August 22, Friday
Finally, the temperature in Tokyo went down to a more sane condition where taking a walk has become enjoyable again. Given this weekend is Festival weekend in Tokyo, I’m so looking forward to enjoying the outside. Also, I received my new digital camera courtesy of IBM (it’s my 25 year anniversary gift), so am looking forward to taking new pictures with the fancy Sony alpha 200 SLR camera. Its my first SLR camera so hopefully I can figure out how to work it.
As usual, the weekend started with my bread making class. Today, I made Italian bread sticks and a Rye Bread. The bread sticks were very good and very easy to make. I made two flavors: one with poppy seed and another with cheese. They turned out nice and crunchy and very flavorful. The rye bread was OK. Again its just too soft for me. We had a discussion in class about the topic. One of my classmates said that she did not like the bagels in NYC because they were too dense and hard! Most of the bagels in Japan have the texture of Wonder Bread and are very fluffy. I don’t like them at all but there is one bagel shop in Yoyogi Uehara that makes authentic NYC bagels that my pilates teacher recommended. The owner spent about a year in NYC at Ess-A-Ess bagels ,I believe, to perfect the technique. It is the only bagel I like in Japan. My classmates were surprised when I told them that fluffy Wonder Bread like bagels will never sell in NYC! Anyhow, its all about taste and my teacher said that when I get to the Master’s class I will make authentic French bread with a hard crust so I can’t wait!
Italian Bread Sticks
Rye Bread
Saturday, August 24
I woke up early Saturday to take Skipper for a walk and to get ready for a busy weekend where I’ll be enjoying the many festivals that are being held throughout Tokyo. Because it was nice and cool we walked around the neighborhood for about and hour and half. We stopped at the new Tsutaya (very nice bookstore chain) in Kamiyacho and checked out the cool Japanese magazines. It opens at 7am 7 days a week and has a Starbucks inside so I think I’m going to start hanging out there on weekend mornings with Skipper.
After my usual cardio and pilates class (where I finally did the neckpulls!) I had to go to the doctor to get two more pills for my ulcer. I had to get off my detox as I developed an ulcer due to too much aspirin. I was taking aspirin for my sore knee instead of Tylenol because I heard too much Tylenol can result in liver damage. Well, the aspirin ended up giving me an ulcer. The drug the doctor gave me is a miracle drug but they wanted to do more tests before giving the full prescription. Just like the bread making class every rule, process, etc is followed exactly as specified. So they only gave me enough pills to last me to the day of the examination which was today. Anyhow, everything turned out fine and they gave me the last two pills I need to take and I’m feeling fine.
I then got ready to go the Azubu Juban Festival. Azabu Juban is an area in Tokyo that is about a 15 minute walk from where I live. Like my neighborhood, there are alot of foreigners living in the area as there are many embassies. The most famous one is the huge Russian Embassy. The Azabu Juban festival is one of the three most popular festivals in Tokyo. I’m not sure how long its been running but like all festivals in Japan, there is dancing, eating and the parade of the Mikoshi. Mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine and is carried around by the people on poles during festivals to celebrate the divine spirit of the Shrine belonging to the neighborhood. I missed the Mikoshi parade but did walk through the town main street which was lined with food stands from local restaurants, specialty stands representing different parts of Japan and also some traditional game stands for children. I’ve been warned it would be crowded but did not expect wall to wall people as it was rainy. You could barely walk through the main street. In addition, the embassies have their own food stands at a local park and it was a mob house. The German stand had sausages and the line must have been a mile long! Also, the Palestine stand and the Swedish stand had huge lines but not as long as the German stand.
I tried the food from Turkey – a beef kebab – and Palestine – a falafel. The beef kebab was OK but the falafel was delicious. There was some spicy sauce on it that I never had before and it was very good.
I then bravely decided to walk the main route to check out the local stands. I had an interesting fried potato. Basically its a twirl and it was very good. I also had an special yakisoba (Japanese style Lo Mein) which used a special noodle which was good and a traditional barbecued fish that was out of this world. Also watching the little kids scoop gold fish reminded me of the times my sister and I lived in Japan, dressed in Yukata’s and enjoyed these summer festivals. I remember we bringing back alot of goldfish and somehow they did not survive for a long time… After about 2 hours and tired of dodging people and several close calls of getting poked in the eye by an umbrella, I decided to walk home in the drizzle and call it a day.
Here’s a guy in a Yukata with his girlfriend in front of the Mikoshi.
Umbrellas and People everywhere. Main street Azubu Juban
Scooping Goldfish with a "net" made of paper. You had to be very gentle so that the paper net does not break. Once broken, you are out of the game.
Girls in Yukata enjoying the festival
Twirled Fried Potato that I enjoyed
Musicians getting ready for the Mikoshi Parade
The Yummy Grilled Fish Japanese Style
Sunday, August 24
Skipper and I got up early again and went for another long walk as the weather was cool and no rain. Afterwards, instead of my usual cardio, I decided to power walk to Shibuya for my Yamuna class and pilates class. Today was going to be a busy festival day as I planned to go to the Koenji AwaOdori Festival this evening with friends. However, I didn’t realize until speaking to another pilates client that there was also another Awa Odori festival at Harajuku. Basically, amateur groups from all over come to compete. There are even "gaijin" – foreigner – groups. Omotesando is closed during this festival so that the dancers can dance there way from Aoyama Dori to Meiji Jingu.
Awa Odori or Awa Dance originated in Tokushima prefecture of Japan. Its located on Shikoku Island, which is south of Tokyo. I used to go to a gaijin camp there when growing up. Basically Awa Odori is a loud and energetic Japanese line dance. Its thought to have started in the late 1500s when the villagers got drunk while celebrating the completion of the Tokushima castle and started singing and dancing thru the village. Although the origins had nothing to do with Bon (holiday to honor the ancestors), it is typically danced during the Bon Festival these days.
The dances in Harajuku had a modern look to the traditional Awa Odori. All competitors were full of energy and their excitement was contagious. The costumes were beautiful. I didn’t stay when they announced the winner but my understanding is that the dancers from Shikoku always win (after all its their traditional dance!)
The start of the Harajuku Awa Odori Festival
Dancing Troupe inspired by China
Even kids participated
The flag bearer is at the last person in line and seems to have the toughest job as the flags are HUGE!
In the evening, Jen, Dima and I decided to go to Koenji’s Awa Odori Festival. Its the second largest Awa Odori festival in Japan. Of course, the largest is in Tokushima where it originated. However at Koenji’s about 188 groups and over 12000 dancers perform the Awa dance throughout the town. The dance to lively and energetic music through nine routes! There are basically two types of dances: women’s dance and men’s dance. The women’s dance is synchronized and elegant. The women where colorful kimonos and wear getas (Japanese wooden sandals) and dance with the toes pointed down. The men’s dance is energetic and wild. Only women dance the women’s dance now but many women join the men for the men’s dance these days.
Dima and I met up at my place and went to Koenji station together. We met up with Jen at the station. Thankfully we had our cellphones as the little station was PACKED so without a cellphone it would have been difficult to meet up with Jen!! We made our way to the main street but could not find a good position to see the dance parade. Plus it was pouring rain! It was so crowded and very difficult to see with all the umbrellas. It seems that people camped out to get the prime viewing positions. We made the best of it for about one hour and then decided to find a restaurant to escape the crowds and get dry.
Our view of the Awa Odori parade in pouring rain
The first place we find is Mr. Donuts which has two stories and our plan was to get donuts and sit at the second floor and get a view of the dance from there. Well, it didn’t work as other people had the same idea and the windows were not clear. So after our appetizer of donuts, we decide to find a restaurant to have a light dinner. While navigating thru the crowds, we finally get to a quiet street and start looking for a place to eat. While looking a guy who speaks very good English starts talking to us and invites us to his restaurant. It’s a cute place but unfortunately the menu was limited because of the festival. We had a salmon salad, brown rice salad and shrimp with avocado salad with Sangrias (for Janet and Jen) and Kir (for Dima). We had great girl talk, ate good food and drank good drinks while listening to Christmas Music! And magically, the rain stopped so we decided to walk around the town to catch a little more of the festival.
Fortunately for us, we found a great spot with great views to see the dances! So we spent a good 30 minutes or so enjoying the dance before it started drizzling again so we headed back home.
A much better view of the dances: Woman doing the traditional Men’s Dance
Traditional Women’s Dance – Check out the footwork
Everyone was having alot of fun dancing
Many kids participated also.
The whole town of Koenji was one big party scene!