Japanese style New Years Day

Wow! Things got very crazy at work and I've been sick lately so I'm very sorry that there's been such a lull in the updates. I'll finish writing about my family's visit...eventually... So anyway, my family was here to help my celebrate New Years Day Japanese style. Traditionally, the Japanese celebrate New Years Day and don't emphasize New Years Eve like we do in the States. Most people will go to a temple to celebrate the day by praying, getting a fortune, and eating some good food!
We started the day by going to church in Roppongi. Then, since the we hadn't seen it yet, we headed off to the Tokyo Tower. I had never been to the top before so I was very excited to see what Tokyo looked like from the observatory. Unfortunately, it was not the clearest day so while we could see the awesome layout, we couldn't see all the way to Yokohama or even Mt. Fuji. Still, we all looked out enjoying the view of Tokyo. The view that got my interest was that of Zojo-ji temple. It's a temple right next to the Tower. From above, you could really see the magnitude of the amount of people there. It was incredible.

Why hello there Tokyo Tower

The family with the Tokyo Tower mascot. I have no idea what it's supposed to be...

Look at all of the people!

After our stop to the tower, we quickly headed over to one of the most famous temples in Japan: Senso-ji. I knew it would be crowded but I was not prepared for the crowd that we encountered. Now, I have been to Senso-ji many times before. Never had I ever seen a line. But that's what we encountered when we first got there (well that and the Sky Tree in the skyline).

Hello Sky Tree! I can't wait until you open in March!

Hello line of unexpected people in front of us.

Hello people behind us in line...

We waited in line for about an hour and a half. It wasn't too bad. We munched on snacks and shopped. The main road up to the temple even after you pass through the first gate is lined with tourist stores so we took advantage of that while waiting.

The main temple gate

I also spent my time trying to ninja pictures of girls in kimonos...

Once actually inside the temple, we said a New Years Day prayer. Basically, there is a grand and beautiful statue that you admire. In front of the statue, there what looks like a wooden table with slits in it. You take coin money and toss it in as an offering. Everyone tossed a coin in. True story: my coin actually ricocheted off the back of a temple employ...pretty sure that's some kind of bad luck...so I tried it again successfully with a  100 yen coin. That should balance everything out...right? After the long wait in line, we were all starving! Since it was New Years Day, the temple grounds were packed with street vendors selling all kinds of traditional Japanese food. I made my family try a little bit of all my favorite things! We started with takoyaki (fried octopus balls) and BBQ pork. Then we all split off and got different things: okonomiyaki (a savory pancake), yakisoba (fried noodles), chocolate bananas, and candied fruit. They all really enjoyed the food! Which was awesome because these are some of my favorite Japanese foods.

Enjoying some yakisoba!

After dinner, we got a New Years fortune! I have gotten my fortune before at Senso-ji so I knew that there were English translations of all of the fortunes. You pay 100 yen (about $1.15) and then you shake a metal cylinder full of sticks with Japanese numbers. There's a little hole in the bottom that one of the sticks slides through. Next to the shaker is a small wall of drawers that all have numbers labeled on them. You match the number on your stick to a drawer and there's your fortune! Jenny, Tommy, and I all got good or normal fortunes. Chris got the best fortune. But, my poor mother, she got the worst fortune. When you get a bad fortune, you need to tie it and leave it at the temple to make your luck change.

Poor mom!

Chris is super pumped about his awesome fortune!

After that, we just walked around Asakusa enjoying the scenery and shopping. We had a great time experiencing a Japanese New Year!

Disney Sea!

When my parents were first planning on coming, they asked me what I wanted to see. I quickly explained that I had visited almost all of the big tourist venues around me except one place: Tokyo Disney Resort! I demanded that the only thing that HAD to happen during this visit, was a trip to Disney Sea.
A little bit if back story on me: I normally don't like amusement parks. I get really bad motion sickness so it's not the best place for me. BUT, I also knew that the Japanese are not as intense about their rides as we are in the States so I really wanted to check out Disney Sea.
On their third day in town, we all got on a train at 6:30 AM to head over to the other side of Tokyo. We arrived and took the Disney shuttle over to the park. It was super cute! Everything in the train right down to the windows and hand holds were shaped like Mickey.

Precious!

We bought our tickets and investigated the map. The only ride I was interested in was the Tower of Terror. It was my favorite ride at Disney World (In fact, I rode it about 5 times the last time we were there as my siblings were interested in other rides that I could not handle). I had heard it was different from the one in Florida, so I wanted to see what it was all about. After a quick family photo:

Cuties

we booked it to the Tower of Terror. Much to our dismay, it was about a two and a half hour wait to get into the ride. We snacked and huddled from the cold outside and finally got up the Tower. It did have a very different story line form the Disney World Tower of Terror. From what I could gather (as the ride was in Japanese), the owner of the hotel was the most interesting man on Earth and decided to just take and steal from ancient cultures because, well, he deserved it. One artifact he stole was in fact a cursed statue. He kept it on his mantle, scoffing that such a curse could exist. Low and behold, the statue disappears and explodes the elevator cable at the top of the tower. The very top view right before the last large drop was spectacular. It perfectly framed the Sky Tree and the Disney Land castle. I wish I could have taken a picture!

Tower of Terror! What, what!

After that, we had lunch at the American Seaside right next to the real sea.

What a nice view!

We rode a couple more rides after that and had dinner and a Mexican restaurant on site. Here's the thing to understand about Disney parks in Japan. In America, we focus our parks on the rides and attractions. Here, it was almost a purely commercial trip. Most people come to buy more Disney exclusive stuff or eat some of the odd flavored popcorn.

We gave into the consumerism. They are such cute hats though!!

There really are not that many rides let alone rides that we would consider thrilling. My siblings went on the most intense roller coaster in the park. All it did was one 360 degree loop. There were signs all over the ride stating to be careful since the ride was "intense". We all got a hardy laugh out of that especially my youngest brother who had been riding things like the Rockin' Roller coaster since he was like 6 years-old. We still had a great time! Rode some bumper boats, 2 small roller coasters, the Indian Jones ride, and a huge merry-go-round with an Aladdin theme.

Yeah that's right, he's riding the Genie. Take that Robin Williams.

Another interesting thing to note is the different popular characters between cultures. For example, people in Japan LOVE the Aristocats especially the cute white kitten named Marie. Now, I'm going to be honest, I haven't seen the Aristocats in about 20 years so I barely recognized the character when I first got here. I told one of my older students that and she looked at me like I was insane for not knowing her name. They also really like Chip and Dale, Stitch, and the Genie (not Aladdin or Jasmine. In fact, there was not a single statue or mention of them in the Arabian town area. It was ALL about the Genie.)
One thing that did stick out to me that I loved was that Disney Sea did not have a Cinderella's castle. If you wanted to see that you would have to go to Tokyo Disney Land. Instead, they had Ariel's castle. This was about a bazillion times more exciting to me. The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite Disney movies.

Look at that and tell me it is NOT amazingly cool. You would be lying to yourself if you did.

After I let my 7 year old inner fan girl frolic around Ariel's castle, we headed off to the lights and fireworks show. I'm just going to say it: I was totally let down by the fireworks. They were about 5 mins long and kind of lame. BUT the light show totally redeemed it all! It turned into this epic battle between Mickey and the forces of good and like every villain ever ending with a giant animatronic Maleficent (in dragon form) vs. sorcerer Mickey. It was an epic way to end the night!

Family Vists Days 1 and 2

Sorry that I have been absent for the past couple of days BUT my family came to Japan to visit me over my winter break! YAY! We had an exciting 10 to 11 days which I WILL write all about :D
So, let's begin with days one and two!
I had to go pick up my family from the airport first which was an adventure all on its own. See, Narita airport is about 2 and a half hours and a special express train away from me. I was meeting them at 5 but I left Honatsugi by 2. I took my normal express to Shinjuku and then hopped aboard the Narita Express, a special limited express train run by the JR. It cost me some good money but it was worth the time saved. Plus, I got to sit in a reserved seat which I have never bought for myself before.

Why hello fancy train

I waited for about 30 mins before we finally spotted each other. There was much hugging and talking. We had to wait a good hour for the next train bound for Shinjuku so we just sat and chatted. They were exhausted by the time we got on the train. Everyone plopped their luggage down and wanted something to eat. We ran over to one of the only places that is open at 10:30 PM and gives you food fast: McDonalds. At least they got to have some uniquely Japanese flavors. Me and my sister got a shrimp burger and my mom and brothers grabbed a teriyaki burger.

We all settled into my apartment, which was a bit cramped but we managed to find everyone a spot.

Jenny and Chris claimed to corner

Tommy slept in my kitchen

The next day, I started them off with an afternoon in Atsugi. We went to my one hundred yen store (dollar store basically) and the grocery store where we bought food for lunches and breakfast. I also introduced them to bento boxes and we grabbed a couple for their first lunch in Japan.

Yummy!!

After that, we went to Harajuku which is the fashion district of Tokyo. First thing we did was visit Meiji-jingu shrine which has one of the largest tori gates in Japan.

Then, we headed off to the main street, Takeshi-dori. Jenny and I popped into a couple of shops and marveled at the fashion. I bought myself an awesome pair of imitation Converse heels.

So fun!!

It was a nice slow and relaxed day to ease them into Japan.
Next time, we visit the only place I asked to go: Tokyo Disney Sea!

Mt. Takao hike

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've been busy, busy, busy! But, last week, I had the time to go on a hike up the closest mountain to Tokyo, Mt. Takao. I went with my Tokyo adventure club so it was a lot of fun. One of the things that initially drew me to this opportunity was that it was also a service opportunity. We weren't just hiking up the mountain, we were cleaning the mountain as well! Also, we collected donations to go towards the Tohoku earthquake relief. As soon as I saw that, I really wanted to go! What a great opportunity to be helpful to the community that I am living in!
I met the group at the train station by the mountain as it would have been out of my way to go to Shinjuku and then to the mountain. We found ourselves a partner and we were off! My partner and I ended up at the back of the group so we didn't get much trash to pick up :( But, we had a great time hiking up the mountain and admiring the trees. It is amazing to me how the trees still have leaves in December! Back home, there would be nothing left so I was really appreciating the view! The people who were hiking on the mountain were also very nice! People kept walking by and thanking us for our hard work.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a hike and we made it to the summit in no time. Since it was such a wonderful day, we were able to see clear across to Mt. Fuji. It was a stunning view!

The view

There's Mt. Fuji!

Me at the summit :D

We stopped here and had a picnic lunch. I just brought a sandwich, chips, and an orange. We then started to make our way down to measure which team collected the most trash. On the way down, we did some extreme trash collecting. I tried my hand at it going off the trail to retrieve a bottle. It was difficult and I got dirty but at least I tried! We also stopped at a temple on the way down where I rubbed the statue of an octopus for good luck. It was a very pleasant afternoon with nature!

I hope I get some good luck!

Going off trail a bit to get a bottle

The trash I collected

Odaiba Gundam Project

In case you haven't noticed a theme here, Gundam is my favorite anime. So naturally, when I heard that there was going to be a full scale replica of the Gundam in Tokyo, I jumped at the opportunity to see it! I hopped on a train to head over to the man made island of Odaiba. The train ride was actually quite nice! I had to take a train that took me over on the Rainbow Bridge. It was a stunning sight! From there, I was met by a replica of the Statue of Liberty with Tokyo as the back drop.

I quickly walked over to the Gundam display. To my fangirlish delight, there in pieces was a to scale replica of my favorite mech (giant robot). It used to be erect by the Bandai museum. However, it was damaged in the March 11th quake so now it rests in pieces. First thing I did was get in line to get a picture sitting in the hand.

Such a happy nerd!

I stood around the Gundam for hours amazed by it's size and reality.

All the pieces laid out

The foot

The beam saber, it's weapon for hand-to-hand combat

The head and scale

Me with the head!

My entry ticket and food ticket. My entry ticket is advertising the newest Gundam series AGE and the food ticket is from the original Gundam. It has my favorite character Char <3

I spent the rest of the day wandering around Odaiba. There wasn't much else there besides shops and malls which was still pretty fun! I ate dinner at the Takoyaki Museum in Odaiba. It was so delicious! Octopus may be my new favorite seafood!

Takoyaki!

It was an excellent day. Even though the weather was rainy and cold, I had a blast!

Tokyo Day 4

My last day of summer vacation and in Tokyo :( I decided to hit up a couple of spots that I hadn't seen yet. First, I made my way back down to Harajuku. It was a Sunday so I wanted to see if people were dressed up or if the tourists and time had killed off that fad. Unfortunately, there was barely anyone dressed up and only one person who was dressed up was allowing pictures to be taken.

The one person allowing photos

After that, I headed over to the Meiji-jingu temple. It was very pretty! I especially enjoyed the walk over to the main temple. It was quite an amazing contrast to the scene of Harajuku located just minutes away by foot. My first stop was the gardens. Honestly, I was kind of disappointed by the gardens. I think that they must look prettier in the spring because there were barely any flowers. The coolest thing in the gardens was an ancient well that the emperor used to use. I got to wash my hands in it! It was a fun experience!

One of the largest tori gates in Japan.

The gardens

Ancient well

Meiji-jingu temple

After that, I headed over to the Roppongi area of Tokyo. My first stop was the Tokyo tower!

Me with the tower :)

It was basically like seeing the Eiffel Tower. I then went over to Roppongi Hills for some dinner and night life! I wanted to go there because all of the guide books I had said it was one of the most foreigner friendly places in Japan. They were right! Everything was in Japanese and English. This was a nice change for me for once since my Japanese is very poor. I had a great time! I found a little bar that was serving drinks for 300 yen (that's cheap!) and had a nice dance floor. About 50% of the people there were foreigners so I got to meet a lot of people who speak English! I also danced with a Japanese guy. It was an excellent way to end my Obon holiday!!

Tokyo Tower lit up with the moon