Birds, Flowers and Sushi (Day 2 in Kobe)

We woke up rather leisurely on my last full day in Japan. As it was New Year's Eve, there wasn't a whole lot we could do for the day. Nori managed to find the one thing that was open, and that was the Bird and Flower Park. Basically, a greenhouse full of flowers and ponds with lily pads with an area to see tropical birds up close. Personally, I hate to see these creatures living in such conditions... people gawking at them, feeding them... many of them not flying  around, saying to me they must have their wings clipped. But, at the same time, it's also a rare experience to see these creatures up close and personal (sometimes too close and personal)

I had some fun taking photos in the flower garden.... 

Penguins! 

I love the colors on these ducks!! 

Then it was on to a dinner of sushi. I made a point to get one more taste of sushi since I'm guessing this could be my last trip to Japan (I've been 3 times now). We wondered around and found a decent looking place which turned out to be much better and nicer and cheaper than I expected. 

Nori sure does know how to order food. He went all out, ordering salad, tempura.... 

Sashimi....

And finally the sushi.... and even after we ate all that, he ordered more fried fish and fried potatoes.. I think I didn't walk out but more like rolled out of the restaurant. And amazingly, all this food, plus a little sake to drink came to about 10,000 yen. Yes, it's expencive, but we ordered a lot of food in a nice ambiance and great service from waitresses in kimonos. The more he ordered the more I imagined the bill racking up. But, anyway, you only live once, right?

New Year's Celebrations in Japan

Selling door ornaments called shimekazari, made with oranges, paper and tree branches in a local market in Osaka. 

New Year's is probably the best and worst time to visit Japan. Best time, because you can see the traditional culture of Japan. People visiting temples and shrines, people preparing their homes for the holiday, and just a sense of general excitement and anticipation that is in the air, similar to being in America around Christmastime.  Worst time, because museums are closed, the locals are busy and visiting families and temples may be packed with visitors, making for less than attractive photos and difficulties seeing the sights.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to ring this big bell. Japanese ring a bell and make a wish for the new year. Small bells can be seen all around various temples, but not everyone gets to ring one like this! It pays to make friends with the local monk ^^.

In the homes, moochi (Japanese rice cake ... kind of like 떡) is placed in the home. I asked what the meaning of this was, but no one knew. I guess I don't know what the meaning of a Christmas tree is either. It's just something that belongs there.

Here is Nori's front door, adorned with a shimekazari. This is made of shimenawa (rice straw), tree branches and an orange. It is placed there to ward off evil spirits. This blog has a good, simple explanation.

Temples are a hubbub of action. We came to this major temple in Kobe a little earlier than most and missed the evening crowd. Japanese like to visit the temple at midnight on New Year's to hear the monks ring the bell 108 times.

Passageways are lined with vendors selling anything imaginable, but more than anything else was lots and lots of food.

In the morning, we came back to the same temple and found it packed. We pushed our way through the crowd and followed the police directing foot traffic into the temple to make our New Year's wishes.

The Kobe Beef Experience

As I was in Kobe, I figured I had to try Kobe beef. It's the one thing (other than the earthquake) that is world famous about Kobe and I figured someone, someday will ask me... "so, did you eat real Kobe beef in Kobe?" And if I were to answer "no." to that question I would be really lame and disappointed with myself, so, that's how I found myself in a steak house getting a a crazy expensive meal and trying to savor every moment.

While the cows are not massaged daily and fed beer as it is commonly thought, there are strict criteria that must be followed in order beef to be called Kobe beef. 1) the cow must be raised in Hyogo prefecture in Japan by designated producers. 2) The cows must be slaughtered at particular slaughterhouses and examined closely. 3) The fat marbling, firmness, texture and color are graded on a scale (BMS- Beef Marbling Score) and must achieve a certain amount of points.

Since there are such high standards, the cows are raised in a "stress-free" environment, according to the pamphlet I received. They are only fed fresh water, the best feed and allowed to "grow at their leisure to maturity". So, I guess for those vegetarians who are concerned about animal rights, you might not feel so guilty eating Kobe beef as opposed to some of the other varieties out there.

On to my Kobe beef experience....

Nori made reservations for us to eat at Nishimura which was close to his house. It's a teppanyaki style eatery where they cook the food on a grill in front of your eyes.

While they're not generous with the steak (you get about a fist size portion, which is probably the correct size... but I'm an American who is used to a steak more or less the size of a dinner plate), the meal itself is about 7 courses, so you won't leave feeling hungry by any means.

We started with soup and salad, western style.

Then, out came the meat. The big hunk with lots of fat was split between three of us. It looked a lot smaller on the plate after it was cooked though...

See?

On to the seafood

And a second course of meat, this time fried with bean sprouts. 

Finally, it was time for desert and tea or coffee. I found that Japanese really like western style black tea for some reason. 

And here we all are; me, Nori, Nori's friend and Nori's friend's mom. All of them were excited to practice English with me and I was happy to have great company for dinner! If you happen to stop by Kobe, make sure you get to taste Kobe beef!

Bonus! A video of the experience! Enjoy.. hope you're not hungry now!

Day One in Kobe

I arrived in Kobe on the morning of December 30th and was met by my friend from college, Nori, and his friend from his English class that wanted to meet me and practice English. Despite the rainy and cold weather, they gave me a whirlwind tour of the city. The first stop we made was the Disaster Reduction Museum, a museum dedicated to remembering the Kobe earthquake that struck in 1995 and preventing the same destruction from happening again by educating people about disaster preparedness. The museum was one of the highlights of this trip to Japan and a must see for anyone who stops by Kobe. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside the museum, so I don't have anything to show here.

After the museum, we went to Chinatown for lunch. Since Kobe is a port city at some point a Chinese population was established here, but today it's more touristy and Japanese style Chinese food. But, anyway, it was fun to try and interesting to look around.

Nori's friend knew this woman serving up dumplings, so we popped into this restaurant for lunch.

Noodles, steamed buns, soup filled dumplings ... mmm....

Not Puma, but Pork and Panda.

From there we headed over to the waterfront area. We walked through Kobe Harborland, which is a fairly large shopping and entertainment complex complete with a small amusement park. While it's not really my thing, it was really nice to see the waterfront.

Nori here is trying hard to win one of those little Rillakuma thingamabobs... 200 yen later and nothing...

We were tired of walking around, so we stopped at a funny little "American" themed cafe for a cup of coffee (and tea for me). It was full of Southwestern Native American style prints and jewelery but it was cute. And, the thing that was most fun was the waitress who brought us some books to peruse while we sat around and relaxed. Here, Nori is reading our horoscopes and giving us insight into our nature.

From there it was on to eating Kobe beef, but I'll leave that for the next post.

My trip to Japan... in Black and White.

Osaka

A few weeks ago, I tried out some black and white photos around Seoul in the style of the photographer Daido Moriyama. I posted some those photos here and they seemed to be well received. I've fiddled around with the post production and I think I've improved my technique, so I'd like to share with you a few photos I took while on my trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. I won't post them all, for the sake of space, but if people like them, maybe I'll post more. Please do tell me what you like and don't like. I am always trying to improve :-) Constructive criticism is always welcome. 

 Osaka

 Osaka 

 Kyoto

 Kyoto

Kobe