Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 1 Part A, Jan. 5-9, 2006
Woooo, here is the first installment of my Janterm trip journal + pictures!! The original plan was to divide it up into three sections, one for each week. But the first week's journal entries turned out to be too big for LJ's limits for one entry. So, that is getting divided again, into the first part of the first week--this entry, which will be followed by another entry containing part B (and possibly another with part C. Damn text limits). I am calling it my enikki (絵日記) because that word means picture diary which is exactly what this is. This section also has 61 pictures so I am very sorry if your connection can't handle that (hell, my own will probably have some difficulties too... goddamn even-slower-than-usual AC internet).
Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 1 Part A, Jan. 5-9, 2006
Thursday/Friday, January 5/6, 2006 - Arrival
Today was the plane ride and our arrival in Japan. I have to say, the 15-hour flight was nothing compared to the bizarre cultural shock I suffered upon arriving. I guess it was a combination of things: my carry-on bag not only being heavier than I expected, but also unable to fit on top of my rolling suitcase like I'd planned - having to pay to have my suitcase delivered to my host family and subsequently losing 100y in change walking back - the chaos we seemed to be going through overall as a group. Augh! It freaked me out, and took a while for me to calm down. So overwhelming!
At least on the plane I was able to watch Nana, this movie I recognized because Bekah's been reading the manga series. It was a really, really good movie, and I was glad they played it. They also were playing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Japanese dubbing, which you can bet I listened to and was hilariously amused at. The guy they got to do Johnny Depp's voice was just so amusing and great. Hee~
From Narita Airport we rode a bus to Makuhari City in Chiba and then walked to OVTA, this building that seems to be used mostly for business meetings and things but also has hotel-style rooms on the upper floors, where we got our room assignments and then went to the welcome dinner. At the welcome dinner I was able to talk to some IES people who'd known Hyung-hye from her days as an intern there, as well as meet my ePal, Saki. I ended up talking to her for awhile, at least half of it in Japanese. She complimented me on my Japanese, saying it was 'perapera' - I guess that's "smooth" or something. It was quite fun, although I was so distracted trying to hold up my end of the conversation that I didn't notice that even though I thought I had gotten chicken, it was actually fish, and I was eating it without even noticing. Eugh, I hate fiiiiish! I knew it tasted weird but I wasn't really paying attention so I just kept eating it. But oh well... I guess it is good for you, so... still...
After the welcome dinner I intended to go to sleep, but instead went for a walk around Makuhari City with Kathryn and Paul, which was a good idea and enabled us to see a lot, including like 10,000 bicycles! Oh my god @_@ The Japanese are all about bicycles, man. So we familiarized ourselves with the area and then went back to OVTA, where I finally went to sleep in my cold icebox of a room.
Monks on the plane!!! :D Not Japanese Buddhist monks, but monks nonetheless! Perhaps Tibetan?
Out walking around Makuhari City. Yes indeed, there was an Outback Steakhouse! We tried to eat at it, but they didn't serve lunch, which was the only time we were there. D:
Capsule machines
One of the buildings with malls inside, seen from the outside
Kouban!!! :D A police box! We had to learn this vocabulary word not really knowing what it meant so it was cool to have an actual thing to put with the word. :D A police box is where policemen hang out and are available to give directions, make rounds, etc. Koubaaaannn~
My OVTA room. The only single rooms we stayed in the whole trip, and it caught me a bit off-guard!
Saturday, January 7, 2006 - Orientation / Host Family
Busy day! I got up and went downstairs for breakfast, then we checked out and had a short orientation by the IES staff before going to the IES center in the Sumitomo building five minutes away. What a nice building!! So we were introduced to the IES offices, and then we all had a walking tour of Makuhari City (mostly stuff I'd seen before from exploring last night, but also some things I hadn't, like this cool mall area). I was also able to talk to Saki some more. Then we broke for lunch, and I ate with Paul, Kathryn, and Saki. I got udon (thick noodle soup), my first time having it, and I would have really liked it if the broth wasn't flavored with something (probably fish flakes or nori or something) that I know I really don't like. But I made myself keep eating it, because I was determined not to spend the trip making my pickiness a burden to people. (In hindsight, a noble goal, but I'm picky and can't change it, so...)
Back at IES, I was able to send a quick email to my parents before we had another orientation, this time about our host families. It just made me even more nervous, but I shouldn't have worried at all, because my host family is so nice! Their name is Sato: a dad (Nobuyuki), mom (Kanako), and six-year-old daughter (Nanase). They hosted another student for a month in early 2003, a girl named Mika who was half-Japanese, so I wasn't their first host student. Also, because Kathryn, Erin, Linsey, and I all have the same train station closest to our houses, our host moms all got together and traded phone numbers so we could all arrange a meeting time the next morning. The sight of four Japanese housewives busily setting things up was incredibly amusing to me! And then our four families all rode the train home together. My first Japanese train ride~ yay! That's one of the things I've wanted to do for a long time.
After we got to our station (Shin Urayasu), we had to take a bus and then walk through a neighborhood for about two minutes, but then we got to the cutest house ever. Hardwood floors, except my room (the guest room) is tatami mats! With a futon on the floor! Yay!!! :D It was definitely one of my dreams in coming to Japan to sleep on a futon in a tatami room. So I was very happy with that!
Shortly after we arrived (and after I gave my host family the obligatory present--a small stuffed armadillo to represent Texas. Ah, it's so cute, but it went straight to Nanase, and I hope she takes proper care of it!), I went with my host mother and sister to go buy food for dinner, etc. My host mom drove us to this big four- or five-story mall complex place with a supermarket on one of the floors. So crazy!! (Of course, that's pretty much the norm, I later discovered. There's smaller grocery stores with their own buildings scattered around too, of course, but for the bigger places with huge selections, you have to go to one of the department stores). Unlike the sedated, calm American grocery stores, these places are bustling and insane, with people everywhere, and the carts are tiny little things that fit a basket on top. We got some pastries and bread things for breakfast (the Japanese are big on French-style patisserie-type places, where you grab a tray and place the pastries you want on it, then bring it to the front where it's wrapped up for you), then Nanase took me to the snack/candy aisle. So many things!! We spent awhile looking at everything and each picked out one thing before my host mom found us after she'd gotten most of the things she needed. (How convenient, that I looked after Nanase and kept her out of her hair so she could shop in peace...! hahah)
Unfortunately, I had had to confess to them my (sizable) list of things I don't like to eat, and though they seemed understanding, I wonder if that doesn't add a mark to my "burden" side (of my "Guest Evaluation" mental sheet they must have), ahhh. Before we left the shopping center I had to get a notebook to use for this journal so we went to another floor and got that. All the Sanrio stuff in the stationery section was crazy!! I really could have spent so much more time browsing that whole shopping center, but we had to get back and make dinner.
Before dinner, Nanase and I played in the loft (they have a small loft you climb up to from the living room) with marbles (biidama) and other things she had up there. It's a good thing I like kids and don't mind playing with the them, and I hope that fact makes up for my pickiness with food >.>
Dinner was something I've forgotten the Japanese name of but that means "one skillet dinner"--long strips of potato, fatty pork bits, chicken balls, celery, and lettuce all in one big pot in the center of the table. Then on the sides in separate dishes, these egg things that didn't taste like eggs and sweet beans--and some sort of pink-and-white "steamed fish paste" thing I didn't try because it was fishy (I later learned that it's a traditional New Year's food). But I tried everything else and it was really good! And I ate it all with chopsticks, too--they offered me a fork but I refused. I ate everything I took, not wanting to offend with waste (except the fatty pork thing, cause it was hard to pick up). Yay!
After dinner Nanase and I played in the loft with marbles again, and then we came down and I talked about plans with my host mom to go to Tokyo DisneySea tomorrow :D Yay!! Then she and Nanase took their baths and I took mine afterwards. Ah~ soaking in a hot tub, how wonderful! The bathroom has a heating system too, how amazing. The toilet of course is not connected and there's one next door to the bathroom and one upstairs next to the kitchen. After my bath I went to bed in my soft heavenly futon bed. :D I am so incredibly happy with my host family!! I really hope they like me too. They seem to, but you can never tell. I do think I got one of the less-English-capable families, as we mostly communicate in Japanese, but that's really all right. That's what I'm here for, right?
Oh, and they have the cutest dog, a Pomeranian named Koron (Collon?). It's adorable, but so spoiled!
At the party held at the IES offices where everyone met their host families for the first time. I'm amused by Paul (the guy in the middle) in this picture, he's all "Hmmm..." XD
Everyone in the Urayasu area trading phone numbers and such so us host students could meet at the station for classes the following Monday, hee. My host mom is in the pink shirt.
Na-chaaan! My host sister :3
My room at the Satos' <3
Ofuton :3
I liked how the futons piled up in the closet looked like a rainbow. "Niji-iro!" I said to my host mom ("Rainbow-colored!")
The front entryway. Can you tell whose shoes are whose? Hint, mine are the cool ballet flat ones with laces :3 You know, I really wish American homes were like this. My mom wears her shoes inside all the time (even takes naps with them on) and it drives me crazy!
Stairs leading up to the main level (the front entryway opens onto the lower level, which has the bathroom, my room, the master bedroom and my host dad's study)
Koron!! Cute, but vicious. Watch out.
Living room. I don't know why that high chair is there... it's not like Nanase needs it. Oh well.
Dining room area. Not pictured: A cool thing that, when someone rings the doorbell to come into the house, shows their picture on a screen!! Just like that CCS story! I thought things like that were just a myth :O
The loft (you saw the stairs leading up to it in the living room picture). I thought this was so cool when I first saw it, I love lofts, that I said "Kore netai!" and everyone laughed... although I messed up, I should have said "Koko netai" (I want to sleep here) aghafjdash oh well...
Toilet! Washlet, actually. After you flush, freezing-ass-cold water comes out of the sink on top and you can wash your hands in it.
Here you can see the infamous toilet slippers and the panel on the wall where you can push the buttons for a bidet, etc (I was too scared to try it XD)
The bathroom downstairs
Showering room--first you rinse off with the showerhead on the right half of the room, then you get into the bathtub filled with water on the left half and soak. ahhh~ :3
Sink
Washer and dryer. It's not just weird that they're in the bathroom, it's weird that there is a dryer at all. Most Japanese homes don't have one, and hang everything up to dry, which my family still did, except for socks and underwear. Those went in the dryer. Nothing else. (Later I put normal shirts in the dryer just to see and of course they were just fine. ¬_¬)
Sunday, January 8, 2006 - Tokyo DisneySea!!
Today my host mother, sister, and I went to Tokyo DisneySea, the park adjacent to Tokyo Disneyland with all new rides. It was so much fun! I rode all the big rides (some by myself since my host mother had to wait outside with Nanase, who was too short to ride them). They had an Indiana Jones rode!! The one in Disneyland California is my absolute most favorite ride! I was so happy :D It's almost the exact same ride, just with a slightly different theme (the Crystal Skull as opposed to ), but a lot of the details are still the same. As silly as it sounds, that ride is seriously my happy place. I am always filled with bliss when I am on it. Ahhh :D I rode it with my host mom, who seemed really scared of it. Pssch!! Oh well~
For most of the morning we wandered around doing various rides, some kid oriented, some not, and some in the middle. One of my favorites for a very silly reason was Storm Rider (SUTOOMU RAIDAA! XD), which was basically one of those put-you-in-the-situation theatre things (like The Right Stuff at Six Flags, etc) and the premise is that you're battling this storm so you go in a plane to diffuse it somehow and real water drops fall on you, etc. But the hero of the story is this guy named Captain Davis, and you only hear his voice but I LOVED HIM OMG. He had the typical hero voice--if you've seen shows like Outlaw Star, etc, he had the typical male happy-go-lucky average-guy voice and it was so great. At the end of the ride, after he'd put us through hell and back but came out okay, his commander guy tried to berate him but he was just all "Yare, yare! Maa, minna tanoshikatta ne?" (Oh well! Everyone had fun, right?) and aaaahahaha it was so great! I would really love to ride that ride again just to hear him. >_> Captain Davis <3
Yeah, it was really pretty weird to be going on these rides with dialogue and hear it all in Japanese. I'm sure if we'd gone to Disneyland it would have been even stranger... Pirates of the Caribbean in Japanese, etc. I mean of course it's perfectly natural, so it shouldn't be anything out of place at all, but it was! Most of the times when a ride was like that, I couldn't understand much, but on most I was able to understand enough figure out what was going on. And in those cases, I instead focused on the sound of the voices they'd chosen for each character, something I love doing while watching anime, and it was quite fun.
For lunch we had curry rice from the food court in the Arabian Coast area of the park, and it was delicious (there was even naan bread with it! So tasty). We also caught the Mystic Rhythms show, which was awesome. I noticed some non-Japanese performers in it, which made me so curious--I want to find out why they're in Japan and talk to them in English, you know? Also, before the show started, a Disney cast member girl gave us her spiel about no smoking, etc, and as part of it she said "Konnichiwa" to us and bowed, to which the entire group of people waiting outside responded "Konnichiwa" and bowed back to her! So cool! That definitely wouldn't happen in America.
We also saw the Little Mermaid show, and what struck me about that was the fact that 1) the songs were in English yet the dialogue in Japanese, and 2) Ariel was played by a Westerner who mouthed all her lines--singing and speaking! Once again, I want to know--what's she doing there? Does she speak Japanese? etc...
The other things I noticed about Disney in Japan is that everyone loves it. I saw groups of schoolgirls in matching mouse ears, couples on dates, and families with small children alike. In America, you really don't see that many teenagers--Disney isn't "cool." But in Japan it really is, and everyone gets so into it. Fascinating!
The other thing is how conscious of my gaijin status I was, adrift in a sea of Japanese. It's a very odd feeling, being completely aware that only you are different. Not counting the performers, I counted only 3-4 other gaijin there at the park that day!
Because my mom is the biggest Disney fan ever and is intensely jealous that I get to see Tokyo Disney, I spent the last bit of our time there scouring the shops for a gift for her. She collects magnets for our fridge of places we've visited so I looked for one of those, but unlike in the U.S., they had only one magnet and it was shaped like some weird Mickey cookie thing (I guess all the phone straps took up the usual magnet space--so many phone straps!!). So in the end I got a small porcelain Mickey-head-shaped plate thing filled with chocolates--it's vaguely Japanese (enough for it to be something you can't get back home) and she can display it with the rest of her paraphernalia. Actually, if someday I could take my mom to Tokyo Disney with me, I think she'd really enjoy it (as long as I acted as translator, of course). It's so interesting seeing everything translated to Japanese you're used to seeing in English. (For example, Captain Hook is Hooku-shachou! XD)
Me and Na-chan in front of the globe fountain thing you pass when you come in
The big mountain in the middle of the whole park
The place where the submarine ride is... California Disneyland used to have a submarine ride and I went on it when I was 6, but they've since closed it down because it was too much maintenance. So it's interesting that it's here in Japan~ I didn't ride it, though.
The Little Mermaid play area thing (all of it is inside that building)
Entrance to the "Arabian Coast" area
Bleaugh, my hair looks awful! So windy...
Guy with a camel and the three of us. XD
Front of this roller coaster thing
Nanaseeee~
"American Waterfront" area
Nanase being silly while we were playing in the kids' area
Indiana Jones!! <3 <3
Thing inside the waiting area
Nanase being silly and posing like the statue of Prince Eric in the Little Mermaid play area XD
Yay, I really like this picture :3
Monday, January 9, 2006 - Seijin no Hi / Tokyo Tower
Today was Seijin no Hi, or Adult/Coming of Age Day, where everyone who's turning 20 this year dresses up in long-sleeved kimono (the girls, that is) and walks around. I saw a number of them and they were all so pretty! Since it was cold, they had fur linings around their necks, and ah, so beautiful. Since I'm turning 20 this month, I wanted to put on a kimono and join them, but my host family didn't have the right kind and my host mom says she's not good at tying obi--and most of all, I'm a foreigner. So oh well. She did let me put on some kimono she did have, though :) And of course, Na-chan had to dress up too, in her tiny little-girl kimono. XD So cute.
After that, we rode out on bikes (me on one, and my host mother on another with Nanase in a child's seat behind her and Koron sitting perfectly calmly in the front basket. Most every bike in Japan has at least a front basket and usually a child's seat in the back) to the park, where Koron ran around with some other dogs--some were wearing little doggy sweaters, how cute! Actually, the park is right by the ocean--you know, THE ocean, the one right by the eastern coast of Japan? So really... we were at the beach. Too bad it was much too cold for swimming.
After a little snack back at home, we went to the station and rode the train to Hamamatsuchou, where Tokyo Tower is. We had to transfer at Tokyo Station, and man, that place is huge! It's like a freakin' airport with all the moving sidewalks! But it's not that hard to navigate if you follow the signs (like all Japanese train stations, really) and I'm glad I've been familiarized with it before we have to meet there to go to Kyoto.
From the station we walked towards Tokyo Tower, we could see it as soon as we stepped outside. Ahhh! As a shoujo manga fan who first heard of Tokyo Tower back in middle school when I started reading Magic Knight Rayearth and never even DREAMED I'd go to it in person, I have been wanting to go here for so long. But first we stopped at the Buddhist temple nearby it, Zoujou-ji. My host mom gave me and Nanase 20 yen to put in the offering near the entrance, where we also added a pinch of incense to the pyre and folded our hands in prayer. It felt odd for me to do it, but it was nice. Nanase really wanted an omikuji (fortune) so we both got one. I can hardly read mine of course but apparently it's good--something about things I've been worried about disappearing. My host mom joked that those worries have to do with my host family! Aww... so true, though. I really hope her worries about me have likewise been alleviated--I just can't tell!
So from there we went to Tokyo Tower. So cool!! I don't care that it's a cheap Eiffel Tower ripoff that's degenerated into a tourist trap. It is cool! And my host mom even paid for my ticket, which was incredibly nice of her. We only went to the main observatory halfway up the tower--what a gyp that you have to pay like 600y more to go higher!! Oh well. We had fun looking out at the city, and I amused myself noticing all the other foreigners--only about 5, but more than I'd seen at any other place. We also put in money to the mini-shrine they have there, and at the gift shop I bought a mini figure of the tower to match my Eiffel Tower one. Then we went down one floor to the cafe (yes!! It exists!) and had ice cream. We got it in cones and my host mom and sister ate theirs with spoons. Spoons!? Please, people! I licked mine the proper way and didn't care if that seemed weird to them. >.> Honestly... spoons with an ice cream cone! So strange. Also on that level were the transparent windows set in the floor so you can look down to the ground. Scary!! They really freaked Na-chan out, and I could only stand on one for so long.
Then we met my host dad at our station (Shin Urayasu), and went to an okonomiyaki place (a cook-your-own one) where we had dinner. I really liked this corn and bacon appetizer thing we had but the okonomiyaki itself--ahh! I didn't like it! I wanted to... oh well... and my host family seemed amused, not annoyed... still, sigh. The restaurant was so cool too, with the tables sunk into the floor and you have to take off your shoes to enter. So fun! I also tasted some of Na-chan's melon soda and that was the beginning of the Love. Just wish I'd liked the food... ¬_¬
Me wearing one of the kimono. I look pretty bad here >.>
Tokyo Tower!!! :D
Me outside of the Buddhist temple. Pretty much any time I got out my camera to take normal pictures of the surroundings, my host mom would offer to take a picture of me, and then get out her own camera for a group shot. >.>
Statue thing in the temple area
Wooooo Tokyo Tower :333
Skyline as seen from the Main Observatory
I think this is her standard pose anytime her picture is taken. XD
Ryuuseigun :3
The cafe!!! The cafe that's in the episode of CCS where they go to Tokyo Tower and Sakura has the dream that Touya and Yukito are working there! There it is!!
At night, with its special "2006" lights.
End of Part A!
On to Part B
Sarah's Japan Enikki, Week 1 Part A, Jan. 5-9, 2006
Thursday/Friday, January 5/6, 2006 - Arrival
Today was the plane ride and our arrival in Japan. I have to say, the 15-hour flight was nothing compared to the bizarre cultural shock I suffered upon arriving. I guess it was a combination of things: my carry-on bag not only being heavier than I expected, but also unable to fit on top of my rolling suitcase like I'd planned - having to pay to have my suitcase delivered to my host family and subsequently losing 100y in change walking back - the chaos we seemed to be going through overall as a group. Augh! It freaked me out, and took a while for me to calm down. So overwhelming!
At least on the plane I was able to watch Nana, this movie I recognized because Bekah's been reading the manga series. It was a really, really good movie, and I was glad they played it. They also were playing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Japanese dubbing, which you can bet I listened to and was hilariously amused at. The guy they got to do Johnny Depp's voice was just so amusing and great. Hee~
From Narita Airport we rode a bus to Makuhari City in Chiba and then walked to OVTA, this building that seems to be used mostly for business meetings and things but also has hotel-style rooms on the upper floors, where we got our room assignments and then went to the welcome dinner. At the welcome dinner I was able to talk to some IES people who'd known Hyung-hye from her days as an intern there, as well as meet my ePal, Saki. I ended up talking to her for awhile, at least half of it in Japanese. She complimented me on my Japanese, saying it was 'perapera' - I guess that's "smooth" or something. It was quite fun, although I was so distracted trying to hold up my end of the conversation that I didn't notice that even though I thought I had gotten chicken, it was actually fish, and I was eating it without even noticing. Eugh, I hate fiiiiish! I knew it tasted weird but I wasn't really paying attention so I just kept eating it. But oh well... I guess it is good for you, so... still...
After the welcome dinner I intended to go to sleep, but instead went for a walk around Makuhari City with Kathryn and Paul, which was a good idea and enabled us to see a lot, including like 10,000 bicycles! Oh my god @_@ The Japanese are all about bicycles, man. So we familiarized ourselves with the area and then went back to OVTA, where I finally went to sleep in my cold icebox of a room.
Monks on the plane!!! :D Not Japanese Buddhist monks, but monks nonetheless! Perhaps Tibetan?
Out walking around Makuhari City. Yes indeed, there was an Outback Steakhouse! We tried to eat at it, but they didn't serve lunch, which was the only time we were there. D:
Capsule machines
One of the buildings with malls inside, seen from the outside
Kouban!!! :D A police box! We had to learn this vocabulary word not really knowing what it meant so it was cool to have an actual thing to put with the word. :D A police box is where policemen hang out and are available to give directions, make rounds, etc. Koubaaaannn~
My OVTA room. The only single rooms we stayed in the whole trip, and it caught me a bit off-guard!
Saturday, January 7, 2006 - Orientation / Host Family
Busy day! I got up and went downstairs for breakfast, then we checked out and had a short orientation by the IES staff before going to the IES center in the Sumitomo building five minutes away. What a nice building!! So we were introduced to the IES offices, and then we all had a walking tour of Makuhari City (mostly stuff I'd seen before from exploring last night, but also some things I hadn't, like this cool mall area). I was also able to talk to Saki some more. Then we broke for lunch, and I ate with Paul, Kathryn, and Saki. I got udon (thick noodle soup), my first time having it, and I would have really liked it if the broth wasn't flavored with something (probably fish flakes or nori or something) that I know I really don't like. But I made myself keep eating it, because I was determined not to spend the trip making my pickiness a burden to people. (In hindsight, a noble goal, but I'm picky and can't change it, so...)
Back at IES, I was able to send a quick email to my parents before we had another orientation, this time about our host families. It just made me even more nervous, but I shouldn't have worried at all, because my host family is so nice! Their name is Sato: a dad (Nobuyuki), mom (Kanako), and six-year-old daughter (Nanase). They hosted another student for a month in early 2003, a girl named Mika who was half-Japanese, so I wasn't their first host student. Also, because Kathryn, Erin, Linsey, and I all have the same train station closest to our houses, our host moms all got together and traded phone numbers so we could all arrange a meeting time the next morning. The sight of four Japanese housewives busily setting things up was incredibly amusing to me! And then our four families all rode the train home together. My first Japanese train ride~ yay! That's one of the things I've wanted to do for a long time.
After we got to our station (Shin Urayasu), we had to take a bus and then walk through a neighborhood for about two minutes, but then we got to the cutest house ever. Hardwood floors, except my room (the guest room) is tatami mats! With a futon on the floor! Yay!!! :D It was definitely one of my dreams in coming to Japan to sleep on a futon in a tatami room. So I was very happy with that!
Shortly after we arrived (and after I gave my host family the obligatory present--a small stuffed armadillo to represent Texas. Ah, it's so cute, but it went straight to Nanase, and I hope she takes proper care of it!), I went with my host mother and sister to go buy food for dinner, etc. My host mom drove us to this big four- or five-story mall complex place with a supermarket on one of the floors. So crazy!! (Of course, that's pretty much the norm, I later discovered. There's smaller grocery stores with their own buildings scattered around too, of course, but for the bigger places with huge selections, you have to go to one of the department stores). Unlike the sedated, calm American grocery stores, these places are bustling and insane, with people everywhere, and the carts are tiny little things that fit a basket on top. We got some pastries and bread things for breakfast (the Japanese are big on French-style patisserie-type places, where you grab a tray and place the pastries you want on it, then bring it to the front where it's wrapped up for you), then Nanase took me to the snack/candy aisle. So many things!! We spent awhile looking at everything and each picked out one thing before my host mom found us after she'd gotten most of the things she needed. (How convenient, that I looked after Nanase and kept her out of her hair so she could shop in peace...! hahah)
Unfortunately, I had had to confess to them my (sizable) list of things I don't like to eat, and though they seemed understanding, I wonder if that doesn't add a mark to my "burden" side (of my "Guest Evaluation" mental sheet they must have), ahhh. Before we left the shopping center I had to get a notebook to use for this journal so we went to another floor and got that. All the Sanrio stuff in the stationery section was crazy!! I really could have spent so much more time browsing that whole shopping center, but we had to get back and make dinner.
Before dinner, Nanase and I played in the loft (they have a small loft you climb up to from the living room) with marbles (biidama) and other things she had up there. It's a good thing I like kids and don't mind playing with the them, and I hope that fact makes up for my pickiness with food >.>
Dinner was something I've forgotten the Japanese name of but that means "one skillet dinner"--long strips of potato, fatty pork bits, chicken balls, celery, and lettuce all in one big pot in the center of the table. Then on the sides in separate dishes, these egg things that didn't taste like eggs and sweet beans--and some sort of pink-and-white "steamed fish paste" thing I didn't try because it was fishy (I later learned that it's a traditional New Year's food). But I tried everything else and it was really good! And I ate it all with chopsticks, too--they offered me a fork but I refused. I ate everything I took, not wanting to offend with waste (except the fatty pork thing, cause it was hard to pick up). Yay!
After dinner Nanase and I played in the loft with marbles again, and then we came down and I talked about plans with my host mom to go to Tokyo DisneySea tomorrow :D Yay!! Then she and Nanase took their baths and I took mine afterwards. Ah~ soaking in a hot tub, how wonderful! The bathroom has a heating system too, how amazing. The toilet of course is not connected and there's one next door to the bathroom and one upstairs next to the kitchen. After my bath I went to bed in my soft heavenly futon bed. :D I am so incredibly happy with my host family!! I really hope they like me too. They seem to, but you can never tell. I do think I got one of the less-English-capable families, as we mostly communicate in Japanese, but that's really all right. That's what I'm here for, right?
Oh, and they have the cutest dog, a Pomeranian named Koron (Collon?). It's adorable, but so spoiled!
At the party held at the IES offices where everyone met their host families for the first time. I'm amused by Paul (the guy in the middle) in this picture, he's all "Hmmm..." XD
Everyone in the Urayasu area trading phone numbers and such so us host students could meet at the station for classes the following Monday, hee. My host mom is in the pink shirt.
Na-chaaan! My host sister :3
My room at the Satos' <3
Ofuton :3
I liked how the futons piled up in the closet looked like a rainbow. "Niji-iro!" I said to my host mom ("Rainbow-colored!")
The front entryway. Can you tell whose shoes are whose? Hint, mine are the cool ballet flat ones with laces :3 You know, I really wish American homes were like this. My mom wears her shoes inside all the time (even takes naps with them on) and it drives me crazy!
Stairs leading up to the main level (the front entryway opens onto the lower level, which has the bathroom, my room, the master bedroom and my host dad's study)
Koron!! Cute, but vicious. Watch out.
Living room. I don't know why that high chair is there... it's not like Nanase needs it. Oh well.
Dining room area. Not pictured: A cool thing that, when someone rings the doorbell to come into the house, shows their picture on a screen!! Just like that CCS story! I thought things like that were just a myth :O
The loft (you saw the stairs leading up to it in the living room picture). I thought this was so cool when I first saw it, I love lofts, that I said "Kore netai!" and everyone laughed... although I messed up, I should have said "Koko netai" (I want to sleep here) aghafjdash oh well...
Toilet! Washlet, actually. After you flush, freezing-ass-cold water comes out of the sink on top and you can wash your hands in it.
Here you can see the infamous toilet slippers and the panel on the wall where you can push the buttons for a bidet, etc (I was too scared to try it XD)
The bathroom downstairs
Showering room--first you rinse off with the showerhead on the right half of the room, then you get into the bathtub filled with water on the left half and soak. ahhh~ :3
Sink
Washer and dryer. It's not just weird that they're in the bathroom, it's weird that there is a dryer at all. Most Japanese homes don't have one, and hang everything up to dry, which my family still did, except for socks and underwear. Those went in the dryer. Nothing else. (Later I put normal shirts in the dryer just to see and of course they were just fine. ¬_¬)
Sunday, January 8, 2006 - Tokyo DisneySea!!
Today my host mother, sister, and I went to Tokyo DisneySea, the park adjacent to Tokyo Disneyland with all new rides. It was so much fun! I rode all the big rides (some by myself since my host mother had to wait outside with Nanase, who was too short to ride them). They had an Indiana Jones rode!! The one in Disneyland California is my absolute most favorite ride! I was so happy :D It's almost the exact same ride, just with a slightly different theme (the Crystal Skull as opposed to ), but a lot of the details are still the same. As silly as it sounds, that ride is seriously my happy place. I am always filled with bliss when I am on it. Ahhh :D I rode it with my host mom, who seemed really scared of it. Pssch!! Oh well~
For most of the morning we wandered around doing various rides, some kid oriented, some not, and some in the middle. One of my favorites for a very silly reason was Storm Rider (SUTOOMU RAIDAA! XD), which was basically one of those put-you-in-the-situation theatre things (like The Right Stuff at Six Flags, etc) and the premise is that you're battling this storm so you go in a plane to diffuse it somehow and real water drops fall on you, etc. But the hero of the story is this guy named Captain Davis, and you only hear his voice but I LOVED HIM OMG. He had the typical hero voice--if you've seen shows like Outlaw Star, etc, he had the typical male happy-go-lucky average-guy voice and it was so great. At the end of the ride, after he'd put us through hell and back but came out okay, his commander guy tried to berate him but he was just all "Yare, yare! Maa, minna tanoshikatta ne?" (Oh well! Everyone had fun, right?) and aaaahahaha it was so great! I would really love to ride that ride again just to hear him. >_> Captain Davis <3
Yeah, it was really pretty weird to be going on these rides with dialogue and hear it all in Japanese. I'm sure if we'd gone to Disneyland it would have been even stranger... Pirates of the Caribbean in Japanese, etc. I mean of course it's perfectly natural, so it shouldn't be anything out of place at all, but it was! Most of the times when a ride was like that, I couldn't understand much, but on most I was able to understand enough figure out what was going on. And in those cases, I instead focused on the sound of the voices they'd chosen for each character, something I love doing while watching anime, and it was quite fun.
For lunch we had curry rice from the food court in the Arabian Coast area of the park, and it was delicious (there was even naan bread with it! So tasty). We also caught the Mystic Rhythms show, which was awesome. I noticed some non-Japanese performers in it, which made me so curious--I want to find out why they're in Japan and talk to them in English, you know? Also, before the show started, a Disney cast member girl gave us her spiel about no smoking, etc, and as part of it she said "Konnichiwa" to us and bowed, to which the entire group of people waiting outside responded "Konnichiwa" and bowed back to her! So cool! That definitely wouldn't happen in America.
We also saw the Little Mermaid show, and what struck me about that was the fact that 1) the songs were in English yet the dialogue in Japanese, and 2) Ariel was played by a Westerner who mouthed all her lines--singing and speaking! Once again, I want to know--what's she doing there? Does she speak Japanese? etc...
The other things I noticed about Disney in Japan is that everyone loves it. I saw groups of schoolgirls in matching mouse ears, couples on dates, and families with small children alike. In America, you really don't see that many teenagers--Disney isn't "cool." But in Japan it really is, and everyone gets so into it. Fascinating!
The other thing is how conscious of my gaijin status I was, adrift in a sea of Japanese. It's a very odd feeling, being completely aware that only you are different. Not counting the performers, I counted only 3-4 other gaijin there at the park that day!
Because my mom is the biggest Disney fan ever and is intensely jealous that I get to see Tokyo Disney, I spent the last bit of our time there scouring the shops for a gift for her. She collects magnets for our fridge of places we've visited so I looked for one of those, but unlike in the U.S., they had only one magnet and it was shaped like some weird Mickey cookie thing (I guess all the phone straps took up the usual magnet space--so many phone straps!!). So in the end I got a small porcelain Mickey-head-shaped plate thing filled with chocolates--it's vaguely Japanese (enough for it to be something you can't get back home) and she can display it with the rest of her paraphernalia. Actually, if someday I could take my mom to Tokyo Disney with me, I think she'd really enjoy it (as long as I acted as translator, of course). It's so interesting seeing everything translated to Japanese you're used to seeing in English. (For example, Captain Hook is Hooku-shachou! XD)
Me and Na-chan in front of the globe fountain thing you pass when you come in
The big mountain in the middle of the whole park
The place where the submarine ride is... California Disneyland used to have a submarine ride and I went on it when I was 6, but they've since closed it down because it was too much maintenance. So it's interesting that it's here in Japan~ I didn't ride it, though.
The Little Mermaid play area thing (all of it is inside that building)
Entrance to the "Arabian Coast" area
Bleaugh, my hair looks awful! So windy...
Guy with a camel and the three of us. XD
Front of this roller coaster thing
Nanaseeee~
"American Waterfront" area
Nanase being silly while we were playing in the kids' area
Indiana Jones!! <3 <3
Thing inside the waiting area
Nanase being silly and posing like the statue of Prince Eric in the Little Mermaid play area XD
Yay, I really like this picture :3
Monday, January 9, 2006 - Seijin no Hi / Tokyo Tower
Today was Seijin no Hi, or Adult/Coming of Age Day, where everyone who's turning 20 this year dresses up in long-sleeved kimono (the girls, that is) and walks around. I saw a number of them and they were all so pretty! Since it was cold, they had fur linings around their necks, and ah, so beautiful. Since I'm turning 20 this month, I wanted to put on a kimono and join them, but my host family didn't have the right kind and my host mom says she's not good at tying obi--and most of all, I'm a foreigner. So oh well. She did let me put on some kimono she did have, though :) And of course, Na-chan had to dress up too, in her tiny little-girl kimono. XD So cute.
After that, we rode out on bikes (me on one, and my host mother on another with Nanase in a child's seat behind her and Koron sitting perfectly calmly in the front basket. Most every bike in Japan has at least a front basket and usually a child's seat in the back) to the park, where Koron ran around with some other dogs--some were wearing little doggy sweaters, how cute! Actually, the park is right by the ocean--you know, THE ocean, the one right by the eastern coast of Japan? So really... we were at the beach. Too bad it was much too cold for swimming.
After a little snack back at home, we went to the station and rode the train to Hamamatsuchou, where Tokyo Tower is. We had to transfer at Tokyo Station, and man, that place is huge! It's like a freakin' airport with all the moving sidewalks! But it's not that hard to navigate if you follow the signs (like all Japanese train stations, really) and I'm glad I've been familiarized with it before we have to meet there to go to Kyoto.
From the station we walked towards Tokyo Tower, we could see it as soon as we stepped outside. Ahhh! As a shoujo manga fan who first heard of Tokyo Tower back in middle school when I started reading Magic Knight Rayearth and never even DREAMED I'd go to it in person, I have been wanting to go here for so long. But first we stopped at the Buddhist temple nearby it, Zoujou-ji. My host mom gave me and Nanase 20 yen to put in the offering near the entrance, where we also added a pinch of incense to the pyre and folded our hands in prayer. It felt odd for me to do it, but it was nice. Nanase really wanted an omikuji (fortune) so we both got one. I can hardly read mine of course but apparently it's good--something about things I've been worried about disappearing. My host mom joked that those worries have to do with my host family! Aww... so true, though. I really hope her worries about me have likewise been alleviated--I just can't tell!
So from there we went to Tokyo Tower. So cool!! I don't care that it's a cheap Eiffel Tower ripoff that's degenerated into a tourist trap. It is cool! And my host mom even paid for my ticket, which was incredibly nice of her. We only went to the main observatory halfway up the tower--what a gyp that you have to pay like 600y more to go higher!! Oh well. We had fun looking out at the city, and I amused myself noticing all the other foreigners--only about 5, but more than I'd seen at any other place. We also put in money to the mini-shrine they have there, and at the gift shop I bought a mini figure of the tower to match my Eiffel Tower one. Then we went down one floor to the cafe (yes!! It exists!) and had ice cream. We got it in cones and my host mom and sister ate theirs with spoons. Spoons!? Please, people! I licked mine the proper way and didn't care if that seemed weird to them. >.> Honestly... spoons with an ice cream cone! So strange. Also on that level were the transparent windows set in the floor so you can look down to the ground. Scary!! They really freaked Na-chan out, and I could only stand on one for so long.
Then we met my host dad at our station (Shin Urayasu), and went to an okonomiyaki place (a cook-your-own one) where we had dinner. I really liked this corn and bacon appetizer thing we had but the okonomiyaki itself--ahh! I didn't like it! I wanted to... oh well... and my host family seemed amused, not annoyed... still, sigh. The restaurant was so cool too, with the tables sunk into the floor and you have to take off your shoes to enter. So fun! I also tasted some of Na-chan's melon soda and that was the beginning of the Love. Just wish I'd liked the food... ¬_¬
Me wearing one of the kimono. I look pretty bad here >.>
Tokyo Tower!!! :D
Me outside of the Buddhist temple. Pretty much any time I got out my camera to take normal pictures of the surroundings, my host mom would offer to take a picture of me, and then get out her own camera for a group shot. >.>
Statue thing in the temple area
Wooooo Tokyo Tower :333
Skyline as seen from the Main Observatory
I think this is her standard pose anytime her picture is taken. XD
Ryuuseigun :3
The cafe!!! The cafe that's in the episode of CCS where they go to Tokyo Tower and Sakura has the dream that Touya and Yukito are working there! There it is!!
At night, with its special "2006" lights.
End of Part A!
On to Part B