I know, you have been waiting anxiously for me to update. You aren't reading this over Christmas anyway are you? Are you? I hope you have better things to do over the holidays. Nevertheless, here we go!
We (my brother and I) just got back from Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima. The trip was 4.5 days and we covered 1,000 miles by bus. Blarg. The last leg of the trip was from Hiroshima to Tokyo on a bus ride that took 12.5 hours. In case you were wondering, that is a ride longer than from LA to Tokyo. I am still tired. Rather than just throw everything out there at once where it will be lost, I am parsing this out for a bit so that I can maximize the fun. Also, the Jazz season officially starts today, so I am bound to be doing less until it ends.
Last Monday (the 19th) was Brad's birthday. For a neat treat, he came to Junior High school with me. Afterwards, we went where all dreams in Japan come true...The Mall. Here is a big Christmas Tree.
The name of a store in the Mall. As near as I can tell, it is not for men.
We went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol that night. It was the first movie that I have been to see since I came to Japan. It is expensive to go to movies here. All in all, I really liked the movie. It was exactly what I expected, plus it has Simon Pegg (who is awesome).
An ad for a hot-dog at the movie theater.
Popcorn sets.
That right there is your choice of popcorn flavors. You can choose butter, curry or chocolate.
Hokuhoku Potatoes. We got some of these and they were passably delicious. Also they had churros. Japan is doing something right there.
A view of the theater. Lots and lots of space...very unlike Japan (now we know why the tickets are so expensive).
Ah...Shopping at Starvations. Who doesn't want to buy overpriced clothes from a place that reminds you of famine?
After the movie, and a walk around the mall, we went to a genuine French Japanese buffet conveniently placed in the food court! They had a selection of Japanese foods, French foods (bread? and some pasta) and American food (French Fries or furaido potato). They did have a delicious chocolate fountain with fruit and whatnot. Also they had Melon flavored slushies. I got 3 cold headaches from that.
Saturday, Brad arrived in Japan for a visit. I went early so that I could make the most of the trip. I visited the Tokyo Temple and wandered around a few of the districts. Here are some highlights (I also must say that I was there with my friend Jon).
Suddenly Santa! You could say that I am a great ambassador for western culture to these kids. I took a minorly creepy photo of me dressed as Santa...they didn't appear to be as excited as I thought they should have been. I guess they are desensitized to big white guys now.
Best part of the Tokyo Temple? A&W Root Beer vending machine.
I also visited the World's Smallest (I assume) LDS bookstore! It is roughly the size of my bedroom.
I felt like Godzilla walking around. I knocked at least 7 things over.
We ate some wings from a little shack. They were delicious and relatively expensive. Those are two good words to describe Tokyo.
We found ourselves in the middle of a big shopping district in Ueno. I was in the mood to buy some useless garbage.
Having only visited Asian markets and Asian parts of cities before coming to Japan, I felt like this was a good depiction of "real Asia."
I think this is a Pachinko parlor. I just liked it because it had pirates on the top!
Ah...the useless crap I bought. See that around my neck? That is bling. Bling is super cool jewlery that sets you apart from the general population by the sheer gawdyness and weight. It was a tossup between a rhinestone microphone and a rhinestone giant U.S. quarter. I went with the mic for Karaoke purposes in the future. You better believe I wore it around Tokyo.
On to the better item. You may notice that I look pretty awesome and fearsome in this picture. That is because I have what looks like a samurai sword on my back. Yeah. I bought what looks like a samurai sword. However, it is not a samurai sword. It is a SAMURAI UMBRELLA! I had seen these on the internet, but this was fairly cheap. I bought it as soon as I saw it. It has a holder that makes it sling over your shoulder so it looks like you are a samurai warrior. The nice man who sold it to me also showed me that when the top gets wet (as it would when it rains), all of the symbols of the samurai clans become visible. So impossibly cool.
After that, we went to Akihabara, which is a district known for technology and electronics.
The buildings are tall and interesting.
...
I'm a rebel who takes pictures while crossing the street.
This is the largest electronics store in the world.
After that, I went to pick up Brad from the airport. It was a long day for us both, but we made it back. The next afternoon we went up to the Paul Rusch place to see the surroundings and get some ice cream. Here you can see the mountains and Fuji in the background.
You can't really tell, but it was cold.
We stuck our feet in the foot onsen (hot spring). It was really, really hot. I guess I don't know what I expected... All of the Japanese folks thought it was quite entertaining to see two giant white dudes chillin' in the footbath.
Sometime last week, I received a notice of a failed delivery of a package. After rescheduling the dropoff, I got this sweet package of joy! My best friends, The McNaughtans, sent me a package for Christmas. They say that the best things are the ones that you don't look for (I don't know who "they" are...). I was super excited and waited all of 424 seconds to open it. Oops.
This is the package, clearly. I didn't get something from Banana Republic like the box would indicate.
Being the classy and creative individuals that they are, they included heartfelt expressions of friendship in rhyming form. I have included the full text here:
If you want to celebrate
Christmas in Japan,
and they say you can't,
just know that you can!
With Queen Anne chocolates
it's Christmas anyday!
A monopoly spa pack
makes a heavenly get-away!
And no more Flakey-Jakey's!
Muddy Buddies for you my friend!
Gum, jerky, candy and crackers,
the celebrations will never end!
The NBA is full of losers,
so play these handheld games.
And if you conquer both of them,
your future shows lots of fame!
Merry Christmas to you!
To a forever friend
but while our friendship is lasting-
This poem...well...it must end.
Now.
P.S. Speaking of things that are lasting
and your choice in men.
Enjoy some timeless music,
from the 90's way back when...
The P.S. was kind of a stretch to be honest...When did I mention my choice of men? I understand that it was necessary to set up the crowning jewel of the Clinton Administration. You know how I know they mean what they wrote? They put 8 exclamation points in the poem. I had heard that anything over 6 in one sitting is just gravy, but I felt the love pouring through the paper with the extra two.
The promised Christmas everyday chocolates...
Now I can make legitimate Muddy Buddies for the Christmas season.
I can hear the bells...
I imagine my Japanese coworkers will appreciate this.
The bus rides will be made less awful with this.
There's the money! Jerky baby!
Sweet, sweet Swedish!
Another rare ocurrance in Japan, peanut butter.
I am going to do SO many Tim Tam Slams out of these!
This is arguably my favorite part. The "Don't" in front of Go To Jail. Sage advice.
O-town. For the person who has everything...O-town is the gift of choice. Amazing! I don't know how they came by this treasure, or how they managed to part with it...
Thank you McNaughtans! You are the coolest people I know! I appreciate it a super-ton! I hope that my gifts to you were sufficient! Your family is adorable! Your present was great! I enjoy it! Thank you again!
Disclaimer: Not all of the aforementioned fun was had in Fujiyoshida, some fun was had in Otsuki. Now that we have addressed the elephant in the room. I am going to share my quick trip to Fujiyoshida this last weekend. We had a big get-together in Otsuki with a bunch of the ALTs in the prefecture.
Quite a sight...this is the town of Tsuru as seen at 60mph. I told my sister that I would take pictures if I could of the city she was in when she lived in Japan...I tried.
Look familiar?
How about this? I will take a better trip to Tsuru sometime and take real pictures.
Approaching Mt. Fuji
We had the party in a big room at some restaurant in Otsuki (which is a place you should have no reference for other than that is where the Pub Quiz took place).
Clearly, people are enjoying themselves.
The party was 'nomihodai' which basically means all-you-can-drink. Paired with Karaoke, it set the foundation for an exciting night.
Only the classiest of foods for the partying foreigners...cheese doodles and potato logs. I did make frysauce, which no one else really understood. Heathens.
Also, pasta! You can see the bottle of beer in the picture, I myself drank nearly 2 full liters of Coke...I know...crazy.
People just meandered around chatting and getting progressively less understandable.
They served okonomiyaki, which you may remember is like a Japanese waffle pancake with fish flakes on top. It was not delicious.
I am wearing a hat that makes it look like I have traditional Kimono-style fancy geisha hair. Standing next to me is Erik who lives about 200 yards from where I teach. He is featured heavily in the following videos.
For some reason, this strikes me as so stereotypical of an all-you-can-drink party. I think they were trying to be the Rockettes.
Once the Karaoke had begun.
A good time is being had by all, but a REALLY good time is being had by some. The girl at the end is my Irish friend Karen.
Erik again. Japanese people consider it rude to eat, drink, talk on a cell phone or be otherwise disruptive on a train. Naturally, a bunch of inebriated Gaijin breaks all of those rules. Erik is wearing the fancy hair hat, and has a toy gun he was pointing around. You may ask yourself, what was the topic of conversation? Oddly, it was a tirade by the only British member of our group directed at Egyptology. Evidently they fail to recognize the conquering of the Romans and the impact it had civilization-ally...blah blah blah.
Japan had a full lunar eclipse right as we were coming out of the first party. It was really cool to see...as I point the camera skyward, you can see a little bit of light that represents the lunar eclipse. Naturally, I had more than a few people singing the popular tune by Bonnie Tyler, "Total Eclipse of the Heart." I must say this about the eclipse, it was far better to watch than any stereotypical, pseudo-abusive movie saga about vampires.
After we regrouped in Fujiyoshida (where we were staying the night) and getting some McDonalds for fuel, we went to the Big Box Karaoke to lay down some sweet tunes. We got there at about 1:15 and signed up for 2 hours of Karaoke. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake. You can see that we booked the party room. They understate the party.
I took this picture because I think it helps to describe how this place smelled. It smelled like a motel that you find on the side of the interstate. The kind where you ask for a no-smoking room, but it still smells like stale smoke. It also has a touch of sadness and neglect that made me immediately think of the motel chains in the U.S.
This video skips and lingers in the wrong places, but it was dark in there. Everyone started out very energetically, but more than half of them ended up passing out/sleeping through the best ballads. I sang some Queen, Billy Joel and Spice Girls.
After going to bed at 3:45 and waking up at 7:30, I snapped this picture from my friends apartment. You can see Fuji-Q Highlands in the distance up against the mountains. We drove by it on the way in and on the way out. It looks like the most fun place in the world. Hands down. They have a bunch of world record breaking rides, but the wait during the summer can be up to 4 hours for each one. I am putting my ear to the ground to find out when the best time is to visit.
This is not a picture of a post, look past it to the mountains and such, that is the point.
I just think this is the coolest thing ever. If you stand in the living room, this is your view. Such a cool mountain.
I took two pictures, this one has 70% more angelic presence.
For lunch, we went to a burger place. I was skeptical, but evidently it is run by some Japanese people who spent a lot of time in Canada (this made me more skeptical).
Evidently there was a Japanese biker gang in the restaurant while we were there. It is hard to tell though because they look just like regular folk,
The thing that really struck me is how much the area around Fujiyoshida reminded me of Flagstaff, Arizona. It was all pine trees and fresh air.
The name of the burger place.
Coke in glass bottles, Diet Dr. Pepper in cans and A&W Root Beer. Unfortunately, they cost 350 yen, which is about $4.50. I had water...and an Oreo shake.
I figured that I would go big, or go home. I ordered the biggest burger that they had available. The deluxe had bacon, avocado, cheese and the rest of the burger fixings. This burger now holds the title for the messiest burger I have eaten.
SO good! Unfortunately, it cost the same as a nice steak in the U.S.
A case of Americana. They had a CSI shot glass, I love NY mints, a few other shotglasses and a few baseballs with Yankee logos.
...don't forget the presidential peppermints. Did anyone else know that they made these? Was his election that historic that we needed to remember it in mint form? Although, it is sitting 3 inches away from a pottery hamburger, so I guess that shows how important it is to these folks right?
As we were leaving, we saw a Bentley parked under a tree. Nothing like parking your $200,000 car in the pine needles.
