I love snoop at the gym. and so should you!

Hi every one,
just yesterday i was in the shower at the gym, and i heard a familiar hook from a song. What was that song you ask? well im not quite sure of the name. But its that new one with Akon and snoop dogg.
I love listening to snoop at the gym as much as many gym goers do, but one thing thats so special about japan is you can listen to Hip Hop most any where in its un -cut and un censored versions.
its so odd, its hard to explain hearning hard core rap (with swearing) in a change room full of middle aged naked japanese women.
You can also go out for dinner, Me and shiv frequent our fave pizzaria "shakeys" where you can be eating a nice meal and have Ludacris singing sweet songs to you over the speakers.
My favorite has to be this little bakery near work called Hanhyou bakery, a nice japanese bakery featuring swedish style breads. God bles them for their 7am Crunk and hip hop selection.
I know some japanese people must understand american rap/swear words, So i find it so amazing,funny,strange and a tad embarrasing that in many places you hear uncensored music. It makes the change room at the gym feel like a club, and you can bop your head to the latest jams at dinner.

Man, Osaka Love!

Koyasan and the monk motel.

Koyasan here we come!
we went to koyasan this weekend. and it was really good. we took out explorer sized packs to work, so that we could take the train striaght to koyasan after work. we booked through the underbround pedways and ctatcombs wich are the namba walk shopping center, and arrived at the train platform just in time to board.

getting to koyaysan was half the fun, the train ride is really scenic, with lots of mountain scenery. mountain scenery in japan, is quite a bit different form mountain scenery in japan. The "mounatins in japan, are like big "foothills" covered in lush green trees, banboo and other flowy, wallowy greens. the forests are much more temperate, and hence the vegetation that is found in the mounatins surrounding koyasan looks like BC rain forest/bamboo forest.

The train wound its way through the mountains and went through tons of tunnels until we came to the last station (cable car station). we took the cable car al the way up the mountain and the higher we got we noticed that the rain became chubbier, and chubbier untill it became fluffy and snow like. So at the top it was snowing. Wild!! our tour package lined every thign up time wise, so we didn't have to wait, for a bus, and then the bus took us straight to our temple lodgings. http://www.fukuchiin.com/index.html . That is the link for the temple. it was cold and snowy when we arrived, and the 1st thing we had to do was take off our shoes (outside) and put them into a communal shoe closet outside the temple. The main building had no central heating, and no insulation. So ya'll can sort of immagine what a wood builing would feel like in -4 snowy weather. sort of dank, and very cool. At the front office area, we were introduced to our tourguide/housekeeping lady named Akiko. She showed us all around the temple, the onsens and to our room.

Our room was amazing, it was super traditional japanese style. imagine a room straight out of a movie (last samurai or crouching tiger hidden dragon.) all tatami, rice paper screen windows, gold and black laquered doors, traditional brush stroke art. the works. loved it. Akiko settled us in and told us how to work the heating. our room was pre heated for us and tea and cakes were waiting for us in the room. Japanese service is impecable. i will write a post soley on japanese service at a later date.

We took a walk around the premises, and looked at all the artifacts in the temple, then we went to the onsen that was in the temple complex. The onsen was my favorite so far in japan. It was half indoor and half out door. The pool spanned and indoor section, and was separaed by glass and the out door portion. The indoor bit was all wood and big stone slabs lined the bottom of the bath. i was the only one in the whole onsen so that was also really nice. The out door onsen was the best thouugh. The weather had been quite warm the previous few days so the cherry blossoms and roses had started to bloom, But tonight it was snowing, and the rose trees that lined the bath had snow on them. It was a surreal evening, absolutely gorgeous.

dinner was served inroom by akiko, and was fully vegetarian. Wich was good for me cause im not a fan of raw fish. dinner was great and consisted of many small tables linked together over flowing with food. love it!!
Akiko also set up our futon beds for us and gave me a travel baggie of toothpaste, so nice.

The next day we got up early early, (5:30 am) to get ready to see the minks doing their morning prayers in the main temple hall. It was an amazing experience. to hear and see monks doing their prayers in a traditional setting. We( guests) had to sit on the floor. As a westerer, i am not very accustomed to sitting on my knees for a long period of time (you try it at home, its hard!!) so sitting like that for the whole service was hard, and me as well as many others were shifting their legs around through out the service. It was a little mesmerising, because of the chanting, i felt like i was hallucinating, maybe from the blood loss in my lower regions, or maybe because i was next to a huge heat lamp and the heat was putting me to sleep. All in all it was great to see buddhism being practiced in a traditional setting. After the service we were taken on a tour around the back sections of the temple where monuments of prominent buddhist people/ saints are kept, alongside offereings to deceased family members and statues of the buddha. It was great. all of the gold and brass in the temple along side the candle lights and insence was mesmersing. dream like is a word that just begins to explain the feeling of being there that morning.

After the morning ceremony, we headed back to our room for japanese style breakfast, and then put on our packs and set off on our hike.

We hiked up a mountain at the north entrace to koyasan to an area that was famous for its rows of tori gates as well as a mountain top shrine. The hike was great, we thought we were lost at some parts, but we kept on heading up and up into the clouds. The shirne was awesome, and we were ina big cloud, so we couldn't see out over the valley, but it was dead cool.

We continued down the mountain, when we ran into a man dressed in a beige suit, fit for an afternoon tea of church service. He directed us towards the parth ways of tori's and to this day im not so sure if he might have been an angel/real or some sort of japanese well dressed apparition. He could have been real though, because the japanese are always impecably dressed and wear dress shoes on all occasions (eg women hiking in high heels)

Once we did the hike we headed back to the town center and walked down the main drag at see all (ALL) the temples. Koya san is temple city, sort of like how vegas is all casinos, koyasan is all temples. The high light of shivs day was for sure doing to the graveyard in Koyasan. Its overwhelmingly huge and filled with massive granite monuments of all the high ups in Japanese buddhism. By comparing the size of the monuments you can graso how prominent./rich each person must have been. Buried in this grave yard are leaders and religious elite of the japanese Shingon school of esoteric buddhism. Its founder is a man named Kobo daishi, and he as well as any one important is buried there.

we spent a good part of the afternoon there taking pictures and walking around (see shivs site) and then we made our way to the touristy parts and got bracelets and a pioneer hello kitty charm for my phone.
great trip, so worth it.

Wacky Biwako!!

The day started of like many other traveling days for me and shiv. We got up super early with Lake Biwako on our adgenda. shiv had researched and we were off to see the sunno festival. The thought we were going to see a huge procession of shrines held by shinto followers, and attended by thousands of people. In reality a much more fun day was waiting for us in Biwako!! we got on the trains and headed to kyoto. It was such a nice day out we decided to walk through kyoto city to the hanshin rail station. Kyoto is such a cool city, we get lost and find so many interesting things in kyoto each time we go there.

The train ride to biwako was awesome, its always so nice to get out of the "armpit" that is osaka, and see sky, trees and greenery. When we got to the train station we were sort of suprised to see pretty much no people, but oh well, we though they must be further up the mountain. We stopped for some japanese bakery goods. (god bless japanese bakerys, they know how to do baked goods!) the lady at the bakery confirmed with us that there was a festival going on, so we were excited and started up the mountain.

Sweet Sakura! the whole promenade up the mountain was alive with cherry blossoms. At this time Middle Kansai area of japan was still in the cherry blossom madness phase, and so along the whole promenade was alive with people eating and drinking under the trees. Japan in the spring is a sight to be seen. we took tons of pictures then hiked up further to the temple area.

On our wau to the temple we passed through this vine covered grove area, that had some monestary like buildings and minks walking around. By far the oddest thing was 2 caged monkeys outside the monk buildings. Why were the monkeys in a cage?
rabies, bad behavior, for fun... the whole situation was just weird.

We got to the main temple and a guy in full shito priest gear informed us that the festivities didn't get going till about 8 pm that night. WHAT!! so .... yeah, we we'rent sure what to do, so we decided to walk around this temple community and just wander. We found some a neat ryokan in the forest and a nice stream/waterfall. But what was really exciting was waiting at the bottom of the cheery blossom promenade, back on the main streets.

We were walking by, and we saw about 10 men in these short bum-revelaing robes, with japanese construction booties carrying long buring bamboo shoots. This was interesting, so we decided to sneak some photos, we were'nt sure if we were allowed to take photos, but soon one of the men crosses the road. We were like "uh oh" but he was really nice, his name was diasukuye, and he had the accent of a cith dweller from portlan oregean. So i asked him where he was from, and he said "biwako" hmm embarrassing much!! he said that we could follow the procession, and me and shiv were right in there getting some first hand shots and sights of a small town shinto festival.

It was the strangest feeling to be the only foreigners there. It felt like we were spectators of something really special, almost like we were not supposed to be seeing this event. I thought it was great that the men in the parade just sang and chanted like no one was watching, but in actualtiy as they weaved through out the tight streets of biwako, children and old people came out to give their support and watch the procession.

These men were starting the 1st part of the "climb" up the moutain to start the portible shrine festival. At the meeting place a few streets over, friends and family members were waiting for the men with crates of beer, tons of sushi and other japanese delicacies. It was amazing to be right in the middle of something so vibrant. we took our place in the corner near a wall, and it was great to note that people were smiling at us, an older woman offered us food and drinks and sent us home after the festivites with rice balls and Moochi ( japanese soy bean candy) wrapped in a banana leaf.

It was alot of men(more joined while we were there) were drinking and smoking and getting really pyshed up about the trek up the mountain. Duyusuke was saying that in the past, the shear number of men and the close proximity of the heavy shrines often crushed people to death. This festival is the oldest of its kind, it has been going on for 1000's of years, and untill recently, people died each year the festival was held.

the procession started, and they were off, we were so giddy and excited from all the chanting and festivites we had just witnessed and it set the tone for the rest of the day.
we roamed the town and made it down to Lake Biwako. A beautiful lake with a little bit of sand on the shores, we met some small dogs, and some fishermen. Shiv talked for quite a while, in japanese!! to a local man. His japanese is getting so good, i am lucky that he knows so much, because we are able to get direstions and information easier each week that we are here. i am learning bits of japanese via Pimslers Japanses cds, and i think im doing ok. I spoke to the cleaning lady. shiv on the other hand can go shopping and talk to random people about most any thing. i am dead jelous.
lastly we ate some more japanese bakery and had a smooth train ride home.

wowzers!!

O-hanami Crazy

its a special time of year in japan. Its that time of year when everybody is smiling, cherry blossoms are blooming and people are drinking sake in broad daylight and gettin pissed. Its O hanami season, YAH!!!

Today me and shiv went to kyoto, and where do i start.... The japanese people love cherry blossons because they are pretty and as our friend miki put it " sakura make people want to drink outside, and japanese people love to drink". I think kyoto is the best place to see cherru blossom season cause every nook and cranny was filled with sakura trees, it was great.

We started off our day at JR kyoto station, it was so packed there today (thursday) with people and foreigners, not that foreigners are'nt people, but, Its just strange to see so many foreingers all at once. Man, im beginning to sound japanese... Any ways every day is a packed day in japan. People go out, and dress up like its saturday night, every day. and in Kyoto the place was packed like Elton John was in town.

But alas, he was not. we took the rounds walking around the station trying to find out how to get to kiomizudera. eventually our tummies look over and we caved in and got food. Glad we did cause it was some good chinese food from 551 Horai. i miss good, cheap chinatown food. Chinese food is up there with Japanses gormet food in price. No Sam Wok here. If your going out for some good chinese food, you will be dishing out money for good chinese food. we had gyozas and some pork balls done in some good good chinese sweet sauce. mmm.

After our brunch, we decided to walk back to the central exit, but half way there shiv noticed "angry mango" was missing! angry mango is shivs cellphone charm from kagoshima. Poo san had falled to the ground earlier that morning, but luckily shiv noticed his disapearance and spotted him on the floor. Angry mango did not have the same luck, he is probably scared and dirty some where in JR kyoto sation, he will be missed.

Kyoto is great because they had this kiosk set up where the lady spoke english and gave us direct directs to kiomizudera. grand! we got on a bus, a packed bus, and i knocked the old lady behiend me like 50 times.we got off at the foot of the hill that takes you up to the temple and window shopped at all the pottery places along the way. I love kyoto shops, they are japan in a nutshell. as one lady we met from southern california put it " its so japanses-y". Perfectly worded. "japanese-y!

the temple was great, we took tons of pictures and saw a fake maiko "geisha". her hair was a wig, and her clothese were a little to red and traditional. she looked like she was hired by a group of people, cause once many people started taking photos of her, the man hushed her away. Later on in the evening we saw a real maiko in a cab. The difference between a real maiko and a fake one is on quality. a real maiko is stunning. every thing is done to perfection, hair ,make up, clothes jewlery, hair fandangles. The whole package is perfect. a fake maiko is just a chick in a kimono with to white make up and some crazy red lips. A real maiko is like a mmazerti, clean lines, well done and stunning. A fake maiko is like a saturn, or a chevy cobalt, they get the job done, but not as pleasing on the eyes.

we samples tons of moochi(japanese candy) from a few vendors and settled on shivs pick (green tea falvour) and some bisquit cinnamon sheets for me. both super tasty and very japanese. next we shopped and walked around the traditional shopping streets of kyoto. we found baby kimonos, tapestry purses, japanese style boxers, nice ties, fish meal cutlets(YUm..for real), jewellery and all sorts of treasures. Our best find was this litstle pottery studio on the main road that sold lots of one of a kind peices. We cant wait to go back later on in the year for shiv fave, a set of square plates, laqueured with the a raw clay bottoms. oh how i love shopping for the hosue we dont have yet.

My new favorite thing was purchsed today, a new yukata,obe, and japanese-y slippers. Shiv got a grey yukata pants suit and japanese-y slippers to match. We are banging japanese!!!. i love it.

we walked to the conveince store on the way to mayurama koen. you could basically live out of a japnese conveinience store. the food is so good. curry buns, sushi, okonomiyaki, soba, terrikayi, bentos, big beers, chicken on a stick. its pretty much endless. After fillin up on some chicken kaarage, curry bun, water, and rice balls we walked to the koen. we did see an old ladt fall and eat the pavement. it was so sad. i hate seeing old people fall because they are so frail. She kept on saying "daijobu" wich mean im ok, but i hope she really was ok, and not just putiing on a brave face. she fell pretty hard. i hope shes ok.

AT the koen, every one was in such a good mood, drunk, but in a good mood none the less. sunshine, sakura and sake bring out the best of japan. we met one of ed's country men, this shwarma sales man from iran. Man i miss shwarma, but we just ate. Damn the conveinince store. He has a few restaurants in japan and highly agreed that summer festival times are the best tmes to be in japan, and in the food business in Japan. We walked around saw tons of tasty food, met some people from T-dot and saw the prettiest chery blossom tree in all the land. we were just in awe of it. I'll call it "king sakura" and as dilshi would say " it was too much pretty".

The highlight of the evening was hearing some crazy girl squeeling in the distance, walking towards the noise and finding a crazy group of kids dancing and chanting drinking songs. So in japan ( this was explained to me from one of the participants, who happens to be a nova ginga net student) this is true japanese culture. The kids make up these drinking songs especially for the O hanami party and each song has matching dance moves. You have a few hours to practice the songs and moves before you attend the Ohanami party. The songs and dances are shared via text and email to all people meeting at the party.

I was amazed. The songs were so funny. They had one danced to the music of nintendo in "king koopa's Castle" and one about dorimon ( a popular japanese cartoon cat). it was so funny. we me some of the crazies that were dancing and they were really nice to talk to us and tell us all about whats going down in japan. nice bunch. We may see that one guy in nova lesson some time and make fun of him bad! just kidding.

After the madness we walked down the main drag and were headed to gion temple, but we decided we had had a stuffed day and took some more sakura pics then caught the hanku back home.

High times day, we mourn the loss of angry mango and Aja from the 'Fax wanted me to put a shout out to her in the blog. So here it is. "Aja, my life is incomplete with out you, please bring your cheese pakora, and hindi movie loving ass over to edmonton for Xmas 07!" love you. thanks for being my number one slacker. you win, cause you get paid to do what i love. slack

jan