Hola

So, I'm in my second year of being an ALT in Japan. Like I said, it really doesn't feel like a year has passed already, but it does at the same time. JETs tend to stay for 2 years, so it's no big surprise that I've chosen to stay. However, when asked if I will stay a 3rd, my answer is always no. I really can't imagine doing this job for 3 years...sitting at my desk with hardly anything to do, that is. So why, you ask, am I staying for a 2nd? Well, I don't think one year would feel as though my time here would be complete. I feel like I've just gotten used to things and I need one more year to soak it all in.

Before I came, I thought that I could use this time in Japan to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Haha...wishful thinking. I've come to learn that ALTs tend to get more side-tracked than ever while living here. We get paid well for not doing much while living in a foreign country. We get plenty of time off and have the luxury of traveling at any time. (We are also the most popular kids at school...making up for lost times in high school, I guess. =)) Now, why would you want to trade that in for a desk job back at home, right? That's the problem. Life is so good here that it gets harder to want to go back and face reality. I think our society tends to focus too much on consumption and climbing up ladders. Everyone is always working towards that car, or house, or whatevers, so they are willing to work at jobs that they may not like, or even hate. It's so sad. I don't doubt that this may very well be the road that lies ahead of me when I get back, but for now, I will just ignore that fact. ;-)

I really love Japan, even with all my sarcastic posts. Hehe. The people here are really nice (even if at times it's not genuine) and life is really enjoyable and relaxing. Like, I can't imagine riding my bike to the grocery store back at home. That'd be weird. But, that is one of the things I love about my life here. It's so simple. Oh, and having my own place is great! I love it love it love it! All the freedom in the world for rent that can't even get you a studio back at home. Dude, I should stop with all this talk, or else I'm gonna convince myself to become a life-long ALT! Hahahaha...as if that'd EVER happen.

Anyway, I think we're very lucky, us native English speakers with college degrees. We have it so much easier than soo many people in this world. I'm not sounding preachy, am I? Haha. What I'm trying to say is, we have so many options. That is why I have no regrets whatsoever about coming to Japan and staying for a second year, even if it means postponing my climb up the corporate ladder at home. Life is short, so if you want something, just go for it. It'll only get harder as you get older, so take your chances now. You'll never regret trying something new, but you never want to look back on your life and think, what if.

K, end Shindy rant.

Addicted to TV

I know this is nothing new, but it's been really crazy the past few days. I've watched 10 episodes of the second season of Project Runway in 2 days and 2 discs of the second season of Arrested Development in one. OMG. Instead of doing anything remotely productive, all I've done is watch TV. Anyway, both shows are soo good! Project Runway is definitely my new crack. Also, I don't know if it's just this heat or whatever, but I'm like taking 5 naps a day! It's as if I'm epileptic!

Embarrassment, sadness and scariness...all in one day

First comes the embarrassing part. So, on Monday, I went to the BOE again, for part 2 of the shougakkou teachers' English lessons. Everything went well, except for what happened after the seminar. I was with Pete, Jeff and Tom out in the car park of the BOE. Tom had his new scooter with him, and Pete asked if he could have a go at it, since he had never ridden one before. Tom was generous and said yes, and Pete went for his ride around the loop. After I saw Pete having so much fun on the scooter, I asked if I could take it for a ride as well. I mean, what could happen in a two minute ride, right? Wrong, b/c I forgot I am the most RETARDED person EVER. Anyway, so I started my ride around the loop, which went well. Then, a bus passed by and this Japanese man told me I was going in the wrong direction and told me to go back the other way. I knew this of course, but it was a small loop in a quiet car park so I didn't think it mattered. Anyway, instead of waiting for him to leave and continuing on my loop, I actually went for a U-turn. BIG MISTAKE, considering I've never handled a scooter before. The whole gas thing is tricky! Well, maybe it's just me. Yeah, it's just me. So yeah, as you may have guessed, I made a noticeable scratch on Tom's scooter as my U-turn failed terribly and I swiped the bushes instead. Yes, I am officially the dumbest person on earth. What could happen on a 2 minute ride, right?? Leave it up to Cindy to show you. Ugh. I felt sooo bad, even tho Tom was being soo nice about it. Yeah, I'm sure this will be the most costly 2 minute ride of my life. Nice job, Cindy.

That night, I said my final good-byes to Jenny and Sean. Well, Sean will be back in Ota briefly after his tour around SE Asia so I will see him once more, but Jenny, aww Jenny. It didn't really feel like I was saying good-bye to her really, b/c I wasn't at an airport? I kept thinking I'm gonna see her again soon! I dunno, but that still didn't prevent the watery eyes as we hugged each other for the last time...in Japan. Plymouth is now on my list of places to visit! Good-byes suck. I will miss them sooo much!! Saad.

I inherited some home appliances from Sean that night so I carried them on the train with me. When I got to the bike lot at Kizaki eki, I was glad to see that the stuff fit on my bike basket...well, not really, but close enough. Anyway, as I was unlocking my bike a couple of Japanese dudes pulled up next to me and asked if I needed help. I said no and that I was ok but then one of the guys started saying all these things in Japanese which I couldn't understand. I did, however, catch the part where he was like, "You can put your things in the back seat and we can drive you home." Um, yeah right! Do I look retarded?! Wait...hold that thought. Anyway, that's when I was like, "I don't understand Japanese. Ok, BYE!" They then drove off. I wasn't too sure if I could bike with the huge bag in my basket so I started to walk my bike home. That's when I noticed the car stop at the stop sign and make a U-turn towards me. They passed me but then I could hear another U-turn being made and I could see the headlights pointing in my direction again. The guys drove slowly next to me as I was walking my bike. They asked the same questions again, and insisted on helping me with my "luggage" in their car. That was when I started to worry. I kept saying no and that I was fine by myself. Once again, they started driving off. Then, the driver stopped his car 50 feet away from me and his friend got out. This guy then started to walk next to me as his friend drove off!! WTF?! He asked me all these questions, ie) Where are you from? Do you have a boyfriend? I live alone. Do you want to come to my apt? OMG OMG OMG....psycho! I was REALLY freaked out at this point. I kept trying to avoid his questions but was scared at the same time. And where did his friend go?! Why did he just drive off like that?! I decided to do my best and attempt to ride my bike home with my huge bag in the basket. As I got on my bike, he was like, "No, no...I'll walk you home. Let's walk together!" HELL NO. Luckily, I was able to bike w/o the bag falling out. At that point tho, I would've cared less. Anyway, I took a detour home b/c I didn't want him to see the direction of where my apt is. When I got to my apt, I quickly ran up the stairs and locked my door. Sooo freaky. Come to think of it, I was really lucky b/c the guy was on foot and his friend with the car had already driven off somewhere, leaving it possible for me to escape. Whew!! Um yeah, why is Kizaki eki sooo frickin' sketchy?!! And why do I attract psychos!! UGH.

Yeah, so all that happened on Monday, the 24th. What a way to celebrate my one year anniversary in Japan, huh? At least I'm alive and safe! Yaay.

What's been going on

So, I'm sitting at my desk here at school with absolutely nothing to do. Yes, that's the life of an ALT in Japan during summer vacation. We have to report to school or the Board of Education (BOE), but most the time we are just sitting, watching the clock tick. Thank goodness for camps, meetings, orientation, to take up my time somewhat, or else I'd literally go crazy.

So on Friday, I went to the BOE in the morning. Only Jeff, Tom and Robert were there as well. We got there at 9am, but were already bored outta our minds by 10am. We had an "English seminar" later that day at 3pm, but we knew nothing as to what the seminar entailed. We decided to take a long long lunch...2 1/2 hours to be exact. At a little past 2pm, I got a call from Mr. Goino, our supervisor, asking where we were. I told him we were still out, and he said that we had an orientation at 2pm...which was going on right then! He was like, "Didn't I tell you about it?? Everyone is here already. Please HURRY!!" (And no, he didn't tell us about it) On that note, we walked briskly back to the BOE, only to find out that we were supposed to teach shouggakkou teachers English?? Wtf? We literally had 45 min. to throw together a lesson. Um, okay. This was clearly a waste of time on both the ALTs' and the teachers' parts. Oh well, at least we came up with some good games. That is my actual job anyway...Professional Game Maker.

On Saturday, I trained to Shibukawa with Jeff to go to the Heso (Bellybutton) Matsuri. It was really cool!! Like, most maturis in Japan are EXACTLY the same, but this one was different. Shibukawa claims to be the bellybutton of Japan, thus this annual matsuri. Anyway, guys have cute anime characters' heads painted on their bare chests and they wear these hands on their hips so it looks like the heads on their chests have bodies. Hmm...I'm not explaining this too well. Pictures to come later so you can see for yourself! Anyway, cool stuff. However, they have to dance for like 3 hours!! It seems fun, but for 3 hours?? We had some ALT gaijin in the mix as well. Woot!

On Sunday, I walked around the Ota matsuri with Jeff and Ann. The Ota matsuri definitely had a ghetto flare, being in that it IS in Ota, afterall. There was this biking ramp thingy and wanna-be improv rappers and dudes with hairstyles from the 50s who thought they were cool. I dunno, it was just ghetto. I did see a bunch of my kids tho, and that was cool. We later met up with many many ALTs, for one last Ota get-together at Gen. Saad! It's weird to think that these people who I've known the past year aren't gonna be around any more. Sad, indeed.

It's been a year

A year ago today I landed in Tokyo, whisked away like cattle to the JET Tokyo Orientation! Can you believe that?! How time flies! You know that feeling....when it doesn't seem like you've been at one place for that long b/c time moves so quickly, yet it does feel like you've been there awhile b/c you are soo comfortable with your surroundings and you've done so much in that time?? Whoa...talk about a run-on sentence! Haha. Anyway, more on this later. Right now I'm too preoccupied and sad about friends leaving. It is sooo sad to see your friends leave. It's like you know you'll never have the same experience together again and that the times that you've shared in this place are so precious. Just like in Singapore!! =( I hope to see these friends soon again, but we all live in different places back at home. Saad! Anyway, I'll continue writing next time.

Thought of the hour:

Why are good-byes so hard??

Annyong! (yes...just like the adopted Korean kid in Arrested Development)

Click here for more pictures from Korea! Come on, you know you want to see more!!


One of the....I mean....the only temple we visited!


Look....it's an upside-down pagoda!


Ota representin'....and yes, we are big nerds. =)


Street food...a full dinner at less than $2 per person! AMAZING!


I would go back to Korea just for this!!!

An overdue long weekend (Part 2)

On Sunday, I trained out to Yabuzuka to attend the farewell party that Atsuko was throwing for Jenny. Saaad! I can't believe she and Sean are leaving us! What are we gonna do from now on w/o our eating buddies?! It was definitely fate that us food lovers were placed in Ota, uh huh. Anyway, Atsuko is like the best cook ever and we ate and ate for 4 hours straight! It was soooooo good! The closest thing that I get to real Japanese home cooking is kyushoku (school lunch)! So yeah, I had to take advantage of being at Atsuko's house! Mmmm....sooo good! After we stuffed ourselves to the max and sang a song for Jenny (at Atsuko's request...it turned out to be cute!), we headed out for some karaoke. It was a lot of fun!! We need to karaoke w/ Nihonjin more often!

We all met up again on Monday at AEON to watch Pirates 2. It turned out to be a horrible idea as it was a holiday and rainy all day. Thus, EVERY person in Ota also had the brilliant idea of heading to AEON. There were five of us and we each sat at the front of the movie theater, separately. Hmm...that sounds depressing! Anyway, the movie was alright. I think the first is better. But then again, I wasn't expecting much.

And there you have it. My wonderful 3-day weekend in a nutshell!


Look...there's Jenny and Sean...and yummy food!


There was a janken (rock, paper, scissors) machine at the karaoke place! The Japanese ARE obsessed with janken...no joke. It's used as a method to determine birthrights in this country.


Jeff and Sean rockin' it up at karaoke


Ann, me and Jenny looking like the professional singers we are


And of course we need some Nihonjin in the mix!

Um........

My 1nensei student, Miho, is moving to Greencastle, Indiana! I've been looking up stats for this little town and this is what I've found...

Population: 10,011
Land Area: 5.3 square miles
Races in Greencastle:
White Non-Hispanic (93.2%)
Black (2.7%)
Hispanic (1.4%)
Two or more races (1.1%)
Other race (0.7%)
American Indian (0.6%)

Um, yeah! Asian is not even listed!! Saaaad! Ganbatte in your new home, Miho!!

I'm done!!!

Woohoo!! I'm done with classes...no more "teaching" for 5 weeks! Yes, sadly summer vacation for Japanese schools only last for 5 weeks. Oh, and when I say I'm done, I don't mean I have the 5 weeks off! Nope. I just mean I don't have to teach in the smelly sauna-like classrooms for the summer. I still have to report to school or the Board of Education every day. Boo!! Actually, this summer vacation will be VERY busy, as I have various meetings, plus I am a volunteer at the UNESCO English Camp and the Maebashi Orientation for new JETs. Oh yeah, I'm also going home for 9 days at the end of August!! I'm surprised at how excited I am about that! Hehe. Anyway, for those of you reading this in SD, make room in your schedules (and your stomaches) b/c I'll be back on 8/26 and I already have my food list ready! Haha.

An overdue long weekend (Part 1)

On Friday night, a group of us went to Typhoon for dinner, then headed to the Brazilian bar, Verinha, for some drinks and more food. Hehe. Anyway, it rocked! We made some Brazilian friends as we took over karaoke with our magical voices and amazing back-up dancing skillz. =P But yeah, the ppl there are soo cool...they sang with us and even offered us their food! That is a true sign of friendship right there...you know, just like the Pilgrims and Indians! Haha. Anyway, we definitely need to go more often!

On Saturday, Emily, Ann, Jeff and I went to Veronica's school to watch her perform a "Black Dance" (that's what it said on the sign!) with her students. Silly Japanese kids. Anyway, it was cool and V rocked for being such a good ALT and participating in school functions! Oh, and of course she was awesome in the dance as well!

After leaving V's school, we left and went to the Tatebayashi matsuri (only after a stop at Baskin Robbins, of course). Matsuri are Japanese festivals which occur mostly during summer (stolen directly from Jeff's blog). Anyway, this was my first matsuri of the year, tho I was way too hot to even think about wearing my yukata (summer cotton kimono). It was BOILING AND RAINING outside. NOT a good combo. Anyway, it was cool, nonetheless. Here are some photos!


What a matsuri looks like when there are crowds!


A photo of some Ota and TattyB ALTs!


Fiona is wearing a yukata, taking a picture of her kids, also in yukata!


Henry, Emily and Ann in their yukata


Sweet old ladies dancing


Mikoshi (portable shrine) and the frightened kids they have stand on it while everyone lifts it up and down with their shoulders!


Look! It's Mami and Derrick carrying the mikoshi on their shoulders! Eek!


Naked man 1


Naked boy 1. So yeah, not only do the kids wear these funny-looking thong thingys, GROWN MEN do so as well! Imagine walking down the street w/ men's asses hanging out! Too bad they weren't hot...at least the ones wearing thongs. Interesting, indeed!

Note: Just to warn you, there are plenty more matsuri photos to come as I am attending one or two, every weekend! Yaay cheap entertainment!

Those sneaky Chinese!

I'm glad I'm not from Hong Kong!! Wait a sec...

It's a bad sign when......

You see your old 3nensei student (who's no older than 16) on the train and think he's HOT.

Thought of the minute:

It's a good thing I don't teach at a high school!!

My complete collection......

of little figurines of the Japan National Team...


Thanks, Mona, Lisa and Larissa!!

Ahahahahaa

So, I taught a lesson on waribashi (disposable chopsticks), and how wasteful they are, to my 3nensei class yesterday.

Did you know that...

- Japan uses 130,000,000 pairs of waribashi every day?

- Japan uses the most timber from rainforests out of any country in the world?

- Japan imports 50% of the world's timber?

Anyway, so on the little waribashi quiz I gave my students, I asked them what they can do to use fewer waribashi. (I had just told them right before the quiz that I bring my own chopsticks so that I won't have to use a pair of waribashi every time I go to a restaurant.) This one kid answered, "No Idea." Then, I proceeded to look up his profile that I had all my students fill out at the beginning of the school year. Under "Dislikes," this student put, "CO2." Nice! Hahahaha...I like his sarcasm! He's secretly not Japanese! Haha.

Another exciting weekend in Ota...really!

Haha. Was that convincing, or what? Anyway, lemme catch up. Oh yeah, I left off w/ dropping the girls off at Ueno eki, then coming back home to Ota on Thursday night.

Well, on Friday, I went to shougakkou. (Again, if you haven't read my blog EVER, shougakkou is "elementary school" in Japanese. Aren't you glad I am so well-versed and blessin' you with my amazing Japanese ability?? Ok, ok, I'll stop there. ;-))

Anyway, thank goodness I only had 3 classes for some reason that day, as I literally wanted to roll over and die. The non-stop running around and eating for the past two weeks really caught up to me, and trying to be genki for shou just didn't sound very appealing. I did my best tho. Luckily, my 6nensei class rocked! I played Charades with them (the version where they line up in teams and turn around one by one to relay the gesture till it gets to the person at the end of the line...whoever finishes first runs up to me and wins, blah, blah). Anyway, it was freakin' HILARIOUS! The homeroom teacher and I were soo amused with the gestures the kids came up with for each profession! Like, for "nurse," this one team pretended to put a thermometer underneath their armpits! Yeah, b/c that's how they take temperatures here in Japan! Haha. At first, I was like...HUH?? Then, I was like....DUDE, they're smarter than I am!

That night, I met up with Jeff, Jenny, Sean and other Ota JETs for a Welcome/Farewell enkai (teachers' party) that our new supervisor, Mr. Goino, half organized. We paid 4000 yen for nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) and tabehodai(all-you-can-eat...not really, but they like to pretend!) at the Yorascu Brewery which is supposed to be German, but I couldn't figure out which part was German, other than the fact that we got served sausages that resembled ones served at Saizeriya (cheaper-than-Denny's-type establishment). ANYWAY, apparently, Yorascu is owned by the city?? Wtf? Why would the city own a brewery?? Anyway, when it was NEAR time (but not quite) for the departing ALTs to make their farewell speeches, this one DRUNK-AS JTE came over to our table, LITERALLY LIFTED Jenny's chair off the ground, then DRAGGED her (not w/ chair) to the front and told her to begin her speech, then started clapping like a madman. Mind you, our SUPERVISOR didn't even get a chance to call anyone up yet! Dude, that guy was soo drunk....he was soo NOT Japanese...in his ways, that is! (I'm sure he got reprimanded after that...if not in a passive-agressive manner...as how ALL things are handled here.)

So after everyone made their speeches and the enkai ended, Jeff, Jenny and I (the Country Ma'ams!) needed out sweets fix, of course, so we went to 3 conbinis in order to find our Haagen Dazs Green Tea and Kuromitsu (Brown sugar syrup? Always just thought of it as honey!) ice cream sandwiches! Tho, I had the Coconut one this time. It was well worth it! Mm mm! After we got our crack, we met up with the other JETs, our supervisors, and other Brazilian/Portugese-speaking teachers for the nijikai (post-enkai party...I know!) at this one Brazilian bar near the eki (train station). Whew! Anyway, this place ROCKED!! First of all, it was a tiny place, but it had karaoke! It was western-style karaoke, so you sing in front of everyone. Luckily for us, we took up almost the entire bar! Haha. The selection was limited, but still good fun. They served Caipirinha, this popular, yet STRONG Brazilian drink. I couldn't handle it. =P They also had Coxinha (a chicken croquette shaped like a chicken thigh) which is featured in Sunshine, our English textbook at school! Being the serious and dedicated teachers we are, we HAD to try coxinha in order to give a full report to our students! Yes, that's the ONLY reason we ordered coxinha, then ordered it AGAIN just to make sure we could get the description right. =) It was yummy! Oh yeah, and we ordered a steak and cheese sandwich which was to die for! It was soo good...OMG...I want it RIGHT NOW! And I know this may be a surprise, but the best part of the night was not even the food, but the fact that we sat across from the HOTTEST Brazilian guy EVER!!! OMG...we were drooling the entire time! You'd think that with ALL the Brazilians in industrial Ota, there'd be some hot ones right? Wrong. This was the first HOT...I mean HOT Brazilian guy I've seen. And not in the "I'm in Japan so I'm desperate" sense, either! Mm...eye candy. We even snuck a picture of him as his friend was up singing a Portugese song. Dude, his friend is an AWESOME singer. I want to hire him for my birthday! Forget the mariachi band in Harajuku and their 1000 yen per song tip! Haha. We must visit the nameless Brazilian bar again! Yaay, Brazilians and their tasty food and hot men...I mean, man!

On Saturday, I slept in. Soo nice! In the afternoon, I met up with Jeff and we trained, then walked to Korona World. We had okonomiyaki (a pan-fried battered cake with various ingredients. Apparently, "okonomiyaki" means "cook what you like, the way you like." Weird!) Anyway, we saw Cars at the Korona theater, which turned out to be ghetto-ville! Their popcorn and churros were like made last year or something! Yeah, no more Korona for movies, back to AEON it is! Oh yeah, I also fell asleep during Cars. I didn't mean to, but I think I'm just not used to this heat yet? Anyway, the parts I did see were okay. Doesn't quite add up to the other Pixar movies, yet it was still better than some of the "Look, we have animals in our animation! Come watch and be disappointed!" movies out there these days.

Bah, I didn't do anything on Sunday b/c of the rain. Not that I had big plans on my holy day, anyway.

We're just one big China!

Did you know that....

- 60% of the kimchi in Korea comes from China??

- many electronics and toys from Japan are made in China?? (Mona bought an MP3 player and a portable radio thingy at the Sony store in Ginza and she also bought a Power Rangers detachable toy set (don't ask why)....and they're ALL made in China! Her brother asked her if she's sure she didn't go to China instead of Japan!)

Back to Tokyo!

After three exhausting days of work, I trained back out to Tokyo to be with the girls on their last night in Japan. Thank goodness for the Ryomo (nicer, albeit more expensive train). The train ride was so quick and comfortable! Dude, I'm taking the Ryomo from now on! What was I thinking for the first half of the year?!

I met them at Takeshita Dori in Harajuku. They were there to buy more socks before they left Japan. Seriously, I think they each got like over 20 pairs in the time that they were here! It's true, socks in Japan rock!!! I totally got some more myself. Actually, like I mentioned before, we all LITERALLY got the exact same items of clothing. Thanks to the girls, I got a lot of shopping done while they were here! Woot! It's as if I came to Japan for vacation! Haha. Abunaiyo!

We walked to my favorite Indian restaurant off Takeshita Dori and had chronic Indian food, once again. Dude, we discovered cashew nut, pineapple and raisin naan! Oishikattayo! I know, it sounds like a strange combo, but you need to try it...it's mmm mmm good! After stuffing ourselves as expected, we strolled into a nearby 7-Eleven, where we found An nin Tofu Kit Kat! I thought they were already outta season, but I forgot that it's just b/c they only sell them at 7-Elevens! (It's really sad, but I now know which conbinis sell which flavors of Kit Kats...hehe.) We bought ALL 16 An nin Tofu Kit Kats on the shelf.

We headed back to the hotel as we were all pretty tired, plus the girls needed to pack. B/c of the mix-up in booking hotel rooms, we were only able to get two "Semi-double" rooms for that night. DUDE, it was the SMALLEST bed for two people...EVER!!! Like, Lisa and I decided that if either of us were to turn to our sides while sleeping, we'd accidentally be making out! THAT small! Clazy, Japanese! Haha.

The next morning, we headed out to Shimokitazawa, once again, for some hoddeuk. We tried the cinnamon sugar one (which tasted like an inside-out churro!) and the sweet potato one. I also ordered toppoki, as I had a craving of what was offered in Korea. Mmmm....it was good. We were soo lucky with our food findings throughout the entire trip!! Yaay!

We headed back to the hotel to get our luggage, but then realized that we needed to haul-ass in order for them to make it to their 6 o'clock flight at Narita. (FYI...Narita Airport is often voted as one of the world's most-hated airports, as it is far away from Tokyo (about 1 1/2 hrs by train) and expensive to get to.) I saw the girls off at Ueno eki, then headed back to Ota.

It's strange that they've come and gone, and this much-talked-about trip to Japan has now ended. I miss them! It seems so quiet in my apt now. Having the girls come to visit was really nice, as this was the first time I had seen them in a year. It's as if no time has passed at all, yet so many things have happened since my coming to Japan. It's a strange thing, time. I am just glad that they got to witness my life in Japan for themselves, as I don't think words and pictures can ever begin to describe my experience in this unique country. With this said, pictures to come later! =)

Lovely Gunma

So continuing with the girls' trip...

Last Thursday, we all trained it to the amazing city known as Ota, my current place of residence. I have to say, my apt seemed much much smaller with 4 people in it! Haha. Anyway, it was all so surreal as we watched Sex and the City (thanks to Jeff!) in my teeny living room. Dude, are we in San Diego or what?! I've pretty much watched the ENTIRE series of SATC over time at Lisa's apt in SD, so it was really really strange to watch in it Japan! Anyway. That night, we met up with Jeff, Ann and Sean at Ikkyu and had some amazing food and drinks, as usual. Ikkyu is our favorite izakaya (Japanese-style bar) in Ota, so I had to share this with the girls.

The following morning, I went to shougakkou (in the most TIRING day of work EVER!) as the girls slept in. We all met up at AEON, then met up with the other Ota peeps and headed to Eru, another izakaya owned by the same ppl as Ikkyu. Eru is soo different from Ikkyu. Anyway, this experience at Eru turned out to be not-so-amazing...don't think I'll be going back for some time. ;-)

On Saturday, we all trained out to Lake Haruna to...um, relax? Haha. When we got there, we were thinking we'd go duck-boating or walk around the lake, but our lazy butts got the better part of us, and we ended up just onsen-ing. Onsen-ing just doesn't seem as amazing in hot hot weather! Haha. We like almost died in the sauna, needless to say. Anyway, we had our traditional Japanese-style dinner in our own private room while wearing our yukata. (We girls had to "adjust" ourselves countless times in order not to flash everyone while the guys didn't seem to care at all. Haha.) After countless bottles of beer and sake, we headed to the karaoke room across from us and rocked out. We also got TONS of snacks and goodies so that we could eat, drink and "sing" at the same time. It was soo fun!! I'm glad the girls got to experience the wonder known as Japanese karaoke! Definitely better than some establishments back at home, me thinks. After 2 1/2 hours of screaming into the mic, we were all pooped, yet it was still early! We headed to our room, then tried desperately to stay up for the World Cup match b/w England and Portugal. Sad that England lost!!

The next morning, we all woke up, had breakfast, then checked out. We were bused back to Takasaki eki. We checked out Vivre and lucky for us, they had an awesome sale going on! Woot! We shopped a little, ate a little, then shopped some more. We were all beat from the non-stop days of traveling so we decided to spend a chill night at my place. Dude, we pretty much finished the 4th season of SATC while at my place! Haha.

On Monday morning, I saw the girls off at the eki as they headed to Kyoto, and I, to work. =(

Sayonara, Nakata!

If you didn't hear already (I'm assuming you didn't if you don't live in Japan), my favorite soccer player on the Japan National Team, Hidetoshi Nakata, is retiring! Saad!! And I've just discovered him recently as well! He's only 29 years old...too young to quit! Mottainai!


I'll miss you, Hide!

Efficiency to the Max

This was taken from an article on The Japan Times Online:

"With an estimated daily ridership of between 3 million and 5 million passengers, the Yamanote Line is easily on a par with New York City's entire subway system, which daily shuttles around 4.8 million passengers through no fewer than 468 stations.

To accommodate the daily tsunami of commuters, at rush-hour peaks as many as 50 Yamanote Line trains circulate at once, half going clockwise and half going counterclockwise, pulling into stations at roughly 2-minute intervals."

The Yamanote line (one of numerous lines on the JR (Japan Railways)) loops around Tokyo, and can get you to must-see places such as Shibuya and Harajuku...places I always go to. ;-)

Dude, this is just ONE line on the JR. I haven't even begun talking about Tokyo's subway system! Seriously, everything is soo efficient and on-time, it's quite freaky.

Non-stop eating.....

Hmm...I think that's a great way to describe Mona's, Lisa's, and Larissa's trip thus far. Haha. And that's the way it should be! Anyway, where did I leave off? We've done soo much the past week that I hope I don't forget too much. So, last Tuesday, after we went to Tsukiji Fish Market, we all went to Tokyo Tower. This was my second visit there, and I have to agree with Mona in that it is the "ugliest building I have ever seen." Well, maybe not that bad, but it is definitely not pretty. It may be taller than the Eiffel Tower, but definitely cannot compare in its grandeur. Mona is soo right in that the best part of Tokyo Tower was that we all got to ride on gigantic stuffed animals...for real. It was awesome! It was like bumper cars but w/ a giant stuffed lion and panda! Dude, you need to try it for yourself! Pictures to come later.

After Tokyo Tower, we went to the Sony and Apple stores; we are soo not otaku. ;-) That night, I was able to get us a reservation to Gonpachi, the inspiration to the restaurant where the huge fight scene in Kill Bill was filmed. It turned out to be an izakaya-type place, which was cool. The restaurant seemed smaller than I expected, but it was still awesome b/c I could totally remember the fight scene in the movie while we sat there and drank and ate ourselves to death, paying homage to the movie, in our own twisted way. Again, it would've been perfect if I had a school uniform for the occasion. Oh well. Lisa and I agreed that that entire day, from beginning to end, seemed "epic." It was sublime.

The next day, we slept in, then eased our way to Asakusa, where they all experienced traditional old "fake" Japan. There were soo many foreigners there, it was ridiculous. We stopped by Senso-ji Temple, ate AMAZING ice cream and other snacks, and got some omiyage shopping done. I introduced them to the awesome place known as Uniqlo, where we all ended up buying the EXACT same articles of clothing, no joke. Haha. We killed some time at Starbucks, as you do, then headed up the 21st floor of the Asahi building, where we got a clazy-as view of Tokyo while sipping on some beer...in my case, a peach sour. Tokyo is a HUGE-AS city, as the skyline seemed to have no end in sight. After taking pictures from every angle imaginable, we headed back to Shibuya and had some chronic Indian food (which opened till 4/5am...I LOVE that about Tokyo) and beer. When we arrived back near our hotel, we raided the nearby Family Mart in search of Red Bean Kit Kats. The worker told us that they were to re-stock on Tuesday night, but we had checked then and there were none in sight. Thank goodness they finally re-stocked by our last night there. We literally cleaned them out....I think we bought like all 10 that were there. Mmmm mmm!

On Thursday, we headed to Ota....good ol' Ota. More details in the next post!

Abunaiyo!

Thought of the night:

I saw the girls off at the eki this morning; they are in Kyoto now and I will join them again in Tokyo on Wednesday night. Thing is, they left me w/ tons of snacks, beer and Chu-Hi to last me till...well, that's the problem. I might devour everything if someone doesn't take them away from me! I think I should be safe w/ the drinks ;-) but yeah, the leftover snacks are abunaiyo! More updates later...too exhausted to write now. But OMG, I was LITERALLY A ZOMBIE at work today. I could not keep my eyes open for the life of me!! My system is soo messed up at this point, I DON'T feel normal....