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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Wed
18
Mar '15

Trip Report: Nagoya & Komaki

Julian works until 8 tonight (usually 9) so that was the reason for the late train to Nagoya – and it takes him 35-45 minutes to get from school (he teaches English) into Nagoya. Nagoya Station is crazy busy, even at 8:30 at night:

Bright lights in the big city…

But Julian is there at the appointed time (8:50) and at the appointed place (under the Gold clock at one end of the station, not the Silver clock [with gold trim] at the other end):

Yep – he wears a tie to work, even with the preschoolers. He teaches MANY different age and abilities. Off to dinner we go…

where you can order from their massive menu at a screen at each table.

I must have been hungry because there are no food shots, nor the beer and sake…

One the way back to his apartment – which is in Komaki, an in-the-sticks suburb according to Julian because it takes two transfers to get anywhere – I saw this nice bank of vending machines. Even in residential areas you will find them basically on every corner:

Guess I should get a day shot of this!

Welcome to Julian’s Dorm Room – technically a studio apartment, but it being furnished, it has the feel of a dorm room….

Past the door is the kitchen, toilet, shower, washing machine. Even the outside of the building looks industrial:

Stayed up too late catching up, (as we did in Portland as well,) luckily we don’t have an early day tomorrow.

Breakfast this morning:

Miso soup with a side of coffee.

The main reason for the timing of this visit is to see the Hōnen Matsuri – the fertility festival held each March 15th in Komaki. You can read the whole Wikipedia at the link to the left, or here is the “bite-size” bit:

Hōnen Matsuri (豊年祭?, “Harvest Festival”) is a fertility
festival celebrated every year on March 15 in Japan. Hōnen means prosperous year in Japanese, implying a rich harvest, while a matsuri is a festival. The Hōnen festival and ceremony celebrate the blessings of a bountiful harvest and all manner of prosperity and fertility.

Luckily we aren’t headed there for the entire ceremony, just the final procession.

As you can tell by the English on the sign – LOTS of Westerners (gaijin) attend.

Yep – there was a parking lot full of us:

What parking lot, you might ask?

That’s when I realized this was going to be a long day. Yep, a looonnnggggg day of drinking, luckily with no driving:

So I joined the fun and picked up this fun little number….

Until I did a little research on this bourbon (Heaven Hill), I didn’t realize that it’s from the producers of my favorite bourbon, Evan Williams.

But enough about drinking in the middle of the afternoon, let’s get onto the phallus shots. Yes, even the candy they are selling is phallus shaped:

That would be Jacob – a good-old-boy from the south end of Alabama (and English teacher). Nice veins on that candy…

Yep, that’s a big one! But it doesn’t stop there, the grounds of the temple are “littered” with penis:

When you make an offering to this:

you ring this:

Gives new meaning to the phrase: Ding Dong.

EVERYBODY turns up at this festival, not just the foreigners… from guitar-toting cowboys…

to she-males….

Yes, even the bananas are suggestive…

And yes, I had one. And bought lots of cock souvenirs.

Before we move on, I have to share one video of the ceremonies:

To show how far we slid by the end of the afternoon (and because I think Jacob is cute):

Needless to say – we needed food after all this (other than bananas and penis pops)…so off we went to a place close to Julians.

We were a decent sized party of over eight….and ate we did…

and the disaster we left…

Another long night, because we were out of booze at home, so we swung by the local mega-store for some mega-booze. At this point my feet were KILLING me, and Julian and his girlfriend were kind enough to wheel me around the store….

Just for reference, that is a shelf of 4 Liter booze bottles. To compare sizes, we have this illustrative photograph:

1.5 liter Coke Zero, 700ml Suntory Whiskey, 4 liter Suntory Black. The four liter bottle was $24, which my EuroFaerie friend Karl pointed out is only .15 per unit of alcohol. That should keep me through my visit, with plenty of leftovers for Julian. Of course, that might be the ONLY thing in Japan that is cheap.

Another long evening…but this time we have to be up and out by 9am because we have a 10:30am reservation at the Asahi Brewery. Feeling the effects of last night we take the wrong train, leading to a 20-minute walk to catch our connection…and then catch the express rather than the local and have to turn around and catch a local back, and realize that the “10-minute walk” from the station is more like 20+ minutes….and surprisingly we were only 15-minutes late for our Japanese Language tour of the plant. We arrived at the same time as a bus filled with seniors – but to our amazement, an English-speaking tour guide came to our rescue!

Here is an aerial view of the complex:

and our tour guide:

and us enjoying some pre-noon free samples.

We were both hobbling on the tour, Julian from his recovering broken leg, me from some swelling at the ball of my left foot – she enquired if we’d like a cab back to the station in Japanese. Had she said it in English I would have said “hell, yes”, but alas – we walked back the 20 minutes.

Then I broke my own rule (for the second time this trip) – no more than one tourist attraction or event in one day.

Off we went to the SCMaglev and Railway Park to continue on the transportation theme of this trip. We were beat by the time we got there – at the end of a train line through the industrial heartland of Nagoya.

It was a cool museum, though Julian spent a good hour sleeping in one of the train cars. Sorry, no picture. HUGE museum with lots of displays:

What I found interesting was the interiors of the previous generation of Shinkansen trains…

And yes, they did have a huge diorama/model train set-up as well…

Caught the train back into the city and killed a little time before meeting up with the girlfriend and other friends for dinner – this time, a cook-it-yourself kind of place:

By the time we got home, we were totally beat – and Julian has to work tomorrow, though luckily not until noon.

As for me – I spent the day hobbling into the city center of Komaki to do a little exploring, a little shopping and indulged my “once-per-international-trip” US fast food stop:

In the same department store of Ronny Macs, there was this “odd” display of which I am clueless, but it did warrant a picture:

Like some bad 50’s dream…but I did come back with the fixings for dinner:

That would be stir-fried pork and chicken bits with a couple of kinds of pickled vegetables with a bowl of rice (that yes, Mr. Low Carb ate).

Here are some of my random “wandering around town” shots…

My favorite part of the above picture is the crow drinking water out of one of the flower vases…

The final meal of the Komaki leg was with another of the English teachers at Julian’s school, and one of their older students. We went out for more conveyor belt sushi – this time with little trains to deliver your special orders:

Grab from the line, or special order on the touchscreen:

And it comes on a different little train that stops only at your table:

This is the stack of plates for the four of us…

And when you are done, you slid them into the slot in the table where they are automatically counted and added to your bill:

Other than pouring down rain (a BIG thanks to Julian’s student who gave us a ride home) it was a perfect cap to an evening – and we even put a pretty big dent in that 4 liter bottle of whiskey…

Out of the house a little before 10 to catch the train to the airport for my 2:45pm departure for Narita, connecting to my flight to Seattle.

On the train, I finally found the transit map that I’d been looking for since I got here:

This map has all the various different company lines in both Kanji and English.

Only one transfer, but I’m on the slow train so basically it’s almost 2 hours, but I saved 340 yen by not taking the express and going the long way with fewer connections.

Headed home.

[? ? ?]

Sun
19
Mar '23

Trip Report: Pacific Grand Tour – Komaki For Honen Matsuri

So, the English translation for Honen Matsuri would be Penis Festival. This would be my fourth or fifth. All but one in Komaki (outside Nagoya), the other in Kawasaki which is always on the first Sunday of April, rather than Komaki, which is always on March 15th, no matter the day of week. Fewer tourists if it is on a weekday.

But, we have to get there!

So, what is it?

According to Wikipedia: Harvest Festival (豊年祭Hōnensai) is a fertility festival celebrated every year on March 15 in JapanHōnen means prosperous year in Japanese, implying a rich harvest, while a matsuri is a festival. The Hōnen festival and ceremony celebrate the blessings of a bountiful harvest and all manner of prosperity and fertility.

Click here for the full entry about the history of the festival.

If you click on the next three, they will link to short videos:

That’s it for the festival.

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, click here.

Fri
16
Mar '18

Trip Report: Nagoya & Komaki

With Julian’s work schedule (11am-9:30pm), it was definitely a sleep-in day after chatting until 3am last night. Guess I forgot to mention that we stopped by a 24-hour market near Julian’s place to pick up some supplies. That might have led to the 3am bedtime.

The Melita is in the picture for size (it’s the standard #4 size, not the #2, next to a 1.5-liter Coke Zero – next to the FOUR LITER bottle of Suntory Classic Whiskey. Go big or go home!

I made myself a little breakfast:

Before heading out to Sakae to one of the largest 100 Yen stores in the city. It’s a short walk from Julian’s apartment in this complex:

To the subway headed into the city. No transfers (at least to Sakae), and saw a couple of interesting vehicles along the way:

And, not unlike Seattle, some interesting manhole covers:

Even a cemetery:

One of the things I do when I travel is to take pictures of the transit maps (especially if they have English on them). It gives me a backup of where I’m going and how to return:

While in Sakae looking for the exit that Julian sent me, ran across a Bear Papa, which we have one in Seattle!

Found my way to the store, which covers and entire floor of a mall:

I actually managed to spend 3400Yen which means lots of quirky presents for people upon my return:

Also went across the street to Don Quixote – a four floor mass of Japanese consumer goods:

It wasn’t until I as headed back to the station that I noticed a Ferris Wheel stuck to the outside:

Back in Julian’s neighbor it was off to the Aeon (grocery/department store) a couple of block away for grab an afternoon snack, which wasn’t these:

But these:

The plan is to meet up with Julian in Komaki where he teaches, taking a different subway line. Julian tracked down a spare rechargeable transit card with I refilled in Sakae. He works in the building right on top of the train station, so it was easy to find.

Off to dinner we go with his friend Tak at the wheel. I’d met him on one or the other of my two previous trips to Nagoya. Two more teachers, a student, Tak, Julian, and I in a van rolling towards the restaurant owned by the mother of another student who has befriended Julian with furniture for his apartment, etc.

She even gave him a bottle of sweet potato wine (Sochu).

I was fascinated by the Jazz Musician speaker set. Might have to try and track on down.

We were having so much fun that, tonight, we did miss the last train. Tak offered us a list, but it would have been 35 minutes out of his way, and he gets up at 6am, so we sucked it up and dropped about 5000Yen (about $50) on a cab for the 7-mile ride.

Didn’t stay up as late tonight, closer to 1:30am.

Tomorrow, Julian has PTO (Paid Time Off), which was a royal pain to get from a supervisor. He had to go to the district manager to get his legal PTO.

It’s festival time (again!).

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Wed
12
Apr '17

Trip Report: Nagoya, Days Two & Three

After my first day running myself ragged (OK, Julian was literally dragging me), I decided for a light day of exploring the neighborhood after Julian left for work around eleven. Explored the Japanese version of Home Depot, shopped for whiskey to pack in my bag (and in my belly), got snacks for the day from the huge AEON supermarket a couple of blocks away, did an initial pass at the 100 Yen store (that would be The Ninety-Cent Store in the US).

I was a little amazed to find this on the shelf of the grocery store:

I can’t even find caffeine free diet Coke in Canada!

Julian got home around ten and we started fixing a traditional Japanese dinner, which, for some reason I didn’t take any pictures of – maybe we were drinking, chatting, and having WAY too much fun.

So, it’s one in the morning and Julian wants to go on a walk, or it might have been midnight, I know it was late, and I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but he finally wore me down and off we went for a walk along the river.

Here is a nighttime view from his apartment:

And from our little evening walk:

Yep, the cherry blossoms are in full glory…

He is looking like the devil, which is how I felt about him when he dragged me out for a walk – my legs still feeling yesterday’s adventures.

As it turned out, the walk helped Julian not feel as bad the next morning, though he was still running slow. Me, I slept in and spent another day exploring the neighborhood, finalizing purchases at the 90 Cent Store and getting ready for a full evening…again!

The plan was that I was to meet Julian’s friend Yousuke for Hanami, the cherry blossom viewing party where everyone sits in a park, eating and drinking all day long. Off to the subway go I, and as tempting as it was to stop in for a bit, I didn’t:

Missed the first train by seconds when the sliding gates tried to eat me:

One train to Komaki to meet Yousuke (and pick up some snacks and drink for the park), three trains later we are back in Nagoya in a different direction. Yousuke probably should have picked up his snacks in Komaki because every convenience store in the direction of the part was MOBBED.

Then there was the challenge of finding his friends among the thousands of people enjoying the festival – these shots should give you an idea of the crowds and the blossoms.

Our group:

And part of the pile of shared food:

Imagine acre after acre of people hanging out with their friends eating/drinking/chatting for hours on end.

With that many people to say goodbye, we didn’t get back to Komaki to meet Julian until after ten (he gets off at nine) so we could all go out and cook our own meals.

That would be Yousuke on the right.

So, the reason that Julian works so late Tuesday through Saturday is that he is an English As A Second Language (ESL) teacher – who is even featured in his companies advertising (yes, they charge people more to have white people from the US teaching them).

Of course, we got home WAY later than I wanted since I have to be up at five to catch my flight home – this might be PART of the problem.

Yep, that’s a little recycling to take out.

Not looking forward to the early departure in the morning.

[218.8]

Sat
8
Apr '17

Trip Report: Japan – Tokyo

TokyoDave and I arrived from the train station to a living room full of teenagers – apparently, there were twice as many (eight) earlier. In the living room on a tabletop cooker they had been making quesadillas and smores – yes, these are international school students. Sarah’s (TokyoDave’s number two daughter) red-haired boyfriend is half Japanese, half Argentine. Definitely a mixed crowd where English was the major language. And like teens everywhere, more food was needed:

Yep – they send Mitzio (TokyoDave’s wife) to the Dominos store because you get an extra pizza if you pick it up rather than have it delivered. Thankfully she also picked up a bag of ice for cocktails.

It was a long evening of catching up, noshing on various bits and bobs, a bottle of red wine was opened to go with the dutyfree whiskey I brought. Spanish, El Diablo something. Didn’t try it but it was finished by the morning.

Julian showed up from Nagoya in the morning – only getting a little lost needing TokyoDave to fetch him from the Family Mart (the 7-11 of Japan, except that 7-11’s are EVERYWHERE in Japan). Soon we were off to Kawasaki for the Kanamara Festival. Basically, it’s a Penis Festival – like the one that I went to two years ago in Komaki.

Police had closed off streets:

And the crowds were massive – much larger than the festival in Komaki.

With lots of people in costume:

And then the parade of penises started:

But a still photo doesn’t do it justice – how about a video!

And there were more “floats”….

This one was carried by and donated to the local temple by local drag queens:

Yet, more dongs…

And dress-up:

It turned into a family event with TokyoDave’s wife and daughter meeting up with us, though it’s only Julian, Sarah, and I in this shot.

Sarah and I are eating chocolate dipped penis’ (banana on a stick), while Julian is holding up his “mini-me”.

Eventually, we ended up at one of the two temples (starting and ending):

When the “honored guest” (that would be me) was ask about lunch, my request was not for street/stall food, but a sit-down restaurant to get away from the crowds (and, frankly, to sit down). We ended up at t noodle joint.

You order and pay at the hostess station, they give you tickets to place on the table. Want drinks? Step up to the vending machine for more tickets:

I opted for the sparking sake:

Soon, it was time to head back to TokyoDave at Mitzio’s house and relax:

And have a little late dinner.

For tomorrow Julian and I head to Nagoya.

[219.4]

Mon
19
Mar '18

Trip Report: Hōnen Matsuri

That’s right, it’s Penis Festival Time – I mean Hōnen Matsuri!

This will be the third “festival“, my second time at Komaki. I’ve returned because I wanted to see what a smaller town festival would be like when it didn’t fall on a weekend. The one in Kawasaki always on the first Sunday of April, while the Komaki one is always on a specific date – March 15th, which when I was here three years ago, fell on a Sunday.

There must be some tourist interest for them to post the sign in English, especially since the route alternates even and odd years. See the WikiPedia entry.

There is lots of milling about before the parade – food stalls, if you can call chocolate covered bananas, food.

And candy stalls selling penis pops…that would be Taylor, a friend of Julian’s joining us:

Strangely, Zima is still a thing in Japan, and I got talked into trying one:

Which led to this….

And all this was BEFORE the parade was underway….which starts now:

And they were handing out free sake ladled out of a big wooden cask…

And they had a “petting zoo”…

We followed the parade all the way back to the temple…

As a side note it was interesting that locals would approach and chat with us – it helped that Julian and Taylor both speak a little Japanese.

Everyone was getting into the spirit…think Goth Sperm Dress:

Then there was the traditional “throwing of the rice cakes”…

I like the guy with the catcher’s mitt!

Somewhere along the way we met up with Kent, who Taylor knew from Tender, but had declined his invitation to go to the penis festival together…and as (his) luck would have it, he found us in the crowd.

Off we went for real food:

I do remember that this was an “all you could eat – all you could drink” place.

Which could be why I don’t remember the details of the karaoke bar we went to afterwards…at least I got a bit of a nap in. Apparently, I only made it through one drink at the bar – which was all you could drink in an hour. Not looking too hot on the train ride home:

At least tonight, we made the last train home.

Barely.

[? ? ?]

For more blog posts, CLICK HERE.

Sun
16
Nov '14

Carbon Footprint 2015

Where has Uncle Markie travelled to in the calendar year 2015?

January

  • Sacramento, CA
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Victoria, BC Canada
  • San Antonio, TX

February

  • San Francisco, CA
  • Victoria, BC Canada

March

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Dubai, United Arab Emerites
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Komaki, Japan
  • Ocean Park, WA
  • Forks, WA

April

  • Blaine, WA
  • Vancouver, BC Canada
  • Honolulu, HI

May

  • Honolulu, HI
  • Honolulu, HI (mileage run)
  • Olympia, WA
  • Portland, OR
  • Olympia, WA
  • St. Maarten/Sint Martin (that’s in the Caribbean you know — half Dutch, half French)
  • Santa Fe, NM

June

  • Whistler, BC Canada
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Whistler, BC Canada

July

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Taos, NM

August

  • Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR
  • Bend, OR

September

  • Walla Wall, WA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Vancouver, BC Canada to Los Angeles, CA Cruise
  • Denver, CO
  • Chicago, IL
  • New Orleans, LA

October

  • Denver, CO
  • Portland, OR
  • Berkeley, CA
  • Boston, MA
  • Sunshine Coast, BC

November

  • Palm Springs, CA
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Los Angeles, CA to Vancouver, BC Canada Cruise
  • Vancouver, BC

December

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Vancouver, BC
  • Vancouver, BC Canada to Los Angeles, CA Cruise
Thu
20
Nov '14

Status Report: Confessions Of A Travel Addict

While my hands are quite shaking, it does feel weird that I’ll be at home for the next couple of weeks – maybe that’s why a spur of the moment trip to Leavenworth is looking so tempting. It’s not like I don’t have anything to look forward to:

The second Albuquerque is actually Dwight’s flight to meet up with me for our train ride back to Seattle in a Bedroom (rather than Roomette) on the Southwest Chief connecting to the Coast Starlight. What’s a bedroom on the train look like:

And the shower/toilet stall…

But the trip that I’m most excited about is my March trip to Japan to visit TokyoDave, faux nephew Julian who is teaching English as a second language, and see the Phallus Festival in Komaki where he lives. Of course, the journey is part of the adventure:

Yep – I’m going the long way around. Emirates from Seattle to Dubai, a 13-hour layover in the Business Class
Lounge, then onto Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Haneda is the close in airport – and Emirates is even giving me car service on both ends. It was 75,000 Alaska miles for a one-way to Japan and another 75,000 on United to fly home in Business aboard an ANA
787-8. $57.70 in taxes and fees. Not bad! I pulled the price of my itinerary on Expedia and their price was $16,269.40. WOW. That means I am getting 10.8 per mile value out of those frequent flier miles – the usual calculation is that frequent flier miles are worth 1-2 cents apiece.

POST UPDATE: Here is a great article on what points are worth. According to this article, Alaska points are valued at 2 cents per mile while Uniteds are valued at 1.5 cents per mile (down from 2 cents last year because of changes redemptions). Whole article here.

Lots of firsts (but no First Class) on this trip:

So, assuming I have the right images, this is what Business Class on Emirates 777s look like:

As opposed to the Business Class seats on ANA’s
787-8:

Looking forward to experiencing both airlines. And look at the menus:

Not going to lose any weight on this trip.

Here is a great picture from WikiPedia of the Phallus Festival…

So, the confession is that even when I’m in town, my mind is out of town, looking forward to the next trip – but having blown most of my stash of miles, it will be awhile before I’m back overseas.

[224.2]

Sun
14
Dec '14

Holiday Letter


Guess this gives me an excuse to write a Holiday Letter so here goes:

My addiction to travel continues untreated. This year found me hitting several milestones:

  • In June hit United Airlines Million Mile status meaning gold for life
  • In September made Elite Status on Princess Cruises meaning free internet minutes, free laundry/dry cleaning, and they stock my mini-bar once for free – another lifetime perk
  • In October made Alaska Airline MVP Gold Status through 2015 meaning fairly regular free upgrades to First Class and double miles on all my flights. When I don’t get the upgrade at least they comp my first drink in Economy – and then there are the two free checked bags which is handy when heading to Santa Fe during the holiday with all the presents in tow. Leaving tomorrow staying a couple of nights and taking the train home in the bedroom sleeper.

As for all that travel, it’s been a CRAZY year. On United to get to that Million Mile mark, 41,543 flight miles, Alaska Airlines will be 53,440 (only needed 40,000 to qualify for Gold but there were too many great last minute deals).

The travel list for this year (including this week’s trip):

January

  • Berkeley, CA
  • Los Angeles, CA – Ensenada, Mexico – Los Angeles, CA cruise
  • Berkeley, CA
  • Victoria, BC
  • Bozeman, MT

February

  • Forks, WA
  • Portland, OR
  • Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR
  • Portland, OR
  • Berkeley, CA
  • Denver, CO

March

  • Boston, MA (mileage run)
  • Boston, MA (overnight)
  • Bucharest, Bulgaria
  • Istanbul, Turkey

April

  • Denver, CO
  • Hong Kong (mileage run)
  • Honolulu, HI
  • Redmond, OR
  • Vancouver, BC

May

  • Vancouver, BC
  • Vancouver, BC-Seattle, WA Cruise
  • San Francisco (2 mileage runs in one day)
  • Orlando, FL (mileage run)
  • Oakland, CA (mileage run)
  • Houston, TX (overnight to connect to Air France flight)
  • Paris, France

June

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA Train Trip

July

  • Whistler, BC
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Stockholm, Sweden
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands

August

  • Denver, CO via Train and Plane
  • Victoria, BC

September

  • Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
  • New Orleans, LA
  • Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC Princess Cruise
  • Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA Princess Cruise
  • Tucson, AZ

October

  • Tucson, AZ (same as September trip)
  • Sacramento, CA
  • Santa Fe, NM

November

  • Los Angeles, CA to Los Angeles, CA Princess Cruise
  • San Diego, CA (Cruise Stop)
  • Ensenada, Mexico (Cruise Stop)
  • Denver, CO

December

  • Detroit, MI
  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Albuquerque, NM to Los Angeles, CA Train Trip
  • Los Angeles, CA to Seattle, WA Train Trip

 

2015 is starting to book up as well:

January

  • Sacramento, CA
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Victoria, BC Canada
  • San Antonio, TX

February

  • Berkeley, CA
  • Victoria, BC Canada
  • Santa Fe, NM

March

  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Komaki, Japan
  • Forks, WA

April

  • Honolulu, HI

May

June

  • Whistler, BC

 

My business partner just shakes his head when I tell him where I’m headed. He’s much more the home body, but as long as I’m back to work my days, no harm, no foul. Speaking of the shop (that would be Madrona Wine Merchants which I have a 1/3 interest), here is a status update on how the business is going.

A little more than three years into starting the wine shop, things are frankly going better than I would have ever hoped for. We have no debt mostly because to retail wine in the state of Washington you have to pay for it first, no credit from the distributors allowed. What debt we had from the beginning were mostly store fixtures (much of which we built ourselves in my woodshop/garage) that we put on the shop’s credit cards was paid off last year. We pay ourselves for our time behind the counter and have always been current with the exception of a couple of winter months the first year. We’ve upped our take several times over the years and are on stable ground finance wise.

The shop itself is small – just 350sqft of sales space with 75sqft in the back for toilet/sink/icemaker and a small amount of storage. Small, but we pack it in with over 650 different labels (stock ranging from 4 to 12 bottles of each. The majority of the bottles are in the $10-20 range with a handful under $10 and a few that range to the low $100s. We are located in the Madrona Neighborhood of Seattle. Those of you who visited me in Seattle before I had the Boylston Street house might remember when Jim (now my business partner) and I lived at 25th and Union – if you kept heading east on Union, at the top of the next hill you would run into 34th Avenue, the heart of Madrona where we are on the main strip with reasonable rent. Sales have been improving year over year which is what you want in a small business.

As for the love life, I’d been seeing someone for a couple of years but with the 4 hour commute and other things he found a partner to move in with who is a much better match. We parted on good terms and are still in contact from time to time. Socially active having people over to dinner a couple of times a week (when I’m in town) and opening the house to the occasional CouchSurfer along with my friends from out of town. Mom is still holding in there though losing a lot of body strength which she is working on with the help of a therapist. Sadly, her travel days are over but she has all the memories of her own travels and still has her mind and eyes and is happy keeping current with books/magazines and the three daily papers, It is nice that she is at El Castillo, a retirement community just off the Plaza in Santa Fe. With it being a two-bedroom it gives me a place to stay on my visits to work through the “honey do” list. I try and show up every 3-4 months depending on airfare.

Looking forward to seeing The Colonels in a couple of days during their almost annual pre-Christmas visit to Santa Fe. And, of course, looking forward to taking the train home with my buddy Dwight sharing the Bedroom Sleeper on the Southwest Chief connecting to the Coast Starlight in Los Angeles.

Happy Holidays one and all.

UncleMarkie

Mon
16
Mar '15

Trip Report: Tokyo & Yokohama

Oh the joys of family. My planned two-night stay in Tokyo has been turned into a one-night stay in Tokyo and a one-night stay in Yokohama, where I am the .005% — which has turned out to be…I’m at a loss for words, but not at all negative.

One of the things that I love about JapanLand is the attention to detail….TokyoDave got his shirts back from the laundry – tied with a ribbon:

Nice touch.

I spent my morning in Tokyo, not sightseeing, but working on the last blog post, eating toast and yogurt and Japanese-brand Laughing Cow, before Mitsio (TokyoDave’s wife) returned home and made coffee. I’m at a loss in their kitchen.

By noon or so I’m at the station to catch the train to Yokohama – in theory meeting up with TokyoDave on the train. They gave me one of their “ORCA” cards (actually that’s a Seattle thing, but same principle), though it was drained so I had to go through “the dance” and then top it off before the end of the trip. Apparently the same card works all over Japan, which should be handy – just need to mail it back since I think it’s like Seattle’s with a $10 charge to buy one.

Small misconnection with TokyoDave, but with the joys of email, we have a backup plan, and I have a “chair”, I mean suitcase, that works as a seat, and before you know it we are here:

And then we are checked in, after a bit of a walk – not my fault!

Tight quarters, but not my dime, nor Circus, nor Monkeys.

First up – LUNCH!

Nothing says Tokyo like plates of food on a conveyor belt – though we ordered the lunch special. We just needed a snack to tide us over until an early dinner (5:30):

The joys of mechanization, Tokyo Style.

And then there are the vending machines… not the porno ones in the “entertainment district”, but more mundane:

I love the “Japanese” Juan Valdez hocking coffee….

Next up was the Shinyokohama Raumen Museum…sort of an “odd” concept – you pay 310 yen to get in, and the place is set up to look like a 1958 townscape with stalls selling various styles of ramen…like I said, “odd” Covers two floors…

The only reservation TokyoDave could get for Teppanyaki was at 5:30 – which is a little early for dinner (for me…), but the show was fun:

Nice meal all around – though not cheap. Think 35000yen (now divide by 120). Luckily (for me) it was a business expense for TokyoDave since I’m his registered agent.

That was pretty much the end of the evening for the two of us.

In the morning it’s the breakfast buffet that is seriously crowded….but it’s included in the room, so we are up and out early since TokyoDave is manning the desk at his daughter Maya’s International Baccalaureate Art Show (the same sort of show that I went to for my niece Karen a couple of weeks ago. Here is a quick picture of Maya’s exhibit.

Maya’s would the second one in from the left. It seemed a little higher quality that the New Mexico show, but not hugely so.

Lots of interesting work in Maya’s – even got to meet TokyoDave’s in-laws, who were in town for the show as well, hence, why I was decamped to Yokohama so they could have the guest bedroom.

I have the day to kill before catching the Bullet Train to Nagoya to meet up with my nephew, Julian. First up is the Silk Museum, which was right next to the IB exhibition.

Not a huge place, but lots of traditional clothing throughout Japan’s history. Then it’s off to the Nissan Gallery at their World Headquarters – yes, I know, I’m breaking my rule of only one tourist attractions per day, but these were pretty cars to look at, and nice butts in rubber pants:

Then down the block a little more and it was to the Haro Model Railway Museum – apparently this guy has been collecting and building model trains for his entire life.

Then it was back to the district where my hotel was to grab my luggage – but not before trying to squeeze in one last museum, the CupNoodles Museum (yes, that’s how it’s spelled).

But alas, there were tons of people in line to just get tickets. Guess I’ll save that for the next trip. Time to grab a bite, pick up the luggage and head to the station (which luckily is right across the street from the hotel). And this would be my office inside the JRStation waiting for my train…time to work on the blog (but not finished it – which is too bad because there is free wi-fi and I’m stocked with Whiskey and Diet.

Da Train Boss, Da Train!

Stay tuned for Nagoya and Komaki.

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Fri
1
Jan '16

Year End Report: My How Time Flies (As Do I)

Sort of a quick year in review…lost Mom in July along with a number of others of my contemporaries that lost their moms this year – final count was six. Add another friend who decided to check out early – makes me reflect on life a little more than usual.

But those were the low spots – everybody has some every year. Focus on the positive, try and get the most out of life before your knees (or whatever) give out.

No surprise that I’ve been travelling a bit this year:

January

  • Sacramento, CA
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Victoria, BC Canada
  • San Antonio, TX

February

  • San Francisco, CA
  • Victoria, BC Canada

March

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Komaki, Japan
  • Ocean Park, WA
  • Forks, WA

April

  • Blaine, WA
  • Vancouver, BC Canada
  • Honolulu, HI

May

  • Honolulu, HI
  • Honolulu, HI
    (mileage run)
  • Olympia, WA
  • Portland, OR
  • Olympia, WA
  • St. Maarten
  • Santa Fe, NM

June

  • Whistler, BC Canada
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Whistler, BC Canada

July

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Taos, NM

August

  • Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR
  • Bend, OR

September

  • Walla Wall, WA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Vancouver, BC Canada to Los Angeles, CA Cruise
  • Denver, CO
  • Chicago, IL
  • New Orleans, LA

October

  • Denver, CO
  • Portland, OR
  • Berkeley, CA
  • Boston, MA
  • Sunshine Coast, BC

November

  • Palm Springs, CA
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Los Angeles, CA to Vancouver, BC Canada Cruise
  • Vancouver, BC

December

  • Santa Fe, NM
  • Vancouver, BC
  • Vancouver, BC Canada to Los Angeles, CA Cruise

 

OK – that looks scary when I put it into a chart, but the stats from all those trips in 2015…

  • Alaska Airline flight mileage count: 54,229
  • Alaska Frequent Flyer freebie flight miles: 24,682
  • United flight mileage count: 1,000
  • United Frequent Flyer freebie flight miles: 1,500
  • Points-(35,000) related free overnight long distance train trips: 2
  • Car miles: couple of thousand
  • Coastal cruises: 3

Wow, that’s 75,000 butt-in-seat miles this year. Not a record (110,000 I think is the record, but that didn’t cover redeemed miles).

Already planned for the New Year are:

  • Sacramento (January)
  • Vietnam via Dubai (January)
  • Victoria, BC (February)
  • Santa Fe & Albuquerque to Seattle train (February)
  • New Orleans (February)
  • Greece (June)
  • Cabo San Lucas (September)

And I have to figure out how to book almost 50,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points before they are devalued on January 14th, so think two more long distance multi-night trips in 2016.

Hard to believe that I can do all this travel AND still work my hours at the shop (Madrona Wine Merchants). Just finished inventory today (we’ve got it down to two hours), figured out the year-end numbers – now it’s just the impending hell of getting the tax information to the accountant. Overall, it was a good year, and I love being able to by my personal wine at wholesale prices – means I tend to be drinking a little better quality, so not really much money savings. Then there is the fact that when people come to dinner at my place, they are now afraid to bring wine.

I’ve been blessed this year with spending quality time with friends and families over many a good meal, especially over this holiday season when I’ve been baking/cooking up a storm.

Some random food shots from the last couple of weeks:

Baked pork spare ribs

Baguettes

Adult corn dogs – chicken sausages baked inside bread

Chicken thighs poached in chili plum glaze

Dog-turd looking dinner rolls

Dinner rolls on the inside, cinnamon buns (channeling the Savoy Grill in Kansas City) on the outside

Puff pastry stuffed with shrimp, mushroom and onion

And a couple of my favorite dinner guests enjoying ginger, onion, mushroom fried shrimp with apricot, clove, saffron rice (and salad, because we all need roughage

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. May life bring you joy.

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Mon
10
Apr '17

Trip Report: Nagoya, Day One

Thanks to TackyT-ShirtPrincess, I have a link to the international coverage of the festival I attended in Kawasaki. CLICK HERE. Should I return next spring, I think I’d go back to the one in Komaki (always on March 15th – Kawasaki’s is always the first Sunday in April) as the crowds are smaller and the phallus’ bigger.

Guess that I really SHOULD show you the shirt I got her – even though it will ruin the surprise since she hasn’t gotten it yet:

With that little additional information about Kanamara, we need to get ourselves south to Nagoya on the Shinkansen, which means a couple of different trains to pick it up in Yokohama.

Yep – during the morning commute. But we made it.

And soon, the little lady with the cart came around. I picked a lovely Australian Red to go with my egg salad sandwich on blindingly white bread:

The trains are definitely high-tech – they even come with instructions on how to use the toilet:

Don’t squat on the rim, don’t put your poop stained toilet paper in the trash can, and wave your hand around to flush.

To give you an idea of how quick the train is – here’s a short video:

All that speed made me thirsty, so when the trolley lady came by, it was time for another round:

Arriving at Nagoya’s Central Station, changed to the local train, where there was even a sign on the train advertising the wine TokyoDave and Mitsio drank while we were in Tokyo:

Arriving at Julian’s place, I see he’s stocked up in preparation of my visit:

Though we might have to hit the grocery store for some of their 3 to 5 liter bottles:

His new place (since my last visit) is a definite step up – on the 13th floor with a nice view:

And the insides are nice as well!

You can see his previous place in this POST.

No rest for the wicked (guess that would be me), so after dropping our bags, it’s off to a Japanese Curry restaurant:

I even had a beer – yes, me!

Since this is Julian’s last day off before returning to work – off we go Inuyama Castle – more trains, more walking:

And after six or seven flights of “ship stairs”, we get (me, huffing and puffing) to the top to see the view:

Walked back to the station to use the facilities…luckily, no need for this one:

At least there was toilet paper.

But wait, there is MORE! Appetizers at home.

Before heading out to conveyor sushi! Where you order by tablet.

And get your own hot water for tea:

With food coming on Shinkansen and belts:

And a little video

And in the end, you pay by the stack of plates, by color:

Long day, longer…wait – karaoke!

In my(previous) world, karaoke is something done at a bar with people fighting over a microphone. Apparently in Japan, it’s something experienced with friends in a private reserved room with free unlimited booze.

This is a favorite of Julian:

Free drinks (with room rent) help Uncle Markie get into the spirit:

Julian filmed a small (thankfully) segment when the liquor took over:

A seriously long night. I’m thinking of sleeping in.

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Fri
16
Mar '18

Trip Report: Headed To Japan

Nice to have a washer/dryer when preparing to leave the continent for ten days. Woohoo, clean laundry!

My trip to Japan kicked off with a humorous encounter at the ANA check-in counter…where I ran into Beth, Zilla, their two kids and his mother. And on my flight no less!

Seems like they like to get to the airport three hours before flights as well.

Left them to get through security, and I headed to the S Concourse and the Sea-Tac owned lounge that ANA contracts out to serve their Business and First-Class passengers. Nothing like a noon time Manhattan.

When I arrived, breakfast stuff was out, but quickly transitioned to lunch items:

Not a bad lounge, though not huge:

Nice views of the runway:

Before long, it was time to board:

Not the best picture of my Business Class seat, but you can see by the window size that this is a 787.

And the usual pre-departure glass of bubbles!

And it certainly was a beautiful day to fly…

Soon, food started coming out. There were choices of either Japanese-style, or what they referred to as International. I chose International. Round one:

Round two:

Here is a close up of the classiest salt/pepper contained I’ve seen on any airline:

They were two separate pieces, and the empty on is for Olive Oil that came in a tiny little bottle which immediately went into my backpack.

On to the soup (corn) course:

Followed by the main:

Followed by dessert:

And more booze:

I went back to check on my friends a couple of times during the flight – they were in Economy Plus, which has nicer, wider seats (and I believe, upgraded food), that regular economy in the far back. I think they said it was $1800 more round-trip for the four of them:

Kind of nice having people to visit during the flight!

Then there was the pre-landing food service. I opted for “International” with a little champagne:

Nine and a half hours later, we landed in Tokyo, where after immigration and customs I headed to the ANA Domestic Lounge, which was oddly, before security:

With free, pour it yourself booze:

But the food offerings were fairly puny.

In retrospect, I should have used the showers in the lounge. Next time!

The boarding was out a set of doors and onto a bus out on the tarmac to a 767-300, which seems like overkill for the short flight to Nagoya. My boarding pass said Economy – but this is what “economy” meant to ANA:

Before the doors closed, I moved to this seat instead:

Like its own little island in the sky!

There was only time for a water and tea service on the 45-minute flight – maybe that’s why they called it “economy”.

This is what greeted in at baggage claim!

And Johnny Depp was on the train with me:

While getting into town was a straight shot – finding the “Golden Clock” in the huge Nagoya station took an hour of wondering around:

I needed to find the clock because his directions to the British Pub (a chain called The Hub) we were going to meet up with started from this point.

I can’t tell you how glad I was to find the place – and get a cocktail. I would have preferred a stool to sit on, but the place was packed, and everyone was smoking, both inside and outside, where it was actually warm enough to hang out.

I couldn’t really leave my bags to go back and get a second drink, so messaged Julian to meet me at the Golden Clock instead. At least there I could sit on my bag without the smoke.

Julian works until 9:30pm (starts at noon) teaching English in Komaki, one town over. By the time he got there it was already 10:30pm so we headed out to a 60’s style restaurant, oddly, a couple of doors down from The Hub.

While it was a relaxed dinner, we had to rush at the end to make sure we caught the last train home, which was around midnight. We made it, but with only minutes to spare.

All in all, a VERY LONG day for me.

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For more blog posts: CLICK HERE.

Sat
13
Aug '22

Trip Memories: Guest Post From Julian Honeycutt

Gods & Penises

by Julian Honeycutt

 

In Japan, they say you are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. That is, as a new baby you will go to the Shinto shrine for purification, when the time comes, you’ll likely get married in a big building fashioned to look like a chapel and say vows in a wedding dress and tuxedo. And when your number is up, you’ll get cremated, and your family will give you a Buddhist funeral. And if you’re lucky your children, and grandchildren will pray for your soul in their butsudan and at every Obon. But in the intervening years, from that first purification ceremony until the day your remaining family all gathers in black, if you need a wish granted or a prayer answered you go to a Shinto shrine. Do you have a big exam coming up, and you need to pass? Go to Yamada-Tenmangu Shrine. Did you just make a business deal and want it to succeed? Go to Fushimi-Inari Shrine. Or do you want to start a family? Go to Tagata-jinja Shrine.

And that is exactly where we were headed at 10:00 AM on March 15th, 2018. Uncle Markie and I were on the train out toward Inyuama, the site of feudal wars between samurai and home to Japan’s oldest castle. But we weren’t going for the grandeur and history of feudal lords, we were going for the penises, and tradition, but mostly the penises. Convenience store bag in hand Katie met us on the train as we left the city. And I introduced her to my Bon vivant Uncle Markie, who isn’t really my uncle, that’s just a name that everyone calls him, including now Katie. She opened her convenience store bag and the morning started. Drinking on trains in Japan isn’t illegal and it’s hardly frowned upon, people just don’t usually do it, save silver-haired men and groups of foreigners. And with Uncle Markie in tow, we checked both boxes. So, a little after 10:00 we opened our 9% canned grapefruit cocktails. Next stop – Tagata-jinja Shrine.

The Penis Festival, actually called Honen-Matsuri, is a Shinto festival that has taken place in the same city in Japan for over 1,000 years. In its essence, it is a Shinto festival that celebrates prosperity and hopes for a fruitful bountiful harvest. In its display, it is a festival that provides free sake and parades a seven-foot 800 lb. undulating wooden penis through the streets of Komaki. If this is a wholly solemn and spiritual event, then the alcohol, commerce, frenzy, and fun are wildly out of place.

As we arrived, we passed Liquor Mountain whose line, at just before 11:00, already extended far out the front door. The parking lots on both sides of the street had been converted into vending stalls and food carts. Like most festivals in Japan, the standard clamshells of yakisoba noodles or paper cups of karaage chicken were everywhere. But unlike most festivals in Japan, so were the penises. T-shirt vendors- penises, varied banana vendors-penises, and candied penises, penises, and more penises.

It could seem odd, but it would take some great deal of time before we were penised out. Ring the penis bell of prayer? Yes! Give some money as an offering to the Gods? Couldn’t hurt! Rub the steel testicles for good luck? Don’t mind if I do! By mid-afternoon, young women in kimonos were offering free sake and parading the street caring wooden penises the size of a Sheltie (it’s seen as good luck to pet the penises; so, everyone pets the penises).

By late afternoon mochi cakes, supplied by local vendors, and mostly inedible, were being tossed from the rooftops. And the penises were winding down. With a mochi unsatisfying, only so much room in our stomachs for chocolate bananas and penis candies, it was time to go.

And though it was a Thursday, a day followed by Friday: a day in the working week, we felt it unjust to let it end so soon. The all-you-can-eat & drink yakiniku restaurant was a short few stops away. So, we did: all-you-can-eat & all-you-can-drink. As we paid and left the restaurant. Markie stumbled into a trip, that became a fall. And a drunk 62-year-old man hits the ground pretty hard. His pants ripped and his knee bloodied he asked us if we could just leave him there. Leave him there blocking the front entrance to the restaurant? No. No, we would not. Plus, you don’t follow up a penis festival with all you can eat & drink just to end it in a parking lot. Tomorrow was going to be hard, but I could see the cat paw of the Maneki Neko Karaoke (Inviting Cat Karaoke) sign from where I was standing, and we were doing some goddamn karaoke.

For my original post, click here.

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Sat
18
Mar '23

Trip Report: Pacific Grand Tour – Nagoya

Flying into Nagoya from Guam…

Compared to Guam, immigration and customs was a breeze in Nagoya. Bags and through in minutes, not hours.

Left my luggage at a hotel that I may or may not stay at tonight, and headed over to The Flight Of Dreams which is connected to Terminal 2 at NGO.

Who would have thought I be greeted by The Seattle Terrace!

Complete with Starbucks, Beecher’s Cheese, Ethan Stowell, Seattle Fish and Chips…

I went for the Fish & Chips and a Highball!

Nothing like having lunch under the wing of the FIRST 787 to roll off the line for test flights in Everett.

Lots of interesting exhibits, including the DHK Lego Diorama:

And there was even a Boeing Store – which I picked up something for Jonathan…

 

Around four, Julian was done with his “new parent” job today – the birth of he and Yurika’s identical twin girls via c-section a little after noon. He kindly met me at the airport to help wrangle my bags.

On the train to his house so I can set up the snack bowl of “Lounge Food”.

Dinner tonight is in. Korean, prepared by the excellent chef Julian:

The next day found us out shopping at Eon, and then out for conveyor belt sushi, though it’s now all special order.

And our haul from the store…

And some random tourist shots…

 

And after the temple, off to look for Obi and Hopi….

And here was the haul! Five Obi, five Hopi Coat:

Some random Japanese Posters…

And vending machines…

And another GREAT Julian meal or two, breakfast and Okinawan dinner:

The next post will be devoted to the Fertility Festival happening in Komaki.

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