yoga rally

"Gochisosama Deshita"

2010-11-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

My time in Japan is drawing to a close and this blog post has been a long time coming. Throughout my experience here, teaching the yoga, seeing the sights, learning the language, the standout adventure for me has been eating the food!

Gochisosama Deshita is a phrase used at the end of a meal to thank the person who provided (cooked or paid for) the meal. It literally means "it was a feast" or "I've been spoiled." Yes it was, and yes I have.

The following is my expression of gratitude for the divine feast Japan has provided for me over the past 12 weeks. I've attached photos where possible but let's be honest, I was too busy eating. It may be shocking to some that what you are about to see has been a yoga teacher's diet for a short time. It's true, I eat meat, drink coffee, and otherwise indulge in what I consider to be one of the great pleasures in life - beautiful food. Everything in moderation. While travelling I view food as the gateway to understanding the daily lives, ritual reverence, tradition and spirit of a culture. Itadakimasu! I gratefully receive.

RICE:
Gohan is so important to the Japanese diet that breakfast, lunch, and dinner are called asagohan, hirugohan, and bangohan, literally meaning morning, noon, and evening rice. I am in love with the texture and various flavors of Japanese rice. Short grain rice is sticky so it holds together to form sushi or the rice cakes below. These little rice cakes come in all sorts of flavors and/or fillings and are readily available at any supermarket or convenience store.

SUSHI:
Sushi, sushi, and more sushi. I've had great sushi and extraordinary sushi. No photos of the latter and it's just a well. How could a photo possibly capture the subtle flavors and smooth textures of the fresh-sea-salty-delicate-bright gems of fish that graced my palate? Besides, it seemed quite inappropriate to whip out my camera and start shooting away when a highly trained chef was busy meticulously hand crafting a masterpiece before my eyes.

I became fast friends with kaiten-zushi, the world famous sushi-go-round. It's fun, relatively inexpensive, and relieves the pressure of trying to order unfamiliar food, in a foreign language, from an illegible menu. The video below was taken at Maguro Bito in Asakusa.

NOODLES:
I have always been a big fan noodles and Japan is noodle heaven. Soba, ramen, udon, it's all good. I've become hooked on udon, a thick wheat-flour noodle. There is one restaurant in my neighborhood that crafts the most beautiful, chewy sanuki udon, a particularly stiff variety served hot or cold. I never caught the name of the place in English, but there is a man there who speaks English. He kindly coached me through the menu on each visit (there were many). Here is a photo of the udon and the restaurant's elegant logo from their website:

Hands down, best noodles of my life were found at Suzuran, and tiny 14 seat soba shop in Shibuya.

Miso-Kakuni Tsukesoba: Cold noodles, slow roasted pork belly, miso broth.

As an added bonus, Suzuran serves up the best Gyoza ever!

GYOZA:

Like noodles, they come in all shapes and sizes:

Twice I visited Gyoza Stadium, a strange little theme park style food alley within the even stranger Namco Namja Town. Various styles of gyoza from all over Japan have been gathered together for sampling under one roof.

Alex vs. Gyoza!

As a side note, Namja Town is also home to Ice Cream City. Unfortunately, the ice cream sampled here was far from tasty. We had such high hopes for deep sea water and charcoal, but alas, perhaps we should have sampled the octopus.

EGGS:
Tamago are another staple of the Japanese diet, and they sure know how to cook an egg here. I've had excellent egg salad, omeletes, quiche, and hard boiled eggs. You can buy a single packaged hard boiled egg at a convenience store, and they are perfectly soft in the middle. You can also buy little plastic cases to insure that your eggs travel safely...

DEPACHIKA:

The depachika, a mecca for Japanese food culture, can be found in most department store basements. I spent many a wide eyed afternoon wandering the isles of these temples of deliciousness. Every sort of food popular in Japan is presented with great reverence. Bento boxes, seafood, rice, noodles, dumplings, salads, fruit, artisan breads, fine cheeses, wine, cakes, cookies, macaroons, chocolates, the list (and the sales floor) goes on and on... This is where you can find the infamous $120 mellon, but also a reasonable deal on a fantastic meal to go.

Some sort of vegetable jelly loaf - scary and wonderful.

A couple of food displays on the street:

Flowers or cake? Mostly cake.

CONVINIENCE STORES:
Shortened to combini, the Japanese convenience store is a sight to behold! Photos from my local 7-Eleven:

Impressive variety of prepared foods...

The prepared foods are quite nice when transported to a civilized dish. This shrimp salad over noodles can be enjoyed for ¥298, about $3.50. Not bad for lunch...

bread and sandwiches...

packaged hot dog, yikes...

hot doughy buns...

odds and ends to be added to soups (forgot what this is called)...

and gummi candy galore!

CAPPUCCINO:

I love a good cappuccino, and the Japanese love a cute picture in the foam. Kawaii.

PLASTIC FOOD MODELS:

Many restaurants in Japan use plastic models of food displayed in large glass cases on the street to advertise their menus. The giant plastic gyoza below were featured as a lunch special in Ginza. The real ones were delicious. Have I mentioned I'm addicted to gyoza?

I visited an area near Asakusa that is saturated with restaurant supply shops. A few of the shops craft and sell plastic food - it's big business.

The final touch - dripping candle wax to make it glisten.

Plastic beer.

WORLD CUISINE:

Nearly every type of world cuisine is available in Tokyo. I've found good Italian (very popular here), Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, French, Thai, Indonesian, Argentine, Spanish, Greek, German, Irish and English pubs, American, even Mexican.

My second weekend here, the students in the yoga training organized a dinner at an Italian place right by the studio. The vibe in the restaurant reminded me so much of New York. It was a lovely night out to get to know the students in the training, and everybody opened up!

While my friend Dawn was visiting we stumbled upon the Tokyo equivalent to Le Pain Quotidien. Everything about the place was Le Pain, spon on. The menu here has it's own unique spin though, themed around beans of all varieties: Coffee, edamame, azuki bean paste, etc.

For desert we ordered an odd but excellent dish consisting of a sweet rice ball covered in an edamame puree and an edamame ball with edamame sauce. Color and flavor, delicious!

SWEET SEND-OFF:

During this final week in Japan, I celebrated my birthday. Alex had gone home the weekend before (btw, more from his visit coming soon), so my friend Ayu took me out. We had dinner at a place called Jam Café, owned by the family of one of our yoga students. It is a beautiful art space/café with great food, warm and welcoming, perfect for a relaxed birthday.

Tokyo TT: Practice Teaching

2010-10-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

I love this video of my students practice teaching! They are amazing.

Urdhva D. x 3

2010-10-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

The students in my training are crazy about documenting their experiences with photos, video, and audio recordings. I finally collected a few samples to share. I've been itching to get my hands on some videos of my demos with the Japanese translation. As you can probably imagine (and as you fellow yoga teachers know) viewing video of one's own yoga demos can be an excruciatingly humbling experience. However, the insight it brings is worth a few cringes...

I've learned to pace my demos differently. When I first began the training, I found myself holding positions for too long while waiting for translation. I have learned to say less in the pose, and sometimes even demo a pose twice to highlight different things each time. A picture is certainly worth a thousand words - especially because the language is universal.

The following videos are from the day we workshopped Urdhva Dhanurasana. Thanks Aya for the seamless translation, and Ayu for the videos! Now, time to learn Japanese...

The sequence ;)

Design Delights in Roppongi

2010-10-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon today exploring the art galleries and museums of Roppongi. Upon emerging from the subway, I was greeted by the famous spider sculpture at Roppongi Hills.

Stopped by the National Art Center for an exhibition on shadows which included a few of my favorite photographers. Viewing these works felt a little like home, as I spend much of my time in New York surrounded by similar images.

The exhibition included one of my favorite Kertész photographs, Martinique:

Also on display were works by Lee Friedlander, Edward Weston, Robert Frank, and a beautiful (though later) print of Atget's St. Cloud:

I learned that the word for shadow in Japanese is also used to describe the reflection on a object on a body of water.

A final standout was Jiro Takamatsu's painting, Shadow, 1977. A floor to ceiling half cylinder of canvas with shadows of people that felt strikingly real:

It was a lovely day for wandering outdoors. The architecture and gardens provided a perfect juxtaposition of shapes and textures.

Looking Up! Roppongi Hills

Tokyo Midtown

Toto showroom -

Shower heads beyond comprehension and bath tubs outside!

View from Tokyo Midtown

21_21 Design Sight

A collaboration between architect Ando Tadao and fashion designer Issey Miyake.

Shibuya Crossing

2010-10-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

Navajo, Japan Style

2010-10-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

My stay in Japan began on September 2nd. The early fall season has seen the tale end of an intense heat wave -- 75° and sunny still today. Just weeks ago, nobody could bare even a glance in the direction of a wool sweater. Despite the lasting warmth, the new fall and winter fashions have arrived.

I was beginning to believe this Navajo thing was some obscure Japanese fascination, but my research has proven it to be an epidemic: see for yourself at stylecaster.com. New York, are you drowning in a sea of turquoise bangles and moccasins?

I've yet to see many actually wearing this stuff, but the shops are full of it. And again, I'm haunted by deer -- perhaps it's an extension of the Navajo trend, maybe the deer element is a Japan specific bonus.

One of the first popular words I learned from my students was "kawaii." It's pronounced like Hawaii, and means cute. I was warned to be careful of the pronunciation because a well intended complement could be misunderstood as "kowai," the word for scary. I have yet to decide which category this trend falls under.

Whatever it is, it's a lot of look. Enjoy!

Navajo trend aside, Tokyo is home to some of the best styled mannequins I've seen.

The Navajo trend isn't entirely represented here,

but one shop jumped on board with a teepee crafted from flannel shirts and denim.

The new look in action!

And it's not just the ladies having all the fun:

Kyoto and beyond...

2010-10-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a break from the yoga training and a visit from a dear friend from New York. We travelled to Kyoto and Miyajima! Here are a few highlights from our excursion.

Robes provided by our Kyoto hotel - one of the many perks of booking a Japanese style room.

Back wall of the bakery where we had breakfast.

Ahhh, Kinkaku-ji, the famous golden temple. An overused image on Kyoto travel sites, but it's so damn photogenic I had to include a shot. Besides, we rode our bikes all the way across town, got lost a bit on the way there and back... I worked hard for this photo.

A lovely stretch of bike path. Wonderful to ride a bike on this glorious day!

Photo by Dawn ;)

Curry with red rice, and an peculiar but delicious seaweed dish.

Much needed sustenance for two hungry cyclists.

I became obsessed with moss and tree roots.

This shaded little path led us into a stunning forest of bamboo...

Later that night, out looking for a bar...

We stumbled upon the most amazing photo booths!

The results.

From Kyoto we took the train to Hiroshima.

The world glides by quickly outside the Shinkansen window...

Arrival by ferry to the island of Miyajima.

World's largest rice scoop. Dawn for scale (she is tall).

Miyajima is famous for its rice scoops.

Another local delight, grilled oysters.

Little cakes shaped like maple leaves. Every shop seemed to have one of these machines.

Film, deer, chopsticks anyone?

Anywhere you go on Miyajima, you find deer. They are ridiculously tame, fearless.

Honestly, a little creepy at times...

Elaborate photo op for tour groups, complete with risers, banner, and deer wranglers.

Unexpected coffee shop, tucked away in a back alley.

View from our Miyajima ryokan.

Asakusa

2010-09-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

I arrived at dusk to take in this Tokyo tourist spot with a definite theme park feel. In the later hours of the day as shops were beginning to close and the lights beginning to glow, it had an eerie vibe reminiscent of the film Spirited Away. Food stalls and gift shops line the approach to Sensō-ji, an ancient Buddhist temple.

Banana Guard

2010-09-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

Bananas travel safely in Japan,

as do eggs, in expressive enclosures!

Another shrine...

2010-09-16T02:41:00.000-07:00

Found this one is in my neighborhood park. Seems quite mysterious - will have to investigate further...

Meiji-jingu

2010-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Shinto shrine in the heart of Tokyo. With its giant cypress torii gates, the approach is breathtaking.

Prayers left by visitors.

More from my hood, Hamacho

2010-09-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Old and New

Small shrine tucked between apartment buildings.

Where the bikes hang out.

Vending machines galore!

Opposites!

2010-09-08T20:56:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest gifts travel has to offer is its ability to flip our beliefs upside down and inside out. What we believe to be true in our little pocket of the world might be something else entirely next door.

If all that we know to be true arises from exposure to our immediate surroundings, we develop deep rooted belief patterns that stay with us until subsequent experiences prove them wrong. Or, as travel teaches, not wrong but opposite, and absolutely correct. The world is full of beautiful and necessary opposites.

Check out this video from Derek Sivers...

It's true, the address system here is something else. When I arrived in Tokyo, I was fortunate to have two guides from the yoga studio where I'm teaching. They are both from Japan and live in Tokyo. With the help of printed maps, they coached the taxi driver through a maze of tiny one way streets to find my apartment. It was not an easy task. I think you will see why from these shots of the streets (more like alleys) in my neighborhood:

Clean streets.

Priorities here are much like New York: Beer, Pasta, Wine. Italian food is apparently all the rage in Tokyo right now. I've seen several pizza shops too.

Not a trick of the lens. This van is as narrow as it looks.

With the touch of a button...

2010-09-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Unassuming white box on my apartment wall. Door buzzer? Yes, and more!

See the big round button in the upper right hand corner? The one that looks like a good candidate for an on/off switch to my door buzzer's video screen? As I soon found out, this button is to be pressed in case of emergency! Day one in Japan, with the touch of a button I managed to call the police.

Flashing red lights across the monitor, siren sounds, a friendly recording of a woman's voice in Japanese, and the prompt arrival of two officers. My first taste of Japanese politeness was when the officers asked to come in, removed their boots at the door, and explained to me in English what all of the buttons mean. (Arigatou gozaimasu!) Good thing I didn't press the skinny horizontal button centered under the monitor. This button, I learned, alerts the entire building of a fire. The two men kindly reset the wall panel and my doorbell which had been glowing red.

My initial panic and embarrassment was smoothed over by the officers' gracious care. Upon leaving, perhaps in an effort to make me feel better, they seemed somehow more embarrassed than I.

All fun and games (if you can read the buttons). I fell asleep that night with a sense of security, dreaming of automated wonders that surely await...