Wrap Up

So...obviously I am no longer in Japan anymore--and I really miss it. My last few weeks in Japan were absolutely insane, and the weeks...months following have been very difficult, personally. I do, however, feel that it is my job to wrap up my story.

So, Nikko.

My good friend Lora and I decided that we would miss out on the much-talked-about tokyo baseball game to go and visit Nikko, Japan. Everyone we knew who had gone to Nikko told us that it was amazing. To get to Nikko one needs to take a special Keio train from Asakusa. We both met there very early in the morning (around 8 am I think). We purchased our tickets, which covered our train tickets and local bus use (All Nikko Pass). It turned out to be a really great value!
I can't remember how long the trip to Nikko took because, naturally, I slept the entire way. When i woke up about 15 minutes from the Keio station in Nikko the first thing I noticed was the richly green landscape. Nikko is one of the greenest places I have ever seen in my entire life!
The Keio Nikko Station is located at the center of town--which is very cute and almost European-Ski-Resort looking. The first thing that we did was get food at a very cute family restaurant, naturally I got Stir Fried Veggies!
We decided to take a cab to our Hostel, because when we asked the ladies at the restaurant for directions, they were all lost for words! The Hostel was, as it turns out, very close to the station--but an uphill climb!
The Hostel was called the Nikko Park Lodge, a charming guesthouse located in the middle of a tree reserve area. It was very quiet and cosy inside, and the owner seemed very nice. He asked us if we wanted to have a 'Zen' Dinner (100% VEGAN!)--but the meal seemed pricey so we declined. We did order French toast breakfasts for the next morning. After dropping our bags off in the yoga room (yes, this place offered morning yoga sessions!) we walked back to the downtown (through a lovely rural neighborhood and across a footbridge spanning a river) and jumped on a bus to go and see the famous Nikko shrines!
The Shrines are certainly what Nikko is known for. They are rumored to be the most elaborate of all of the shrines in Japan--and I believe it. Conveniently all of the shrines are located very closely together and tickets can be purchased together at a ticket kiosk in front of Rinnoji Temple which houses 3 massively elaborate statues of three mountain kami (Shinto Spirits). The other temples that have to be seen in Nikko are the Taiyuinbyo, Futarasan Shrine and, the greatest of all: The Toshogu. The Toshogu is the Mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Founder of the Tokogawa Shogunate. His Mausoleum was designed to be the most elaborate resting place in all of Japan--and I believe it! The interiors and exteriors of the buildings are dripping in expensive lacquer work and real gold! Less impressive is the famous Monkey Shrine that depicts the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" monkey carving--it was absolutely tiny!
My Favourite shrine was definitely the Taiyuinbyo, or Iemitsu's Mausoleum. Iemitsu was the grandson of Ieyasu, and he didn't want his mausoleum to outshine his grandfather's. Though his resting place is not nearly as elaborate, it is in a breath-taking location and is gorgeous in it's simplicity. It is located on the top of a very tall hill and is completely silent. The familiar sound of cicadas and birds falls away as you climb up to the shrine--and you an enveloped in a blanket of absolute quiet. The shrine next to the Mausoleum is small but lovely. The Mausoleum itself is so tiny you wouldn't notice it at all if you didn't know what it was. The Shrines of Nikko are all amazing, and seeing them all is a bit exhausting. After we were finished, Lora and I decided to go back to the Hostel.
After unpacking and changing clothes, Lora and I decided to go an try a public bath. It was only a short 15 minute walk to the nearest one. Public Baths are a bit unusual, especially if there are already naked women bathing there! All of the ladies were much older than us, and were laughing and gossiping as they scrubbed as if it was the most natural thing in the world! So Lora and I stripped down, sat down in front of a spigot and washed. Here is how to visit a public bath:

1. Buy a ticket outside of the Bathhouse. Usually there isn't a physical person there you need to pay, but it is good form to buy a ticket anyway in case someone sees you.
   
2. Go inside of the Bathhouse and pick a laundry basket to put your clothes into. Before entering the bath make sure you are undressed--completely.
3. The showering areas are really just faucets with hand0held shower head attachments that are located along the wall. Some public baths have private showers and bath rooms, but more traditional ones are completely open.
   
4. Sit on TOP of the bucket, and use the cup to help rinse yourself off. USE SOAP, you are supposed to be clean when you enter the bath!
5. After rinsing yourself off completely, take a dip in the bath! Careful--it is HOT!

The Bath itself was just what the doctor ordered--completely relaxing and pretty fun as well! After our baths we walked back to the Hostel, and it was just getting a little bit misty--perfection.

When we got back to the Hostel, we decided that we were a little too tired to go back into town to get dinner, but when we asked if we could still get dinner at the Hostel our kind Host got a little bit angry with us (he started yelling at us, saying he asked us before and now it was too late!). A bit affronted, we decided to go back into town to find something after all. Word to the wise--businesses in Nikko close EARLY! It was literally 7:00 pm on a Saturday night and every business and restaurant near the station was CLOSED! After walking around for a bit, we finally found a ramen house where I got some fried rice. Full and happy, we walked across the street to Sunkus to pick up supplies for the next day, went back to the Hostel and fell asleep. A Lovely day.

To Be Continued

Yokohama, Mt Takao and Nikko

I won't try to explain myself...everyone already knows what a terrible blogger I am...
lets just pick up where I left off, shall we?

So, Yokohama--After getting a bit lost finding my bus at Yokohama Station I made my way to the Sankeien Garden--a lovely park surrounding a pond which is filled with Meiji-era houses, shrines, tea houses and a pagoda. Though it was raining when I got to Yokohama it cleared by the time I got to the Gardens so I was able to enjoy my leisurely stroll. It was one of the loveliest places I have visited in Japan and I spent nearly 2 hours exploring. Of all of the places I have visited in Japan, I think my mother would have liked the Gardens the best. There were tons of routes through the gardens and lots of beautiful architecture and landscaping to admire.
After the Gardens I traveled to the other side of Yokohama to go to the Ramen Museum, which was a bit of a disappointment. The museum was less of a museum and more of a collection of ramen restaurants (yes people pay admission to this place, stand in line and pay again for their meal). The entire museum was designed to look like a 1950s era Tokyo neighborhood complete with candy carts and dry goods stores and staff members dressed in era-appropriate costumes. I suppose it was pretty cool--but it would have been a lot better if I could actually eat ramen (all ramen broth is meat-based).
After the Ramen Museum I made my way to the famed Yokohama Chinatown. The Chinatown in Yokohama is one of the biggest in all of Japan--but having gone to S.F.'s Chinatown nearly every summer, this Chinatown was a bit of a disappointment also. Trendy shops (Chinese and otherwise) and Tourist Gift Shops were everywhere and surprisingly few restaurants. Everything there was quite expensive (unlike my Chinatown back home) and when the rain started to come down I had no qualms about leaving.
My last stop in Yokohama was to Minato Mirai 21, basically the Yokohama boardwalk area. I wanted to go up to the observation deck of the Landmark Tower and was surprised to discover that the only way to get up was via the second fastest elevator in the world (traveling at 41 ft/s)--we reached the 69th floor in 40 seconds! In the observation deck they had a ton of aquariums, creating an interesting view of Yokohama. The view is much darker than the one from the Tokyo Tower, but seeing the lights from Minato Mirai 21 reflected on the Pacific Ocean was absolutely gorgeous.
After I got out of the Landmark tower (and after getting a bit lost finding my way back to the exit) I walked around Minato Mirai 21 a bit. By this time it was very late and most of the attractions on the pier had closed, but Minato Mirari 21 at night is simply beautiful. I wish I could have shared the experience with someone else--it is times like this that I feel most lonely here in Japan.
Though things didn't go exactly as I had envisioned, I had a wonderful time in Yokohama. The weather was cooler, the sites were lovely and being near the ocean was one of the highlights of my week.

That Wednesday (August 5th) The Tokyo American Club had a Staff Appreciation Day allowing Brittney and I a mid-week vacation. Brittney and Shu headed off for Tokyo Disney Sea and I decided to spend the day climbing Mt Takao. Mt Takao is a small mountain only 50 minutes by semi-express train out of Tokyo, Ryan recommended it to me and I am certainly glad I heeded his advice! Despite being so close to the city, being at Mt. Takao was like being back in Kyoto--green landscapes, cooler weather and lovely shrines. When I arrived at the foot of the mountain I decided to take a chairlift halfway up. It was my first time being in a chair lift and I enjoyed the experience immensely (though I was a bit freaked out--I felt like I was going to fall down constantly!). The climb to Mt. Takao's summit was quite easy and looped around buddhist and shinto shrines--it only took me about an hour and a half to reach the summit. Supposedly, on a clear day, one can even see Mt Fuji--but on Wednesday the skies were cloudy and nothing could be seen except the valley below.
After summiting I decided to have lunch at a restaurant near the summit. After conversing with the owner I was able to order and entirely vegetarian lunch consisiting of rice, pickled vegetables, miso soup and a sticky white vegetable dish that had absolutely zero taste. The meal wasn't unpleasant--but it was probably one of the strangest meals I have had in Japan. (If anyone knows what this mystery dish is please tell me!)
After finishing lunch I decided to climb down to the chair lift using a different path from the one I took up. I chose a path that spiraled down from the summit and joined with my previous path. I walked down the path at a bit of a jog. After about 30 minutes of descending I discovered that the path I was taking had been roped off (the rain from previous days had washed the path away) and I was forced to climb back to the summit of the mountain. By the time I summited again I was starting to get very tired. I decided to take the shortest route back to the chair lift to go home. The path I chose was very steep and had a lot of stairs (you will discover when you come to Japan that there are ALWAYS stairs) but initially didn't seem too difficult. Unfortunately the path became muddier and muddier and Aree the genius decided to wear strappy sandals to climb a mountain. After 40 minutes slogging through the mud I slipped and slid down a particularly rocky and muddy section. Bruised and covered with mud on my backside, I more cautiously climbed down the mountain. A descent that should have only taken 45 minutes max ended up taking me 2 hours.
By the time I reached the bottom of the mountain many of the stores in the area were beginning to close. The chair lift had given me time to rest, and I wasn't ready to end my day just yet. I decided t climb back up the mountain a bit to see Biwa Falls, a famous waterfall that many pilgrims meditate under. I followed the river up the mountain on a rocky and slippery trail. Biwa falls ended up being a rather small waterfall with a shrine attached that was closed. Going through the shrine was the only way to get a close look at the falls and I had missed my opportunity. Tired and rather disappointed I walked back to the train station.
When I got on the train I fell asleep nearly immediately. When I woke up a hour later and was still far away from Tokyo, I realized that I had accidentally boarded a local train instead of a semi-express. A one hour trip became a 2 and a half hour trip. I came home exhausted and collapsed into bed. Despite all of the things that went wrong I still had a great time. I have decided that in travel things will never go according to plan and so it is always good to keep an open mind, remain optimistic and to try to be as flexible as possible. I tried not to let all of the bad things prevent me from having a good time, and at the end of the day I have no regrets about leaving the safety of the apartment.

I will talk about my weekend trip to lovely Nikko in my next post (as well as my reaction to Shinjuku).

Peace like a river~

P.S. I will try to post pics soon!!

Yokohama Today!

It is approximately 9:18 in the morning here in Tokyo. I just woke up about a half hour ago and will be showering soon. Today I am going to explore Yokohama! Unfortunately, it is raining--hopefully everything will be fine.
I didn't make it to Tsukiji this morning because I slept through all 5 of my alarms (only me)...I will have to try to go on Wednesday before I go to Mt Takao/Hakone (I haven't decided which yet).
Yesterday was a bust--I got up too late to go anywhere, DARN! I stayed home and relaxed--it was actually quite pleasant.
I'm off!

Slow Saturday

It has been an awfully long time since my last blog, but nothing has really happened to me this week. This week was Ocean Week at camp which was a lot of fun, and the field trip we took to the Tokyo Sea Life Park was nice as well. I have discovered that I really love water, I have no idea why I haven't moved by the sea yet. Every day I spend near the ocean here in Japan INSTANTLY becomes a better day! In fact, on Tuesday I met Rie and Euma in Odaiba--and I have NEVER been more excited to see the Pacific Ocean! In Odaiba you can go right up to the edge of Tokyo Bay (YES I put my feet in!!) and you can even see the Statue of Liberty (well...Tokyo's statue of Liberty)!!

On Wednesday I met Rie in Harajuku and we visisted the Meiji Shrine. What I noticed the most about the Meiji Shrine was how it combined both Japanese and Western cultures into one. In many ways the Meiji Shrine is the embodiment of the Meiji Emperor himself--a young man fascinated by the culture and technology of the west while simultaneously fully embedded in his own country's history and customs. If the Meiji Emperor could see his city today I am sure he would be very pleased.
After the Meiji Shrine Rie and I strolled around Yoyoji Park where I inexplicably met one of my favourite campers, William! He was with his family and was sweet as always (he went right up and gave me a huge hug!). Yoyoji Park is very pretty--though not as exciting on a Wednesday night as I hear it is on Sunday. On Sunday, I am told, all of the harajuku girls, the Ska kids and all of the other major sub-cultures in Japan come out to display their work, dance and have fun! I am going to try to go to Tsukiji Fish Market tomorrow morning and may stop by Harajuku to see the party for myself.
On Thursday Euma, his friends Christine and Kosuke and I all went to Shibuya for a shopping adventure to Tokyuu hands (imagine an Ikea+Target with nicer stuff and waaaaaaay more inventory...everything you could possibly need and more!) and karaoke!
Yesterday I stayed at the club to relax a bit before going home. I went for a swim and discovered a roomy massage chair in the lady's locker room. I spent about 2 hours in the massage chair watching CNN World News Report.
Today I got a rather late start to the day because I was uploading photos...so my plans to go to Hakone have been called off. I was looking around in my guide book and found another cool city that is closer to me called Kawagoe...except that by the time I showered and got something to eat it was already too late in the day to go (since everything closes by 5:00 in Japan...). So, I have decided to stay home and catch up on my homework--it is the responsible thing to do , but not the funnest thing in the least bit. I may also go to Kawasaki and have a look around there...maybe.

So, I know that I have been awfully bad about posting photos, but I am about to make it up to you all! I have discovered that Facebook is actually the fastest way to upload pictures, and I can share my albums with ANYONE now! So, here we go, a massive photo update:

KAMAKURA
My Day With Rie
The Imperial Gardens and Inside the Imperial Gardens
Ueno Park and Tokyo Tower
ASAKUSA
KYOTO part 1 and KYOTO part 2
ODAIBA
Meiji Shrine, Harajuku and Hachiko Crossing at Night

Kansai Dreams

Hello Friends,

It is late Sunday night here in Tokyo. The weather has cooled down from a HOT HOT HOT Sunday and there is a light breeze on the air. I am very tired from this weekend, but figured I owed it to all of my readers to post.

On Friday night at 9:30 pm I arrived at Tokyo Station. After asking around a bit, I found myself dashing to the other side of the station, arriving with still a half hour to spare before my overnight bus arrived. I met Lora at the bus stop and we had a chance to chat for a bit before my bus came. The Bus I took to Kyoto was a double-decker all-ladies bus run by the JR Group. I was seated in the front row of the top deck, I had lots of leg room a nice foot rest and a fan right above me. The curtains were drawn, but I had one last peek at a drizzly Tokyo night before taking my dramamine and falling to sleep. Thanks to me medication, a sleep mask and ear plugs I successfully slept the entire 8 hour journey arriving around 5:45 in the morning in Kyoto. The only thing I remember is the driver saying that we were 15 minutes from Kyoto. Many of the ladies began to open the windows, and I got a nice frontal view of the Kyoto landscape. For anyone who has seen Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, you can imagine what the hills of Kyoto look like. Green hills as far as the eyes can see with clouds nestled between them. Kyoto itself was a bustling metropolis in a bit of a basin before us.

I arrived at Kyoto station around the same time as Lora, and we set out to find a bathroom to change out of our sleep clothes. The Kyoto Station is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. It houses a 5 star hotel and a 6+ Story luxury Mall. The Architecture is just marvelous (my meager photos which I will post later cannot do it justice). Soon afterwards the rest of our group (other Camp Staff from the Embassy) arrived and we breakfasted on fresh bread from a European-style bakery (constant fixtures around Japan).
After a lot of waiting around we finally got our bus pass (only 500 yen!) around 8:30 and set out for the flea market at the Kitano-Tenman-gu Shrine . The painted wood carvings on the eaves of the shrine were exquisite, and the lanterns were beautiful (I bet even more lovely at night). The Shrine was very peaceful, perfectly symmetrical and therefore very pleasing to the mind. Outside of the shrine the noisy flea market droned on, but inside all was still and quiet and slow.
After we had finished exploring the shrine we returned to the flea market. Suddenly, the heavens opened and a huge downpour descended upon us. The rain would not let-up until the end of the day, and the volume was incredible. Shop keepers ran for tarps to cover their wares and customers fleed to covered spaces and buses. We hopped on a bus ourselves to see the Golden Pavilion.

The rain did not mar the immense beauty of the Kinkaku-ji in the least bit. Though the walk around the pavilion and into the surrounding hills was dangerously slippery we made the best of our trip. The Golden Pavilion was probably my favourite part of the trip. I was a bit disappointed to discover that the current building is a recent reconstruction (a mad monk burned it down during the last century), so it is hard to imagine what it would have looked like during it's heyday. After we had finished walking the trail through the Kinkaku-ji's Gardens we had tea and snacks at a small teahouse. It was glorious to get out of the rain, dry off a bit and take our soaking shoes off. The one disappointment was that the tea was cold! On a day like Saturday, hot tea was the only way to go!

Following the Golden Pavilion, we decided to go to the amazing Nijo Castle. The castle was constructed by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601, and for its time it was an architectural marvel. The exterior cravings are all symmetrical and elaborate--it is hard to imagine that it was all done by hand! The interiors featured artwork from the famed Kano school. Inside the castle I saw the room where Tokugawa Yoshinobu renounced the Tokugawa Shogunate and returned the powers to Imperial hands. It was amazing to be in a place with so much history--a place truly worthy of being called a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lora and I spent an hour exploring the Castle's Grounds, and then waited another hour at the entrance of the castle for the rest of the group to come. By the time we were all ready to leave it was already 4:00, and a decision had to be made.

Weeks ago some of the girls from the Embassy were fortunate enough to spend an entire weekend in Kyoto. During their stay they found a "Monkey Park" on the outskirts of town on top of a mountain. All of the kids from the embassy were excited about going to this attraction, but I still wanted to see more shrines and the Gion district (the Geisha District). A decision was made, and since I had to stay with at least one other person, I was forced to race to the Monkey Park with the rest of the group. When we finally reached our destination, it didn't look like we were going to make it (it was 4:45 and the Monkey Park was apparently only open until 5:00). When we tried to get off the bus we discovered that our unlimited bus pass did not extend this far outside of Kyoto and we were forced to pay the full fare. We ran across a river on a beautiful bridge and reached a Shinto shrine which was right next to the entrance of the Monkey Park. 550 yen and a 20 minute hike up later, I found myself on top of a mountain surrounded by Japanese macaques.

I have always admired the adaptability and intelligence of Macaques. Japanese Macaques have learned to wash their food before eating it, and have also discovered the benefits of hot springs in cold weather. They are probably my favourite Old World Monkey next to Baboons. It is because of my great love of Macaques that caused me to become infuriated about the "Monkey Park." I had envisioned a park that allowed visitors to observe Japanese Macaques in their natural environment. The Macaques at the Monkey Park had totally become reliant on humans. Their behaviour was completely changed from the Japanese Macaques I had studied in the past. The thing that startled me the most was the lack of grooming, a habit that all primates take great pleasure in. Instead all of the macaques were occupied with scratching and biting each other in order to get fruits and nuts purchased at a small resting house. The Macaques hung onto the screens on the windows holding their hands out for food, sometimes even batting away their own infants in order to be fed. I am a fond adherent to the idea that animals should be seen and not interfered with, and all I could see was how humans had totally made self-reliance impossible for these Macaques. Macaque babies learn from watching their mothers, and the violence and competition that I saw would mean that for generations these macaques would be dependent on humans for their survival and not each other. I shuddered to think what would happen to these poor animals if the park fell on hard times and closed. Macaques can only learn through observation; therefore if no natural bahaviour is exhibited then no natural behaviour will be passed to the next generation. I was so upset that I left the group early and opted to meet them at the foot of the mountain. I couldn't stand being up there any more.

After Monkey Mountain we walked around a bit looking for a place to eat (We hadn't eaten since our bread breakfast). We finally settled on an Udon restaurant. Udon is a dish native to the kansai region--and my tempura udon was delicious (and fish based as well!). I really wanted to try Shoujin Ryori (Traditional Buddhist Vegetarian Cuisine) which I heard was exquisite in Kyoto, but no one else seemed interested.

By the time we got out of dinner, it was already dark. We walked across the bridge and watched a Cormorant fishing demonstration. In Feudal times, fisherman would catch Cormorants and put metal rings and leashes around their nets. The fisherman would skillfully train their Cormorants to hunt fish as they would normally do in the wild, but the rings prevented the Cormorants from eating the fish themselves. The fishermen would take the fish from the Cormorants--this method required little effort and had a high yield. While seeing birds tied together and forced to hunt food they couldn't eat bothered me a bit, I couldn't deny that I was privileged to see such a time-honoured tradition.

After the fishing demonstration, we got on a bus back to central Kyoto. After paying the fee (again) and transferring, we found our way back to Kyoto station. We had a light snack and the Embassy went on their way back to Tokyo. Lora and I explored the station a bit before our bus arrived promptly at 11:30 pm. We were seated next to each other on the top part of the bus in the back. It was extremely hot with little leg room--nothing like the trip down. I had an uneasy sleep--and was constantly waking up from getting overheated. When we reached Tokyo, Lora and I had a light breakfast and went our separate ways. I got home, took a shower and collapsed into bed. When I woke up I was still lamenting the fact that I went all the way to Kyoto to see only 3 sights and a monkey park--I have to admit I am a little disappointed.

When I woke up I decided to get lunch at my usual Indian restaurant. When I exited the house I was shocked at how hot it was outside. After lunch I retreated back into my apartment where I read until I received a call from Rie. Rie and Euma invited me to join them in Odaiba for the evening.

I took the Yurikamome transit system from Shimbashi and enjoyed one of the best views of Tokyo at night from the train. It was certainly the best public transit system I have ever been on in my life. While in Odaiba I got to put my feet into the Pacific Ocean, and explored the bay side. I also got to see Tokyo's Statue of Liberty, which was surprisingly quite small. Rie took me to the taping of a Fuji Television special (think MTV's Spring Break special every year--but bigger, with different events across Japan and fireworks). I was interested to see all of the excited Japanese girls who waited anxiously for a glimpse of their favourite idol. Euma was very excited about the entire show, and it was cool to be a part of the action (running from exit to exit looking for celebrities, soaking in the culture etc.) After the show ended we went to a mall on the promenade for dinner. I ordered a pasta set and discovered halfway through that the sauce had meat in it. At first it was just the taste that grossed me out, but I felt very ill by the time I got on my train. A dose of pepto-bismol and a can of mitsuya cider later I am feeling much better...but am still grossed out that I actually ate meat (and it tasted awful!).

So, that was my weekend. I hope this long and detailed blog makes up for some of the rather *ahem* brief accounts of late. I will try to post pictures soon, but no promises.

All my love.

Update: I am Alive

Flash-Rainstorm on the field trip to Zoorasia today (An outdoor Zoo)...feeling sick but still alive. Sorry I can't write more, my medicine is making me super drowsy. Tomorrow night I leave for Kyoto--lets hope I feel better soon!

Things are looking up

Ok, sorry again for the long hiatus. Believe it or not, I have been too busy having FUN to blog at all. So I created the ultimatum for myself, only to discover that I really only had one option: I HAD to stay. Let me explain:

Angie, our supervisor, came to see our site on Friday. Before camp began we had breakfast together (just her and I) and we talked about how I felt. Thursday was a rough day because the field trip left me fatigued...and so on Friday I felt ready to call it quits. Angie explained how EXPENSIVE it would be for me to leave early--since it nullifies my contract I would owe back part of my stipend and have to pay to get myself home. I can't afford to do that...so my only option was to make the best of my time here.

Later that day I got another piece of good news. Angie was impressed by the program we are running, she said it is one of the best she has ever seen! As a reward she has removed the buddy rule from our site, this means I can travel wherever I want and whenever I want to all on my own! This gives me a lot more freedom!

On Friday I went to Roppongi to meet up with the embassy kids to celebrate Jeff's 21st birthday! Afterwards we went to Shibuya and did Karaoke, we danced and sang all night! We had SO much fun we had to RUN TO THE STATION to make the last train, and then had to SPRINT to the subway to get on a train to Hiro-o. It was one of the best nights ever.

On Saturday (yesterday) I went to The Pokemon Center and Akihabara with Jeff and his director Hank. It was a lot of fun, and I got to see the Tokyo Bay for the first time (though it was an AWFUL view).

Earlier this week I got to go back to Ueno for shopping, visited the shrine as Asakusa and went to Korea Town with Shu and Brittney. Brittney was in Seoul last year and was craving some Korean BBQ. Shu ordered me some vegetarian fare that was SOOO GOOD (and Kimchee cooked is actually not that bad!). Shu and Britt ordered some bacon something...which was cooked right in front of me. It has been a while since I saw meat cook...so I felt a little nauseated after that.

For about 24 hours, I thought that Autumn might be able to come and visit me. She has always wanted to come to Japan, and having a place to stay the majority of the nights would have made the trip really cheap for her. Unfortunately her parents don't think the trip will be worthwhile because she won't be on a service project or working for school. Personally, I think all forms of traveling are educational and worthwhile....but I suppose there is nothing I can do to change this. I would be lying if I said I was OK that Autumn isn't coming. It really got my hopes up; I started to plan out things that we can do, I made inquiries about booking tours, I walked around Kamata for two hours last night doing research on all of the hotels trying to find the best deals. I really miss her a lot, and imagining how much fun it would be to have her here was so exciting. Hearing that she can't come now is a huge let down.

I do have SOMETHING to look forward to: next weekend I am going to KYOTO! I am so excited, I am so happy I was able to get tickets! I will be going with the Embassy, so it should be a TON of fun. I am also going to try to go with them when they take on Fuji-San at the beginning of August--there is SO MUCH GOING ON.

I need to take a shower soon because I want to check out a festival that is going on at a local shrine here in kamata (I saw them cleaning up yesterday, hopefully it is still going on!). Afterwards I am planning to go to Ikebukuro to see the Female Otaku Capital of the World (i.e. the Shoujo Manga and Anime burrow of Tokyo).

I will blog again and post more pictures soon! I love you all, miss you tons!