4DX Cinema: Star Wars VII

We saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 4DX at the new Lalaporte Fujimi Toho theater. It was a trip, at least. This was our second time to see SW7 (first time 3D IMAX). I'm glad I'd already seen it once because as fun as all the "toys" were (moving seats, air jets, strobe lights, ticklers...), they ultimately kept yanking me out of the "moment," reminding me that I was in a movie theater. It made it impossible to get lost in the movie. The worst part were these kickers in the seats. These are bars that thump your back and butt whenever a character falls down or gets injured. Usually it's a light thump. But about three times one of them smacked me in the back so hard I cried out, and after the first one I couldn't quite relax, waiting for the next smack. Was was regretting checking my coat in a locker--I could have used it as protective padding. I'm thinking something was wrong with my seat because no one else seemed to be getting hurt by theirs. The strobe lights mostly illuminated the theater showing you that you're in a theater. Toward the end, our row malfunctioned and maintained a loud rumbling sound until the end (bad pump or something). They also periodically puffed out what was supposed to smell like smoke, but it wasn't quite smokey enough so it also made me aware of it. The leg ticklers were oddly one of the better gadgets. The temperature changing air was nice, too. The 3D wasn't too bad, though not nearly as good as IMAX. But in the end I'd have to say that while this sort of carnival attraction is effective with short movies made with it in mind like at Disneyland, it's tiresome in a two-and-a-half hour movie. And again, it's irritatingly distracting. My son liked it, though. He said it's the only reason he was able to enjoy SW7 a second time. But I'm glad I went. Like I said, it was a trip. I'd like to try it with Fury Road. But for the time being I'm going to stick with 3D IMAX for the vastly superior audio and visuals.

I'd trade all the gadgets in for a theater that could provide say, 20 or 30 accurate smells. That'd be great (something better than Smell-o-Vision).

No Pepsi. Coke!

One of strangest things about Japan was pointed out by my son: you can't buy Pepsi here. You can buy Pepsi Next, Special, Watermelon...PINK. But not regular. Not in the machines. Not in convenience stores. Not in restaurants or kiosks. The only place apart from well-stocked supermarkets is in cinemas for some reason. As you can see here, even Dr. Pepper maintains a presence. Hmm. 

JaPancakes

Went to Denny's for breakfast with my wife. This month they're having a pancake buffet: YEA!
But...

...as you can see, it's only in the afternoon. That's right, on Planet Japan, pancakes are a high-calorie afternoon comestible enjoyed primarily by prim, single young "office ladies" and idle students. 

Breakfast? How about some fish, rice, or if you're feeling modern, a sandwich?

Alright, Denny's is pretty international. 
You can get eggs and "bacon" in the morning. 
French toast.
Non-French toast.
You can even get pancakes...

think you can finish all that?

Not one, but two pancakes...almost as bit as my hand! And served with an extra-large thimble of syrup (practically half-full).

Now, they're featuring something called and Eggslut...they say it's all the rage in LA. Soft-boiled egg on mashed potatoes with toast. Actually pretty good. 

Secret Town Hidden in Tokyo Park

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum:
A Secret Town Hidden in a Tokyo Park

It's hard to believe something like this is as unknown as it is!

Somewhere in the heart of Koganei park is buried a 200 year old neighborhood. What's more, hardly anyone here seems to know about it.

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural, or tatemonoen hereafter (the Japanese name), is a massive preservation model neighborhood surrounded by an even more massive recreational park in the western suburbs of Tokyo. It's further cleverly obscured by things like hedges and fields so effectively that among the numerous Tokyoites I know, barely a handful have ever even heard of it.

What is it?

In order to preserve Tokyo's cultural heritage, with particular awareness of the natural disasters that often threaten Japan's buildings, they have amassed a collection of historical homes, buildings, restorations and model structures dating all the way back to the Edo period.

One of the coolest things is that you can walk into and explore all these buildings.
The smells. The textures. The sound of old floorboards (and sod) under foot. It's a full-sensory trip back in time. We have one like this back in Dallas, but not this impressive. I first discovered it chaperoning my son's school field trip there years ago.

The buildings are exquisitely maintained and are also well furnished. Old dial phones, vintage furniture, working hand-pumps. For younger visitors it's like visiting another planet.

Old house with sod floor and working cooking pit

Seen here is an old thatched-roof house with a sod floor and a working cooking pit.
When my son's class visited, one of the volunteers, an elderly grandmother in period costume was tending the pit and telling stories to anyone who'd listen. The half of the class who understood Japanese were immediately gathered around the fire, mesmerized. But there are plenty of staff and volunteers who speak English, and other languages.

coffee house

For history buffs, every building is well-notated with bilingual plaques explaining whose home it was and why it's significant. Pictured above is one of the bigger homes with gorgeous interiors and a nice coffee shop with crepes and cakes.

Restored bathhouse

Go early and plan on making a day of it. Every time we go, we run out of time. In addition to the buildings, they have two museum halls where they hold periodic exhibitions like the current Ghibli exhibit that runs till the end of 2014. This alone is worth going for. For an additional fee you can see two sizable exhibits of Ghibli studio's architectural art and models. Ghibli, if the name doesn't ring a bell, is the studio that created Hayao Miyazaki's animated films like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. Google it. Thought the artwork, sketches, designs and animation cells are only notated in Japanese they're still stunning on their own. They show us just how much work went into these amazing films. And moreover, they have a number of large-scale models of some of the more popular Ghibli locations, like a 3 meter tall, highly detailed model of the Aburaya bathhouse from Spirited Away.

They also have late hours for one weekend in November where you can see the buildings lit up at night. We're planning on taking that in this year. 

town square

There's also a park (yes, a park in a park...in a park--Ooo, meta!) with stilts and old-time toys that most post-Nintendo kids have never seen before. Again, volunteers on hand to help.
"This is how your grandparents (or your mom and I...depending on when you were born)."
Just looking at these pictures, you can see why Hayao Miyazaki often visited here while he was working on Spirited Away.

My advice: bring a picnic/bento; walk around for a few hours (let the kids run wild), have lunch, then carry on. Running around someone else's house was as much a thrill for me as it is for my own son and his friends. 

Toddlers, teens, adults, seniors...this one's good for all ages. And it's reasonable; 400 yen for regular admission and all discounts for kids and seniors.

Warning: take public transportation if possible. While the tatemonoen itself is amazingly uncrowded, Koganei park where it resides is a very popular park and parking is very something you're not likely to find. There isn't much coin parking anywhere near, either. So bite the bullet and take the bus from either Musashi-Koganei station (chuo line) or Hana-Koganei station (Seibu Shinjuku line). 

The park is open from 9:30 to 4:30 (5:30 April to September), so get there as early as you can. Those seven hours will fly by. 

Their English site will tell you how to get there and anything else you might need to know.

They have special events listed here.
And this is a map of the park.

How something like this could be so unknown is just baffling.

English site

Calendar of Events

Map

Wikipedia notes

Japanese site

GothBurger

Black is back.

It's the burger that goes with everything, and just in time for Halloween! Burger King in Japan brings back the KURO burgers: Diamond and Pearl. Burgers in a squid ink sauce between buns blackened with bamboo charcoal.

I'm hearing alot of negative comments about them, that they look gross. I think they look fun, and they taste quite good. They're as good as BK's regular burgers, but with the kind of charred taste as if they'd been cooked at a beach barbecue. And the ikasumi (squid ink) ads a nice little twist.

I've had it twice so far, and I'll probably have it a few more times before it disappears. But then again, I'm the same guy who just made an effort to eat fried bamboo worms in Takadanobaba. So maybe you shouldn't be too quick to follow my taste.

Fish-a-Palooza 2014

Art Aquarium: a breathtaking art installation in Tokyo.

This is the first time I've ever seen goldfish as an artistic medium. Artist Hidetomo Kumura has set up some stunning arrangements of goldfish (kingyou) in beautifully aesthetic tanks with colored illuminations. After 7pm it becomes night aquarium where they turn down the lights and fire up the lasers and fog making the space look like a high-priced disco with hypnotic trance techno throbbing from the sound system. And with the greedy throngs pushing about, it can really feel like a packed nightclub; kids need to go on Dad's shoulders and the meek shall inherit poor views.

At one point, a pair of dancers performed captivating pole dances, wearing goldfish-styled kimonos.
A note: the music is quite good featuring artists like Ken Ishii, Dragon, and Neko Punch; they sold out of the CDs of it...I couldn't get one, and I'tried.

The fish themselves are award-quality specimens, and the overall arrangements and orchestrations of sight and sound make this very much a great work of art and design; not merely a fishy gimmick.

On a Tuesday afternoon, it took us a half hour to get through the line, but once in we easily spent an hour taking in the full experience. Access is not straightforward. It's in the Mitsuisumitomo Hall of the new Coredo 3 building at Mitsukoshimae station. Depending on the turnout, you'll probably start at B1 of Coredo 3, by the A6 exit of the Ginza line. Cue a bit, then receive a card which you'll take up to the top floor where you'll buy your tickets at 1,000 yen. Photography is allowed but no flashes. Good for families. Great for a date; something about this place seemed to be putting everyone in the mood. But again, there were plenty of spellbound families in addition to the amorous couples.

So have a look at some of the photos we took and decide if it's for you or not. Click on any of them to open the gallery and see them in full size. You've got until September 23. They did this last year, so they may do it again next year...I wouldn't take a chance, though. More information at:

http://www.nihonbashi-tokyo.jp/ecoedo2014/

日本橋のナイトアートアクエリアム行って来ました。今まで経験した事のないパフォーマンスとあまりの美しさに超感激。トランスをBGMにシンセサイザーと光のパフォーマンスでのアート鑑賞。見る価値ありです。

Sleeping like a River

川
That's the Japanese kanji for "river."
It's one of the first kanji Japanese kids learn, obviously, because of it's simplicity. It even looks like a river.
There's a joke in Japan that families sleep like this kanji. "Kawa no ji ni natte neru" (川の字になって寝る), or "sleep like the character for river." Conventionally, Japanese families sleep together in one room, on the floor, on futons. Sleeping side-by-side, mother and father, with the child between them, it looks like this kanji.
Isn't that neat?

I sleep this way with my son and wife and I'm really fond of it. We don't always have time to sit down and eat together like families should. But every night when we bed down we chat a bit as we drift off to sleep. In the middle of the night, I might wake up for whatever reason, and I'm never alone. It's very comforting.

Yokohama Ramen Museum

It's open again!
It's open again!
The Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum is finally open again!

If you're only in Tokyo for a few days, go to the ramen museum in Shin Yokohama.

It's not far from the glorious Yokohama station, itself a short ride from Tokyo. A few blocks from Shin Yokohama station is one of the weirdest, most interesting places in Kanto.
It closed down years ago, but as soon as I heard it had re-opened I grabbed my family and we trained it out there.


I'm not sure I'd call it a museum...maybe a theme restaurant / museum?
The ground floor houses a modest museum displaying the history of ramen in Japan and it's trappings. But it's that which lies below for which you should go.





The basement stairs are actually a time machine, taking you back to the year 1958 when ramen saw a boom period across Japan. There you'll find an amazing replica of an old, Japanese neighborhood consisting of a town square surrounded by dense little urban paths and filled with numerous ramen shops.







The Japanese fast-food equivalent of the American hamburger is a bowl of steaming ramen. While it's not the  healthiest meal, it's a good-sight better than tacos or burgers, and it's about as fast.

Now ramen shops are pervasive, ranging from sublime to awful, and like any fast food you learn to keep expectations low in touristy areas like theme parks and rest stops. You go do Disneyland for the rides, not the spaghetti, right? Not so here, where the museum showcases the best ramen Japan has to offer from Hokkaido to Okinawa; alot like EPCOT's World Showcase.


The shops rotate periodically, but the shop we found most interesting when we went in September was actually from Hollywood, CA. called Ikemen (a play on words, ikemen meaning handsome, and men meaning noodles).

The ramen is dipping style, where you take some noodles and dip them into the sauces. And in addition to great food, they have a great sense of humor, with menu items such as "Johnny Dip Ramen" and "Jurassic Pork."

Admission is about 300 yen for adults, 100 yen for kids.

It's the details that really complete an illusion and the detail the really sold me that I'd stepped back in time was a "public TV," mounted high on a post in the square so everyone could watch it (because hey, this is the 50's; who can afford their own TV???)

The secret to getting the most out of your visit, unless you plan on multiple visits, is to order the "mini" bowls of ramen at the various shops. These are half-sized servings. This way you don't fill up quite so quickly. We were able to sample three different shops this way and still have room for soft-serve ice cream at a nostalgic old "snack" bar (something between a coffee shop and a tavern).

We happened to get here in time to watch a TV station record a superhero scene in the square. TOO FUNNY!

The name of this shop translates out to "Fire Nation." As a fan of The Last Airbender, I entered cautiously.

...a WHAT booth??? How did the older generations ever survive without  iPhones?

Just enjoying a steam at the local sento bath-house.

Enjoying a frozen jelly, in the classic dagashiya style.

I took my dad here when he visited.
I took my wife here on one of our first dates.
I took every visitor here.
And everyone balked at the suggestion.
And everyone loved it.
And it was closed down before my son was old enough to experience it, which was a real bummer. But now I have been able to share this wonderful place with him, and he can't wait to go back.

And of course what night ramen would be complete without a few laps on an old slot car racetrack? Weird? Unrelated? Sure, but it was so much fun I'm not complaining.

For more information, follow this link to their English site or type Yokohama Ramen Museum into Google.

Epic Fail: ABC Edition

Funny story from my class:

My primary schoolers were playing this game where I scatter ABC cards around the room and the kids take turns calling out letters, which the others dash to pounce on. Lots of fun and really perfect for wiggly, energetic kids.

Well there's this one kid, he's overweight, lazy, arrogant and completely full of himself; utterly un-Japanese but not surprisingly he takes to American English like a fish to water...I love him! 

He decides to choose one card and camp out by it, with his hand hovering above it. He figures one card is enough to demonstrate his brilliance, and eventually that card has to be called. And the other kids are having a laff about it, too.

But when that card got called he was busy arguing his perceived brilliance with the group, and another kid snatched it right out from under his paw. His reaction?


He could be a senator back in the States!

Halloween in Japan 2013 Progress Report #1: Food

One of my favorite things about Japan is how it assimilates foreign culture without imitating it. Take, for example, my favorite holiday - Halloween. We first started seeing the earliest glimmerings of it's presence here 20 years ago. Now it's becoming firmly positioned in the Japanese pop-holiday pantheon. But in the same way England and North America have their own ways of expressing it, so does Japan and it's about as similar the the American Halloween as is Mexico's Dia De Los Muertos.

This year, we're seeing two new sweets in the stores. This one is an apple pie that looks like a jack-o-lantern. Light, flaky crust and cinnamon-sweet apple filling.

...and this is a steamed pumpkin cake.

It has the consistency of sponge cake, but with a Japanese Kabocha "pumpkin," a variety of Asian squash. Very tasty.

I'm looking forward to what other confections Japan comes up with in the Halloweens to come.

The Ongoing Adventures of my Tongue: Taco Rice

Japanese Mexican food.

It's called taco rice (タコライス takoraisu).


As weird as that might sound, it truly rocks! But if you ever visited Japan's distant island of Okinawa, especially in the armed forces, or spent more than a week anywhere in Japan, you're probably familiar with it and don't see it as weird at all.

The One-Minute Lunch

For such a tiny, remote island Okinawa offers some remarkably unusual, yet delicious food.

Approachable

That's the word I'm looking for. Alot of "unusual" food around the world, good or bad, can be very unfriendly to the less-adventurous diner. Okinawan food, maybe for it's simplicity, doesn't look all that different from Chinese. If the spartan marines are eating it, it can't be all that esoteric. But the MC of Okinawan food is the humble taco rice.

Legend has it that it was first whipped up in the '60's by a local chef trying to please the palates of US servicemen by making tacos, but substituting local rice for the tortilla shells - the only component which was difficult to obtain out there (if you think about it, everything else is pretty basic).

It's essentially taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and whatever else served on a bed of steamed rice. It's as good as it sounds, and a notably healthy alternative.

It's so easy to make that you just read the recipe. But for the sake of bullet points, I'll elaborate with helpful Japanese shopping links:

• Brown the ground beef, drain the fat, return it to the skillet, and cook for a few more minutes with water and taco seasoning
  (chili pepper, onion, garlic, pepper, cayenne, and maybe cumin and paprika).
  You can do your own seasonings, or just use a package of taco seasoning like I do.
  
  
• Serve the beef over steamed rice.


• Here, I like the traditional Japanese "sushi rice" (uruchimai). Maybe that's just because it's what I'm accustomed to but I think the starchy, stickiness of this rice works best with the spicy beef and cheese; supporting it without overpowering it. Sometimes I mix in a little brown rice for substance and healthiness. But just about any rice will do, I guess.
• Here, I like shred the cheese directly on the hot taco meat (oh, grow up!) so it will melt better. Now we're almost talking NACHO rice, which mine usually ends up resembling if I have enough cheese...so much for the health benefits.
• Chop up some lettuce or cabbage, tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, if  you have them on hand)...add some guacamole, onions, olives...whatever turns you on.
• Taco sauce or salsa on top. If you're in Japan, the best salsa by far is the Daniel's Fire Roasted line imported from the US. If you're in the States, you may know of  better brands, but I doubt it.  Daniel's Fire Roasted Salsas are so good, I've stopped making my own. The black bean and corn is my family's favorite. I used to get them at Sony Plaza when I was lucky enough to find them in stock until I found them online. Now I order them by the case and go through about a jar a week.
  You can order them from Rakuten through this link (complete links at the bottom):

★6,000円以上ご購入で送料無料！4月30日9時59分まで★《ダニエルズファイヤーロースト》サルサ... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）



• After That? Serve with beer and a kick-ass action movie. Might I suggest From Paris with Love?

• OR if sounds like too much work, heat up a  package of ready-made taco rice meat.

You can even speed up the process further by smashing a couple of plain onigiri/rice balls on a plate, adding the ready-made beef, and microwaving it (remove beef from foil bag first, genius).

Taco rice is equally popular with kids, at least in Japan. Try it with your kids and see what they think. Lemme know.

Either way, I'd like to hype Daniel's a little more. It's a small company, so I want to make sure they get all the business they deserve lest they stop selling in Japan and I lose my favorite condiment.
Try them all; they're all great.

トマトソースにハーブと乾燥燻製唐辛子をブレンド。濃厚だけれどマイルドな味。【monoria】〈Da... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）

★6,000円以上ご購入で送料無料！4月30日9時59分まで★《ダニエルズファイヤーロースト》サルサ... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）

★6,000円以上ご購入で送料無料！4月30日9時59分まで★《ダニエルズファイヤーロースト》サルサ... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）

ハラペーニョの辛みが病みつきになる、米国で多くの賞を受賞した自慢のサルサ。【monoria】〈Da... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）

フレッシュハラペーニョの刺激的な辛さがたまらない、辛いのが好きな方におすすめ。【monoria】... 価格：698円（税込、送料別）