Can we go tae Kawagoe?

Its been pointed out to me that all my entries start with either allusions to some form of alcohol induced disability, or an admission that my navigational prowess is comparable with that of the famous, if misrepresented, lemming. Lets set the record straight. Last night and today I did not touch a drop of the Devil's drink and occupied myself with emotionally balanced and well adjusted past-times. It all began on Saturday, when I woke up with a hangover at 3pm (DAMN!)...

Actually, this particular story goes back to Friday night. I went to dinner with Dave and Neil (Booth, not Mochan) to celebrate financial year end. We dropped into a place called Tengo, which serves Izakaya style food. It was surprisingly good and pretty cheap too. The interior reminded me of a tribal hall, and brought back memories of Beowulf and the LOTR films. We chomped down our food and one of my other colleagues turned up. A couple more beers to celebrate year end and Neil and I went off to Bauhaus. Bauhaus is the local rock bar/club. Actually, I'm not sure what sort of venue it was but it was laid out with very American style diner tables that faced towards the back corner. In the corner was clearly the set up for some band to play. Also, on our tables was a menu of songs. This sounded interesting. The disconcerting aspect was that we were the only patrons. Neil assured me it would liven up a bit. It turns out there was only one band, but boy did they rock. The selection of tracks came from the classic rock eras: 60-80s. There was one Nirvana track thrown in for good measure. I was really impressed, and this is a band that had honed there skills. I was further surprised when the waitresses started to get up to sing. They were both pretty cute and had pretty awesome voices for that kind of music! By the end I managed to get them to play my selection - Immigrant Song - and its the best version I've ever heard. As the Wraggster might say: Fuckin' A. Afterwards I met up with Dave again but we were both worse for wear. We staggered into 911 (one of the many local meat markets) and danced like idiots for a while. At that stage, a game of pool seemed like a great idea. One thing I love about Japan is its 24hr convenience. In this case we went into a fairly packed pool hall at 3am and racked up a few. We played darts too. The less said about that the better. Suffice to say, rubber dart boards suck. The night was polished off with a lovely bowl of Ramen and we left for home around 4.30 am.

So, now you understand why I woke up at three on Saturday. I really hate it when you wake up and it takes about an hour before you find the strength to do anything. Feeling slightly ashamed at my guitar skill level after the previous nights' rock fest I thrashed out a few of my favourites. Around about six I got a call reminding me I was supposed to be at a movie night in Shiba-Koen. D'oh, I got there about 7 but couldn't find the apartment for about 30 minutes. Anyway, they'd ordered me KFC (or Kentuck as Japanese like to call it) and I broke fast. Mmm, chicken and biscuits to start the day. I have to commend our host on his choice of Movie: Anchorman - The legend of Ron Burgandy. Its the funniest Will Ferrel movie I've seen. And the funniest movie I've seen in a while! "I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party." Nuff Said. This was followed by Appurusheed. Or Apple-seed for English speakers. A really cool Anime/Manga but no English subtitles. I was pretty lost so just sat back and enjoyed the graphics.

On to the main event. Today was spent in the pleasant company of six of my work colleagues and one Non-work colleague. The plan was formulated on Friday to go to Kawagoe. Kawagoe is a beautiful town that still has many Pre-Tokyo era buildings, plus many pre-war buildings. One of the main attractions is a beautiful temple called Kitain. It has many buildings that were transported from the original Edo castle (Edo is the town that became Tokyo) before Edo castle was burnt down during the war. The former site of Edo castle is now home to the Imperial place. Hopefully the snaps will go up tomorrow, but this place was beautiful. Thanks to Steph for picking it. Oh, lest I forget: I got lost on the way there. I was meant to go to the office to check out the directions but didn't have time so jumped on the subway. Big mistake, I should have got the over-ground train which would have taken 20 minutes. In the end I had to get a taxi to the tune of 2,800 yen!

Its now late Autumn around Tokyo which means the parks and towns are bedecked with the warm colours of Autumnal leaves. Kitain temple is especially beautiful. We were fortunate to get such a clear bright day. I think my fondest memory was sitting in the West porch of the temple with the crew and watching the sun play through the leaves. At that moment a woman in full kimono garb sat down by herself on the opposite side of us. It was such an anachronism - like something from 350 years ago being replayed for our benefit. The mood was broken when everyone started taking photos of her (including me). Like I say, the lighting was perfect, so I've managed to get a few photos I'm really proud of.

Today was also Children's Day. So the temple was very busy. Children's day is a special ceremony for 3,5 and 7 year olds. There were lots of you kids in very well done Kimonos. It must have taken hours just to get them all done up. Also, the hair on the girls was perfectly coiffed. We were standing behind the shrine watching one of the ceremonies when an old lady tapped me on the arm:

"Excuse Me!" - I instantly assumed she was trying to get passed so backed up and smiled.

"Excuse Me!" - This time she tugged on my sleeve. Ooh er, she was a bit crusty but probably sane. I replied "Hello."

"Where are you from?" I answered but she didn't understand.

"Where are you from?" (Remember - just keep nodding and smiling) "I'm from Scotland." "Neee!?!".

Before I could get over my shock and return the polite enquiry she backed off - smiling and waving the whole time. I couldn't do anything but smile and wave back. I'm told this is fairly common outside Tokyo, but apart from a five year old kid on my flight to Yunnan a couple of months ago, I'd never experienced any kind of interest in my origins. Apparently the further you get from Tokyo, the more fascinating white people are. I could faintly make out her exclamations to her travel buddies: "Su-kot-o-lando-jin ga!". Cue gasps. I almost expected one of them to faint. I was officially freaked out at all this. Fortunately the zen like qualities of Kitain temple soon put me at ease.

The day was finished with my first proper experience of Nabe (see photos). Its a kind of hotpot type soup dish. I opted for the Tofu Nabe and supplemented it with grilled whole fish and fried Chicken. Nothing left to do but go back to Tokyo and write this blog... Ahhh