Tanabata and Charcoal Grill Anko

(7/7)

Today we went out to celebrate my host dad’s birthday, even though it’s still two days away. I’ve been forever bugging them in the most roundabout ways that I know how, to escort me to a little restaurant about 5 buildings down called ‘Charcoal Grill Anko,’ and tonight, we finally went.

My affection for the place began months upon months ago, just around the time when the brisk winds of autumn became the chilling torrents of winter. Back in those days I would often walk all the way down to Sangenjaya on foot, or if not that far, then the large grocery aways down the street, and since my walks would often happen under the cover of darkness, my return journeys always took me past the curiously enthralling, often bustling Charcoal Grill Anko. I can’t say what it is about the place that cast a spell on me, but just the overall aura of it was intoxicating. As I would walk in and out of the shadows of buildings at night on my way back home, the smallish wooden sliding door that is the entrance, with small, plate-sized square windows just large enough to let you peer in to see the men inside, working behind massive, hot grills, their hair pulled back in bandanas, their close a mysterious and alluring black as they serve people at the bar beer and dinner, drew me in. The place itself seemed to glow invitingly, a warm, honey-colored glow that washes comfort over you in a world of florescence. Beside a Dominoes pizza and an out of use shop, this restaurant, above all others, seemed to offer a different side of Tokyo, a side I wanted desperately to see but never have (and was too timid to brave on my own). And so, I would always, on my walks, slow down, sometimes stopping at the door, and watch the young men cooking inside and it would make me happy and I would smile, and then I would glance up at the massive, torso-sized lanterns bearing the shop’s name that hang on either side of the door, and proceed on my way.

Flash forward about eight or so months and I finally make the not-so-subtle hint that I want to go, that finally hit’s the target and me, my host dad, my host mom and the grandma all walk the two minutes or less down the street and for the first time ever, we enter the shop. Now, situated next to the bar dining is an outside, triangular-shaped, raised wooden porch that they put in about five months ago. As we enter the restaurant, we’re greeted by a chorus of ‘Irasshaimase’ (welcome), and the manager and the other young cook look up briefly at our entrance, but are quick to return their attention to the food on the grill before them. We are offered a table upstairs, but because the grandma has a hard time with stairs, we’re ushered out onto the porch instead where there are three tables waiting and empty. And I got a flash of what I’ve idealized as the ‘salary man’s eating joint.’ Instead of stools or chairs at the small tables, there are red and blue plastic crates (like people ship crates of beer or milk bottles in) which are covered with colorfully designed cushions. Beyond, out facing the street and the passersby is a glass display case like you might see at a butchers, and in it are displayed all the fresh foods ready to be cooked up (corn, meat, eggplant and other veggies). On the wall nearest me is an old 30s or 40s vintage poster of a women in a kimono advertising Yebisu Beer, and then a yellow fabric banner offering beer and another fabric banner often seen this time of year. This second banner is white on the top, blue on the bottom and in the middle, in bright red, is splashed the kanji for ice. This is an advertisement for shaved ice, the treat of choice in this oppressive, almost sadistically humid and miserable weather we’re having.

Against the far wall are blackboards whereon are written the specials in white and neon green marker, and this wall is made of wooden slats, and in these slats are stuck, just a few, colorfully decorated handheld fans (decorated with fireworks, koi, etc.). In the far corner, which isn’t that far at all, is a charcoal grill (as opposed to the grill inside which is more like a hibachi grill), and from time to time a guy in a traditional-looking shirt encircled by red carp, would come through with fish skewered through, or vegetables, and would place them on the grill, the fish’s dead eyes looking at the world upside down as he is placed over the charcoal. And there also stands a very thin bamboo tree which was decorated with colorful slips of construction paper for the currently running Tanabata festival.

Tanabata, written ‘seventh night,’ is a festival falling on July 7th (aka 7/7) every year, though its decorations are around for much longer. The history of this festival is as follows. Once upon a time, high, high in the heavens there was a beautiful princess who was so skilled at creating fine woven masterpieces that she was called Orihime (Weaving Princess). Her father was Tentei, ruler of the universe and he took great joy and pride in his daughter and her magnificent works of art. But, over time, Orihime grew lonely, for so busy was she with her weaving that she scarce had time to seek for someone to love, and seeing his daughter’s sorrow, Tentei introduced her to Hikoboshi, who herded cows up in the star fields. When the two met, they fell instantly in love and married soon after, but so preoccupied was Orihime with her new husband, that she stopped weaving, and Hikoboshi, for his part, neglected his herds and thus they wandered all over the heavens. At this, Tentei grew very angry and divided the two by the river Amanogawa (The Milky Way). Heartbroken at being wrenched from her lover’s side, Orihime fell upon her father and wept, begging for mercy and so Tentei decreed that, if Orihime worked hard the year round at her weaving, he would let the lovers meet on the seventh day of the seventh month every year. And so, to celebrate this reunion, the Japanese write wishes on colored paper and create paper chains and tie them on bamboo, some even floating them down rivers on small boats.

Now that you’ve got your history lesson for the day, let us proceed.

So, in honor of Tanabata, the restaurant had drinks for $2 on 7/5-7/7 and we made it just in time. As has somehow become my custom, I ordered soju (a type of rice or potato alcohol) cut with water, and my host mother started ordering a list of dishes off the menu for everyone to share. I don’t know if it is my host family alone, or if it is a common Japanese custom, but it seems that whenever we go out to eat, rather than each person ordering a dish for themselves, my host parents order about six or seven dishes and everyone shares, which is rather nice, I think as its more social and you get to try everything. To eat we had a shrimp and vegetable dish in a sort of sweet miso/soy sauce, cold potato salad with a hint of curry powder in it, squid and daikon (Japanese radish) cold in a sauce, pepper steak that fell off the bone it was so tender, grilled vegetables rapped in a thin bacon, thinner than American bacon and grilled on the grill (okra, zucchini, tomato and mushrooms), and all kinds of different yakitori (grilled chicken kabobs, sort of). And the one dish I did try (was coerced into trying) though I should have taken a hint from my host dad who just sat by and watched, was cold, raw chicken liver. Not a fan. Not. A. Fan. I somehow managed to get it down, but it took the rest of my soju to wash out the taste. Then there was a minced chicken sausage on a stick dipped in a raw egg and soy sauce (Japanese people eat raw eggs A LOT) and then rice which was served in a peculiar way. I suppose it was a more traditional way of serving it, but instead of a dish being brought out, we were given a wooden tray. On the tray was a dish of cold water which the rice serving spoon sat in (rice is sticky, so the water is to keep the server from sticking) and then there was a wooden, circular steaming box topped with a metal thing, which you open to reveal steamed sticky rice and vegetables.

Minus the raw liver (my own mistake), this was by far and away the best food I’ve had in the 10 months I’ve been here, and that’s up against some pretty tough competition. The chicken, in all its various forms, was so flavorful and tender and wonderful. And the ambience of the place was just an added bonus. Our waitress was dressed in a Yukata (a lighter, informal summer kimono), with a fan stuck in her sash/belt, and at one point, the manager came in carrying a spiral of incense (that serves as mosquito repellant) in a watermelon shaped hanging pot, to which my host dad replied, ‘Oh, that takes me back.’

So, though it was just going out to eat, something I’ve done several times now, this outing was more fun that I’ve had in quite a while. If you’re ever in the area, I highly advocate going to ‘Charcoal Grill Anko.’

These pictures here are of a bridge near my school which was built around a Tanabata theme with Orihime on one side (of the highway), her lover on the other, and the rest of the bridge is decorated with the various constellations cut into the concrete of the bridge.





PS - You may have noticed, but the layout is back to the one I had at the beginning. I figured it might be nice to finish how I started ; )

Alice Nine - Fan Club Only - Concert

(More posts to come, about older goings-on, but since I had this one written already, I decided to go ahead and post it)

July 5th was the Alice Nine Fan Club Only ‘FLASH LIGHT from the Past’ concert. In hindsight, it really wasn’t all that different than other Alice Nine concerts, not to say I didn’t have a blast! Tour merchandise, as always, went on sale earlier than admission, starting at 3 o’clock. The various members of Alice Nine had actually designed special T-shirts for this fan club only concert, all but Tora’s using photographs Hiroto himself had taken (his shirt actually had a picture of his own lips on it, though it was graphic-designed up to look trendy and flashy). Unfortunately, not wanting to wait around for 3 ½ hours, I decided to wait until 4 to go, and by the time I got there, all the T-shirts were sold out. : (

I might mention that on top of rain, the humidity was about 130% on top of the 90 something degree temperature outside and everyone, packed in the first floor of Shibuya O-East, trying to stay out of the rain, was sweaty and all but melting. I was lucky in managing to secure a locker (though it cost $3 every time you open it), so for the first time ever, I didn’t have any baggage when I went into the venue.

Because of the sheer number of people packed in, they started admitting everyone a little early, and with ticket number 435, I was let in well before half of the crowd got through. Earlier, when I bought my obligatory towel, pamphlet and other goods, I had to get my ticket stamped and show my Fan Club ID card, so by the time I got up the stairs, it was no time before I was in the venue.

After a minimal amount of weasel-ing my way through the crowd, I managed to get closer to the stage than I ever have at any concert ever. I was dead center, fourth person from the stage (though by the end of it, I was a bit farther back). I met a nice Canadian girl who lives here, and we chatted for the remaining time before the live kicked off. As is always the way, the concert didn’t start on time, but after a 15 min. delay, the lights went off, everyone screamed, and a piercing, blinding, rotating circle of lights shot out toward the audience. In due time, the members came on stage.

I won’t give the blow-by-blow of every song and everything that happened, as the concert was 3 ½ hours long and it would take forever (and I’d be sure to forget something any way). But, suffice it to say, I was close enough to see the sweat running down their faces, the intricate detailing on their costumes, and the glitter on Saga’s half exposed chest (that’s Saga for you).

At one point, toward the end, Shou attempted a stage dive that didn’t quite work out since no one was really expecting it and it turned out being a surprise to everyone involved. Had I been adamant enough, like some people, I could have leapt over the tiny Asian next to me and touched his arm or something, but I heeded the advice of the stage hand when he asked everyone to get back and helped Shou back on stage. After that, during the encore, Saga attempted a stage dive and pulled it off successfully. For my part, I’m not much of a mosher or headbanger myself, but that didn’t stop me from getting shoved around and stepped on until I bled (my poor shoe choice for the night didn’t help). But who am I kidding, it was SO worth it.

The Mcing was long and I can’t really remember much of what was said. Saga talked about his computer, Nao talked about Akihabara, Hiroto talked about his photos and designing the T-shirts, Tora hardly talked at all. Same old, same old. However, at one point the band made as if they were going to go off stage, and then, as Nao, always the last to exit, was about to disappear behind the curtain, he jogged backwards to his place behind the drums, and in due time, Saga came back out and, taking up his bass, led a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to You.’ It was Shou’s birthday after all, and as Tora pushed him back out on stage, from the opposite side, Hiroto and their manager came wheeling out a two tier cake decorated with tall, lit candles. The band and the audience sang another chorus, the lights dimmed, and Shou blew out the candles, or at least attempted to. Everyone congratulated him and Hiroto handed him a fan which was decorated on one side with Shou’s angel bunny, and on the other had all the bands icon characters. Shou had to use this to extinguish the few obstinate, straggling candles that remained lit. It came out then that Nao had hand made the cake, and upon looking at it closer from my standpoint, I could just make out the homemade-ish icing job, and the green gel flowers decorating the sides. Shou stuck his finger in it and pulled out a chunk, tasting it and proclaiming it delicious, then after saying he was so happy about the homemade cake (‘Meccha Ureshi desu’), he jogged up behind the drums and gave Nao a hug. There was a little more talking, then Shou started singing Happy Birthday again, and everyone was baffled. Confused as we were, the audience took up the song halfway through and discovered, by Shou’s lead, that we were singing this time for Saga, who’s birthday just passed. Then, from the side of the stage where Shou had earlier emerged, their manager wheeled out another cake with candles, unlit, that was covered with roses and carnations. Hiroto stepped forward to light the candles and Nao explained how everyone felt bad that Saga’s birthday didn’t fall on the day of a concert (nor does Hiroto’s it would seem, as he proclaimed himself jealous), and so they thought they’d make up for it tonight by celebrating it then. Saga, embarrassed, protested that they shouldn’t have gone through the trouble, then blew out the candles and received his fan, saying he’d been suspicious of Hiroto for a while, thinking he might have something planned.

After that the concert got underway again. Shou, in reference to a promise months ago in a magazine interview he’d done with Tora, actual did some Djing with two turntables that had been set up on stage, playing with the commercial jingle for Meiji chocolate (the choco-la-to song). That got everyone stirred up again.

They finished with an encore of heavy songs and after exiting the stage, the lights stayed off and two big screams began playing the music video for ‘Senkou,’ which was phenomenal and only reconfirms my suspicions of it being my all time favorite Alice Nine song. (During the concert, they had also played the other new songs on their new, unreleased album, btw). After the video was over, there was a short montage of pictures of Nao, with his red hair and oversized sunglasses, baking Shou’s cake, and then the lights went up and it was over.

Standing there I felt like I was either going to suffocate or die from the heat (you were pretty much drinking in body heat the whole 3 ½ hours without letup, but thankfully, it didn’t take too long for everyone to filter out.

Instead of spending the money on train fare, I decided to go ahead and walk through the heat back home, since the venue was already sort of down that direction. From downtown Shibuya, it takes about 25 min. to walk to my apartment, but I decided I’d much rather contend with the heat at a slow pace, then with packed trains in Shibuya, and since it wasn’t raining, I just walked home. After stopping by the conbini (convenience store) across the street from my place and buying the customary soda, carton of Jasmine Tea, small individual ice cream and spicy udon with gyoza that you just heat up (the same thing I get after every concert, without fail), I hurried into my cool apartment and collapsed.

Catching Up

Hey there guys! Sorry I haven't posted in ages. I've been so busy the last few weeks that I've been on the go with stuff to do everyday and haven't had time to write about anything. I updated with two days as you'll see below, and I have two more to do before I'm caught up, so those are to follow. We're in the countdown now, and my schedule is filling up fast with things to do. I leave on the 30th and it's going to be non-stop until then. I'll post as often as I can!

Also, for those coming back from Japan...

If you find that you've got too much stuff and not enough luggage to pack it in, you might consider shipping stuff home. If things are too heavy, it can get pretty pricey, but if you pack light boxes (and don't care if it takes a while getting to your home), it might be a great alternative to loading down your luggage. Here's the website for JapanPost, in English, and it tells you all you need to know about shipping stuff home, how much it costs, etc. http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/use/parcel_en.html

KimuTaku's Mom's Speech

June 26th was the day of KimuTaku’s mom’s speech here at the shrine. Because was a Saturday and the BIG tea ceremony is coming up, we still had tea class per the usual, albeit a little earlier than normal. Expecting that I would get leave from class early (since I was going to be pitching in to help with things all night), I was antsy to have my turn and then go back upstairs and change (I’m wearing Yukatas and Kimonos now, every week). Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I was kept around as audience for everyone else’s ceremonies as well, and by the time I got to go up and change, I only had about and hour and a half to change a relax before going back down to make preparations for the speech that night.

I’d made plans to have dinner with several of the ladies in the class, and Miho, the girl from the host club tour, at the local (literally next door) ramen place. The place is your typical ramen restaurant, no tables, only a bar, and when you enter you buy a ticket for whatever kind you want (yes, there are SEVERAL types of different ramen) at the vending-like machine in the corner, then sit down on a stool and hand it to the guy behind the counter. You’re given a glass of water, though there’s a pitcher full of it for replenishing, standing next to the napkins and jars of dried garlic and other toppings. When your orders done, the cook places a massive bowl before you with a spoon and chopsticks and you go to town, though its extremely hot, thus the slurping. Japanese people slurp their soup and noodles, and I think part of the reason is to cool it down as they eat. Instead of waiting for things to cool, or blowing on hot food like Americans do, the Japanese never wait, but slurp it in, thereby cooling it, or chew loudly with their mouth open, which cools the food within. These things are not rude eating customs in Japan. If you’ve eaten all your noodles but still have lots of soup left, you can order more noodles only (I forget what the word is), which usually cost 100 yen (sort of, about $1), and the cook brings the strainer over and plops them right into the soup for you.

Anyway, I’d thought that I was going to get to go to the ramen place with everyone to eat, but instead my mom had me stay with her and the other girls that work at the shrine and we busied ourselves laying out fliers on the folding chairs and serving tea to the boorish patrons of the shrine that sat down with my host dad and smoked and, presumably, talked about finances. About an hour before the shindig was set to start, when my host mom was entertaining the aforementioned patrons, KimuTaku’s mom came in and I welcomed her and we chatted a bit, then she was shown into one of the tea rooms to change. Instead of a formal looking outfit, which I had suspected she would wear, she changed into an avante-garde looking thing that seemed to me to be halfway between a jogging suit and a kimono. It was purple and very strange. Then she went out for a walk.

When the patrons finally finished their talk, my host mother hurried myself and the other helpers into a side room and we all scarfed down (as fast as we could) the sushi bentos that were our dinner. In short order, people started arriving and taking their seats.

The topic of the speech, ‘Being a Good Mother’ wasn’t of particular interest to me, but still, I’d been looking forward to the speech, and since I’d gone to the trouble of helping out, was hoping that I might get to sit back with like the other girls who’d helped, and watch. But, unfortunately, when the twins (4 yrs. old) started getting loud and fussy, my host mom had me take them upstairs and entertain them. It was more or less their bed time, so they were fussy already, and to make matters worse, I couldn’t figure how to switch the TV over to the cartoon channels, but we drew in my sketching book and made paper airplanes, and for about an hour and a half things went by fine. But, as kids are wont to do, they remembered they had a mother and missed her and insisted on going back downstairs. And their arrival was loud and caused a ruckus loud enough to interrupt the speech. At that point, I got to see about the last 20 min. of the speech, before bowing everyone out the door.

I got my picture with Mrs. Kimura, then myself, the other helpers and the two boy scouts (for lack of a better word since they’re both in college and my age) that I’d met with and cleaned dishes with before one night a month ago, all helped to put the chairs away. And that was really about it. There was no glamour to it and though I was told the speech was quite wonderful, what I heard of it only seemed to reinforce the ever-present ‘good wife, wise mother’ mentality that is imposed upon young Japanese women today. But that’s the stuff for my gender class, not my blog.

My Second Lion's Club Party

I'm sorry this has taken so long, and I know its about two weeks old now, but here you go!

The 23rd marked the day of my second Lion’s Party and, as with the last one, it was very plush and elegant. I will be the first to say that I love taxi rides as opposed to the train for the simple fact that I don’t like having to walk to and from the station and wonder about how many people I’m going to have to shove through to get to the exit and if I can do it before the doors close. So, after I got dressed up in my black Hawaiian Moo Moo that my host mom bought be on their recent trip, we all three got in a Taxi and made for Roppongi Hills, to the Roppongi Hills tower to be exact, entering through the elaborate covered garage that we’d gone through before on the Host Club Hato Bus tour. Instead of dining at the Hyatt, however, the Lion’s Club had reserved an elite, members only club dining area on the 52nd floor of the tower that overlooks the west side of Tokyo. However, before gaining entrance to the dining area, my host father signed us in and we were all given one bingo card and a ticket which would gain us admittance to the Mori Art museum (yes, there’s an art museum at the top of the mall), and the ‘Sky Deck.’ Not being a particular lover of art museums (and hardly an afficienado), we decided to forego that adventure and head straight for the sky deck.

Because the wind can be a force, and to assure that you don’t drop anything, the people waiting before the elevator to check your ticket tells you to stow all things but a camera in the lockers right there, which we did and then boarded the elevator. I’m not sure for certain what floor the roof is, but I’d guess somewhere around 56 if asked. The elevator lets you out into a pathway covered on all sides by white metal poles, a cage like sort of area that is reminiscent of those things that hold laser lights above the stage at concerts. My host dad said it reminded him of the sort of place Jack Bauer would have a shootout in “24,” and I couldn’t deny it. We went up a metal staircase and were standing on the very top of the Roppongi Hills tower, right beside the Helipad, and, after walking around the edge (don’t worry, not the real edge), we could look off in the sunshine toward Odaiba and Rainbow Bridge, the going a little further, we were looking down on Tokyo Tower, not far away. Then there was the Tokyo Dome and far in the distance, the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is still under construction but is going to be the highest building in Tokyo. Attempting to get a shot of the Helipad itself, I turned around the opposite way and lo and behold, to my shock and surprise, in the pink-tinted clouds nearing sunset, was the top of Mount Fuji, standing tall and majestic. Everyone, my party and the emerging Lions members all scurried around the fringe to the other side where we spent most of the rest of our time gazing contentedly at the beauty of Mount Fuji (though, much to my frustration, my camera wouldn’t get it in focus) If you click on this picture and make it bigger, you can sort of see Mt. Fuji there.

We had hoped to see Tokyo at sunset, but unfortunately, the dinner was set to start before, so we were all reluctantly herded back down the metal staircase, into the waiting elevator, and then issued into the plush dining area where we would spend the rest of our evening. We were seated at table C, by the windows, in clear sight of the projector screen, the podium and the large Lions banner that hung listlessly over in the corner, suspended by a gold, metal stand. There was a speech by some bigwig to start things off, and as dinner began being served, someone at the front started a slideshow, though most of the tables, ours included, ignored it almost completely, preferring to eat and chat instead. Myself, I only caught a few points of the powerpoint, namely the shots of the men planting rice in rice paddies, and then a talk which my host dad did at certain middle schools, warning of the dangers of drugs.

For dinner we had red wine and white wine, rolls of two kinds, and several courses. The first course was scallops and Canadian lobster with vegetables and salad which was good, but I’m not a big lobster fan. Next was a slice of daikon (Japanese radish) under foi gras, and this was, by far, the best dish of the evening (it tasted like a strange but delicious combination of scrambled eggs, bacon fat and popcorn). Then there was sirloin steak with a potato and pesto croquette and some vegetables, and then desert was fruit with an ice cream/whipped cream thing. After that was served and devoured, everyone got settled for a round of bingo and I won sometime around the middle. Going up to the podium, I was told to select from a large collection of mysterious white paper tote bags, and upon opening mine, one seated safely at my table, I found that I’d won an electric teapot, which I actually use quite a bit, it turns out. After that, the lady who was at the last party, the one who sings the theme song for Miyazaki’s “Totoro” movie got up and did a speech, basically announcing that she had a concert coming up and inviting everyone to come. But she did sing the Totoro song, which was cool, but wasted on me, as I’m not anything close to an Anime person.

After that, the men were called up one by one to introduce themselves and their families, and then present a small box to their wives as a way of thanking them for all their hard work raising kids and taking care of the men themselves. When my host father’s turn came, my host mom dragged me up front with them too, saying I was a daughter so I had to be introduced, which was my dad saying, “This is Rebecca, an exchange student who’s staying with us for the year. She’s perfect with Japanese, here say something.” Then he shoved the mic at me, catching me completely off guard, and all I could think to say was “Yoroshiku Onegaiitashimasu” (a pleasantry often said in Japan which more or less means, ‘I’m in your care/Please after me’). Then he presented not only my host mom, but myself as well, with one of these mysterious little boxes. Naturally, as soon as I’d gotten back to my seat, I opened it to reveal a crystal box, about the size of a ring box, and inside was a tiny, preserved purple rose with a Swarovski crystal stuck on it. Not bad, huh?

That was really more or less the evening. A lot of the time was spent chatting to the other people at the table, and then at the end we all stood up and gave the ‘Lion’s roar’ which is a sort of cheer for the club, then we broke apart and left by taxi. The thought I was left with from the evening was how very much I want to marry a super rich person so that I can always do stuff like that.