Japan Week 4
Monday (July 18) was Marine Day or Ocean Day or something - so it was a holiday. I met up with Garcia-sensei from Pacific University at Shinjuku Station and we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to check out the observatory on the 45th floor. Apparently, it usually has a long line with at least an hour’s wait - took us 10 minutes to get up there. We wandered around and took pictures of the city and bought some souvenirs. Once again, I failed to see Mt. Fuji. Five trips; still no Fuji. :( Afterwards, we ate blueberry daifuku outside and went shopping in Takashima Times Square. Lunch was at a Korean restaurant then a quick drink at Starbucks before we parted ways - she invited me to meet her friend in Shibuya, but I really needed to study for the big kanji test the next day… which was not so big. >< Regardless, I’ll probably study just as monotonously for the next one.
Tuesday was both amazing and sad. My sister had her baby (Monday in America), so that was awesome! Really cute kid. :) But, 10am was my Japanese grandfather's funeral up in Sendai, which I wasn't attending... In the afternoon, I went with my host mom to see Kokurikozaka, the new Ghibli film that came out in theaters last weekend. It was entirely in Japanese, but it was amazing. I can’t wait to see it at least subbed so I understand more. I mean, I got the gist of it and I understood the storyline, but it will be nice to understand everything. They were painting a mural for it at the Ghibli Museum when we were there… I kind of want to go back so I can see it finished. :D It would be worth it to me to go again. I love that place. But uh… I like spending money there. So right now… maybe I won’t go. -_-; We had dinner with Naoko’s daughter and her children whom I had not met. The typhoon was on - so we had spots of heavy wind and rain, but nothing like what hit southern Japan’s eastern coast. We just got the cool weather, for the most part.
On Wednesday I went with friends to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. I about biffed it running across a busy street when I lost my balance and nearly lost my shoe - but I recovered after scaring the crap out of my friends and we made it across. It was the last day to do an afternoon tour, so even though it rained we still kept our reservation to tour the outside of the Imperial Palace grounds. I’d done the gardens before but as the palace requires a reservation, I’d been unable to go. It was pretty cool even though we couldn’t go inside. We got a group photo once, but for the most part if was an hour of walking and listening to them talk - we also couldn’t get into the souvenir shop afterwards, so I didn’t get the souvenir I wanted. The shop in the garden didn’t have it, but the guy there explained the meaning of the name of one of the bridges. :) Went out to dinner at Volks with my host parents so we could try the burgers we’d seen on TV. We ordered the two of them and then my host mom and I split them.
My host parents were supposed to be home before dinner on Thursday, so I hung out at school to do homework… not. I did speech practice and then hopped with friends to Hatsudai to check out the Square Enix Character Goods Store. Holy crap. Tons of stuff. And Sephiroth was in the floor. I wants me some Squall though. They have Dissidia Squall and I want him. D: But he is expensive, so I only bought a Leon (Squall) cell phone strap… But if I have money left over at the end, maybe I’ll make a trip over there. ;) Because he rocks. Of course, we’re talking about going to the Butler Café after the goodbye ceremony and there is a store within walking distance that has him too. So I could get him there… Also, had homemade ramen for dinner. YUM!
Friday was pretty awesome. I went to my first festival in Japan. It was near Iidabashi Station. I even work yukata! A big group of us went, and most of the girls were in yukata. We watched a dance parade for an hour and a half, then headed to a temple. My luck fortune was “good” so at least it wasn’t bad, lol. Emma and I grabbed a very late dinner at Royal House, followed by awesome desserts, then headed home. I didn’t get home til about midnight. My host mom picked me up at the train station, but halfway home we had to go back because my host dad had just arrived at the station too.
Saturday I went to Ikebukuro to meet up with friends, only one was sick and one never showed. I was late, but met up with Emma and her impromptu guest the Korean high school student staying at her house. My friend Satoshi met us there as well as he was off work and in Tokyo. Poor guy; he got dragged around and I’m pretty sure he was bored. We went to Book Off, Sunshine City (Disney Store, Daiso, Moe Store, random Hawaiian dancers, Ultraman), and then grabbed lunch at a ramen shop between K-Books and Animate. The N fell off the Animate store… maybe in the earthquake? I don’t know. We hit every K-Books shop on Otome Road, and Mandarake, and found the Butler Café. The Butler Café has expanded - we didn’t find the cake shop, though I had a map, but the pastry shop is next to Mandarake, so we went in there. I bought a storage box that looks like a book with the café’s logo. It’s cool! Really hope we get to the café, even though it is expensive. There’s construction going and I tried to follow a map, so we got a bit disoriented on the walk back. Still found the station though! Bought watermelon cookies for the guests at the house. They were former coworkers of my host dad, and we all had dinner together.
My host mom took me to a small local festival - I’d heard the music and dance song when walking home with my very heavy bag of books… which will probably get their own suit case, along with other souvenirs. Heavy stuff sucks, but they’re SO COOL AND CHEAP. Love art books. Anyway! We left the dinner party to check out the festival - took pictures, but didn’t bring my extra memory card, so I ran out of room. I danced. In the circle around the festival platform, and then they took me up on to the platform. I was the only foreigner there; I kid you not. I’ll do it again next weekend in my yukata. :)
Sunday is lazy day - I’m doing homework, studying, practicing my speech, and watching that drama I love from Friday night. It’s amazing! I wish the episode hadn’t finished. :( I want to watch more. And I’ll have to wait FOREVER to see it subbed. It’s brand new… don’t think there are any other plans today. I won’t be getting dressed!
This week’s plans: grammar test, kanji test, host family away camping, Harajuku visit, maybe Asakusa visit… then festival and Disneyland on the weekend! :D
Tuesday was both amazing and sad. My sister had her baby (Monday in America), so that was awesome! Really cute kid. :) But, 10am was my Japanese grandfather's funeral up in Sendai, which I wasn't attending... In the afternoon, I went with my host mom to see Kokurikozaka, the new Ghibli film that came out in theaters last weekend. It was entirely in Japanese, but it was amazing. I can’t wait to see it at least subbed so I understand more. I mean, I got the gist of it and I understood the storyline, but it will be nice to understand everything. They were painting a mural for it at the Ghibli Museum when we were there… I kind of want to go back so I can see it finished. :D It would be worth it to me to go again. I love that place. But uh… I like spending money there. So right now… maybe I won’t go. -_-; We had dinner with Naoko’s daughter and her children whom I had not met. The typhoon was on - so we had spots of heavy wind and rain, but nothing like what hit southern Japan’s eastern coast. We just got the cool weather, for the most part.
On Wednesday I went with friends to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. I about biffed it running across a busy street when I lost my balance and nearly lost my shoe - but I recovered after scaring the crap out of my friends and we made it across. It was the last day to do an afternoon tour, so even though it rained we still kept our reservation to tour the outside of the Imperial Palace grounds. I’d done the gardens before but as the palace requires a reservation, I’d been unable to go. It was pretty cool even though we couldn’t go inside. We got a group photo once, but for the most part if was an hour of walking and listening to them talk - we also couldn’t get into the souvenir shop afterwards, so I didn’t get the souvenir I wanted. The shop in the garden didn’t have it, but the guy there explained the meaning of the name of one of the bridges. :) Went out to dinner at Volks with my host parents so we could try the burgers we’d seen on TV. We ordered the two of them and then my host mom and I split them.
My host parents were supposed to be home before dinner on Thursday, so I hung out at school to do homework… not. I did speech practice and then hopped with friends to Hatsudai to check out the Square Enix Character Goods Store. Holy crap. Tons of stuff. And Sephiroth was in the floor. I wants me some Squall though. They have Dissidia Squall and I want him. D: But he is expensive, so I only bought a Leon (Squall) cell phone strap… But if I have money left over at the end, maybe I’ll make a trip over there. ;) Because he rocks. Of course, we’re talking about going to the Butler Café after the goodbye ceremony and there is a store within walking distance that has him too. So I could get him there… Also, had homemade ramen for dinner. YUM!
Friday was pretty awesome. I went to my first festival in Japan. It was near Iidabashi Station. I even work yukata! A big group of us went, and most of the girls were in yukata. We watched a dance parade for an hour and a half, then headed to a temple. My luck fortune was “good” so at least it wasn’t bad, lol. Emma and I grabbed a very late dinner at Royal House, followed by awesome desserts, then headed home. I didn’t get home til about midnight. My host mom picked me up at the train station, but halfway home we had to go back because my host dad had just arrived at the station too.
Saturday I went to Ikebukuro to meet up with friends, only one was sick and one never showed. I was late, but met up with Emma and her impromptu guest the Korean high school student staying at her house. My friend Satoshi met us there as well as he was off work and in Tokyo. Poor guy; he got dragged around and I’m pretty sure he was bored. We went to Book Off, Sunshine City (Disney Store, Daiso, Moe Store, random Hawaiian dancers, Ultraman), and then grabbed lunch at a ramen shop between K-Books and Animate. The N fell off the Animate store… maybe in the earthquake? I don’t know. We hit every K-Books shop on Otome Road, and Mandarake, and found the Butler Café. The Butler Café has expanded - we didn’t find the cake shop, though I had a map, but the pastry shop is next to Mandarake, so we went in there. I bought a storage box that looks like a book with the café’s logo. It’s cool! Really hope we get to the café, even though it is expensive. There’s construction going and I tried to follow a map, so we got a bit disoriented on the walk back. Still found the station though! Bought watermelon cookies for the guests at the house. They were former coworkers of my host dad, and we all had dinner together.
My host mom took me to a small local festival - I’d heard the music and dance song when walking home with my very heavy bag of books… which will probably get their own suit case, along with other souvenirs. Heavy stuff sucks, but they’re SO COOL AND CHEAP. Love art books. Anyway! We left the dinner party to check out the festival - took pictures, but didn’t bring my extra memory card, so I ran out of room. I danced. In the circle around the festival platform, and then they took me up on to the platform. I was the only foreigner there; I kid you not. I’ll do it again next weekend in my yukata. :)
Sunday is lazy day - I’m doing homework, studying, practicing my speech, and watching that drama I love from Friday night. It’s amazing! I wish the episode hadn’t finished. :( I want to watch more. And I’ll have to wait FOREVER to see it subbed. It’s brand new… don’t think there are any other plans today. I won’t be getting dressed!
This week’s plans: grammar test, kanji test, host family away camping, Harajuku visit, maybe Asakusa visit… then festival and Disneyland on the weekend! :D