kamakura

day 37

japan's history is a fascinating story of military battles and political intrigue, and as a result it is filled with heroic events and short life spans.

in 1159, civil war between the minamoto and taira clans ends with annihilation of the minamotos. two minamoto sons were spared (aged 13 and 1). the 13 year old was banished to the countryside, and the story of his fighting back to power by age 33 is remarkable. you can read the full account here.

to make a long story short, he first suffers defeats, but his brother and cousin hear his rally cry and come to his aid. together, they overthrow the enemy with brilliant strategy, and in return he kills both of them so they do not usurp his power. he kills a lot of other people too, including his cousin's 10 yr old son (which i thought was a little callous considering his own life story) so i wasn't too unhappy to read that he accidentally falls off a horse and later dies while still in a coma.

anyway, the relevance is that he becomes the 'supreme commander', leader of the first shogunate (military government) of the entire nation, and he establishes his headquarters in his home town of kamakura.

there's a little more to the story, so i'll fill you in. after falling off his horse, his 17 year old son takes over, but things go downhill and after four years of civil war, the son's wife and 6yr old child are killed. the son is deported to the same countryside as his father, but the story doesn't recycle because he's assassinated the next year.

the second son becomes shogun at age 11, and you can guess this doesn't last long. at 27 he's assassinated by his 19 year old nephew, who covets the rule. but he doesn't get it, because he's executed for his efforts. and this ends the bloodline.

it doesn't end the story though. kamakura remains a seat of power for quite a while. during this time, kublai kan sends 33,000 troops in 900 ships to punish japan for not recognizing his suzerainty (i love that word). fortunately for japan, his entire force is wiped out by a typhoon. to add insult and injury, the emperor beheads the next 5 mongolian emissaries, which really makes kublai unhappy. next he sends 140,000 troops in 4,000 ships, and - can you believe it - another freak typhoon wipes them out too.

you'd think everyone would be happy at this point, but the japanese warlords who fought against the mongolians were unhappy with their rewards and after more battles, emperors being banished and returning to power, there's one almighty battle to end the era. the leader of 200,000 troops sent by kamakura to attack kyoto defects and eventually the kamakurans are slaughtered. 870 samurai commit mass suicide. this brings the rule of kamakura to an end in 1333.

one last note, in 1953 professor suzuki of tokyo university excavated near the beach and found the remains of 556 battle victims. the site is near the first torii gate of tsurugaoka hachimangu shrine, and is now a mcdonalds.



we start our day with onigiri made fresh by this gentleman with a tiny shop on our street.






see how delicious.






our local station mejiro. it's my favorite.






so common. either all japanese people are sleep-deprived, or the train is soporific. great entertainment.






kamakura's a great tourist town. nice shops, quiet, clean.
















the rice crackers were made fresh right here, and they were delicious. hard though.






surveying the rumble of the surf. to our surprise, there's quite a nice beach in kamakura.






and the locals make the best of this 1 foot swell.











the big attraction (never mind the pun) is the buddha and many temples.

we hiked to the top of that hill in the background and along the ridge to another temple.






very peaceful.






really nice bush walk.











the walk spat us out by the nicest starbucks i've ever seen. we didn't stop though, there were better things ahead.






okonomiyaki. you just can't lose with food here.

the first 30,000 years

day 36
tokyo national museum

what a job - if you had to summarize the country's first 30,000 years of art and artisanry, what would you show?

commonly, i leave museums overwhelmed by content, underwhelmed by documentation. but the national museum surprised me - there was a nice selection from each period arranged chronologically by room, with informative poster boards. i liked that.

so here's my pick. it's in no particular order, with no supporting info. that's all you get for the price of an e-ticket.



once again, a miserably windy and wet day. perfect museum weather.

post-tsukiji

day 35
the day was miserably windy and wet, so the camera was buried while electronics shopping in akihabara. to fill in, some pics of our post-tsukiji adventure.



shortly after our fish breakfast, we came across soba street. it looked sooo good, but we just couldn't.






cel phone soba. standing room only at these tables lined up streetside. we're going back, of course.






the imperial palace is a funny place. well, to me at least. it has been described as the eye of the tornado, and i think that's apt. directly in the centre of tokyo, it's an oasis of green where nothing is going on. the palace is not visible to the public, hidden behind walls and moats. the huge grounds are open to the public, but it seems no-one goes there except tourists.






you can walk for hours on the outer grounds, which as vincent noted, have a singularity of purpose. these pine trees go on for acres. a sign told us that you are not allowed to light fires here. also, no camping. and, no walking on the grass. so the first two are really teasers.






i wonder if these mushrooms are allowed to be there?






here, you're allowed to be on the grass. but strangely, no one really wanted to. we saw a salary-man walk by, stop, turn, and stroll out 20 yards. he sat down for 15 seconds, looked at his watch, then got up and walked away.






paradoxically, despite the lack of greenery in tokyo, things grow amazingly quickly here.






all in the name of fashion. this is the prada building.

i was told by a japanese architect that each one of these windows costs more than a bmw. and unfortunately, they're prone to cracking. since cost is no object, a supply of the german made panes is kept locally to keep things looking right.











cafe culture here goes way beyond starbucks (plenty of those too though). i'll post more on that another time.

ramen museum

day 34
despite the stupor induced by bowls of ramen consumed so far, we're huge fans. so a visit to the ramen museum in shin-yokohama was highly anticipated.

first, some odd sights on the way to the museum.



a roasted chestnut stall.






i believe all cats have this view of themselves.






so cute. unfortunately, destined for soup.





















ahh.. the museum. 1958. admission is $3, and "every adult is exected to order at least one bowl". that's not going to be a problem for us.






resting between bowls, we got caught in the front row of an impromptu bingo game held by these fine officers. i won a giant ramen lollipop with a craftily composed card row of sumo, baseball, and curling.






believe it or not, this is a mini-bowl. one of the things that makes ramen so enjoyable is that it comes in infinite varieties. this one with miso base, round noodles, roast pork and secret powder.

each of the 11 restaurants makes one type. we also tried fish base, curly noodles with sea dragon topping.

we were thinking of getting a third bowl, but took a detour upstairs and never made it back. thank goodness.

tsukiji

day 33
tsukiji fish market is legendary. and truly, it is.



most of you who have heard of tsukiji will think of tuna.






but tsukiji is a big place.






a really big place. and there's a whole lot of fish in the sea...


































































back to the tuna. that's a $1500 knife. i know, because we tried to buy one. wouldn't fit in the luggage tho.





















these hand carts aren't so prevalent anymore...






...because they ride around on these washing machines instead.






there's a produce market next door, which is also massive. but it gets overshadowed by the fish. and rightly so.











that's $200 for one wasabi root.






the market opens at 5am, and after hours of mind numbing wandering amongst the fish, you need breakfast. this was stella's.






that's mine. i guess i don't have to mention it was fresh.






and uni for vincent.