Christmas in Tokyo

Christmas is a big thing here. Of course there is no real tradition for it so it is something rather modern and therefore are some funny things to find. Nevertheless, not quite different from the copy and paste food (i will report of later) i am somewhat disappointed because of the decency with which things are put up here all in all. I only heard “Last Christmas” twice. Most of the time You have dimmed down classical music or choruses chanting even very rare themes from my home country like “Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen”.
Yesterday i passed by Roppongi Hills with my love, who is staying in Tokyo at the time, and we stumbled into a Christmas Market, where you can get lots of wooden craft, sausage and kraut, and even sweet hot wine (Glühwein)! Yeah!

Anyway it really is birthday time now, as the Japanese Emperor is celebrating his on the 23rd. We took the rare occasion to enter the area of the Imperial Palace which is closed except for two days of the year and get a glance of the buildings as well as the royal family, showing up on a balcony and addressing the crowd.

Then we went on to nearby Yasukuni shrine, which in fact never has been visited by the present emperor, there we had some soba among ultra nationalists and an assembly of Yakuza, who nevertheless gathered there for that particular day.
All in all exploring Tokyo together with my girlfriend was a very exciting and romantic time. Today we will celebrate Christmas together, and from tomorrow travel to Takayama and Kyoto.






















Merry Christmas to all of You!
Kathi and Christian

Christmas Fotos

Samurais can cath a cold too....

Funny commercial from Contac...

Trade

As it seems to be the appropriate time to talk about consumption, I continue with two major trading spots in Tokyo.

Tsukiji Market Japans largest one and also one of worlds largest wholesalemarkets. But the main thing of interest there is fish. Auctions taking place there in early morning, and you can watch all steps of fish being processed. Away from the hectic tuna auctions the goods being delivered to merchants, who saw the big animals and sale pieces of several kilos weight, which move on to the sushi-stores, were they once again are sliced up into much more tinier pieces, fitting on a small rice ball now. Besides fish you can get anything which used to be living in the sea. Especially in the morning it gets very hectic and you really have to be careful about all the small pick-up-carts entering even narrowest galleries, its already difficult to pass on foot without stumbling over anything. We ended our visit with a plate of freshest sushi possible. It was delicious, but as it was early morning and also some special titbits topping the rice, it turned out to be a particular challenge. And again it was early morning!

The other one is Tokyo Stock Exchange. Again one of worlds largest as probably anyone knows. But no hectic there, as floor trade has been put down and anything is computerized now. Instead of closing everything down for public too, as the paranoiacs did in New York and Chicago, they put up a giant screen where the quotes of all major listed companies are displayed. Nowadays there are only some system maintenants working there along with agents from finance news corporations. The giantesque arrangement seemed to be rather useless, but it reminded me of those science fiction movies as well as the funny Go for it (“Zwei bärenstarke Typen”). As this place is not among major tourist spots i had my guided tour together with only one guy from the Netherlands being into commodities trading.
Very interesting tour!

All fotos on Trade!

Overall favorite Tags on Flickr!

I really was surprised when I saw this:

Japan being among the most frequently used tags on flickr, just after Wedding and together with Family, Party and Travel. So this country really seems to be very popular with travelers. I wasnt aware of that at all! Quite probably this is because it particualrily attractive for all the technic-afficiandos which are certainly overrepresanted on flickr...

Melons for 60Euros each – Costs in Japan

I went to Japan somehow anxious about the high prices, i have heard of. Tokyo is said to have been worlds most espensive city up to 2005 now being the second to next.
But as soon as i got here I got more relaxed. Thanks to a strong Euro together with a weak Yen (different interest rates along with a weak dollar the Yen is tied to) the widespread horror stories are definitely outdated today (for Europeans at least...)

In fact there are some things that are really expensive here, especially in Tokyo:

1. Housing (this applies definitely to Tokyo, this is also why so many people taking daily rides of 1h and more).
2. Riding the Shinkansen (Taking the local trains or rapid ones is cheap, but as you have to get along with distances quite often, so you will want to get on a limited express or the said Shinkansen and a seat reservation there doubles resp. tripples the price).
3. Fruits and vegetables: The melons are still expensive, and a single apple costs around laughable 1,5 Euros. But it is possible to get around that somehow. Tangerines (what a stupid word for Mandarinen!) and Banans are ok. Replace lettuce with soy sprouts and it is ok too.
   

But just like the mentioned points above, the real costs are not about about what you need, but what you can get.
This city is defintely a shopping mekka! I always wondered about all the people relating Tokyo to shopping (and consumption in a more general speaking). The point is there is an endless variety of stuff. You can get the cheapest (all the 100Yen shops), you can get the most luxuriest (Ginza), as well as the most kinky (Akihabara, Harajuku) and of course all the traditional (Asakusa) stuff. And you get what you have paid for practically all the time.
Myself surely being far away from a shopping junkie, the more i see, the more difficult for me it gets to set back. Never experienced such a situation in all my life so far...!
Fitting topic for Christmas approaching somehow...

Hakone – Fujispotting and Leaves Hunt

After several weeks in central Tokyo it was definitely time for me to get out and experience some nature. So i took the Romancecar last Sunday and went over to Hakone, just at the border of the Kanto plain. As it was the right time, weather was promising and it was the last day of a long weekend, this japanese tourism hotspot par excellence was crowded just like back at Shinjuku station where I started my trip.
At Hakone Yumoto, I had to change for the Tozan small railway up to Gora, a way which is said to be scenic, but as it was just like metro at rushhour i couldnt get much of the scenery.

Up there, i had to change two more times, first for the Tozan Cable Car, then for the Hakone Ropeway. Just a fine variety of means of transportation i had there! When the Ropeway made it over the final ridge up to Owakudani, the reason why this spot attracted hordes of visitors became evident as the Fuji was raising in front of a bright autumn sky!
What an impressive view!

But Owakudani is an attraction by itself, as the mountain crest is covered with sulphuric hotsprings and steam fuming out of the rugged ground. Unfortunately the nature-trail leading right through the moonlike landscape was closed down by the time, so i had to content myself watching it from some distance. Furthermore Owakudani also has its culinary speciality, that is black eggs, which are boiled in pools of the said hotsprings, giving them a dark colour thanks to a chemical reaction.

By then i definitely had to escape from the crowds and make my way down to lake Ashi along a hiking trail, leading through a forest in full autumnal decoration. It is momijigari season, the time Japanese are hunting for turned red leaves and its considered to be just the autumn equivalent of cherry blossom, well covered in weather reports. And in fact, besides the famous radiant red you have all kinds of different colours.
After stopping at a temple and a tea house, both well hidden in the forest i got to the lakeshore of Togendai from where i took the megakitschy pirateboat ferry down to Hakone-machi, which is once again offering great views of the Fuji. Down there is the reconstruction of Edo-period Hakone Checkpoint, one of many posts serving to collect taxes on goods arriving form outside Edo as well keeping the few female inhabitants of the city inside (and therefore the daimyos loyal?). From there I walked over to Moto Hakone with its famous Shrine.

That's where I decided, to stay overnight as i definitely wanted to hike a little bit more and soak in an onsen without being worried about getting the last connection back home. So I stayed at Moto Hakone Guesthouse (Just a walk form the lakeshore up to Ashinokomae bus station, (0460-3-7880), where i got a small but cosy room for the night.
After having spent the evening at the great Mori no Yu, I got up early the next day and made my way back to Yumoto along the Stone Paved Edo Time Highway, going down from the vulcanic heights along a scenic valley. Back at Yumoto i dipped once more into an onsen pool at the rustic Kappa Tengoku, before finally returning to Tokyo.

All Hakone fotos!

In the ropeway up to Owakudani