A Very Nerdy Birthday and a Very Russian One Too

After getting back from Hokkaido it was almost time for my birthday, and I throught about what I would like to do. Of course, I wanted to grab a special Pokemon from the Pokemon Center and remembered there was a cheap way to eat all the cake I wanted nearby, so me and a few friends headed into Osaka for the day.

Our first stop was, of course, the Pokemon Center. I had to pick up somethings for a friend of mine, but treated myself to a kibago (axew) plush while I was there as well. Before I checked out or even went in, though, I headed to the customer service counter for the store and told them it was my birthday. I had to present photo ID, but was rewarded with a birthday download for the game, a coupon, a special gold seal from the center itself and a Birthday Pikachu card. That was all pretty exciting, especially considering how much larger the card is compared to the normal sized versions.

They actually changed the design of the card a month later.

We were all being a little silly that day.

After that we headed to Shinsaibashi, which was an adventure in and of itself as our one friend apparently didn't realize why we were rushing and got caught between the train doors of the subway. The attendant and some passengers were nice enough to shove him into the train and get the doors closed though. A few stops later we were striding off to the department building that held Sweets Paradise, an all-you-can-eat restaurant that specializes in sweets and, oddly enough, pasta. With it being the Osaka branch there was of course also takoyaki, though it wasn't especially good takoyaki. The cakes, though, were delicious.

When we got back I also got a pleasant surprise from my friend Yo who had gotten a strawberry cake and some goods from his hometown in Mie. I found out later that they had actually thought it was the week before and gotten it then, but ate that piece out of embarrassment.

My friend also had her birthday the day after mine, so it was time to head out for a second party the day after mine, this time, though, we were heading to Kyoto. Not only that, but we were heading there with one of our friends that was from Kyoto, so we got to see some parts of Gion (which were closer to Kiyomizu-dera then I knew at the time) that we hadn't seen before. Sometimes it seemed like it was a scene straight out of a Studio Ghibli movie.

One of several entrances we passed.

This trip could also be summed up in: How I learned to love borscht

The whole reason we set off on this particular quest was because our reservation at the restaurant we were going to wasn't for an hour and we were all a little hungry already. Luckily we grabbed some tasty mezarashi dango on the way before heading back to the mainstreet of Gion Shijo. The restaurant we were going to was so our friend could get a taste of home at pretty famous Russian restaurant, which made some of us feel a little underdressed (okay, maybe it was just me). The restaurant itself, Kiev, was located on the top floor of a building which provided an excellent view and made the western-style furniture feel even cozier. Coupled with some delicious Russian food, everyone left satisfied.

Given all the traveling I did, I was a little surprised that I fit in time to study, though they also managed to catch me either hitting the flashcards or a book for class several times throughout the weekend. That isn't too surprising as the spring semester caught a lot of me reading, with a new 300 page novel due to be read each week.

Until next post!
-Zenko-

It's Snow Time! [Part 3]

Having lost my train pass, I had to plan my transit very carefully based on the stamp locations. My first stop then, was where I had initially arrived: New Chitose Airport. You might think it's a little weird that there would be events in an airport, but it spans two sprawling levels that include three exhibition halls and an IMAX theatre. When I got there, in between the terminals a special NicoNico Douga event was going on, though it hadn't quite been set up so I couldn't buy the CD I wanted because by the time I got back...well...

Incidentally, this was right next to the Miku moon bounce for the event.

There were a couple banners advertising the events.

The person they're interviewing in the van is a famous dancer on the site, and thought I couldn't get a name out of any of the people around me, who for whatever reason did not think I knew anything about the site, the most I could find about him on my own is that his famous enough to be the main dancer in the game maimai for the song Dancing Samurai. The game is pretty big in arcades, so it's a big deal to be featured in it. The main reason I was there, though, is for two stamp locations, one at the Animate, a chain store that specializes in anime and manga good, and the other at the Hatsune Miku art exhibit.

The Animate store was packed when I got there after hitting up the exhibit (which I'll talk about more below), because everyone wanted the goods for the stamp or as a souvenir. I hadn't been aware that you needed to buy a certain amount of goods to get the stamp, but luckily the person in line behind me spoke a little English and let me know, but he was a lot happier to talk to me in Japanese, and somewhat surprised that I spoke any. We waited in line for about twenty minutes before checkout and he ran off to catch his flight.

It stood at 163 centimeters, and was still taller than some people.

The exhibit itself was a sort of art museum and store at the same time. It focused mostly on the artworks of someone famous for the song Melancholic, Deep Sea Girl and 1925. They also set up a 1:1 scale Miku that included lights and was really popular. The cute smaller versions of the other VOCALOID's were also popular with the kids there. They also had BiniPuri, a specialty art project where you could paint a design on a metal plate based on the premade outline in this case, and get in grilled to set the paint. The paint itself is made out of vinyl so it sets nicely, though it takes some patience as you're painting everything in with a toothpick. I didn't mind because I was making it for my mom and they had one of my favorite songs Counterclockwise playing.

This was halfway done.

After the airport, I headed back to Sapporo for the rest of the day. Before I did that though, I had to make my way past Hokkaido's terrifying mascot: melon bear.

His gimmick was running into people that looked scared.

Last year's Snow Miku design was also on display.

Mostly I did I some more sightseeing on my quest to find the Sapporo Beer Garden, where the other Miku exhibit was being hosted along with the Neon Genesis Evangelion exhibit that had been extended and recommended to me by a friend. I got lost along the way, as I learned that when you give directions in Japanese and someone tells you "right away" they actually mean "go straight." That was a grammar point we went over, somewhat ironically, the next week in class. It did allow me to see the famous Sapporo Clock Tower, though. When I did make it to the factory, I found out how much of a maze it was and it took me almost a half hour to find the building I was looking for. It was well worth it, as the building featured an art wall for fans to write messages on, a specialty card being given away, and the opportunity to demo the new Project Diva F game before it was released. While I was in line, I got a chance to talk with some of the fans, and talked about how VOCALOID is received differently in the US. I told him that I liked Luka most out of the Crypton made ones, but that Miku was the most popular in the US. He was somewhat surprised at that, and though the conversation was short because of my limited vocabulary, I found out that there's definitely a different aim for the characters in Japan than the US. In line there were a lot of people my age or older, whereas an event like this in the US would draw mostly middle schoolers.

While I had been searching for the Miku event, I had found the exact location of the Eva one, and headed there next. It was a real treat for fans, as it featured original character sketches, cels, a map of Tokyo-2 that showed off the attacks and major locations in the show, and of course, an Eva model. The most exciting thing for me, though, was the reenactment of a famous scene for the show where an enemy was attacking and the trigger had to be pulled at just the right moment. They had someone acting as one of the characters, too, and she stayed in character as she asked me questions about Kansai and even Pokemon.

It was probably the nerdiest and happiest I was the whole trip.

After I finished geeking out in Sapporo, I grabbed some ramen at a small store that was almost entirely full despite being on a backstreet. It was pretty good, but I was also starving, and after I had eaten my fill of the tasty pork topping, I made my way back to my hotel and then back to the airport the next morning for my flight home. There were plenty of things I wanted to do in Hokkaido, and while I didn't get to do most of them in only three days, what I did do was a lot of fun.

The mountains that day were beautiful.

See you next post!
-Zenko-

It's Snow Time! [Part 2]

Snow snow snow, that's what it did all night, but I got up bright an early for some free breakfast. Being in Japan means the continental breakfast had some items you usually would not expect to see: soup, onigiri, and potato salad. The soup and onigiri were probably the more normal ones, but I'd never seen potato salad served up a six in the morning. It was also how I discovered that Hokkaido uses a more elastic nori to wrap their onigiri in, which was something I did not enjoy at all, but if you're a fan of konbu or Korean seaweed you would probably like it.

Somewhere outside Chitose

With the sun shining, but knowing that it was still snowing heavily in Sapporo from the weather reports, I bundled up lightly and hopped on the rapid train for Sapporo. Because my train is at the end of the line, it meant I was able to grab a seat by the window to enjoy the scenery for a lovely...three hours. I was actually on the train as it switched lines in New Chitose, so that was pretty neat, as was seeing the mountains and snow throughout the ride.

When I arrived in Sapporo, I knew the first thing I wanted to do was visit the corporate headquarters of one of my favorite companies: Crypton Future Media. They're responsible for starting the VOCALOID trend in Japan, and created the most popular one world wide, Hatsune Miku. It was an adventure finding the right elevator in the building, but when I did I left them a card from all the overseas fans. It was pretty big, and I hope they liked it because my art was terrible. I wish I had been able to take a picture of the creator's and producer's art on their whiteboard wall or had a chance to talk to a staff member, but I was just as excited to even be there.

After picking up their special guide for the festival and some information on the hotsprings at the station, I headed underground to catch the subway. Unfortunately, that's something that never happened as after I bought my ticket and followed the arrows for the area I was heading I discovered that it's entirely possible to  walk anywhere in Sapporo underground. With the blizzard and icy conditions, that's exactly what many people were doing, and some places were advertising things to do throughout Japan. Ise Grand Shrine had priests there advertising the rebuilding and giving out information about the shrine. Because they had their own snow sculpture that year, it was nice to see them all the way up north.

It's the 62nd rebuilding to be precise

The Ise sculptor also included an image of the river goddess.

Once I made it topside at 1-chome, I worked my way down to the concert stage and this year's Snow Miku. Of course, I took my time and still managed to fall down once or twice but I wasn't alone in that fact. I   mostly felt bad for the grandpas and little grandmas who were slipping and falling. It was probably during all this commotion that I lost my train pass, which of course I didn't notice until I needed it later that night. Some of the biggest highlights during the snow festival were of course the Ise sculpture, a 1:1 model of a Thai Buddhist Temple, and for me that year's Snow Miku.

The right hand side of Ise, where a trivia show was going on.

1:1 Buddhist temple

They even sculpted a boddhisatva onto it

Snow Miku 2013 also had her bunny friend

After spending most of the day at the snow festival, I was ready to hit up the famous Jozankei hot springs. With the special deal they were having I was able get access to one of the springs plus a round trip bus ticket, and seeing as Jozankei is about an hour away from Sapporro it was a pretty good deal. To top everything off, the town is known for kappa, which would not usually be a good thing as the water creatures feed off of a part of your anus, but can also be rather beneficial, giving people medicinal knowledge as well, and in this case, knowledge of where the best hot springs are.

Way up in the Jozankei mountains

After soaking the troublesome problem of losing my weekend train pass away (which meant I couldn't travel to some of the places I wanted to), I headed back towards New Chitose to wait for the next train which would get me back at midnight. I decided to try and find something to eat while I was there and ended up taking my worst fall just outside a 7-11 (yes, I really like 7-11, because Hokkaido is strangely lacking in Family Marts). After I got up I noticed someone smoking a cigrarette looking at me like I should have been up sooner, so I'm guessing it's something that happens frequently in the area.

With my plans out the window from the loss of my pass, I decided to surrender myself to the nerd madness that is the Snow Miku stamp rally, and started my adventures early the next morning.

~Zenko~

It's Snow Time! [Part 1]

The Snow Festival was probably the last big trip I took, and I think it will take me a couple posts to, so here's part one!

The Snow Festival, or Yuki Matsuri, is a pretty old festival in Sapporo. By pretty old I mean it's old in a modern sense, starting in 1950 when some high school students decided to be inventive and built snow sculptures in the local park. Now snow sculptures of ridiculous proportions adorn seven districts, or chome, of Sapporo and festivities extend throughout the area.

This is a 1:1 scale snow house

When I arrived I was surprised they let us land at all.

I got to Sapporo, or at the very least, Hokkaido, on Peach, a Low-Cost Carrier flight service. Had I done the smart thing and booked two separate tickets it would have cost me about fourty-dollars to get there. It ended up being a bit more than that, but combined with a cheap hotel the trip didn't cost me all that much. In fact, transportation ended up costing more, partly because I lost my one day pass my first day in Sapporo (probably from falling so much), and partly because where I was staying was about an hour and a half by train away. I was just happy to be in Hokkaido, though, as my flight was nearly canceled and we landed in the middle of a snow typhoon. That's right, a typhoon made out of snow.



Because I had arrived on delay, I was left baffled and confused as to how to get to the town I needed, as the only train system that crosses Hokkaido is JR, and JR Hokkaido has some pretty confusing maps and schedules because of all the snow. I had meant to take a local train, but instead ended up on a limited express train, which annoyed me somewhat as I had already ridden one that day to get to the airport. These trains can cost an extra ten dollars to ride, but I did not have too much of a choice if I wanted to get checked in before eleven. Incidentally, the platform numbers and symbols (triangle, circle) aren't painted on the ground like they are in Kansai and Tohoku, but hung on wire lines above it so that snow does not obscure them.

I was also surprised the trains were running still...

When I did get to town, it seemed like it would be a short walk but that short walk from the station turned into a twenty minute one with the blizzard going. The sidewalks and roads weren't plowed or shoveled, and never were, because they're so used to it with such a long winter season.I found out that not only was I staying in a college town, but at a business hotel, which meant I both fit in on the streets and was an odd sight without a thick down jacket (I ended up layering underneath a wool coat which was fine with all the walking). I was also surprised to see it was the ice hockey capital of Japan, as the sport is not really all that popular, except, apparently, in Hokkaido.

It was this. But at night.

Because I had to get up early to head to Sapporo, I went to bed as soon as I finished up dinner from the nearby 7-11.

The next day I was less lucky about falling on the streets, but that's for another post!
~Zenko~

Ain't no party like a JASO party because JASO parties are nice and sometimes invite nonmembers

I'm not a member of JASO, but they do on occassion send out invites to students that are studying abroad in the area. There's usually a limit to the number in each university, but I don't like passing up opportunities to attend important events, because there's always that opportunity to network.

JASO is an organization that hopes to strengthen relationships between American and Osaka specifically, but let's be honest, Osaka is a pretty great place so there's no reason people shouldn't be interested. Sadly, they usually are because Tokyo offers more of what people expect Japan to be like, while being slightly more foreigner friendly. It's about as close as you can get to America while staying in Japan, but Osaka has a lot more of Japan-Japan to offer I guess. Either way they have a neat mission and if I had thought about it more at the beginning of my time in Japan I would have tried to join.

In any case, I was able to attend their New Year's party, and was really fortunate to be healthy for..that one day before getting sick again. I think what made me really want to go in the invite were the words "delicious food" and "mochi pounding." I had missed out on mochi pounding because of sports day, and it's something done traditionally at New Years. When we did it there it was in a team, with volunteers changing out for pounding. I probably could have done it for a while but there was a set time for each person. They were actually a little surprised that I kept up with their counting with how heavy the wooden hammer is.

I was also really afraid of hitting their hands.

Of course before all this could begin, the equally important start to the New Years had to happen: breaking open a casket of ceremonial sake. It was a little hard for me to understand, but I think it was done to help purify yourself for the New Year. Usually it's done at shrine festivals for that reason, so I can only guess it's the same. I was equally lucky to be keeping super important company, and I still have the list they gave us as we entered to let us know what companies we were dealing with. I was a little intimidated by the crowds and that I might mess up somehow because I was a guest at the event and not an actual member, so I spent the night drinking with the company president of Asahi in Osaka. I was also invited to tour the factory, though I never received the opportunity to do so.

There was also a raffle at the end of the event, with some awesome prizes, like tickets to San Francisco and overnight stays at local hotels. I didn't win any of them, nor did anyone else I know, but we were all given thank you bags for attending on our way our. Apparently at business parties, this is customary in Japan, your ticket price going to buying what's inside.They were entirely randomized by the color ticket you drew before entering, and mine contained snacks donated by some of the attending companies and a gift certificate to Hankyu Mall. I was never able to use it, simply because walking into the building gave me the sense that I had just entered a Hollywood big-shots house and sent me beelining back for the nearest exit. When I say it was fancy, I mean chandeliers and crystal everywhere fancy. Before I left Japan, though, I gave it to our Seminar House's 'mom' for looking after us and putting up with the dirty kitchen.

Unfortunately, I'm so far behind that I'm actually back in America writing this, but I'll be sure to keep up my retelling.

Until next time~

~Zenko~

New Years Shrine Visits [Part 2]

The second shrine I decided to visit was the most important one in Japan (right after Kamigamo, which is the second most important). When I was describing it to my parents I described it as the Vatican of Japan, if only because it's just as important to the shinto faith. That shrine is actually two but are jointly known as Ise Jingu [Ise Grand Shrine].

The journey there from Osaka actually isn't too bad. It's pretty easy to get there if you take the Kintetsu Limited Express Train to Ujiyamada Station [an old name for Ise] for about twenty five dollars. I was using a five-day JR pass that I bought for, you guessed it, five times that price but it's worth it for unlimited rides on all JR trains for five days and if it weren't for the New Year's holiday I would have made it out to Tokyo and back that way too. Instead I made it to just outside of Yokohama, but learned my train schedules pretty well because of it, which made this trip a whole lot easier.

There are actually two ways to get to JR Ise Station from Osaka. For a faster way I recommend taking the Biwako Express [no extra ticket charge on nonreserved] to Maebara, transferring to a train to Otsu/Gifu, hopping a new express to Nagoya and then waiting for the New Mie Rapid to come along and riding it down to the station you need. It's a pretty nice view, actually.

Somewhere outside of Taki...

If you want to be anymore scenic than that, then from Osaka you would take the loop line out to Kyoboshi and transfer to the JR Gakkentoshi line towards Nara, hop off at Kizu and take the train one stop to Kamo, then it's mountain train ride to Kameyama, where you can transfer to...the New Mie Rapid or a train heading towards Taki where you transfer again to Ise. If you've ever seen Spirited Away, then you can understand what the train to Kameyama is like. At night you can't see anything through the windows, and if you look at the front of the train you can only see what the train's light illuminates. It's pretty cool actually.

Yes, that is a truck. Yes it's driving under a stone torii.

Once you make it to Ise, if you do it early enough, then I recommend buying a Can Bus pass for six hundred yen, which gives you an all day pass on the Can Bus and includes a museum ticket. I got there around 3 PM and there were only a few more loops that day so I ended up just paying the fare for both ways. Because it was winter and I was short on time, I also decided to head straight to Naiku, the inner shrine and the one where the Sun Goddess Amaterasu is enshrined. It's also highly important considering the emperor is decided from Amaterasu, and as you can imagine...it's a pretty big deal. Just how big? It's so big it gets its own torii gate on the road there.

 Of course when I got there it was almost sunset, but because Ise is a coastal town, the sun takes a while to set. That's pretty awesome considering how late I got there. After passing through several more torii gates, one leading across a stone bridge, I made my way to the first sacred site in Naiku: the river. It has a specific name, but the way kanji work in shinto sites means it could be anything, but was written with the characters for "God River." Much like the Trevi fountain in Rome (if the Trevi fountain were full of Holy Water), you toss your money in, make a wish or prayer, and go on your way.

Sacred River...Sacred River...

Once you make your way to the inner most part of the shrine, you can no longer take photographs. I mean, you could, but I imagine it would be a pretty silly way to get deported. I don't recommend it, as it would be the same as taking a picture of the face of God. It's just not something you do. Because the kami (gods) of shinto carry power naturally, and need to be appeased or their power contained, Ise Jingu is rebuilt every 11 years and has been doing since around the 1200's, using the same building technique each time. 2013 is a rebuild year, and when I got there they were already building the new shrine on the northern site. Hopefully I can go before it opens, because both will be open at that point and Amaterasu just moved to her new home.

Another added benefit of the shrine being so old is that the trees and forest surrounding it haven't been encroached upon apart from modern improvements to certain areas (bathrooms installed or rest areas built). That means that there are some massive trees growing, and some areas that are roped off and marked with paper tags that show it as being sacred.

That person taking a picture is taller than I am.

After I did my looking around I did a quick peek into the shop area and that lead to an adventure in and of itself as I ended up getting lost on my way to the bus stop and walking to the first one I saw...about ten minutes away. I did make it back to the train, and took the Kameyama route back, which meant I made it back late. Unfortunately this was my last major trip over winter break outside of a small takoyaki museum, as the next day I came down with a high fever from a constant early morning-on-the-train-all-day schedule.

Then again, who knows. Maybe it was just the work of the kami.

I did end up going to Geku (the outer/lower shrine) and Naiku again over spring break, which is just a few posts away!

Until Next Time
~Zenko~

New Year's Shrine Visits [Part 1]

Part of the two week long New Year's celebration in Japan involves going to a shinto shrine and drawing your fortune for the year, as well as praying for a beneficial one. Of course, sense Kamigamo Shrine has turned out to be our favorite one, we decided to visit not too long after the New Year started. We didn't know it yet, but it ended up being one of the more important days to go, several of the shirne's artifacts were out and the ceremony for local businessmen was also starting up.

I found out pretty recently that it's not just sumo Kamigamo helped to invent in Japan, but horse racing as well. Which is why horses are also sacred to the shrine and before the main complex is a sacred stable with, you may have guessed it, a sacred horse. I don't think he's usually out, except for sacred occasions, such as this one. And when I say sacred, I mean it's treated as a god, so if you pay to get up close you can feed him a carrot and give him a pat to dispel all evil spirits.

God Horse's House

Oh hey sake.

Beyond this second torii gate was a site we hadn't really seen there yet: all the bad fortunes were tied up. We were lucky enough to draw best luck, so we didn't have to worry about anything too much. To make sure it brought us these fortunes we tucked them inside our wallets for safe keeping and had our friend translate them later. The other pretty common thing at celebrations is sake (nihonshuu), and as each shrine brews its own throughout the year, every shrine you visit will have a different sake, with Fushimi Inari having one of the most important ones (because sake is made from rice, and Inari looks over it). Something pretty cool that they had on display was one of the processes for brewing and an explanation, though I'm not sure what specifically it was as it was entirely in Japanese.

Like I said before, there was a business ceremony going on that day as well, and throughout our time there we saw several priests heading towards a raised platform in a tent where we had previously watched the Karasu Zumo festivities from. We also had the chance to watch a professional sushi chef make quick work of a maguro tuna, utilizing every piece of meat all the way to the head.

Because it was such a nice day, we headed up all the way to the upper part of the shrine, a place we hadn't gone before. We saw a shrine just for a family, a deeper shrine for a god we still haven't figured out the name for but has to do with luck and, of course, a small Inari shrine. What was more surprising, though, was the fact that as we headed down the opposite side of the mountain (where there were no signs warning us of monkies), we found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of the Kamigamo neighborhood. There were houses right next to the torii gates and left us somewhat baffled about how it would feel to live next to a sacred site, and a UNESCO one on top of that.

Apart from that, our visit was rather uneventful. We didn't see any monkies, and were glad for that as Japanese monkies are fairly aggressive.

Happy Year of the Snake!

There was one other shrine I visited within the two week New Year holiday, which will be my next entry!

~Zenko~