Exploring Japan Vol. 16 - Edo Tokyo Museum

Last week we talked about going off the beaten path and exploring on your own.  This week I want to point you directly back to the main path. 

What?

Well, see... Sometimes there are amazing things on the well traveled path that you shouldn't pass up.  Like that samurai suit above.  You can't tell easily from the picture, but that's actually for a child.  Where in the world would you find such a thing?

The Edo-Tokyo Museum.  If you look back at the previous installments of this blog, the majority of the entries have to do with the odd, the weird and the wonderful.  Let me be clear though, my family and I still enjoy some of the mainstream stuff as well.  One thing we definitely wanted to see was more about the history of Tokyo and the Edo-Tokyo Museum is arguably the best place in the entire country to get a crash course in Tokyo's history in roughly half a day.

For those that don't know, the city we call Tokyo was originally called Edo.  Thus, the name of the museum.  Inside you'll find a top notch, Smithsonian level collection that will walk you through the very beginnings of civilization in this area and bring you all the way up to the early 2000's.  

A massive undertaking such as that needs a massive building, right?  Well, this place has got you covered.  Inside you'll find life-sized recreations of famous bridges, theaters and more.  In fact, you walk across the bridge in the picture above when you enter the museum. 

There are elaborate dioramas that show the layouts of feudal lord palaces and towns.  You'll find interactive displays that allow you to feel what it was really like to ride like royalty through the town, or carry water.

There are whole sections on early printing in Japan with displays that show you the art and precision needed to get amazingly detailed prints like the one below.     

There are even reprints of news articles from the time, like this one documenting the first time an elephant was ever brought back to the country alive.

Some of our favorite exhibits showed how early theater effects were accomplished and there were also dioramas that came to life, showing what the city was like both during the daytime and at night.

Here's the thing that really stands out to me about this museum more than any other.  As we walked through the entrance to the main floor, we were approached by an elderly Japanese lady who began speaking to us in French.  We stopped her and explained that we didn't speak that language and were in fact American.  She said, "One moment" and then ran to get someone else.  

Another woman walked up and asked if we would like her to accompany us and explain the exhibits that did not have translations.  She was more than willing to go along with us, for however long we liked and would have answered any and all of our questions about any of the exhibits, and all of this was free of charge.  We actually declined simply because we'd only planned on spending a short time there and thought we might come back on another visit for a longer stay.  
As we wandered, we heard guides speaking to guests in French, Spanish, German and English.  

My favorite exhibit is hard to pin down because there are some seriously amazing things housed in the museum, but one of them would have to be this.

It looks like the paper model of a keep, but in fact it's a three dimensional blueprint created to show the builders the layout of every floor in detail.

  

So, if you are only going to be in Tokyo for a short time and may never get the chance to come back, I suggest spending at least half a day visiting the Edo Tokyo Museum.  You'll find a new appreciation for city itself and gain a fresh perspective on just how far it's come.

Next week, we'll look at a different kind of museum while we explore the Ghibli films and the places and structures that inspired them.
See you then!  

Forgotten Horror Gems Vol. 3 - The Devil Commands

This week's installment of the series focuses on an obscure Boris Karloff film.  Now, I've spent a rather large part of my life obsessed with horror movies and there's probably no single classic monster star I like more than Boris Karloff.  Aside from being a great actor (and I'm not exaggerating in making that claim), he was also a pretty decent human being overall.

One thing you may not know about him is that he almost single-handedly started the Screen Actor's Guild.  Due to the abuse he received at the hands of James Whale in shooting the first Frankenstein film, Karloff took his complaint to the studio.  They summarily discarded it and since other acting guilds were focused on stage productions, they weren't much help to him.  He quit Universal (something people thought was insane at the time) and began working independently.  At the same time, he began laying the groundwork for a new actor's union and was able to get some big names involved right away.  With people like Groucho Marx and other major marquee stars on board, the studios had no choice but to recognize the union.  By the time he made Bride of Frankenstein with Whale, the rules of the game had changed considerably.  Instead of working 16 or even 20 hour days, he was capped out at 8 and that included time in makeup.  

That history lesson aside, he was a man who was devoted to his craft and even made his last film while suffering from late stage emphysema.  He never stopped working until he died, and not necessarily because he needed the money. Even when he was being billed as a major star, he was still making the odd film that was nowhere near blockbuster material.

Thus we get, The Devil Commands.  It's got an interesting premise.  A scientist who studies the brain finds a way to track electrical waves that every person emits.  Each person's wave reading is as individual as a fingerprint.  When his wife is killed in an accident, he finds that her wave still exists even though her body is long buried.  This gives him the idea that he may be able to speak to her from beyond the grave using scientific methods.  Mad experimentation ensues!

So, cut to the chase, Cary.  What do the girls think?

Well, one big drawback to this film is the narration  It's completely unnecessary and abundant.  The scientist's daughter literally narrates things as you see them happen on screen.  While this tended to bug both Lil and I, Karen enjoyed it.

"I like that I can sit at the kitchen table, work on my crafts and still keep up with the film." - Karen

When I asked what their favorite thing was, there was only one answer.

"The laboratory looked like a hair salon with strange dials on it." - Lilith

"Those head gear things were neat." - Karen

When I asked what they didn't like...

"Again, no devil.  Last time it was Dr. Cyclops with no cyclops.  This time it's The Devil Commands with no devil and not even any commanding." - Karen

In an effort to find something she might like I made mention that it was barely over an hour long.

"It felt longer.  In fact, all of the animals parading through Dr. Cyclops were better than anything in this movie." - Karen

"Yeah, but it was still better than that witch one (The City of the Dead)" - Lilith

So there you have it.  If you're a Karloff completist, then you need to check it out.  Otherwise, you can give this one a pass. 

Next week, we'll be looking at a much more highly regarded film even if it was on the relatively inexpensive side.  Roger Corman's The Fall of the House of Usher.

See you then!

Exploring Japan Vol. 15 - TOYS!!!!

This is one I know a lot of you have been waiting for.  If you like Japanese cartoons (anime), comics (manga), giant monster films (Kaiju) or classic Japanese TV (like Ultraman) and you're looking for toys, then Tokyo has got you covered! 

For starters, you'll want to visit Akihabara.  It's also known as Electric Town.  Initially it was the place to go in Tokyo if you wanted the latest and greatest in electronics.  Over the years, it has evolved into a place that celebrates Japanese pop culture.  You'll find a ton of small shops carrying mostly used toys.  You'll find figures from all of your favorite animes along with a number of other trinkets like pens, banners, stationery and more.

These shops are set up like indoor flea markets, with different booths or glass cases full of figures.  Don't go buying things willy nilly either.  Take your time and compare prices.  Sometimes you'll save $5.00 or $10.00 just by checking alternative stores.  

The streets of Akihabara are also filled with toys, in the form of gachapon machines.  The word is actually a combination that refers to the capsule toy and the sound of cranking the dial.  There are banks of these everywhere and in fact, there's even an entire store on a side street that is nothing but gachapon machines.

What's inside?  Well, these machines vary in price and contents.  You'll find everything from anime figures to stickers to miniature zen gardens. The trick is that chance is a factor.  You may get the same figure over and over, or you may get lucky and get all the pieces of your set completed quickly.  Some of our favorite finds have been:

An extremely rude pencil holder (we used it for Q-Tips while at the hotel).

A set of Beavis and Butthead on the couch.

And some extremely detailed Ultraman sets that you had to assemble.

In addition to the used toy stores in Akihabara, you'll definitely want to check out Yodobashi-Camera.  It's a gigantic, multi-storied department store that has all of the latest and greatest new toys.  Just take the escalator up to the toy floor and prepare to have your mind blown! 

You'll find anything and everything you could possibly want.  And if you're hungry, head to the top because their food court is beyond amazing.  The last time we visited, we found ourselves eating there multiple times.  

Say you don't have that much time though and you want to get the most out of your half day of toy shopping.  Well, there really is only one store to check out and that's Mandarake!  While they have a location in Akihabara, I'd recommend making the trip to Nakano Broadway.  This is an indoor mall that carries all of the usual stores and restaurants, however it also has a multistory Mandarake with some of the most amazing collections of toys you'll ever see.

The place is set up with different rooms divided by toy "types". For instance, there's a room with nothing but Godzilla, Ultraman and the like.  There's another whole room carrying nothing but capsule toy contents so you can complete a collection without leaving things to chance.  Another room is full of manga and anime.  You get the picture.  Some of the craziest stuff here is in the form of original vinyl toy creations.  Check out this killer monster with a cannon for a mouth!

And this Rat Fink character!

One of my favorite rooms here is the Robot Room. 

It's just as it sounds.  A room literally filled with nothing but robot and space toys.  All are for sale, but there are some very expensive items in here.

In fact, many are from the 1950's like the Moon Astronaut below.  If you're wondering how much 300,000 yen is in U.S. dollars, just take two zeroes off the end and you'll be in the ballpark.  

That's right.  You're looking at a $3,000 toy.

Aside from the places I've mentioned already, you'll still find individual toy stores that deal in new toys only.  They're easy to find while there.  You can google "toy store" and they'll pop up.  One, whose name I can't recall, had this killer electric car track on the top floor.  

It even had a leader board that kept your fastest time.  My daughter beat the pants off me.

And yes, if you're into Pokemon, then you are probably required to visit the Pokemon store in the Sunshine City mall.  While you're there, you can go to Namja Town, the indoor Japanese haunted house I wrote about a few posts ago!

For those who are upset I never mentioned Ghibli toys, don't worry.  There's a separate post coming about Ghibli, but yes, they have their own stores as well with items from almost all of their movies.

So yeah, Tokyo is full of amazing toys.  Even if you're not a collector, you could do worse than wandering through a Mandarake or Yodobashi store while in town.  

Next week, we'll switch things up and get some class by visiting the Edo Tokyo museum.  See you then!

Forgotten Horror Gems Vol. 2 - Dr. Cyclops (1940)

Well, last week I kicked off a new series called Forgotten Horror Gems.  For those that are just joining the blog, here's how it works.  I pored through listings of horror movies from 1920 - 1989 and looked for films I hadn't seen.  Admittedly, that list is actually pretty short considering all of the movies that were released over that period.  I'm not bragging.  I could have been using that time to solve world hunger but hey... it is what it is.

Over the next twelve months, I'm going to work my way through the list and amazingly, my wife and daughter both agreed they'd like to participate in this as well.

So without further ado, I present to you a movie that I've been intrigued by since I was a child.  I've seen stills from it in magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland, but amazingly I'd never actually seen the film.  So here we go!

  
First of all, how beautiful is that poster art?  I don't want to get too far off on a tangent here, but my friend Mike Carvalho was the one who first really opened my eyes to the beauty of classic movie posters.  I may post more about that at another time, but just let me say that you will not find a poster that looks anything like this coming out of a movie studio today.  Look at those colors!  Look at the unfeeling, malevolent expression of the mad doctor and the fear on his victim's face.

That's how you sell a movie!

Okay, rant ended.

Dr. Cyclops is about a well-regarded scientist who has secluded himself in a laboratory in the jungles of the Amazon.  While that may seem weird, the truth is he's there because of a giant deposit of pitchblende, a mix of uranium and radium if I understand the explanation correctly.  This geological cache of radioactive riches holds a key to the experiments he's conducting.

He has one problem though.  His eyesight is horrible.  Despite thick, coke-bottle lenses, he's now lost the ability to look into his microscope clearly, so he summons three scientists from America to come verify something for him.  The three travel thousands of miles through the jungle and once they arrive and confirm his theory he thanks them and asks them to leave.  

Needless to say, these three (four if you count the mule driver) didn't travel all that way just to look in a microscope for literally five minutes and be turned away.  They want to know more.

Soon, they find out first hand what the doctor has been working on.  He's discovered a way to shrink living beings and their confirmation of his theory removes the last obstacle he had in making the process safe for his subjects.  In order to keep them from returning to the mainland with his secrets, he shrinks them to try to keep them captive.  Of course, they escape and then have to dodge the terrors of the jungle itself before finding a way to deal with the mad doctor and return to their normal size.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Dr. Cyclops is a great movie.  Personally, I have never been exactly wowed by movies about people being shrunk down to the size of dolls.  I just feel like it's a gimmick that quickly runs its course.  That said, Dr. Cyclops does have some pretty amazing effects and while most of the performances are standard, Albert Dekker's performance as the title character shines.  He's not the kind of mad scientist who is doing evil unknowingly (a la Dr. Frankenstein).  He truly is evil, making some horrific decisions including randomly killing his subjects. 

The version of this we watched was in gorgeous Technicolor also.  It was a joy to see with all the heavily saturated greens of the jungle throughout.  The very first scene has some crazy "fish tank" blue lighting thing happening with ripples flowing across the walls and the doctor.  Seriously cool!

But all this aside, how is it as a movie?  Well, I'll ask the girls to explain.

Karen:  First of all, I felt deceived by the movie title.  I was expecting a giant cyclops monster.  I had no idea where the movie was going so when it turned out that wasn't the case, I felt a little cheated.

Lilith:  That didn't bother me because I didn't know the name of the movie. I came down after the credits.

Karen:  Aside from that though, I liked this.  I really liked the small people and how everything became giant; like sewing needles become giant weapons in their hands, etc.  It made me think about all the prop departments and how they had to make this stuff.

Lilith:  I liked how they would all work together to defeat the doctor.  It reminded me of the scene in Cinderella where all the mice and birds come together to sew her dress.  

Okay, all this is great, but what about the story itself?  Did you like that?

Karen:  Honestly, I did.  It was fun and nostalgic, but the acting was atrocious and some of the dialogue was horrible.  It was still fun to watch.  I loved how they paraded all of these exotic animals around just to try to convince you it was really shot in the jungle.  I swear, there's a point where thirty animals show up one at a time on screen and to be honest, I'm not even sure they all really exist in the same jungle.  It was like being at the zoo.

Lilith:  I forgot about the tiny horse!  They were mean to the tiny horse!

Karen:  Yes, I wanted the tiny horse for my own. He was really cute, but they treated him very badly!

Lilith:  Yeah, when that guy slams the door shut on his box, that was just rude!

To be clear, people die in this movie but the tiny horse is not harmed in any way.  Slamming the box shut was the extent of the harm done to the horse, but this seems to have stood out to the girls.

So, to wrap things up:

1. Dr. Cyclops is not about a cyclops, but isn't a bad film.

2. It looks really nice but the acting isn't the best.

3. When you're shrunken by a mad doctor and want to escape, just remember that 'Teamwork Makes the Dream Work.'

4. Don't be a jerk to the tiny horse.

From my perspective, it's a fun watch but not essential.  If you're looking for a nostalgic trip one night, you could do worse than to check this out.  You can find it streaming on Amazon Prime.  If you'd like a look at the trailer, here you go!

Next week, we'll go back to the black and white classics for a forgotten Boris Karloff movie.

Until then, check out my series on exploring Japan or visit my Amazon Author's page!

See you soon!

   

Exploring Japan Vol. 14 - Tea Plantations, Sake Breweries and Buddhist Statues

On our very first visit to Japan, my family and I split our time between a week in Tokyo and a week in Hiroshima.  Part of the reason was that for three years, I lived in a small town called Iwakuni, about 45 minutes from Hiroshima.  It had been my dream to go back and visit the places I used to go and since (at the time) we thought this would probably be the only chance we'd get to go, we made it a priority.

In planning the trip, we realized that even by bullet train, we were going to have a full day of train riding just to get from Tokyo to Hiroshima.  Round trip, that was going to cost us two days doing nothing but sitting and watching the world go by at 200 m.p.h.  We started looking for someplace in between where we could stop for a day and see something unusual.  

It didn't take long to find that we were going to be traveling right through the largest tea producing area in Japan.  Now, my wife doesn't like Japanese green tea, however she does love touring factories.  After some poking around, I found a local guide named Yumi who offered tours of the tea plantations in the area and we booked a stop for two nights in Fuji City.  Once we started corresponding with Yumi, she started recommending other places we could visit in the same day, including a sake brewery.  

We were sold!

So, roughly five days into our trip, we found ourselves here:

I have to tell you, there is no place I have found that's more beautiful than this tea plantation with majestic Mt. Fuji peeking through the clouds.  

Yumi introduced us to our tea plantation guide and he quickly walked us out into the fields. They'd recently cut the tea leaves but had left one row uncut specifically for us. 

After the tour of the plantation and some tea leaf picking, he led us to the factory itself.  Here we watched as truckloads of fresh green leaves were dumped into a hamper and started on their way through processing.  

The machine itself was huge and housed in a small warehouse that barely contained it. As a result, I wasn't able to get a good picture but below is what the dried leaves look like when they come out, ready for brewing.

Following the factory tour, Yumi took us to a small restaurant where we passed the tea leaves we'd picked to the owner.  As explained to us, the restaurant is owned by a retired woman who just loves cooking.  She opens only for lunch and only cooks with what she has available that day.  All of the ingredients are fresh and local.

The result was a lunch of many small and incredibly tasty items, including tempura fried tea leaves.  That's right, instead of brewing our leaves, she fried them and they were delicious!

After lunch, Yumi and her husband/driver took us sake tasting.  The brewery sat about a half hour from the restaurant and the drive there held incredible views of Mt. Fuji.  Once out of the car, we noticed that a small stream was flowing right alongside the road.  It was crystal clear and ice cold.  The water originates from Mt. Fuji and is the same water the brewery uses.

If you've ever seen this ball on a sake label, you may have wondered what it is.  Well, as explained to us, a sake brewery will hang it outside their shop when they are releasing a fresh batch, usually once a year.  The ball will be green when hung and then allowed to dry up over the year.  You can tell how fresh the sake is going to be by the state of the ball.

Don't worry, even though the sake may not be right out of the cask, a quality old sake is still very, very good.  Many people think that you have to drink sake hot.  That's not so.  In fact, heating sake is sometimes done to mask bad flavor. 

High quality sake is meant to be tasted at room temperature and let me tell you, this place had some excellent sake.  By the way, that's Yumi pointing and her husband is standing next to her.  She asked as we walked in whether we liked sake and I said I did.  She winked at me and said, "My husband and I are lushes!"

After trying a number of different samples, my favorite was this one:

This is a milk sake.  It's like a drinkable, alcoholic yogurt and it was freakin' AMAZING!  We grabbed a few bottles for home and for gifts and prepared to leave, when Yumi suddenly got excited.

While conversing in Japanese with the master brewer, he'd dropped a really cool bit of information.  Over a century ago, not long after the brewery was founded, an edict came down from the government that sought to banish Buddhism from Japan in favor of the state religion of Shinto.  As such, soldiers were removing Buddhist iconography from around the area.  The owner knew that along many of the trails up Mt. Fuji, there were beautiful statues perched in places of worship.  He couldn't bear the thought of those being destroyed, so he decided to make a series of clandestine hikes up to save as many as he could.

Once he brought them back, he created an alcove in an upper area of the brewery and placed them there for safekeeping.  The Master Brewer asked us if we'd like to see them.

Hell yes, we would!

And so, we were led up some stairs and along a catwalk that was obviously not built for tourists.  There were no handrails or safety netting.  This was a place just for the employees and owner, but here we were, getting a peek at something special!

High above the giant sake casks, there was a wooden floor and at the end sat the statues.

They were absolutely gorgeous and knowing we were seeing something exclusive made the moment even more special.

Yumi, her husband and our family hit it off.  They've invited us back to stay with them if we're ever in the area and while we haven't taken them up on it yet, we may still do so.  They had such a good time with us, they asked if we'd like to go for ice cream at their favorite place.  It's a small shop owned by a dairy next door and it was so far up a foothill and off the beaten path that no tourist would ever have found it without some local help.

After that, it was back to the train station and then to our hotel.  What started as a way to break up our trip, became one of our most memorable and favorite days in Japan.  

So once again, I'll implore you to seek out the stuff away from the crowds.  While tours are great ways to see a lot in a short amount of time, you will only scratch the surface.  Wandering off on your own almost always yields fantastic results.

And by the way, the cost of our day with Yumi as our personal guide and translator came out less than most of the tours available to us in Tokyo.  

Next week, we'll shift gears again and talk about something that everyone loves... 

Toys!

Forgotten Horror Gems Vol. 1 - The City of the Dead

As most of you know, this blog was started primarily because I wanted to promote my book The Wash.  It's a horror novel and as a gigantic fan of horror, I've recently found myself speaking to different book clubs and writer's groups about the genre.  I'm almost always asked questions that require me to call upon films to illustrate my point.

Why?

Well, most of these people may have never read a book in that genre, but have likely seen a horror movie or two in their lives even if they don't realize it at first.  

Case in point, ask someone if they've ever read a horror book and they'll say no.  Ask them if they've ever seen The Silence of the Lambs and there's a good chance they'll say yes.  While that film isn't horror per se, there's no arguing that Hannibal Lecter's escape scene is pure horror with gore thrown in for good measure.  

All of this has pointed out something I've known for a while.  I've seen a ton of horror movies and the older they are, the more I tend to love them.  So, I've decided that in 2019, I'm going to seek out the obscure titles that I've missed.  Some of them may have been on my radar but I've never had occasion to check them out.  Others will have been complete surprises that I stumble upon while looking for content.  

The best part though is that I'll be watching the vast majority of them with Karen and Lil.  They actually volunteered for this!  So without further ado:

Forgotten Horror Gems Vol. 1 - The City of the Dead  (1960)

The City of the Dead stars Christopher Lee, Dennis Lotis and Patricia Jessel.  It tells the story of a young college student (Venetia Stevenson) who visits a quaint New England town while working on her senior term paper on witchcraft.  When her brother and boyfriend don't hear from her, they follow her trail in an attempt to find her.

The City of the Dead is incredibly atmospheric.  The town drips with dread and mystery.  Thick fog and rundown buildings populate the streets and the townsfolk are obviously not exactly normal.  That said, the plot does leave something to be desired.

Here, I'll let the girls explain.

Karen:  This has to be one of the stupidest movies ever!  Every single thing was laid out with gigantic clues.  If someone reads that a witch needs a personal item to curse someone, the very next line is literally, "Oh, by the way, I seem to have lost my pendant."

Lilith:  And the girl doing the paper is completely clueless.  Everyone does exactly the opposite of what you would do in real life if weird stuff like this happened.

I did ask each of them to give me one thing they liked about the film though.  After all, shitting on a movie is easy.  For me, the good thing is definitely the atmosphere.  There are scenes where a hapless driver will pick up a mysterious man by the crossroads and they're incredibly effective.

For Karen and Lil, well, let's just say the task of saying something positive was more difficult.

Lilith:  I liked the one girl's hair.  I also liked the priest and I liked how snooty the lady who ran the inn was.

Karen:  In the opening scenes with the college professor lecturing, I liked the snarky comments the boyfriend was making.  Usually those scenes in these movies are from the professor's perspective so seeing it from the student's viewpoint was refreshing.

Both good insights, but to be honest, I really had to press them for those.

As it turns out, I had seen this one years ago.  I'd just forgotten about it and that's pretty much the only thing you need to know.  It's fun if you want something predictable and creepy but ultimately forgettable.  Not a bad way to spend 74 minutes late at night but not anything you'll dream about later on.

One down, and at least 49 more to go.  I can already tell, this is going to be fun!

See you next week!