I got some cologne, deodorant, and other stuff in a sort of men’s beauty care package. I think the lady was trying to tell me something. I met up with Wallin in Nagoya station, and we decided to just head back to Ogaki and take it easy. The evening basically consisted of many episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu (thank you IP address switching software!). I had to work that Monday, so Wallin chilled at the apartment until I got back, and we started watching Californication before we grabbed dinner. Wallin wanted to head back to the local, awesome Indian restaurant Masala Master, and I wasn’t about to object.
Jon was already planning on heading to Kyoto the next day, and seeing as last time Wallin didn’t get to do a whole lot of sightseeing, we spur of the moment decided to join Jon the next day. After a pleasant train ride, we endured the bus ride from hell. It stopped every 20 paces and we went through about 50 stops before finally arriving at Kiyomizudera (a temple) on the east side of Kyoto. It has a great view and some impressive wooden scaffolding. On the way up, we stopped for some amazing green tea cream puffs. They were pretty much amazing, although Wallin’s starting leaking and by the end he had cream all over himself.
After wandering the ground we stopped at a random, little mom and pop place for lunch. This ended up being more entertaining than expected. The food was certainly tasty, but the entertainment came from the old couple running the place. Namely, that while the old lady was pouring our water and making all of our meals, the old dude was just sitting in a chair at a table across the aisle reading a newspaper. He flipped a page, only to reveal a picture of a couple topless women. We pretty much couldn’t believe it. You have to love (or at least I do) the sheer senility/lack of giving a crap required to be reading an erotic paper, while your restaurant is open, sitting directly across from the customers eating in your restaurant. And the wife didn’t even blink when she sat down next to him. Good to know she’s in on it, too.
After lunch we headed to a smaller, not at all busy place that was a WWII memorial and had a huge Buddha statue. They also had a replica of Buddha’s footprints, so you could get an idea of just how dead you’d be if you pissed him off. Then we headed to Kodaiji, which has a nice zen rock garden and large grounds and buildings to wander around in.
It also features the only two-story tea house, etc. Read the wiki if you want to know more. From there we walked up the philosopher’s path, where long ago monks pondered the meaning of life…and what they were going to have for dinner. It’s a really nice walk, and far enough away from the center of the city to actually be quiet and serene, and thus rather conducive to reflection. On the way back to the bus stop, we were talking about Wisconsin cheese fries (at state fairs, etc.) only to have the foreigners walking a few paces ahead us turn around ask “Are you from Wisconsin?!” Turns out it’s a small world. The guy was from Appleton, and his visiting girlfriend was from Milwaukee. So we chatted a bit on the bus ride back to Kyoto station. Finally, Wallin and I grabbed some ramen that ended up being pretty tasty, although my ears almost bled into the ramen broth every time the female employees shouted “Irasshaimase!!!” (approx. “Come on in!”) in their signature whiny, nasally, high-pitched voices. The whole time in Kyoto station, Wallin was admiring the architecture, stating how they prefer not to get that fancy/creative in Korea. And I have to agree that Kyoto station is impressive. In fact, it is probably the most impressive station I’ve been to in Japan.
The next day, Maria was scheduled to arrive in the evening. My friend Erica was in the area for New Year’s, so we met up with her and a friend of hers in Nagoya to hang out during the day before picking Maria up. The goal was set out early, when I got a text from Erica while still on the train asking if “miso katsu and a cake buffet sounded like a good plan to us.” Yup, we were going to eat, a veritable master course on gluttony. According to plan, we met them and immediately headed to a place serving miso sauce covered fried pork cutlet, a Nagoya area specialty. From there we hopped the subway to Osu, a shopping arcade in Nagoya that has a lot of personality. After wandering the streets of stores, and stopping at a used game shop where Wallin had a borderline religious experience (for good reason, too, they have all the old school stuff), we headed back to Nagoya station to go a cake buffet that I had told Erica about. I had not eaten there yet, since when I first stumbled upon the place, it had a massive line out front. This time, though, there was no line.
The basic premise: Pay $15 for 80min of gorging yourself on the buffet of cakes and desserts available. For those wishing for some semblance of balance in their meal, they also had some pasta dishes, salad, and curry rice, but it clear that dessert was the main event. Aside from the plethora of cakes/desserts, they also had a chocolate fountain and soft serve ice cream…and, of course, coffee, tea, and juice. Now, this sounds amazing, and it was, but eating nothing but desserts is a much better idea in theory than in practice. I was already feeling a little off after the first jam-packed plate o’ sweets, and was the only person brave (read: foolish) enough go immediately go grab a second plate of dessert. I was not exactly enjoying life after the second plate and looked to some curry rice to help bring back order to my stomach. That, along with some OJ and tea, helped calm things down a bit. The quality of the desserts, although obviously not top notch, was pretty good and most desserts were quite tasty. I would consider going back, but only if I was showing it to someone new. I don’t want to make a habit of going to that place. Wallin wasn’t feeling that hot after the pork cutlet lunch and the cake buffet wasn’t hitting him well, either, but he persevered.
We headed back to the station, checked out the holiday light display, and snapped a few pictures with the lit up Japanese cartoon mascot characters. Finally, we said bye to Erica and went to grab a train to the airport. As is my luck with the Meitetsu lines, the train we wanted was leaving as we bought our tickets. So we waited for the next train and ended up cutting it a bit close, but made it there with some time to spare. Maria’s plane was a bit late landed, but she got through immigration, etc. pretty quickly. Upon seeing us, she set down her bags and jump-hugged Wallin, much to the surprise and horror of Japanese folks around us. Yeah, we aren’t quite as reserved, deal with it. After the heart-warming reunion, we headed for the train, the whole while Maria was smiling like an idiot, ear-to-ear, and warned us ahead of time that her face would be like that for the entire duration of her stay in Japan, and she pretty much ended up making good on that promise. The train ride back felt a bit like the twilight zone, in the best possible way. I still didn’t quite believe that both Wallin and Maria were in Japan. I was counting myself lucky at this point (despite the nasty stench Wallin had managed to fill my apartment with a mere half hour after he arrived a couple days before). In any case, the train ride back to Ogaki passed rather quickly, with Maria still mesmerized at the fact that everything was in a different language, and with Wallin looking what I would call “almost happy.” Don’t entirely remember what happened that night, but I guarantee you it was good times.
The next day we had a Skype date with none other than everyone’s favorite hirsute Italian, Matthew Rounds. I hadn’t actually talked to him since leaving our apartment in Madison, and I’m pretty sure Wallin and Maria hadn’t talked to him in forever, either. We caught up and then shot the shit about nothing in particular. It was great to just sit and insult each other…which we ended up doing for a good 3 hours before finally calling it quits. Either way, it was quite the reunion, and I think Wallin may have even teared up when he first saw Rounds on the computer screen. We ended up killing the rest of day until midnight, when my supervisor, Taniguchi-san, had offered to take us to a local shrine. Now, it had been snowing pretty much all day, and not wanting to make her drive in such horrible conditions, I suggested calling it off. This of course led to a series of texts and eventual phone calls throughout the evening playing the game of “Oh, I wouldn’t want to trouble you.” “No really, it’s not a problem at all” “ Are you sure, the roads must be bad with all the snow.” “Oh, they don’t look too bad, it should be all right.” And back and forth ad nauseum until someone finally breaks. Seeing as I wanted Maria and Wallin to have a somewhat proper New Year’s (no Zoni soup, however, sorry crazy old dude on the train…more on that later), I caved and accepted her offer.
I kind of felt bad, because the roads were indeed awful, and since the snow was continuously falling, most roads didn’t even have tire tracks to follow. The conditions were hellish, even by Wisconsin standards. The saving grace was the lack of ice on the road…and the snow tires on her car. She decided to first take us to a small temple near where her mother lived in Tarui (the town just west of Ogaki). We stopped at her mom’s place, and were promptly given umbrellas for the falling snow (a new concept to me, that’s for sure). They also attempted to find snow boots for Wallin, but even the dad’s boots came nowhere close to fitting the gigantic feet of Mr. Eric Wallin. We made the short trek to the temple, all the while admiring the absolutely gorgeous scenery around us. The freshly fallen snow made everything especially beautiful. No one else was at the temple, so we rang at the caretaker’s house and asked permission to ring the bell at the temple. This isn’t normally something you get a chance to do at bigger, more crowded temples. So we each took our turns ramming the hanging log into the bell and listening to the low, subdued tone ring out and then slowly fade away into the countryside…only to have a bell at another temple ring out, as if to answer our call. It was dead silent, other than the occasional bell, and the experience left me with a profound sense of calm and serenity. There are certain moments, such as this, that remind me why I am enamored with Japan and convince me that some part of me in inextricably connected, and resonates on a base level, with the kokoro (heart) of Japan.
Apologies for getting somewhat sentimental there. After ringing the bell, we were given a look inside the temple and a chance to pray, and then a bag of goodies from the caretaker. We then headed back to the car and set off for the large shrine in the area. It was supposed to be busy, but due to the horrible road conditions, hardly anybody was there. I felt bad for all the food vendors set up on the path from the parking lot to the shrine. Not only was hardly anybody out, but those that made the trek out weren’t stopping to enjoy food out in the cold and snow. Not exactly an auspicious start to their new year. We continued to the shrine, tossed our ten yen coins in (there is a play on words where the amounts ten and fifty yen also mean sufficient luck, thus those amounts are preferable) and prayed for good fortune. I also wanted to make sure and buy everyone an “omamori” or good luck charm of sorts. There are different charms for different aspects of life, including work, study, love, travel, pregnancy, etc. Maria begged me to not get her the studying one, so I went with a general protection from bad luck. I knew for sure I was getting Wallin the charm for love, and I am happy to say that I’ve already gotten reports from Wallin that the charm is working. (yeah, who has your back? you’re welcome) I also picked up a couple for James (from capoeira) to send back. We then pretty much headed back to the car and got dropped off near the apartments, complete with incessant bowing and thanking upon parting. We got back to the apartment it was after 3am, and in our amazing genius, decided we weren’t too tired, and threw on Porco Rosso (a Miyazaki film). And we were getting hungry, so I made some rice and boiled curry sauce pouches. Mmm…nothing like curry rice at 4:30am. Wallin slept through a good chunk of the movie, but Maria and I managed to stay awake. Then we all finally called it quits and headed to bed at 6am. Healthy, I know.
Obviously, we got quite the late start on New Year’s Day (as many tend to do…granted, we had no alcohol involved). Wallin wanted some sushi before he left, so we finally ventured from the apartment mid-afternoon for a rotating sushi restaurant about 20 min away by foot. The walk was less than pleasant due to the fact that all the snow from the previous night was melting and everything was wet and slushy. Still, this was made up for by tasty, tasty sushi. Maria was apparently not feeling terribly well as she only had 4 plates. Wallin, however, put in a very solid showing at 15 plates, and I hit a happy medium at 10. The fatty salmon at this place is extremely addicting and by far my favorite thing they have. And at 2 pieces for 100 yen (just over a buck), it’s super cheap!
By the time we finished eating and trudged back to the apartment, it was time to head over to Jon’s place for the group viewing of the new Sasuke tournament being broadcast on NHK. For those who don’t know, the program goes by the name of “Ninja Warrior” in the states and is shown on the G4 network (www.g4tv.com or Youtube for clips). It happens twice a year and is a 4 stage obstacle course. 100 people get a shot, most of whom are TV celebrities selected as jokes, but then there are generally about 20-25 competitors who try and give it their all. Anyway, Sarah’s brother was visiting as well, so we had a rather large group together for the six hours of programming bliss. The only guy to have passed all 4 stages (since they ramped up the difficulty), and all-around badass, Makoto Nagano, unfortunately had a mental lapse in concentration and got out on the first stage, much to our horror (although Jon called the upset on that one, and demands credit).
That's right, how can you resist a classy fisherman who can also kick Chuck Norris's ass? Reference photo below:
Okay ladies (and Wallin), stop drooling, it's not very becoming of you. Especially you, Maria, you're going to make Mark Dacascos jealous. A relatively new guy, however, ended up completing all 4 stages this time. And of course, the producers promised a completely revamped (and likely ungodly difficult) course for next time. I can’t wait. We then stayed up quite late at Jon’s place discussing anything and everything, from Jon explaining the supposed finer points of the city of Baltimore that Maria has yet to discover, to the general differences between the North and South (and general regional heterogeneity within the US), to the fact that one of Maria’s roommates is, in fact, not Southern, but rather South-ren, a not-so-subtle distinction that Jon was able to point out for us. (Jon being from North Carolina, and thus able to educate us on the ways of the South, which, at times, seems like a foreign country to me.) Sometime past 2am we finally decided to call it quits.
Sadly, the next day already marked Wallin’s departure. More on that next post.
