Kyoto pictures online

Kyoto pictures are here!!

I got to see a lot in just a day and a half! (and got a haircut, which concluded with a powerful motorized shoulder massage)

Sapporo is pretty nice- it feels so different from the Tokyo area, though- a lower population density and more cars, but I guess I am in the suburbs. Out of my hotel window, I have a great view of a "Homac" (Home Amenity Center) store, which I'm guessing is like Home depot. No music yet- we had an orientation today, and orchestra rehearsals start tomorrow.

State-Sponsored Cuteness

It seems like everything in Japan, even the most mundane public service, needs a cartoon mascot to get a message across. I’ve posted a few pictures of this kind of stuff in my Picasa albums, but here are the highlights.

1) Tanemaru – Commemorating the the 150th anniversary of a city’s port requires some serious celebration, so that’s why Yokohama asked Tanemaru to help out. This little guy (is he a sprouting potato? a bean plant? a boat? all three?) is everywhere in Yokohama- on countless city signs and in furry-animal form on shop and hotel counters.

2) The “watch-your-fingers” subway bear – This friendly little bear cub warns against getting your fingers trapped in closing doors. (Yokohama)

3) Mr. and Mrs. “Don’t take your spouse’s eyes out with a fish-hook” – while not cute at all, this sign’s graphical aid really drives home the point. (Sankeien Garden, near Yokohama)

4) Blue-Hat Bird – I’m not sure what this bird is saying, but it must be important, judging by the exclamation mark. (also in Sankeien Park, near Yokohama)

5) Subway Badgers (?) – Similar to the bear in Yokohama, these furry mammals also bring a cautionary message.

6) Fat Trash-Buddies – seriously, how could you not listen to what they have to say? (first, on bus-shelter trashcan, then in a bathroom- Kyoto)

…. that’s all for now, but there will be more to come, I’m sure.

Leaving Kyoto- Shinkansen

Back on the Shinkansen now after two fun days in Kyoto- saw beautiful temples, a rock garden, and a Shogun castle, and I took care of some business this morning (got a new watch battery and a very precise haircut that concluded with a shoulder massage from a high-powered machine) but it’s time to go to Sapporo for PMF now. If all goes as planned, I’ll meet up with eleven other PMF people this afternoon in Haneda Airport, the busier of Tokyo’s two airports, for the flight up to Hokkaido.

A word about these trains- everyone knows that they are fast (especially the Nozomi series that I’m riding now), and everybody knows that Japanese people sit at the polite end of the spectrum, but the politeness shown by passengers and employees here is especially impressive. So far on this trip, I haven’t heard a single word from another passenger, everybody has their phones on silent mode, and both the conductor and snack-car lady are immaculately dressed and bow deeply upon exiting each car.

The Shinkansen trains in Japan are cheaper than Amtrak’s Acela service on the northeast corridor, much smoother, and they run ALL the time during the day, at least every ten minutes. This seems to be how everybody gets around between the major cities in this part of the country- most seats seem to be filled on all 16 cars per train. Oh, and it’s always on time, apparently.

When I went to Akihabara, the world's ultimate electronics/gadget neighborhood, all I got was this doughnut-shaped screen cleaner. The best part is that it actually works pretty well! I'll take orders if anybody wants one!

 

Apparently this sort of thing can easily be found here. There was also a chocolate cake with a strawberry on top.

The great syllabic switch: going from Tokyo to Kyoto

After three action-packed days in Tokyo, it’s time to relocate to Kyoto for a couple days before taking the train back to Tokyo for the flight up to Sapporo for PMF. We kept ourselves busy in Tokyo from morning until night every day, but every moment was so fulfilling. I’m now sitting inside this incredibly fast and quiet Shinkansen (a.k.a bullet) train, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to spill out a few memories of Tokyo. Here are some of the highlights-

1) Leaving Yokohama- we’d stayed up late enough the last night of MMCJ in Yokohama to see the sky getting light in the morning- perfect time to go for a walk. In other cities (Baltimore, perhaps?), going for a walk at 4:15am would be a pretty stupid idea, but in urban Japan, this doesn’t pose the same threat. We walked from our Navios Hotel on a pedestrianized former rail bridge toward the Landmark Tower (currently the tallest “building” in Japan, depending on how you use that word). Rain forced us to turn back, but we saw the water completely full of enormous jellyfish!

2) Akihabara – in a humble understatement, the signs in the Metro identify this part of Tokyo as the “electric town.” We spent several hours at just one store, Yodibashi, which was easily several times bigger than J&R in New York. Think excessive x100. The prices were quite good, except for this HUGE Panasonic TV, a bargain at around $56,000. One could buy a respectable violin for that kind of money!

It’s kind of exhausting to see so much electronic equipment in one place, as much as I love the stuff.

3) Kamakura – known for its ancient Buddhist structures, Kamakura took forever to get to, but still seemed very much like part of the Tokyo metropolitan area. I’m not clear on the exact dates of construction, but it’s a stunning place- huge temple on a hill, with enormous ponds down below filled with lotuses and turtles. Hunger hit soon afterwards, so we ate a Zen-style soba meal in town.

Kamakura is also known for its gigantic Buddha statue. Made of bronze (help me out, fact-checkers), this thing has been around for about 800 years, outliving the temple (destroyed by a tsunami) that used to cover it. It’s pretty impressive, and so big that I almost didn’t even notice it at first as we approached its pedestal.

4) Dinner with MMCJ friends-

After a very long subway ride, we met up with some friends at a champon restaurant. Great food, and fun to share with the others! It was followed by many other courses, including this beautifully-presented sashimi course:

5) Trendy Harajuku Party- during dinner, a member of our group (Aya) got a call from a friend inviting us to a party at a bar in Harajuku, a neighborhood that rivals Ginza and 5th Avenue for its impossible wealth. We felt a little underdressed entering the building (which had a Chanel boutique on the ground floor), but the party itself turned out to be casual enough that they still let us in. Cool people, good DJ, and a great view from the balcony:

6) Asakusa – this area of Tokyo is famous for its important temple and incalculably large number of souvenir vendors. The temple was beautiful inside, but had scaffolding covering the whole exterior. In its many centuries, this temple has burned down many times, most recently during the war. Thousands of people contributed money for its reconstruction, so it’s in pretty good shape these days.

7) The Golden Turd – At first, I felt a little sorry for the fecal shape of this moment atop a section of the Asahi beverage company’s offices, but apparently Japanese people laugh about it, too.

8) Sumida Boat Ride – This isn’t the fastest way to travel around Tokyo, but the boat ride was quite scenic. We went under something like 19 bridges and passed several cool sights, like the major Sumo arena and the Tsukiji fish market (more on that later).

Also, we floated by my future home:

9) Monorail – I don’t really remember the Disney World monorail from when I was a little kid, but this one definitely beats the train connecting terminals at Bush Intercontinental Airport. We crossed the famous Rainbow Bridge for an evening across the river in Odaiba. Unfortunately, the bright red sun had just finished setting when we stepped onto solid ground again!

10) Okonomiyaki Dinner – Some people call this the Osaka equivalent of pizza, but I don’t really see the parallels, besides the two obvious ones (hot and filling). In any case, VERY tasty. They mix up a bunch of vegetables, noodles, and an egg, then cook the whole thing at the table. Each blob is personalized (not shared by everyone at the table).

11) Ginza at Night – We just missed the closing time for going to the top of the Tokyo Tower, so we made up for it by taking a stroll in the ever-lively Ginza neighborhood, which was on the way back to our hotel in Meguro.

12) Tsukiji Fish Market – guidebooks talk about how great it is to watch the wholesale tuna auction every morning, but I didn’t make it past the retail seafood section, which is filled by hungry people like myself looking for the freshest seafood breakfast in town. I arrived before 7am, but that’s apparently on the late side. Great fun, but I smelled strongly of fish for the whole metro ride back to the hotel. Check out this giant tasty oyster I had as appetizer before switching to nigiri:

12) House Concert- it was great to spend some time with Lachezar and Chieko, and they generously invited me to a house concert outside of Tokyo this afternoon. I hadn’t heard Lachezar play in two years, and he delivered a solid recital. I think that the hosts of the party are fairly influential people, often hosting guest musicians from abroad who come to town to play at Suntory Hall. Very generous folks, too. When one lady there found out I was going to Kyoto tonight, she offered to give me a heavily discounted rate at the hotel she owns in Kyoto! Sadly, my reservation at another hotel (with a small room and no view) was prepaid.

.. now, we’re almost to Kyoto already, so I’d better pack up the computer!

now in Tokyo!

Caution! I'm not going to proofread this (I'm in a hurry)- please excuse the inevitable typos!

Sorry for the delay- I was busy being a tourist for the last few days! We had our final orchestra concerts for MMCJ, first in Tokyo at Kioi Hall and then in Yokohama at Minato Mirai Hall. In the free time between concerts, I went to Sankeien Garden with some friends- beautiful place, and I put up a lot of pictures in my Picasa album for Yokohama. (Gotta run in a second, so I'll add links later).
Then, I arrived in Tokyo yesterday for a few days of fun between festivals. We (a few MMCJ friends) went to Akihabara, the electronics district. I'd been impressed by the J&R store in New York, but the one store we went to was easily several times bigger, and just one store of MANY.
Pictures coming later! Also, we made a stop for ramen in Shibuya, which looks like Times Square, but with way more and way bigger video screens, and FAR more people. Supposedly, the main intersection outside the station has the highest pedestrian volume of any place in the world. Something cool about the giant video screens- somehow, they've figured out how to configure the audio for each screen so that you can clearly hear the sound for whatever screen you're facing, but it's not so loud that it really interferes with the other screens so much.

Time to go- Kamakura today! Pictures soon.

catch of the day

Yokohama update

Been busy with orchestra rehearsals in Yokohama and haven't had time to post much of anything. There are some pictures on my Picasa web albums, though.
First, from Kazusa, and most recently, Yokohama.

Arts and Crafts

For Monday's "International Cultural Forum," they brought in Kaishin Makuta, a calligraphy sensei from Chiba University, to give the foreigners an introduction to the art. After a few frustrating attempts with small paper (everything came out all blobby on the page), they decided I was ready to upgrade to the real deal- paper so big it has to go on the floor. Here's me writing "dream" (copying the example in orange by my left foot):



Today is our last day (and last concert) in Kazusa- tomorrow we all move to Yokohama for a week of orchestra playing.

Sashimi day

Quick post- here was tonight's dinner at the fancy Japanese restaurant here:



and a close-up of the sashimi plate:



and dessert (watermelon and Mystery Mild 'n Sweet Blue Gel):



Stay tuned for pictures of today's calligraphy class.......

TV

Jon Stewart is taking over the world... they have the Daily Show on TV here in rural Japan.

First real day...

Today mostly went well- the morning began with our orientation meeting, followed by seven hours of rehearsals. We mostly got off to a good start, but it was uncomfortable at first getting used to everyone's playing. Fortunately, this was all punctuated by some excellent meals! Beef with noodles for lunch (plus a few other small courses) at a pretty fancy restaurant, and dinner was a buffet (lots of tempura choices and delicious fruit) at a different place. Breakfast has also been consistently excellent- a combo Japanese/Western buffet at the European-style restaurant ("Camellia") at the hotel. They've got huge windows looking out on an enormous and tranquil water garden, complete with a waterfall backing up to the trees. Apparently, this is the rainy season- seems a lot like a typical summer day in Scotland, actually!

Public Service Announcement in Tokyo

first day in Japan!

I finally got settled in at the hotel in Japan last night... after a very long flight and a number of train rides (was it three? four?). We got off the ground late in Houston, because the in-flight entertainment system was not working! They said we couldn't depart until it was fixed, so after four hours of replacing parts, they finally just gave up and had us take off anyway (they rebooted again during the flight, and of course it worked fine). It was running Linux, though not too successfully, as this picture shows- a whole lot of errors (the computer at each seat seemed to be loading an OS image from a server on the plane)

The jet lag didn't seem too pronounced after a good night's sleep (thanks, melatonin!), and I got some good practicing done this morning, probably thanks to the tranquil practice room view:

Back to practicing now, then off to Tokyo this evening to hear a concert.

Welcome!

Hi! I'm about to go to Japan and Germany this summer, so check back here for notes and pictures...