Friday was the schools annual International Food Fair. My job this year was mostly in the weeks leading up to it and during set-up in the morning, so had time for my second favorite fair activity...getting pictures with mascots..
My favorite thing about fairs is eating all the different kinds of food and had tastes of Israeli, Italian, Argentine, Singaporean, Malaysian, and Mexican. Most of the food booths are parent run and am always amazed there aren't mass cases of food poisoning. I did pass on the Thai ice tea though. Waiting in line, watched how the 10 year old kid that was putting the ice in the cups would grab the cup by the lip, then put his entire fist inside the cup and spin it around before he loaded in the ice. I told him that was kind of gross and he looked at me like I was out of my mind. Always a fun time...had 9900 people this year, which is a thousand more than last years event, so a big success.
On Thursday, a good friend told me his mom died, and another friend lost a dear neighbor that was just like family the same day, so felt the need to reach out to my mom. She is good, but ended up being quite jealous by the end of the call. Her place organizes a ton of events...pizza party to watch the Giant WS game, mah jong classes, etc., and this week she tells me that she signed up through her place for a lecture series at the university across the street. On the line-up are Walter Issacson (biographer of Steve Jobs), former Defense Secretary under Bush/Obama Robert Gates, media personalities Soledad O'Brian and Anderson Cooper, and that last night she saw the great Bill Nye. I miss seeing her a lot, but love that she is having such rich experiences and is in good health.
The food fair took up a lot of time this week and didn't have an opportunity to write here, so will just finish off sharing Japan photos. This week...Tokyo. I've mentioned how awesome the subway was and that for a city of some 25 million, the place doesn't feel packed and things move great. Amazing what a well behaved populace can do. I shouldn't have been, but was a bit disappointed in the looks of the buildings. Obviously, there wasn't anything older than 1945 as the place was leveled, so there wasn't that historical feeling you get from most major cities. That said, tons of cool neighborhoods and could tell it would be a great place to live.
This area was near our hotel and it is about 8 (very small) square blocks of these tiny bars. Each one was about 6-8 seats and the specialty is mizuwari, which is whisky with one perfectly spherical ice cube. Genius.
Caught a couple songs on the street by the Japanese version of Fishbone
We were all taken by the escalator that flattened out in the middle and had to ride it twice. We are easily entertained
Lots of cool little public spaces interspersed throughout town...this one was a misting playground.
There are cool modern building...this is an upside-down ships hull design that we snuck into for a breather.
The Shibuya intersection is arguably the most famous spot in Tokyo...you see it in all car chase movies from Japan where the crowd parts as the cars go through.. In a busy neighborhood, is a 5-way intersection that has an all pedestrian walk signal. The whole intersection fills with people from all directions and is mesmerizing. There is a Starbucks on the second floor that provides a great birds-eye view
Quickie parties go on in the intersection...These girls were singing happy birthday and having cake.
One of those towns where it is had to see the big trees in the forest. Tokyo Tower is huge, and you should be able to see it from anywhere, but it wasn't until day 5 that we actually had an angle where we could see it.
Stumbled across Budokan walking through a park one day. An old Olympic venue most famous (in my mind) for being the site of the legendary Cheap Trick album
'At Budokan'
So wanted to get inside, but one of the drawbacks to having a well behaved society is that doing spontaneous guerrilla sneak-ins of places is strictly prohibited. The guards were mad that I even got behind the stupid metal barricade for a quick photo.
Persuaded Betty and our niece to meet a 5AM wake-up call to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market. It's the principle supplier of fresh fish to all of Tokyo and its environs. Hard to describe how massive it was and how many varieties of fish they had.
So much Styrofoam
One day, we took a daylong tour to see Mt. Fuji. Had been warned that June was the rainy season and that we were risking not seeing it. About a 3 hour drive, and we could barely tell we were in the mountains. At one point, the guide said that it looks like we might get a quick window to see it around a bend and to get our cameras ready, and out it came...for literally 30 seconds. I took 6 photos and 5 of them were no better than this.
This is the only one I got of it...after seeing iconic photos of its conical snow capped summit, Mt Fuji did not impress
As a huge baseball fan, had to arrange for a game. We had two choices...catch the Giants at the Tokyo Dome or Swallows outside at Jingu Stadium. Since it was rainy season, thought that if I had to buy tix in advance, there would be no rainouts inside the Dome. Massive...75,000 capacity and understand they sellout every game, so was glad we got out tickets early
Has the same personality inside as the old Seattle Kingdome did, which is to say, absolutely none.
Crowd was totally into it...each teams fans are allowed half the outfield each, and they sing and chant while their team bats the whole game.
Had hoped to get some good food, and just cannot understand how no stadium in the world can get a tasty selection of food at the ballpark. The Dome was no different...different food choices (pork cutlet with curry here), but same bland taste.
They did get the beer right in a big way. Beer girls with kegs on their back swarmed like bees. No joke, if I wanted a beer, not 10 seconds would go by where a girl wasn't in our neighborhood. And most of them were sorta cute...with flowers in their hair and such. They (girls and flowers) were wilting and sweaty by the 7th, but their tenacity and strength were inspiring.
The next night was the outside game and it was dry. Betty's old boss and a co-worker happened to be in town that night and they were up for it, so we decided to take in the game. Stadium looked like it was from the 60's and was the size of a AAA stadium.
Far from a sellout, a lot of empty seats around home plate
But the cheering sections in the outfield were packed and loud.
The Giants have a huge economic advantage as their fan base is massive and they sell out the Dome nightly. The (they don't just suck, they) Swallow game at Jingu was way more fun. Being outside is always better, and you could move around to get different vantage points. We took in an inning in the cheering section and learned how they all get in unison in their songs. This lady holds up a sign with the cheer and the crowd falls in line. Very wild and is the way to go if you go.
At every temple, they have these fortune stands. For a handful of Yen, you get a fortune...we all got at least one at some point and the cool thing is that they aren't all good. Carolyn and I got decent ones, Paul's was pretty non-committal, but Betty's was terrible. Metaphorical lightning was likely to strike her any minute and we all gave her a wide berth for a few days so as not to get hit with collateral damage.
We all did rub this guys head to ensure good health.
And of course, never miss a mascot picture.
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