Shitamachi museum and demons running amok in Sensouji

With only a few days left, we had done most of what we had been wanting to do. There were a few museums that we wanted to check out, yet, including the Ueno Shitamachi museum. On our way to Ueno, we walked down Kappa Bashi Road, which translates to "Kappa Bridge Road". What is a Kappa?

Is this a Kappa?

Maybe these?

Well, this is LABELLED as a Kappa

This kinda looks like a frog...

Homer Simpson?

 A Kappa is a mythical water creature. I was sadly disappointed in Sumi's lack of Harry Potter recollection, as they clearly went over this in Defense Against the Dark Arts year 3, with Professor Lupin...I was unaware the Kappa originated in Japan, however, or that it looked like a turtle/bird/Simpson.

Kappa Bashi Hondori gives a great view of the new Sky Tree

After Sumi's required Andersen Bakery coffee and roll, we walked down to the Shitamachi museum. The museum translates Shitamachi as "downtown", (shita = down, machi = town), but I think a better translation to capture the feeling of the area would be "lower city", where the working class people lived and did business in homes and shops smaller than most of our living rooms.

The museum was very nice, and even came with, if you chose, a free guided tour in English. We decided to just wander through ourselves. The lower floor was a recreation of what Shitamachi looked like during the turn of the last century, and it changes as the seasons change to reflect the differences inside, as well.

A Tokyo train map circa 1912

A toy store/candy shop. They sold 1 sen (1/100 yen) candy and games

A game called Yochien Sugoroku, or Kindergarten Board Game. The unhealthy obsession the Japanese seem to have for young girls underwear apparently isn't a recent thing. Note the picture of the girl on the left. And this is a child's game. I'm not prudish or anything. I just don't get it.

The Shitamachi home after WWII, with appliances. Not much bigger, but definitely more modern.

The second floor contained many items, some interactive, from the same time period. No photos allowed. Most of Shitamachi was destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, which burned 98% of Asakusa and about 50% of what is now Ueno. It was rebuilt, only to be destroyed again in the bombing during WWII. Some great photos of the areas we walked through as they looked at various times in history. A nice museum, and only ¥300.

We were proud to note that this vacation, we had not repeated a meal yet, choosing to try new and different restaurants (yes, even McDonald's). With so many places to eat in Tokyo (literally over a hundred thousand shops), it is not hard to find something that looks good. This, of course, changed today, as we both felt we needed to visit Rasoi one more time before leaving (it really is THAT good). This time, however, I decided to try the curry "very spicy". The waiter, after giving the order to the kitchen, came back to double check that Whitey wanted it "very spicy". Whitey did, and they made it that way.

Sumi's "medium" curry in the foreground, mine in the rear

Whitey's verdict: This was the spiciest thing I've eaten in Japan, and it was absolutely wonderful. The heat was just the right amount so it did not overpower the rest of the flavor, but it built up until I was sweating. Plus more vegetables in that bowl than I've been able to find anywhere else in Tokyo. Awesome!

Heading back to the east side, we stopped in Akihabara to check out a good used game/dvd store in one of the rear streets that we did not get to last week, Traders. I picked up a Star Ocean III: Director's Cut (great PS2 game) for $15. We also passed by the Gundam Cafe to find they change the pose of the guy out front on a regular basis

More menacing...

Back at Asakusa, there apparently was going to be a ritual some time after 5 where two priests dress up as demons and run around the temple with torches, hitting them on the ground for some protective reason. This is unique to this kind of temple, and didn't really get much advertising. We figured grown men running around in costume would be fun to watch, so at about 4:45 we found ourselves standing in front of the temple. 5 came and went, as did 5:15, 5:30, and 5:45. We were getting cold just standing there, and starting to wonder if we read the sign correctly. A little after 6 (which is, indeed, after 5), they finally came out.

The ritual was fun. It was quite amusing to see hundreds of people running around in the dark, chasing these guys with their cell phones and cameras (not that we were any different!). Many of the real follower of the temple were also, when not taking pictures, stopping and picking up the embers that came from the torches. This was apparently some sort of good luck thing or some such. At the end, they posed for the cameras (I'm sure that was not how the original ritual went)

OK, is anyone else reminded of Mario and Luigi?

After chasing demons around the temple, we needed some sustenance, in the form of ice cream sundaes!

Asakusa Choco-Banana sundae!

One more day :( Tomorrow will be one more museum, some real Hakata ramen, probably another parfait :) and chores like laundry and packing.

A mountain in Tokyo?

One of our favorite pastimes in Japan is hiking around in the wilderness, which usually includes a mountain. This trip, since it was so last minute, we were unable to buy the item that makes traveling around Japan possible (and affordable), the Japan Rail pass. The pass can only be purchased by foreigners and must be done several weeks in advance, so we were forced to pay for our travel separately, meaning we couldn't afford to leave the Tokyo area.

This presented a number of problems for us. A friend of ours and former teacher, Junko Suzuki, is currently living in Japan again, teaching in Kobe. The last several times we came to Japan, we stopped by and visited her (and met up with her and her daughter, Akiko, in Tokyo once). This time, both Akiko and her father, Ichiro (yes, that makes his name Ichiro Suzuki) were in Japan visiting Suzuki-san, and here we are unexpectedly just a few hundred miles away, but with no way to make it down there to visit(a train ticket to Kobe from Ueno is $170 per person, one-way). We felt badly, since it's not every day you're in a foreign country halfway around the world where a friend lives. It also confined us to the concrete wilderness of Toyko Metro, where Ueno Park was considered rural and a nature walk meant strolling by the homeless people and the occasional cat.

Until we discovered Takao-san.

So, Tokyo spreads out quite a ways, more than we thought. To the west, about fifty minutes by train, is a mountain called Takao-san, which is still, somehow, in the Tokyo area. Being what we would call in the Midwest an "outer-ring suburb", the train ticket was...$4? I can't take a train to Chicago for less than $20, and yet I can take a train from Tokyo to a "quasi-national park" complete with mountain and requisite Buddhist temple for $4?

Apparently, I can.

Takao-san is a 660 meter peak with a temple that dates back to the Nara period (~700AD) and has a number of trails leading up to the top. At the peak, on a clear day you can supposedly see both Shibuya and Mt. Fuji. Well, it's clear today, let's see what we can see!

This waterfall, Biwa Falls, is where devotees meditate, chanting shakras and mantras underneath the falls. It was off-limits today, probably to prevent hypothermia.

The roots of the trees made for some natural steps on a sometimes slippery path

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we were greeted by, as would be expected in Japan, several gift shops and restaurants.

Takao-san T-shirt

O-souji kozou - Cleaning Buddhist Priest.

There was also some great vistas of the area, including, as it turns out, a view of Mt. Fuji!

Fuji-san is in the back, above the clouds.

Tokyo suburbs. Shibuya is on the right edge, but it was a little too hazy to see it.

Coming down the other side, we visited the Yakuouin Temple, which is home to a number of traditions, including a "firewalk" every Feburary, where people walk across hot coals, and, for some reason, Traffic Safety rituals for motor vehicle operators. It was far more colorful than the typical Zen Buddhist temples we are used to visiting in Japan, reminding me a little of the Taiwanese temples, but not nearly as gaudy.

Each rail of the stairs has an inscription...

...and there are a LOT of stairs!

Buddhist monks love their stairs. I counted over 300 in the temple area alone.

Ask me to fetch again. I dare ya!

Octopus god?

After a long day of hiking, we headed back to Tokyo proper and went to get some food. As is tradition, I wanted to eat at the McDonald's here. They have a new sandwich in Japan, part of the "Big America" ad campaign (that is nothing to be proud of, by the way) called the Grand Canyon burger. We had no idea what was in it, or why it was called what it was, but it would be a unique experience, so off we went.

Udon shop owner wants to be a poet...

Ueno at night

Ueno park has it's Valentine's Day lights up

Getting to McDonalds, Sumi opts for Oushou gyoza instead, so I brave the Grand Canyon burger alone!

It was big. Bigger than a Big Mac. I started feeling a little worried.

Nothing says Grand Canyon like a burger patty, a fried egg, relish, onions, bacon bits, swiss cheese, sweet BBQ sauce and wasabi

 It was the most random pile of ingredients I could imagine thrown on a bun. I can't say it was bad, but I can say I would never order it again. I sometimes really wonder at what the Japanese think of America, when this is the kind of thing they come up with. Or Sumi's American Spaghetti in Nagano, which consisted of a Caeser Salad and spaghetti....at the same time. Sumi's meal was far more standard:

Gyoza, rice...fried chicken...pork dumplings? Potato salad?!

or maybe not.

Just a few more days to go. Tomorrow there is some festival at Sensouji where some spirits come out, run around the temple grounds for about fifteen minutes and then disappear. Sounds intriguing.

Eating Our Way Across Tokyo

Today was basically centered around food, whether going to get the food, eating the food, or waiting to eat the next food. That made it a good day. We started with our usual trek to Ueno, where we stopped in the Wired Cafe for breakfast

Pancakes with some mystery sweet sauce and yogurt with fresh fruit

We spent the next hour or so wandering around Ueno park, checking out the wildlife

or not-so-wild life

After getting our fill of waterfowl, we headed into Ameya Yokocho (America Alley), a sprawling open air market that used t be the black market for rationed goods right after WWII, is now just a bunch of shops that sell things cheaper than you find in other places. We needed some stuff for our planned excursion to a mountain tomorrow. I had managed to lose a glove yesterday, so I needed something for the climb, plus we needed a backpack so I could be the requisite pack mule. We found nearly everything we were looking for at the ¥100 store (their dollar store, but with useful stuff not all Made In China plastic).

This is the line of people waiting for the Pachinko parlor to open up. At first we thought there was some special thing going on, but no, this is just Japanese gambling addicts waiting to get their fix.

Cars have no business driving down Ameya, but they do anyway. This truck had about six inches total clearance. That was not counting the pedestrians.

Not the cutest mascot in Japan, that's for sure.

After we waited a sufficient amount of time so that we would not feel guilty eating again, we hopped on the train and went to the opposite end of town, to Meguro, where we finally returned to our favorite restaurant, perhaps anywhere, for the first time in over two years.

Rasoi. Best Indian food in Japan.

Start with a small salad and ginger dressing

Then add nan with spicy curry! Mine was vegetable, Sumi's was chicken

There is something to be said for comfort food on a cold day in January. I can safely say I haven't enjoyed a meal like this in a very long time. We waddled our way out of the restaurant and back to the station, then back to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep for several hours (food coma).

I finally got back up around six, so we could go eat again. This time, back to Ikebukuro for some of their famous desserts. Sumi wanted to try something other than The Milky Way, a dessert bar in a prime location at the head of Ikebukuro's main road,

so we chose the place right below it :) called Spazio's. Nothing Italian about the place but the name. They had an interesting drink item

Items like "Lemon Squash with Perrier" and "Blue Apple Squash with Perrier"

along with a large assortment of desserts. We chose The Spiral

I don't know where the "spiral" comes in, but it was awesome

Finally, to complete our Japan experience, and to work off at least a few of the three thousand or so calories we ate, we did what anyone would do. Karaoke!

No video, don't worry! We mangled a few J-Pop tunes, then I mangled some western tunes, then we called it a night. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll go climb a mountain.