The Villanuevas Visit Japan... Part II

Dec. 25 – Christmas Day

Back home, Christmas is filled with tons of celebratory hallmarks. Most shops and restaurants are closed for the day. But in Japan, it is pretty much business as usual. I was able to show my brother Motomiya’s downtown core. That is, the one quaint main drag.

For Christmas lunch, we went out for kaiten sushi in Nihonmatsu. In such restaurants, fresh sushi travels throughout the restaurant on a conveyor belt. I think my family thought it was interesting how you’re expected to order in Japanese restaurants. Basically, you yell “Sumimasen!” (Excuse me!) – and someone will rush over to get your order. I’m still getting used to the idea.

We went to Genki Sushi, which is simply your run-of-the-mill kaiten sushi, but I wanted to show my family where I spend many Tuesday night dinners. (I often go to “gossip sushi” on Tuesday nights with B., B., Hezza and G. It’s a nice time where they like to poke fun at me for not snowboarding. Apparently, I’m lame. Thanks). There was another gaijin (ie. foreigner) who kept smiling broadly in our direction. I wished him a Merry Christmas, since we’re both gaijin and all.

We also explored Koriyama. We ended up eating “shabu shabu” for Christmas dinner at the Big-I shopping centre. It was delicious, as per usual. And once again, we ran into the gaijin who ate by himself in Nihonmatsu. Turns out that he has lived in Japan for almost 10 years, and was originally from New Zealand. I wondered why he ate all by himself?

Dec. 26 – “It’s one of the three most beautiful views in Japan”

We hopped on the shinkansen for Sendai and Matsushima. The former is a city located about 30 minutes away on the shinkansen. It was also my first time there, so I really enjoyed seeing the hustle and bustle of such an urban city.

But we first headed to nearby Matsushima, which is known as “one of the three most beautiful views in Japan.” I forced my family to get on a ferry boat, despite the heavy snows that were pelting down on us.

It was ridiculously cold, but I wanted to see the Matsushima islands that peppered the oceanic landscape. We grabbed a quick lunch while sitting on traditional tatami floors. We then ventured back into the cold, where we walked to the Zuigan-ji. It was cold. That was all.

Dec. 27 – Ernest got his hair did

That day, we got kaiten sushi once again. We went to the restaurant tucked away in Eight Town, which is the convenient shopping complex near my apartment. (The local grocery store is called “Benimaru,” where everybody and their mother go after school. By now, many of my students have seen me roll into the store with my grubby ol’ Roots sweatpants. My bad.)
Anyways, Ernest’s birthday was coming. So, I got him what he wanted – a hair cut in Japan. With lots of gestures and terrible Japanese, I got him an appointment at a trendy hair salon in Koriyama. Mad skillz.

He came out looking pretty happy – phew! So, we got some pretty sweet purikura to commemorate the moment. One of my students was surprised to see my brother and I at the mall.

Dec. 28 – Tokyo-bound: Harajuku, Shibuya

For the first time in my recent memory, Motomiya received its first lasting snow. Clearly, it coincided with my family’s departure. I called for two cabs; we got the two female taxi cab drivers! I’ve never seen that back home.

It’s not really fun dragging your heavy luggage up from train to train, fyi. We finally made it to Tokyo, where we stayed in Ryogoku. It is the sumo area of Tokyo! Since we got there on a Sunday, we first explored Harajuku. That’s when all the Harajuku kids sit on the bridge near the entrance of the Meiji Jingu Shrine.

That night, we checked out tons of shops in Harajuku. RAWDRIP, the Ice Cream Store, SUPREME – we were there. I think that we grabbed some dinner at Pizza Express, the usual pizza join that my friends and I eat lunch when in Harajuku. To cap off the night, we enjoyed some coffee at the Starbucks that overlooks the infamous Shibuya crosswalk.

Dec. 29 – Eating like a sumo wrestler; Asakusa shrine.

As I’ve mentioned before, our hotel was in Ryogoku. There are tons of sumo stables in the area, where wrestlers are expected to eat, sleep, live and practice. My online research suggested that people have watched their early morning practices. I asked our hotel clerk to give them a ring – he refused. I tried calling myself to get an invite, but my Japanese is terrible. “Uh… watashi wa gaikokujin desu” was my opening remark (I am a foreigner.). Dude chatted with me in Japanese. When I asked for permission to watch a morning practice, he used his English skills to say: “No.” Rejected.

Ernest still wanted to eat Mos Burger, but I decided to take advantage of our location. We grabbed some lunch at a quaint little restaurant across the street from the train station. They served us chanko nabe, a stew that is commonly eaten by sumo wrestlers. It was aite. Mmm, let’s enjoy getting fat.

We spent the afternoon checking out the shrine in Asakusa. I was committed to getting my shuin-jo (a book…) stamped at every shrine. I think we ate lunch at Elephant Castle in Harajuku – it’s that Thai place where they play techno/house music

Dec. 30 – YO HO HO! Omedetou tanjobi, ototo! (Happy Birthday, Ernest!)

Ernest turned 21 when we were in Tokyo! Obviously, I set aside loads of time to further explore Harajuku for him – I believe that’s his favorite part of Tokyo. It’s where we found all types of shops. (BAPE, RAWDRIP, the Ice Cream Store, Supreme, etnies, etc.)

But we kicked off the day getting lost in Ueno. That was my first time in the area, and I didn’t understand the station manager’s directions. We stopped for lunch at McD’s, where I ordered my brother a “McPork.” It was McNasty.

We eventually explored some of the shrines and temples in Ueno, and even dropped by the infamous park. We also made our way to Akihabara, the electronics hotspot of Tokyo. No ridiculous purchases – just some blank CDs and new speakers for my laptop. Ernest continued his search for Calpis water, but none of the Akihabara vending machines could tempt his palate.

We made our way to Harajuku, and did more shopping. (Who knew I could get tired of Harajuku?! Ha.)

Birthday boy wanted sushi for dinner. So, we hit up a restaurant in the 109 shopping area of Shibuya. We split a platter of sushi. We saw the chef take a fish out of one the restaurants fish tanks.

We ended the night with some delicious birthday ice cream from Coldstone Creamery. Those ice cream makers always make me smile – they are super genki (enthusiastic), and enjoy singing. We heard them sing their version of the Snow White song: “Yo, ho, ho! It’s off to work we go!” I regret not asking them to sing Happy Birthday for Ernest – he would’ve been ridiculously embarrassed, haha.

Dec. 31 – Kicking off the New Year in Tokyo (TO BE CONTINUED)

Jan. 1 – Jan. 3 – Kyoto and Nara (TO BE CONTINUED)

The Kansai area (Kyoto, Nara) was the last leg of our trip. We checked out: Kinkaku-ji, Ryoan-ji and the Kiyomizudera. And the deer in Nara.


Jan. 4 -- All good things must come to an end (at the Keio Plaza). TO BE CONTINUED