Year of the Rat

Ohayo!

Hey - I just felt an earthquake. The ground wobbled back and forth a bit. Stefan (who is currently visiting from Toronto) felt it too so I know it was real. Cool!

In Japan they don't really celebrate Chinese New Year, but they do seem to observe the animal zodiac. They take some liberties though- instead of rats on everything (cards, fabrics, posters) there are also cute mice and gerbils.

Hakone

While Ross's Dad was here in early January we went on a day trip to the Hakone region. It allegedly offers stupendous views of Mt. Fuji but we were not able to enjoy this aspect of the region as we were enveloped in cloud for most of the day. But it was still fun. We completed the classic "Hakone circuit", characterized by its insane variety of modes of transportation.

We took the train from Tokyo (the trip took around an hour and a half). Then we switched to the Tozan mountain railway. This is allegedly the world's steepest train line. The bends are so sharp that there are three switchbacks where the train goes forward into a siding and then reverses out to continue its ascent. At the Tozan railway terminus we switched to a funicular that took us further up the mountain. After the funicular we transferred to the cable car "Hakone Ropeway", which is apparently Japan's longest cable car route (4.3 km). This is where we really entered cloud.

Halfway along the cable car route we got out (at a proper station) to walk through Owakudani, an area with smelly sulphur hot springs. We bought some eggs that had been boiled in the hot spring. The sulphur turned their shells black. There was a large gift shop selling many souvenirs featuring Hello Kitty dressed as a black egg.

After the cable car ride we hopped on a boat done up as a Spanish galleon to cross Lake Ashinoko (which on clear days offers a stunning view of Mt. Fuji reflected in the lake). Then we caught a bus back to the station to catch the train back to Tokyo. In summary: train - steep mountain train - funicular - cable car - Spanish galleon - bus - train.

Work

I have been having lots of fun visiting our operators. While my colleagues have to deal with the sometimes cranky maintenance management personnel, I get to hang out with the cool pilots and flight operations engineering dudes. I visited an airline which has ONE plane. The airport on their island was built just for this ONE plane. Apparently this island does not get many foreign visitors (it is one of the less-developed parts of Japan) so my visit caused a small sensation (or at least I felt that way because of all the attention). In addition to meeting with the pilots and going on some observation flights, I had the chance to have a hot spring bath at my traditional Japanese hotel and to visit a temple with the Chief Pilot in his cool Mini (apparently there are three Minis on the island and they are all for racing).

Snow

It has snowed here in Tokyo a couple of times over the past few weeks. Last Sunday it snowed big, heavy wet snow all day. There was deep slush on the ground. We stayed local, shuffling between our brunch place, the Tokyo National Museum of Photography and the Ebisu Beer Museum, which are all thankfully within a three-minute walk of our apartment.

As it hardly ever snows, there is no sanding or salting of the streets. Instead, the buses and trucks put chains on their tires!

Other Things that Happened in January and early February

Our apartment building put on a traditional rice-cake (moshi) making display. The concierge said they like to have something special every year "for the children and the foreigners". I had the chance to pound the rice with the big mallet. Woo hoo!

Ross and I visited Namjatown, a food themepark in a mall. It was pretty weird. Highlights included the "Gyoza Stadium" where there were many stalls selling the best of Japan's Chinese-style dumplings. Then we went to "Ice Cream City" where I had a "sea salt and vanilla" soft serve cone while Ross had a crepe with some kind of black sesame component.

There were various other attractions in Namjatown. I visisted "Hell's Toilet", which is like a haunted house except you sit on a (non-functioning) toilet wearing headphones listening to what is presumably a ghost story (it was in Japanese). At various times little jets of air would blow on me and scary things would pop down in front. Even though I had no idea what the story was about it was quite effective. Next time we go I want to do the "Pig-riding shooting game".

Yesterday we went to see a table tennis tournament. It featured Japan's Top 12 players (men and women). It was a revelation. I had no idea that table tennis could be so athletic and serious.

Over the next few weeks I have to travel a bit for work and Ross and I get to go to Hong Kong for a few days to get our Japanese visas (!). Then I'll be back in Toronto for the first two weeks of March. Hopefully I will see many of you!

(I ate some of this octopus. It was fully dead but still freaky.)

These characters are called "Kapibarasan". We love them.