After South Korea, I headed over to Japan to visit Asako and family. This time I saw the area around Tokyo Bay, rather than five years prior when I was in Shizuoka prefecture with Mirei.
We spent the first day walking around Yokohama. Started on Motomachi, which was deserted, then went to the foreigners' graveyard. Here's a view of Yokohama Bay from the top of "Minato-no-Mieru Oka" park. It didn't stitch together as well as I would have hoped, but heck, there are better shots of pretty much everything I take pictures of on the internet already. I had read Yukio Mishima's "Gogo no Eiko" so it was fun to see all of these places that he had talked about in the book.
Yokohama is one of San Diego's sister cities. The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is our monument to that fact. This fountain that Asako's standing in front of is a gift from our Mayor to Yokohama a long time ago.
We have this same songbook right next to the Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. Ours is in English with romaji lyrics I think.
We ended up over at the mall in LandmarkTower. We had to stop for a bit because it was pollen season over there and Asako's allergies were going nuts. She ended up wearing a mask for most of the rest of the trip, much like many of the people I saw.
I actually saw VERY little Engrish this time around. This was a photobook so I have no idea what the title is referring to.
I'd never seen a curved escalator before.
Back at the house, getting ready for bed. Asako noseless.
I can feel Asako reaching across the internet and strangling me already.
Then again, one could say that she's already had her revenge.
The next day was spent in Kamakura with Asako and her father. Asako used to go to school in Kamakura when she was young so it was a walk down memory lane for her. At the first temple we went to (I can't remember the name) there was a mass field trip in progress. The cute little kids were running all over the place and shouting. Each class had its own color of hat so that the teachers could keep track of everyone.
Hmm. I don't know why I included this shot.
This photo would be awesome if that guy would have just MOVED. He was standing there forever even though I was waving a camera at him.
I really like Asako's father. He is very friendly and thankfully practiced his English on me for the entire trip. You can't help but like him and be happy around him. He actually took time off work specifically to show me around, for which I was very very thankful.
A row of the ubiquitous vending machines. Not a bad shot for having taken it over my shoulder while walking. :) Sodas were up to 120 yen this time. Bummer.
This was the next temple we stopped at. Once again I've forgotten the name.
I pulled a bad fortune. Most people wouldn't want to tie the bad ones on, but I was told that it can be a good thing to acknowledge them.
This cherry tree was blooming early. I like how we're standing in reverse-height order on the stairs. By the way, you can't tell, but it was cold out there, hence the coats.
There was a story about this tree. It's a really really really old Ginkgo. Something about the Emperor's son hiding behind it and murdering his father as he passed by. I wish I could remember.
These squirrels were fearless. they'd hop over the fence and take food right out of your hand.
Next stop in Kamakura was Daibutsu--The Great Buddha. Big, bronze, and very famous.
It has survived earthquakes, weather, and societal changes with very little effort. The base was redone once, the head has some extra support work that was done recently, and that's about it.
I went ahead and lit some incense for grandma's health while I was there. Ever the good son.
That night, Asako and her mother prepared a tempura feast. It was incredible, to say the least. I had never seen a lot of what they were preparing in tempura before. We're all used to carrots, potatoes, broccoli, etc. over in the states.
Lotus root, fish, unknown vegetables and seafood. All of Nick's favorites. I ate like a starving cow.
More fun with flash photography. This time in black and white...
...which I forgot to turn off the next morning. This is the street in front of Asako's house.
Asako's house. Asako had to work that day, so her parents took me out to Hakone, which is a pretty far drive. Got to see the freeway systems, hear the warning bell in the car that tells you when you're driving over like 75 km/h, and all the funky cars of course.
Case in point: the Nissan California.
Asako's mom had heard that I like museums, and being an artist herself, she was more than happy to take me to the Hakone Open-Air Museum. This statue may seem familiar to you.
The open-air part of the museum is a large sculpture garden. There is also a very large and permanent Picasso collection that was AMAZING. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in that building unfortunately--there was a lot of examples of his work in styles that I never knew he did.
I don't know what this one was called.
The Hand of God. Pretty famous sculture.
Inside the Symphonic Tower. It's all hand-made stained glass mosaics. At night they light it up from the inside and it supposedly looks amazing.
Check out the detail.
View from the top. Asako's mom is also great. She doesn't speak any English and knows that I understand some Japanese, so she throws it at me full-speed. And I really mean full-speed. Somehow I was able to understand her quite often, such as when she gave me Asako's work number when I called from the airport.
Chilly up there.
The Symphonic Tower from the outside.
After the museum we went to the Owakudani hot springs. This isn't the type that you can bathe in.
You can see how close Fuji-san is to Hakone.
Asako's mom lamented her face mask when viewing these pictures later that night. I personally think it's cool that way.
It's cold, there's snow on the ground, but the water is warm.
They boil these eggs in this hot spring. Legend has it that eating an egg from this spring will tack on seven extra years to your lifespan.
I went ahead and ate two of 'em.
I farted.
Ashinoko Lake. "Ashi" as in "reeds", not "feet", as Asako's father was to inform me when I started laughing.
Another beautiful temple who's name I forgot.
This temple was our last stop in Hakone before driving back home for the night.
My final day was spent in Tokyo with Asako and Mako. I made the poor gals take me to that nerd haven, Akihabara. There wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to buy, but I had to see the gadget mecca with my own two eyes.
Keep in mind that this was in 2000. This phone was pretty small back then.
More importantly, all of the phones had color displays with graphical interfaces. This one had a camera in it and you could attach that printer to it. We're just now catching up in the US.
The last stop was Shibuya, also per my request. This is the fashion district and lately has been pretty famous for the outlandish way the girls dress there. We stopped in this little cafe and tried one of these bread desserts.
Crappity crap photography.
It was amusing to sit in that cafe talking to Asako and Mako. Both of them have excellent English skills, having lived in America for a number of years. As we sat there, a number of different people came and went and were sat next to us. All of them looked over in amazed curiosity at the two women and I speaking in full-speed English. To any of them, we would have seemed to have had complete fluency and no accent. Pretty uncommon, even with the seven or some odd years of English study that most Japanese students undertake.
Right across from the cafe.
We walked around for a bit and I got to have a little practice at Japanese-style pervert photography. I was a bit bummed--the ganguro/yamanba girls weren't really out in force that day, but I saw a few at least.
Really, nothing all that outlandish though. Big disappointment. I thank god this fashion did not last very long.
Mr. Happy Fun Cellphone agrees, I'm sure.
We left Mako at the subway station and headed back home for Asako's father's birthday.
We had a homemade sushi feast, along with cheesecake. Asako's father broke out the beer and we all got a little drunk and had a good time. If any of you remember Asako's father from that party at Mark's house that one year, you'll remember how amusing he is when he drinks even a little alcohol. He has not changed. :) It was a perfect end to a wonderful trip, and I can't thank Asako and family enough for taking care of me.
