Persona 4 Feverdom

This is a giant wall mural in Akihabara of Yosuke from Persona 4

Hi All,

This post is actually a tribute to the best game I have ever played--Persona 4, which is currently being advertised all over Akihabara in Tokyo!  I first played Persona 4 on the Playstation 2 back in about 2000 (I think that's when it came out), and am very happy that it is being re-released for the Playstation Vita with updated graphics, story, characters-you name it.  How could a game this good get ever better?

Some of the great figures you can pick up from the series

Persona 4 is a Japanese RPG that involves you solving a murder mystery and a series of abductions in a supernatural setting.  You fight shadows with your own generated avatars, which reflect your in-game relationships and are named after many famous mythological creatures from a variety of cultures.  Your character, Yu Narukami, also levels up his own character attributes such as "understanding,"  "academics," "diligence" and the like.  Everyone I have recommended to this game has loved it, and it is the reason I upgraded to the Playstation Vita.

The game display case at Yodobashi Camera's Video Game World

Me with my favorite character Yu Narukami-kun

Kuma-the strange bear creature from the shadow world-provides tons of comic relief

A cosplayer of Naoto at Akihabara, who was kind enough to pose for me

Persona 4 is really huge in Japan too, and during my visit to Akihabara, advertisements and goods were everywhere.  If you are interested in the great story but for some reason don't want to play the game, you can also watch the Persona 4 anime that was created just in the last year.  It's on Hulu!

My personal collection of Persona 4 swag

The master game strategy guide-I hope they release it in America!

The brand new highly detailed mini figures

The infamous Persona 4 purple curry--I wish I had been able to get this!  

Watch the anime or play the game and find out why!

PREORDER the game for Playstation Vita at your local retailer and help preserve excellent Japanese RPG games and translations made by Atlus!  Thanks for your support!

BIG in Japan Goes Sightseeing

Sorry all, I know it has been quite a while since my last post, but I have been overwhelmed with projects and assignments from my Japanese classes.  Thankfully, this has not kept me from traveling and exploring, just blogging about it.

So the first major shrine I went to was Yasaka Shrine in the Gion District.  This district is known for its Kabuki theatres and illusive Geisha. However, this shrine is particularly important because it is dedicated to the kami (god) who is thought to have saved Kyoto from a major epidemic in 869 AD, becoming the god of medicine.  This kami is Susano-o, one of the major deities from the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters-basically a book detailing Japan’s early mythic history).  Every July 17^th , a festival procession makes its way through Kyoto to honor this deity and to pray for continued protection from sickness during the hot and humid summer months. 

Next up is one of my all time favorites: Fushimi Inari Taisha. This is one of the iconic worship spots of Kyoto with its hundreds of vermillion torii winding up the mountain like a tunnel.  Vermillion color symbolizes peace and good harvest.  The row of torii is about 2.5 miles long, and each torii is a donation from a company or family in the area. 

This shrine is dedicated primarily to the goddess of rice and foodstuffs but also of fertility and growth.  There are actually five kami/gods enshrined here related to various commonalities of daily life, and the fox is the sacred animal or familiar of these deities.  Its bushy tail symbolizes abundant harvest and a stone in its mouth represents the spirit of the deities.  There are about 20,000 sacred stones on the mountain guarded by such fox statues.  On July 22-23, about 1,500 paper lanterns and 300 stone lanterns will be lit all the way up the mountain and Bon Odori dances will be performed to welcome home deceased relatives coming to visit their families for the night.  I think Fushimi Inari holds a special place in my heart for its beauty and its dense spiritual atmosphere.  Every few feet there was a place to stop and contemplate and pray, making me feel the climb to the top of the mountain was more of a personal pilgrimage than a sightseeing expedition.  There was definitely a sense of reverent awe and peacefulness I have not found anywhere else I have visited.

The next weekend I went with Julianna to Nijo Castle, once the palace of Tokugawa shoguns.  The building was designed to impress and intimidate its visitors.  Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered his subordinate daimyo to construct Nijo castle at their own expense after failing to oust him from power in around 1603.  The castle is surrounded by a moat and is composed of five interconnected buildings.  To prevent infiltration, the famous “Nightingale floor” makes a chirping sound when it is walked on to alert guards of intruders. As an indicator of rank and status, the floors of each connected building are at a higher level than the previous, and certain visitors were shown to the building commensurate with their rank.  The buildings are surrounded by beautiful gardens, and the Seiryu Garden was added in 1965 for official receptions.

For July 4^th, Julianna, Elliott and I had made a reservation to tour the Imperial Palace of Kyoto or “Gosho.”  Foreigners in Japan are allowed to make a tour reservation with their passport, but this is only accessible to Japanese nationals once a year.  As you can imagine, these tours fill up quickly and we reserved ours weeks in advance, so we felt very fortunate to have managed this.  There are two tours a day: one at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m.  The original palace was constructed in Northern Kyoto but was destroyed by fire, and the emperor moved to Kobe.  Upon his return to Kyoto, the current Gosho was constructed.  The city of Kyoto is set up in a grid pattern like the imperial capital of the Ch’ang-an dynasty in China with the Gosho at its center.  Originally, the emperor and his family lived here as did the families of several high ranked court nobles (a sort of “friendly” hostage system). 

Interestingly, at the northeast corner of the walls, the corner is inverted and a carving of a monkey was set up to protect against evil since northeast is the direction of the “Devil’s Gate.” 

The roofs are made from layers and layers of shaved bark and some of the buildings are held together with the Japanese equivalent of a dowel (a toothpick sized wooden stick), about 2000 of these per building.

The Oike-Niwa (Pond Garden) is a magnificently sculpted garden carefully constructed to recreate a scenic image of the mountains and the ocean (since it is so far away).  The varying heights of the trees signify the mountains and the lake of course is the ocean.

This palace used to be the place of coronation for new rulers of Japan, but after the death of Emperor Hirohito, the coronations have been held in Tokyo, ending the over 1,000-year-old tradition.

Finally, I leave you all with a really fun and  beautiful spot to visit: Kiyomizu-dera Temple.  This is one of Japan’s beautiful World Heritage Sites.  It’s quite a walk to this breathtaking spot where one can look out upon all of Kyoto, about 30-40 minutes from Gosho, half of it uphill.  Of course for those of you who can figure out the Japanese bus system it takes considerable less time.  Be my guest.  Of course if you do ride that bus or take a taxi, you’ll miss out on part of the fun of the climb, which is passing by rows and rows of little shops selling crepes and ice cream and o-miyage (souvenirs).  They have wonderful traditional sweets that you can sample and lots of pottery.

These shops and the apartments above them still reflect the style of samurai days, when it was forbidden for commoners to look down upon a passing samurai lord, and so, narrow, slatted windows were installed to enable the residents to peek down. 

Before you enter the main hall of Kiyomizu-dera, there is a small Shinto shrine called the Jishu shrine, which is one of the most popular in Japan.  This is because it houses the deities devoted to love and marriage.  There are two rocks set up so that if you can make it from one to the other safely with your eyes closed then your wish in love will be granted.  One may say their love’s name over and over as they approach the second stone in order that love and marriage may be guaranteed.  I witnessed one Japanese girl perform this successfully while I was there.

Many omamori (talismans) are sold for good marriage, finding love, and safe delivery.  Enshrined here are the legendary rabbit, who lost his skin after many deceitful deeds, and the deity Okuninushi-no-mikoto, who pitied the rabbit and led him to repent.   

Kiyomizu-dera is the “Clear Water Temple” and is one of the oldest temples in Kyoto.  This temple occupies a good portion of the mountainside and offers a fantastic view of the city of Kyoto.  It is one of the few Buddhist temples with a cypress bark roof reminiscent of the time when it served as part of an imperial palace.  The dragon statue at its entrance, from which water pours, is a place to purify yourself before entering by first grasping the cup handle with your right hand (the clean hand) and washing your left and then switching hands and repeating on the right.  Finally, you can purify the inside of your body by drinking the water (if desired).

Here you can pray to the Bodhisattva Kannon (a Buddhist savior figure representing compassion).  Kannon is sort of a go-between, who will represent you before Buddha or God. 

At the main hall, the tragic story of Yoshitsune and Benkei is remembered through statues of Benkei’s oversized staff and geta (Japanese sandals), which one can lift for luck and healing.  It is said that after a blind blacksmith regained his sight after praying at Kiyomizu-dera, he created these statues in iron as a thank you offering to the temple.

All over the mountain there are small Jizo statues with small red bibs on.  Jizo is the Bodhisattva who protects children, travelers and the dead, so as wind the mountain paths, there is always a Jizo watching.  Jizo is so popular that many times you will see these red bibs on other deities like the foxes of Fushimi Inari shrine—another instance of the blending of Shinto and Buddhism.

Well that’s all I have for today.  If you have any questions about any of these places, please ask away and I’ll try to find out the answer.  This week, we are going to Hiroshima, which promises to be a fascinating and somber trip as we listen to the victims of the atomic bomb.  I will probably take this time to also do a fun excerpt on Tokyo culture to give you a greater perspective of Japan outside of Kyoto and following that, hopefully my interesting and awesome food commentary will finally be done!  Thanks again for reading and see you next week!

Shopping for Trouble in all the Right Places

Hello all!  Today, I want to show you some of the great stores available in the center of Kyoto and an amazing take on the American ham-ba-ga (hamburger).  After  checking out Doshisha U again to make sure we knew where all our classes were, Julianna and I hit the shopping scene to scope out how people live and eat in BIG in Japan!

 So, our first stop was MOS Burger.  It’s a great chain in Asia and kind of looks like a McDonald’s but their food is WAY amazing!  http://www.mos.co.jp/menu/hamburger/ebi/  So, I was thinking I would one up my husband on the weird food list because I selected a “burger” made of what I thought was turtle.  It turned out to be shrimp.  Oh well, it was still damn good.

Check out the diagram of it on their website, and it says it has “American mustard” on it, along with mayonnaise and some type of coleslaw.  It was really phenomenal.  They also have teriyaki burgers, rice burgers and curry burgers (the curry is actually topping for the burger)!   It was really cute to hear the local kids asking for their chee-zu ba-ga.  J  The price is equivalent to the United States with the burger and a fry/onion ring combo with drink for about $8 US.

If you need a drink, there are vending machines everywhere on the streets and in buildings.  It’s like these things are stalking you.  Need a coke?  A juice?  Some sake or beer?  Some girl’s underwear?  Yes, that’s right, don’t ask, you don’t want to know.  If it makes you feel better, the THAT vending machine is hard to find.

So once you go to the center of Kyoto on the Karasuma line is one of the most fantastic shopping districts.  There is a mall IN the subway, you don’t even have to leave.  It has a number of upscale clothing stores, souvenirs, fast food (if you can call it that), and a grocery store selling imported goods (thank God they had my Quaker oatmeal).  You’ll pay a pretty penny in this place though.  The touristy stuff is great, but the clothes are pretty expensive and that oatmeal I bought (1 box) cost about $6.

BUT, this place has some of the best food and when you walk through the “food court” section it looks more like rows of restaurants, well actually I guess that is what it is.  All of the menus are picture menus so anyone can just point to what they want.  And, outside every restaurant is a plastic rendition of each dish so you know what they offer before you can go in.  Can’t decide what to eat, just find the best looking plastic food ever.  Remember when I used to love to go to Sears
and take all the plastic food out of
the refrigerators Mom?  I’m in heaven LOL.

So, outside and across the street next to Kyoto tower is a towering multilevel mall.  I think it has 3 basement levels and 6 upper levels.  The same electronics store itself is on two or three levels and sells everything under the sun.  There are a number of great little cafés down there too.  This one’s for you mom—right next to the Hyaku-en shop there is a a fantastic fabric store.  There are some really beautiful fabrics here, and I think they are about $10 a yard.  Lots of patterns too. 
Nice to see a major craft/fabric store in Japan.

And then there’s the Hyaku-en store.  That means 100 yen, which is the equivalent to the US dollar.  Although, like our US Dollar Store or Dollar Tree, the price has risen to 105 yen.  It’s like our dollar except honestly an even higher quality.  You can get almost everything you need here.  This is just one, but I’ve seen some that even sell meat and other food products, and upon inspection, I was surprised that they looked just fine.  They sell all your essentials like toilet paper, cleaning and laundry supplies, but they also sell really nice cooking implements, towels, bento boxes and accessories, and stationary.

I got everything I needed for my new apartment out of this store and spent about $15-20 total.  You can’t beat that!  I really enjoy it too because you can find some really awesome treasures like Hello Kitty stationary and trinkets and gifts for really cheap.  It’s crazy really.  And that’s where it gets dangerous right?  Because you could spend a TON in this store along with all the other stores that surround it.

I’ll conclude with the “Global Kitchen” grocery store.  This is a really fun place.  As you can see from the pictures, you can get just about any seafood.  There are tons of sushi, fish, tonkatsu and other premade dinners you can buy if you don’t want to cook along with tons of general groceries.  You do have to bag your own groceries though, which is interesting.  When you check out, they put your stuff in a small handheld basket with a bag and you take it to another counter where you can bag your meats in smaller bags and put it in the larger bag they gave you.  All the carts are very small, like the one’s you get at Lowes foods for when you are only getting a few things, and that is because people rarely buy in bulk in Japan like in America.  Most people have to walk or take the subway to get home, so you can only buy what you can carry.  This means multiple trips to the store a week, and I can see why many people would just buy these premade meals if they live in a small apartment like mine with only one stove burner and no oven.  Most Japanese take a reusable sturdy bag with them to carry these groceries home, and I followed their lead.  This is also why a lot of people shop for groceries at convenience stores—because they are so close to home.  There are plenty of cars on the road but that does require a certain income level since it is expensive to drive in Japan and you often have to pay for the use of a garaging facility.

Nonetheless, Julianna and I brought our groceries home and made Eggplant (Nasu) curry donburi together.  Donburi is a Japanese specialty which just means rice with topping.  The rice is the base of your meal but the topping possibilities are endless and is one of my favorite dishes.  It was a bit of a challenge having such a small cooking space, but between the two of us, it came out great!  A really great end to a really great day!

The Good, the Bad, and the Tasty

So when my iPOD alarm turned on this morning it was in the middle of a Japanese song from the Persona 4 anime that goes “don’t be afraid of making mistakes that may be your greatest rival.”  What are the odds?  Well, I would certainly need this advice today as we started our official outings in Kyoto that started with an orientation in only Japanese.  It was quite daunting, and I could only pick up bits and pieces of what was said.  I was really worried about missing something vital, so I resigned myself to spending a good deal of the night with my denshi jisho (Japanese to English electronic dictionary) translating. 

But, anyway, I know you all are waiting for some great pictures and info on the area and of course the eating scene. 

The Good

So, first of all, Kyoto is pretty easy to navigate.  The city was modeled after Chang’an, an ancient capital of China, so it follows a grid pattern unlike many other Japanese cities.  It just so happens that the old imperial palace is across the street from Doshisha University where I will be studying, and I hear this is a great place to go jogging (which I intend to try out tomorrow before checkout).  This happens to be not only an beautifully preserved relic of Kyoto’s ancient past, but it is also where the Emperor of Japan stays when he visits the city.  In fact, foreigners can show their passport inside the palace and schedule an inside tour of this estate, BUT this tour is not available to Japanese residents!  What an amazing opportunity! 

  There is so much to do here, and Buddhist temples are interspersed between businesses and convenience stores along all the roads.  There must be at least 50 temples in this city at least.

It’s amazing how easy it is to get everywhere by walking or bike.  Of course there are trains and subways also.  We were given an unlimited pass in fact while we are in the apartments, but when you visit you can also purchase passes for days or weeks that are inexpensive.  Of course, before you come to Japan you can also purchase a JR Rail Pass (only available to foreigners).  For less than the cost of a trip on the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo, you can get a pass that lets you ride on tons of trains, busses, ferries, and even bullet trains for a consecutive time period (7-21 days).   BENRI is the word, which means convenient, and Japan certainly embodies this.  For instance, Doshisha University not only has the traditional amenities of a college, it even has a yukata (summer kimono) shop for the very reasonable price of 6,800 yen (about $70 US).

It’s also easy to make friends.  I sat next to an old man on the express train today and struck up a conversation about sightseeing and Japanese religion (come on its me guys).  He actually gave me his business card before leaving with a big smile and a “Sayonara, Amanda-san.”  I found that lots of the other students had the same experience, resulting in new contacts, cool trinkets, and lots of interesting conversation.

The Bad

We had a security briefing today with the American Consulate and were given some very pertinent but disturbing information about police procedures here.  Let’s just say whatever you do don’t get in trouble.  The police here can hold you for a period of 28 days before they have to press charges, which means if you are involved in some kind of incident or even suspected, you could sit in prison for almost an entire month before they have to do anything including letting you talk to a lawyer.  Here, you are guilty until proven innocent, and you don’t want to sign anything they hand you without a lawyer/interpreter as it is probably a “confession.”  Apparently, this has happened a lot. 

It can be difficult to stay safe on the street… or rather the sidewalk.  Really, the cars are the least of your worries.  As you walk down the sidewalk, bikes zip past you from either side.  You really have to watch when you turn the corner and make sure you walk as straight as possible.  I must have nearly gotten clipped several times today trying to maintain a group formation with my peers.

Lastly, it’s hot as hell and muggy to boot, but as long as you remember to keep hydrated, you’ll be fine.  Unfortunately I realize now why the program guide said to bring a ton of shirts.

The Tasty

I’ve had some questions about how to find food cheaply.  It’s really not hard but you do have to sort of scout around, but you don’t have to go too far.  On campus, the cafeteria sells many different dishes for between $2-5 US dollars with a free drink to boot!  Anybody can walk in and order—you don’t have to have a college ID.  Today, I had kakiagi udon (udon noodles with tempura fried vegetables) for about $2.30 and only 80 calories.  Extremely interesting is that all the receipts at the cafeteria include the number of calories your meal is as well as all its nutritional values. 

On the streets, a donburi stand is never too far away.  There are a ton of places to eat and shop that are really reasonable.  Tonight, I found a little hole in the wall restaurant that also has a take out window where you can order yakisoba dishes that they will make fresh right in front of you.  Now, tonight I ordered one that cost 890 yen, about $9 US, but it was well worth it and I was starving.  They also had plenty of meals for about $4-5, and the portion size is generous. 

If you are in a hurry and have a microwave, you can always head to the local 7-Eleven or other conbini, which has a number of premade meals and even bento lunches.  You can also grab a notebook for school, toiletries, a cold drink (I have to try this Golden Pineapple beer!) and some Pocky.

I also managed to find a small grocery store and was very pleased with the selection and prices.  Vegetables are cheaper than the US, although fruit can be a little pricier.  I can get two small cuts of salmon for just $2 US or slices of beef or chicken for about $4-5.

In Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to explore and walk up and down a few streets to get the best deal.  You’ll find some gem in the rough that way.  Since many restaurants have picture menus, if you can’t speak the language, you can just point to what you want.  I’m so glad I found that little Yakisoba store.  The guys behind the counter were all smiles and extremely helpful, and I think I might just become a regular.  Everything here is super convenient, just don’t break any laws and Japan is nearly a paradise.

I leave you hopefully looking forward to my next entry about Hyaku-en shops (The Japanese "Dollar" Store).  And please enjoy this interesting video clip below.  Apparently, there is a van that randomly drives around all day dawning the Emperor's seal and blaring the National Anthem.