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Living Out Of A Suitcase
宮城 Miyagi Prefecture
Smalltown Life
Nov 4th, 2009
Every Wednesday evening I have to work outside the city in a small town called Tagajo. Basically it’s a suburb of Sendai, but it’s also home to many factories for big companies like Mitsubishi and Sony. I walk through the main entertainment area on my way to work, so I thought I’d keep trying out the prime lens and take some low-light photos.
Like most countryside towns in Japan, there’s only one main strip where most of the bars and tiny restaurants reside. Easy to go bar hopping and grab some eats afterwards. Of course, afterwards can be 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7am…
Dinner in Furukawa
Nov 3rd, 2009
Took a Shinkansen north up to Furukawa to visit some friends and co-workers from my days there, and made a couple new friends as well. 120 minute “nomihodai” (all you can drink!) ensures getting the night off to a fun start. The food at this particular “izakaya” (Japanese restaurant) however was pretty crappy, in particular the grilled squid was dry and bland. Afterwards a few of us made our way up the street to a darts bar, but packed it in pretty early. I crashed on my friend’s couch at around 3:30. I’ve never actually closed that darts bar down actually… and probably never will!
Photo of the Indeterminate Time Period #2
Jun 16th, 2009
Near the outskirts of Sendai, where the city slowly reverts back to farmland, you’ll find lots of interesting old vending machines. Here’s one of them.
Local farmers sell eggs and vegetables out of these bad boys. Interesting side note, these eggs, along with the ones you’ll buy at a supermarket, are unrefrigerated.
Riding the Mangatrain
Jun 2nd, 2009
On mornings I go running, I take the train to work. The station is right next to my place, and the station I get off at is like 50 feet from my office entrance. The train I take is on the Senseki Line, which goes from Sendai all the way out to Ishinomaki out on the Pacific Coast. Sometimes I get to ride what I call the Mangatrain. I don’t read comics anymore so I wasn’t sure what characters these were, but it always made me a little happier when I saw it rolling down the tracks.
Upon doing some research, I found that the actual name of this train is the “Mangattan Liner”. Since Ishinomaki is home to the Ishinomori Manga Museum this train is undoubtedly an homage/advertisement to Shotaro Ishinomori and his famous work.
The train has four cars, which you can see in the illustration below. First is the “Cyborg 009″ car, featuring characters from this famous manga/anime. Next is the “____-jidai (____-period)” car (I can’t quite make that last kanji out), featuring characters from various manga, including Sandarabocchi さんだらぼっち. After that is the “Comedy” car with various silly characters. Finally there’s the “Hero” car, featuring the famous Kamen Rider!
Many thanks to Chimihen for the illustration and the additional info (Japanese website). When I first rode the train, the interior was plastered with comic book pages, not regular train advertisements. I guess however that the economics of it all won out; the next time I got to ride the Mangattan Liner all the comics were replaced with the usual ads.
Check out the brief slideshow below to see the Mangattan Liner up close and personal, and also check out this post over at Pink Tentacle to see some other beautifully painted manga-themed trains throughout Japan.
A Trip To Wakuya Castle
Mar 21st, 2009
Friday was a national holiday in Japan, Shunbun no hi (春分の日), also known as Spring Equinox. I needed to buy some duct tape, and tools to dismantle my home gym as the packing slowly rounds into form. I figured I’d also make it out to Wakuya and check out the remains of its castle since the weather was so nice.
From the JNTO Website:
Watari Shigemune, a military commander, became the governor of Wakuya Castle (Wakuya-jo) in 1591, and for 277 years from that time the castle remained in the possession of the Sendai Clan, which governed this region. Backed by a hill and guarded at the front by the river, Wakuya Castle was a natural fortress. It had no castle tower but instead a row of buildings resembling manors. It was completely destroyed by accidental fire in 1689, then rebuilt over a period of several years. When political power shifted from the Edo Shogunate to the Meiji Government in the mid-19th century, many castles, symbols of the samurai’s political power, were destroyed, including most of the buildings of Wakuya Castle. Only the stone walls and the taikodo turret now remain. A three-storied tower-like building stands adjacent to the castle, exhibiting related materials.
The small park where the castle resides looks like it would be really nice in the spring when the cherry blossoms bloom. I will be somewhere else during Hanami however. Shiroishi or Kakunodate are on the short list this year.
Mt. Odogamori
Mar 8th, 2009
Here’s the next installment of “The Remains of 2008″. From what I can tell I still have 7 more slideshows from last year to upload. Today finds us looking back on our aborted attempt to investigate the earthquake-damaged Mt. Kurikoma region. Like I mentioned before, we were on the top of Mt. Kurikoma just one week before the 6.9M quake rocked Tohoku. We waited 3 months before venturing back out there. Unfortunately the Miyagi side of Kurikoma, the area most heavily hit, was still closed. Consulting Tony’s trusty hiking guide we decided to hike up a (hopefully) less dangerous mountain, Odogamori-san.
Skirting around Kurikoma we saw evidence of the earthquake everywhere. Besides the blocked off roads, we saw many hills where sheets of land had just slid away. Roads were cracked and twisted, with single lane traffic in many sections. It’s all automated though; I guess it works on the Honour System or something.
Along the way we encountered absolutely nobody. Not a single car. Granted we were in rural Miyagi, but it was still pretty eerie to drive through this devastated area and not see anyone out and about.
Following Google Maps on my iPhone we broke off the pavement and started along a single lane gravel access road into the mountains. As much as I rave about the GPS on my cell phone, the only bad point is that once you’re out of cellular range you lose the map. Your path will still be plotted, and the little icon will still follow the path, but you’ll just be moving along a blank page. But I digress.
Over a sketchy bridge and through a sketchy tunnel, we finally arrived at the parking lot, which was a little space beside the rocky road for a couple of cars to park. We surveyed the map, chose our route, and filled out the logbook just in case the three of us were attacked by bears or zombies or whatever. Like my dad always said, “Safety first, wear a condom.” I’m just kidding, he never said “Safety first”.
About halfway up the very unmaintained trail becomes pretty steep, so there are a series of ropes to help you negotiate the sticky parts. Nothing really dangerous though.
The view from the top.
Kyoko, Tony, and I ate our lunches at the top and enjoyed the cool breeze that rushed up and over the mountain. We still haven’t made it back to Kurikoma, but rest assured it’s on the list for this summer.
This trip also marked the demise of my beloved Sony DSC-P73 digital camera. I used it for 5 years; it was frikking bulletproof I swear. It had been rained on and dropped more times than I can remember, but it kept on shooting great photos. No BS, I must’ve shot over 25,000 photos with this baby. It had virtually full manual control. This was probably a pretty standard feature back in it’s time, but these days full manual on a point and shoot is getting increasingly rare. For this reason only I didn’t replace my camera with another Sony, opting for the great Casio EX-V8 instead. My Sony was a really reliable camera and I was sad to see it go.
A Hidden Gem
Mar 4th, 2009
Two days ago Kyoko and I took the drive west out to Onikobe, an area near the Akita/Yamagata/Miyagi border. Probably known best for its terrible ski hill, Onikobe is also home to many hot springs (onsen). While nearby Naruko Onsen gets most of the hype, being accessible by train and a popular place to view the autumn leaves, there are some great hidden spots along northwestern Miyagi’s winding backwoods roads. On Monday we visited Hounkaku Onsen.
Although we’d been to this region before this was my first time driving there, so I punched in our destination into my iPhone, letting Google Maps plot our course for us. My company car has no navigation system, so the iPhone has been an absolute godsend in helping me not get lost driving around rural Japan. However, it definitely does NOT account for road conditions, weather, time of year, etc. I had already narrowly averted a near disaster back in January, when my phone told me to drive through the still earthquake-damaged Kurikoma region through a blizzard on a one-lane road into uninhabited rural Yamagata in the dead of night on my way up to Akita City.
This time wasn’t nearly as perilous, just a small snow-covered country road heading up into the hills. It was right near the end of the trip so I thought we’d give Google the benefit of the doubt and see if we could make it, in our little Nissan March. The snow became deeper and deeper, and about half a click up the road we came to a stop, unable to make any more forward progress up the hill. “This is why we have to drive backwards in a straight line on our driving test.” I told Kyoko, as we slowly made our way down the winding road in reverse. Strike two Google, strike two… We found a better route to take to the onsen, the turnoff being about 100 meters after our deadend.
Eventually we reached Hounkaku Onsen. I smiled to myself as we parked in the empty lot. One of the best things about having Mondays off is that you can go to most recreation places (onsens, driving ranges, game centers) and they’ll be nearly or completely empty. Kyoko and I try to go to mixed onsens (where the outdoor bath is for men and women, together) if we can. Going to non-mixed onsens, while relaxing, can be pretty boring. Sure, I could strike up a conversation with some random naked dude, but I’d much rather hang out with Kyoko or my friends.
Paying our 500 yen fee we walked through the quiet inn to get to the change rooms. Empty. I quickly showered and then headed outside (The change rooms and indoor baths are segregated). Empty. We had the whole place to ourselves.
As you can see from the photos there is a large rotenburo (open-air bath), and a natural bath complete with a waterfall. The Okami-san (hostess of the inn) warned us that the natural bath would probably be a little chilly, as it had snowed the night before. It doesn’t really start to get nice and hot until June or July. The rotenburo is temperature-controlled, and also features a small cave. It isn’t really a steam room or sauna, but an “Ashi-yu” instead (Ashi = foot or leg, Yu = bath or hot spring). One end of the rotenburo is hotter than the other so you can get warmer or cooler as you please.
Perhaps the only negative was the quality of the water itself. The scent wasn’t filled with sulphur and didn’t make your skin feel soft and slimy, meaning the water was probably low in minerals and chemicals.
The natural bath was a little cool, but nothing like surfing off the coast of Vancouver Island in summer. Kyoko snapped a few photos of me unsuccessfully trying to climb up the waterfall, then we headed back into the heated pool.
The atmosphere was amazing. The splashing of the waterfall, the occasional chirping of the birds (cicadas perhaps?), the sound of snow melting and sliding off the roof… bliss.
My Good Deed For The Year
Mar 2nd, 2009
On our drive home from an onsen in Onikobe this afternoon we came upon this little fella sitting on the side of a road. Huddled up in a little ball, we weren’t even sure if he was alive or not until we parked and got out to take a closer look. Sensing our approach, the baby owl slowly looked up and opened his orange eyes. Obviously something was wrong.
Some clumps of ice were stuck to his wings and tail, and he was having problems putting weight on his left leg. The top left of his head was also a little ruffled. Although we’re now into March it did snow in this area last night. Channeling my inner CSI abilities, I deduced that the owl was probably sleeping in a tree, got all icy, then went crashing to the pavement below. Another 15 feet to the left and it would’ve been snow.
I got all the ice off (check the video) but he still couldn’t quite get up and going. By this point we were officially elbow-deep into helping this little guy, so we made a makeshift bed, put him in the backseat, and drove off in search of a veteranarian.
Since we were kind of out in the boonies we had to head back into Furukawa. Willy (Kyoko had named him) was just resting in the basket, gently nodding his head from side to side. We found a clinic about 40 minutes down the highway. After a brief examination the vet confirmed my earlier diagnosis, saying that he probably landed on his head and may have incurred some nerve damage, hence the head nodding.
The vet gave us two options.
- Take Willy into Furukawa to the wild animal clinic. If he recuperates, he would spend the rest of his life sitting in a cage at the clinic.
- Take Willy back to where we found him. Make him as comfortable and safe as we can, and hopefully his family would find him.
We decided to take him back. If his family could find him, great. If little Willy didn’t make it, that’s life. He’d probably provide sustinence for another animal, and besides that we didn’t want him to be trapped in a cage for the rest of his life. Animals, especially birds, are meant to be free, so we chose to give him a chance to fly again.
The doc gave Willy a steroid shot to help the recovery process, and gave us a small box and a roll of duct tape. He told us to tape the box to a tree about 3-4 feet up as close as to where we found him. This would help protect him from predators. He didn’t charge us for his services.
Returning to the scene of the accident, we found some brush to put in the box, and picked a suitable location to attach it to a tree, about 15 feet away from where we found him. As I was taping the box to a tree an employee of a nearby business came out to see what we were doing. He was a younger guy and seemed interested, so I hope he’ll check on Willy to see how he’s doing.
Finally, we put Willy into the box and helped him get settled. Goodbyes were said, some tears were shed, and we parted ways, letting nature take it’s course.
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Owl in Japanese is “Fukuro”. The word “Fuku” itself means happiness, and you can find many owl dolls in stores around Japan, for they are symbols of luck and happiness.
New Home?
Feb 25th, 2009
After searching all day in the freezing cold last Monday, I think, I hope that we’ve found our new apartment in Sendai.
Last month I was offered a transfer from Furukawa (population 40,000) to Sendai (population 1,000,000). I think I accepted even before my area manager finished the sentence. It’s not that I dislike Furukawa; it’s a quiet, relaxing farming town. It’s just that Kyoko can’t find a decent job here. We’d been hoping to make the move to Sendai, so I was all over this opportunity like white on rice.
Getting an apartment in Japan is pretty different than in Canada to say the least. First there’s the security deposit, which can range from zero to 3 months rent. Second, there may or may not be the infamous ‘key money’, which basically is a cash gift to the landlord/owner to the tune of a months’ rent. Finally there is the ‘introduction fee’ which is paid to the real estate company for making the arrangements for you. For this privilege you must pay another month of rent. Add to this other incidental costs, such as mandatory fire insurance and other building fees… we’re talking some serious yen.
After being shown 9 or 10 apartments that fell within our parameters (price, location, amenities, etc.) we found one that we were happy with. It’s an older building, built back in ‘83, but was just renovated. At the top of a 10 floor building as well, so the view of the city is pretty nice, and up away from the hustle and bustle of the street. Close to a big park and walking distance to the baseball stadium and Sendai Station, it’s a great area if you ask me.
Big added bonus: Washlet!
Bottom line to move in, including the 1st months’ rent?
$3644.
Adventures in Fast Food
Feb 24th, 2009
Spent a cold, dreary Monday afternoon in Sendai. Our mission: to find an apartment. Our goal: to find Northern Japan’s only Wendy’s restaurant.
After visiting Tokyo last weekend and being constantly reminded of all the lovely unhealthy restaurants (Burger King, Wendy’s, Subway) that we are lacking in Tohoku, the hamster started running, and I found the Wendy’s Japan website and searched for any nearby locations. Low and behold there was a lone shining star. And wouldn’t you know it, it was only about half an hour from our apartment!
Giddy with excitement, we decided to get our burger-on after searching for apartments. The nap I would surely need after such a meal certainly would ruin the primary objective. Although I love me a good hamburger, being homeless in Northern Japan is not high on my to-do list.
The map is a little misleading. At the intersection indicated there should be a giant AEON shopping mall, but I guess it was built after Google banged off that map. To make a long story short, there is a mall there, the Wendy’s is there, and it’s NOT at the AEON/Jusco that’s just 5 minutes away on Route 4.
The fries are a little smaller than I remember, but the burgers are spot on. Got a couple of Jr. Cheeseburgers chilling in the fridge that will make a lovely lunch tomorrow…
Where Whales Went To Die
Feb 21st, 2009
Whales, or more specifically, whaling, and Japan is a pretty touchy subject.
Despite reports that the Japanese palate is moving away from eating whale, they continue to be hunted, and restaurants continue to sell it. I’m not going to delve into my opinion on whaling, mostly because I don’t think the issue being contested can be restricted only to whales. I’ve eaten a bunch of different food since I moved to Japan, including whale and horse, both raw.
Anyways. Back in November when Kyoko and I decided to go get attacked by deer on a small island, we also stopped by the whaling museum in Ayukawa, Miyagi.
We checked out an old whaling ship, and learned a bit about how whales were hunted and… processed, and even saw a 3D movie about the mighty Toshimaru.
If you’ve been visiting this site for a bit you may also remember the video I posted about the specimen room at the back of the museum.
Matsushima Oyster Festival
Feb 10th, 2009
Dragged ourselves out of bed at 7am and braved the early morning snowfall to check out the Oyster Festival at Matsushima Bay.