On January 2 of each year the emperor of Japan makes a rare, “public” appearance. He doesn’t actually go out in public, but the public comes to see him and the rest of the Japanese Imperial Family.

This was my first, real chance to join in on these festivities. Apparently, I didn’t get enough of the crowds at Zojoji on New Year’s Eve or the crowds at Meiji Jingu on New Year’s Day (photos coming soon). The gates open at 9:30 for the first appearance at 10:10. Seven appearances happen during the day. I thought getting there at 9:30 would be perfect timing to see the 10:10 greeting. It turns out that arriving at 9:30 is perfect timing to make it through the gate at 10:11. I missed the first greeting but did see the emperor’s last wave and backside before he and the rest of the imperial family made their exit.

Above is what the crowd looks like in front of you at 9:30.

Photo number two is what it looks like behind you at 10:05.

A changing of the guard happened a couple of times before the 11:00 appearance. The number of security personnel at this event (and around Yasukuni Jinja down the street where I went after) numbered over a thousand I’m guessing.

There was even a pat down of everyone who lined up. I got in line for the pat down from the cute, female security officer. She told me to go get my pat down from a male cop which wasn’t nearly as fun. He did thank me, though, so I guess it was fun for him. 😉

An old lady near me passed out when they announced the Japanese Imperial Family at 10:55. They carted her off quickly, before the Japanese Imperial Family showed up behind the glass again.

From left to right you can see Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and Prince Akishino.

天皇陛下と皇后陛下

“Slowly and cautiously” we moved out of the way for the next group of thousands to gather.

Posted on January 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: flag, people, shogatsu, Tokyo, video. Comments: 3

This is how I spent my Christmas Eve. If it doesn’t look like Christmas, that’s because you don’t see all the commercialism from this angle.

Like, for instance, the 300 baht it costs to swim in parts of the ocean. Pretty much everything on this beach is turned into a product to be sold. It can get pretty tacky, but it is convenient. You can purchase basically anything (food, drink, clothes, bathing suits, watches, tours, time on a jet ski, you name it) without ever getting out of your beach chair. And you have to purchase your time in the beach chair too–not surprising if you’ve been to Italian beaches but a little different than what us California natives are used to.

Santa Claus is coming to town…

Posted on January 1st, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: beach, people, phuket. Comments: 4

Chao Phraya is the river that runs through Bangkok. There is a public boat-bus system set up called the Chao Phraya River Express. I was picturing something like the Grand Canal in Venice where there are basically three kinds of boats–gondolas, bus boats, and others making deliveries. I was also imagining a formal ticketing system (like Venice) where you purchase a ticket before riding the River Express. Finally, I figured the boats would be clearly marked as part of the River Express (maybe they are marked in Thai–but there are no Roman letters to be seen).

Not so on all counts. First of all, the boat “bus” stops are nearly impossible to recognize. They are dilapidated, mini piers with no signs getting you there and only one sign once you are there (visible only from the river). The people working on the piers are trying to sell you a ride on one of their boats, not the River Express. The River Express is 9 baht. Their boats are 1,000+ baht.

To make matters worse, there are dozens of different kinds of boats landing at these piers. No announcement is made when the River Express lands. There is no time schedule posted, etc. The River Express employees make no announcements when they arrive or depart. You merely have to know that you are getting on the correct boat. The boat pictured above is the correct one.

The boats arrive and depart without warning. If you don’t immediately get on, you will not be getting on. It’s that simple (or frustrating depending on whether you get on the correct boat or not).

We took the River Express (there is nothing “express” about it by the way) from Pier 1 (Oriental Pier) to Pier 9 (Tha Chang Pier). Even though the water is seriously polluted, and we had to stand the entire way, the ride was somehow refreshing–much cooler anyway than standing or walking around Bangkok in the middle of the day.

A few temples (wat) can be seen from the river. One is Wat Kalayanmit, pictured above. The boat pictured in front of this temple is a long tail boat, which you can rent to cruise the Bangkok waterways or to get to one of Thailand’s many islands.

Another of the temples that can be partially viewed from the Chao Phraya River is Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn).

Once we arrived at Pier 9 we found ourselves in the middle of a shopping/eating center of sorts. We had brunch at the place above. There are few other places in the world where a family of four can all be happy with their meal and the bill come to less than $10 total.

Posted on January 1st, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, food, people. Comments: 2

Near the corner of Waseda Street (早稲田通り) and Meiji Street (明治通り) a ramen shop opened last month. Since then a steady line of about 50 people (even in rain) have waited outside to enter. Sometimes the line grows to more than 100 people. Within eyesight of this establishment are at least 5 other places selling nearly the exact same thing. Within a 5 minute walk are more than 20 other places selling ramen. Yet none of them ever have a line to get in. Ever.

People latch on to popular things all over the world simply because they are popular. In Japan this is taken to a higher level. The popular product rarely seems to be better, less expensive, or unique either.

Two Saturdays ago the weather was great, and we had nothing in particular to do, so we got in the above line to see if Futomendo Ramen was somehow special.

Once we made it to the front of the line there was something like excitement inside me. I was hungrier, too, so that enhanced the experience. It sort of felt like we were about to get on a roller coaster at an amusement park after such a wait.

In the above photo you can see, in the lower-right corner, that they have even posted instructions on how to line up to get in. I’ve seen brand new restaurants post similar instructions in the hope that lines will form even though they never do.

We had so much time to wait in line that Ellie actually had time to walk home and back. She probably could have done so four or five times.

To pass the time we listened to comments made by those walking past us, learned some Japanese, and took pictures of our surroundings.

Once we got in I didn’t take any more pictures. Sorry.

The first character in the name of the place (太麺堂) means “fat.” The name is literally “fat noodle shop.” Customers were supposed to fill out little cards, writing a phrase or sentence using the fat character. For instance, you could write “My dad is fat.” or “These fat noodles are delicious.”

Ellie came up with a clever one all her own. She wrote, in English, “My favorite sumo wrestler is Dragon Fat.” Underneath, I wrote the person she was talking about in kanji–山本山 龍太. The waitress didn’t know anything about sumo, but we had a fun discussion when she picked the card up anyway.

So how was the ramen you ask? It was good. The ramen noodles were fatter than normal, though not as thick as udon. It didn’t warrant the wait, but we had a fun experience anyway. The taste was a bit different than the norm, but I wouldn’t consider it superior to many of the places, without a line, in the neighborhood.

Posted on December 22nd, 2009 under Japan. Tags: buildings, food, nishi-waseda, people, takadanobaba, yamamotoyama. Comments: 2

The fall season and “back to school” go hand-in-hand in many parts of the states. In Tokyo the fall colors a delayed by not weeks, but months. Today’s photos were taken in December. The foliage on the Waseda University campus, although mostly gone now, was quite beautiful in late November and early December.

Once the leaves began to fall, the campus looked quite different in early morning, before the cleaning crews arrived. The place was blanketed in leaves.

Unfortunately, the Japanese are far too efficient at raking leaves. They do so on a daily basis so seeing the leaves on the ground is something of a rarity.

In the above photo you can see three grounds keepers removing the fallen leaves, pretty much as they fall. There were probably 10 people on campus doing nothing but making sure leaves were not under foot. I would have preferred to walk through a few inches of the stuff myself.

Posted on December 17th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: people, Tokyo, waseda university, 紅葉. Comments: 1