Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 7:53 AM
so i just took a bath with a bunch of naked old women.
i got to tokyo this afternoon and made my way very smoothly to my little "ryokan" in the takadanobaba (say that 3 times fast) neighborhood. it's not a touristy neighborhood at all, but is close to everything, near a university so there are lots of restaurants and bars, and the ryokan is only $41 a night! it is the funkiest little place --- a lady's old house... a warren of little rooms with tatami mats and paper screen doors... dreadfully decorated... a resident cat or two... but really wonderful and totally sifficient for my needs. the rooms are unlocked and so is the front door... 24 hours a day... that's the kind of place japan is.
i got to bed late last night and so i took a nap when i got the tama (name of ryuokan... they have a website... you can google it) and then dragged myself out to wander the streets a bit. i was starving, but restaurants in japan can be a little intimidating, since you can't read the menus, they are a little shut off from view usually, and in general japan is such a polite and orderly soceity that i don't feel quite as okay barging into places and acting like a stupid foreigner (unlike in, say, cambodia or china). but after walking down the main drag a few blocks i came upon a place called fujiyama, that looked pleasant inside... minimalist and modern, but not too hip... had people eating in it, and had a guy making fresh noodles in the front window! so i went in and what a good choice i made. the older gentleman, who may have been the proprietor, was apparently delighted to see a gaijin wander in and proceeded to explain the menu to me in japanese, which didn't work, knew the words for noodle, cabbage and pork, which gae me some idea, and then went and got a sharpie and drew a picture on a napkin of the house specialty: a big bowl of fresh ramen noodles, a bowl of soupy sauce, and a plate of pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, hard boiled egg ad\nd nori (dried seaweed). you add the noodles and the side items to the soup in increments and slurp it up. it was delicious! (cost about $9, to give you an idea that no, japan is not hideously expensive anymore.) i was glad i didn't order the "big size"... the man said "big size?" and i pointed at a substantial portion of noodles the woman behind me had. i thought that was the big size, but then a little man next to me got... mount fuji of noodles, complete with a flag on top!!! the proprietor man proudly told me that it was mt. fuji, which i guess explains the name. this bowl of noodles as, literally, bigger than the little man's head. i was tempted to wait and see if he finished it, but instead...
i headed out and for a moment thought i might hop on the train and head to shinjuku to wander round. but i'm still exhausted, so instead i went to the public bath down the street! it was a little initmidating, since i was very conscious of being a foreigner and i think i might have committed a faux pas by washing my hair. but it was relaxing... filled with old women, having their friday night scrub and soak. (you scrub off sitting on a little stool under a shower and then soak in a variety of hot tubs and jacuzzis... there is a sauna, too.)
i did feel very, very tall and when i emerged from the hot tubs and saw myself in the mirror, i looked like a piece of tuna sushi...
now i'm heading to bed. my japanese friends are arriving from osaka at 8 am.
oh, yesterday, had a nice day hanging out in the 798 art district with my friend jim, wandered a bit arond tiannamen, ate uighur food for a goodbye meal, and saw the end of the new years fireworks... completely crazy and a good goodbye to china...
so i just took a bath with a bunch of naked old women.
i got to tokyo this afternoon and made my way very smoothly to my little "ryokan" in the takadanobaba (say that 3 times fast) neighborhood. it's not a touristy neighborhood at all, but is close to everything, near a university so there are lots of restaurants and bars, and the ryokan is only $41 a night! it is the funkiest little place --- a lady's old house... a warren of little rooms with tatami mats and paper screen doors... dreadfully decorated... a resident cat or two... but really wonderful and totally sifficient for my needs. the rooms are unlocked and so is the front door... 24 hours a day... that's the kind of place japan is.
i got to bed late last night and so i took a nap when i got the tama (name of ryuokan... they have a website... you can google it) and then dragged myself out to wander the streets a bit. i was starving, but restaurants in japan can be a little intimidating, since you can't read the menus, they are a little shut off from view usually, and in general japan is such a polite and orderly soceity that i don't feel quite as okay barging into places and acting like a stupid foreigner (unlike in, say, cambodia or china). but after walking down the main drag a few blocks i came upon a place called fujiyama, that looked pleasant inside... minimalist and modern, but not too hip... had people eating in it, and had a guy making fresh noodles in the front window! so i went in and what a good choice i made. the older gentleman, who may have been the proprietor, was apparently delighted to see a gaijin wander in and proceeded to explain the menu to me in japanese, which didn't work, knew the words for noodle, cabbage and pork, which gae me some idea, and then went and got a sharpie and drew a picture on a napkin of the house specialty: a big bowl of fresh ramen noodles, a bowl of soupy sauce, and a plate of pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, hard boiled egg ad\nd nori (dried seaweed). you add the noodles and the side items to the soup in increments and slurp it up. it was delicious! (cost about $9, to give you an idea that no, japan is not hideously expensive anymore.) i was glad i didn't order the "big size"... the man said "big size?" and i pointed at a substantial portion of noodles the woman behind me had. i thought that was the big size, but then a little man next to me got... mount fuji of noodles, complete with a flag on top!!! the proprietor man proudly told me that it was mt. fuji, which i guess explains the name. this bowl of noodles as, literally, bigger than the little man's head. i was tempted to wait and see if he finished it, but instead...
i headed out and for a moment thought i might hop on the train and head to shinjuku to wander round. but i'm still exhausted, so instead i went to the public bath down the street! it was a little initmidating, since i was very conscious of being a foreigner and i think i might have committed a faux pas by washing my hair. but it was relaxing... filled with old women, having their friday night scrub and soak. (you scrub off sitting on a little stool under a shower and then soak in a variety of hot tubs and jacuzzis... there is a sauna, too.)
i did feel very, very tall and when i emerged from the hot tubs and saw myself in the mirror, i looked like a piece of tuna sushi...
now i'm heading to bed. my japanese friends are arriving from osaka at 8 am.
oh, yesterday, had a nice day hanging out in the 798 art district with my friend jim, wandered a bit arond tiannamen, ate uighur food for a goodbye meal, and saw the end of the new years fireworks... completely crazy and a good goodbye to china...
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