Fun and Funny Japan Facts

Let's Start with the Basics

You are going to get a slew of beautiful, but perhaps somewhat redundant, photos of Shrines, Temples and Castles so to break things up I thought I would intersperse the blogs with strange, fun or weird things we discovered.  First let's start with "you know what they say about assumptions...."
So, Michael and I arrived in Tokyo a few days before our tour group and thus we were on our own.  I had assumed that Japan, a member of the G7, fans of education and all things technological would have a large number of English  speakers.  You know, like Amsterdam or Oslo.  No. Not at all.  In fact they rank #37 in English speakers behind Vietnam, South Korea and China.  The lack of English speakers drove our guide to hand out little slips of paper which she sternly told us to keep on us at all times.  It said in Japanese and English:  "I am a lost person.  If you find me please call Hiro at (insert number)."  I really felt that dog collars with I.D. tags might be more efficient. Believe me there is so much weird stuff in Japan that no one would think it odd.  Restaurants were challenging.  Even when they had the plastic food on display and you could point to it or had Google translate the kanji menu many times you didn't know what "it" was.  Travel is for the adventurous and non-allergic.

The LOVE sculpture by American artist Robert Indiana in Tokyo. It is said if you can pass between the V and E letters without touching either one, your love will be returned in kind.

On Our Own Again

We like to travel on our own vs. with a tour but sometimes it's just too mind boggling.  In a country where the alphabet and spoken language are wildly divergent from English we can go four or five days before we start to freak.  So we did fine for the three days prior to joining the tour.  We'd booked ourselves into "The Knot"  whose name tells you most of what you need to know.  Hipster, minimalist, hi-tech.  Tokyo was hosting the International Rugby Championships so we found ourselves surrounded by absolutely gargantuan, muscled semi-barbarians who had chosen "The Knot" as well.  When the typhoon emerged (more on that later) one of the players confided to me: "Hell, I'll love playing in that typhoon.  I'm from Scotland."

Our "spacious" room at The Knot. If one of us wanted to pass, the other had to get on the bed.

Of course our room also came with a "spacious" bathroom. Even so we had the ubiquitous Toto toilet with all of the fancy controls. (More on this in a later blog.)

So, we did some interesting stuff the first few days.  We went to the Samurai Museum.  Learned the difference between Ninjas (thugs) and Samurais (noble).  Got a taste for the historical periods of the Samurai (immediately forgot them) and played with swords. Discussed seppuku (ritual disembowelment by knife) in far too much detail.  The guide explained that your "second" decapitates you so you don't "suffer".  Really?  Oh, and do you know the difference between seppuku and harakiri?  Seppuku is the formal, ritualistic suicide performed by Samurai while harakiri is the "vulgar, crass form of suicide" -- probably used by those thug Ninjas.

The museum had a large variety of ancient samurai armor. The helmets to protect the head were most impressive.

I am not sure how the samurai managed to support this helmet and keep his head upright.

The poor farmers who were conscripted had inferior protection and less ornate armor.

The Darth Vader of the 17th century.

The katana with a wakazashi - paired together these were referred to as daishō, which only the samurai could wear.

Well, that whet our appetite as you can imagine and so we headed off for this Michelin starred restaurant that Michael had heard about.  It was extremely difficult to find -- in part because we kept asking directions of people who spoke no English. Also the GPS was pulling its usual urban trick of telling you to reverse directions constantly.  FINALLY, we peered down into a basement and saw it!
We entered and discovered a tiny place with no windows where you sat with strangers who would not make eye contact (cultural I guess).  We had a choice of four options none of which we comprehended.  It was DELICIOUS.  What with the basement, the darkness, the strangers et al I"d had my doubts.  But here's the real kicker.  The total bill for our 2 meals and a beer was $26 USD. You usually can't have a glass of wine in those snooty Michelin restaurants for $26.  Score!

Having spent the morning amidst the noble Samurai, we decided to go slumming in the afternoon and visited the Kabukicho neighborhood of Shinjuku.  Well, actually we had been in this area the whole day -- we just didn't know it.  Our hotel was in Shinjuku but the NICE part.  Kabukicho is the Red Light District of Tokyo  and is filled with bars, brothels, love hotels, pachinko parlors and cigarette butts.  They really smoke a lot (more on that later).  Oh, and Godzilla (see photo).  Yep, that's where he lays his giant head.  It being mid-afternoon we did not feel threatened by our surroundings but it did have a feel to it that could be sinister at night.  The Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) own many of the bars and brothels.  But, once again, that Japanese flair for technology emerged -- we learned that you can order up your lady of the night on an i-Pad.  We wandered back to The Knot and succumbed to our persisting jet lag.

Godzilla does exist in Tokyo...

as does King Kong.

The entrance to one of the gaming parlors in the Kabukicho.

Are You Italian?

We spent the next morning strolling the Gardens of Goyen.  The Japanese are really into gardens and we saw a zillion over two weeks.  Here's all you need to know.  They are really picky about how the garden is laid out.  Artificiality is key which struck me as odd.  What they mean is you create a garden from a blank canvas.  Every plant, rock, water feature is where it is by design.  Water is totally central to any Japanese garden worth its name.  Changing vistas and  honoring the change of seasons are also key.  Bridges are important because from a bridge you can see multiple vistas.  Ditto slight rises and turns in the paths.  OK, that's enough.  Michael will be sprinkling  garden pictures throughout.

Even the trees in a Japanese garden are carefully landscaped.

If it weren't for the very large buildings surrounding the garden (the Tokyo Tower), you wouldn't know you were in the middle of such a large city...

with peace and tranquility all around.

Having marched miles in the Garden I was hankering for some Italian food.  Using the iPhone (God bless that device) we found an Italian restaurant a block away down a little alley.  The restaurant was a typical Tokyo one --- tiny, tiny, tiny.  Like 12 stools tiny.  When we walked in they looked shocked -- clearly very few gaijins (Western foreigners) frequented the place.  The owner said something to me which I interpreted as : "Do you want Italian?".  I shook my head vigorously yes.  We were seated and he began to speak Italian to me.  Oh-oh.  We went back and forth and finally determined we could each speak Spanish (somewhat).  Now we were total pals.  He had worked in Florence and Barcelona and he was one hell of a chef.  This was the first time Michael used Google Translate with the camera of the iPhone (God bless that device) to "read" the menu.  We broke the code!  However, with the Japanese food, even in translation it was often a crap shoot of what we actually were ordering.

The Japanese very cleverly created this ring to control the traffic signals at this multi-road intersection.

Time to Meet the Tour:

We spent the afternoon packing, checking out, checking in and once more unpacking at the tour hotel.
We had a Welcome Dinner at the hotel and met our traveling crew and guide.  Hiro is a man's name but our guide, Hiro, was a woman.  She just said her whole name was too hard for us to say -- it probably was.  The Welcome Dinner is always fascinating as a random group of strangers try to discretely size each other up.  Some tour groups are tiresome, some are terrific, some are galling, some are amusing. Luck of the draw.  This one was good. Praise Allah.

The Clothing Clash of Cultures 

Have you ever  passed a little Japanese kid on the street who's wearing plaid shorts, striped shirt, print beanie hat and clashing shoes?  Have you ever wondered what possessed the parent to outfit him/her that way?  Well, in closing for this blog, here is another cultural tidbit.  Hiro offered this up unsolicited after we walked past a seriously disturbing clothing combination.  According to Hiro there is an absolute schism between Eastern Japan (Tokyo) and Western Japan (Osaka).  In the East, people prefer monochromatic clothing combos or at least outfits that harmonize rather than scream.  However, in the West, the prevailing belief is that you should wear "clothes that make you happy".  Whatever makes you happy in whatever combination makes you happy.  Interestingly all the men in Japan (East and West) wear exactly the same outfit.  Black pants, white shirt, black shoes, black messenger bag, black jacket (optional).  It's like being at a waiter's convention. An occasional rogue outlier will sport a blue shirt. Also, Japan boasts some of the most horrific school uniforms (think Middy blouses) I have ever seen.  Our Catholic School garb looks like Chanel in comparison.  OK, next up will be touring Tokyo.