Thursday 27 December 2007

correction about the monks...

It would seem that I was very wrong about where the monks are playing. In my over excitement in reading the address, I mistook the ku [区] for the place name. SO, the bar is actually the other side of Tokyo, in the East part of the city in Edogawa-Ku [江戸川区], in a place called Matsushima [松島]. Apparently, it's 5mins walk from Shinkoiwa station on the JR line [JR新小岩駅徒歩5分].

Still trying to search out when the monks will be back, might even attempt to phone and ask, but will have to spend a lot of time looking up words like: 'buddhist' and 'Monk' in the dictionary first...

Wednesday 26 December 2007

Buddhist Monks in Bars...

Glorious news!!!!
Buddhist monks are trying to reach a wider audience by going to a Jazz bars to perform their chants of buddhist teachings [仏教音楽; 祈りの歌]!!! how COoooool is that?! [full article here]

So, I've tried to find the bar: サ ウンド ミュージック バー Chippy (Chippy Sound and Music Bar)
and it's not tooo far from where we live....some where in Edagowabashi [江戸川橋].

Apparently, the last time they played was on the 19th of Dec, and I can't seem to find the schedule for next year :( boooo!

Nikko 日光

To celebrate Ben's visit, we went to Nikko [日光] for the weekend. It's not too far from Tokyo (only a couple of hours on the limited express) and has some nice temples to give you feel of Japan. So, we thought it would be a nice introduction for Benny...

After we got to the nearest train station, we wandered around for a bit to try and find the tourist information centre, to work out where the Ryokan that we booked was...Turns out that it was a bus ride away, but there was a free shuttle or we could buy a ticket on the public bus system...we chose to have lunch while waiting for the free shuttle bus to take us up to our ryokan. We had some Soba [そば] with yuba [ゆば] - tofu skin, sounds horrible but was really tasty....very soft and tender.

After some of the tourist information people really went out of their way to check that we got on to our bus, we spent about 20mins in the bus before we got to our ryokan. The bus wound its way up the mountain, into the snow...

We settled into our room, then went for a walk around 'town'...which turned out to be pretty small... we found a few little temples, the source of the onsen [温泉] water for the ryokans [see photo], closed foot baths, a cafe by a lake (which we had some Umai shou - sweet warm sake [甘酒]to warm ourselves up)

source of onsen [温泉] water for the local ryokans

a poor attempt to dispose of Ben in the (rather sulphurous) onsen [温泉] water

Greg trying to give a temple bell a good whack, about 50yens worth of whack...despite the fact the bell had kinda been tied up didn't stop us.

A frozen puddle on a stone (just to show how cold the place was...)

We then went back to the ryokan when it started getting dark (not before a little snowball fight...) and had our 'traditional' Japanese dinner. In the general tradition of Japanese dinners at ryokans, it was very colourful. We had soy milk based nabe [鍋], which had some tofu making syrup to pour into the nabe pot afterwards to make the remaining soy milk [豆乳] into soft tofu. there was also ikura [いくら] (salmon roe) in a very small cocktail-looking shot glass, the standard rice, fish, sashimi, some unidentifiable green cuboidal substance (which didn't taste of much except the soy sauce that I put on), some fish-cake...and other needlessly colourful foods... Basically, there were lots of small plate of things, which didn't look like it would fill you up, all beautifully arranged which was very hard to finish, because we were very full when we were only about half-way though...

Anyway, after that we tried the onsen [温泉] and then went to bed; ready for a day of walking tomorrow....

So, the next morning we took the shuttle bus, put on by the ryokan, down to the centre of town, from where we started our little tour. The first site (which was just opposite the road from where the bus dropped us off, was this rather famous land mark of Nikko (which name escapes me). Which, I might add, you are not allowed to walk on...


We were actually lucky enough to catch the end of the Momiji season (red leaves of autumn...) [紅葉]...hence the tiny red maple leaves behind Ben...who is standing in front of some stairs to a temple...

At the top of the stairs we immediately ran into a ticket booth, from here we proceeded to buy a pack of tickets for all the major temples in the Nikko area.

Inside the Japanese garden, moss seems to line everything...it's much friendlier than grass....sooo soft and inviting - especially when it carpets the floor...

Making a full 180degree turn we then went into a Japanese garden near the entrance to the first temple along our route... [see above photo] . Just outside another shrine...there were lots of stone laterns, also nicely covered in moss... [see photo below]

We also came across the famous Nikko carving in one of the biggest Temples (over the horse stables) of the Hear no evil [聞かざる], Speak no evil [言わざる], and See no evil [見ざる]. Better yet, there were lots of very weird carvings all over the temple gates and other wooden buildings, which had apparently been designed by a guy who was told to draw elephants and had never seen even a picture of the things...which would explain why they didn't look like elephants at all...
We also managed to find the 'deliberate mistake'; which had been put into the temples to satisfy the Gods, where one of the white pillars of the main gate was put in upside-down...which could only really be seen if you looked closely at the pattern carved on the pillar....


The upside-down pillar was on the other side of the gate you can see further up in the center of the photo...the large thing you can see on the far right (and a bit of one being hidden by some huge trees on the left) just in front of, and on either side of the main gate are drum towers.

The drum tower and the tori (shrine entrance)

Just a small fraction of some of the ornate and colourful carvings which adorn the temple.

a large store of sake casks...

...a couple getting married in traditional Japanese dress...

In the grounds of one of the other temples...people making garlands out of dried rice stalks (hay/straw) getting ready to be hung outside the temples and on gates for some local celebration...

Greg also found a small shrine dedicated to all things French...


and here are some more photos (taken by Greg, obviously...) to give you a feel for the place...



Tuesday 25 December 2007

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas!


I celebrated this Christmas day in a less than normal way; by going on a field trip to the Kawasaki [川崎市]area of Tokyo (it's not too far from Haneda Airport [羽田空港]) - to try and get a feel for the area which I shall apparently be helping with some dynamic modelling for Tokyo Gas....anyway, I was looking for evidence of subsidence or liquefaction...which reminds me: I should really write up about what I saw before I forget...

It looked very flat. Everywhere: FLAT. very little in the way of exciting cracked buildings or uneven land or suspicious puddles. I was a little bit dissappointed. HOWEVER, when I was tottering about on my own, I was accosted by a young mother on a bike, a bike which contained one small child on the basket on the handlebars and another small child on the seat behind her...she asked if I knew where some park was....and as it happened I had a whole district map in my hand (so that I would have an idea of what I was meant to be looking at). I immediately thrust it out at her (with a very proud grin on my face) pointed, to roughly where we were and what I assumed the park that she was looking for. Which, seemed to make her quite happy.

The end.

Happy Christmas...

hello! we're your new neighbours!

So, apparently, in Japan, when you move into a new apartment/house/place you go and introduce yourself to your new neighbours with a present...SO...a good month of living in our new place I finally got around to baking a chocolate cake (in our swanky but not-quite-so-new-anymore oven/grill/microwave). Greg cut the cake, and then we wrapped it and tied a little bow around it, ready to offer to our new neighbours, some of whom we've already run into in the entrance or lift...
(yes, it's very exciting...we have a lift - very useful for moving in...)

We first went up to the 6th floor and nervously pressed the door bell. A little old man tottered to the door and gave me and Greg a look of 'and?......' Possibly because I was standing there with a plate full of weird pink triangles on a plate in my outstretched arms and a huge nervous grin on my face.

We tried to explain that we were the new neighbours living on the 5th floor, and would he like some cake. Unfortunately, he kind of misunderstood my cake gesture and tried to take the whole plate. An awkward moment ensued...where I knee-jerked and retracted the proffered plate and said errr.....NO...ONE* cake.... anyway, after we'd exhausted all our Japanese, by describing that we were from England and France, and didn't speak much Japanese....we were left in a little awkward position where we tried to escape from their doorway as gracefully as possible.

We then moved on to the 2nd floor. No one. 3rd floor: a lady answers the intercom, but a man comes to the door (hmmmmmm...) anyway, we offer cake. The lady who I guess answered the phone is hiding behind the guy I guess is her husband and staring at us, but not trying to attract attention... He asks where we are from....and then asks Greg: 'Can you speak English?' to which Greg replies: 'Yes!'. Hurray! So, yeah, his English isn't too bad. With that over we try their neighbour: nothing. 4th floor: nothing. Which doesn't bother Greg in the slightest; because he has more cake now.


*[one or none!]

Monday 24 December 2007

Christmas Dinner - PART II

At home. not as sexy as the one in Roppongi [六本木] but food all the same.

Actually, not only did I manage to cook a pseudo Christmas dinner, but also managed to meet up with my cousin who I have not seen since I was probably about 11years old. Who happened to be holidaying in Tokyo....apparently, something she does quite often.... which was cool. We kinda caught up, and tried to find an entrance to a park, which was like a fortress!!!! even tried some rock-salt candy. No, it's not very nice. and Yes, it is very salty.

So, dinner. Managed to locate a whole chicken. No sprouts (sad....I actually like sprouts), we had cauliflower and carrots instead. Some roast peppers and aubergines, roast potatoes, and gravy. Even made the effort to make some mulled wine. Which was not as good as I'd hoped....but it tasted much better today after it had some time to soak up some more of the spice.


Sunday 23 December 2007

Christmas Dinner - PART I

On the eve of Christmas eve we toddled down to the shiny lights of Roppongi [六本木] we headed towards the Mori Towers and then into L'atelier (L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon), a two Michelin star restaurant. It had a great atmosphere, the Japanese waiters all spoke French (and some English) and were not intimidating at all, being very friendly and attentive. The decor was a cool black and red, with various bottles and jars full with food for colour.



Greg's starter: cous cous, with a mango chukney


My starter: Avocado and tomato

I then went onto have a non-dairy option they threw together for me of foie grois ravioli, in a consume (otherwise known as soup) . I really can't remember what Greg had at this point (I was too preoccupied..) maybe he'll tell me when he gets back from his business trip...

Greg's second course: Duck in a cheesy potatoey bake (it wasn't described as badly as this on the menu)

My second course: Fishy on some (very tastily cooked) potatoes

Palate cleaning lime sherbet with fruit

My dessert [also not exactly on the menu - but non-dairy...thus wayway friendly]: Pear Sorbet (in a cylinder of ice) with berry fruits

Greg's prepped and ready for his dessert...

some dairy thing, I'm not allowed to eat...

...then it's gone!

After our little culinary experience, we then headed to Shibuya to watch 'Once' ...a beautiful movie....with awesome music.

Thursday 20 December 2007

Custard and Meringue

A first for several things this week: home made custard and home made meringues... MMmmmMMmmMmmmMmmmmmmm *sugar*!

Made some apple crumble and felt the need for custard, so looked up a recipe online....and tried to make it with soya milk....it wasn't too bad, but I did manage to put too much sugar in it (TOO MUCH SUGAR?!?!?!? surely that isn't possible wayway?! - ohhhh but it is.)

Anyway, with the left over egg whites I felt the need to make some meringue: for the first time. So, with the help of Benny and Greg we had a go. Luckily, a friend had donated a electric whisk when we had moved in...which took the strain off our hands a bit. It was all going okay until we baked them, and they refused to crispen up :( boooooooooo! but it didn't really matter, because we ate it all anyway.

Tasty.

Monday 17 December 2007

プチプチ[bubble packing/wrap]

Just in case you'd forgotten about pointless pocket toys from Bandai (the people who brought you Tamagochi - たまごち) they recently brought out something exploring the true bounds of the ultimately pointless. A game called プチプチ or puchi-puchi.


You know that great packing medium; bubble wrap? well...this little thing simulates the tactile sensation and recreates the audio experience of popping the stuff over and over again. And, just in case that wasn't good enough for you; for every hundredth 'pop' you get a random sound, as a kind of prize.

As it says on the packaging: 'you just can't stop...' [プチプチはやめられない]

You can watch their inspirational promo video here.

(ps. we now have two プチプチ's at home....it's not my fault: they were a housewarming gift....)