Local Family Festivals and Food

So a quick correction. Going back through the photos dates, apparently the student demos were this weekend on the 10th, not on the 3rd like I thought. Anyways....

On 10/11 I was invited to the house of one of my JTE (Japanese English Teacher, the people I assist in class) for a local festival. In rural parts of Japan towns will have yearly festivals, usually in spring or the fall, which encourages families to get together and celebrate local traditions. My JTE, Fujiwara-sensei, invited me to her family get-together to give me an opportunity to experience a uniquely japanese cultural event. We went with her husband to her families house, buried in the rural mountains south of Tottori City. There we met her mother and her grandmother, as well as her brother, sister-in-law, and her three nieces. Everyone apart from Fujiwara-sensei live in the family house, which is rather common in Japan with the exception of the big cities. Generally speaking the eldest son is charged with caring for their parents, so they will often live with their parents their whole lives and support them financially after they retire.

With this large gathering, there was an equally large feast prepared. What you see here is pretty much the equivalent of a thanksgiving meal in Japan. And yes, it was all delicious. A few other extended family members came to the house, and together we stuffed our faces for over an hour, yet it seemed we hardly made a dent in the smorgasbord of food.

After lunch we waiting for a dragon dance to come to our door. The tradition of this town's festival entailed a dragon going from house to house and dancing for the families. The dragon's bite children as well for good luck, but my JTE's nieces were scared of it, so they ran and hid during the performance. I myself did get bit, so hopefully good fortune will keep coming my way.

Props to the performers by the way, they had been performing since dawn (it was the early afternoon by the time they reached my JTE's house). And after each  performance, the households offer them alcohol and food. So not only were these people voluntarily dancing and playing music for hours, they were doing so drunk and stuffed.  

After the performance we went to the local park/shrine right across from the house, where little kids were sumo wrestling for prizes and neighbors were chatting.

I am really glad I was able take part in this cultural activity. It is definitely not something I could have experienced as a tourist traversing the country on my own. Experiences like this were only available to me thanks to the JET programme.  I am glad I opted to work in Japan, not just make a quick visit.

But my weekend was not over! Monday was a national holiday, so I met up with Tim and Maria in Yonago. 

We spent the morning playing around with Tim's camera, an then that afternoon we headed up Mt. Daisen for Burger Festa. As the name implies, it was a huge gathering of burger restaurants from around the area serving their own unique burgers for the crowds to try and vote on. Serving small burger halves, I was able to try a few different creative culinary concoctions. It was tough to say which was my favorite, since they were all quite unique.

Club Activities and Dinner with the Professors

The weekend after Silver Week, 10/3-4, I stayed in Tottori. First I went and checked out a local showcase from the various cultural (non-sport) clubs.  Japanese students take their club activities very seriously, and it is much more like a part time job outside of school. Every club meets most every day throughout the whole school year, which is year round, there is no long summer break.  That means these cultural clubs become quite talented. Students from my school built a large bell instrument, which can be played with a MIDI keyboard, or programmed with software to play music. There was also various art put up by students throughout the hall. While I was there another school club was about to begin their shodo, calligraphy painting, demonstration. Shodo is rather impressive, because it is coordinated with music and done on massive canvases. It was fun to see. 

On my way back to my apartment I snapped this nice picture of the sunset.

That evening the Japan Association for Language Teaching was putting on a seminar at the college very close to my school. The local chapter brought guest lecturers from Hiroshima. These college professors presented a variety of teaching styles and information, but most of it seemed geared towards higher level learners. 

None the less it was a valuable experience, and afterwards they invited me to join them for dinner. I gladly accepted, not realizing I was the only non-lecturer attending. So I spent the evening with these various teachers learning about their lives and experiences. They had incredibly interesting and colorful histories. Many of them have been in Japan for over 20 years now, but started in a similar position to me. One teacher took 7 years after university to travel the world, and decided to teach in Asia for just a little while, yet ended up settling down in the country permanently. Another had an amazingly varied background. At one point he was telling me about how he bought a motorcycle and rode for four months around the US, with no prior riding experience. Meeting them reassured me of my decision to travel abroad and follow my interests, since such flippant people have ended up in good careers leading happy lives.

Silver Week Adventures Grand Finale: Nagoya and an afternoon in Osaka

Instead of heading back straight to Tottori, I made a stop in the next major city of Nagoya for a quick power tourist trip. Even though I was feeling a bit under the weather, I didn't let that stop me from enjoying my vacation. I started my day at the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology, which features the Toyota company's history, which started in the textile production industry. Toyota built much of it's initial reputation and wealth on textiles prior to becoming a car company. It was while the company head, Kiichiro Toyoda, was traveling abroad to learn more about the textile industry that he saw the potential for automobile manufacturing. The museum featured a variety of looms Toyota invented and used, which were quite impressive to watch in person. Even the oldest machines were impressive, but the modern textile machines (which Toyota still makes) are unfathomably efficient. 

The latter half of the museum featured the first car manufacturing efforts done by Toyota. It was awe inspiring to see the humble beginnings of the company displayed next to a massive room featuring their cars and modern manufacturing methods. 

Why didn't you get the GPS option back in 1991 Dad?

Apparently the Lexus my dad has was the first Lexus to be made and come to America, and in Japan is was the Celstor and a high end, and very notable, Toyota model. 

Afterwards I went over to Nagoya castle to see the rather impressive fortress. Since this castle is a recreation, they built the inside to accommodate tourists and featured museum like exhibits. The castle still boasts an impressive view of the surrounding city. Other parts of the castle are currently being restored, so I got a brief tour of that section as well. On the grounds themselves I found some nice landscaping and a tranquil open park where I took a quick break to appreciate the scenery. 

Following that I went towards the science museum, which features the largest planetarium in the world. But since it was silver week tickets were sold out.  So I instead went and killed some time at a themed cafe, which is a niche attraction Japan is known for. The one I found was an Alice in Wonderland

themed cafe, with the ceiling shaped like the underside of a table and large chairs creating alcoves for tables guests actually use. The waitresses dress as Alice, while the main hostess was dressed as the queen of hearts. The food all carried themes as well. It is a novel experience, and I am glad I found the time to visit one before calling it a day.

My last day of silver week was spent in Osaka. I met up with a Japanese friend named Erika who I met during the JET welcome party in Tottori. She took me to a delicious Mexican restaurant, which is a rarity in Japan. Afterwards we went to Dotonburi a shopping district with a famous section of town featuring giant billboards which light up at night. The most famous is the Glico Running Man, where crowds of tourists (us included) pose in the same fashion for cheesy photos.  We window-shopped a bit before ending our day at the Max Brenner chocolate bar, a famous international company selling premium chocolate. I had an incredibly rich white chocolate strawberry smoothie, a sweet way to end my week of adventuring.

The Tokyo Megalopolis Parts III & IV: Skytree, Harujuku, and Fuji Q

The next morning I ventured out to Tokyo Skytree, the highest building in Tokyo where you can view the whole cityscape from a 360 degree platform. The view was striking to see such massive urban sprawl dominating the landscape. I am amazed the city is as easy to navigate as it is with how chaotic it looks like from above. After taking in the view and fighting through the crowd to leave, I decided to get serious about fall shopping. 

Heading back into the heart of Tokyo, I decided to get some much needed fall and winter shopping done in Harujuku, Tokyo's main fashion district. Center stage Takeshita Dori, an outdoor street/mall of sorts which featured tons of boutique shops. This is where you can find some of your more obscure fashion choices, and where I found some sweet sweatpants, a sweater shaped like a sport coat, and much needed raincoat.  I also came across the rock star" style store Jimsinn which had their walls and ceiling covered with band signatures from the decades they have been open, including Metallica, Cheap Trick, Anthrax, and more. Outside of this street the major retailers have lined the streets and malls with their biggest stores. Lining the side streets even more boutique stores dot the landscape. It was wandering through these streets I managed to find a great faux leather fall coat at the upscale shop Tornado Mart, which was the highlight of my shopping excursions. Continuing to wander I ended up in a really quite upscale mall. A quick anecdote, here I found sneakers (think converse low top style) which were roughly $600 USD, because they were made out of fish scales, which apparently makes them durable and waterproof, which they better be for that much. So while the shopping was outside of my budget, the free dance show inside the mall kept the detour from being a waste. 

Protesters of Japan's recent re-institution of a military
marching in the street.

I continued hopping to different shopping places, which including Roppongi where I ate dinner. This section of town was recently renovated into large skyscrapers with a multi level plaza connecting the buildings. Within this plaza were bars, restaurants, shopping, and pretty much anything else you could need or want in urban living. It was bizarre to think this complex featured so much that a person could feasibly live only in that city block and meet all of their living and entertainment needs.

I ended my day in Shimokitazawa, the hipster part of Toyko full of second hand and retro clothing shops. The secondhand shops are a totally different experience from department stores, with items strewn about everywhere and the tiny shops being stuffed to the brim with clothing. 

Wandering throughout so many districts in Tokyo in a single day, I experienced firsthand how segmented the city is, with each area specializing in a particular commodity or lifestyle. I really appreciate this aspect of the city, it gives the whole city a sense of synergy and promotes more colorful character driven environments. 

My last day in Toyko was one I had high hopes for, but did not execute well. I set off in the early morning to Fuji Q Highland, an amusement park with some of the best roller coasters in the world. Because of silver week the lines were insane, with 3 hour queues at opening. I hopped in a line for an epic roller coaster holding Guinness world records, only to have it shut down due to rain 2 hours into the wait.


But I still got to check out the Evangelion exhibit. It featured mainly life-size Eva sets that you can take photos with. There was even one set with a projection overlay which has a short skit that is pretty cool!  It also displayed artwork, promotional material, and production information about the show. I'm sure all of this might seem like silly non-sense to many people, but to fans of the show all of this is a real treat.

Thankfully Fugi Q realizes how long their lines are, so you only pay per ride, so I at least didn't waste much money that day.

I headed to Ikebukuro (Durarara fans yes it's the same place) to wait for my night bus. To kill time I headed to the Pokemon Center in the area, a cool merchandise store. Afterwards I was still a bit bored, so I headed to a game center (arcade) and met some cool locals who joined me in some matches on arcade machines. I hope to catch back up with them in the future.

The Tokyo Megalopolis Parts I & II: Silver Week Friendship Festival, Akihabara, Ramen Museum, and Odaiba

There were just a few people there...

Sunday night, September 20th, after TGS ended I trekked all the way across Tokyo to the Yokota Air Base for the Friendship Festival. This is one of the only times during the year they open the base to non-military personnel. My school's librarian mentioned she would be attending, and invited me to go and meet her family there. The festival was massive, taking place on one of the runways on the base. There were food stands run by soldiers serving American style eats like popcorn and burgers. The festival even had a stage for bands, and I made it just in time to catch a Japanese Metallica cover band. They were awesome!

After snacking on some great food I managed to meet my school's librarian and her family, who's two children are roughly my age. Together we set up camp and watched a firework show which ended the festival.

The next day I went with my fellow ALTs from TGS to the electric-town of Akihabara. After stopping for lunch at an English pub, we began to explore the city.  For those who don't know, this section of town serves as the main computer, video game, anime, and toy retail district.  Such places included a 6 story store devoted solely to action figures, multiple 10 story retailers of anime, CDs, and games, and various computer part shops with wires blanketing the walls.  I managed to find a cool keychain from my favorite show, a concert CD, and a glorious art book from a very popular smartphone game with illustrations by one of my favorite character designers.  I ended my day stopping at a small restaurant which a really flavorful dish.

First on my agenda for Tuesday was to head to the neighboring city of Yokohama to get lunch at the Ramen Museum, a food theme park. Built underground and designed to look like an old Japanese town, the museum was vaguely reminiscent of Casa Bonita. Yet unlike Casa Bonita, this place was ALL about the food. The Ramen Restaurant features 9 ramen shops from all over Japan and the world (there were Italian and German shops too) each cooking their specialty dish. On some days it is possible to order small bowls and sample a few of the restaurants, but since it was Silver Week, the museum was already packed. I queued up in line for 45 minutes to try Akayukaramiso Ramen. I picked it's broth had everything: seafood, pork, and chicken bone (most ramen only uses one).  As you would imagine, it was delicious! On my way back I noticed the wait times were now encroaching 2 hours long, so I am glad I went at the opening.

I ventured back to Tokyo, where I set out towards the man-made island of Odaiba. On the way I passed The Really BIG Clock, an art structure designed by Miyazaki attached to the Nippon Television Tower. As luck would have it, the next chime was just about to start. I joined the crowd of onlookers and watched an entertaining animatronics performance.

Continuing forward I stopped by the Advertising Museum of Tokyo. This small museum hosted the history of Japanese advertising, starting with historical paintings, to modern day products and television ads. It was interesting to see the stylistic differences and similarities between Japanese and US promotional materials.

After that fun and informative detour, I was back on the path to Odaiba. To reach the island I took a tram across the Rainbow Bridge, which gave a great view of the Tokyo skyline and bay.

Arriving at the island  I went to check out its main attractions, two massive malls, DiverCity and Palette Town. In front of Diver City stands a life size, to scale, Gundam. To my surprise this massive statue also had an animatronic performance I was lucky enough to witness. Afterwards I headed into the mall and wandered a bit, ending at the Gundam store, which featured tons of Gunpla builds and also had an interactive exhibit.

Leaving Diver City, I went to Palette Town. As I entered from the skybridge entrance I was surprised to walk into a collectors car exhibit, which is apparently just a part of the mall. They had some really neat stuff, including a DeLorean and some beefy muscle cars. 



 Another wing of the mall, called Venus Fort, modeled its interior the same way Caesar's Palace did, with Italian inspired building storefronts. I grabbed dinner here at an Italian restaurant to fit the theme.

A sport tuned Prius, must have been
made for Al Gore's son.

As I continued my task of looking for fall clothes I eventually stumbled onto the Toyota MegaWeb, a showcase of some of their more innovative and current technology, as well as a test track (that you unfortunately have to reserve in advance). Nonetheless it was a really cool place to check out. I continued to wander and found a large arcade, but at that point it was getting late, so I played a round of Time Crisis and called it a night.