Golden Week and all that business

As I write this we are in the middle of "Golden Week", a collection of holidays that occurs right around end of April/early May, the longest vacation period of the year for most Japanese. And we couldn't ask for better weather, wow 23 degress, sunny and not humid. So I try to spend as much time outside as possible.

April 24 - "Jackson Hole"

Well, last week I had my official manga geek-out moment. For the uninitiated, the term manga is a generic term applied to all Japanese comic books. I don't read that much manga but there is one series I do enjoy called NANA. One thing I really like about this comic is that it takes place in modern Tokyo and uses real-life places, music bands, clothing labels and landmarks. This comic has also been made into a live-action film which was shot in various places around Tokyo.


One such place I visited recently is called "Jackson Hole", a western-style restaurant near Chofu station, which is a little bit southwest of where I live. Since I had a student not far from there, I decided to stop in for lunch. Except I had a little problem finding the place.

Apparently the original Jackson Hole location is no longer there. The shop has been closed and they've relocated to a new spot north of the station. This was a little disappointing, as it would have been cool to be in the exact place where the film was shot, but with the help of a kind lady I spoke to on the street, I was able to find the new Jackson Hole location without much difficulty.

And once I got inside it was so great! Sit up at the bar, and enjoy a hot meal and a cold beer. I could see a second floor which some more tables, but it didn't seem like they were using it. Everyone sat right at the bar or in a couple of the little tables on the end. The clientele, as well as the staff, seemed to be comprised of college-age kids just like in the comic book. I could just imagine that the 'regulars' here develop a good relationship with the staff, just like I had a good relationship with East Town Pizza in London, Ontario back when I was in college. In short, the building might be new, but you could still feel the atmosphere.

April 27 - Pi Chen and The Sad Sad Planet

Last Sunday I had a visit from my friend Pi Chen. I originally met Pi Chen back in 2004 in Toronto, but these days she lives in her home city of Taipei in Taiwan. She was vacationing in Japan and took some time to visit me in Tokyo. It was great to see her again, because the last time I saw her was last year in Taipei, and the time before that was back in 2004!


Pi Chen and I hung out with our friends Jun, Ryoko, and Akichan as we went to Shibuya, Harajuku, Omotesando, and Shinjuku. Pi Chen was on a mission to 'shop 'til she dropped', and this time 'dropped' meant ending the day at an okonomiyaki restaurant in Shinjuku.

On the way back to the station I heard some amazing buskers. Buskers in Toronto are usually just a solo act - maybe a guy playing a sax or keyboard or something. But this was a duo putting on an all-out show, with original written songs, guitar, a full backing tape and some truly amazing vocals. I felt like I was at a concert.


The name of the band was called "The Sad Sad Planet". They had a back catalog of CDs going back several years, and the newest CD was pretty cheap so after they were finished performing, I walked over to their little sales booth and picked it up. When the singer saw me go up to purchase the CD, she pushed the sales guy out of the way and sold it to me personally, and then she and the guitarist signed it. She was so happy she was beaming. I told both of them that I was just going back to the station from the restaurant when I heard their music. I couldn't explain it well in Japanese, so I just said that when I heard their music, I felt happy. That seemed to please them both very much.

April 28 - Enrica and Avelina

The very next day I had another pair of visitors. This time it was my friend Enrica from Toronto, and her twin sister Avelina. Although they are fraternal twins and thus have slight differences, it's obvious to anyone that looks at the them that there are twins. I've known Enrica for years but I've only met Avelina a couple of times, so it was great to spend more time with her and get to know her better.

We met in Akihabara station and had a delicious lunch at the food court (mine was some udon, curry, and rice) then did some laptop hunting in the area, but they were frustrated by the lack of pink laptops. So we gave up and went to my home neighborhood of Kichijoji for some kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi). It was supposed to be just a snack but Enrica amazed me with the amount of sushi she was able to pack into her tiny frame. How can she eat more than me yet manage to be so skinny? It's not fair (sigh)

After kaitenzushi we walked to Inokashira Park and took out one of the rowboats onto the river. This was SO fun! If you mentally block out the buildings on the horizon, and the music of the local buskers in the park, you can almost feel like you're up in Muskoka. Or at least, you certainly don't feel like you're in Tokyo, in the world's largest urban area.

Enrica was rowing the boat for the first bit, but then she got tired and let Avelina take over. Avelina was very eager to row, but she seems a bit navigationally challenged. The boat just kept turning around in a circle and not really going anywhere. So I finally took the oars and used my good old Canadian boat paddling experience to get us up and down the river.
So after the boat riding, I had to go see a student in Awajicho so I left the girls to go shopping in Kichijoji for a few hours while I went to Awajicho and back. I thought they would walk around and see the whole area, but I guess it took them two hours just to go up and down one street!
Once I got back, we decided to go for even more food, this time dinner at a famous yakitori restaurant at Inokashira Park. The places oozes with atmosphere.. and the barbecue smells so good! Apparently the place is kind of famous because the staff, being all young college guys, are kind of rude and not the same kind of over-polite staff you get almost everywhere else in Japan. Apparently patrons find this kind of refreshing!

After we left the restaurant we decided to head back to my place to chill out for a while since it's only a few minutes walk away. The girls were cold so I offered my jacket. I thought it would be a difficult choice to decide which girl to give my jacket to, but I'm embarrassed to say that both girls fit into my one jacket quite easily.



April 30 - Yamashitasan and The Izakaya

Yesterday I went to visit my student, Mr. Yamashita. He is a company director and usually we have our lessons at the local Tully's coffee shop. But last night he took me to an izakaya, a Japanese pub!


He was so great, he gave me beer, sake, cooked swordfish, sashimi, and sushi, and it was so delicious. We sat and drank and talked in simple English and just when I thought I was getting full, the staff brought out something I had never ever seen before: the iseibi tempura. An iseibi is a very large Japanese tiger shrimp. They deep fried it, and then they cut it up with scissors and gave me a small fork to scoop out the meat from the shell. It's a similar process to eating lobster, but I found the iseibi to be much more delicious!



OK that's about it for now. I'm going to Osaka this weekend for Akichan's wedding party. I'm sure I'll have a few stories about that!