The Weekend, Food and Trains

A friend and I were at the local bar somewhat late last night when it started to snow. The guy who owns the bar decided to close shop for the night and offered to drive us back to the dorm. It was more rain than snow really, but that didn’t deter him from driving what I perceived as rather fast. But he has lived his whole life around Ontakesan so he could probably drive these streets blindfolded. In the smaller areas of Tokyo, the streets are tiny and difficult to navigate. Once you spend some time walking around them you begin to understand why small cars with low horsepower are so popular. There is also a lack of stop signs at most intersections. Instead, they have a sign suggesting that you slow down as you approach the intersection. I’m really surprised there aren’t more accidents.

When I woke up this morning the ground was covered in snow. It was no more than a few centimeters, but it continued to slowly pile up all day long. In front of the dorm there is a small court yard and parking lot, so this evening before it got too dark we decided to have a snowball fight. One of the girls here at the dorm is from Hawaii and this was her first time ever having a snowball fight.

Saturday afternoon I met up with two other JAs at Yoyogi station. We had the objective of going to the sword museum, but it turns out that it’s not in the park or at Meiji Jingu, but north west of the area. Of course we didn’t find this out until we spent a few hours walking around looking for it, but we did come across a few interesting things. In the large forest area surrounding Meiji Jingu there are a few other buildings of interest, one being the treasure museum. Inside there are portraits of all the emperors up to and including Showa (Hirohito) as well as a number of artifacts saved from the Meiji emperor and empress. Another building close by houses a training facility where they practice traditional archery and other arts involving weapons.

After walking through the shrine and ending up near the Harajuku exit, we had built up quite a hunger and decided to find some place to eat. We walked down the major street near the station and looked into Lotteria and Jonathans, but both were packed. Standing outside, we happened to glance a sign for a Thai restaurant in the next building and decided to check it out. Luckily there was only one other customer and soon we had the place to ourselves. I ordered deep fried squid and my friends both had a red curry dish. The food was very good and not too expensive, but since we were in Harajuku we decided to head to the nearest crepe stand for desert. For between ¥300 - ¥500 you get a large crepe filled with things like strawberries and whipped cream or cheese cake and rolled into a cone about 30cm long. They even have lunch style crepes filled with salad or smoked salmon.

I’m surprised you don’t see many fat people in Tokyo. Everywhere you go there are small restaurants and entire buildings filled with eateries. The smells from inside make their way out to the streets, and it all smells fantastic. I want to eat this entire city. Maybe it’s a good thing that my vocabulary and reading ability are so poor; if I could speak the language and read the menus I’d never stop eating. And with the price of groceries being relatively high, it’s just as cheap to eat out as to cook for one. Anyone who tells you that Tokyo is an expensive place to eat is full of shit. A Big Mac does not cost $20. In fact, a meal at McDonalds (Maku Donorarudo, as the Japanese say) is probably a little cheaper than in the States, and much better quality.

One of my favorite things about riding the trains in Tokyo is that each station on the JR lines has it’s own little jingle played every time the train pulls in. The TV program I’m watching right now just interviewed a kid who learned how to play all of them on the piano and recorded himself playing each one. Here’s another little video to give you a taste of what it sounds like in real life.