Walking Streets

I don’t have a car in Japan. I am a walker in Japan. I walk, ride on train, walk, take a bus, and walk more.

Most of the time, I am careful about busy streets. Sometimes, when I have a specific goal in my mind, like a shopping list, I tend to be less careful. Sorry mom, but it is true for most of the people, and I am not an exception.

I always think that it is what it is, a metropolitan city and you have to be careful about traffic and that there is no other way around. In Japan, there exits an opportunity of being free of traffic, you can be careless in some streets from 9am to 2pm, or from 3pm to 7pm, or many other time limits, informed with this kind of signs. It means that streets are designated to pedestrians, walking only street, between those hours.

Those streets are always local shopping streets which have small markets, grocery shops, bakeries… These are the streets that I visit often to provide the diversity of items on my shopping list. I focus on my list without thinking about traffic. I see a lot of people like me, happily and safely running errands and shopping.

And, funny fact, I feel like a child when I am on those streets. Free, untouchable and playful…

I didn’t know what a great luxury walking streets were.  Now I know, don’t you wish to try?

Cheers,

Ece

Hachiko

The first time I have heard about Hachiko’s story, I was in a Japanese class with other foreign students, I really tried hard to force myself not to cry, but I had visible wet eyes.

Then the same night, I told the story of Hachiko to my husband. I was at home, so I cried freely without worry.

Now, I am writing the story with a knot in my throat.  There is also a movie about this story, but I can’t watch it, I am sorry but I just can’t. Hachi: A dog’s tale, this film is the American version of the story.

Hachiko (1923-1935) was the beloved dog of a professor. Every day, Hachiko greeted the professor at the Shibuya station. One day, the professor didn’t return, he died suddenly at work due to brain hemorrhage.

Hachiko never left the station and stayed around the station, never gave up waiting for him. Every day at the time of which professor supposed to arrive, he appeared in front of the station.  He waited for nine years, nine months and fifteen days after his owner’s death.  Hachiko became famous for his loyalty and love. The station stuff, and other people cared for him, gave him food and treats to support his wait.

Hachiko exit is just the corner of the famous crossing

In his 8^th year of waiting, a bronze statue of Hachiko was built in front of the station. And there exists the Hachiko Exit in Shibuya station, one of the busiest stations in Tokyo.

Inside the train station, there are also bronze paw prints marking the exact spot where Hachiko waited for the professor. I have missed that, but I will make sure to see it as soon as possible.

Meet me at Hachiko became a known phrase. You can meet your friends next to Hachiko, a loyal, loving, faithful dog who used to meet the professor and used to wait for the professor.

Cheers, love and loyalty, with a tissue,

Ece

The Bell

The bell is ringing, it is taco time in Tokyo

Japan’s first Taco Bell is opened in Shibuya in the end of April 2015. People waited for hours to be the first customers. Officially it is a return, first Taco Bell opened in 1980s but closed a few years later. New generations had to wait for this experience until 2015.

Japanese people already had a food called taco rice, which you can eat it in many restaurants and in Okinawa, basically rice is topped with all taco ingredients. Taco shell has been replaced with rice in Japan.

Now with Taco bell, there are soft shells, hard shells, burritos, quesadillas, all the classics…

And nachos, and French fries…

Desert tacos...

There are also 2 Japanese specials Taco rice and Avocado shrimp burrito.

The shop is located on one of the small streets in Shibuya, but it is really spacious inside, there are seats available for 100 people, on 2 floors.
 

I have already eaten taco rice and many things with avocado shrimp. So I tried crunch wrap supreme with nachos as a side. I also have people with me who tried tacos and burritos.

I waited in line for 30 minutes, and it looked like a normal day. Order is simple even for a foreigner because all the words are English. Once you order, you are given a number device, which rings when your order is ready. It was not working perfectly, and not as fast as I hoped.

Finding a seat was another challenge. I found a nice corner seat. Lucky me.

It was delicious, cheap and quick-ish.

I also wanted to have this experience. There is fuss over it, I tried the first Taco bell in Japan.

If you ask me have you ever been to Taco Bell in Tokyo.

I can easily say, yes I have been to Taco Bell in Tokyo.

Cheers,

Ece

Rainy Season

It is that time of the year again. Rainy season in Japan has started, Tokyo always has rainy season in June. 

It is a summer rain. It is called 梅雨, tsuyu. That rain brings very hot and moist weather to Japan.

It doesn’t rain every day, but I always have a small umbrella in my bag.  When it rains, it rains heavily, you need to wear rain boots or so… Due to summer weather, you also feel the weather very hot when it rains... So water falling from the sky and sweat all over you. A small personal towel is a good investment, otherwise it is very hard to keep the body dry. Cotton fabric is not good for this weather. I changed a lot of my clothes in my wardrobe for that reason. Some light clothes are the best, easy to dry. Because it will become hard to dry the laundry.  But I try not to worry a lot, on trains, shops, almost everywhere there are some air conditioner to calm the heat down.

June is one of the months that not many tourists come to Japan. Foreigners living in Tokyo take vacations abroad during this time and also in the end of August. Those 2 times may be unbearable for some people. Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, don’t have any rainy season.  Hokkaido is a special place in our hearts.  I wish to visit Hokkaido during rainy season in Tokyo, a getaway place from rainy season. 

I feel like May and June, until the rainy season, is the time for my idea of summer, happily hot. After rainy season it is Japanese summer, hot, moist, and sweaty…  After rainy season every year I start using an app for temperature, moisture calculations, which I am going to write as a separate post.

Rainy season starts which means that Japanese summer is around the corner… 

Cheers,

Ece

Emojis of Japan

I really like the new emojis. I am using only few but it is fun for me to consider the items that I can use.

And I have gathered the emojis that remind me of Japan.

Tokyo tower, map of Japan ,Mt.Fuji, temple or old house, bike, Japanese flag, donut, creme caramel or flan, onigiri, onigiri, rice ball, noodle, rice ball sweets, iced sweet, ice sweet, processed thing in ramens , sushi, tempura, curry, anime version meat and anime, green tea, baseball, kimono, umbrella ,The great wave of kanagawa, dog with fancy coiffure, sakura-cherry blossom, yen, new year bamboo, traditional couple, school bag, kids day special decorations, flags, celebrations,…

There are some items or products or objects which don’t probably just belong to Japan but some are associated with Japan better and suited more to my life in Japan.

Bike is not specific, but I have a special feeling that I have connected Japan with bike. You can see families of 5 with bikes, a mother 2 kids on a bike, a man and 2 dogs on a bike… It is more than a bike ride, it is as strong as a car to gather family and shopping bags and so on…

Baseball is American of course but Japanese people love baseball. There are many kids playing baseball at school teams, you can see them with baseball clothes on trains. If you come from a soccer based western country, you can easily connect baseball with the Japanese experience.

Umbrella is not specific also, but I wasn’t used to use an umbrella as frequently as I use in Japan. I also realized that I didn’t know how to use an umbrella. I am not talking about how to open or so. I am asking how not to get wet while raining. I have failed many times. You can see my disappointment at the stations just by comparing my wet clothes with everyone else’s dry clothes. In my opinion Japanese people are umbrella masters no matter how strong the rain is. That is why umbrella is a Japanese thing for me.

Dog with fancy coiffure is really cute. Japanese people mostly have small curly furry dogs. And those dogs are really cute with special coiffure. I would always agree that this is not Japan specific, but the way I see, the frequency… It makes me link japan to dog with fancy coiffure.

School bag is a surprising item. I am all for the diversity and freedom of children, they should be free to realize their imaginations. And at school, I think accessories are a way of expression when you wear uniform. If you like Spiderman you can have a bag with Spiderman pictures, or many other things. This bag though specifically is common in elementary school students, there are some other versions with pictures and so on, but it is still the same bag. You can see many of the same bag during weekdays, when weekends come, the kids are diverse and free with imagination.

There are many other items which can be associated with some places, right?

Cheers,

Ece