Cultureful spring day

That popeyes was great.  Ill be going back.  It had a great central location, was clean, room was big, everyone was quiet, and the 12 hour booking cost only 21 books + 2 more for a shower.

I headed out to my destination of the day: The Tokyo International Museum in Ueno park.  I didn't know what to expect there, but wanted to see a lot so I paid for the special exhibit as well.  The museum has multiple different building, with several dedicated to western art and asian art respectively and another building specific to Japan, and another for the special exhibit.  

I went through the Japanese exhibit first.  Everything had excellent info in multiple languages.  It went through the history of japanese pottery, metalwork, and artifacts.  Very interesting.  It had another section for metalcraft, weapony, and armor.  So I came in not caring that much about Samurai and their armor and weapons, but the swords really are fascinating up close.  Famous swordmakers had uniqye traits on their sword such as the tempering line (hamon) pattern on the blade.  And it pointed out the details I might not otherwise know to look for.

Another section was on the natives of the northern islands such as Hokkaido (Ainu people) and the southern Ryukyuu islands (Ryukyuuans). It showed artifacts dating up to the 18th century.  It stopped there because, if I' remembering this right the Japanese mainlanders, ahem, removed the Ainu.  The exhibit glazed over that bit.

The special exhibit was featuring the treasures of Toji temple.  I had been to Toji on my second day in Kyoto, but was really just there for the flea market.  Actually at that time all there stuff was being set up in Tokyo anyway.  

The exhibit explained Esoteric Buddhism which Toji is a temple for.  Its a branch of Buddhism that has secret rituals and objects learned and passed down for specific things.  I.e. if you want to prevent natural disasters to your town, there would be a special ritual they could do for it.  There were 32 national treasures in the exhibi if I counted correctly.  Toji is the oldest standing temple in Kyoto, since the 700s and was one of 3 government sponsored temples in its city when built, so it has some cool stuff.

There were a lot of mandalas both statues and paintings, records from the temple, ritual objects, and finally buddha, myoo, and buddhastava statues.  One of which was the only item where photos were allowed.

After that I finished off the upstairs of the Japan section and went to Asian art building.   This also included west asia, so Iraq, Egypt, Iran.  To my suprise they had a mummy and sarcophagus and 2 statues of Seht dating to 1400bc.  Pretty wild.

I was super hungry at this point, Id been in the museum around 4.5 hours, and didnt even see all of it.  I looked up good food near me and found a well reviewed ramen place.  On my way out, I realized that today was part of Ueon Parks speing Fedtival.  Stands were set up selling food, and it was packed like the State fair as people tried to watch and walk under the Cherry Blossoms.  That was the direction I was going so I shuffled and the slow speed of the crowd through the trees.  In other areas the ground was covered in blankets and picniccers.  People had all kinds of food ranging feom homemade stuff and sake to pizza and McDonalds.  Even though it was pretty warm and crowded Im glad I got the experience.

After getting through I crossed the road to a ramen shop with a line outside zig zagging a bit.  I got in line and an older guy working there handed me a little menu where you circle the ramen options you want, and if you want extra meat or less hot sauce you circle that option.  Its like ordering Jimmy Johns online kind of choices.  After 40 min I was in the building where I was 10 people away.  They had ticketing machines where you pay for your food when there are fewer people or so i presumed.  When I sat down in my booth it was like those prison phone chairs.  You have tiny privacy walls, and in the otherside is a cook who you cant see most of ththe time.  Im like heres my stuff, and hes like, wheres your ticket.  Oh crap I need a ticket.  Luckily he was super nice and left the kitchen with me, helped another customer with the machine, then showed me how to order.  Phwew.  Went back to my seat, handed over my ticket and in 10 minutes I had a very delicious bowl of ramen with extra pork.

Now I had some time to kill again so I went to look for a store I missed yesterday in Akihabara which was Mandarake.  Its another one like the one in Shinjuku that was in a cellar.  This one went up 7 floors instead of down and was pretty cool to look around.  At times it has a museum vibe because they have so many antique toys from Japan in the 50's and up.  A lot of Ultraman who i used to love, and the monsters he fought.

Had to rest my feet again so found the McDs.  After I sat down by myself for a short while, a Japanese guy sat next to me and said hello and if I spoke english.  I said yes.  Turns out he writes a small column for the Japan times called Views from thr Street, where he talks to foreigners and nationals on random subjects.  

We talked about this and that, and after 30 min or so thanked me and said he let me enjoy my food (normal fries btw). He didn't take my picture or ask my name, so chances are it wont show.  Or it could've been a ruse to practice his English.  Either way if you see anything disparaging of me just remember its fake news.  But if its nice then hes a great guy, probably the greatest reporter, and I know a lot, believe me.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/kunio-kanamori/  

After getting interviewed, I headed out to the CAPSULE HOTEL that I booked the night before.  it had ok reviews and was in the general area.  Its where I am now, in my capsule.

Itsss okayyyy.  I definitely prefer a not awful internet cafe.  I did a Japanes faux pas entering.  You go under a curtain and BEFORE you go into the elevator to go to the lobby youre standing on a tetami mat.  Tetami mat = no shoes allowed.  I was confused at the elevator and saw some guy taking off his shoes, and he looks up and Im like excuse me (sumimasen) and start walking past and he looks at my shoes and goes "hrmphh!" and walks past me.  Whoopsie.  So I verify the name is correct and take my shoes off this time and put them in a locker, taking ththe key.  The 2 guys at the counter get me checked in and take my shoe keys and give me new keys for a locker.  They give me the tour of the area which has a lounge, showers, a sauna I think, restrooms, shower.  Finally my capsule.  I got top bunk so im climbing up.  Temp is comfortable, theres a tv with like 10 channels.  Theres a radio alarm on the wall, an outlet, and lught controls.  The capsule entrance is just a curtain, so it wont help with any noise.

Pricewise its the same as an I cafe, right around 28 bucks.  Hopefully I have a pleasant night.  My checkout is later than usual at 10am.  

Ghibli Museum and lots of Anime Boobs

Note: updated previous post with images.

Today I got up pretty early.  I didn`t get a great sleep as that Popeye turned out to be miserable.  It was 3 floors and the only bathroom was on the bottom floor, so when people would go up or down the stairs it would make a loud slapping noise because of the pleather slippers everyone gets.  On top of that the doors to the cubicles were extremely loud.  But I got up on time and headed out.  Mitaka is just west of where I was at and only took 10 minutes of walking and a 20 minute train ride to get there, picking up some baked goods at the train station for breakfast.

Mitaka is much quieter than Akihabara and Shinjuku, though most areas are.  Some of the houses seemed fairly large by Japanese standards.  The park that the Ghibli museum resides in was very pretty with lots of cherry blossoms.  A few people had blankets and chairs set out to absentmindedly watch the petals fall.  Lots were out playing tennis or running.  I got to the museum about 2 hours early and hung around just sitting and fiddling on my phone.  I grabbed a snack and coke at Lawsons.  I think it was the final Kara Age Chicken flavor I hadn`t tried yet, citrus, pretty good but lemons still better.

My 12 oclock appointment was now 15 hours away and I got in line.  They tell you no photos inside, and give you a very basic layout.  They also give you a ticket that you use to get entrance to the animated short in the movie theater there.  They have a new one every year and it only gets shown here.  On the ticket are 3 animation cells from a Ghibli movie.  Mine were from Howl`s Moving Castle.

The museum is set up somewhat like a sprawling cottage.  There are a couple spiral staircases, one that it unnecessary to get up, but the other is to get onto the roof where there`s a garden and a giant soldier from Laputa: Castle in the Sky.  The first floor has a permanent exhibition set up that shows the early days of motion pictures and is to give kids a better idea of how individual frames build up a picture, but there was a really cool setup that had models in layers in a ring around a pole.  It would spin and the lights would go out, but a strobe light going made it look like it was a pillar of moving models, very very cool.

Next I went to the movie.  it was a very cute animation that happily didn`t have words, as the ones that have in the past didn`t have subtitles or anything.  It was about a spider in a pond that pulls down bubbles of air from the surface to make its home in the water, and becomes enamored by an elegant waterstrider.

The 2nd floor had an exhibit showing how the process develops and concepts are fleshed out.  None of the info is in English but it did a great job of having interactive exhibits that you could see where it was going.  It showed how frames were colored and how using multiple layers of art and a scrolling machine to scan/photo them it could create movement or panning much easier.

There was a room with recommended books by Miyazaki, a room with a Cat Bus for kids that they could go inside of, a room with storyboard books for each picture you could flip through, a room of early sketches and designs, and finally the gift shop and cafe.  The cafe just had hotdogs and ice cream so I passed on it, but I checked out the gift shop.  Total I spent probably just an 1 1/2 hour looking in the museum, but it was very interesting, pretty, and only 9 bucks.

Only advice to anyone looking to do the same, book your ticket 2 months in advance the day and exact time they become available.  Its what I had to do to get a ticket at a good time (pre 6`o clock) and all the tickets sold out within a day.

While chilling I was trying to figure out what to do next.  I decided on moving areas in Tokyo and heading to Akihabara/Akasuka area, that is east metro vs west metro.  I somewhat figured out the train for it and missed my stop by one, but just walked back, it was only 20 minutes detour.  During that time I was starving and stopped at a Sukiya and this time got a Tuna Poke bowl.  Normally I`d be sketched out by fast food raw tuna for 6 bucks, but their other stuff was good and it is Japan.  It was really tasty, scarfed it out down with a little wasabi and soy saunce and continued.

Akihabara is the Anime Fan and Video Gamers paradise.  Its loaded with stores that span 8 floors of like
Basement: special deal stuff
1st floor: character statues
2nd floor: posters and keychains for the ladies, usually featuring hunky guy cartoons
3rd floor: robot and train models
4th floor: porn and dvds
5th floor: card games usually yugioh and idolmaster
6th floor: toys, featuring some american stuff
7th floor: Guest artist/anime thing event floor

And that was just one variation, I went in probably around 6 anime stores more or less like this.  Some had fewer floors like 3, but in those cases its usually a floor for lady comics and a porn floor off the main floor.

The video game stores were kind of meh for me.  There were 2 things I was looking for which were of course that Gameboy Light, but also Japan exclusive games for the Nintendo Switch, as thats a system that is region free and can play games regardless of what country your system is from.  No luck on the gameboy, switch had some interesting things like Taiko Drum Master and DOA 3 Xtreme Beach Volleyball, but that`s about it.

Started looking for a place to rest and recharge for a bit.  I had been in very crammed stores for a while.  Punched in Starbucks into my phone, but Lo, a KFC that had wifi in it.  Stopped at the KFC and got chicken sandwich I forgot the name of, but its a Japan only thing.  It reminded be of honey barbeque though, so it was fine.  Got to stay warm, take some asprin and sit for a bit.  Also I was trying to figure out my next couple nights stay.  I was checking out capsule hotels and they were booked for tonight, but one was free the next, so I booked a room for tomorrow night for around 30 bucks.   Tonight I picked another Popeye (to avoid having to register at another icafe and knowing their system).

Afterwards there were a few more stores I still wanted to look around in, there really is a ton to see in this area.  I wandered around and checked em out.  After I walked out of the last store it was raining pretty hard.  Shoot, I`d had pretty good luck so far.  I found some cover and put on my poncho, which I`ve failed to ever get it over my backpack, something funky happens and it just gets caught off of it.

I headed over to Popeye which was a 30 minute walk away.  As I got closer there were a couple companionship service places around, each with a pair of clean looking suited gentlemen, which I assumed to be Yakuza since they usually run the seedier establishments.  I got to the popeye, and signed up for a room.  So far my hopes are high.  The cubicles are easily more than twice the size of normal, its very clean.  Its been quiet so far.  I guess that`s what happens when you get away from the busy night areas.

Tomorrow there`s a lot I can do in this area, but I`m thinking the Tokyo Museum a short ways north.

High fashion in Harajuku

I woke up at Raum having only made it through 5 drinks last night and no time for one in the morning.  Also a correction, what I had called a memosa was an oj and vodka.  I smelled like cigarettes even though I was in the non-smoking section.  I hadn`t realized until I layed down the the pad was pretty inundated with the smell.  Other bad things to find out was the bathroom was a mess, as you could expect from a place with all you can drink booze.  Finally the shower cost an extra 5 bucks to use, and I had to wait to use it as they only had 1 available.  So unless I really want to drink a lot later on, maybe won`t be staying there again.

I started heading towards Shinjuku park, but found out it wasn`t open yet.  I stopped for breakfast at a small cafe and got a coffee and a sandwich that was Pastrami, Camembert cheese, and Shiso leaves.  It was really good and I`m not sure how to describe the Shiso leaves.  They have a fresh flavor, not too unlike mint but milder.

After that I continued on to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.  It has free observation decks, and luckily I was there 5 minutes before they opened, so the line was fairly short and I got in it.  I found out they were doing bag checks before the elevator, and the nice lady was like ok unzip that pocked, ok all clothes, unzip that one, ok worn underwear and toothbrush stuff on top, you`re good.

The view at the top was absolutely fantastic and was only the view from one of the towers.  So it gives a view of potentially half of Tokyo.  Mt Fuji would be visible in the distance, but it was too cloudy to see it.  I hung around for about 40 minutes or so taking pictures and looking at the guides on what buildings were what.  They also had a gift shop with mostly kitschy things, and from there I left.  When I got down to the first floor the line was much much longer, about 60 people back and moving slow.

The building also had some of the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020 stuff on display.  It has their mascots, the Olympic flag, and the previous torches from Rio.

I started heading south to Yoyogi park.  Its a fairly large park and I took the entrance that goes to Meiji Jinja shrine.  The shrine honoring Emperor Meiji who effectively westernized Japan by banning Samurai and bringing in western technology and culture.

Before I got to the shrine, some lady walks up to me and is like here, you want?  And gives me a shiny buddha thing.  And I`m like ok thanks.  Then she`s like here, and opens up a bad with names and an amount and she`s like "donation" and there`s a little explanation that its for money for the shrine.  And I`m like oh no, here`s your thing back, and she took it and walked off.  That`s my story.

After getting through the park I was entering Shibuya. While Shinjuku is the nightlife area of Tokyo, Shibuya is a fashion hub and also home to the busiest street crossing in the world known as the "Shibuya Scramble".  Its an all way crossing and there`s always last minute people trying to dart across.  For anyone who`s seen Lost in Translation, this is where Charlotte is walking across and there`s the pink dinosaur on the video screen.  The screens just had commercials when I was there.

Before going here I texted Sarah and told her to tune into the livestream, because there`s a camera set up that streams it and she could see me and try to screenshot me.  She saw me once she thinks :) but couldn`t find me again.  Honestly its like where`s waldo, and its not an HD stream, so its pretty tough.  We gave up after 4 tries.

Continuing to wander I found the Mandarake store.  It`s the largest seller/buyer of used manga in Tokyo, and thus probably the world, but they also have lots of other antique Japanese toys and stuff.  Like monsters from 60`s 70`s movies, and random collectibles.  The weird thing here was you go down 3 flights of stairs to get there and its in the huge underground cellar.  Not something I was expecting.

Around this time I was getting munchy, so first I grabbed a Strawberry Tiramisu crepe, which was awesome.  Next I got a pork skewer from a stand.  There are a lot more stand an eat and window service food places here than in Kyoto.

A short ways further on I found another thing on my todo list: The Hachiko statue.  Hachiko is a Shibuya icon and for those familiar with the "Frye`s Dog" are familiar with Hachiko, because that episode was based on him.  Hachiko was a dog who would wait at Shibuya Station every day in the evening for his owner to get off the train.  One day his owner died of a brain aneurysm and obviously didn`t come back.  Now homeless, Hachiko would wander the area, but always return to the train station each day to wait for his owner, until his own death.  More on the wiki page including a picture of Helen Keller touching the same statue.

Next to Shibuya is the area known as Harajuku.  This area gets some crazy Avant Garde youth fashion and also has many high end fashion shops all in a very small area.  I don`t think I got any good pictures of people because I didn`t stop them to ask, and wasn`t in a good position to to creeper pictures without them noticing.  There was nothing toooo too crazy, but I did spot a guy who was full Yohji Yamamoto, which is a very drapy, all black, very Japanese look.  Lots of platformed or chunky shoes.  A lot of girls wore oversized sweaters so the sleeves cover the hands but with low cutoffs so they could be tucked into hiked up wide pants.

I went in the Bape store so I could post about what trash it is.  James if you`re reading this, Bape is trash.  They`ve coasted for 20 years on a single design and everyone says their stitching and cloth quality has gone downhill over the years.

I also went into the Japan Blue store.  Japan makes the best denim in the world, or so sayeth the experts and Japan Blue is on the cheaper end of Japanese and raw Japanese Denim.  I tried on an expensive shirt, I liked it a lot, but didn`t quite love it...the fit was a little too tapered (aka my gut is an American gut).

Also I stumbled upon a Knot watch shop.  This is where Rick had wanted me to buy him a watch he wanted, and I was considering it as well.  They have a really nice shop, and their watches are very nice.  Unfortunately both the model he wanted and the one I wanted were no longer made, so didn`t snag anything.  However, I had a long conversation with the guy running the shop.  He was from South Korea and had lived in Japan 3 years.  His English was great.  He started our long political discussion with "So what do you think of North Korea".  To which was like "What?"  And then he said "What do you think about Kim Jong Un".  What does anyone think about Kim Jong Un...at any rate he was pretty up to speed with American politics as well, so we talked about South Korea and the US and whatnot.  Very fun.

Everyday complaint, feet were dying.  I stopped at a starbucks and just got a cheapo drip coffee and sat for a bit.  When I left it was getting dark and I needed to get back to Shinjuku still.  Made it back to Shinjuku, with my left foot getting some sharp pains so I said screw it, sitting again.  Went in McDonalds and THIS time enunciated and got the Teriaki chicken sandwich set.  It was pretty darn ok.

So after that back to wandering and time killing.  I found another Taito arcade building and tried and failed a couple times at a claw machine.  Then I found one of my signature games: Jurassic Park.  Sarah and I have cleared it many times at Dave and Busters, and sure enough made it through about half on one coin, then stopped.  Interesting differences I noticed, the Japanese version has slight auto-aim, adds a music track, and when you finally lose give you a discounted rate to continue playing.

I picked up a new usb cable at book off since my other one is falling apart, and then to kill more time I decided to see a movie.  They weren`t showing Us, which I was hoping to see, but they had Black K Klansman showing.  I got a ticket for 9:40.  Some old usher guy got grumpy twice at me.  First I thought he told me to move because I was sitting by a window.  Then I went inside and put down my backpack and sat on it and he walked up and is like no no.  So its just no sitting, gotta stand.  Ok.

The movie.  It was very good, I highly recommend it.  However, I got an experience I wasn`t expecting.  Not to spoil too much but at the end for several minutes it shows incidents from the Charlottesville KKK march, brutal fights, and the car ramming that killed a person.  Watching this in a foreign theater and with the events leading to it, I just felt a wave of emotion and extreme shame.  If I had watched it in an American theater, there would`ve maybe been a "yeah that was awful moment", but surrounded by outsiders looking at this completely different world was really terrible.

After the movie it was about midnight and I walked a block to the Popeye I`m currently at.  I unfortunately had to register again because my Osaka one doesn`t work here.  But got through it fine.  I got it for 10 hours but I`ll probably wake up a little before 8.  I need to be at the Ghibli Museum at 12 and I`d prefer to get there early.  The train only takes like 20 minutes to get there.

Also I forgot to mention I went to Golden Gai.  Its an area crammed with mini bars.  It appears to have been killed bh tourists like me though.  People everywhere, but just taking pictures.  The bars charge an entrance fee of 8-10 bucks, then its 5 bucks for any drink while there. I can see it being a good time with someone else.