23 July 2010

TEA CEREMONY

Having been hit by a wave of mild pessimism (which lasted about 3 minutes and was solved with a cup of tea), I didn't write about the tea ceremony I went to last Wednesday in my last post, as I was saving it just in case nothing else of note happened to write about. I was wrong - there's plenty to write about!

Last Wednesday (14 July), my friend Marta and I went to Meguro Town Hall to learn about the Japanese tea ceremony. The first remarkable thing was the price - 1000 JPY each (about £7) for 2 hours. The course is run by volunteers and the money only goes towards the tea and Japanese sweets which were served - extraordinarily good value in the land of the £6 cup of
coffee!

The second remarkable thing about the course was where it was held; in a full size, traditional Japanese tea house, on the first floor of a 12 storey building full of offices and civil servants. There's a picture of the outside of the tea room at the bottom of this webpage.

So, for two hours, we were guided through a tea ceremony by a bunch of tiny, elegant, wrinkly, friendly ladies in kimono (apparently there are no plurals in Japanese). There's a lot of sitting on your heels, which really hurts after 20 minutes, and bowing, to the tea, to the sweets, to the door, to the miniature shrine in the tea room, to the lady who gives you the tea, to the tea serving bowls, to each other... if in doubt, bow and it will probably be the correct response.

A couple of revelations from the tea ceremony:

- Japanese women, when by themselves, are a hoot and much more bawdy than I was expecting

- the Japanese are wrong about white ankle socks being sexy, particularly on me

- proper green tea (£40 per 100 grams) tastes delicious, it tastes of green and wood and flowers, unlike green tea I drink in England which tastes of wee (but which does have cost on its side)

ASAKUSA (pron. Asak-sa)

Angus and I had a good rummage around a region called Asakusa on Saturday 17 July. The area was one of the geisha districts in Tokyo until it was bombed flat during the second world war, and is now more famous for a huge temple complex called Senso-ji, and Kappabasha-dori - a street with hundreds of domestic cooking equipment supply shops (HOLD ME DOWN).

The temple complex was lovely but very crowded (Which I suppose is permissible for a religious site in middle of a city of 30 million people).

Lantern at the entrance to Senso-ji temple complex

The red bib and cap signifies that this is the god Koyasu Kannon - who looks after fertility, amongst other things

This is me, feeling very pleased that I'm in Japan having a good rummage around Asakusa with Angus

I'm in danger of electrocuting myself by dribbling onto my computer if I write too much about Kappabashi-dori, so I'll restrain myself. There were more kitchen-ware shops on that street than I could ever hope to dance around in for two years.

The shops are highly specialised - my favourites so far being the shop that just sold pans so big I think they might be catering solely to the cannibal market, and the shop which sold plastic models of dishes for restaurants to advertise what they offer.

The added bonus (if it could get any better) was that a film crew spent 20 minutes filming Angus and me, as we discussed the merits or not of plastic sushi. So, if you see two people trying very hard not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation on any programmes about Japan, fan mail can be directed to Nakameguro.

Sadly I was paralysed by pleasure and therefore didn't take any pictures of Kappabashi-dori but rest assured, I'll go back again VERY SOON so will try and take some pictures then. Here's a picture of a poster advertising a detective agency.

Is the detective investigating the dog? Or is the detective in disguise?

NIKKO AND CHUZENJI

To celebrate Angus's birthday on 19 July, and the fact that it falls on a bank holiday here (Ocean Day), we took a train to Nikko, 140km north of Tokyo. It's 500 metres above sea level so was much cooler than Tokyo (although more humid, if that's possible), and is famous for the Futarasan Shrine (which dates to 737AD), Shinkyoo (the God Bridge) and for being an important stop on the way to Lake Chuzenji, which we also visited.

We stayed in Hotori-an - where we had a traditional Japanese style room - complete with futons, a paper screen, tatami mats, and weird little plastic slippers for people with 4 inch long feet, which we were supposed to wear inside the hotel. The main attraction was the onsen. We were making it up as we went along but the general idea is that you have a good scrub in a shower, then get into the deep hot bath, which is almost too hot for comfort, and sit and admire the river flowing past outside. Then when it gets too hot to bear, you get out and tip a bucket of cold water over your head. Very invigorating, very easy to lose consciousness too.

Fortunately we remained unscathed, and our appreciation of the sights remained high. I won't bore you with my descriptions of what we saw - it is easier to see for yourselves. All I will add is that this beautiful complex of buildings is built into the side of a very steep hill, and we were ready for a cup of tea and a sit down by the time we got on the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to
Tokyo.

Sanbutsu-do temple

The snake bridge

Angus watching carp in the Strolling Garden

Mausoleum Rin-no-ji Taiyuin

Me, marching up purposefully through the front gate to the mausoleum

Trees looking very fancy in the wrong season (apparently it all looks even more beautiful in autumn)

Goma-do - the fire temple


Gate to the whole complex

Two of the guardians of Buddha, variations of whom who sit in the gates to each temple

Sorinto Pillar

Kegon Falls

Lake Chuzenji was very pretty but not remarkable - and we didn't see any of the local monkeys which was obviously a great blow to me.

Or did we...?

However, we did have our strangest meal so far

The bowl of soup with the ladle in (top left) had the texture of snot. No idea what was in it - it didn't taste of much. And the rice was mixed with pearl barley. And best of all, the round thing underneath the two beans in the centre is a local delicacy - yuba (the skin formed when making tofu). Against my better judgement, I loved the yuba.

We were away till Tuesday, and there hasn't been much of interest to report since then. But the weekend starts here (it's Friday evening) - hurrah!

Ja mata!

PS. I found out what the panic button on the toilet is for. Good to know.