Tokyo & Kyoto: bicycle races, a vending machine bar, and Nijo Castle

September 12, 2018
by Christina & Dan

Christina:

Upon departing Osaka, we took a train towards Tokyo and made our way to Hachioji, a suburb west of Tokyo, where we caught up with Dean and went to stay with my friend Nabila. I know Nabila from volunteering through my professional organization, and it was fun to get to spend time with her outside of a conference! It was also super nice of her to let the three of us crash at her place!

After we dropped our bags off at Nabila’s, the four of us headed out to dinner at a kaitezushi (conveyor belt sushi) place nearby. Nabila said that the Kura sushi chain was the best rated in Japan, and we certainly enjoyed it a lot. Also interesting was that they had a special conveyor belt for your touchscreen orders, and this one went super fast, zipping the contents quickly from the kitchen to its recipients. You fed your plates into a slot at the end of the table, and after every five plates the touch screen would run a video and give you a chance to win a toy, which we did once out of 25 plates. The boys also got very excited over that grilled salmon with cheese and corn-mayonnaise nigiri… smh.

The next day we slept in and while Nabila was at work we decided to go for a walk near the house. A river with a paved path ran right by Nabila’s house, so we took a stroll, indulging the boy’s vending machine fascination along the way. Yes, vending machines really are everywhere in Japan. It’s amazing.

We made our way to Toritsu Takiyama Natural Park for a hike. However, there was a big sign out front when we arrived, saying the park was closed because of suzumebachi, the giant hornet. Supposedly one sting can’t kill you, but they come in groups and the estimate is that at about 10 stings you might keel over should seek medical attention. Well, that slowed us down for all of a minute until some old Japanese dude hiked in right past the sign, and I asked if it was okay, and he said so, so good enough!

We had a nice hike around the park, which was wooded with paved paths and beautiful vistas of the surrounding area. We visited some of the shrines, and found signs warning about pit vipers (mamushi), but we encountered neither snakes nor giant wasps. Phew.

On our way back to Hachioji station we got lunch at Matsuya, a simple diner chain, where I was able to satisfy my craving for Japanese curry, and Dean got his new favorite Japanese dish, katsudon, which is a breaded fried pork cutlet with egg over rice.

Then we got on a train and made our way to witness first hand the cycling sport that had captured Dan’s imagination…. Keirin.

Dan:

After a few failed attempts at attending Keirin races, I finally found a velodrome with a schedule that matched up with our travel plans. The Tokyo Oval Keiokaku velodrome was only about 45 minutes away from Hachioji.

We arrived at the Yanokuchi train station and asked around for the pick up point for the shuttle bus to the station. It was a short ride. The stadium also has a section for horse racing, which is where we went first. After some silly pantomiming of horse riding and bicycle riding we found our way to the velodrome. The entry fee was only 50 yen ($0.5) since they make all their money off the gambling, so it’s dirt cheap entertainment.

We arrived just in time for the start of a race. They are spaced out about every half hour, so it was lucky timing. In general the crowd is mostly crusty old men. A few of them come outside to witness the race in person, but a lot of them stay inside to watch the TV monitors.

The Keiokaku velodrome was about middling quality of the tracks that I’ve visited. It’s an outdoor track that is pretty well maintained, but it’s nothing very fancy. There are plenty of food and drink vendors inside the stadium. We bought some overpriced beer and had a few old dudes take interest in us. They treated us to some really quite awful shrimp flavored processed meat tubes. It was a fun cultural experience.

To be honest, I found the races a bit boring to watch. I think it’s more fun if you are gambling. There are all sorts of bets that can be placed. I don’t ever gamble and it would have been nearly impossible to figure out the betting form, so we just watched.

The race starts off with a few laps behind a pacer. All the racers have standardized gear and wear assigned color jerseys so they are easy to identify. There is some jockeying for position during the pacer laps, but it’s mostly decided beforehand because every racer has to announce their strategy for the race.

After the pacer leaves the track, the real racing happens, with teams of riders jockeying for position and setting up the final breakaway. But it’s not quite as dynamic as the Olympic cycling races and there are tons of little rules that I don’t know at all. So I prefer the slightly modified Keirin in the Olympics for myself. Even still, I was delighted that I finally got to see the original form of the sport.

We stayed for a handful of races. The last race that we watched was the women’s keirin race. This seemed to be quite popular and drew a much larger crowd. The women have a bit more freedom in their bike selection and can have carbon fiber frames and a few other aerodynamic enhancements that the men aren’t permitted, but otherwise it’s the same race.

Overall it was a weird tourist activity and it was fun to get to see this different part of Japanese culture.

Christina:

When we got back to Hachioji from our Keirin adventure, we picked up groceries to cook for dinner, so when Nabila came home, we had a nice homemade meal together. It was really great to spend some time with Nabila, and so nice of her to have us over. Thank you so much!!!

The next day we headed into central Tokyo, where we’d gotten a nice tatami room in a guest house in the Taito neighborhood. From there we walked down to see Senso-ji in Asakusa, and I concluded that I prefer it in the evening. During the day its packed full of tourists, and at night the temple isn’t open, but it’s beautifully lit and relatively quiet.

After that we ran down to the Sumidagawa and enjoyed a nice run along the river. The water was beautiful and we got some very nice views of interesting Tokyo architecture, including Tokyo Skytree and the Asahi Beer Hall, which is shaped like an Olympic torch, but I’m sorry, it just looks like a big golden pooh.

After our run Dan and I went to Jakotsuyu in Asakusa to have a bath. This one is a simple neighborhood sento with a mix of locals and tourists. It is an onsen, with dark colored spring water. They’re split by gender, and nude, so no photos inside. It cost about 500 yen for entry, with soaps and towels available for a fee as well. Dan said their was an old man on his side with an enormous koi tattoo that extend from his back down his legs, meaning he was probably important enough of a yakuza member that the proprietors were afraid to turn him away for his tattoos… (since people with tattoos are officially not allowed in the baths, and there’s a very interesting history as to why).

We caught back up with Dean to check out a little gem of a bar called Shokuyasu Shoten that he had discovered online. It’s a vending-machine only bar, with no staff. Just a collection of booze-filled vending machines in an alcove beneath the tracks near Yurakucho station, with a few tables and enough patrons that many had to sit across the street. Some of the patrons helped us determine that the ancient looking vending machine served sake, which Dan decided to try. It was fun sitting on the curb having some drinks and watching commuters and the other “bar” patrons hanging out. The things you can do when drinking alcohol is legal in public spaces!

The next day we went to explore Akihabara, a major center for nerd culture in Tokyo populated with electronics shops, video game arcades, and maid cafes (Dan and I enjoyed @Home Cafe during our last visit to Tokyo in 2014). We paid a visit to a shop called “Super Potato” which specialized in vintage video games and systems. It’s several floors of sweet video game nerdery, including an arcade floor where you can game, smoke, and buy snacks.

Our next stop was the Tokyo Dome to buy tickets for New Japan Pro Wrestling that night. It was an expensive endeavor, so I decided to take a pass and we just got tickets for Dean and Dan. After that we got a quick lunch of cold soba at a shop nearby, and I left the boys to their wrestling adventure…

Dan:

I don’t know much about Japanese wrestling. I’m really only familiar with Ultimate Muscle (Muscle Man) since, for some weird reason, I used to have a collection of the goshapon (capsule toy) sized figures. Anyway, Dean, Christina, and I have been to WWE in DC before, and Lucha Libre in Mexico was one of my top favorite tourist activities of the trip so far, so of course I wanted to see New Japan Pro Wrestling live.

In order to get the cheap, standing room only tickets you have to show up to the Tokyo Dome on the day of the event. We showed up about 15 minutes before the ticket counter opened and there was already a huge line. Luckily we were still early enough, but only barely.

Since we got standing room tickets, we made sure to get into the building when the doors opened. Of course we didn’t actually know where the entrance was so we just had to wait until there was an obvious line of wrestling fans and we hopped into that. There were all sorts of people at the Tokyo Dome that night, but most were teen girls attending a J-pop concert… so the wrestling fans were pretty easy to pick out.

We were led up a narrow concrete stairwell which was covered in graffiti. I’m sure it was contrived grunge, but it was a good entrance atmosphere for pro wrestling. We were pointed to the standing areas which are balconies over the ring. It’s a great view if you get there early, but there was already a row of people formed, so we opted to stand at the top row of the bleachers. Not the best seats in the house, but we were in the front of the standing area so it was just as good as most of the seats in the bleachers.

Whereas Lucha Libre is definitely it’s own thing, NJPW borrows a lot of its style from US pro wrestling. A lot of the wrestlers were actually from the US and spoke zero Japanese. I found that kind of embarrassing especially when they would curse in English.

By far, the most unique aspect of the night was the crowd. During the first few matches it was surreal. Everyone was dead quiet and would basically golf clap at the end of any big move, which I found hilarious. By the end of the night people were getting amped and cheering for their favorite wrestlers and reacting to the punches (every one would cry ‘oh!’ in unison with every punch). Los Ingobernables de Japon were a crowd favorite. They are a crew led by a Japanese guy that did a stint with Lucha Libre in Mexico.

My other favorite moment of the night was when one of the wrestlers was disqualified and, in response, went and kicked out an announcer and took over as an announcer for quite a long time. The guys next to me were also watching the live broadcast on their phones and let me watch the replays and close ups of the hilarity that ensued. Supposedly there were no pictures or video allowed because the match is being broadcast, but after seeing other folks taking photos and video (not in excess) I decided to take these few photos.

The event ended without much fanfare. Everything got quiet and orderly and everyone shuffled politely out of the stadium. In terms of live wrestling, my overall impression is that it’s absolutely more interesting than WWE, where it’s almost impossible to buy worthwhile seats. WWE is great to watch on TV, but from my own experience, terrible in person. I’m still convinced that the best wrestling in the world is in Mexico. It can’t be beat.

Christina:

While Dean and Dan watched the show, I made my traditional pilgrimage to Shibuya to one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the world. When I lived in Japan over a decade ago, Starbucks’s caramel frap was my drink of choice (I hate the use of the word “basic” to describe such things, but here it’s apropos. I was 22, what do you expect?). So in homage to days gone by I ordered one and found a spot to sit on the second floor of the Starbucks that overlooks the intersection. I camped out for a bit to write, then did a little wandering around the neighborhood before getting back on the train to Taito.

Once back I got my exercise gear out, and headed to a small local park to get a ring workout in. Bentenin park was interesting because it also included a shrine, wedged right next to the playground equipment. It was late so I had the place to myself until the boys came back from wrestling, and then we all turned in for the night.

We had originally been planning a visit to Hokkaido, but unfortunately the earthquake on September 6 had seriously disrupted train service, among other things, and so instead of heading north, we headed back west to Kyoto, an iconic and historic city of many temples and shrines.

Having visited Kyoto before on several occasions, our first morning in Kyoto I decided I wanted some downtime to write and do research on tea ceremonies. So while the boys headed south to visit the sake museum, I went to the Chuo library near our accommodation. The library was well populated with patrons at the long wooden desks on the second floor, and was a quiet and picturesque place to work with all the lovely colorful books that I couldn’t read. (They also had a cool recycling program, with bins out front for various items.)

Dan:

I don’t remember how I learned about the Kyoto sake breweries, but I’m very glad we went. The Fushimi district south of town is home to several breweries with Gekkeikan being the most recognizable to me, and the one with something to visit. They run a museum which discusses the sake brewing process, the history of Gekkeikan, and the general history of the neighborhood.

In my mind Gekkeikan makes pretty terrible cheap sake. But the museum was great and now I have a much greater appreciation for the company. Obviously it’s a museum run by a commercial entity but, if I’m to believe them, they have a pretty cool history.

First off, sake brewing is a pretty complicated multistage process, which I never appreciated before. Also it wasn’t until recently (thanks to the incredible technology innovations of Gekkeikan!) that sake could be made year-round and preserved for wide distribution.

The coolest thing that I learned is that the traditional Gekkeikan bottles came with a little glass which served as a lid. So the crappy cheap Gekkeikan that you buy in the US with a lid/cap is in homage to this. That was pretty awesome I thought. Most of the facts, including a picture of their original bottle are available on their website.

At the beginning of the museum tour there was a pump where you could drink the spring water that is used to brew sake, and outside the brewery was a municipal spring water tap. I wanted to fill my water bottle, but there was a line of old people and each of them had armfuls of six liter water jugs that they were filling up. So moral of the story is, fill up your water bottle inside the museum. It’s a weird, kind of soft water.

At the end of the tour you are able to try two types of sake and a plum wine. The only sample that I really liked was the retro bottle of Gekkeikan which is supposedly the traditional sake. Also included with the tour was a complimentary bottle of their cheap sake. But it came in a special edition bottle, so I was pretty pumped on that. I love special edition stuff. All in all totally worth the entrance fee of 400 yen.

I got the distinct impression that the neighborhood is gearing up to encourage tourists to visit, but it’s not quite there yet. There was a small shop nearby with (delicious) draft sake to try, but it was really not much more than a gift shop and restaurant. It was associated with Kizakura Kappa Country. Still a great area to visit, if only for the museum, but I suspect there might be more to see and do in the near future. I think it would be in everyone’s interests.

After the brewery we stopped by the Inariyama Temple. It’s a very typical site to visit in Kyoto, featuring a path of tightly packed, bright orange tori gates. I’ve been before and it’s still one of my favorite temples in Japan. Even though it’s slammed with visitors, it has a really cool atmosphere.

Unfortunately most of the mountain was closed off due to the recent typhoon. I think several tori were damaged by the wind, so it was closed off for repair. But the most iconic segment at the bottom of the hill was still open and I was glad that Dean got to see it.

Christina:

On our second day in Kyoto, Dan and I slept in a bit while Dean went to tour Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Temple, and possibly Kyoto’s most famous edifice. After that the three of us joined back up and went to visit Nijo-jo, or Nijo Castle. Nijo-jo was the home to shogun in the Edo period and was later used as the Imperial residence. This is one castle that wasn’t destroyed and rebuilt as a museum inside, and its interiors are beautiful with all their painted paneling. Unfortunately though, it is not permitted to take photographs inside the castle, so I can’t show you all the wild tigers, cranes, cherry blossoms and snow drifts painted on the panels, but they’re lovely.

We walked from Nijo-jo to visit Nishiki market, which is a long covered pedestrian walk, filled with all kinds of foods. We bought some snacks, and I couldn’t resist the pickled daicon, which is so good, but I will warn you… don’t eat too much of it at once. The market is lovely, but also kind of crowded, so be prepared.

Near Nishiki is Pontocho, an alley filled with restaurants and small shops, where you can hope to see maiko (Geisha in training) and geiko (Kyo-kotoba for Geisha), but we arrived long before anything was open. Evidently it doesn’t get rolling until the evening, or we were just there on the wrong day. (Incidentally, we did glimpse a pair of maiko near Nishiki market, which is the first time I’ve seen them! Very excite.)

I had been hoping to have a simple tea ceremony at the Nijo-jo garden (as opposed to one of the big culture experience deals that are also common in Kyoto), but its gardens and tea house were closed due to damage from Typhoon Jebi. So when the three of us split up for a few hours after Pontocho, I had quick lunch down by the river, then headed to Shoren-in temple, only to discover I was an hour late, and that their tea room closed at 3 pm. Thus my tea quest went unfulfilled (until later… dun dun dun).

That evening was Dean’s last night in Japan, and we headed to a diner to get him one final serving of katsudon before he had to return to Tokyo the next day for his flight back to Washington, DC. It was really great to see you Dean! We’re glad that you could come and join us for an adventure! :0)