My stomach was growling for breakfast, then something truly great happen. At 7:30, flipping though channels, Kimba the White Lion was on TV. I was ecstatic!! No need to buy the DVDs, stream online, just right there on TV. Kimba titled Jungle Emperor in Japan was the first anime in color to be broadcast in Japan from 1965 - 1967. Kimba was created by highly revered manga artist, Osamu Tezuka, whose closest parallel in the US would be Walt Disney. For an anime history buff like myself, this was gold.
I postponed breakfast for the next half hour out of respect for the God of Manga. Kimba was one of the early anime series that was localized and dubbed into English and for broadcast in America thanks to NBC in 1965. Here is the original Japanese opening the way I saw it.
Now it was time for breakfast. I got on the elevator and headed to the lobby, not sure what to expect.
For this first breakfast I stuck with familiar foods like scrambled eggs, sausage, bread, and coffee. I will start on the exotic soon. It is best to stick with foods you know and transition gradually to something different so you don't get sick. The breakfast was so good and I never had a bad meal at the hotel or any of the restaurants in Japan. It was set up as a buffet.
Following breakfast with my trusty Canon EOS Rebel T3i by my side, I headed for Utsunomiya Station.
For this day I wanted to see Cherry Blossoms and I could just catch them at the end of the season. I got to the station and quickly made my way to the shinkansen for Oyama Station.
At Oyama Station I changed to the Ryomo Line bound for Tomita Station. Just sitting on the train and looking out the windows caused me to reflect that rural Tochigi is beautiful, with large rice paddies, comfy homes where you are not right up on your neighbor, and a general feeling of serene. I even saw Palm trees.
In fact, if I had a home in Japan, I would want one in the rural community because you have acres of land between houses and you can have grass, that is sadly missing in homes in the major cities. If you want the urban life, you are not that far away from Tokyo and you don't have to endure the everyday pressures of city life.
I arrived at Tomita Station and it is a wonderful small station that is hard to get lost in. Walking out I saw this sign for today's destination, Ashikaga Flower Park.
Now I am not a flower guy or a flower expect but I do like outdoor photography and walking. It is a short walk from the station to Flower Park with plenty of signs pointing you in the right direction.
I arrived at this beautiful entrance and took some photos.
Here are a few more close to the entrance.
I bought my ticket and went inside to check it out. There were Chinese tourists everywhere who were sometimes noisy so I went a different route then their tour group.
Ashikaga is a nice park to relax with classical music playing everywhere. I finally got to see a Cherry blossom.
Watching the tiny petals fall to the ground reminded me of this haiku.
A fallen blossom
Returning to the bough, I thought –
But no, a butterfly.
Returning to the bough, I thought –
But no, a butterfly.
Arakida Moritake (1473-1549)
Here are a few more views that I thought were beautiful.
I took so many pictures and they are all gorgeous. For a complete look of all my pictures at Ashikaga Flower Park, please go to my photo album here.
After all that flower viewing it was time for lunch. I ordered some ramen and drank some ice water. The ramen was really good with a broth to savor.
After lunch, I took a brief look around and then walked to the exit, saying goodbye to Flower Park. It is a good day trip.
Arriving back at Tomita, I entered the station and wondered how I was going to get to the platform on the other side, so I just followed the people in front of me. I climbed the stairs on an old crosswalk and walked over the rail lines. After a couple of minutes, I was sitting in a chair, waiting for the train, and not caring what time it arrived. Looking at the crosswalk and taking in how tiny Tomita Station is caused me to feel that it is a quaint station.
Now that the cultured trip was finished it was time to take in the modern. I headed back the same way and got back to Utsunomiya, Then I took a short bus ride to Bell Mall. Growing up with 80's mall culture, I had to see it. It was interesting to see all the building that are on the other side of the station, to see the places I can't just walk to.
Most Japanese malls I have visited are in tall building with multi[le floors with different merchandise per floor that resembled tall office buildings. The Bell Mall is designed like a Western mall with less floors and longer buildings that make it look like any given American mall. However, once you step inside everything is different. Thanks to the horrible curse of MP3s, American malls have lost Record Bar, Musicland, Camelot, and all the music stores. Not so in Japan and thankfully not inside the Bell Mall. I was so happy to see HMV music and rushed over where I was assaulted by annoying cutesy idol music. Oh well, you can't have everything. AKB48 and terrible idol singers are really causing the death of the Japanese music industry as talented musicians are being ignored for the latest trend. I have never been a fan of mainstream artists and prefer the alternative and indies groups who have the guts to experiment and do something different.
HMV had a whole section devoted to Kpop and I quickly spotted this that I was interested in.
The anime section with soundtracks, DVDs, and beautiful Blu-rays. After browsing through that section, I walked over to check out the Jpop. The Japanese have such beautifully packaged CDs and after buying one, I never want to open it. I did find the latest Capsule CD, who remind me of Daft Punk.
Proudly on display was what I really wanted, The Blue Hearts greatest hits. This punk band had a mega hit with Linda, Linda and that song became a karaoke staple still to this day.
Leaving HMV I wandered around looking at all the Japanese candies and sweets that are hard to find back home. So many creative Kit Kat flavors and Green Tea Oreo minis. I did buy a bag of Oreos and they are so good.
Also walking around I had to stop for a quick photo of this.
Being a life long Godzilla and kaiju fan, I was in ecstasy to find Toho.
I headed back inside to check out that other crucial aspect of 80's mall culture that has stupidly perished back home, video game arcades. If you are lucky enough to find any machines left, chances are they are early 80's titles and nothing new or innovative.
So I was thrill to see this place and to step inside, almost like a trip back to 80's America.
In Japanese arcades you can still find gorgeously designed and manufactured cabinets that you won't be able to play just sitting at home with your console. Here are some of the interesting ones that I saw.
Here is a unique game that I spotted called Sailor Zombie that I walked up to and saw a snarling werewolf on the screen. That is always a good sign. So for horror/cult movie fans and if you have just had enough idol singers, you will have a blast shooting AKB48 members who return as zombies. Good times.
Also this 3D horror game looked fun.
Pirates!!
Here are more cool stuff.
If you can't get enough dinosaur action this Summer with Jurassic World coming soon, then you need to play this.
A couple of more. I know there are some Miku fans out there reading this.
After spending time at the arcade, I returned to the bus stop to head back. On the way back, this shy school girl just suddenly began speaking English and she was really good. I had worked as an English teacher in Toyonaka City in Osaka so I am used to hearing bad English. This girl had a natural flow to her English and I understood every word, with no trace of an accent. So we chatted all the way back. That was nice.
For dinner I was craving tonkatsu aka fried pork so I found a neat restaurant inside Utsunomiya Station. Normally when I order tonkatsu it comes with the special sauce already on it or in a separate
container. This was different. At the table I found something that was black and cigar shaped. The server tried to explain how to do it. You get black sesame seeds in a bowl with other stuff and the idea is to grind it. I wasn't sure how to do this so I watched the couple at the table next to mine.
Then I had my big gaijin moment. The server tried hard to explain the next step to me and I just didn't get it, so she left and another server came and she got frustrated and left.
Some old guys near me started yelling instructions. A third serve arrived and she opened the lid where the sauce was and dipped out the sauce and put it in with the freshly ground sesame. I felt dumb at this point but I did learn how to do it. It helps to watch someone do it first.
Ok, I have to admit that this was the best tonkatsu I've ever had and the best sauce, once you learn the right way.
So overall Day 2 was fun and more wonderful stories await in Day 3.
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