So, until then I'd better put photos I've been taking over the last few weeks that I never got around to sorting out.
About two weeks ago we went to Asakusa to a temple called Senso-ji. Very big, very impressive, very templey.
This one of the arcades of shops leading up to the temples. I'd heard it was a good place to buy souvenirs and, though it was, it probably the most touristy feeling place I've been to so far (2nd only to Tokyo Tower which basically had a shopping centre of souvenir shops at it's base).
Senso-ji is known for it's large lanterns. And large they were.
Having a little play with dof.
The temple had some beautiful grounds which this photo does nothing to sum up accurately. My camera wasn't enjoying the low light levels and I couldn't be bothered to fiddling with it to look better (it need a tripod and a wider angle lens really).
Another temple crossed off the list.
The Sunday just gone a group of us got hold of tickets for the "infamous" Waseda vs. Keio Baseball game. I was rather excited about it, I never go to sports matches (in fact I think an ice hockey match in Quebec might be the only professional sporting even I've ever been to...). But this baseball match wasn't professional, it was the universities' grudge match. According to Wikipedia a lot of players from these teams go on to become pro baseball players, so it was skilled stuff.
Whether the match was good or not, I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't know the rules of baseball to begin with, and secondly I couldn't watch it half the time because whenever we were batting our section of the crowd had to stand and do cheers and chants. They had us chanting things like gambatte (good luck) to the bowler (pitcher?) and singing fighto fighto fighto. It was good fun and a bit exhausting but I didn't come away any the wiser about baseball. Which I've been told is a good thing because according to everyone I talk to about it, I'm just told it's a boring game. We lost anyway. Hey ho.
On the other hand, the cheerleaders were fantastic. The guy in the middle there lead the cheers the whole way through the match and he never lost any energy or enthusiasm. I'll upload a video I got of the cheerleaders doing their thing, but I'm sure the photos give you a good idea.
And that was the baseball. It was fun to have gone and experience is but I don't think I'd rush back. I think I'd rather play a game of rounders.
I thought some people might be interested in the food I've been eating in Japan. My diet has been pretty terrible since arriving - nightly trips to the 100Y shop for my sugar fix of baumkuchen or chocolate are a habit I need to shake. I also have found myself pretty intimidated by the supermarket, not know what anything is or what to do with it. I'm now making a positive effort to stay off the bentos and start making my own food. More on that later.
So, the food at the baseball game was pretty funny and entirely meat based. The most popular option seemed to be KFC, but other options included...
WILD SUPER TURKEY REG - one of my favourite Engrish signs so far. If turkey reg isn't your cup of tea, instead you can have a plate of sausages:
Myra with my sausages. They were good sausages, too. As I say, this place was not vegetarian friendly, there seriously weren't any other options. And I won't say what direction the conversation turned when I went back to my seat with a plate of assorted sausages, I'm sure you can guess.
Moving on, here's a little stall we found when wandering around Shinjuku a couple of weeks ago, just beyond the dodgy part and into the Korean part of town.
He said they were called Korean pancakes. He had a big tub of doughy batter beside him which he threw on the hotplate. The guy asked us what fillings we wanted but none of us could understand him so he put one of the 3 fillings he had in each, which turned out to be cheese, red bean paste and cinnamon. When we realised red bean paste had been put in one we decided to draw lots on who got which. I ended up with cinnamon so I was pretty happy! It was quite a tasty little snack, but I wouldn't recommend the cheese or red bean paste.
And, just as common as finding red bean paste in your pancakes is finding matcha green tea in just about anything else. Matcha chocolate, ice cream, and caffe lattes are all popular here.
Another strange meal I ate yesterday is this thing:
No, I don't know what it is either. We saw a stand with a queue in front of it, so we joined it and this is what we got. It appeared to be some sort of a batter mixture with bits and bobs in it which is cooked in a half-spherical mould on a hotplate. They turn it as it's cooking so it comes out spherical and then you chose what sauce you want on top. I went for teriyaki and, inevitably, it came with mayonnaise and chopped up kelp. It was really difficult to eat with chopsticks (even worse when everyone stares at you to see how good you are with chopsticks). Inside the batter I found sweetcorn, a bit of a frankfurter sausage, some tentacles, something white and stringy and a small boiled egg (quail's?). It was quite a food adventure.
Now to some nice food...
How good does that look?! After a hard day's university and a bit of shopping in Shinjuku, Jessi and me stopped by a department store to pick up a bento for our evening's meal. And wow, the food court would rival Harrod's, it was huge! In the end I went for this fish bento (can it be called sushi when they're not in those bitesize pieces?) and, in the background you can see a basil and potato salad. Both were absolutely gorgeous and rather healthy :)So, as I said, I have to stop eating pre-made meals (even though they're far and away better than your curry in a box from Sainsbury's). So here's what I made today:
Udon with chicken, leek, and mushrooms. Okay, it doesn't look fantastic. And it tasted okay. But I was just chuffed with myself to have been able to work out what any of the ingredients were in the supermarket (no oxo cubes here). And, look ma - mushrooms! I've only started to eat and enjoy them this week and now I'm cooking with them.
Phew. That's it for now. HOPEFULLY next post will be full of gorgeous autumnal foliage from Nikko - hope I don't miss it at it's best!
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