Over 30 Years Old Question

I have a question for any Japanese people. Foreigners can answer too! At some supermarkets, there are two signs at the register. 20 years old and over 30 years old. You have to be over 20 to buy alcohol. But what is over 30? I tried to ask the checker yesterday, but she just said "It's ok". I don't understand! In about a month I will turn 30!

私　は　日本人　で　質問　を　します。　外国人　も！　ときどき　食t良品店　が　看板　を　二つ　ありました。　二十才　と　三十才　の　上　でした。　二十才　の　上　が　お酒　を　買います。　でも、三十才　の　上　は　何　ですか？　きの　レジ　の　人　を　話した。　でも、女の人　は　”大丈夫”　話した。　わかりません！　私　は　五月　に　三十才　です。



The new lens is making me happy.



This bird flew over from out of nowhere. I snapped a shot and it flew away. I don't think a green parrot is a native Japanese species. When I was 10, I found a parrot at McDonalds. It was friendly, so we took it home and eventually found the owner. This time I wasn't able to help.

Baseball

I bought my new camera lens. It's a telephoto lens, so I can take lot of interesting pictures of people now. I took some pictures of the vendors at a baseball game. Every vendor is a girl, and every vendor is selling booze!

新　レンス　を　買いました。　テーレーフォトのレンス　です、だから　おもしろい　人　の　写真　を　撮ります。　野球　で　売り手　の　写真　を　撮りました。　全て　の　売り手　は　女の人　でした。　全て　の　売り手　は　お酒　を　売りました！



Beer.



Beer.



Beer. Notice they have every brand. Cause every Japanese draft beer brand tastes realy different.



Beer.



Wait a minute.... that's not booze! It's juice!



Good thing I snuck in a bottle of shochu. I drink Iichiko for the sole reason that their ad campaign is really good. Photos of their bottle in beautiful natural scenery. Here's a link to see some of them. It's a long lasting ad campaign, very subtle, gorgeous nature photography.



The cola girl... followed closely by the whiskey gal! Now that's smart.



Tokyo Giant's mascots and the Boston Red Sox mascot.

Suzuran Ramen and MIST Ramen, #12 and #15 in Japan

Time to eat ramen again. This time, I visited a couple places in Shibuya.

ラーメン　を　又　食べます。　この間　私　わ　渋谷　に　行きました。


中華そば　すずらん



東京都渋谷区渋谷3-7-5
3-7-5 Shibuya, Tokyo
Go out the south exit at Shibuya station and find a map or ask a cop.



Suzuran is a popular ramen shop on the south side of Shibuya. It's close to one of my drinking places, Cataratas. I went for the おすすめ (recommended) and ended up with miso and vegetable tsukemen. You can order about five different types of noodles here. The flat noodles looked interesting, I'll try those next time.



The vegetables were mostly sprouts and cabbage, which is the norm for ramen at most places.



The menu is extensive, but it's mostly standard fare. There were some rice options and a couple soup styles.


創作麺工房　ＭＩＳＴ



東京都渋谷区　表参道ヒルズ本館3Ｆ
3rd Floor of Omotesando Hills. Omotesando station is easiest access.



Plum ramen? Not just any plum, but some nice 梅干し. That's sour, fermented plums people. You usually find it in rice balls or shoved in your face by a smirking bar master at a back alley drinking hole. But here it's mixed into a simple salt broth ramen. The combination is wonderful...if you like 梅干し. Which I do.



By the way, this place is up-freaking-scale. It's in the elite Omotesando Hills shopping complex. You came here at dinner time? Sorry, budget minders need to stick to lunch time. At dinner, there is some sort of ramen course menu for 5500 yen, about $55. To say that homey don't play that would be the understatement of the week. Lunch was 1500 yen, which although it's about double what a normal bowl costs at any other place, is doable. Part of the allure of ramen in Japan is it's cheap price. For $55, I could eat steak, or fugu, or better yet, I could eat ramen every day for a week.

MIST is featured at the #2 spot in this video:



So what's there to do in Shibuya? I really don't know what to say about Shibuya. It's by far the most popular neighborhood in the whole Tokyo area. I'll just say that it has a nice balance of normal and off the radar strange. You can have coffee overlooking the busiest intersection in the world, watch the sun set over Mt. Fuji from a sushi restaurant on the top floor of a skyscraper, and buy used panties, photo of the previous owner included, all without walking more than 10 minutes.

Takaosan Fire Walking Festival

I went to a festival at Mt. Takao. This festival is performed by the mountain priests. The highlight is a massive bonfire. After the fire, the priests walk barefoot across the hot ashes.

高尾山　の　祭り　に　行きました。　その祭り　は　山伏　しました。　大事　の　出来事　は　大火　でした。　後で、山伏　は　足　で　灰　横切りました。
　
　

"Hiwatari (fire crossing) is a longstanding and traditional ritual that has been practiced annually in Mt. Takao. The ritual is offered to Izuna-daigongen, the principle image of the mountain, to relieve worshipers and general public. It is the most representative religious austerities of Shingon Buddhism to pray for world peace, perfect state of health, safety of household and longevity by burning “goma” wood. Mountain priests trained in mind and body walk on fire barefoot. General participants also can join this ritual." - found on the internet.



I've been to Takaosan a few times before. It's the closest place from Tokyo where one can actually hike in nature. Yes, there is a rope way and a cable car that take you to the top, but if you take a different trail, you are amongst trees and birds and what not.

But today wasn't for a hike, it was for a fire-walking festival.





There was a lot of ceremony... and a lot of foreigners. Even a foreigner priest was in on the fun.



So there is this massive pile of evergreen trimmings.



The pile is then accosted with weapons of all sorts. First a guy with a big ax started screaming and swinging and kicking some inanimate ass. Next the dude with katanas comes out. Finally homeboy goes to each of the corners and shoots arrows at it.

They say, "Hey pile of branches, can you stand the heat?" Then the priest splashes himself with boiling water. Just to prove that he's hardcore.





Weapon damage done, and humility applied, the burning begins.



The green hits everyone downwind with some yellow-orange smoke. Since it's almost spring, everyone in Japan has face masks on, so it's all good. Go ahead and breathe deep.



Once the smoke dies down, the fire rages.



Priests take turns getting close and throwing buckets of water on it. From my vantage point, the heat is a little painful. The guys right next to it must be hurting.



People had written their prayers on wooden boards. These are thrown in the fire. Pretty much any wooden thing that you write prayers or wishes on at temples and shrines in Japan will eventually be burned in a ceremony.





Once the fire dies down, it's spread out and the priests walk across the ashes.



Look at this guy's goofy grin. I love it!



The general public can now do it. I thought only a few would. I thought wrong.



EVERYONE got in on the fun. Old ladies and little kids were walking through the burning ashes.



Stand in the salt to get pure.



Aren't my feet pretty?

Then you walk across and receive blessings of sorts. Quite a unique festival, and I found that fire is really interesting to photograph.

Hello Kitty in the "Entertainent" District

Kabukicho is the "entertainment" district of Tokyo. There are thousands of hostess clubs, snack bars, massage parlors, izakayas, etc. If you are a guy, and you walk around alone at night, you will be offered sex and drugs constantly. It's a very colorful and interesting area. There are many yakuza, but it's very safe. After that, you can go to the Hello Kitty flagship store across the street.

歌舞伎町 は　東京 の　催し物 の　区。　千　キャバクラ と　スナク　と　マッサゲ　と　居酒屋　あります。　男の人　は　一人　で　行って、セックス と　ドラッグ　を　売ります。　とても　面白い　ね。　たいへん　やくざ　います、　でも　安全です。　あとで、キティ-ちゃん　の　店　に　行きます。



I lasted about one minute in this place. It was an overload of pink Kitty madness.





The ginormous statue out front was new and actually made the news a few times. Yes, Kitty and her million friends are popular in Japan. Yes, I have Kitty cell phone straps. No, I don't have them attached to my phone.



I took a couple photos, but by then the taste of bile was growing strong in my throat. I needed something to neutralize Kitty and her cuteness. Did you know that she has no mouth because she communicates with her heart? That's an official statement from Sanrio Corporation. Ok, I need the polar opposite of this. One doesn't have to walk far. Right across the street is this little gem.

Furigana Injector Rocks You

I just found this awesome add on for Firefox called Furigana Injector.

I'm starting to like Kanji. But if you've never seen, let's say 私 before, then you are out of luck when trying to read something. But if you read the same line, and it's in the phonetic hiragana, then you'd see わたし, watashi, which is like the first thing you learn (it means "I"). If you read manga, you will often see the phonetic reading in small type above the kanji. This is called furigana. This is cause kids don't have all the learnings done yet. I'd say I'm at about the level of a small child, maybe even a small child raised by monkeys up in the mountains of Nikko, so I needs the help.

Web pages and emails don't use furigana, so I used to cut and paste into a dictionary like Jim Breen's WWWJDIC. Precious seconds wasted!

Enter Furigana Injector, an add on for Firefox. It's self explanatory if my explanation made any sense.

Happy reading.

Space Ram, #1 Ramen in the Galaxy

Next time you break out of the atmosphere, why not have some ramen? Space Ramen! Designed for zero gravity enjoyment, Space Ramen comes in both pork broth and soy sauce flavors. Enjoy!

次　の　時間 　 宇宙　に　行きて、ラーメン　を　食べませんか？ 宇宙　の　ラーメン！無重力状態　の　楽しみ. 宇宙　の　ラーメン は　豚骨　と　醤油 の　味。 いただけます！








Found at the Miraikan Science Museum. I forgot to check if it was for sale in the gift shop. I will be going back.