The last day...

On the morning of our last day in Japan, we bid farewell to Chie, who was off to a meeting at a university. :(
We spent the early part of the day getting our final soaks in at the onsen, and then we were off to taste the famous Yonezawa Ramen. Actually I don't know if it is famous, but Ryo's dad goes out of his way to eat at this place. We got there right at noon and got the last table available. Pretty soon the place was packed with people waiting in the doorway. It was great to see all the locals, families, business people, retired folks all come out to this place.
This bowl of ramen was seriously near perfect. Very simple, light soup, great crinkly noodles with perfect width and texture.

After ramen, we went to a shaved ice parlor, the same store which Ryo's mother used frequent as a child. Back then, ices cost a mere 5 yen.Now, the prices reflect the times, but the method of making the ice remains the same.
This old lady hand-shaves the ice. That piece of wood with small spikes in it is used to grip the ice as she slides over the shaver. She also hand-makes the syrup, and mixes the ingredients before your eyes.Voila! This is Irwin's fresh lemon ice.I don't think anyone could finish the ice.

Then it was time to get on the shinkansen back to Tokyo. So sad to leave... Ryo and Mari looking at chotchkies at the train station kiosk before we got on the train. Goodbye Yamagata! Thank you Ryo-chan!It was a very nice surprise that my brother was spending the whole day at Narita (to pick up Ed Norton and Liv Tyler for promo for The Hulk) so I got to have a quick bite to eat with him.
It's hard to believe how much happened in two weeks. And now that I'm back in NY, I'm having seriously vacation withdrawal. It's hard to really give a shit about all the BS in regular life when you've been away for a while...

Yamagata onsen

Ahhhh... Yamagata...
On our third day in Yamagata, we woke up early (here is where the jetlag still pays off -- can't help but wake up early! Except now, back in NY it is totally kicking my butt... I thought it was still 6AM but in fact it was already 10.30AM -- late for work!!) and drove to Zao to go up a mountain. Our destination was to view the "Okama" which confused me, because the word okama means rice pot, but also means gay (as in homosexual) so I was like, why do we have to go see the gay community in Yamagata? In fact, the okama we were aiming to visit was a body of rainwater that had collected in the crated of an extinct volcano, though I'm still not quite sure why it is called an okama...

I order to reach the okama, we had to drive 30 minutes out of Yamagata (and into Miyagi Prefecture), up a winding mountain road to a parking lot where there was a lift.

We got on the single-chair lift and rode up to a higher plateau.
Then, a five-minute hike...
took us to this amazing view.
Apparently the water in the okama is too rich in mineral or acid to support any life. It was a bright unreal blue-green color.

After a takoyaki snack at the base of the lift, we met Ryo's mom and grandma at Konnyaku Bansho, this elegantly situated restaurant/gift shop specializing in... konnyaku.

Konnyaku is this kind of strachy food derived from a vegetable. It's most notable trait is its jello-like rubbery consistency -- and lack of flavor. Japanese people have tooted konnyaku as a great diet food because it has little to no calories. It's most commonly served in grey blocks with black speckles, in stews like oden. If you've never had konnyaku, it's really hard to aptly describe what it is like... I realize now that I'd been describing it as a kind of potato, but in fact it is more corn-like. Anyway this restaurant specialized in all things konnyaku -- as in konnyaku made to look and taste like chicken, noodles, sashimi, fruit jelly, seaweed, you name it.

It's a hell of a lot fancier than Garlic World in Gilroy, but the idea behind it is the same -- except with konnyaku!Three generations of women!

Irwin could barely get through the konnyaku meal. Honestly I thought he might throw up in the middle. The thing about konnyaku is that you can infuse it with almost any kind of flavor, but it's really hard to change or mask its rubbery texture. I said earlier that konnyaku was a popular diet food in Japan, but because of several cases in which old people and children had choked on the food and suffocated, there are now warnings on konnyaku packages about consumption.

After lunch, we went to Ryo's mom, Ewiko-san's traditional Japanese dance teacher's place.I had mistakenly thought we were in for some kind of dance class or demonstration, but what actually followed was a big dress-up party. All of us got dressed in the yukata that Wakayagi sensei and Eiko-san had prepared for us. Dressing and learning to tie a simple obi took maybe an hour of more. After we were properly attired, we had a quick lesson in etiquette (bowing, walking, fanning) and then we were off to the onsen!

We went to the Sanshuyu Ryokan in the Akayu Onsen area. Ryo had been there before, and we thought it would be the best bet for our money. It was amazing! We had a suite to ourselves, complete with a sleeping room, a dining room, and living room, a dressing area and shower, and our own private outdoor onsen tub in our own provate garden. There were also the big common tubs (indoor and outdoor) down the hall, but because each room/suite has its own private tub, you rarely saw anyone outside. We spent the first hour there taking photographs of ourselves in our outfits...But then we all got out of our formal wear and into the ryokan-provided outfits (choices of prisoner-like comfy sweats, yuakata robes or heavy hooded bathrobes, pictures on Mari and me here:)We had an evening of pure luxury and relaxation -- kaiseki dinner served in our room, bathing, napping and playing beanie!

I leave you with Mari in her yukata -- the epitome of Japanese beauty! lol

Yamagata Living

Day two in Yamagata was an incredible day of leisure. In the morning Ryo's father, Yuu-san, took us fishing in a river about 30 minutes away. 20 minutes in the car and we were surrounded by lush green and mountains. We had to look for the perfect fishing spot. Yuu-san then donned his fishing pant/boots.

...and so did Irwin. LOL. Pic is too cute not to include.
Yuu-san showed us how to hook our worms, and then how to cast and move the bait through the water, targeting the places where the water was running fast but deep. On his thrid cast, he caught this little guy, which made us believe that river-fishing was a piece of cake.
Of course an hour or more went by with Irwin and I catching nothing but some sunshine and prime cicada singing. Ryo also hooked a little guy, which she released. In any case it was a beautiful day to be outside, immersed in nature.
After fishing we picked up Chie at the train station, ate some famous Yamagata soba (much thicker than your usual soba, and cooked al dente), and climbed up a big mountain to Yamadera Temple where clusters of altars, temples and resting places were perched atop cliffs overlooking a marvelous landscape.


Following our sweaty hike, we went to the local farmer's market. There we found incredible fresh produce, and pictures of the people who grew them:We bought our veggies here and our meats at a supermarket for this evening's barbecue! Mari was able to join us by evening, and Irwin got some good flames going in the new grill. That Black Jack fan sure did come in handy.I can't remember if this is before or after Yuu-san was fighting the roaring flames of the grease fire.And the fish that Yuu-san caught met with this fate.Ryo and Chie scarfing down food.We capped off the evening with a true Japanese summer experience -- fireworks! Our cheap-o packet of assorted fireworks were slightly disappointing (most of the fireworks were made in China, and we wanted to place the blame there) but still we all had good fun.

Catching up: Last Day in Kyoto & Meeting the Nagasawas

I'm already back in NY but have fallen so behind in my chronicling my trip because of spotty internet and, well, being so darned busy! I have to backtrack now and fill in the gaps.

So what I neglected to mention is that last Thursday, on our last full day in Kyoto, Irwin asked me to marry him. We had been discussing this amongst our many future plans, but I had no idea that this would be coming to me in this way at this moment. My brain exploded a little bit when he presented me with the ring, and when Chie came home from work, she immediately sensed something was up. It took me a couple hours to feel more grounded.
On Friday, we had ambitious plans to wake up very early and go to a special festival.　The Mitarashi Festival at Shimogamo Shrine involves walking through the river to purify yourself.


Later we went to a GIGANTIC flea market at Kitano TenMangu Shrine, where every month on the 25th, everything and anything you could possibly want to buy, or didn't even know you wanted to buy is put on display. The photo below doesn't really capture the density and variety of wares, nor the oppressive heat of the morning.
We met with Chie for lunch before getting on the shinkansen -- also met with Naoto Moriyama, who is on the faculty at Kyoto University of Arts & Design. This was Chie's way of planting the seeds of the idea of touring oph3lia to Kyoto -- how amazing would that be?!And then we were off! Our plan was to meet up with Ryo at Tokyo station and then continue on to Yamagata. Ryo is a friend of mine from work -- her cubicle is right behind mine. She works in the film program and has, over the years become one of the people I adore the most. So I was really looking forward to seeing her hometown, and her home.

I have to confess that, though I was super super excited about this plan of ours to meet up and hang out in Japan together, I was also extremely paranoid and worried that somehow my Japanese friends would be "different" in Japan (i.e. a different context than NYC, America) and that they would like be mean to me in Japan. These kinds of things happened to me a lot as a kid I guess, where you thought you were friends with someone, but then in a different context, they are too cool to be your friend or whatever. And being in Japan is always some key into my childhood psyche.

But all told my fears were completely unfounded, and visiting Yamagata with Ryo was one of the most awesome legs of this trip. Here we've just arrived at Yamagata station. We walked just a few blocks down the main drag -- during which Ryo ran into a family friend. This night Ryo's parents' theater had just had a special screening of Godzilla, followed by a talkback with a Godzilla expert (?!?!). We walked by their movie theater Forum (named in honor of Film Forum, I think!)And the posters of upcoming movies.Next door was L'atelier de Charlotte, a little bistro run by a couple who were huge movie freaks and fans of Charlotte Gainsbourg. The cute place was chock-full of everything Charlotte. This was the setting for the post-Godzilla dinner celebration.We were joined by Ryo's brother Jun, who had recently come back to Yamagata to start learning the family business to eventually take it over. He had spent 8 years in the boondocks as a music teacher in a middle school. He was a very serious guy!After several nice appetizers, the owner of the restaurant put on a great show with crepe suzette -- pouring blazing Grand Marnier down a spiral of orange peel. Ryo and her Mom look on.After dinner we walked another few blocks to their apartment. We were staying in her grandmother's apartment, which is on the same floor as her parents' unit -- in fact they were connected by a wraparound balcony with a great view of Yamagata -- mountains all around. Ryo stayed in the room with her grandfather's shrine.Her grandmother was staying with her parents while we were visiting! So gracious. Grandma has a 19 year-old cat named Tono who yowled a lot but was generally a cuddle slut. Apparently he and Grandma are inseparable. Ryo and her mom joked that her grandfather's spirit has inhabited the cat, and that is why the cat will not leave her alone.
The view from the balcony before going to sleep.