Going home
September 28, 2009
I’m off to Vancouver today for some two-week R&R!
Getting an international driving permit in Osaka
September 25, 2009
I couldn’t find anything on Google about getting an international drivers license in Japan. All the websites I saw were about getting one before coming to Japan. So, I’ll give some general information about what to do. First, I’m in Osaka so I’ll be referring to the Kadoma Driver’s License Test Center near Furukawabashi Station on the Keihan line.
What you need to bring
- Your passport
- Your Japanese drivers license
- A photograph of yourself taken within the last 6 months. It must show the top third of your body, you must be facing straight forward, and you can’t be wearing a hat. Also, they were pretty strict on dimensions: it has to be at least 5x4cm. I couldn’t use the pictures I brought because they were 3mm too short. Just use the machine in the Kadoma Driver’s License Test Center – you don’t even have to cut the photos out. 700 yen for two photos.
- a blue or black pen (to save time)
- 2,650 yen
Note: if you have another international driving permit that’s still valid, bring it along or else they can’t give you a new one. This will save you a trip.
What to do
Once you arrive at the Test Center, head towards counter #6. You want to pick up the application form for the “Kokusai Unten Menkyou Shou”. Ask around. The form is in Japanese and I didn’t think to bring one home so study up on your kanji or bring a j-friend. Fill in the form at the counter.
Before submitting the form, go back to the front of the center to pay. The 2,650 yen gives you stamps that you place on the form to prove that you paid.
Now, go back to counter #6 and give them the form, your passport, your drivers license, and your photo. They’ll give you a slip of paper with the current time and ask you to write your name in the box at the bottom. Thank the poor, overworked staff and come back in 30 minutes. When you come back, give that slip of paper back and they’ll have your international driving permit ready along with a useful piece of paper about which countries it’s valid in and a helpful reminder that you must bring your Japanese drivers licence with you.
Map
More Louvre
September 22, 2009
Taking advantage of Silver Week, a five-day long weekend that hasn’t happened in a long time, we hit yet another art museum today. This is my third artsy place this month. Today we went to the National Museum of Art, Osaka, located next to the science museum in Nakanoshima.
The line was a breezy 20 minutes, compared to the 55 minute wait at the Kyoto exhibit. We did encounter an Osaka baba, an old lady hailing from Osaka known for her impatience and line-budging-in skills. Her skills were impeccable. Unfortunately I have not been blessed with the ability to punch old ladies in the face. Yet.
The theme of this Louvre exhibit was, “Children from the Louvre collections” and there were pieces from Egypt, Rome, Greece, and a few Middle Eastern countries as well. There were paintings as well as statues and other gadgets and gizmos. I think the piece with the most impact was the child mummy in the sarcophagus.
Alongside the Louvre exhibit was a very interesting and strange Po-po Nyang-nyang exhibit by Miwa Yanagi. She took a couple dozen models and took pictures of them “in which female models dress up as the person they would ideally like to become in 50 years”. The pictures were quite surreal but I thought they were an interesting take on modern society and what we think of beauty and tradition.
The strangest of all were these four giant pictures of a women with her breasts baring and legs showing. In each picture, she had different body parts: old woman breasts, fat woman legs, and the combinations you can create with it. I’m not really sure what the message was but it sure was strange to be standing in front of a picture more than two times my height of a women with giantic breasts flopping about. You can see this picture at the Miwa Yanagi Po-po Nyangnyang exhibit website. It’s too creepy to download and paste here.
Louvre, Kyoto, and Dinner on the Porch
September 21, 2009
The Woman and I had a very rare weekday off together last week and we decided to spend the day out. It’s been awhile since our last date.
Louvre Exhibit
I mentioned in a previous entry that there was a Louvre Museum exhibit at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. While neither of us are big art buffs, it was something to do.
Although it was a Tuesday afternoon, the place was packed. We had to wait in a huge line outside of the museum for about an hour. To pass the time I decided to just make fun of random people. Seeing people with purple hair in Japan is not the rarest of things but seeing two of them at the same location is! Typically, only old women with no fashion sense dye their hair blue or purple and so it was that one old woman had purple hair and then a tall, older salaryman-type dude had purple hair. He also had a much younger girlfriend. I’m sure she loves him because he’s a family guy or he’s filled with love and passion.
Also, I was a blind old man lining up for the museum. This struck me as weird. I didn’t quite understand how one who is visually impaired might enjoy the museum. As it turns out, they didn’t even spring for the audio guide. I saw a younger women dictate the signs beside each painting to him. Weeyod.
The exhibit was quite interesting. There were a lot of Vermeer paintings. He’s one of the more interesting artists I know (and I know very few).
Around Kyoto
It was still quite early and we spent some time walking around Heian Jingu, Kamogawa around Sanjo and Shijo, and a quick stroll through Gion.
Dinner on the Porch
It was getting late by the time we finished walking and enjoying the sights and the weather. We both had never had dinner on the terraces beside Kamogawa, so, what the hell.
We walked through looking at the different menus at each restaurant and decided on a place that serves traditional Kyoto cuisine. The food was great even though the portions were quite tiny. The view was nice and the weather cooperated.
On the terrace, you have to sit on floor cushions and eat off a low table. My legs fell asleep almost immediately and I had to shift around quite often. The coincidence of the night – I saw my kung fu si hings Patrick, Pascal, and si je Mari walking along Kamogawa from the terrace. Pascal’s shining head gave him away.
In the end we paid about 10,000 yen for dinner – rather pricey. There was a 1,500 yen terrace charge per person. Not cheap!
Real sushi
September 18, 2009
We recently celebrated our nine-year anniversary. It’s hard to believe that I’ve known The Woman for a third of my life! To celebrate, we went to a very nice sushi restaurant in our neighborhood because I have never been to a traditional sushi joint before. I’ve been to plenty of revolving sushi places and a couple of “normal” sushi restaurants but I’ve always wanted to try a really traditional place.
For one thing, prices were not listed in the restaurant. This was a great sign! This meant the prices changed depending on season and fish stocks. I take this as a sign that the chef needs to carefully choose his stock.
Another thing, the restaurant was tiny. It had two small tatami rooms with kotatsu-like tables and a counter that could seat 6. We were the only ones there so we got counter seats, front row and center, right in front of the chef.
We decided to go for “o-makase” style ordering. Basically, you let the chef decide what to serve you. Literally, “o-makase” means “I entrust you”. Of course, there is some conflict of interest – I figured the chef would go for the most expensive items to maximize his income. Surprisingly he did not. He chose a lot of items that were in season, some expensive, some not so much. My favorites of the night included the matsutake mushroom sushi, the super-flaky unagi, the hamo which tasted so fluffly, and of course the tuna.
The maguro, the darker red cut of the blue-eyed tuna, tasted as soft and delicious as the fine cuts of tuna at lesser restaurants. It was fantastic. I was very curious – if the cheaper cut here was better than the expensive cuts at other restaurants, what about the expensive cut here? I had to try it.
We ordered the jou toro, the “top” cut of fatty tuna. It is much lighter in color and kind of resembles the soft fat around a nice steak. I was not disappointed. Placing the piece of toro in my mouth and chewing softly, I felt the oils just spread and the flavors were overwhelmed my tastebuds. It practically melted on my tongue. I immediately thought about wa-gyuu, or Japanese beef (like the famed Kobe beef, the Saga beef, and Matsuzaka beef) – it was a very similar texture; both tuna and Japanese beef melted on my tongue.
In the end we paid about 13,000 yen. It was totally worth it. I loved the experience and can’t wait to go back there, but probably not for a little while. $130 for fish is a luxury I can’t afford too regularly. I highly recommend this for any prospective tourists though!
Jen Kwok – Date An Asian
September 14, 2009
I offer my full support for this great cause.
Hyogo Art Museum
September 11, 2009
I had a rare Friday off so I made my way to see the Visual Deception exhibit. I had never been to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art before and it turned out to be a bit of a trip from my place. I’m glad I went because the museum is really cool and reminds me of the Dream Stage on Awaji Island.
The Visual Deception exhibit was fairly interesting. Most of the pieces were paintings made to resemble things in real life. I think what impressed me the most were the paintings made to look like something fastened to wood. The wood was painted very realistically. The Arcimboldo painting of the man made from vegetables was the center piece and probably the most deceptive of all. There were several pieces of art that can be viewed from different angles and you see different images at each angle.
There was a new permanent exhibit called Shadows. It was rather strange. First, it was the only exhibit where you can touch the art pieces. Some very friendly staff greeted you at the entrance and explained that you need to take off rings and watches, check your bags, and even wipe your hands clean before entering. Basically the room had several statues painted black with an LED light hanging above. This created some very interesting visual effects. I didn’t really touch anything.
One nice feature at the museum is the E-mail corner. The “E” in E-mail stood for the Japanese kanji for paintings. I’d write the kanji but WordPress has a tendency to screw it up later anyway. But anyway, you can email someone from some laptops set up with MS Outlook and attach different jpegs of paintings found in the museum. You may have guessed that these pictures I’ve slapped on this entry are the ones I emailed myself.
I spent about two hours in the musem going through each exhibit carefully. The area around the museum was worth walking around too. It’s close to a disaster research center that looked interesting. There are a couple of big giant shopping areas: a Sports Authority, Yamada Denki, a movie theater, and similar fare.
The Visual Deception exhibit runs until November 3rd. To get there, take the Special Rapid express train from Osaka station to Ashiya. Get off and take the local train to Nada (five stops away). Admission to the Visual Deception exhibit was 1300 yen, there’s a discount at the museum right now for the regular collections. I paid 1450 for everything to get in.
Exhibitions
September 09, 2009
Some interesting art exhibitions are in town and I’m looking forward to absorbing some creative goodness. Anyone interested?
The Louvre Museum Exhibition: Master Paintings of 17th Century Europe
“In European painting history, the 17th century was known as the ’Golden Age.’ To introduce the various aspects of the ’Golden Age’, the exhibition is divided into three chapters, 1. ’The Golden Age’ and its Dark Territories, 2. Travel and ’The Scientific Revolution,’ and 3. ’The Century of Saints; the Successors to the Ancients?’ 71 treasures from the Louvre including Vermeer’s ’The Lacemaker,’ Rembrandt’s ’Self-portrait,’ Poussin’s ’The Finding of Moses,’ and La Tour’s ’Joseph the Carpenter’ among others, will be exhibited.”
“Visual Deception” Damashi-E
Not really sure what this exhibit’s about but the painting used in the ad is one of those vegetable arrangements that looks very much like a person. This one seems interesting.
Annual asphalt-breaking vegetable story
September 01, 2009
Gutsy cucumber grows through asphalt road
FUNABASHI, Chiba — A Japanese cucumber shoot growing on the side of an asphalt road here is gaining popularity as “Dokonjo Kyuri” (cucumber with guts). [full article]
I swear there’s a story in Japan every year about a vegetable that goes against all odds and grows in a street by breaking through asphalt. Last year was a daikon radish I believe.
You’d think that this story would be located in a local or “Oddly Enough” section of a newspaper or website but this was found at the top of the Mainichi Daily News website in the “National News” section. This just proves my point that the Japanese media is retarded.
