Photo Friday: Hobby Store

On the first day of our trip to Japan in February, Amanda and I happened across a small hobby shop located below a bookstore in Kyoto.

It's fairly common to find these kinds of stores. Space is at a premium in many areas of Japan, especially the big cities. This results in stores that span several small floors, occupy basements, or are located down side alleys. It's a good idea to keep an eye out for them as you walk around.

Space is a bit of a problem within the stores as well. Aisles are rarely wide enough to accomodate two people standing side by side, so there's a lot of waiting for other patrons to reach an area where you can move around them. Still, these are some of my favorite places to seek out, as you never know what you'll find inside. This store in particular had a lot of Gunpla models, which aren't really my thing. Nevertheless, I walked away with some One Piece merchandise as well as a Pinkie Street figure for Amanda.

Photo Frenzy 7: Coin Laundry

It may seem like a strange detail of Japan to discuss, but coin laundries here are slightly different than their American counterparts.

Most people in Japan don't own dryers. Instead, clothes are hung outside to dry. However, during the rainy season or when needing to dry something heavy like a futon it's nice to have another option. Coin laundries are therefore abundant in and around residential areas. They usually consist of far more dryers than washers, some of them very, very large. This place charged ¥100 for 10 minutes of drying time.

It also had an assortment of weekly manga collections on hand to read while you waited. There was a line of coin operated massage chairs as well. I only had enough clothes to last two of the three week trip we had planned, so it was nice to get them clean and dry quickly. If you ever find yourself in the same predicament in Japan, coin laundries are probably your best bet.

Photo Frenzy 6: Tako Spaghetti

As I've likely mentioned before, Ariake's signature food is たこ (tako) or octopus. Initially, I didn't know the word for octopus, but learned quite quickly the difference between it and タコス (takosu), which is tacos (a famous dish from my home state some might say). For lunch one day, I decided on some tako spaghetti from Ripple Land.

It was pretty good. I've naturally grown accustomed to the tast of octopus, as it was routinely made part of my school lunches. I've had takoyaki, sashimi, many different soups, and occasionally even our rice was garnished with small pieces of octopus. It's generally fresher here and thus isn't as chewy as I remember squid from central Texas being.

Most places in Japan have signature dishes. For example, Kumamoto prefecture is known for basashi, or raw horse meat, there is a town nearby that was well known for a type of orange called a mikan, Aoyama is famous for apples, and Himedo is known for crab. One reason for these highly publicized dishes is おみやげ (omiyage) or souvenirs, usually food, that are almost expected to be given out to coworkers anytime you return from a trip. The next time you're in Japan, I suggest seeking out the signature dish of the area you're in and discover the myriad of ways it is prepared.

Photo Frenzy 5: Slide

There's a park in Ariake near a restaurant/onsen called Ripple Land. It's part of the area that's used for the anual Sazanami Festa. It also happens to be the destination for one of my school's ensokus (field trips) last Thursday. The park has some pretty standard equipment like tire swings, monkey bars, and a climbing rope tower but what makes it really stand out is one particular slide.

It starts about half way up this spiral tower. You can see the line of people for the slide on the left side of the picture.

It then goes out and over a walkway before starting a spiral. The whole slide consists of rollers, so you slow down considerably at the loops to the left.

It finally ends near the rest of the park. The rollers actually hurt quite a bit the first few times, which is why the school brought little boards for the kids. Aside from that, though, it is a blast and I had a great time sliding down over and over with my former students.

Photo Frenzy 4: Purikura

Here's a picture of the new purikura machine at our local karaoke hangout, B-ko:

For those of you unfamiliar with this particular facet of Japanese pop culture, purikura are basically photo boots with built in editing options. If you look closely at the left side of the machine, you can see Amanda and Doug are busy adding fun details to our pictures behind the privacy curtain. These machines are often found in karaoke establishments and game arcades. They are a fun and inexpensive way to remember your experiences in Japan.

Photo Frenzy 3: Tsutaya Amakusa 5th Year Anniversary

Down here in Amakusa, there aren't too many options when it comes to shopping. Sure, we have a few supermarkets, a fair number of convenience stores, and the typical fast food chains like Mos Burger, McDonalds, and KFC. But if it's DVDs or games you're looking for there are really only two stores: Tsutaya and Geo. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover the Amakusa Tsutaya has only been here a few years longer than I have.

It may be hard to make out in the picture, but the seal in the corner (and the much larger Japanese text beside it) proudly proclaim this to be the 5th year anniversary of the store. As my most frequented store, I have a difficult time imagining Amakusa without it.

The entrance was similarly decorated with giant "T"s made of colored tissue paper flowers. My students used a similar style for the borders of their sports day mascots. おかげさまで translates to "with your backing/assistance". I like the inclusion of the heart on the right side. Naturally, I purchased a few things during this visit: the current Hyper Hobby Magazine and the DVD for The Gothic World of Nyanpire. Look for a review of the latter some time soon.

Photo Frenzy 2: Consomme W Punch Red

Many foods and drinks in Japan are seasonal. For instance, now is a good time to find strawberry flavored foods. Others are limited time specials, such as Cassis Fanta, which disappeared a few years ago. So it's nice to know at least one of my favorite Japanese snacks is still on the shelves after all this time. In fact, it's gotten even better.

Calbee Consomme W Punch Red is delicious. Consomme is apparently a type of soup. I've never had it and for the life of me I can't remember why I first picked up these chips, but I'm very glad I did. Originally, these chips were simply called Consomme Punch, which you can still get. The addition of the "W" signifies that it has double the flavor of the original (anyone familiar with Kamen Rider W will know there is no distinction between the words W and double in Japanese). The moniker "Red"is new and means that it is spicy. As my students would say "Why don't you try?"

Photo Frenzy 1: Korean Yotsuba&!

While in Japan, I will continue to endeavor updating regularly. However, given my rather hectic schedule here, I thought I'd replace origami a day with a photo series of little things I've found interesting during my time here and leave the larger, in-depth stories for later.

My friend had heard that I was studying Korean. As she too is learning the language, she ordered a few Korean comics online. Among them was a gift for me.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Yotsuba&! is one of my favorite manga to read in Japanese. As it is a book about a young girl's experiences in a new town, it deals with everyday situations and uses a lot of common words and expressions.

My friend and I both bemoaned the same frustration I imagine many novice Korean learners have. While we could open up this book and read it cover to cover, we would understand very little of it. Hangul (the Korean alphabet) is much like Japanese hiragana in that it is made up of fixed sound characters. These characters are then arranged into syllable blocks, which I gather is rather unusual for an alphabet language. Reading Korean is therefore only a matter of learning 24 letters and familiarizing yourself with the arrangement of syllable blocks.

I've honestly been slacking a bit in my Korean studies. Maybe having this book will be the push I need to get going again. It was a really thoughtful gift and I'm excited about flipping through these stories again.

Photo Friday: Love Hotel

For those who don't know, love hotels are relatively cheap hotels explicitly made for couples. Since overnight rates generally fall well below those of the average hotel and since they frequently have vacancies, they were pretty popular choices for traveling JETs in my area. My fiancee and I stayed several nights in a local love hotel just before returning to America. So if you've ever wondered what a Japanese love hotel looks like, here are some pictures:

I've found that the rooms in love hotels tend to be very spacious for such a low cost. This room had two couches, a table, a stocked refrigerator, a microwave, and, naturally, a spacious bed.

It also had a rather lavish shower room with an adjustable shower head and an oversized bath with water jets.

Here is our room's slot machine. These are apparently a draw for some customers, as each room had a different machine and they were listed in the room descriptions.

One facet of love hotels that never changes is the fact that you don't directly interact with the staff. Room rates are posted in the entryway as well as in the room itself. You're charged either by the hour or overnight. In this particular hotel, you entered and selected your room by pressing a button off a menu. The botton would cause a light to flash above the room to indicate where it was located. Whenever you were done with the room, you called the front desk, informed them of any food or drinks you'd consumed from the fridge (honor system!), and you were sent a message tube to place your money in. The charge was displayed over the tube so there wouldn't be any confusion. Any change would be sent back the same way and you'd leave.

I had hesitations about love hotels when I first arrived in Japan, but they really aren't that bad. If you're ever in a pinch to find an inexpensive hotel at the last minute, I'd definitely recommend looking into it.

Photo Friday: DyDo Machine and Kamen Cider

There are a lot of vending machines in Japan. Most of the ones in my area carried Coca-cola products, which was fine most of the time. However, to get the really good stuff, you need to find a DyDo machine.

DyDo machines are amazing for a number of reasons. They stock awesome drinks like Hotcake Juice and Yogurt, the machine thanks you for every purchase and there's a roulette system which, if you win, gives you a free drink.

It's also host to my favorite Japanese gimmick soda: Kamen Cider.

I say gimmick because other than the name, this soda doesn't have much going for it. It's a decent cider I guess, but the only reason to seek it out and buy it over another brand is the packaging.

I suppose a little background is in order for those unfamiliar with Japanese pop-culture. There is a long running tokusatsu (特撮, special effects) TV show in Japan called Kamen Rider. Kamen (仮面) means mask or masked, so the show is Masked Rider. Though I'm sure I'll elaborate more on this series in a future post, think of something along the lines of Power Rangers, itself an American adaptation of a tokusatsu series. The design of each can of Kamen Cider is based off a character from the show's long history, with information about the character included on the back. It lends itself well to the collector "Gotta Catch 'Em All" culture of Japan, my own disappointment with getting four Kamen Rider Black cans a clear sign that I too have been sucked into this mindset.

Kamen Rider not your thing? Dydo has you covered with Ultraman (Ultra Water) and Super Sentai (Goranger). Check out their website here.

Photo Friday: Sports Day Mascot

Every year, the sports day teams paint a mascot that is judged as part of the competition. This year, the white team chose Keisuke Honda, a famous Japanese soccer player. I joined a few of their after school painting sessions and managed to get this picture. Sadly, I couldn't get a good one of the opposing team's picture of Napoleon. The picture they chose appears on the linked Wikipedia entry under the "French Consulate" heading. I'll try to get a good shot of it come sports day.

Photo Friday: Mos Burger Notebook

A while back, we found a communication note sitting at our table at Mos Burger. We flipped through the pages, reading a few of the messages and marveling at how awesome some of the art was. Then, we added our own messages to it. Here's mine:


Emily's:


And finally Amanda's


We went back a few weeks later and looked at the notebook again. One person had actually responded to my question with "of course". It was pretty cool.

Photo Friday: S-san's Drawings

So I mentioned in my post about S-san that she likes to draw herself as a fox. Here is some of her art.




Adorable! From what I've gathered being called kitsune, or fox, is a way that some students with narrow eyes are teased. Though not necessarily malicious, I'm glad to see that S-san took this and ran with it, really making it her own.

Photo Friday: Koi Kites

May 5th is Children's Day, a holiday in Japan to celebrate (surprise!) children.


The most visible indication of this holiday's impending arrival is the koinobori, or carp streamers, displayed in front of households with children.


The black koi represents the father and the red represents the mother. A koi is added underneath for each son in the family, though more recently I believe one is added for every child. The koi are meant to represent the family's hope that the children grow up to be strong, as legend says that a koi who swims upstream will become a dragon. They look really cool on windy days, flapping in the wind as though they are swimming in the air.

A Japan Kinda Christmas II: Photo Friday

Christmassy thunder and lightning gods in Kumamoto!

Christmassy One Piece crew promoting CC Lemon drinks!

Kinda Christmassy Ni No Kuni display at Tsutaya!

Yeah, figured I needed to get these out here before holiday themed entries feel entirely out of date. I got one more ready to go though, so stay tuned for part three sometime this weekend.

Photo Friday: Baskin Robins Halloween Icecream

In honor of Halloween, enjoy this shot of our seasonal Baskin Robins treat:

In Japan Baskin Robins is called 31.  I have no idea why or how this happened, but it's actually handy for teaching kids numbers over 20, as every kid knows what 31 Ice is. This ice-cream was delicious by the way.  I have no idea if the same thing is being offered in America, but I highly recommend it if it is.

Photo Friday: Aloe Juice

Got this at the train station in Misumi.  It's a refreshing aloe and white grape beverage.

I remember when I was very young, my grandparents had an aloe plant that they would cut open and use on minor cuts and scrapes, calling it "cowboy medicine".  It never occurred to me that it would make for a delicious drink, though.  To be honest, I remember this tasting pretty good apart from one thing...

It's chunky!  That label basically tells you that the drink contains a mess of tiny aloe cubes.  Wish I would have taken notice of that before I took a drink. They don't mix in very well either, meaning those last few sips are going to have a texture closer to a thick soup than a drink.

Photo Um...It's Still Friday Where You're At Right?: Kabuto-mushi Slide

A beetle slide at one of Hondo's preschools.  I don't have the pleasure of teaching at anything below elementary, but I know some ALTs who do.

I only noticed this thing because the school happens to be near one of my favorite restaurants. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Photo Friday: Bathroom Poster

Enjoy this informational poster describing how your poop should look and smell. Just be glad they didn't include all five senses.

Photo Friday: One Piece Display

In lieu of an actual entry, please enjoy this picture of the Going Merry display at our local Tsutaya.

In Japan, One Piece is being re-released in season box sets.  For those who complain of high prices for anime DVDs in America, you should know that these box sets retail for about $150 each ($120 if you pre-order) and contain around 11 episodes.