A couple weeks in Shanghai

A few days ago Ryan and I arrived in Shanghai, which sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River and is the second largest city in China, at a staggering 25.6 million people. Shanghai was a major player in foreign trade in silk, tea, and opium until about 1949, when Mao Zedong took over, and in the last two decades it has quickly grown back into a major hub of world business. Apparently in the mid-1990's as the city was being revitalized, Shanghai had one quarter of the world's high-rise cranes! British and French influences are throughout the city and it has a more Western feel than Beijing, where we were a few days ago.

For two weeks Ryan and I are volunteering at an organization called the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), and it's a nice chance for us to get back into a non-travel routine and actually chill and cook for a change...and hopefully be a little productive. We're staying in their office apartment and there are sweeping views of the city all around us...not bad for 2 weeks!

Lost in translation - part 1

We've been in Asia for about a month now, and unlike South America where the language similarities to English can help you get by, there's no figuring it out when you see things written in Japanese, Korean or Chinese. So we are thankful that our friends in Asia often go out of their way to display signs in English in addition to the native language. Having said that, sometimes their English language efforts fall comically short. Here are a few of our favorites...

Quite ambitious for a business selling walnut cakes

 

Japanese candy


From the bathroom in the back of a bus

Just so far off on this one...

Got to love international gum

Showers are just sooooo yummy!

A taste of Korea

A few weeks ago, a buddy from college got married in South Korea, and seeing that we were in Japan, we went up for a week to celebrate with him and his family and friends. The wedding was in Gangneung, a beach town on the Northeast side of the country. After the wedding, we headed South to Busan for a few days before catching a ferry back to Japan. During our week in Korea we got to try all sorts of new food---most of it insanely spicy. If there's one thing we learned from our week in South Korea it's that they love to eat - tons...and the spicier, the better. They also love to drink whiskey, and have a funny custom where after you take a shot, you pour the remaining drops on your head!

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Congratulations to Brian and Jung Mi!

The wedding reception lunch--there were so many plates on the table we had to start stacking them! (left) ~~ A spicy tofu breakfast (and the tofu was made right outside the restaurant) (right)

Korean-style Shabu-Shabu

Korean-style Okonomiyaki (left) ~~ the spiciest soup ever - seriously, EVER! (right)

Korean BBQ--Yum!

An energy drink that people in South Korea swear by.

More photos of our week in South Korea can be found HERE.

Osaka

Baseball - Japanese style

We couldn't visit Japan without catching a ballgame, so we went to the Tokyo Dome the other day to see the Yomiuri Giants (Tokyo) play the Hanshin Tigers (Osaka area).

This is historically the biggest rivalry in the Japanese baseball league, which people here like to compare to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry in the U.S., with the Giants being compared to the Yankees, and the Tigers to the Red Sox. I don't buy the comparison though - the Japanese Giants and Tigers fans are way cooler than Yankees and Red Sox fans, who we all know can be quite obnoxious and annoying at times (as an O's fan, I couldn't help myself!).

It was great getting a chance to observe the ballgame experience in Japan. While the actual rules of the game in Japan are nearly identical to the U.S. (one difference is that a tie game during the regular season game doesn't go beyond 12 innings - and the game ends as an official tie), it was cool seeing the little cultural differences on the field and in the stands.

-We didn't see any argued or disputed calls. Maybe the umps happened to call a perfect game that night? I doubt it.
-Didn't hear the crowd didn't boo once.
-There were no bullpens. I guess the relief pitchers warm-up behind the scenes, and they don't sit separately from the other players during the game.
-About half the stadium rooted for the Giants and half for the Tigers, and the Giants and Tigers sections where separate from each other. When we bought tickets, we were asked if we wanted to sit with Giants or Tigers fans.
-The fans sang and chanted the entire game. It sounded more like a soccer match.
-The aisle vendors were all women and served only drinks, including beer on tap (the women walk up and down the aisles with mini kegs on their backs - definitely tough work).
-At the end of the game, both teams lined-up and bowed to the crowd.
-No floppy hats or bobble heads - plastic fans were the promotional giveaway for this game.
-There were cheerleaders.
-No seventh inning stretch.

As for the game, it was a pitchers duel through the first 6 innings, and by the eighth the Tigers were up 2-1. In the bottom of the eight the Giants tied the game with a solo HR, and then the Giants won it with a walk-off HR in the bottom of the ninth. Despite what you may have heard otherwise, the Japanese are down with high-fives!

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Vendor serving beer on tap.






















Cheerleaders












Postgame on-field interview

Fun-ky, Fun-ky

There's one thing Ryan and I learned at FujiRock...you can never be TOO colorful here. Japanese hippies and concert-go'ers wear some of the brightest clothes I've ever seen, and I've been loving every minute of it! Unfortunately during the festival most people were wearing ponchos and rainboots (both of which were also pretty cool looking), and I didn't get many photos. But we did go into an Oshman's when we got back to Tokyo, and brands like Gramicci, ArcTeryx, Gregory, and Patagonia, are making clothes for the Japanese market that are NOT available in the U.S...and that's a sad thing for everybody back home.
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Crazy leggings are a staple in everyone's outfit, and they're not just for girls! 

 

Everybody loves fanny packs over here, and every time I go into one of these stores I almost break down and get one because they're so cool. But Ryan strongly disagrees with this fashion obsession of mine...what do YOU think though!?!?

Seriously awesome raingear.

Fuji Rockin'

We made it to Japan! And what better way to kick off our trip in Asia than do what we love most...see live music.

Fuji Rock is an annual 3-day music festival held at a ski resort in the mountains a couple hours outside of Tokyo. We got there by taking the bullet train from Tokyo (too bad we have to travel half-way around the world to experience modern-day transportation technology!) and then a quick shuttle bus organized by the festival. This was a nice change from taking a full day or longer road trip followed by hours sitting in traffic to get to music festivals in the U.S., that's for sure.

















It rained most of the weekend, which was unfortunate because we were sleeping in a cheap ($25) tent that we picked-up at Wal-Mart before leaving the U.S., and by the first night most of our things inside were soaking wet. Ryan and I fashioned a sturdier rain fly with a tarp and some other bags the next day, and while it was probably the most pathetic looking tent at the festival, it did the job.

The whole weekend was wet and muddy and needless to say, a little uncomfortable. But the music made up for it all. We saw some great bands at the festival - some of our favorites that we've seen many times before (New Mastersounds, Widespread Panic and Dark Star Orchestra), and plenty of new stuff from Japan and elsewhere that we got to check-out for the first time.

Here's a little review with some video clips from the internet (not taken by us).

Coldplay was the opening night headliner, and they sounded good. With an enormous crowd and a big well polished performance, it had a stadium concert feel to it - something we're not very used to but enjoyed. 

New Mastersounds
This jazz-funk band from Leeds, England, one of our favorite groups, played two nights at the festival. Both sets were pretty short (~ 1 hour), but this isn't the kind of band that needs three hours to show you what they've got. A highlight was the second night when they were joined by a four-piece horn section from another funk band (didn't catch their name) that played earlier in the weekend.



Amadou & Mariam
This is a well known group from Mali, described on their website as "music for the world" with "roots deeply planted in Africa", that we saw for the first time and we were really impressed. Amadou is a real solid guitar player, as you can see towards the end of the video clip below.



Dark Star Orchestra
The Grateful Dead tribute band closed out the Field of Heaven stage the last night of the festival with two sets totaling almost four hours. It was their first and only time playing in Japan, and they didn't hold anything back, playing an incredible set list full of Dead favorites such as Terrapin, Shakedown, Help>Slip>Frankin's, China>Rider, St. Stephen, and Eyes of the World. It was so much fun seeing Japanese Grateful Dead fans digging the music. They refused to leave after the show was over, which you can see in the photo below (if you look closely, you can see us!).

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
This band, which has been on the Japanese music scene for over 20 years, describes themselves as an "eclectic mix of traditional ska, jazz, and rock". This is a great party band!



Sakerock
A Japan-based jazz-rock band - all really talented musicians. It was cool to see the trombone featured so prominently.



Some other bands that we enjoyed were Ra Ra Riot, Beach House, Cornershop, the Kimonos and Digitalism. A few bands that didn't get a chance to see but wished we did include Wilco, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, Washed Out, the Middle East, and Reggaelation Independence.