Asahi Brewery

On Thursday we had a morning tour of the Asahi Brewery.  Asahi was founded in 1889, and currently has a 40% share of the Japanese beer market.  Our tour started with a brief introduction and a short film which described Asahi's quality control measures.  

They have beer tasters who will taste each batch at the end of the day-- there are about 40 of these tasters, and only about 6 will work on any given day (they have other duties at the facility), consuming an average of 2 beers before leaving for home.  I was assured that they all either walk, bike or ride the subway home.  My favorite line from the film:  "Beer is a gift from nature.""

After the film we walked through a display of hops then saw a demonstration of the brewing process, concluding at the canning/bottling/packaging area.  Prior to bottling, the beer is kept in giant beer silos (I'm sure there's another name for them) that are 7 meters in diameter, 23 meters high, and hold 500 kiloliters.  The bottling and canning operation was impressive: over 600 bottles per minute are filled; cans can be filled and topped at a rate of 1500 cans per minute. 

After the tour, we got treated to a beer trolley and cold cuts in the executive dining room.  Nothing like a couple of pints before 11am!

Lunch was "Nouvelle Chinoise" at a fancy restaurant owned by a Rotarian.  Ostrich meat, tasty!  Then a 2-minute stroll through a private sculpture museum adjacent to the restaurant-- some great Nakashima furniture, and sculptures by Zadkine, Rodin, Giacometti and some others.

We continued on to Arima Onsen Resort but we were late, so we didn't get to try the hot springs.  Instead we sat through the last half of an incense guessing game and a long explanation of it.  I was very relieved to have a 20-minute break to relax outside.

Dinner was great, a multi-course kaiseki dinner with the Ibaraki East Rotary Club.  I couldn't keep up with all the dishes, they just kept coming (along with sake and beer).  I told one of the servers that Kathleen doesn't eat meat, so they brought her this giant sea creature, still alive.  It moved a bit when it was touched.  Kathleen wasn't inclined to eat it, and really felt bad after the server put it in the hot pot and cooked it alive!  

We sat with a fun group though, especially the guy next to us who had a little rubber stamp with his face on it.  He wrote our names out in kanji:  Kathleen's name means "arrow frost nowhere bush birdhouse" and mine means "temple picture stone red dance stay."

Haiku #9

i've had too much, but...
beer is a gift from nature
rude not to accept

Kyoto

On Wednesday we visited Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan for nearly 1,100 years, from 794 until 1868. With a population of 1.5 million people, Kyoto is Japan's 5th largest city. 

Most people make the visit to see the numerous shrines and temples that dot the city. Kyoto is situated in a sloping basin between two rivers (the Katsura and the Kamo), surrounded by a horseshoe of mountains. 

Our visit was to Ten-Ryu-Ji, a Zen Buddhist temple located in the Arashiyama district. The buildings were quite beautiful, but it was the gardens that were most enjoyable. 

For lunch we joined the Arashiyama Benkau Rotary Club for a lunch of kaiseki (traditional Japanese food served in multiple courses). It was an amazing lunch, and everyone left in a good mood after generous quantities of warm sake, cold sake, and beer. 

 

The last stop of the day was at To-Ei Uzu-masa "movie town," a film and television set (and tourist destination) populated with ersatz buildings, ninjas and samurai. 

I was hassled by a ninja and took him out with a roundhouse kick. 

His samurai friends tried to come to his rescue, but I dispatched them with a lethal combination of "duck mouth karate."

Haiku #9

ninja cannot win

roundhouse kick to abdomen

duck mouth style is best

Tuesday morning was a vocational day.  Breakfast consisted of cold cuts, lettuce slaw with mayonnaise, a large piece of toast, yogurt, orange slices, hot corn chowder in a mug, juice and coffee.  My guides that day were Julie (aka Akiko, translator) and Gojo-san (dentist).  Within the first 5 minutes it came to light that Gojo-san is a personal friend of Tadao Ando.  He said he would  have been happy to set up a meeting, but Ando is currently out of the country.   

Our schedule was to include a morning visit to Osaka Castle, followed by a trip to Tennoji Shrine.  Gojo-san suggested that we might be able to go see some of Ando’s architecture, except that the shrine was on our schedule.  I told him we have already seen many shrines, and asked if we could go to Kobe instead.  This normally is the kind of impromptu request that would fluster a Japanese host with schedule in hand, but Gojo-san and Julie thought it sounded like fun and quickly agreed.  We met Kasey at Osaka Castle (she concurred with the deviation from our itinerary) and took a quick tour.  

I tried a samurai helmet on for fun.  Beware the duckmouth shogun...

We walked back through the park to the car, passing numerous groups enjoying hanami .   

Our next destination was a kushi katsu restaurant—we ordered two big plates of tonkatsu (fried breaded pork), and two servings of shabu shabu (thin sliced beef cooked at the table).  Several beers later, we were ready to proceed to Kobe.

Our first stop was at a residential project designed by Ando.  It is now an antique shop, and though it was closed we were able to finagle a tour (it helped that Gojo-san bought an antique to take home).  It was an interesting juxtaposition, seeing Ando’s stark architecture filled with quite traditional furniture.

Next we went to the Hyogo Prefecture Museum.  It was designed by Ando after the Kobe earthquake to help revitalize the area (Ando worked pro bono).  The museum’s exterior is clad in panels that at first glance look like concrete, but are actually galvanized steel.

On our way back into Osaka, Gojo-san dropped me off at Koshien Stadium to meet Shoji-san, who had invited me to the Hanshin Tigers opening home game.  He produced a yellow Tigers jersey and hat for me to wear, and we entered the stadium.  I sat next to Shoji-san senior, who has season tickets.   

Shoji-san junior bought me some tako yaki and yakitori (grilled octopus and chicken), while Shoji-san senior ordered beers from a mini-keg toting pink-clad Asahi beer girl, and we toasted the start of the season.  At first I thought the beer girls were kind of cute, but they walked in front of me every 5 minutes, which increased to literally every minute during the last two innings.  

It was a great game, and a very interesting cultural experience.  The fans in the bleachers are incredibly loud, and don’t stop yelling/cheering in unison the entire game.  The Japanese version of the seventh inning stretch involves letting fly with tens of thousands of screaming balloons—quite a sight (and sound).  I actually took a video of the game-winning home run on my Japanese rental phone.  The video quality is pretty lousy, but it gives a good idea of the atmosphere (can't figure out how to post it though).  

An excellent day all-around…

Haiku #8   

seventh inning stretch

balloons stream into the night 

baseball in japan

On Monday we went to the Japan World Expo Park, which was created for the 1970 World Expo.  The centerpiece of the park is Taiyo no To or "The Tower of the Sun,"a large statue by Taro Okamoto.  The tower is 70 meters in height; its diameter is 20 meters and the base; its wingspan is 25 meters.   

The tower has three faces: two in front and one in back. The golden disk face at the top of the statue, 11 meters in diameter, represents the future.  

The face between the two arms represents the present, and a black face on the rear of the tower is the sun of the past. The jagged red markings on the front of the tower represent lightning.

After walking around the tower we visited the National Folk Museum, which had some interesting exhibits.  I was most interested in the masks.  Here are a few that I photographed...

After lunch we went to the Instant Noodle Museum commemorating the invention of the Cup 'O Noodle.  It was a fascinating way to spend fifteen minutes.  We were each given approximately 30 seconds to decorate our own cup and design our own flavors.  Kasey's expression captures the excitement...

Noodle cups designed, it was off to visit Kyu-An-Ji Temple.  A beautiful place, and we were guided by Hakubun-sensei, the head priest.

Haiku #7

on a verdant pond

petals fall like lucky coins

sinking slowly down

Walking Around

tired tonight... here's some stuff to look at.

 

 

These plastic water bottles are supposed to keep cats away.

Tadao Ando and baseball to come soon...

Sunday was my last day with the Hamatani family.  I had a bit of free time before lunch and decided to go for a stroll.  The park was in full hanami swing, with hundreds of families in the park to grill, picnic and look at the cherry blossoms. 

Beautiful spring weather!  There was a group of older ladies practicing hula, other groups doing tai chi, kids playing soccer...  I decided I would have my own little hanami, so I stopped by 7-11 to get a snack.  

I wasn't in the mood to get Crunky...  

And Cream Collon didn't seem quite right...  

So I opted for a taste of my youth, with Aquarius and Baby Ramen.  Good choice!

After my hanami, I headed back to the Hamatani house for lunch before leaving for my next host family's house.  I spent a few nice minutes with Hamatani-san in his rooftop garden.  He now has a "Texas section" where he planted the bluebonnet seeds I brought!   

We arrived at the Minagawa home mid-afternoon, and after I settled into my room, Jun-san took me for a walk in Mino City Park.  

I was expecting an urban park, but it was a 3-km forested mountain trail that ended at a waterfall.  On the way up, we passed a shrine dedicated to a samurai warrior.  There was a small statue with the characters "Ishi no ue ni mo san nen" inscribed on a rock.  I started laughing when Jun-san read the kanji to me-- it's what my old boss at Mitsubishi told me when I explained that I was hoping for more of a challenge in my job.  The literal translation is "three years on a rock," a suggestion that patience is rewarded.  I left Mitsubishi after three years...  

Anyway, the mountain stroll was quite peaceful until... MONKEY ATTACK!  At dusk, groups of wild monkeys wreak havoc on weekend strollers, molesting them for scraps of food.  The family right in front of us had their bag snatched from their hands and watched helplessly as the monkeys tore it to shreds...

Fortunately the park rangers showed up to kick some ass, in their little truck going 7mph, playing "Pachelbel's Canon" to scare the monkeys away...

Haiku #6?

maple leafs shimmer
springtime mist from waterfall
monkeys stole my lunch