Jeff Moeller

Kyoto at Night

Jeff Moeller — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:57:35 +0000

After seeing temples and shrines all day around Kyoto, I checked out Gion, which is Kyoto’s most famous Geisha district. I didn’t actually go to any restaurants or teahouses with geisha (or geiko in the local dialect) though.

The downtown areas of Kyoto aren’t busy like Shibuya or Shinjuku, with Kyoto being the sixth most populated city in Japan. Still, there are people everywhere even during a weeknight.

We ate at an udon noodle (うどんぬど) restaurant where you stand in line and tell them which kind you want and what to add to it. Mine came with soft boiled egg and you could also choose any tempura you wanted, so I got shrimp. This was one of my least favorite meals in Japan, not that I had any other bad ones. I don’t think the restaurant was bad, especially considering it was packed, I had just never had udon and didn’t especially like the flavor. I’ll stick with ramen in the future.

Lastly here is a picture of a model of a tiger about to maul a small boy. I have no idea why this tiger was in this window display aside from “it’s Japan” but it was at a hat shop.

I spent one more day in Kyoto with part of my day taking a quick trip to Osaka. I did manage to see two more temples though, so expect more from Kyoto soon.

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Photos Around Kyoto

Jeff Moeller — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 00:18:56 +0000

It’s hard to say which day of my Japan trip was the busiest, but the full day I spent in Kyoto is definitely up there. After seeing Fushimi Inari the night before, and Kiyomizudera that day already, I had already seen two of Kyoto’s most famous landmarks. But there was still plenty more I managed to pack into the day. This post will go through a few of the temples and shrines I saw as well as some general wandering the streets while going from place to place.

At the first temple I visited, I started talking with someone from Hong Kong who was also there alone. We ended up hanging out for the entire day and along with that, I got my photo taken more rather than just the landscape shots I had been taking.

I actually don’t know what this structure is, as it wasn’t one of the temples or shrines I had on my list to visit, it was just one I happened to pass by. If anyone knows, let me know in the comments.

This is the entrance to Yasaka Shrine, another one of the most popular shrines in Kyoto. It is well known for Gion Matsuri, a festival during the summer.

In the evening, all of these lamps are lit up. I would have liked to be there at the right time to see it.

We ate lunch at this small restaurant we came across. No other customers were inside but luckily the food ended up being fine.

This is the entrance gate to Nanzen-ji Temple, one of the most famous Zen Buddhism temples in Japan.

The famous rock garden was one of the things I wanted to see most, but this section of the temple had a fee to enter. Because I was visiting so many temples and shrines that day and several of them had fees, I decided to pass on entering this part of the temple. You can still look in from outside like the above photo.

On the way to the final temple on our route, we came across a big group of cats that just live outside. There were probably 8 or 10 cats we saw while walking.

The last temple I saw that day was Ginkaku-ji, a Buddhist Zen temple. It was quite beautiful with the raked gravel and surrounding garden.

By this time, I was exhausted and it was getting late in the day. But I had managed to see all of the temples and shrines I had planned on seeing that day, which was a nice accomplishment that just required a lot of walking.

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Best Ramen in Kyoto

Jeff Moeller — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 04:00:03 +0000

While I stayed in Kyoto, my hostel had some recommendations for what to do, where to eat, and other recommendations for things in Kyoto. Their number 1 restaurant in Kyoto was a place called Daiichiasahi Ramen. The ramen was delicious and they have English menus available, and the place is so tiny you might even strike up a conversation with a local if you know some Japanese or they know English.

Here are the rest of the recommendations from K’s House Hostel in Kyoto.

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Kiyomizudera Temple

Jeff Moeller — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:23:00 +0000

On my second day in Kyoto, my agenda was very ambitious, with 6 temples and shrines to see. The first one I visited was Kiyomizudera, one of the most famous temples in Japan. The name of the temple means “Pure Water Temple”. The temple contains a fountain which is said to give visitors luck in different areas depending on which stream they drink from.

Temples are a popular place for school field trips and I saw several groups at this temple that morning.

I love the look of these types of trees, and Japanese flora in general.

There is a great view of Kyoto from the temple grounds.

This is the fountain many visitors come to Kiyomizu-dera to drink from, called Otowa Waterfall. The 3 streams are said to grant long life, success in school, and a good love life. But, it is considered greedy to drink from all 3 fonts. Visitors use cups attached to long poles to drink from the fountain.

Lastly here is a shot of me with a stone carving at Kiyomizu-dera. Anyone want to translate the carving?

This is one of the most popular temples to see in Kyoto and I definitely recommend coming to see it if you are planning a trip to Kyoto.

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Fushimi Inari Shrine

Jeff Moeller — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:03:20 +0000

After spending a day in Shibuya, I was leaving Tokyo for a few days and heading to Kyoto. I didn’t have my schedule planned out in advance at all, so I had to decide what to do on my first day there. I had seen photos of Fushimi Inari shrine and the famous Torii gate-lined trails, but didn’t know anything about it beyond that. Once I arrived in Kyoto, I began to research what the different temples and shrines were that I wanted to visit, and where each was located. Fushimi Inari was one of the top shrines I wanted to see, but it wasn’t close to any of the others on my list. Since it was already late afternoon by this point, I decided that is where I’d go that day, since I didn’t have time for anything else anyway. And since Fushimi Inari doesn’t have a closing time like other shrines do, it is a perfect one to visit in the evening.

Fushimi Inari has two main features. It has beautiful architecture at the front of the shrine which is well worth looking around in. But the real draw for me was the mountain path behind the main shrine. This path is lined with the Torii gates it is famous for.

At this point, it had started to rain some. While I did end up getting pretty wet as it kept raining as I entered the shrine even with an umbrella, it may have been to my benefit. Whether it was the rain, the time of day, the fact that it was a weekday, or a combination of the 3, there were very few visitors to the shrine that day. I did run in to others, but it wasn’t like I was being held up because I had to walk behind anyone. There was usually no one else in sight while I was there.

After walking down the road leading to the shrine, I finally reached one of the main gates. There is also a gate more in front of the shrine.

This was one of the largest gates at the shrine.

This is the Romon Gate (Tower gate) leading to the main shrine building (Honden).

Unfortunately my camera battery gave out at this point, very early on into my visit. I used the camera on my iPhone 4 for the rest of the day.

This gate leads to the main mountain path of the shrine. The fox statues on either side of the gate are a common theme throughout the shrine.

Now begins the famous path densely lined with Torii gates. Each gate has the name of its donor and the date inscribed on the back.

For a short while, there is this double row of Torii gates. They lead the same place.

Along the path are many smaller shrines. Some of them have hand washing stations, which in Japanese tradition is done before praying at a shrine. There are also many gates at each of these smaller shrines, and the size of the gate is determined by the size of the donation. Many smaller shrines have large stacks of small gates.

The shrine became more heavily wooded as you progress further up the path.

Some of the shrines along the path vary in appearance, while others look very similar to each other, sometimes leading to wondering if you have already been there and got turned around. This shrine shows how small the Torii gates can get.

Eventually, you will reach a part of the path where you have a great view of the city. By this point in the day it had gotten quite dark and so I had a great view of Kyoto at night.

I am trying to learn Japanese, but I don’t know what this sign says. Does anyone want to translate it?

This is what I meant when I said there would be stacks of smaller gates. According to Japan Guide, the starting price for these gates is 400,000 JPY, or almost $5,000.

I saw several cats along the path, probably that live in the woods. One of them I saw was nursing kittens.

Fushimi Inari-taisha ended up being one of my favorite sights in all of Japan. The whole mountain path took about 2-3 hours to climb all the way up and back down, and while it was very tiring, it was an amazing experience.

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Shibuya at Night

Jeff Moeller — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:00:33 +0000

I have gone through quite a bit about one of the most popular districts in Tokyo, Shibuya. From wandering Center Gai to the Shibuya shopping experience and Yoyogi Park, you can easily spend a full day there and feel like you have a lot more to see and do still. But one of the most spectacular sights you can see while in Tokyo is Shibuya at night. Tokyo is famous for its neon glow in the evening and Shibuya is one of the areas where this is most impressive.

This is one of my favorite views in Shibuya. The 109 building is very iconic.

I hope these photos make you want to experience Shibuya in the evening for yourself!

Center Gai looks even cooler at night because of the neon signs. It has a very Blade Runner look, which I love.

The second story Starbucks is great for taking a break and people watching.

This lit-up truck drove by as I was walking around playing music by the band EGOIST. It basically functions as a moving advertisement. I recognized the character on the side from an anime. I also saw trucks like these playing AKB48.

This entry is a little light on words as I thought the photos spoke for themselves, especially since I already talked about these locations in other posts. I just wanted to show off how great the city looks at night. This should be the last entry about Shibuya for a little while at least. Next up: Kyoto!

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Shibuya’s Yoyogi Park

Jeff Moeller — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:29:30 +0000

Not a far walk from Shibuya’s shopping district is Yoyogi park. It is one of the largest parks in Tokyo and is also near Meiji Shrine and Harajuku Station.

While making my way to the park, I came across a large group of people gathered outside the NHK Hall for a concert. I’m not sure who the singer was but I know it was a J-pop idol. The thing I found funny was that nearly all of the fans were wearing the concert T-shirt. That is not really something you see in America on a level like this.

There were several fans dressed up in cosplay outfits for the concert even, both guys and girls.

After people watching for a little bit, I continued on to check out the park.

Unfortunately as you may have noticed by now, it was gray skies most of the days I was in Japan! This was the outer garden of the park.

Later in my trip I was talking with a Japanese man and when talking about the difference between Japan and America he mentioned how there is little graffiti in Japan, and I immediately thought of this.

Yoyogi park is a popular hang out spot and around this area seemed to be the most common.

There were several groups of people playing music in the park. Overall it seemed like a really cool place to hang out or take a break from walking.

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Shibuya Shopping

Jeff Moeller — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:02:02 +0000

In my previous post, I gave you a photo tour of the Center Gai area of Shibuya. In this post I’ll be going through all the other shopping and stores I saw in Shibuya.

Many American and European brands are popular in Tokyo. It is not uncommon to see many people with Louis Vuitton handbags or other designer clothing. Other brands like Apple and Disney have prominent locations in Shibuya.

While no one was lined up outside on that particular day, this is the most popular Apple store in Tokyo.

The Disney Store had quite impressive architecture and looked just like one would in America.

The building right next to the Disney store was a movie theater called HUMAX Pavillion.

Even though I didn’t know what many of the buildings and stores were in this area, I love the look of buildings in Japan.

There are many Japanese fashion stores in Shibuya such as this one, OICITY.

Tower Records was one of the few stores I went in to look around. On my next trip to Japan I’d like to do more shopping and looking around inside stores, but since there was so much to see, I preferred to just walk around and look from outside. Also, I knew I wouldn’t buy anything anyway. I went into Tower Records though because I was curious what kind of music selection they would have compared to stores in America. The store was 9 floors and bigger than any music store I had ever been in before. The first floor was occupied by Japanese music, of which only a few artists I recognized, but in some of the upper floors there was more I was familiar with. These days I buy almost all my music online because I find stores like FYE and Best Buy have a pitiful music selection. Tower Records had better selections of stuff like Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, and other classic rock musicians than any store I had ever been in. While I’m sure the equivalent store in New York and other big cities in America have good selections too, I still found it funny that I was seeing a better selection of music in Japan than in any store I had been to in America.

My first authentic Sushi experience was at this sushi restaurant where you stand around the bar and order directly from the sushi chef. They advertised English menus, which is what drew me in, as I was still a little intimidated by the possibility of going to a restaurant that had no menus either in English, or with pictures.

Above was my meal, minus one piece which I already ate. They also served miso soup. While it wasn’t really a “taste the difference” kind of experience when comparing the sushi I have had in America, it is easy to tell when sushi served in America is like what you’d get in Japan or not. PROTIP: California rolls are not authentic.

Plastic food is a huge industry in Japan, and not something you’ll really find in the US. Most restaurants have pictures of their food in the windows or on a sign outside, but many even have plastic replicas of the food on display so you can see what it looks like before deciding to eat there. It especially comes in handy for foreigners.

My home base is in Chicago, so I loved seeing this Sweet Home Chicago advertising at in a clothing store window.

Eventually I wandered out of the shopping district and into the business area. I didn’t spend long in this area but still took some photos.

“Love hotels” can be found in Japan and the most popular place for them is this area in Shibuya with many hotels, commonly referred to as “love hotel hill”.

One thing I definitely plan to do on my next trip to Japan is participate in more nightlife. I didn’t go anywhere on this trip for a couple reasons. One was because I was alone and was unsure about going to Japanese clubs as a foreigners by myself. The other reason was just because I was so tired in the evenings after trekking around Tokyo all day. Club Asia is one of the most popular clubs in Shibuya and definitely somewhere I want to check out in the future.

For some reason there were girls waiting outside the club area even though it was the middle of the day. I’m not sure what that was about.

The Hachiko Shibuya bus, named after the same dog the Hachiko statue is modeled after. It made me wonder if there was a cat bus!

That’s it for now. Check back soon for more from Shibuya, and my trip to Kyoto!

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Shibuya Photo Tour

Jeff Moeller — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:00:15 +0000

One of the areas of Tokyo I was most excited to visit during my trip was Shibuya. Shibuya is known as the fashion and shopping district of Tokyo, and is also a popular nightlife spot. The area around Shibuya station is often what people think of when they think of Tokyo, with its scramble crossing and large TV screens and numerous other advertisements. It has even been likened to Times Square in New York City.

Both of these ads were all over Tokyo. I probably saw more pictures of Tommy Lee Jones than I have the rest of my life.

This statue is of a dog called Hachiko. The story behind it says that the dog waited loyally outside this entrance of Shibuya Station every day for his master, and for years after his masters death. Today it is a very popular meeting place, and the station entrance nearby has been named after Hachiko.

Shibuya 109 Men’s is one of the newest fashion boutiques for menswear. I went inside, but since I was unsure about taking photos inside the store, I decided not to. But there is no store that I have been to in the US like 109 Men’s. Shibuya’s fashion stores definitely are known for being on the expensive side, and this one was no different. The variety of styles was just amazing though. As many shops in Tokyo are, the store goes up I do not keep up with the fashion industry, but personal fashion is an interest of mine, and I knew one thing I’d like about Japan and Tokyo specifically over the US was how trendy and stylish a lot of people dress.

Hundreds of people cross each cycle at the famous scramble crossing. Traffic is stopped in every direction, so pedestrians can cross the intersection in any direction.

Tokyu Corporation owns many of the department stores in Tokyo, including Shibuya 109 and 109Men’s.

Center Gai is a crowded pedestrian area in the heart of Shibuya. Along the streets there are many shops, restaurants, and game centers. And at night, it is a popular destination home to many bars and clubs.

This arcade, Game Shibuya Kaikan was one of the first places I went while wandering Center Gai. Most games cost ¥100 with some only being ¥50. The basement had all retro games. I was looking for a specific game called The Tower of Druaga after hearing about it on a Japanese game podcast, but they didn’t have it. The upper floors had more modern games, with each floor having different kinds of games. One game I had wanted to play and never seen in an arcade in America was Beatmania IIDX, and this arcade did have a couple machines of that. I also played a few games of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition on the top floor. A few of the games were versus other Japanese players, and while I think I’m an average fighting game player, they usually won.

Center Gai is filled with tons of shops and side streets. I only went into a few of them to look around, like Book Off, a used books/games/movies/CDs store.

There are also some pretty unique places in Shibuya that you won’t find many of outside of Japan. The first is a butler cafe, analogous to Akihabara’s maid cafes. It’s also not hard to find an Internet cafe. These are especially useful if you are just visiting, since there is no public wifi in Japan. Of course there are Internet cafes in the U.S. and elsewhere, but they are more than just places to check your email in Japan and other parts of Asia. This particular place, Manboo, is a manga (comic) cafe. You have to sign up for a members card, and you pay by the hour. Once inside, you are free to read as much manga as you like, along with use of a computer. They also even offer showers inside. Some of these cafes have private rooms large enough to lie down in and stay the night.

I have many more photos from Shibuya to share. Since there are so many, and there is so much to see in Shibuya, I decided to focus this post on the Center Gai area. My next posts will have other shopping places in Shibuya, as well as photos of Shibuya at night. Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment!

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Baseball in Tokyo, Japan

Jeff Moeller — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:00:21 +0000

My last stop on day 3 of my trip was to Meiji Jingu Stadium in Shinjuku to check out a Japanese baseball game. The home team at this stadium is the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, part of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), akin to the MLB in the US. One difference between baseball in Japan and in America is that in Japan, corporations own the professional baseball teams while in America, they are their own corporate entities. Yakult is the company that owns the Swallows. Baseball in Japan is probably the country’s most popular sport. The most well known team in Tokyo is the Giants, but I decided to see the Swallows because of their outdoor stadium, because the Giants play at the indoor Tokyo Dome.

Even though the Swallows are a pro level team, their stadium is more comparable to a US minor league team in size. Because of this, I had pretty good seats at an affordable price. I paid ￥3,600 for my seats along the first base line, though tickets go as cheap as ￥1,500 for unreserved outfield seats.

From what I researched on the Web beforehand, if you want to go to a game, tickets are not too difficult to get ahold of. I went to the stadium 30 minutes before the game started and was easily able to buy a ticket without waiting in a very long line. One piece of advice that I read though is that you may not be able to do this if they are playing the Giants, as most Giants games sell out. Tickets may also be more expensive. In that case, you can buy tickets on their website if you can read Japanese, or you can buy them at ticket machines in some convenience stores such as Lawson and Family Mart.

When you’re a tall westerner in Tokyo there are certain things apparent that they are not made for you, and the seating in the stadium was one of them. I am 6’3″ and unfortunately found the seats very uncomfortable, especially if there are others sitting on either side of you. Luckily, the couple to my left disappeared after 3 innings of play and I was able to stretch my legs out to the side. But even then, the seat was just not comfortable for me to sit in. This is not meant to say you shouldn’t go, however, it’s just a warning if you are tall like me.

The starting pitcher for the Swallows that night was Yuki Shichijo.

The Swallows were playing the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. DeNA is a mobile game company that owns the team.

At one point during the game, I got up and went to the concession stand area to get something to drink. I asked for a Coke, but what I got was something else entirely. Actually, I think it was some flavor of Fanta, but I couldn’t tell what flavor it was, and it was a sort of white-clear liquid. It tasted fine though, for not being able to tell what it actually tasted like.

There are very few differences between baseball in Japan and in the United States. One difference is that in Japan, games that are tied at the end of the 9th inning only go to 12 innings before being declared a tie, and playoff games only go to 15, and must be replayed if they are still tied. In most games though, everything will be very familiar.

One thing I found interesting was fans’ reaction to the home team scoring. First, the home teams’ fans sit on the first base side, while visiting team fans sit on the third base side. I decided to sit with the home team. So when the Swallows scored for the first time, almost everyone around me got out these colored umbrellas and started raising them in the air. It was very different from being at an American baseball game because of how coordinated the fans were. My question was, why didn’t I get an umbrella? I guess they either bought them at the game or brought them from home. I was just surprised to see so many fans with them, and with the same color.

One highlight of the game was when the opposing team’s manager came out to dispute a call. I can’t remember what he didn’t agree with, but he was upset enough that the umpire threw him out of the game for arguing too much.

I admit I didn’t stay until the end of the game, only because I was very uncomfortable from sitting in the tiny seat for so long. I considered just going and standing at the back to finish the game, but I didn’t want to be asked to sit down by an attendant and not know what they were saying. I am usually someone who is baffled by people who leave sports games early, but in this case I made an exception and left in the 8th inning. The final result was 2-1 in favor of the Swallows.

Have you been to a Japanese baseball game before, or do you have questions about attending? Let me know below.

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