Early Halloween!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!