I stayed with a host family in Japan and they took me to a wax food workshop. I got to make fake lettuce and tempura and it looks so amazing. It is challenging when you have limited language skills, but fun and I definitely recommend it.
Anything by Frederick Wiseman fits the bill, though the settings of his documentaries really determine how “relaxing” they are… His movies about gardens and museums are a lot more pleasant than the ones about insane asylums and public housing projects. All great though!
I love how quiet this was. Since I’m pretty introverted, the busy office environment I’m in now where I have to maintain some level of interaction is exhausting. Working in a place like in the video with just some quiet music and the sounds of people doing their thing is really enticing.
There’s a place around Asakusa in Japan called Kappabashi Street that sells products for opening and maintaining restaurants. They have tons of this plastic food, and it can be pretty pricey if you want to stock a restaurant (nevermind custom made ones). Around 6,300 yen/$63 for a plate of “fried rice”, and I’ve heard family-size sushi platters can go up to 50,000 yen/$500.
Does anyone know more of these type of documentaries. With the video just showing things and the narrator sometimes speaks. I find it a really relaxing experience when watching.
I’ve been there a few times since the 90s. When I first went there were still plenty of places where the smoke and steam was coming up through the ground. The graveyard was particularly creepy back then.
The most recent time I visited (about five years ago) there was really little smoke. Even then all but one or two buildings had been torn down and grass had filled in over all the roads. It’s really not worth the trip to visit any more unless you happen to be in the general area.
