Bottled Water

People like to dump stuff outside their houses in Japan. Stroll around any neighbourhood in Tokyo and you will often see piles of crap lying around. Old televisions and carpets seem to be a firm favourite. However, what has me perplexed is the large number of bottles full of water you often see lined up in military precision along the roadside. You just have to wonder why! Is it some strange addiction to collecting? Hey I got bored of collecting stamps and decided to give bottled water a go. I now have 200 bottles in my collection on permanent display outside my house!
Determined to discover if this is some new craze or fashion statement, I asked a few Japanese friends. The answer I got is that the water is for homeless cats. An understandable gesture, especially on a hot summer night, I thought. But how do the cats get the bottle tops off and have a drink, I enquired. But no, I had the wrong end of the stick again, a common problem that results from Japanese twisted logic and poor English. The water is not for the cats in the sense of a drink, but to actually scare them off. Tokyo can't be a city of cat lovers, after all then.

Gameboy Micro

Anyone who knows me well will know that I love Nintendo products. Also that I have a weak spot for hand-held gadgets. To me Nintendo is the Apple of the games world, the items they produce are pieces of art rather than just toys, put together with love and care. So its no surprise that I just have to own their latest piece of hardware, the game boy micro.
One thing that I have never done is buy a new games machine on the day of its release. So with nothing to do before work, I decided to kill time by heading out to Yodobashi Camera electrical store in Shinjuku, in order to plug this hole in my personal experience. However, I have to admit it was a tad on the boring side, no queues and crowds, no girls dressed in cute costumes and definitely no real buzz in the air.
I guess it shows the sorry state of the games industry in Japan, people just aren't interested in this kind of release any more. Or maybe that today's gamers need something new and not just another updated old handheld. At least I got what I wanted, so I am happy.

Sanma Matsuri

Another festival this weekend, but this time I am off to Meguro for the Sanma Matsuri. Sanma is a type of fish, a bit like a herring and is in season this time of the year. Basically the festival is a celebration of this tasty fish, with 20,000 of them being given away. But why in Meguro, I hear you ask. Well the story goes that once there was a Diamyo Lord, who really loved Sanma, but none of his servant's could cook them to his liking and this annoyed him greatly. Then one day while travelling through Meguro he came across a stall barbecuing Sanma. The smell was prefect. He tasted one. It was excellent so he proclaimed that if you want to eat truly delicious Sanma you should do so in Meguro. That's why Meguro is the place for Sanma and why I am here too.
Unfortunately, I am not the only one here for my free Sanma. The rest of Tokyo seems to be here too. Even though the fish are cooked in batches of 200 the queue stretches for miles with a queuing line of up to three hours. However, I am not going to give up. You may, as my friend pointed out, be able to buy Sanma in the supermarket for just a pound, but that’s not the point, queuing is supposed to be part of the fun and make that Sanma taste even better in the end.
And I have to admit, after two hours my excitement and trepidation were at unheard of levels as we neared the cooking area and ominously dark rain clouds drifted overhead. It looked like we were in for a soaking. We had no umbrella so it might have ended up as a choice between wasting two hours with no reward or enjoying the fabled fish, but getting drenched to the skin. Luckily we made it and had just enough time to gobble down our fantastic Sanma before the heavens opened. And boy did they taste good.
Others weren't so luckily, many in the queue behind us were rewarded with only a cold shower after a two-hour plus wait. Many held their place in the queue as the rain bucketed down, only to give up later when the rain got just too intense. Off they plodded like drowned rats. Poor hungry souls.

Time for a Beer

One thing that you can't deny is that Japanese trains are convenient. They run on time, at regular intervals and are comparatively cheap. But the thing I love about them the most is the information screens inside the carriages. These will keep you informed with the latest news, weather and market prices. They will even teach you English and recommend whether its a good day to hang out your washing. However, the most amusing thing is the beer forecast.
This will let you know, just in case you don't know, if it is a good day for a beer or not and to what degree that beer is going to be refreshing. So now there is no excuse to have a quick one on the way home after a hot and busy day, because your commuter train says you should.

A Festival for Local People

Hikawadai is usually particularly quiet and boring, but today is different because it's festival time. The whole area around Hikawadai Shrine, which is just behind the house, is now a crowded open market with stalls selling snacks and toys. A complete contrasted to the normal, peaceful, residential atmosphere. Excited voices, traditional music and traders' shouts drift up to my window making a pleasant change from the normal sounds of everyday life. The stalls in the street are for kids, the real fun for us adults are the mikoshi (or portable shrine) procession and the outside bars that have sprung up wherever there is space for a few tables. These temporary bars are ideal spots from which to watch the mikoshi as it travels around the neighbourhood, so that the god enshrined inside can extend his protection to all us locals.
The highlight of the day is when the mikoshi is carried back to the shrine. The reason why it's carried probably dates from the Edo Period when wheels were banned as a security measure, but today it just adds to the fun and is loved by the Japanese because it involves working as a group. This is certainly the case as the mikoshi is shoehorned through the crowded narrow streets, accompanied by rhythmic music, dancing and chanting. Finally, the swaying mikoshi is manhandled to the shrine so that the god within can return to his permanent home.
The festival is then suddenly over, well not quite because everyone starts chatting, smoking and drinking. And this is the whole point of these festivals, they are not religious and taken seriously as a Western equivalent would be, but are an excuse to have a good time and build relationships with those that live around you.

Train Free for All

I am always hearing how polite the Japanese are and that might be true in many cases, but certainly not on trains. I have lost count of the number of times I've been pushed and shoved out the way or had to fight my way through a tide of boarding passengers as I try to extract myself from a crowded carriage. Commuters waiting on the platform might queue up neatly guided by lines on the ground, but when the train arrives it's always a free for all with passengers of any age breaking rank and dashing for an empty seat. In the UK, travellers don't usually form such ordered queues, but they do take their turn when boarding (those that arrive first, board first) and they never step on the train until everyone who wants to get off has alighted. No matter how packed the train.

The other thing that gets to me are selfish obasans (old ladies) who love to take up several seats with their shopping bags, no matter how crowded the train is or how many people are standing. Of course no one says anything, we all just ignore them, but just once I would love to throw their bags on the floor and tell them to be more considerate and less greedy. You would be considered public enemy number one if you used up extra seats in the UK, and other passengers would not be scared to tell you so.
The reason for this lack of politeness in trains is said to result from the Japanese's lack of respect for people they do not know well. Basically they care less for the comfort of people they have no relationship with. Therefore, being in a train full of strangers is no fun.