Undeceivable - Moonraker Zen

On visiting every manga/net cafe in Tokyo

Having seen everything I've wanted to see and done everything I've wanted to do (apart from snowboard) since leaving Japan in 2006 , I've spent most of the day traipsing round the streets of Shinjuku in search of a cheap way to kill time. (So far in the space of a few days, I've been to an Izakaya, played some games, slept in a capsule hotel, gone to karaoke, visited Kamakura, been to the sea, bought my juzu, had a Yoshinoya and Matsuya, been to a public bath, walked around Yanaka, seen my old neighborhood, been shopping, sat on the train for an hour just to stay warm, had ramen, seen Mt.Fuji, bought some manga - Mighty Atom and Buddha - and had my fill of onigiri from the convenience store.) Now I'm absolutely knackered!! And the cheapest way to kill time until staying at my fiend's house is the internet cafe. I could write a book about them! Most have an overnight rate of about 15 pounds so some people live in them. To be honest, they turn the heating up a little too high for me, so I end up only managing an hour or so. But this ones got a TV, DVD player, widescreen and a perfectly reclining chair - I think this will do for a little nap...when I wake I'll be in the mountains snowboarding!

In seach of my juzu

I was really sad when I lost my sandalwood zen bracelet (juzu) in France 2 years ago. My juzu was with me from the first time I ever went to Kamakura and I missed it. It smelt lush (of sandalwood) and always reminded me to smile at life. So today, having freed up a day, I headed out to Kita-Kamakura and my first stop was Engaku-ji, the temple which sold me my first juzu. But before that, I caught my first glimpse of Mt.Fuji:

 

I likes Mt.Fuji. Anyway, after about 40 minutes, I reached Engaku-ji:

 

It's a lush temple and the grounds are really relaxing, but I hadn't come for enlightenment - I came for shopping! I rushed over to the little shop and sitting infront of me was my lovely juzu.
"I've come from England for my juzu!" I said to the nice man.
"Wow, thanks for taking the trouble to come here!"
"Yeah, I used to have one but lost it."
"They smell lovely, don't they?" said the nice man.
"They sure do"...
The conversation went on for a bit longer and then I handed over the cash. With the current exchange rate it was quite expensive, but I could have lost that at Pachinko in a couple of minutes.
So I'm happy again with my sandalwood friend.

I wandered around a bit in the temple grounds:

 

(That's the lay building where I did my retreat a few years ago.)

After Engaku-ji I walked all the way to the sea:

 

On such a clear winter's day it's a lovely beach with nice views of Izu and Ooshima in the distance. But beware of hawks:

 

There's absolutely loads of them waiting to nab your food. Quite an awesome sight. This area is popular with surfers and this shop is full of cool stuff I couldn't afford:

  

It's beginning to dawn on me why I need to get a full-time job - to fund the buying of cool stuff!
I also stopped by Hachimangu shrine:

 

I'm quite enjoying the fact that I don't need to show any interest in the 'culture' anymore. Apart from Engaku-ji, I didn't look at another temple. I guess I'm not so interested in them anymore - funny masks is more my thing now! I didn't even see the whole of the Big Buddha:

 

The head is free! I can't afford the body.

 

This shop name got me thinking about what I wanted to do today. I'm not sure it's a good name for a shop because once I started thinking I really didn't feel like going into a shop.

And that about rounds up my 'In search of my juzu day'.

3 days = a year

I've only been back (in Japan) 3 days but it feels like ages. Maybe it's because I've managed to squeeze so much in.

Finally my jet-lag and tiredness have fallen away and I feel less agitated. It's funny but I hadn't realised I was agitated until yesterday when with a sore toe and biting winds, we headed out to Harajuku. We managed to reach Kiddy Land after walking from Shibuya station but once in there all I could think about was going home and lying in bed. After a quick Yoshinoya where I managed to have mine and half of Kaori's (I love Yoshinoya!) we headed home. I checked in to my new hotel in Ochanomizu, bought a few things from the convenience store, then soaked in a hot bath. I watched a bit of TV then drifted off to a land I hadn't been to for 3 days - sleep.

After waking from a good night's sleep - 8-6:30, I feel a lot better. Zazen didn't consist of falling asleep and I even managed to get some washing done before heading out to where I am now - the internet cafe. These places are a Godsend. Gone are the days of sitting side by side with smelly geeks tapping away at gunky keyboards. Now it's all private cubicles, leather armchairs, headphones and free cappucinos. Brilliant:

 

On the way here today I spotted this funny looking shop:

   

The name of the shop is Face Y-Shirts. I stopped a guy on the street:

"What kind of shop is that?" I asked.
"Ah," laughed the guy. "It's a clothes shop!"
"Is that a picture of a monk?" I asked.
"Ah," laughed the guy again."I haven't got a clue who that is!"

It's nice to have those sorts of conversations again. The Japanese are always happy to talk to a foreigner in Japanese and it's fun for me too.

And good news on the mountains of Japan - it's snowing like crazy! And our resort is open.

But today, I'm on a journey to but my sandalwood juzu and visit my temples of times past.

Merry Capsule Hotel!

After my early morning tour of Yanaka and visit to Ochanomizu, I made my way to Shinjuku for our Christmas dinner - raw horse:

 

(which is absolutely delicious) and raw mackerel:

 

(which is just as nice as raw horse) and fried cartilage:

 

(which is my fave because of the sound it makes when you eat it) and oysters in batter:

 

(which are OK, but a bit greasy) and scallops in butter:

 

(which were delicious but I prefer just plain old scallops) and shishamo:

 

(which is a fish with hundreds of baby fish in the stomach - a real fish massacre!) and a yuzu mitsu sour:

 

(a delicious citrus cocktail).

Izakayas are great no matter what day of the year. And raw horse is a nice turkey substitute.

Although we didn't really eat a traditional Christmas dinner we did get to meet Santa!

 

We also joined the crowds under the Christmas trees.

 

I don't know who this is but she looks a little like about a million other Japanese girls - it's the new slightly 60's look.

 

After our Christmas dinner, a bit of karaoke and a look at some of the new crazy games they have here which included a lot of button tapping similar to that Simon Says game with the coloured pads, I headed off to my appointment with a capsule:

 

It's an incredible place really and something I doubt any other country could pull off. The capsule itself is a lot bigger than I thought and I was able to sit and do Zazen with my head just brushing the ceiling. There's a TV, radio and light. You can choose from the first or second floor and I went for the second floor but the view was almost exactly the same! The only difference was I had to climb a few steps to reach my capsule. Without an actual door on the capsule - just a blind - it does get a bit noisy and I had to listen to snoring, someone else's TV and a lot of people banging around and climbing up and down their steps. Suffice to say, I spent another night driftng in and out of sleep. It's not unbearable but the excitement coupled with a little noise and jet-lag makes it difficult to sleep. Anyway,this place is more than just a place to sleep - it's a universe in itself. Spread over 4 floors there's a huge public bath with rooftop jacuzzi and bath, steam room, sauna, restaurant, massage rooms, internet, smoking room and rest area. It reminded me a little of the planet humans had moved to in Wall-E: whatever you want, it's always just an arms' stretch away. To show you how unimportant Christmas really is in Japan, it was absolutely packed! With so many people you'd think there'd be chaos, but it flows incredibly well. Toothbrushes have toothpaste already in the brush, towels are provided, brushes are sterilsied, bathrobes are waiting for you in your locker, headphones at reception, slippers in the toilet, razors in the bath area and widescreen TV both inside and outside - what's the point of an outdoor jacuzzi if you can't watch TV at the same time,eh! And at around 20 pounds a night, it's a bargain!

Today is Boxing Day, and yup, you guessed it, I'm not spending it playing with Christmas presents and eating turkey sandwiches - I think we'll go shopping and eat some more horse!

Day 2 - Christmas Day begins earlier in Japan

Being 9 hours ahead of England, Japan greets Christmas earlier too. Being jet-lagged I went one step further and woke up at 3:30 in the morning! Still dark and with delivery people, fish packers (I saw some at about 5 in the morning!) and some over zealous joggers and dog walkers for company, I venture out into Yanaka:

 

I'm not sure what that ray of light is either.

 

Christmas is weird in Japan. I've been walking around today and hardly realise it's Christmas Day and yet some people are totally obsessed with Christmas - they've even got Doraemon and Winnie the Pooh involved!

I walked around for about an hour and a half, past my old temple - I was tempted to pop in and sit the morning Zazen but it was from 5-7 and I'd missed the beginning - bought myself 2 rice balls which I scoffed down in record time and generally walked around in a daze - it was early morning, after all.

 

 

Above is the main street in Yanaka and it's lush but this morning didn't seem quite as busy as usual - I guess the recession has hit Japan hard too! Below is my ryokan for the day. I highly recommed it:

 

Katsutaro ryokan (Annex) is modern but with tradional Japanese style tatami rooms including an old TV and battered remote. The bath is seriously deep and the slippers are huge! It's in a very quiet area and the owners are pretty quiet too. Highly recomended...

After my morning walk I went back to sleep. I woke up a couple of hours later ready to head to Ochanomizu:

 

Ochanomizu hadn't changed much although I don't remember this building looking so immense:

 

Then I popped to perhaps the coolest shop in the world - Village Vanguard - where it's impossible not to find Christmas presents.

 

Tucked away down a side street and then in the basement, it's moved on a bit since I was last there. They seem to play a different piece of music in every corner of the shop. And it's an octagonal shape! I'm not a huge fan of shopping but I was close to coming out with a new Totorro lighter, thermal tights and a T-shirt.

 

After finishing my Christmas shopping I went to Yushumia Seido - a Confusion temple.

With 4 different entrances, it was very Confusian indeed! It's 15 degrees today and bright sunshine, so it was nice to just sit back, have a smoke and drink my Dekavita C with this chap for company:

After chilling for a bit I went and had my first tempura soba for years. It was delicious and the ladies behind the counter were proud of me for being able to decipher all the Chinese characters on the ticket machine.

(I'm smoking Caster Mild at the moment and had forgotten how nice they tasted. I'm getting quite addicted to the vanilla taste...)

Christmas Day to be continued...

Day 1 - Xmas Eve in Tokyo

Well here I am back in the land of the rising sun - as we approached Japan on the plane it was clear where it got its name:

     

Finnair was great - plenty of leg room, nice Japanese food, but I ended up watching the beginning of loads of films without finishing them, hardly slept and spent most of the time just wanting to get off the plane and into Japan.  Helsinki airport was cool though:

As luck would have it, I'm now absolutely knackered...I guess walking round Shinjuku didn't help. Was it always that busy?!? Flipping heck, it's completely insane. But before we headed for Shinjuku, we had our ramen - Chinese noodles in soup. And a bottle of beer. And some gyoza:

 

I managed to navigate my way around the hordes in Shinjuku out for Xmas Eve - the most coupley day of the year after Valentine's day. I was surprised at how easily I could just find what I was looking for. Or probably more accurately, find something that I didn't know I wanted! I ended up doing a fair bit of my Xmas shopping in the space of a couple of hours:

 

Here's a guy getting into the spirit in a Santa outfit with his pet crow. (The crow is camouflaged against the salaryman's suit in the background.) This guy has tamed the crow just in time for Christmas. Brilliant! Because Christmas without a crow just wouldn't be right, would it?

 

There are plenty of new buildings that seemed to have popped up since I was here last. This one in Nishi Shinjuku is pretty cool. At least I think it's new. Or maybe as a commuter, I never noticed it.

I stopped for a Starbucks near these Xmas trees.

For a jet-lagged first day, it was pretty intense. There's something quite insane about this little old town when you think about it. And as I sat drinking another cup of coffee in the basement of a coffee shop filled with chain smokers, I think I understood: This is the city where you can do everything you want, whenever you want. And to top it off everything works perfectly. Which makes it the most exciting place to live and also the most draining!
So I think I'll finish my Xmas Eve with a nice hot bath, a bento from the market round the corner and a little TV.
Tokyo will have to wait till tomorrow.

My very own Merry Xmas

This year will be a different kind of Xmas for me. I love Xmas, but I'm not too attached to a certain way of spending it. If I'm not wearing a paper hat, pulling a cracker and opening presents I'm not too fussed. Turkey, stuffing and roast potatoes are lush but for me Xmas doesn't have to include it. I just like the atmosphere - the lights, the festive cheer, coming inside from the cold, the snow, Xmas songs, Xmas TV and the memories that linger from childhood. Having spent many Xmasses in Japan, I'm used to a diluted festive time and no matter where I am, I can hear some form of sleigh bells a ringing...

So this year, I'm spending Xmas day in a capsule hotel right in the centre of Tokyo's Shinjuku district - 

Got my TV in there, an onsen on the rooftop overlooking the city and a big public bath.  There are over 600 capsules in this building so there are going to be a lot of salarymen snoring at the same time, but hopefully, I won't get to hear them. 

For New Year we're going here:

There isn't any snow there yet and with just over a week to go until we're meant to be sliding down the mountains, the big guy in the sky had better get snowing! Even if it doesn't snow, we'll be sitting around in an onsen. Got to do something,eh!

I'm also planning on going to Kamakura, my favourite place in Japan, after the Shinagawa Pachinko parlour that is. One of the main reasons for going there is to get a replacement for my sandalwood beaded bracelet I lost in France. I've had 3 of those bracelets all from Engaku-ji temple and I'm looking forward to having my charm-buddy back with me. 

With a little time left over for shopping and revisitng my favourite haunts such as Yanaka (to see my old temple), Kichijoji (to see the park and cool Japanese clothes shop) and Ochanomizu (to see the Confucian temple where I can have a smoke and a carton of Dekavita C), that'll be the end of my unique Xmas tour of Japan. A very short tour, but exciting nonetheless!

I'm going to take lots of pictures. After all, I'm a tourist again... 

So have a Merry Christmas, won't ya, whatever you're doing.

Fighting mass mediocrity

Now I know the X-Factor isn't really for me. And the fact that Alexandra Burke won doesn't really bother me. She's got a good voice and people like her warbling. Fair enough. But I don't think it's fair that every single X-Factor winner automatically gets the Xmas number 1. It used to be about popular songs, didn't it? I can't remember any Xmas number 1's from when I was growing up, but wouldn't it be nice to have an Xmas number 1 that was bloody brilliant? I think so and so do quite a few others.
Alexandra Burke seems nice enough, but does she really know what she's singing about? I didn't know what Hallelujah was about until I read this article on BBC's website today - Just whose hallelujah is it anyway? but Jeff Buckley's version lets you feel it even if you don't know. There's a real sad beauty to it, which is completely lost in the X-Factor version. Of course, everybody is free to sing it, but I find it  sad that a lot of things we all like as a majority are trite, overstated, mediocre, and bland. Am I a Nazi? Oh, well...
So just for once can't the majority like something great?  Something intelligent, moving, and meaningful?
That's why I'm going to download Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah at the weekend in the hope that he gets the Xmas number 1.
And if Alexandra Burke's version wins, I'll whistle along, but it will be with a heavy heart...

Q. How good is About a Boy?

A. Very good.

Q. What's the funniest bit?
A. When his friend says to him, "No man is an island!"
And he replies, "Yes they are! I am! And I'm Ibiza!"

Q. Which bit made you cry?
A. When Marcus' mum says he can have a McDonalds' anytime he wants one.

Q. Do you think the ending is a bit too sentimental?
A. Nah, not really. It's intelligently sentimental, so that's OK by me.

Q. Why are you interviewing yourself?
A. I guess because I'm an island too and there's only me here.

Q. Which island are you then?
A. I'm Southern Island...nope, I'm Hawaii. Somewhere in the rolling hills near the North Shore.

Q. You going to stay?
A. We'll see.

If...

If...
...I could have a super power it would be exploding hands.
...I could be anyone who has ever existed I'd be Santa Claus.
...I could afford anything, I'd buy a Nintendo Wii.
...I could go anywhere, I'd go to Iceland.