More Encounters of the Marital Kind

Thursday morning we probably didn't leave quite as early as we should have, in order to see what all we planned to see that day; we took a day trip to Kamakura, and then Yokohama.

Kamakura was the capital of Japan from Minamoto no Yorimoto's reign as shogun in the 12th c until the early 14th c. By the mid-13th c, it was the cultural, political, and military center of Japan, which at the time was receiving lots of cultural influence from Chinese culture--particularly, Zen Buddhism--through the port of Wagaenoshima.
Today, Kamakura's particularly well known for Kamakura-bori, richly laquered wooden relief carvings. Originally imported from China and used in Buddhist sculpture and Zen temples, nowadays it's used in numerous secular, everyday items...Hopefully, I'll have a chance to pick up a piece at some point while I'm here; they're really quite beautiful. (Kamakura's also well known for its Amida Buddha statue, Daibutsu, at Kotoku-in temple, but we didn't manage to see this either, unfortunatley.)

From Kamakura Station, we walked down the main road towards
Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu shrine.

On the way, we caught a look at a couple in a rickshaw, whom we quickly realized were on their way to Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu for their marriage ceremony.
And I believe were were actually walking among a fair number of the wedding party down the path in the median of the road.

Our first sight of Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu


There are several ponds on the grounds; several are lotus ponds, but they aren't in bloom until summer proper...The wisteria were blooming, though!


We arrived at the shrine around the same time the couple and the wedding party were making their way up the stairs to perform the ceremony

Once the ceremony began, two men began playing gagaku on drums and stringed instruments.




Shirahita Shrine, one of the small sub-shrines on Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu's grounds. People come here particularly to pray for success and achievement in their studies.

Red Sky, Blue Sky

A group of kyuudou students

  

After the amusement that was Akihabara pop culture, we took quite a scenic train ride through the veritable forest of orange-lit skyscrapers and high-rises to Odaiba, the Tokyo Bay area.

The first happy accident we discovered was just outside the train station: a couple of twisted red slide-like tubes.
We then proceeded to prove the theory that all college students revert to small children when given an empty playground.

 

Elliot/Manfred (Thomas) above, and Momo-chan/So Rim below, discovering their inner children

We found a pretty little beach on the Bay where we watched a blazing watercolor sunset behind the Tokyo skyline.


Besides the gorgeous view, the evening was pleasantly cool, and despite all the people who came to enjoy the small stretch of beach, it was a quiet, pensive sort of place.

 

We also met a couple who was resting from taking their rabbit, Lemon, for a walk.



I thought Lemon was really sweet and docile for a rabbit...I mean, clearly domestic, but all the pet rabbits I've ever met were rather cantankerous...

Once it grew dark, we wandered over to Palette Town, a shopping area including a Ferris wheel, a Toyota showroom, and an outlet mall. As we searched for the food court to grab some dinner, we passed by the end of some sort of Hawaiian music festival.

The inside of the outlet mall was rather...Vegas, with pseudo-classical architecture, sky murals on the ceilings, and illusionistic murals on the walls--the kind where sunlit stone patios lined with Greco-Roman columns are painted beyond the plane of the wall. After we'd eaten, some of us wandered through the overpriced outlet shops and expensive (and some imported) clothing stores, including Levi's.

I found a piece of furoshiki, traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, whose design I fell in love with...I probably will never actually use it as furoshiki though. It just reminded me of how I imagine designed of Reiko's tattoos. But by the time we were done wandering and met up again though, we were too tired to try out the Ferris wheel, and decided to head back to the guesthouse.

Another interesting subway/train ad...

What do you get when you mix maid girl voices and turtles? "Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying!" (~ Finding Nemo)

After we ate lunch, we split up into groups, and thence, the Sun Young, Momo, So Rim, and I ventured out to explore the strange world of Akihabara. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've heard people refer to Akihabara multiple times as "nerd central." Famous for its numerous electronics stores (as well as catering other goods to the various otaku communities), it's a pretty fun place to wander around in. And it's not at all short of interesting sights, even if the game supplies, anime figurine, or book stores aren't you're thing.

Take for example, this, uh, "pop life department" store. (Yes, it's a sex shop. A five or six floor sex goods shop.)

 

The Korean girls were rather intrigued by the shop, which isn't surprising once you learn that there's really nothing like this in Korea. Honestly, I don't think there's anything quite like this in America either...I mean there's Adam and Eve's and Spencer's...but even they have some level of discretion, and tend to be at least slightly tucked away.

This store was very blatant, out in the open, and--pardon the pun--naked.
And the people are pretty unabashed about going inside for their shopping, whether they're middle aged men or young couples. We of course were giggling madly throughout the entire tour.
I might have cackled a few times.
(There was just some really amusing stuff to be found there...)

Maids and...cat-girls hawking their cafes...I wanna see a ninja restaurant. Or that prison lock-down one Amy Steinberger wrote about in Japan Ai.

 

We also decided to go to a maid cafe, for the sheer experience of it. We picked out one that wasn't too expensive, compared to the entry fee prices for some of the other ones we'd heard of. Incidentally, we basically got what we paid for...a fairly mediocre maid cafe experience, but an experience none the less.
Maid cafes are exactly what they sound like--little cafes where girls dressed up in various styles of French maids serve you tea, cake, ice cream, or what-have-you.
To be honest...most of the maids we didn't find particularly cute. And one was particularly annoying...mostly because she spoke with the little-girl voice which is considered "cute" by some people. (In Japan, cute...to the point of excessive young-girlishness, is rather popular in general.) In my opinion, the most attractive girls there were working in black shirts, pants, and aprons making food in the kitchen. And that girl who seemed to be dressed like a waiter. There are actually garcon cafes too, which are pretty much the same as maid cafes, but cater more to the female crowd.

The food was cute though. (And overpriced.)
Turtle matcha parfait.
I was merciful and ate the candy head first.
I would have taken pictures, but they're not allowed--only polaroids with the maids that you pay for. I had to sneak this one through clever use of checking my cell phone.

A couple of other glances, walking around in Akihabara

And thanks to Akihabara's Book-Off, I found my first Sailor V manga--volume two of the 1st edition. If I'm lucky, I'll find (or if I must, order off of Amazon Japan), the other 2 volumes of the original edition and the 2 volumes which comprise the newest KCDX edition. I also found two more Pretear volumes, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside--three down, one to go.

Thunder Gate: Two Go In...wait-

We skidattled out the door just in time the next morning to head towards Asakusa Monday morning.

But then we ran into a case of sardines on the subway.

 

Before WWII, Asakusa was one of the most prominent pleasure quarters of Tokyo; it wasn't just a center for brothels, but for music halls, (Western) theaters, and especially kabuki theaters as well. It never fully recovered from the bombings, however, and so there are only a few clubs and such left today. After we finally arrived at Asakusa station, we went about halfway across the bridge over Sumidagawa River to have a look at the Asahi Breweries building...which looks like a beer. With some weird golden thing over it. And there's a water bus/cruise, which seems like it might be a fun way to get in and out of Asakusa.

 

And then there's Sushi-Go-Round

 

Here's Nakamise, a very crowded shopping street that runs from the Kaminarimon Gate all the way down to the Hozomon Gate at Sensou-ji temple. We found a little shop to the right of Kaminarimon Gate which sells some Studio Ghibli merchandise. It was mostly Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service stuff, but I bought a glow-in-the-dark kodama hair-stick and a little kodama cell phone charm--I'd call it a bell, but it doesn't really ring or tink, it just clicks like their heads do in the movie. (*Dies from the morbid cuteness*)

Also--this shopping street has been around since the Edo era. Today, there's still lots of good shopping to be found here, whether you're looking for traditional souvenirs or the cheesy kitschy stuff. It felt kind of like the Marketplace in Charleston, only it was more open-air and packed to the brim with tourists and customers.

 

Kaminarimon Gate, with its famous large lantern: people go up and touch the carving of the dragon on the bottom of the lantern