A Recreation Day in Tokyo

Jay's Journeys Part 1: by Jason Soo

Jason Soo is currently working in Fujitsu Ltd. as part of the Japan co-op program. Hello from Japan! Things over here are going fine. The people are nice and I've had opportunities to travel a bit around town. Here's a story about one of my recent outings. Last weekend some people from work and I went to a place called Asakusa, in Tokyo. It was interesting. There was a huge open bazaar there with many small shops selling traditional Japanese arts and crafts. As well, there were many places selling fresh Japanese snacks such as"Ningyoyaki" (doll shaped cakes stuffed with red bean paste) and "o-koshi" (sweet Rice Crispy square-type treats). The bazaar was right beside a famous Buddist temple, called "Sensooji". I purified myself with the "holy water" and I also dispelled the evils in my body with some "holy smoke". I also had my fortune told. Those familiar with Eastern religion might know the routine. Pay a donation, shake a stick out of a can and the number on the stick corresponds to a fortune library, which is indexed by number. Apparently, I'm going to find a good partner soon and get married! Hopefully this will occur after I graduate.

Afterwards, we went to a small playland called "Hanayashiki", which has the oldest rollercoaster in Tokyo. It was a short ride, but reasonably exciting because the tracks were all rusty. We then had lunch at a small old-fashioned restaurant. We ate "okonomiaki" which is like a meat and vegetable filled pancake which you fry right at your table (the table had a skillet built right into the center). Later, we took a 35 minute boat cruise along one of the rivers where I had a chance to see many of the Tokyo bridges up close. I also caught a glimpse of the NEC and Toshiba headoffices. Unfortunately, they were decidedly average looking, at least from the outside. In fact, the NEC HQ is quite a short building compared to the others surrounding it.

When we arrived at the pier, we decided to go bowling. We grabbed a taxi to a large bowling alley (about 60 lanes), where we bowled for a while. I had two games, which cost me 1100 yen, or about $19. Overall, the bowling alley was similar to Canada, with video games and everything. (By the way, Virtua Fighter II costs about 100 yen per game which is about average for Tokyo). It was about supper time by the time we finished, so we decided to go to a special place for dinner. The area was called "Tsukishima" (moon island) and the restaurants around there specialize in a dish called "monjyayaki". Monjyayaki is similar to okonomiaki, but the batter is more watery so you have to eat it in a special way. Besides two large spatulas, which are used when initially cooking the dish, each person is provided with a tiny spatula (about the same size as the wooden spoon you get with cup ice-cream). Because monjyayaki is so gooey, when you eat it, you have to cut a small piece with your little spatula and then drag the piece along the skillet to cook it more. This method means you eat monjyayaki very slowly, so I don't recommend it for a quick bite. Your clothes and hair also stink of smoke afterwards, so I would suspect that romantic evenings of ballroom dancing do not usually follow a monjyayaki meal! After that it was just a short ride on the subway and train to get back to my dormitory. The whole day cost me about 8000 yen, or $130. Stay tuned for my next installment, which will either be "Tokyo's Sinful Night Life - Crusin' Roppongi with a Swingin' Australian" or "Japanese Screen Savers - Art or Function?".

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