東京の上に

winter break highlights

As many of you know, I decided to spend my winter break here, instead of making the pilgrimage back home for the holidays. My cousin was here for a little over a week, which was awesome! Nobody from home has ever come to visit me before, so it was a new experience.

First we spent a day in Tokyo, visiting Akihabara, Roppongi, Shibuya….

Hachiiiiii <3 Man, I love that dog.

Then some biking around town!

A day trip to Kamakura…

…complete with money laundering!

Quite literally ringing in the new year at a local temple!

 

Finally, a trip to Nikko with the Ishikawas!

Winter break is almost over, and I’m just relaxing reading books, doing a little shopping here and there, and just hanging out in general. School’s going to start again fairly soon… so…

that’s all for now!

東京道路

  

きのう一年の生徒たちと企業見学やりました！4時に起きたのせい、すごく疲れになったけど、面白かった。学校戻ったとき、道路の写真を撮った。東京へ行く時、ふつうに電車で行く。だけど、今回はバス乗ったから、違う見え方なりました。

渋谷

 

今日東京ちょっと買い物に行った。明日一ヶ月アメリカ帰るから、友達や家族の為良い御土産買いに行った。平日だから、人々少なかったし、渋谷の景色ぜんぜん違う。すごい人ごみ嫌いので、今日は超よかった。

  

スターバで、空いている席すごく見つかりやすい。この写真取れた。ほら! 誰もいない!

もちろんハチ公。めっちゃかわいくない?!

ハチイィ～♪

クール・ファウンテン！

Once upon a time, I found myself wandering around Tokyo and I found this cool fountain! I thought it so cool, in fact, that I thought it would be rad if I brought a friend there. Which is what I did yesterday with Lindsey!

Yay! We love the cool fountain! Especially when it’s 93 degrees outside! 

We also made the keen observation that the particular part of Tokyo that the cool fountain is in had basically no people in it. For me at least, the best parts of Tokyo always seem to be the ones with no people in them.

Nevertheless! We made our way to Harajuku (easily one of the most crowded parts of Tokyo yesterday) for the LaForet grand bazaar! Woo! Since you can’t go in the front door of LaForet when they have sales, you have to go in the back door. Which we did. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as the winter sale – which I can only liken to shopping in a mosh pit.

There was a super pimped-out limo that seemed to be riding around the block aimlessly. 

A trip to Harajuku is never complete without a ridiculously decadent crepe.

Awesome day, all thanks to the cool fountain.

東京タワー

Tokyo tower is really freaking cool. It’s like the Eifel tower, but bigger, and redder, and in Tokyo!
I went there last weekend with Hiro and Mari :)
東京タワーとエッフェル塔の関係は何でしょ?

I think that seeing Tokyo from above really gives you a good grasp on just how BIG it actually is. Every time I see a view of Tokyo like this, I feel like it just goes on forever…Which It kind of does, until you get to Saitama.

Later on, we went to Shinjuku and checked out the massive bookstore… I kind of felt like I was back home at Border’s or something, there were so many books printed in English!

 

I guess I like the sense of anonymity that Tokyo gives me. Out here, everyone sees me. In Tokyo, I’m just another white girl who’s probably a tourist. Nobody really cares, except those scammers in Harajuku that hit me up for money for their fictional earthquake victims… I’m not sure if I’d ever want to live in the city though, I just don’t think I’m tough enough for the city, more or less able to deal with the constant barrage of people.
Gosh, I can hardly stand the students on the Ryomo line, I can’t even imagine having to deal with the salarymen on the Yamanote line every day. I suppose after a while you’d get used to it, just like anything, right? Right!

The longer I stay here, the more I get used to it, and the harder it is for me to go home. I know that when I visit home this summer, I’m going to go through some kind of crazy reverse culture shock. I usually do. I still have the odd bout of culture shock here in Japan every now and again, where little things annoy me and stress me out, but I still like it here. I have a job, nice friends, a safe place to live, and plenty of cool stuff to do and see, it doesn’t hurt that I like Japanese food, either. Yep.. things are great :) I guess all I need now is a boyfriend, right? Riiiight…..

水族館

I went to the Sunshine City Aquarium yesterday with Lindsey and Shin-chan. It was a nice way to get out of town and see some awesome crazy people from Gaidai. They had these super adorable yellow and white eels… which are apparently commonly called Splendid Garden Eels. They are not so common as they are adorable!! Unfortunately, this aquarium was seriously lacking in Deep Sea Fangly Fish, as most aquariums do. They had two big マンボウfish! We even named them. Alex Trebek and Tiger Woods. Yes. We are creative. Going to see fish always puts me in a good mood.

It’s so funny. When you go to an aquarium in the U.S., people talk about the beautiful fish. When you go to an aquarium in Japan, you can always hear at least a few people saying that the fish look tasty. Sashimi tabehodai, anyone?

Golden Week

Well, for those of you who don’t know, golden week is when Japan has three big holidays right in a row. This means that everyone and their brother must go and travel somewhere over the extended weekend. It’s the busiest travel time of the year next to New Year’s. From my own personal experience I have learned to not do any serious sightseeing during golden week…as the crowds simply make it… un-enjoyable.

I did, however, manage to have a nice break!

I went to the National Art Center in Roppongi to see the Artist File 2010 exhibition. As usual, the National Art Center managed to bring in another top-notch exhibition. I really enjoyed experiencing the varying perspectives of each artist through their works. In the case of this show, some notable indivduals were Naoyo Fukuda and her embroidered books and business cards, Takashi Ishida’s Moving Picture and Still Picture, and the surreal, paint-laden canvasses of Toru Kuwakubo. Yep. It was a good art show.

Then! Lindsey came to Ashikaga!! Wooohoo!! We had kimchi-yakisoba and french toast and had a FANTASTIC time! I played the music festival at Banna-ji, which went all right. I was actually nervous (which I usually am not) and I thought I could have played better, but my singing was adequate. I really appreciated having the chance to participate in the event, and I am thankful to all of my wonderful friends who made it out to the festival. THANK YOU!  (I’m sorry I didn’t play my best for you though.)

Then! There was a kitty! On my back step!

Kitty….. Since it was about  90 some degrees outside and I felt quite bad for it, so I gave him some water and named him Sergeant Pepper. Yep. Well.. “Sergeant” only  because the positions of “Chairman” and “General” are currently occupied.

So… yeah. Good golden week. Art, music… cats? Oh! And a fantastic balcony-barbeque that happened yesterday (though I ducked out early, since I wasn’t feeling well). Yes. Definitely a good golden week.

お台場

Odaiba is so freaking cool!! I want to go back!! ASAP!! I went on a little adventure there with my nametwin last weekend. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS. A perfect azure sky!! Did some shopping, some hanging around, rode the little train around, checked out the Fuji Terebi building. We also went to Harajuku and went to a fantastic Thai restaurant there that I have a feeling I’ll be heading back to at some point in the future. Here’s some photos from our adventure!!

I really wanted to see the Fuji Television building up-close and personal after having seen it on ‘Mezamashi Terebi’ about a billion times… and I know Mezamashii TV isn’t a real news show… but it’s cute and I like it. SO THERE. Anyhow, the building was designed by one of my absolute favorites, Tange Kenzo. The architect of both the Tokyo Metropolitan Government office buildings (the Tocho, where I went last year) and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (where I went 4 years ago).
Fuji Terebi is also the station that broadcasted the のだめカンタービレdrama, which I also love to pieces (I saw the finale this past weekend!). So, while I was there, I bought Nodame’s bag!!! How cool is that?! Yaaay Nodame bag!!

The rainbow bridge makes for a really spectacular view. I guess I just never realized how big it actually was until going to Odaiba. I want to go back and see it at night!!
This photograph is just a jumble of icons… in the background you can see Tokyo tower… then the rainbow bridge.. and then a miniature… Statue of Liberty?!!?!?!?! I just don’t understand Japan’s fascination with that statue. It’s great and everything…. but like... did they really NEED a minature replica in Odaiba? I personally don’t think so.
 
I’ll be back, Odaiba!!

根津美術館

Some shots of the garden at the Nezu Museum, where I went last Wednesday. It’s hard to believe this place is smack dab in the middle of Tokyo. While meandering the garden, there were times I totally forgot that I was even in Tokyo… it felt like I was back in Kyoto. Really. It was spooky, almost. There are a bunch of windy stepping-stone paths that lead down into a small ravine that the garden itself covers. It there are 4 teahouses and a number of buddhist statues and architectural pieces in the garden that are nice little surprises for you as you’re making your way on the paths. There’s also someone’s grave… whose I’m not sure… and a small shrine in the garden as well.

The museum itself is a gorgeous ultra-modern building, which is a really nice contrast to the ancient Chinese bronzes and other artifacts inside. I went to see an exhibition of Chinese ink landscapes. Some were really inspiring, as I’ve had some trouble with my own ink painting lately. For more information, check out the museum’s homepage: http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp