fending for ourselves

Ahoy,

Alas, our tour guide left to return to Tokyo. He left us with instructions to go visit all the shrines/temples in the touristy part of town. We promptly made our own (READ: less ambitious) plans that surrounded the subject of food.

We made our first stop to the Nishiki Market, featured on David Chang's Mind of a Chef. I loved it - the busyness, crowdedness, tastiness. A loved the mochi. He would eat that all day, every day if he had a choice. I am not quite so smitten, which just means more for him. We walked through Gion, a district where geishas live/entertain on our way to the Kiyomizu shrine. Reviews warn of a arduous uphill climb. We were expecting something the whole time, but no incline can strike fear in my heart since encountering the hills of SF. There are lots of food/shops on the way up to the shrine, which is always fun. We were at the shrine just in time for sunset, and opted not to enter because we were all shrined out. We spotted a geisha on the way back to our hotel for dinner.

We tucked in early, promising not to tell H of our leisurely (READ: unambitious) coverage of our last day in Kyoto.

decidedly slow,
jt

many things to do in Kyoto

Ahoy,

We awoke to a day that was not rainy, and the forecast had a low percent chance of rain. But, ever so chivalrous, A decided to bring the umbrella because he regretted my soaked dog state yesterday.



Our first stop of H's rapid fire tour of Japan for the day was the bamboo forest. It was super cool and green and not nearly as crowded as the previous time H was there. There was, as H refers to it, an "inferior" river here also. He convinced me to buy a matcha ice cream cone here instead of waiting until Uji, our next destination. And then commenced to have us all run to the station to catch the express train. The 3 of us running through the streets of Kyoto, me with an ice cream cone in hand. Here I thought I would get to enjoy my ice cream while leisurely strolling along said inferior river. We made the train and we enjoyed it on the train to Uji as I whacked him a la middle school abuse, likely causing memories of our adolescent encounters to resurface.

Uji is the capital of matcha, don't quote me on that, but it is where it was born and continues to be produced and manufactured. We went to a headquarters of a national brand and had dessert there. Here was where we found the "superior" river. It was indeed superior. Most places were closed given it was Sunday evening. We made our way back to Kyoto to get conveyer belt sushi near our hotel. There are a bunch of shopping arcades nearby, so we went on what I felt like was an endless shopping spree. I know boys always complain about shopping with girls, but I think shopping with boys can be equally if not more tiresome. I should bring a personal stool to set up whenever I go shopping with the RRS.

pleadingly bright,
jt

400 yen moments

Ahoy,

Upon H's behest, I scheduled more days in Kyoto than Osaka. He says it's the best place outside of Tokyo. I was instructed to meet at 7-11 at the south end of Kyoto Station. After he found us, he revealed there was another convenience store also associated with 7-11 in the station. We made it to our hotel with his handy, dandy phone for navigation. I no longer needed to navigate or fuss with maps because we now had a trusty tour guide. We wandered the vicinity for a few minutes. Our hotel was a bike shop, so we rented bikes for the day. It was just drizzly, on and off as we departed and we remained optimistic it would let up. We were wrong.

The bikes allowed us to ride all over the NW part of Kyoto from shrine to shrine (READ: 400 yen picture to 400 yen picture) nearly running over people or getting nearly run over by cars. Our last shrine was just about to close but we got a quick walk-through anyway. The rain was not letting up and daylight was fading so we decided to cancel the rest of the journey and turn around. Best decision ever. The rain got rainier as we made the long journey back. I'm sure we looked a little worse for wear. I certainly felt waterlogged.

We dried off a little and reluctantly went back out into the rain to forage look for food. Most restaurants were completely full because it was the end of the year and there were a lot of work parties happening. Our final restaurant was just the kind of izakaya I wanted. My only request was that it be the kind of place where we take off our shoes and sit on the floor. Shoes are the worst. The food was not such a big deal to me because I planned on getting omusubis afterwards at a convenience store.

It was a super rainy day, compounded by the fact that we were riding bikes. I had no head covering and the boys were convinced I would get sick. I did not. It was a great adventurous day, one that will live in infamy as one of my wettest days.

memorably soggy,
jt

didn't get beef, but did get sake

Ahoy,

Our final day in Osaka we made it to the Osaka castle as our last Osaka sight. We decided the day would be better spent elsewhere. It started snowing/hailing while we were there. A shuddered as students ran around the castle in shorts and tanks practicing for track or PE (?), while it was snowing. He noted that he can no longer complain about extreme weather. We walked up to the castle and left for Kobe. Also, noted this castle would be far more difficult to invade than Tokyo castle.

Within 20 minutes we arrived and made our way to the museum and brewery. There are a lot of sake breweries here because the water and weather is optimal for its production here. After wandering in what I thought to be the general vicinity of our destination, we found it. It's always a game to get to wherever we're going because I can't read the street signs, and there are often no street signs. The museum was interesting and had videos narrated in English. The modern day factory is next door, but the original factory is the traditional Japanese looking building the museum is in now. We sampled some products and purchased a bottle.

We moved onto a neighborhood called Kitano, where foreign expats lived so there are a lot of interesting houses with unique and varied architecture from around the world. At first we went the wrong way, and by some miracle found what we were looking for. There were lots of neat houses here, A got a hot chocolate at a Starbucks that was a classic Victorian. I think he was more smitten than I because he's from SF. And everyone else was taking pictures of the interior. To me, it's simply an American export.

Our final Kobe sight would be the waterfront. On the way was Chinatown, which we noticed was way more Chinese than we expected. We tried to cut through a hotel, but it did not have a door where I wanted it to. A hotel employee escorted us to the path. There was a memorial about the earthquake in 1995. It showed how crumbled the city once was. This display put a whole other perspective on the city we had just walked through. It's amazing what modern engineering can do in terms of disaster recovery. And what human willpower can endure. I could not tell that the city was in shambles so recently.

We hopped on the train back to Osaka to have dinner in the sketchy neighborhood near our hotel. We stumbled into a place that was just near closing, and A even got street food after. He still dreams of that food on a stick he got from the street vendor.

 chillingly windy,
jt

headed out to Osaka

Ahoy,

Everybody we had spoken with gave us a concerned look upon hearing one of our destinations would be Osaka. We activated our JR passes, picked up food for the ride and hopped aboard a long distance train to Osaka. I noticed right away that Osaka looks less modern and older than Tokyo. Perhaps it was the rain, but everything and the neighborhood for our hotel looked a little more bedraggled (READ: sketchy). I had the address for the hotel, but the address meant little to nothing for me. I flagged down a man who immediately parked his bike to help us look. He spoke no english, and we no Japanese, but he was incredibly kind and helpful. He spent a good deal of time walking around with us and asked another lady to help us. With these 2 strangers leading the way, we found our hotel. He even paused to make sure we got in safely. Our room was traditional tatami style bedding with a door too short for A.

A had his heart set on a particular udon place he found online. I knew this was trouble. Everywhere we've eaten abroad, we stumbled upon. He said the place has no sign, but he saw pictures of the interior so he would recognize it. I had no idea how we would ever find this place. We wandered probably for a good hour before we decided to ask a hotel concierge. Luckily, he knew where we were looking for and we found it miraculously.

I picked up another omusubi at the market on the return to the hotel because I had gotten into the habit of eating several a day. Getting to and from our nearest train station was something of a magic trick because it was through a tunnel, and some stairs into an entirely different world. It's a mind bender every time to reorient ourself.

geographically puzzled,
jt

Google tours, day 1

Ahoy,

We needed to get to google hq by 11:30, so we figured we'd walk from h's place to his work. According to google maps, it takes a little more than an hour directly, so if we stopped at places it would work out perfectly. It seems like our vacation goals are always to walk across the entire city and back in a day. Some of my friends may be all too familiar with this habit. We set off in a general direction after waking up earlier than we anticipated. Jet lag won't get the best of me. We wandered to the imperial castle. Every time we turned a corner, we questioned what direction we were going in because it's not quite grid structured. It's really a great way to travel. Eventually we looked up and it was before us. This will happen more than once on this trip. The grounds are incredibly spacious, but not as fortified as I would think is necessary. A and I contemplated how easy it would be to invade. So easy. 

This imperial park was huge, which is not something you usually say when describing Japanese things in general. We didn't have enough time, so we went on. There was a bunch of municipal government buildings next up which was rather dreary, but we came upon tokyo tower, and skipped into some residential streets to weave our way into roppongi hills. Roppongi was super exciting and more vibrant, not dreary. H was waiting for us in the lobby and we went up to google to have lunch. It was some of the best Japanese food we've had thus far. Google has all the good stuff. It was high up on the 26-30th floors and the view was stellar for lunch. After our tour, we made our way to shibuya. There was shopping and a lot of Japanese school girls. They fuel the economy, and could probably make the world go round if you let them. 

We wandered up to Meiji shrine, overshot it looking for a way to get across the tracks, but ended up in just the right place. This park was beautiful and tranquil, like you are nowhere near the city. Until you hear the park announcements, then it's like you're at a theme park. It started raining on our way out so we picked up an umbrella. We watched lost in translation on the plane, and I had become enamored with the clear umbrella used in the film. Clear umbrellas were incredibly common, and so useful now that I remember the sideways wind I endured in NYC. I used to have my umbrella down in front of me and not be able to see what was ahead. 

O and h, our friends from Seattle, were arriving soon, so we went to meet them in their hotel. Their flight was delayed so we waited anxiously, thinking of all the ways things might have gone wrong. They arrived to fanfare. 

We wandered over to meet a's friend and get dinner. We all finally sat down at a tonkatsu restaurant in a tower connected to Tokyo Station. It was the best tonkatsu A has ever had, he says. O & H were probably too sleepy to be hungry.

Apparently it was the coldest day Tokyo had seen all year. It was a breeze for me, but A had to get a down jacket from uniqlo to add to his layers (after I disapproved his proposal at north face). Boys would make smarter choices if they let girls make them.

haltingly flat,
jt 

jet lag kicks my butt

Ahoy,

Jet lag was super easy, much easier than I was anticipating going to Tokyo. I didn't really sleep on the airplane. I did watch 4 movies. I'll never turn down the opportunity to rot my brain. It was a 12 hour flight and we left around 2 in the afternoon. We landed in Tokyo around 7 in the evening, so we only needed to eat dinner and go to bed. It was easy, peasy because we were sleepy.

Jet lag has been much more difficult on the return. It seems like I am sleepy and not sleepy at any hour of the day. It makes no sense for either time zone. My circadian rhythm is entirely out of whack. I have no idea what day or time it is at any moment.

Also, I miss the omusubis and boa and soymilk.

addictively zoned,
jt

casual climbing

Ahoy,

When we first got word that the 5.10 outlet is open on the first Saturday of each month, we decided to head out there our first weekend back. It is out in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know what I was agreeing to. We picked up new climbing shoes and made our way over to Threshold for the $5 before noon deal. Also, we stopped for sandwiches and Vietnamese coffee in the SGV.

We both decided we liked this gym. There is a good amount of variation in the walls, heights, movement, etc. A lot of the walls are overhung, so I would need more muscles than I have currently in my arsenal to be successful here. Well, isn't that the story of my life. I would recommend this gym to anyone going in that direction for any other reason.

My final request while we were there was to check out the botanic gardens at UCR. This was a really big garden with a lot of different plants for all sorts of regions. You could easily spend a good deal of time there looking at everything.

rockily sharp,
jt
 

nightmares

Ahoy,

Customs in the States is  a nightmare. We landed at 1:40PM and walked out the door around 3:30PM. We walked through customs in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong. They were all a breeze. Pretty much no lines. Arriving back in the States, we waited over an hour in lines. It was a slow-paced nightmare. There are many things I love about being a citizen of the United States, the lines are not one of them. Customs elsewhere is so much more pleasant than here. What are we doing wrong? What are they doing right? Many thanks to the patience of our friend L for getting our travel weary butts from the airport!

zippily anew,
jt

to follow

Ahoy,

I promise I'm not trying to bore you to sleep. Although if you are in need of a sleep aid I'm glad to be of service. Some of these posts (a lot of upcoming ones) are more like a personal log recounting our travels. Cyberspace is a place I've found is an excellent location to litter with my thoughts and memories. Whether or not it's a secure and safe place for me or you to store such precious jewels for an indefinite amount of time to forever is a question for future me to worry about.

yours sincerely,
jt

few things come close

Ahoy,

There are few moments that give me pause, but there was something poetic about the monastery at the top of the 10,000 buddhas path. There were no signs leading from the train stations, so you really only have the online instructions to go on. I just knew we needed to pass the government buildings. The path up was pretty close. We began pretty early. There was no one else on the path ahead of us, and we didn't notice anyone behind us until we were near the top. This was a pleasant change from other attractions that had been crowded. We took our time climbing the steps because there was a buddha to greet you at every step, and each one was different. I'm sure there were loads of steps, but it wasn't tiring or never-ending because there were all these gold buddhas to look at along the way.

At the top was a monastery overlooking the city in addition to other temples, buddhas and incarnations. There was a little pond with turtles that we stopped to watch for a while, and a gardener was tending to the flora. There were dozens and dozens of buddhas scattered everywhere, but the view was spectacular. There was a perfect breeze floating across the blades of grasses and tree branches. The way the plants ebbed and flowed with the wind was what I thought the stuff of Chinese poetry and brush paintings were made of. As I watched the plants and felt the wind on my neck, I could see how someone would want to spend eternity up there. I think it was at that moment that I understood what serenity meant.


We made the decision to visit the 10,000 buddhas instead of the big one on Lantau because the proximity would afford more time for other activities (READ: shopping). He had been to the big buddha before but not these 10,000 and he said the 10,000 were way cooler and well worth it.

peacefully attentive,
jt

from a book

Ahoy,

This is the epitome of mine and the RRS's relationship. It is everything. As excerpted from page 188 of Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? 

"Why do all men I know put their shoes on incredibly slowly? When I tie my shoelaces I can do it standing, and I'm out the door in about ten seconds. (Or, more often, I don't even tie my shoelaces. I slip my feet into my sneakers and tighten the laces in the car.) But with men, if they are putting on any kind of shoe (sneaker, Vans, dress shoe), it will take twenty times as long as when a woman does it. It has come to the point where if I know I'm leaving a house with a man, I can factor in a bathroom visit or a phone call or both, and when I'm done, he'll almost be done tying his shoes.

There's a certain meticulousness that I notice with all guys when they put their shoes on. First of all, they sit down. I mean, they need to sit down to do it. Right there, it signals, "I'm going to be here for a while. Let's get settled in." I can put on a pair of hiking boots that have not even been laced yet while talking on my cell phone, without even leaning on a wall.

I don't have any real problems with it, except when you've done a whole snappy/sexy exit conversation with a guy leaving your place and then he tacks on an extra eight minutes as he puts on his shoes."

As I was reading this, it was like every line was extracted from my brain. If you can imagine - my jumping ecstatically and cheering "YES YES YES!" or "I KNOW!" a la Monica Gellar of Friends. Mindy Kaling is genius. And reading this book has changed my opinion of her.

nonfictiously bred,
jt

no child leashed policy

Ahoy,

I want to propose that no child will be leashed from henceforth in the States. I saw no child leashed while I was in Asia. Nowhere in Japan, nowhere in Shanghai/Hong Kong did I see a single child leashed. I'll preface this with the fact that there are way more people in Asia than here. And it was way more dense and crowded there. If you thought NYC was crowded, I will say that NYC has nothing on HK or Tokyo. I had never seen so many people at once in such a small place, nor imagined any sort of crowding beyond what I experienced in NYC. There are so many more people at all hours, every hour. And they all have children too, and their children are never leashed. How is it that the largest, densest populations in the world have figured out how to keep track/wrangle their children without that aid of a leash? Are we really so technologically advanced as to treat our children like pets? This is a serious question, folks. Think before you leash.

freely speaking,
jt

should I stay or should I go

Ahoy,

I think a question I will always wrestle with in my life is where I call my home. I had this history teacher in high school that had grown up in the neighborhood. He was born, raised, attended college, and got a job all within commuting distance of his childhood home. At the time, I thought this was amazing- that he could go his whole life without leaving home. Though I can't say I know how much traveling he did, I'm sure he knew of amazing things outside of his walls because he was a history teacher filled to the brim of stories of foreign lands.

It wasn't until later that I thought this might also be a bit sad. I'm not knocking on anyone's choices here, I'm just speculating that that is not something I want as an accomplishment in my life. Although at my high school, it was pretty easy to go on to college even closer to home than high school was because one of the best universities in the city was nearby. I can see how you may find yourself never needing to stray far from home for all the opportunities an American education has to offer.

Whenever I go home to Chicago, I can't help but wonder how my life would be different had I stayed. At points I'm a little envious of those who have earned the luxury of watching my neighborhood and city grow and change. To be able to explore Chicago as an adult and take in all the things I couldn't do as a child is not something I realized I didn't have until later in life. In many ways I am more familiar with the food and entertainment of the East Bay and NYC than that of Chicago. My formative adult years weren't spent in Chicago, but elsewhere.

The other half the time I'm glad to be a transient visitor in my hometown. Going to school away from home is a luxury not everyone embarks upon. It gave me an opportunity to see and do so much. I've always believed that the world is much too big a place to stay still for too long. I realize how fortunate I am that my family let me go. Although it will always be my intention to call Chicago home once and for all, I realize that may not be the case for a while. I chose the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference.

dazzlingly spared,
jt

Back over here

Ahoy, 

So good to be home! Nothing like a trip to give you a new perspective of home. Everything is so spacious, big, and glorious here in the us of a. We haven't seen the stars in 2 weeks. First stop, in n out. Glorious. 

Newly starry,

Jt