16 posts tagged “japan”

Val threatened to kill me if I did not upload and send her some pictures from my Japan trip back in May, so with the fear of death I did so. Now that they are uploaded appropriately to flickr, I feel like I should post them here... since all I've done so far is post monkey nipples.

So without further ado,
Here are some pictures from the Fushimi Inari Taisha (shrine). Fushimi Inari is a really famous Shinto shrine in Kyoto; and consists of thousands of vermillion torii gates one after another going up and down a hill. There are a LOT of them. I did not even walk the entire hill, I think I only made it through about half of them.

It's really, really beautiful here, and my favorite of all the shrines I visited.

Video musician? Musical video artist? Multi-media documentarian? Whatever term you decide to use, Takagi Masakatsu combines ambient piano with psychadelic visuals of people and places, in a way that's haunting and beautiful.

I love yogurt. It's a great snack OR breakfast, and the BEST yogurt I've ever had was in Japan. They make good yogurt over there, seriously. I actually went hunting for some Japanese style yogurt, but apparently the demand is not particularly high because I didn't find any. So, I'm looking for something similar.

I don't know what it is about Japanese yogurt, except that it's fresh and mild, runny (the best yogurt is runny, for serious people - it means that it hasn't been thickened up with pectin, seaweed, or horse/other animal hooves, ie gelatin), it's the perfect combination of sour and sweet and it's not too heavy or fatty. It is one of the things I miss the most about Japan, and I am not lying. I DREAM about the yogurt.

Apparently their yogurt is essentially just a European-style yogurt (Bulgarian style is very popular there) and it's only been widely available in Japan for the past 30 years or so, and only recently become popular. I found this information odd as they clearly enjoy yogurt things - yogurt drinks are popular, and they even have a yogurt liqueur (Yogurito).

So far I haven't had much luck. A lot of organic yogurts (like Wallaby) are a little grainy, and I can't quite figure out why but it might be the kinds of sweetener they use or the milk base? Right now I'm working through a giant container of Straus European Style Whole-milk Vanilla. It is not bad but the vanilla is a little overwhelming, it's pleasantly runny, but maybe a little too sour.

The biggest problem with my hunt is that I actually have to finish the yogurt before I can move on and try something new. But, since I eat my yogurt with a plethora of fresh fruit, at least I won't be getting scurvy or bone loss anytime soon. Right?

Onigiri are those flat, round or triangular shaped rice-filled seaweed pillows. I say pillows because that's what they remind me of, except maybe more pointy on the triangle sides. Onigiri crackers are rice crackers with a sweet-soy glaze and seaweed confetti. They. Are. The. Shit. I seriously have eaten 20 servings in 3 days. They are crunchy and savory and absolutely the best thing to put in your mouth.

Elisa introduced them to me in Japan and I found them in Uwajimaya in the I.D., in orange-and-green striped packaging. Now everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Yeah, I felt that.

UPDATE: The 20-pack bag I bought at U. on Saturday is now gone. And I am now sad.

You heard me! (More pictures from Japan!)

I typed "Monkeys Kyoto" into Google and came up with - Monkey Mountain. So my "hill o' monkeys" was not far off.

When you arrive at Monkey Mountain, you first go through a vermillion Torii gate where there's a little shrine. Luke drank beer while I waited for him to finish said beer and took pictures of the fountain where you wash your hands.

Monkey Mountain is located in Arashiyama, a tourist spot in the far northwest corner of Kyoto. It's a pretty little area with lots of tourist shops selling Kyoto sweets (like Nama Yatsuhashi), cell phone charms, and a soft-serve ice-cream window. Luke ate a matcha cone and I had matcha and vanilla.

One of my favorite photos from Japan are these little guys, also in Arashiyama. Aren't they cute?

You climb a hill to get to the monkeys. It seemed like a very big hill, and it was hot outside, and no one was wearing any reasonable clothing for the weather (Luke told me it's because people in Japan dress for the season and not the temperature - it was 80+ degrees outside but it's still Spring, so everyone was wearing jackets and sweaters and long sleeves) so I was dying in my lightweight jacket.

Also, outside of the monkey area along the hill are various signs telling you about the monkeys. We were tired from walking, neither of us being athletes (and it was hot! and the hill was steep!) so we spent a lot of time examining the signs. It was a good excuse for a rest.

One had warnings about the monkeys. Don't feed the monkeys outside (you can feed them in the monkey house) or show them food or feed them. Or stare at them. It was a weird rule, but we decided that it's probably a sign of aggression in monkey behavior and might result in a monkey attack.

The other sign which told about the characteristics of the Japanese monkey (Nihon Zaru, or the Japanese Macaque and - side note - I always thought a Macaque was a bird, so now I feel dumb) had a very scary picture of the monkey's teeth. I resolved to definitely not even appear like I was even thinking about staring at any monkey. Don't stare at the monkeys.

And finally, after much climbing (and complaining) we reached a plateau at the middle of the hill (it's a big hill!) and there were SO many monkeys. I was amazed at how many monkeys there were - upwards of 150, is what Elisa told me later.

Tiny baby monkeys and big mama monkeys and fighting monkeys. And monkey nipples - lots of weird inward pointing monkey nipples. I was delighted. And (see previous post) there was an absolutely amazing view of Kyoto from the Monkey Mountain. The monkeys get really close to you - no cages - and there was one instance where one was practically sitting on my foot.

I did my best to keep my eyes averted ("Please don't stare at the monkeys") and took many, many photos. After we'd had our fill of monkeys, we slid down a slide (there's a slide that goes partway down the hill, and it was awesome. All hills should have slides as the exit strategy) and headed back to town

So enjoy the rest of the monkey pictures (and the monkey map). If you ever visit Kyoto, you should go to Monkey Mountain. There's a hill, and hiking involved, and if it's spring, you'll probably want to keep your sweater on, but it's worth it. Also because of the view, and of course, monkey nipples.

If I was ever president, I would declare that three-day weekends are the norm and cut the work week down to 36 hours. People would work 4, 9 hour shifts instead of 5, 8 hour shifts. Why? Because three-day weekends PWN. Sorry to have to pull out the 1337 5P43K, but you know, that's how awesome they are. So, you might ask, Kristin, what did you do during your glorious three-day weekend?

PAPRIKA. On Friday, I dragged Casey to the Neptune to catch the SIFF's showing of the new Satoshi Kon animated feature, Paprika. It was, in two words, ridiculously good. The animation is beautiful and the trippy, philosophically-inclined storyline is totally entrancing. The music is great, too. It is a lot to take in in a very crowded theater while reading subtitles, so I look forward to watching it again once it comes out on DVD. Definitely a must-see.

Photos. I finally got my lazy butt over to my computer, where Mallory proceeded to battering-ram my feet with her head the WHOLE TIME to show me how unhappy she was that I was in her space. Luckily, she's very small (rabbit sized) so she didn't do any real damage. I uploaded maybe a quarter of my trip photos onto Flickr. That bitch is slow! And I just made myself giggle by referring to flickr as "bitch." Here's one photo to give you a taste of the glory to come - this is Kyoto as seen from the hill o' monkeys. I don't actually know the name of the monkey place in Kyoto - I will do some google searching before I post any more photos (I literally have over 75 photos of just monkeys) but it had an amazing view. Please don't ask me what river is in the photo, because I don't know, and if I had asked Luke, he probably would have said the same thing.

My post on corn soup (and talking to Jen) reminded me of the single most disturbing food item I saw while in Japan. It was in Wendy's, it's a sweet red bean "burger" and it is topped with cheddar cheese. The picture is enough to convince you that this is one burger you don't want to put in your mouth.

You can find the Japan Wendy's menu here. They list the hot drinks but unfortunately do not have a picture of the aforementioned corn soup.

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More appealing than the red-bean paste burger is Japan McDonald's Tamago Double Mac. It's two burgers topped with an egg. I love eggs (as does Japan, sorry Jen!) and I thought this looked edible.

I really really like corn. I like it in soup form, particularly. I was thrilled to learn that Japan loves corn, too! Some corn oddities I discovered:

• You can buy corn soup at Wendy's in Japan. It's actually categorized as a "hot drink," and they have a corn soup machine right in the front that spits it out.

• You can also buy hot corn soup from vending machines. They come in a can. I tried to buy one but it was, inexplicably, out. Of all things to be out of!

• People also drink corn soup cold. You can get it in a vending machine or a convenience store. There are convenience stores everywhere!

• I like the powdered corn soup that you make in a mug. My particular favorite brand is the Knorr corn soup. They probably have it at your local Asian market, if you happen to like corn as much as I do.

I think it's funny how cities or towns have "specialties," food items that visitors or tourists must try to fully understand the complexity of the region. If I were to select some "specialties" of my region, I would harbor a guess that it would involve seafood, probably salmon. Such as smoked salmon, which I almost never eat, because it smells terribly fishy. (However, the smoked salmon tacos at Agua Verde are to die for, and since you're in a restaurant you won't be battling Fishy Kitchen for the rest of the week. I don't recommend eating them on a date, or pseudo date, particularly with someone you barely know - I'm perfectly comfortable eating them on dates I have since he's seen me eat far grosser in the 4+ years we've been together - as they are indeed fishy. Instead, try the steak or chicken or cod. Also, the pineapple jicama salsa. And their fresh made salsa - I like the tomatillo but the chipotle is weirdly, comfortingly sweet. Pretty much everything there is delicious, actually.)

Anyway, I digress. I tried a number of "specialty" items of Kyoto and Osaka while on my trip there, and thought I would tell you (Jen, and any miscellaneous readers) about them.

1. Funny ravioli-like filled soft rice thingies. I looked around on the internet and found out they are called Nama Yatsuhashi. They are soft mochi wrapped triangles filled with a variety of sweet things, like chocolate, strawberry, matcha, or bean paste. I particularly liked the chocolate filled. They are soft and sweet, and doughy. There's one shop in Keihan that seemed particularly popular (with students, especially) because they had numerous free samples and served green tea, as well. Also there,

2. Hard cinnamon cookies called Yatsuhashi. They look like roofing tiles, and are as hard as. But strangely good, crunchy and very cinnamon-y. I bought my parents a package and will update you on how they felt about them.

3. Okonomiyaki. This is actually a specialty of Osaka, imagine an egg-y pizza filled with green onions and other meats or veggies, topped with sauce and mayonnaise and cooked on a flat grill. I tried a couple varieties when I was in Osaka with Luke and Luke, and liked it quite a bit. It came with seaweed flakes (nori) sprinkled on top which I did not like, and scraped off, but otherwise greatly enjoyed. I let mine cook a little longer on the hot flat grill they have at every table. So good. So eggy. Very Japanese. Oh, and the picture to the right has it covered with bonito flakes. A lot of bonito flakes. I think they left ours off since we were clearly westerners, which is for the best.

4. Takoyaki! I did not eat any takoyaki. These are octopus balls. They are EVERYWHERE. People make them in little stands next to the street, in funny little half-egg containers. I like saying "takoyaki" and I like watching the takoyaki cooks flip them over.