Yozakura

Night cherry blossom viewing has a special name in Japan – it is called ‘yozakura’. We went a couple of times at night to Himeji Castle to check it out. It was amazingly beautiful. They actually light up the cherry blossoms with coloured lights. Of course photos never do it justice but here is an idea of what we saw. I could have just sat in the castle gardens forever just taking in my surroundings. I just can’t get enough of the cherry blossoms.

Sing Your Lungs Out!

Karaoke is a big thing in Japan. Pretty much all Japanese people love it. So there’s only one thing to do in Japan – SING!! It was Friday night and 2 of the Americans in our residence were having a birthday so we decided to help them celebrate at a Karaoke bar. This is the third time that I have done Karaoke in Japan and have really enjoyed it every time. I didn’t think it would be something that I would enjoy so much but it’s soooo much fun!

I'm Cooking Japanese!!

I cooked my first traditional Japanese meal – ‘Okonomiyaki’. We had lunch at one of Steve’s teachers houses and they cooked us this dish. We have eaten it many times at restaurants and it is absolutely delicious. I watched very closely as to how it was made so that I could attempt to make it myself. I finally got all of the necessary ingredients required to make this meal and chose a night to give it a go. Okonomiyaki is like a pancake type meal with cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms, thin slices of meat and these puff things that look like rice bubbles. Once the pancake has been cooked on both sides you put a BBQ type sauce and mayonnaise over it, sprinkle some ginger and tuna flakes on top and ‘wolah’ you have okonomiyaki. The good thing about it is that you can put anything inside of it. You could make it seafood or vegetarian or whatever you like. I got the thumbs up from Lauren and Marie. Steve was in Tokyo with Denzel so he missed out. He will have to wait until next time!! I’m not sure if it looked exactly as the Japanese make it, but it was okonomiyaki ‘Tina style’.

Beautiful Sakura

8th March, 2007

Easter in Japan was very different from Easter in Australia. Japanese do not celebrate easter so forget all the usual easter traditions. Instead we spent our day having lunch at one of our Japanese friends houses. We had a feast yet again with okonomiyaki, sushi, rice balls and all sorts of other yummy things. After our lunch we headed to the castle yet again to view more beautiful cherry blossoms. Seemings as they only happen once a year i thought that i would put up some more photos so that you can see how beautiful and gorgeous these blossoms actually are. I must admit the photos just don't do them justice. Seeing them with your own eyes is much more beautiful.

Festival at Himeji Castle

7th March, 2007

Food, food and more food. All I feel like I have been doing lately is eating. I have now had 3 hanami parties and have stuffed my face at every one. They have all been fantastic though. There was a festival at Himeji Castle (Kan-o-kai) so we got up early so that we could get a good seat because we knew that it would be packed. We arrived at the park a little after 9am. The weather was a little drizzly so there weren’t as many people around as I expected but as the day grew finer more and more people arrived (so I am glad that we got there early). We found ourself a spot and set up for the day. We had the best position, we were centre stage and right in front of the castle. You couldn’t get any better than having a beautiful view of the castle with cherry blossoms in front of it as well as being in the middle of the stage. We were very lucky. The day was filled with all sorts of things happening – there were 100 koto players all dressed in kimonos to start with. That was amazing to watch and listen to. The koto is a musical instrument with a beautiful sound. I couldn’t believe that there were actually 100 of them all playing at once. After koto we watched some fan dancing, lion dancing and taiko(drums). Every section was amazing and brilliant. The whole festival finished at 4:30pm so it was a very long day. We even got to meet the mayor of Himeji. He came over to our tarp and sat down for 2 minutes – well just long enough to eat some Cadbury chocolate and have a photo before he was off again! There were lots of food stalls set up each with some different types of Japanese food and you could buy sake in a souvenir cup. People were all over the park having their own hanami parties enjoying the festival as well as the sakura. My favourite part of the day were the drums. I thought they were absolutely amazing. The sound that came out of them was brilliant. I can’t get over how much beautiful culture Japan actually has.

Huh? Episode 4

Huh? is back!! Check out these strange sightings.



Ok ok we get the message......



What's going on here? Why would anyone buy this as a souvenir?



I would never have thought to put noodles in my sandwich - would you?



Healthy???????



An ice-cream vending machine. What will they think of next??



Hmmmm what might be in there?

Well that's all folks- for now anyway!!

Purikura

Purikura is a fun popular gimmick in Japan. I just love saying the word and have quickly become addicted to it. It is where you go with your friends and pose for the camera in a not so little booth. You get to take a variety of pictures which are put onto different backgrounds like riding a bike etc…. once all the photographs have been taken you head into another booth where you can decorate you photos with all sorts of cute little pictures. You can write on the photos, add pictures, borders and all sorts of cool little things. Once you are done they get printed out. Now, all the instructions are in Japanese of course so it’s difficult for us to understand what we are doing. We haven’t quite mastered purikura yet but I am very keen to keep trying until I get it right.

The first time we did it we had just met some kids on the street and they took us there. There were about 10 of us in the booth at once – it was so much fun. They knew exactly what to do but we had just come from the sake tour so I was in no state to remember the steps. The second time it was the girls having a go, the third time is was just Marie and I – we didn’t get hardly any of them finished because we ran out of time. The next time it was Steve, Marie and me. We got better but still haven’t quite worked it out. Everyone time I walk past one I want to give it a go. They are so much fun, very corny but cute. If you come to Japan you must try ‘purikura’. (I just wanted to say the word one more time!)

Hanami

4/5th April, 2007

Hanami parties are very traditional in Japan. Once a year when all the sakura start to blossom people sit and enjoy the beautiful tress whilst having a ‘hanami’ party. It is amazing seeing so many people all at the same time having picnics under the trees. Wherever there are sakura there are hanami parties happening – whether they be in a park or on a footpath it doesn’t seem to matter. Lots of food and drink and some tarp to sit on is all you need to begin the party. The blossoms usually only last around 7-10 days so you have to get in quick or have as many parties as you can during this period.

We experienced our first ‘hanami party’ last night inside the grounds of the Himeji Castle. It was freezing cold but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. There were a few other teachers and some Japanese people and lots of food and drink to be eaten and drunk. It was a fantastic first experience. There were so many other people young and old also having hanami parties under the sakura. I was amazed at how many people were actually having these parties. I didn’t realise how big these parties actually were.

During this period the grounds to the castle is open to the public. We were fortunate enough to be able to enter inside. It was very beautiful in there with all the trees lit up with lights. It was amazing to see. We had a little walk around before it was time to leave.

Today I experienced my second hanami party. Just like the previous day – it too was amazing. We had the party with my students from the university as a lesson where we compared Japanese foods to Australian foods and then talked about Australian sports. Today was even more packed then yesterday. There were people all over the grounds having parties. It was fantastic to see so many people excited over Sakura. I really enjoyed both parties. I hope I get to have another one before the season is out.

Crepes

Crepes are everywhere in Japan and are the most delicious sweet EVER. They are like a pancake filled with pretty much anything you want. Strawberries, cream, icecream, banana, chocolate, berries – all sorts of wonderful yumminess. We first tried these crepes in Osaka, but have discovered that you can pretty much buy them everywhere. My favourite ones so far were from Tokyo – just outside the Tokyo Tower. They are so good that they deserve to be blogged!!

Sakura

Sakura (cherry blossoms) are very unique to Japan. Most pictures that you see of Japan feature these Sakura. They come out once a year around spring time. They are very beautiful flowers that line the streets. For us they are absolutely gorgeous because we have never experienced them before, but it’s funny because it’s like the Japanese people have seen them for the first time too. There we are with our cameras out taking millions of photos of the gorgeous Sakura, but so are the Japanese people. I think it’s lovely that they get so excited about them even though they see them every year. It’s such a fantastic atmosphere, people are everywhere relaxing under the Sakura trees just taking in the beauty that surrounds them.

Greek Shop

I finally spotted a Greek Shop. In the whole 3 months that I have been here, this is the only Greek Shop that I have found. Of course I had to take a photo of it. Steve and I bought a yiros from there - it had to be done. They actually tasted really nice too. So everyone never fear because there are yiros' and souvlakia here!!! :-)

Yokohama - Last Day

31st March, 2007

We had one more day to look around the city of Yokohama before we headed back to Himeji. We were originally going to see Mount Fuji but decided that it was too difficult to get there and that it was best to just head home. So we had about half a day to wonder the streets. We walked in a different direction to where we went the previous days. We came to some beautiful streets lined with Sakura. There were lots of people taking photos and just checking out the scenery – we joined them! It was nice and relaxing.

After a while we had a wonder through a mall and then we decided to head back to the ferris wheel since we now had some more time up our sleeve. That made me happy and put a skip into my step! The ferris wheel was one of the largest in the world. You had a really good view of Yokohama from the top. I’m glad to be able to say that I have been on that ferris wheel!

We arrived back in Himeji feeling very tired after having a full on week in Tokyo and Yokohama. It was a great holiday. Too bad it’s over!

Yokohama - Sankeien Gardens

30th March, 2007

Most cities in Japan seem to have some kind of gardens to visit. Well the Sankeien Gardens have been my favourite gardens so far. They were so beautiful and it was very peaceful and relaxing just strolling through them. We spent a good 3 hours there and I would have been happy to just sit on the grass and lay down for another couple. They were quite a big garden and there was lots of things to see in there. I think the time of year that we chose to go in helped in making it one of the best gardens so far. The reason for this was because the gardens were covered in Sakura (cherry blossoms). The blossoms are gorgeous. You can see for yourself in the pictures. The gardens had a temple, lots of old beautiful houses – some which you could walk in, a lake, a bridge and lots of plants and flowers. It was a very busy park especially since all the Sakura were out – people were having their own little picnics and chill out sessions. It was great to see the Japanese people enjoying the Sakura as much as we were.

When we left the gardens we headed back to where our hotel was. Marie had found a place called Akarenga which she wanted to show us. It was like an old shed which had been transformed into a department store (inside). It was a really cool area, very busy too. There was a little flower garden just outside it which was nice too. We spent a while perusing the stores before we got hungry and found a Sizzler – in Japan, how’s that!! It didn’t have the good old Sizzler bread and potato skins but it was still good. We really wanted to go on the giant ferris wheel and into the tallest building so after Sizzler we headed to the tallest building, to my great disappointment it was closed. We then headed to the Ferris Wheel and found that that too was closed. I was extremely disappointed. I had had my heart set on doing both of those things and found that I wasn’t able to do either. I was sour for a while but soon got over it.
Instead we took a really cool photo just near the ferris wheel – I think that was meant to cheer me up! It’s a pretty cool photo though – what do you think?

Yokohama

29th March, 2007

We left Tokyo and caught a train to Yokohama. Our hotel was in the best location – right in the heart of the city. We could go for beautiful walks and see amazing views. Once we checked in we went for a walk to China town which is the biggest in Japan. There were lots of gates to see here and it was just nice strolling through the streets. We then ended up at the harbour. There was lots of tourist things to see here.
We weren’t in the mood to enter the museums but be walked through a park and stopped to watch a street performance – Japanese style. That captured our attention for a while. The tallest building in Japan is in Yokohama. It looked fantastic.

Night time was magnificent. The city lights were amazing to look at and there was a really nice walk to take in the beautiful views. We walked around for a while until our empty stomaches started grumbling. We headed to an all you can eat place to fill ourselves up. The food was delicious.

Emperial Palace, Tokyo Tower

28th March

The Emperial Palace is only open 2 days of the year for people to enter, so we weren’t lucky enough to be able to go inside. We could only wonder the outside of the palace. It was a bit of a bummer that we couldn’t go inside but the outside was still good to see. Once again there were lots of beautiful well kept grounds to photograph.

After we had looked around the gardens for a while we headed to Tokyo Tower. Steve wanted to go to Akihabara which is the electronic district so he went there and Marie and I set off to find the Tokyo Tower on our own. We actually found it too – all by ourselves!! We were very proud. We went inside and discovered that there were heaps of cool museums to check out. We bought a ticket so that we could enter all of them. There was a Wax Museum, a Gallery Deluxe which had all different holograms in there, Trick Art Gallery – which had all 3D art in there (some of it was really impressive), Guinness World Record Museum, and then there was the Main Observatory. All the different Museums were very interesting to look at. We spent about 3 hours in Tokyo Tower. The view from the top of the tower was brilliant. By the time we actually got to the top it was dark but it looked cool with all the lights. There was a jazz band playing so we watched that for a while. They were really good. We left the tower at about 9:30pm and decided to head to Ueno a different part of Tokyo for dinner. This place wasn't so happening. It took us ages to find a place to eat but we eventually found one that we agreed on and it was delicious! We got back to our hotel at about midnight.

Asakusa - Tokyo

27th March

We headed to Asakusa which is another part of Tokyo. It was a very busy place. There were some really cool shrines, temples and gates to view here. We spent quite a while just wondering around the area taking photos and watching the busy lifestyle of all the people. It was a very relaxing day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.








For tea we thought that we would head to a different area of Tokyo. The more places we get to see the better. We decided on Ginza. Ginza was an amazing place, very up market! All the people were dressed to the nines – we felt a little out of place. It was like Rodeo Drive – Japanese style. All the shops were Chanel, Louis Vitton, Tiffany, Guess – you get the gist.
We ate in a pub for a reasonable price. I’m glad that I went there.