Disney Sea

FOR December 24th we went to Disney sea, it's a common thing for couples to do in Japan. It was my first time at a Disney place, I liked it. On this day there are few kids and it is mostly adult couples.

We did rides on the famous one like the Haunted Hotel and the Indiana Jones rides.
We saw a couple of special Disney sea shows for the holiday season and their Xmas fireworks.

Overall if was an awesome day!

Kabuki

WE saw a play Japanese style, Kabuki. Kabuki is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. All performers are men, women are portrayed by men wearing white masks.

Kabuki plays can last entire days but we went to see only a small hour show. The particular show we went to see had as a star a famous kabuki performer of women roles.

It was very interesting and very different from other theater. Unfortunatley there were no pictures allowed once inside so the only shot is from the outside.

Sumo fight

THE latest adventure is something I really wanted to see while I was in Japan, a real sumo fight!

We went to a special building for the Grand Basho, one of the big tournaments in the sumo series. It was next to the Tokyo Edo Museum where we had gone before. The seats were decent but we brought binoculars which ended up being a good idea.

The place was enormous! The fights were real interesting. This video shows one the super stars of sumo, Baruto. Interestingly enough many of the top sumo fighters are north Europeans or Mongolians. Some fights were very violent, with fighters flying out of the ring and into the spectators.

The white stuff they throw is salt being thrown to bring good luck in battle. The fight can't start until both make a specific move indicating they are ready. Intimidation plays a big part in sumo fights. And like in any professional sport, there is advertising, in this case people walk around the ring and show the sponsor's flags. The actual fighting is rarely more than a few seconds.

Namja town

ON the 11th of January, we went to a place called Namja town. It's across between an interior fun house and a food theme park. On our menu were Gyoza and Ice cream.

Inside it's a great place for parents and kids, there are many games like a treasure hunt game that uses special viewing machines to find clues all around the park. We went only for the food since all the games are in Japanese and are a bit hard for us to follow.

There is a gyoza museum which we went to. There were many different kinds of gyoza. We all bought some different types and shared a piece with each other. It was a tasty experience.

Then we went for dessert. The ice cream museum is the one in Japan with the most flavours of ice cream! We tied some pretty tame ones but there were some incredible flavours available, like jellyfish, lamb & raisin, sweet potato, charcoal, wasabi, eel, tulip, deep seawater, fish sauce, cherry blossom, barley, bottle gourd, fried noodle, caviar, squid, octopus, shark fin, soy sauce, potato & butter, cheese rizotto, garlic & mint and of course... viper!

octopus ice cream with real pieces!

Our exploration group

Back!

Whoo! After a few months I'm back online. I was out of internet and have a huge backlog of posts to make.

Food and groceries in Japan

FOOD in Japan is usually pretty expensive. From fruits and vegetables to meat, from local produce to exotic, it's all fairly expensive. The good thing is that anything you buy in Japan is probably as fresh as it gets. Not only is it fresh, the varieties cultivated tend to be more flavourful in exchange for less shelf life, it's also devoid of many preservatives. Most produce will spoil within days or a week at best, even if kept in a fridge. I've bought some vegetable (on sale) which actually went bad overnight in the fridge.

The season where most vegetables and fruit are cheaper is fall and winter, as the temperatures go down the more common vegetable ripen.

Most Japanese people buy every night what they intend to eat that evening or the next day. One of the reasons they do this is because electricity costs, as well as the high price of a large fridge, are more expensive than it's worth. The downside to this "buy now eat now" mentality is that nothing fresh is meant to be stored.

How to eat for cheap.

With this in mind it's harder than ever to find a way of eating for cheap. Since buying in bulk doesn't work out economically. 100 yen store (pronounced: "hiakuen stoa" in Japanese) to the rescue! This is the equivalent of a dollar store, though some larger and more expensive items are over 100 yen. Almost anything you can think of it in a 100yen store. There are more practical and household items than you'll find in any dollar store anywhere else. There is also a section of prepackaged food in these stores. You can find snacks, drinks, spices (some) and even some pre-made meals there.

As an exploring person, I set out to find out how much it would cost to feed me for a day buying only from the 100yen store.

This is the result of my research. There are prepackaged pouches containing curry or pasta sauce which are available. You can also buy 500g of dry pasta or a small box of precooked rice to be heated up in a microwave for 100 yen.
I bought a box of tea bags, 25 tea bags (too strong for me, should have gone for a green tea).
A large apple pie/chausson, with a cup of tea it was a great breakfast.
I also got a bag of chips (Taco flavour) which were a great midday snack.
Finally, I got a pouch of curry (240g). It wouldn't win any culinary awards but it was fairly decent. It's also enough for two small meals.

Total for a day of food including the rice I bought 420yen. Price of tea for a month 100 yen x2? If I were to eat this stuff everyday I'd spend 12600 yen on food a month, or about $130. Not bad!
And if you're wondering, the total calories was about 300 for the curry pouch, 300 for the apple pie and 350 for the chips. The rice I ate with it probably added another 400-600 calories. I also noted that most of my day's vitamin requirements were taken care of. Hmmm... Maybe I should start a new diet fad...

Shinjuku sightseeing

SHINJUKU is one of the busiest places in Japan, especially once the sun drops below the horizon. It's one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It's a major commercial and administrative center, housing the busiest train station in the world, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the central administration of government of Tokyo.

The heart of Shinjuku is Shinjuku Station. Surrounding the station are department stores, many specialist electronic and camera shops, cinemas, restaurants, fast food joints and game centers. Many international hotels are also located here. Due to the fact that Shinjuku has the highest percent of foreigners and foreign nationals living in any place in Japan, much of the area has European and north american stores and food places such as the, very much in demand, Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The clock displaying the waiting time outside was always set to at least a half hour, and once we saw it up to an hour and a half.


One of the biggest chains of electronic stores is in Shinjuku, called Yodobashi. There are 5 stores around the area each with a specialty.


Of the many famous districts surrounding Shinjuku is Kabukichō, A red-light district well-known for bars, restaurants and with massage parlors, and other sexual commerce shops. It is located to the northeast of Shinjuku. True to the Japanese style, a walk in the neighbourhood made it both obvious and not, that this is a red light district. Small shops and grocery stores as well as game centers took center stage in visibility, but a quick look at the small (and sometimes not so small) signs showed the real nature of the neighbourhood. There are stories of tourists wandering around inside the district without ever knowing they were there.

Shinjuku is also the district which boasts many of the highest skyscrapers in Tokyo, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, KDDI Building and Park Tower. Some of the buildings are truly incredible works of art. Such as this building.





Shinjuku Station sees an estimated 3.64 million passengers pass through each day, making it the busiest station in the world. It houses interchanges to three subway lines and three privately owned commuter lines, as well as several train lines.



A few videos of Shinjuku we took. Still pictures just don't seem to capture the bustling activity of the biggest beehive of entertainment in Tokyo.