If you have just heard the sirens and are wondering WTF! They are a tsunami warning for Numazu. There is an estimated 0.5m tsunami for the coast of Japan due to a 8.0 Magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean near Indonesia.
Tsunami walls are several meters high, so there is little to worry about unless you are on the beaches in which case evacuate to higher ground beyond the tsunami wall immediately. Stay safe and follow the lead of the locals. Everything seems safe.
Links
Baird Brewing will be holding the Fishmarket Taprooms 12th year anniversary celebrations this coming weekend from July 20-22. This a massive weekend with great food and Baird Brewing’s finest beer. There will be brewery tours and a BBQ at the brewery.
Te brewery BBQ will be from 1:00-5 or 6:00pm and the taproom will be open from 1pm til midnight. All food and beer will be 500yen and you will be able to get a special 5,000yen card for the celebrations that will entitle you to 12 items plus a Baird Brewing Glass. Awesome deal.
Fishmarket Taproom manager ‘Cajun’ Chris and I have made some amazing sausages for the celebrations. You can taste our deliscious sausages from Saturday July 21. I’ll even be there behind the BBQ. Be sure to ask for my sausage.
Catch you there.
One of the joys of Living in Numazu is that they have a Yamazaki Vinos. And one of the joys of the Yamazaki Vinos is the wine tasting.
The Vinos in Numazu is in a sneaky little spot on the basement of the イーラde (Iira-de) department store snuggled into a corner of the Yamazaka grocery store. The cellar-like subdued lighting and sanded pine timbered walls stenciled with the shop name to look as if it had been branded creates an oasis from the surrounding supermarket.
Getting a tasting is simple. Just rock on up to the counter and ask. There is a list of wines on display on the shelves behind the service counter and a plaque showing prices for tastings, glasses and the whole bottle.
The wine list is carefully selected and only the better quality wines make it to the tasting list. Every time I have gone for a tasting there I have always experience quality. However, that quality doesn’t always come with a high price. The selection is expansive. Today’s selection varied from 150-1050 yen for a tasting or 350-2650yen a glass. Of course the more expensive wines are at the top end of the tasting cost and frequently retail for around 10,000yen a bottle and taste like you have just drunk unicorn milk.
From today’s tasting my hands down, pants off favourite was the Havens 2009 Chardonay Oakville from the Nappa Valley. This creamy Chardonnay was rich in vanilla with subtle notes of cinnamon and peach. It combined perfectly with their European cheese platter from their fromagere in Shizuoka. There are a dozen other snacks on the menu to accompany your tasting. The tastings average around 600yen a plate.
The staff know their stuff too. While I was there I noted the staff guiding customers with their recommendations and offering wines in different styles and price ranges to satisfy them. However, I did make the mistake of commenting about one particularly good tasting only to have the wine seller animatedly tell me all about it. This would have been fascinating had I understood a word he had said.
Yamazaki Vinos is not exclusive to Numazu. It is actually part of a high end supermarket business with several chain stores. The prefecture capital, Shizuoka, has two Vinos that I have visited and also is home to the best fromagere I have found in Japan.
Hours (bar) – 11:00-21:00hrs(last order 20:30)
English menu – No sorry but its pretty easy to figure out. Just point and say tasting or glass.
Highlighting the best of what’s on in Numazu for Mayl 2012. If you like something click on the link for more details. If you have an event you want to add put it in the comments below.
Beer – Shizuoka Summer Mikan Ale is back in Baird Brewing’s Taproom again. This refreshing beer is an annual favourite. At 5.5% is is a Goldilocks beer for summer.
Outdoors – The Citizens Forest campsite will be ready at the start or July and will say open until August 30th
Concert – Chiiki FU-RE-A-I Concert – A concert will be held in Heda. Quartet – from 14:00 – July 7
Party – Baird Brewing’s Taproom will have its 12th Anniversary this month. Everything is Y500 — beers (plastic cups) and food. Sat & Sun they will also have a BBQ in the brewery parking lot, 1:00-5:00 or 6:00. The taproom anniversaries are huge fun for Numazu and not one to miss. Here is a quote from the Cajun himself Chris “Friday from 5pm begins the weekend specials with our 5000yen Drink/Food card. We call it a Nonbe/Tabe-ken. All Beer and Food will be 500yen for the weekend but the card will get you 12 items for the price of 10 and a free BB glass when you finish the card and present it to one of the staff. Cards are valid only for the 12 Year Anniversary weekend. Use them this weekend or lose them.” Sounds good to me. July 20-22
DJ – Spazz if You Want Too will be back again at Speak Ez – July 6
Festival – Tanabata Star Festival will coming up soon. In the Nakamise the whole mall will be decorated until July 7. Special performance of Yosakoi dancing on July 7
Activities – Yosakoi – one of the biggest events in Numazu teams of traditional dancers from around the country country compete. You can be one of the dancers. Information session from 19:30 July 13
Activities – Want to get involved in the Numazu Summer Festival this year. Become one of the Mikoshi (mobile shrine) carriers. You can make a booking by phone 055-931-1111 or 055-934-4716 by July 13
Festival – Heda port festival will be on this month. Shrines, fireworks and weird cardboard box races on the sea. Well worth a visit. From 13:00 – July 21
Festival – Numazu Summer Festival – The biggest even in Numazu all year. Stall, beer, drunken Mikoshi carriers, beer, fireworks, beer, yukatas, beer, dancers, beer – July 28 and 29
If you know of any other event going on this month in the Numazu area feel free to post them in the comments below.
Highlighting the best of what’s on in Numazu for June 2012. If you like something click on the link for more details. If you have an event you want to add put it in the comments below.
Beer – Baird Brewing’s Fishmarket Taproom has two beers that came out at the end of this month as part of the May Hop Madness campaign – Triple-Dry Bohemian Pils (5.7%) and 4-S Belgian Blonde Ale (5.5%). I think I will check them out this Saturday night.
DJ – get down to the Spazz if You Want Too party at SpeakEZ. June 2
Event – Want to meet the glorious curves that is Miss Ose? Then Fresh OSE Diver’s Day is your day. She will be there, bikini clad, with her friends waiting for you… to help pick up rubbish along the shores of Ose. There is nothing hotter than picking up trash – especially coming into summer. Besides you will be helping to preserve the environment for future generations and … blah blah blah insert enviro-social conscience message here. There will be a Miss Ose contest and bingo. I hear that first prize is a night with Miss Ose herself – Thought I can’t verify this fact. Okay I made it up. 9:00-16:00 June 3
Concert – Summer Jazz Concert at San-Well Numazu – Free – 14:00-15:30 June 8
Exhibition – A exhibition of the movie “Otoko ha Tsuraiyo” and will be on display at the Senbon Mini Gallery this month. June 10
Exhibition – Pressed flower art work at the Senbon Mini gallery – June 12-14
Nature – The firefly’s will be out this month and they are not to miss. Join the group up in Ashitaka Park at the Youth House in Nature – 18:00-21:00 – June 16, 17
Culture – Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony will be held an the Numazu Imperial Villa again this month. 10:00-15:00, June 17
Show – Numazu Comedy Theatre will be hosting the 25th Vaudville in Town. admission 1600yen – starts at 14:00. June 17
If you know of any other event going on this month in the Numazu area feel free to post them in the comments below.
The nation is in uproar this week after a recent press release by JP Bank’s public relations officer Haben Yuuon. The release disclosed to the Japanese public that all the ATM’s will be taking an all expenses paid vacation to the Cayman Islands for the Golden Week holidays.
After the collective rising creassendo of “uuuuuuhhh!” had subsided among the press members present at the release, Mr Yuuon explained that “our companies ATM’s have not had a holiday in many years and deserve a well earned break”.
It was only hours after the press release that the company’s decision was met by many and varied criticisms.
“What if I spend all my cash at the snack bar on the 3rd? How will I be able to go out the next three nights?”, Takeru Fujisawa, 35, said from his bedroom in his aging parents house.
Another outraged citizen stated, “I can’t believe they are getting a holiday. I haven’t had a holiday in 15 year…I even work more hours than them. It is so unfair.” a bleary eyed salary man dispaired.
However, the majority of the anger seems to have come from the timing of the vacation. A possible spokesman from Occupy Tokyo, a two man and a rabbit sub-branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement said, “In these tough economic times it seems like a slap in the face for the country. I am not quite outraged that the JP Bank should be wasting money on pleasure trip for these over-privileged ATM’s. It is a massive waste of investors and customers money”.
The JP Bank has refused to respond to any criticisms.
Seriously though, the JP bank ATM’s will be closed on the 3, 4 and 5 of May due to system maintenance. If you need to get money out during this time either use a convenience store ATM.
More information at the JP Bank homepage.
Scott
Baird Beer has done it again. They have offered an event that I am compelled to tell you about immediately while my lunch goes cold (thanks) – May Hop Madness Month.
The crazy mofo’s at Baird Beer HQ have been slaving away in the beer mines to give you 15 glorious hop-forward beers for the month of May.
If that’s not enough for you to set up tent out the front of the Fishmarket taproom or any of the other Baird Beer Taprooms around Japan, the brewmaster Brian is offering up the 15 Hop beer challenge. If you are ready for the challenge get yourself a May Hop Madness Month card from any of the taprooms (it’s not a prepaid card) and every time you try a new May Hop Madness beer in the Month of May get it stamped. If you can get all 15 beers then you will receive an exclusive Bard Beer logo glass.
While the names and details of all 15 beers are tightly under wraps, I did manage to offer my body to Chris, from the brewery, in exchange for some details of the first release of the beers (it’s okay he was surprisingly gentle):
(1) Teikoku IPL
(2) Daidai IPA
(3) 4-C Strong Pale Ale
Keep up to date on the next releases for May Hop Madness Month on the Baird Beer homepage.
Cheers,
Scott
Highlighting the best of what’s on in Numazu for May 2012. If you like something click on the link for more details. If you have an event you want to add put it in the comments below.
Beer – Baird Beer’s Fishmarket Taproom will be having May Hop Madness Month. They will be offering 15 amazing hop beers. If you want to take up the challenge then you can ask for a special May Hop Madness Month card (not the prepaid one) and take up the 15 beer challenge. If you can drink all 15 throughout the month and get a stamp for each then you will be rewarded with a Baird Beer logo glass. Promotion last all through May and until the supply lasts so get in early. May.
Golden Week Beer – Baird Beer’s Fishmarket Taproom will be running longer times for your drinking convenience this Golden Week. Check out their details on their homepage. 12pm- 12am April 28,29, 30 : 5pm-12pm Wed May 2 : 12pm-12am May 3-6.
Concert – Senbon Plaza will be host to a koinobori concert – first in first served, capacity 230 – 13:30-15:30 May 3
Festival – Koinobori Festival -Yes the beautiful carp streamers will be flying again this year and the Minatoguchi Park (the one next to the View-O). There will be stalls, craft activities and stage shows. Check it out and round it off with a pint at the Fishmarket Taproom. 10:00-15:00 May 4 and 5.
Party – Open party in the park come along and make some friends, eat, drink and play frisbee. Free BYO everything. Senbon park 1pm-5pm May 5
Dance party – Spazz If You Want To live DJ night at SpeakEz. May 5.
Exhibit – The Numazu Imperial Villa will be celebrating Boy’s day with a Koinobori exhibit and traditional costume display. – Adults 100yen Children 50 yen. 9:00-16:30 until May 7
Exhibit – The Numazu Fine Art Association will be holding an exhibit this month on the 1st floor of the City Cultural Centre – 10:00-18:00(17:00 last day) May 7-13
Culture – Tea Party or perhaps a tea ceremony will be held at the Numazu Imperial Villa May 13
Sport – NICE will be hosting Tai Chi Classes at the city gym – 1,500yen fee – 19:15-20:45 – May 14, 21, 28 June 4
Dance – Salsa Night at SpeakEz. Get your Salsa on at this fun dance night with a lesson at the start and then open dance after. Entry fee appies. May 18
Festival – Suisanmatsuri ( Fishery Products Festival) celebrate the produce of the sea at this unusual festival at the Numazu Port. Don’t forget to see the seafood auction and unusual display of marine life. Great event. May 19
Live – Acousitc Night at SpeakEz – May 25.
Music – J-Pop night at SpeakEz – May 26
If you know of any other event going on this month in the Numazu area or you need me to make any corrections feel free to post them in the comments below.
Scott
Come join the fastest growing sport in Numazu, Capoeira. Capoeira is a styalized martial art from Brazil featuring acrobatics, dance and music.
Capoeira is a great full body workout and improves your strength, agility and flexibility.
Our little Capoeira group here in beautiful Numazu attempts to do all these things in a fun, friendly environment. We’re no pros but we would love it if you come join our little Roda (that’s the circle we play Capoeira in).
Training is totally free, just bring a water bottle towel and sports shoes.
We are going to try for four sessions this Golden Week (weather permitting) and you are welcome to any and all of them.
Schedule
(keep an eye out for schedule changes)
28 April – Saturday 3:00pm start. (following day at 9:00am if raining)
30 April – Monday 10:00am
3 May – Thursday 10:00am (following day 10:00am in case of rain) Cancelled.
5 May – Saturday 10:00am (following day 10:00am in case of rain)
We meet at the Numazu central park (沼津中央公園) on the south side of the station.
Scott
ウラシマソウ Arisaema Urashima or commonly know in English as the Cobra Lily.
The Story
The Urashima plant (ウラシマソウ)was named after the mythical fisherman Taro Urashima.
Arisaema Urashima
The story goes that one day the fisherman, Taro, saw some naughty little kids torturing a poor defenseless little turtle. Torturing sea animals is often an enjoyable past time for school children around the world. InJapan, elementary school children go on excursion to the seaside just for this purpose. I have once witnessed the ritualized slaughter of various small crabs in numerous inventive ways that would have put my boyhood seaside destruction to shame.
Anyway I digress. Taro, being a lifetime member of Greenpeace, was enraged by the misbehavior of the children and rescued the turtle from their brutal tiny hands and released the little turtle back into the sea.
Taro must have been hit on the head during the rescue because the next day while he was fishing he could have sworn that a huge turtle crawled up to him and spoke to him. The mighty turtle told Taro that the little turtle he had saved yesterday was none other than his daughter – the Emperor of the Sea’s daughter. Taro, a little stunned from the shock of a massive turtle talking to him and never being too quick on the pick-up, had to have the now impatient enormous turtle-emperor explain more succinctly that he was before the Emperor of the sea and Taro had rescued his increasingly attractive turtle-daughter.
Before Taro could knock the stopper off his second flask of sake, the Emperor gave him gills and brought him to his sea kingdom as…erh…thanks for his daughters rescue. The Emperor’s daughter, suffering from a serious case of White Knight Syndrome and knowing her chances of getting laid are slim because she is a… well… turtle, fell in love with our hero. Likewise, Taro, never being one to shy away from interspecies relations and well on his way to suffering a good dose of Stockholm Syndrome falls in love with his captor, the Emperor’s Daughter.
The emperor, being a fairly open minded fellow, doesn’t seem to mind the new couple’s hot scale on skin love making so long as Taro is responsible and wears a squid.
After two days of sweet love making and a cameo appearance along side Kevin Kostner in Waterworld that didn’t make the final cut, Taro wass feeling a bit raw and thought he may have caught crabs. He made an excuse to his new love that he just remembered that his dear old mum was not feeling too well and he must return to his village to check on her. The emperor’s daughter is a little suspicious but lets him go and gives him a box to take with him. She tells him that under no circumstances whatsoever should he ever open the enticing box with the pretty multi-coloured ‘Open Me!’ printed wrapping paper. Feeling the uncontrollable need to scratch his crutch like a dog digging for its favourite bone, Taro hastily agrees, grabs the box, pecks the emperor’s daughter on the beak and makes for his village.
When he returns, Taro discovers that three hundred years had past but the sake flask he left behind on the beach is still good so after a few swigs he staggers around town asking people if they remember a Taro Urashima. The locals only vaguely recall the name as an old wives tale warning children not to get too drunk by the seaside. By now our hero is feeling a bit wobbly and takes a seat on a step to take the final swig of his sake. In his alcohol induced stupor he gets his hands mixed up and tries to take a drink out of the box the emperor’s daughter had left behind instead of his sake flask.
He shook off his befuddlement and carefully examined the attractive print on the box. He squinted hard trying focus through his blurred vision at the words and was surprised to find that they were in English. Unfortunately Taro was not a particularly good English student when he was in junior high school due to the distracting and treacherous nature of his Australian English teacher’s curves.
He asked a couple of local villagers if they knew what the two words meant and it was not long until a large crowd of villagers were milling around Taro and the box grunting, sucking their teeth and making clipped proclamations of their ignorance regarding the meaning of the words.
Of course all the villagers knew what the two words meant but every one of them was too afraid to translate them for fear of a seagulls’ cacophony of ‘sugoi’ (Wow!) that would humiliate the villager enough for them to flee the village and spend the rest of their life as a hermit in the mountains.
Finally someone suggested to Taro that perhaps the box contained a Japanese-English dictionary and that he should open it so that he could translate the words written on the wrapping paper.
The tension among the villagers immediately disappeared as they mentally discarded their packing list for their exiles.
It was time for curiosity so the all the villagers leaned a little further forward to show their interest. Taro, knowing what was expected of him took one last look at the box, shrugged and tore at the wrapping. Beneath the wrapping was an ornate Styrofoam bait box. Taro gave one last nervous look at the crowd who nodded at him encouragingly before opening it.
You see, the Emperor’s Daughter was a cunning girl. She knew that if Taro was true to his promise he would return to the sea to be with her for eternity, but if he didn’t return he would not be able to control his curiosity for the box and open it. Inside the box lay Taro’s old age and as soon as he opened the bait box the stench of his years overcame him like the smell of off bait in the midday sun.
He immediately started to grow old; first complaining about the weather and then farting without shame, before finally turning to dust; thus ending the sad tragedy of Taro Urashima.
Or does it…
Arisaema Urashima
The little known sequel
Little known to the historians of the time and rarely spoken about among those of the sea kingdom is another story. It seems that during the intense love filled two days between Taro and the Emperor’s Daughter, Taro may have found himself a leaky squid.
It seems that the Emperor’s Daughter had fallen pregnant. Knowing the high success rate of interspecies procreation, she knew she was pregnant with at least three children-turtle things. She had to tell her father.
The Emperor was furious. No way was he going to lets some human, and a fisherman-soak at that, interfere with his noble bloodline. Unfortunately the sea kingdom’s pro-choice lobby was entangled in a tragic jellyfish accident so the sanctimonious old eels were celebrating their victory in passing the anti-abortion laws through the senate. This meant that the Emperor and his daughter just had to go through with the pregnancy regardless.
The emperor was enraged beyond belief and sort comfort in the numbness a line of blowfish could only offer until his addiction finally overcame him.
His daughter, lost in her grief and shame set forth on the great ocean until it was finally time to give birth to her mutated spawn. She crawled up on a bank of sewage and filth in a strange world of lights and noise where she laid not three but four eggs and return to her kingdom to never again remember those tragic times.
The heat of the sewage kept the eggs warm as the mutated creatures within slowly came to life to crack out of their shells. As this was happening, an old mutant rat – who was the result of a similar interspecies mating – was looking for food and came across these four mutated creatures. He was just about to devour them when he was surprised at their dexterity as they ambled over the sewage filth with tumble rolls and back flips.
Being the enterprising mutant rat that he was he decided to teach them acrobatics so that one day he might make his fortune selling them on to the circus.
However, due to the mutant turtles strong sense of ethics and large supply of kung fu movies that the rat played to entertain the four young creatures another path was chosen for them.
The plant
Arisaema Urashima
I first found the Arisaema Urashima (ウラシマソウ) while hiking in the Numazu Alps in Shizuoka prefecture back in 2006. This most recent find was in a cedar grove near my home on the midlands ofAshitakaMountain.
It is one of the most unusual wild plants I have seen inJapan. Not being much of a botanist buff I thought it might have been some sort of pitcher plant because of its tubular shape and slightly covered top. I am sure the boffins would be chortling over my obvious error.
The Arisaema Urashima is in fact a lily and is more commonly know in the West as the Cobra Lily. When flowering, as you can seen in the pictures, the plant produces a spathe (Yeah I had to look that one up too) that forms an outer sheath that protects the flowers inside.
The spathe (look, now I can’t stop saying it to show you how smart I am) of this lily starts from the stem as columns of white and a purple that is a shade darker than egg plant. As the columns rise towards the mouth of the spathe the purple takes over and the tip of the spathe sweeps over the entrance to the flower.
Protruding from the centre of the spathe is the spadix – the doobalydoo that the flowers attach themselves to at the base – that whips out over the plant and can run as long 60 cm making it look like a fishing line. Thus the analogy of Taro Urashima’s fishing basket (spathe) and fishing line (spadix).
The flower blooms in mid spring along the coastal mountains of centralHonshuand well worth a look if you are on a hike. In summer the flower produces red berries that are poisonous and can cause irritation to the skin like Taro’s nasty case of crabs.
If anything I have provided you with some new scrabble words and a plant to impress your friends with on your next hike aroundJapan. Happy hiking.
Scott.
Numazu Traveler 