Hi, guys. Long-time-no-write. I can't believe that it's already October. Back at Yale, it's (if I remember correctly) already midterm season (the season that never ends). People are, theoretically, buckling down to study or finish that pset or that book they were supposed to have read. I'm also starting to study for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) that I'll be taking on December 3. Trying to cram numerous grammar points, vocab words, and, arguably most importantly, kanji (the Chinese character-portion of the Japanese alphabet) into my brain is going to be a massive undertaking. Theoretically I'm supposed to be on an 8-week study program but we'll see how much of that I actually make it through.
Yesterday I met up with a friend in Akihabara, also known as the mecca for anime/manga nerdy stuff and (though perhaps not as much as it once was) Tokyo's "electric town."
Here I am awkwardly nomming on a taiyaki--a fish-shaped pancake filled with (in this case) Japanese sweet potato and azuki paste. Other options include normal red bean paste, chocolate pudding, or pumpkin. There's supposed to be two types of people in Japan: those that start at the head of the fish when eating taiyaki and those that start with the tail...
Akihabara is a generally colorful and loud place, filled with multi-story game arcades that have floors of UFO-catchers, arcade games, shooting games, fighting games, driving games, taiko-drum games...the cacophony inside one of those places is insane. There's also plenty of stores that sell anime/manga goods and plenty of stores that sell things you shouldn't expose your children to. Maid cafes are also in high demand, and on many corners you'll find Japanese girls dressed in frilly maid outfits handing out pamphlets advertising their particular store.
A few corners also had people advertising for an owl cafe which, I must say, I vastly preferred to the maids:
That being said, other than the shopping I don't actually think there's that much to do in Akihabara. So my friend and I decided to try to go to one of several things--the Ueno Zoo, the Imperial Gardens, or the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden--only to discover via Google Maps that they were all. Closed. On. Mondays. That's HORRIBLE coordination. Just saying.
So today I decided to ABSOLUTELY go to one of them. I picked the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, in part because it's easy for me to get to and in part because I'd just watched a movie called The Garden of Words that heavily featured that particular garden.
Not only did the movie have absolutely gorgeous scenery, it portrayed Tokyo in such a dreamy, romantic light.
I actually went to track down the gazebo featured in the movie, only to find that other people had the same idea because there was a line several people deep to take photos:
The Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is massive. When you're in it it's hard to believe that you're smack in the middle of arguably one of the busiest places in the world. It's broadly divided into three sections, a Japanese Garden, a French Garden, and an English Garden. There's also a greenhouse and several areas that are basically just forest. I didn't have time to make it to everything so I mostly just meandered around the Japanese area and through some of the major lawns.
You really can sort of forget you're in Tokyo until you look up and see the massive Docomo Communications Tower looming above the treeline:
Sometimes living in a city as big as this, even if movies can make it seem glamorous and romantic, you just need to step back and take a breather from the crush (sometimes literally, it seems) of humanity. Maybe that's why I like cafes here so much? If you find just the right one it can be a little coffee-scented haven from the rest of the world.
OH. I'm supposed to tell everyone (according to my mother) about the random interesting thing that happened to me today. As I was walking to my local gym I stopped to ask this man, who was walking his absolutely majestic Afghan Hound, if I could pet his dog. We got to chatting in a mix of Japanese and English (I often find that people like to speak English to me if they can, even when I reply in Japanese, so sometimes I just roll with it) and it turns out that this guy is a member of the Japan Sword Preservation Society and is in charge of maintaining the emperor's swords...low-key one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Made my day. Just goes to show that it always pays to ask people (politely) to pet their dogs and then stick around to chat.
Yesterday I met up with a friend in Akihabara, also known as the mecca for anime/manga nerdy stuff and (though perhaps not as much as it once was) Tokyo's "electric town."
Here I am awkwardly nomming on a taiyaki--a fish-shaped pancake filled with (in this case) Japanese sweet potato and azuki paste. Other options include normal red bean paste, chocolate pudding, or pumpkin. There's supposed to be two types of people in Japan: those that start at the head of the fish when eating taiyaki and those that start with the tail...
Akihabara is a generally colorful and loud place, filled with multi-story game arcades that have floors of UFO-catchers, arcade games, shooting games, fighting games, driving games, taiko-drum games...the cacophony inside one of those places is insane. There's also plenty of stores that sell anime/manga goods and plenty of stores that sell things you shouldn't expose your children to. Maid cafes are also in high demand, and on many corners you'll find Japanese girls dressed in frilly maid outfits handing out pamphlets advertising their particular store.
A few corners also had people advertising for an owl cafe which, I must say, I vastly preferred to the maids:
That being said, other than the shopping I don't actually think there's that much to do in Akihabara. So my friend and I decided to try to go to one of several things--the Ueno Zoo, the Imperial Gardens, or the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden--only to discover via Google Maps that they were all. Closed. On. Mondays. That's HORRIBLE coordination. Just saying.
So today I decided to ABSOLUTELY go to one of them. I picked the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, in part because it's easy for me to get to and in part because I'd just watched a movie called The Garden of Words that heavily featured that particular garden.
Not only did the movie have absolutely gorgeous scenery, it portrayed Tokyo in such a dreamy, romantic light.
I actually went to track down the gazebo featured in the movie, only to find that other people had the same idea because there was a line several people deep to take photos:
The Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is massive. When you're in it it's hard to believe that you're smack in the middle of arguably one of the busiest places in the world. It's broadly divided into three sections, a Japanese Garden, a French Garden, and an English Garden. There's also a greenhouse and several areas that are basically just forest. I didn't have time to make it to everything so I mostly just meandered around the Japanese area and through some of the major lawns.
You really can sort of forget you're in Tokyo until you look up and see the massive Docomo Communications Tower looming above the treeline:
Sometimes living in a city as big as this, even if movies can make it seem glamorous and romantic, you just need to step back and take a breather from the crush (sometimes literally, it seems) of humanity. Maybe that's why I like cafes here so much? If you find just the right one it can be a little coffee-scented haven from the rest of the world.
OH. I'm supposed to tell everyone (according to my mother) about the random interesting thing that happened to me today. As I was walking to my local gym I stopped to ask this man, who was walking his absolutely majestic Afghan Hound, if I could pet his dog. We got to chatting in a mix of Japanese and English (I often find that people like to speak English to me if they can, even when I reply in Japanese, so sometimes I just roll with it) and it turns out that this guy is a member of the Japan Sword Preservation Society and is in charge of maintaining the emperor's swords...low-key one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Made my day. Just goes to show that it always pays to ask people (politely) to pet their dogs and then stick around to chat.
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