tra-la-la-lally

明けましておめでとうございます！

2012-01-01T01:27:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve last year was a mess and kind of put me off really doing anything for it this year. But I do have a really good temple in my neighborhood (Jourenji, home of the Tokyo Daibutsu, the third largest sitting Buddha in Japan), so I decided to head over there at midnight. There were a lot of people there, so I had to wait in line for a while, but nothing like Meiji Jingu last year. Prayed, took a few pics and the video below, drank some amazake, then headed home before I got too cold. Could still hear the bells ringing from home though which was pretty lovely. Nice New Year's sound!

♥♥♥

2011-12-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is one of my favourite places to go in Tokyo. There are two observatories where you can get a gorgeous view of the city. Best of all, they're free! I've visited many times, but today was the first time I went when I was able to see the view of Mt. Fuji. I was so happy! Usually when I go there it is night or it's too rainy or hazy or something. But today was perfect! It was also just around sunset, so the sky was beautiful too. What a view!

I'll miss this.

メリークリスマス！

2011-12-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas Eve but, as usual, C-chan and I already celebrated early Christmas yesterday.

10 Ways We Celebrated Early Christmas

1. Went to the Imperial palace and wished the Emperor a happy birthday
2. Got a Christmas groping from the security guards at the Imperial Palace
3. Made Christmas art from McDonald's french fries
4. Had a Christmas wander around the Kagurazaka neighborhood
5. Did Christmas karaoke
6. Saw Santas wandering about
7. Went to Christmas work/had a Christmas nap (the former for me, the latter for Clare)
8. Had Christmas dinner at Meguro Tavern
9. Had Christmas drinks (white wine at karaoke and sparkling wine with dinner)
10. Wore Christmas hats/hair accessories

Anyway, enjoy the unnecessarily long Christmas video and have a Happy Christmas!

Lovely Seoul Extravaganza!

2011-12-02T21:36:00.001-08:00

September? I haven't updated since September? OOPS.

Don't worry, nothing much happened since then.

Let's talk about Korea!

So, this one time, Andrew and I went to Seoul for a couple days. Most random holiday ever. We were pretty unprepared beyond, like, getting to the airport. The vaguest of plans as to what to do. Almost no knowledge of Korean (I could say hello, and by the time we left we managed to add thank you to our vocabulary, although I've since forgotten it again). It was fantastic!

We'd had a holiday together before, but never one involving airports, something we both love, so we got to Narita really early for an airport photoshoot. Then off to Seoul in our Airbus 380. The flight is only a couple hours which is so close that there's really no excuse for not visiting Korea if you're living in Japan. A bit of a photoshoot when we arrived at Incheon, then a bit of trouble using the ticket machines for the train from the airport. This did not seem to bode well for the rest of our trip - like, half an hour in the country and we were already stupid tourists! - but that was the only time anything like that happened. Well, we had trouble finding our hotel, but that was because the directions on their website really weren't as helpful as they could have been. Hotel found, it was time for dinner! Korea! Land of delicious foods! Yeah, we went to California Pizza Kitchen because we were hungry and tired and I was thrilled to see CPK and Andrew had never eaten there. It was delicious. No regrets! Then Starbucks. While wandering around looking for our hotel, we'd seen an interesting looking Starbucks, so we went back there. The outside looked like a traditional Korean building, and the inside was different too. Love stumbling across a concept store! It was near to closing, so we weren't there for long, but it might be my favourite Starbucks ever.

The next day (our only full day), we headed to Gyeongbokgung Palace after breakfast in our hotel. It's a huge complex, so there were a lot of pictures to take! Also visited the National Folk Museum of Korea because it was free and right there. Wandered away from the complex and ended up in the Samcheongdong neighborhood and, since it seemed cool, we had a wander there. Ended up enjoying drinks at the Rainforest Cafe of coffeeshops, Zoo Coffee. Coffee is hugely popular in Seoul, and it's unbelievable how many coffee shops, chain or independent, there are. After that relaxing interlude, it was off to Namdaemun Market, the oldest and largest market in Korea. Also, the one most filled with people selling the most unbelievable crap and preparing food on the dirty ground. It was an experience. The next experience was N Seoul Tower which was a lot more trouble to get to than we expected. A long walk (uphill!) to a cable car, and then a walk up a bunch of stairs to actually get to the tower. But once we were finally there we were able to get a good view of Seoul and stayed there long enough to see the night view as well. Then back down for dinner at a juk (porridge) restaurant by our hotel. Unnecessary (but delicious) amounts of pumpkin porridge were consumed. Finally, a trip to Seoul's gay district (delightfully called Homo Hill) where we went to a Nordic bar that was lovely, by far the least terrifying place in the vicinity.

Breakfast at our hotel again in the morning where I was thrilled to find hashbrowns and ate so much as to feel like I was dying for a couple hours. We had figured out some plans for the day, but they were ruined by rain. Boo! So, we ended up going to Insadong (very traditional neighborhood) and hanging out at Ssamziegil, an art and shopping place. A bit of shopping, some coffee and waffles (another popular thing in Seoul), then it was time to head back to the airport. Some last minute shopping to get rid of the last of our money, some lunch, and then it was back to Tokyo!

So, we weren't there for long, but we managed to see a lot (while also spending a lot of time sitting around in coffee shops and watching k-dramas in our hotel). It was an interesting place to visit! But, of course, the company was the best part. It was lovely to have an epic (if short) vacation so soon before Andrew left Japan.

And speaking of leaving Japan, I'll be doing that soon too. I'll be heading back to Americaland in February. SO SAD. But I'll talk about that another time. For now, enjoy a bunch of pictures of Korea!

Impromptu Kamakura Holiday

2011-09-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I randomly went to Kamakura. I had to get up early to take the rubbish out and couldn't get back to sleep after. I had nothing I had to do that day, and I really couldn't bear the thought of just staying home. But there was nowhere in Tokyo I wanted to go. I realized I hadn't been out of town since I went to Hong Kong - all summer! - and although I will be getting out to go to Korea in a couple weeks, I decided I really needed a little vacation. Life has been pretty stressful lately, and I just needed to relax or else I'd go crazy. So, Kamakura!

As I was transferring in Ikebukuro, I realized it was rush hour and that I was going to end up squished on the train for ages. So I decided to do something I'd never done before and upgrade to the Green Car (like, first class car). It was lovely! Comfy seat and lots of leg room and not being squished in the commuter crush!

When I got to Kamakura, I went to Hase Station to go to Kotoku-in, the temple where the Daibutsu lives. Always nice to visit! There were a bunch of kids on a school trip when I first arrived, but they soon left and then it was pretty empty. I found some places to sit in the shade and enjoyed the peacefulness. I'm not sure how many times I've been there now, but it's always worthwhile. Seeing the Daibutsu always makes me happy.

After Kotoku-in, I decided to go to Hase-dera, a temple right down the street that I had never been to before. It was so fantastic! Beautiful gardens, a lovely view of the city and the sea, super duper kawaii little statues, lovely bamboo, and shady places to sit with a mister to cool off (it was a really hot day, so this was much appreciated). The main event is a statue of Hase Kannon that was so beautiful and peaceful (no pictures allowed and none I can find online do it justice at all). There was also a cave. I do not like caves at all, but it had to do with Benzaiten, my favorite goddess, so I was interested. And the first chamber, with figures chiseled out of the walls, was lovely. It got less lovely when I had to fold in half to get through the passage that went to the next chamber. And even less lovely when the other chambers were really dark and all the people who had been around had vanished and I got creeped out. Anyway, I can't believe I'd never been there before! It was one of the best temples I've visited.

I then set off down the street towards the beach, stopping for Hawaiian lunch on the way. The beach was so nice! The water was the perfect temperature, although I didn't spend much time in it as there were a bunch of little fish right at the edge that kept freaking me out. But it was still lovely to be there, even if I wasn't in the water. The sea is so relaxing!

After getting as much sand off my feet as I could, I left that area and went to Kamakura Station. I walked for aaaaaaaages (or maybe half an hour, but it was ridiculously hot at that point so it felt longer) to Jomyo-ji, another temple I'd never visited. It was a nice temple, very quiet and peaceful since it was so far from a station. There was a lovely tea room and rock garden, but I didn't go there. I walked up the hill behind the temple and found Ishigama Garden Terrace, which was a restaurant and bakery. Enjoy! I needed to go to the ATM, so I wasn't able to enjoy as much as I would have liked (I could only try the free samples of bread instead of actually getting any), but I got an iced cafe au lait and sat on the terrace for ages and enjoyed the garden and cool breeze and cicadas.

I had plans to go walk to a shrine on the other side of the station (would have been another debut), but on the way I heard festival sounds, so I headed towards them instead and found myself at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu, the most important shrine in Kamakura (maybe you remember I visited there after New Year's a couple years ago). There was lots of drumming going on, but when I wandered closer to the shrine I found a high school girls' choir and ended up listening to their whole performance. So lovely!

It was too late to visit the other shrine, so I headed back towards the station, enjoying some matcha ice cream and window shopping on the way.

When it was time to head home, the platform was crowded, so I went for Green Car luxury again. No point in ending a lovely and relaxing day by getting annoyed by the train! I bought a sandwich and a beer at a conbini in the station and had a nice journey back to Tokyo.

It was such a nice day and just what I needed. Everything worked out so well all day that it really felt like it was meant to be. 鎌倉が大好き！ I ♥ Kamakura!

summer days, driftin' away

2011-09-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm super non-updatey this summer. I haven't really done much though! It's been hot and humid and miserable for months. Do not enjoy. Hopefully things will start to get better now that it's September.

Anyway. Enjoy the delicious tropical drink picture. I don't remember what it was. Pineapple, strawberry, rum, other stuff? Delicious though! It's from this Hawaiian restaurant I've been to a couple times this summer. Love their decor, their random dancing ladies, their drinks, and their food!

Last month I did the most Japanese thing ever when I participated in an awa odori thing (not the big festival mentioned in the article). It was hot and exhausting, but so much fun! We walked around the parade route (but a special kind of walking) for probably two hours and then had a ten-minute group dance at the end. There was a costume, people paid loads of attention to us, and I got to shout a lot in Japanese. Super fun times!

Last weekend my friend's band had a gig, so I went to that. Also super fun times! There were a bunch of groups playing (and some dance groups). We participated in a bit of moshing, Japanese style (much more polite than moshing elsewhere).

And tonight going to another friend's gig, this one most likely not involving moshing as it's jazz. Might involve dancing though, and will definitely involve pub food and cider.

At the end of the month I'm going to Seoul for a couple days, so I'll actually have something to talk about soon!

food porn

2011-07-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

Following up my super long entry with one just of FOOD. I ate a lot of it in Hong Kong!

Hong Kong and Macau

2011-07-26T03:01:00.000-07:00

Remember that time I went to Hong Kong? Never forget. That was good times. Finally getting around to talking about it!

So I really wanted a vacation. I considered Okinawa and Thailand and Hong Kong, and decided on Hong Kong because I've wanted to go there for ages, it has a Disney park, I know someone there, and I thought - as lovely as Okinawa would be - that I should travel in Asia outside Japan. Best decision ever! Hong Kong was incredible!

To fly cheaply, I ended up having a long day of travel. Left super early to get one of the first trains, which ended up being unnecessary as the train I needed to get to the airport didn't start running until a bit later, so I sat in the transfer station for ages. And then got through ticketing and security and immigration super fast so had a lot of time to sit around in Narita as well. Slept a lot on my flight to Taiwan where I had some hours to kill in the Taipei airport. I was not impressed! The area where I was seemed dirty and super ghetto.

Was much more impressed with the Hong Kong airport which is gorgeous and, like, everything you want an airport to be. Transport in Hong Kong is really easy (and really cheap!), so figuring out the trains I needed to get to my hotel was no problem. I stayed in Yau Ma Tei, which isn't a glamourous neighborhood, but which was super convenient. My hotel (Dorsett Seaview Hotel) was much nicer than I had expected! The Temple Street night market was a block away and the Tin Hau Temple was across the street. I was so exhausted my first night that I just ended up getting a sandwich from 7-Eleven and crashing.

The next day I went to Disneyland! Hong Kong Disneyland is so small! Like, adorably so. The castle is a little baby castle! So cute! They're in process of expanding, but at the moment, you could probably hit every attraction twice in a day and still have time left over (the lands they have are Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Main Street). I loved it though. It reminded me of California a lot, especially when I first walked in. It just felt lovely and familiar. I really enjoyed Space Mountain, the Festival of the Lion King show, and Small World (they have the Disney character additions which I hadn't seen yet as we don't have them in Tokyo - I was so skeptical about that addition, but I ended up quite liking it). And the merchandise! The merchandise was amazing, so much better than what we have in Tokyo. It was also fantastic to be there during the 5th anniversary so I could enjoy special merchandise and parade and decorations. The castle was especially lovely at night with a special illumination thing. It was just a lovely Disney day!

The next day I took a glass-bottomed cable car to Ngong Ping on Lantau Island. So touristy, but that was fine! What I wanted to do there was visit the Tian Tan Buddha and eat at the Po Lin Monastery, and I did both. The Buddha is very big (34 meters tall) and very bronze and at the top of a very long flight of stairs (268 steps). He's also a pretty recent Buddha, completed in 1993. I spent a lot of time up there, enjoying how serene and peaceful he was, having a look in the museum below him, and looking at the lovely view. Afterwards I went down to the monastery. The temples at the monastery were beautiful and my favorite that I visited (I love temples in Japan, but I wasn't actually very fond of most of the ones I visited in Hong Kong and Macau - they were beautiful, but the incense was overwhelming). But the main reason I went there was to go to their vegetarian restaurant. It's a set meal (although you have a choice of regular or premium; I chose the second which meant I got their specialty mushroom soup instead of soup of the day), and it's amaaaaazing. The soup was some of the best I've ever had, and everything else was just super fresh and simple and delicious. There was no way I could finish it all, so I had the great pleasure of boxing it up and having Chinese take-out in China! Wandered around the touristy shops after, enjoyed some gelato (really lovely since it was a super hot day), then headed back to the gondola. There was an outlet mall near the train station, so I did some shopping before heading back to my hotel.

I spent the next two days with my friend Emma. It was nice to see her and so nice to have a local to show me around! I went so many places I wouldn't have gone on my own. We ate a lot of super delicious food - before I went, everyone who had been there told me how amazing Hong Kong food was, and they were right - and super randomly went to the air and space museum and had some photoshoots and did karaoke and took ferries across the harbour and went to the Peak. I was so happy the Peak worked out! My first two days in Hong Kong were sunny, but it was pretty cloudy and rainy the rest of the trip. We'd intended to go the first day I met her, but we couldn't even see the Peak because of the clouds, so it wasn't worth it. Luckily it cleared up the next afternoon! We went up during the day and came down when it was dark, so we could enjoy the gorgeous city view both ways!

I fully intended to go to Macau the next day, but that ended up being super fail when I got a slower start than I meant to, got distracted by Jackie Chan-related things once I got to the station I needed, and got a bit confused about where the ferry terminal was. Gave up and just had a wander around Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, went back to the hotel and enjoyed room service, and then went shopping in Mong Kok later. It was a relaxing day, which was actually probably good after being super busy every other day.

Succeeded in going to Macau the day after (my last day there). Macau was so interesting, but I wish I'd had more time! It took about an hour by ferry to get there and ages to get through immigration because it was super crowded. Once I got through, transportation was confusing and it's so touristy and loads of dodgy dudes are trying to get your attention. Did not enjoy! Took a free shuttle to the MGM Grand and then set off walking away from the Vegas-y area. There were a few walking tours in my guidebook, and I picked one that looked interesting. And it was! Once I got away from the casinos, it was still pretty touristy. But so cool! Macau was a Portuguese colony until 1999 and, like Hong Kong, is a special administrative region. The architecture! There are gorgeous churches (I especially liked St. Dominic's) and so many of the buildings look so European, but the Chinese language is everywhere (there's a lot of Portuguese writing, but almost no one speaks it). It's a fascinating juxtaposition. Eventually I got away from the touristy areas for a bit; it was nice to see other neighborhoods! Really enjoyed eating egg tarts, which are pretty famous in Macau. Visited A-Ma Temple, a Taoist temple, which was beautiful but, again, had too much incense! Had an adventure getting back to the ferry terminal! It would have been a really long walk, so I decided to take a bus. However, English is not so prevalent in Macau. Particularly outside the touristy areas and especially not on the buses. Because of my Spanish knowledge, I was able to understand the Portuguese well enough to figure out which bus I needed, but it turned out to be going the wrong direction and I ended up at the border with mainland China instead of the ferry terminal! Oops! Got on the right bus and ended up in the right place. Had some dinner and headed back to Hong Kong. I got a premium ticket for the ferry which meant that I was upstairs instead of down, I got free juice before boarding, free water when I boarded, and free beer (super glam Pabst Blue Ribbon, haha) during the trip. Could've had free food as well, but I'd just eaten. Did a bit of shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui when I got back and enjoyed the nighttime harbor view one last time before heading back to the hotel and trying to fit all my souvenirs in my suitcase!

Went to the airport early so I could have lots of time for shopping and breakfast. Had PROPER BREAKFAST. Hash browns and eggs! Amazing! One of the (many) things I loved about Hong Kong was how I could find every kind of food I can't find in Tokyo. Stores too! If only Hong Kong had Target, it would be pretty much perfect.

Was so sad to leave! Had another layover in Taipei, this time in a really lovely part of the airport, so I was left with a much more favorable impression of Taiwan than the first time through! Got to Narita too late to get the train I wanted, so ended up having a frustrating time getting home. Took aaaaaages.

Anyway, I still miss Hong Kong! I loved everything about it! It's just a lovely place. There are so many islands and green bits and it's gorgeous, and then the really urban bits are just so cool. So many buildings are so tall, and it's beautiful at night. And there are places to sit everywhere! And rubbish bins! Two things that are difficult to find in Tokyo. The shopping was so good (and cheap!) and the food was so good (and cheap!) and the transportation was so good (and cheap!). And people were so nice. And, although it was kind of culture shocky at first - I kept wanting to speak Japanese as it has become my language of being-out-in-shops-and-such - it was pretty nice to speak English everywhere. I just really loved the Hong Kong atmosphere. It's really exciting and international and alive, and I really really didn't want to leave. I will definitely return!

Enjoy the pictures! Above: me in Tsim Sha Tsui, Temple Street, Mickey, Po Lin Monastery, crossing the harbor, St. Dominic's Church, and the nighttime view. Below: entering Disneyland, the castle, the parade, the Big Buddha from a distance, one of the statues that circles the Buddha, gondolas, the Peak tram, Jackie Chan's handprints, random Hong Kong lights, the Senado Square in Macau, the Ruins of St. Paul's, and incense at A-Ma Temple.

2011-06-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lack of updates! I've been trying to get Hong Kong stuff up, but it's unbelievably difficult to condense a week of amazingness into a blog post! I had hoped to get it up this week, but it'll have to wait a while longer.

On Monday one of my friends suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. This week has just been shocking and surreal and so so sad. It's still so hard to believe. I'd just had sushi with him a few days before, and we'd talked about having sushi again this week (and, like, every week from now on). Instead, Clare and I had lunch with his family at the place where we would have gone. It seemed really fitting; I had been so worried about meeting his family - what does one say? - but they were so kind, and it helped to talk about him with them. I hope it helped them too.

Anyway, trying to sort Hong Kong stuff has been set aside so I can find pictures and videos and anything his family might appreciate.

I'll try to get back to properly updating this thing again as soon as I can. Love you all!

HONG KONG!

2011-05-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

Because it hath been demanded by the Little Blonde Girl, have some vacation pictures. Nothing from the last couple days and no explanations since I'm in Taipei again and my flight back to Tokyo is pretty soon! Hope this tides you over until I have time for a real vacation report!

Destination Hong Kong

2011-05-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Taiwan! I've been here a couple hours and will be here a couple more. Waiting for my flight to Hong Kong! EXCITEMENT! I finished working (again) last Saturday, and I really really need a vacation before I start another job. I thought about going to Okinawa, but then I thought about how stupid it is that I've been in Japan for more than two years and haven't traveled anywhere else in Asia. So here I am, on my way to Hong Kong! Tomorrow I'll probably go to Hong Kong Disneyland, but after that I don't have any set plans. Hope to see a friend and eat a lot of delicious food and see a big Buddha and maybe go to Macau and just generally enjoy being on holiday! Huzzah!

Golden Week!

2011-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Golden Week! It's vacation time, but I have no plans! I need to get some because sitting around and being lazy is not going so well. I did nothing yesterday, and today I just feel all ick and have a weird leg cramp. Plans! Must get them! I do have a couple things going on this week, but mostly it's looking grim. Maybe Disney? They are finally open again! I'm so so so happy! It was dark times knowing that they were closed for so long. And then Land was open, but not Sea. But as of a couple days ago, both are open again with normal hours. Happiness! Going might help me like the Yurakucho line again. It used to seem magical because I hardly ever used it unless I was going to Disney, but now it is super not magical because it takes me to work and is often delayed. Frustration! It would be nice if it was magical again though.

In aftershock news, they're getting better. There was a pretty big one a couple weeks ago while I was at work, but they've been okay since then. Haven't been woken up by one all week! I mean, we're still shaking a lot, but it has seemed a bit calmer recently. (Haha, there actually was one while I was typing this post!)

Since my commute is so long these days, I feel like I've done little besides go to work, work, and come home. But I have been trying to make the most of my commute. I hadn't been reading much, but since I have time now on the train, I've gone through quite a few books. The best was a reread of The Neverending Story, which is such a lovely book and highly recommended, especially if you've just seen the movie. I've also been playing Pokémon Black since it recently came out in English. I'm not far in, but I like it so far.

Enjoy some super random pictures I've taken recently!

catching up

2011-04-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Oops, busy month. So a couple days after my last entry, I went to Osaka with C-chan. Work was canceled for that week, so we had some free time, and we were sick sick sick of the aftershocks. Osaka was so calm! It was really nice to relax for a little while, although there was some ever-present stress about how much packing needed to be done in Tokyo to move out of our apartments. Anyway, managed to book a room the night before and then shinkansened there first thing Thursday morning. It was a clear day, so we were lucky enough to have a gorgeous view of Fuji-san for ages! Visited the aquarium, had okonomiyaki, met up with some friends. Went to Kyoto as well to visit Kinkakuji and wander up to Kiyomizu-dera (I was devastated to discover that the amazing vegetarian restaurant from my last Kyoto visit was gone). Got back to Tokyo on Sunday; after the normalcy of Osaka, the empty shelves, infrequent trains, and dark stations of Tokyo were really strange. But it didn't take long to get used to it.

Finished work at the end of March. My last week was so hard! I didn't expect to get so emotional. But I ended up crying so much, after classes, during classes, during our farewell party. I was ready to leave, but it was a bit sad too. I'll miss so many people there! I had a week off and then got talked into working a bit longer, but at a different school. So I've been helping out at Toyosu school for a couple weeks. Am going to stay on for about a month more, then hopefully a vacation and then super hopefully another job!

During my week off, I moved. I'm living in a guest house now, which means I've got my own room, but bathroom and kitchen are shared. It's not bad! I mean, the place is ridiculously ugly, but it's kind of so ugly that I just can't hate it. And I quite like the area, and I like that utilities and internet are included in my rent so I don't need to worry about them. Anyway, I'm not homeless, so I'm pretty happy!

Lots of friend time this weekend! And lovely weather! We're still shaking a lot and things aren't back to normal, but I'm feeling pretty content.

Earthquake

2011-03-14T17:02:00.000-07:00

I know I have to write a blog entry about this, but I don't even know what to say. Sorry if this is a bit of a mess.

I was at work on Friday. Normal day. Super happy about my good news of the morning (not being homeless in April) and looking forward to sushi for lunch. I was in an interview with a prospective student when the earthquake hit. At first we were just like, "Oh, an earthquake." Then, "Oh, it's pretty big." Then, "OH SHIT." We - along with everyone else in Hikarigaoka - ran outside. I can't describe the feeling of the quake. A bit like being on the deck of a ship in a big storm maybe. But it was terrifying. People were running and kids were crying and it was difficult to stay standing and it was so loud and it looked like the scaffolding on an apartment block was going to come crashing down. At the time, what struck me more than the size of the earthquake was how long it lasted. It seemed to go on for ages, it was unbelievable. Once things had calmed down, we headed back into the office. A lot of things on the floor and a bit of damage to the building, but it could have been much worse. About half an hour later the first big aftershock hit and we repeated the running outside drill. Got our belongings after that calmed down and evacuated to the park. At 4 we were told we could leave, so we started walking home. Stopped by a convenience store to get some food since we hadn't been able to get lunch. I couldn't feel the aftershocks while I was walking, but as soon as I got home that was all I could feel. There were so many strong ones, and it sometimes felt like they were happening constantly. I was so tired and sleepy, but I couldn't sleep well that night because I was so tense and because whenever I managed to fall asleep, an aftershock inevitably woke me up.

Work on Saturday was canceled. I had to get out of my apartment or go crazy, so I met Andrew in Shinagawa. Once I got there, all the trains were like, "We aren't running anymore," so there was some fear about being stranded, but I decided not to worry about it too much and just try to relax a bit. We walked to Ginza. Tokyo felt apocalyptic. So many businesses were closed. Restaurants were shut, coffee shops were shut, some convenience stores were shut. But Louis Vuitton was open! Seriously, it was so strange seeing which things had decided to close and which had decided to stay open. We tried to get dinner in one of the department stores, but last order was at 5 and by the time we reached the restaurant floor it was, like, 5:01. Fail. Wandered around a bit more until we found a place that was open and had reasonable prices. Turned out to be great! We never would have stopped there usually, but it turned out to be such a good choice. It was comfortable (we got to sit on couches) and the food was delicious and the drinks were great and we were allowed to stay there for ages. One of the guys working there talked to us a bit. He said they'd been crazy busy the day before - probably because a lot of people were stranded in that part of the city on Friday night - but that there had just been nobody all day Saturday. Finally decided to move on and ended up going to karaoke. We were the only customers. So weird! Thankfully the trains were okay and I was able to get home, although it took ages because we were delayed to start with and then just kept stopping and stopping and stopping.

We were supposed to work on Sunday, but that was canceled. Ended up having a picnic in Nerima with Clare, Yoko, and Richard. It was a beautiful day, so we thought it was a good idea to keep each other company and try to relax and have an enjoyable time. Went to the grocery store to get things to eat and found that it was lacking in so much food. No rice! Or bread! Or meat! So crazy. After our picnic, we went to karaoke. Super good stress relief.

Today the trains are running on weird schedules (or just aren't running), so I'm sticking closer to home. Because of the problems with the reactors, there are supposed to be rolling blackouts (although supposedly not where I am), but I don't think they actually happened today like we were told. Information about what's going on here is a bit confusing.

We're not having classes tomorrow, but right now we are planning on going to work tomorrow to start trying to get things back to normal. The unexpected three day weekend (when I was supposed to have a one day weekend) has been nice, in spite of the tragedy that caused it, but it'll be good to be back at work and see everyone and try to return to normal. I think it's going to be a long time before we're really back to normal, but I'm glad we're on our way, even if only baby steps.

Anyway, thanks and love to everyone for your concern and prayers and encouragement over the past few days. It is appreciated so much!

Enjoy the nice flowers because everything else about this is depressing!

Second Japanniversary!

2011-03-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my second Japanniversary! Wow! I can't believe it's been two years since I arrived in Tokyo. It feels like it was about last week. Have a look at some of the highlights of the past two years in Japan!

March 2009 - Arrived! Visited Kamakura and Yokohama for the first time.
April 2009 - Enjoyed cherry blossoms. Explored a lot in Tokyo and went to Takao-san for the first time.
May 2009 - Went to Nikko. Went to Kamakura for the second time. Went to Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa. Went to Tokyo Disneyland for the first time.
June 2009 - Did not enjoy my first rainy season.
July 2009 - Went to Yokohama twice and hiked at Takao-san.
August 2009 - More hiking at Takao-san, plus climbing Fuji-san. Went to a fireworks festival. Ate a lot of crepes, drank a lot of bubble tea.
September 2009 - Takao-san yet again. Went to Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara for the first time.
October 2009 - Yes, Takao-san again. Most importantly, visited DisneySea for the first time.
November 2009 - Had a pizzafest at Shakey's for the first time. Experienced the shinkansen for the first time when I returned to Kyoto and Osaka.
December 2009 - Disneyland and DisneySea! Also, I saw Fuji-san for the first time from a distance. And early Christmas celebrations of fun!
January 2010 - Kamakura again. Homeless adventures in Nagano.
February 2010 - Delicious sushi and life-flashing-before-my-eyes terror at Tsukiji Fish Market.
March 2010 - First Japanniversary, celebrated with giant tuna head, anime festival, tea ceremony, and laquerware! Saw Shinichi Osawa for the first time.
April 2010 - Second sakura season! Returned to Yokohama.
May 2010 - Walked, like, all over Tokyo. And went to Disneyland!
June 2010 - DisneySea and Cirque du Soleil!
July 2010 - Disneyland! And trying to keep cool in the summer heat and humidity.
August 2010 - Best month ever? DisneySea (twice) and Disneyland. Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza (including two of those Disney visits, Yokohama, Kamakura, Nagano, and general Tokyo amazingness). Gorgeous beach day on Sarushima. First visit to Takao-san in nearly a year.
September 2010 - Zazen in Kamakura. And Disneyland!
October 2010 - Amazing birthday times with Chinese food, pancakes, DisneySea, cake, and a fashion week photoshoot.
November 2010 - DisneySea! Christmas at Ikspiari! Harry Potter!
December 2010 - Returned to Kansai to see Wicked and have super amazing times in Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto! Plus another early Christmas celebration of fantasticness.
January 2011 - Went to Matsumoto, which I'd been meaning to visit for more than a year. And went to Ueno Zoo for the first time.
February 2011 - Art, music, friends, and the Oedo line.
March 2011 - Second Japanniversary!

And enjoy a video about the Oedo line stations.

I ♥ Burritos

2011-02-28T20:25:00.000-08:00

So we go to Frijoles almost every week (Mexican Monday!). Today was a bit special though as they were opening a new location in Roppongi and we were the first customers. Enjoy! Burritolicious happy times were lovely in the midst of a freezing, rainy day.

Afterwards, karaoke. Also nice to keep one out of the cold.

This weekend has gone too quickly! Had a gay old time in Ni-chome on Saturday night with friends old and new (drinks at Advocates and Rehab, then dancing at Arty Farty before retiring to an izakaya to wait for first train), then ended up napping a lot yesterday to recover from the lack of sleep. Have also spent a lot of time this weekend and last catching up on Doctor Who. Super enjoyable, but whenever I spend a lot of time at home on the weekend, it always goes by super fast. Do not enjoy!

Can't believe it's March tomorrow. One month to find a new job and place to live if I don't want to be jobless and homeless in April! Exciting times.

♥

2011-02-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the Valentine's chocolate one of my students gave me! ♥ It was so cute I almost didn't want to eat it. I mean, I totally did, but I felt a little bad.

Speaking of Valentine's Day, it ended in SNOWY ADVENTURE. Met Andrew in the evening for a cake + bitterness Valentine's hatefest at Starbucks, but an unexpected snowstorm meant that I ended up not getting home that night. Slippery sidewalks! Inappropriate shoes! Danger! At least I had a Resort and Porridge Kitchen to crash at though. The adventure of it kind of redeemed the day (low point of Valentine's Day: when I was sitting in another Starbucks earlier in the day and a woman came in and sat next to me and just cried for half an hour; after a while, I wanted to cry too). Super sleepy times at work the next day though.

Didn't have any plans this weekend, but things worked out as they usually do. Last night I was ready to settle in for the night with Doctor Who and wine, but we ended up going to What the Dickens! for music and cider and ridiculously bad dancing on my part (I'm fine in a club but, like, proper dancing is beyond me).

Today I think I'll just take it easy. A little Doctor Who, a little Starbucks, a burrito later.

Oedo Adventure (to be continued...someday...)

2011-02-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

Friday was a day off, which was lovely. Not so lovely was the weather, which was cold and snowy. Since the weather was bad, we decided to have an indoor adventure and collect stamps from the Oedo subway line. We started in Hikarigaoka, and left the subway in Yoyogi for lunch (Shakey's, which was a location debut for me as we went to Harajuku). It was so busy! There was a line that extended outside, which was miserable to wait in with the weather how it was, but when we finally got inside to warmth and pizza, it all seemed worthwhile. Especially when I snagged a bunch of double cheese pizza and amaaaazing brownie dessert pizza. Healthy! Then a bit of shopping before setting out to get back to an Oedo station. Got a bit distracted along the way and ended up getting some coffee, but we made it back eventually. Made it as far as Kachidoki before we stopped, as it was getting a little late and we still had quite a few stations to go. But! We got more than halfway! It was much more time consuming than we expected. We failed to really think about how much time it took to get from the platform up to the gate (where the stamps were). And then there had to be a photoshoot at every station to commemorate our stop and, yeah, it took much longer than I foresaw. I think we got more efficient as time went on (especially once we started using elevators instead of the sometimes endless escalators), but the first few stations were slow going. Anyway, I spent my day off visiting subway stations, and it was amazingly good fun.

Glad I had such a nice day before Saturday, which ended up being one of the busiest and most stressful days at work ever. Do. Not. Enjoy.

Sunday was lovely though! Went for Hawaiian pancakes (we talked about making Surf's Up Sunday a tradition way back in October, but this was the first time we actually managed it), then to my friend's band's gig, then to karaoke, then to an izakaya, then home for a relaxing night.

Enjoy a few pics of our epic Oedo journey, including me sitting on some random station art, the actual act of stamping, our coffee cups, and one of many reflection pictures.

Happy (Rather Belated) New Year!

2011-01-31T19:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry I've been terrible about updating lately! My New Year's vacation and January just went by so quickly!

I started the year at Meiji Jingu. Do not recommend! It was crazy with people, and we were so far away we couldn't see anything, and the group got separated which ended up leaving me on my own for a long time. Panic attack! The rest of my New Year's holiday was nicer. Shopping, hanging out with friends, traveling to Matsumoto, going to Ueno Zoo. It was so difficult when it was time to go back to work!

Then, like, two days after getting back to work, I got food poisoning. I was over the being sick part in a day, but the effort of being so sick just killed me for, like, a week. And then I caught a cold. I had absolutely no energy. Not great times!

It's been cold this month! Still, I've gone out for a couple long walks. To Takadanobaba last weekend and then just a lot of random wandering about yesterday. But mostly I've been trying to keep warm. And I've had some good food and nice hanging out times. And I bought a new iPod nano and nice new headphones that have been my near constant companions the past couple weeks. And of course I've gone to karaoke a few times.

Enjoy a random selection of pictures from the past month or so. Matsumoto Castle to start. It's unusual because it's black! Then, a random Tokyo view of city and train tracks, Omotesando Hills, some cups at a bar in Omotesando Hills, crowd control at Meiji Jingu, Mt. Fuji from our train to Matsumoto, some lovely English in Matsumoto, bunnies at Ueno Zoo (it is the year of the rabbit, after all), and Tokyo Tower from below.

Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!

2010-12-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-20T02:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family (and Family-Who-Are-Friends and Friends-Who-Are-Family),

Happy Christmas! I've never written a Christmas letter before, only illustrated some of the ones Mum wrote. But it's December and I'm sitting in Starbucks in Tokyo Midtown and there are lovely lighted trees outside and "Carol of the Bells" is playing and writing a Christmas letter seems like the thing to do.

It was a good year! I was busy, which I much prefer to not being busy, and I had great friends and lots of fun! Almost every weekend had some combination of friends, food, karaoke, and drinks.

This was the year of a million Disney trips. I managed to stay away until May (my last visit was at the end of December last year), but couldn't stop going after that! I went to Disneyland in May, July, August, and September, and I went to DisneySea in June, August (twice), October, and November. All were pretty amazing and memorable, for the rides, the shows, the food, the souvenir mugs, and the friends! Especial love to Yoko and Andrew, who both spent five days at Disney with me this year (and only one of those days overlapped, which means that one or the other of them was with me on every Disney trip in 2010)!

I didn't travel as much in Japan as I wanted to this year, but I did manage to get out of Tokyo a few times! Clare and I started the year with a spontaneous trip to Nagano. We ended up spending a homeless night there, but we did visit temples, have snowball fights, and see monkeys in hot springs! January also had a little road trip to Kamakura, and I returned there again in September for zazen. In April, Yokohama was the site of a photoshoot, a Chinese food gorgefest, and really dodgy karaoke. There was an amazing, perfect day at the beach on Sarushima in August. And a couple weeks ago, Andrew and I had an epic Kansai weekend, visiting Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. I also got out of Japan during Golden Week and had a few days in Americaland. Enjoyed the Mexican food and Target and seeing Mum and friends, but did not enjoy the culture shock!

Nagano, Kamakura, and Yokohama were also all stops on the tour during Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza in August (as well as two Disney days and plenty of hanging about in Tokyo)! Nicole and Erin and Brian came for a week and it was kind of epic. It was amazing to see them, and I was so happy for the opportunity to show them around some of my favorite places and have them meet some of my favorite people. And never forget the karaoke. It was really sad to see them go!

There were a few great nights of dancing and music! I got to see my favorite DJ, Shinichi Osawa, three times this year! Love! In other entertainment news, I went to my local Cirque du Soleil show, ZED, and saw Wicked in Osaka.

2010 also marked my one year Japanniversary, way back in March. I had a super Japanese weekend to celebrate. Karaoke, animation festival, tea ceremony, lacquerware! It was really nice; it'll be hard to beat for the two year Japanniversary this coming March, but I'll try!

I'll be working on Christmas day, but I hope to still have a good Christmas this year! Not sure what I'm doing for New Year's either, but hope that's amazing as well! Really not sure what 2011 will bring, but hope it involves more Disney, more good times with friends, and lots of fun! And, of course, any of you who want to visit are more than welcome!

Happy HO-lidays!

Much love,
Jen

P.S. I don't normally post a lot of pictures of myself on this blog, but I will for Christmas. One from each month! Nagano, Abercrombie, Tokyo International Anime Fair, Yokohama, Howard Amon Park, ZED, Disneyland, DisneySea, Disneyland, Halloween, Ikspiari, and Krispy Kreme. It was difficult to choose for a couple months! In particular, there just weren't a lot of pictures of me from February and April, so it was, like, "Which of these three stupid pictures of me is least stupid?" On the other hand, some months had too many! Anyway. Pictures!

Osaka Odyssey

2010-12-14T03:54:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Andrew and I had a Kansai adventure! After work on Saturday night, I met him in Shinjuku and we got some dinner. Sweets Paradise, obviously a brilliant choice for an amount of food to eat before getting on a bus all night. After getting our all-you-can-eat money's worth, we and our cake babies managed to find the spot where we got our bus (totally just on some random sidewalk). We enjoyed the fact that our bus said "Fantastic Story" on the side, but night bus is neither the most luxurious nor the most comfortable way to travel. We enjoyed listening to music, and I enjoyed looking out the window when we were driving through the countryside (so many stars!), but sleeping was not really enjoyed.

Got to Osaka very early on Sunday morning and proceeded to get lost. Eventually found ourselves at that most Japanese of establishments, Starbucks. After breakfast and relaxing (the super comfy chairs were lovely after the bus), we visited Osaka castle where we took pictures and ate pineapple. Then it was about time for Wicked! First order of business on entering the theatre was to stop by the merchandise booth. I kind of wanted to buy everything; they had really good merchandise. I managed to restrain myself a bit and only purchased the souvenir program, an Elphaba phone charm, and a pouch with all the characters on it, super manga style! Then the show, which was totally fantastic! Really interesting to see it in Japanese (didn't understand it all, of course, but easy to follow since, oh, I'm pretty familiar with the show). Obviously some things don't translate well, linguistically or culturally, so it was interesting to notice how they translated some things (for instance, at the beginning of "What Is This Feeling?", where in English Elphaba sums up Galinda by calling her blonde, in Japanese she just flat out called her stupid). After the show, we checked into our super luxurious hotel, then went to the aquarium. After visiting our aquatic acquaintances, we had okonomiyaki, then headed back to our station and went to karaoke. Dessert from the conbini, probably our most bizarre photoshoot ever (recreating the Wicked poster), then sleeping (in a real bed! glorious!).

Planned to get up super early in the morning to go to Nara. Ended up resetting the alarm several times, but still got a good start, although we were pretty zombie-like for a while . It was a beautiful day (lovely weather the whole time, actually, sunny and pleasantly not cold), and it was fantastic visiting Nara. I'd been there before, but Andrew hadn't, so it was really enjoyable for me to get to see his reaction to THE DEER OF DOOM. I'd told him that they were everywhere, but he hadn't quite believed the extent of the craziness. We wandered a little at a temple I hadn't visited last time and then went to Todai-ji, which I had. It was lovely again! On our way back to the station, and for the sake of our documentary (there was a lot of videotaping going on all weekend), I plucked up my courage and fed the deer again. Made the great decision to not do it in the area near Todai-ji where there are a million deer and instead did it in an area where there were, like, two. Neither of them tried to bite me, so much more successful than last time! I was still kind of terrified though.

From Nara to Kyoto (nice nap on the train in between)! We went to Gion where we did some shopping (super luxurious Disney + WA-Qu store!) and found an amaaaaazing vegetarian restaurant. It was delicious and we were the only customers and it was kind of like it existed just for us. I got avocado taco rice , and it was so fantastic. Vegetarianism is in short supply in Japan, so it was a really lucky find! After a stop to sample and purchase yatsuhashi (my favorite Kyoto sweet, and maybe favorite Japanese sweet in general), we went to Kiyomizu-dera. It was my third time to visit, but it was well worth going again. It was almost closing time when we got there, so it wasn't crowded, and the atmosphere was so different in the dark. Really beautiful and a bit spooky and just lovely. We headed back to Kyoto station after and enjoyed Starbucks and karaoke (we weren't sure about the amazingness of it before we eventually discovered a treasure trove of DisneySea songs) before getting the bus back to Tokyo.

It was such an amazing weekend! I was pretty impressed that we managed to do as much as we did in the short time we had, especially as it felt like we were doing things at a pretty leisurely pace. It was lovely to visit Kansai again - both to revisit placed I'd loved before and to see some new things - and see the show and just relax. Happiness!

But the company was kind of the best part.

Wizards and Wishes

2010-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

Have kind of been eating, sleeping, and breathing Harry Potter recently. Reread all the books (meant to only do the last in preparation for seeing the new movie, but somehow ended up reading the whole series) and had a multi-day moviefest with Clare and Yoko, ending with a journey to the cinema to see the new film (complete with photoshoot). Finished reading today and kind of don't know what to do with myself now. It was good times though! I hadn't seen any of the movies in ages, and hadn't read the books in longer, so it was nice to return to the wizarding world.

Took a break from the Potterness on Tuesday to go to DisneySea (I had a day off since it was a holiday!) for the zillionth time. It was lovely. Holiday overlay! Christmas Wishes! My favorite bit of decor was KING TRITON AS SANTA. With dolphin reindeer. It was crowded, but we still managed a lot of Fastpasses and didn't wait long for anything really. Ate delicious foods! Bought a stupid (but warm) hat! Super enjoyment times! Never forget.

For Thanksgiving on Thursday, continued our tradition from last year and went out for Indian. Nothing says Thanksgiving like sag paneer. Would have been lovely to watch the Macy's Parade and watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (but thanks for the e-card, Mum, even without toast sounds!) and see family-type people, but it was lovely too to enjoy dinner with my Tokyo family. Love!

Merry Christmas!

2010-11-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's super early for Christmas, but Japan has been celebrating it for quite a while now. And I did enjoy some Christmas decor last night. We went to the Tokyo Disney Resort in the evening to enjoy the fireworks (from the ticket queue area of DisneySea) and Sweets Paradise and seasonal merchandise. All lovely! Quite enjoyed the Ikspiari decorations, especially once we figured out that ringing the wishing bell is what made the tree have a light show and play a song (sometimes a Disney song, as in the video, sometimes a Christmas song). Delightful!

Anyway, how much do I love that I live where I can just randomly decide to hang around the Disney resort for the evening? SO MUCH LOVE. Hopefully I'll get to enjoy the actual parks for the Christmas season, but it was pretty nice just hanging out in the general vicinity for a while.

In non-Christmas news, exciting Osaka trip in a couple weeks! To see Wicked! CANNOT WAIT.

Birthmonth Closing Ceremonies

2010-10-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, but I've been celebrating since Saturday night! After work I went to a favorite Chinese restaurant with a few friends. Delicious food and lychee sours and special birthday treat from the owner! Super good fruity, bean paste-y fried gyoza things!

On Sunday we got up early and went to Harajuku for Hawaiian pancakey breakfast! I had the same thing I had last time (pineapple pancakes and potatoes). So good! After breakfast we spent two hours at karaoke. Beautiful singing and contraband champagne! Lovely!

In the afternoon, we headed to DisneySea and got Starlight passports (admittance after 3). The time disappeared quickly at first, as we got into a 120 minute long line for Journey to the Center of the Earth (it was dark when we got out!), but it slowed down after that. After shooting out of the volcano, we sailed with Sindbad and then got some dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Lost River Delta. Then a quick visit to our favorite bakery before viewing BraviSEAmo! Presented with - and this was a SUPER BIRTHDAY MIRACLE - a non-alternative ending! I'd never seen the full show before, so it was super thrilling. Extra great because this is my last chance to see it as the show is ending next month. After that we had a couple hours left before the park, and we managed to fit in Indy, StormRider, and Aquatopia in that time! Nicely done, us!

It was such a nice day! Breakfast and singing were lovely, and DisneySea is the best place I can imagine to spend a birthday. And PWD got me a birthday sticker at the Sea (they don't have buttons here like I got in California), so all the cast members were wishing me a happy birthday and the cashier at the Mexican place gave me a chef Mickey sticker and it was happiness.

The plans for today (actual birthday overlay) are not so exciting, but still nice. Mexican dinner later and Starbucks and relaxing and maybe a bit of shopping. Lovely lovely lovely!

Anyway, the birthmonth closing ceremonies have made for an amazing weekend of celebration!

Early Halloween!

2010-10-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I went to Disneyland to enjoy their Halloween celebration! Super lovely! All their decorations were so fun, and I was so happy to be able to enjoy Haunted Mansion Holiday.

The most amazing part of the day was the pumpkin ice cream they had for the season though. Also, pumpkin churros! But the ice cream was life-changing. We kind of accidentally got two cones. It was just that it was so delicious! And it was right there when we needed to kill a few minutes before our Fastpasses were good!

The weather was a bit bad, which was both fortunate and unfortunate. Fortunate because it meant the park wasn't as crowded as it normally would have been! Unfortunate because the Halloween parade was canceled because of the rain. Their Halloween parades are supposed to be pretty epic, so I was sad not to see it. But it was a lovely day regardless! I love Halloween, and nothing is better than Halloween at Disney!

Let the Birthmonth Festivities Commence!

2010-09-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Due to the happy chance of my friend Andrew's birthday being on September 18 and mine being exactly a month later, the period between our two birthdays is henceforth Super Duper Jendrew Birthmonth Jumpin' Time! The festivities began last night with food and drinks at Ba-tsu in Roppongi. I particularly enjoyed the cheese (so expensive in Japan and a little difficult to find interesting kinds) and garlicky fries and this mango drink and sangria. We then moved on to AgeHa in Shin-Kiba. AgeHa is a ridiculously massive club. My favorite DJ, Shinichi Osawa, happened to be playing, so I got to see him for the third time this year! Always amaaaaazing. We managed to end up near the front during his set, so that was excitement.

I wore some shoes I hadn't worn in, like, a year. At first I was thinking, "Why haven't I worn these in so long? They're so comfortable!" But after two hours of dancing I remembered how they gradually squeeze the toes more and more and make you want to die. Or sit down. I chose the latter option, and experienced Laidback Luke's set from a chair instead of the dance floor.

Had a little nap in the club and a massive rudely-lying-down-on-the-seats nap on the train home. And a million naps at home all day today! Lovely!

Zazen!

2010-09-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday there was a typhoon. So much rain!

Wednesday also happened to be when I took a day off to go Kamakura-way and do zazen at Kencho-ji. During Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza, we had visited that temple, and I'd noticed a sign about zazen in English being offered in September. "That sounds cultural and interesting," I thought, and I somehow managed to actually make it work and get there, in spite of it being on a workday.

Zazen is a very important Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen, or seated meditation, is, er, sitting. Like, wholehearted sitting. It is difficult. Sitting without moving is difficult. Sitting without moving and with your eyes half shut is difficult. Sitting without moving, with your eyes half shut, and attempting to clear your mind and not think about how you are definitely thinking too much...yeah, super difficult. But! We did three sessions of about 15 minutes each, and I felt like I sucked way less by the third session than I had at the start.

Anyway, I'm glad I went, even though I got soaked by the downpour. It was something really different for me! It was cultural! It was interesting to actually do something at a temple instead of just visiting them (we were in an area I normally could not have entered)! And it's probably good to do something challenging every once in a while. I'm not good at just sitting, so zazen was definitely a challenge. But I didn't hate it by the end! It was nice even, to sit on a cushion on a tatami floor, with the smell of incense and the sound of rain and a priest wandering around with a giant stick to hit you with (if you asked him to, which I did not) if you felt your concentration was not as focused as it should have been. And afterwards we had a little tea ceremony. Culture!

Enjoy 30 seconds of rain, right before I had to leave the temple to hurry to the station, fearing all the while that the train service would be stopped because of the typhoon (I was lucky and my train just ended up being very very delayed).

Super Adventure Island! And Pancakes!

2010-08-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I journeyed to Yokosuka (in Kanagawa prefecture) to visit Sarushima (literally translates as Monkey Island, although there aren't any monkeys there), the only natural island in Tokyo Bay. It was well nice! I was really into part of the journey being by boat, although that bit didn't last too long (the island is 1.7 km away from the shore, so it took about 10 minutes maybe).

We had been informed that sumo wrestlers and their entourage were going to be at the island, and sure enough as we came off the boat we saw them doing exercises along with a radio program or something. Random and amazing! After a moment of gawking, we moved on to rent BBQ equipment and find a spot on the very hot beach. So much burning of the feet! The beach was pretty rocky and absolutely covered with shells, but the water was super refreshing, although full-on swimming never happened due to murkiness and fear of jellyfish. Anyway, it was a lovely time! We ate, we drank, we periodically waded into the water, we briefly joined a random dance party, we played with a big ball I'd picked up from the Daiso. After we returned the rented stuff, we explored the island a bit. It's all jungle-y and awesome. And since it's a strategic location, it has a military history, and you can still see the remains of a lot of old military stuff there. And even older! There's stuff from, like, ancient civilizations that has been discovered there. Pretty epic for a tiny, tiny island in Tokyo Bay!

Super sad times when we had to head back to the boat (last one leaves at 5). I could have stayed there forever. Did enjoy the massive I-was-outdoors-all-day-and-am-exhausted nap I got on the train back to Tokyo though! Did not enjoy all the unexpected sand I discovered on returning home.

Really really want to go back there again. I'm totally meant for a boats-and-island-paradises life.

Today I met up with Yoko in Harajuku for Hawaiian breakfast-at-lunchtime at Eggs 'n Things. It's super popular! We had to wait in a long line. Totally worth it though because it was delicious! I had pineapple pancakes (with guava syrup) and potatoes. After eating not-quite-everything, we wandered around for a long time shopping, got some bubble tea, and then did a couple hours of karaoke. A perfect day!

Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza!

2010-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

So recently I was on holiday, during which time some of the cousins journeyed to Japan for Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza! It was epic. After work on Saturday, I went to Shinjuku where I met them and attempted to take them to my favorite Thai restaurant, but once we got there, we discovered it was closed during August! Disaster! Since we were hungry and it was close to Erin and Brian's hotel, we ended up going to El Torito instead. Haha, welcome to Tokyo!

On Sunday we got breakfast at my local Starbucks and ate it at my flat before heading to Hikarigaoka so I could show the cousins where I worked. Afterwards, we enjoyed our first (but not last) karaoke session of the trip. Super fun times! Then it was time for traditional Japanese culture, so we headed to Asakusa to see Senso-ji and do some shopping on Nakamise-dori. And eat gelato! I had matcha; it was deliiiiicous. We enjoyed our gelato by the river and then it was off to Ginza for my kind of culture: getting our picture taken with the model at the stupidly big Abercrombie store. Then to Shibuya where we bought tickets for Disney at the weird Disney store there and ate a luxurious dinner at Saizeriya (stupidly cheap "Italian" food). Finally, we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government observatory to enjoy the night view. Super busy day!

On Monday we headed out of Tokyo and went to Kamakura. We visited some lovely temples near Kita-Kamakura station and then walked to Kamakura to spend some time with the Daibutsu. After some Hawaiian food, we enjoyed the beach for a while. The water was so warm! We wished we'd brought out swimsuits. We left Kamakura and went to Yokohama. We hung out in the Minato Mirai area for a while. I managed to navigate a purikura (photo booth) machine by myself (when we started it I realized I'd never done purikura without a Japanese person to translate) and we took some amaaaazing pictures. Then we enjoyed a ride on the massive ferris wheel nearby, then walked to Chinatown for all-you-can-eat dinner. Randomly ran into one of my co-workers on our way to the station to head home! It was a really lovely day; I was especially happy for the chance to take people to see Kamakura, one of my favorite places ever.

The plan for Tuesday involved hiking at Takao-san, but Tuesday turned out to be rainy. Instead, we went to Sweets Paradise for all-you-can-eat dessert and beautiful rainbows. Then we worked off our meal with some more beautiful karaoke. Lots of Disney and Lady Gaga! Then Harajuku for shopping and, you know, just experiencing Harajuku. We ended up finally eating Japanese food when we went to an omurice restaurant for dinner. Super delicious! I will return again. I also particularly enjoyed Nicole's failure to speak Japanese (she asked me how to say water in Japanese, but froze when they were taking her order and just said it in English) and Erin's brief super success at speaking Japanese (she ordered and then the server was apparently tricked into thinking she could understand him and rattled off a question in Japanese, at which point she was, like, "Uuuhhhh," and he repeated it in English).

Wednesday was day one of Disney Cousin Extravaganza, which turned out to be Disney Cousin + Yoko Extravaganza when my friend came along! We went to Disneyland which was very hot and very crowded, but so so so fun! Debuts for me included the Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha E Komo Mai and Gadget's Go Coaster. We also managed Pirates of the Caribbean (2x), the Haunted Mansion, the teacups, Star Tours (2x), the Jungle Cruise, and Splash, Space, and Thunder Mountains. And we survived the sheer horror of Snow White's Adventures. TERROR AND SCREAMING. It's not a good sign when you're standing in line watching kids come off the ride crying, hiding, and/or generally in need of comfort. And we watched two parades and enjoyed many delicious foods! Lots of churros and shaved ice. And we were able to briefly meet up with important crew member Professional Woman Diver and her family who were also enjoying Disney that day!

Day two of Disney Cousin + Yoko Extravaganza on Thursday was beautiful! We spent it at DisneySea, which is kind of my most favorite place ever. The weather was much more comfortable than the previous day, although there was a period of raininess. We enjoyed Sindbad's Storybook Voyage (2x, and I was super pleased that my mad love of the ride was shared by the cousin-types), StormRider, the carousel in Arabian Coast, Raging Spirits, Tower of Terror, and, thanks to the magic of single-rider lines, Indiana Jones (2x) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (which massively creeped out poor Nicole, who was riding on her own and did not understand that the creatures we encountered were friendly). Ended the day with a super scary Journey to the Center of the Earth. SO GOOD. We also watched the Ariel show and Bon Fire Dance (the current seasonal event at the Sea) and BraviSEAmo! Had a really delish mango drink with tapioca and grape jelly. And had nice curry for dinner. And tacos for lunch accompanied by real live MEXICAN MUSIC. Love.

Took it easy on Friday after two exhausting days of Disney magic. We took the shinkansen to Nagano. THE POKÉMON SHINKANSEN. Excitement! We took a million pictures of it. There was also a sumo wrestler in our car! More excitement! In Nagano we went to the big temple there. Lovely! We had some more Japanese food (much more traditional than the omurice on Tuesday) when we went to a soba restaurant for lunch. Then wandering and shopping and visiting an Olympic site that is now a parking lot. After a stop at the conbini for drinks, it was home again on the shinkansen! It was nice to get out of Tokyo and nice to have a relaxing day.

On Saturday we returned to Harajuku for crepes (Nicole and I went for savory, Erin and Brian for sweet) and more shopping and then met up with a couple of my friends and walked in the Tokyo Pride parade. After the gayness, we headed to Ekoda for karaoke and then met, like, 11 of my friends for dinner at my favorite Israeli restaurant. Lovely!

Sunday we hoped to have more bubble tea and return to the observatory, but we went to bubble tea too early and it was too hot to walk to the observatory, so it ended up being Starbucks and hanging out in the hotel. And then the cousins left. Sadness! It was so nice having them around, and I had such a great time playing tour guide! I loved showing them some of my favorite places in Japan, and it meant a lot for them to meet my lovely friends. It was an amazingly nice holiday!

Daaaaaancing!

2010-07-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

My favorite on the Japanese music scene, Shinichi Osawa, was playing at WOMB in Shibuya on Saturday night for the release of his new album. So obviously we had to go! It was super fantastic, although there was a moment of, "Will we ever find the place in this maze of love hotels?" Seriously, it's the most difficult place in the world to find, and we'd been there before! Once we got there though, it was good times. It had been too long since I'd been dancing!

Had a massive lie-in on Sunday, followed by a bit of purse-buying and bubble tea-drinking and food-eating and then meeting up with friends later at our favorite bar (Orange County American Bar!). Today I'm all about staying cool. And probably getting Korean for dinner.

Less than two weeks until Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza! EPIC EXCITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION!

a lovely weekend!

2010-07-19T04:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend has been lovely! Exhausting, but really lovely regardless. On Saturday night C-chan and I went to Hikarigaoka Park to check out a festival going on there . We were a bit late, but we could have a bit of a wander through the stalls before things completely shut down. Then we played with fireworks for a while (sparkler type not, like, rocket type). Fun! Then to Ekoda where we met friends for drinks and karaoke (this ended up lasting all night).

After about two and a half hours of sleep on Sunday morning, I got up and went to a BBQ. It was fantastic! Good friends and good food and good conversation! It was such a relaxing time. We were there for aaaaages; it was fantastic. We had a second party at an izakaya, and it was also good times. Managed to get home before midnight. Immediately crashed after returning to home port.

On Monday I set a course for Shinjuku to meet up with The Crew x A Mommy. There was a delicious pizza adventure! And it was so nice to meet Andrew's mother! She was just lovely. After we parted, I stayed in Shinjuku for a bit to enjoy air conditioning and then headed to Hikarigaoka to check out the festival (see picture) for a while and do a bit of shopping in preparation for Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza 2010!

Anyway, it's just been a really nice weekend. I kept thinking how lucky I am to be here in this place with these friends and this happy life!

totally not sick of it yet

2010-07-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

I spent my 4th of July at Disneyland! It was not very American though; the Tanabata festival was on July 7th, and that was being celebrated. We wrote our wishes and tied them to "bamboo" (less like bamboo, more like metal poles). It was lovely! I like when Tokyo Disneyland has an overlay that is appropriate for Japan instead of something like, say, Easter Wonderland.

Anyway, it was a fun day! The weather was kind of horrible - freakishly hot and humid and then rainy - but I think that kept the crowds down. We were able to enjoy every mountain twice (Splash, Space, and Thunder)! And Pirates twice. And AstroBlasters, Pinocchio, teacups, carousel, Small World, Star Tours, and Haunted Mansion once. And I did not enjoy Snow White's (TERRIFYING) Adventures (I might have screamed). Super productive day!

I ate a honey lemon churro and a salad and french fries and passion fruit shaved ice (in a souvenir cup) and an orange popsicle and crab and mozzarella pizza and cream puffs. Delish.

Probably this was the last Disney trip until August during Tokyo Cousin Extravaganza. I've gone so often lately! Can I survive a Disneyless month? I had a hard enough time this weekend! Sunday came and I was, like, "WHAT DO I DO?!" I ended up wandering around Tokyo aimlessly and eventually buying a Spanish textbook. Today was a bit less random; I saw Toy Story 3. And bawled. Which is apparently an issue when combined with 3D glasses. They got all steamed up! And filled with water as they collected my tears! It was kind of a mess. Loved the movie though!

ZEDtastic!

2010-06-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

This blog has been rather Disneycentric lately. But life has been pretty Disneycentric lately, so I feel it's a true reflection!

Anyway, the original plan for this weekend was to go to Osaka, but that had to be postponed, so we went to the Tokyo Disney Resort instead. But not to a park! We went to see our local Cirque du Soleil show, ZED. I've been meaning to go for ages but never got around to it and am so happy I've finally gone. It was amaaaaazing. Lots of aerial stuff and some fire and a set that I pretty much want to model my home after . Stars! Giant cogs! Magical floor of mystery (sometimes it's solid! sometimes it spins! sometimes it's a trampoline!)! Afterwards, we had a Cirque-inspired photoshoot. Then we paid visits to the Ambassador Hotel (art deco style) and Disneyland Hotel (Victorian style) and did some shopping and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Ikspiari. It was lovely; even though we didn't visit a park, I felt all Disney-happy.

Today I'm not sure where my wanderings will take me, but I suspect a burrito will be involved at some point.

And next weekend I'm going to Disneyland.

Please enjoy Mickey and me at the Ambassador, some flowers , the Cirque theatre, our reflection on the Cirque theatre (and DisneySea in the background), and a light at the Ambassador.

Tokyo DisneyRain

2010-06-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

I went to DisneySea last Monday, and it was kind of incredible. It was raining, so no one was there. We got one FastPass, but getting more proved unnecessary. The longest wait time we got in line for was 40 minutes, but I don't think we actually waited that long for it, and for the most part wait times were 5 or 10 minutes, especially as the day wore on and people got sick of the rain and went home. We basically just walked onto Indiana Jones later in the day. It was amazing.

Just like at Disneyland three weeks ago, it was a day of debuts! We spent a lot more time in American Waterfront and Mermaid Lagoon than usual. In American Waterfront, we enjoyed the usual Tower of Terror and also went to Turtle Talk (which featured the most amazing cast member - her energy! her voice! her general incredibleness!) and Big Band Beat (it's a big band revue that occasionally features Disney characters to remind you where you are). In Mermaid Lagoon we went on Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster (a debut for others, but not for me). We spent quite a while in the Triton's Kingdom part of the area, which is the indoor bit where all the super kiddie rides are. We went on three of them: Jumpin' Jellyfish, Blowfish Balloon Race, and The Whirlpool. We also watched the Ariel show which is in a technologically amazing theatre and which I kind of adored. The last debut of the day was BraviSEAmo!, which is the night time show in Mediterranean Harbor. Unfortunately, it was presented in abbreviated form because of the weather, but at least I finally saw some of it.

Other non-debut rides were Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, Indiana Jones (3x, and one time Indy was wandering around the queue area - epic excitement!), Raging Spirits (riding a roller coaster in the rain was a debut though), and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Unfortunately, Journey to the Center of the Earth was closed; if it had been open, with wait times how they were, we probably would have gone on approximately a million times. Alas.

Food was consumed at Cape Cod Cook-Off in American Waterfront (lunch + orange dessert in souvenir mug, although not a souvenir mug of the current overlay, Spring Carnival), Mamma Biscotti's Bakery in Mediterranean Harbor (orange pastry and orange biscotti), Tropic Al's in Lost River Delta (honey lemon churro), and Vulcania in Mysterious Island (Chinese dinner in a volcanic cavern + Mango mousse). Typing this out, I see there were more sweets than I realized at the time. Most of them orange.

I managed to restrain myself on the souvenir front and only purchased the souvenir cup, snacks to share at work, and the picture from our first Indy ride.

The only negative aspect of the visit was that my feet were wet all day which was kind of horrible. They might actually never be the same again. But that was a small price to pay for a really lovely, albeit rainy, day at the Sea!

This weekend featured a welcome/farewell party for new and leaving co-workers on Saturday night. Izakaya + karaoke + another izakaya = going to bed at nearly 7 am. I somehow managed to get out of bed yesterday in time to go to my student's piano performance. It was lovely! Then to Azabu-juban for my current favorite dinner, a vegetarian burrito from Frijioles. Then home where I attempted to stay awake but completely failed and fell asleep at 9:45. Slept for 11 hours and am feeling much more with it today than I was yesterday! Might venture Harajuku-way for some Forever 21 and bubble tea.

down the Easter rabbit hole

2010-06-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was epic. There was some pizza. And karaoke. And an amazing sleepover. And porridge in the morning accompanied by Mickey toast before setting off for Tokyo Disneyland. There is a special deal on Disney tickets at the moment for those of us living in Tokyo, so obviously that needed to be taken advantage of.

It was an amaaaaaaaazingly beautiful day at Disney. And a day of many debuts! I took a night cruise through the jungle (first time Jungle Cruisin' in Tokyo). We took a drawing class and learned to draw Mickey. My Mickey is a little crazy in the eyes, but we got to draw on special paper and there was a special folder to put the picture in and we got to keep our special pencils, so it was well worth the ¥500 it cost. Also, it was fun. We went on Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. The only thing I can tell you about that ride: there was a lot of spinning. The queue was really enjoyable though. We ate at the Blue Bayou (looks exactly the same as California, but the menu is different and no mint juleps; still, love). And we went on Pooh's Hunny Hunt which, unlike the drug trip American Pooh ride, is pretty much amazing. The ride technology is all cutting edge and incredible. I'm kind of sad I couldn't be bothered with it before (the line's always long and Fastpasses run out quickly). It's a really enjoyable ride!

For anyone interested in the rest of the rides experienced (so...Mum), we enjoyed some piratey adventures (2x), a haunting experience, a serenade from the children of the world, a mission to save the universe from the Evil Emperor Zurg (not my best performance on that mission, but I still won), and journeys to two mountains (Splash and Space). It was an extremely satisfying day.

The current park overlay is Easter Wonderland. Because, you know, Easter wasn't ages ago or anything and also isn't something most Japanese people couldn't care less about. Anyway, the Tokyo Disney Resort is really into selling desserts that come in a souvenir mug and since, while organizing my kitchen recently, I realized I appear to be collecting them, it was very important for me to acquire an Easter Wonderland mug. There were a couple choices, but the one I really wanted had Alice on and was heart-shaped with a heart-shaped handle. Love. Unfortunately, it was not easily found and it was late when we got around to seriously searching for it. It was finally discovered to be available, not at a kiosk like the other ones, but at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall (it's, like, cafeteria-style). So I had to go in, wait in a queue (a super hot queue), and get one thing (panna cotta). And then they made me eat it there; it took longer for the girl to seat us than it did for me to eat. It was all much more complicated than I'd expected! The mug is really great though.

Anyway, love. Disney love.

This weekend has been less epic. Lots of laundry, reading, movies, and Pokémon. It's been nice, in a much more relaxing and much less Disneytastic way than last weekend!

epic wanderings!

2010-05-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Huzzah, I am back in Japan! I was so happy to return. The first order of business was to go to Shakey's. Yay, pizzafest! Then a lot of sleeping. I didn't have jet lag coming back. I was just a bit tired from the long flight. But a good night's sleep and I was fine for work the next day!

Last weekend included beautiful karaoke and gay times and a massive wander around Tokyo. I went to see the currently-in-construction Tokyo Sky Tree (shaping up to be Tokyo's most phallic structure!) and ended up walking from that area to Asakusa and then around Ginza to the Diet building and then from Harajuku to Shibuya. Epic exhaustion! And my shoe fell apart while I was walking. It was totally worth it though.

This weekend I ate an amaaaaazing burrito and sang some of the most beautiful karaoke ever. We were delighted to find that a couple songs from Wicked were available, including "Popular" and "For Good", the latter of which provided us with what I'm pretty sure was our best duet ever. Fantastic times! This was followed by a wander around the Tokyo Midtown area where we were momentarily trapped in an elevator, faced off against terrifying playground equipment, and got kicked out of a park. Yay, adventure!

Today I'm not big on the plans, but maybe I'll head out for another epic wander a little later in the afternoon.

culture shocked!

2010-05-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hello from Americaland! I am here on holiday because I had to take care of some business since I've decided to stay in Japan longer.

While here, I wanted to visit Target a lot (have been 5 times), eat a lot of Mexican food (have had 3 times), and have a nice walk by the river.

Yeah. It was not a great day for a walk.

Anyway, going home tomorrow. America has been weird. The money is weird and there are all these big cars and apartments are massive and everywhere is really dirty and shop/restaurant workers are sometimes rude to me and people are really loud and not even remotely stylish. The (reverse) culture shock has not been great.

I really loved Target though.

Hanami!

2010-04-05T05:52:00.000-07:00

It is sakura season again! For me, the reappearance of the cherry blossoms reminds me that I have come full circle. Last year, I was new to Japan when I enjoyed the sakura. And now I've been here more than a year!

It has been very cold this year, but I have enjoyed hanami (cherry blossom viewing) anyway! This weekend I went to moonlight hanami (and then karaoke) and then enjoyed in the day the next afternoon. Moonlight was in Hikarigaoka Park (lovely!), but we traveled to Kichijoji for the afternoon and visited Inokashira Park. It was fantastic! Crowded (but not nearly so bad as Ueno Park was when I went there last year), but we were still able to find a nice place to have our picnic near the pond. So pretty! I will miss the sakura when they go (very soon! limited time offer!), but I look forward to meeting them again next spring!

The picture is from Ikebukuro last weekend (we weren't in a park, but we grabbed drinks from the conbini and had random sidewalk hanami), and the video is from Inokashira Park. Please enjoy!

30 Seconds: Ueno Station

2010-03-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Japanniversary!

2010-03-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

My one year Japanniversary was on Saturday, so I have been trying to have a super Japanese weekend. On Saturday night after work we went out for giant tuna head. I found the prospect of eating a giant tuna head a little worrying, and when they brought out a giant grilled tuna head, I was very worried because it looked scary, but eating it was fine! There were some really delicious bits. I even ate some eyeball jelly! It wasn't gross! I would rather eat tuna eye jelly than natto! After giant tuna, three of us went to karaoke for a couple hours.

Yesterday was massively Japanese. It started with a visit to the Nerima Animation Carnival. We went to the Toei Animation Studio gallery and then took a bus to another part of the festival where we watched people make mochi and then got to eat some mochi while it was still warm! Fresh mochi! Sugoi! And we got free amazake, yum. Then another bus to another venue where we watched an amaaaaazing live action Fresh PreCure show. It was life changing.

After the anime thing, we switched to traditional Japanese activities. We went to a garden/cultural center near my place for tea ceremony and lacquerware. The tea ceremony was really lovely and interesting, but it was so uncomfortable to kneel for so long! My legs were just painfully asleep. But I really enjoyed it anyway! I looooooved the lacquer. We decorated some sake cups; it took a long time, but I had fun!

Three of us went to an izakaya after because we wanted to have Japanese food for dinner. It was nice. And after that I met up with my friend and his co-worker in Shinjuku at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office observation tower - amazing view of Tokyo! - and after a lot of wandering around in underground passageways, we ended up doing some karaoke for an hour.

Today I plan to go to Omotesando and maybe Meiji Jingu before meeting up with friends in Shinjuku later. Will be maybe slightly less Intense Japanese Experience Explosion than the rest of the weekend has been, but it should still be good for the Japanniversary!

Enjoy some pictures of me eating fresh mochi, the place where we did tea and lacquer things, three of our cups (mine is the flowered one), some lovely cupcakes that were made for us, and a delicious salad that was part of our dinner. And enjoy 30 seconds of mochi-making (you can hear us talking, sorry).

apologies, apologies

2010-03-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry! I haven't updated in a long time! It's just that so many things happened I didn't know where to start! Valentine's Day! Epic karaoke! A rainbow restaurant!

I'll try to make some kind of epic post of epicness this weekend: Saturday is my one year Japanniversary, so I should definitely commemorate it here somehow!

For now, please enjoy this random commercial with Ichiro in. He's in loads of ads here, mostly encouraging me to drink Kirin beer, but sometimes for other things too. I just started seeing this one on TV recently, and I kind of love it.

Tsukiji Fish Market

2010-02-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

When I found out I would be moving to Tokyo, one of the things I was most excited about was to visit the fish market. Tsukijishijo is the largest wholesale seafood market in the world! I heard it was very exciting! And then I found out that I would be living on the same subway line as the market, so it would be super easy to get there!

But then I got to Tokyo and realized that in order to visit the market at its most interesting, you have to wake up freaking early in the morning and get the first train because it's busiest before, like, 6:30. I am not into getting up for the first train so, although I still wanted to go, I failed to motivate myself to do so until last Monday.

It was very exciting! I was glad for the opportunity to visit, but I honestly don't understand why they allow tourists to just wander around there! IT IS EXTREMELY SCARY. People are rushing about doing their jobs and driving around on these terrifying cart things and the paths are sometimes too small and tourists are just wandering about being in the way and I thought I was going to die a lot of the time. Oh, and I had a really horrible moment where there was a chunk of fish on the ground and I stepped on it and it was the worst squishy feeling ever. But the market was very interesting! And it didn't even smell that bad! I mean, it smelled like seafood, but maybe because it was fresh or maybe because there was lots of fresh air, the seafood smell didn't make me gag! And there was lots to see! There were lots of giant tuna! At one point, we got kind of stuck because of a cart in the way, and then a man came along and was, like, "Gomen ne!" and threw a giant frozen tuna at our feet, blocking our way even more! It was exciting! And there were tons of other delicious kinds of seafood! There were loads of things I could not identify!

We spent a lot of time wandering around and exploring and then headed to the outer part of the market where there are sushi shops that sometimes have very long lines. We had to wait for a bit, but it wasn't too bad. I got two pieces of sushi, ika (squid) and toro (tuna belly), and they were super expensive! Seriously, two bites of food for ¥1200 (¥400 for the ika, ¥800 for the toro)! It was worth it though! Freshest sushi I've ever had! The ika was fantastic, and the toro was pretty much one of the best pieces of food I've ever eaten. DELICIOUS. I would have had more, but I didn't have a chance to go to the ATM before we went to the market, so I couldn't afford it. Maybe someday I will return!

Enjoy a bunch of pictures of seafood and a video of my walk from one end of one of the many paths in the market to the other.

30 Seconds: Tsukiji Fish Market

2010-02-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Last Monday, I went to the Tsukiji fish market. It was terrifying and exciting. I'll have more in-depth commentary on it in a day or two, but for now, enjoy (more than) 30 seconds of how-will-I-ever-cross-this-path-without-dying.

30 Seconds: Shinjuku Station

2010-01-31T02:04:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to Shinjuku ni-chome for dancing times! It was fantastic. Shinjuku ni-chome is the gayest place in the world. Seriously! It has the highest concentration of gay bars of anywhere in the world!

My life lately is work during the week and then food, drinks, and karaoke with friends on the weekends. It's been rather fun, but not really much to post about. Although speaking of karaoke, karaoke song suggestions would be welcome. Sometimes I sing something new, but sometimes I can't think of anything or can't find what I want, so I just end up singing the same things every time.

Anyway, in lieu of having anything interesting to talk about, I thought I'd start a new thing that maybe I will continue to do every once in a while in future. Enjoy 30 (okay, actually 40) seconds of random Japanness. Last Monday night, outside Shinjuku station. I think the guy in the chef's hat is amaaaaazing.

Nagano: Day Two

2010-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

When the trains started again in the morning, we again headed to Yudanaka. Unfortunately, the nice limited express train didn't start until later in the morning, so we ended up on the local. It was horrible again. When we got there, we had to wait around for a while for a bus that took us closer to the Jigokudani Monkey Park. Then we had to walk for at least 2 km, mostly on a very snowy path through the forest, until we actually got to where the monkeys are.

There were so many monkeys! They were hanging out in the forest and digging around in the snow and cuddling together by the river. And lots of them were hanging out in the hot springs! It was super fantastic; like, I've always seen things about Japanese monkeys who hang out in hot springs, and I actually got to see them! すごい！ It was very exciting, although occasionally a little scary if you accidentally looked at a monkey in the eye or if the monkeys fought with each other or if this big scary monkey who was protecting all the other monkeys walked past you.

Hiked back to the bus stop where we found that there was only, like, one bus per hour, so we had to wait for quite a while. Were luckily able to get the limited express train back to Nagano City (I slept most of the way) and then were able to get a shinkansen back home without too much waiting (I slept for most of that trip too). It was a faster shinkansen than the one we took to get there; the first one made a few stops, but on our way home, we only stopped once between Nagano and Omiya. Nice.

It was really fun to see somewhere new in Japan and a really fantastic way to finish up my holiday, but I was happy to get back home to where it was not freaking cold and snowy.

Nagano: Day One

2010-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

When we were on our way home on the last train after our Kamakura day, we decided to get out of Tokyo during our last couple days of vacation. My friend really wanted to see snow, so we decided to meet up in, like, eight hours and hop on a shinkansen to Nagano.

The shinkansen goes through a lot of tunnels, and one of them was a magic tunnel. On one side of it was sun, and when we got to the other side, it was super snowy. It was snowing when we got to Nagano City and much colder than Tokyo. Nagano City has a big temple, Zenko-ji, that we wanted to visit; we ended up walking there (a long walk, but it was interesting to see a new city and we built a tiny snowman on the way). The temple was really beautiful in the snow! I really enjoyed it. We also got amazake there - second time in two days!

Our plan after the temple was to go to the Yamanouchi area of Nagano to see monkeys who hang out in hot springs. We took a 40 minute train ride (a comfortable limited express train) to Yudanaka and asked about where to go for the monkeys, but we were told that it was too late and the monkeys would be sleeping. So we hung around there and explored and took a lot of pictures (there was a lot more snow there than in Nagano City) and threw snow at each other and got really cold.

There wasn't a limited express when we wanted to go back to Nagano City, so we had to take a local. It was horrible. It was freezing and the train was old and loud and it took forever. When we got back, our plan was to get the shinkansen back home; we had only intended to stay for the day. But we were disappointed not to have seen the monkeys, so we decided to stay the night. However, we had nowhere to stay. So we decided to do what we would do at home if we got caught out by missing the last train: stay a long time at a restaurant, go to karaoke, and then go to McDonald's and fall asleep. This plan went great until the McDonald's part; there was a 24-hour McDonald's at the station, but when we went in (at a bit after 4 am) they said we could only get take out and weren't allowed to stay there. So we walked around a lot to try to stay warm until a waiting room at the station opened and then hung out there for a little while.

Enjoy our shinkansen, our snowman, a reminder of the Olympics, three pics from Zenko-ji and three from around Yudanaka.

Kamakura!

2010-01-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I went on a road trip! I went with three friends to Kamakura (my number one place!). It was really nice to go by car; we were able to catch a glimpse of Fuji-san from the road, and we got to see Tokyo from a different perspective.

We visited Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu (the big shrine there) to pray. Because it is very important to visit a shrine or temple at the start of the new year, it was very crowded. We waited for ages! It was exciting to be there with so many people though, even if it took forever. Before we left, we drank amazake, which is a hot fermented rice drink. I'd never had it before; it was amaaaaaazing.

After some lunch, we visited the Daibutsu and then went to the nearby beach. The beach was lovely because it was around sunset; so pretty!

After we drove back home, we went out for okonomiyaki and karaoke. Delicious and fun! A lovely, lovely day!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010!

I ended 2009 with a visit to Senso-ji in Asakusa where we prayed our last prayers of the year. Then there was some amazingly energetic karaoke!

I started 2010 with festivities at Zojo-ji (the temple my friend and I visited a couple days ago) and a spectacular view of Tokyo Tower and friends old and very new! Ended the night at an izakaya in Shinjuku before heading home (all night trains! amazing!). I couldn't have dreamed of a more enjoyable New Year's celebration!

I hope your New Year's was or will be just as much fun!

Please enjoy this video of the countdown!

明けましておめでとうございます！

2009-12-31T10:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I have been on holiday for a few days! It has been lovely! I have had Mexican food and been dancing and enjoyed drinks with friends and made new friends and went for a long walk and visited Tokyo Tower (although we didn't go up it) and a temple and Akihabara. And I've had some lazy relaxing times too! And I bought a humidifier (thrilling, I know)! And I went to DisneySea again (super super crowded but, like, even more amaaaaazing than I remembered)!

Tonight I hope to be at a shrine at midnight, to ring in the new year in Japanese style.

Wishing you a happy and amazing 2010!

And enjoy a picture of Mexican food, three pictures of Tokyo Tower, and three pictures of the American Waterfront area of DisneySea (including Tower of Terror and, in the pic with the Columbia, a tiny view of the real sea beyond the wall). It was night when I was in that area last time I went to DisneySea, so I wasn't able to get any good pictures from it.

メリークリスマス！

2009-12-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas, but I actually celebrated two days ago! Wednesday was a national holiday, so we had the day off; my friend and I took the chance to do Christmas things while we had the time.

10 Ways We Celebrated Christmas

1. Went to a movie (Avatar)
2. Visited temples (near to where I live, but I'd never gone before)
3. Ran into people we know (in Toshimaen and Ikebukuro)
4. Gave to the Salvation Army (outside Ikebukuro station)
5. Went shopping (in Loft)
6. Did Christmas karaoke (an hour and a half of Christmas songs!)
7. Had Christmas dinner and pudding (at an English pub in Meguro)
8. Had a Christmas drink (complimentary bubbly with our dinner)
9. Enjoyed Christmas lights (at Midtown in Roppongi)
10. People-watched (the other people enjoying the Christmas lights in Roppongi)

It was a lovely, magical time! Please enjoy some pictures from our day!

Thinking of you and wishing you a Very Happy Christmas! I'm on my way to work now, but I enjoyed opening presents and listening to Nat King Cole this morning!

Fuji-san!

2009-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

So even though I've been on Mt. Fuji, I have never actually seen the mountain from a distance. Tragedy!

But a tragedy that was remedied yesterday morning when I was able to see a super snow-covered Fuji-san from my friend's apartment building! すごい！

very merry holidays

2009-12-13T23:01:00.000-08:00

I uploaded this for my mother earlier, so I might as well share it with everyone! The last room of It's a Small World, Christmas style!

Christmas Fantasy 2009!

2009-12-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Disneyland! This was, of course, exciting. Going to Disneyland is always exciting! But it was even more exciting because it is all decorated for the holidays! Christmas Fantasy 2009! Lovely! As for things that have a Christmas overlay, I particularly enjoyed the Haunted Mansion, since it's all Nightmare Before Christmasy (I've been to this in California before) and It's a Small World Very Merry Holidays (which I'd never seen before). Festive!

As for things that don't have a Christmas overlay and should, here is my top three list:

1. Snow White's Adventures. The Tokyo version of this ride is terrifying. I might have screamed once because the witch suddenly appeared and actually scared me. It doesn't even have a happy ending; she appears to kill you with a giant rock at the end. Festive Christmas cheer would greatly improve this. The skeletons in the dungeon could be wearing Santa hats! There could be holiday music! The witch could offer you a present instead of a poison apple!

2. Space Mountain. You could be in Santa's sleigh, hurtling through space on his journey to deliver toys to all the world's children!

3. Star Tours. Yeah, I just want to see R2-D2 in a Santa hat.

Anyway, Disneyland was also lovely because the weather was nice (at least until it got dark when it got super cold) and I got to eat churros, watch the Electrical Parade, go on all my favorite rides, and enjoy Disneyland with my Disney-crazy friend. Fantastic!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is not particularly my favorite holiday. Like, the Macy's parade is great. But mostly Thanksgiving is just, like, the sign that I can start celebrating Christmas.

This year's was nice though! I mean, I didn't get the day off like I would have in the States, but I had a pretty nice day at work and then got to spend time after work with good friends and good food. We went to one of my favorite restaurants and had delicious Indian food. Nothing says Thanksgiving like sag paneer and garlic naan!

This year I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to meet so many amazing new friends, that I live in the best place in the world, that I found the softest blanket ever in Passport the other day, that I don't have to drive, that delicious Indian food is about a ten-minute walk from home, and that I live close to Disney magic.

Please enjoy some fall colors in Hikarigaoka Park, Christmas art and decorations in Shinjuku, and a picture of my most excellent Thanksgiving dinner!

光が丘 Autumn Colors!

2009-11-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

The gingko trees in Hikarigaoka are very pretty right now! The bright red fall colors in Kyoto were lovely, but I like the bright yellow at home too!

Day 4: Kyoto (Daitoku-ji and Arashiyama)

2009-11-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

My last day in Kyoto was not quite as templetastic as the day before, but was still pretty great! I first visited Daitoku-ji, which is a huge temple that has lots of subtemples. You could spend a lot more time there than I did (and I was there for quite a while), but I really enjoyed what I saw. I especially liked Daisen-in, which had a really fantastic zen garden, complete with really good explanation of what everything in it and the patterns in the sand meant. Super interesting! But no pictures allowed, sorry!

After that, I headed to the Arashiyama area, which was where we visited the bamboo forest and monkey mountain before. I visited the big temple there, Tenryu-ji, which has a really lovely garden (and which is bordered by the bamboo forest). I also visited Nonomiya-jinja, which is a shrine in the bamboo forest. And then I ate matcha ice cream and bought souvenirs and headed back to Kyoto Station where I ate soup and bought more souvenirs and then got on the shinkansen and came home. It was a lovely, lovely, lovely vacation!

Enjoy five pictures of Tenryu-ji (the first and the last four) and six at Daitoku-ji.

And now, your moment of zen.

Day Three: Kyoto (Tetsugaku no Michi, Fushimi Inari, and dessert)

2009-11-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

My third day in Kyoto was templetastic, a lot creepy, and very delicious!

First, the templetastic. My friend had recommended a temple that is very close to a lot of other temples, along a path called Tetsugaku no Michi (the Philosopher's Path, named for a philosophy professor who walked along it and meditated every day or something), so I decided to just hang out in that area and visit a bunch of them. A good decision! The first temple I visited, Nanzen-ji, turned out to be one of my favorite temples I've ever been to. It was really peaceful and beautiful, and there was a cool aqueduct and some cool screens (no pics allowed, sorry) with tigers and leopards on them (at the time, they thought leopards were female tigers!) and a nice zen garden. Next I visited Eikan-do (my friend's recommendation), which was also really fantastic. Very peaceful and beautiful! They have a Buddha in an unusual pose there (again, sorry, no pics allowed), looking back over his shoulder to make sure he's not leaving you behind or something.

Then a small shrine, Otoyo-jinja, which I had to myself. There were some cute animal statues there! Then back the temples with Honen-ji, which was very pretty, and Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion, although it never received its intended silver coating), which is one of the more famous places in Kyoto. It is similar (on purpose) to Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), which we visited last time. It is being renovated, but since I was close, I decided I should check it out anyway, and I'm glad I did! The renovation wasn't, like, covering up the entire building or anything. And there was super interesting sand!

Next, the creepiness! I had been planning on leaving that area and heading to another big temple, but by the time I finished, there wasn't time to get there before it closed (sometimes inconvenient thing about temples and shrines: they close early), so I decided to go to Fushimi Inari shrine, which is 24 hours. We visited last time (the place with all the torii), but did not have time to climb all the way up the path, so I really wanted to finish it. Unfortunately, it got dark while I was climbing. This was cool at first; there are some lights on the path, and it was kind of great to be walking through all the torii in the dim light. And then everyone around me disappeared. And then it got really dark. And then there were weird noises in the forest. And then I got super super super freaked out and had to give up and turn back.

Finally, deliciousness. After the scariness of Fushimi Inari in the dark, I needed some happiness, so when I got back to Kyoto Station, I headed for that matcha dessert place we had visited last time. There was a much shorter wait this time! And I could enjoy the nice view of Kyoto and eat a delicious parfait and relax and not feel creeped out anymore! A nice end to a (mostly) nice day!

Enjoy four pictures of Nanzen-ji, six pictures of Eikan-do, two pictures of Otoyo-jinja, one of Tetsugaku no Michi, two of Honen-in, and two of Ginkaku-ji.

Day Two: Osaka (Osaka Castle and Floating Garden Observatory)

2009-11-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

After finishing the aquarium, I headed for Osaka Castle. I meant to quickly snap a few pictures of the outside and check out the museum inside and then go eat takoyaki at a certain place (at a different station). My plan was foiled! But it was okay!

While I was walking up to the castle, I stopped to read some sign about it, and this man started talking to me. He pretty much decided that we were going to hang out and he was going to tell me all about the castle and the grounds (mostly in Japanese, with the occasional English word and quite a few gestures). I would have found this extremely sketchy anywhere else in the world, but he just wanted me to enjoy Osaka! It was fun! I looked at a lot more of the grounds than I would have otherwise, and I learned things! The museum was really interesting too; it would be cool if the inside of the castle looked like it really used to, but since it doesn't, the museum is definitely great. There were a lot of cool screens (including some depicting gruesome war scenes!) and interesting stuff about early Western influence on and/or opinions about Japan.

Afterwards, my friend-of-the-afternoon bought me takoyaki and then we went to a shrine across the street and then he showed me a kendo training center nearby where we could watch them practicing, and it was awesome.

After we parted, I headed back to Osaka Station intending to get the train back to Kyoto. As we reached the station, I spotted the Umeda Sky Building again, and I changed my plan. "It is on your left," I told myself. "If you remember what direction it is in, you have to be able to find it when you get out of the station." So I did, although it was difficult because I had to make a lot of turns to get out of the station, and then once I got out, although I could see the building, it wasn't a direct route to get there. But I made it and went up to the observatory which was SO AWESOME. I'm so happy I couldn't find the building during the day because the view was so great at night! And the ground up there had glow in the dark bits and there was random cool lighting and it was really lovely. I stayed there for a while enjoying the view (inside and outside) and then headed back to Kyoto. It was a lovely lovely day in Osaka!

Day Two: Osaka (KAIYUKAN)

2009-11-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to Osaka. My first plan was to go to the Floating Garden Observatory at the Umeda Sky Building. I saw the building from the train. I could not find it when I got out of the station. At the time I did not know what the building was called, only what it looked like, so I couldn't even ask anyone. Eventually, I gave up and moved on to my next plan, which was to visit the KAIYUKAN, the big aquarium in Osaka. It was so so great (even though, you know, there are fish at aquariums, and I am scared of fish)! There were a lot of great creatures to look at, like otters and dolphins and itty bitty crabs and ginormous crabs and penguins and manta rays and whale sharks. SO COOL!

Enjoy a video that includes some awesome whale shark action!

And enjoy some pictures of awesome creatures! And some random penguin art!

Day One: Kyoto (Higashiyama-ku)

2009-11-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

So after my amazing shinkansen trip, I arrived in Kyoto in the afternoon. I had been up late the night before at a Halloween party, so I was kind of tired, and it was raining, so I decided to not bother trying to figure out how to get to a new sightseeing spot and just went back to Kiyomizu-dera. It was very pretty in the rain, although I got annoyed at being crammed together with a bunch of umbrellas while I waited to drink the water.

Afterwards, I enjoyed sampling yatsuhashi and walking back to civilization via Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka, in the preservation district. Much less crowded than last time we were there, and the atmosphere was very nice in the rain and the ever-increasing darkness. Please enjoy walking with me down Ninen-zaka in this video!

And enjoy a few pictures of the temple and my walk there! It was nice not having to fight through a huge crowd of people this time!

We get you there with time to spare!

2009-11-01T04:44:00.001-08:00

Greetings from rainy Kyoto! I have returned to Kansai for another little holiday. I had a much happier time getting here because this time I took the shinkansen! I didn't take the fastest one (although I want to try that one someday), but even the slower one got me here super fast. Three and a bit hours (compared to about 8 on the night bus). MAGICAL. It was super comfortable too! And I could see lots of scenery!

Tokyo's weather was lovely this morning, but it was raining when I got to Kyoto. I didn't really mind - I went to Gion before I checked into my hostel, and it lent the area a nice atmosphere - but then my umbrella broke. I didn't get too wet, as it wasn't raining that hard, but it was still annoying.

Tomorrow I will probably go to Osaka to enjoy takoyaki and other assorted delights (not just shopping like last time I was there).

Enjoy pictures of my legs and all the space they had, a little bit of the train, and some random scenery along the way.

no comment

2009-10-25T20:12:00.000-07:00

Baby Ariel, Odaiba, and RIDICULOUSNESS

2009-10-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's a pic of my Baby Ariel bento box - 3 boxes, actually, of smaller and smaller size! I ask you, how could I possibly resist this triple dose of cuteness? めちゃかわいい！

Also, have some pics from Odaiba (the lovely view of Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, and Statue of Liberty; a Halloween ad; proof that in Tokyo, the future is NOW; and the Fuji TV building). I was there the weekend before last and had a much happier time than the other time I was there. The weather was gorgeous! We thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon over there. To get there, we took a monorail which is a little expensive, but which is kind of worth the price because it feels like a ride! And you get crazy good views! Anyway, Odaiba! I want to spend more time there!

Finally, ridiculousness! I walked into Daiso yesterday and was greeted with an aisle of Christmas. DUDE. There is apparently nowhere in the world where I can get away from the unnecessarily early appearance of Christmas.

東京ディズニーシー

2009-10-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday, and I spent it at DisneySea!

DISNEYSEA IS AMAZINGLY AWESOMELY AMAZING.

I have been known to complain about California Adventure, and DisneySea really made me realize exactly why, despite quite liking a couple rides, I hate that park. DisneySea is easy to get around and there is shade and places to sit and it's beautiful and there are a ton of amazing rides and every area has great atmosphere and even though it's completely different, every bit of it still feels like Disney. Most importantly, while you are there, you don't just wish you were next door at Disneyland; we completely forgot about Disneyland until some point late in the day when we were somewhere that was high enough to give us a glimpse of the castle and then it was like, "Oh, that's right, there's another park over there. Okay, let's get back to the awesomeness here!"

DisneySea's theme is nautical exploration, and there are seven ports of call: Mediterranean Harbor (the entrance area, very Italian), Mysterious Island (Jules Verne stuff), Mermaid Lagoon (Little Mermaid), Arabian Coast (Aladdin), Lost River Delta (Central American ruins), Port Discovery (the marina of the future!), and American Waterfront (Cape Cod and New York). There are a couple familiar rides - Indiana Jones is in Lost River Delta (the ride is pretty much the same, but the theme is Crystal Skull and not Forbidden Eye, so some visual things are slightly different) and Tower of Terror in American Waterfront (the ride bit is the same, but the overall experience and story line is completely different and AMAZINGLY AWESOME). Tower of Terror was probably my favorite ride. My favorite lands were Mysterious Island (it has two very cool rides - Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - and looks all awesome and steampunky) and Arabian Coast (it had a nice atmosphere! and it smelled like curry! and after going on Sinbad's Storybook Voyage I learned the important lesson that "your friendship is a treasure"!).

We managed 10 rides (Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, Caravan Carousel, Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Raging Spirits, Tower of Terror, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Aquatopia, and StormRider) and I ate sea salt ice cream and a sesame churro and I got a Baby Ariel bento box (I will take a picture of it later - it is even cuter than you could imagine) and when we were on our way out we got a little lost and ended up trapped in Fortress Explorations, which has this fortress and ship that are full of interactive stuff (tubes to crawl through! cannons to set off! the chance to pretend you're the captain of a galleon!), and since the park was near to closing there were only a couple other people there, so we could spend our last bit of time running around on a ship and crawling through tubes and generally acting like kids. So, pretty much the best possible end to our day!

I wish I had pics from every land, but my batteries kind of died and also my camera is crap at night anyway, so...yeah. Enjoy what I do have though! I will definitely take pictures everywhere next time I go!

Kansai - Day Four (Nara and Kyoto)

2009-09-27T20:10:00.001-07:00

Day four, and again we stopped for onigiri at the conbini on our way to the station and Nara.

Nara is famous for its deer. They are messengers from the gods and are allowed to just wander around. You can buy food and feed them. THIS IS VERY SCARY. They are kind of aggressive, so they sometimes fight over food and bite at you to get food and back you into corners if you don't give them food fast enough. It was kind of terrifying, but still cool enough that we did it twice.

I don't recommend Nara as a place to take kids; we saw so many kids crying because they were scared of the deer. One little girl just took off screaming when one came near her.

We visited Todai-ji temple which is the home of the largest wooden building in the world which houses a big Buddha. I think it's bigger than the one in Kamakura, but it looks smaller, I think because it is indoors. Anyway, it was lovely. And I got my fortune there, and it was a very good one.

We thought about heading back to Fushimi Inari, but found we were too tired, so we just went back to Kyoto station and ate okonomiyaki and then hung out around the station checking out the shops and the views and the Starbucks until it was time to catch our bus.

おおきに、Kansai! I had a great time!

Please enjoy deer and Todai-ji in Nara.

Kansai - Day Three (Kyoto)

2009-09-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Day three started with another trip to the conbini for onigiri. Then we headed to Arashiyama. We first visited a bamboo forest. There were a lot of people there, but it was still really peaceful and had a nice atmosphere.

We headed towards Togetsukyo (a famous bridge) next and wandered around taking pictures for a while before going to our ultimate Arashiyama destination, Iwatayama Monkey Park. First we had to hike up a little mountain. Then, all of a sudden, there were monkeys everywhere! We went into a hut and fed some monkeys from in there, and then we went back outside and totally just hung out with monkeys for a long time. There were some baby monkeys! They were so cute!

We ate some udon before leaving Arashiyama and then headed to Kinkaku-ji temple (the Golden Pavilion) and Ryoan-ji temple (famous for its rock garden). After a very long walk back to the station from Ryoan-ji (we thought it would be maybe 20 minutes, but it was at least twice that), we headed back home and enjoyed the public bath again.

Please enjoy the cutest statues I've ever seen (in Arashiyama), a couple views of the bamboo forest, a couple views around the bridge, some monkeys, a couple pics of Kinkaku-ji, a big pile of money at Kinkaku-ji (people try to throw it into the bowl), and the pond and rock garden at Ryoan-ji.

Kansai - Day Two (Kyoto and Osaka)

2009-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Day two started with a trip to the conbini to pick up some onigiri for breakfast. Then we headed to the Fushimi Inari shrine (maybe you recognize this place if you have seen Memoirs of a Geisha). It was super awesome and really beautiful and peaceful (even with a crowd of people), but we didn't realize how big it is. We could not take the path through the torii all the way until the end because we had to head to Osaka to meet my friend's friend. But it is okay; it gives me an excuse to go back to Kyoto. I will finish it!

I really liked Osaka. Maybe it is similar to Tokyo, at least where we were, but I thought it had a nice atmosphere. It was lively and fun! We got bubble tea and delicious takoyaki there and then wandered around a few shopping areas, did purikura, and rested at Mister Donut.

I also got culture shock in Osaka! They stand on the wrong side of the escalator there. I knew about that, but I was still unprepared for the weirdness of it. Especially since when I say "wrong side" I mean on the right, so the side I stood on for most of my life until I came here. But we stand on the left in Tokyo, so I am used to that now, and it was weird and uncomfortable standing on the right!

We heard that the green tea dessert place we had tried to go to the day before had another location in Kyoto station, so when we got back we found it and waited in a long line (but not hour and a half long) to get in. It was worth the wait. So so good! My parfait had green tea ice cream, green tea jelly, green tea whipped cream, and mandarin oranges. We could also enjoy a nice view of the city while we ate.

Then back to the hostel to crash for the night.

Please enjoy a bunch of pictures from Fushimi Inari, the famous Glico man in Osaka, and the display case at the dessert place. Sorry I don't have more pics from Osaka to share, but I honestly didn't take that many there. We were really mostly just in shopping areas, not places where there was stuff to take pictures of.

Kansai - Day One (Kyoto)

2009-09-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Kyoto on the night bus early Sunday morning and ate breakfast in the station (soup, which is a totally normal thing to eat at 7 in the morning here), waiting until we could drop off our luggage at our hostel. After we could do that, we wandered around for a long while, checking out the Ryozen Kannon (a World War II memorial) and a lot of shops (and eating a lot of free samples of sweets). We also maybe saw maiko - you can, like, rent a costume and wander around looking like a maiko, and we definitely saw some of those, but there were a couple who seemed more genuine.

Our ultimate destination was Kiyomizu-dera temple. It was crazy crowded, but I really liked it. Really beautiful area - lots of trees and a nice view of the city. We waited in a very long line to drink the spring water that the place is famous for - if you pray while drinking it, your wish will come true. And also you will have a healthy and long life. So hopefully that works out for me.

We wanted to go to this famous green tea dessert place nearby, but when we got there, the line was an hour and a half long, so we just got sushi instead.

Afterwards, we checked into our hostel and crashed for a while on the super exciting mattresses. Then we checked out a nearby public bath. It was super cheap, and we could enjoy different kinds of spas and a sauna, and it was very relaxing.

Then we went back and crashed for the night. It had been a really long day!

Enjoy pictures of a random river, me and some lovely ladies, the backs of some lovely ladies, the Ryozen Kannon, a random street view on our way up to Kiyomizu, a dragon thing at Kiyomizu, a view looking down at the crowd of people waiting to drink from the spring, the view of Kiyomizu that is on every postcard, a closer view of the spring, and another random street view.

KANSAI

2009-09-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

IT IS SO GREAT.

Early yesterday morning, I got back from four days in the super fantastic Kansai area (we visited Kyoto, Osaka and Nara). It was an amazing vacation, but not nearly long enough! I need to go back! I will maybe try to go back for a weekend in November to enjoy the fall colors and hit a few places we didn't have time for.

We took the night bus there and back, which was exhausting, but cheap. Stayed at a hostel that was cheap and convenient and comfortable (I got to sleep on a mattress for the first time since I got here!).

Some things that we did: walked around a lot (and maybe met maiko), visited Kiyomizu-dera temple, enjoyed part of the Fushimi Inari shrine, enjoyed takoyaki, shopping and purikura in Osaka, walked through a bamboo forest, fed and hung out with monkeys, visited Kinkaku-ji temple, visited Ryoan-ji temple, visited Todai-ji temple and fed and were scared by deer, and really enjoyed the public bath near our hostel (cheap and so relaxing). More details and pictures will come over the next few days. To start with, have some pictures of food.

Okonomiyaki with takoyaki and yakisoba, takoyaki, Mister Donut, a green tea parfait, and udon. ALL DELISH, although the pictures didn't all turn out great.

Grocery Stores: Part II

2009-09-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I fail at taking pictures in the grocery store. Even though I was at the store at a time when it was pretty quiet, there were still always people around when I wanted to take a picture. And I don't want to look like a weirdo gaijin (foreigner) by wandering around the store snapping pictures when people can see me, so I gave up.

I managed one though. And it's pretty awesome. I mean, you have a product with the encouraging slogan of "Let's Make Dessert With Milk," and on the shelf above it, an orange box featuring the adorable face of Iron Chef Chen Kenichi (sorry you can't see this better). In spite of Chen-san's smiling face, I did not purchase that product because I think it was almond jelly or something. I'll eat it if they give it to me in a Chinese restaurant, but it's not my favorite thing. But I did purchase the orange flavor フルーチエ. It is very weird! Like, it tastes nice and orangey, but the texture is not what I expected. It's a little jiggly like Jell-o and a little puddingish and kind of looks like yogurt. Strange. But not in a bad way.

I'll try again someday, but for now, this is the only glimpse of grocery shopping I've got for you. Um. Just go to Uwajimaya or something; it's basically like that.

All Mixed Up (for Aunt Lisa)

2009-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Subway stations are not usually as empty as the one in this picture, but I took it pretty late at night. And there were people, just not where I was. Anyway, seems a fitting picture to post as I answer questions about my commute!

Do you always take the same subway to work or do you mix it up?
Same subway line - only one goes to where I work - but I don't always go at the same time. Depends on if I'm running late or if I want to get there early to grab a doughnut or coffee or something before work!

Do you try to sit in the same car or do you mix it up?
Same car, just so that I end up right by the escalator when I get to my stop.

Do you see the same local people coming & going in your commute?
Occasionally. I see a lot of the same people when I'm walking to the station on my way to work, but not so many familiar people actually on the train. It seems like at night I see more familiar faces on the train. Don't know why that is!

Do you ever speak with them?
Never. It's just not really done. People keep to themselves here, and especially so on the train. Anyway, on the way home at least I'm usually with co-workers and talking to them.

What flavor of toothpaste is in your bathroom?
Aquafresh. I don't really like it, but it was a toothpaste I recognized, and I'm scared of toothpaste here. Some brands have sugar in them (to make them more delicious so kids will want to brush their teeth...nevermind that it just seems like you're asking for cavities).

When you drink sake do you get all mixed up?
I like sake, but I don't usually drink so much of it to get all mixed up. But I've certainly witnessed other people getting all mixed up from it!

Blue eyes and cute guys (for Aunt Carolyn)

2009-09-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

Are the Japanese interested in looking at your pretty blue eyes?
Not really, unless they're sneaking looks without me noticing! Once a woman tried to make her toddler interested in my blue eyes, but the kid couldn't have cared less. I think maybe they are much more interested in blonde hair.

And, have you seen any cute guys lately?
I saw a really good-looking guy on the train on Sunday night! He had really pretty eyes - really light brown. He might have been yakuza though! I thought he was a businessman, but then I noticed his sleeve was rolled up just enough to show a glimpse of a big tattoo on his arm. Just because someone has a tattoo doesn't necessarily mean that they're part of the mafia, but tattoos are associated strongly enough with the yakuza that it's always a possibility. In general, tattoos are becoming more prevalent here, especially with younger generations, but there is still a stigma. And there are a lot of places you can't go if you have a tattoo - public baths, hot springs, water parks. My local amusement park has huge signs saying that you can't come in if you have a tattoo, even if it's just a fake one. Anyway, whatever he was, he was pretty hot (I don't really think he was yakuza, it just reminded me I'd been meaning to talk about the tattoo stigma here).

I also saw a lot of cute Brazilian guys earlier that day! I ended up checking out a Brazilian festival in Yoyogi Park for a little while. It was fun! I could enjoy good music and grilled pineapple and good-looking guys! And on my way out of the park, I could also enjoy watching the rockabilly tribe doing their thing. They are a dying breed; apparently they've been around for decades, but there are just a few of them left. But they still dance in Yoyogi Park every Sunday! An odd Tokyo subculture, but an entertaining one! Enjoy the vid. After I mentioned the tattoo thing, you'll probably notice a few here, especially on one dude. Probably not a yakuza thing in this case; tattoos are maybe more common on someone who has set themselves up as an outsider by participating in a subculture like this.

Serious and Fluffy (for Erin)

2009-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Hey, today is my six month Japanniversary! I'll celebrate by answering some questions!

What has surprised you the most so far, about living in Japan?
Difficult question! I think it's surprising how Japan has proven not to be surprising. For the most part, it's been what I expected it to be. Better than I expected it to be, maybe, but not really in a surprising way.

I guess the politeness is surprising too. You know, you hear about how polite Japanese people are, so it wasn't a complete surprise to find that it's true. But the level of politeness and consideration for other people is so drastically different from at home that it was still a bit of a shock. A really lovely shock. One of the things I will definitely miss when I leave here.

How proficient do you think you're becoming in speaking Japanese?
My Japanese is pants. I'm usually okay at speaking the sort of Japanese you use in restaurants and shops and so on (although maybe my politeness level isn't always as high as it should be). And my English is peppered with more and more Japanese of the "I am reacting to what you are saying" and "I am expressing my emotion" sorts. But I suck at, like, having a conversation. Maybe I can understand a lot of things that are said to me, but I don't have the words to respond. I am studying though, and I'm definitely better than when I got here!

Do you feel the experience has made you more brave than you were going into it?
Probably. I mean, I didn't really feel like I needed to be brave to come here; I was kind of pretty zen about the whole thing. But I think that moving here and finding that I can get by really well in a really foreign place where, you know, I don't really speak the language, has made me feel like I can go anywhere I want and be okay.

What is the current flavor of the month over there?
I'm not sure! It's a period of transition. Summer on the way out, autumn on the way in. Starbucks just started featuring creme brulee drinks. I had some delicious asian pear booze the other day; I kind of hope that'll be the new flavor of the month.

What's your current order at Starbucks?
Depends on the weather; it's been indecisive lately, sometimes hot, sometimes cool. If it's hot out, tall matcha Frappuccino. If it's cool, tall soy latte. Nothing too exciting!

What is the cutest thing you have seen recently?
A cell phone charm that was a Kewpie doll dressed as Edward Scissorhands. I don't know why I didn't immediately buy it. I'll have to look for it again.

Did you name your various tofu pillows? Or do you just call them "tofu?"
Sorry, I didn't! They might actually be pre-named, but I don't know. I just call them all Tofu.

Grocery Stores (for Mum)

2009-09-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

No pictures today, sorry; I'll try to take a few next time I have to go to the store. But I can answer questions about grocery stores!

Is there anything amazing or different about it?
The only amazing thing I can think of is how good the fresh produce is. I don't mean good as in delicious (although that's true too, I suppose), but good as in quality. You don't really have to bother much about deciding which of something is best or making sure you don't get anything that's past its prime. It's pretty much all good.

As for differences, there aren't really that many. Grocery stores are pretty similar to back home, but maybe there are bigger sections where you can get prepared salads and sandwiches and tempura and box lunches and stuff (like a deli section, I guess, but not necessarily from a counter). Oh, and you have to bag your own things! And there aren't big shopping carts in most stores - just the basket (but there are wheely things to put them on so you don't have to carry them which is good when you have to buy, like, a heavy bag of rice). People shop more frequently here - a combination of buying more fresh food and a lack of storage space at home - so they don't really need a big cart to haul stuff around in.

And this isn't a difference in the store really, but in the actual produce. Carrots are different here! They are shorter than I'm used to and really fat. It's weird.

How is it trying to figure out what things are?
It's not that difficult. There are usually enough picture clues (or occasionally random English) on packaging that even if I can't read it (if it's written in kanji), I can usually figure out what something is and find what I'm looking for. Then again, I'm usually buying pretty straightforward things. Rice. Pasta. Veggies. Fruit. Tofu.

However, I have bought things that I couldn't figure out the flavor of, just out of curiosity. Kit Kats are a good example (not that I buy them very often). They come in a lot of different flavors (many of them seasonal), and while usually I can tell from the packaging what flavor it is, a couple times it was not so easy. There was one flavor especially - I still haven't figured out what it was supposed to be because I couldn't read it and the picture on the package was not helpful for once - that was revolting. The candy was blue! And kind of burned my tongue with grossness! (Best Kit Kat flavor: green tea. Not the best, but surprisingly not gross: apple vinegar.)

Have you bought anything that turned out to be completely different from what you thought it would be?
Just once! It was in the produce section. I grabbed what looked like baby spinach. It was not spinach. It did not taste good. I don't know what it was - maybe some kind of herb? - but it was a really unpleasant surprise when I took a big bite of it.

Are you becoming proficient in bowing?
はい！ Yes!

a whine for help

2009-09-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't done anything interesting lately. This weekend started off promisingly - it was not hot - but then it turned typhoony, so in an effort to stay dry I just ended up hanging around home or Starbucks and reading (seriously, 5 books in 3 days; it was totes ridiculous). And I bought food. And toilet paper. THRILLING.

So I think that you, gentle reader, should give me inspiration. Ask me questions! About my life in Japan! Or Japan in general! Or me in general! And then I can make an entry out of answering them! Because I don't imagine I'll have much to talk about for the next couple weeks; later in the month I'm visiting the Kansai region, but until then, I have no plans. Just work. And reading. And going to the grocery store.

A Most Unusual Happening

2009-08-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

When I got on the subway yesterday, everyone in the car I went into got off at my station, and I had the car to myself until the next stop. Crazy! I normally don't want to whip out my camera on the subway, but since no one was there to think me weird for doing so, I took the chance to snap a pic. Just in case you care to see my most usual form of transportation (I prefer the train to the subway, but most of the time the subway is more convenient for me).

Speaking of work, I am back to it this week. It was hard to go back on Tuesday because I was still in the I-want-to-relax vacation mindset, but once I got back into the swing of things, it was okay. Week went by as fast as it usually does and now it's hard to believe it's already Friday night! Only one more day of work before the weekend!

My Humble Abode

2009-08-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

It's my last day of vacation! No! How did it go by so quickly?! No big plans today; there were a few things that almost happened, but now nothing's going on. Never got around to that book-shopping and relaxing plan I had the other day - ended up taking a nap and doing a movie and dinner instead - so maybe that'll happen. And maybe dinner somewhere later. And a crepe and bubble tea - I've had to resort to the conbini the past couple days, but I've kept it up. Can't break the cycle on the last day! I'm pretty sure I'm not going to eat a crepe for a long while after this week (they're not a normal part of my diet, but I've enjoyed them for this week), but I am not remotely sick of bubble tea.

Please enjoy some pictures of my apartment. And a video tour. Realize now that I neglected my bath/shower room in both the tour and the picture-taking. You're not really missing much, but I'll maybe take a pic of it another time.

Yo, Yoyogi! Ha, Harajuku! Ta, Takao-san!

2009-08-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I went to Meiji Jingu - I visited during Golden Week, so I didn't really take pictures there. But we hung around in Yoyogi for a little while (and went to Starbucks) before walking to the shrine, and I took some pictures there. I've only really changed trains there before (at least before this week, when I've found myself actually walking around there twice), so it's not an area I hang out in, but it's close to areas I do hang out in and it does look pretty typical for Tokyo. So, you know, this is the kind of view I get lots of places I go.

After visiting the shrine, obviously had to go next door to Harajuku for a crepe (the lemon kind I had the other day) and bubble tea (mango milk). Then walked to Shinjuku for karaoke and then came home for dinner at Yayoiken. Very nice day!

Today we went hiking at Takao-san. It was super easy after Fuji-san! Even the bit with stairs, which I whined about a lot last time we were there, was okay! It was great! I want to try to go more often. It feels so healthy to be able to go there and breathe fresh air.

Alas, I saw neither bubble tea nor crepes on Takao-san, so the chain has possibly been broken. All hope is not lost though; I'll check at the conbini in a little bit to see if they have any.

Enjoy pics of the area around Yoyogi Station! And also our Mango Passion Tea and Lemon Green Tea Frappuccinos! And the display case at my favorite crepe stand in Harajuku!

Fireworks!

2009-08-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Fireworks! We enjoyed them by the Tama River last night in Seiseki-Sakuragaoka (not close to where I live - it's on the way to Takao-san). And I could wear my new yukata, yay. It's grapetastic. The weather was really nice; it was a little too warm when we were on our way to the festival, but once it got dark out, it cooled off a lot and there was a breeze. Lovely!

And it was nice to relax and eat watermelon and see everyone looking so pretty in their yukatas and watch fireworks. It was my first time to use the fireworks setting on my camera, and it worked better than I expected. So please enjoy the fireworks pics (and video)! And the one of me enjoying my daily bubble tea (mango tea) and crepe (strawberries and whipped cream, and I longed for the lemony one from the day before the whole time I was eating it).

I have no plan for today. Might go buy a book or two and find somewhere to just chill and read. And obviously I'll have to find bubble tea and a crepe (maybe a savory one this time). But we'll see what happens!

there could be worse themes to a vacation than crepes and bubble tea

2009-08-12T12:10:00.000-07:00

I've had three days of vacation so far, and I've had a crepe and bubble tea on each one of them. Got a crepe and not-the-greatest bubble tea (it said it was tapioca, but it was more like jelly) at the conbini on Sunday on my way home from a party. Got a crepe and bubble tea in Ikebukuro on Monday. Got bubble tea and later got a crepe in Harajuku yesterday. Realized the trend while I was eating that crepe (totally amazing crepe, too, with lemon slices and lemon sherbet and honey and stuff). Will it continue?

Anyway, yesterday! Since the fireworks festival was postponed, ended up spending the day in Harajuku, Nakano and Shinjuku. Bought another yukata and obi in Harajuku (the yukata has a grape pattern...maybe I can wear it to a winery back in Washington?) and was finally able to visit Forever 21 (with minimum waiting in a line to get into the store...seriously, it's been open since May and there is still a line to get in). Forever 21 was wonderfully not disappointing. H&M here is - it's the same quality as at home, but costs about 3 times as much - so I was worried Forever 21 would be too. But it's super cheap! And it's a giant store, so there's a ton of selection! I got 3 t-shirts and a headband for 1200 yen, yay.

After Harajuku, went to Nakano for more shopping and wandering around. After that, went to Shinjuku for Vietnamese. Pho! Mango pudding! Yum! After dinner, wandered around trying to walk off the food coma we were in.

Enjoy the lights of Shinjuku at night, Shinjuku Station South Entrance, the singer we momentarily listened to in Shinjuku and Takeshita Street in Harajuku during the day! I felt like such a tourist taking these pictures.

Vacation!

2009-08-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation this week! So far there have been two earthquakes and massive amounts of rain! Yay, vacation!

I only felt one of the earthquakes. Unfortunately, it was not the one that happened a couple nights ago while I was awake, but the one that happened a little after 5 this morning and rudely woke me up. Why, earthquake, why? Don't you know I want to sleep in?

Was going to go to a fireworks festival tonight, but it's been postponed due to potential typhoon.

It hasn't all been earthquakes and bad weather though. There have been good food and shopping and dancing and hanging out times too! And hopefully later in the week there will be hot springs times and beach times.

For today, maybe the plan is for relaxing times.

富士山 (Part Two)

2009-08-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Before I went, I thought I would be super disappointed if I didn't make it to the top - like, I thought that if I didn't make it all the way up, I couldn't really say that I'd climbed Mt. Fuji - but I'm really not. I think maybe it's because I didn't stop because I was giving up, but I stopped because, you know, I was injured and didn't want to damage myself more. And before that happened, I was doing great at getting up the mountain, and it was difficult and it was fun and, you know, even if I didn't reach the top, I made it up most of the way, and that was pretty cool. And I got to see more stars than I've ever seen before, and I got to watch a beautiful sunrise, and I got to spend time with all the good-looking guys that worked in my hut. And I climbed Mt. Fuji at night, and that's not an experience you have every day.

Although, if I ever did it again, I would not climb at night. Partly because it just made it harder - especially the rocky bits because it was hard to determine which was the best direction to go - but mostly because it's pretty much the reason I ended up not making it. We had flashlights, but they didn't happen to reveal that particular rock to me.

But I don't intend to climb it again (well, climbing from the bottom to the 5th station might be nice; it's supposed to be pretty), and that's entirely the fault of the descent. Everything up to that point, despite the unexpected snag of injury, was great, but the descent was the worst hell I've ever lived through. I found it so much harder than the ascent; it was endless switchbacks of volcanic rock, and it was boring and they were super slippery and people kept falling down and I thought I would die. With my foot and ankle both swollen and tender, it was super difficult, but it would have been horrible regardless. The scenery got better around the 6th station, which helped a little, but finally getting back to the 5th station was, like, the happiest moment of my life.

Anyway, I'm glad I went, and I'm okay with how it turned out. It would have been nice to reach the top, but even though I didn't and even though my Mt. Fuji experience was not what I expected, I got to have a different experience than anyone else's, and that's kind of great.

It's kind of weird that I've climbed Mt. Fuji, but I've never actually seen it. Like, from a distance. I didn't feel like I really saw it at all until the sun came up and I could, you know, see. And I've never seen the whole thing, so it still seems like I haven't seen it, even though the bits I could see while climbing looked familiar; it looked like Fuji-san should look. But I still want to see the whole picture!

Please enjoy some people enjoying the view of clouds below, the bit of path that was my downfall (it's too bad it was too dark to take pictures of the other bits of the path so you could see just how lame it was that I hurt myself on this bit), the massive amount of people behind on us the horrible descent (there were some tour groups), a view looking up (moments later shrouded in clouds), some trees between the 6th and 5th stations, the glorious sight of the 5th station (and a ton of people ready to start their journey up the mountain), and the curry rice in the shape of Fuji-san I ate for lunch.

富士山 (Part 1)

2009-08-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

I visited Fuji-san this weekend, and my experience was not what I imagined. Out of the seven of us who went, four of us made it to the top; I was not one of the four.

We had talked about climbing the mountain for a while, but apparently a lot of other people also planned it (not surprising, since there is only a short period during the year when you can climb), and we could not get the room or bus reservations we wanted. So we ended up leaving Shinjuku at 7:30 on Sunday night, reaching the 5th station (where most people start) a couple hours later and starting our climb.

I knew that it was going to be a difficult climb, but I think it was difficult in different ways than I expected. From the 5th to the 6th station is fairly easy, but between the 6th and 7th there are a ton of freaking stairs. I was definitely not expecting stairs. I DO NOT LIKE STAIRS. I am short, and they were very tall so required excessive amounts of effort to get up on each one, which made me breathe harder which made me really feel the altitude, Luckily I had oxygen with me, which helped so much; I never would have made it as far as I did without it. Anyway, I knew that the path was rocky, but I was not expecting the climb up to the 8th station to involve, like, literally hauling myself up ridiculously steep rocks. I was like, "WHAT IS THIS AND WHY IS IT HAPPENING?!" when first faced with the sight, but I think it was actually the easiest part for me. It was challenging, but I didn't feel like I was overexerting myself. Eventually, partway through the 8th station (which goes on forever), the path got a bit easier.

Of course, that was the point where I smashed my foot into, like, the only rock on that part of the path, both hurting the top of my foot and twisting my ankle. I went back to the hut we had recently passed to rest for a few minutes and see if I was okay; if I was, I would catch up with my two friends I was with, if I wasn't, the rest of the group would come along eventually and I could let them know I was injured.

Yeah, I was not all right. It hurt to step on my ankle, and every step also made the wounded top of my foot hit my shoe. Eventually, two more of our group showed up, and it was decided that I should probably stay put where I was, watch the sunrise, and then meet up with them when they came down later on the supposedly easier descent path. This was around 3 in the morning, and it was getting unbelievably cold. When I had been moving, I was fine, but just sitting there and waiting was not going to be good. Super luckily for me, there was a bed available at the hut, so I got to sleep and be warm for a little while and then enjoy the sunrise and then sleep a little more (I was there about 3 hours, but rest was so nice that it felt like much longer). Then I was able to meet up with the last two members of our group (who only reached the hut right above me, I think - the one I'd been nearly halfway to when I injured myself - and that not too long before we met up) and we could descend together. And then get food together and fall asleep on the ground waiting for the rest of the group.

Please enjoy pictures of various degrees of sunrise, the view down from my hut, the view up from my hut, and the view of my hut.

International Flavor

2009-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night, I had Indian food after work. It was delish.

On Sunday, I made some Thai curry.

On Monday, we went to Yokohama's Chinatown for dim sum. Ordered a ton of things because it was set price all-you-can-eat. So much food. Perhaps unwisely, got bubble tea almost immediately after we left, and after finishing that, felt crazy full. We decided to walk it off and head over to the Minato Mirai area. Notice the blue sky in the picture of the ship. Notice the scary sky in the picture with the buildings and ferris wheel. About five seconds after taking those pictures, it started sprinkling a little. Less than ten minutes later and we'd been forced to purchase umbrellas and were caught in this crazy huge downpour. Got totally drenched. Hung out at Starbucks for a long while and dried off a little, then went shopping (I got a super on sale sweater at Gap - ¥1900 down from ¥8800). When we came out of the mall, there was a rainbow. It was lovely!

Saw a couple great things while shopping. Popples and Angelina Ballerina bento boxes! They were not cheap, but I'm kind of sad I didn't buy them now. I should be able to find them again easily enough, but still. Popples! Angelina Ballerina! My '80s childhood is all over the place here; there is way too much nostalgia everywhere just begging me to buy it. Popples merchandise is pretty common, but it was my first time seeing Angelina Ballerina. It made me happy.

After Yokohama, we headed back Tokyo-way and went to Naka-Meguro for Mexican food. Got cheese enchiladas, which were better than I expected. However, the rice and beans that came with them left a lot to be desired. They had, like, literally no flavor. I tried mixing a bunch of salsa into them, but it was like their lack of flavor sucked all the flavor out of that too because it did not help at all. My mojito was A+ though.

よさこい　光が丘

2009-07-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

There was a festival this weekend in Hikarigaoka! I went for a while today and enjoyed it. There were a lot of different dance groups and food vendors. I had matcha ice cream, bubble tea and duk (Korean mochi; not sure what the dish I had was really called, but it had kimchi and was pleasantly spicy). It was all delish.

Took a break in the middle (we got hot) and went shopping down the street from the park. Got a yukata (next time I go to a festival, I can be more appropriately dressed...if I can figure out how to wear it right), popsicle molds, and shorts with some truly awesome words on them. As follows:

Healthy Wonderful Life
It assists in comfortable life...
Shines vividly finitely
energetic and youthful
It seems to be me and it enjoys doing sports
since 1975

Awesome. And they were super on sale (¥792)!

Returned to the festival for food (duk time) and watched the dancing until we got too tired.

It was nice!

Enjoy the pictures of Japanese-style snack food (above) and assorted food vendors, crowds and dancers (below). And enjoy the video of one of the dance groups! Unfortunately some dudes were in front of me, so you have to see some big heads a few times, but it's mostly okay!

There. Three posts in one night. Does that make up a little for not updating for a month?