Restaurants レストラン

There are many different restaurant styles in Japan, just like in the US. In my city there is fast food, conbini food, ramen, soba, Perkins (or the equivalent), Dominos (the actual chain), all you can eat buffets, Korean BBQ, Shabu Shabu, Bakeries, coffee shops, and much more.  However, one unique trait of many of these stores is their display food. Many restaurants have a display case in the front of the store that shows an exact, life-sized replica of what each dish will look like, particularly if the store is located in a mall. This is the storefront display of a women-only ramen shop in Tokyo (the mall it was located in only sold women's clothing. Men's clothing was in another mall). 

 

The image above is the dish I ordered. 

The bib I am wearing was supplied by the restaurant and is meant to keep the ramen from splashing on my shirt. 

Sakura Festival in Hitachi 桜まつり

      This post is going to prove how far behind I am on some of my blog posts, and I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post some of these. (Right now I have almost 30 posts of varying ages waiting as drafts.) Several months ago...

      I went to the Hitachi Cherry Blossom Festival with my dad (who paid me a surprise visit). Hitachi, like the company - for those of you who know electronics well. The whole city's economy was based around the company and it became an incredible city. Unfortunately it looks like a crippled and slightly neglected city now because of the market crash. The two phenomenal attractions that it still has is its scenic location (directly between the sea and the mountains (the train depot overlooks the beach) and the dozens of cherry trees. and the cherry trees attract hundreds of visitors when they are in season because there is something unabashedly breathtaking about  cherry trees (as I discussed in my previous post).
        Like a craft show in the states, people wander up and down the main street playing games and buying food and purchasing hand crafted novelties. Most often, festival food is fried, seafood, or pickled. Two of the games you could play are pictured below. In the left one you had to try to catch a fish with a net made of rice paper (much like throw the ping-pong pall in the fish bowl in that you could keep the fish in the end). The right photo shows teenage boys who purchase an incredibly hard square of gum which they must cut (using thumbtacks) into a particular shape... If you lose, the consolation prize is that you get to eat the gum.

Festivals also often feature performances. One of the major performances at this festival was a large covered cart (the one in Hitachi is 5-6 stories tall as you can see by comparing it to the building next to it). These carts vary in size drastically.  

With the help of dozens of puppeteers inside and outside of the cart, the contraption unfolds and a drama is revealed. This particular show featured a dragon, mongol, emperor, princesses, and an archer which threw arrows into the onlooking crowd. The kids loved the arrows and would race to pick them up. 

Of course, no festival seems to be complete without musical accompaniment. For the puppet show the music was primarily flute (and a relatively redundant tune at that). But for the moving of the shrines they played taiko drums. They shake the air and reverberate in the chest and make the day seem, well, festive. 

Below is a good image of how the road looked on the entire main street (which is lined on both sides with cherry trees). Here at the end of the street we watched a singing performance on the stage directly behind us. 

The Cherry Blossom Festival, what a lovely day.

Traditional Music

On more than one occasion I have attended a festival in which traditional Japanese music, called Nohgaku, was played. These performances basically consists of a chorus, the Hayashi flute, the Tsuzumi drum, and other instruments.

For more information on the instruments see: http://www.taiko-center.co.jp/english/shop_other_japanese_instruments.html 

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The woman in the middle is playing a nohkan flute. Next to her is 

Hitting the sticks together imitates the sound of the hyoshigi instrument. 

If the music did not engage you, then you could direct your attention to the men dressed like fighting foxes or the children in creepy doll masks. 

Harajuku

I went Tokyo a while back with a friend and we visited Harajuku, a very famous shopping street. Harajuku is filled with bows and ribbons, costumes and crepes. It was a jam-packed experience - with lots of activities and too many people. Without noticing, we spent hours passing down the one narrow street.  The photo above is an image of the street's entrance which is only a few steps away from the train station. Below is some of the cute and bizarre merchandise that is offered by Harajuku purveyors.

The crepes above are a life sized, plastic display menu. The outfits below are cutesy sailor outfits for ladies - not costumes, just normal blouses...

The experience of the crowded streets and tiny shops was really fun but also very crazy. We were literally pushing our way through stores and streets sometimes (not because we are obnoxious Americans, but because that was the only way to leave the shop after paying). The closest image I could conjure is Daigon alley... J-pop style (pictured below).