2016 Japanese Travels - Day 5, Kashiwa and Yoshi

As usual, Kyle and I ventured out near lunchtime. While it’s generally not a good idea to waste the limited time available when in another country, I wasn’t particularly fond of waking up too early when on vacation (a morning person, I am not!). However, my morning routine did consist of enduring the sweltering heat for long enough to buy a can of coffee from the nearby vending machine. The milky (latte) version of Japanese canned coffee made for a nice morning kickstart. It’s worth noting that Kyle had already banned me from drinking black canned coffee – Kyle learned a few years ago that the black coffee did something to produce the worst breath known to man. It appeared that the stuff was notorious throughout all of Japan!

The plan for the afternoon was explore Kashiwa. Kashiwa had a large “Hobby Off” (similar to the “Book Off” bookshops) where I would be able to find new anime figures to add to my ever growing collection. I spotted a few figures I wanted to add to my collection, but knew my suitcase space was finite so priorities were needed. One of the figures was a Figma (poseable) of Asuna from Sword Art Online (before you ask, no, it's not going to be used to set up creepy situations with the Revoltech Woody figure... welll, probably not).

By a stroke of luck, Kyle spotted a Yugi figure from the Yu-Gi-Oh! “Dark Side of Dimensions” movie. I decided that I should get a Yugi figure as I already had a few “Dark Magician Girl” figures and didn’t want people to start thinking I had some kind of Dark Magician Girl fetish. Let’s just say that character has inspired some, shall we say, “interesting” fan art. I was going to include an example, but I’d rather not make this blog NSFW.

"Dark Side of Dimensions" figure of Yugi - hard to believe Yu-Gi-Oh has been around 20 years! (I'm getting old)

My plan for the evening was to meet with Yoshi in Shinjuku. The background, for those who are not aware is that Yoshi was a member of the Japanese study group (the Sakura Kai) in Leeds and was also a teaching assistant one year. Those who have followed the blogs of my previous trips will probably already know that I had planned to meet with Yoshi last year, however, I was unable to as a job interview came up at the last minute so he couldn’t make it to Tokyo. While it was disappointing that we didn’t get to meet, I was happy that Yoshi had been presented with a good opportunity.

Upon arriving in Shinjuku, I started to realize a slight problem with our plan. We chose Shinjuku because many different rail lines met there so it would be an easy station for both of us to reach. Unfortunately, this also made Shinjuku the one of the largest and most complex stations in the entire network (I sometimes like to joke that an elite exploration team from Lonely Planet disappeared during an expedition to map Shinjuku station).

I’d arrived at Shinjuku a little early (as a precaution) but did not know exactly where Yoshi would be. It was the kind of situation where having the rental phone/SIM proved invaluable. We had already exchanged numbers so I was easily able to let Yoshi know exactly which ticket gate I was waiting at. Despite the station being incredibly busy (believe me, UK rail has nothing on Japan!), we were aided by the fact that (as a blonde gaijin) I stuck out like a sore thumb.

After Yoshi successfully located me, we went out to a nearby restaurant. Prior to that day, when he suggested going out for food, he’d asked me what kind of food I wanted. I was keen to try new foods so Yoshi suggested oden. Although traditionally a winter dish, it was something that we could still enjoy in summer.

Long awaited reunion

Over the next few hours, we chatted about how things were going for each of us in the UK and Japan. Because I hadn’t heard much about what Yoshi as up to, it was great to find out how things were going for him. We did most of our chatting in English (as my Japanese was limited, so that would have made it difficult to discuss complex topics) but I did get a few opportunities to practice some of my Japanese.

After a few hours of good food, beer and interesting discussions, it was time to head home. We said our goodbyes at Shinjuku station and I planned my route back. Although expensive, I opted to return via Akihabara as the Tsukuba express was the most convenient way of getting back. Next to Akihabara stations, I could see there were plenty of promotions up for the new “Kizumonogatari” – the origin story for the Monogatari series. I’d been a fan of the Monogatari series for a while so Kizumonogatari was something I was quite excited about.

Kiss Shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade (do not ask about the name)

I also happened to notice a street performance from a singer who appeared to be promoting an album. It was good to see that independent musicians are still going in Japan and that AKB48 hadn’t completely taken over.

Thanks for reading. Tune in again for an evening of nomification and graphic design (not in that order though!)

Japanese Summer Adventure 2015 - Day 4 (Kashiwa)

After going over familiar terrain yesterday, it was time to visit somewhere new. This time round it was Kashiwa in Chiba prefecture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashiwa

Kashiwa city has a bustling shopping district, in fact, the train station is built in to a large shopping mall. This did present us with a challenge when we were trying to navigate the area. There was a North exit and a South exit to the station, it did take a few surveys of the areas surrounding the exit to determine the area Kyle was familiar with.

Once we had familiarized ourselves with the area we started a little exploration. We came across an interesting looking shrine. Upon further investigation (namely when I was looking at expanding my omomori collection) we found an “out to lunch” sign. This we took to be a sign from the kami that we, ourselves, should get lunch. This might also have had something to do with my stomach producing the kind of rumbles that register on earthquake monitoring equipment.

Kyle had clearly recovered from the year that I subjected him to the “ramen diet” as his suggestion was ramen. In this instance it was a type of ramen that I had not previously tried: cold ramen. This is a summer dish, sometimes visiting Japan in one of its hottest months has its advantages. The say it’s served can vary. Sometimes it’s served as a typical ramen (all in one bowl), in this restaurant it was served in two bowls. The soup base was in one bowl while the noodles and toppings were in the second. Dipping the rice/toppings in the soup was an interesting change and overall was something I’d certainly have again. After trying it I could understand the popularity of cold ramen and the way it made for a refreshing dish in summer.

As to be expected, there was a fairly large amount of window shopping (partially due to the large amount of shopping I had previously done in Akihabara). There were a wide variety of shops, so it’s safe to say that we were both kept on our feet for quite a while. Because Kyle was not feeling 100% I was particularly appreciative of the effort he was going to.

As luck would have it, we stumbled across the “chibi” dark magician girl figure I saw last summer but didn’t buy. I looked all over at new year but to no avail. Recognising that I would probably not have this opportunity again I leaped at the chance to buy it. Somehow, I think my suitcases will be a little crowded!

No more figures - I'll have no room in my suitcase!

After plenty of browsing and walking the equivalent of a marathon, it was time to head back to Misato. Upon our return to Misato, Kyle offered to buy me dinner at Burger King as we wouldn’t be able to go out to a restaurant for dinner that evening. This seemed like an unusually generous gesture so I was a little suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when Kyle returned from the counter, with a particularly evil grin on his face! He had ordered me aka samauri burgers. For those who are not familiar with these, here’s a link:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2015/06/17/food/burger-king-unveils-red-colored-burgers/#.Vcti5_lVikp

These burgers feature a sauce based on Chinese chilli bean paste and the red buns are marinaded in chilli. I iwas warned by Kyle that these were pretty powerful, in fact, he could only manage a few bites last time he tried one and it played hell with his… digestive system. He had presented me with 2, the chicken version and the beef version - This was his revenge!

Caution - not for 猫舌

Being a brave Yorkshireman who lives for curry, I had no choice but to rise to the occasion.

With trepidation, I took my first bite. So far so good, but I’d eaten enough curries to know that this could be a trap. I’d had plenty of curries that seemed mild at first but took a few seconds for the heat to register – I call this the “afterburner”. A few more bites and I’d managed to eat half the beef burger. Other than some heat from the sauce and from the bun, it all seemed okay. In fact, it was rather nice. Kyle could only look on with horror as I finished the beef burger and moved on to the chicken burger. Kyle’s revenge had turned in to his humiliation, it seems he’s lost his ability to handle chilli. From now on, he will be known as 猫舌 (cat tongue) – for the inability to handle hot/spicy food.

Here goes nothing!

My victory sure was a good way to round off the day. Until next time!