Brief Note: Doesn't This Shirt Look Splendid

Custom made for my coworker's birthday.

Ghibli Museum!

Have you ever seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie? My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, to name a few. Damn, they're good. As far as 2D animation goes, Miyazaki and his studio, Ghibli, have placed major benchmarks on the timeline, creating animated movies that rightfully create a sense of wonder in the viewer, age be damned. Miyazaki's pieces are absolutely brilliant.
 Being that they originated right here in Japan, it's no wonder that this is where his work is the most revered, and even today's children know about Totoro, despite that movie being older than I am.

Meet me on the roof!

And so it should come as no surprise that Studio Ghibli has its own museum in Tokyo, and that it's hell of popular. I had to book my ticket 40 days in advance to get in - and when the day came I realized I was scheduled to work.
 So I pleaded with a co-worker to switch shifts with me, and I ended up taking 14 of his hours so that he would liberate me for 8. Necessary measures. I can say I've been to the Ghibli Museum now, and damn was it good.
 On top of being dedicated to the studio's movies, the museum also showcases the origins of animation and the inspirations of the directors. One can even watch an animated short that cannot be seen outside of the theater in the museum itself. The one I watched was called "Mei to Konekobasu" (Mei and the Kittenbus?) It was delightful. But they switch the movie shorts out every couple of weeks. If I went again I'd probably catch a different one.

Couldn't resist the urge.

The museum itself looks like something out of the movies, with the exterior looking like some kind of hobbit mound. It's enchanting enough merely to go inside and see stained-glass windows with recognizable characters, on top of elevators that look like they're made of clockwork. I thought the most enchanting thing was to go inside the one room intended to look like a home-studio, with sketchbook clippings of concept art all over the walls and a desk piled with tomes and pencils and brushes. But the other honorable mention goes to the Catbus playroom, with the would-be life-size cat-bus made of plush that children can go in and jump around inside and on top of. You're not allowed to take pictures in the inside, so the experience can't quite be shared, but man, 1000¥ is a pittance if you're a fan of either the movies or animation in general. Just reserve far enough in advance.

Brief Note: Sayonara, Brother

Alan in a nutshell

I sent my brother Alan home via Narita airport just yesterday. Ten days fly by pretty fast, after all. But still, I think it was quite a satisfying, and fairly complete tour of Tokyo, in a nutshell. Here's what we did, breaking the days down. The links in bold are the ones that feature my brother.

Day 1: Arrival in the evening
Day 2: Yanaka (Nippori), Akihabara, themed restaurant "Alcatraz"
Day 3: Ken brought Alan to Ginza, and later, Sky Tree, Asakusa, Shibuya
Day 4: Tobu Zoo
Day 5: Harajuku, Yoyogi Park, Meiji-Jingu, Ikebukuro, a cat lounge
Day 6: Shopping at Koshigaya Lake Town
Day 7: Kamakura
Day 8: Kagaya
Day 9: Maid Cafe, Sumo
Day 10: Return to Vancouver

Oh, here's something my brother taught me to do during his visit.

Sumo Wrestling!

Top of the morning!
 After getting up so damnably early here we are at Ryogoku's hall of sumo to get our tickets for the grand tournament. A taiko drummer sits perched on top of his watch, drumming for the beginning of a new day in the tournament, and the cheapest tickets run for roughly 25 bucks. The price is right and we're ready to watch some fat men wrestle in dirt, so let's get right to it, then!

The elite sumo of the East division during the entry ceremony.

Hakuho staring down Myogiryu.

And man, what a sport it is. Totally engrossing. Tension gets high as the sumos start every fight by staring each other down after they are called into the ring. And when it's off, it's off, and the matches are often as intense as they are short - lasting an average of 7 to 8 seconds.
 To me, the highlight was Harumafuji's match against Kitataiki, where the former, considerably shorter and lighter, threw the latter over his shoulder just as it looked like he was going to be pushed over the edge of the ring. The crowd went wild. It's no wonder Harumafuji's one of the two current Yokozuna - the elite of the elite.

 Fun fact! Many of the league's elite are actually foreigners! The two current champions are both Mongolian, but there are spatters of Europeans here and there and even a Brazilian. I'd definitely go again.

And Kamakura Again

Because the time's never wrong for Kamakura. And this time around, with Alan, I feel like I was able to finish all the important things I haven't gotten a chance to do the first and second time (as well as redo the things I enjoyed previously). So here's a basic, yet somewhat complete route of all the important Kamakura must-do's.

 1: Walk up Komachidori
 The street is good mix of modern and oldish Japan, lined with a variety of shops featuring souvenirs, trinkets, food, snacks, and everything in between. It draws a lot of tourists, and one can easily catch sight of the rickshaw runners offering to take people around town.
 
Besides, it's a convenient route if you're making your way to...




 2: Hachiman-gu
 The Shinto shrine, located right smack in the middle of the town and at the top of a long flight of stairs, also comes with a good view of Kamakura as a whole, complete with the coast. I've never been to the Hachiman-gu (and this was my third time) without there being a traditional Japanese marriage taking place, and that's always nice to see.

 3: Sample some Shirasudon

The Enoshima speciality (recommended to us by Eri!) consists of a bunch of whitebait fish piled on rice. It's a mass grave you can eat! Just don't think of it like that. It's actually quite tasty and doesn't cost a whole lot! Our set included soba noodles and some pickles as well, and ran us for 980¥. You can pretty much find it everywhere up and down the main streets.




4: Hit the Beach!
 Venture down the main road long enough and you'll meet the Pacific. I wasn't expecting to be able to swim at this time of the year, but the water was actually warm (as far as the sea goes,) so we went along and jumped in too (in our underwear, shit.) But it was a good swim.
 There's actually a ridiculous amount of hawks flying around the beach, so I wouldn't advise having a picnic unless you want one of the flying bastards to swoop down and grab your shit. Which is actually interesting to watch, all things considered.

 
5: The Daibutsu
This is pretty self-explanatory, and there's nothing more I can say about the Daibutsu that I haven't already. It's really worth checking out.

6: Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine
  Its entrance a cave, this shrine's actually one of Kamakura's best known ones and one I haven't gotten a chance to visit until my third trip. People here bring their coins and money to wash it in the waters of the caves in hopes of seeing it multiply. It's one of the few places where somewhat religious practices are undertaken by the people in a form other than that of simple of prayer.

The whole course took us a little over 6 hours or so, plus we had time for a little hiking and two meals. Kamakura, yay!

Lions and White Tigers and Bears

When I asked my brother what he wanted to do in Tokyo, his list was quite bare.

1. See the Daibutsu
2. Buy shoes
3. See a white tiger

 As it figures, and I only learned of this recently, there is a place a little out of Tokyo where they do hold a white tiger, and that happens to be Tobu Dobutsu Koen - Tobu Zoo. So, sure as hell, we went.

Now, see, the zoo itself actually doubles as a theme park and is located in quite a suburban zone. In spite of the first and due to the second, the park finds itself pretty damn empty on weekdays, asides from old couples and the odd family on vacation. I was actually surprised they kept the theme park running, and as I reckon, most people go in for the zoo.
 And shit, as it so turns out, the zoo is quite nice - it better be, for two and a half times the entry fee of Ueno Zoo, not to mention the long train ride.
 But the zoo is spacious, well kept, and heck, the animals seem a hell of a lot healthier. I don't see lions and bears on a regular basis, but now that I've been to both zoos, even a pedant like myself can tell that the ones in Tobu look hell of better nourished and generally less...stressed out? Than the ones in the big city zoo.

What I also thought was pretty cool was the interactive exhibits one could just walk into a mingle with the animals in. Of course, they don't have these for tigers or elephants or crazy animals like that, but they did do it for the squirrel monkeys and kangaroos. Now if you're Australian, that ain't a thing because you have the damn beasts jumping around your backyard any way, but I've never touched a kangaroo before. They're fuzzy. And they're pretty ugly up close.

And of course, the star of the exhibit, much like Ueno has its pandas, was the white tiger we came for. Almost as interesting as the beast itself was the swarm of middle-aged women around the enclosure. We did come at the right time, though, seeing as the tiger had just recently produced four cubs and we got to see them wrestle and nestle with each other. No doubt it won't be too long before those are sold to some other zoo in another country, so the time was ripe indeed and it was satisfying for the eye.

Without a Driver

This morning, Lo flew home to Lyons, France, after the end of his one year working holiday. He won't be going home empty-handed, seeing as Haruka, his Japanese girlfriend, has decided to fly to France with him and will be living there for a year before they can figure out their next move. We now find ourselves short a good friend and a driver, so I'll have to find some way to audition the next one.
 Man, I'm bleeding. We had some pretty good times together.

Sky Tree

It's probably the first thing you see jutting out of the city as you approach from any airport or highway. The damn thing's enormous.
Tokyo Sky Tree caps at a total of 634 meters and broadcasts all major TV channels through Tokyo. It's the tallest tower in the world and second tallest structure after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It's only been completed in May 2012 though, and God knows it was impossible to get in, what with the monstrous lines and whatnot.
 It's been almost a full year now, though, and the skies are clear enough that we'll get a good view from the observation deck, and so off we are, my brother and I, to conquer Tokyo's obligatory sky phallus, with nothing standing in our way but an easily endured 40 minute line.

Everything the light touches is our kingdom. That dark place full of shadows? That's Roppongi.  You must never go there.

Totally necessary!

Of course, the Sky Tree is kept running by tourist consumer-minions like you and I. It costs 2000¥ to go up the the first observation deck and another 1000¥ to rise the next hundred meters to the second. You can get your picture taken at all the best picture-designated spots for another 1200¥ too. Geez, is that your hand in my pocket I feel, or am I just that excited to be here?
 There's a small number of cafes and restaurants as well as the obligatory souvenir shop up there, priced all relatively expensively. Of course, chances are if you climbed the Sky Tree you're mostly here for the view upon Tokyo, and I can't complain in that department. On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji on top of everything else in the city that the tower dwarfs. Although we visited both decks, the top one does little to add to the already more-than-sufficiently complete view offered by the first, which even has a glass floor at its bottom!

The Other One

My brother Alan has landed in Tokyo and will be here for another 8 days. He's six feet tall and looks like Squidward. Arriving with him were two boxes' worth of Froot Loops, a bunch of chocolate, a tub of mouthwash of a size you can't get here, and everything else I requested and more. It was like early Christmas.
 I took the week off from work and will be touring Tokyo alongside him, going through all the staple sight-seeing as well as a couple of things I haven't even done myself.
 Good times await!

I'm Alive, I Swear

I've taken a few extra work shifts to compensate for my last escapade as well as the next. Suffice to say I haven't undertaken anything grandiose since, but neither have I been standing still. Cue the pictures!

I bought an axolotl! I named it Henry! Henry died! I no longer have an axolotl!

I found this! Hopefully next thing I find will be a pot of gold or some shit.

The instructor in chief at my workplace, in the middle of that picture, renounced her position to go home to Canada!

Here are Ayumi and Takuya, two of my workmates. They're cool!

I stumbled upon this wall in Akihabara that shoots cologne. It didn't smell bad!

I'm taking a week off in two days! There'll be plenty going on, but you'll know about that soon enough!