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."

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!!