone soup, which happens to be my favourite, so I went in and ordered "chashumen" which is soup noodles with pieces of roast pork, it also came with an egg, seaweed sheet, bean sprouts and spring onions. Sorry, but I didn't take a photo. I also ordered a serve of gyouza (dumplings). It came out and I got into it. Near the end, I was filling up real fast, and could barely finish it. I sat there sipping water and trying to let it all settle before I attempted to move. The shop door opens and this petite young Japanese lady comes in and orders her food. She ordered a large size, so I waited around for her food to come, just to see the size of it. I kid you not, her bowl was twice the size of mine!! I sat there with a bemused look on my face wondering where she was going to put it all!! She put on her paper apron/napkin to catch all of the soup splatters and got to work. I didn't wait around though as I am sure she would have finished it and put me to shame, so I sloshed my way out the door and headed back (slowly) to the train station.

Before getting on the train I stopped to take a couple of photos of the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing:

Depending on what time of the day it is, it can be a real adventure getting across. As you can see, all traffic stops and pedestrians cross from all directions. In the building on the left hand side of the photo, there is a Starbucks coffee shop and it is the busiest Starbucks in the world. No wonder with all of those people!

I made my way to nearby Yoyogi Park which used to be famous on a Sunday for young people to come dressed in gothic clothing, and all kinds of different cosplay outfits. It seems to have died off though, which is a shame as it was always so colourful and interesting. I remember my sister coming to visit one time when I lived here before. My sister had interesting coloured hair at the time, all natural mind you. Her hair was a rainbow of different streaks of grey, light brown and dark brown. We were at this park, and she was taking a photo of someone dressed in a cosplay outfit and I noticed someone was taking a photo of her. I swear, next time I went there on a Sunday, I saw a Japanese girl with similar coloured hair to my sister!! My sister had influenced Japanese Pop culture!!

But, I digress. I went to this park today as it is one of the more popular spots for viewing cherry blossoms and for having Hanami parties. I think I explained in my last post that Hanami parties are enjoyed by friends or co-workers. Much alcohol and food is consumed while enjoying the beauty that the cherry blossoms bring.

Being that it is around the peak time for cherry blossoms, there were quite a few parties in progress:

Parties were in full swing, and everyone was enjoying themselves. The cherry trees are simply amazing when the blossoms bloom, and in some cases look like they have a coating of snow on the, the blossoms are such a pure white colour.

Anywhere there are trees in Japan, you are bound to find huge black birds. I am sure they are Ravens because they are a whole lot bigger than crows, and I am sure they could fly away carrying a small child!

At the end of cherry blossom season, the ground looks like a whole lot of weddings have taken place as the petals from the cherry tree coat the ground like confetti:

I headed home after blossoming myself out and thought I had better go to the supermarket to get some groceries for dinner. One of my housemates, Dustin, is leaving this weekend and moving to Osaka to start a new job. He will be in Osaka for three months of training and then will move back to Tokyo. We decided to have nabe (hotpot) for dinner tonight as kind of a farewell dinner. One of the really interesting things about being here is the supermarkets. Very different to supermarkets back in Australia. Shopping can be one big adventure here, especially when you don't understand what you are buying!! My lack of Japanese has caught me out on a few occasions! I thought a pictorial tour of a supermarket might be interesting.

When you first walk through the door, you are greeted by the fruit and vegetable section which is not so different except for some of the prices:

That's a $5 apple there!

A little further along is where it starts getting interesting.

Umeboshi, or sour plums. These are as sour as lemons! I remember the owner of a local restaurant in the area I used to live in loved giving me a free bowl of these each time I went to his restaurant because he loved seeing the expression on my face as I tried to eat them! I had to eat them though, he was giving them to me without charge!

Near the umeboshi are a big selection of pickled vegetables.

Everything from cucumber to radish to eggplant and a whole heap that I don't know the names for!

Next to the pickles is the natto or fermented soy beans.

If you only ever take one thing away from reading my blog, please let it be this. If a Japanese person ever asks you if you want to try natto, be prepared for a culinary experience like no other. The word fermented should give a slight clue as to the experience you are about to enter into. Nearly all Japanese people eat natto for breakfast. They mix it with soy sauce, mustard, egg and have it on rice. Nearly all Japanese people will tell you, with a barely perceptible hint of a smile on their faces, that natto tastes great. I have only met two people here who have admitted that it tastes terrible, but they eat it because it is very healthy (which is true). So what does it taste like? Well, imagine wearing the same pair of socks for 30 consecutive days.......in summer. At the end of the 30 days, you hold up your sock and take a big sniff before eating it! That is what natto tastes like! We Australians take great pleasure out of watching someone from another country try Vegemite for the first time (I did it tonight actually with one of my housemates!). I am sure Japanese people have just as much fun watching someone from another country try natto for the first time! Don't get me wrong, it is a very healthy food, but as with most things that are good for you, it does have its drawbacks.

So, back to the supermarket tour. After the natto, we come to the kimchi. This is actually a Korean food that is popular in Japan also. It is basically spicy pickled vegetables of different varieties. Cabbage, cucumber, radish etc. The Japanese version is a little sweeter and milder than the Korean version which is much more spicy and has a stronger vinegar taste.

Kimchi is great to sit down and watch sport with while enjoying a beer. Further along, we come to the seafood section with a lot of different kinds of seafood, and also freshly prepared sushi.