Inokashira park.

On Monday, I did my second to last final, and talked to the teacher afterwards which went much better than I had expected, so I was feeling good. Although this final was at 9 AM on Monday which meant I had to deal with REAL rush hour traffic on the busiest line in Tokyo. I can't say I liked it, but it could have been much worse. My last final was on Wednesday, but I was feeling pretty confident on it, and I knew it was an in-class essay on something I already gave a presentation on, so I knew the source material pretty well. This was also a class I didn't really like and was required, so I had very little intention on studying. So, instead of opening a book, on Tuesday, I went to Inokashira park, which is a very large park around here. In hindsight, this was without a doubt the right decision.

A few things about this park... First off, it's one of the largest and most famous parks in Tokyo, and is very well known in the Eastern part of the city. It was founded in 1918 and used to be one of the city's main sources of water.

Anyways, as it is fall, and I keep hearing how beautiful fall is in Japan, I wanted to see for myself. I didn't get far before I was awestruck by the colors.

I'm not really sure how to get all these colors onto a camera, so looking back at these pictures, they're significantly more dull than reality was.

I was however, a bit worried that I had missed the best part.

But, I was wrong. It was all absolutely amazing. It's hard to capture on film, but as the wind blew, it rained down leaves. It was so perfect, it didn't seem real.


These pictures all show Tamagawa Jousi on the left. This used to be a mighty river where many people, including a famous author, committed suicide by jumping in and getting knocked about by the current. Now it's not much more than a small stream. This is partly due to nature and partly due to human intervention.

Anyways, it was a really lovely walk, maybe 20 minutes, from my house to the park. Left takes you to the main part of Kichijoji, which I've walked that path a few times, so I went right.

And I found an exercise field.

It was a very quiet and peaceful place to run, walk your dog, enjoy the fresh air, whatever.

I went back to the main part of the park which is on the way to Kichijoji.

That's the same street from a different angle.

The woods smelled great.

There were plenty of people also taking pictures and enjoying a nice walk. It wasn't too cold, but just cool enough to remind you that it definitely is fall.

Inside Inokashira park there is a small temple devoted to a vengeful goddess of love.


the temple is this amazingly bright color of red. Most of the temples I saw in Kyoto were bright orange, but this was truly magnificent and different.

The lake:


Here were two construction workers just enjoying a nice rest. This park was very much for the people. I saw young, old, rich, poor people enjoying the natural beauty.

People were also really friendly at the park. Everyone was relaxed, smiling, people randomly said hello to me. I felt like since it was relaxing, everyone just let their guard down and became quite pleasant. I did see some missionaries on bikes trying to convert someone, in English nonetheless. That made me kind of sad, but I couldn't be too sad.

Here's the boathouse. You can rent a paddle, swan, or row boat and enjoy the lake.

I found it odd that in the park walking around, I saw 2 people that might have been foreigners (I didn't get a good look), but in the lake, of the 5 boats I saw, 4 of them had foreigners.

The park also had the gutsiest ducks I ever saw.

These ducks were walking right in front of me. If I hadn't stopped, I could have easily stepped on one. They just didn't care about humans, or at least weren't afraid of them.


I saw a guy sitting on a bench playing a shamisen, which is a traditional Japanese instrument. I took a little video clip:


As the sun was going down, I felt the need to leave, but it was an amazing stroll through the park, one that I'm sure I will be repeating.





P.S.
This last picture was yesterday in Mitaka. It's the other side of the train station from my house, and I like this picture and I wanted to share it.

November

School is almost over. I have 2 more finals and a take home final due this week. Both of the classes I'm feeling pretty decent about, so I'm not that concerned. That's not to say that I won't be studying anymore, but it is to say I finally have some breathing time.

"So, Keith. It's been almost a month since your last REAL post, what have you been doing?" Well, everything.

Just to get it out of the way, Thanksgiving was lame. There is no Thanksgiving in Japan, as it's pretty much an America only holiday. I didn't have turkey, as it's really hard to get here, but I did go to a strange birthday party (more on that later). Also, I had a TON of stuff due on Monday, so that 4 day weekend was spent mostly indoors doing boring stuff. Much love to my roommate Chisa for helping me on my Japanese homework.

"So, what about the rest of your time off, Keith?"

Well, among other things, I went back to Yokohama.

I found this quite fancy shopping street on accident. It was nice and there was a grocery store that sold root beer!

I really like Yokohama. It's got a much different feel than Tokyo, and it's less crowded with more open space and fewer tourists, it seems. Chinatown is a terrible example of everything I just said, but I like it anyways.

I also like that they don't fuck around with store names in Yokohama.

Hey, at least they're honest. I'm not so sure I can say the same about Lawson.

Was it really happy? I didn't go in, but people didn't exactly look "happy" going in and out of there. They weren't UNhappy, but, well, you get my point.

I also went up Landmark tower. It's the tallest building in Japan (which pales in comparison to the tallest building in America, but whatever), and it had a really lovely view.

Why do I always go to these places at night? Anyways, that was Yokohama.

I got to see how much people in my neighborhood respect the law and follow all signs.

I got to see my roommate's old high school yearbook.

I went to this CRAZY restaurant in Shinjuku called "Pink Big Pig" and it was really bizarre.

It was all you can eat, all you can drink for 3500 yen, which is like $32. The food was good and the drinks were tasty but weak which I think is preferable when it's all you can drink. But the atmosphere? This place was weird.

That's the buffet table. It had a giant rotating pink pig. It was really really bizarre. We also had a nice private room, but it seems most people didn't get that luxury.
This was above our table:

I want to go back there, but man, it was strange.

I went to this bizarre place with a new friend and an old one. A great time was had by all.

But, like every time I hang out with that friend, it started raining.

I also saw the world's least intimidating police car.

I feel like if that was chasing me, I would be too busy laughing to drive fast. I know cars in Japan are small, but this was tiny. Like 'Mr. Bean' tiny.

I also FINALLY saw Mt. Fuji!

It was off in the distance and from a train, but it was still amazing to see.

On Thanksgiving day, it was 2 of my friend's birthdays. So, what did we do? We went to Alcatraz ER, an izakaya with an insane asylum hospital theme.

They had things like drinks from I.V. bags or baby bottles, Russian Roulette food, where there were 6 pieces and 1 was REALLY spicy, item menus like fried chicken in a cage (REALLY good) and a bizarre meat and vegetable ball served in a bedpan...

The food was great, but that wasn't the point. The atmosphere was hilarious and there was this really bizarre show where they had monsters running around, banging on the metal doors, rattling cages.

It was truly a bizarre site to see. This guy forgot to pay his bill:


I went to Akihabara and experienced a made cafe. Well, it was a maid izakaya, but it's the same concept. You're not allowed to take pictures inside, which is too bad, because it was a lot more fun than I expected, and I understand the appeal now. It's enjoyable to have cute girls in silly outfits be nice to you. The food was overpriced (of course), but not THAT overpriced. I found the whole experience to be really relaxing and fun. It was a bit odd as I was the only foreigner and my friend was the only woman who wasn't working, but it was a really fun experience. Would I go again? Sure, if I was with a friend who wanted to go. Would I go alone? It'd be a bit creepy, but if I was in the neighborhood and hungry anyways, then maybe. I wouldn't go out of my way to go alone. Would I wait in line for hours like some people do? Hell no.

I also went to Tokyo Station after the maid izakaya. Apparently it just recently got totally revamped, and now is much nicer than before. But, also most of the shops are closed after 8, and we just ate so going to a restaurant wasn't the best idea, so it was a tad lame, but we had fun anyways.

On Friday, I got a chance to explore the park near my house. It was amazing.




I liked it so much that I'm going back as soon as I'm done writing this.

I also went to this AMAZING chicken restaurant here in Mitaka. It was way better than I expected and I'm very anxious to go back. Unfortunately the menu is all in Japanese (and loaded with Kanji) and my roommate hates chicken, but I got a copy of the menu and I want to get it translated.

And that guy in the corner was awesome. I saw him yesterday riding a Harley.

So, that's what I've been up to. I know I'm leaving out a lot, but those are the main highlights that I want to share.

Every day is an adventure here, and I am loving it. It can be quite challenging, but the rewards make it worthwhile.

I'm back!!

Long time, no write, eh? Well, I finally got internet on my own computer, so expect some updates soon. Unfortunately, it's the end of the semester, which means that I am super busy, so updates will be scarce for a while.

I most certainly didn't forget about you, my loyal readers. I'll write when I get a chance.

My new home!

I found a new place to live, and it's GREAT!!! One of my super hero friends (you know who you are) helped me find it.

Real quick, I'd like to talk about finding places to live in Japan. First off, anybody who reads my posts regularly knows that I am quite fond of being here and I'm generally greeted with warm feelings or basic apathy by the Japanese people. The only place that I've heard of this not being true is house hunting.

I have heard several tales of people who have applied for an apartment and have been denied over reasons ranging from vague and fishy to straight up 'we don't accept foreigners. Sorry.' Some retailers are straight up racist and absolutely refuse to speak to you if you're not Japanese or Japanese looking. Other companies have policies that are a bit xenophobic in nature by, among other things, requiring someone who lives in Japan to be a gaurntour.

Some companies try to help, but miss the boat so much it almost hurts. Take, for instance, a company called The-You. They came and talked to us at Temple University Japan, and their website talks about how they are trying to help foreigners find a place to live. At least that's what I was told, because I can't read the website. I know it's not always possible to have an English website, but there should at LEAST be an option for a hiragana/katakana site, as Kanji is damned hard to read.

Also, people seemed very surprised that I wanted to move into an apartment with Japanese people. I already feel silly living in a dorm that is 100% foreigners, with the overwhelming majority of them being American. I think it would be just foolish that when I have a choice, to voluntarily live with foreigners. Not that there aren't some cool people I've met that'd have a good time living with, it's just that it would be like eating American food every day. I'm not here so I can keep my life as much like it was before I moved as possible, I'm here to immerse myself in a culture that is new to me.

Anyways, because of my superhero friend, this process was a lot easier and more fun than I had planned. I'll save the details for later, but I'll have 2 roommates, both of which seem awesome, my own room that's bigger than the room here, and while it's small by American standards, it's not bad at all by Tokyo standards. I like the location I'm living, as it seems very exciting, but not overwhelming. I just like the whole situation.

Of course, I am fully aware that I am viewing this whole situation through rose-tinted glasses and there are some bad sides. Both of my roommates smoke, which I'm not thrilled about, but it's more fine, as people in Japan smoke a lot and nobody smokes in my room, plus they've lived there for 2 years, and it would be dick of me to say "stop smoking", so that's fine. It's on the 3rd floor, meaning that there's someone below and above us, but the roommates seemed a bit perplexed when I asked if you could hear the neighbors, as it has never been a problem. Also, geographically speaking, it's quite far from school, but thanks to the express train, it's a lot faster to get to school than my current resident. The only real problem I foresee is the previously mentioned express train is known for being the most crowded train line in Tokyo, most likely making it one of, if not THE most crowded train line in the world. It is also apparently known for the large amount of suicides, which is something I really hope I don't have to deal with.

Anyways, I took some pictures, but it's a little odd to view pictures of my room with someone else's stuff in it (the current roommate moves out today), but here's a picture of the living room/kitchen.

No, it's not very big. Yes, it is comfortable. It feels very 'lived in', as in it's not a sterile, lifeless environment. I feel like some fun times have been had in this room, which makes me anxious for some more fun times.

Anyways, the neighborhood is called Mitaka, and I didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure I'll have plenty more to write about that in the future.

After the whole 'meet and greet' business, me and my soon-to-be roommate and I went to Kichijoji, which is one stop from Mitaka or a 10 minute bike ride. Once I get a commuter pass, I'll be able to go to Kichijoji for free, which I'm sure I'll do a lot.

I really liked Kichijoji. It kind of reminded me of Umeda in Osaka, as it was very busy, lively, large, and surprisingly not pretentious or overly fancy.

I was pleased to see lots of canopies, which I'm sure makes this area a great place to go when it's raining.

Wait, does that canopy have a screen on it?

Yup, it sure does! Several of them had projectors displaying what seemed like nice, serene fall scenery. It was lovely.

I don't know if it's because Christmas is coming (which seems to start the day after Halloween), or it's always like this, but there were tons of lights up, and it made the whole neighborhood sparkle.

After leaving the train station, this one display was an amazing site to see.

I'm pretty sure the number 60 refers to the amount of days left in 2007. What a year it's been.

Anyways, for any gamer, this site almost brought a tear to my eye.

Plaza CAPCOM? Fuck yes!

There was also a CREPE MOBILE!!!

My newfound friend/roommate was so incredibly not surprised by this bright pink snack-mobile, but I was shocked with delight to see it.

Here's another awesome manhole cover.

There are entire websites devoted to Japanese manhole covers. I can see why. They're all so interesting for something that's really just there to stop people from falling into the sewer.

Much like Shimokitazwa, this place had some painted gates too. There weren't as many, but this one was incredibly large.

If you look to the right, that's a normal sized metal door. That should maybe offer some perspective.

We ate some really delicious and fairly inexpensive Thai food at my friend's favorite Thai restaurant. It was fabulous.

But, the highlight of the neighborhood to me was what I think they call 'harmonica alleys' They are these tiny tiny little streets built shortly after WWII that are completely crammed with tiny food stalls that smelled great and looked really fascinating.

Well, I think it's a bit of an understatement to say I am really excited about living here.