What is this giant snowman doing in Ginza near the Yurakucho train station in the middle of the summer? Why is his nose shaped liked Hokaido, the most Northern of the big Japanese islands? I don't know.
Today I decided I had eaten enough eel and whale and decided to just eat plain old Japanese working man's food - ramen, gyoza, and a beer. You can find Ramen Shops all over the city. Of course, like a lot of things Japanese, it isn't really Japanese at all.
Ramen came from China, and gyoza are chinese fried dumplings. Beer was introduced by a German who came by way of the United States. But they have been completely adopted and are now part of the culture.
It is interesting here in that way. Originally a lot of the culture came from Korea and China. Then eventually from the west. In between the country was shut off and isolated during the Edo period. The theory of some is that Japanese ways were institutionalized during that period, and even now are the foundation of what it is to be Japanese. But things are changing rapidly here like everywhere.
I'm trying to keep up...
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2 comments:
I'm not sure what he's doing there either... but I saw this 1950's Godzilla type movie called "Half Human" in which some Japanese villagers worshiped a abominable snowman that lived in a cave. Some circus people heard about the snowman, and came to capture it, but wound up shooting the snowman's son. That's when the proverbial poop hit the fan. = Stu
PS: If you look closely to the right of the snowman, there is a sign in front of a shop with the head of the same snowman wearing a fez... what's up with that? = Stu
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