Tohoku, the Beautiful North

Growing up, we visited Japan at least every other year to see family. While part of the trip was always spent in the incredible cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, my heart lies in the beautiful north of Japan ... a side of the country few truly get to experience. It's the least populated region where life takes on a different pace ... where the rugged coastline and mountains sit side by side. It's also the region that was hit hardest by the March 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. I've always visited in the summer, but this was my first time in the winter. We blasted off to the north in the new E5 Hayabusa shinkansen bullet train, across the snow-covered rice fields. Grandparents are still doing well, and were very happy to see us. Then, in Hanamaki, we stayed at the onsen (hot spring). Soaking in the stone hot springs while the snow fell on my head was an unbelievably picture-perfect moment.

Sit back, relax with a cup of tea, and enjoy the movie I made of our trip!
Tohoku, The Beautiful North from Michael on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/user15495540/httpvimeocommkotohokuwinter

東京: Tokyo, the eastern metropolis!

I slept really well last night on my cushy futon mattress and woke up early this morning to fuel up on a great breakfast of breads from the bakery (curry bread), ham and egg sandwiches that mom made, and some hot tea.

Afterwards, we hopped on the quick Tsukuba Express (TX) train to spend the day in Tokyo's eastern neighborhoods.

Ian is being a good Japanese citizen and wearing a mask to prevent the rest of us from catching his slight cold. For those who are unfamiliar, people often wear masks in Japan either to protect other people from catching their cold, or to protect themselves from others. It's not looked at as weird at all - in fact, it's quite considerate when you think about it.

Just down the street from the apartment, the entrance to the Tsukuba Express 

Artwork inside the station 

Our first stop was a street called Kappabashi-dori which is known for its many kitchen and restaurant supply stores. Yes, an entire street (quite long) with all kinds of uniquely Japanese kitchen items imaginable (and cheap too!)

Wood lacquered bowls

 Traditional wooden container for presenting cooked rice nicely at the dinner table

Chic coffee shop

Huuuuge Tokyo Sky Tree tower (at the moment, tallest in the world)

Chicken Karaage (fried chicken skewer) for a snack on our way to Sensoji temple

Sensoji Temple...

Dad reading Ian's omikuji (fortune) ... good news!

Shake the cylinder, pull out a stick with a number written on it, and then find the drawer with the number you drew

I got a bad fortune. It's not the end of the world, though ... simply fold it and tie the bad fortune up in the temple to leave it behind

Sensoji Temple

Taking a drink from the temple fountain 

Wafting the good-luck incense smoke over your body

huge lantern at the temple gate

There were a million bites to eat on the street leading all the way up to the temple ... here we are enjoying sweet red bean ("azuki") ice cream made with the best cream from Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost main island)

A traditional Japanese treat known as "taiyaki" ... basically sweet red bean paste inside of a "waffle" type exterior (usually in the shape of a fish)

Then, it's the Yamanote subway line of the Tokyo Metro to the Ueno neighborhood

Ueno, Tokyo 

 Ameyoko-cho ... well-known shopping area with lots of street vendors in a bunch of alleyways. Loud, sensory overload, but always really fun!

Crowded Ameyoko-cho

Another snack ... chinese pan fried dumplings with pork and soup inside 

Spicy noodle soup and chinese garlic chives inside of another flat dumpling

 Of course, the world's best vending machines absolutely everywhere around town. Both hot and cold beverages always ready, and for the ultimate convenience, you can actually tap your Suica (metro subway) pass to the black round sensor in the bottom left, and use it to pay for your beverage!

This is the Suica card used for the trains ... it can also be used to pay for things at vending machines, convenience stores, and many other places. So convenient.

 Then, we hopped on the metro over to Akihabara ... "electric town" as it's known locally, since this is THE place to be for the latest in cutting-edge electronics!

Japan will forever hold the #1 rank for most frequent, efficient, and impeccably clean public transit system in the world (at least, in my book!). Just look how many metro trains are taking off in a span of 30 seconds at this one platform alone:

Ian noted later in the day while on the train, "It amazes me how on this entire train there is not a single obese person". While slowly Japan is seeing more overweight people, it's nothing in comparison with the rest of the world. It simply comes down to a good diet, and a lifestyle which involves walking everywhere and taking public transportation. It's not some huge mystery at all.

Finally, took the Tsukuba Express train back home and rested a bit before an incredible Korean barbecue dinner at Toraji near home:

All the fixings 

Bimbimbap ... red-hot stone bowl with rice, pickles, seaweed, and mushrooms with a raw egg ... mix it all up and let the heat from the bowl cook everything together

mixed and cooked bimbimbap :) yummm

Sitting in front of that charcoal grill can get pretty warm, so we cooled off with an icy cold, refreshing noodle soup

And for dessert, almond pudding!

I am dead tired today ... Tokyo takes a lot of energy! But we definitely enjoyed the dozens of bites we had today and an incredible dinner. I am still always amazed every time I see how many people Japan's incredible train network moves on a minute-by-minute basis.

Tomorrow it will probably rain, so we will sleep in and take it easy... catching up on some studying and laundry before our departure to the beautiful northern countryside to see the grandparents on Sunday. I am really looking forward to it. If there's one thing I enjoyed in my visits to Japan growing up, it was always the balance between the intense energy of Tokyo, and the beautiful tranquility of the Japanese countryside in the north. We'll be on the bullet train blasting off soon and I am hoping for snow, especially when we will be soaking in our onsen (hot spring)!

Oh, I hear the beeping ... my bath is ready!

日本へようこそ: Welcome to Japan!

We are nicely settled into mom and dad's place here in Tsukuba. After a ferry ride to Seattle to pick up a delicious Piroshki from the Russian bakery before hopping on the light rail to the airport, we got onto a brand new 787-8. Almost 10 hours later, we've arrived in Tokyo. Mom met us at the airport and we hopped on the bus to Tsukuba.

View Larger Map

Yes, I'm legit!

It was a long day of traveling on nearly every mode of transportation possible for us, so we took it easy with an amazing sushi dinner (sorry no pics!) next door, and came home to a hot bath and a comfy bed.

Here's some pics of a Japanese-style apartment, for those who are unfamiliar:

Entry doorway with electronic door bolt lock ... of course, take your shoes off in the tiled section (considered "outside"), and step up into the house and wear slippers

Living room with HUUUGE balcony (views of Mt. Fuji on a clear day) 

High-tech kitchen

Induction-heat stove uses special magnetized pots/pans ... it's extremely safe (you can put a piece of paper on top and it will never burn) and ultra efficient (no wasted energy)

Dining room

 Tatami (woven straw mats) room where I sleep ... my futon is folded up :-)

Awesome eco fridge

Of course, a washlet Toto toilet with heated seat, gently closing lid, bidet and butt-wash function, and hand rinsing sink. Change your house slippers for the toilet slippers when entering!

While in the U.S. air conditioning is centralized and uses lots of electricity, in Asia, air-con tends to be by room (only heat/cool the room you are occupying). This is a typical wall-mounted air conditioning unit with oscillating fan blade.

 Microwave oven is actually both things ... microwave, and an oven to bake.

 Traditional Japanese style bathroom with a hand-held shower (sit down on a stool to soap up), and once clean, enjoy soaking in the tub. Unlike Westerners, Japanese use the bathtub for soaking - not washing - purposes only. The rolling cover helps to maintain the bath heat so multiple people can soak in the tub and not waste the hot water.

Recirculating heat for the bath with intercom feature so you can call for help out into the house if needed (or, in Ian's case, a cup of tea!). Oh, I forgot to mention: you can push the red "ofuro" (Bath) button and the bath will fill itself to your specified temperature, stopping when full and ready. Then, it actually talks to you (via the other intercom in the kitchen) to let you know that your bath is ready! No standing around for 10 minutes, and no worrying that it will overflow.

Hang-drying laudry on sturdy poles with special pole clips is the normal thing to do. Why waste all that electricity when you can let the warm sunshine do all the work? If it's really wet and rainy, however, there is a small tumble dryer in the apartment.

This morning, mom made us breakfast and I studied my MCAT material a bit before we headed out into town. Our ports of call? Japanese bakery, department store food goodies, stationary shop, pastry shop, a quick snack, then off to a tomato ramen lunch, and a walk through a typical Japanese video game arcade:

Ian's latest discovery in the fridge this morning ... creamy japanese ice cream in a squeeze pouch

 The world's windiest intersection !

At the パン (pronounced "pahn") shop ... baked goodness! Picked up some curry bread, cheese bread, kouign aman, and some plain toast for breakfast

Holiday goodies

Now, if there's one thing I can REALLY spend money on in Japan, it's definitely stationary at the stationary store. It's absolutely incredibly the overwhelming variety that's available .... you know those multi-colored pens where there are multiple colors in a barrel (usually red, black, blue, etc)? Well, you can take a blank, empty case and choose your color cartridges to create what kind of multi-color pen you want. Not only can you choose colors, you can also specify the thickness of the line that you desire ... 0.5, 0.38, or 0.28mm sizes available. Pens whose ink disappears with the use of a special friction roller (but won't disappear with a normal eraser), millions of mechanical pencils and lead available in 15 different "darkness"/"hardness" levels AND thicknesses .... it's endless!

Tiny basket for some heavy-duty shopping in my Norwegian jacket

 Millions of options

This is the new big thing in Japan ... even the Japanese government offices have transitioned ... staple-less staplers. They use a special way of punching a hole still attached to the papers and then the paper tag gets folded into the hole to hold all the sheets together. Does a pretty great job stapling up to 10 pages, no metal waste, no fussing with little staples. I am getting one for sure!

All that stationary store shopping can make you hungry! Gyoza (chinese pot stickers) for a quick snack.

The lower levels of Japanese departments stores often have groceries as well as tons of different food item stands ...

Coffee bar 

In a country with very little arable land to farm (since it's so mountainous), using that space to grow fruit rather than vegetables is quite the luxury and is reflected in the price

$70 melon, anyone? And this isn't even the expensive kind of melons ....

Lots of different kinds of Kyo-yasai (Kyoto style pickles). Mom likes to chat with Takako-san, the pickle lady!

Off to lunch later in the afternoon on a nice long pedestrian/bike-only path crossing through the whole town 

Lunch spot was a tomato-ramen shop  ... really interesting fusion mix. Here is my "milk - tomato - curry ramen with onsen (poached, literally 'hot spring') egg" （ミルクトマトカレーラメン）

And for dessert ... the most delicious custard-like thing I've ever had. It's actually silken tofu that is so creamy, topped with black sugar. Amazinggg

Local Tsukuba-made sweets shop to send some stuff up to my grandparents in Iwate since we will be visiting this weekend and grandma will be doing traditional Japanese tea ceremony!

Ian and I were eyeing the top left green item ... japanese Matcha green tea pudding with gold leaf 

Huge house! 

And of course, on the way back home, couldn't help but walk through a typical sensory-overload arcade!

Going to take it easy tonight (maybe a bit more studying) before we head out to Chez Lenon for some French food tonight. We are being spoiled :-p. Don't worry ... we did walk up the 11 flights of stairs on the way home to justify all our eating ;-)