Guess the Type of Restaurant

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Indian, curry mainly.

Lamp

... and large.

Kamakura

Kamkura was the old capital of the Minamoto clan. They ruled from here for two centuries, away from the distracting and corrupt Kyoto.

These guys took shifts at drumming very loudly. Alice thought it was great. They were playing at the main Shinto shrine in Kamakura, the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. I had a brilliant idea to cycle around the small town, so we had hired a couple of bikes, one with a kiddy seat. However, Bek was less than Tour de France material and had worn a skirt to boot. So we only cycled to this one place and then cycled back to the shop.

I didn't want to tell the priests that someone had toilet papered their sacred tree. Japanese kids can be so cruel.

I also saw a chipmunk or squirrel or something. I mean it definitely wasn't a possum. I proceeded to take fifteen photos of it, all blurry except this one which makes it look like a plaster replica.

Next stop was KFC, er... a traditional Japanese sushi bar and then the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. It's great because it's a huge bronze statue and it's buddha because everything is buddha. This buddha is an Amida buddha,the buddha of infinite light and life. Amida is mainly concerned with overseeing the buddhist afterlife, the "pure land" where the enlightened go to shoot hoops or something.

I liked this picture the best, showing off his ventilation hatches. It's hot work sitting in the sun all day saving everyone and being made of bronze. He used to be housed in a hall until a tsunami washed it away.

In case he needs to get up and go to the bathroom, his sandals are located nearby. Or if he need run from a bonfire thoughtlessly lit by a tourist unaware of the Japanese people's distinct aversion to spontaneous arson.

We also visited Hase-dera, a temple with a nine metre high wooden Kannon Buddha. Kannon sees all and hears all, so prayers are his main concern in the earthly realm. The Hase-dera Kannon has eleven faces, one regular face and ten others to signify the ten stages of enlightenment. If you want something, Kannon can make it happen.

Unfortunately you can't take a picture of Kannon, seeing all leaves you more susceptible to camera flashes or something. I suppose he doesn't want to miss anything. Anyway, here are some more Jizo.

We also visited a souvenir shop / weapons shop. They had postcards and nunchaku, statues and rifles, wooden carvings and crossbows. I suppose it makes sense to have an armoury next door to ten temples. They had shuriken, Freddy Krueger claw gloves, pikes, caltrops and smoke grenades. Just in case the monks get uppity.

Packaging

Japanese stores and products use a lot of packaging. If you buy chocolates or candy, they are almost always individually wrapped. When you buy anything at all it gets wrapped as well as being placed in a bag. At Kiddy Land we bought some toys which were wrapped, placed in a plastic bag and taped, then placed in another bag. At Disneyland they wrap your things, put them in a bag and then add a few empty bags in case you didn't have enough.


However, supermarkets seem to be the worst. They put anything at all in a bag to be placed in your big bag. They bag fruit, meat, eggs, fresh food, tinned food, pretty much everything except big cardboard boxes. They put your tins in a smaller paper bag together. They bubble wrap any glass jar or bottle. They have ice packs in which they offer to wrap your frozen items.

Omote Sando

On Saturday we went to Yoyogi park again to see some freaks. Of course the place we were looking for, we couldn't find. There was a section of park where everyone hangs out which we'd been to before, but we got side tracked into going to Meiji Jingu shrine again along a long dark tree lined tunnel. Yoyogi is quite a big park. Well at least Bek got to go there and we saw a wedding also.




Alice befriended a bunch of women who promptly gave her their mobile phone to play with. She didn't want to give it back and they didn't want to take it back, so I stepped up into my natural role as the bad guy and took it. Of course she started crying very loudly in the middle of the large echoing courtyard where the wedding party was marching.

We hustled her away into the dark surrounding forest.

When we emerged on the other side of Yoyogi we did at least find a smattering of freaks. There were a group of four people standing about with 'free hugs' signs.

While a noble sentiment, I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't just pair up and hug each other. Leave the civilians out of it.

We avoided them and made our way down to Omote Sando road, which is kind of the fashion and shopping mecca for young people. Bek forced me into Snoopy town and we bought a bento box for Alice, an empty reusable one to pack her lunch in. She ran around in the press of people, and even assisted us with a few choices.

I bought a nice shirt with a carp on it. No, really. Then we pretty much just wandered around the backstreets browsing the little boutiques until Alice fell asleep and we went home.

Faux

This isn't a church, it just looks like one. It's not in that building to the lower right either, it's actually in a big shopping centre. So you can have the perfect white wedding just like in the movies.

Work

Bek works here and apparently Alice wants to.

Barely

I can barely see where the construction work is being done.

Sundae

From a fast food joint called First Kitchen. A sundae with rice bubbles.

Yeah

Sorry.

Mine

"You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger."

"With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant. It is unavoidable. It is your destiny."

"You, like your father, are now mine."

Failure

We went looking for a large baby store called the Akachan Honpo on Sunday and we just could not find it. We asked lots of people pushing babies in strollers, we walked around for ages and eventually we just gave up. The problem was that we didn't have a map, only an address, a mortal error when looking for anything in Tokyo.

We saved the day by sitting in a park near the Imperial Residence and letting Alice annoy all the smooching couples. Actually the women never looked annoyed, just the men. They probably didn't want to spring for a love hotel to get some peace and quiet.

Alice. Lowering the Japanese birth rate since June 2007.

Loud Chocolate

Yell. Milk Horn.

I love the am/pm.

Play Date

Last Saturday we had a play date with two of Rebekah's coworkers. They brought their kids over to our house to run around and scream.

We went to the Robot park and also Hinokicho park, which is behind Tokyo Midtown. Mostly we ran around in the apartment, though.

She gets a bit excitable even with the dummy in.

Imposition

Alice just went and sat down at this lady's table. Bek would call her a "have a sandwich" girl. Luckily she was having a sandwich at this Subway restaurant, where we met Rebekah for lunch.

Vending Machine

A vending machine at Tokyo station. Up the top are a rain poncho, some handkerchiefs and a portable ashtray. Next row are a variety of one-off rechargers for mobile phones. Botton row are gauze surgical masks to wear over your mouth when you have a cold.