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Kobuchizawa Art Village

Like I mentioned in my previous post, Golden Week vacation was spent in Yamanashi in the shadow of Mt. Yatsugatake and the Japanese Alps. Being from Colorado, I physically feel at home being surrounded by mountains and blue sky but emotionally, I feel at home surrounded by creative people and the arts. So when I found out we would be staying in the Kobuchizawa Art Village I was super excited. In reality, it isn’t quite as fantastic as it sounds. By this I mean it’s not bursting with creativity around every corner however for being such a little town it does have a good amount of galleries, museums and concerts/festivals.

One of these places, which we were able to visit for free because the resort we were staying at provides a free ticket, is the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection Museum. Keith Haring was a very outspoken artist with a lot he wanted to convene through his art. The current exhibit is really a reflection of this and is moving to see the progression of his work. Although the collection is small and a bit expensive (if you have to pay), I think it’s well worth a visit. The building is really an interesting piece of architecture as well.

I hope that Kobuchizawa continues to nurture art and the relationship it has with nature. One way we can help out is by supporting it. Here are a couple links that may be of interest.

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http://www.digi-joho.com/toyko/japan/tokyo-surroundings/kobuchizawa-art-village/

http://yatsujazz.com/

ok, now the restaurant i was talking about ~

the following is what you can see if you look out from the window of that cute pretty 食べ放題 restaurant ~ sooo pretty.

ちょっと残念けれど、that day was not completely sunshine, so the photo might not seem very blue sky sharp, but it was very 涼しい〜気分いい〜 ^^.

ok, the above might not be the best photo ever, but trust me, that “CARROT” thing, is SOOOOO delicious!!!!!!!!! omg. taste great.

OK, NOW, i am really talking, THAT SHRIMP dish, goodness, HEAVEN ON EARTH, it was not only shrimp, it also has scallops!!!!!!!! CAN U BELIEVE IT? soooooo unbelievably wonderful. i think this dish TOPS my tasting list, EVER.

this is nice … the orange thing, the above … SOOOO good!

the above is the dessert plate, but look at them like it was nothing, it really taste GREAT! actually, more than great … 胡麻 pudding … my goodness.

Such a nice pretty place … the surroundings is so sweet ~

after i moved here for a week or so, some loved one took me to a very very wonderful buffet, soooo pretty. the little restaurant was in a very pretty shopping mall, well, just about all the shopping malls here are very pretty, HEAVEN ON EARTH.

but first of all, i would like to show you some of the pictures of the surroundings here.

these are the places that some special one took me walked through ~ so cute, i wish i can be with him every single day.

The place inside ~

and of course, the building itself here is also not bad, not bad AT ALL!

just like how my friends said, it is a completely different level.

the room, the ONLY one that can fit my budget and is available for me, is this cutie share room, i was warned that it was a 二段 bed, it did not extremely bothered me, cause when i moved in, i had no roommate.

and, the thing that really attract me, is the wood part of the bed, it made me feel so comfortable, it is a REAL room, yes, it is true that it is smaller compare to Warabi, however, since it has TONS of cupboards and drawers, it is SOOOOOO much better!

the atmosphere, it just made me feel like i am in a ROOM ^^.

i actually had longed for a REAL room for a long time. i am ok with the last place, cause it seemed so big, but somehow, also because the ceiling was SOOO high, it makes the AC just not work very well, and i just always seem not very comfortable for some reasons. but no complaints of course, just that, last summer, it really scared me, i almost got suffocated >.<

I moved

2 weeks ago, i moved to a very wonderful new place, with a wonderful promotion, it was SOOO much more awesome than i thought, i made the decision in just 1 day, 結構迷ったんだけど、but it was decided fast, because i just have to go, i know, otherwise, i would be even MORE 落ち込んでる、and ONLY think negatively every single day, missing the person that lives across the corridor …

yes, i have moved to one of the best OakHouse in the world, i mean, i know it is a pretty place, but, after i lived here for 2 weeks and occasionally checked out some of the stores here, omg, … sooooo pretty …

even the flowers here are prettier … goodness ~

Yamanashi… Again!

Well, alas. Golden Week has come and past. While the majority of my time was spent basking in the sunshine coming from my window onto my bed (aka, I slept a lot), three days of my trip was spent in Yamanashi.

Yamanashi is a prefecture south/west of Tokyo (I think… Japan N/S/E/W directions are sort of hard to judge) and only a mere 3 hours by train, Yamanashi is the perfect little getaway spot. That’s just not my thinking as other tourists flee there for their vacations as well. The landscape makes for beautiful, mountainous backdrops (including Mount Fuji) and or excellent hiking destinations, wineries and temples are in abundance and a popular amusement park, Fuji-Q Highland, also calls it home.

If you are a devout reader of my blog posts (which I bet you are!) you’ll remember that I went there last year as well. Although we passed by many of the same places as last time, it was a very different trip. Just boyfriend not family, hotel not cabin, train not car, two nights not one. There was more time to just have a leisurely stroll around the “neighborhood” which ended up in some interesting finds! An abandoned tennis court, all the old people planting rice, little mountain cafes and all the kuras (traditional Japanese storehouses – see picture) that so many of the houses have in their backyards. I never would have noticed these things without walking through the town. Walking is so lovely!

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Let’s Take a Walk

Tokyo is a metropolis full of various places all jam packed in a small area. The boundaries of all these cities are vague but due to and depending on the main roads and train stations in Tokyo and the sort of isolation they create, each city seems to be able to establish it’s own special characteristic or style.

Walking south along the Yamanote line from Shinjuku station, a station which connects Tokyo to various other prefectures, you can see an assortment of very different people and their respective “cities”. Within one hour you will pass the prep school and central park-esque city of Yoyogi, to the fashion capital of Harajuku to the young people mecca of Shibuya to the slightly high-class city of Ebisu. Not only does the atmosphere of these “villages” change quite a bit but so do the people. Even moving away from the previously mentioned area and thinking about the second hand bookstore hub of Kanda to the techie/maid cafe enthusiast town of Akihabara, it becomes clear that each place in the heart of Tokyo makes a very different impression on the people who live there to the people who visit.

For tourists, Tokyo has one of the best train systems in the world. Amazingly punctual (to the point where is it scary!), it makes such a hugely packed place easy to navigate. However, I recommend you throw that train ticket away and put on your walking shoes because watching the places and the people change as you make your way from station to station is far more interesting.

How do you act in a crisis?

After the Tohoku Earthquake, many foreign media outlets spoke of the impressive order and civility of the Japanese people. And of course, in the middle of such destructive chaos, the reality that there was no looting or other crimes is a great and impressive feat.

However, if you take a closer look, in Tokyo (far from the disaster areas) people were lining up at the grocery stores, scrambling for the last bottle of water or cup of noodles. Irrespective of the stricken area and only thinking of oneself, this only made anxiety spread across Tokyo and beyond.

Uncertainty will do that to people. If they would have thought clearly, they would have realized that buying many bottles of milk was useless. However, in a situation where one can not see clearly, running out and buying up all that you can feels safe.

Until the Fukushima nuclear power plant is stable, the prospect of the disaster area’s reconstruction will definitely not improve. Despite a situation like this, many people in Tokyo, who were unharmed or received no damage to their personal belongings, are slowly but surely started to move forward and think optimistically. Furthermore, the government is repeatedly saying “This is safe and that is safe” however, many people up north are far from obtaining that sort of piece of mind and ridding themselves from uncertainty. So the next time we go shopping, let’s think of them and buy wisely.

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for… Bicycles!

Japan is a big bicycle country. According to a 2005 survey, in Japan there is 1 bicycle for every 1.5 people (or is it person?). In America, there is 1 bicycle for every 2.6 people and China there is 1 bicycle for every 2.7 people. So it seems you can say that compared to other countries, Japan bicycles are popular.

However, despite that statistic, Japan is not a very advanced bicycle country. Within one year, around 6 million dollars is spent taking care of abandoned bicycles in Japan. Many people throw them away by leaving them parked at a train station or other public area. It’s a very big problem in Japanese society. Also, marked bicycle lanes are few and far between, leading to constant bicycle casualties around the country.

In various countries in Europe and parts of America, bicycle lanes are becoming more and more common and bike races are very popular. Although the usage of bicycles seems to be a bit different compared to Japan (aka commuting vs. recreation), other things such as road manner and bike sharing seems to be present as well.

I’d love to see a number of these things take hold in Japan although I could see many challenges taking place too.

Japanese nutrition

A beautiful day today in Tokyo! After work I decided to go out to lunch and it got me thinking…

I often hear Japanese food referred to as healthy and delicious and it is! For Japanese people, they are easily satisfied with a meal of vegetables and a bit of meat or fish or even a meal of rice and miso soup. By paying attention and using the seasonal vegetables and fish, one can have a delicious, fresh meal and above all, a cheap one! To really understand, learn, and enjoy Japanese food culture, one must adapt to these types of eating habits.

However, recently I have noticed that traditional Japanese food can not always be called healthy especially dishes with soy sauce and miso. Flavoring with soy sauce and miso isn’t necessarily bad but it has a high salt content. Furthermore, same as the olden days, the meals tend to lack the necessary amounts of protein. So I’m told that after the war, along with the economic growth, came high protein meals AND high calories meals.

So it seems that the “healthy Japanese food” that you often hear about seems to be wavering between the good ol’ days of Japanese eating habits while adopting the over abundance of modern Western eating cultures.