Taking a break...

I will be taking a break from blogging for a week - my mother is visiting me in Japan :) I will be back next week to first catch up with the rest of my Kamakura trip and more...

Tsurugaoka Hachimango （鶴岡八幡宮） and Wakamiya Oji （若宮大路）

Tsurugaoka Hachimango Shrine is one of the most famous in Shinto Shrines in Kamakura and it is always full with domestic and international visitors. The shrine itself is on a hill and takes a few minutes to go up those stairs but it is well worth it. The garden on the way to the shrine is also very pretty and is adorned by a lake as well. The birds are used to humans feeding them so do not be surprised if you "get ambushed" by them. One thing I learnt here - apparently after land is prepared for building a house or a building, they circle the field with a rope and they hang talismans on the rope to cleanse the field of bad souls.

The walk up to the shrine is almost as famous as the shrine itself. Wakamiya Oji, as it is called, is a pretty long walkway (flanked by the roads for cars) that was initially built to help shrine visitors get there from the beach. The walkway has lanterns (quite a few of them) that lit up at night and there are nearly just as many cherry trees which makes me think when the cherry blossoms are out the walkway becomes even more beautiful.

First snow in Tokyo!

They said it would happen and this morning when I woke up I found the school ground and the buildins around covered in white. In fact it is still snowing as I write these lines. I wonder if the snow will stay on the ground... It is still above 0 degrees Celcius (32 Fahrenheit) but I see no way how it will actually stay that way (let alone rise according to the weather report..). Oh well, off to work with me under the snow.

Kamakura （鎌倉）

Kamakura is a city with two important properties - it is one of the oldest cities in Japan and it has nice beaches. Of course the temperature hanging around 5 degrees Celcius (around 41 degrees Fahrenheit) it is not exactly the best weather for a swim but there is a lot to be discovered in Kamakura even without the beaches. The city is home to the second biggest sitting Buddha statue in Japan (the first one is in Nara/奈良) and it is home to literally tens of temples and shrines. The city also briefly acted as effectively the capital of Japan for a while in the 15th or 14th century (I might be off by a century or two :P).

Travelling from Tokyo to Kamakura is either by train (JR line) or by car. I was fortunate enough to be travelling with a colleague who has a car (thanks again Kota and Momoe) and the trip took around an hour. The distance is not that much (50 km or 31 miles) but the road gets very narrow as one gets close to Kamakura. The trip through the city streets and the time needed to find parking takes almost as much as the trip to get to the city. The parking lots around the famous Tsurugaoka Hachimango shrine are numerous but almost all will be full. Also be ready to pay around ￥３００　or more for half an hour of parking.

Other than the shrines there is also a famous shopping street close to the Tsurugaoka Hachimango, very crowded and with lots of stores. The restaurants in the area, as well as these stores, are very familiar with tourists so it is a pretty good probability that one can find menus or explanations in English even though the vendors or the waiters/waitresses themselves may not be able to speak a word of English.

Coming of Age Day （成人の日）

Every year, on the second Monday of January, Japan celebrates the Coming of Age day with the Coming of Age Ceremony （成人式）. The celebrations are aimed at teenagers turning 20 who, according to Japan's laws, come... of age. 20 is the age for voting, smoking and drinking. Women turning 20 mark this day by wearing kimonos and men generally wear suits but some do also wear dark colored kimonos. Unfortunately for me, since this was a national holiday, I slept in and missed most of the ceremonies. By the time I was out and made it to the closest sizable shrine it was getting dark and people who were celebrating were out drinking. I did catch one group though and snapped this picture froma distance.

Tokyo Tower （東京タワー）

One of the symbols of Tokyo, the Tokyo Tower, is visible from many of the tourist spots (for example Roppongi/六本木) as well as the JR lines around Odaiba. I wanted to visit it for a while now and with the long weekend due to the "Coming of Age Day", the opportunity presented itself. Getting to the Tokyo Tower is very simple. It is literally a 5 minute walk from the Akebanebashi Station on the Toei Oedo line. From Shinjuku this translates to a 10-15 minute train ride. It is quite usual to see both locals and tourists taking pictures with cameras and cellphones on the way from the subway to the tower which is on a hill.

The foot of the tower holds "Foot City" which when I first heard thought was a weird theme park. Apparently it is just a name for the 4-storey building at the foot of the tower. The building contains restaurants, stores, an aquarium, an arcade and the Tokyo Guiness World Records Museum among other things. The tickets for the observatory are sold outside the building in the back and unfortunately the signage is not great so if it is very likely that one ends up going inside only to see signs at the observatory elevators stating they cannot be taken from there. The tickets cost ￥８００ per adult. The observatory is at 150 meters (the tower is about 333 meters high and they make sure to drill that point in by having stores named Tokio 333). There is also a special observatory at 300 meters for which one needs to line up at the observatory and pay extra. The waiting time there was double the waiting time at the entrance downstairs (60 minutes versus around 30). Taking good pictures is a little hard because of the reflection off the windows but I think I managed to find some good angles... Oh and a quick tip - the first floor of the observatory which has a bar, is much less crowded than the second floor and a little more dimly lit so it makes for better pictures.

Watching NFL games in Japan

I have been a big fan of NFL for the last two years - way too late for someone who lived in Pittsburgh for the last ten... I guess in order to make up for the time I have lost, i.e. the first eight years, I have started to follow the Steelers pretty religiously. This, of course, created a problem when moving out from Pittsburgh. Thankfully Japan is one of the few countries in the world really interested in (and thus following) the NFL...

NFL is mainly covered by a channel named Gaora in Japan. This is available through cable (JCN is what I use) and as I understand it also through satellite. They keep an updated schedule of games to be broadcasted online in English. All of the post-season games are shown as well as select games during the season. They are not tied to a specific network in the USA so games from CBS, FOX, etc. are shown. The funny thing is that the logos of the networks originally broadcasting the games are usually on the screen as well making it almost seem like someone patched a satellite signal and you are watching pirated video (which is of course not true :P). The non-live games take an hour less than the games as they were originally broadcast since there are very few ads during a program in Japan and all the breaks just get skipped. For live games they still do not have ads but instead divert to a studio where they discuss the last play or they advertise the upcoming games (so in a way, their own ad I guess). Also, games are simulcast in both the original language (i.e. English) and with Japanese commentating.

Unfortunately Gaora does not seem to be doing their broadcasts in High Definition. However, sometimes NHK1 which is available as over-the-air digital broadcast shows games (I think select Sunday games broadcast on Monday) in HD.

Going to the doctor

Insurance comes in handy when going to the doctor's in Japan. I think there is some sort of national insurance for the citizens and foreigners like me get to have insurance through their companies.

After I got a sty in my eye, I had to visit an eye doctor. Thankfully there is at least one close by (in Kichijouji/吉祥寺) right by the train station where they speak English. Well, ok not everyone there speaks English but if there is some sort of idea they cannot express, they point to phrases on paper ;) The consultation and treatment cost me a measly $15 with the medicine costing only $6.

Rainbow Bridge

I was in Odaiba a few days ago when the weather was nicer. I went to Venus Fort, an upscale mall modeled to look like typical European streets with a huge fountain in the center and Sega Joyopolis an entertainment venue with games by Sega. The view through the back doors of Joyopolis is breathtaking so I made my first attempt at a panoramic image - I think it came out OK :)

Osaka Castle （大阪城天守閣）

Osaka Castle is a must see for anyone who happens to be in Osaka. It is in a park (appropriately called the Osaka Castle Park) and accessible via a few different subway stops. The castlegrounds is free to visit and there are many small food vendors around selling grilled octopus in dough or たこ焼き. Some of these vendors have little chairs for their customers to use but most have people standing around. There is also a very nice statue in the park erected by "United World Federalist of Japan, Osaka Chapter" with a quote from 1972:

A life of liberty and hope cannot be enjoyed on Earth until the world federation become a reality. That will be the day that planetary citizens closes the curtain on war and opens the door to everlasting peace. By this monument, let us all pledge a concerted effort with love and courage, so that one day the world will be one.

The castle itself is very very pretty. It is very old but unfortunately it was burnt down after a lightning strike and had to be rebuilt. I was lucky enough to catch it in the right light so the details are visible in the image. There is a time capsule close to the castle as well that was buried in 1968 to be opened 5000 years later. I have seen a lot of timecapsules but never one to be opened soo many years into the future. Unfortunately the castle itself was closed for visits that day (it was the 31st of December) and I could not go inside. Well, may be next time...

Universal Studios Japan (USJ)

Universal Studios Japan is one of the newest attractions in Osaka. Having never been to the original Universal Studios in the US, I wanted to check out its Japanese counterpart (which opened only a few years ago) during the few days break I got from work. Entrance tickets can be bought at the attraction (loooong lines), from JR or at the partnering hotels. I got it from my hotel for ￥５８００　for a single day pass (from around 9:30 am to 8 pm). Even though it was pretty windy and cold the place was full of people (mostly Japanese of course) so I am pretty sure on a warmer day or in the summer it would be impossible to get on any rides without waiting a good few hours.

Talking about the wait times - make sure you get in early and buy the express booklets. They basically let you bypass the waiting lines but they run out pretty quickly. You can buy these from the main souvenir shop right at the entrance. There are two types - Express 4 lets you bypass the waiting lines on the four most popular rides and Express 7 does the same on seven (pretty much every) popular rides. They are lifesavers and well worth the money if you think about all the time you are saving (more than half an hour per ride) and all the rides you can therefore try in that extra time. They also had a pretty nice show at night by a huge Christmas tree (even though this was after Christmas) singing carols. Unfortunately I just had a day there but I will try to either go back or visit the original in the US. Since I did not buy the Express Booklets and they ran out, I only got to try two rides - Back to the Future and Spiderman. The second one I enjoyed more since BTF had way too much movement and my motion sickness kinda kicked in. Oh and a word of warning - all the rides are designed in Japanese so you will get to read the descriptions and the warnings in English but all the videos and announcements will be in Japanese...

Captain Line

To get from the Tempozan Village to the Universal Studios involves crossing a decent sized body of water and Captain Line is there to help. The hotel I stayed in, Hotel Seagull, had timetables but one could also just walk to the port to check at the little Captain Line hut. What's more important is the waiting lounge given that the weather tends to be chilly and windy this time of the year. The hut and the place for boarding are marked on the floor once one takes the stairs down from in front of the aquarium towards the water.

The ships themselves are pretty decent, offering both covered and open areas of seating. I have a pretty bad case of motion sickness so given that I was OK during the 10 minute trip I think says a lot about the quality of the trip. One thing to make sure is to check the schedule ahead of time at the hut - they are the most updated and the timetables elsewhere (for example the hotels) can be outdated. Oh, an interesting tidbit of information - everyone, including the captain of the ship, were ladies.

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館)

The aquarium in Osaka is right by the ferris wheel and only a 5-10 minute walk from the JR station (Osakako/大阪港). It is one of the biggest aquariums in the world. The entrance is actually on the second floor and one can use the machines there to buy tickets as well as going to the windows. The ticket machine also offers "sets" of tickets with reduced prices. For example I wanted to get tickets for the ship going from the Tempozan port to the Universal Studios port and back and I could combine that with the entrance tickets to the aquarium. The aquarium consists of multiple floors with not just fish but also dolphins, ducks and even penguins on display.

The most impressive part of the museum is the central tank called "Pacific Ocean". It holds 5400 tons of water with a depth of 9 meters. The thickness of the acrylic glass panels they use for this tank is 30 cm, with a height of 5 meters and width of 6 meters. The glass for that tank weighs 10 tons while the glass used in the whole aquarium weighs 314 tons - this is 150% of the annual acrylic glass output of the whole world! I definitely recommend the aquarium to anyone who has a few days to spend in Osaka.

Tempozan Harbor Village (天保山ハーバービレッジ)

The Tempozan Village, which is where my hotel was (Hotel Seagull - decent but nothing special), is home to one of the biggest aquariums and ferris wheels in Japan. The aquarium attracts lots of visitors from all around Japan as well as quite a few international visitors. The ferris wheel, which at some point was the biggest in the world, stands close to both the aquarium and a series of shops/stores. Apparently, though this escaped me while I was in Osaka, the colors on the ferris wheel change based on the weather forecast similar to the building in Pittsburgh's downtown (I can't remember the building's name right now). It was way too windy (and high :P) for me to try the ferris wheel unfortunately.The village is right by the Osaka Chuo subway line, Osaka-ko (大阪港) stop and it has quite a few restaurants.

Shinkansen Trip to Osaka (大阪)

Osaka to Tokyo is about an hour with a plane but as this was close to New Year's holiday the price for plane tickets skyrocketed as usual assuming one could find a ticket. I always wanted to try the famous "Bullet train" or Shinkansen (新幹線) as they are called around here so this provided me with the opportunity. There are three different kinds of Shinkansens based on how many stops they make. Kodama (こだま) is what can be considered the most local one making stops most frequently. Then comes the Hikari (ひかり) and Nozomi (のぞみ) which makes the least number of stops (for example between Tokyo and Osaka Nozomi makes only one or two stops while Kodama makes about ten).
It is possible to reserve tickets for the Shinkansen on the internet but someone still needs to go pick up the tickets at one of the bigger JR stations. The alternative is just going to the station and buying the tickets without making a reservation beforehand but this can be problematic. Other than choosing the origin and the destination, and the type of Shinkansen, one needs also needs to choose the type of car. Each shinkansen has three kinds of cars - reserved seating (most cars are like this), green (most luxurious with most legroom etc.) and non-reserved (only a few cars in every train. If you are late, you end up standing potentially for multiple hours.) Not affecting the price is whether smoking is allowed in the car. JR has a good webpage explaining everything about tickets - http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/ticket/index.html.