Asakusa

On Monday I went to Asakusa. Unfortunately, the main attraction there, Senso-ji, is under renovation, so I could not fully experience it. But that’s just an excuse to go back again! And it was still very awesome! What I could see of the temple was fantastic, and there are lovely gardens there. And I got good souvenir-y stuff (and would have got more if I’d had more money - there are a lot of traditional things there, like kimonos and such, and really beautiful glassware and tea stuff; I mostly got cell phone charms on Monday, haha). And I had delish udon and curry rice for lunch. Food here is so amazing; I am already sad thinking about the flavors I won’t be able to enjoy when I leave here.

And it was interesting just wandering around the area. I like how different everywhere in Tokyo is. What with it being where I live and work, I spend most of my time in Nerima-ku, which has quiet residential areas and not-very-crazy city parts; it is a relaxing place! But I spend a fair amount of time in Ikebukuro and Shinjuku too, and those areas are probably what you think of when you think of Tokyo - modern, busy, bright. Asakusa feels old in a way that no where else I’ve been in Tokyo does. I like all those atmospheres, and I like they they can be found next door to each other (quite literally sometimes).

(I was going to go to Starbucks on Tuesday before work and post this, but I got sick instead! Noooo! I am feeling much better now, but it was not fun. When I went to bed on Monday night, I was fine, but when I woke up on Tuesday I was too sick to go to work. I felt horrible, and it was super boring being in my apartment all day! I went to work on Wednesday and was mostly okay, although I started to get really exhausted during my last couple classes. Yesterday was much better. I felt kind of blah to start, but things got better and I still had energy at the end of the day, yay!)

Lists

Exhausting week! I only had one day off last weekend because I had some training on Monday. The week actually went by really fast, but that extra day of work/lack of a full weekend made me extra tired. Happy to enjoy a full weekend now! Today I’m lazing about and doing laundry and heading to Shinjuku for a little bit. Mostly I want to relax! Tomorrow I’m checking out Asakusa. Should be fab.

(Work is super great, by the way. I know I haven’t talked about it, and I know that some of you are curious. Sorry! It’s not really kosher for me to talk about work in such a public place - mostly for privacy reasons, I think - so I’ve been hesitant to say anything about it. But I can say that it’s been great - my co-workers are fantastic, my students are fantastic, and it’s super fantastic to have a job where I can talk to people all day! If you want to know more, e-mail me - I’m happy to supply details. Still without internet at home though, so an immediate response probably won’t happen.)

Gross Things That I Consumed This Week
1. Some weird pudding drink from a vending machine. It was late! I was tired! It seemed like a good idea at the time to get the can that looked like it was pudding-flavored coffee! I was curious! Yeah, it literally had chunks of pudding in it. WHAT. The flavor was fine. The texture was unexpected and unpleasant.
2. Natto. So I was at Yayoiken (one of my favorite places to eat here - cheap and delicious!) and I accidentally ordered something that came with natto. I was like, “Maybe if I mix it with a bunch of delicious food, it will be okay!” IT WAS NOT. It’s not the smell (which isn’t that bad) or the taste (which isn’t bad at all) that make it so unpleasant, but the texture. It took everything in me to swallow it. I think people who can stomach natto are very admirable!

Things That Are Really Delicious In Japan (A Very Incomplete List)
1. Pudding (as long as it’s not in drink form). Pudding here is like flan. It’s YUM YUM YUM.
2. Potato salad. WHY SO DELICIOUS, POTATO SALAD? The cucumbers! The carrots! The crazy good flavor! Seriously, I don’t even like potato salad at home, but I could pretty much eat it for every meal here.

Things That Were Really Delicious In Japan That Are Now Unavailable
1. Honey Orange Latte and Honey Orange Frappuccino. ENDLESS SADNESS. Oh, Honey Orenji Latte, how you were the most delicious thing I've ever had at Starbucks. How tragic it is that you have been replaced! I will never forget you.

Yebisu Garden Place

When I first started this blog, I totally considered posting pictures like this for the first few entries, just to weird people out. Like, "Today I went to Shibuya! Here are some pictures!" and then three pictures of the ground. But I decided against it.

But! I actually like taking pictures of the ground. I have all these pictures from Disneyland that are just of the ground all over the park, and I can tell you exactly where I took each of them. So...

After I went to Ueno Park on Sunday, I stopped in Ebisu on the way home, just to look around. Here’s a picture from Yebisu Garden Place!

Before I went home, I stopped at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku (this having to wait for internet has made me use up my reading material faster than I’d planned, and I needed to buy a couple new books), and on my way back to the station, it suddenly hit me that I LIVE IN TOKYO. Like I said before, it felt comfortable here right away, but even with settling in at work and in my apartment, I guess it still felt a bit like a vacation. And although I never really went into culture shock, obviously things felt foreign. But now they just feel normal. I was cleaning my place the other day, and I found the couple dollars I had in my purse in case I needed to buy something from the airport before I left the US. And it’s not like it looked like fake money or anything, but for just a second it looked totally weird to me.

I’ve been here for a month now. It feels like I’ve been here forever, and it feels like I just got here.

DUDES, I TOTALLY LIVE HERE.

These are all from Shinjuku Gyoen earlier today. In Shinjuku, as the name implies. So close to Shinjuku Station (pretty much the most insane place in the world), but so gorgeous and peaceful!

The stripy flowers and dark pink flowers were on the same tree! Sugoi, ne?

It's weird to think that if I go back to the park in the near future, it'll look completely different. It's a little sad, but I'm also looking forward to seeing Tokyo in every season.

Sakura!

Huzzah! The cherry blossoms were slow to come out this year (it's been colder than usual), but they finally arrived. They're already falling (they only stick around for, like, a week once they're fully bloomed), but they are still pretty pretty pretty.

There are a lot of trees in my neighborhood and in the park down the street from where I work. Lovely! Yesterday I went to Ueno Park to check them out there, and it was INSANE. I think Ueno Park on a Sunday is usually crowded, but Ueno Park on a Sunday when the cherry blossoms are in bloom? Unbelievably crazy. People everywhere - eating, boozing, taking pictures. I couldn't have found a spot to sit down even if I'd wanted. But I took a ton of pictures and visited a temple and ate matcha ice cream and takoyaki, and it was a nice time even with the crowds.

Today was a gorgeous day, which was fantastic since a few of us went to yet another park (Shinjuku Gyoen) for lunch. There were a lot of people there, but it was nothing like Ueno (more open space maybe, not to mention that it was a weekday). Took approximately ten million more sakura photos. It was just gorgeous and fun and so relaxing. Pretty much a perfect day.

Okay, picture explanations. The first is from Hikarigaoka Park (by my work) a couple days ago. Yes, it was an unbelievably beautiful day. The second is from my neighborhood, on my way to the station. It's very pretty even without the sakura blossoms! And, okay, so there's not a lot of sakura action in the third one, but if you're curious about my station, here's one part of it (I take the subway more often, since that's how I get to work, but the train platform makes for a more interesting picture).

The last four are all from Ueno Park. Marvel at all the people! Gaze at the prettiness! And marvel at all the people again! The last was taken from the temple - I had already gone through that mass of people to get there, and had to go back through it again to get back to the station. It's all food vendors lining the path; I'm sure it would have looked and smelled amazing if I'd been hungry, but I was stuffed from the takoyaki, so the smells seriously made me almost puke.

Which is obviously the best way to end an entry about how cherry blossoms are so pretty.

I'll post pics from Shinjuku Gyoen in a different entry.