lisainjapan

Goodbye Kosugi

2008-03-27T14:04:50Z

I moved out of my apartment today. I didn't damage anything! Yay! But, I still had to pay a huge professional cleaning fee, almost $300 for my tiny apartment. I was so shocked because it's basically just one room. Oh well.

Now, I am in Kyoto and have begun my end of Japan trip. I can't believe it's really ending. I was very sad to leave my little town. I will miss Kosugi. Everything was so convenient and close there. But, I will especially miss my friends and my Japanese family, the Saito's.

My Last Evening in Kosugi

2008-03-26T08:28:19Z

It's my last night in Kosugi. I am sitting on my futon and all I can think about is how I felt when I first got here to my empty apartment in Kosugi. I can't believe I'm leaving and that it's my last night in Kosugi. I will spend it alone just like I did when I first got here waiting for my luggage. Only this time, I'm not waiting for my luggage to arrive but for it to be picked up and delivered to Narita airport.

I cried when I left my schools. I can't believe I actually cried, especially because I cried the most at the school that wasn't even my favorite. I will miss some of the teachers and especially some of the students. They were so much fun to teach.

Last night Mariko and her family took me out for a farewell dinner. We went to a nice Italian restaurant in Toyama. I got to wear the kimono that Kinuko, Mariko's mother in law, gave me. It's soo beautiful. I will really miss them so much. I think they are what I will miss most about Japan. It was so nice to have a family to spend time with here. When I was with them, I felt like an exchange student, but one that could leave and go home to her one apartment. So, it was perfect!

I leave my apartment tomorrow for my end of Japan trip. I will be traveling with Lurdes and Nathalie. We are going to Nara, Kyoto, Himeji, Okayama, Naoshima, Tokyo, Tokyo Disney Sea, and possible Hakone to see Mt. Fuji. I'm very excited about my trip and I am especially excited to see Cherry Blossoms. A few days ago they bloomed in Tokyo, so I am hoping to see them before I leave!!

lisainjapan @ 2008-02-25T10:40:00

2008-02-25T02:23:04Z

Friday night, I met Meguchan and Miho at CoCo's for dinner. I saw soo many of my students there. I kept hearing my name everywhere in quiet whispers, "Oh! Lisa Sensei!". The students were so surprised and telling their parents that I was their teacher. It made me smile:)Anyways, we got together to talk about our plans to visit Toyko Disney Sea. I'm so excited!

Yummm! Dessert at CoCo's!!!

Saturday, I went with Mariko to see robots. It was an event put on through the TCA. They host a few events each year and invite foreigners to attend the events so that they can practice translating to us. Unfortunately, for them, I was the only foreigner to attend. There had been problems with their email list or something, but they were very glad I was there. We went to some robot exhibition hall and the students in the class took turns translating what the guide was explaining about the robots. The robots were actually way more interesting than I had expected and the event was pretty fun. I got to ride on a segway too!

The group

The segway

Then, we all went for lunch and they treated me to thank me for coming. Then, I also stayed to attend an event where Japanese people practice translating for the foreign students in the schools in the Toyama area. The students are required to attend field trips and the parents have to pay for these trips. Last year there was confusion and complaints between the schools and some Brazilian parents. So, this year, they have held classes to practice translating the speech about the required school trips into English, Portugese, Russian, and Korean. Then, Mariko took me back to her house for dinner. During dinner, they told me that they will miss me. They are soo sweet! Mariko's mother in law, Kuniko, also told me that she would like to give me one of her kimonos. Wow! I was so shocked! That's soooo generous. I'm looking forward to that present!

Sunday, I met Mari-chan in Tonami for the Tonami International Get Together. On my train ride there, it finally hit me that I will be leaving soon. Many people have made comments to me like, "wow, you will be leaving soon" and so on and I generally respond "yeah I guess so." But, now I have finally realized that I'M LEAVING JAPAN! I'm so sad! I will really miss having dinner with the Saito family, my Japanese friends, some of my students, traveling with Nathalie, and being treated like a super star, of course!

At the festival, I was the only native English speaker there (Tonami is pretty small). There were a few Brazilians and Chinese there, but because I was the only native English speaker there, they were especially interested in me. I was asked to help make the mochi, as well as be interviewed, filmed, and photographed the entire time at the festival. One of my favorite things at the festival was the game, Tosenkyo. It's a traditional Japanese game played originally at Geisha establishments or with upper class folk since the Edo Period. It was so much fun!

The tea ceremony lady.

The game Tosenkyo.

After the festival, we went to AEON to go shopping! When we got there, some students saw me. They came up to me and I said hello and asked them a few questions. As they were leaving, one of the girls said, "Lisa is beautiful". Before I had time to realize what she had said, they had already run off! Mari and I were in shock! Yeah, I'm gonna miss that! I've had students write in class assignments that I'm beautiful but no one has said it to me! So, we had fun shopping and now I'm at school and my break is coming to an end.

This weekend I am going to Nagasaki with Lurdes. I'm really excited to be going somewhere south and hopefully it will be much warmer than Toyama! I'm getting tired of being cold!

Sapporo

2008-02-19T11:40:07Z

Two weeks ago I went to Sapporo for the Yuki Matsuri (Snow Festival) with Nathalie. It was really awesome. I took a flight from Toyama to Sapporo while Nathalie took an overnight ferry. My flight was delayed because of snow, but I still made it there a bit after lunch time. Once I got in, we ate lunch and headed to our hotel. After checking in, we decided our first stop should be chocolate! As, Sapporo is known for it's chocolate.

As we emerged from the subway and were pondering the map, trying to figure out which way was the Chocolate Factory, a young Japanese man asked us where we were going. He too, was headed to the Chocolate Factory. That is how we met Sakae.

At the Chocolate Factory, we were pretty disspointed. The guide books said the cafe was open later than it actually was. The cafe wouldn't serve us any cake. However, the shop was still selling cake and with our adorable selves we were able to convince them to let us buy cake at the shop and bring it to the cafe to eat. It worked and we had a lovely time!

After that, we headed to the Snow Festival with Sakae still as our tour guide. It was awesome seeing all the sculptures. We also drank amazake, which is a sweet hot sake. (We later found out it only contains 1% alcohol). Can you even call that sake?? Anyways, it was delicious and warming! We then walked around some more until about 9pm when we decided it was dinner time. (We had a late lunch because of my delayed flight). Sakae took us to the famous ramen street where we were able to eat Sapporo's specialty, butter ramen. It was sooo good. Definately the best ramen I have had in Japan!

The next day, we walked around Sapporo; there's always lots of walking on trips with Nathalie (which I like). We tried to go to the botanical garden but they were closed on Saturdays. We then walked to the University, which was supposed to have interesting buildings. We must of not gone to the "interesting" side of campus because it looked pretty ordinary to us. We then walked back towards the festival, but passed by the old city hall, which was very pretty, but also had a super cute snowman sculpture.

Then it was on to Sato Land, a new edition to the snow festival. It was a bit on the outside of town and was a winter wonderland! It was soo awesome. There were so many kids there! It was a snow park with slides and things all made out of snow! We went down the biggest slide and it was better than any water slide I've been down! We also made a snowman to join the hundreds of other snowmen. We drank more amazake and then it was closing time for the park.

Then we headed back downtown to the main part of the festival to see more sculptures and get dinner. We wanted to try soup curry, Sapporo's other specialty. Although, once we got to the food park, we were very disappointed to find out that it was sold out. So, we had to go with something else. After dinner and a few more pictures, it was time to head back to the hotel.

Sunday
We decided to start Sunday out by visiting the snow sculptures in daylight. It was sooo crowded. Monday was the last day of the festival, so there were many people there now. It was a lot of fun. We got to see some snow stunts and we got to eat soup curry. It was very good and spicy!

Then we headed to the Beer Museum! Sapporo's Beer Museum for Sapporo Beer! The museum was only in Japanese, but the museum had good drink specials and icecream! We got to try many unusual flavors of icecream! We tried squid, curry, beer, and cheese icecream! Our favorite was squid! It was soo good. We both got squid and white chocolate icecream cones. Then we had beer! We got the sampler platter. Three glasses of beer for 400 yen. You can't get better prices than that! I also won two cans of beer from the ring toss! Woo hoo! But, I brought those home. They are in my fridge right now. After beer, we headed to Mount Moya, to view the sunset over Sapporo. However, we got there a little late, but the night view was also pleasant.

After Mount Moya, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel to gather our luggage. We boarded a bus that took us to the ferry. At midnight the ferry departed and we arrived in Tomokai at 7am.

Monday (National Holiday)
From Tomokai, we took a highway bus to Sendai. We arrived in Sendai around 1pm. After finding lockers for our luggage, we headed to Matsushima Bay, one of Japan's Top 3 Views! We met Nathalie's friend Chi there and she showed us around. The view was pretty nice, I don't know if I agree that it's one of Japan's top 3, but it was fun. Then we wanted to find an onsen. It had been quite a while for us since we had a bath. However, the only onsen we found wanted over 1,000 yen for a bath. It usually costs 500 - 700 yen for a bath. So, instead Chi took us to her house for us to shower and have dinner. However, we ended up eating, talking, and watching Will and Grace and completely forgot about a shower! Nathalie lives in Sendai, so she was able to go home and shower, but I still had another night bus to take until I got home.

Nathalie headed home and I headed to the bus station. I didn't sleep very well because there was a Japanese man a couple seats behind me snoring very loudly. The good news was, however, that the bus got in a little early and I was able to take an express train from the bus stop to my town. I was able to get home Tuesday morning with enough time to shower, eat breakfast, and make it to work on time!

And that was my trip to Sapporo!

Frustrations

2008-02-19T08:39:37Z

So, for the first time since I've been here, I am frustrated with Interac. It seems like everyone I know has complained about something and I actually haven't had any problems. However, now it's my turn. My problem is that it's nearing the end of February and they still haven't sent out the completion/moving out information. I emailed my supervisor questions, when will I get my last paycheck and such and his answer was, "You will receive all that information next week with the packet." I think they are waiting until the last minute to send us this information! Our last day is March 24. I need to make plans and it's difficult when I don't have the information I want.

My other complaint, is actually more of a disappointment. After hearing others' stories, I had a feeling this one would prove to be inaccurate. When I was interviewing, the lady told us that if we complete our contract we will be reimbursed for our flight back home. However, other people I met here in Japan, had different versions of that or were never told that at all. I emailed my supervisor, and that is one question he answered without telling me to wait until the packet arrives. He said that is only for people who have completed a 2 year contract. So, I was kinda hoping on getting that extra money for my flight, but at least I know now that's not going to happen.

Going to Sapporo

2008-02-07T13:49:54Z

I'm leaving for Sapporo tomorrow morning. I think I am all packed. I'm nervous. This is my first time flying in Japan. But, what I'm really nervous about is surviving the cold. After all, I am going to a Snow Festival! So, Mariko let me borrow one of her big coats because she didn't think mine would be warm enough. I think I am fully prepared for the cold. Her mother-in-law Kinuko gave me some warming packets to put inside my shirt. I also bought some packets to put on my socks and for my hands. So, I think I'm all set. I'm nervous and excited and tired but I can't sleep. I just want to go to bed, but I feel like I am forgetting something. I hope I'm not forgetting anything. But, I guess I should go to bed. I hope I don't freeze!!

Dinner with the shogun.

2008-02-04T04:38:17Z

About a week and a half ago, I went over to Mariko's house so she could help me buy a bus ticket for my upcoming trip. After that, she invited me to stay for dinner because she said tonight they are having a very traditional Japanese meal. I wasn't sure what she meant by that because it seems to be that every meal they eat is very traditionally Japanese. They always have rice, miso soup, fish, and something else. That's pretty traditional Japanese. But, what she meant was a traditional ceremonial meal. Of course I accepted, she's a good cook and I enjoy her family.

She explained the meal to me and then we had to go shopping for the food just like we always do. She basically goes to the grocery store every day to buy fresh fish or vegetables. However, because this was a special dinner, one store was out of the fish we had to get, so we had to go to another store. We finally found the proper fish for the meal.

After grocery shopping, we had to start preparing the dinner. While we were preparing the food, we had to feed the shogun, or Japanese God of education, statue. On a nice plate infront of the statue we placed the special fish. Then, we arranged some octopus and squid sashimi and gave him that. We had to present him with food and pray or wish for someone's educational success. We had to feed him because he was "leaving" that night and the next day they would put the statue away. At first I wasn't sure what to do when they told me to bow, clap twice, and pray. I ended up "praying" that I wished Jason will do well in school this Spring. After praying, they told me they prayed for Atsu (Mariko and Nari's son and Kinuko's grandson) that he will do well in University and I said I prayed for Jason.

After praying we then took the fish and sashimi back to the kitchen. We cooked the fish and set the table. Dinner was miso soup, rice, oden, baked fish, and salad. They asked me if we do special dinners like this in America. I couldn't come up with anything that was similar to this experience.

Earthquake

2008-01-26T11:51:24Z

This morning at 4:33am I was woken up from my sleep. I didn't know what was going on. My apartment was making a lot of noise and then I felt my body shaking. The noise was from my apartment rattling back and forth. By the time I realized what was going on, I freaked out and panicked. It was dark, I couldn't see anything and I was scared. By the time it had occured to me to move to my table, the earthquake was over. I just laid in bed, not knowing what to do. Should I turn on the TV to check the news? Should I go under my table now, because sometimes the earthquakes come in waves and another one might occur soon? Or should I get on my computer and call my parents? I had no idea. Should I go outside? Should I check to see if anything was damaged?

What I ended up doing was telling myself that there was nothing I could do if another one occured and I might as well go back to sleep. Besides, maybe it had just been a bad dream. Maybe it wasn't really an earthquake. It happened so fast. So, after laying there a while, heart pounding and praying, I fell back asleep until 8:30am. This time I was not woken up by an earthquake, just my rude neighbor that likes to play the music loudly in the morning.

First thing I did when I woke up this time was look out my window. Everything looked normal. Nothing had fallen in my apartment. I didn't want to see I had experienced an earthquake because I wasn't entirely sure. I went online and checked. Sure enough there had been an earthquake that was a level 5. However, where I live it was only a level 3. And I was right about more earthquakes occuring. There were two more earthquakes this morning occuring in the same place but it was only a level 1 and did not affect me where I live.

In Kosugi with Jason

2008-01-26T11:37:09Z

So I live in Imizu City, but since it was just formed a few years ago, most people still refer to the town or village that they live in, so I usually refer to my home as Kosugi instead of Imizu. So, we arrived in Kosugi around 11pm on New Year's Day. When we got off the train it was snowing and it was so pretty! I was so excited!

The next day, we celebrated "Christmas." We went to Mr. Donuts for breakfast and then came home to open presents.

It was fun celebrating Christmas together. I got some awesome presents from Jason, That 70's Show DVD's and a Des Moines University sweatshirt. Jason got a bunch of golf stuff and Japanese stuff!

After "Christmas" we went shopping at Al Plaza, which Jason really liked because things there are actually affordable compared to shopping in Tokyo or Kyoto. Then we went to the post office to pick up my Christmas package from Jason's parents. It was nice walking together and showing him around my town. I showed him one of my schools too, which he couldn't beleive was a school, since it looks like a condemned building; but that's pretty much what all the schools look like in Japan. Then we had to get ready for our shabu shabu dinner with the Saito-san's.

I wanted to take Mariko and her family out as well as have them meet Jason. They have been so good to me. Mariko has helped me so much and they usually have me over for dinner once a week. I really enjoy eating dinner with them. It's sort of like I get to experience what it would be like to be a host student. I help her cook and everything. Anyways, they picked us up and we went to a shabu shabu restaurant, which is like Japanese style fondue.

It was so much fun and of course delicious. I really like Japanese beef because it's sliced so nice and thin. Then we went to Karaoke!

Nari (husband) Mariko (wife) Kinuko (Nari's mother) and Atsu (their son)

This was also my first time meeting Atsu because he is in University in Tokyo.

The food!

This was definitely our nicest meal in Japan. We ate soo much and tried Japanese alcohol like sake, which I'm not a huge fan of. Then is was time for karoke. Nari was a master at it! Jason also really got into karaoke. He couldn't understand why I kept talking about karaoke, but he understood once he got there. He wanted to come back the next day!

THE NEXT DAY: Jan. 3
We pretty much just layed around this day and watched That 70's Show and Family Guy. It was soo nice to just have a relaxing day together before Jason left. The only time we left the apartment was to get ramen, which is very different from what you would expect. I really like it, but Jason wasn't super crazy about it. I took him to my favorite ramen restaurant, too! We also spent the day packing as Jason had to bring a suitcase of stuff home for me.
Then around 10pm, we headed to Toyama to catch the night bus to Tokyo.

JAN. 4
We arrived in Tokyo very early, of course. We ate breakfast at a bakery. I tried a curry donut. I actually really liked it. Jason ate a croissant, one of his favorite things that he ate in Japan. After breakfast and again, placing our luggage in lockers, we headed for Odaiba, Tokyo's Bay. However, we arrived too early. I thought things would open at 9 or 10am but mostly everything didn't open until 11am. The only place open that early was McDonalds. So we walked around for a while and took pictures, but then we found ourselves sitting inside McDonalds. I can't believe how many times we went there! Mostly we just sat and talked. Jason did not get a burger!

Then after a while, things starting opening up and we headed to Palette Town. Inside Palatte Town is the shopping mall, Venus Fort.

The Ferris Wheel at Palatte Town which costs about $20 a person to ride. That's crazy!

Inside Venus Fort

We ate lunch at a chinese restaurant at Venus Fort. It was very good and Jason liked this one. He ordered friend chicken and friend rice. I hate shrimp in a chile sauce and friend rice. Then it was time to head back to get the luggage and head to the airport.

We arrived at the airport. Jason checked in. None of the bags were overweight! We exchanged money. Then we exchanged hugs and I watched him go through security. Due to Jason's bad luck with flying, I decided to hang around the airport to make sure his flight actually took off and without any problems. After 6pm and his flight said departed, I wandered around the souvenier shops at the airport and head dinner at subway. I really like the tandori chicken wrap. It's awesome! Then I just headed back to Tokyo to wait for my night bus to take me back to Kosugi.

I arrived home in Kosugi and basically slept all day once I got back. I was so exhausted and I was feeling down since I missed not having Jason with me. I had gotten so used to having someone with me, that it was strange to be alone.

Kyoto for New Year's

2008-01-26T11:03:59Z

DECEMBER 30th
We arrived in Kyoto very early Sunday, Dec. 30. As soon as we got there, we ate breakfast and lucky Jason, the only place open was McDonald's! But, he kept his word and didn't say anything, it was me you suggested McDonalds. So, that's where we ate and this time Jason stuck to something he was familiar with.

Then we went to a temple that opened very early. I think we went there at 7am and there was actually a few other people visiting the temple that early. After that, we had to head to the photography studio where we would be transformed! Jason was to become a samurai and I became a maiko, geisha in training. The photography experience was pretty interesting. I had no idea what the make-up that is used on geisha's was actually like. It really felt like someone was painting me. Even though I could barely recognize myself, I still didn't look Japanese!

After the photography, which took over 3 hours, we headed to the nearby temple, Kiyomizudera. It had a really nice view overlooking Kyoto. Then we searched for lunch and tried udon. It wasn't very good, but Kyoto was sooo cold and soup sounded so good. I prefer ramen or soba. Then we headed to Gion in the hopes of spotting a real geisha. But, we just walked around and looked, but didn't find one. Then we headed back to the train station to pick up our luggage and try to find our hotel.

DECEMBER 31st
I can't quite remember the order in which we did things on this day. We saw so many temples and shrines in Kyoto, that I can't remember. I sent my notes home with Jason, so I may have to edit this entry in several months when I get back to the States. The following is some pictures of the places we visited on New Year's Eve.

Kinkakuji, The Golden Pavillion

Ryoanji

Nanzenji

We also visited a few others that day, but these were some of my favorites. After a pretty long day temple and shrine hopping, we headed back to the hotel around 5pm to relax before heading out for the night. We each took a Japanese style bath and even got to wear a yukata.

Then we got ready and decided to go somewhere for a nice New Year's Eve dinner. Well, basically everything was closed by now. So, we had to wait a while at the one restuarant that seemed to be open besides McDonald's. I enjoyed my dinner but Jason didn't like his and I think they forgot his food because we waited forever and had to ask about it. I had seared tuna and Jason ordered a Japanese beef dish. He didn't like it at all because most of the meat was fat, but I forgot to mention that that's the way the Japanese like their meat. They think the more fatty the more tender and better.

Then we headed to the bus station to head to Yasaka Jinja Shrine. The line for the bus was insane. I had no idea it was going to be this crowded. Then we actually arrived at our destination and it was complete craziness. The masses of people seemed to go on forever. We were able to slide right in and got into the shrine area pretty quickly, but getting out was a total different story.

At first the line seemed to be moving and then it came to a complete stop. We got afraid that it was going to be this long of a line but then I realized that we were probably just waiting until midnight to actually enter the shrine. Turns out I thought correctly. At the countdown to midnight everyone cheered, the few other gaijin there kissed and then we saw men carrying large sticks with ropes hanging and the line starting moving very quickly. People became so anxious to buy their fortunes, clap, ring the bell, pray, and so on.

In this picture you can see the ropes. I'm not really sure what they are for.

Happy New Year!

After seeing the shrine madness, we decided to head back to the bus stop. The traffic was really bad, so we waited about 15 minutes or so along with many other people. With no hope of a bus in sight, we thought we would get walking to at least warm up and hope the traffic would get lighten and we could catch the bus at one of the stops ahead. The traffic never seemed to get better and then once it did, we still never saw a bus again that night.

We walked all the way back home, at least an hour walk in very very cold weather. We arrived at about 2am. As soon as we got back to the hotel we cranked up our heat and Jason even slept with his mittens on he was so cold!

JANUARY 1st, NEW YEAR'S DAY
We slept in even though I had planned on getting up early. We checked out of our hotel around 10am. We took our luggage to the train station and put it in a locker. Then we headed out to see more temples. We went to Chion and the Heian Shrine. Then we went to Kyoto's southern outskirts to Fushimi to see the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which was another popular shrine to visit on New Year's. It was so crowded. I had no idea it would be so busy.

All the people heading to the shrine.

I think this photo was the only time in which we were not surronded by tons of people.

This is more of what most of our day looked like.

After all this, we were pretty worn out and headed back to central Kyoto. We ate dinner at the train station, bought our train tickets, and headed to my apartment in Imizu.

Miyajima

2008-01-21T04:53:35Z

Miyajima is only 25k from Hiroshima and was such a change. It was so much fun! Miyajima is an island that is inhabited mostly by deer. We arrived on the island and were immediately surronded by deer. I couldn't believe how tame they were. I had some onigiri hanging in a plastic bag from the conbini and the deer started eating it! I had to wrestle with the deer to save my food! Well, more like I had to yank the bag out of the deer's mouth and luckily he ate only some plastic bag and not my onigiri! Those things will eat anything and they were such fat deer but they acted like they were starving!

Then we headed to Itsukushima Shrine, one of Japan's offical top 3 views! We were in luck that we arrived during high tide because most of the time, I was told, the water that should be there is replaced by mudd. The "floating" tori was very beautiful in the middle of the water and the shine itself was really awesome too.

After the shrine, we headed down the main shopping street and had fun browsing, or more like I had fun browsing. Jason always has no interest in buying souveniers, which is a good quality, because it one of my bad ones! I have a thing for tacky souvineirs. However, we did find a tea shop that was selling Miyajima's specialty, Momiji Manju. But, they weren't just selling the cakes as is, they were deep frying them. Yummm! They were so good we went there twice in one day!

Then we decided to go to the top of Mt. Misen. We hiked a little, but we took the ropeway as far as we could otherwise we wouldn't have time to see the shrines and temples at the top of the mountain. It was still a bit of hiking, which Jason didn't enjoy. But, the shrines on top of the mountain were pretty awesome. After the mountain is when we visited the tea shop again for some deep fried cake! Then it was back to the floating tori to see it lit up at night, which was really beautiful.

Once we got back to Hiroshima, we went to see Hiroshima's Dreamination. I had never seen so many Christmas lights in any other part of Japan nor had I seen so many Christmas lights in rather unusual formations for Christmas lights. I enjoyed the Dreamination a lot. It was definitely very Japanese! They had castles, dragons, teddy bears, a mermaid, hearts, etc. all made out of Christmas lights!

After seeing the "Christmas lights" we went to Jason's favorite restuarant.....McDonald's. He had seen the sign for the Mega Tamago and just had to have one and would not stop talking about it. He promised if we just went once he wouldn't mention it again. This thing was pretty mega, but it was awful! It had this weird Japanese sauce that just tasted like peppered mayo but even worse. However, my cheeseburger was way better than any I've had in America at McDonald's. I assumed that since his experience was so bad he would insist on coming again, but he kept his word about not mentioning it again!

The mega tamago compared to my cheeseburger!

Next stop: Hiroshima

2008-01-21T00:20:56Z

We arrived in Hiroshima. As soon as we arrived in Hiroshima, after dropping off our luggage at our hostel, we went to the A-Bomb Dome. It was pretty interesting to see and very depressing. It was so gloomy and rainy, but that didn't stop any of the tourists.

Then we went to the Children's Peace Memorial, which is something I was really looking forward to seeing. I remember hearing the story about Sadako and her paper cranes when I was a student. It was amazing how many cranes there were and from all over the world. Things like that bring you a little hope towards world peace. But, then we went to the Peace Memorial Museum.

The museum was so depressing. It was sickening as well as very educational. However, the last exhibit of the museum was the hundreds of letters the mayor of Hiroshima has sent asking for countries to dispose of nuclear weapons and the numbers of nuclear weapons countries posses today on a map. From looking at the map, I realize the safest places to live are in the southern hemisphere, Australia perhaps?

Also, at the museum, they had a few paintings that were done by bomb survivors and the artwork was very interesting. I wish they had more of it.

After all this depressing stuff, we headed to Hiroshima's Okonmiyaki Village to try Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki which I have heard so much about. I was very excited to try it and it was very different from the kind I have eating in Toyama.

After our very late lunch/early dinner we headed back to our hostel to check in. We ended up just calling it a day since all the sights were now closed and we were exhausted from the 12 hour bus ride from Tokyo. And the next day we were getting up very early to see Miyajima!!!

Fuji

2008-01-19T12:03:11Z

We checked out of our hostel and with our bags headed to Shinjuku Station. We managed to find lockers to fit our luggage and then headed to the bus stop for Fuji. We arrived at Lake Kawaguchi-ko, one of the five lakes around Mt. Fuji. We walked around the lake and there wasn't a whole lot to see. Since it was winter the buses that actually drove to the mountain were not running. But, I was told that the best time to see Fuji is in winter, so that's why we headed to the lakes. However, much to my disappointment, Fuji was somewhat hidden. It was really a cloudy day, yet we were unable to see Fuji well.

We ate houtou noodles, Fuji's specialty, which Jason didn't really like. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. It was just noodles and vegetables, which I've gotten used to eating here, but since it wasn't fried or cheesy or any other type of American goodiness, Jason didn't care for it. It was too healthy for his American palate! Just kidding! Actually, the soup was pretty bland, but since I eat bland soup at school every day along with whatever type of fish they give us, I've gotten used to it. It was the largest serving of soup ever, though. I wished we had known it was so big!!

Finally, once the sun was starting to set and we head to catch the bus back to Tokyo, the view of Fuji was the best. But, of course the pictures are somewhat ruined by the lovely train station in front of the view.

Once back in Tokyo, we grabbed some dinner and then it was time to get out luggage and head to the bus station for our night bus to Hiroshima! We were taking the "Stylish Nightbus."

Goodnight!

Tokyo with Jason

2008-01-15T04:48:37Z

Jason's second day in Japan, we woke up very early to check out the Tskiji Fish Market. I couldn't believe how many people were there eating sushi and noodles for breakfast. We saw some interesting things at the market. Some of which I have no idea what it is and others which I can not believe I have actually tried!

Jason and I too joined the crowds and ate sushi for breakfast. It was so much fun to be eating sushi together with Jason in Japan! J said he prefers American sushi, which I figured. But, he was a good sport about trying different kinds of sushi. Oh yeah, one of the things he didn't like is that they put wasabi on all the sushi in the rice and Jason hates wasabi, but I love it!

Even Jason is doing the "peace"!

I think this is my favorite picture of us on the trip. This is at the sushi restaurant!

After finishing our breakfast, we headed out to Ueno to visit the Ueno Zoo which is famous for the Gaint Panda. I was so excited to see the panda. However, Ling Ling was a bit of disappointment. All she did was sleep. But, it was still exciting. They also had tiny red pandas, which I've never heard of before, but they were the cutest things. They were so active and just adorable!

You can see Ling Ling barely in the middle of the left side of the pic.

The super cute red pandas!

The rest of the zoo was really depressing. I definitely think it's main attractions are the pandas. The monkeys were so sad. Their cages were completely bare and they were just huddling around each other. We didn't stay much longer at the zoo after seeing the pandas and then some of the sad animals.

At the zoo, we ventured off to Akihabara, Tokyo's Computer District. We were looking for the "Maida Kissa" cafes. They are supposed to be maid themed restaurants in the geeky computer district area. I was impressed with my Japanese ability to ask for directions. I had no idea where one of these restuarants was, I just knew they were somewhere in this part of town. I had to ask a few people where one was and I finally found someone who knew. The restaurant was pretty interesting, however the food was probably some of the worst I've eaten in Japan! I guess the nerdy guys just come here just to feast their eyes!

The waitresses! I would of taken more pictures because it was really cute how they wrote love messages to us with ketchup on our plates. But, I got in trouble for taking pictures. Whoops!

The view from our table.

After the not so delicious curry, we headed to Harajuku to see the young and trendy of Japan. We visited the Meji-Jingu Shrine which is the most famous shrine in Tokyo. Then, we strolled down the tiny and crowded streets of the shopping district in Harajuku. We tried a crepe (I was in love with them after Akemi introduced me to them!). I think the crepe was Jason's favorite food that he tried while in Japan, sadly!

After Harajuku, we went to Shibuya, to see the Japan's busiest intersection, also known as Shibuya's Crosing where over 2 million people a day cross! I love this place. It's exactly my vision of Tokyo.

We also, of course, had to check out the "Love Hotel Hill" in Shibuya. It was pretty interesting. I had been hearing so much talk about these hotels but had never seen one before. I had been told that they are very easy to recognize because of their crazy names and garish decorations. However, I didn't think it was that obvious. It took me a while to know for sure if it was one of "those" hotels. Don't worry though; we only walked around the hill and took a few pictures!

What a great name for a love hotel! hehe

Laughing at the love hotels was certainly an interesting way to end our stay in Tokyo. We went back to our hostel to pack up and sleep. The next morning we had to check out and head to Fuji!

All I want for Christmas

2008-01-09T02:24:33Z

Jason was supposed to arrive Christmas Eve around 4pm. As I was about to leave my "hostage camp" I got a phone call. It was Jason's Momma. I knew it had to be bad news because she has never called me in Japan.

Jason's flight had engine trouble and they had to turn back around. They had to fix the plane and they would depart the next day. That meant I had to spend Christmas Eve alone in Japan, and in Japan, Christmas Eve is a romantic holiday!

I decided to go to an internet cafe to print out the directions to my next hostel which I realized that morning I didn't have. I went to Mos Burger and tried the Teriyaki Burger; it wasn't my favorite. All my students tell me it's the best though!

At Mos Burger...

I waited around at Mos Burger and the internet cafe until it was time that I could check into my much nicer hostel. I checked in and layed around for a while bummed out that Jason wasn't coming, but finally decided to go out and experience this "romantic Christmas" that the Japanese celebrate. I went shopping and it was soo crowded. I bought Jason and I some Hello Kitty Christmas stockings!

Aren't they soo cute!

I saw soo many couples walking around together and all the restaurants seemed to have only "couples dinner specials". It was hard finding some place to eat that wasn't couples only! At the subway shops, it was total madness with people buying Christmas cakes. It was so interesting to watch.

The whole day I wished Jason was with me, but thankfully he was safe and he would arrive on Christmas Day. I suppose that's the best Christmas present I could get!

He arrived right on time Christmas Day and we went straight to our hotel to drop off his luggage and get him checked in.

Jason's here!!!

We ate a quick dinner at a noodle cafe. Jason tried soba noodles with shrimp tempura.

Then we headed to Kabuki-Za. I had booked Kabuki Theater tickets a while back and the tickets were not changeable. But, we arrived in time for the last play.

That's how we spent our Christmas in Japan!

Before Jason arrived

2008-01-07T12:43:02Z

Friday, Dec. 21 I took the night bus to Tokyo. After dropping off my luggage at my hostel, I went to a city very close to Tokyo called Kamakura. Kamakura is famous mostly for it's huge buddha.

Kamakura's Big Buddha

I also came across a shrine inside a cave which was pretty interesting.

After visiting and sightseeing Kamakura, I headed back to my hostel to check in and go to sleep because I was meeting Akemi in the morning. Earlier in the morning when I dropped off my luggage, I had a few doubts about the place, but I had no idea it could be this bad.

At JGH Hostel, Tokyo

I can't believe I actually paid to stay at this place! One of the other girls staying there described it as paying to stay in a hostage camp! The people I met there were really friendly though, so I guess that made up for the place somewhat! These are some of the signs they had posted on the walls in the "rooms" if you can call them rooms!

Never before have I stayed somewhere that begs for your understanding!

Then, Sunday, Dec. 23 I met Akemi and we went to Yokohama, Japan's 2nd largest city and also a city very close to Tokyo. Yokohama is famous for it's Chinatown and for having a large minority population. Yokohama was the first city to open up to foreigners after Japan's period of seclusion. Therefore, it has the largest Chinatown as well as a large population of other minorities, especially Christians. On our way to Chinatown we heard some singing. The Japanese love karaoke and a lot of karaoke bars are open 24 hours, so I immediately wondered what someone was doing singing karaoke at 9:30 in the morning. However, as we got closer, we realized it was a church service. We were invited in and it was very interesting. However, because the church was in Chinatown, it was a Chinese Christian Church and the services were in Chinese, so neither Akemi or I could understand it!

After church we visited Chinatown and ate Chinese specialties and visited the Chinese temples.

After Yokohama, we went to Tokyo. We went to Harajuku and ate crepes, which were sooo good. My crepe had a slice of cheesecake in it! Then we went to Jingu-bashi to see the teens that congregate on Sundays in very interesting outfits.

After a very long and exciting day with Akemi, I headed back to my "hostel" to go to sleep because Jason was arriving tomorrow, on Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Cookies vs. Chrismtas Cake

2007-12-15T07:50:44Z

I'm getting sooo excited for Jason to be here. He will be here in 9 days and I will leave for Tokyo in 6 days! Aack! I have so much to do to get ready! I need to do laundry, which takes days to dry inside my apartment. I need to pack and back cookies for my schools. They want to try Christmas cookies because I told them that's what we have in America, not Chrimstas cake which the Japanese eat. The students think it's so funny and strange that we eat Christmas cookies! So, Jason and I must eat Christmas cake on Christmas since we will be in Japan!

Last Friday, it was raining like it always does on Fridays and I felt that after talking about American Christmas all week long during my lessons, I had to go out and get a Christmas tree. Luckily the 100 Yen store (equivalent of a $ Store) had a pretty good selection of trees and decorations. So, Friday night, I listened to Christmas music and decorated my little Christmas tree.

Sorry about the white blurry thing. That's one of Jason's presents that I haven't wrapped yet and had to cover it up in photoshop!

Then on Saturday, I got up very early to go to Shirakawa-go with Mari Iida. She was the substitue teacher at one of my schools, but now she is jobless because the other teacher came back. Then we went to the foriegners Christmas Party sponsored by the JETS at the Brazilian place in Takaoka.

When you go to Hida Prefecture, which is where Shirakawa-go is, you have to eat Hida beef. So, we had a fabulous lunch of Hida beef and other Japanese things!

These are the special grass roof houses which makes Shirakawa-go famous and a World Heritage Site.

Mari couldn't believe how many foreigners were at the Christmas party!

Me and Mari.

Me and some Americans. Lissie, Sharon, and Me.

Sunday, I went with Mariko to Starbucks to meet her friend who I will start giving private English lessons to in Januarary. Lissie met me at AEON after that and she introduced me to Pirikura. I had seen the pictures but I never knew where to go to get them done. So, she took me to the arcade at AEON and there it was, rows of photo taking booths! We had to wait in line! But, it was so much fun and we took our "Christmas pictures".

The Pirikura Booths!

Our Christmas photos!

As to this weekend, I have done what seems like nothing. I spent all morning on the phone with Jason, then took a nap because I've had a headache for days. I still have a headache but it might be because I'm hungry...So my food is in my toaster oven now while I'm writing this entry. Tonight I'm going to a going away party for one of Mari's friends. She's probably a NOVA person as there have been a lot of going away parties for NOVA people since NOVA went bankrupt and closed down. It should be fun and then Sunday, I must get things done.

Oh! I'm so excited for Jason to be here in just over a week!!! This will be a very memorable Christmas!

Peace

2007-12-10T12:29:50Z

I have received many comments/questions about why I have become a hippie in Japan! Let me assure you, I am not a hippie. It's a Japanese thing. I'm not sure why exactly they do it, but the Japanese love to make the peace sign when they say "chees-u" (Japanese way of pronouncing cheese!). I think the peace sign thing is cute and amusing, so I do it too. I usually feel unsure of what to do with my hands in photos anyways, so why not support the peace sign?!? You should do it too!

Nikko

2007-12-10T12:11:10Z

Two weekends ago Nathalie and I went to Nikko. It's a bit north of Tokyo. So, for me to get there, I took the overnight bus Friday night to Tokyo. At 7am in Tokyo Station, I then took the train to Nikko. I met Nathalie there at 10:42am. It was a pretty long time to travel! Nathalie is connected to Tokyo by Shikansen so it only took her about 2 1/2 hours to get to Nikko!

Saturday, we spent touring around Nikko city. We visited the many famous shrines and temples and it was so strange to see so many foreigners! Nikko was a pretty cute town and the sights were amazing. We had an awesome dinner of tonkatsu and luckily Nathalie knows a tiny bit of Japanese and we somehow were able to figure out what we wanted to order!

Sunday we went to Nikko National Park to do some hiking. There is a famous lak there, called Chizenji Lake. We were told by the information guy that there was a trail that would take us around the lake in 2-3 hours. Somewhere there was miscommunication because the trail we thought he told us turned out to be a trail of 20+ kilometers. It took us from 9am until 4pm to finish the trail. We were starting to get scared because by 4:30pm it's dark here in Japan.

Luckily we came to the road and found exactly what we had been dreaming of....onsen!!! Onsen has never felt so good before! We got to see the famous waterfalls and go to an onsen. So, it turned out to be a pretty good day!

As soon as we got back to Nikko City, we bought dinner at the convenie and got on the train. Nathalie would be home by 10pm and I would be home by 7am the next day! I have never slept so good on a bus before! All that walking up and down hills around a lake wore me out!

Only in Japan can you eat pasta that is topped with french fries!!!

Strange food I've eaten in Japan

2007-12-04T12:06:36Z

The following is a list of strange things I have tried in Japan thus far:

Squid
Octopus
Natto - fermented soy beans with the texture of snot
Grilled liver
Raw crab
Dried entire fish - head, eyes, tail, and all
Eel (which I really like and want Jason to try!)
Salmon eggs
Sea Urchin
Gizzards
Homo Sausage - fish sausage
Fish cake
Quail eggs
Raw egg
Cow tongue

The following pictures are a sampling of some of the school lunches I have had:

I'm not too crazy about eating an entire fish, eyes, tail, bones, and all...

I don't really like eating these little fish either, even though they don't have much taste. It's just kind of weird, but the deep fried soy beans are tasty!

This is squid. Which is growing on me. It's one of the fish I prefer at school.

lisainjapan @ 2007-11-26T15:08:00

2007-11-26T06:39:04Z

Last week, I fell into a gaijin trap and this has begun the culture shock. Then this weekend was Thanksgiving and now I am starting to feel homesick with the holiday season beginning and the culture shock. At first I thought the fall into the gaijin trap was pretty funny. But, the next day, I realized I could of been really hurt. Luckily I just got bruised up and only broke a piece on my camera lens and not the entire camera. Also, I was lucky that I was with one Iida Sensei and we were pretty close to her house. She was able to drive me to her place and get me some dry clothes! Since the accident, I am scared to go out when it's dark, which is awful because the sun starts setting around 4pm here!

This past Thursday, was Thanksgiving and it's not a holiday in Japan. So, I spent the day like any other Thursday and went to work. However, after work was the Kosugi Minami Staff trip. We left straight from school and arrived at Katayamzu Onsen around 6:30pm. When we arrived at the hotel, instead of standing in front of a desk to check in, we sat down and had a cup of tea with a sweet. Once we finished our tea, they showed us to our rooms. Dinner was at 7pm, so we didn't have time to take a bath before dinner. Some teachers got there before us and they wore their yukata to dinner.

The dinner was soo amazing. I tried some new food that night! I had my first experience with sashimi. We also ate crab sashimi, which I didn't know you could eat, but it was really good. I was also seated at the head table with the Principals since I am a new teacher. That was pretty exciting. It was really interesting to go on this trip. I think the waitresses originally poured our drinks and I knew that in Japanese culture you can't pour a drink for yourself. But, I didn't know that before you could pour for anyone in the room, you had to first pour for the boss, which in our case, was the school Principals. I think there were about 23 teachers there and everyone had to pour for the Principals. Luckily the glasses are small or they would of easily gotten very drunk!

Since everyone wants to take a turn pouring your drink, it's very easy to not keep track of how much you are drinking. So, during dinner there was quite a bit of drinking and then after dinner the drinking continued at the karaoke bar at the hotel. The teachers were so proud of me because I sang a song. The Japanese are such good singers, but I would hope so as they are required to take singing classes at school when they are students! I sang "Sweet Home Alabama."

After karaoke, around midnight, we went to take a bath, which is one of the main "perks" of staying at an onsen! So, I took a bath with two other teachers. I was glad it was just the two of us and not the whole staff! We left the bath at 1am. When we got to the room, the futons had been laid out for us. It was so nice and warm, especially after our hot bath. I got to sleep in the yukata. At 6am, Miyajima Sensei woke me up to take another bath! The Japanese love onsen! She said she usually takes 3 bathes when she stays at an onsen. This time the outdoor onsen was open, so we got to take a bath outside! It was sooo cold going down the stairs outside to the bath! But, it was really relaxing. I was glad she woke me up so early because as we were finishing our bath, a lot of other teachers and other people staying at the hotel came down to take their bath. I didn't want to have to bathe with everyone. But, I think they were impressed that I was willing to go to the onsen.

After onsen, we went to breakfast and it was a true Japanese style breakfast. We ate cooked fish, miso soup, salad, tofu, and rice. It was surprisingly really good, but I definately wouldn't want to eat that kind of breakfast everyday!

I was so tired once I got home from the onsen trip. But, I didn't have time to take a nap because I was going to the gaijin Thanksgiving dinner that one of the JETS was hosting. I was going through some culture shock, feeling homesick, and tired from my trip, so at first I really wasn't in the mood to go. But, I forced myself to stay up, make my Aunt's buttered cabbage and go to the dinner. I'm so glad I went. I met some other JETS that I hadn't met before and it was nice to meet people somewhere other than a bar. I was actually able to talk to some people and I hope I made some new friends that I can do things with. It was also nice to be able to discuss some of the strange Japanese things with people that were going through the same things as me. I also hadn't realized how much I had missed "American" food. Someone brought a turkey from the Bralizian restuarant and a couple people had made pumpkin pie. Everyone tried their best to use the Japanese food available and Americanize it for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Saturday and Sunday I didn't do much since I had spent a lot of money for the Onsen trip. This upcoming weekend I am going to Nikko with Nathalie and I am really looking forward to it. I'm also really looking forward to when Jason comes! It's less than a month away now! He will be here in 28 days and the wedding is in 222 days. (I have a counter on my Facebook profile - I'm not that bored here in Japan!). I'm so excited. Last night I had dinner at Mariko's and she helped me book a few things that I wasn't able to do because it's in Japanese. Also, tonight Mariko and Nari (her husband) are taking me to a camera shop to have my lens looked at. At first it wasn't so bad after my accident, but it's getting worse and I'm scared to use it too much. I may need to buy a new lens if they are unable to fix it. That's really upsetting, but maybe that's what Jason can get me for Christmas....

Japan amuses me...

2007-11-19T03:10:28Z

I have been pretty surpised at the things I have seen teachings doing openly at their desk especially since every teacher's desk is the same room, in rows, right next to each other.
Here is my list of things I have seen teachers doing:

Teachers clipping their nails at their desk.
Teachers cleaning their ears at their desk, q-tip and all.
Teachers openly been sleeping at their desk without anyone waking them up.

The last thing happened last week. Two teachers were talking very sternly with two students. I kept hearing the word toliet and the teachers had some candy wrappers in their hands. I had never seen teachers so angry at students before. Once the students left, I asked one of the teachers what happened. Her response was, "They had candy in the bathroom." I then asked, "You mean they were flushing candy down the toliet during cleaning time?" She said, "No. Even worse! They were EATING candy at school!" I found it to be pretty amusing that they were in sooo much trouble for eating a few pieces of hard candy. I thought they were trying to make a mess in the bathroom, which to me is much worse!

My first guest continued...Tateyama

2007-11-19T02:37:34Z

The next day, Sunday, Nathalie and I went to Tateyama. Mount Tateyama is the second highest mountain in Japan. So, we were pretty excited to hike it. Once we actually arrived at the mountain, we were pretty surprised and unprepared because there was snow all over the mountain. We had come to see the fall leaves, but it looks like we missed that. However, the mountain we still really beautiful and there a lot of people there. Everyone told us not to hike the mountain, but we decided to anyways. One lady stopped to give me her rope to try around my shoe to help me hike in the snow better.

I was so afraid of falling!

We were unable to make it to the very top because it was the snow was too icy and the path was covered by the snow. Due to all of the snow, there was almost no one at the top of the mountain and it was so beautiful and calm. We ate yummy Toyama's trout sushi speciality at the top (well almost top) of the mountain.

This is as far as we could go. Pretty awesome view from up here!

Eating Toyama's Trout Sushi

This is the very top. We almost made it!

After the hike, we really wanted to go to an onsen, but we didn't have time. Nathalie had to take the train back to Kanazawa to catch the night bus to Sendai. We ate ramen for dinner and it was sooo good. It was so nice to eat something warm and it was the best ramen I have ever had! Then I had to see Nathalie off. It was so much fun having her visit for the weekend!

We are so sunburnt!

My first guest

2007-11-08T12:39:27Z

I've been pretty busy lately. I was really busy at school helping to prepare for the school's culture festival. By helping, I mean I was actually a distraction! I was walking around taking pictures and the students were so excited that they weren't getting much work done!

This past weekend Nathalie came to visit and I had such an amazing time! On Saturday I met her and her friend Masato in Kanazawa which is famous for being known as "Little Kyoto." Supposedly you came see geisha walking the streets, but we didn't see any! But, the sites we did see were awesome! First we went to Kenrokuen Garden. It's one of the best in Japan. Then we headed to the Kanazawa College of Art festival. We got to help make mochi. I never knew how involved the process was! The parade was so awesome. The costumes the students made were so clever and amusing!

For lunch we went to Mos Burger. Nathalie and I both tried the rice burger! It was pretty good but a little difficult to eat. Then Masato drove us to a famous peninsula in Tojimbo. It was sooo gorgeous. It actually reminded me of southern Italy's coast, except there were tons of people there! After the rocky coast we went to dinner. It was my first Japanese sushi train restaurant. It was so nice to be there with a Japanese person because he could tell us what we were eating. Some of my favorites are shrimp, tuna, and salmon. The one I didn't think I would ever like or even try is eel. It's now my favorite! It's soo good!

(Don't worry Mom! I didn't eat all those plates! That's the total from the 3 of us!)

After dinner, we headed to the Geisha district but by then all the tea houses had closed and no one was there. The best time to spot a geisha is early evening, so we came too late. Then Nathalie and I took the last train back to Kosugi. We had to get up really early to start the journey to Mount Tateyama! To be continued...

Photos!

2007-10-24T12:54:18Z

I figured out how to upload photos. It used to work at school, but now that I have changed my internet settings so that I can use the internet at my apartment, I am unable to upload photos at school. So, check out my last two entries that I updated with photos!