７月１６日Day 113: Shin-Okubo and Yasukuni Jinja

Omg, only 2 more weeks here.

Today I went to Shin-Okubo, the Koreatown of Tokyo, with my family friends. Literally... every shop was Korean boy-band oriented. Every corner was covered in shops upon shops of both real and fake boy-band merchandise ranging from coffee cups, pencils, frames, posters, umbrellas, DVDs, shirts, underwear... you name it.

I felt bad that I had no idea who any of these people were, but it was interesting to see that they had such a huge Japanese following considering Koreans hate Japan and vice versa. Although I suppose getting middle-aged Japanese women to buy all their andro K-pop merchandise is a nice way of saying "F-you!" and taking all their money... way to go, Korea!

Which brings me to what I did next...

I went to Minato Matsuri at Yasukuni Jinja. For those of you who don't know what Yasukuni Jinja is, you're lucky I just did a report on it and went on a mandatory field trip. Yasukuni Jinja is a temple that houses the souls of all those who died in service of the emperor. This includes waaaaaay back to the 17th century up until WWII. It's a super controversial place because Class A War Criminals (those directly responsible for starting WWII) are enshrined here alongside the war dead.

Yasukuni also boasts a museum with all the war artifacts and fun little history about what the Japanese think happened during WWII. The exhibit (which I went to a few weeks ago) fails to mention the atrocities the Japanese committed in both Korea and China-- referring to the Rape of Nanking as "The Nanking Incident," and neglecting to mention the use of Koreans as comfort women for the Japanese army. *Fun little note: the descriptions of what happened during WWII never exceeded more than 2 paragraphs.

Btw, if I hadn't gone to this exhibit with someone who spoke Japanese, I wouldn't have known that the Japanese translations and the English translations are verrrrrry different when it comes to the WWII section.

Probably the most unbelievable aspect of Yasukuni Jinja is that government officials (i.e.: prime ministers) pay homage to the place; sending flowers, droppin' off some money, clapping twice and ringin' the bell-- the whole shebang. These visits rightfully piss off China and Korea because it makes it seem as though Japan condones the depiction of history and the enshrining of Class A War Criminals... and they never say sorry!! X_X

So you're probably thinking, "Kate, if you knew that this is what this place represented, why the hell did you go to their matsuri? You're just as bad as the prime ministers!" Let me just say-- you're right. I feel awful and I'm a horrible person for buying food and essentially supporting that matsuri and vicariously supporting the Japanese interpretation of what happened during WWII... but I wanted to go to an actual Japanese matsuri and see just how nationalistic Japan could be... boy. They're nationalistic alright.

If you didn't know the history behind the place, the matsuri would have been 10 times more enjoyable. It had all the flavors of obon season back home in LA: lots of fried Japanese food, games, inflatable prizes, haunted houses, taiko, odori-- the works. I had a pretty good time, I was sorta drunk-- so I joined in the bon dancing ^^. But the 209672087603+ lanterns with the names of the war dead around were a constant reminder of exactly what the place was supporting so at the end of the day, I felt kinda guilty.

It was a genuinely Japanese experience though...

...and another thing to add on my list of "Why You're Going to Hell."

７月４日Day 101: Happy Fourth

This is how I spent my fifth consecutive Fourth of July away from home: swan paddle-boating in Kichijoji.

A few friends wanted to go hit the American army base to celebrate Independence Day and to watch the fireworks. But seeing as I don't like to increase my chances of being violated, degraded, and harassed by members of the American Armed forces, I chose the swans... and the sweat.

No amount of words could describe the disgust I feel in this humidity. Walking outside feels like walking into a sauna. Sweat drips down from my face and I'm not even running... I'm not even MOVING and I'm sweating.

You would think that wearing a skirt or a light dress would save me and make the humidity more bearable and airy. Instead, I feel sticky. Nothing I can wear will make me feel NOT sticky. I've had a lot more 2 shower days than normal because I literally can't stand the feeling of clothes sticking to my body, or oil emanating from my forehead, making my hair stick to my face. I had to open a handkerchief that I had originally bought for someone at home and use it for myself because I needed something to wipe my perpetually sweaty brow with.

What I don't understand is the fact that despite this repulsive weather, Japanese girls are still wearing 10,000 layers of clothing, leggings, jeans, and cakey makeup with their immaculately styled (and somehow non-poofy) coifs. I look a fine mess every day-- hair in a tizzy, make-up running, fan frantically and shamelessly waving in one hand whilst brandishing a precautionary umbrella in the other... but these girls look like they all just stepped out of some horribly over-dressed fairy tale, which is amazing considering it's the rainy season.

梅雨(つゆ, tsuyu)：the rainy season. It's certainly been interesting living through this... and all Japanese weather in general. The rainy season is basically like a menopausal woman: seemingly quiet and over-exaggerated for the most part, with random unprovoked downpours of Biblical proportions the rest of the time...

My basic rule of thumb for avoiding and predicting the rain is simple: if your neighbors are hanging their laundry to dry outside, it's not gonna rain. If there's no laundry out, bring an umbrella.

*Cultural note: Japanese housewives do laundry EVERY DAY. It's their job. Seriously.

Today, the bastards had their laundry inside, so I wore my rain boots and brought my big umbrella, expecting a fair amount of moisture. WRONG. It only drizzled from 8:30-12:00, meaning I looked like a total jackass in my rain boots while everyone else was wearing platform sandals to keep their feet dry. God-- don't my neighbors know how much I depend on them?! We're supposed to be a team! A thriving ecosystem! >_<;;

But luckily, it's the last week of the rainy season... so it'll be drier heat again! LET THE SUN SHINE IN!

６月１６日 Day 84: Kate Gets Sick

Well, it's official. I've managed to catch a cold... in the summer. I've got a sore throat, phlegmy cough, runny nose, and plugged ears. No fever though...

All these symptoms mean only one thing: mask.

Yes, that's right-- when you get sick in Japan, you HAVE to wear a mask. I would wager that most gaijin can get away with being sick without wearing one, but someone who is visibly of oriental descent like me would be publicly harangued unless I acted accordingly.

When I first got to Japan at the end of March, it was the outbreak of flu-season and thus everyone was wearing a mask. I thought it was really scary. I mean-- look at it! I look like I'm an incubus of plague. I thought the mask was sort of punishment for being sick. It's an outwardly visible sign that says, "HEY WORLD-- STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Now I realize that it's common courtesy, really. When people are in as close contact as the Japanese, it just makes sense that they should do everything in their power to impede the spreading of illness. A lot of the time, people wear masks preventatively-- not necessarily because they're currently sick.

I've even seen couples walking hand in hand wearing masks and all I can think is, "I wonder who gave it to who?"

It's really weird when gaijin where masks at school though. You can tell they're all the kids that prayed they would get sick in Japan just so they could wear a mask to prove how culturally sensitive they are. -___-;; Sorry to be so judgmental, but it's true.

Anyway-- I can't wait til I feel better and don't feel obligated to wear this damn thing. It's too humid and the mask definitely isn't making my face less sweaty.

４月１５日 Day 22: Ice Breakers

So I'm basically used to my Japanese class dynamic. My other classes, not so much.

My Religion and Society in Japan class sucks. The professor is speaking English, but her wording honestly makes NO SENSE. It might as well be in Portuguese. I'm basically in the class because it's only requirement is attendance, 1 class presentation and a final essay. It will kill my theology credit for school. I hope.

My Contemporary Japanese Culture class is SUPER fun though; I can tell I'm really going to like it. Sensei started the class by asking us about the stereotypes, "What stereotypes do you see in Japanese people or in Japanese culture?" Most of the volunteers gave really general answers.

"They don't like outsiders."

"They're homogeneous."

"They're polite."

"They all work really hard."

"They go crazy for trends."

"They have access to a lot of technology."

The only really interesting one I really heard was, "Japanese people aren't very direct. They sort of expect you to figure out what they're talking about, and they're not confrontational."

I was completely baffled as to why no one mentioned how INSANE Japanese people are. What about all the socially deviant things that make people come to Japan in the first place? What about everything I read about in my Naturalism in Japanese Literature class?! What about the penis festivals I've been to and ass-shaped pillows I've seen at multiple stores? In an attempt to be direct and confrontational, I queried,

"Uh, isn't it a very sexually repressed culture?"

The 150 person lecture erupted in laughter/nervously honest giggles. My professor said quite sincerely, "You know, there's a whole class about sex in Japan. If that's what you'd like to study, you can take a whole class on it!"

I felt like a total perv, but dammit, it needed to be said.

４月４日 Day 11: Happy Easter~!

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT AND SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED/READ/DISCUSSED IN FRONT OF CHILDREN or PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LIKE TO SEE LOTS OF PICTURES CONTAINING PHALLUSES.

Today, I went to a fertility festival, Kanamara Matsuri, in Kawasaki, it should have been called PENIS FESTIVAL because that's essentially all it was. Sculptures, foods, and shrines dedicated to the PENIS.

Now, why would I go to a place like this you ask? I propose to you this question: Why WOULDN'T I go to a penis festival? It was so uniquely Japanese and so amazingly hilarious and beyond belief! I'm so glad that I went.

About 14 of us from our dorm went together. This one guy, Nick (who's been here since September), organized it and we all came, completely unaware of what we were about to see. We met at 8am, tired and out of it, some people were still jetlagged having only gotten here on Thursday. It took us about an hour, 3 train transfers and ¥1000 to get there, but oh when we did...

The first thing we saw were these absolutely gorgeous cherry blossom trees (and hard core liquor) in full bloom. In Japanese, cherry blossom in full bloom is called Sakura Mankai. In Japan, sakura are such a huge deal that people have picnics on tarps where they sit and drink alcohol underneath the trees all day. This is called Hanami. Some spots are so coveted, that company employees are paid to stake out a spot at 8am and wait until 5pm until their coworkers finish so they can drink under the nicest sakura tree. That's what I thought this fertility festival was going to be.

We're in Japan. Guess again.

The next thing I saw were a bunch of old guys hunched over carving penises out of daikon. Can you get more Japanese than that?

Over in the distance was this massive pink penis that they paraded down the street later.

Don't get me wrong-- this was a legitimate fertility festival, not just a bunch of gratuitous phallic imagery. In the recent years, the festival has also been a way to voice AIDS awareness.

There were a lot of couples there who were trying to get pregnant. In the shrine, they had priests praying and chanting over them. There was a lot of incense present, so I didn't go too close.

I seriously doubt these kids knew what they were eating...

These kids (my friends) did. There were no shortage of penis (and vagina) pops, long sausages, and other penisy food. One thing we all noticed was the fact that we (as well as all the other gaijin tourists) were pretty much the only ones buying all the penis merchandise while all the old perverted Japanese men took THOUSANDS of photos.

My friend Jordan and I chose to be classy and bought penis and vagina bandanas.

Here are some awesome penis candles.

Penis sake.

Penis... from A Clockwork Orange!

More penis sake glasses etc.

This festival was UNBELIEVABLY crowded. I was being pushed and shoved all over the damn place like it was Tokyo rush hour or something! It was full of people of all colors. TONS of foreigners, the largest amount of black people I've EVER seen in Japan, young Japanese families with their children, and of course, old Japanese pervs with professional DSLR cameras.

I'd like to think every demographic was pretty adequately represented.

Seemed like the ero-ero (perverted) feeling followed us, because we went shopping afterwards and saw these err... pillows.

YAY JAPAN!

４月２日 Day 9: The Cultural Divide

I went to orientation yesterday and it was SO EXHAUSTING. I went on an empty stomach with no coffee and was having a lot of trouble staying awake through the hours of broken English explanations.

Yesterday proved to be a huge disappointment as far as my Japanese aptitude. No amount of studying could have prepared me for that placement exam. Even if I had remembered everything I learned in my last 4 semesters of Japanese, it wouldn't have been enough. The things I had learned covered the bare minimum of what was on the test. I'll probably be placed in the Japanese 2, the class just above Beginner's Japanese.

The exam was split into 2 parts: Kanji and then Reading and Writing. I could only translate 10 of the 100 provided kanji and had to skip 2 parts of the Reading Comprehension section because I literally couldn't read it! In the last Writing Section, we had to write a 5 sentence paragraph based on 3 different questions. The question I chose to answer was "What do you normally do on weekends?" because the other 2 questions looked like they were in Chinese.

There's so much to do before school starts next Monday. I have to set up my e-mail address, register for classes, buy a cell phone and... I don't even know!! They gave us this FAT packet full of stuff that I have yet to delve into, but I think I should be ok as long as I take it in small manageable chunks.

After all that orientation and test-taking nonsense, we attended a Welcome Party hosted by our Japanese student leaders. It was really sweet. The administration had provided us with a bunch of little cups filled with soda to do a toast to our future life in Japan. Kampai~!

Then the traditional Japanese instrument club did a music demonstration for us. The music was very, very, old fashioned; stuff my Grandpa would have loved. Three guys played a shamisen, some flute thing and one guy sang. I was really enjoying it until these obnoxious kids in the back started whispering and making side conversations. A few whispers don't seem like a lot-- but they started building and building to a point where they basically over-powered the music.

As I learned in my Japanese class etiquette section of orientation, Japanese teachers do not say anything in protest of your rudeness-- they expect you to figure it out. Too bad all these stupid people were completely oblivious to how disrespectful they were being. It was basically the best representation of the cultural divide; Japanese people are dead silent during presentations while all the Westerners (Europeans included) had to chit chat. Of course, none of the administrators said anything.

Even during the karate demonstration, people kept talking. I thought, "Wow, you can't even shut up when someone's getting his ass kicked?" COME ON.

Despite the rude Westerners, the night went off pretty well otherwise. The food was good and was served in bite-size portions. I would have been hungrier if I wasn't so damn thirsty. One thing I can't handle about Japan is their small drink size. I woke up this morning with a huge headache and apple juice colored pee because I was so dehydrated. In Japan, it's also rude to drink and walk around, so there's really no opportunity to just drink water without getting ogled at.

Today, a few friends and I are going to Harajuku. I don't care who stares at me, I'm going to drink some freakin' water.

３月３１日 Day 7: Heaven, Hell and Nirvana

Today, I went to Asakusa for the first time. It was absolutely mind-boggling... It was like I could feel the spirituality and tradition of Japan just present in this one place. We walked around, ate a lot and learned a lot too. It was seriously like ROOTS!! ^_^ No amount of written description will do this place justice, so here are a bunch of pictures.

What you see after going passing the first lantern.

Katsura: Traditional Japanese wigs

WTF: Traditional dog wigs?? You'd have to be a pretty sick person to do this to a dog.

Sushi for dogs! (This one's for the girlies~!)

Hello Kitty~

The second lantern ;]

This guy is making ningyoyaki-- a deep fried pancake sort of thing with azuki (red bean) inside. At first I thought, "Ningyoyaki? Is that fried mermaid?" Turns out the word for mermaid is ningyou, and not ningyo.

DELICIOUS.

Iro iro na lunch set with chawamushi, tempura, soba, chirashi, and sukiyaki.

After we went to get lunch, we passed the second shrine to try out Mikuji (fortunes). You take this big metal cylinder full of these sticks with numbers on it and you shake it until one of the sticks comes out. You find the matching number in this big case of drawers and you pull out the first fortune in the drawer. I got a bad fortune!! X_X When you get a bad fortune, you fold it so that it's thin enough to tie around this metal bar thing (above) and the bad luck goes away. I bought an omamori (good luck charm) in case that didn't work!

The smoke from this incense is supposed to heal the areas of your body that are most vulnerable-- so of course I covered my head.

After I got that bad fortune, I tried taking more pictures... but my camera got all shaky--- like it was recording an earthquake or something!! I was like W T F THIS IS SO SCARY. Bad fortune and then broken camera? HOLY AGU%IQ%)(*#@)$*)#!!! I'M TOO SUPERSTITIOUS TO ENJOY THIS IRONY!!!

The third shrine (probably the most beautiful one) was under construction. Guess I have to go back!!

Inside the shrine. People throw money between these slats and then make a wish.

The ceiling inside the shrine. It was GORGEOUS!

After we left the shrines, my camera went back to normal... but that was because I had entered a hell beyond all comprehension.

It was Kappabashi, which is mom's version of heaven, and my version of hell. All the stores in Kappabashi are restaurant-related. There were dish stores, sample (plastic food) stores, neon light stores, uniform stores, knife stores, and God knows what else. I'm not exaggerating when I say that mom went into EVERY. SINGLE. FRICKIN'. STORE.

HELL.

Here's what a typical store in Kappabashi looks like. Floor to ceiling of goods! Normally I would have enjoyed an outing like this with my roommates or if I was by myself. With my mom-- I was this close to completely losing it. Every store was almost identical-- besides, what could she possibly need at a RESTAURANT SUPPLY STORE?!

I ended up taking a chill pill after I realized that this was my mom's last official day in Japan. I let her do what she wanted and was finally zen when I realized that I've got 4 months to do whatever I want. Giving her a day of completely monotonous shopping seemed only right. I just waited outside knowing that things could only go up from here.

I got to see sakura at night in Mori Park in Roppongi~! You can see Tokyo Tower from here!

This beauty of the sakura at night just lead us to the next best thing: nirvana. Otherwise known as Restaurant Omae in Roppongi. It has a Michelin star! HOLY BALLS!!

The dinner we ate tonight was... UNDOUBTEDLY the best meal of my life. Yes, I realize that I've used that expression to describe the dinner on the first night-- but I'd like to retract that statement and present these pictures as evidence:

First course: beef tare tare with some kind of carpaccio. The beef was served on top of this ice cream cone and the carpaccio was served with a basil sauce. IT WAS SOOOO DELICIOUS I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF.

Second course: Shrimp, tofu and caviar. Enough said.

THE BEST SCALLOPS I'VE EVER EATEN. I DON'T EVEN LIKE SCALLOPS!!

Holy crap, those scallops were served with this white wine and butter sauce with this snapper that was wrapped in wakame. It was my favorite portion of the dinner by far. I've never eaten anything so slowly. I wanted to savor the taste for as long as I possibly could!!

This was our Chef, Abe Tetsuya. Verrry nice guy. Tatsuya and Atsuko (who treated us to this AMAZING dinner) were listening to the chef working at the other table and they said he was NOT nice. Abe-san explained everything he was doing as he was doing it. He told us all the ingredients and even presented it in English for me... because I was too busy drooling instead of trying to understand him.

Main course: SU-TE-KI! Suteki means beautiful and suteeki means steak. It was indeed a suteki na suteeki! The dipping sauces were garlic, Kumamoto soy sauce, salt and pepper. MY DAD WOULD HAVE LOVED IT BECAUSE IT WAS COOKED TO PERFECTION!!!

Mashed potatoes and horse radish (on top) that came with the steak. I usually hate horse radish-- but this place made me change my mind.

The final course: FRIED RICE. I KNOW-- WHAT? FRIED RICE? I will never eat fried rice that's this good... ever again. Sorry Mom and Dad-- it just... won't even compare. Abe-san fried this rice using salt, pepper, shoyu and mirin sauce and then raw beef flakes. *DROOOOOOOL*

Ok, so this night-- this experience, rather, would not be complete with out a few faux pas. The guy in this picture is the owner and chef of Restaurant Omae. He's Omae!! He's also Iron Chef Morimoto's protegee! I didn't know that when he took our order for dessert...

Our friend Tatsuya asked him for his recommendation, and I chose something else. Faux pas numero uno. When I found out he was the owner I was MORI-MORTIFIED. How could I NOT have ordered what he recommended?! HOW INSULTING OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I just thought he was some waiter! Why would the head chef and owner take a customer's order?!?!?! I took a picture with him just to show that I knew who he was and how privileged I felt to be in his presence.

It's ok though because Atsuko ended up ordering his recommended dessert which was this pistachio cake thing. PHEW~ SAVED! Omae-san even came back to our table to grind some fancy lime rind (sort of similar to yuzu) on top of the creme brulee I had ordered (against his recommendation). It was SUBLIME (hah)! I actually think it was waaaay better than what that pistachio cake!! Too bad I ruined it with faux pas numero dos: laughing like an ass in the middle of this classy restaurant.

So while we were waiting for our dessert, we were exchanging funny restaurant stories and experiences. So of course, I told them the story of when mom and I went to Nobu in New York, ate at the bar and the lady next to us who started hysterically sobbing. Tatsuya (who is low-key hilarious) said, "Oh, was she crying because she saw the price?" I burst out laughing because he's never made a joke in front of me and that actually was funny. It came out at about 10 times the necessary reaction.

Dead silence.

I wanted to kill myself. Omae-san saw me too. God. God. God. God. He must think I'm a total hick.

Despite all that though, the night ended smoothly and was still the best dinner I've ever had.

2 faux pas down... they won't be the last... hopefully they don't get any worse though!!