One for the Devoted Reader

When I first came to Japan, around 10 years ago, there was a fairly healthy English book scene. In Tokyo there used to be the famous Good Day Books in Ebisu, The Blue Parrot chain in Akihabara and Takadanobaba not to mention Japanese bookstores which sold English titles and magazines such as Kinokuniya in Shinjuku. 

Ichikawa City Chuo Library

Times have changed though and as the Japanese are, arguably, culturally looking inwards more than before, the opportunities to buy English books have become less and less. In Tokyo there is only one English book store – the newly located Good Day Books in Gotanda. Tower Records in Shibuya also hold a fairly good but small choice of English books and magazines as do the equally reliable and expensive Kinokuniya. 

 

As to be expected the Funabashi and Ichikawa areas have little or no opportunities to purchase English titles although the Maruzen in nearby Tsudanuma has a healthy selection of novels, children’s books, art and photography and fashion/culture magazines. Luckily, however, both Funabashi and Ichikawa have libraries which hold yousho洋書(foreign books). 

 

Funabashi municipal library, located on the main Honcho-dori, has a small pile of non-fiction and well-known Japanese novels translated into English on the shelves. You will find work by Natsume Soseki, Yasunari Kawabata, Natsuo Kirino and many others as well as biographies of world leaders such as Bill Clinton. If you’re looking for novels from foreign authors, though, you have to ask for the yousho list from the counter and the helpful staff will give you a very lightweight binder with a few pages detailing the books they have to offer including some Philip Roth, John Updike, Agatha Christie and Bret Easton Ellis. It’s far from comprehensive but if you want to read something it’s not too bad.

 

On the other hand Ichikawa library, next to Colton Plaza, has a great English books section. Rows and rows of new releases and classic titles including crime, mystery, beat fiction and more literary works in addition to a comprehensive section of non-fiction, philosophy and even a whole area devoted to Japanese study materials and Japanese novels translated into English. It’s a veritable goldmine compared to Funabashi library. If you live in Ichikawa you can lend five books at a time and if, like me, you live in Funabashi you can still join and lend three books at once.

So it’s not the most ideal place to be a bibliophile but Funabashi and Ichikawa do cater for all the devoted readers out there and if you look well enough you’ll be sure to find something to your taste. Let us know if you know of any other places which sell English titles and we’ll add them to the list. 

市川市中央図書館 (Ichikawa City Chuo Library)

1-1-4 Onitaka, Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. 
Tel: 047-320-3333
 http://www.city.ichikawa.lg.jp/library/ (Japanese only)
 http://goo.gl/maps/nPf86 ‎ 

船橋市図書館 (Funabashi Central Library)

Honcho 4-38-28. 

Tel: 047-460-1311

http://tinyurl.com/9r9uuo8
http://goo.gl/maps/10VD3

The Unpredictability of Eating Out in Japan

Life in Japan can be fairly amusing and quite unpredictable at times and on odd occasions pretty banal events can turn into something enjoyably farcical. I have no evidence to prove it, but I'm guessing, percentage wise, events like the one I'm about to describe don't happen that much to Japanese people and are mainly reserved for the foreign community. 

I was looking for somewhere different to eat around my area, which is close to the Niike Colton Plaza mall. There are a variety of decent places at 'the Plaza' – but that's for another blog – but, no, I reckoned I could trust my instincts to find somewhere good, even if it was unfamiliar. I got on my bike and rode up to Route 283, where I found a restaurant serving Chinese Cuisine - Lui's Kitchen. The thing that attracted me to it was that the trees outside were decorated with flashing Christmas lights, which, admittedly, is not that rare here, but it definitely made the place stand out; I thought, “Hey, Christmas all year round, then”, though at that stage I didn't imagine I'd be leaving with a present.

I walked in and was greeted by the manager, who pretty much leapt forward at me, his hand outstretched. Now, this caught me out a bit as my mind had been wandering for a while and had only expected the usual courtesies. Anyway, he suddenly became very animated, coming at me with a barrage of questions and information: “Where you from? You American? How long you stay in Japan? I don't speak English. I speak Japanese, but no English. This is good chance, you come here. What you do? Where you work? What's your name? Did you see the Olympics? You have wife? You have baby?”

He continued:

“My name Jo-Shu. Call me Shu, like: shumatsu.” (weekend).

Anyway, this continued for a bit with Shu telling me that there are live music events at the restaurant on Saturdays, that he was from the south of Peking, that he used to be a pizza chef in Shimbashi, and that his hero was Bruce Lee, and that I was the first western foreigner to have visited his restaurant. Then he said, “You come next time I will give you muryō” (free stuff). “How old are you? Where you live? You like Japan? Why you come here?” All this is fine, and I really don't mind answering, but I thought I'd better order, as that was the main reason I was here. I ordered tan tan-men (spicy noodle dish) with chahan (egg fried rice), and a beer (why not?) and that was enough to give me a couple of moments to take in the surroundings.

Shu returned and continued: He then told me he was 29, that he was the manager, and that he wanted to study English - I kind of sensed where this might go (private lessons), but I told him what I did, where I worked etc. - that he played guitar, and that he used to spin pizzas when he worked at the Italian restaurant, which he demonstrated to me with a hand towel. I started, “Oh, I used to...”

Shu: “You want to stay Japan? You like music?”

Shu went away and then returned with guitar in hand. He said that he really loved to play and asked if I did. Then he started to serenade me as I ate, me complementing by bobbing my head as I slurped away at my noodles (not the easiest of motions). The strumming went on for a few minutes uninterrupted - there weren't any other customers, so I got the full complement of the performance.

 

As I was eating, Shu said: “O-Hashi ga jozu des ne?” (you are good at using chopsticks, aren't you?). I gave the standard answer that I'd been in Japan for 10 years so it was nothing special. Then Shu went off to get me some Italian pickles, which he said were free, and if I brought my wife next time there would be lots of muryō.

Then Shu asked to take my photo, which he did while I was eating, then got me up and got the chef to take a couple of snaps. To tell the truth, this was all so amusing, I wasn't bothered at all. Well, not much. When I choose to eat on my own, it tends to be a very quiet affair. This was certainly the opposite. Then a couple of other customers came in which changed the dynamic a bit. Shu went to turn up the TV, which was showing a really intense anime (Japanese animation) of the game igo (囲碁)  (ancient Chinese board game). And the background sound of this made the whole atmosphere very quirky.

I got the bill, which was a very reasonable ¥1300. Though when I asked for it, indicating I was leaving, Shu exclaimed: “Ahhh, samishi!” (I'm going to miss you). Seriously, no one loves a love-in more than me, but I really had to get on with things. When I got to the cash register, Shu handed me something. It was a small doll doing the hula. He said, “For you – muryō”. I said, “No, that's fine, honestly.” He said “No, OK, I have many here” and produced another couple from a bag behind the counter. So I duly accepted. 

What I set out for was an evening meal and what I got in return was serenaded, a new friend, compliments for my chopstick skills, treated like I was famous, and a hula doll thrown into the mix. When I got home, Tokyo TV was showing “Everything” performed by Misia with Christmas trees and snowflakes projected in the background and baubles swaying behind the teary-eyed studio guests. Am I missing something or has Christmas come early this year?

Misia: "Everything" -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHIR33pOUv0

リューズキッチン (Liu's Kitchen)

３丁目-３２−１２ Onitaka Ichikawa,  Chiba Prefecture  272-0015 047-377-5035  http://goo.gl/maps/qL2iT

Explosions in the Sky

Last weekend saw Ichikawa City's yearly “Festival of Light and Sound on a Summer's Night", which is the largest Hanabi (fireworks festival) held in the Chiba area. Situated on the banks of the Edo river, separating Tokyo and Chiba, the display draws crowds from far and wide and the from the spectacle it is easy to understand why it is so popular.

This year's show provided the crowds with an amazing range of mesmerizingly colourful explosions in all shapes and sizes. Some 12000 fireworks, ranging in price from ¥6000 to ¥50000, and paid for out of local taxes, filled the skies for over an hour and a half. All of which was accompanied by an excited commentator on a tannoy, interspersed with blasts of triumphant music, informing spectators of the order of proceedings; no rest for the senses here.

The festival attracts people of all age ranges and backgrounds – you see large groups of young guys and girls dressed in yukata and kimono (Japanese traditional dress), big family get-togethers, guys on their own with professional cameras obsessively capturing the event, and many, many couples. As the restriction of space in Tokyo can limit the opportunity to have large house parties, garden parties and barbecues etc. like you often see in the West, this event gives families and friends ample opportunity to hang out en masse. This spatial freedom certainly makes it one of the year's most relished events.

Most people bring along tarpaulin ground sheets, neatly marking their individual plot, and these cover the floor as far as you can see; even at an angle on the banks leading down to the main area – the laws of gravity at times seem not to apply here. You can get very close to the action, literally right underneath the show, and I have done this once before, but it is very hard to get a slot that close unless you have booked in advance. Anyway, the fireworks shoot so far up in the air it's unlikely that you will miss much from whatever distance you are sitting.

Along with Valentines, White Day, and Christmas, it feels like there is a fair emphasis on romance when staring up at these Japanese 'flowers of fire' (direct translation of Hanabi). There is something about sitting with the love of your life while watching this kind of show that feels just right. Whether or not it's something intrinsically beautiful about the fireworks that connects with the heart, I can't be sure, but celebrations of this kind seem to be inherently connected with the spirit of lovers in Japan.

Among the shrieks of “kawaii!” (sweet/cute) and “sugoi!” (wow/brilliant), combined with cheers and applause, it's hard not to get into the collective spirit and get carried away by the whole spectacle. At the start of each individual mini-set, and then at each set's denouement, which is a deafening boom and crackle, which certainly brings about the highest degree of crowd acknowledgement, it's not uncommon either to hear the odd “kowaii!”(scary) mixed in with the joyful exclamations. There's no doubting that this is one of the most anticipated events on the calendar and enjoyed wholeheartedly.

After the 'grand finale', which culminates in a cacophony of noises and explosions, it's time to head for the nearest station. That in itself is something to behold. There are so many people trying to board the trains, and it's so humid this time of year, it is almost worth the hour walk home. Which I decided to do this year.

Ichikawa City's "Festival of Light and Sound on a Summer's Night"
Held on first Sunday of August every year
Start: 7pm (approx)

Tel: 047-704-0057
http://www.ichikawa-hanabi.jp/

Directions: 15 minutes on foot from the South Exit of JR Ichikawa Station / about 30 minutes from the South Exit of JR Motoyawata Station
http://goo.gl/maps/vs3eT