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Has spring sprung in Tokyo? Our walk yesterday would suggest that yes, it has..
I have no idea what the majority of these are, but they are quite nice.
The colors were so bright, it was really amazing.
So yes, it seems spring has sprung.
Tomorrow is the first day of another busy month for us. We’ll be celebrating Gremlin’s 4th birthday, heading to Hiroshima and having all sorts of adventures in April. Stay tuned!
Is carrying your child when he is overwhelmed by the number of people around and is scared to cross the street.
The arrival of cherry blossom season each year in Tokyo is perhaps the most beautiful time of the year here. While winter is on its way out and the humidity has yet to arrive the Sakura are a welcome bit of spring.
You may recall that Gremlin arrived in Tokyo on Cinco de Mayo last year (after his home quarentine back stateside) so in honor of his first Sakura season in Tokyo, we took the birthday boy (well, it’s Tuesday) out for his first viewing at the nearby Meguro River
.
This annual bloom marks an occasion where pretty much everyone in Tokyo heads to their nearest park with friends and family for a small celebration under the trees.
The scenery was beatiful.
Gizmo wasn’t quite sure of what to think of the entire thing.
His thoughts: Smells! Food! All the people! All the smells! Food! People sitting on the gound eating! Food that smells! If they are eating on the ground, they must WANT to share! Food! Smells!
To be honest, we’re not sure he noticed the flowers at all…
More spring flowers tomorrow..
It’s been said that you should never meet your hero as you’ll only end up disappointed. For me though I really had no choice in the matter as it turned out he wanted to meet me.
As the grandson of an ex-ballplayer you would think I’d be pretty lucky and in this case you’d be right. Between the old stories, going to games together, all the knowledge of the game, and simply the way he carried himself, I never grew tired of being in his presence.
At the same time I still remember him being the man at the breakfast table with an incurable case of bed head that filled his coffee cup with a pound of sugar while munching on a banana, and reading the paper that would periodically “complain” how my grandmother could prepare me a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast no questions asked, but he couldn’t get a refill on his coffee.
It was like having two grandfather’s in one and both proved thoroughly entertaining. I still remember the first time he met M…after I entered the room, he took one look at me and soon glanced past saying, “You’re looking good kid, but I want to meet her!” Meanwhile at my age he batted .325, made the National League All-Star team, and drove in the game winning run during first game of the World Series. Not bad for a guy the Yankees couldn’t find room for in their outfield.
Happy Birthday Papa! Love, TJ
So I just returned from the ladies room (TMI, I know..) where I came across two women.
Woman 1 was seated in a chair with her head down.
Woman 2 was going through woman 1’s hair with tweezers, removing grey hairs.
She was going hair by hair.
At work.
Hair by hair.
With Tweezers.
At work.
Discuss.
And yes, I’m blogging at work, this me 3 minutes..I just went back to check and see if they were still there (clearly, i’m astounded by this entire thing)..20 minutes later, still tweezing.
First off a warning, much like my rant about paying US taxes, this post is not for the conservatives amongst you.
Well, I’ve finally done it.
I’ve switched my accounts from US Dollars to the British Pound. As we’ve watched the Dollar collapse against the Yen in recent weeks it seemed to be time for the change. Given there are no plans for us to move back stateside for the foreseeable future, leaving the accounts in a weak currency no longer made sense (cents?).
While I do appreciate that the US has a struggling economy I’m left to ponder who is at fault. The Government always seems to be the easy scapegoat but this time I think the blame is going to have to be shared. From this side of the ocean though, I’m left to wonder what role the media and consumers have played. Watching the news it seems to me that the US has talked itself into a recession and the consumers took the media’s negativity and ran with it. Thus, the current situation.
Now as I do the mental math that was once a fun exercise in savings, I find myself unwilling to risk my investments and savings on a currency that seems rather questionable. Thus, the change.
I’ll put my soapbox away now and prepare for the angry mob with torches.
M
T’s Note: And you wonder why you got the “vegetarian” lunch at the DMZ?
Today I got an email from both of Dads asking if I was going to the Sox v. A’s game tonight.
As much as I would love to take in a game, I would probably need to leave work at 6PM which for Japan is the equivalent of leaving work at 3PM in the States. So unless anyone can find me a solid excuse I think I’ll be staying put this evening…
Honestly though I’m just looking forward to baseball in general, but making sure to keep my expectations tempered despite all the offseasons moves by both the Mets and Mariners. On a local level the Yakult Swallows can really only improve upon last year as they finished last, but it’s hard to picture given their cleanup hitter and top pitcher both defected to the Yomiuri Giants.
To help put this in context…
Swallows = Pittsburgh Pirates ($)
Giants = New York Yankees ($$$$$$$$$)
Fortunately M is a good sport and will make the trip to the ballpark while the weather is nice, which works out well as the Swallows season will probably be over for all intents and purposes by the rainy season in June. It’s sad given the fact that the team does boast one of the best contact/leadoff hitters in the league Norichika Aoki, but little else. At any rate I’m hoping to make the trip to the ballpark soon.
M’s note: The Swallows were last in the league last year. The Dragons, who I cheer for, won the title.
“I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration , Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids… “
-Base Commander Ripper
On Day 3 M and I ventured to Panamunjom by bus roughly an hour and half from Seoul en-route to the DMZ. For anyone unsure, The DMZ is the strip of land dividing the two Koreas at the 38th parallel and to this day remains as one of the more tense borders in the world.
Luckily our guide filled us in on every possible detail before our arrival, sometimes thrice. While he might have been pushing eighty, he seemed as eager for action as any of the soldiers we would encounter in our travels if not more so. With microphone in hand he commanded our attention the entire ride, which meant M and I barely got a moment’s sleep prior to our arrival, but at least he was kind enough to ask if there were any vegetarians on the bus in preparation for lunch…
Our first stop was the Third Tunnel, named simply after being the third tunnel discovered by the South being dug by the North. This part of the tour begins with a short historical video intro that chronicles the conflict following Japanese rule during WWII to the present and even includes a “vision” of the future that led one audience member to burst out laughing. Basically a computer generated scene of the DMZ morphed into park benches and a peaceful meadow, which given the circumstance is optimistic and utterly absurd given the fact that the meadows are littered with landmines.
Following that we were each handed a hard hat and buckled ourselves in a cable car that took us 73 meters down towards the tunnel.
Sadly for M, photos aren’t allowed in the tunnel. The guide did mention that they think there are hundreds of other tunnels not yet discovered, so maybe a future photo op will come. Once inside you quickly realize the effort made by the North in blasting through bedrock to infiltrate the South. It’s impressive to see, but rather tight, but for perspective anyone over six feet tall would really find themselves uncomfortable as they would probably hit their head a thousand times.
By this point M and I found ourselves eager to start the second half of the tour. But first lunch…
After driving a few miles south, we arrived at a log cabin along a dirt road, were quickly ushered inside, and assigned tables. Once seated, in front of us we found crock pots filled with bulgogi to which M replied, “Let me know if you’re a vegetarian and I’ll do nothing about it!” Perhaps the old man forgot, but I’d wager he thought M was a Red in simply being a vegetarian. To make matters worse during the course of our meal we had our ears chewed off by a middle aged couple who by this point were referring to people on the bus on a basis.
Finally, the torture that was either lunch or an effort to get M to admit that the last three books she’s read have been about communist dictators, ended.
Until we switched to a new bus, it all seemed a bit contrived and rather amusing. Once we arrived at Camp Bonifas that all changed…
From the moment he set foot on our bus Sargent Bickerstaff meant business. After checking our passports he reviewed the ground rules making sure we each understood the gravity of the situation.
All in all it was quite simple:
Photos can only be taken when told
No waving or gesturing to the North at any time
If you decide to cross over there’s really no coming back
After another historical briefing inside the camp we boarded the bus once again to drive into the DMZ. At the UN Joint Security Area site we were given the opportunity to actually enter North Korea while inside a conference room shared by the two countries.
Half of the room belongs to the North and half to the South. By going to the left side of the table you actually enter North Korea. To some this might seem silly, but the both of us found it really interesting to walk back and forth between the nations.
Also interesting (and reminiscent of siblings dividing a room with tape) was the outside..
From there we were given a few other opportunities to take photos from two or three other vantage points that included a pagoda that stared directly into the North with soldiers peering right back at us from inside their buildings.
Our local guide pointed this out to us just before they slammed the windows shut.
On the way out we got a glimpse of the North Korea ”propaganda village”.
We also passed a village near the border known as the South Korea ”Freedom Village.” Perhaps the North Koreans just need a lesson in marketing?
As it is a mere two hour flight from Tokyo and currently Americans do not need visas to enter South Korea (a 30 day landing permit is issued upon arrival) we decided to hop on over for the weekend. After a quick flight and gross airline meal, we found ourselves cleared through immigration and customs in under 10 minutes and within 15 minutes of landing were on a bus headed to our hotel..this of course is a world record.
The city of Seoul seemed to us to be an interesting mix of Chinese and Japanese language, behavior and architecture. Our first evening we found ourselves walking through the neighborhood outside the hotel and stumbled upon a cluster of restaurants that were filled to various degrees. Perhaps the funniest moment came as we heard “Crimson & Clover” by Tommy James and the Shondells blaring from speakers inside a bagel shop which from that point became the anthem of the trip. As for the food, we soon found a Chinese place that had the best spicy sweet and sour shrimp we’ve ever encountered.
The next day, we took in the sites by starting out in the center of the city as we normally do. The hotel we were staying at was kind enough to offer a shuttle bus around the city which we hopped on a little after 9am.
First stop: the Gyeongbokgung palace.
You may note that this palace is similar looking to those we’ve previously shared with you, but it did have one striking difference: non-military guards. While the guards there were mostly for show and are sponsored by the Korean Heritage and Culture Society, it was quite interesting to see the traditional costumes and changing of the guard ceremony. You will note that real men wear pink and fake beards.
After spending the better portion of the morning wandering the palace grounds we set off into the different areas of Seoul to explore, do a bit of shopping and just take in the sights.
Food proved to be an interesting challenge on this trip as Korea is known for its BBQ, not vegetables.
We ended up having lunch the first day at a vegetarian restaurant we found in our Lonely Planet guide…it ended up being quite an experience. With pickled veggies being a Korean delicacy and meat not a possiblity (yes mother, I still refuse to eat meat. oh the humanity!) lunch was 20 or so small traditional dishes of Korean style vegetables.
Following lunch we came across our newest dragon. He’s really quite unique as he was sitting on a table in the back of a junk shop we passed by. With really thin legs and wings, he makes a great addition to our expanding flock.
We also came across plenty of these:
In Korean culture these totems are said to protect from bad spirits…protection we would need for our next adventure..to the DMZ.
Editor’s note: I would like it to be known that I always leave fully packed and on-time. If T had it his way we’d be packed six weeks in advance…
Well, after days of running around Tokyo to meetings and nights spent watching other people drink until after the trains had stopped running, it’s holiday time!
While we are off at the DMZ and exploring Seoul the beagle is being checked into his favorite home away from home at the airport. In reality he stays at a nicer hotel than we do most trips as he turns his nose up at other establishments. He’s a wee bit snobbish.
Back Sunday!
