Earth Day !!

Earth day was this Sunday! Unfortunately it has been rainy and gray here the past week but that didn't stop the festivities from happening! There was an earth day celebration at Yoyogi Park this weekend. I wasn't expecting much to be honest but I was pleasantly surprised at the turn out. There were rows and rows of vendors and activities for children (and foreigners..) and live music, etc. 

There were many vegetarian stalls and food vendors selling vegetables from around Japan, including the areas affected by the march 2011 earthquake.

We asked someone to take a picture of us in front of the sign, which he technically did... he just didn't get the 'Earth Day Tokyo' words in the picture.

A Drum performance

It was a fun day! Emelie and I participated in a henna making activity where you got to take home the henna paste that you made, and they also gave you some henna powder so you can make more at home! We tried it out a few days ago and it seems to be normal.. so far at least. 

Inokashira Koen

One last post about the beautiful cherry blossoms! On one particularly sunny Monday Emelie and I decided to check out Inokashira Park which is in Kichijoji. It's kind of a hike to get there (about 30 minutes on an express train) but it was definitely worth it. 

Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine! There were many painters out as well.

typical scene when it comes to cherry blossoms - mega crowds

Took so many pictures... it's hard to capture how pretty they are in person though!

carved our names in a tree... mine is in Japanese because it's easier to write.

We found a little spot right next to the pond under a tree so we had ourselves a little picnic! 

Japanese Advertisement Update

A while ago I posted about one of my favorite advertisements on Japanese TV... well, there is a new advert for Pocky! The guy in the commercial is from the super famous Japanese singing/acting/entertaining group Arashi (it means storm). and though it's hard to believe he's actually 28 years old. 

お花見 Hanami

The nice thing about studying abroad for an entire year is being able to experience every season in a foreign country. This is especially exciting in a country like Japan where the four different seasons are all very distinct and nature is absolutely loved. For example, in summer, everyone gets excited about the warm weather, fireworks, and festivals. In autumn, if you ask any Japanese person they will tell you that the changing of the leaves is one of the most beautiful things. In winter it's usually excitement over eating 'nabe' (a stew like dish) or going to the onsens (hot springs). Spring is お花見(hanami).

I had heard of cherry blossoms, but since I had never really experienced it, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Plus, the weather this winter was unusually cold so the news forecasts were constantly saying that the sakura would blossom later than average this spring. By the time the end of March rolled around, I'll admit I wasn't particularly impressed. But once everything started blossoming, I realized why the Japanese get so excited for sakura and hanami. I also realized that there is a sakura tree on just about every corner in Tokyo.

This is a sakura tree on Meiji Gakuin University's campus. 

Here's a sakura tree down the road from my dorm.

This row of sakura trees are on a quiet street on the way to Jiyugaoka.

Sakura have a short blossoming time (depending on the weather- usually 1 or 2 weeks). 

Sakura trees lining the Meguro River. Certain places lit up the sakura for night viewing purposes. It sounds crazy, but you really can't get enough sakura viewing. There are so many places around Tokyo that are considered the "best" spots that you have to go see for yourself! Overcrowded areas can be difficult though, so I think my favorite spots were the ones that were accidental discoveries - like seeing rows and rows of Sakura while riding on the train.

Tokyo Institute of Technology has its campus in Oookayama, which is about a 10 minute walk from my dorm. They have a beautiful campus to begin with, but they also have a little arbor area with massive Sakura trees that you often see people sitting under. This arbor is a nice area in winter so you can imagine how beautiful it became in spring!

Everyone comes out of hibernation to picnic under the Sakura blossoms. This is Tokyo Tech's campus; they were having a festival, so there was a live band playing some entertainment.

As you can see from the pictures, the beauty of spring in Japan is not only about the cherry blossoms, but also the shared happiness that comes from spending time with family and friends underneath the mesmerizing blossoms.

One Long Saturday

After enjoying such a nice long break, I'm officially back at school. The first week back involved a placement test for an intensive language course, a week long intensive Japanese review classes for 3hours a day, a class fieldtrip, and at the end of the week we had another placement test. The second placement test was a bit more important since it determined which Japanese level class you should be in. (I made it into class 4, with class 5 being the highest level.) It has been a busy past week! Today (Monday) was the first official day back into the swing of things - I had to attend the other classes I plan on taking this semester. This post is about our class field trip that we took last weekend though - it's one of probably many that will include pictures of 花見hanami which is 'flower viewing'. It's basically when every Japanese person comes out of winter's hibernation and enjoys a picnic while drinking お酒sake under the cherry blossoms. 

Our class field trip started bright and early (we met the teachers at 10am so we had to leave the house by 9am... which is early for students!) along the 隅田川Sumida River, which was nice because not only did we see the beautiful さくらsakura trees we also got a nice view of the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Just a glimpse of how beautiful the trees are and also how incredibly crowded it was.

There was a Taiko Drum performance done mostly by children, and it was really cool! The youngest girl looked to be about age 7.

The teacher was exciting to watch because you could tell he was concentrating on his own performance while simultaneously keeping an eye on his students, making sure they were all doing the correct movements.

After the drumming we were treated to lunch by our teachers! We ate もんじゃmonja and お好み焼きokonomiyaki. The above picture is of monja - a type of pan fried batter with various ingredients.. it's known for being runnier than okonomiyaki but they are basically the same thing. I am a fan of monja but whenever I eat it I can't help but think of a phrase my dad always says 'eye appeal is half the meal'. 

This is okonomiyaki - there are two style of okonomiyaki, one with noodles and one without. This is okonomiyaki (I did a post way back in September about the other style - hiroshimayaki)

Finished product! Looks professionally made, doesn't it?

After lunch we said thank you and goodbye to our teachers and then raced over to Yoyogi Park to enjoy more 花見hanami! Our MGU 'buddies' had planned a 花見 party for us without knowing about the class field trip so unfortunately they happened to fall on the same day. The day was promising in the early morning but about mid afternoon the sun went behind the clouds and it was just grey and cold. It was worth it though to sit under the beautiful cherry blossoms! 

Japanese people love to take group shots at the end of any and every event that takes place. Actually I think a few of the people in this photo are random strangers.. foreigners in large groups tend to attract a lot of attention from drunken Japanese people.

Fugu - Blowfish/Pufferfish

The other night I was lucky enough to be treated to Fugu (Pufferfish)! I apologize for the bad pictures - most of them were stolen off the restaurants website. As I mentioned before at some point I am somewhat teaching English while in Japan, obviously I'm not really qualified to teach English but in these situations usually it is someone who has learned before and just wants a chance to practice speaking with a native speaker. Anyways! I was treated to fugu by one of my students, which is why I brought that up. Fugu is not known for being a cheap eat so it was nice that I was treated instead of having to pay for it myself... I'm still a poor student after all. According to wikipedia, fugu can cost anywhere from 2,000yen ($25) to 20,000yen  ($245) for a full course meal. 

This picture shows the majority of the different forms of fugu that I tried. Fugu Sashimi is the most popular dish and it tasted kind of like any other kind of sashimi (raw fish). I also tried a bit of fugu kara-age which is fried fugu, which tasted more like chicken than fish. There was also techiri or fugu-chiri which is a kind of nabe or stew mixed with vegetables.

There is a special drink called 'hire-zake'. It's a kind of sake with the dried fins of the fugu. I didn't try this but my student ordered it so I could watch how they serve it. They bring it to your table in a little cup and the waiter lights the fins on fire for a few minutes and then covers the cup with a lid. This drink is served hot - it has a very sweet yet fishy smell. 

This was a photo of the fugu nabe/stew. 

This was our dessert, it was made from the leftover stew. It's kind of similar to risotto, it was basically just a rice and egg mixture combined in the leftover stew.

This was a badly stolen picture but I was trying to show you how thin and transparent the slices of fugu are! I think I preferred this style the best. Forgot to mention - Fugu can be lethally poisonous! (According to wikipedia) Certain internal organs such as the liver and sometimes the skin are highly toxic to most animals when eaten but the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan, China, and Korea. The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled in Japan and only chefs who have qualified through rigorous training are allowed to serve fugu. The poison and toxins are the best part about eating fugu (not to mention it's supposed to be great for the skin!) if you get a bit of poison it can cause intoxication, light-headedness, and numbness on the tongue or lips. It's exciting knowing that this could be your last meal... I hope you like raw fish! 

Kanamara Matsuri - Festival of the Steele Phallus

Went to an interesting festival right outside of Tokyo in Kawasaki.  It was about 40 or so minutes away from where I live and there is a yearly festival devoted to fertility held at the local kanayama shrine. I'm not actually sure how we found out about it but this festival is particularly popular with the foreigner crowd. As soon as you step off the train you know you're in the right place because of the heaps and heaps of 'gaijin', or foreigners.

There were quite a few men dressed in drag at this festival. Not sure if you can clearly tell who is in drag and who is not in this photo though..

Daruma dolls! There were stalls and stalls worth of every sized daruma you could ever image. In case you don't know what it is, it's a traditional doll that symbolizes good luck. Usually you buy one every year at your  local temple and make a wish or goal while drawing in one of the eyes. Later on when your wish or goal comes true you draw in the other eye so that both eyes are 'open'. And then when the year is up there is a big ceremony where you return the daruma to the temple you bought it from and the daruma dolls are burned. 

Poster advertising the fertility festival!

There were many stalls and vendors set up selling all sorts of goodies, mostly typical festival foods but there were also many phallic objects - mostly candy. This little old woman is selling penis shaped lollipops. 

These fellas were making normal shaped candy but they were chopping the candy in such a nice rhythm that it sounded very much like drums.

The entrance gates to the temple

We were wondering why the fertility festival wasn't focused more around the womb but we guessed womb shaped candy wouldn't sell as well. 

This was a small statue in front of the temple which people were cleaning before entering.

I tried to take some sneaky pictures of the inside of the temple - the monks (in green) were following the chants of the head monk who sat before a fire. It was beautiful inside the temple!

Here is a better picture of the main monk sat before the fire

More traditional festival foods - fruit shaped candy on a stick!

Toy Vendor 

Takoyaki (fried octopus) is a traditional festival food but for the sake of the fertility festival they were renamed.

A few more men in drag sitting about having a picnic.

The main event of the day! We missed the parade by the time we got there but at least everything was still on display.

A calmer part of the shrine.. it was a nice area so it's kind of unfortunate that I will forever remember it as the place that had the penis festival.