Cherry Blossom challenge!

I was super excited for the cherry blossom season as I should have been. It was amazing and beautiful. Unfortunately, the season only lasts for one week so I set a challenge for myself: have a picnic under the cherry blossoms everyday possible for lunch. It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad that I went through thith the challenge. To make it more interesting, I tried to go to a different park everyday and actually made it to three different parks in the four days that I was able to have a picnic lunch.

Day 1:

On my first day, it was a gorgeous spring day. I went to a nearby park that had about four trees, some awesome picnic tables, and a great play set. I got a seat right under one of the trees and had a bento from 7-11.

The view from my table

My tree!

Day 2:

I almost didn't go on the second day. It was overcast and chilly. All of my coworkers thought I was crazy but I was determined! I got an easy and portable lunch in case it started to rain. This was probably my least favorite park. It actually wasn't much of a park. It was one tree with a small amphitheater. I still had a good time though.

I sat right under the tree on the benches

So beautiful!

 Day 3:

This was my favorite picnic day. This park was just a row of cherry blossoms. It was a gorgeous day outside as well which helped with my attitude. This park didn't have any benches though so I had ot bring my own blanket which I didn't mind. It's also close to the local bakery so I got to have some awesome fresh cooked bread for lunch. Two of my treats were shaped like famous Studio Ghibli characters Totoro and Ponyo. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect picnic under the sakura.

Stunning

My view all during lunch

Delicious Totoro and Ponyo bread! The Ponyo one is filled with ham! Love it!

Day 4:

My last day was also a bit overcast and chilly but I knew that it was supposed to rain the next day for sure so I wanted to get out there and go once more before the season was over. I went back to the same park I went to for day 1 but sat under a different tree to get a new viewpoint. I liked this viewpoint better as I could observe the cute kids playing. I enjoyed a bento box from 7-11 again.

My last day

I was so glad I followed through and went all four days. It was an unforgettable experience!

Easter in Japan

I must admit, after Christmas being everywhere and so celebrated it was jarring to have Easter completely invisible. I honestly almost forgot it was Holy Week at the start of the week. I even had some of my parent students ask me what Easter was; they had never heard of it. It was a difficult thing to try to explain to them let me tell you.

After my experience with going to Christmas Eve Mass by myself, I wanted to more proactive about seeking a friend to celebrate this holiday. I twisted one of my friends arms into coming with me. She had something going on in the morning so I spent the morning scrounging around my international store to find some Easter treats. There honestly wasn't too much but I got some nice familiar sweets like jelly beans. I think the best find though was Easter bunny macaroni! I made it for lunch as soon as I came home! It was so wonderful!

How cute! The perfect Easter lunch!

Easter cookie and jelly beans! Yummy! All gone by the days end.

We had to head over to Tokyo since that's where my church is. On the way, we saw some amazing  cherry blossom trees that we had to stop and take pictures of.

so amazing

We went to church and had a merry time. Afterwards, we wanted to go somewhere that had an American or western for dinner. Luckily, the Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo is right down the street from my chruch. We had a great dinner that consisted of one huge appetizer platter. We got to chat and have some drinks before catching one of the last trains home. I had an enjoyable time and am eternally grateful to my friend for coming with and making this holiday feeling more homey.

What up Hard Rock Tokyo!

First Hanami

I have been waiting for this moment for a while in Japan, it's almost sakura (cherry blossom) season!! I went on a hanami with my friend about a week too early. Hanami is the name for a traditional picnic under cherry blossom trees. It's super fun. Everyone here does them. As I said, we went a bit early. There were some trees that were in full bloom but not as many as we had hoped. We grabbed some food and headed over to Shinjuku National Gardens in hopes of having a great picnic.

It was a beautiful day so the park was still pretty crowded. We went to the traditional Japanese portion of the garden and grabbed a seat right under a blooming sakura tree.

Me under our tree

My lunch box: fried pork, rice, tamagoyaki (fried egg), and green tea

I absolutely loved. We just sat there and absorbed the natural beauty around us. I adore the attitude that he Japanese have about sakura season. Everyone stops their days to admire the trees and enjoy a relaxing picnic. I think so often we blow past all of the natural beauty that is around us. We are so bust we never pause to reflect on the stunning things around us. It has really been a wonderful change in attitude for this amazing spring season.

After lunch, we joined everyone in taking pictures of our tree. I think I caught some pretty great pictures.

The obligatory close up

The park in the background

We walked through the rest of the park trying to find some more awesome trees. Luckily, we found some perfectly blooming ones.

Yes! I have a picture of me and the tree!!

So basically, I had an awesome time and can't wait for peak season!

Tokyo International Anime Fair

A couple of weekends ago, I had a chance to have an awesome adventure and cross something off my bucket list. I went to an anime convention in Tokyo!! I was so excited to get this opportunity. What anime fan doesn't dream of the day when they can head over to a convention in Japan?! The convention is one of the largest in Tokyo. It's held on the island of Odaiba which is a man-made island off the coast of Tokyo but it's still a part of Tokyo proper.

I started the day by picking up my friend from Tokyo station. She took the shinkansen in from Sendai to join me for a day of anime fun. We crossed the Rainbow Bridge and were greeted by Tokyo Big Sight which is where the convention was being held. I think Tokyo Big Sight is hilarious. It looks like a docked space ship if you ask me.

So strange

We got our tickets very quickly which was super surprising to both of us since out experience with American conventions has always involved standing in line for hours if you buy your entry the day of the show. It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise. It could have also been because we came about 2 hours after opening though XD

Here we are!!

As soon as we walked in, we had a total geek moment. See, children here love this character and show called Anpanman. Being a teacher here means learning all about and loving Anpanman. We were greeted by a giant statue of Anpanman. We immediately had to be the only adults to take a picture with it.

YES! Love Anpanman!

 There was only one company's booth that I really wanted to see: Bandai. So as soon as we had taken our picture, I drag my friend over to the Bandai booth. It was everything that I had hoped in that it was covered with Gundam things!!

Awesomeness!

I lazed around the booth taking in the models and watching the trailers for AGE and Unicorn. It was so fun to see everything that is going on and coming up in the Gundam universe.

After I had that need met, we just kind of wandered around the floor. Checking out the booths and stopping to check out some art work or snap pictures of ADORABLE characters or booth babes. Some booth highlights: getting to see some original artwork from Miyazaki, the vocaliod booth where models were dressed as the characters and there was a life size statue of  Hatsune Miku, taking a picture with samurai, an adorable moving and giant Dentsu, Lupin movie promos and trailer, and a mobile shrine for an anime.

Vocaloid characters :)

Hatsune Miku

More awesomeness

What up Lupin the Third?!

Shrine?

So cute!!

Miyazaki sketches

Despite what I just listed, the convention was actually much smaller than I expected. We had pretty much seen and done everything in two hours. This was mainly due to the nature of the event. There was pretty much only booths from major animation companies. There was no merchandise area or anytyhing like that. The other problem was our lack of Japanese language skill. there were some panels and shows going on but it seemed pretty useless to attend since we couldn't understand them let alone read the schedule.

Another issue that I had with fair that made me extremely sad was that cosplay wasn't allowed. It didn't quite feel the same without seeing people all dressed up. I guess I can understand why it's not allowed. They didn't want people competing with or upstaging the many models that were hired to wear certain costumes from the shows. It was still a huge let down though.

Since we had finished with the day earlier than I had expected, we headed around to do some sightseeing on Odaiba. I also had an ulterior motive though. The to scale standing model of the Gundam is also located on Odaiba. It's scheduled to open on April 17th officially but you can still see it over the fencing. We went over to the park that it's located by. Even from the train, I spotted it. I had to literally bite my finger to keep from shouting on the train, I was so excited.

OMG there it is!!!

 I calmed myself down and as we left the train, I even allowed us to do the sightseeing first. I literally started skipping though as soon as we went towards DiverCity Tokyo where it is. We stood there and started at it for a couple of minutes as I lamented how it wasn't open to the public yet. Soon Gundam, we shall meet again soon...

It's so beautiful

Ishinomaki Volunteer Weekend

This weekend I ventured out into the north of Japan again. Instead of just visiting this time, I went out to a town called Ishinomaki to do some volunteer work to help with the recovery from the tsunami and earthquake last March. I had a long weekend due to a national holiday so it was really the only time I could get out there and have it be worth my time. It was an EXHAUSTING weekend but it was also super rewarding!

I stayed and worked with an organization called “It’s Not Just Mud”. I was super grateful to them as they were one of the only organizations that didn’t require that I know Japanese or have a background in construction. 

As soon as I was picked up at the station by one of the volunteers, it was evident that this area was pretty hard hit. The house that I stayed at is in the actual disaster zone. It was a house that the government deemed unlivable but the volunteers fixed up. It definitely wasn’t a completed house but it was a roof over our heads with running water, electricity, and some heaters which everyone was very grateful for. 

The house. The girls bedroom/dining room

I dropped my things off at the house, had some toast, and started to gear up. I had bought some materials that the website told us to pack but nothing I had was quite sturdy enough so I had to borrow gloves, goggles, a mask, and overalls from the organization. We piled into a van and headed off to the outskirts of the town closer to the ocean. It was amazing to see some of the devastation that still is there even after a year. We passed piles of garbage and mud, a huge lot of cars just waiting to be claimed, a water tower tossed in between the road that still hadn’t been moved, and even a barge that was still stuck on land. As opposed to the Sendai disaster zone I saw a couple of weeks ago, houses were still standing here. The people who live there had boarded up windows and put tarps over some of the gaping holes just to keep the wind and cold out. 

A water tower still sitting in the middle of a highway divide which has been turned into a kind of memorial.

Piles of trash and debris

We went to what I think used to be a laundry mat. Our main objective was to shovel mud off of the floor so it could be used to store a play set that the owner wanted to build for his grandchildren.  It struck me that even after a year, there was still mud to be shoveled out of homes. Luckily it was dried out so it wasn’t too heavy or messy. We had to be very careful with the mud. The resident nurse pointed out that it is still highly toxic. All the mud from the tsunami contains chemicals from all the houses and cars that sat in it for days. It also contains molds and germs from the bodies of people and fish. Making sure every part of your body was covered was key. It was a difficult task. We made some great progress, though, and nearly finished the whole thing in one day!

After a hard day’s work, we all got to head to the onsen, a public bathhouse. With over 20 volunteers living in the house and only one shower, the public bathhouses are the best option for everyone to get clean and relax. Onsens are pretty much like spas. They are amazing and wonderful! The one that we went to had five indoor ones and one outdoor one. Personally, the outdoor one is my favorite. The heat of the water contrasts with the cold air to allow you really sit and soak in the hot spring. You literally feel like jelly afterwards because it is so hot and relaxing.

Once we got home from the bath, we all had dinner together. Volunteers cooked together and we all sat around three small tables. It was a great time to really get to know and bond with the other volunteers. I met a lot of totally amazing people from all over the world. We all cracked a few beers and chatted for hours after dinner. The food and company was very satisfying and who could ask for more than that?

Me with some of the wonderful ladies that I met.

For days two and three we basically followed the same schedule except the work task changes. On days two and three we went to Ayukawa, a nearby village, to help an adorable old man with his home. He lives close to the river and the tsunami and typhoon that happened in September knocked down the walls he had built to protect his foundation from the water. As a result, the ground under his house and shed were corroding. One corner of the shed was literally hanging over the river.

And this was after we had started to build the wall. None of those rocks used to be there.

 We had to go up stream and collect the large rocks he had used to build the walls in the first place, bring them back down to his house, and help him rebuild the wall. Those stones were so heavy. I can get really competitive since most of my friends are guys so I was trying hard to keep up with the guys in terms of rock size. I for sure got in one incredible upper body workout! 

working as one to move the rocks

We ate lunch in the city in temporary business units, basically temporary housing for restaurants and small shops. It was really nice to feel like we were contributing to the small business owners as well.On one day I even felt particularly adventurous and tried the local specialty: whale. That's right, I ate whale meat. It basically looked like bacon tossed in my curry. I couldn't really taste since it was in curry but now I can say I've eaten whale. Still not sure if that is awesome or not but, hey, had to give it a shot.

That's the whale curry

Temporary business housing

On day two, instead of going with the large group to go to the onsen, myself and a couple others ventured to the seawall to go on a photo excursion.  I cannot describe to you how much destruction there still was there to see. The thing that blew my mind was the actual sea wall barrier. It had literally been shattered by the tsunami. The force was so great that there were chunks of wall and concrete from the road tossed almost a mile away from the force. It was like looking at something out of an apocalyptic science fiction movie.

The remains of a house

The sun setting on the bits of debris

Stairs that used to lead to the beach. These barriers literally exploded from the force of the tsunami. They were probably a couple of yards from where they used to be. Impressive considering it used to be a reinforced concrete barrier.

A destroyed school right next to the sea wall. There is still some standing water from a combination of the tsunami and typhoon.

The people who are living and working here are truly amazing for being able to pick up the pieces and move on. They are so grateful for the help that others are giving them. I hope that I may be able to go back some time and lend a hand again. It was an amazing and humbling experience.