Tokyo’s Best Cherry Blossoms

It’s no secret that the cherry blossoms in Japan are phenomenal. Sakura season is without a doubt my favourite time of year. Even when we started discussing moving out of Japan and back to the states, I was adamant that we stay for at least one more Spring, so I could see the cherry blossoms. Now, that fleeting season has come and gone, and I stayed very true to my word. I went out to see a TON of cherry blossoms this year (just check my Instagram).

Since I have gone all aroud Tokyo to see it’s blossoms, I thought I would make a post listing my all time and absolute favourite cherry blossom locations. Granted the entire city turns pink and you will be able to see them on any street corner, but these are my top picks for a really breathe-taking sakura experience.

1. Meguro River

Starting right outside of Naka-Meguro Station and going all the way to Meguro Station, the Meguro River is completely lined with cherry blossoms. The walking paths along the riverside take you right under the canopy of flowers for a completely magical experience. The Naka-Meguro also has a great cherry blossom festival in its surrounding hip and trendy shops and restaurants!

2. Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku’s park is one of the more famous locations to see the cherry blossoms, but comes with two slight hitches: There is a (very small) admission fee, and you can’t bring alcohol into the park. This deters some people from wanting to have their hanami there, but I view it as a bonus. (No obnoxious drunks like you may find in, say, Yoyogi Park). Additionally, the flowers in Shinjuku Gyoen are my favourite, with a variety of gorgeous flower types.

3. Inokashira Park

Somehow less popular than the other famous parks, Inokashira was actually where we had our hanami picnic this year. It was magnificent: In one of the coolest areas of Tokyo, Kichijoji, but somehow less crowded at peak viewing season than the other parks. Inokashira Park is most well known for it’s iconic swan boats, which look beautiful paddling around and under the flowers surrounding the lake.

There are my personal top three picks. I’d highly recommend them to anyone thinking of travelling to Japan around cherry blossom time. It’s an unforgettable sight no matter where you go to see them!

Japan’s Rabbit Island

I’d seen the videos on facebook even before moving to Japan: Girls in cute long skirts walking on dirt paths, mobs of fluffy bunnies hopping after them. Boys lying on the floor with a pile of bunnies sitting on them. From well before I got here, Rabbit Island was on my bucket list.

And last month, I finally made it there. The Rabbit Island, actually called Okunoshima, is found over in Hiroshima. It’s an island just a little ways off the coast by ferry, after a two hour trip total from Hiroshima station.

I didn’t really know anything about the island other than it was inhabited by wild but tame rabbits. The island itself was very small, and held only the ferry station, one resort hotel (entirely Rabbit Island themed), and multiple walking or bike trails. It also had the most beautiful Caribbean-Holiday-esque waters.

What I didn’t know about the island was it’s history. During the second world war, the island was essentially a poison gas factory. There are the ruins of various buildings from these manufacturers around the island. Rabbits were likely used for testing, but it is stated that the current rabbits are completely unrelated to any test subjects. Now, they just laze about in front of the decaying structures.

Now adays, the island is purely a tourist attraction. The rabbits are very comfortable with people, since they come daily to feed the critters snacks and vegetables. There are no predators on the island, save for a few circling hawks that we noticed, so the animals are really relaxed and VERY friendly. Some mind their own business and chill near you, but many run right up to you.

They aren’t even mangy or dirty- They’re the most ideal, fluffy, beautiful bunnies you could imagine! Just LOOK at those faces!

I think I may say this a lot, but this was my favourite destination so far in my life in Japan. It feels like all your childhood Snow White dreams coming true, playing with wild adorable rabbits. My only regret is not slipping a couple in my purse to take home.

Zao Fox Village

The following post describes perhaps my favourite adventure in Japan so far. Before I had moved to the country, a friend posted a video about this place on my Facebook wall and suggested I go. I promised I would, and finally, my promise was fulfilled.

This magical place is called Zao Fox Village, in the Miyagi prefecture of Japan. It’s a very small sanctuary that houses over a hundred foxes from six different species. The village is up in the mountains, and required a taxi ride to get to, but the taxis in that area are, understandably, extremely accessible to tourists.

There are two different areas in the village- the first has smaller cages containing injured, tired, or baby foxes to admire, as well as some goats and rabbits for some reason. Then the real attraction is the “Fox Village”, a large enclosed area of forest where you can walk among entirely wild and free foxes.

There are paths that visitors must walk on and lots of man made huts and houses for foxes to relax on, but they are surprisingly calm around people. I put my backpack down to take a photo at one point and a fox tried to eat the strap. Often they will run or walk right by you, or sit happily while you approach.

All the foxes seemed extremely content and happy in their home, which was a huge relief. Look at that sleepy baby!

You could also feed the foxes, by following their strict regulations. Food was sold to you (for a couple of dollars, about 200 yen) in a small gazebo, and you could throw the food down to foxes below.

Seeing them eyeing you hungrily was an amazing if not slightly unsettling experience.

Many foxes relaxing undisturbed off the path, while others napped right next to you. I really loved how the village was set up, allowing the foxes just enough freedom to come and go.

And of course, because foxes play crucial roles in lots of Japanese myth and lore, their village was beautiful.

And lastly, just was we were leaving, I heard a muffled loudspeaker announcement say “something something HUG A FOX something“. For a mere 600 yen, we were able to don florescent garb and HUG SOME FOXES! I had a happy grandma fox who cuddled with pleasure, while Joe got an excitable pup who was trying to wiggle free and return to the village staff.

A picture says a thousand words, but just in case: It was amazing.

Pokemon with You Train

There’s not too much of a story behind this: A while back I saw an ad on a flyer for a JR Pikachu train. So we booked tickets and went to sit on a Pikachu train.

The train was a limited edition car on a tiny, local track way way up north in the Miyagi prefecture. We took a Shinkansen all the way up, rode the line til the end, and rode it back again. Because how could we resist? It’s a Pikachu Choo-Choo!

The train had two cars. The first was a regular train car for seating the passengers, except it was GLORIOUSLY decorated with a Pikachu theme. Cozy yellow and brown, with Pikachu prints and images hidden about.

The second car was a Pikachu themed play center.

For all ages! It was also a great experience to meet and mingle with other Pikachu enthusiasts.

You may think it stranger to go all that way just for a Pikachu decor train, but where else in the world would you ever get to see something like this? And we did do one other thing while up north, but that will be in the next post. 

Climbing Mount Fuji

Before I’d moved to Japan, and a few times after, people had asked me “If you’re going to be in Japan, are you planning on climbing Mount Fuji?” My answer was always an awkward laugh and a hard no. I’m not athletic, I’m not strong, and I’ve never ever been particularly active. So I surprised myself greatly last month by accomplishing probably the greatest feat so far in my life, and reaching the summit of the mountain.

I’m writing this post to share my experience, to hopefully encourage others who don’t think they could climb Fuji, but also to warn people to not make my mistakes. Because it was HARD. But so incredibly worth it. I struggled quite a bit, to be honest, but looking back I can see where I went wrong. Either way, it was the most amazing experience and I’d never been more proud of myself.

Firstly, I did not go alone. I climbed as part of a tour group which I affectionately called the Grandma Tour. It was made up of 30-or-so people, ranging from my age to Grandma-age, and entirely Japanese beyond my party.

My party was two fellow westerners, and my Japanese friend and coworker, who arranged the expedition.  The Grandma Tour was to take the easiest route up the mountain, starting at the popular station 5 and passing all the lodges and break spots on the way to our lodge, at station 8. We were to leave just after noon from station 5, reach our lodging at 5:30, rest until midnight, then climb to the summit for sunrise.

Station 5 is the popular send-off station, already on the mountain, and has shops and restaurants and even a shrine. In preparation for the climb, I went to the shrine and got this charm which I was told brings good health. The other thing I brought was a simple Mount Fuji baseball cap, as a fun souvenir and also because I had forgotten to bring a hat.

And we set off! Right from the get go, I noticed a couple of things about our party- Only we three westerners lacked walking sticks, and only we three foreigners wore running shoes instead of hiking boots. This would not prove to be a problem for some time, but if you’re planning a climb I could not recommend these things more.

The very beginning of the hike was actually my favourite. There were still trees, and it was a very foggy day, and the scene was absolutely beautiful. We were actually also quite lucky, as the day of our hike was an unseasonably cool day for late summer in Japan. That’s not to say it was cool, of course. Just nice and warm instead of blisteringly hot. Perfect for a hike!

After walking through some clouds and coming up above them, the trees started to disappear and the true climb began. Or rather, very steep hike. No part of the climb was actually that strenuous.

There were, as we climbed higher, some very rocky bits that could not simply be walked up. You had to use your hands to scramble up them in a maneuver I called “Spiderman-ing”. Our lovely tour director loved the term and our whole group started using it, saying things like “Get ready, there are some more Spiderman-ing rocks ahead!” or “Only one more Spiderman until our next break!”

That was the greatest thing about the Grandma Tour- we took small breaks all the time. I think this really helped me in adjusting to the altitude. Since it’s a pretty easy climb, a lot of people will rush right up it which can increase the likelihood of altitude sickness. I, somewhat amazingly, did not suffer from altitude sickness on this trip at all. That was pure like, though, because some more experienced climbers in my group did feel the sickness.

And all this climb I was feeling FANTASTIC. I was having fun, I was keeping up with my athletic friend no problem, and I was genuinely enjoying the physical activity. What I was not doing, however, was eating or drinking. I was taking sips of water or energy drink (I’d brought big bottles of both) every break, but not too much since I wanted to avoid the pay toilets. And I just wasn’t feeling hungry for my lunch or snacks, so didn’t bother with nibbling. This was a very bad choice because obviously you need to fuel your climb but, I would not pay for this mistake until later.

Because our Grandma Tour was so wonderfully slow paced, we arrived a the lodge at 6:30 instead of 5:00. I have no pictures of our lodge, because it seemed rude to take pictures of sleeping people. But the lodge was just that- rows on rows of people packed like sardines, snoozing. We first were given a nice little curry and rice dinner, and were then encouraged to settle in for a nap. I felt a tiny bit woozy in the stomach after the dinner, but a quick huff of oxygen from my friend’s oxygen jar set me right. (They sell oxygen all over the mountain, and I highly suggest you grab one, just in case. It’s an absolute lifesaver.)

Now from my understanding, most lodges have a very strict quiet policy so that people can sleep.  Our lodge did not seem to have any such regulation, because people were loudly chatting the entirety of the time we were there. Japanese people have a special talent that allows them to sleep instantly at any time, anywhere, but we foreigners were all completely unable to sleep because of this. We were tired, of course, but the odd hours plus the unyielding blabber didn’t bode well. I do think this was a very very unfortunate stroke of bad luck, though, because I’d only heard good things about the lodges from other western friends.

The group rose to finish the hike a bit after midnight. At this point, I was cold. Super cold. I had the largest backpack of the entire tour stuffed with my warm layers as well as my boyfriend’s winter ski jacket, all of which I was wearing, but I was still freezing. Was this the consequence of no food or sleep? I imagine so. But the last part of the walk was easy slow slopes, so I managed.

I think the night walking was my favourite. My gloved hands were still too cold to take pictures, but it was beautiful. All the Japanese climbers wore headlamps or had flashlights, creating a blazing trail of speckled light going up the side of the mountain, like a glittering snake. The stars beyond the mountain were beautiful. And looking out, you could see the city lights of Tokyo and Yokohama out on the far horizon.

And then, of course, the sun came up.

I’d never seen anything more amazing, or felt as accomplished as I did watching the summit being covered in a golden glow.

And here’s proof I was there!

The summit had a few shops and such, and our tour leader took us into one such building to warm up and eat some nice udon. This helped relieve my suffering for a while. There was then the option to have a tour around the summit (for a little extra money), or to head back down. Cold and tired and already as accomplished as I could ever feel, I chose to join the descending party.

And oh boy was that no fun at all.

Keeping in mind that I had no sleep, very little food, probably not enough water, and just climbed a mountain despite not being in peak physical shape, it should be no surprise that my body was just about done. But the trail back down was a very simple, incredibly steep zigzag back down the mountain.

It is  an estimated three hours to get down this trail. It took me over five. My legs just gave up. Walking down the slope hurt so, so badly I had to stop every few minutes. At first we were descending with a group, then me and my friends separated from them, and finally I had them leave me behind because I was moving so so slowly. Walking backwards really helped, or sideways, but holy heck did it take me a good struggle. I really bet those walking sticks would have been a lifesaver here.

A thousand thank yous to my dear dear Japanese friend, who stayed for the summit tour but left them behind because she wanted to RUN DOWN THE MOUNTAIN (seriously, fit people!), eventually found me sitting on a rock, and carried my backpack and gave me friendly encouragement to make it back. And so I did.

So that’s my story! That’s my Fuji adventure. Still can’t believe I did it. I’m incredibly proud of myself, even while remembering my frankly embarrassing hardships. But I did it! And I did it without vomiting, not even once. So that’s something. And now every time I see Fuji in the distance, or even in photos, I can say “I’ve been there! I’ve stood on top of that.” And that’s pretty amazing.

Azabu Juban Festival: What We Ate

Summer in Japan is the time for festivals. I’ve posted about Japanese festivals before, reviewing the sights and sounds and amazing food to eat. But this year I’d like to shed a spotlight on a particular festival that occurs on the last week of August.

Azubu Juban is a beautiful and trendy area of Tokyo which hosts a huge food festival at the end of summer. A little different from the run-of-the-mill local street festivals, this was a celebration of food stretching blocks and blocks. Some stalls were local restaurants and cafes, some were coming from far and wide. It was jam packed with people, mostly younger trendy folk, and smelled delicious everywhere you went.

I am all about food, so the best way I can think of to share my experience is to share everything I ate walking down the street. I feel like it’s a very modest, if not embarrassingly small selection, but I’ll let you be the judge.

#1: Roasted Corn. A summer classic both in Japan and Canada.

#2: Switching up my usual meat-on-a-stick for some pork-chop-on-a-bone.

#3: Grilled Hokkaido scallops

#4 and 5: Hawaiian (?) garlic shrimp, and a delectable mojito.

#6: Cucumber on a stick. One of my favourite festival foods- really cools you down in a sweltering crowd.

#7,8,9: Garlic bread, french fries, and sausage from a local bakery.

#10: Melon on a stick. Summer melon is second in my heart only to watermelon, but that wasn’t served on a stick for some reason so I opted for the more fun eating experience.

 

The Screaming Heads of Midlothian

Stepping away from Japan for a moment, I’d like to highlight the most unique property I know from my home province of Ontario: The Screaming Heads of Midlothian.

Like so many amazing stories, it begins with an artist having a vision. He went and bought himself a huge piece of land up in Burk’s Falls, Ontario. He then passed the next decades by creating great concrete sculptures of screaming ghostly faces, creeping hands, and the occasional grim horse. The scene was finally set by scattering the sculptures across the land to climb eerily out of the hills.

I’ve known this place for a long time, affectionately, as Pete’s Castle. The brilliant, talented, and unstoppable artist behind the piece, Peter Camani, is a long time friend of my mother. He was actually her high school art teacher, as well as a personal and family friend (my grandmother referred to him lovingly as her oldest son back in the day). I have quite a few memories of looking around the grounds and receiving peacock feathers from Peter when I was young.

For funny preteen, Tim Burton-loving, ever-dreaming Katherine, this place was the absolute coolest. And for older Katherine, who has kept and expanding on all her strange tastes, it’s still the coolest.

I hadn’t been back in about 15 years, but this summer we went for a long overdue visit. Trees have grown and the sculptures are more numerous, but nothing much else had differed from my memories. It remains a curious, brilliant, and hauntingly sensational piece of art hidden up in cottage country.

If you’re passing up by the Muskoka area, I highly recommend you stop by. The grounds are open and free to browse. Just roll up, park your car in a space not occupied by a peacock, and have a stroll through the surreal wonderland.

I Got New Glasses In Japan And So Can You

I’m a contact lens wearer for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I am very vain, and don’t like how I look in my glasses. The other reason is that I got my glasses in 2010 and my prescription has changed since then. Lately I had begun noticing that even my contacts weren’t allowing me to see with perfect vision anymore- my eyes had changed in the two years I’d lived in Japan. All signs pointed to one conclusion: I needed to get new glasses.

I knew exactly what I’d wanted, too. Big, round, gold frames. Like the ones on the snap chat filter with bear eyes. (You know the one, don’t lie). I’d been seeing big round classes around a lot lately, but as I started browsing I came to a horrifying realization: I have a very big head. Hats rarely fit me, and glasses that are big and cute on most are neither big nor cute on me.

I’d looked through all the glasses stores I passed looking for frames I liked. It took a long while, but I found the perfect pair in Harajuku, at the location of a chain store called Jins.

The store location, it seemed, was celebrating it’s Grand Reopening that day. It was 11:03 when I strolled by and they had grandly re-opened at 11:00. An employee stood outside the door welcoming passerbys in, and inside about eight staff members stood around formally to greet the first customers, which turned out to be yours truly.

It was a little awkward to be the center of so much attention, but I began casually browsing. Soon one of the employees approached me and began speaking in rapid formal Japanese at me. I politely broke in to tell her in crappy Japanese that my Japanese is crappy. She responded brightly with “Oh, hello! We speak English.” One obstacle down.

I looked around for a while longer. A different lady came up and recommended some glasses to me, since she’d noticed I was looking at a particular style. Before long I had picked out my dream pair, and moved to the front desk.

Now, the second dreaded obstacle. They asked me if I knew my prescription. I admitted I did not. “That’s fine! We’ll do a test.” they said. I was given a case and solution for my contacts and was immediately sat down to have an eye test. I looked at a screen and recognized the blurry shape of the Japanese symbol と. “Is that ‘tō’?” I said. “My Japanese isn’t great. “Yes, it is.” The lady responded. “Would you rather we use the English alphabet?” Yes please, was my response.

After that I had a very average, very smooth eye test for about 10 minutes. Once finished the employee told me about different lenses they offered, like UV protection and such. I requested the very normal and basic lenses.

I was then given the option to go about my day and come back for my glasses later, or wait a grand total of ten minutes for them to be put together. I opted to wait in the lobby and read. Ten minutes later the staff lady came out to check if the glasses sat properly on my face and make final adjustments. Three minutes after that, I was at the checkout.

I was given my choice of pretty classes case, a lense wipe, and a year of insurance, as well as some coupons and discount codes. All this, ladies and gentlemen, glasses, lenses, eye test, and swag, came to 8900 yen. That’s less than $90.

And I’ve never loved a pair of glasses more.

So if you’re ever in Japan, I implore you, get some new frames. You won’t regret it.

 

Orbi Yokohama: Interactive Natural History Museum

Lured by the temptation of Earth-shaped hamburgers I’d seen on the internet months ago, I took a trip down to Yokohama to visit a interactive and educational science theme park.

The Orbi is located on the fifth floor of the Mark Is mall at Minatomirai Station, which I frequent and have no idea how I’d never noticed it before. There were quite a number of posters and advertisements covered in colourful animals, which usually capture my attention well. With the proper directions, I found myself face to face with the stuffed animal entrance display and bought my ticket- 2000 yen (or 20 dollars) for admission, access to all attractions, and an Imax movie.

This sign greeted visitors as they turned the corner to enter. And to be fair, it was pretty amazing.

The museum itself was fairly small, and had about 8 attractions (most of which would have cost extra with a regular 800 yen ticket). The large Imax theatre was at the back, and the other exhibits were along the central path.

All of the exhibits were really cool, as to be expected from Japan. There was a lot of high-tech screens and computers for visitors to interact with, like the screen above. When standing in the right place, your hand controlled an icon on the huge screen. Various animal outlines moved around the screen and if you hovered your icon over it, a photo and some information would appear. Kids (and also myself) were really in to that.

Other exhibits included a simulation of climbing Mount Kenya, where you went through different small rooms and the temperature got increasingly cold until the finale, where freezing wind was blown at you. There was an elephant attraction where screens surrounded you and the floor shook. There was a 3D movie show about Gorillas. My favourite was a huge screen showing birds eye views of various natural spaces, from rain forests to the tundra. I sat and watched that for a while.

There were two short Imax movies being shown, one about meerkats and one about hummingbirds. I opted for meerkats, and the movie was a hilarious experience. It was made with footage from the BBC Earth documentaries, but had a Japanese voice over telling an original story, complete with dramatic cuts and sound effects. It was truly a thing of beauty.

And of course, no animal-related place seems to be complete without a petting zoo, for real-deal interaction with animals. The Orbi’s petting zoo was very very small but still housed a few animals.

There was a very friendly bird you could have perch on you for a while.

And a super happy tortoise who no one else seemed interested in, but loved my head scratches (as I loved giving them)

There were some owls strapped to a tree, a meerkat, an iguana, some hedgehogs, and the Japanese petting zoo crowd favourites, rabbits and guinea pigs.

I do have to be honest here though, this was probably my worst zoo/petting zoo experience in Japan. That wasn’t largely the fault of the establishment itself, but a revolting trio of daughter, mother, and grandmother who were intent on antagonizing the animals. They we loud and brash, poking and grabbing at animals who were protesting and trying to escape, and laughing about it. And of course, being Japan, no one did anything about it.

I should explain that, since it’s a bit of an exaggeration: Japan is a very respectful country with very polite people. This is no secret. But I’ve found this means that any sort of confrontation is often completely avoided. If on the rare occasion someone somewhere is causing some sort of ruckus or scene, or simply not following established rules, very rarely will anyone address it. The general reaction is to avert your gaze and avoid the problem. Businesses are also extremely polite and meant to please customers, so in this situation the young staff members wouldn’t want to do anything to upset or insult their customers.

My Japanese isn’t nearly good enough to be able to tell anyone off (politely or less so) at all, so my boyfriend and I stood nearby and said the Japanese words for “Stop it” and “They’re scared” until eventually a staff member came and said something cheerfully to the family, who then ceased tormenting the guinea pigs and went off to bother the hedgehogs. This experience unfortunately left a pretty foul taste in my mouth and put a bit of a damper on our day.

Thank goodness then that after the petting zoo it was time to get out Earth Burgers!

Getting the burgers were actually a bit of any ordeal. As I mentioned, I’d seen them featured on the internet, so they are a popular attraction in Japan. To get a burger, you have to first order one in a specific time slot. You’ll then get a card and be able to retrieve your burger an hour later. We arrived in the middle of a time slot, but it had already sold out of burgers for that time. So we had to wait another hour to order in the next slot, then wait for it to be made.

It was so worth it, though. The burger was as instagramable as I’d hoped, and tasted like heaven. The buns were magic. Blue magic. The chicken was finger lickin’. It was fabulous.

But the best part of the entire exhibit, by far, were this little photo-booths with green screen backdrops, where you could pose and be shopped into a series of ridiculous pictures.

Marvel: Age of Heroes Exhibit at the Mori Art Museum

Roppongi’s Mori Art Museum is constantly displaying beautiful exhibits of brilliant artwork. I’ve gone a few times, not for traditional or famous sets, but for a Sailor Moon Artwork exhibition and a Ghibli display to promote their newest collaborative feature, the Red Turtle.  The other week I’d gone for my third visit, following my very geeky trend, to see their Marvel Comics display.

I started my tour through the exhibit by joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, whose second film I would see that evening after leaving Mori Tower. It was a very Marvel-filled day.

#marrymeChrisPratt

In the first room of the exhibition hall, guests are greeted by a five meter tall statue of Iron Man against the scenic bird’s eye view of Tokyo. Beyond that, there was a brief timeline of the history of Marvel comics with some cool cover art from iconic editions.

Following this, most of the exhibition prohibited photography, as many museums do. There were costumes from recent Marvel blockbusters (I saw something Tom Hiddleston WORE! On his BODY!), concept art for the movies, and a lot of original art, covers and excerpts from comics old and new. But the best thing by far in the entire building was this picture from the Avengers 2 storyboard, when the heroes discover Hawkeye has been hiding a wife and kids from them for years.

Pretty much my reaction at that moment too.

There were lots of bright and colourful displays for viewers to interact with as well, and the set up was wonderfully cartoony and vivid.

LOOK MA IT’S THOR!

And last but not least, once again the Mori Art Museum’s affiliate cafe had themed food and decoration to match the exhibit. Although not quite as fun as the pink Sailor Moon burger, they had a very cool MIGHTY THOR BURGER which was easily the best thing on the menu.

Bright red bun, yummy pork, and a teeny tiny hammer smashing Nordic justice into the top.

Even after eating the hammer, we couldn’t figure out what it was made of. I guess… the fruits of the Gods…?

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A fun closing note for those in Japan: When we left to go see Guardians 2 at Toho Cinema, we learned that on the 1st and 14th of every month, movies are half price! It was a wonderful surprise!