Tokyo Day 3

[c9]

	Karaga and Gyoza for Breakfast! The next morning we still weren't able to wake up at the crack of dawn - almost like we were on a different time zone still or something. So across the street we went to the Ramen noodle place. No idea what the name was, but it was tasty. Every table had its own doorbell for grabbing the waiter's attention, very handy. They made different noises, like doorbells or quacking ducks or whatever. In addition to noodles, they also had Gyoza (dumplings) and Karaga (essentially chicken McNuggets, or as Tyler called them in his faux-japonais, MacoDonnuggets) (no it was funny at the time, I swear)
Here's Tyler enjoying his chicken nuggets and mayo. Yummy! Every time we visited we ordered roughly the same things - noodles, veggies, karaga, and gyoza, in vrious combinations. The menu was primarily combos, but it got confusing because once Kristopher pointed to what he thought was the same as his item the previous day, but what he got was about triple the food - lots of sides. It mostly got eaten, but we were more careful after that point. Today's first bit of trivia: Tokyo was previously known as Edo (pronounced eh-doe). It became the capital in 1867 (important year for Canada!) and therefore got its new name, which means "Eastern Capital". Prior to that, Kyoto was the capital for hundreds of years, and then another city before that which I've forgotten already.
	That afternoon we booked a bus tour, and this was our bus! We took the Cityrama Afternoon Tour, and at first we were a little hesitant about the cost ($55 each or so) we were quite pleased at the end that we decided to go. Nice change from the walking, and nice to get more detail on things that we saw and knew nothing about. The driver was named Joon (possibly Jun, he pronounced it June anyway), and he welcomed us by *singing*. Soooo kitschy, but so fun. His spiel was very corny-joke-laden. Reminded me of the guy who gave Vin and me a tour of the Boeing factory years ago in Seattle. Our first stop was the Tokyo Tower, which is a slightly-larger version of the Eiffel Tower from Paris, built in 1959 or so. Before leaving the bus, he had lots of instructions to ensure nobody got lost (even though there were only 11 of us).
He broke out a magnetic whiteboard, and drew the stairs and elevator locations, drew the bus, and pulled out a magnetic person (one-inch high) and had it walk down the stairs, ride down the elevator, and board the bus, just to ensure it was clear. A little kindergarteny. He also wore a whiteboard around his neck (visible at right) showing the return to the bus time! Here, we're inside the viewing level of the tower (150m high), and he's talking about the small Shinto shrine beside him. People actually visit the tower, and pay admission, to visit this shrine. If I heard him correctly, the ashes of one of the Shoguns is in the shrine. He also explained the differences between Shinto and Buddhism, Japan's two major religions. The short version: Buddhism features imagery of the many Buddhas who have achieved enlightenment, Shinto is spirits and never shows imagery of gods or god-like spirits. If you see figurines, I *think* that means Buddhism, not Shinto. But I'm no expert.
	Our guide explained that in a survey, 100,000,000 of Japan's 127,000,000 population said they were Shinto, but that another 100,000,000 also said they were Buddhist. "So Japanese are... very flexible..." said our guide! Another trivia item from that day: the name "Japan" actually comes from China, and it means "source of the sun" - since Japan is east of China, and that's where the sun rises. Sounds a little too convenient if you ask me. At left, the "Noppon's Magical Dungeon", a kids play area at the Tokyo Tower. The poster (no picture) has a scary picture of a kid in a dungeon. Not sure why that is considered good advertising.
From Tokyo Tower we could look straight down, and the most unusual thing was that the area was covered in cemeteries. In between almost every couple buildings you'd see, just like at right, a huge cemetery. Apparently there's an aborted babies cemetery somewhere nearby, but we forgot to ask about it -- might not have been a great tour guide topic anyway though. We were also told that many Shogun were buried nearby, but we never got the chance on the whirlwind tour to actually go grave hunting. Here's your first Japanese lesson, courtesy of our guide, on how to greet someone: In the morning (until 10am or so): o ha yo (pronounced Ohio) In the afternoon (until sunset): konnichiwa In the evening (after sunset): kombanwa In each case, add "gozaimasu" (pronounced go-zaye-mass) to make it more polite.
	Our next stop on the tour was the Imperial Palace. It's only open to the public two days a year: December 23 and January 2. So we were out of luck. But at least the outer grounds and gardens were open, so we got a bit of a look. It was impressive how green, forested, and open the area was compared the a huge city all around it. Pictured at left is us in front of the moat and one of the gates. Our guide said this was basically the back door, the kitchen delivery entrance, and the actual residence was still another 20 minutes (walking we assume) beyond. Many guards at this gate, checking vehicles going through. At our final stop, we visited a huge market and touristy shopping area in Shibuya that we didn't see the previous day. Giant temple, lots of incense that people would stand in or try to grab and place on them, for its famous healing powers. Smelled great! Vin and I tried breathing it to see if it helped our sore throats. Another fun item was the fortunes! For 100 yen, you could shake a box containing labelled chopsticks, and then match the chopstick with a drawer and inside it would be your fortune. Luckily in this area they were in Japanese and English, but not in every area as we saw the next day.
Here I am reading my fortune. It was not good. Normally bad fortunes are left there to avoid having them come true, but I liked mine too much. No.46 BAD FORTUNE (it actually says that) Thunderbolt hit and sound is breaking the sky, it is real dark and terrible. A man of good sense of humor stay within a house closing the gate and doors. All looks really lonesome. There maybe some mistake and misunderstood in writing a mail to others. Though you do your best with utmost care, troubles may be always your way. * Your request will not be granted. * The patient will get well. * The lost article is hard to find out. * The person you wait for will not come. * Stop building a new house and removal to other. * Stop starting a trip. * Marriage and employment are both bad. Could it be any more awesome?
	The remainder of the day: - Tyler ordering "Ice Cream Burger Pie" -- just an ice cream sandwich basically. - Vincent ordering Sweet Potato Ice Cream -- not as good as my orange flavour. - visiting the temple for 5 minutes because we were about to miss the bus, seeing kids throwing money in (traditional!) and people making prayers. - finding a suitable souvenir for my father that fits with his requests but is less dangerous than some of his other collected items. (vague because he might read this) Later that evening we met up with Jen and Janan again, had more tasty food, and ended up at a Karaoke club! In Japan, the way it works is you rent a tiny room and just do karaoke with your friends, no strangers watching. Not sure if this is better or worse. At least no strangers were subjected to my John Mayer, but I may never get respect from those pictured again...

Oh! We also learned some Japanese words that sound like very very rude things if you say them slightly differently. "bill" (like a restaurant bill), "sesame seeds", and "red bean".

Comments

[sarah-sosiak.livejournal.com]

Reminded me of the guy who gave Vin and me a tour of the Boeing factory years ago in Seattle..

"Boeing is people!"

[jpman.livejournal.com]

Did you notice that "To-kyo" and "Kyo-to" are just the two syllables reversed? I beleive even the kanji work this way.

And now you understand why I say I will only do karaoke while drunk and in Japan.