Garb

For the last couple of months I've been meaning to blog about both the metro-subway-public transportation here and about garbage and recycling, and finally... I'm tackling one of these heavy hitters: garbage. Japan is one of a few countries that incinerates most of its garbage - up to 75% of it gets burned in facilities in and around the city. EEeeep. I remember the first time we went up the Tokyo Metropolitan building to look out over this massive sprawling city; we wondered where our place was in the 360 degree view. "OOH maybe over there" we said - by the white tower that protrudes up and over the river near our house.... And then we realized that there were white towers sticking up all over the place. There are 21 such towers in the city, and 21 incineration plants that burn garbage day and night, all year round. So about 75% of the garbage gets burned, and some 25% gets landfilled - mostly and most recently in Odaiba, the man-made island in Tokyo Bay. The island itself is built on garb.... kind of unbelievable. Anyways, so up until very recently, all garbage had to be sorted meticulously - in some places there are up to 40 something different categories for garbage and recycling, and "detailed instructions" are sent to citizens so that collectors and neighbors can rest (or collect) easy. Examples: one sock goes in the burnable pile, two socks (if they match) go in recycled cloth; a small kettle lands in small metals, but a big one must be sent to the bulky items stock. (This couldn't be any more different than Romania or Russia, where there is one category: GARBAGE that gets thrown anywhere and everywhere, recycling container garbage container or no container.) There are more categories, but with more advanced incineration technologies, most burnable items (including plastic, plastic foam and rubber) are fuel for the fire. Emission levels are closely monitored, and though the 1990s saw high levels of pollutants and dioxins, with new technology emissions are now (apparently) close to zero. And what does burning garbage produce? Smell? That would be my first guess, but at 8,500 degrees centigrade, stinky fumes are zapped. Burning refuse produces a few byproducts, including energy, ash, and some CO2. The energy from these plants fuels nearby recreation centers, lights homes and heats water, and the ash is used to make asphalt, bricks and concrete. It all sounds so sunny and nice and functional, but I wonder if there isn't something negative about this process. It is expensive. The plant in Toshima (northwest Tokyo) cost $140 million to build in 1997, and as far as operating costs, I have no idea.

So why aren't there more incinerators in North America? I know that we have a billion times more available land than a small country like Japan, but with a population that produces garbage like no other (well, except for the USA), you'd think that we'd have better ways to deal with it than landfilling. Canadians produce around 1.9kg of waste A DAY - Americans are the only ones to outdo us, coming in with 2.0 kg of dump every day. Eeeeeek.... and grossssss. A trip to the garbage dump is a strong motivator for more of a reduce-reuse-recycle lifestyle, and there are some people that argue that an incinerator might just burn up those triple-R habits - if it can be burned, why recycle? (Good question.) Apparently there are only seven incinerators in Canada, but a whole lot more vehement opposition to the idea of additional garbage-burners. The smell, the toxins, the dioxins etc. - but so why does it work in Japan? I assume that the technology must be too expensive, or that the problem isn't pressing enough to address immediately, otherwise we'd have more incinerators and less opposition at home. Regardless, we can all take steps to reduce the amount of garbage we produce - an effort I don't always see being made here. There is SO much packaging - the donut is wrapped in a bag and put in a bag, the baguette is wrapped in a paper bag and put in a bag with another bag in case you want to put it in the freezer. Busted - I am so busted. I buy baguettes and donuts, and that is my reference point. At least, in my basic Japanese, I say no thanks to the bag. But I sure will take that donut.

NY Times - How Do Japanese Dump Trash? Let us Count the Myriad Ways
Washington Post - Japan's Trash Technology Helps Deodorize Dumps in Tokyo
BC Business - Garbage to Burn

this and that

For Christmas my sissy Sarah gave me a wonderful cookbook, full of photos and delectable recipes and I finally FINALLY made something from it last night - no not soup not samosas not salad not salsa or chutney or burgers or risotto but... CINNAMON BUNS. Yes, seriously. It's not often that I bake anything that involves yeast, rising, waiting or patience, and anything that takes over an hour to make usually gets shot down. However, I combined errands and a swim with punching and kneading and waiting for the rising, and there you go. AND... they turned out perfectly. PERFECTLY! I always wonder with those first time semi-complicated recipes... but it worked. And here is the ultimate test of will power, which we both failed miserably. Round one of sticky sugary buns comes out of the oven, and since it's after dinner and we've both burned enough calories to deserve at least one, we both eat two. And then... an hour later, out comes a fresh batch of golden, glisteny, perfect looking sugar and cinammon-glazed pieces of perfection, with goo and sugar and yumminess brimming over the sides of our one and only pan-fit-for-the-oven. Are we supposed to resist and NOT eat three cinnamon buns? HOW? Impossible. C'est impossible! We ate three. And then had more this morning, with coffee. Delicious. Care of Whitewater Cooks, voila, le recipe....

1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 1/8 cup warm water
2 tbsp active dry yeast
5-6 cups flour
4 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, wait for 5 mins. Cream together butter, 2/3 cup brown sugar, salt, eggs (one at a time), and then milk, yeast mixture and flour, 1 cup at a time. Add enough flour to make a soft dough, and knead until smooth and springy - about 10 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes+. Punch down, roll out, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon alllll over. Roll it up into a cinny-roll-log, and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Place in greased pan, let rise again for about 45 mins and then bake at 350degrees for another 45 minutes. In round two of the cinnies, I melted some more butter in the bottom of the pan and added some sugs and cinnamon - it made them more gooey and increased the yumminess factor (very scientific).

Steve's team struggled again this weekend, and unfortunately, came home without any wins. This coming weekend they are heading to Kyoto to try their luck again, and then play in Machida and Tokyo the following two weekends. They are working SO hard, and always come so close - an extremely high percentage of their sets are lost by just two points, so at least they are in a position to take some games. It would be much worse if they were being blown out... right? One piece of nice vball news is that he (Steve) has the highest attack efficiency in the league - great news! But I'm sure he'd rather have some more wins under the team belt.

On Sunday Nao and I bought soup to-go from Soup Stock, a popular chain restaurant, and had lunch in Arisugawa Park in Hiroo. It's a gorgeous park - very Japanese-y, with bridges and ponds, pools and waterfalls, rock steps and stairs and walls, and full of flora and fauna of all types. It was a nice day, and besides being somewhat harassed by some disgusting pigeons (I HATE pigeons), it was lovely. After, we headed to what is now the former French Embassy to check out an exhibition called No Man's Land. The embassy has moved (or is moving?) across the street to a new building, and the former grounds and buildings were opened up to a group of (mostly) French and Japanese artists - all of the rooms, walls, gardens etc. were either full of art or altered to become art themselves, and it was something. Not something either of us overly enjoyed... but it was interesting. I just don't get much modern art. What is so artistic about a messy room? Or a room full of (seemingly) random junk?

This was my favourite room - an artist was building flowers and coloured vines, wrapping in and around the room and out the windows...


This kind of stuff is just weird - above and below...


What does it mean? Plastic stuff and waterfalls and random stuff. Very, very strange.

Thursday afternoon

Lunch deals here are amazing. We went out for lunch on Thursday afternoon for a threepeat return to our new favourite lunch spot, Salvatore - for pizza. It was and is as good as any pizza I devoured in Italy, be it in the south or north or even... gasp! in Naples. Oohhhh, Italian food. It is sooooo good. So for 1300 yen (or yenners) you are served salad, pizza (size large), coffee (cappucino? espresso? latte on ice? there are options) and a scoop of delicious gelato - in my books this is a terrific deal, especially because the food is so amazingly yummy. Our waiter was Italian, so I stumbled through my faltering Italian (use it or lose it - I never use it) to find out that our waiter was born in - guess where? - Winnipeg. We had a nice chat with him and he gave us perfect little biscotti to go with our caffe, and then we were on our way. On our way to see... Where the Wild Things Are. And... it was good! Not excellent or amazing, but I liked it. It was interesting how it was done - I mean, I think it could have been a little more light-hearted - it was pretty heavy at parts. And.. .this was not a movie for children - was it? There were lots of crashing and not necessarily violent but in-your-face scenes - destruction and fighting - play and real... I think it would have been too much for me as a kiddie. Maybe that's wimpy, but I think it could have been made for kids and adults alike, in a more sunny imaginary world, even with the wild things gnashing their terrible teeth and grinning their grins. Such a great book though, and I left with thoughts of how great the imagination is - how great it can be. I also left with energy and thoughts about running around on a beach or in the woods or through the city; I said to Steve, "Adults don't really run around... they never really just run and play and let loose and.... run around." (Not very eloquent... but...) And he said, "Well, YOU do." Um, well... sometimes. Sometimes I do.

yay!

I have fabulous news - times three! - and one piece of semi-sad-face news: the Fab Four have left us. After three amazing weeks, they have hopped back on the airporter bus to hop back on the plane to go home. Mrrrrrrr... This is not full sad-face news because we had such a good time with them - they were here, and it was awesome. It's not full happy face news because (duh) we'll miss them. They spent the weekend in Kyoto and Hiroshima, and according to them, this is a must-do trip if your time in Japan exceeds seven days; they had an amazing time. The six of us met up once again at the apartment on Sunday night, and shared news of the weekend. I stayed in the city and had a great weekend as well - Nao and I got together on Saturday and shopped and talked and laughed - had coffee, ate tonkatsu... it was perfect. Yesterday - the last day of Bob's Tours Japan - we took it pretty easy: went out for sushi, OOH! bought cameras!, had coffee and cream puffs (from a place called Beard Papas - interessant) and went out for Italian food close to home for the last supper. And then, this afternoon, we dropped them off at the bus and waved and were a little sad... but so happy to have had them all here, and to have had such an amazing time. Yay. Here are some pics - missed events either not blogged about or missing photos...

The last supper - at Colosseo... yum!

Buying the Beard Papas cream puffs

Sushi train for lunch - soooo yummy!

New cameras! The Nikon Coolpix S70 - touch screen controls (everything), for 24,300 yen... sweet!

Happy Birthday! 32 isn't so bad, especially if it comes with cake, Hagen Daaz ice cream and strawberries...

Birthday dinner

I didn't blog about this - Nao gave us some traditional mochi to eat on January 8th (I think) - for family health throughout the year. Because the ingredients (and method) were new to us, she gave us direction and coached us through the entire process - on skype! (LOVE skype!)

Making different sauces - one with bean powder and sugar, and another with soy sauce and sugar. There were two ways to eat the treat: 1. toasted pounded rice cake was doused with the soy sauce-sugar combo and wrapped in nori (seaweed), and 2. microwaved (in water) pounded rice cake was dipped in bean powder and sugar - she helped us through it all!

Steve - preparing for the microwave...

... and in the toaster

Being a bit cheeky maybe - guess WHO made a comeback for a HUGE Canasta win?

The fan club at one of the Nagano games


Samurai



Festive ropes at a temple in Ina, Nagano

The dessert feast chez nous... it was delicious!

And now for the fabulous news! On Saturday Steve's team got their first win!! FINALLY! They won in five sets, 15-13... so it was pretty much as close as it gets - eek. But, they won! Steve said that everyone was jumping and running and airplaning around the court - it must have felt so good to finally win, especially with how hard they train. They lost on Sunday, but it was super close: they lost two of the four sets by just two points. SO! That is the first piece of great news. Next... we have more visitors booked! My mom and dad are coming (YAY!) in April which is a GREAT time, as the cherry blossoms will likely be in full bloom. AND, Dan and Milka, Steve's best friend and best man and his wife are coming in March for 10 days or so too - yippee! Steve's sister and her hubs are also coming - we have visitors lined up, and I know our time with them will be just as great as our time has been with the Fab Four... so we're excited. We're away from family and friends for so much of the year, and though it's always sad to say good-bye, it's great thinking about and looking forward to the next hugs and hellos. Kin and kind are never far away. :)

sumo!

Yesterday we went to a sumo tourney - one of only three held in Tokyo each year, and it was amazing! Amazing and unforgettable; the six of us watched with wonder and amazement - each bout, each ritual, every call, every wrestler, it was all entirely captivating. The stadium was huge, and by the time the top wrestlers took the floor (or the dohyo (the ring), made of clay and sand) the lower, close-to-the-action seats were full of attentive and active fans. Each day of the 15-day tournament starts around 9:00, with the lowest-ranked wrestlers fighting in front of what must be a very sparse crowd. By the time we arrived at 1:30, the stadium/arena was still pretty bare, but was definitely filling up by the time the Maku-uchi group took the stage. This group includes the top five ranks of rikishi (wrestlers): 1. Yokozuna 2. Ozeki 3. Sekiwake 4. Komusubi and 5. Maegashira. To attain the rank of Yokozuna is an extremely special thing - since the title was created 300 years ago, only 69 rikishi have been honoured with the title. To be considered for this distinction, a wrestler must have the rank of Ozeki, win two consecutive tournaments, and be a man worthy of character and spirit; it is only the Yokozuna that can never be demoted, and if, for some reason, his career starts going downhill, he is expected to retire.


Anyways, so we watched some juniors fight, and then the big guns. The ceremony and ritual and traditional etiquette before every fight and in between the divisions was sooooo neat. With the two higher ranked groups, the wrestlers paraded out and around the dohyo in ceremonial aprons (called kesho-mawashi) in an "entering the ring" ceremony before any fights took place. And then, out they came wearing their "loincloths" or mawashis - there was a whole lot of birthday suit visible with these dudes... they were big. BIG. The refs, on the other hand, were small, and wore very ornamental, colourful kimonos; there were four (or five?) refs that sat around the base of the raised ring - ready to be called up in case of a dispute. It happened not once or twice, but several times, that the sumo wrestlers wrestled each other right out of the ring - onto refs and in between spectators... eep. Talk about getting squashed.




And so with these higher ranked wrestler came more pomp and ceremony - there was audible stomping and slapping (belly, legs, face, belly, face), squatting and salt throwing, more stomping and slapping, and then, after a max of four minutes of approach-squat-retreat, came the collision. It was like two freight trains going at each other - with hands and arms, slapping and pushing and shoving. Sometimes the fights lasted for 5 seconds, and sometimes they lasted close to a minute, with of big parts of the fight caught in deadlock, with little motion. All of the encounters were seriously entertaining, but one stands out. The last fights of the day are saved for the highest ranking rikishi, and there were two Yokozuna in this tourney. After a parade of fifteen sponsor-flags made their way around the ring (each totaling 60,000 yen, or $650) - money to be awarded to the winner of that fight - Goeido (with a record of 1-3) entered the ring to take on Asashoryu (a Yokozuna). People were calling out as they leg stomped, and the yelling and calling increased with anticipation as the four minutes wound down. The ref made his signal and then came the clash of big-body and flesh, and the time ticked away towards what looked like an imminent win for the Yokozuna. And then, there was a quick reversal of fortune, and the big guy went down and Goeido won, prompting a flurry of thrown cushions from all across the lower level of the stadium. It was amazing! We weren't sure if it was in support of the underdog or not, but it was a spectacle.



A Yokozuna fight, followed by pillows frisbee-ing around the arena: the underdog, Goeido is on the left, Asashoryu on the right

It was definitely the most Japanese experience we've had living here, though coming a close (or maybe not so close) second was the Ikebana class that Marg and Barb and I took on Tuesday. There were more teachers than there were students, and the thought and analysis that went into creating and critiquing the arrangements was seriously substantial. The woman helping me didn't speak much English, but talked a lot - unfortunately I couldn't pick up much of what she was saying. It was fun though, to create and to watch others create - some of the teachers were obvious experts, and it was neat watching them build - with precision - different arrangements in different styles in different containers. The flowers and leaves and bamboo are now home, in a decanter - the cheapest vase I could find. And that's it! Our week of quintessential Japanese experiences draws to a close....

more and more

I am still sometimes feeling amazed with the fact that we are in Tokyo. In Japan, in Tokyo. It is such an amazing place - so different than anything we've experienced, and I'm talking in terms of everything - culture, food, language, tradition, holidays, public transportation, metropolis... and on and on the list goes. We had a bit of a break from the city this weekend - up to Nagano Prefecture we went, where we stayed in Suwa, but watched games in Ina (Saturday) and Okaya (Sunday). Suwa was beautiful - the city (/town?) lays low in a valley, next to a lake and shadowed by half-snowy hills and rocky medium-mountains behind. The town may be known for its thermal waters; the hotel we stayed at had an onsen with piping hot water, and there was a public foot bath along with a smoky, sulfuric, bubbly water hole alongside the lake. It was a bit chilly, and on Sunday I just missed some morning flurries as I returned from a scenic run along the lakeside path. It was nice to see space, and trees, and mountains. The volleyball (which was, after all, the purpose of our trip) was another tough go. They played the last placed team in the league on Saturday, and lost - in four sets. I'll just be honest - it was ugly. The team is good (Steve's team), but they struggle to play well; the team is inconsistent, and, in my opinion, lacks a bit of leadership. It's often tough to play a weaker, no-good team, because playing down to their level is always a bit of a danger, and unfortunately, that's what happened. In the end, the other team won only because they made fewer errors. Eek. It was disappointing for all. However, Sunday was better - they still lost, but the team played waaaaaay better, and showed some aggression, power and fight. Still, a loss is a loss, but I'm thinking that they're on their way up. They must be.

We've been busy busy with sightseeing and filling our days with photo-worthy events. We had a dessert feast chez nous a few days ago (or last week?) - everyone picked up/out a few treats from food heaven (Tokyu Food Show), and after some intense anticipation, we attacked. There were three loaded plates and six sets of goggly dessert eyes, and then it was almost all gone. The winner was the black forest cake, and the loser was the bean paste filled, fish-shaped Japanese pancake. (I bought it hot - maybe it would have been better eaten fresh? Not knowing.) We had an amazing day at a popular onsen in Odaiba - Oedo Onsen Monogatori - where the whole lot of us sported cotton Yukatas and dipped ourselves into traditional Japanese baths. There was an outdoor foot bath where all six of us meandered before heading to the segregated baths and hot pools. There were a few outdoor baths (including a quartet of wooden barrel tubs), and several indoor baths, most of which were hot hot hot. Marg, Barb and I stayed away from the sauna, steam room and cold bath, and soaked up the heat and hot water inside. The onsen is also a so-called theme park, because the common areas (which include restaurants, shops and cafes) are styled in the decor of traditional Edo times. We had lunch and ice cream and wandered and relaxed, and after a solid afternoon, left refreshed, relaxed and very, very clean. Odaiba is home to many a thing to see, and so we decided to stop at Venus Fort and Mega Web to check out some shops and showrooms. The Mega Web is basically a showcase of Toyota's array of vehicles - mostly new, futuristic and eco-friendly. It was pretty impressive - you could ride in a self-driving car, and everyone is free to sit in and check out most, but not all, of the vehicles. The Toyota Pod, for example, was on display, but in a no-go zone; the same goes for the i-unit, which communicates with other i-units, and changes shape and colour as it does so (and as the speed changes). Crazy, and amazing - this article at Gizmag explains the capabilities of the Personal Mobility Concept in the form of a very smart scooter-car-vehicle-thing.

Venus Fort, a "shopping paradise", is designed to resemble (at least in some parts) a European street, complete with fountains and columns and classic architecture. A highlight for us was visiting not one but TWO pet shops full of stuff for dogs - this includes clothing, hats, changing tables, mirrors, bakeries (doggy birthday cakes), photo studios (dogs want portraits too), jewelry, accessories, strollers (/pet carriers? not sure what these are called), and mucho mas. It was almost too much to believe.

The Fab Four also went up to Nikko (on Thursday), and visited the Tsukiji fish market (Wednesday) before the lot of us made for Suwa on Saturday morning. Steve and I finally made it out for sushi at a great little place in Shibuya (the name of which I do not know), and I subbed at a few classes for a government English program in the middle of the city. Plans - highlights! - for this week include celebrating a certain someone's birthday (tomorrow), an Ikebana (flower arrangement) class for the ladies (also tomorrow), a Fab Four Fuji tour on Wednesday, a day at the sumo tournament on Thursday, and then on Friday I'll be left all alone in Tokyo, as Steve heads south for another weekend of games, and our visitors make for Kyoto and Hiroshima. There is much in store for us all in this big and amazing place...

Bak-who?

A question: if you think that playing in Japan, Romania or Russia is a strange/unique experience, ripe with stories and exclamation marks and raised eyebrows, what do you think about someone playing in, say... Azerbaijan? Yes... Azerbaijan. I ask because our very good friend Tammy is playing there with two other Canadians. We caught up on skype the other day, and I had to ask her if I could share some our conversation, not only because it was hilarious, but because the comments and questions highlight my complete and utter absence of knowledge with regard to Azerbaijan. Well.... I did know that it was part of the USSR, and ummmm, yup, that's about it. So here are snippets of our conversation, condensed...

me: Azerbaijan-Azerbaijuju, how is it? How is the coach? Training? City? The people? - weird?
T: It's a little Romania-esque here, but worse... The coach seems fine, the gym is really nice, and the dorms we live in are okay - but no water sometimes, which is annoying...

me: And it's normal there? city? any horses and carts? many strange men? How typical are these questions...
T: SOOOOOO many strange men... it is very Russia, no one speaks English at all! So, getting in a cab is a real treat.

me: I can't even really imagine what it's like... Azerbaijan... really? Can you shop? What city are you in?
T: I am in Baku... everything is in Baku, it's the capital.

me: just laughing at how I know absolutely nothing about Azerbaijan, other than that Baku is the capital, there are strange men, and you are there...
T: So many strange dudes who profess their love for me in like five seconds because I have blond hair... EVERYONE here is dark... So we get stared at a lot... we have two black girls, a Japanese girl and me with blond hair... stare fest!

me: And is there normal stuff?
T: I'm going to Istanbul for New Years, so will do some shopping there for normal people stuff b/c there is no store here for that..
me: um so what kind of stores are there there? can you find food that you can eat or is it all shwarma? aaaaahhaha (nice question)

T: there is shwarma EVERYWHERE, but the grocery store was nothing like a Carrefour - so I'm going to ask where to go... like, I need a towel... where do I get that? Ya... it is another world - a level above Romania....

There is more, but that is the gist of the conversation. So, I decided to google Azerbaijan, and educate myself a little bit.




Azerbaijan gained independence from the USSR on August 30, 1990, and is now home to more than 8.8 million Azerbaijanis, of whom over 2 million live in the capital - Baku. With an area of 86,600 square kilometres, this nation could fit into BC no less than 10 times; their currency is the Manat (1 Manat = US$1.25), and the per capita GDP is between $5000 and $9000 (in Canada that figure is between $39,000 and $45,000). There are some other really interesting things that set Azerbaijan apart from some of its neighbors; it was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, and is also the first Muslim nation to grant women equal political rights with men. To boot, they did so in 1918, two years before the US (and eight years before the UK) got around to it (women got the vote in Canada in 1918). (As an aside - New Zealand was the first country to grant universal suffrage (1893); there are some countries where women still can not vote, such as Saudi Arabia.) It is situated on the Caspian Sea, and shares borders with Armenia (to the West), Georgia (Northwest), Russia (North) and Iran (South) - Baku is on the coast. It sounds like it's hard to make generalizations about Azerbaijan because Baku seems like it would be so different from the rural majority of the country. Baku looks not half-bad for a city - I think if you were living in the Az you'd want to be living in or close to the capital. Having said that, the pics on Wikipedia make it look like there are many a bee-autiful place, with mountainous areas and rolling hills, rivers and lakes. Popular sports are soccer (surprise) and chess (surprise); wrestling and backgammon are also popular... interesting. And that's about all I've got on Azerbaijan. At least now, I know where it is.

I know that Azerbaijan is not Azerbaijstan, but the question of the "stan" countries came up when I was talking to my mom just now, and neither of us really know where all of them are. The suffix "-stan" is Persian for "place of", and applies to countries, regions, provinces... but if we're talking countries, there are seven of them: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. There are lists of other stans, including regional, fictional, and satirical (Absurdistan). And with that - I'm out.

the New Year - with pics

Putting up our New Years decoration (Shimekazari, I think) from Nao - thank you Nao!

2010 is the year of the Tiger, and even though the Japanese no longer follow the Chinese lunar calendar, the zodiac signs and years are clearly important here. There are posters and figurines and postcards and all sorts of tiger paraphernalia all over the place, as I'm sure are the jokes about Tiger Woods, and whether or not this is his year. There are 12 Chinese zodiac signs - rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig - that correspond to each year of the important 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar. The tiger is a sign of bravery, and those born under its sign are (maybe) more inclined to be powerful, independent, bold, friendly and loving, and sometimes selfish and short-tempered. They will likely seek attention and power, and probably live a little bit dangerously (ooooooh); they are intolerant, take risks, are courageous, and, are natural leaders. They are also a lot of other things that I'm sure are somehow contradictory... but I suppose that this is quite normal. (After all, I'm a Gemini... I'm hoping it's normal.) So, if you were born in 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986 or 1998 you may recognize some of these characteristics in yourself.... ? I'm a year of the horse girl, and after reading about year of the horse people ("active and energetic","born to race or travel"), I suggest you look up your sign and see if there's any truth to it.

Big BIG crowds at Meiji-jingu on January 1st - and big crowd control too...


And so the year of the tiger is rolling on in, and along with hoards and throngs of other people we've followed some important beginning-of-the-year traditions. We braved the crowds yesterday and visited Meiji-jingu (the first three days of 2009 saw 3. 19 million people pass through its gates) where we saw money throwing and praying and some seriously organized crowd control. We all agreed that it was the most people we've ever seen in our lives in one place at one time - craaaazy. And today Steve went back to work (mrrrr), and the rest of us visited the Imperial Palace where there was more crowd control and security; January 2nd and December 23rd are the only days the inner palace grounds are open to the public. And so, there was, once again, a very big crowd of (very) small people. At least compared to us they were small... there was a sizable shadow of emptiness behind the five of us as we waited for over an hour to see Emperor Akihito and some of his family members. The plaza was packed, and out they came to a rumble of waving flags and quiet and attention. He waved, gave a short speech, waved some more, and then we (45,000 plus people) were slowly herded outwards and onwards. It was pretty amazing, and such a neat experience to be a part of.

The Imperial Palace, January 2nd

Marg, Ralph, me, Barb and Bob waiting for the Emperor

And voila!
When he was finished talking, the crowd did a quarter turn and then slowly shuffled out of the plaza

I haven't even said anything about New Years Eve!!! Eeeeeep! Okay, well... We started with a delicious laid-out-on-the-table feast (very German) of sausage, potatoes, sauerkraut and red cabbage - the metre-long meal. (This is a sort of tradition: in Tenerife we frequented a German restaurant that served up metres of sausage on a long cutting board speckled with carrots and fries and cabbage. Yum. The fab four visited us there, and it was unforgettable - especially to a particular Señor Ralph.) After some quiet, we donned quickly assembled party hats, did the choo-choo train around the kitchen, and then made for a mid-sized shrine on Komazawa-dori.

Besides the smashing of a beer can outside the main gate, we observed the goings-ons like most of the other visitors, quietly and reverently. There was a very large fire going, fueled by worries and wishes - I mentioned this earlier, but people fill envelopes with notes, and/or throw talismans on the fire - pine branches, bamboo ropes, and anything that is symbolic of something desired. Beside the high-rising flames was a small platform adorned with a bell and five monks/priests. I'm not sure how long they were there for, but when we arrived at 11:40ish, they chanted for another five minutes or so, rang the massive, suspended bell, and then slowly filed away from the platform and into the shrine itself. There was a bit of clapping and a loud murmur at midnight, and then the bell was rang again and again and again, and almost all throughout the night. It was sounded 108 times in total, and is meant to cleanse the 108 Buddhist sins such as greed and anger. Since the shrine was smaller, locals had bought tickets (I think), and lined up to ring the bell themselves. The line-up to get into the shrine snaked around the grounds, and just kept getting longer... very cool. There was a taiko performance (drums), which was also really neat, and after spending another ten or fifteen minutes soaking up the magic of the experience, we headed for the hills. It was a FABULOUS way to ring in the new year (paaaah), and so neat to do it with visitors. The fab four headed off to catch some of Steve's practice this morning, and then were making their way to Asakusa and then Akihabara before heading back home tonight. Busy busy busy... I got a solid run in, and am now procrastinating - I have errands to run. Last thing - two days ago we saw a dog, a teeny dog, wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. I kid you not. Shocking!

New Years hats!

New Years TRAIN



Champagne time when we got home - Happy New Years!