Milestone: 3¼ Years

                                             3¼ Years : Summary 

                                                                                      Status:

Job: Children's Fitness Teacher, Pro-Bono Cultural Ambassador
Financial status:  Good

City: Tokyo
Ward: Itabashi-ku
Train station: Senkawa
Residing in: Alien Castle, my apartment.




Cast of Characters:

Major Characters: 


Ken Tanaka
Millo, Julian of France
Dario Lupoli of Italy, new father
Ty Clark, my fellow mudblood

Minor Characters:

Aala Kansali of Tunisia
Jean-Paul "Papa Lo"  the French Laotian
Nana Takeuchi, the Bawss
Eri Karasawa, who works a different branch
Erika Mochizuki (and Maxine!) 
Kazue Inoue 

Top Five Highlights:
(since last milestone)

- Takasaki Daruma City
- The Attack on Titan Museum
- The Buddha of Ushiku
- Nagoya
- Dosojin Fire Festival


Still to Come:
- Final Fantasy: The Cafe
- Soaring over the Blossoms
- A Possible Visit to the Music Industry HQ
- Oiran-za
- Fishing Inside a Restaurant

A Matter of Personal History

In the week before I left Montreal to set out for Japan, my mother entrusted me with a guidebook, upon the first page of which she wrote a phone number. "Try calling this number if you're ever stuck and in need of a job," she said. Though time did pass, I eventually managed to find myself employment, and so I never had to resort to it.
 Recently, though, my mother and stepfather have come to Japan for a three week visit. It was a good ride, and they managed to see quite a few of Japan's sightseeing power spots before spending some time in Tokyo, where I frequently joined them for more exploration of the capital. But one thing on our to-do list stood out from the rest, in that its purpose wasn't sightseeing at all, but much more personal than that.
31 years ago, my mother had made her way to Japan much like I did, and found herself working in a German restaurant in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. The place was owned by a Japanese man who had developed a liking for foreigners over the years, and kept the restaurant running through his own personal funds. It was a place where visitors to Japan had a chance to find employment, the phone number for which my mother had given me before my own very first steps here.
 Though Tsukuba is far from being the tiny little suburb it was back in the 80's, the restaurant, named Elbe, still remains where it was when it opened. But upon finding it, most of the whole building it was in was changed, and the restaurant itself wasn't without its own renovations. What mattered, though, was that it still stood.
 My mother and stepfather and I took a few steps inside, and were greeted by unfamiliar faces. It figured that the staff would be completely different.

And though I explained my mother's story, how she had been working at this very place 30-some years ago, it was all the manager could do to nod and answer my mother's questions. The owner, it had seemed, was sick and home-bound, his wife had passed away, and the rest of the staff had long since quit. It was all kind of sobering.
 But then an older man stuck his head out of the kitchen - and my mother beamed at the sight of the very same chef who had worked the kitchens those three decades ago. The reunion was heartfelt. We were sat down, given tea, and memories were exchanged between my mother and the wizened old chef. And hearing about those old days was significant for me, too. After all, this was the restaurant where my mother had met the man who would become my father some ten years later.

The staff at Elbe, with my mother in the center right.

We left Tsukuba quite content that day. Even for me, it felt like things were put into their proper place.

Dosojin Himatsuri - The Festival of Fire

Though Nozawa is a notable place for snow sports such as ski and snowboard, we gladly settled for only three or so hours on the slopes. We weren't even there for the hot springs, which otherwise keep Nozawa active throughout the warm seasons. We had a different objective in mind.
The reason we came to Nozawa Onsen town was to experience firsthand the events that were to take place on that night of January 15th, as they did every year, while most of the rest of Japan is completely unaware.


 Every Winter, a truly wonderful festival occurs in this snowy town - the Dosojin Himatsuri. The festival celebrates newborn children, casts out bad luck, and brings in the good. In and of itself, that's nothing unique in terms of Japanese matsuri festivals. But while you might be right to point out that fire festivals happen in several dozen towns across the Japan archipelago, many of which are larger than Nozawa and draw bigger crowds, it's the way in which Dosojin is celebrated that makes it stand out from the country's other fire festivals.

The Dosojin festival is peculiar right from the get-go. As 7 o' clock in the evening nears, villagers gather towards an open area in the center of the town. It's a merry procession; sake is offered in cups to any one who's willing to take it, free of charge. Leading the procession of villagers and tourists are men charged with carrying items of cultural value to the site. These include lanterns and banners, but also a number of things that are hard to describe outside of context. But amongst these men are also those charged with carrying the flames.These men, for the most part drunk on sake already, brandish bundles of dried bamboo the size of their own bodies, the end of which is aflame. They twirl these enormous torches around and about their body, with little to no regard for their own safety and that of even onlookers. In the case where it looked like someone hit by the torch was about to be set ablaze, guards ran in to pat them out and clear them out of the area where the flame bearers were passing. But otherwise, there was no reproach at all to the flame bearers, and it was even a common occurrence. This happened to Kazue!

When at last everyone everyone had made it to the site of the main event, the poles and banners and lanterns were assembled, but one structure towered over all others. A wooden tower was erected at the center of the square, made of tinder and branches and wooden beams. I'm sure you can see where this is going, but you'd only be half right if you guessed the tower was to be set ablaze.

On top of that very same wooden tower were all the men of the village who had turned 42 years old in the previous year. At the bottom of the tower, defending them, were all the men who had turned 25. There was a beating of drums, a blast of fireworks, and, around 30 meters away from the wooden tower, the flame bearers set off a blazing bonfire.

 And the villagers, each with a torch in hand, set off to burn down the large wooden structure with the men still atop it, as the giant bonfire itself was slowly being dragged towards it. And only that handful of 25 year old defenders stood between them and their mark. It felt like war.

The onslaught was savage, vehement beyond belief. The 25 year old defenders, numbering no more than twenty in total, took on wave upon wave of villagers whose sole goal was to burn the tower - and they stopped at nothing in their attempts. Everything was permitted, from throwing their torches to downright bludgeoning the defenders with them. But this was mutual - defenders threw punches at the attackers. The air was filled with taunts and threats, and once they began, the attacks did not stop for any longer than a dozen seconds, as villagers who failed retreated and brought new torches, regrouping and renewing their attacks - and this would last three whole hours.

The defenders, in the smoke after a successful defense.

 The defenders stood unwavering, some of them holding on to ropes secured to the tower, so tired were they that they could not stand. Their camaraderie was remarkable, even as their odds grew more difficult. Many of them sported burns and cuts across their faces, and the large bonfire itself crept closer and closer to the main structure they were sworn to defend. This meant that, while initially villagers who attempted to renew their attacks had to walk 30 meters to claim a new torch, that distance was gradually shrinking to 25 meters, then 20 and so on. The charges were growing more frequent.

Still, the 42 year old men of the village welcomed the attackers to test their defenders. "Bring on the fire!" they chanted. "Bring on the sake!" But still the attackers were fought off.

The final bonfire.

 And after what must have been the longest three hours in those young mens' lives, the assault finally ended. The 42'ers were brought down, the 25's cheered by the crowd for their valor, and at the very end, the flame pushed under the tower.
 And we watched the biggest bonfire I had ever seen in my life blaze up, throwing cinders and smoke into the night sky. The banner poles, too, were thrown into the fire, feeding it further, and after 20 minutes there was a deafening crash and a searing heat wave as the structure collapsed in an explosion of fire, to the cheer of a crowd that had to look away for the heat that was unbearable to even face.

The tower explodes.

The danger of it all, the cheering and shouting and taunting, and the silhouettes of the defenders being celebrated by the very villagers that looked as if they were trying to kill them minutes ago, were imprinted into my memories as I walked back to our ryokan. Now that's a festival well done.

The Road to Nozawa

The car was set, our Winter tires ready, the five of us ready to go. Joined by Millo, Ken, Kazue, and her brother Dav, we set out en route for a festival that sounded too crazy to be real, deep within the mountainous prefecture of Nagano, in a small town called Nozawa. It was a long time coming, but we finally got the road trip we had been looking forward to for months. And what a good experience it was.
However, the road to Nagano is, simply put, quite short. So we decided to take our sweet time getting there, heading south-west then north, rather than simply north west, and ultimately adding some time before we got to our destination, not to mention some beautiful sights as well.

Our first stop was the often-romanticized city of Atami - known for its beaches, spas and, little had I known until then, numerous brothels. Atami in itself is very scenic, with a beautiful coastline which pretty much characterizes the whole area it's in, the Izu Peninsula, for which it serves as a good entrance point from Tokyo. But as it was, we chose only one place in Atami to stop at - and nothing would do but for that place to be Atami Castle!

Folks, don't get too excited about this seemingly wonderful castle overlooking the sea. Beautiful as that might sound, Atami Castle has, historically, never existed. That's right. It was built just for the sake of there being a castle there. If you can overlook that, though, the castle is a very handsome looking building, offers a great view of the whole city, and is pretty interesting to go inside. There, you'll find a small museum about castles, an exterior walkway with foot baths, a room where you can play ancient Japanese style dress-up in, and even an arcade. Who said a castle couldn't be fun, eh?

 But though I'm sure there's plenty of stuff to spend a day in Atami alone, we eventually got going, heading north towards our destination. Cutting across the Chubu province actually brought us very close to Mount Fuji, and there, at its very foot, was a town where we decided to make our second stop: Fujinomiya.

 The town, though quite sleepy, used to be the traditional starting point from where climbers would begin to ascend the fabled mountain. And at the mouth of that trail is the Fujisan Sengen Shrine, the most important shrine built in worship of the mountain. Though lacking the magnificence of the numerous other shrines in Japan, the Fujisan Sengen has a splendid garden, with ponds fed directly by Mount Fuji's waterfalls, resulting in exceptionally clear water where the fish can be seen from a distance. It probably wouldn't have been too hard to spear one or two, as Dav had said.

 Continuing north, we stopped at Matsumoto, Kazue and Dav's hometown (which has a splendid castle I stopped by on my first Japan roadtrip.) This time, however, Matsumoto was merely the point at which we decided to call an end to our first day of travel. Finding a ryokan in Matsumoto was, thanks to Ken, nothing too difficult, and we got a room to the five of us, which, despite being a little bare, was lots of fun together. The ryokan having an onsen was a welcome bonus, although the water was only a step below scalding.

 From the next morning on, our destination was within reach, and we made it there with little trouble. We found Nozawa Onsen covered in a deep sheet of white snow. Having finally made it, we were rewarded with a day of ski (my first in three years since coming to Japan.) But the true pearl of this whole voyage would be the festival that awaited us here in this seemingly sleepy ski resort town - the Dosojin Fire Festival.

Pokemon is still Super Effective

And so it was deemed that in December 2014, the biggest shop dedicated to Pokemon ever to grace the planet would be opened. Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo is now up and running in Ikebukuro, and, though it's not the first time I find myself in the center of something Pokemon themed in Tokyo, this here isn't a temporary exhibit or fare. It's kind of the real thing, and it's still real crowded. Word was you could hardly get in without waiting in line for hours when the place first opened.

 As it is, this isn't the first Pokemon Center to exist in Tokyo - as a matter of fact, it's the third, with five others spread out across Japan outside of the metropolis. But it is the biggest.
 Let's let a few facts sink in for a little bit. First off, in Japan, and to some extent, the rest of the world, Pokemon is no longer something only children are interested in, as was mostly the case when the franchise was born. Sure, there are children by the school load who are avid lovers of Pokemon, but a very large part of the demographic to still be enthralled by the Pokemon phenomenon are people in their early to late 20's - the very same generation who saw the franchise begin. Young adults account for a major part of goods sales, mainly through the handheld console games.

  I could rave on and on about the games themselves, but I'll try to keep it brief. They're ingenious in a way - simple enough that an elementary student could finish them with hardly any trouble, but with a complex competitive scene for people who are interested in taking their game online and challenging others. Pokemon is the only series I know that requires some degree of knowledge of algebra to fully perfect online competitive play, a level I myself never quite got too, despite having tried.

 But in and of itself, the longevity of the series is kind of amazing, too. Think about it, though! Disney, for example, is widely known and appreciated enough to have its own store - but Disney is a collection of franchises - with multiple stories for both boys and girls. For Pokemon, a single franchise owned by Nintendo, to have achieved such a level of influence as to have stores dedicated entirely to it still baffles me.

More merchandise than you can shake your noodly otaku arms at.

As for the shop itself, it's a full-force blast of nostalgia to the face. Every collection item imaginable, and even those you couldn't imagine prior to entering the shop, exist here. Be it trading cards, video games, DVD's, music, plushies, or even school note books, tableware, towels - it's all here. Basically anything they can print Pikachu's face on exists in this shop.

And by the way, the place doesn't lack for decoration. I walked in with zero intention to spend any money, walked out without buying anything, and still enjoyed the time I spent surrounded by the merchandise, but moreover, looking at the statues of the Pokemon characters set up beautifully around the shop.
 Moreover, for those who own the games, the shop is a thriving place for players to open up their 3DS consoles and download "gift" Pokemon regular given to players by the shop. But on top of that, there being so many people playing the game in one single place allows for a great chance to meet other players, trade Pokemon in-game, battle and so on. It was kind of nice to see such a diversity in community gathered in one place, be it children, geeky otaku, groups of young girls, or anything in-between. Well done, Nintendo.

Inuyama's Pleasant, Too

If you happen to be in Nagoya and don't mind spending a couple of bucks on the train ticket, you'll be pleased enough to know that the city has its own rustic little suburban village. Just like Tokyo has the nearby Kawagoe, Nagoya has Inuyama to remind it of its past days. You'll find it's a pleasant enough place to spend the day, without being totally dinky and boring.

I had to stand on top of a fence to take this picture.

 What actually puts Inuyama on the map, though, is that it has its very own castle! And despite not being anywhere near as big or as famous as the nearby Nagoya Castle, it is notably one of the most ancient castles in all of Japan, being one of th 4 castles to be designated a national treasure. For the record, the other three are Hikone, Himeji, and Matsumoto. Also, it is just as closed as Nagoya Castle during the 29th to 31st of December. Lesson learned, but going around the area climbing things to try to get good pictures was kind of fun in its own way too.
Asides from the castle and the temple at the foot of its hill, the town has a wonderfully rustic-looking street running down its center, full of little shops selling locally grown vegetables and hand crafted good such as sandals and Japanese-style clothes. It makes for quite a nice stroll.
Though I haven't visited myself, and therefore can't really recommend it with certainty, the town's also known for having an open-air museum full of relocated buildings from the Meiji-era, such as a cathedral from Kyoto or a prison from Kanazawa.
At any rate, if any of that sounds interesting to you at all, maybe drop by Inuyama if you happen to be near the Nagoya area!

Nagoya Flavors

Nagoya actually has a couple of local specialties. As a matter of fact, when I told friends I'd be spending a few days there, I got more recommendations for dishes than I did for actual things to do or places to see (which was left to me to figure out.) To me, who, as you may know already, am not a real connoisseur when it comes to food, Nagoya seemed to have richer, more varied flavors than Tokyo, which to my knowledge has a more subtle type of cuisine. Here's what I ate!

Misokatsu
It's pretty much a twist on the classic Japanese dish, but adding a layer of sweet miso to the deep fried pork (or in my case, chicken) really gives it a unique flavor along with its red color. I actually enjoyed the way it was partly crispy, partly tender and soggy. The good thing, too, is that it's often served with a set like you'll see in the picture, accompanied by pickled vegetables and miso soup. So good I had to eat it twice.

Tebasaki Chicken
 That's actually simply the way you say "chicken wings" in Japanese. You can find chicken wings just about at any izakaya in Japan, but Nagoya claims the dish as one of its local specialties, and it's easy to see why. The Nagoya chicken wings are topped with a rich combination of spicy peppers, giving them a whole lot of bite. For a Japanese dish, it's actually quite spicy, which isn't something common in this country.

Kishimen
The local twist on the common udon dish has the large noodles in a flat, ribbon-like shape rather than its more often seen thick noodle cousin. I wouldn't say this style of udon does much in terms of changing the taste of the dish itself, but it's nice to try if you're a fan of udon. Of course, just like any other kind of udon, it can be eaten cold and dipped into a cold broth, as pictured, or it can come served in a hot broth, not unlike soba.

Friendly, Livable Nagoya

Ah, Nagoya! Falling 4th in Japan in terms of population, behind Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka, Nagoya actually has a whole lot going for it - but I didn't know that when I got out of the bus. My decision to go to Nagoya was for the most part me spontaneously wanting to go somewhere during my brief break from work, without having much in mind when it came to what to do. But the tickets were cheap, and, after being dumped out in the middle of the downtown area at 6 AM, I made my way to McDonalds, and began sorting out my trip. And the results were good! Here are the things you can do in Nagoya - in one post this time, so it might be a bit of a long one!
 Here's a tip: you can buy a pass allowing you to use the subway system an unlimited amount of times within a day for 600¥. Talk about savings. I can't advise this enough.

One of the places that came recommended to me was the Atsuta shrine. Very much like its equivalent in Tokyo, the Meijijingu, Atsuta is a shrine dedicated to the worship of the old Shinto religion. Just like Meijijingu, so too is Atsuta shrine located at the end of a path taking you through very ancient woods - despite being rather close to the central part of the city. Atsuta shrine is beautiful in its serenity, undisturbed and surrounded by some truly impressive, ancient trees which appear to be in the hundreds.
Whether it was just at that specific time or date, I
don't know, but unlike Meijijingu, it wasn't possible to enter the immediate vicinity of the central shrine, which was surrounded by a large zen garden - the type with small, white sand like stone with lines carefully drawn into it. Being that I was there on the 30th of December, I found a large gathering of religious officials in the midst of planning for a ceremony, all dressed in white. Mysterious!

Of course, the first thing thing that most people will mention if asked what there is to see in Nagoya is the Nagoya Castle, though. With its roof being the color of rusted copper, adorned with its signature golden fish on each side, Nagoya Castle is one of the most impressive of its kind in Japan, and certainly one of the largest. However, it wouldn't do not to keep in mind that the actual Nagoya Castle of the Edo period was blasted to hell during World War II, with this one standing in its place as a reconstruction, the process of which is still ongoing. Though the central keep itself is complete, the rest of the palace buildings aren't due until the end of 2018.
 Well, not that any of that mattered to me, seeing as the castle grounds were closed off for the end of the year. The closest I could actually get to Nagoya castle was peeking at it through the bars of the gates, or climbing trees to get the best view I could. Fortunately, the main keep is pretty elevated, so I didn't fare too bad, I think, but it was a huge shame not to be able to have a closer look, or to see none of the other parts of the castle. That being said, it wasn't long until I got moving again.

 Moving on to something a little more modern, Nagoya has a rather handsome port a little ways out of its center, too. If you aren't too picky, there's more than enough stuff to do to spend the day here: there's a sizable aquarium for the families, or for those looking to learn something out of the ordinary, an Antarctic exploration ship is moored here, and has been turned into a museum of sorts. On site is also a small theme park for younger children, which is free to enter and houses the tallest Ferris wheel in the Chubu province, which is the central region of Japan. The area itself is full of bridges, interesting architecture, and the seafront of course, so I actually did go ahead and board the Ferris wheel, and got a good look at the area as a result, which was nice, but definitely not necessary in order to admire Nagoya Port. You can get the best of the area by walking its bridges and walkways, and without paying a dime.

 The next spot I visited was Nagoya's central Buddhist temple, the Osu Kannon temple. Completely contrary to Atsuta Shrine, Osu Kannon embraces its urban setting. Its grounds are very compact and full of visitors, especially given the encroaching New Year. Surrounded by very busy shopping streets, Osu Kannon is a nugget of tradition within a bustling area in the midst of modernization. Thanks to its long, roofed shopping streets, it's as good an area as central Nagoya to get some shopping done, or to grab a bite, but the temple itself is fairly compact, despite its large size. Still, Osu Kannon is impressive and fun to go see, whether to climb its stairs to pray, or merely to gawk at the crazy amount of pigeons at the bottom of said stairs, and the children on spot feeding them bird grains, which seemed to be a very common thing here. The bird grains are even sold on spot, so such a thing appeared to be encouraged, really.

And finally, as the day ran its course, I made my way to Sakae, the most bustling district of Nagoya. In terms of city life, Sakae is where it happens: the district has the biggest shopping malls, eateries, clubs, hotels, you name it.
 And right at its center stands Nagoya's own tower - sister to those in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kyoto and Sapporo - and arguably the one with the best surrounding area! Leading up to the tower is park, making the stroll quite a pleasant one, but if you really want to get the best shot of Nagoya Tower, wait until night and climb to the top of the nearby Oasis 21 shopping center. The building's roof top has a pool of water and is illuminated at night, which really looks great all together, plus the tower turns gold rather than its regular cold steel color.
Fun fact: Sakae is the birthplace of SKE48, the Japanese pop band with 48 female members, based on the model of Akihabara's AKB48 in Tokyo.


 Whew, I think I got just about everything. I'll be posting about Nagoya's numerous specialty foods soon too, plus a little extra side trip I did while in the area. Hurrah!

Comiket 87

Happy New Year's everyone! I've been going around here and there, attending end of year parties, events, and traveling out of Tokyo. I have quite some catching up to do in order to put it all on the blog, but it's coming. Here we go, starting from the top.

It's been a year and a half coming, but here I am once again, staring at massive crowds of passionate geeks running about from booth to booth, collecting their manga goods and shipping them home, and rushing out again to collect some more. And all this despite it being a rainy Monday.
More specifically, I attended the second day of the 87th bi-annual Comic Market. This being my second time, though, I knew what to expect - or so I thought. If you're interested in a summary about what Comiket is about, check out my coverage from the 84th!

Amateur publications - imagine this, times 300, and you've got Comiket!

Of course, this being the Winter Comiket, I did find that the event wasn't quite as grandiose as its Summer counterpart. Understandably, it's a little more difficult for people to come out in the cold of Winter than it is on a sunny Summer day - and twice as much so when it comes to people dressing up for cosplay. Still, that isn't to say the event itself was small in any way. In truth, I probably wouldn't have imagined it could be any bigger than this if it had been my first time. And when it comes to costumes, there's still quite a sizable amount of people out there doing their thing.
 Mind you, in Winter like in Summer, the area for cosplay is outside of the building! One can't help but marvel at the girls in skimpy outfits doing their things out in the cold. Once again, there's a little something for everyone here.

Whether cute...

   

...or cool,

...or simply out of the ordinary.

At any rate, thus concludes my brief coverage of Comiket 87. It's been fun, and I never really get tired of seeing what people can concoct when they're this driven by...anything, really. Fandom is at once something dreadful, powerful, and awe inspiring. All you have to do to see that is check out Comiket for yourself.