こんにちは！My name is Erin and this blog is dedicated to my adventures in Tokyo this coming Fall and Spring. I will be attending Temple University's Japan Campus and will let you all know how that goes for me. よろしく！
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Tumblr’s reach among the 26-to-35-year-olds in the US is 11%.
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Last week was one of my friend’s last week in Japan, so we went to a limited time Sailor Moon exhibition since we all really like Sailor Moon. For those who don’t know what Sailor Moon is, it was one of the most popular manga/anime during the 90′s into the 2000′s and it was one of my favorite shows as a kid.
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I recently went to the dog cafe in Tokyo and it was super fun! I got one dog to sit in my lap for most of the hour that I was there. So go check out my article about it! =)
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Back in February I went to a food replica workshop and made wax food, so here’s my article on that!
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I recently went to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, which was super fun and had tons of delicious ramen from all over Japan and around the world!
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Here is my article on the Rabbit cafe that my friends and i went to recently!
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So here is my first article that I’ve written for Japan Tour List and it’s about the Kawaii Monster Cafe that me and my friends have been to twice. The first time we went was for Olivia’s birthday and the second time we went was for Anna’s birthday. The cakes they made were amazing, albeit a little expensive, but there was a lot of time and effort put into the cakes.
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I’ve got a Job!
Sorry I haven’t made any posts in about a month, but I was applying for a freelancing job for a website and I got the job! So anything I write will be for the website. I might post extra photos and other less significant things here, but everything else will be on the website. For every article I write I will post the link here so you guys can read them too!
The website is japantourlist.com so if you wanna go check it out ahead of time you can.
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1. This is Oji Shrine. Sorry the picture isn’t too great.
2. That is where you purify yourself before making a wish.
3.All of the little fox figurines that lined the rocks of the highest shrine in Oji-Inari Shrine.
4. The actual shrine part with the inari shells.
5. This was just the beginning of the line when midnight was nearing.
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New Year’s Eve
In Japan it is tradition for families to ring in the New Year at a shrine or temple and making a wish at midnight. Following that tradition, Monica and I went to two shrines that night that were nearby: Oji and Oji-Inari Shrines.
The denomination of the Oji shrine was uncertain, but inari in Japanese means fox, so the denomination of that shrine was foxes. As we walked towards the Oji-Inari Shrine there were many people with fox masks on their heads, fox scarves and other various fox-related accessories. One little girl wore a hakamashita with fox ears, a hand-held fox mask, and a fox tail. She was so adorable!
The Oji-Inari shrine also had multiple places for people to make a wish at in addition to the main entrance where most people make wishes at. The shrine was built on a hill, so as everyone walked along the path to the smaller shrines, they would go up a hill. It finally culminated at the top of the hill where the oldest-looking shrine was, which was carved out of a rock in the hillside. In the little carved out hole were fox figurines and a plate of inari shells, which is a play on words since there is a dish here called sushi inari.
After visiting that shrine for a while, we headed back to the Oji Shrine since there were more festivities there. Shrine and temple grounds are popular places to hold festivals throughout the year and New Year’s is not exempt. At Oji shrine there were tents lining the walkway selling traditional New Year’s food such as soba and other foods as well like a special type of okonomiyaki that Monica and I got.
The lady making it would fry up the innards of the okonomiyaki like cabbage, ginger, and other vegetables. At the same time, she would also fry the batter part of the okonomiyaki. When each part was done, she put the innards inside the batter and then folded it until the batter encompassed the vegetables. She then put bacon and a fried egg on top, and then topped it off with mayonnaise and soy sauce. It was quite delicious, but a little difficult to eat with only chop sticks and no knives.
As we were eating our dinner, a massive line had developed in front of the shrine as people waited for the New Year to come to make a wish. Thankfully, Monica and I had already made our wish or else we would not have been able to catch the last train home. When making a wish, there is a money box in front of the shrine and then a long rope with a bell attached that people ring. First, everyone bows in front of the shrine. Next they throw the five-yen coin in, which is the traditional amount to give. Then they ring the bell and clap twice and then they are ready to make their wish.
Another tradition on New Year’s is to drink amasake, which is sweet sake. The people at the tent made it in a huge vat and were stirring it here and there. It was served warm, like normal sake, and there were little pieces of rice in the cup. The alcohol was barely noticeable and was more sweet than alcohol-tasting.
Behind the tents, a bonfire was made out of all the old ropes and decorations used at the shrine in order to purify the shrine. New ropes and decorations are then put up for the new year. The fire felt nice and toasty that night since it was pretty cold outside.
After warming ourselves by the fire, we went back home.
On a side note, classes start tomorrow, so my adventures will be stopping for a while. But, I did do a lot of stuff this weekend since a bunch of my friends just came this semester, so I’ll be writing about that this week!
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The various foods that I ate during the trip.
1. My potato, mochi, cheese okonomiyaki.
2. Megan’s modanyaki, which has yakisoba noodles added to it too.
3. Our Christmas cake that we shared.
4. The kimchi ramen that I got. I wasn’t joking about the green onions.
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1. The entrance to Universal Studios.
2. A cute little bush cut in the shape of Hello Kitty.
3. The entrance to Hogsmeade Village.
4. Hogwarts Express replica. You could take a picture inside a replica of the train seats, but the line was super long.
5. Hogwarts silhouette.
6. Candie decorations inside of Honeydukes.
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Kyoto/Osaka Trip - Last Day
Sunday was our last official day of being in Kyoto and Osaka and we spent it at the Universal Studios in Osaka, which is located across the bay of the Kaiyukan Aquarium.
When walking into the park one of the oddest things was the fact that the staff didn’t perform bag checks. Everyone was just allowed to go in without having all of their stuff rummaged through. Also, it seemed that they did not care if people brought in their own water bottles and snacks. Or maybe that is something they only care about at movie theaters in America. This therefore made the lines go much quicker and run smoother.
The first section of Universal that everyone walks into is Hollywood and they have recreations of buildings such as the Brown Derby and Schwabb’s Drug Store. Many of the buildings were based off of Hollywood’s golden years during the 50′s. Many of the buildings and their significance’s were recognizable to me thanks to I Love Lucy. Megan, on the other hand, had no idea, which I presume was also the case for almost everyone there.
To the left of this section was New York and to the far right was the “kid’s” section of the park where they had Sesame Street and Hello Kitty attractions. On the right side way in the back was the Harry Potter exhibit and on the map they did not mention anything of what was in the Harry Potter section since Hogwarts is supposed to be secretive. Next to the Harry Potter section was a Jaws one and then to the left of that was Jurassic Park.
We spent most of our time walking around the park without going on too many rides since it was packed. But, we did do the 3D Terminator 2 activity. It wasn’t really a ride since it was in a movie theater and everyone wore 3D glasses, but they did have actors playing the parts of Sarah and John Connor and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. We did want to go to Hogwarts first, but because there were so many people, they made everyone go to ticket machines and get a ticket for an allotted time. Our time was for between 5:10 and 6:10pm.
The Harry Potter exhibition was based off of Hogsmeade Village, which is adjacent to Hogwarts, so all of the stores located in it were replicated at Universal. In the back of the Village was a smaller replica of Hogwarts and they had an attraction inside of it where people could visit certain rooms in Hogwarts. The line for that was incredibly long with a wait of 210 minutes, so maybe next time I’ll try and do that. But, the other stores were enough for me.
Olivander’s Wand Shop was in the Village where they had replicas of all of the wands of famous wizards and then simpler ones that were made out of different woods. It was pretty neat to see all of the wands, but they were so expensive. One was between $30-$40 and it wasn’t worth it if it was just going to sit on a shelf somewhere. Fun to look at, but not for practical use. There was also a clothing store where people could buy their own Hogwarts uniform and adjoining that was the owl shop. On the walls were stuffed owls that had heads that moved to make it look more realistic.
My favorite shop, though, was Honeydukes. In Harry Potter Honeydukes is the candy shop and they had many of the candies that are in the movies in the shop. There were chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Jelly Bean, Pumpkin Juice, and more. I would have gotten the jelly beans, but they were too expensive for the amount given, which is usual at theme parks. However, I did get a chocolate frog just to see who I got on the inside and some pumpkin juice. Chocolate frogs in Harry Potter came with cards of famous wizards and some are rare while others are common. I got Godric Gryffindor who is the most common person anyone can get. I would have gotten another chocolate frog, but they were too expensive.
While there we also ate at the Three Broomsticks where they served more traditional English foods. Like the Zoo in Ueno, the food there was averaged priced for what one got. It wasn’t overly expensive, but it wasn’t too cheap either. At the Three Broomsticks the orderliness of the Japanese people appeared once again.
As everyone waited in line, the greeter gave everyone a menu so that they would know what they wanted by the time they got up to the counter. There were multiple counters to order from and another staff member there to guide one to it. Once one was done ordering they went to the counter number that aligned with the meal they got. So, if they ordered Fish and Chips and next to it was the number 3 then they would give their order to the person at counter number three and would get their food from that same counter. After they received their food, there was another person that found a table for the party and made sure that everyone got a seat. It was so refreshing compared to the race everyone would have at an American amusement park to find a seat.
Once we finished our meal we walked around for a while longer and then went home. On Monday we left from Kyoto on the Shinkansen and went home to Tokyo.
That is the end of our trip in Kyoto and Osaka and I think I might try to go again sometime in the spring and spend more time at Kyoto and Universal.
じゃあね！
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The noodle wall
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My personally drawn noodle cup
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The original noodle packaging and a huge cup noodles statue.
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Kyoto/Osaka Trip - Day 4
On Saturday Megan and I ventured over to the Cup Ramen Noodles Museum in Osaka. At the museum they had a brief overview of the history of Cup Noodles and where they began. Everything was in Japanese of course, but they had staff that spoke English and there were headphone guides in English that customers could get as well. Megan opted for the headphones while I went off of the Japanese that I know.
The museum had constructed a replica of the tiny shack where Momofuku Ando first began making the original chicken flavored ramen in 1958. One wall of the museum was filled with every single Cup Ramen Noodle ever made and was organized by year. The wall of ramen even reached up to the ceiling and viewers had to crane their necks in order to see all of the ramen. While looking through all of the different styles of noodle cups, I noticed that the ones in America seemed to be based off of the ones from the 70′s and haven’t progressed since then. But, this makes sense since the deal between Momofuku and the United States to sell Cup Noodles in America was in 1971.
On the other side of that same room there were interactive doors for kids to guess what was inside of the door before opening it. The last door had a replica of the first cup ramen noodle vending machine.
The next room contained a little factory for people to make their own cup noodle. First, those who wanted to make their own cup noodles, had to purchase a cup from the vending machine, which were 300 yen (around $2). After that, there were tables for everyone to decorate their cup noodles container. Again, the orderliness of the Japanese people could be witnessed at this station, especially since the museum was quite full while we were there.
The staff positioned at the vending machine station would ask the customer how many people were in the group. They would then relay this to the staff member located with the drawing tables and then that staff member would find the party a seating arrangement that would work for them at a table. In America, it would be every man for himself and things would get pretty hectic.
Once everyone in the group was done decorating their cup, they would move on to the actual “factory” part of the museum where everyone picked out the flavors and broth that they wanted in their ramen. Everyone was allowed four different flavors out of a selection of around twelve. For my ramen I chose the standard broth of chicken, but there were also the options of seafood and chili tomato. There were various options for ingredients ranging from green beans to shrimp. For mine I chose kimchi, green onion, cheese, and crab. If I had to do it over again I wouldn’t choose the cheese since it didn’t seem to add too much to the flavoring.
In the adjacent room to the left there was a small cafeteria with vending machines full of different Cup Noodles that people could either eat there or take with them. The Cup Noodles in this room were rare and only regional kinds that normally people wouldn’t be able to find in Osaka. I’m not entirely sure what the one I chose was since it had kanji on it that I didn’t know, but it was pretty delicious.
In addition to these attractions, the third floor of the museum was a place where people could make their own ramen, starting with the fresh dough and kneading it themselves. Once the noodles are made, everyone can take home the freshly made ramen. The fourth floor of the museum had an interactive factory for kids to walk through and play with. It also housed a “Noodle Bazaar” where people could eat different types of freshly made ramen from all across the world. Megan and I didn’t have time for these two floors since the museum closed at 4pm, but if I ever come again I would definitely visit these two floors.
Later in the day, after we had visited the museum, Megan and I set out for Dotonbori, which is another huge tourist attraction. It is an outdoor mall full of various restaurants and tons of gift shops. Here we stopped at a ramen shop and ate true ramen rather than instant ramen.
This particular ramen restaurant used a ticket system where the customer first ordered the ramen of their choice from a ticket machine. When they entered the shop they would then give the tickets to one of the chefs and the chef in turn would then find a seat for them. Then the only thing left to do is wait for the ramen to be ready.
Almost every ramen restaurant in Japan is situated in a bar-like fashion. The kitchen is in the center and the counter that people eat at surrounds the kitchen with adjoining bar stools. This makes it easier and quicker for the chef to serve the ramen to the customer. It also provides entertainment for the customer since they can watch the chefs make the ramen while they wait.
One thing that I found humorous while eating at the shop was that every time a customer would come in, the chef assigned to helping the customers would say in Japanese something similar to “Customer greeting!” and all of the other chefs would then say “Irasshaimase!”.
For my bowl of ramen I chose the “koreanized” version of ramen, which had kimchi and almost a pound of green onions on top. Kimchi added to any kind of soup or stew tastes really delicious because it adds so much more flavoring to the broth and just a hint of spiciness. It was some of the best ramen that I have ever had.
While at Dotonburi I also bought a couple of things. There was one store completely dedicated to omiyage and other things of that nature that had tons of little trinkets and food items related to Kyoto and Osaka. Omiyage are gifts that one gives when visiting another person’s home or when they are thankful for someone doing a favor for them. Omiyage are not just random items that one picks up at a store, it can be, but normally they are specially packaged gifts of a single type of food. At one store they had omiyage of Osakan cheesecake and one of special Osakan cookies. Also, omiyage are not bought for one’s own pleasures. I guess you could buy them for yourself, but don’t tell anybody. Sometimes I’m tempted to do that because the items used in omiyage cannot be found in regular supermarkets and stores.
While at these types of stores, I bought giant rainbow pocky that had pocky of seven different flavors for each color of the rainbow: chocolate, vanilla, matcha, grape, strawberry, banana, and melon. The melon ones were by far the best flavor. In addition, I also bought Geisha-themed bandaids that are adorable. Japan also likes to make all different kinds of decorative erasers, so I bought two packs of erasers with a tea set theme. It was an expensive day for me.
That concludes the fourth day of our trip and I will write about the last day tomorrow!
じゃあね！
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All of the owls that we saw at Owl Forest. I also got a small little phone charm from the gift shop below.
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