Golden Week: Nara and Osaka

On our third day of Golden Week, we decided to take a break from Kyoto. We spent the first half of the day traveling to Nara. Nara has many old temples.The main attraction being the biggest Buddha in Japan. I was also super excited to see the wild deer in Nara Park nearby.

On the way to Todai-ji, the temple where the daibutsu is housed, you have to walk through Nara Park. As soon as we crossed into the park, I saw the deer. I thought they looked so cute! It was so cool that they were just wandering the park amidst the people and laying out in the grass.

See? What could be wrong with them?

 There were vendors selling crackers that that you could feed them. I bought a pack thinking it would be fun. Then the deer turned evil. As soon as I had the crackers, they started coming at me. They were even biting my legs to get s cracker. It was funny but a little bit scary!

Go away deer!

My aunt and Uncle bought a cracker pack and actually had a deer follow them all the way through the park. It was really funny! I couldn't believe that this deer was crossing the street and following us for a good two minutes before it gave up.
We finally got to Tdai-ji and were greeted by the largest wooden structure in the world.

It was huge!

We ventured inside and saw the immense statue of the Buddha. It was so interesting. Although when all is said and done, I must say that I like the daibutsu in Kamakura better since it is outside. Although they were built around the same time, the 1200s.

There it is.

 We still had the whole afternoon and night after seeing the Buddha so we headed to Osaka. I was really excited to go to Osaka mainly so I could EAT! Osaka is a foodies dream and the birth place of some of my favorite Japanese foods: okonomiyaki and takoyaki. They have this famous eating street where you walk down and the whole thing is lined with vendors selling only different types of takoyaki. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I started to eat in Osaka, we visited the Osaka castle which is one of the biggest in Japan. It offered a wonderful view of Osaka and also gave us a great Japanese history lesson.

Some perspective on the castle

I'm eating takoyaki in front of Osaka castle. So happy!

The view of Osaka

After visiting the castle, we headed to the famous eating street, dontonbori. It was awesome! I ate so much delicious food and different types of takoyaki: regular, cheese, pizza. We took a break from eating to take pictures with the famous running man. I imitated the pose and had a couple of Japanese people take photos of me. Overall, it was a pretty cool day.

Okonomiyaki! Yummy!

Osaka night cityscape

The original dontonbori

Pizza takoyaki?! Yes, please!

I AM the running man

Valentine's Day in Japan

Happy (late) Valentines Day everyone! I didn't do too much to celebrate it this year myself but I did get to experience it here in Japan. They do celebrate Valentine's Day here and it is pretty much the same. Much like America, it is a largely commercial holiday. The department stores have been selling gourmet chocolates and sweets for weeks now. They are always so beautiful and tempting...

Chocolates that I bought for my boyfriend

However, unlike in America, most ladies home make all of their chocolates and sweets. The stores have been packed with chocolates, special heart molds, and decorations. That leads to the major difference between the way that the Japanese and Americans celebrate the holiday: Valentine's Day is a day for guys here. The ladies spend hours creating sweets for their boyfriends and crushes. I never would have guessed that though from the pink frilly decorations and chocolates that were all over the stores. The guys are flattered though when they receive a very cute and well decorated sweet. It shows that the lady spent a lot of time working on their gift. The girls don't totally get tossed aside though. The Japanese have a whole separate holiday a month after Valentine's Day called White Day where the girls get gifts from their boyfriends and crushes. Sounds like a good deal to me!



I personally got a couple of homemade chocolates and a chocolate pie from some of my older students as well as a package from my boyfriend. It was filled with nerdy delights and a beautiful new necklace. We got a chance to Skype while we each opened our gifts which was very nice. He definitely did well!

My homemade pie and package!

Family Visit Days 9 and 10: Goodbye!

After almost three weeks of them being gone, I am finally coming to the close of the stories from my family's stay. I wore them down pretty hard! On the 9th day, we had a pretty relaxing day. We got up late and rolled into Tokyo to visit a garden. We went to the Shinjuku Gyoen. It was beautiful and had many plants from all around the world! It was a nice find for someplace I could go strolling in the future. We mostly spent our whole day there wandering around.

The skyscraper district in the background

The traditional Japanese Gardens

More of the gardens

Fish!

Enjoying a picnic lunch

Yummy!

The French part of the garden

After the garden, we ran to see the Imperial Palace. My family was thoroughly disappointed in it though as you can't actually enter the palace grounds or get near the Palace. After that disappointment, we just headed back home.
The next day, we went back to Kamakura. We had missed a whole bunch of temples including my favorite temple in Kamakura, Hasedera. We saw the three most important Zen temples in Kamakura first. I'm not going to lie. I don't remember the names of these temples. This was actually the first time that I had been to the temples. They were beautiful with a very quiet and serene atmosphere.

The path up to one of the temples

Clearly have to come back here in the spring

A sacred bell

Another temple

Another bell

Such a stunning gate

After our hike around Kita-Kamakura, we headed over to one of my favorite temples in all of Japan, Hasedera. I had been bummed that we missed it on our first trip over to Kamakura and was very happy that they wanted to head back to it for our last day. It had a little bit of something for everyone! It had the history and feel of olden day Japan for my dad. A great garden for my mom. A wonderful view for my sister. A sacred cave for one of my brothers. And, well, I'm not too sure what Tom got out of it...Everyone thought it was a great way to end their stay in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Hello temple which I love

Sacred cave

What a view!

After our exciting day trip, we met up with a friend. My sister had a foreign exchange student as a roommate in college. She was from Japan and just so happened to live in the same prefecture as me! I called her and we met her at my station for some Japanese karaoke! Everyone had a blast singing their hearts out and catching up with Jenny's old roommate.

It was a fabulous end to a fabulous day. Later, I had to say goodbye to them and head off to work the next day. Goodbye family! You are missed! See you again in 6 months!

Family Visit Day 7: Yokohama

Unfortunately, on the way over here, my Dad's luggage got lost over the way over to Japan. We had a couple of days of drama as the airline tried to locate where his luggage was. About 4 days later, they finally delivered it. Since they had to deliver it today, we decided to go somewhere close by. I only live about 40 minutes from Yokohama so we headed there as soon as my Dad's luggage arrived. We got a bit of a late start so our day out started with lunch by the ocean.

Yummy!

Our first stop of the day was Cosmo World an amusement park by the ocean! My family is really into theme parks and amusement parks so it seemed only natural that we would go. You have to pay by ride so each of us only went on two rides. We all went on the Ferris wheel because it is the biggest one in the world!

Huge and beautiful!

My brothers and sister went on Vanish. It was a diving roller coaster that supposedly dives into the sea. Now while we were well aware of the fact that it could not literally dive into the sea, they were disappointed as they pretty much just went through a chlorinated pool of water. Still, they enjoyed themselves.

The sign for the coaster

My mom, dad, and I went on the log flume ride which is supposedly the longest one in the world but it didn't feel too long. But like my siblings experience, it was still fun none the less. We all met up then to do the Ferris wheel together. We got on just as the sun was starting to set so we had a very pretty view!

The Landmark tower. The tallest building in Japan.

After Cosmo World, we headed towards the other end of town to see Yamashita Park and Chintown! Since it was dark and winter, we didn't spend too much time at the park. It does have a great view of the city and the ocean though.

The marine tower

Cosmo World and the Landmark Tower in the background

Family with the Marine Tower

Yamashita Park is right next to Chinatown so we hopped on over to the largest Chinatown in Japan for some dinner and sight-seeing.

Delicious dinner!

Signs getting ready for the New Year

My dumpling is shaped like a PANDA! I love it!

One of the temples.

I often forget how awesome Yokohama is even though it is so close to me. Thanks for reminding me family!

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!