Koishikawa Matsuri

A matsuri on our very own doorstep. I walked up and down the road wondering what was meant to be going on. There were crowds of people hanging around ｔaiko [太鼓] and portable shrines, I could see about three separate groups, possibly from different companies or micro-neighbourhoods.

They all seemed to be preparing as opposed to actually performing. The kids were in their own little matsuri outfits, with some perched on the taiko kart randomly hitting the drum. Some of the older guys were trying to teach the kids the beat that they should be following, but it's far more fun just to whack the thing...so that's what ended up happening.

Portable shrine carried by small people

Another portable shrine, sitting in the play area just opposite our block of flats. possibly waiting for the festivities to get into full swing.

One of the taikos even wheeled right outside our house, they just seemed to be walking around the block with some kids perched on the kart to make some noise about it. Adults flanked the kart, protecting the group from traffic...

There were even food stalls set up in our quiet neighbourhood. They positioned themselves at the traffic junction closest to our house on the road leading up to the temple just north of the Botanical gardens. The guy at the takoyaki stall looks rather warm - and considering that he's in front of a hot plate with the hot weather, I don't envy him.

Takoyaki is a common snack food, especially for festivals like this - It involves a batter like mixture with some veg; say, cabbage, red ginger and what-not a peice of octopus [たこ] the batter is cooked into a little sphere with the veges and peice of octopus at the centre. Usually you get 6-8 little orbs in a tray, which is then smothered in a thick sweet soy sauce decorated with mayonase and sprinkled with some green dust (I still have no idea what this stuff is) and some katsuboshi [鰹節] (dried fish flakes).

Fishing for gold fish and the multi-coloured plastic version

Trying your luck with a paper paddle to catch little gold fish was very popular. 200yen for children, 300yen for adults and 500yen for a slightly different scoop to try and catch little turtles. Both the scoop and fish catching paddle were made of water soluble stuff to impede the amount of catching actually done. So it was quite a challenge added to the fact that the fish were fully aware of the whole catching situation. There were many different kinds of gold fish, fantails, telescope eyed ones, black ones, patchy coloured ones as well as small turtles a little catfish, shrimps and a miniature lobster.

Stairs to the temple itself

French crepes at the temple!

A little boy looks hopefully at his mum for the chance to catch some pretty fishes. Disappointed at her refusal, he goes back to staring intently at the pretty fishes.

Rikugien Garden 六義園

Last Sunday we made use of the glorious sunny weather to look around our ward a bit more... with the aid of the tour guide booklet that Greg found (previously mentioned HERE) and we headed off to a garden which he had been interested in seeing... Rikugien [六義園] - 6 poem gardens; A National Historical Site depicting scenes from famous poems. It cost a mere 300 yen to get in (and there are discounts if you are a junior high student, OAP or in a group)

It was quite busy, with lots of people enjoying the lovely views on a sunny day, even if the sakura [桜] trees weren't yet in full bloom...we even saw a camera crew filming a sakura tree which had bloomed a little earlier than its neighbours.

The main star of the hanami [花見] was a weeping sakura, with banners proclaiming the night-time veiwing festivities that would take place when it will be in full bloom.

It's quite a big garden and we took a leisurely walk around, stopping mainly to look at the feeding frenzy at the edge of the pond.

The koi carp have definitely made a connection between people standing at the edge of the water and a high probability of feeding. They always amass by bridges and where they can see people standing by the water side. We watched massive koi push ducks and a poor little turtle out of the way to fight for the food being thrown in. The koi often ended up mouthing other koi heading for the same bit of food when they missed the target. The little black ducks managed to dash in some times and grab bread before the koi managed to attack, but the poor little turtle was always bullied out of the way by the swarm of koi. At one point he was pushed completely out of sight, and only managed to surface after a long submergence quite away from the melee.

Some photos for your delectation.....

Sakura time in Bunkyo ku

Sakura [桜] is currently in full bloom in Tokyo, a good week ahead of the JMA's predictions. So this weekend was jam-packed with people trying to enjoy the cherry blossom and the sunny weather. A street just a few blocks away from our apartment, is dedicated to hanami [花見] - cherry blossom viewing, the very wide central reservation, which is a kind of long narrow walkway with a little manmade stream running down it, is flanked by Sakura trees on both sides of the road.

The road was even closed for the day, so that people could happily mingle about
under the blossom laden branches...

Children were splashing in the little stream, which is usually turned off, under the watchful eye of parents picnicing under the shade of the blossom trees. People had brought plastic sheeting to sit on, and one family had even set up a picnic table and chairs, busy having a proper lunch. Others had settled with sitting on the floor, upturning boxes for tables and bringing portable gas stoves for cooking. Big groups of youger people sat around playing drinking games further up the hill. There was also a live brass band...and the first thing that we heard them play was the theme tune for the Death Star....

About halfway up the road, we came across a temporary petting zoo, where various farm animals were penned and being harrased by some very eager children...

Bunnies trying to hide from the petting frenzy and larger farm animals in a seperate pen next door.

For some reason there was also a lone ferret and two petrified looking chipmunk like creatures in cages...the chipmonks were obviously too cute not to photograph, and we were treated to the lovely sight of four young girls trying to digitally capture the chipmunks on their individual mobile phones...

some sumo wrestlers taking a picnic?

How to reserve a place under the sakura...

Some people had even gone to the lengths of 'reserving' their place for when they would turn up later that day. Presumably, with the foresight to come the night before to ensure that they would get the place they wanted. Better yet, the Japanese being the great people that they are, actually respect the notices that people put up. I some how doubt that this kind of courtesy will catch on in the UK...

Some people enjoying the sakura...

On our way closer to the metro station, to finally get some lunch, we came across some people dressed up to promote the festivities that were going to happen on Sunday. The sax player was trailing behind the two ladies in kimonos playing out a nice jolly tune, while the ladies walked ahead; one playing percussion and the other handing out leaflets...

Spanish Weekender

Not only did we watch a Spanish movie, La Orphanata, but we ended up going to a very nice Spanish restaurant, about 10mins walk from our apartment.

The restaurant was a great deal more up-market than the attire that we chose to wear to the restaurant... our lax choice of attire didn't seem to make a difference though. We had some nice red wine to start off the meal and then we spent a good while trying to figure out the menu...

We had some tasty bread to nibble on while we waited for the food to arrive, mine had disappeared within minutes, only to be refilled by a very attentive waiter :) The gaspachio, cold tomatoey soup thing, arrived in a tiny glass only to disappear quicker than the bread. The tapas arrived on a waffle-ish looking plate, with each sample of tapas neatly arranged in one of each of the 9 sections. It was tasty, just a bit sad that the portions were very Japanese-sized much like the Spanish omelette which came next. This was very nicely cooked, with slices of potato evenly distributed throughout the egg and well cooked all the way through.

Next to arrive was the lamb, a rare food to find in Japan; which meant that it was top on the list to be ordered. The lamb was excellent! the chops were deliciously seasoned and cooked to perfection, the inside still a little bloody.

Last up, came the paella, and my poor translation of the Japanese menu thought that it was large prawns...and I guess it wasnt too far off because a small lobster was on top of the dish. Very tasty, but completely overshadowed by the tastiness of the lamb before...

...thank you Greg!

Walking tours of Bunkyo Ku

Last Sunday, Greg and I took advantage of the lovely sunny weather and tried to find some of the sights in our local area, recommended by a booklet that Greg picked up from the Ward office...

We took the bike and made our way to Gokokuji Temple [護国寺], taking a walk around the cemetery

A very nice tree, outside the entrance.

...some plum blossom has already started to bloom...indicating the start of Sakura [桜] season (cherry blossom)

We wondered around the cemetery for a bit then we headed towards a crazy shaped cathedral, St. Mary's Cathedral. I did manage to get us lost on the way...and we ended up asking a Japanese person (who took the very much appreciated initiative to answer in english) to point us in the right direction. Very impressive from the outside, but very dark and depressing on the inside (probably due to the fact we got there around 4pm and the sun was setting...) . Anyway, the huge sweeping concrete walls felt a bit oppressive from the inside.

MMMmmmMmmmmm Concreeette

After the Cathedral we tried to find one of the parks the map indicated (we got a bit distracted by a cat sitting on a wall on the way there...which was busy being photographed by a japanese dude+face mask on his mobile phone.) The cat, who didn't seem to like his new found fame then sauntered off into the distance to avoid the glare of the cameras.

" Leave me alone you crazy Humans! Have you not seen a cat before?!"

Unfortunately, when we got to the park, it was already shut, so we were going to head for some food, when we happened to pass another garden mentioned in the guide...which turned out to be the Gardens attached to a 5star hotel [Chinzan-So, 椿山荘]. It was a very nice garden, it even had some stone statues which had been moved from Kyoto (and another place which I can't remember). It looked like a nice place to go for Sakura [桜] it also had a very nice 3-tiered pagoda in it...

The crappy photos were taken from my mobile whilst the nice photos were taken by Greg...

Sento 銭湯

Last Sunday, after a bit of climbing, I went off in search of a local sento [銭湯], a Japanese public bath, similar to an Onsen [温泉] but with out the water being heated geothermally... it's just heated tap water. They tend to be a lot cheaper than onsen [温泉], mainly due to subsidy from the local ward office ('ku', く,　区). Ones in our ward (Bunkyo-ku [文京区]) are set to be 430yen for adults...

So, with my muscles in need of relaxing, I toddled on the bike to the nearest one. The entrance to the sento was just like the photos, with the coloured curtains draped over the entrance...I took off my shoes at the entrance and popped them into the nearby lockers (taking out a very strange wooden key) Then went over to the front desk, where the guy asked for only 100yen (I don't know why....it may be a discount for residents of the ward...and I assume not many people come to sento from outside the ward at 1030pm).

After entering the Ladies door, I find another locker...but this time for my clothes (and yes you have to do some public-ish nudity) time for a shower. It's probably useful to note, that unlike onsen, you are expected to bring your own soaps and conditioners...I saw most of the ladies with plastic baskets of their washing paraphanalia, and they don't provide hairdryers either. Like the onsen, you also have to bring your own towel...

Anyway, there were even showers there, and there were 3 tubs: one with no thermometer and a place to sit where you will have your back, calves and feet massaged by jets of hot water (this was VERY relaxing - once I managed to ease my self into the hot water...) and this was the coolest tub.

Next to that there was a Jacuzzi-like tub with constant bubbles all over, and a thermometer reading a minimum temp of 40deg celcius, and the tub next to that was lit with a red light and a thermometer reading 45degrees and a warning that it was very hot. (I didn't go near it - mainly because I wanted to leave with all my skin intact)

and the link to the sentos Bunkyo-ku is HERE