My New Gold Menkyo (Driver's License)

Despite things not being too eventful, this year was the year to renew my driver's license. This was my second time to renew, and as I have a squeaky-clean driving record, I was promoted to a "Gold License". This is a bit of a badge of honour (though Brian's had his for years), and it will also lower the cost of my car insurance.

Homebodies

We haven't been blogging because we really haven't been doing much since returning from Nagano. Our weather here has been agreeable with highs of twelve or so during the day, and lows just slightly below zero overnight; however, it's still brisk enough to make it tough to get out of the futons in the morning!

The days are still short, with the sun rising after 7 a.m. and setting by 5:30 p.m. As a result, we've really not been very active in the outdoors. In fact, I've already set the timer on our kerosene heater to turn on about ten minutes before we'll get home tonight, ensuring that our tatami room (where we spent most of our time) will be nice and warm. Once we get into the warmth, I think it highly unlikely that we'll go out again:-)

Jigokudani and Shibu Onsen

Last week we took Thursday and Friday off work and drove to Jigokudani, 'Hell Valley', in Nagano. This place is famous for the monkey park where visitors can watch the wild (but people-friendly) monkeys frolic and bathe in their own little onsen (hot spring bath).

We booked one night at Korakukan, the large, sprawling ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) that sits just outside the official park boundaries. We stayed here once several years ago and loved it, so made that our home base for the first night. It's not in the centre of town, nor is it even near much of anything - to get to the ryokan (and the park), you have to park at Kambayashi Onsen and take a pleasant two km walk along a wooded path. But of course, this merely adds to the atmosphere, as do the monkeys that frequently 'hang out' here. Korakukan has out-door onsens (which are for people), but both of which are also enjoyed by the monkeys. One of the outdoor baths is women only, and the other is mixed men and women; I usually went into the mixed bath, so Brian and I got to enjoy some mixed baths with the monkeys, together, too!

This set of buildings is Korakukan, as seen from the Monkey Park:

Dinner at Korakukan is also quite an extravagant, traditional feast which not only includes the usual fish and rice, but also a nabe (soup), some chicken, and, most uncommon, fried crickets (inago).

Crickets with dinner:


At Korakukan, where monkeys joined us in our bath:

After a relaxing night at Korakukan and several hot, steaming baths with the monkeys, we spent the next morning taking pictures at the park. The park was rather over-populated with other tourists and photographers, but we still enjoyed watching the monkeys get up to some antics.

We got tons of monkey pics; these are Brian's with the D40x.







After the park, we checked out of Korakukan, hiked back to our car, then drove the very short drive to Shibu Onsen, which, as the name may suggest, is an onsen town.

Onsen towns are awesome - usually they are small, old towns that have a lot of natural hot springs. In Shibu Onsen, we stayed at the Youdaya (Yodaya) ryokan, a very simple, but lovely, family-run little ryokan. It is in an excellent location right in the centre of the 'town'. Our room was very nice, the natural onsen rotenburo on the roof was superb, the food simply gorgeous and delicious.

Me at breakfast at Yodaya:


One of the things I like about onsen towns is that you can walk around the town wearing your yukata, no need to get all dressed up. Also, this town has nine little public hot springs scattered along the streets (all two streets!); local ryokans have a key (one size fits all) to lend to guests, and entry into any of the nine little baths is free. So, of course, we spent our Friday afternoon and Saturday morning roaming the town of Shibu Onsen, taking pictures and baths and simply enjoying the quaint (and extremely quiet) atmosphere.

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant specializing in Chinese fare:


Brian outside bath number seven in Shibu Onsen, wearing his Yukata:

I think Shibu Onsen is suffering a bit of a recession itself, as the town was extremely quiet. I'm sure that we were the only guests at our place, and the family just couldn't give us enough service. They phoned the day before our arrival to confirm our reservations, and were very welcoming when we arrived. Our room was on the third (top) floor, and dinner and breakfast were served in an empty room just next door. The woman running the place made sure we had everything we needed and even found some extra-large yukata for Brian! She then set out some geta (shoes) and gave us the key for all the local public baths. I also think that the owners went out of their way to give us a superlatively exquisite dinner.

Upon checkout, the man of the ryokan wanted to give us a little parting gift, and, seeing as how we don't smoke, he gave us three large apples in lieu of a pack of cigarettes.

The drive back home was uneventful and pleasant, and we made good time covering the three hundred kilometres back to Susono.

Accommodation:

Kourakukan (Korakukan)　(後楽館）

Highly recommended - even if only for one night, just because the atmosphere and the thrill of the monkeys makes it worth it.

• The phone number is: 0269-33-4376
• Their home page is here (Japanese only) : http://www.mountaintrad.co.jp/nagano/jgk/korakukan/data.html
• Find out more in English here: http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/nagano/korakukan.htm

Youdaya (Yodaya) Ryokan　(養田屋　旅館）

• The phone number is: 0269－33－2236
• Their home page is here (Japanese only): http://youdaya.com/index.html

Young Buddha Magazine

This is great!

I, actually, am a Zen follower; a Buddhist, if you will.

But I have to smile at the mailings we received today - the Young Buddha magazine. Not sent just to me (I receive mailings from my local temple, San-myo-ji), but to all in my building.

It's cute, and is a sign that all followings are looking for new followers:




Manga - aiming to appeal to the the youthful potentially-Buddhist audience?

Slum Dog Millionaire is a great movie!

As part of our very relaxing Friday evening, we watched a movie I'd only just heard about by word-of-mouth called Slumdog Millionaire.

I read a bit about it on the International Movie Data Base (IMDB), and the story line sounded interesting enough. I later read that the movie won four Golden Globes -Best Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Musical Score. I didn't know these categories before watching the film, but I definitely agree - this is one of the best movies and with the most amazing soundtrack that I've seen in a very long time.

Directed by Danny Boyle, the movie is set (and filmed) in India, mostly Mumbai, and shows the life of Jamal Malik, former slum-kid and current successful contestant on the Indian 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. At the opening of the film, we see Jamal being questioned by the authorities - because how could a 'slum dog' be so successful at 'Millionaire' without cheating? Through a series of flashbacks, we see Jamal's life, and his life lessons.

I also fell in love with the soundtrack, which has an earthy, passionate sound and is sort of a mix of Indian movie music and ...something more aggressive. Totally excellent score by A.R. Rahman.

Watch it if you can!

Fridays

I love Fridays - it's generally 'relax at home with wine and pizza' night for us, and, although this was a short week (Monday was a national holiday), it was a busy week, and I'm especially looking forward to tonight.

After work we're going to go to the Softbank shop to replace my cell phone. Once that bureaucracy is over, we're going to order a cheesy pizza, and I'll probably start reading an equally cheesy Dean Koontz novel!

Hopefully I'll have more exciting things to post tomorrow!

Running

Some of you know that I supplement my bike rides by occasional runs. They are shortish and easyish runs, but I do get my sorry ass out of bed and hit the pavement once in a while. Especially in the colder weather, since I get warmer quicker when running than when biking.

Well, it has finally come to pass. Brian has also found the benefit to running. I know we live in a mild climate, but please remember that our apartments are not insulated and do not have central heating. This morning it was 9 Celsius indoors when we woke up. It's pretty tough to convince yourself to get out from under the covers pre-dawn, get dressed for a sport and then do it. And biking is colder than running, just due to the wind factor and the time it takes to start working up a sweat, or rather, a warmth!

So, this past weekend, Brian bought a great pair of Nike running shoes, and has already been out for two short runs - not a bad start for someone who has never before run. Even as beginning runners, we can both maintain a slow, steady pace for a while, likely due to our cardio training on the bikes. However, different muscles get used, which is good, and 25 minutes running in the morning is better than doing nothing at all.

Another plus - it is always good to cross-train.

I Love the Japanese Onsen

I've mentioned onsen a few times, I'm sure. An onsen is basically a hot spring/ spa where people go to shower and soak in natural hot spring baths (no bathing suits of course - that would be awful). Some onsen are simple, local places with only a few amenities, but others are full-on spas that provide lounge-wear or yukata to wear when not bathing, have restaurants, massage chairs, relaxation rooms, etc...

We have one such onsen close to us called Kirakubo (気楽坊）, which is on the grounds of the Gotemba Kogen. On Saturday, a friend and I went to spend the day there, and I have to say this is one of the most relaxing ways to spend a day, especially after a week of work. We went in at about one p.m. and left at nearly seven p.m. - however, we could have stayed longer! We spent the day enjoying multiple deep, hot baths at the rotenburo (outdoor bath), a salty bath, a tea bath and a jacuzzi bath; we also got a real massage - I opted for the foot massage which was perfectly wonderful while Van had the body massage; I then spent some time taking a nap in a big LZ-Boy type chair while watching Japanese TV; and of course we had lunch, a snack and a few beers at the restaurant, all without ever leaving the building. All in all, a great day.

This is me and Van, enjoying a late afternoon beer at the restaurant in Kirakubo. Notice we're in our onsen-provided lounge wear.

Thailand: Adventures in Eating

I haven't written extensively about our Thailand travels. There isn't too much to write: we had a lovely, quiet time at the Ton Had bungalows at Loong Dum/ Sang Thian, with few misfortunes*.

Sang Thian is fairly far south of the main town, Na Dan, and as such, it is a very quiet beach. Much of the beach is rocky, but there are nice sandy places to enjoy, too. Despite being a less-visited beach, there is a good selection of restaurants. One of our favourite places to dine was Apache, which has covered seating right out on the pier. Great atmosphere, friendly service and good food made this one of our preferred dining options close to home.

Apache - restaurant on the pier:


Thian does lack certain things - like ATMs! But the next beach north of us, Ao Wong Dong, was a much livelier, built up place with several ATMs and a whole lot of restaurants. It's an easy walk to Ao Wong Dong, and so we occasionally walked over there; the atmosphere was noisy and we were glad we weren't staying there, but the variety was nice. We had BBQ kebabs one evening, and even satisfied our pizza craving at Tom Pizza, which does serve great pizza! We also found a small place that catered more to the locals than to the tourists, and made sure to have breakfast there a few times.

Na Dan and the area around Hat Sai Keaw have many more restaurants, and places that are also less 'touristy'. Even when the signs were all in Thai, we generally got a bilingual menu. When we had the motorbikes we rode into town and tried different places, my favourite of which served some of the best grilled ribs and coldest beer to be had. I highly recommend a trip into town for the cheap eats.

Our final, most interesting foray into food was on our last night in Thailand. We had a room at a hotel near the new airport. We had several evening hours left, and went out looking for dinner. We passed up a few Western style places, and opted for a road-side 'restaurant'. We sat down, and were handed a menu that was completely in Thai. I read no Thai, of course. Not a word. And our waitress spoke no English. Not a word. We did manage to get two large beers (that being some of the only Thai we learned!), and then we pointed blindly at two dishes on the menu. It was going to be a Mystery Meal in every sense of the word.

When the dishes came, I was delighted with a tasty pork soup, but Brian ended up with a salad that had jelly-like balls quartered on top of the salad. Hmmm. Brian tried it; the salad part was okay, but the ball-things were sort of gross. I tried one, it was indeed gross, but I kept chewing the fatty-tasting thing until Brian said, "I think it might be cow eyeballs", at which declaration I promptly opened my mouth and let the food fall back to the plate. Not delicate, I know...

Mystery Salad


We then ordered some other things off the menu - some deep fried crispy things that were very good. I tried to ask if they were chicken; our waitress did not understand 'chicken', so I began flapping my arms about. Without answering, just smiling and nodding, she walked away. I saw her mimicking (mocking?) me to another waitress/cook. Then shortly after that, we received a great plate of deep fried totally delicious chicken that I had accidentally ordered.

By the time we finished eating, we were full and satisfied.

As for the cow-eyeballs - some in depth research when we returned to Japan showed that it was, in fact, merely preserved eggs, and the salad we had is called Yum Kai Yiew Ma. It still tasted kind of gross, though.

And now being back in Japan, back in our comfort zone where we can read the menus and speak the language, I almost miss the 'risk taking' back at that little road-side resto!

- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*The only misfortune being that I somehow lost (or had stolen?) my cell phone. I contacted my provider in Japan as soon as possible and suspended the service; and I now patiently await any charges that may have been rung up, though I'm hopeful that I somehow simply lost the thing in the ocean!

When the Shock is too much

Less than two months ago, Brian brought his car in for shakken, the 'inspection' that needs to be done every two years. It seems his ageing-but-still-powerful 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero needed a bit of extra work to be able to pass the inspection. Part of what needed to be done was having the suspension bushings replaced, and considering the expense, our mechanic, the delightful Hara-san, called to inform Brian that it might be time to look for a new car. After much thought and research, Brian declined; his car is in the best shape with the lowest mileage compared to even newer models available. It was worth the 200,000 yen to get his car back on the road.

However - just this week, we noticed an oil spot under the right (driver's side in Japan) rear of the car. Brian immediately deduced that it was the shock. He drove it over to Hara-san today for an appraisal, and was told that one shock would run 20,000 yen, and installation 3,000 yen. Good job I wasn't there, or I would have visibly gasped and choked, and I'm sure that Brian was more discreet:-) (I secretly believe one of the mechanics who replaced the bushings is responsible for the too-coincidental leak). After enquiring whether Hara would install other shocks if we purchased them ourselves, Brian received very enthusiastic nods. Of course they would, and at a discount. Which is good, because as Brian says it's a simple enough job and he would do it himself if only he had a place and tools!

Anyway, tonight Brian did lots of research, scanned the Yahoo Japan Auction (our equivalent of e-Bay), and finally settled on these, the Rancho RS 5000. I'm the 'auction and online shopper', and since I hadn't used the Yahoo Japan Auction in over a year, and not since their new website layout/design, it was good practice for me to get back into it. We placed a successful bid, and now look forward to owning the new shocks! I'll make the bank transfer tomorrow and we, with luck, should have the shocks by Monday or Tuesday, and then installed by Friday next week.

Only drawback - the Pajero has push-button electronic shock adjustability, and this we will lose with the new shocks. It's a small price to pay, however, to save a thousand dollars and keep the car we love.

New Year's Resolutions

Most of us make New Year's Resolutions, and most of us fail to keep them. In fact, they're probably a bad idea, since they're made with a falsely-induced sense of renewed fervour.

However, I still like to make my resolutions. And when I slip up and leave them forgotten by the curbside, that's okay. I just start over, start in the 'now' - it doesn't need to be a new year to start doing all those things we think we ought to do.

So, here are my resolutions:

• update this blog more regularly (and insist my blog-partner helps:-)
• be honest, but try to be less brutal (the 'brutal' part will take some work!)
• re-design our Japanrider website and re-freshen up my code skills
• keep in better touch with friends, acquaintances and business associates
  

and of course:

• eat more fruit and veggies
• drink more water (and less red wine!)

Let's raise a glass to a good 2009!

A short post, some pics from Thailand

Well, since one of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more frequently, I'm already off to a poor start!

We had a lovely and quiet New Year's. We did get our sorry selves out of bed on New Year's morning just watch the sunrise (hatsu-hinode) - a significant 'event' here. We have not yet made our first visit to the shrine (hatsu-moode). Many people do this at midnight on the 31st, we typically do it at a local shrine on the morning of the 1st. We're a bit late this year!

Anyway, I'll post more tomorrow about our adventures in Thailand (including our 'real food' experience at a road-side restaurant near the Suvanabhumi airport!). For now, here are a few photos that we took on Koh Samet, the island that we called home for nearly two weeks:

The bungalow we stayed at for 1000 baht per night (hot running water and a sit-down toilet made it worth it!):


Grilling up some ribs in Na Dan:


Finally, two of us together (see mom, I'm not making him up:-)


Sunrise - every morning was nearly this great:


White wine on the rocks - literally!


Brian in silhouette:


Me, riding the small motorbike that burned me:-)