All that being said, of course one of the places I visited for TofuguTV trip was Koyasan. While it’s not weird, crazy, or a mix of the two, I couldn’t just not go here, right? Here’s a short episode all about that that trip, as well as some of the history on Koyasan itself. The Gakuranman was also along for the ride.

Mt. Koya is located in Wakayama Prefecture. Most people access it via the Osaka area. It’s a couple-hour train / cable-car / bus ride to get here, but totally worth it in my book.

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The first person to settle here was the monk known as Kukai (also known as Kobo Daishi). He was the founder of Shingon Buddhism and decided to make this the main headquarters for his religion. Why? Because it was in a 800m high valley amid the lotus shaped terrain of the eight mountain peaks surrounding it. There are currently 120 temples, a pagoda that represents the central point of a Mandala that both covers Koya and Japan, the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, and Japan’s largest graveyard. Oh, and did I mention that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site? I think it’s deserving.

There are a few reasons why people come here. Maybe you’re visiting a grave. Maybe you’re just here for the scenery. Or, perhaps you’re here to stay the night in some monastery lodging. Most of you will be doing the third one (and if you’re not, I highly recommend it). You will stay in traditional Japanese-style lodging, eat incredible meals (Shojin Ryori style), and possibly even get to participate in one of the temple’s ceremonies.

Fire Ceremony, very early in the morning

Shojin Ryori food (best vegan food you’ll ever eat)

For me, though, it’s all about the graveyard. I’m no ghost hunter or anything, in fact it’s really the opposite. I’ve never been to a graveyard that felt so… good. Like, there’s happiness everywhere. It doesn’t feel like you’re surrounded by the remains of tens of thousands of dead people, that’s for sure.

I think a big part is the discovery of everything, though. A lot of the graveyard is super old. Moss is growing on everything, and many of the tombstones are falling apart. That’s all part of the beauty of it, though. Things are disappearing, changing, and then getting added to again. It’s a nonstop rotation of taking and giving that makes this place so interesting. No matter how many times you go you’ll always discover something new (either because it is new or because you just didn’t notice it before… did I mention this place is huge?).

Don’t forget the Buddhist Deity known as Stitch too… Crazy thing is, he was there the first time I visited Koya (2005) as well as the second time (2010). I was surprised I could find him again, not to mention that he was there at all in the first place.

So, I know a lot of you have been to Koyasan before. What was your favorite part? What would you recommend that people do when they’re there? Even if you’re not into all this nature/Buddhism/graveyard stuff, at least visit the most accessible bathroom in all of Japan…

What is that man doing to that other man????

Check out the official Koya site for more information on visiting and having an awesome time.

With a name like “The Site Of Reversible Destiny” you know that it has to be good… or at the very least, weird. For the third episode of TofuguTV (you should watch the video above, before continuing on), my buddy Hiroyuki takes me to Yoro Park, an “experience park” opened in 1995. The theme of the park is to “encountering the unexpected,” and I gotta say, they did a pretty good job. Pretty much everything about it was a pleasant / mildly hazardous surprise.

Let’s Make Things A Little Dangerous

So, I know this whole park was designed by artists (Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins), which is going to make it all awesome and artistic, but as I walked through the Site Of Reversible Destiny, all I could think was… “did someone just want to make a dangerous park for children to play in?”

At the entrance and office, they offer you a helmet. That ought to say something about this place right there. But beyond that, it’s full of steep hills, high places, pitch dark rooms, creepy clown music, and pretty deep holes with trees in them (and guard rails only part way around).

Not shown: The seven children stuck at the bottom of the hole.

But, I imagine the danger was all part of the experience. What fun is an experience park if you don’t get to experience experiences? Half the fun is climbing up things and feeling your way through pitch black rooms. The danger was fun, but that’s only part of the picture. There’s the art side as well.

The best way to describe things, I think, would be to go through a place at a time. I didn’t take pictures of all the locations, but I’ll write here about the ones I did do. For a list of all the locations, you can check them out on the Yoro Park website.

Insect Mountain Range

The Insect Mountain Range is a tall pile of rocks that sit right in front of you as you come out of the entrance building. According to the Yoro Park website, it was “carefully constructed in accordance with Arakawa’s detailed direction.” He wanted to show us that humans don’t have to be subjugated to the natural world. We can, in fact, create “alternative nature” instead.

Oh, and why is this location called the “Insect Mountain Range”? Apparently it’s because of the way people clamber up the rocks like insects in search of water (pictured above).

The best part of the Insect Mountain Range, however, is that you get a nice view of everything else. I didn’t take a picture of it (you can see it in the video, though), but it’s fairly high up, at least when it comes to a pile of rocks. Right in front of it was the Critical Resemblance House, which we’ll look at next.

Critical Resemblance House

The Critical Resemblance House is part house, part maze. The roof is made up of Gifu Prefecture (that’s the prefecture Yoro Park is in) and scattered about are pieces of household furniture. You can see it in the video, but there are things like desks, ovens, refridgerators, toilets, beds, and so on just jutting out of walls and sticking out of the ceiling. It was definitely pretty weird, and fun to work our way through.

Exactitude Ridge

The Exactitude Ridge consists of multiple parts, actually. There’s a bridge-like thing sticking out of the ground that just stops and goes nowhere (see, you’re not alone Sarah!), but then there’s also a small structure that is a reproduction of part of the Critical Resemblance House.

If you make your way inside (you have to crawl), there are holes in the wall (some require a ladder) that give different perspectives of the surrounding landscape. It’s funny how a shape can change your view on things.

Although this seems like a small thing, I think these little holes were probably one of my favorite parts. I really like things that make you look at things in a different way than you’re used to. It’s refreshing to get a different perspective on life (and/or the surrounding landscape, at the very least).

The Great Golf Course Wall Of China

Dominating approximately half of the park was this giant wall that looked like the Great Wall Of China and a golf course had a baby. After leaving the Exactitude Ridge, you’re given the opportunity to scale the wall, all the way to the end.

The wind was strong that day, and the sides didn’t feel all that high… but I guess if they were it wouldn’t be much of an experience (you wouldn’t be able to see too well, and you wouldn’t get as much excitement out of it).

Hiroyuki posing on the wall. Little does he know, winter is coming.

The walkway comfortably fits one person, and uncomfortably fits two (for the couple times we had to squeeze past other people… of course the only time we ran into someone else was on the wall… twice).

You’re able to walk all the way to the end of the wall, where there’s an area to look around and see your surroundings. We could even see Nagoya Station (or, the two big towers, at least), though it was quite far away.

From the wall, though, you can really see the inner area of the park. Inside the park is actually a bunch of hidden Japans… inside Japans… inside Japan. This is the kind of thing dreams inside dreams are made of.

Geographical Ghost

The Geographical Ghost, apparently, has a counterpart known as the “Cleaving Hall” which is apparently even more pitch black. I thought this one was dark, but it seems the other is darker.

Anyways, to get in here you go through a bright yellow entrance that leads into the ground. Soon it becomes dark, and you have to feel your way around dead ends and through skinny passage ways. Eventually, you get to the end: A skylight of Japan. Definitely pretty cool and better in person.

Sadly, though, I didn’t see the “Cleaving Hall.” That sounds like it would have been a lot of fun too.

Destiny House

The Destiny House, I’d say, is less like a house than any of the other places claiming to be a house. It’s on top of a giant map of Japan (in the middle, apparently). It’s supposed to represent ruins of an ancient building. Under the glass (you can kind of see it in the picture) is furniture… once again in a totally useless place. If there’s one recurring theme that Yoro Park keeps bringing up, it’s definitely “useless furniture placement.”

Kinesthetic Pass

The Kinesthetic Pass (see the poorly placed furniture in the middle, farther back?) resides in the area of the big map that represents Kyuushuu (the most Southwest of the four main islands of Japan). Although the furniture in this area is more useable (mostly because they’re not halfway through a wall or ceiling), everything is on a big incline meaning it’s terribly difficult to stand up once you’ve sit down. Everything definitely feels a bit “off” when you’re here because of all the angles. It’s quite fun.

The Other Parts That Will Reverse Your Destiny

Like I mentioned before, there are other interesting things in Yoro Park just waiting to be discovered and experienced. It’s one of those places where if you come here two or even three times, you’ll still find something new and interesting.

There are also plenty of places in the video (top of the page) that show up that don’t show up in this article. There are also places that don’t show up in either (like the “Cleaving Hall,” “The Gate Of Non-Dying,” and the “Trajectory Membrane Gate.” All of them obviously have awesome names, so if you’re the type of person that judges an experience by its name, you should definitely go to Yoro Park someday.

Getting To Yoro Park

The name of Yoro Park in Japanese is 養老天命反転地 (ようろうてんめいはんてんち) … quite a mouthful, but useful if you’re looking for directions on how to get there. Most likely (I’m assuming) you’ll be coming from Nagoya-Eki. From here it’ll probably take you about an hour and a half (by train) plus maybe a little bit more if you take your time walking. You’ll want to stop at Yoro-eki. There’s gourds everywhere, you can’t miss it.

Gourds must seriously be a thing here, though. There’s even a welcome sign written in Gourds… Someone ought to make a Gourd Font.

Anyways, thanks for watching! I hope you enjoyed this episode. I’m putting more time in my routine to work on these, so hopefully much less of a wait for the next one. See you next time!

P.S. Want to know when TofuguTV episodes come out? You should follow us on Twitter!
P.P.S. More into Facebook? We have a Facebook Page as well.

Remember that sweet music that started playing when Koichi finally found the cats of the infamous Cat Island? Want to relive that feeling of stumbling upon a clearing of cats live, in person? Do you like noble light fixtures?

Then we have a treat for you.

The music in Cat Island was done by the awesome alt-pop band, Brave Chandeliers. These guys have always been great about letting us use their stuff for TofuguTV, and we want to make sure to help them out too! They’ll be touring the US from now till August, so we thought we’d get the word out for their US tour. Here’s when and where they’ll be playing:

Tour Dates

Tuesday July 26 – Charlotte, The Milestone
Wednesday July 27 – Chapel Hill, Local 506
Thursday July 28 – Philadelphia, Rusty Nail
Friday July 29 – New York, Sullivan Hall
Saturday July 30 – New York, Times Square Arts Center

Tuesday August 2 – Detroit, Magic Bag
Wednesday August 3 – Indianapolis, Birdy’s
Thursday August 4 – Chicago, Bottom Lounge
Saturday August 6 – Milwaukee, Shank Hall

Monday August 8 – Kansas City, Riot Room
Wednesday August 10 – Dallas, Double Wide
Friday August 12 – Albuquerque, el Rey Theater

So if you like their music in Cat Island, be sure to check them out in live.

And as a special treat, Tofugu readers can grab a free EP from Brave Chandeliers here!

P.S.: Like Brave Chandeliers? The let us know on our Twitter!

P.P.S.: Like Liking things? Then Like us on Facebook.

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally finished part 2 of Cat Island for TofuguTV. Whew, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is! Now I can move on to things like monkeys, rabbits and deer… or *gasp* perhaps something totally not-animal related. There were a few of those, believe it or not. The video for Cat Island Part 2 is right there up above at the top of this post, but if you want to see pictures or read a little bit more about what we did, keep on going.

Finding The Cats

It took us half the day to get to the part of the island that actually had cats. Sadly, the first cats we came across were being taken up and hogged by a couple of tourists. They liked taking pictures of cats, which is why they came here

They were having a good time so we didn’t want to bother them for too long and we headed down the road into town to find more cats.

We ran into a store where the other cat-tourist was hanging out, also taking pictures. He was more friendly than the other two cat-tourists and talked with us for a while. There were a lot of fun cats around here, including these ones.

Shinnosuke Instagrammed a shot of the store we just left, then we headed down the road.

Then we headed down the street where we, of course, came across more cats.

This last cat was my favorite of all the cats on the island. We got to see him (her?) several times as we walked around the town. Definitely oen of the more distinct cats, and it had a really cool grumpy look on its face all the time. Chalk me up as a fan of grumpy cats, for some reason…

From here we made our way to the ocean, where we saw a sign to Manga Island.

Manga island was made by Shotaro Ichinomori, a famous mangaka who did things like Cyborg 009 and Kamen Rider. You can actually stay in Manga Island. It’s really just a bunch of buildings that are shaped like cats. I wonder what they do with the ear space on the inside…

We made our way down the hill we had to climb to get here.

It was time to go figure out where the ferry would be picking us up, just so we’d know where to go. If we missed the ferry, we’d be stuck here overnight (not a terrible thing, but lodging was sparse). The ferry was only coming to the island twice per day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon.

The dock was pretty neat. Unfortunately I heard this is the area that got destroyed by the tsunami, really messing up their fishing industry :( There’s a fund drive going to help them rebuild (and to help feed cats). To donate, you will have to call the organizer (and probably need to be able to speak Japanese). The phone number is 080-2810-2914, if you wanted to help. More info on the help-project here.

We hung out in the nearby park for a little bit, trying to figure out what to do from here.

Watch out, cat! We decided to get something to eat (we were pretty hungry at this point) so we went back up to the store. Good chance to hang out with some cats and get some food, too.

Shinnosuke was a fan of cats.

Here’s the store front, in case you wanted to go.

Fed the cats some cat food. Shinnosuke’s in the background filming.

This cat thinks my backpack is comfortable… or at least the shade is cooling.

I love this green color on the stairs. Reminds me of old copper things. Kind of nostalgic.

We finished our food and started making our way over to the dock where the ferry would come. Guess what!? We ran into more cats.

Even got to see my favorite cat again!

Shinnosuke’s showing us his famous no-look camera technique.

Cool! I wish we saw this map at the beginning and not the end :(

A couple other folks also catching the ferry. They were Tashirojima citizens. Can’t you tell by their age? :/

We headed back to Ishinomaki via the ferry, then made our way back to Tokyo area, stopping to get some Ramen along the way. Oh man, it was tasty.

Cat Island Tashirojima was a lot of fun. Definitely peaceful and a nice atmosphere. If you’re into cats, then it’s the kind of place you’ll almost certainly enjoy. It takes a bit to get out there, but if you time things right you can spend the night and enjoy the island for a bit longer.

If you want to go, I’d probably recommend waiting for a few more months. Maybe 6? The whole area was right next to the earthquake zone and things got hit pretty hard. When you do go, though, definitely spend some money and help out the economy there! I’m sure the people (and the cats) will appreciate it!

If you haven’t seen Cat Island Part 1, you can do so here.

Want to know about future episodes of TofuguTV? Subscribe on YouTube, follow on Twitter, of Like on Facebook for all the latest info! Thanks much for watching, I hope you enjoyed! Also, thanks for waiting for part 2. Sorry for all the trolling about it :P

Japanese Poop Burgers

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It seems like every week we hear news from Japan of some new and bizarre invention. This story is no exception – scientists in Japan recently discovered a way to extract the protein from human waste and turn it into an edible, meat-like product. Sustainable? Yes. Appetizing? Probably not. Anything that can be described as “meat-like” probably isn’t going to be the tastiest thing in the world.

AKB48′s “Newest Member”

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People were astonished when the popular J-pop group AKB48 revealed that its newest member was a fake. Not fake like Milli Vanilli, but in fact entirely computer generated using parts from other girls in the group. Could this be the beginning of a robot takeover? I, for one, welcome our new computerized J-pop overlords.

Tofugu Flavored Pepsi!

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Mello Yello was recently reintroduced into Japan to much fanfare after being gone from the country for nearly a decade. Based on how popular Mello Yello has become, we here at Tofugu decided to make our own soda, filled with all the same toxins of a fugu fish. This video not only fills you in about Mello Yello and our new Tofugu Pepsi, but is also a choose your own adventure! Make sure you have annotations turned on, and check out all the different endings!

iHotels

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In this episode of TofuguTV, Koichi travels to Kyoto to stay in one of the coolest capsule hotels around. Even though “cool capsule hotel” sometime may seem like an oxymoron, this one, called 9 Hours, pulls it off. If Apple built a hotel, it would be as sleek, white, and shiny as this one. Check the video for footage of Koichi’s stay there, and a short tour around the hotel.

Not Awkward Japanese News

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A lot of commentors on YouTube have said that we here at Tofugu are awkward in our videos. As if! To prove those people wrong, Koichi and I present you with news from Japan in the most smooth, suave, not-awkward way possible. Such professional news anchors, we’re like a regular couple of Brian Williams.

Japanese Words? Chinese Words?

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A lot of people know that Japan got its kanji writing system from the Chinese, but did you know that the kanji sometimes have very different meanings in the two languages? It’s true! In Japanese, 手紙 means “letter,” but in Chinese the same characters stand for “toilet paper.” Check the video for some funny examples!

Miffy + Cathy = Caffy

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One of Hello Kitty’s buddy, the rabbit Cathy, bears a striking resemblance to a Dutch cartoon rabbit named Miffy. The companies who own Cathy and Miffy were engaged in a lengthy legal battle until recently, but they left out Koichi and his family’s cartoon rabbit, Caffy. Watch the legal battle unfold before your very eyes!

Hashi Not Working

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When Koichi posts videos up on YouTube, people are sometimes more interested in what I’m doing in the background than the cool, interesting, and insightful things Koichi is saying to them. Even though you should all be paying attention to whatever super important things Koichi is saying, we decided to give you all a behind-the-scenes look at what I spend my time doing during our work days.

Save the Salaryman Foundation

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News out of Japan is that salarymen are getting less and less spending money from their wives. We here at Tofugu think that this situation is just tragic, so we founded the Save the Salaryman Foundation. For just one dollar a day, you can help a real, live Japanese salaryman muster up the money for some watery Japanese beer after work. What better cause is there?

Japanese Scientists Develop A “Possessed Hand”

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As if poop burgers weren’t enough for you, Japanese scientists have another bizarre invention – the “possessed hand.” It’s a device that controls the movements of your fingers, helping people learn skills like playing the piano. But could it also be used for more sinister purposes?

That wraps it up for June! Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos, or check out the channel for some older Tofugu goodies.

PS: You can also find our newest videos on Twitter.

PPS: Be sure to check out our Facebook, too!

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The first video of this month kicked off the new trend of five videos a week! From this video onward, both Koichi and myself have been working hard to bring you all more videos each and every week. In this video, Koichi talked about DVDs of women eating meals, or oshokuji no jikan (お食事の時間) for those lonely, lonely people who just want someone to eat with them. In less creepy news, Koichi also announced the Sticker Haiku contest, giving sweet Tofugu stickers to people who wrote the most awesome haikus!

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Remember how the Rapture was supposed to happen earlier this month? In this video, seer of visions Koichdamus makes his prophecy about the Rapture which includes a giant radioactive monster mutated by Fukushima radiation, MechaJesus, and the people of Planet X (which is right behind Jupiter, duh).

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Koichi picks the first five winners of the Sticker Haiku contest by reading each one aloud in his celebrity impressions. Remember: if you can guess all five celebrities Koichi is impersonating, you can win a pack of Tofugu stickers!

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Koichi announces the second five winners of the Sticker Haiku contest, this time without celebrity impressions, and explains why he likes each one. Congrats to all the winners!

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In this video, Koichi explains how you can use subtitles in Japanese T.V. or movies to help learn Japanese. Koichi also dresses like a beautiful, beautiful woman for…educational purposes? Something like that.

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Ever wanted to go out and catch your own fish dinner, but don’t want to do all the hard work of cleaning, gutting, and cooking the fish? Well at Zauo, a cool, gimmicky restaurant in Japan, you can do just that! Watch Koichi catch his own dinner from the aquarium in the restaurant and enjoy the fruits of his labor.

This video is very dear to my heart, because it introduces me, Hashi, as Tofugu’s very first employee! We take a look around the new and improved Tofugu office, and I awkwardly operate the camera and introduce myself to the world. Check it out here.

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In part one of a two-part series about how to spend money to help learn Japanese, Koichi takes a look at MyGengo, an online translation service. For a small fee, MyGengo will have a real-live human translate whatever Japanese you want to throw at them. However, this kind of service is only helpful as a last-ditch effort to translate few sentences or paragraphs, and shouldn’t be used for whole pages of Japanese.

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Part two covers Lang-8 Premium, a cool website where you write journal entries in the language you are trying to learn (in our case, Japanese), and those journal entries are corrected by native speakers. The premium subscription to the site gives you a few benefits: your journal entries are given priority over free users, and you can get PDF printouts of your entries, just in case you’re the old fashioned, pen-and-paper type.

And that covers it for May! Look forward to more video roundups in the future as we make more and more videos for all of you.