A friend invited us to go to Ueno Park this past weekend to check out a yukata show, part of the park's Natsu Matsuri (summer festival).
I hadn't been since sakura season, and I noticed that it's significantly less crowded now. As illustration, these two photos were taken in the same place. Not exactly, but the tree to the far left of the first photo is in the center of the second photo.
Sakura Season
July
When I had visited the lake in the park in April, it was disappointing. Brown water, dead reeds or grass, not worth taking pictures of. But now? Giant mutant water lilies.
They're pretty, but you can't tell the scale from that photo. So here's another:
I can approximate the size of those leaves by holding my arms as wide as possible with my fingertips touching. I had no idea that water lilies could get that large (or that tall!).
We also found a small flea market next to the multitude of food stalls. Lots of tea sets, jewelry, decorative wood carvings, used traditional clothing, and assorted junk.
I was saddened to see not only real furs for sale, but also an elephant foot. And a mounted deer head.
And a bear.
Okay, so it strikes me as a little crazy that there is a bear for sale at a flea market, but in addition to that it appears to be tossed on top of some other junk at the back of the booth. Behind the fake seal made of real fur and the grass hula skirt, near the wooden lawn gnome.
Summer in Japan can be face-meltingly hot. To combat this, we stopped at a booth for some shaved ice.
Nice bonus: we paid for a giant scoop of extremely fine ice shavings, then could add our own flavoring. I went with peach (and it actually tasted like peach!), but I could have combined it with any of the other flavors. There were maybe 8 flavors, I only got a picture of one of the dispensers.
Whale statue, presumably life size, in front of a natural science museum:
Contemplative robot statue (I have no explanation for the construction cone, but it makes this photo so much more entertaining):
And two random women rocking out on a xylophone.
I think they followed this song with "The Girl from Ipanema" and maybe a classical piece later.
We never did figure out where the yukata show was, and nobody we asked seemed to know either.
On the way back to the station we went to a kaiten-zushi restaurant for lunch (also known as a sushi-go-round) and walked down a market street with a curious mix of shoe stores, fresh fish booths, and produce stands selling fruit at half the price I've seen at the grocery store. I have no idea how twelve shoe stores and ten fish stores within six blocks can survive, or what sense it makes to have those two types of venues literally across the alley from each other.
It was nice to come home to some homemade sangria, too. It may not be real sangria because we used white wine (red wine gives me a headache), but it's a lovely beverage for a summer evening. The flavors didn't really mix in spite of being left to sit for several hours, but it's hard to be disappointed with fruit salad and wine in almost any combination.
Ukiyo-eis the name of the Japanese woodblock print technique. There are some very famous ukiyo-e prints, one of which is to the right. I recently found out what it means.
uki = float yo = world e = picture
This means that the woodblock prints are pictures of things floating on the surface of the world, they are inherently temporary and unpredictable. Deep, no?
The word for baseball is yakyuu. ya = field or fielding kyuu = ball
It's literally "field(ing) ball."
Interesting note, baseball clubs in high schools here are apparently very strict. The "mandatory buzz cut, militaristic" variety of strict.
The word for drinking is のみます、nomimasu.
You can also use that word to describe what you do with soup or medicine. One of my fluent friends clarified that nomimasu means not just "drink" but "to consume without chewing."
I have no punchline for that, I just thought it was interesting. (おもしろい、omoshiroi)
To say you like something, you can use the word suki. It literally means "a favorite."
すしが すき です。 Sushi ga suki desu.
I like sushi.
To say you like something very much or love it, you can use daisuki. It literally means "big favorite."
ピザが だいすき です。 Piza ga daisuki desu.
I love pizza. (Pizza is a big favorite!)
That sort of touches on one of the kinds of Engrish I like the most. Not the kind where something is way off the mark and makes no sense (although those can be downright hilarious), but the kind that makes sense and I know exactly what's being said, but I would not think to use that phrasing if I were trying to communicate the same idea. I see this most often on stationary sets or gift bags – places where the actual words don't really matter as long as it's short and cheerful. It's endearing and makes me smile.
The Funny Ones
In the US, there are a few different drinks aimed at replenishing electrolytes and generally quenching thirst. In Japan, you probably won't find Gatorade or Powerade, but there are others.
One is Pocari Sweat.
As it was described to me, Japanese people think, "When you sweat, you drink Pocari."
Americans think, "There is a Mr. Pocari. This is his sweat."
I like the stuff. It has some light flavor, but unlike what Gatorade has become in recent years, it doesn't make me more thirsty when I'm done with it.
Then there's Calpis. It's one of those drinks that is a flavor by itself and also a brand. It's a slightly milky uncarbonated soft drink, which makes it sound less appealing than it really is. You can get different flavors of this beverage and a number of foods (mostly candy) flavored like it.
For sale in some English-speaking countries they changed the name to Calpico.
Why? Because when Japanese people see "Calpis," they think, "Calpis."
English speakers think, "Did you say 'cow piss'? I'm not drinking that!"
I don't enjoy this as much as I enjoy Pocari Sweat, but I do like it. Partly because I enjoy saying it out loud.
It's the same reason I ordered a Nobbly Bobbly from an ice cream truck in the UK once. Some words just amuse me.
Completely Random
I had to buy this note pad. I couldn't not. In big letters it says PANDA PANTS! I'm a sucker for alliteration and the idea of pandas in pants amuses me. But that didn't seal the deal. The clincher was the text at the bottom.
Mama no pantsu wa tottemo ookii yo!
Mama's underpants are very big!
I don't know how they decided upon that particular bit of text or why the small panda is hanging out in the pantsu in question, but I do think it's hilarious.
Taking advantage of the Federal holiday on July 4, we went to Fuji-Q Highland. The drive was pretty easy, although it took about two hours each way. We left at 7am and arrived just as the park opened at 9.
Some video of the highway, a town in a valley, and the mountains in the distance.
Fuji-san wears a cloud hat.
Oh, no! Where will we ever find a parking spot?!
We're SO FAR AWAY from the entrance! (I think we ended up four cars away from the gate.)
This gate needs its own theme music. I mean, come on! It's got fire and big letters! And more fire!
Apparently the park mascots are like the Power Rangers.
The line to purchase tickets went pretty quickly.
The entrance sign is for a roller coaster, but I prefer to think of it as making sure people know where they can pee.
I also choose to believe that this is where foods are pitted against each other in a spectacular fight to the death.
This ride is called Tondemina and it is actually quite relaxing. The motion is very much like a giant swing, where you swoop up, your feet float a little, then you slowly pick up speed to the other side. It's also novel to see the park sideways at that height.
Hey, do you think Pizza-La painted their name on this ride large enough?
I guess the signs mean "don't cut in line," but it's a particularly amusing way to show it.
Don't cut in line! Do a little jig! Play your bamboo clarinet!
This is a crappy blurry photo, but it just tickles me that for the roller coaster strap-in-and-be-safe diagram, they used two people in traditional garb and hairstyles.
Around the corner is a great photo comparison on how to dress appropriately.
They're not kidding, too, as soon as we pulled out of the station I was glad I took my keys out of my pocket.
Let me back up a second. I'm talking about the Eejanaika.
This is the loading station:
And this is what riding it is like (courtesy of YouTube, we did not film this):
By way of non-video description, it's pretty intense. And a little mean in that when you're all strapped in, you go up the ramp backwards so you can't see when the descent starts. The view is nice until you hit that first hill and the seats rotate so that you're facing straight down. (That part can be a little shocking.) Then it's a bunch of surprise rotations of the seat and twists of the track. I approve!
The two other currently open coasters are Fujiyama and Dodonpa. Fujiyama is large (and old and wooden and a little heavy-handed on the sharp corners) and Dodonpa might actually use the same launching mechanism as they do for jets on aircraft carriers (instant headache as my brain flattened against the seat behind me). They were all right, but the Eejanaika won the prize for Kim's Favorite Roller Coaster for the day.
On to the Great Zaboon (onomatopoeia for the sound that a giant wave makes)! But there are rules.
Like not using the big wave to shampoo. I wonder if that was a problem before they installed the sign.
The Same But Different: a ride built around a big splash at a theme park, same as in the US...but here, you can get a poncho. Nobody walks around the park drenched in water here.
While you're waiting in the queue, be sure to be eaten by the fiberglass shark.
A helpful sign concerning proper poncho use.
We're ready to rock this thing!
One or two of us (the guys) neglected to tie the hoods, so when buckets and buckets of water descended upon us, it pulled the hoods off and soaked them straight down the front and/or back.
Apparently the Japanese version of the Loch Ness Monster lives in this ride too. I wonder how well it gets along with the shark.
Then we found the Mecca of Mew. A ride apparently built around devotion to Maneki Nekos.
Random photo opportunity.
I like how this photo makes it look like the giant Nekos are some cult idol and all the poncho wearers are the devotees.
The propaganda in the waiting area doesn't really help dispel that notion.
Samurai Neko poster!
We had bought a poncho for the first water ride and afterward put it in the trash bin provided. That was before we had discovered this second water ride. Husband looks at the people getting off the ride and says, "Nah, nobody looks really soaked, we'll be fine without buying new ponchos." And that made sense to the rest of us.
Remember when I said that nobody walks around the park drenched? Well, nobody except us.
On the fence outside the ride is a Wall of Neko. I'm not sure what purpose they serve, but they are delightful.
That wasn't enough? Here are more!
Continuing our tour of the park, Random Bunny Truck Selling Food!
Somewhere near the middle of the theme park is this green area with a Fujiyama Mini-Me for no apparent reason. In front of Mini-Me are these...um...bears? Old Bear needs a walker but is too stubborn to get one.
Stalker Bear hides in the bushes and does an impression of a tapir.
Fuji-san and Mini-Me.
Oh, I know why they built Mini Fuji. Because they needed a lair for their resident Evil Villain. Seriously, if that's not an evil lair, I don't know what it could be.
At the top of the real Fuji-san there is a post office and a place to get a snack. At the top of Mini Fuji there is a cardboard cutout of the Fuji-Q Power Rangers, or whatever they're called.
From the Mini summit, you can also see the Tekkotsu Bancho, a very tall twist on the classic swing ride.
Back in the foothills, Donut Coaster this way!
My lunch was a sandwich with pressed rice instead of bread. Interesting. All veggies in the middle, too. おいしかった です！ (It was delicious.)
Okay, now this is very important. Do not fight the bears. Do not wrestle them, do not tackle them. That is what the sign says.
More advice: Do not jump over fence for danger. (I assume "do it for fun!" is implied.)
That's on the Mad Mouse roller coaster. It might be a kids coaster, but we did it anyway.
It's even more jarring than it looks. I don't know who installed the gosh-darn speed bumps at the end, but that was just adding insult to injury.
The Warner Brothers store (the only one in Japan, I believe) really wants to make sure Tweety doesn't run away.
Last ride of the day, classic Teacups. The kind where the riders determine how much spinning there is. There was so much spinning done by our cup that if we hadn't heard the announcement, we wouldn't have known that the ride had ended. We think the only reason we could walk straight afterward was because we changed direction halfway through. Yep, we're mature adults.
On the way out, ice cream! We found a vendor that had soft serve and mixed them. Not just chocolate/vanilla, either. I don't remember most of the flavors, but this cone is two different types of grape ice cream.
