Traveling to Tokyo and Tokyo Game Show! Silver Week Adventures: Part I

This year was a rare occurrence in Japan. 3 different national holidays aligned together to create what Japan calls "Silver Week" (Wikipedia does a good job explaining what it is). This, combined with some mandatory holiday hours I needed to take for working over the past weekend gave me a ridiculous 9 days off of work from 9/19-9/27. In an even more perfect storm, this also happened to be the weekend of Tokyo Game Show. So I planned a route through Japan's 3 big metropolises and set out Friday night. 

The most efficient way for me to traverse all the way to Tokyo was by taking the shinkansen, or bullet train. It's fast. While expensive, it gets you where you need to go, and I'm glad to have experienced it. I did find it humorous that to keep up with the idea of speed, even when the train stops, the boarding window is extremely small, less than a minute I would say. 

That morning I headed out to the Tokyo Convention Center for Tokyo Game Show (TGS). It was quite a scene. Hundreds of thousands of people had convened for the event, where companies showed off their newest video games and gaming technology. 


Different companies had massive stages constructed where they debuted new products, had concerts, and live demonstrations. There was so much to do, but unfortunately I learned too late that many of these things required people to queue up for up to 3 hours before even getting the chance to try a game or see a performance. Due to the sheer amount of people and things to do, the best strategy was apparently to look at the schedule days ahead of time, pick the 1 thing you really, really wanted to do, and go at opening and line up for that particular thing. 


Yet since I did not do that, I was able to explore a variety of stages at the show, stumble upon some cool performances, and watch other people demo games instead. Notable highlights were seeing the gameplay reveal of a newly announced RPG I hope comes stateside, The Last Guardian gameplay demo and life sized griffin, as well as a piano performance from the composer for the game Gravity Rush.

On the evening between the first and second days of the show I passed a street performer named TJ Ken rocking out. This is the second time since coming to Japan I have seen an amazingly talented street musician, so just like last time, I bought his CD. Here's a video of why I was compelled to support him.

I asked one of the locals listening to TJ Ken where to go to eat, and on his recommendation  I met up with a few other ALTs and grabbed a good dinner at an Italian restaurant in the area. Isaak, Jefferey, and Chiara were also at the show and stayed in Tokyo, we went on a few different adventures throughout the week.

Day two was another day spent wandering around the show and taking in the scenes. For friends who cosplay, apparently that is quite a different scene out here. Cosplayers have odd cult celebrity statuses, and spend pretty much the whole day modeling for the flocks of photographers who seem to come to the show just to take pictures of them.  This photo sums it up pretty well.


I was also surprised at how little merchandise was in the merchandise area, and that much of the cool swag had sold out halfway through the FIRST day. But I am coming to realize in Japan limited quality is not viewed quite the same way. They are rather obsessed with "limited" items (ex: McDonald's has a new item each month). So rather than a supplier looking bad for not stocking enough of a given item, it is seen as something more valuable, and if you didn't get what you wanted, it's on you since you should have made it a higher priority. So I did not get a sweet TGS hat like I wanted, but I did get a pretty cool banner type of thing as a memento, and the plus side was I had more money to spend later in the week.

Overall I am glad I got to experience TGS, and if I get the chance to go again I now know the strategy of how best to experience the show.

Shrine Reopening Ceremony

 

Last month  on Sunday the 9th, Samantha, one of the ALTs in Tottori, posted an invitation to attend a very rare ceremony in the town of Kawahara where she teaches. This ceremony was held at a small, old shrine which had just had necessary structural renovations done. In order to do the renovations, the diety had to be temporarily moved, and thsi ceremony was to welcome the diety back to its shrine. So standing in front of this shrine in the rain, the crowd and local news crew watched as ancient cultural traditions were performed for the first time in decades.  From my understanding, performances were something that no one in the audience had the chance to witness before, and portions of the performances used to be reserved only for royalty. I've compiled clips here to show you what we saw.

Quick Trip to Yonago

My friend Tim, another ALT, makes a habit to go to new restaurants every Friday in the other big city in my prefecture, Yonago.   Tottori sits on the eastern side of the prefecture, and Yonago sits on the western side. So after work on Friday September 11th, I caught a train out to meet him and a couple other ALTs to grab some food at an all you can eat restaurant. Much like an american buffet, this Japanese restaurant had a variety of stereotypical regionally popular foods. In this case that meant instead of pizza and hamburgers, it was sushi, curry, omelette rice, and other usual Japanese dishes. The food was good and the massive quantity was much appreciated! 

I decided to stay in Yonago for the next day to check out the local sites. Tim and I ventured over to the Yonago castle ruins, which provide a spectacular view of the city, the famous Mt. Daisen, and the man made peninsula city of Sakaiminato. 

After sightseeing we headed to a delicious cafe on another ALT's recommendation. Land and Years was a pretty stellar restaurant, with a cool atmosphere and delicious food. Tim wrote a review about the restaurant here. What I thought was particularly fun about the restaurant was it's location. It was styled very much like a loft above a store in a shopping strip, with a skylight added in the middle with couches and tables to lounge around in. If I lived in the area I could see this being a fun place to hang out and relax during an afternoon.

That evening before I caught my train back to Tottori, we met up with Maria, another ALT and went on another culinary adventure. This time we went to an Indian restaurant by the station.  Apparently there is a notable Indian population in Japan, so the Indian restaurants are run by Indians who prepare rather authentic meals. Much like every other meal in Japan, it was delicious and a great way to end my weekend excursion across the prefecture. 

The Mighty Mt. Mitoku Weekend Getaway

I kept with the adventurous spirit and once again found myself in mountain town of Misasa the following weekend of September 5th. This time I was here thanks to an invite from the Misasa International Exchange, who every year puts on a weekend long event at the famously dangerous Mt. Mitoku. 

Mt. Mitoku is a notable hike not only due to its treacherous nature, but also its spiritual one. The hike is a pilgrimage in both the Shinto and Buddhist faiths, where the climb purifies your senses and your mind. Part of that process is wearing a sash as you climb up, which you will see in the photos.

Yep that's the 'trail'

This hike was one of the most enjoyable ones I have ever taken. It was truly challenging, with incredibly steep gradients, sections where tree routes are used as ladder rungs, rocky ridges traversed with drops on either side, and boulders you ascend using a chain. I opted to make the journey in the monk's rice straw sandals, called waraji. This was the best decision I could have made. The grip was inexplicably solid, and the freedom to move my toes around gave me great maneuverability throughout the rocky incline.

On the way up we passed two shrines with fantastic vistas of the valley below, as well as a massive bell, which when rung grants the ringer an extra 5 years of life. Considering one of the International Exchange members has made this summit 50 times and moved more gracefully than many of the other JETs, I believe it.

+5 Life

But really, I cannot fathom how they managed to build these structures, let along get that bell, up this path people struggle to climb empty handed.

Near the end of the hike we wandered through a dark passage behind a shrine nestled into a alcove, where we then rounded the corner to see a massive cliff face with another shrine wedged into the middle of it.

This shrine, Nageiredo, according to legend, was constructed at the base of Mt. Mitoku and thrown into its current place by the monk upon completion. The name literally means thrown (nage) put into (ire) shrine (do). Honestly, I find that story easier to believe than it being built in its current location. The shrine hosts the Kongo Zao Gongen, a Shinto & Buddhist deity revered for quelling earthquakes stomping the ground to frighten earthquake-causing spirits. So yes, much everything about Mt. Mitoku is over-the-top.

After the equally fun descent down the mountain, we stopped at the museum at the base, which houses the statues of the temples on the mountain. We also stopped at this small statue. When you pour water on it, a tranquil series of bells underground begins to ring all around you. Thankfully my phone was able to capture the sound.

Afterwards we all headed to Misasa's onsen. This marked round 2 on my Misasa onsen punch card, just one more visit and I will be cured of all diseases (see previous blog).

Afterwards we returned to Mt. Mitoku's base temple, which also doubles as a ryokan where we were invited to eat a traditional, vegetarian, monk meal. We learned the logic behind the vegetarian meals, called shoujin ryouri, as well as the phrases "itadakimasu" and "gochisousama deshita" which are said at the beginning and end of every meal. Monks eat a vegetarian diet out of respect for life, so when they eat they try to consume as little life as possible, and by the same logic they consider plant life to have less life than animal life. The habitual before and after meal phrases actually stem from long Buddhist prayers that used to be said before and after meals, and over time were shorted just to the most important words.

Shortly afterward the International Exchange club broke out games and drinks and desserts, and we all spent the evening having fun and staying up late.

The next morning we all arose bright and early at 6am to participate in the monk's Zanzen meditation. The unique trait of Zanzen mediation is it involves being hit on the back with a paddle to help keep blood circulating to your legs throughout the meditation. Oddly enough it does work quite well, and increases endurance in that static position by quite a bit.

This was one fantastic trip! So much so that I plan on making the pilgrimage again sometime soon.

PS. Thank you Tim Lum for the fun candid and not so candid shots you take during our trips! Here's his blog: http://onwardtoadventures.com/

PPS. Apparently sometime later our journey made the newspaper. Not sure why exactly, but this tends to happen when lots of foreigners get together to do something in rural areas.

V's Hole and Misasa Onsen

I guess I wanted more outdoors activities, because the weekend after going to Yabu, I joined a bunch of other JETs to go to Misasa, a mountain town in Tottori prefecture to go to a swimming hole. Called by JETs as V's Hole,  after a JET named Virginie, the area is along a river in the mountains near the town. Not only were there two great swimming holes right in a line, there were some great boulders to play on, and I found you could even slide down the waterfall into the swimming hole!

We were a bit late in the season to come to this spot, because the water is classic mountain water, so it is quite chilly. But nonetheless I had a blast! Afterwards we went to an onsen in Misasa to freshen up. Misasa is one of Japan's many onsen towns, which are towns that popped up because they are near hot springs. Misasa's hot springs water is known for having notable levels of radon, which they claim has health benefits, particularly for the immune system. There is a saying if you bathe in Misasa 3 times you will be cured of any illness. To back the mystical claims, Misasa's population has half the cancer rate of the rest of Japan, so there is probably something to radiated water.

Afterwards we also went and got some good ramen. I ordered the veggie ramen, which is classic Japanese fashion, was cooked in pork broth and had a healthy serving of pork to accompany the vegetables. It was a good way to spend the weekend! I hope to go back when the mushi-atsui (muggy) summer starts.

Yabu Weekend Adventure

This post has been a long time coming.  Most of the photos were taken by the tour organizers and graciously mailed to me afterward. As with the last blog I will just be posting highlight photos in the blog, and the whole album at the top here.



Last month on August 22nd and 23rd I ventured out to Hyogo prefecture to the mountain town of Yabu. The city's tourism department had decided to organize a weekend trip bundle, and reached out to JETs to be the guests on the trial run. And what a great trip it was.

The trip itinerary for the weekend.

We started the day by going canyoning. I am surprised I have never heard of it. To go canyoning, you don a wetsuit and hike, climb, slide, and swim down a river. We even got to jump off a few waterfalls during the trek. It was an absolute blast! Definitely near the top of my favorite outdoor activities now.

After canyoning we stopped for a quick and delicious lunch of hamburger steak. Much like how we Americanize food from Italy and China, Japan changes American food quite a bit themselves. Hamburger steak is a very common meal at diner style restaurants, and it is good. They just get rid of all the fluff food like lettuce and bread, leaving just delicious, juicy meat!

After lunch we continued out outdoor excursions to a notable hike to see the Tendaki waterfalls.  There are 7 waterfalls, which increase in majesty as you work your way up. The last waterfall was truly a sight to behold at 98 meters high.

Afterwards we checked into the lodge where we were staying for the evening, where I captured this great shot of Yabu.

That evening we went down to a nearby river where we were able to (try) to catch river fish with our hands. Even with it being an organized event in small blocked sections of the river, the fish were quite difficult to catch. I caught one and quit while I was ahead. It was a fun experience, and now I know why we invented fishing rods.






Afterwards we ate a Japanese style BBQ, which is a lot of fun! It's very much akin to eating fondue but with a small grill instead of a pot. Everyone sits around grilling veggies, meat, and the fish we caught while chatting.  Our tour guides spared no expense either, and broke out some stellar high grade beef to cook! I believe it was Tajima beef, which is the best brand in Japan. Kobe beef descends from Tajima. Look at that marbling! Absolutely delicious.






That evening we went up to a ski resort for stargazing.  As we rode the lifts up I saw they have the plastic grid used to ski during the summer. The grids lead to ramps which launch people into pools! I will have to make my way back to try this out next summer.   After we got off the lift and hiked a bit, the resort shut off all of their lights which gave us a great view of the sky. Unfortunately for most of our time there it was cloudy, but as we left the sky cleared, offering a fantastic view only mountain towns can offer.

Driving up to the lodge.

We wrapped up the evening hanging out in the lodge and socializing.

The next day we went to a silk weaving business. This particular one was very famous for being the first place to record and publish methods for weaving silk.  They had exhibits of the materials used which were quite cool to see. We also got the chance to make little finger puppets using the silk shells from silkworms. Mine turned out okay, but the cat just kept getting creepier the more I doodled.








Afterwards we went the Big Labo, an old high school that was transformed into a recreational learning center. Definitely one of the coolest repurposing ideas I have seen. They changed the school kitchen into a cafe, where we hand made pizzas. They ended up being delicious, and to top it off they were GF because the lead chef wanted to use rice flower since Japan is known for growing rice, not wheat.


At that point we ended our official tour and all parted ways. It was a truly fantastic trip to Yabu, and I hope I can join another group sometime. I would definitely be up for a second go at this weekend.




.....but wait there's more!!!! One of the JETs, Willy, was nice enough to offer me a ride back towards Tottori. On our way back we were driving past a giant temple on a mountain. We checked the time and realized I could still easily make my train if we stopped by, so we did just that. It was an impressive temple! It was newly renovated, and contained three giant Buddhas. It also had a great view of the valley it overlooked. The scale of this temple was unbelievable, I haven't felt so dwarfed by architecture since I visited the Vatican.   Definitely worth the detour.