Shibata Castle

Seeing as it is only a few days to spring and the snow is bound to melt soon, we thought it might be nice to visit Shibata castle for a bit of an explore. Shibata town is only 20mins or so away and it has a shopping centre and fast food, so really any excuse will do to drive down for the day. And I do love Japanese castles- they are absolutely stunning and there is something beautiful about seeing them all covered in pretty while snow.

So off we go in the negative temperature, bundled up and gumboots on for a bit of an adventure. All I can say is this castle must have done very very well against invaders in the good ol' days, as it was so hard to find no doubt potential raiders got lost and ended up in Siberia. It was a good 10 min or so winding around streets and ending up back where we started, and it wasn't until I followed the signs written in Japanese, not English, did we actually get there (possible conspiracy).  Maybe it's just me- but I wouldn't have expected a giant castle with a moat in the middle of a city that hard to find.... Eventually we made it and a pretty castle it was, or at least- the outside was very pretty.

You see, it seems that the castle was closed in the winter- something we didn't really figure on and it doesn't open to the end of March when the cherry blossoms are out. It was tempting to break in and scale the walls like Mongolians... However the icy moat would have been a little bit cold, and I doubt the layer of ice would be quite thick enough for me to run across. I felt very sorry for the geese, however they did make for some nice pictures ^-^

Wacky Japanese Fact #1

Did you know that the Japanese for blue and green is the same (Ao)? I am not sure if it is a nation of colour blind people, or they never had the full box of crayola crayons- but something tells me it could get a little confusing if you had directions to go to the green house and instead ended up at the blue...



Mind you, they do have another word for green, though it isn't always used.

V-Day

Ahh Valentine’s Day- the day where squealing girls everywhere grow extra smug and speak of their bounty to all whom will hear. Restaurants become packed, overpriced chocolates fly off the shelves and it is all in the name of a cleric who died over a thousand years ago.

As many sources teach, Valentine’s Day was a pagan holiday (yes, just like Christmas and Easter) that supposedly stemmed from the ancient roman festival of Lapercalis- a fertility festival celebrated on Feb 15. Long story short, the rise of Christianity in Europe saw this holiday also adopted and changed to a day earlier when Valentine was executed for performing secret marriage ceremonies. Though, the Christians had trouble converting it to a true religious holiday and it has long since been over powered by consumerism.

But enough of the history lesson- while these squealing girls in some countries wait with baited breath to see if their admirer will out-do their friends this year, in Japan it is different…

What did I get… Nada!

No this wasn’t some sort of social faux pas made by Senior Lukington; we have just decided to do things that Japanese way while we are living in Japan. You see, Valentine’s Day is all about the girl giving gifts. Before all the feminists out there get up in arms, the guys do have an entire day to reciprocate next month, which is kind of a good thing if you are a man. After all, it does mean that you have an early reminder (in case the stores filled with chocolate and cards are not enough). And for the girls it is not such a bad thing, as the man should be spending 3 times the amount that you spent on him- $Kaching$!

The cute Japanese girls may send three different types of Valentines- My favourite is Giri Chocolate, which is obligation chocolate. It's the "I don't care about you, but cultural politeness requires me to buy a gift" option for your co-workers. There is the more romatic Honmei Chocolate (Chocolate for the one you love) and of course Tomo Chocolate (for your friends). Some girls over here take the Giri option quite far and will buy a little chocolate for every man in their office. Mind you, it would suck to be a girl in a Toyota factory at this time of year.....

So, while I patiently wait until ‘white day’ on March 14 (When I get my chocolate, nom nom nom) I will sit at home with Alfort and secretly hope all the girls in Senior Lukington’s office feel the cultural obligation to shower him with enough chocolate that he can bring home to feed his hungry wife. Nom Nom Nom...

And to all my friends out there- 幸せなバレンタインデー (Happy Valentine’s day)

J-pop

I would like to start off by warning you all that I haven't owned a radio since I sold my car in 2003, so my taste in music may be a little off. Yes I have heard songs about G-6's and people liking the way it burns- but to me it just isn't as priceless as the repetitive catchy tunes that J-pop offers.That and flying eyeballs- What more could you want? Watch the below and you'll be singing "pon pon way way" all the way home...

Fill 'er up...

Ahh Japan, land where the customer is king (and how I love it), and where most petrol stations are still ‘service stations’.

You roll up in your chosen wheels (we have the lovely work borrowed ‘Nissan sunny'. - reminiscent of the old Datsun 180B), wind down the window to an chorus of “iraashaimase” (I like the translate as “welcome to our shop”) and ask them to fill it  (Or in Luke’s case, flash some notes out the window). It is a nice feeling that out in the freezing night this welcome enthusiastically echoes out and someone is running (sometimes many) up to your window to see how best to serve you.

I would like to point out another interesting difference before I continue- Petrol stations don’t sell anything besides gas related products. No meat pies for the midnight booze run, or family size block of chocolate and redbull for that road trip. It’s just petrol (mind you, there are millions of Conbeni’s (convenient stores) around the place for all your snacky needs).

Anyway, they fill up your car, take your money (it is a cash based society) all the while you are sitting in your lovely heated car. Sometimes they politely ask you not to smoke (as they don’t really have the whole health and safety, so most people would light up a fag at a petrol station) they then finish and thank you (by chorus once again) and run behind your car as they escort you to the road and bow and thank you as you drive off your toasty warm vehicle…

However, Luke felt a little bit bad about being waited on, especially as fuel doesn’t cost any extra and they don’t want a tip. So we tried one of the less popular “self” stations….

Sounds easy, right? Nope, it is Japan… 

So next time we pulled up to a bowser that were all automated, which means that you need to pay for the amount of fuel you wish to purchase before the fuel will come out. Unfortunately, because it can be noisy outside, the machine where you buy the fuel from yells the instructions at you.

So there we were, standing in the blistering cold, pressing random buttons to make the fuel come out. While I do know the button for cash (or sort of) it kept asking for us a card, and no matter how long I stood there, the machine kept yelling at me for my card (and going through all the buttons on the machine just in case I was pressing the wrong on).  

 5 mins later, the machine and I were getting into a slight domestic (rather loudly) while I shouted back that I have no card and to just give me some dang petrol.

Eventually, we worked out it was asking for a ‘point’ card (Like flybuys) and finally managed to get some petrol for our thirsty beast- it was quite the saga for some fuel.

So- if I have to choose between sitting in my toasty warm car and handing cash out the window, or causing a public scene with a machine- I know what I’ll be doing in the future….