The Yamanote Line

Posted on March 23, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Mito Station, my start and end point.

The Yamanote Line is the JR track that encircles Tokyo. If you want to get anywhere in the city, this is the line to travel. These trains literally come every three minutes. So if you miss one or you go the wrong direction you can easily get on another one.

Bernadette, Alexis, Kenny, and myself were supposed to go to Sea Disney on Saturday, but Friday night they were feeling under the weather, and at the last minute we decided not to go. I was doing alright. Bernadette reminded me that it was my vacation so I didn’t have to let it live or die around their schedule. I felt bad for leaving them, but it is my vacation and she didn’t need to remind me twice. I headed down to Tokyo for the day. The Super Hitachi runs from Mito to Ueno Station with three stops. It’ll get you into the city in an hour. That’s blistering fast considering the Joban rapid line will take two.

While I sat in the train I pulled out a Tokyo guide I had picked up from the Unizo Asakusa Hotel and began to go through the sights. There was the Imperial Gardens, Tokyo Tower, Lolitas in Harajuku (uh, not listed in the guide), the sky promenade in Shinjuku, and why not, I’ll even swing by Akiba for a bit of shopping. I circled the places I was interested in and when I dropped into Tokyo I hopped onto the Yamanote line to go from Ueno to Tokyo and begin my whirlwind tour of the city.

Imperial Garden

Imperial Garden by Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station empties out into a massive center city. The train station and all the skyscrapers that surround it are filled with upscale stores. This is not the place for me, so I believe. I’m not apart of the fashion elite. I would fit right at home in a Jusco, still I walked through some of these department stores. I then went on further to the Imperial Garden. It’s surrounded by a moat and there’s one or two bridges that lead inside. To visit the garden you get a special pass which you have to return upon exiting — I guess this way when they hand out and receive back all the passes they know that everyone’s gone. It’s like a zero-sum game.

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The moat around the Imperial Garden

If you want solitude in the center of Tokyo, come to the Imperial Gardens. Once you’re through the gates and buffered by the stone walls the jack-hammering, the incessant honking and din of cars motoring down the streets disappears. It’s quiet here. There are a couple of small museums you can visit that show off the Emperor’s swag from visiting other countries over the years. I generally ignored it. I wanted to see the garden. Show me the manicured trees, the meticulously kept grounds, and the stone walls that you carefully rebuilt stone by stone over the years. I came for the epic-ness. I came to be thrown back in time to the Edo period in the small space that survived, untouched by the modern world and time itself.

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Well manicured trees and grounds.

That’s what I came for. I don’t care if the King of Scotland gave the Emperor a fancy toy boat. Ironically, I’ll probably devote a blog post to the toys that I got from Japan because…I think you might care.

There’s a part of the park where a vast field of dried grass covers a flat field. People sit out there and picnic and rest. You can lay on the grass. It looks damn nice, especially with the blue sky over us that day. I opted to stay on my feet and kept walking around snapping photos and videos. This is how I like to spend my time — on the move, but if I come back, I’ll lay on the grass and stare at the blue sky.

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

I left the Imperial Garden and headed back to Tokyo Station. There’s one thing here I wished I had taken a picture of. A homeless man had made himself a little umbrella hut under one of the concrete pylons. It was constructed entirely of umbrellas and looked pretty solid for something that might blow away in the wind.

I was back on the Yamanote Line and heading to my next stop, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower’s not the highest building in Tokyo anymore. It’s not the best observatory, but I choose this because it seemed to be iconic, even if it is kitsch. One of my favorite sentimentalist Japanese movies, Always: Sunset on Third Street takes place in 1950s Tokyo. They’re rebuilding after World War II. It’s about a family that runs a small auto shop called Suzuki’s (maybe or maybe not related to the big auto manufacturer). They’ve just hired a new mechanic — a girl that just got out of school who’s looking for work. They live next door to a struggling writer trying to make it big while running the candy shop he inherited from his folks. There are glorious melodramatic moments in the story between the famiily, the writer, and the girl he falls in love with. It takes place under the backdrop of Tokyo Tower being built and that’s why I wanted to see it.

Tokyo Tower sits on a hill and you walk up to it, gazing up at its magnificent grandeur as you approach. I entered the shops around Tokyo Tower first and had a Pink Waffle — think of it as an Auntie Anne’s but they make a waffle and smother it with ice cream and chocolate. I looked at all the campy Tokyo Tower toys to buy — keychains, globes, puzzles. No, I thought to myself, I won’t buy any of it. Just show me to the tower.

For 1000 yen one adult can go up 150 meters to the first observatory. Once there you can pay 600 yen to go up another 100 meters. I figure, I made the journey all the way out to Tokyo Tower — why not go up? The real price of going up 100 meters more is that, it will take you an hour. You have to wait for your number to be called. I spent time on the first observatory and I recommend you immediately buy your ticket for the special observatory if you want to go higher, but honestly at the end of the day that extra 100 meters was not worth it. You get the same view at a slightly elevated angle. The observatory is smaller and packed tighter and there’s nothing else to do there other than gaze out at the city. I really didn’t get the sense that I saw more than I could at 150 meters. I snapped pictures of the buildings below and got a good panorama view of Tokyo from the sprawling city to the bridges over the bay. That’s really about it. You can dine at the cafe on the first observatory. There’s a shop there the size of a closet that a thousand Japanese tourists will try to squeeze through. So do yourself a favor and enjoy the 150 meter high view and move along.

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150 meters over Tokyo

I stayed long enough to see the sunset.

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The sun sets.

As I walked away from Tokyo Tower, I turned around and snapped this postcard picture:

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Tokyo Tower at night

An even better one:

Harajuku

There were two things I wanted to see here: the temple and Lolitas. Since I couldn’t find the temple, I saw the latter just by walking around. Once I got off the Yamanote Line, I was back on the streets of Harajuku I ended up following several people around making a loop about the shopping district. Harajuku’s known for its high fashion and all the shops reflect that. Now, imagine Akiba stuffed to the brim with electronics, DVDs, anime, and toys. Harajuku is the same but with fashion. I don’t know if all the stores went up eight stories, but I bet they did. There are Lolita shops that effuse pink. They love them some pink in this country. Men wear pink without embarrassment. I don’t know what the official reason is, but here’s my take: everywhere you go they wear gray and black — the business men, school kids, everyone except for the one girl that’s dressed in a bright kimono. So then there’s only on way to not be so plain and lifeless. Wearing something pastel. Pink doesn’t carry the same stigma that it does in America. It doesn’t scream pansy and they love it on everything here. We just think it’s gaudy.

I managed to catch sight of a few dour looking Lolita as I walked around, and since there was nothing else I could find to see in the night, I headed back to the Yamanote Line and breezed off to Shinjuku.

So, before I blitz out of Harajuku, why Lolitas? I have a thing for girls in period clothing (obviously). The subculture’s always fascinated me. Don’t call it a costume. Don’t mistake it with anime inspired maids — it borrows influence from Lolitas not the other way around. This is youth rebellion. It’s girls that got tired of of the modern world and the hyper-sexualization of their society so they dressed down. Rococo style. They dress for themselves because they got tired of being treated and paid like second class citizens with the only future prospect of popping out babies. At least that’s how I understand the fashion movement. There’s an air of elegance about it; I suppose that’s what I like the most.

If you want to find more about Lolitas watch Kamikaze Girls. It explains the fashion and a take on the mentality of it. That aside, it’s a damn good movie to boot. Lots of good moments. Plus if you like Fukada Kyoko, you can’t go wrong.

Shinjuku

Shinjuku at Night.

Honestly, by this point in the evening, all I did was have dinner here. The stores were closing for the night anyway. The JR station connects with a department store and on the eighth floor of that store there’s a restaurant floor. I had sushi there and was on my way. I vowed as I left that I would come back to Shinjuku to see it in the day next time.

Akiba

I cut across Tokyo on the Chuo line to avoid going around the Yamanote Line — it was a lot shorter this way. I stopped off at Akiba for some quick shopping — I figured I’d grab a figure or two and then be on my way back to Mito.

Mito

I arrived here back at midnight. I thought I could take the Super Hitachi back, but for some reason I thought I couldn’t — but the joke’s on me, because you could, and I learned that a day later. I ended up taking the Joban line back to Mito and enjoyed the two hour train ride.

It was a long Saturday filled with sightseeing and I did see everything I wanted too. What I like most is that I didn’t extensively plan anything. It’s all spontaneous. Off the cuff, if you will. I must travel this way more often. It’s fun to explore on your own. When we had considered going a year ago we looked at doing tour groups, but honestly, what’s the fun in having someone hold your hand? I like to explore.

The next day, Sunday, it was Kairakuen Garden in Mito. The day after, one final stop in Tokyo and I do something absolutely ridiculous and nerdy: I go to a maid cafe.

Mito

Posted on March 23, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Mito

Friday

After two and a half frantic days of bouncing around Tokyo, today is slow, and it’s not necessary a bad thing. My legs ached from walking and standing everywhere. I hadn’t talked to anyone (in any intelligible sense) since I arrived, and apart of my vacation was to come and visit my friends — that’s how this whole trip began in the first place. Although, admittedly, I was finding myself wishing I was in Tokyo, but it’s easy enough to navigate my way back there.

This whole trip began with an IM to my friend Bernadette. “How’s Japan?” I asked her.

“It’s great you should come out and visit,” she replied to me.

I figured that wasn’t a bad idea. I hadn’t gone anywhere in a long while. I spent the winter break at home. I had always wanted to go to Japan but the last time I tried to put together a trip with friends it made Japan feel like a daunting task. There was too much effort that went into planning the trip and this time I feel that it was the right amount — no planning at all. I would just wing it. I told Kenny to get ready because I was coming to Japan to sleep on his floor.

Bernadette’s children, Kenny and Alexis, are out here in Japan apart of the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Alexis teaches in Toyama, but she’s visiting Mito because she’s sick and looking for a little comfort of home. Kenny lives in Mito and that’s where the four of us are staying. The apartment’s small, but I suppose for Japanese standards, for one person, it’s practically a mansion. The family would be sleeping together in the bedroom and I would be sleeping out in the living room on a mattress on the floor, which is pretty much what I expected and sure beat paying more for a hotel.

Friday started out quiet. I was quite content having seen Akiba at least once and having gone to the Ghibli museum. If there were two big things I wanted to do on this trip, I had done them. I had no other major plans really. I knew that there were things I wanted to see and wanted to eat, but I’d play all of that by ear in the coming days. I didn’t realize I’d also catch some of Alexis’ cold, but in the end, it didn’t slow me down — though as I write this I’ve still got a slight cough.

I did my laundry Friday morning. Since Kenny didn’t have a dryer we made a trek into Mito and I got to see the town for the first time. Instead of walking through a back alley we walked along the road leading to a bridge overlooking a huge swan lake. Bernadette and Alexis brought bread to feed the birds. We dropped off my things at the Soft Cream — you’d never think that it was a 24 laundry place — but it is. While my clothing spun dry we ventured over to the lake and fed the birds. A nursery of kids was also trying to chase the birds around so it was fun had by all.

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Feed the birds in Mito

I had never been that close to birds. As we dropped bread and rice cracker type treats they swarmed us — pigeons, swans, and ducks. The pigeons would eat anything even if it was too big for their beaks. The ducks tended to steal entire slices of bread and make off with them. The swans snipped at the other birds that got too close. It was fun to watch the entire eco-system of birds in play. As the birds swarmed the bread the kids swarmed the birds and we were eventually close enough to hold the animals in our hands. I had a pigeon eating out of my hands, something I had never done before. I’m sure Japanese pigeons are just as diseased as American ones and afterwards, I washed my hands a few times just for good measure. Still it was a nice slow start to the day.

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This is how close we were to the birds.

This picture is just cool:

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Alexis feeding birds.

This swan either hurt it’s leg or she just enjoys standing on one leg:

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Stand on one leg.

I continued my day in Mito with Alexis and Bernadette — Kenny was off teaching class. We went to walk along the main street. If you’re curious there’s an Animate! on the main road even here, although it’s only the size of a regular store and not an eight story behemoth. There’s a stationary store that we visited — and their stationary stores are not our stationary stories. Our stationary stores sell birthday cards, pens, and maybe, well, stationary. Japanese stationary stores sell all of that but then go on and encompass things that an art store would sell including water colors, copic pens, brushes, comic book paper, screen tones, different forms of paper hand made and prebound into a sketchbook, and the list goes on. I think I could have even made a personal seal there if I wanted too. I ended up getting a bunch of brush pens but there were plenty of temptations for the artist in me.

We went to the big department store in town, Keisei. It’s again, about eight stories high, and filled to the brim with stuff and we had lunch at a, get this, American-style Japanese restaurant. It was dressed up to look like a saloon from the wild west. The waitresses were dresses as cowgirls — nothing lewd mind you. As apart of the kitschy American decor there was a sign that said something akin to “keep your shit outside.” I can only remember that it used the word “shit” somewhere.

We ordered and while our waitress struggled through trying to understand Bernadette she kept glancing over to me, at which point I would shrug, because I may look Asian, but that doesn’t mean I can speak Japanese. I ended up getting steak with fried shrimp (as portrayed below). As par with everything I’ve had in Japan, it was really tasty.

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Steak and fried shrimp

I might have mentioned this before, but when you go to a Japanese restaurant you don’t tip. So the price at the end of the meal was the price of our three meals combined. I don’t mind tipping — I tend to overtip if anything, but I do like knowing how much I’m going to pay, it makes things a lot easier.

One of the highlights of this day was the Mito Art Tower.

Mito Art Tower

It’s a tall geometric tower overlooking the city. Once you go to the top you can see for miles around you and supposedly, on a clear day you can see straight out to Fuji. Why, it looks something like this:

Mt. Fuji

Unfortunately, it was too hazy to really see the actual Mt. Fuji. I was able to make out the silhouettes of some other mountain ranges off in the distance.

Plans in the evening were in flux, but eventually we settled on going to an Aeon Department store about two train stations away in Uchihara. I know this may not be that thrilling for you, dear reader. You may think that these things are mundane, but I was curious to see how everyone outside of Tokyo lives. Mito’s not a bad place to explore that. It’s nice to know that not everything is too foreign here — people still go to the mall. Their fast food still has a KFC and McDonalds but they’re next to a Takoyaki stand and ramen shop in the food court and the Udon noodles I had were delicious — but I could say that about any and all noodles I had in Japan compared to the States. Amazingly, there’s a Sports Authority here right next to the Jusco — I went to both to look for a new hoodie but instead found gems like this:

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Faddy toss out fixe ideas. Indeed.

Japanese fashion has a little too much e e cummings poetry on their shirts for me. Although I did get one:

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I am a new man in the sky. So please give me some.

Maybe I can start something new in the States.

There’s also a pretty sizable arcade where we spent part of the evening. Kenny and Alexis played Taiko Drum Master. I went off to explore the other cabinets. No Street Fighter but there definitely was a huge share of UFO catcher machines, a small Pachinko parlor, a horse betting game, and some arcade games including an arcade version of Tetris with comically large joysticks.

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Giant Tetris arcade game.

Sunday: White Day

Saturday I spent going back to Tokyo since we scrapped our plans for going to Sea Disney. Sunday I spent again in Mito. I was starting to get ill at this point, but not bad enough to keep me down. We saw Alexis off to the train station this morning — she was going back to Toyama. We were also going to look for a shipping company to send Bernadette’s luggage to the airport — so this is something you can do in Japan since shipping is pretty cheap within the country. The shipping companies were closed or couldn’t send the luggage to the airport in time for Bernadette to catch her plane which was unfortunate but I’d help her carry them to the train station.

As an aside, today, the 14th of March, also happened to be White Day. Valentine’s Day is a big deal. The girls give the guys gifts. On White Day, if the guy isn’t a total cad, he’d reciprocate and things end happily ever after. For the days leading up to White Day there have been a lot of stands selling candies and whatnot. Since I didn’t exchange gifts (obviously), that’s pretty much all I have to say about White Day.

“If your sick like Alexis, then you should head out to Kairakuen because tomorrow it might be worse,” was the omen Kenny gave me when we got back home. Good idea, I thought. If for whatever reason I couldn’t walk about tomorrow, at least I should enjoy today to its fullest even though I was feeling a bit under the weather. Kairakuen boasts 3000 plum blossom trees and is one of the largest gardens in Japan. Around this time of the year there’s also a Plum Blossom Festival held here.

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Plum Blossom Festival at Kairakuen

I made the trek from Kenny’s coughing and at times shaking from the cold, but dammit, I was going to see Kairakuen. My body can heal en route. To get there, I had to cross a bridge and then work my way down to the duck pond. From there it’s about a two kilometer hike around the track in the blustery wind until I reached an area full of paddle boats. I went across a bridge over the highway traffic and found myself standing at the gates of a festival and a massive forest of plum blossoms. I walked through gazing at the trees and the different food stands wishing my stomach were more up to the task.

I wasn’t feeling too good and so I walked through the trees as quickly as I could. I then went to the stalls and found a Takoyaki stand and ordered myself one. I’ve had takoyaki before, but now I could gorge myself silly on it. Sure I wasn’t entirely there, and fried foods wouldn’t really hit the spot, but takoyaki had been something I wanted to try since I got to Japan — since before I got to Japan. I got my fill and it was delicious. Damn the consequences.

I explored the plum blossoms as best I could and then went on my way. Around 5 pm or so I crossed back over the highway and took a different but similar route back to Kenny’s and ended up getting lost on the different bike/walk trails that go back to the bridge — I didn’t think that was possible, but it was. I had to walk a little extra but I made it home.

Mito’s no Tokyo, but being able to see my friends again, attend a festival, and enjoy some of the more suburban life of Japan was a great change of pace.

Japan: From Tsukiji to Mito in One Day

Posted on March 21, 2010 by AlbinoGrimby

Tsukiji Fish Market

What's not to love about a giant fish head?

The Tsukiji Fish Market is the largest in the world. I’ve been told the best time to take a tour of the place is the day after you arrive. You’ll be ready to make the early morning journey to the market because of your jet lag. Early morning starts at 3:30 am. That’s when the fishermen auction off their tuna. I botched my first attempt to find the market after I arrived. I thought I had lost my window of opportunity, but I woke up at 6 am on Thursday morning ready to try again.

Like, Akihabara I thought it would be more significant to find, like their might be signs that pointed me towards the fish market. I walked past a lot of small wooden street stands selling fresh produce, newly packed-together onigiri, various pottery, and clothing. As soon as I saw this market, I knew that those were the stands I was looking for. When you get off the road where the Oedo Line meets the street and start exploring the streets perpendicular to it around the produce market, you’ll find the fish market. A football field’s length warehouse is hidden behind the produce market. Little gas powered carts — they look like oil drums with steering wheels and a large cargo platform in back — will be zipping in and out of the market alongside motorbikes, trucks, and bicycles. You will want to do everyone a favor and step aside and try and stay out of the way, which at times can be tough. When I entered the market, I drafted behind an older looking Japanese gentleman and just followed him where he went a couple of paces behind him. I figured that would be the best way to stay out of trouble. For the record, I only seemed to piss off one fisherman because I was too slow to move out of his way.

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One of the oil drum carts I saw.

By 7:30 in the morning, the auction is over and much of the fish is being carved up and prepared for shipping across the city — maybe across the country — I don’t know where the final destination for most of the fish is. I imagine though, it’s in people’s stomachs as some form of sushi or another. I walked up and down the aisles glancing to my right and left. I caught glimpses of butchers putting their boning knives to the giant tuna carcasses. Other men were busy carrying the flash frozen bodies away. Fish heads oogled me from their butchering tables. Water and fish guts were strewn all over the floor and being washed across the cobblestone floor into drains — I’m glad I couldn’t smell the place, but I’m sure it would smell like fish and gas. The little motorized drum carts zipped up and down narrow streets created by each fisherman’s individual stall. Make sure you look both ways before you cross. I’m sure it won’t be their fault if they smack you.

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Mmmmm...Yumm-O.

I snapped photos of the fish and I even made a shaky-cam, low res movie with my Canon A480. I can tell what an octopus is from a fish. I know what clams and shrimps look like. I’m by no means an expert as to what type of fish was there. If there’s a plate of nigiri sushi, I’ll eat it, but I can’t explain to you each piece or explore those delicate and sublime mouth flavors that each piece conjures up. What’s the difference between a Yellowtail and a Red Snapper? Hell if I know. Or as Rachel Ray might put it, “Yumm-O!” And somehow she made a career on that and slapping together 30 minute meals.

I left the Fish Market content with the media I took and at least seeing it. Yes, I came away with one thing: If they say that’s the largest in the world, I believe them.

Afterwards, I had a sushi breakfast. I didn’t know the “proper” place to go to get my sushi. There’s some sushi stand where you’re supposed to get it dirt cheap, but I didn’t know where that was. I found a sit down sushi restaurant. They were barely open but they seemed pleased enough to serve me. I got a platter of nigiri and enjoyed devouring it. Towards the end a white couple rolled in for some breakfast of their own and I was on my way again.

To see more of my Tsukiji Fish Market photos on Flickr go here.

Sensoji Temple

Sensoji Temple. This is a 5-story pagoda by the temple. It's not representative of the temple, but it's cool looking.

According to this guide to Japan, Sensoji Temple is the oldest one in Tokyo. It also turns out that it’s about a block away from Unizo Asakusa Hotel. I left the fish market about 9:30 am and got to the temple around 10 am after some walking and a few subways. I saw a few girls on the subway dressed in kimonos and they were heading to Asakusa Station the terminal station on the Ginza line — I got off on Tawaramachi, the stop before, it to make a brief visit to my hotel.

With my cameras and HD camorder in hand I headed over to Sensoji. I believe a cherry blossom festival was being setup at the temple. I walked along some back alley roads where stalls were just being opened up and ended up on a road where people amassed. Someone was setting up lanterns. Stalls were open and selling knick-knacks and treats. School children were running around. Girls were gathered in gaggles wearing their kimonos. I walked along the road weaving through people and heading for my goal — the giant Sensoji temple gates.

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Festival at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

When you pass under the gates there’s a massive open concrete courtyard. I think the main temple is under some kind of reconstruction, because the whole thing was tented off. Out in front of it was a large incense cauldron. As I approached it I saw men and women wafting the fumes over their bodies and washing themselves clean with the smoke, and then they ventured off inside the temple.

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Sensoji Temple, the main temple is under that canopy.

I didn’t follow them inside. It just didn’t feel like it was the right thing for me to do. I didn’t mind sightseeing all the various temples I came across such as the one by Tokyo Tower, the one in Shinjuku-Chuo Park, and the one near Akiba, but I didn’t feel that it was my place to enter the temple and to pretend that I could honor their Buddhist or Shinto gods. It felt cheap to sight-see something like that, and I’m sure most Japanese people probably wouldn’t care. If you did anything wrong they might just think you were a dumb foreigner. I know the procedures — to enter the temple you first go to the washing station and take a ladle. You wash your hands and put the ladle back and approach the temple. Jingle the bell. Clap your hands twice and bow to the god housed there. I think sometimes you throw a coin, but for what reason, it eludes me, and without a Japanese friend to explain I decided it was better I observe. I guess you stand there and make a prayer and be on your way. I haven’t even stepped foot in a Christian church in years now. I’m not a very spiritual man, but I do believe that there is a force out there much greater than all of us maintaining the balance of the universe (i.e. all 10,000 things) and sometimes this force might leave you or me some discrete guidance, which can only be picked up with a bit of humility and a whole lot of hindsight.

To see more of my Asakusa pictures on Flickr you can go here.

Ghibli Museum

With Asakusa and the Fish Market behind me, I went to see the Ghibli Museum. Creativity is more apart of my soul. I enjoy creating something from nearly nothing and using my bare hands to do it — be it a story, drawing, or even just some programming. It’s a pleasurable thing that brings me immense joy. It gives me great pleasure to be able to see this museum becuase Miyazaki is, to me, one of the greatest creative minds that’s lived in this modern world and an influence for me.

As an aside, one of my personal projects is to write a novel. It was influenced by two books I had read: On Writing by Steven King, and Starting Point, which is a collection of interviews with Hayao Miyazaki. After reading both of those books I began to embark on my new novel writing adventure. Every morning from 7:30 to 9:00 am I would put down as many words as I could. I started back on August 13 2009. I have close to 280,000 words and some semblance of a very, very rough story. I’m on the road to finish it and I owe some thanks to Miyazaki. Reading his interviews helped solidify my own ideas about my work methodology. Just for the record, I didn’t get anything spiritual from reading his words but rather, he and Steven King’s book finally settled an issue I’d have been tossing around in my mind: do I write a novel by the seat of my pants or try to plan it out? Both authors basically said that they just wing it the first time. Miyazaki doesn’t have a script. He has a picture in mind and he builds his stories one picture at a time. The script exists when the animation is done. If you’re ever wondering why Howl’s Moving Castle seems to be all over the place, it’s because of that process. You can’t very well revise your rough draft if you just give it one go and have it animated. King goes a bit further in making second and third drafts, and I’m hoping to finish my first draft so I can do the same. So that’s why Miyazaki and Steven King are important to me since they started me down on this journey which I hope will see a conclusion in the not to distant future. I look forward to discussing it on this blog.

With Ghibli done, I returned back to Unizo Asakusa Hotel for the last time. I grabbed my things which they so nicely allowed me to stow behind their hotel desk and ventured off to Mito. So after a day that started off at 6 am in the morning I found myself standing in a packed JR train heading to Mito on the Joban rapid line. I stood for an hour with all of my luggage until around Tsuchiura when most people seemed to leave and I could blissfully sit down. I arrived around 9:30 pm in Mito Station.

To see more of my Ghibli photos on Flickr go here.

Mito

Mito Station was freezing. Most of the stores were closed down for the night except for one restaurant which I escaped into to grab a bite to eat. I called Kenny on the pay phone hoping that his number would work, otherwise, it would be a very interesting night. It took him ten minutes to walk down to meet me at the station. To use his words, “You’re much harder to pick out here.” I had to smile. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, indeed. I didn’t mention it, but being a white guy with blonde hair, he’s incredibly easy to pick out.

I followed Kenny out of Mito Station and through some back alleys. We caught up as we walked along. He told me to watch out for the drivers in Ibaraki — they tend to be the worst kind. When they see a pedestrian stepping out onto the street to cross, they speed up. It becomes a challenge to beat the pedestrian — to zip by before they can take another step. If you’re ever in Mito let the light turn green first, wait a few beats, and then start walking — that’s his advice. I didn’t experience any near-misses, but I’ll take Kenny’s word for it since he bikes and walks through the city everyday.

Kenny’s apartment was the first time I ever stepped foot into a real Japanese apartment. It’s small, but he has rooms — a kitchen, bathroom with a washing machine, a separate room for the toilet, a small bedroom, and a living room. His kotatsu is the television stand. He has a school desk for his computer and chairs so he doesn’t have to sit on the ground. Bernadette and Alexis were already there too, so it was a Sterry reunion, and I got to see my friends from New York again. Another nice touch — he had electric heaters otherwise the freezing air outside would be inside too. The Japanese aren’t big on insulation and most of them just live in the cold. I was even told that most schools don’t have any heat in the corridors — who needs to heat the parts where people won’t be? It’s ruthlessly efficient sounding, but I like the heat and in the winter I’m willing to put up a couple extra bucks to keep the place warm.

My legs ached from two days of walking and standing and I was glad just to drop all my things and rest on the small sofa. We shot the breeze for a while and went to bed. My next day is entirely in Mito.

Courne Supremacy

Just fire one out!

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