2007- A year in travel and culture reviewed

2007- A year in travel and culture reviewed

The start of 2007 began with my wife and I recovering from Christmas travel to Okinawa, Japan. New Years (shogatsu) was spent with my in-laws at our apartment in Saitama. Winter vacation was concluded by making a visit to the Urawa Culture Center and observing a tea ceremony and taking pictures of Japanese women in traditional dress (kimono). Later for my wife's birthday, we took in the Japanese language movie Letters from Iwojima at the Saitama Shintoshin theater. A few weeks later for my birthday, I took in the sights at Tokyo's electronic district, Akihabara and did some birthday shopping and attended Youkoso! Japan Weeks 2007 hosted by Japanese actress, Yoshino Kimura. After Kimura's presentation, a fashion show ensued where young and attractive Japanese models wore outfits ranging from kimonos, urban wear to cosplay. I later met with my wife who treated me to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Akasaka (red hill). After this, we met with friends for drinks at a Japanese pub (izakaya). A few days later, my in-laws treated me to a birthday feast consisting of roasted chicken, rolled sushi and yakisoba (sauteed noodles) . We concluded January by making one final trip to the American wholesale outlet, Costco Wholesale in Chiba and later visiting my wife's friend from college who lives in Kimitsu, Chiba.

February started with attending a one-day sumo tournament in Tokyo with other classmates and teachers from Bunkyo University in Koshigaya, Saitama. For Japan's National Foundation Day, we took a return trip to Hiroshima. Our flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport was diverted to Fukuoka due to heavy fog in Hiroshima. We rode a bullet train from Fukuoka to Hiroshima. A few days later, we had a family outing at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. For Valentine's Day, we celebrated this day Japanese style when I received chocolate from my wife and enjoyed a quiet dinner at home consisting of catchatori chicken penne pasta and red wine. Also, around this time, we met with my wife's teacher from college who treated us to a wonderful lunch at a fancy Chinese restaurant in Tokyo. Towards the end of this month, I took a business trip to Yokohama and spent two nights in a capsule hotel. My first evening in Kanagawa prefecture was at a bar near the ocean called "Backas" (two fools?) and my second evening was at my old stomping grounds, Yokosuka. This month was concluded by saying farewell to some graduating teachers at Bunkyo.

In March, we returned to Kanagawa Prefecture on a family outing and spent a weekend in Mirukaigan. In this port town, we enjoyed delicious Japanese cuisine (washoku) and a tour of the harbor. Around this time, I returned to the US on bereavement leave and upon my return to Japan, I prepared for another business trip to Japan's Tohoku region, Fukushima. Here, with snow still on the ground, we worked in the calm environment with the British landscape as the back drop. Upon my return from Fukushima, I met with my in-laws for a day trip to Hakone, Kanagawa. We concluded this month by attending a soccer game in Urawa's Saitama Stadium (former venue for the 2002 World Cup) where the Red Diamonds were dominate in J-League action.

In April we attended our second Japanese baseball game where the Tokyo Yakult Swallows hosted the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons at Meiji Jingu Stadium which was founded in 1926. For Spring vacation, we traveled to Japan's Kansai region and took in the sights of Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka.

The months of May and June were the start of farewells with a party held by the English conversation lounge that I worked at for three years in Omiya, Saitama. In mid-June, I acted as a tour guide for an American visiting from my hometown. We did a day tour of Tokyo. I made my final lesson of introducing American culture and English at my friend's elementary school.

The start of July, we made international travel to Taipei, Taiwan. Upon my return to Japan, I concluded my farewells from Japan by attending a shrine only open once a month to the general public. Here, my mother-in-law and wife prayed for their deceased ancestors. I made a near teary-eyed farewell speech in Japanese at Bunkyo where I studied Japanese for almost three years. My wife and I parted ways with her two friends who came with her to the US in 1996 at a shabu shabu restaurant(hot-pot dish of thinly sliced beef cooked at the table by dipping in boiling broth). Honestly, more farewells that I could keep up with as I recall seeing a group of students as I was commuting from Warabi Station, on a different occasion seeing a different group of students on the train. One place that I was fortunate to take in and is some of the best sushi in Tokyo, is a place called Sushi Cho. This places is open only at lunch and provides unlimited chirashi sushi (rice dressed with vinegar and topped with egg and seafood and served in a box), two kinds of miso soup and a small dessert for 1500 yen. This month was concluded by returning to the US which was my third country for the month.

In August, we entertained my father-in-law and his family in the US by showing them the sights of Atlanta, Upstate SC and Western NC. In September, we traveled to nearby Charlotte, NC to witness rock n' roll magic with original vocalist returning to Van Halen at the Bobcat Arena. With focusing on starting our new life in the US, this concludes my travels and experiences with different cultures for 2007.

Video was taken when we attended a soccer match between the Urawa Red Diamonds and one other team. While J-league soccer trives in Urawa, the rest of the league has a weak turn out for their matches.


The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

Simple LIfe in Japan

It was the year 1993, I was in Japan despite not having an interest or any knowledge of the language or culture prior to arriving as a 20-year-old squid in Uncle Sam's Navy.

On a good day back then, I would knock off work around 4:30pm, have dinner at the on base McDonalds then work out at the on base gym, then go to the calling center to call family and friends back home. Some variations to this would be do laundry or go out in town or Club Alliance (aka The "A" Club) at the old main gate after the gym for dinner instead of eating at McDonalds. Why would I eat then work out? I was not big into cardio-vascular back then or needed to be. I would lift since I wasn't too far removed from high school.

One distinct memory of those days was the video that played on the TV in the gym of Phil Collins. With today's technology, those memories can be accessed without having to hunt for an obscure video.

Today's clip is of Phil Collins and his "Serious Band" performing a tune of his 1984 album, "No Jacket Required", "Inside Out".


The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan (Golden Week 2006)

Golden Week, a cluster of Japanese holidays beginning at the end of April and continuing throughout the first week of May, is like a double-edged sword since everyone in Japan has time off but traveling at this time is terrible due to destinations being crowded, traffic (it's bad enough in Japan) and air fare, lodging, etc. is even more expensive. But, we chose to travel at this time but would leave a few days before it started and in doing so, we beat the crowds and paid reasonable rates on air fare and lodging.

Day #1- Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Sapporo
After arriving in Sapporo, we took a bus to our hotel, ANA Hotel (part of the All Nippon Airways family). Since it was before check-in time, we left our luggage at the cloak and walked to the Sapporo Beer Museum for lunch. Sapporo Beer is a popular Japanese beer in the US but the Sapporo Beer in US is made by a brewery in Canada. Anyway, at the museum was a famous restaurant that serves a signature dish to Hokkaido, lamb. At our table, we prepared the lamb and vegetables and drank beer out of tall steins. The meal was excellent and is a must on anyone's trip to Sapporo. However, I suggest eating at this place at the end of your travel in Sapporo since one set of the clothes that we brought smelled like BBQ.

Afterwards, we toured the beer museum which was established in the late 1800's (Japan's Meiji era). It was interesting to see the advertisements of the different eras and the different beer bottles. Before leaving the museum, we sampled different kinds of beer that are found only in Hokkaido. (those in Tokyo can't find the specialty beers that we sampled).

By the time we finished visiting the museum, we returned to our hotel and checked-in. After freshing up, we went out in search of a good restaurant for some good Hokkaido food. We found a sushi restaurant and had some excellent crab sushi and boiled crab. (crab and lamb is very abundant and popular in Hokkaido). We also and a variety of sashimi (raw seafood without the rice) and a tofu salad.

Later, we made our way to the largest entertainment district north of Tokyo, Susukino. This district is very lively and picturesque. Here, we visited a very popular alley of ramen restaurants. Ramen is a Chinese dish of noodles in a broth. People of Sapporo claim that their city was the first place to serve this dish in Japan. In the US, you can find cup of noodles and prepared in the microwave. I recommend getting a real meal of ramen if given the chance.

We finished up our first day in Sapporo by visiting the Sapporo Tower. Similar to the Tokyo Tower, this tower has many radio and TV antennas on it and a big clock (Tokyo Tower does not).

Day #2- Otaru, Hokkaido and more of Sapporo
Otaru, a town about an hour by train away from Sapporo is famous for it scenery, landmark of original buildings from when the town was first established in the late 1800's. Although it was May, there was still snow on the ground in the shaded areas. This town has many alleys where water from the nearby mountains flows. The alleys were very active of melting snow rushing down stream. Many of the landmarks had descriptions up in four languages (Japanese, English, Korean and Russian). Russia is close to Japan with Hokkaido being the closest. Not too many foreigners are in Hokkaido in comparison to the Tokyo area but when I did see a foreigner, in most cases they were Russian. After seeing the sights, we had a great sushi lunch (I can eat sushi 3 times a day!).

A half day is all you need for Otaru, so we returned to Sapporo and saw the various sights. We visited the former Hokkaiko government office which was modeled after the old Mass. state house. In the late 1800's this building was the largest building in Japan. Next to the main Sapporo train station in the JR Tower. At the top of this tower, you can see all of Sapporo City and the Sapporo Tower.

After catching the excellent views of Sapporo from the JR Tower, we called it a day.

Day #3- Sapporo's Fish Market, Dr. Clark Museum/Statue and Sapporo Dome/Japanese Baseball game
The most famous fish market in Japan is the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. However, Sapporo's fish market is probably as good as the one in Tokyo since Hokkaido is so abundant in fresh seafood. We visited this place and bought some tuna and had it sent to my mother-in-law in Tokyo.

Afterwards, we went to the outskirts of Sapporo and visited the Dr. Clark museum and statue. Dr. Clark was an American professor who taught at Hokkaido University. He was famous for his quote, "Boys, be ambitious." Here, we had lunch. We sauteed fresh seafood at our table.

Later in the day, we visited the Sapporo Dome (opened in 2001). This dome is the home of the local pro soccer team and the Nippon Ham Fighters pro baseball team. Since I have never seen a Japanese baseball game and since there was a game that evening, we decided to watch the game. After visiting the dome's trophy room (pictures and models of the famous performers who have been to the Sapporo Dome), we killed some time at a local shopping mall and returned to the dome and watched the Seibu Lions from Saitama take on the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Fighters have the famous player, Shinjo who also played in the US for the Mets and San Fran Giants. While we were in Sapporo he announced that he was retiring at the end of this season. Anyway, the crowd was light due to the holidays, but the game was fun. Japanese fans are very vocal and noisy throughtout the game but in a poliet and organized fashion. One team's fans will cheer wildly for the top part of the inning and the other team will do the same the bottom part of the inning. We left the game at the 7th inning and returned to Susukino and had dinner at the famous Ramen alley. Ramen is tradionally spicy but the cook wisely toned it down a notch for me since many foreigners visit this place. The place was small and the game that we left was still in progress on the TV. But for whatever reason, baseball games are not televised after 9PM for the rest of the prime time TV programming. (This would drive me crazy if I was a big fan of baseball). The Kimchi Ramen dish that I had was great and plenty hot eventhough the cook toned it down.

We took a stroll through Susukino and then called it a day.

Day #4- Hokkaido University, Okurayama Ski Jump, Winter Sports Museum
Hokkaido University is a very beautiful and picturesque site and reminded me of the local university in my hometown, Furman. Spacious, lots of vegetation, and big western-style buildings. After visiting this place, we went to a restaurant that served "Hokkaido curry soup". Japanese curry is taken from the curry of India but is thicker and poured over rice. The Hokkaido version is a combinaton of the two.

Later in the day, we went to Okurayama Ski Jump where Olympic events took place back in 1972. Near the ski jump is a winter sports museum where lots of memoribillia is on display from the 1972 Olympic games and the other sporting events that have taken place.

We then returned to the Sapporo airport and caught our flight back to Tokyo with lots of great memories and pictures and stories to tell of Japan's most northern island.

The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

Why they eat Cow tongue and cow's tail?

Monday, November 06, 2006

This past weekend, we did a day trip to Sendai and before I forget the things that I learned from this trip, here goes:

1- Why they eat Cow tongue and cow's tail?

After WWII, the Tohoku region was the last region to be rebuilt from the war-torn bombings that Japan received and for whatever reason, was a low priority. Of course, Nagasaki and Hiroshima were tops on the list, as for Tokyo and other cities that took on all of the bombing.

With MacArthur at the helm, and Roosevelt`s "Ronins" by his side, Japan made the transition from a defeated, war-torn nation, to the economic power that it is today. But back in those early days, the poor people of Tohoku had to survive on anything that they could get their hands on. As the occupants of Japan were not keen on eating cow tongue and the cow`s tail, this is what the local people survived on.

Aside from the unusual parts of the cow that are popular in Sendai, Kamaboko is also popular there. I remember back in my Navy days, returning to the base in Yokosuka after a long night of singing and dancing up in Roppongi. I would have the munchies and outside of the main gate was a 7-eleven "konbeni". So, I would stop by and grab a few sticks of kamaboko and scarf it down as I made the mile trek back to my ship. The sight of me walking down the road all hung over and eating a stick of kamaboko with backpack full of empty bottles of cheap wine bought the previous evening must be amusing.

Another interesting dish eaten in Sendai was whale.

2- Tohoku-ben

Tohoku-ben is the regional dialect spoken amongst the locals of this region. Japanese is difficult enough not to throw in the regional dialects. Anyway, the shortest conversation in Japan is when a mother in Sendai tells her child to eat something. It goes like this:

Mother- Ke.

Child- Ku.

In Tokyo, it would go like this:

Mother- Tabenasai.

Child- Hai, tabete imasu.

English:

Mother- Eat (command form)

Child- Yes, I'm eating.

3- One interesting thing about this day trip was where we ate lunch. Around lunch time, we toured the local fish market. Every Japanese town near the sea has one, and for some reason, foreigners love going there. Tsukiji`s fish market in Tokyo is always swarming with foreigners the times that I`ve been there. Anyway, in Sendai, we bought some of the local seafood and ate it with the rice and miso soup that was provided by the staff. We ate a few feet from a shop owners refridgerated display. Customers would walk by and see a group of people eating some of the local goods. Not a bad way to get people to buy your stuff!

Today's picture was taken on the platform of Sendai Station.

The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

Budget Travel in Japan

I was recently asked by a panel of non-Japanese travelers about the most cost effective travel in Japan.

Since I will be doing this for the first time next week, I can`t be certain from first-hand experience but I would say capsule hotels are the most cost effective way to travel in Japan on a budget. The price per night is around US$40. You`re space is cramped like it would be if you were staying on a ship. The one that I will be staying in is in the basement of a regular hotel. I was informed that my cell phone will not work inside my casule. The bath is a public bath which is common in Japan. Aside from a small bed, I will have a little desk with a PC and Internet access. Upstairs I will be provided breakfast in the morning.

This type of lodging was featured in a recent TV program Quest- CNN Business Traveler when the host traveled to Osaka. He was able to travel on a budget of about US$200 a day in Osaka mainly because his lodging was a capsule hotel. Of course, his mode of travel was by train and subway and he did have a business lunch in a traditional Japanese restaurant. He was even shown eating at a ramen shop for far less than the business lunch. Once other thing that he did was rent out some temporary office space and pay for printing out some documents. However, he would have exceeded his US$200 a day budget by doing the same thing in Tokyo.

Earlier this month, I traveled to Hiroshima and stayed in a business hotel. It was a package deal in the amount of US$250 (total) including round trip air fare from Tokyo`s Haneda airport and two nights in Hiroshima`s downtown area. Sometimes this also includes a breakfast buffet.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are staying in Tokyo, these kind of low-budget deals are no where to be found. I heard of a guy who traveled from Kyushu to Tokyo to take his family to Disney Sea and he remarked that this trip was nearly as much as taking his family to Hawaii.

Lastly, one thing to disregard is the scene in the 1980`s movie, Gung Ho starring Michael Keaton. It shows him staying at a capsule hotel in Tokyo and he is climbing over two guys to reach his bunk on the top. They improved the spacing in the past 20 years.

The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

CNN International- The Weather forcast in Japan

The music composed for this commercial is really tranquial and takes me back to my days in Japan. Fond memories of this when I was living in Japan and watching TV courtesy of Yahoo broadband from 2006-07. I noticed that there were no Japanese cities listed on this version. Enjoy!





The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09

How to say the different types of sushi in Japanese

Saturday, August 26, 2006


In the US there are about 25 different kinds of sushi dishes. If you know of others, please post the name of the dish, the name of the restaurant that it is found and where the restaurant is located.

Here's how to say the different types of sushi in Japanese:

Japanese- English

1. Maguro- Tuna

2. Tako- Octopus

3. Uni- Sea Urchin

4. Temaki- Spicy Tuna Roll

5. Hamachi- Yellow Tail

6. Saba-Mackerel

7. Ikura- Salmon Caviar

8. Tekka Maki- Tuna Roll

9. Ika- Calamari

10. Tamago- Omelet

11. Amaebi- Sweet Shrimp

12. Unagi- Fresh Water Eel

13. Tai- Red Snapper

14. Toro- Marbled Tuna

15. Kappa Maki- Cucumber Roll

16. Hirame- Halibut

17. Anago- Sea Eel

18. Mirugai- Giant Clam

19. Ebi- Shrimp

20. Awabi- Abalone

21. Sake- Salmon

22. N/a- California Roll

23. N/a- Philadelphia Roll


The Divine Wind Vault
http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com
(C)2006-09