Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Tokyo

Ok, so these aren't all of the photos, obviously, but its a few, and I don't have time for more now, gomen!!!!! (sorry). Tokyo was awesome amounts of fun, however... I like Osaka better. Tokyo had an attitude I wasn't too fond of. Also, despite how big Osaka is, Tokyo is bigger, and that was a tad too overwhelming. My darling tomodachi (friend) Caitlin and I took a night bus to Tokyo on Thursday night, so we got to Tokyo on Friday morning cramped and sleepy. We stayed in a hostel in Shinjuku all three nights we were there. It was really nice actually, the beds were wonderful, but I forgot to take a photo of them, bugger. Anyway, photos: Giant Kitty-chan in Shinjuku. The first 6 photos are from Shinjuku. Shinjuku includes the gay club area (Shinjuku 2-chome) and the host/hostess club area (Kabukicho). Lots of big buildings. The man standing in a sea of movement is a host. The women in the sign with a 24 were very very drunk young ladies being highly amusing in the street. This was Friday night. On Saturday we went to Akihabara, the otaku area, so anime, manga, video games, and electronics galore. The next 7 photos are of that area. The funny billboard is supposed to be an animated version of the prime minister. Everything was big, colorful, and involved anime characters. There was an awesome area that was like a maze, it was under a building and each little corridor was lined with booths selling every tiny piece of an electronic you could imagine. You could have bought everything to make a computer from scratch, for cheap too. I found it all incredible, sadly I don't know enough about electronics to fully appreciate it. The next 15 photos are of Harajuku!!!!!! Yes I freaked out while I was there, as you all were expecting. It was impossible to take photos because the crowds were so big and the street was so small, I couldn't find anywhere good to just stand/sit and snap shots. Oh well. Takeshita street was the best area... rows and rows of street fashion stores etc. The square bridge area is the famous Harajuku bridge! And the Nice boy with the Free Hugs sign was standing on said bridge, so I gave him a hug... to which he said "arigato gozaimasu"... erm I was confused by this because it is a rather polite for of thank you very much, and I have no idea why I needed to be thanked. Whatever. Street fashion is awesome, ne? Next 6 are from that night. We had dinner with another girl that goes to our school and goes to Caitlin's home school, plus a Japanese boy who graduated from their home school. We ate shark cartilage in plum sauce, surprisingly tasty, but very odd consistency. His name is Yoshi Suzuki, and after dinner he took us to a locals club/lounge in Roppongi (foreigner area). That was all around hilarious and wonderful. There was a bed in the middle of the club, which in fact is where we hung out. The Japanese kids were doing a famous dance from the 90's which involves standing on a stage/box and waving a fan back an forth. Hilarious. Also, I now have the business card of a piercer in Tokyo and a picture of my face is now probably in some piercing parlor. Of course, famous Tokyo Tower. The next morning, Monday, we went to Ueno, the historic/museum area. We went to the zooooooo! Oh, and had green tea lattes. So, more temple type structures, lots of cute animals, including a capibara which I am obsessed with (long story), and very nice kouyou (fall colors) in front of one of the museums. There were really cool street markets there too, but it was pouring rain at that point, so no pictures. Last but not least, to avoid the rain we went to karaoke! This place was crazy fancy, there were black lights, lasers, shiny things, and the pictures on the walls all lit up when you sang. Then another night bus home, which but us in Kyoto at 6am, then we went straight to school... you can bet I was passed out in the lounge between classes. This weekend is a J-rock concert, Kyoto, and maybe Osaka-jo.










































Thursday, November 20, 2008

Nara

Nara! Nara is a beautiful historic part of Japan. Specifically famous for the shika (deer) which are in fact considered to be holy, and the Daibutsu (big buddah). The shika seem cute, but secretly they try and eat anything they can get their mouths on, which can be an issue since they aren't afraid of people at all. We had to sit on a bridge edge to avoid them while eating our yakisoba for lunch. What you are supposed to do is buy little packets of flat starchy cakes to feed them, they are not very tasty as Caitlin and I discovered. The five part pagoda is common in Japan because its five stories represent five elements of nature, earth at the bottom, then water, fire, wind, and air. Also, I'll give you a dollar if you can understand the Engrish sign. It was a long day, we were Japanese and slept on the train. Well, I'm off to Tokyo for 4 days!










































































































































































































































































































































Tuesday, November 18, 2008

All Hallows Eve







































I'm seriosuly behind on blog updates!!! I have done many interesting things since my last post, goen to Nara to play with the shika for example, and gone to see the kouyou at the Imperial Palace. Right now I have some more photos of my and my family to share. The day before Halloween is my sister Yoshiko's birthday, so on Halloween we dressed up and went out to dinner at Universal Studies Japan street with the parents to see my sister Reiko's friend perform (he is a magician), then we met the brother at a bar for further celebration sans parents. We had two cakes, goodness, one at each party. You may recognize the creepy clown as the DJ from an earlier post I made about going out with my sisters. Since I have yet to really mention him/have a picture of him due to his lack of participation in family events, my brother is the one wearing a hat to the far left. Hurray Halloween in Japan!









Friday, November 7, 2008

Irasshaimase!









































This past weekend was INFES, otherwise known as the international festival. Now, in Japan, festivals happen all the time. Seriously, all the time. I like that about Japanese culture, they like to celebrate things. Regardless, in schools it is very common to have festivals (like the sports festival we had a while back). This occurs in all age groups, so elementary through university, and the students put a large amount of genuine effort into it all. They create booths and sell food for cheap, ahve club performances, actually come out of their shy shells, etc. And, as good sales people do, they yell "irasshaimase" (welcome) over and over in highly irritating voices. Trust me, come to Japan and set foot in ANY store and the clerks will yell, I mean this literally often as not, "irasshaimase!" at you. So, as the Gaidai festival was going on from Friday through Sunday (have I mentioned that they didn't have school from about Thursday afternoon through Monday?) we international kids also set up our festival to share our cultures and talents with the other gaijin as well as Japanese students. Everyone had school off on Monday, because lo and behold, another holiday (cultural day)! Preparing for INFES was a big deal, as I mentioned the large amount of effort Japanese kids put into it, likewise we were expected to as well. I spent the last month teaching two Japanese girls to belly dance to perform in the World Dance Show. I performed three times on Saturday, not to mention walked around being stared at by all the Japanese students! I am under the impression they don't see belly dancers often, not to mention the fact that it is kind of scandalous to show off any of your upper body in this culture. The word "sexy" sounds like "shekshi" when pronounced by a Nihongo (Japanese language) speaker. So my day was filled with "Shekshi!!!!" followed by "Shashin!!!" which means picture. Anyway, everyone dressed up in their traditional clothing, etc., the boy in the interesting clothing is from teh Czech Republic. My friend Ayako looked lovely in her kimono, and the crazy American boy wore traditional Japanese frighting clothes. The girls I taught to dance were named Hiromi and Ayaka (Japanese names are very hard to remember because they mostly sound the same, I have friends named Ayaka, Aiko, Ayako...). My friend Tetsuya, the Japanese boy in the photo, is a yonensei (senior) and will graduate in March and move to Tokyo to work. Overall, it was a compeltely fun experience, my okaasan (mother) said I should stay in Japan and teach Belly Dancing, because it is supposedly getting very popular all of a sudden, who knew I was so on top of the trends?


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