gaijin hijinks

It’s Just Different Here: Hanging On

gaijinhijinks — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:48:48 +0000

Maybe this happens all the time in cities with subways… but in Tokyo, the trains run on time. That means they leave the station with the doors closed, regardless of what’s hanging outside the door. In this case, the young lady’s handbag, which she clung to for the ride between stations.

Her Bag Goes for A Ride...

A Steep Climb

gaijinhijinks — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:57:20 +0000

Warriors in full battle armor running at speed – the image that comes to mind in the Musha Bashira, one of the outside passages of this ancient castle, designed to accommodate their girth with extra width and set below the floor – but suddenly they turn, confronted by an offset route and a steep set of stairs that are difficult negotiate even under ideal circumstances. Castles, even those constructed during more peaceful times, were built with both offensive and defensive positions in mind. Many early castles were built on high walls (see Kumamoto) or in locations designed to reduce the opportunity for attack. Other castles, like Matsumoto, were built in anticipation of gun warfare (with appropriate gun slots and thick walls) but were never used due to the end of civil wars at the start of the Edo period. Matsumoto’s primary defense is its moat, (which photographs beautifully in more peaceful times) as well as the de rigueur hidden floor. Inside, the halls and stairs are offset, designed to slow down intruders. Most challenging now, for the visitor, are the extremely steep stairs, especially as they are negotiated in stocking feet. Each staircase is progressively steeper until you reach the final one, which is at about a 70% angle AND has uneven steps that are of differing sizes. Today, the view from the top of the Japanese Alps and the city of Matsumoto make the climb worthwhile, even though dangerous. This castle also has a rare moon viewing room; the story goes that you can see the moon three times: once in the sky, once in the water and once in your cup of sake (six times if the sake is strong!).

Castle, Moat and Mountains

Silk Tassles and internal screens

The "Crow" up close

Some of the Easy stairs

It’s Just Different Here: Everything including the Kitchen Sink

gaijinhijinks — Sat, 15 May 2010 21:16:58 +0000

OK, so I know there’s been a lot of concern about H1N1 throughout the world. Hand sanitizer as a hotel guest welcome sign is the new “in”. However, we never thought the Japanese would take it to such lengths. This interesting platform necessity was spotted in Matsumoto JR train station. We really couldn’t figure out who would use it and when.

Train Platform Sinks - A New Development in Japan

Kurabu – Eating Well in Obuse

gaijinhijinks — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:25:21 +0000

One of our guides in Tokyo had been recommending we visit Obuse for years and on this latest trip we finally got a chance to go to this small town near Nagano. One of the best parts of our day was lunch at Kurabu, the robata-like restaurant operated by the folks who also run the local sake factory, Mashuchi. The Club (kurabu) got its name because it was built in an old section (bu) of the brewery (kura), and serves the traditional “yori-tsuki” style cooking that the brewers enjoy. The “yori-tsuki” was a place where the brewers could quickly gather for breaks or meals between shifts. Every day rice is washed and steamed in an old-fashioned wood-burning oven. The seasonal foods cooked over wood and charcoal can be enjoyed with sake straight from the brewery. The sauce served with the grilled beef was one of the best soy sauces I’ve ever had. Here’s a video to give you a feel for the place.

It’s Just Different Here: A Little Trashy

gaijinhijinks — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:43:03 +0000

I can hardly write this one up without going into paroxysms of laughter. In a hotel to be unnamed, we encountered the world’s smallest trashcans, if they weren’t so entirely useless, they’d be cute. These were on the floor and I think may have held a Q-tip or two, but not much more.

Miss Kitty must have lost this one

The Little sister - even smaller

Springtime in Matsumoto

gaijinhijinks — Sun, 02 May 2010 05:24:33 +0000

We did manage to have a taste of spring weather and the cherry blossoms during a recent trip to Japan. One of the ways that the Japanese celebrate the cherry blossoms is by lighting up their gardens and famous places during this time. We caught the last night of the “light-up” at Matsumoto castle, where the entire castle is surrounded by rows of cherry trees and also freshly budding weeping willows (or something like a weeping willow). Matsumoto castle is one of the 12 “original” castles in Japan and it’s quite nice. We visited inside the next day, including a climb to the top for those who are agile enough to take on the many sets of steep stairs. This is a beautiful castle which is kept in excellent shape. The location is a little unusual, in that it was not build specifically to defend a strategic position – it’s in the low lands and, as one of the last castles built, it was more for governing than war. The most notable difference this makes is the lack of high walls. The castle sits rather low, and, in fact, is barely visible across town from the 10th story of our hotel (we had to ask where it was and we could only see the very top when it was pointed out between some tall buildings). This is quite different from some of the other famous castles (Himeji, Kumamoto) that we’d been to, where the defensive position was a key consideration in the castles placement and construction. The definition of “original” also is a little oblique, since all castles have are made of materials that require regular replacement and renovation. We’ve never been able to get a clear definition of what makes a castle an original vs. a reconstruction. Whatever its provenance, though, the castle is beautiful on a cool spring night as the cherry blossoms finish off their short season.

The Castle & Moat

Through the Cherry Blossoms

Castle Reflections

Cherry Blossoms Light up the Moat

Lost in Translation

gaijinhijinks — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:26:19 +0000

Everyone has their own little personal quirks and one of mine is that I habitually misplace things. Traveling only exacerbates the issue, since being on the move means that it’s even more difficult to track everything. On my most recent trip to Japan I lost not fewer than five separate items – and I’ve got four back!
Japan is amazing that way – three of the lost items were rather simple for this efficient and incredibly honest society – a blanket left at a ryokan was takybbined to my final hotel, a sheaf of papers dropped (yes, I was so tired I just dropped them as I walked around a hotel resort property and didn’t notice for 15 minutes) was found and sent directly back to my address in the US and at least one bag left in a store was exactly where I left it when I returned. My favorite hair clip, alas, is probably never going to be seen again.
But the most incredible (to an American) “return” was the lost CD case. We finally figured out that we’d lost the case of movie CD’s on the last morning when we couldn’t find it after repacking all the bags the previous night. Calls to all 5 previous hotels yielded nothing – but did get us a second call back from the Four Seasons to let us know they’d checked everywhere even though we’d been there 4 nights previously. We doubted our memories – maybe we hadn’t packed it. We hoped we’d left it in the room in Matsumoto; one of the only hotels without enough English to check ourselves, so we were having a colleague call when they had a moment. We headed to the airport – really hoping we’d just for forgotten it at home. In a last act of desperation, we asked at the American Airlines check-in counter to see if we’d left it on the plane on our inbound trip 7 days previously – we described the case and its contents and the lovely lady at the counter called it in. We left, went through a little hoo-ha at security check (note to self: do NOT try to take sake on board with you – it’s LIQUID!) and arrived at the lounge to await our flight. Where, when we checked in, they handed us the missing CD case!!! Found on the plane when we came in!
Maybe this happens all the time in the US and we just don’t hear about it. Yeah, right… a CD case with a new copy of “The Hangover” is left on a plane and 7 days later you return to the check-in counter at the airport and they locate said item and have it delivered to the club or departure gate so that it arrives before you do.
So, at least in Japan, my personal quirk doesn’t create quite so many problems for me – items are rarely lost – only understanding in translation.

Visit to Meiji Shrine

gaijinhijinks — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:51:55 +0000

I’ve started working on videoing many of the special places in Japan. Our first outings with video gave us quite a bit of shaky cam material, so this past trip we dragged along a tripod and definitely got better result. Visiting Meiji Shrine is a standard tourist activity, but few westerners know about the sacred Kagura dance that you can attend, since everything about it is in Japanese. We were lucky enough to have along one of Esprit’s guides who took us to this very special event. Unfortunately, no video is permitted, so all I can say is the 1/2 hour sitting on the tatami mats on your knees is worth the experience – it’s quite unique and very Japanese. In the meantime, we could do video of other parts, so here’s a short sample of the visit.

“Spring” Trip to Japan

gaijinhijinks — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:24:35 +0000

This year I decided to travel to Japan during a different season to get some personal experience of the weather during late April. Most of my trips, of necessity, have been at the end of November, after the season is over. So mid-April seemed like a good middle ground – not early cherry blossom time and before Golden Week. We landed in Tokyo on April 14th and by the 16th we had snow – after two days of cold, rainy weather. This “Spring” thing isn’t working out all that well. Last year in mid-November we were in t-shirts in Kyushu, which goes to show that the travelers dictum to be prepared for anything goes in Japan as well.

It’s Just Different Here: Workaholic

gaijinhijinks — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:09:37 +0000

This is our busiest time of the year, so not much time for posting blog entries. However, here’s a typical situation in Japan where someone is unclear on the concept:

Note the "crazy" hours for this place