My lunchbreak with a lone sakura tree

on my way to work

OHAYO!, said the sakura blossoms!

Lakbay sa Tren

Yung tren sa kaliwa, sinakyan namin papuntang Hakone. Tawag dito "Romance Car", I will show you why later. This is not a "bullet train", it's more of a sightseeing, luxury train.
Yung tren sa kanan ito naman yung sinakyan namin to go up some mountain, we had to make several stops at stations dahil isa lang yung line and they call it "switchback"... hmmm, "switchback mountain"?! AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAYY!

Ang galing nga dahil di ba pa-akyat ng Baguio by car we drive up a zig-zag route? It was exactly the same, yun nga lang we were on a train! Pinaghalong Byaheng Bicol at Baguio... dahil malamig pa rin at that time.


Inside the "Romance Car", you have wood panelling, carpeted floor, comfortable seats, but no ROMANCE. Bakit ka'mo? Daming batang nakasakay kasama ang mga lola, lolo buong pamilya, naglalakabay, holiday kasi! Siyempre di kami pahuhuli... yan ang baon naming "onigiri" (riceballs), o di ba?! Sana may nagtitinda ng mani, kumpleto na!
Pero wag ka, there was a train attendant (parang F.A.), she went by pushing a food/bev trolley.


We got good front seats. Nasaan ang DRIVER?
Sa totoo lang walang driver sa harap, it was a thrill for me seeing the snow-capped peak of Mt. Fuji as we passed by.

Lunch was at Fujiya Hotel, a hotel that has seen better times since the eve of the 19th century. Our friend did a great job in arranging for this trip!
Family pciture namin... hehehe, I found this photo of John, Yoko and is this Sean? plus somebody else at Fujiya Hotel... now tell me, WHAT is that boy holding?

RYOKAN

Our luxurious stay at the ryokan! A good mountain view, a full tatami floor and shoji screens that one can slide to make private or public space! A ryokan is very traditional so meals are served in the room and attended by kimono-clad women. We also wear traditional yukata and follow tradition, like sleeping on the tatami floor with the futons laid out and the bed made by attendants at the ryokan. It was tempting to poke a hole in those shoji screens. My friend told me to wet the tip of my finger first to make a neat one.

This might raise your eyebrows, our room had no lock at all! Our attendant had to announce her/him self first and then they enter a foyer, after we say so, by sliding one of the doors to enter. Go see "Ai No Corrida", at least we did not give our attendants a surprise.

ONSEN

We unwind in the onsen, both outdoors (rotenburo) and indoors. We had our private onsen open 24h, though I could not bring myself to soak in the hot spring pool alone at night! The outdoor hot spring pool was great, blog sa ibaba...

Hayyyyyyyyyy.............

This is heavenly, soaking in an outdoor onsen (rotenburo) with your loved ones. We were lucky to have the pool to ourselves! Hayyyy, sarap!

Dinnertime!

Dinner at a ryokan has several courses, I lost track of the food that Nagai-san brought to the room. Didn't bother to photograph them all as the food demanded attention!

This clear broth of white eels and crabmeat was divine!







Of course we had a plate of sashimi with 4 kinds of fish plus ika. We were told that the fish were just caught in the afternoon. Pass the nihonshuu please.






OHAYO GOZAIMASU! ASA GOHAN TABEMASHOU! We start the day with a soak in our private onsen, I stayed longer this time, alone...umaga na kasi. hehehe...
Our futons were kept by male attendants and the low table set in the room. Nagai-san returned with our wafu (traditional)breakfast. Of course kanin tsaka grilled fish yun! We also had soy milk that we kept boiling and we skimmed for yuba.

After a hearty breakfast, we were set for our Hakone tour!






We went by cable car to get to the northern side. Mt. Fuji was under cloud cover, sayang. The sakura trees were not yet in bloom and so were most of the trees which were still bare. The sight was breathless, espcially when we came to a mountainside which had hot springs!
Snow, earth and sulfur in a landscape that is soooo unearthly to me. Ikaw na ang manggaling sa Pilipinas, lahat green sa paligid di ba?





This could be a perfect scene for Pedro Penduko kalaban ang dragon at kapre! It also reminded me of Naboo and the sand dwellers.









After the cable car ride, we got on a boat to cross a big lake, one of the 5 lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji.
It was a change of scenery, more pine and cedar trees now and my hay fever is theratening to go on overdrive. Buti na lang I did not forget to take my anti-histamine.




Off the boat and up a hill, this time to a museum where I saw the Noh masks up close. This is a grand view from the museum's cafe. Mt. Fuji is still under cloud cover, we are supposed to see the peak in the center. Sayang, imagine na lang ninyo.

Kaka-takot pero at the same time ang ganda

A Noh mask - "Hannya"
"Hannya mask with its horns and sharp fangs is probably the best known of all Noh masks. The mask expresses the fury of a woman turned demon through jealousy and anger and who revenges by attacking."

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." - The Mourning Bride, by William Congreve







"Zoh-onna" - aged female

I am at the same time fascinated by and scared of Noh masks. During my 2 day get-away with my partner and a dear friend to Hakone, we visited a local museum and I could not resist taking photos of an array of Noh masks that were created by one of Japan's national artists.

"Waka-onna" - young female

It's been said that in the old days, Japanese married women blacken their teeth as a sign of beauty. They also shave their eyebrows and these traits were both sexually appealing.

Back to Tokyo

An older version of the Romance Car. So that's were the train driver sits! Or does he/she has to lie down at the controls? Paano kaya nagkasya yun?

A-MAZE-ing!

It is easy to travel around Tokyo, check out the ©Japan Rail East route map...

And that is just Japan Railways (JR); the system seamlessy merges with ©Tokyo Subway (Tokyo Metro)

The most amazing thing is that ALL TRAINS always run on time.
Got your PASMO? Let's go!

MUSIC

Felt like buying CDs than renting this time, may 1000Y off pa ako this purchase so I grabbed Arcade Fire's latest, "Neon Bible" and the Japan release of LCD Soundsystem's "Sound of Silver". I like Japan releases... may "free rice", este tracks pala, usually 3 pa!

wat da... last week umabot ng ganito ang temp. dito. freaky. sakura buds are out and ready to explode, the temp went down again this week though, it feels like winter all over again!

Kkaennip!

Pickled "sesame" (perilla or shiso, actually)leaves from Korea. A friend shared her stash with me, it was prepared by her mom. Ang sarap nito sa kalbi of course! HANIP sa SARAP!

My tuna spread has evolved.

Sarap pala pag hinaluan mo ng FENNEL. Try et, ate!

Soul food

I cooked "ginisang talong at kalabasa sa bagoong" tonight and boy, did the kitchen stank, hooooooh! Of course it was good, but you know bagoong especially the "hilaw" type when you saute it, the whole neighborhood knows what's cooking!
Luckily it is still cold here and most homes are still using heaters so I hope everyone on my floor is hermetically sealed since I had to leave my balcony doors open, yes it was friggin 6C alright but I was afraid that our rabbit-hutch of an apartment might stink!
I had to freshen up the whole place after dinner, I sprayed bleach on the kitchen tiles, sink and range and washed it off. The air became antiseptic, I could close my balcony doors now, then I lit up incense-sticks. Hayyy, the things one must do for soul food...

Don't you just love PRAVDA?

I rarely watch TV though I think I also get the same dose of junk a couch potato gets.
Take for example browsing the PRAVDA website will keep you glued and wanting for more about topics like this: "Mysterious creatures living deep under Earth’s surface came from space".
Thanks to that alien sashimi story also found in the website and was the subject of my previous blog, I think I'll go mine this wacky Russian website.
Oh and once again, according Neil Gaiman's blog, that SQUEAKY ALIEN CREATURE turned out to be a guitarfish.
Bummer.

IKIZUKURI

Photo(©PRAVDA)
I was browsing Neil Gaiman's blog and found a very interesting link that read "Russian fishermen catch squeaking alien and eat it". Hmmm, that got me thinking, how did they eat it? Being fishermen, I bet they ate it RAW, that is the only way to enjoy a fresh catch. Baka nga ala-IKIZUKURI pa yung preparation nila...
sa Japan kasi ang "ikzukuri-sashimi" eh yung tipong pumapalag pa yung isda, hiniwiwa na ito.. then the sushi master serves the the whole fish, all sliced-nicely pero yung mga parts nito like yung ULO... eh it is still GASPING for air!

My first ikizukuri experience was in Seoul... with OCTOPI... yep, in the plural! dassalassa tentakols der writhing, twisting in and out of the jumble of veggie greens, nag mistulang compost heap yung kakainin namin!

AT LEAST IT WAS NOT SQUEAKING!

may you rest in intergalactic pieces...este, peace alien!

Tipid-mode on a Friday night

I was trying to save money by just cooking dinner at home, kaya lang whenever I go to this supermarket in our town that carries a good wine and beer selection, I cannot help but BUY, BUY, BUY! This bottle caught my eye dahil nga sa label "LUZON", akala ko galing Pilipinas... oh well, you can probably guess this young wine's provenance.
It is young indeed, 2005 fresh-tasting, I would definitely recommend this reasonably -priced wine.



Managed to assemble a decent set of leftovers for my maski-pops pasta -- I have been cooking pasta my own way, eschewing the sauces we grew up with, I opt for the quick-cooking peperoncino variations or just put a dollop of pesto and presto! DINNER!

Verdict: this one got too greasy, I rarely use pesto kaya ayan.... taste-wise, mas masarap yung last Thursday, without the pesto sauce but with anchovies and salami for flava.

A Life Less Lived

ARRRGH! I already had my paws on this lovely CD box, A Life Less Lived, last weekend! Too bad, it is not something I really need right now.
Kuripot mode ang lola sa ngayon... hihintayin ko na lang bumaba yung price nito at the used CD shop.