National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part VI (故宮)

Last of the National Palace Museum (故宮) photos and the conclusion of our [too] short Taipei trip :(

Here are some really intricate carvings on a variety of materials like jade, stone, ivory, bone, wood, etc. Click to zoom.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part V (故宮)

Still more photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮)! We're almost through, folks. Almost.

These are of metal-crafts in a religious context, in this case, Buddhism.

Top row: Mahakala ("beyond time/death," Daheitian or Daikokuten, 大黑天), the ultimate form of Shiva and consort of Kali. 

Bottom row: Virudhaka Lokapala, ("he who causes to grow," Zeng Zhang Tianwang or Zocho-ten, 增長天王), one of the Four Heavenly Kings, namely the Heavenly King of the South.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part IV (故宮)

Even more photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮), this time of the ceramic and calligraphy collections. Click to zoom.

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part III (故宮)

More photos from the National Palace Museum (故宮). These are from the jade collection.

TL;DR: jades were tools first before they became jewelries. From a practical stand point, it makes sense. We use diamonds as tools now too. Other than in a social setting blinging others into blindness, diamonds are set into gold cutting and carving machines, for example. They are rocks, after all.
 

National Palace Museum, Taipei, Part II (故宮)

After snacking through brunch at Yongkang Street, hubby and I thought to go back to the National Palace Museum. It was a rainy day when a typhoon was slamming into Taiwan, so spending the day indoor at a museum was preferable to trekking outside in the wind and rain. Plus when we were there last with A-san, my sister, and my cousin Q. and her friend, we rushed through the whole thing because a bigger group means people get bored faster. Now with just the two of us, we could take our time and see the whole place in leisure.

Turned out the typhoon forced J. to cancel her hiking plans at Maokong, so she ended up tagging along with us also. After checking with the National Palace Museum website and saw no warning for closure, the three of us headed over by train then bus. Holy cow it rained cats and dogs, and the wind was so strong it blew over my umbrella a few times.

Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats Exhibition

Got a pair of free tickets for Murakami Takashi: The 500 Arhats Exhibition in the Mori Art Museum, so we went on a weekend back in mid December. When we got there, we were greatly surprised to learn all cameras and cam-corders were A-OK! Pretty cool, I thought! I took a ton of pictures, and since the artist is ok with sharing his arts with the world, I didn't watermark my photos of the arts either. Feel free to take and share!

National Pottery Market, Ueno Park, Ueno, Tokyo (Picture heavy!)

Enormous post ahead! Clickable photos = zoom.

On one fine September Saturday at the end of Silver Week, hubby and I decided to go see the Monet Exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum right by Ueno Park. 

There was also a Gundam-related exhibition there at Ueno Park, although not the same Gundam Exhibition at the Roppongi Mori Tower. This one focuses specifically on the mechanical designs (character design for robots) of Okawara Kunio. Having been all Gundam-ed out the night before, we passed ^.^

And because it was the end of Silver Week, the whole area was pretty much packed in all directions.

The Art of Gundam Exhibition (Picture heavy!), Roppongi, Tokyo

So...I suspect this post might be boring if you're not a Gundam fan. Hubby and I aren't fans either, but we heard great things about this Art of Gundam Exhibition at the Mori Art Museum on the 53rd floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, and having free tickets helped. And so we went to see it on a Friday night towards the end of Silver Week.

Toshiba Science Museum, Kawasaki, Kanagawa

For a Sunday afternoon, we met up with a friend who's a semi-conducting engineer for Toshiba. Her name is H. and she's sort of my personal hero. Why? Think about how hard it is for a woman engineer in the US of A, let alone Japan. Despite being a first world society, with all the technological advances Japan still has a very conservative culture that encourages women to quit their job in favor of child-bearing and rearing, or at least in favor of their husband's career. I'm generalizing here, of course, and there are many folks in Japan who are open-minded and are forward-thinking.

Still, to be an engineer for a multi-national corporation with a household name, H's career is a huge achievement. I attribute a lot of this success to H. herself: she's the sort of gal who would travel by herself to see the world, language and culture barriers be damned! Last year she lived it up in Macedonia. Next month she's going to Belgrade, Serbia. You go, girlfriend!

On Sunday afternoon H. took us to Toshiba Science Museum, which is free and open to the public all 7 days of the week. The place was crawling with kids but it was actually quite fun and fascinating for all of us.

Click for bigger pictures!

Touring Alcatraz, San Francisco (Picture Heavy!)

During our time in San Francisco, I've actually toured Alcatraz Island twice, once with two colleagues who were there during an international conference our company held, and again with hubby and my sister when she visited us in May 2014. And since then I couldn't bring myself to edit the photos or post them. Alcatraz was a rather haunting place for me, you see (and many people insist it's haunted too!). The tour itself was quite interesting, and at the same time really sad. So I just couldn't look at these pictures for a long time. But alas Alcatraz is a piece of American history, and so here it is.


***Disclaimer: this post and images there within may be disturbing to some, proceed at your own risk.***

The tour is operated under the name Alcatraz Cruises and you board one of their ferries at Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf. There at Pier 33, outside the lineup gate is a sizable model of the island, with descriptions which I've zoomed so you can read.

Barracks/Apartments.

National Palace Museum, Taipei (故宮)

The day after our day trip to Beitou, it rained again, so me, my sister, hubby, and his Japanese colleague A-san all agree this calls for indoor activity that is the National Palace Museum (故宮). My sister has already been to this museum once with when she visited Taipei a few years ago with a big tour group. However, their tour schedule was tight and so she pretty much rushed through just the lower two floors and didn't get to see the top floor.

The Last Hoorah, Yokohama, Kanagawa (Picture Heavy!)

The Friday before we made our big move back to the US of A, our friends N., M., and K. took off from work to spend a day with us in Yokohama. Despite the melting heat and humidity, we walked all around town and had a blast. There were a few spots we wanted to visit, one of which was the Cup Noodles Museum, where you can create your own cup noodles to bring home as souvenir. However, when we got there at mid day, all the tickets were already sold out. It is August after all, the peak travel/vacation/tourist season in Japan. If you ever wanted to travel to Japan, avoid the entire month of August (and perhaps April, when the sakura blooms). Not only the heat and humidity would be at their highest, you will also be battling huge crowds and lines in addition to paying double or triple for everything (transportation, lodging, etc.). 

Anyway, so we went ahead and had lunch first at Keawjal. Yes, again. Hey, they had beer, and K. runs on beer so that was that. After lunch we turned to the next big attraction in town - the Yokohama 2012 Dinosaur Exhibition featuring specimens (replicas) from the best dinosaur museum in the country, the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. 

Nagoya City Science Museum, Nagoya, Aichi

Hubby loves astronomy so he was looking forward to visiting the Nagoya City Science Museum for its world largest solar-powered planetarium. However, the Sunday we went was also the first weekend of summer break for Japanese school children (their school year starts April 1 and they only get about 6 weeks of summer vacation at most), and needless to say tickets to the planetarium were sold out early on in the morning. 

Trains on display outside of the museum.

Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo

If you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki or of any Studio Ghibli's production, you should definitely visit the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. For one, Miyazaki himself designed the building, and there you can let your inner kid out as it is built like an easy going maze ^.^ That, and the official tag line is "Let's lose our way together."

Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, Tokyo

On another sunny weekend, hubby and I reminisced on the MET and opted to visit the Tokyo National Museum instead. I guess the point here to be open minded, but we weren't, and having frequented the MET we had certain expectations in our heads was sorely disappointed upon seeing the Tokyo National Museum. Let's just say the MET just blows this place out of the water. I mean, it wasn't fair for us to compare the two places to begin with, so if you love the MET, it's best you visit other museums with no expectations or you will be sorely disappointed too.

The main building

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, Yokohama, Kanagawa

For one of our stops, hubby and I took my sister and brother to the Ramen Museum at Shin-Yokohama for lunch. Hubby and I have been there before, so this is our second visit. And to be honest, the "museum" part is a bit of a, umm, scam, because it's really just some illustrations, some framed items and descriptions along the wall with the rest being a gift shop.

The real attraction, in my humble opinion, is the basement floor, where 9 ramen shops famous from 9 different regions of Japan gather. The whole basement is built to look like Japan during the 60's, however every now and then they will sound air raid sirens as if it was during WWII, so the whole thing is a bit...out of placed and, erh, kind of messed up.

And then on certain days they'll have demonstration of some kind, most of them loud and obnoxious targeted at kids, or adult children :P

I didn't take any photos of the basement, but my sister did, so I'm posting her photos for you :P For more pictures of the basement of the museum where all the ramen shops are, visit this website!

Anyway, on our first visit hubby and I could only stomach 2 shops, and we had ramens fromKomurasaki (Kumamoto Prefecture) and Harukiya (Tokyo). I didn't take any pictures that time so we'll have to make do with stock photos from the museum's official website.

The Komurasaki ramen was a heartier ramen in a rich miso-based broth, and you can choose the regular version or a stronger version with more black sesame seasoning. Hubby picked this stronger version and it was fantastic! It almost didn't taste like Japanese ramen and had more of a "Chinese" flavor thanks to the bean sprouts and black sesame seasoning in the broth.

Komurasaki Ramen from Kumamoto

The Harukiya ramen was unfortunately bland and very, very, salty. Yes, yes, I know it's a given all ramen are salty, but this one was especially salty! It was as though we were eating a block of salt and not ramen! So this shop got a thumb down from the both of us.

Harukiya Ramen from Tokyo

***Pictures from Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum's Official Website.

This time around, we also tried 2 different shops, Ryushanhai (Yamagata Prefecture) and Sakamoto (Kasaoka City, Okayama Prefecture).

Ryushanhai ramen was also delicious, though I still like Komurasaki ramen better ;P The Ryushanhai ramen was also heartier with a miso-based broth. The red dollop is the spicy miso that is supposed to be mixed into broth, and the whole thing has a sweet tangy taste instead of just pure savoriness. There was tons and tons of stir-fried cabbage topping which is a rarity, as ramen usually has little to none vegetable toppings. The pork topping was very tender and succulent, over all a very satisfying bowl of ramen, if you would excuse the tiny bit of grease in it.

Ryushanhai Ramen from Yamagata

Sakamoto was okay, not so bad but not great either. It was a soy-sauce based ramen with green vegetable topping and lots of pork. The pork is not your usual ramen pork topping but more along the lines of thịt kho (Vietnamese caramelized pork), so it was an odd ramen dish for me. Caramelized pork is a savory dish to eat with rice, so to pair it with a brothy noodle dish is a bit strange.

Sakamoto Ramen from Kasaoka

Anyway, hubby and I will definitely go back to the museum to try the rest of the other ramen shops!

A Saturday at John Lennon Museum, Saitama, Saitama, and Senso-ji, Asakusa, Tokyo (Picture Heavy!)

Following the serendipitous meeting of N. at Yodobashi Yokohama a few weeks ago, hubby and I made a new friend. I must say we were damn lucky to have met her!

N. is a huge fan of anything British, and somehow our conversation drifted into music and, alas, the Beatles. She told us of a certain John Lennon Museum inside the Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, and after a decade's run Yoko Ono is doing away with it, not wanting it to be attached to certain locations and be forgotten over the years. I sympathize. Turns out the museum is closing permanently this coming Thursday, September 30, and N. urged us to go check it out before it's gone forever. I like the Beatles, not as much as some folks out there but I grew up listening to them as my parents and aunts and uncles were all fans. So I proposed for us all to go together, and although N. had already been to the place twice, she agreed in a heartbeat.

A view of the Saitama Super Arena from the connecting train station. You can see the train tracks below!

At the train station, N. introduced us to her BFF M., who had lived in Brooklyn for 3 years during college and speaks fluent English. The fascinating thing is that given all her time in NYC, M. actually speaks with a Scottish accent, thanks to her Scottish boyfriend K. (silly me gushed to her how cool her "English" accent was upon our meeting - doh! My bad, sorry M. :X). Let's just say N., M. and K. turn out to be some of the nicest and substantial people hubby and I have ever met! Seriously, you don't just run into people like that, and meeting them make the both of us miss our friends in Jersey so dearly.

The John Lennon Museum as seen from the outside.

If you're wondering why there's a guy in black suit holding a speaker phone, it was because there happened to be a Metallica concert at the stadium inside the Saitama Super Arena. So the guy is actually directing the folks who are line up for the concert, joining the line that is probably about a freakin' mile long!!! I had no idea Metallica is that popular in Japan...

The museum lobby where tickets are sold.

The museum was done tastefully enough, I thought. It was a bit of a maze, but by the time the exit comes around, I had learned more about John Lennon, and somewhat about Yoko Ono, than I ever anticipated. You know, most museum sort of just show you the "cool stuff." This museum, however, tells all of John's ups and downs and you really get to know the guy and where his inspirations sprang, from his childhood trauma to boy-band fame to love struck fool to peace activist to emotionally struggling artist to loving house husband and devoted father to, finally, being the musician he always wanted to be. Just when he thought he had figured things out and, perhaps, found his inner peace, some stupid dumbass went and took the life out of him. Such is the life of John Lennon. Tragic, truly.

No, these are not the 2 friends N. introduced us to, though it would have been superbly awesome to meet John Lennon and Yoko Ono ^.^ I was glad we visited the museum before it closed.

After the museum visit, N. and M. took us to Senso-ji in Asakusa, a fine temple and popular tourist destination in Tokyo. It was only a 40 minutes train ride away.

Me, N. and M. in front of the Senso-ji's outer gate, the Thunder Gate - Kaminarimon.

Close up of the gigantic lantern hanging from the gate.

Underneath the lantern is a really cool wooden dragon carving!

Beyond the Kaminarimon is Nakamise-dori, a street lined with souvenirs and snack shops on both sides.

Approaching Nakamise-dori, we immediately detected a sweet and warm fragrant, and looking around we saw people flocking to a snack shop. Of course we joined the crowd and bought ourselves some ningyo yaki, a traditional Japanese dessert that consists of a pancake shell with sweet bean paste filling. Ningyo yaki comes in many shapes and are handmade with molded pans, though many shops nowadays also employ a machine that stamps these out at a faster rate.

Ningyo yaki machine at one shop.

Ningyo yaki made and wrapped by said machine.

Ningyo yaki by hand and molded pans at a different shop.

As you can see, the ningyo yaki made by hand with molded pans is not as perfectly shaped as the machine stamped ones, but in all fairness the handmade ones from this particular shop actually tasted a lot better. The pancake shell were softer and fluffier whereas the machine stamped ones were a bit more chewy.

Fresh senbei, it was still hot when I bought it. Mine had shichimi sprinkled on it.

Nure senbei, which is soft and moist and tasted like...the senbei before it was grilled/baked LOL! Is this Japan's answer to cookie dough? :P

The ubiquitous dango. I love mochi, and I love dango, but I'm not so keen on the sweet/savory soy sauce-mirin syrup it's dipped in. I've tried many dangos at different places but still can't get used to the taste of that syrup. And usually I love the sweet-salty mix too. So odd!

A very thin, paper like cracker with a thin spread of umeboshi paste in the middle.

Made it through Nakamise-dori, we reached Senso-ji's inner gate, the Treasure-House Gate -Hozomon. It is much larger than the outer Thunder Gate but features a similarly large red lantern.

Beyond the Treasure-House Gate looking straight ahead is Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to Kannon (Guan Yin).

Beyond the Treasure-House Gate looking left is a 5-story pagoda.

In the front court yard of Senso-ji, there are omikuji (fortune telling) stalls, where in one donates a 100yen coin then proceeds to shake a metal hexagonal box vigorously until a random bamboo strips falls out of the tiny hole underneath the box. Labeled on the bamboo strip is a number, and matching up this number among one of the wooden drawers, the seeker will find his/her printed fortune stored inside.

My luck of the draw? "Regular fortune," (kichi, 吉) was what the leaflet says in English. Hubby was worse, he got "Bad fortune." We left both of our leaflets behind, tying it into a knot on the wire rack where everyone left their so-so/bad fortunes behind. I tied mine next to his, hoping my "regular" will at least pull his "bad" up a bit ^.^ Our friends N. got "Medium fortune" and M. was even luckier with "Super fortune." M. ended up taking her leaflet, i.e. her luck, with her.

Then we got in line to come right up to the temple to pay our respect. The main hall was closed, of course, but there was a box metal box where you can throw in a coin and bow your head to pray.

We hung around some more afterwards until it got dark. When we left, the shops at Nakamise-dori were all closed although the lights were still on and bright. We didn't have time to go to the Asakusa Shrine, but we did walk around until settling into dinner at an open front dining bar on a street lined with one dining bar after another.

After dinner, N. introduced us to yet another one of her closed friends, C. and we all decided to go grab some ice cream at a nearby Baskin Robbins. And then the funniest thing happened! Hubby and K. passed on the sweets, so it was just us 4 ladies eating ice cream in front of the shop. Then an older uncle entered the shop with his wife, and moments later he stuck his head out of Baskin Robbins' door and motioned for the 2 guys to come in with him. Hubby and K. weren't sure what was happening, but they were game anyway and came inside the store as told. Turned out the old uncle wanted to buy them both ice cream LOL! Politely, hubby and K. refused but the uncle was in great mood (...or drunk) and was insistent about buying them some ice cream. In the end, hubby and K. gave in and indulged themselves with the smallest kid's cone on the menu. I guess that means my "Regular fortune" must have somewhat helped hubby's bad luck ^.^ What hilarious, though heartwarming, experience!