blog #13 Japan, pics included
Tyler is picking his classes
Tyler: hmm weight training... do you think they have advanced weight training?
Ashley: hey Sarah do you want to go to Tyler’s gun show?
me: do you think we could get tickets?
Ashley: I don't know it might be sold out
me: maybe we should get fast passes
April 9, 2008
- There is one month left, crazy
- Tyler finally secured a hotel for us in Tokyo. Its part of his family’s time share, so its free.
- Now we are going to Hiroshima too, which is sweet cause I’ve always wanted to go
- So this is a fun story. Bryan and Caitlin had fallen asleep in Bryan’s room. Lucas had come in with some chick, and thinking that Bryan and Caitlin were asleep, they started to fuck. Bryan and Caitlin who were not hardcore asleep were now trapped because they couldn’t just run out, that would be super awkward. Especially since Bryan is already in his room. So they had to stay there until they were done. Then Caitlin pretended to wake up and leave. All I have to say is “karma much?”
- Finished the sisterhood of the traveling pants series, loved it
- The ship was really rocky today. I liked it
April 10, 2008
- Nothing really happened today, just ship boredom. I talked to Lindsay on aim and apparently tiffany and Megan are barely friends anymore. Sucks
- Got to play Charlie’s gameboy while I watched Tyler pack for Japan and gave him tips for what to bring. While I was in there this girl came in. I don’t know her name but she was on my china trip. She looked upset and she looked like she wanted me to get out so her and Tyler could talk or something. It was weird, cause like who is she. I left, it was too awkward
- Had another student of color meeting today, I really love those
- Erin is still really sick, but she dragged herself to pre port anyways. Beth and Becca made her a card with happy panda on it. It was so cute.
- My back really fucking hurts
April 11, 2008
- Tokyo!
- For starters the customs process in Japan in ridiculous. We had to get fingerprinted and our temps taken and it took forever to get off the ship. But when I finally did I met up with Tyler and Ashley to start our crazy Japanese adventure. On the monorail from the ship to the outside world Beth, Erin, Becca, Bryan, and Caitlin were all there too. It was weird for them to be there. I don’t know why, I guess because I wouldn’t be going with them. Which I was excited about.
- Walking to the train station took forever, but we made it to the train and then to Tokyo three hours later. I love the shinkansen.
I mean think about it, from Kobe to Tokyo is a two hour flight and a train got us there in three hours. That’s amazing. Even the train toilet was badass, it had this cool sensor touch flush thing.
- Japan is pretty intense, the language barrier is harder than I thought it would be. The writing barrier is crazy too because it’s hard to find things written with letters so you can read it and have some idea of where you going.
- We made it to the hotel and it’s so nice. It has this gorgeous view of Tokyo. And internet.
- For dinner we went to this place that was right by the hotel that I would explain as the Japanese equivalent of Bennigan’s. I got shrimp tacos. Usually I would not think that salsa and tartar sauce would go together, but I was wrong. Our server went and found us the only English menu, it was all dusty like it hadn’t been used in years.
- So Ashley and Jenna ( paint on her overalls) are really good friends. So all day there has been all this talk about “so is Jenna mad at me?” and Ashley being like “well why should she be mad?” and then Tyler shrugs. So I want to know what the hell is going on. All I know so far is that Jenna doesn’t come by that much anymore. Maybe she is over him. Good for her
April 12, 2008
- Today we went to Tokyo Disney! It was awesome. This was the first time I had ever gone to a Disney theme park. We waited for like two hours to get on the journey to the center of the earth ride. It was ok. But because we waited so long to get on that ride we didn’t get to get on other cool rides like the tower of terror or the Indiana Jones ride. That’s right there was an Indiana Jones ride and I didn’t get on it. Terrible.
Me and Tyler went on this ride called raging spirits that had one whole loop. We got a fast pass for that one. I bought some cool stuff for my mom and sister. Tokyo Disney has his section called the “American waterfront” it has this fake cape cod and this old New York part which is new York in like the 1800s. There was even a deli. I would have loved to try the Japanese take on the hoagie.
- After Disney we went to the Sony building so look at electronics we could never afford.
- Then we went to the imperial palace but we got there right as it closed.
So we started to wander away when this old Japanese came up to us because he wanted to practice his English. For a long time we talked about all sorts of things. We told him all about our trip and he asked us questions about the other Asian countries we’ve been too like Vietnam and china. He tipped us off to some good food places.
- Dinner was super yummy, it was at this place next to this krispy kreme. This krispy kreme had the longest I have ever seen for donuts. It was seriously like 45 minutes.
“Krispy Kreme, so good you’ll suck a dick!” -Chris Rock
- After dinner we went back to the hotel to power nap until we went out. Ashley decided she didn’t want to go with us. Me and Tyler took the subway to the Shibuya district where there was a lot going on. We got to cross the largest crosswalk in the world, like a 1000 people cross at one time. So we started to go down random streets until we found like chill bar/eating place. We sat down and Tyler had two beers and I had a beer and a glass of wine. We got to talking. I decided to ask what the hell was going with Jenna. He said that she was mad at him because he had made out with this other girl. Cue me trying to hide the look of shock on my face. I asked him about who this girl was. Mainly because I was surprised how she slipped under my radar. So if you guys were paying attention this entry you will notice that I talked about this mystery chick that was in Tyler’s room looking all upset and shit. Meet Elizabeth, the girl Tyler has been “with” since like….I have no idea actually. He said that he thinks he doesn’t want to hook up with anyone anymore, it brings to much trouble. Also his ex in Oregon wants to get back together after this is all over.
- So on that note, it was time to dance my troubles away. We went walking down some streets when I heard familiar sound of Kanye coming up out of this basement club. I told Tyler we had to come in. So we went down into this club and I found something interesting. Black men. Now I have been in Japan for over 30 hours or something and I have not seen a single black man, let alone a whole club full of them. We stared at them, they stared at us. both of us wandering what the hell the other was doing here in this basement club in Tokyo. This club was kind of small and crowded so me and Tyler moved to where we thought there was space, turns out it was just a mirror. So we left. We kept walking down the street where I see this sign that says Gaspanic. And I think “what the hell is that” I look at Tyler and I say we have to go. It’s another basement club and when we got closer we realized that it was called Gas Panic. We go down and it’s the same this as the other club. Tons of black men and little Asian women grinding. And its not really working because the black men are average black guy height of six something and these Japanese women are like four something. Its just not matching up. This club is bigger so I decide it’s dancing time. So I take Tyler to the dance floor. Tyler earlier had mentioned that he was a bad dancer. And a lot of guys think they are bad dancers but usually they are ok. Tyler was really really right. I have never seen anyone dance as bad or as white (that may be racist but I don’t care) as him. So watching him and watching every black guy in the club stare at us, I decide that I’m going to teach Tyler how to grind. So usually really bad dancing is a big turn off for me, but as I was looking at Tyler using moves I hadn’t seen since the Brady bunch variety hour I still thought he was fucking adorable. This is the point when I realized I liked Tyler more than I thought I did and way more then I should, he lives in Oregon and he’s been kissing some other girl on the ship that isn’t me. Sucks. But alas the lesson must go on. So I just explain to Tyler that really in grinding girls do all the work. All he has to do is move with me. Easy right? No, not for Tyler. We’re dancing to this one song that I have heard a million times at home, so I know the beat changes and stuff. So it went to the chorus and I changed what my hips were doing then I hear “wait what are you doing? You’re moving differently now”. I told him it was because the beat changed, and that he moves with me and I move with the beat. So I turned around and we started dancing where I was facing him. As we were dancing and I was looking at him and he was looking at me. I wanted to, and had I not known about the Elizabeth thing I would have thought he wanted to too. And every time I looked up at him it became more of a shit or get off the pot kind of situation. So I got off the pot. If I stood there any longer my heart would have exploded. I told Tyler I was ready to leave, and we did.
- We continued to wander the streets until we came to this puppy store and then across from it a sex toy shop. I should really move here, this is amazing. Of course we go into the sex toy shop and there are lots of interesting things in there. Including a fist…. Yea it was just a rubber fist.
Then we walked around some more and we turned a corner and found another Gas Panic. I did not come half way around the world to only go to one Gas Panic. So this one was upstairs and the stairwell had all these creepy clowns painted on the walls. I’m not even afraid of clowns but these clowns were pretty scary. We get upstairs and this club was a little different like there were other races of men aside from black. And lots of different women. It was clear that this was the “good” Gas Panic. They wouldn’t let us stay unless we bought a drink, and with a 7-11 across the street why would I do that. So at 7-11 I got a Smirnoff ice and Tyler got an ice cream, of course. It began to rain, so Tyler asked me if I was ready to go back to the hotel or if I wanted to dance or drink more. I said I was ready to go back to the hotel, and we did.
April 13, 2008
- Today we had to get up really early to get to Hiroshima since it was a really long train ride, even on the shinkansen.
- Elizabeth doesn’t really bother me, she does not have paint on her overalls
- When we finally arrived in Hiroshima it took us forever to get to the hotel because we got kind of lost on the bus. The hotel we stayed on was sick. It had this awesome arcade and a bowling alley.
- After we got settled we headed into the city and got some dinner. The women who spoke no English who served us was really nice and patient. She was confused because Tyler tried to order two things.
- Then we walked around the Shitenchi Entertainment District. Which I imagine is pretty hopping on the weekend. But we were there on Sunday night at around 7pm. It was a ghost town. We stopped by the 7-11 and I got some alcohol and Tyler got some green apple flavored beer thing that tasted horrible, he ended up throwing it out. Ashley didn’t get anything. We talked about doing karaoke, but then decided we were not drunk enough to participate, and since they both don’t really drink no one wanted to rectify the situation we went back to the hotel. This is probably the first and last time during my Japan adventure that I wished Bryan was there, because he is always down to trashed. Before we went back to the hotel we found a tower records where I got the new panic at the disco cd and Ashley got some jonas brothers.
- Like I said out hotel was pretty awesome. So first we went bowling. I’m pretty bad at bowling. But it was still fun
Then we went to the arcade and played on this crazy air hockey table. Where sometimes it shoots like 5 pucks at one. It was so awesome. I want one, and one day I will get it. me and Ashley lost. The arcade also had house of the dead, which I loved to play when I was in high school. Of course we had to then take some funky photo booth pictures which we got to decorate. Back at our room I discovered our TV had the grossest porn channel. So we just turned off the tv and I took a bath in a super deep nice tub. Japan you are awesome
April 14, 2008
- Today was all about exploring historic Hiroshima. We checked out of our hotel and got a locker at the train station to keep our stuff. Breakfast at the hotel was free and delicious. The view was amazing and there was even a hawk, that Ashley named Freddie.
- The first place we went was the atomic bomb museum. It was an amazing museum, really hard to walk through but was something I’m really glad I got to see.
It was really unreal to be standing in a place that used to be leveled. And unlike the war remnants museum in Vietnam this museum wasn’t biased.
- So it was the perfect day outside. The sky was bright blue and the cherry blossoms were all in bloom. It was like what you think of when you think of Japan.
We walked along this river until we got to the a-bomb dome. Which is a structure that survived the bomb and they just left it as is, as a reminder.
- We went to this really good place for lunch. There were only Japanese business men inside. But it was only seven dollars.
- Then right outside of the restaurant there was a playground. I cannot resist a playground, especially with swings.
- We continued to walk along the river, until we got to Hiroshima castle. It was so beautiful. It had a moat filled with coy fish. I love it.
Only me and Tyler went in. it was pretty cool. You could dress up as a samurai if you wanted. Guess who did
- Then we caught the train back to Kobe where the ship was, it only took us an hour and half. Kobe to Hiroshima by car is 5 hours. Like I said, I love the shinkansen. When we got back to Kobe, Ashley peaced and me and Tyler put our stuff in a locker and searched for dinner before on ship time. we eventually found this place that from the picture had like chicken stuff with other stuff, there was some egg. It was cheap and it was good. After great food and great conversation me and Tyler went back to the ship and parted ways.
- I found Bryan who proceeded to call me a wuss because I didn’t kiss Tyler in the club. Maybe I am a wuss, oh well.
- We left around three people behind in Japan. One because he lost his passport, the other was his mom, and the last was someone who had alcohol poisoning.
- Japan was these hardest port to leave, it was my favorite by far. Great company and great adventures. But I’m gonna have to tell Tyler I like him, just for moving on purposes.
Tyler: hmm weight training... do you think they have advanced weight training?
Ashley: hey Sarah do you want to go to Tyler’s gun show?
me: do you think we could get tickets?
Ashley: I don't know it might be sold out
me: maybe we should get fast passes
April 9, 2008
- There is one month left, crazy
- Tyler finally secured a hotel for us in Tokyo. Its part of his family’s time share, so its free.
- Now we are going to Hiroshima too, which is sweet cause I’ve always wanted to go
- So this is a fun story. Bryan and Caitlin had fallen asleep in Bryan’s room. Lucas had come in with some chick, and thinking that Bryan and Caitlin were asleep, they started to fuck. Bryan and Caitlin who were not hardcore asleep were now trapped because they couldn’t just run out, that would be super awkward. Especially since Bryan is already in his room. So they had to stay there until they were done. Then Caitlin pretended to wake up and leave. All I have to say is “karma much?”
- Finished the sisterhood of the traveling pants series, loved it
- The ship was really rocky today. I liked it
April 10, 2008
- Nothing really happened today, just ship boredom. I talked to Lindsay on aim and apparently tiffany and Megan are barely friends anymore. Sucks
- Got to play Charlie’s gameboy while I watched Tyler pack for Japan and gave him tips for what to bring. While I was in there this girl came in. I don’t know her name but she was on my china trip. She looked upset and she looked like she wanted me to get out so her and Tyler could talk or something. It was weird, cause like who is she. I left, it was too awkward
- Had another student of color meeting today, I really love those
- Erin is still really sick, but she dragged herself to pre port anyways. Beth and Becca made her a card with happy panda on it. It was so cute.
- My back really fucking hurts
April 11, 2008
- Tokyo!
- For starters the customs process in Japan in ridiculous. We had to get fingerprinted and our temps taken and it took forever to get off the ship. But when I finally did I met up with Tyler and Ashley to start our crazy Japanese adventure. On the monorail from the ship to the outside world Beth, Erin, Becca, Bryan, and Caitlin were all there too. It was weird for them to be there. I don’t know why, I guess because I wouldn’t be going with them. Which I was excited about.
- Walking to the train station took forever, but we made it to the train and then to Tokyo three hours later. I love the shinkansen.
I mean think about it, from Kobe to Tokyo is a two hour flight and a train got us there in three hours. That’s amazing. Even the train toilet was badass, it had this cool sensor touch flush thing.
- Japan is pretty intense, the language barrier is harder than I thought it would be. The writing barrier is crazy too because it’s hard to find things written with letters so you can read it and have some idea of where you going.
- We made it to the hotel and it’s so nice. It has this gorgeous view of Tokyo. And internet.
- For dinner we went to this place that was right by the hotel that I would explain as the Japanese equivalent of Bennigan’s. I got shrimp tacos. Usually I would not think that salsa and tartar sauce would go together, but I was wrong. Our server went and found us the only English menu, it was all dusty like it hadn’t been used in years.
- So Ashley and Jenna ( paint on her overalls) are really good friends. So all day there has been all this talk about “so is Jenna mad at me?” and Ashley being like “well why should she be mad?” and then Tyler shrugs. So I want to know what the hell is going on. All I know so far is that Jenna doesn’t come by that much anymore. Maybe she is over him. Good for her
April 12, 2008
- Today we went to Tokyo Disney! It was awesome. This was the first time I had ever gone to a Disney theme park. We waited for like two hours to get on the journey to the center of the earth ride. It was ok. But because we waited so long to get on that ride we didn’t get to get on other cool rides like the tower of terror or the Indiana Jones ride. That’s right there was an Indiana Jones ride and I didn’t get on it. Terrible.
Me and Tyler went on this ride called raging spirits that had one whole loop. We got a fast pass for that one. I bought some cool stuff for my mom and sister. Tokyo Disney has his section called the “American waterfront” it has this fake cape cod and this old New York part which is new York in like the 1800s. There was even a deli. I would have loved to try the Japanese take on the hoagie.
- After Disney we went to the Sony building so look at electronics we could never afford.
- Then we went to the imperial palace but we got there right as it closed.
So we started to wander away when this old Japanese came up to us because he wanted to practice his English. For a long time we talked about all sorts of things. We told him all about our trip and he asked us questions about the other Asian countries we’ve been too like Vietnam and china. He tipped us off to some good food places.
- Dinner was super yummy, it was at this place next to this krispy kreme. This krispy kreme had the longest I have ever seen for donuts. It was seriously like 45 minutes.
“Krispy Kreme, so good you’ll suck a dick!” -Chris Rock
- After dinner we went back to the hotel to power nap until we went out. Ashley decided she didn’t want to go with us. Me and Tyler took the subway to the Shibuya district where there was a lot going on. We got to cross the largest crosswalk in the world, like a 1000 people cross at one time. So we started to go down random streets until we found like chill bar/eating place. We sat down and Tyler had two beers and I had a beer and a glass of wine. We got to talking. I decided to ask what the hell was going with Jenna. He said that she was mad at him because he had made out with this other girl. Cue me trying to hide the look of shock on my face. I asked him about who this girl was. Mainly because I was surprised how she slipped under my radar. So if you guys were paying attention this entry you will notice that I talked about this mystery chick that was in Tyler’s room looking all upset and shit. Meet Elizabeth, the girl Tyler has been “with” since like….I have no idea actually. He said that he thinks he doesn’t want to hook up with anyone anymore, it brings to much trouble. Also his ex in Oregon wants to get back together after this is all over.
- So on that note, it was time to dance my troubles away. We went walking down some streets when I heard familiar sound of Kanye coming up out of this basement club. I told Tyler we had to come in. So we went down into this club and I found something interesting. Black men. Now I have been in Japan for over 30 hours or something and I have not seen a single black man, let alone a whole club full of them. We stared at them, they stared at us. both of us wandering what the hell the other was doing here in this basement club in Tokyo. This club was kind of small and crowded so me and Tyler moved to where we thought there was space, turns out it was just a mirror. So we left. We kept walking down the street where I see this sign that says Gaspanic. And I think “what the hell is that” I look at Tyler and I say we have to go. It’s another basement club and when we got closer we realized that it was called Gas Panic. We go down and it’s the same this as the other club. Tons of black men and little Asian women grinding. And its not really working because the black men are average black guy height of six something and these Japanese women are like four something. Its just not matching up. This club is bigger so I decide it’s dancing time. So I take Tyler to the dance floor. Tyler earlier had mentioned that he was a bad dancer. And a lot of guys think they are bad dancers but usually they are ok. Tyler was really really right. I have never seen anyone dance as bad or as white (that may be racist but I don’t care) as him. So watching him and watching every black guy in the club stare at us, I decide that I’m going to teach Tyler how to grind. So usually really bad dancing is a big turn off for me, but as I was looking at Tyler using moves I hadn’t seen since the Brady bunch variety hour I still thought he was fucking adorable. This is the point when I realized I liked Tyler more than I thought I did and way more then I should, he lives in Oregon and he’s been kissing some other girl on the ship that isn’t me. Sucks. But alas the lesson must go on. So I just explain to Tyler that really in grinding girls do all the work. All he has to do is move with me. Easy right? No, not for Tyler. We’re dancing to this one song that I have heard a million times at home, so I know the beat changes and stuff. So it went to the chorus and I changed what my hips were doing then I hear “wait what are you doing? You’re moving differently now”. I told him it was because the beat changed, and that he moves with me and I move with the beat. So I turned around and we started dancing where I was facing him. As we were dancing and I was looking at him and he was looking at me. I wanted to, and had I not known about the Elizabeth thing I would have thought he wanted to too. And every time I looked up at him it became more of a shit or get off the pot kind of situation. So I got off the pot. If I stood there any longer my heart would have exploded. I told Tyler I was ready to leave, and we did.
- We continued to wander the streets until we came to this puppy store and then across from it a sex toy shop. I should really move here, this is amazing. Of course we go into the sex toy shop and there are lots of interesting things in there. Including a fist…. Yea it was just a rubber fist.
Then we walked around some more and we turned a corner and found another Gas Panic. I did not come half way around the world to only go to one Gas Panic. So this one was upstairs and the stairwell had all these creepy clowns painted on the walls. I’m not even afraid of clowns but these clowns were pretty scary. We get upstairs and this club was a little different like there were other races of men aside from black. And lots of different women. It was clear that this was the “good” Gas Panic. They wouldn’t let us stay unless we bought a drink, and with a 7-11 across the street why would I do that. So at 7-11 I got a Smirnoff ice and Tyler got an ice cream, of course. It began to rain, so Tyler asked me if I was ready to go back to the hotel or if I wanted to dance or drink more. I said I was ready to go back to the hotel, and we did.
April 13, 2008
- Today we had to get up really early to get to Hiroshima since it was a really long train ride, even on the shinkansen.
- Elizabeth doesn’t really bother me, she does not have paint on her overalls
- When we finally arrived in Hiroshima it took us forever to get to the hotel because we got kind of lost on the bus. The hotel we stayed on was sick. It had this awesome arcade and a bowling alley.
- After we got settled we headed into the city and got some dinner. The women who spoke no English who served us was really nice and patient. She was confused because Tyler tried to order two things.
- Then we walked around the Shitenchi Entertainment District. Which I imagine is pretty hopping on the weekend. But we were there on Sunday night at around 7pm. It was a ghost town. We stopped by the 7-11 and I got some alcohol and Tyler got some green apple flavored beer thing that tasted horrible, he ended up throwing it out. Ashley didn’t get anything. We talked about doing karaoke, but then decided we were not drunk enough to participate, and since they both don’t really drink no one wanted to rectify the situation we went back to the hotel. This is probably the first and last time during my Japan adventure that I wished Bryan was there, because he is always down to trashed. Before we went back to the hotel we found a tower records where I got the new panic at the disco cd and Ashley got some jonas brothers.
- Like I said out hotel was pretty awesome. So first we went bowling. I’m pretty bad at bowling. But it was still fun
Then we went to the arcade and played on this crazy air hockey table. Where sometimes it shoots like 5 pucks at one. It was so awesome. I want one, and one day I will get it. me and Ashley lost. The arcade also had house of the dead, which I loved to play when I was in high school. Of course we had to then take some funky photo booth pictures which we got to decorate. Back at our room I discovered our TV had the grossest porn channel. So we just turned off the tv and I took a bath in a super deep nice tub. Japan you are awesome
April 14, 2008
- Today was all about exploring historic Hiroshima. We checked out of our hotel and got a locker at the train station to keep our stuff. Breakfast at the hotel was free and delicious. The view was amazing and there was even a hawk, that Ashley named Freddie.
- The first place we went was the atomic bomb museum. It was an amazing museum, really hard to walk through but was something I’m really glad I got to see.
It was really unreal to be standing in a place that used to be leveled. And unlike the war remnants museum in Vietnam this museum wasn’t biased.
- So it was the perfect day outside. The sky was bright blue and the cherry blossoms were all in bloom. It was like what you think of when you think of Japan.
We walked along this river until we got to the a-bomb dome. Which is a structure that survived the bomb and they just left it as is, as a reminder.
- We went to this really good place for lunch. There were only Japanese business men inside. But it was only seven dollars.
- Then right outside of the restaurant there was a playground. I cannot resist a playground, especially with swings.
- We continued to walk along the river, until we got to Hiroshima castle. It was so beautiful. It had a moat filled with coy fish. I love it.
Only me and Tyler went in. it was pretty cool. You could dress up as a samurai if you wanted. Guess who did
- Then we caught the train back to Kobe where the ship was, it only took us an hour and half. Kobe to Hiroshima by car is 5 hours. Like I said, I love the shinkansen. When we got back to Kobe, Ashley peaced and me and Tyler put our stuff in a locker and searched for dinner before on ship time. we eventually found this place that from the picture had like chicken stuff with other stuff, there was some egg. It was cheap and it was good. After great food and great conversation me and Tyler went back to the ship and parted ways.
- I found Bryan who proceeded to call me a wuss because I didn’t kiss Tyler in the club. Maybe I am a wuss, oh well.
- We left around three people behind in Japan. One because he lost his passport, the other was his mom, and the last was someone who had alcohol poisoning.
- Japan was these hardest port to leave, it was my favorite by far. Great company and great adventures. But I’m gonna have to tell Tyler I like him, just for moving on purposes.