As the snow got more and more, Ritsu and I went on a mission to Sengawa to get fresh food for New Year’s Eve (mainly fish pieces) and I had fun to watch the crazier-than-usual hustle and bustle in one of the bigger supermarkts “Queen’s Isetan“, they appear to be a bit upper class and have a massive selection and their shashimi platter were great. I was also amazed by all the different European cheeses I found (albeit packed in mini overprized units). But the diversity of products made me wheep at times. Fresh nice crusty breads, fresh clean produce, many pre-made food items at fair prices …
(Click for Big)
The way back, packed as we were, with snowflakes growing in size and numbers, was sure fun. I could only take pictures while it was still ‘lighter’ and we were still in the shopping area:
(Click for Big)
So our dinner was a huge temaki/sashimi orgy, similar to the one we had the last time we were here, and then we spend the ‘rest of the year’ watching those end of the year TV specials with questionable music and comedy acts that I could only guess how funny they were.
Waking up and having some playtime with Miffy.
And looking outside: snowflakes are falling!
Thanks to grandma Keiko being the baby sitter, we had the rare chance to go to the city for about 5 hours door to door to do some shopping in Shinjuku. The hustle and bustle of these center points is always fun and it seemed a bit extra crazy because a) people have xmas money to spend (or are returning gifts) b) a lot of people have this week between the holidays off c) clear blue skies.
We started with some baby clothing shopping at “Comme Ca”, followed by getting some books at Kinokuniya while on the way comparing prices for that one camera I wanted to get (so far the price for Ritsu’s was the lowest) and then at Sakuraya I bought a nice portable 80GB hard drive.
We hopped back on the train to go to the Tokyo Dome area. The dome appears to be a huge sports arena, and around it are all kinds of theme park rides, including a rollercoaster and a huge ferris wheel. For the same 3 reasons as stated above, families with kids were all over the place and since it was lunch time, we saw growing lines at eateries, including McDonald’s … can’t say I have ever seen a line at McD’s before. Gladly our destination had just a very short waiting list.
Since our last year’s California Trip we have become quite fond of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and when I found out before that there is even one in Tokyo, we just had to go. Of course we had to take the mandatory bench picture (you can compare with the ones from San Francisco and Monterey Bay) and once we stepped it, it was pretty much the same.
Well, the constant sound of a friendly “irashaimaseeeeeee” and “hai, dozoooooo” was probably a bit different. They were even so considerate to tell us that the table which is available is currently getting direct sunlight (which I later realized and Ritsu got to feel, is quite a factor for black haired people), It was also nice that I got the english version of the menu, which is 99% the same as in the US, the 1% being the prices in Yen.
We both ordered our favourite chilled shrimp baskets, 24 shrimps per person, not bad. With that a smoothie which was closer to a desert somehow, and a basket of fries. Quality and service the same if not better, many families with kids around. At their price tag I was surprised to see how crowded it was. Our total was around 60 USD, and those shrimp are in the appetizer section of the menu!
On the way back we split up so I could go back to the place where we bought Ritsu’s cam and I got my own. Conversation was no problem and about an hour after Ritsu I arrived home, too (had to stop by Uni Qlo to buy a hat, with the sun going down it got freezing cold.
Julius was happy to see us and after bathing we tried one of his new items on. I bet they will show up on pictures to come. Some of them we bought too big, they are for later.
Dinner was some fried pork which was excellent and salad, which showed that my tomato mozarella salad inspired Ritsu’s mom to add some of these. Nice.
This morning we tried this new foldable, portable, table-attachable high-chair which we had ordered online. While it first looked too small, it fits well and hopefully will be useable for another 3-4 months. Julius really liked it, but sitting like this is still quite tiring for him so after 10 minutes he became cranky.
The snow was not just a joke .. it turned into nice big flakes and layed a nice white cover all over (well, slushy stuff on the roads). On our stroll to the sushi place I took some video. Even at the fairly small screen size, the snow is quite visible.
Enjoy the videoclip
For some more cool Tokyo snow pictures visit chipple.net, my Tokyo pal Patrick ran out during lunchbreak to snap some shots before the snow would melt away.
After Ritsu returned from her business thing we walked through the snow, which had grown to big fat flakes and starts to stay / builds icky mush on the street to the one slightly overprized sushi place nearby, where we had been on our last trip twice. While the food quality, presentation and the service are outstanding, they are a cheeky bunch. Out of 3 lunches so far we only got the lunch special the first time around. Second time it was a Saturday, and this time it is a whole holiday week without lunch specials. (the other cheeky things are: when you order beer you also get some little pickles and stuff with it, but they do not tell you that you are charged extra for it. And they charge a 10% service fee, which even Ritsu had never heard off).
We even got the same table again (maybe the ‘far in the corner gaijin table?) as you can see if you compare with the old trip report.
I was in heaven to see that they offered Ankimo (cold slices of steamed monk fish liver, here is how to make it[if you can get your hands on monk fish liver]), another item I have not had in a while. On our last US trip I recall that we asked in 3 restaurants which had it on the menu, but they all said that they are out. Ritsu had this interesting tower of 3 boxes with all kinds of interesting things in it, most of which I had no idea what it was. I had the 2000Y (plus tax) Sushi plate which was nice and plenty and a clear upgrade from the 1500Y platter. The whole lunch cost us around 50USD and we only drank tea! Yikes! … but very nice food.
No, it does NOT snow in Fiji. We are still on our holiday trip in Japan. And this morning after we got up, we noticed those flakes falling (have not seen that for a while myself) and some of it actually seems to stay. So I took a quick walk with Julius and he was rather dazzled… wait until you can play with that stuff and daddy hits you with your first snowball 
In the morning kangaroo dad Peter and little packed-tight-and-warm Julius left for a walk and a stroll to the supermarket. There a very old lady could not really believe / imagine how Julius was attached to me … first I thought her gestures indicated that she wanted to hold him, but then she went for the zipper of my jacket and once she saw the baby bjoern and understood the concept she was happy.
Ritsu kept being busy with some work related stuff so we are still occupying the dining room area with both computers. For lunch Ritsu and Shinsuke went to that Ramen place we were before, but I was not hungry so I stayed home with the (then) sleeping Julius. Sure enough 5 minutes after the door closed, he woke up and gave me a lot of fun: double diaper change, some warm water bottle to suckle on, walking and dancing around, nothing would sooth him. Gladly mommy returned after 1 hour and he finally got what he really wanted
Later in the afternoon I went shopping again since I had decided to make a nice Italian mozzarella, basil and tomato salad with balsamico vinegar, garlic and olive oil. That fresh, round, white, sold-in-liquid mozarella is not available in Fiji, so it had been a very long time since I had this flavor. The basil and the cherry tomatoes were great, too. With that I ordered another circular bread based Italian delicacy and I wish I had not forgotten to look for some kind of pre-made / frozen tiramisu…. ah well, there is always tomorrow.
Some playtime with his big bunny love Miffy, huggling, snuggling, kissing, biting ears and feet, throwing her around a bit and comparing fashion notes on orange outfits.
She is one of his many bunnies (for some reasons many of his plush animals are rabbits or ducks but we also have 2 penguins and a Winnie the Pooh. Enjoy the videoclip.
(How are we getting them all into our suitcases later???)
Ah, feeling much better today: So we decided to stroll to the supermarket fairly early, which also meant that the meat selection was not yet all out. So we bought half of what we needed and returned home. This supermarket is only 5 minutes away, nice walk with Julius on me. Since the sun was shining and the climate was nice, we just returned the goods home and then walked in very different direction which I have not been in yet, following a hand-drawn map by Ritsu’s dad and sure enough we got pretty lost.
For those who have never been in a neighborhood-ly area of Tokyo, you cannot imagine the maze it is most of the time. Street names are generally unheard of and even the maps at street corners and bus stations are rather confusing. We realized we were wrong when we had to ask several people and even they had no clue. One young man then at least knew of the store we wanted to go to and after a big detour, we found it. A semi-big electronics store named Denkodo but nothing compared in size to Yamada Denki or BicCamera. Also the pricing: Ritsu’s camera was 50$ more and the only helpful comment by the salesman was “this one has no zoom”. Another guy adressed me very nicely in English and was surprised that I replied in Japanese. I only picked some small items (SD card reader and a stack of DVD-R) and now we tried to follow the way back, through a different maze this time, but it became apparent that we were on a very hard to describe short cut along a big park, which on the way TO the store we fully cirumvented.
So we arrived in time before Julius was biting off my nose and after the usual feeding / diaper routine Ritsu took him by stroller to Sengawa to have lunch with a colleague. This gave me some time to do some stuff, but after a couple of hours I took the 15 minute walk to find them and stroll back with them. I found the restaurant they were (“Anker Here”, great Japanese name), have been actually, I missed them but met them on the way back, we stopped by a nearby pharmacy where more Japanese ladies in white labcoats went all “kawaiiiii, ne” (how cute) over him and started drooling.
After another quick stroll to Seiyu (that supermarket), again with Julius, we got the meat we needed, and while I peeled the veggies, Ritsu created us a classic, ‘simple’ but very tasty Japanese dinner (Niku-Jaga
While daddy spent most of the day in bed, Julius enjoyed reading books with mommy. He listens very attentively, loves the pictures and of course nibbles on the pages from time to time.
Oh what fun, recently I have developed occasional high bloodpressure occurences and the pre-travel stress and the dry air here must have so dehydrated me that I woke up at 3 AM with a very fuzzy feeling. This got even better when the water I drank did not want to stay down and i had to puke, this happened until 8 AM. Whatever liquid I tried to get in, 5 minutes later out. None of last night’s food appeared, so I guess that was not the culprit.
We involved grandma Keiko who is a head nurse here and she said that high bloodpressure can indeed trigger this reaction. I did not know that. She was sweet and went to her clinic (on a Sunday) and got a portable bloodpressure meter, an ECG, some medication which will stop the vomiting and 2 IV bags, which we hung up and yes, BP was high, but dropped after an hour and basically I just had to ride it out and finally I could catch up with some sleep. Felling better now, still a bit weak (7 times puking is not easy and not much fun at all)
And here is your daily sunrise:
(Click for big, screensaver size 1260×768, this time for widescreen screens), and yes, some photoshopping was involved)
For breakfast we tried the brunch buffet in the hotel which was plenty and nice and a weird mix of classic Japanese food items and then western stuff. Some more salmon with this strawberry jam toast? Julius seemed to like his first, limited high-chair experience.
Oh, and 30 minutes before we have to check out I discover an Ethernet cable hidden behind the TV cabinet, and guess what, highspeed internet connection. Had I only looked earlier …
The trip back was longer and a bit harder since Julius was not the good boy he was before and which check out door-to-door travel time was 4h. But he was very fascinated about the ads featuring bikini girls!
And we were very glad to be back home. Later I took a little stroll down the one big street here I had not explored yet with Julius and he loved it.
Dinner was hotpot: Lots of nice things swimming in a broth, fish and shrimp and lots of veggies. And 2 trays of Uni … i guess I overdosed.
I have a very nice videoclip of this, but I still try to fiddle with some tech problems. (heck, I uploaded it that way, so, there is something funky in the beginning … tried to edit it out, but it only made things worse)
Merry Xmas Eve Day everyone.
I guess this will be a rather short entry because the whole day was just about sleeping, bathing and eating.
Getting up early has the advantage of enjoying a spectacular sunrise over that island that’s just right out there.
(Click for big, screensaver size 1024×768, and yes, some photoshopping was involved)
Breakfast was the usual honey toasts, this time with Fijian honey.
I tried to get some more sleep, but instead I kept walking around with Julius, singing along about 8 different versions of “Last Christmas” … the Wham! version not even included (Let’s see: Hillary Duff, Jimmy Eat World [what kind of band-name is that?], N’sync, Rap Allstars, Backstreet Boys, 2 Japanese artists whose names I cannot read and a techno remix).
And of course the usual snuggle and ‘look out there’ time in those comfy couches and lounge chairs.
For lunch we had a variety of beef slices with several dipping sauces and salad and then finally I got to take my nap.
Next thing I recall was being woken up for dinner, talk about a Garfield style of life. We took double cabs to a small traditional Japanese seafood place Keiko-san had made reservations for us. We had our own room and oh-my-gawd-the-food! I had a fairly ‘simple’ sashimi platter, but the quality was just like ‘this fish was still alive 3 minutes ago’ and it made the 30USD price tag for about 12 pieces of sashimi look too cheap.
Shinsuke had eel on rice, Keiko and Ritsu had some kind of snapper grilled in the typical blend of soy sauce, sake, garlic, ginger and sugar. And grandpa Kazuyoshi had some evil looking fish too.
It was very nice and fun to be able to take turns with Julius. Again I got to talk to complete strangers and we just kept watching what happened behind the sushi bar.
Somehow we drank more water than beer. The fact that the climate is fairly dry compared to Fiji just totally dehydrates us and we are thirsty all the time.
Back at our hotel, Shinsuke and I hit the spa. Those typical Japanese bath places are just fantastic. For those who do not know: it is not co-ed (darn), you wash, shower, soap and rinse BEFORE you get into the bath … an important fact which is typically feared that gaijin like me would miss.
I think seeing a foreigner at this place was a bit strange for some people … none of the information of the hotel is in english (besides some misspelled words, like ‘Kitchinette”) and I have not seen any other non Japanese person.
The spa area has 3 pools, a hot one outside (nice), a hot one inside and a friggin’ cold one inside. My foot is still not forgiving me for having used it to dip in and check the temperature. Shinsuke soaked in there for a few minutes and just said ‘challenge’
For obvious nudity reasons, there are no photos about this part of the trip. But I keep having this idea of how funny a music video could be, a gaijin walking into the obviously wrong spa area, the lady’s, totally ignoring the screaming or staring women. Could be all shot without showing any nudity but lots of comedy … but this is just one of those weird little movies in my head
Also nice is that all kinds of things are provided, like combs, razors, lotions … there were even 2 vending machines and one of them of course had beer … not sure how well that goes with 40C+ water, but heck.
For our holiday trip we left around 10:30, taking 2 taxis (5.5 people plus luggage) to the train station. In total we had to take 4 different trains and Julius slept most of the time, or he was reason enough for strange Japanese ladies to walk up to me and chat me up in nihongo. By now I got the pattern of the usual questions and I can make some nice, polite small talk.
The last train was the most fun: It was going along the coast line and the seats were even installed in a way that you could enjoy the great scenery better. Videoclip
The whole trip took around 3 hours, once we arrived in Izukogen, we left one person (Grandpa) with the luggage and the rest of us went supermarket shopping. Again I chatted with total strangers about their dogs and my baby, fun. Since we are staying for 3 days and the hotel we are going to only has a small, overpriced shop, we got everything we thought we would need. Julius was in particular impressed by the fish shop and the live crab, fish and lobster.
Besides the fact that I picked up a wi-fi internet signal in the train station, the next thing that amazed me was a small hotspring area just outside the station where people could just quickly relax their feet.
Another double cab ride later we arrived at our Condominium Suite Hotel ‘Village’ which is a great place and each unit has a fantastic view of the ocean, a ‘vista bathroom’ and in our case, we are on the top floor, 2 bedrooms, 1 tatami room, which we took, a huge kitchenette, dining room, living room area, 1.5 bathsrooms and a tiny sauna unit. When living in Tokyo, having an apartment like this for a few days must feel like heaven … actually, it kinda does … if they only had wi-fi Well, they have a huge TV.
Anyways … after we sorted things out, me and Ritsu went for a dip in the jacuzzi and a swim in the pool (there are also 2, gender seperated, hot spring bathing areas) and then a 12 minute session in the sauna. Upon return we witnessed the beautiful colors that the sunset created.
(Click for big, screensaver size 1024×768, and yes, some photoshopping was involved)
And now … dinner … somehow we did not end up taking many pictures (but video) but that huge sashimi boat which grandma Keiko had pre-ordered was just fantastic
lots of super fresh fish, salmon roe (ikura), a pile of sea urchin filets (uni), lobster … well, you get the idea when you see the video clip
Winding down time, TV, some people hitting the baths, others fell asleep in front of the TV, all in all super relaxation time.
To finish today’s entry, here just 2 random pictures of the fun use of the english language in Japan:
This is fun, we just spent 3 hours in 4 different trains and are now somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I am sitting here in the train station guarding the luggage while we all run around buying food for the next 3 days. We will spend the holidays here in one of those bath places … I will ad the link later …
best is: just opened the computer and tada! online! wireless! for free !!!
Another fairly mellow day. Some more supermarket shopping with Julius. Always fun to watch people’s faces … not that a tall blong gaijin is weird enough … but male and carrying a baby?
For lunch we had some very tasty chinese pork buns and after that Ritsu got ready for some work related meeting. So me and grandma took care of Julius. She took him for a stroll which gave me some time off .. but after that he was very grumpy and just a joy to have around … nothing I could do would sooth him … until of course, murphey’s law, mom comes back and he is all happy again.
We used Dominos again for dinner, nice big pizza this time, I forgot exactly what was on it.. one half was called Spicy Deluxe and the other was Genovese. And a neat variety of chicken pieces to go with that.
Later we started working (finally) on our xmas card, which now you can see here with music and snowflakes (if you use IE) or just below. We had some great ideas for this year’s card … ranging from making it a video clip to recording the song in a karaoke studio … we actually did a couple of recordings, but at some point we were close to biting each other’s heads off and permission to use that one take I liked was denied .. and then somehow the xmas spirit for that evening was used up.
PS: I got a belated permission and now you can scare your family members away by hearing us sing “baby it’s cold outside”.
2 Days ago, when we were at that concert, I took some pics and somehow Ritsu’s old cam died. So I had the great excuse of getting her a new one for xmas. And since we did not get that done yesterday, we went today. This was Julius’ first ride on a train!
There is a Yamada Denki place only 2 subway stops away from here, and since I bought my last camera at Yamada, I had points left on my discount card, so their little trap worked nicely and we went to them.
We had already settled on the Canon Powershot SD20 also known as the Ixy L2 in Japan and the I5 in Europe (a href=”http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd20-review/index.shtml”>here a very detailed review with test images) and the idea was that maybe we get 2 of them, one for me, one for her, and get a nice discount … last time at Yamada we talked them down price wise since we paid cash AND we got a free camera bag … but no … no price discussion, sign already said price and cash price … no freebies .. and get this: “we are not selling 2 cameras to 1 person” … HUH ??? ok ok … so .. that gives us time to test this one out and (yes, Ritsu got it in this dark red, very cool) and see if I want it too.
What was interesting was that the sales person idiot insisted that this camera does not come with any memory card, so we would need to buy one. All reviews I have read said that it would have a 32MB card in the box, but who knows what Japanese stores would do to knock down the price … so, since even 32 is preety meek, we got an extra 64 MB card … and once we opened the box, ta da … there was the 32MB card! Well .. he was probably just reading off the ad-label and someone had forgotten to mention that it does come with 32MB.
On the way back we got some food at the supermarket … it si incredible how good the quality of this ‘fast food’ is … I had an 8 piece nigiri sushi set for 5$ and Ritsu had some rice something something dish for 4$ … My biggest purchase of the day was a pair of socks which has small little ‘units’ for each toe … they are kinda cool and very comfy … tricky to put on though.
The rest of the afternoon was mellow, reading newspapers (sorry, Jon, no flight ads at all in the Japan Times today) being online …
And since I had been up since 2 AM, I totally slept through dinner … not even sure what it was …
update 4 AM wednesday, day#6
Waking up early again, diaper change at 3:30 … and after feeding Ritsu reheats me some of the dinner: Beef, kinda sukiyaki flavourish with enoki mushrooms … nice …
The nice thing about vacation is that we do not HAVE to do anything. While we had plans for some camera shopping, it all went a bit different.
After the usual early wake up call thanks to Julius we sat on our computers until it was time for breakfast and then I went back to bed, and woke up when it was noon and Ritsu was already grumpy because she had to take care of Julius all alone. So now it was her turn of taking a nap. So we napped around and had a fairly late lunch. We just went to the grocery store and got some prepared stuff from there. I had a rice dish topped with crabmeat, sea urchin and ikura. Amazingly enough, the actual food looked very much like the picture on the box.
Then it was bathing and feeding time.
We have added some things to Julius’ diet: he now drinks tea and juice … and he loves suckling on apple pieces.
Dinner was crablegs and some chicken skewers, all very yummy!
Sometimes you don’t know what you are missing until you see it again, in this case a live performance of classical music by a grand orchestra.
Today we went to Kawasaki (leaving Julius with grandma) to meet schoolfriends of Ritsu: Atena, Sawa and Utako. We first had lunch in one of the many restaurants on the 7th floor of a nearby department store. I had some really nice sashimi which came with the fish leftover for decoration. I also got to play with Atena’s son, who I met before when we were in Tokyo … (not that he rememered me)
Here is a nice comparison between the plastic display and the actual food I got … pretty close .. I bet the plastic one is more crunchy
After that we went to the new Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall for a concert. Atena’s husband is a violinist with the Blumen Philharmonic Orchestra and they played some great stuff and this concert hall is really nice and has great acoustics.
Afterwards we went to a nearby electronics store to see the latest in digital cameras, as I fear that after 3 years and 8000 pictures I finally killed Ritsu’s camera .. so, new cam to be had very soon … which should also erradicate the CF card reader problem.
The trip back home was smooth too. 2 trains and a bus later we arrived.
Julius was happy to see us and was eager to get some immediate feeding.
Dinner was very nice, some tempura shrimp, some sticky mix of ikura and seaweed, salad and other nice bits and pieces, very tasty indeed.
Julius slept fairly long, woke up only around 3 AM for diaper change and feeding and then me and Ritsu spent some time online so that then, when we went back to bed, we kinda slept in, which was very nice. Later Julius was hanging out with his bunny pals.
I did a quick shopping run to the grocery store since I ‘stole’ grandfather’s last beer the night before, which he likes to have fairly early on a Saturday and I also bought my daily fix of ikura.
For lunch we went to a noodle place I had never been before.
Very nice, all counter seating, the baby behaved pretty well, grandfather and uncle were again highspeed eaters, so when Julius started acting up a bit, his grandpa took him outside. The food was very good, very fresh noodles in a delicious broth just with a slice of pork and bamboo shoots. Click here for the videoclip
On our way back we came through the shopping area again and we stopped by grandma’s clinic again so that ladies from a different shift could see Julius, who was fast asleep at that time.
The afternoon was lazy and keeping-the-baby-happy time, but we also figured out that grandpa’s printer has a CF card slot so with several transfer methods I finally got the first batch of pictures off the camera, onto the computer and so on the website (scroll down to see)
For dinner I treated the family to pizza. I know, does not sound very fancy, but it was actually fun, interesting and deserves its own blog entry a bit later … but .. truffles in Pizza? or tripple crust with cheese layers in between? I need to scan in that menu.
And finally we got the baby to sleep .. but here the Daily Julius “I’m even cuter with my mom” picture:
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