The Western Affiliation, yet the lack of eloquence in Eigo!

I keep thinking about why the Japanese rushed into adopting all things that were western. This is in full view today. Most Japanese are fascinated by everything western. As in india, there is a clamour here for protecting the culture. Again, what confounds me is that inspite of the prevelant affinity for anything american or european, this seems to have penetrated the society very less. Very few people speak english. Is the english tongue so hard to master? Considering that the Japanese language is by itself so complicated considering the multitude of Kanjis that one needs to memorize. However, i remember reading a translation by John Brennan (About the life of Mitsuyo Ohira) where there is a mention of the english language being leant in schools way back in the 80s and 90s. Why then is there a marked absence of eloquence in this subject?

Hakone - Owakudani

Owakudani nature trail was a good one. It gave a feeling that one is walking in the midst of a volcano with the steam seeping out of the rocks. It must be due to the hot springs. Not sure though. People are warned not to stay on too long as there is a concentration of toxic gases at times. It is like the earth has opened up partially here and shows itself through smoldering rocks & poisonous gases.

Another unique thing about Owakudani is the volcanic eggs. Don't go by the term "volcanic eggs". The eggs (regular ones) are boiled in the water coming from the hot springs. Not sure again. Due to some chemical reaction, the outer surface of the eggs turn black. Nothing different with the boiled egg inside. It tastes like any other boiled egg. They claim that having one such egg increases your lifespan by 7 years. Well, we get a pack of 6 for 500Y. It was selling like hot cakes..:).. Lot of people wanting to live long i guess.. or just soaking in the experience.. :)

Hakone - Amazake Chaya

I am going to be talking about what is it that i found nice about hakone. Things that are good memories.

Between Moto-hakone & Hakone Yumoto is a small restaurant - Amazake Chaya. Hakone-Tozan bus #5 stops there. We get sweet, warm sake. Nice taste. Costs around 400Y. They also give some nice looking stuff to eat. Din't venture it though. Its a nice way to end a tired day before you hop onto another Hakone-Tozan bus and head for the railway station.

Nice warm and cozy atmosphere. What i found interesting in the place is that all the tables & chairs are carved out of trees ( i know most furniture is.. but there was something different about this furniture that made the atmosphere feel one with nature)

Hakone trip

Hakone is a nice one-day trip from Tokyo.

What is attractive about Hakone?
-> 5 modes of transport in the round trip across hakone (esp ropeway & the trip across lake ashi by a pirate boat
-> Trip to an onsen
-> Owakudani
-> Trail between Hakone machi & Moto-hakone
-> Views from different locations
-> The beauty of nature

One needs to leave very early in the morning though. The 2 day pass provided by Odakyu railways is worth it. I suggest pay an extra 900Y and use the romance car. The journey is shorter by 40 mins one way. (Takes only 80 mins by romance car)

End of day, it was good memories & good snaps to refresh the memories

Kappabashi

Kappabashi is a nice place to visit for a few hours. In this dori(street) you can get everything that is needed by restaurants in Tokyo.

Niima with the chefs cap is a 5 storey building and is the entry to Kappabashi. You get items from plastic displays of food, lanterns, furniture, interior decoration, items for a kitchen (different types of cuisine), uniforms for waiters & waitresses and what not. The pic with beer in glasses is a plastic model of what is put up outside a restaurant representative of what you can expect inside. Also is a poster of a shop selling only lanterns. I saw a shop called Kitchen museum. They have kitchen implements from the past as well. There was another shop selling only knives.

We need to use the Ginza line and get down in Tawaramachi station.

Dynamic Dining @ Harumi Triton

Well.. the experimenting bug sure caught me again today.

Thanks to you Tushara.. i am turning more into you and you into me now..

Friday afternoon, weekend to recover.. :).. so thought why not experiment. Had Honoze, Tirtha & Raghavendra for company, and we went to Dynamic Dining. This is on the 3rd Floor in Harumi Triton. (There does not seem to be a concept of ground floor here.. It starts at 1st floor even if it is just parking.)

Well.. figured now that it was a Japanese restuarant.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harumi-triton.jp%2Fshopinfo.php%3Fid%3D91&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

There was this option of a buffet of salad & desserts with a choice of either of the 6 items listed as main course.

I had the option of chicken fry pieces with rice.. and a raw "sun" part of the egg on top of it. Well, have been wanting to try out this raw "sun" part of the egg with the underlying food for quite sometime as this seems to be a popular food item around here. Well, doesn't suit me. I know it now. :).. i bet the rice and chicken was good.. but mixing all of it in raw egg.. no no.. will never do it again..

Honoze & Tirtha were lucky to have fried salmon.. (brings me memories of smoked salmon.. another story.. sometime later.. ). All of us kinda forgot that Raghavendra was a vegetarian by preference, well.. he had a torrid time.. :)

As regarding the buffet.. there was some interesting stuff.. some others whose either taste or smell assaulted the senses..

Looks like processed food is a no no for me here... Raw veggies are fine.. (there was a time when even veggies was a no no.. well.. i am sure.. Tushara, my mom & in-laws would be delirious to see i am eating raw veggies.. and consider it a safe option for me here.. )

We then picked up something that looked like ice cream.. well.. it was not.. that .. nor was it yogurt.. didn't like it.. have to figure out what that was..