Category: Japan

late night supper

whbeebe
Japanese ramen shop, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

One rare night I got back to the hotel early enough (meaning before the shops closed down for the night) for a quick trip to a local ramen shop less than a block from the hotel. It was a larger shop than the one I ate at back in Sapporo a year ago, but it was still crowded. And the place was well known enough that there was always a small queue of people at the front door waiting to be seated and served. Tables were empty only briefly.

I know that each region in Japan is known for a distinctive ramen recipe, especially Sapporo, but to be honest, when I ate there that night, I thought it was as good as Sapporo. Not that my taste buds have that kind of memory, but I remember how good it was back that last December, and this was, to me, just as good.

The photo shows a small local business (i.e. not a commercial franchise), with two cooks (one making noodles and the other the soup) and a waitress (who I believe may have also been the manager and possibly the owner). I liked the shop not only because of the good food, but because it was filled with humanity. It was the first time since arriving that I didn’t feel out of place.

merry christmas 2014

whbeebe

This is the Christmas tree in the center of The Hotel Metropolitan in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. It stretches a good two stories above the lobby floor. It’s covered in an immense number of glass decorations and lights. At any given moment, from the early morning until late in the evening, someone was having their photo taken in front of the tree. It was that popular. I had to wait a few moments for this relatively free view.

Shinto and Buddhism are the two primary Japanese religions. This is not to say that there are no Christian adherents in Japan. Japan was first exposed to Christianity, through Roman Catholicism, in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately for the Franciscans who were performing missionary work in western Japan at the time, they wound up being banned and persecuted, starting in the turn of the seventeenth century. Christians would remain persecuted until 1873, when Protestants would begin missionary work anew. The celebration of Christmas itself didn’t become popular with the general non-Christian population like it is today until after World War II.

Today the Japanese seem to celebrate Christmas with the same fervor we do in the U.S. There are decorations and lights everywhere, and Christmas music (carols and more secular songs) is constantly playing in the background, in English. Yet, there are some things missing from Christmas in Japan. Yet there are no creches, no manger scenes. Nothing that overtly calls out to the Christian elements of Christmas. The celebration seems far more secular at least to a westerner such as myself.

This is not a criticism of the Japanese. I see way too much secularism in our Christmas celebrations. Way to much emphasis on Black Friday’s and Cyber Mondays. Being a photographer and a traveler I get constantly bombarded with emails advertising all sorts of special holiday sales on camera and electronics gear and travel destinations. I can easily ignore all that because I’m already too broke to buy anything else after about mid-November, and I’ve had about all the travel I can handle by the time I come home from Japan. I’m all tapped out. And yet the exhortation to “Buy! Buy! Buy!” keeps coming at me from all sides. I manage to tune all that out because I’m broke – and too numb to pay attention anymore.

This Christmas eve is the quiet before the hectic Christmas day. Tomorrow I’m going to spend time with both grown daughters, one for lunch and the other for dinner. We’re going to be even more busy on Christmas day than we were when the girls were little and living at home.

To me that’s the real gift this time of year, being with our girls and their respective boy friends, sharing what everyone is doing with their lives. I guess I managed not to make too may mistakes as a dad; they still want to see me and spend time with me. Time with my girls is the most precious gift of all, especially at Christmas.