It's more than official...

...I am going back to Japan...
This time I am working as a chaperon for Broomfield's Sister City program. So I am going to Japan for about 12 days, with a couple of days in Tokyo and the rest of the time with a host family in Ueda... My exploration of the islands of Japan continues.

I am thrilled to not only be returning to Japan, but also to get to share the experience with other Americans this time.

I miss Japanese food!

There are a lot of things I've been missing. My Christmas and New Years in Japan were very special and it was hard not to think about them recently. I miss my friends. I would have loved to have been around when Kanami and Noriaki married. And I really missed out on the English department sponsered Christmas party.

But I definitely miss Japanese food!

Nikko

Where can you go to see the original Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil monkeys? Nikko! Thanks to Marie, off we went!

Nikko is a nice smaller mountain city outside of Tokyo.

Wow, it was really nice getting out of Tokyo and up into some nature and higher elevation. We got to Nikko by express train, and it took about an hour (after we got to the other side of Tokyo). We left the station and tried to get our bearings, so that we could head to the park, where all the temples and shrines are.

Well, we went the wrong way, but in doing so found a small, empty, silent (but for a song bird) neighborhood shrine, where we both took some good pictures and got to rest and relax a bit. We really realized we had been craving to get out of the city while we were here.

On we went, until the sight of lots of other tourists alerted us that we were now going in the right direction. We saw lots of souvenir shops and stopped in a couple (for souvenirs, food and a bathroom.) Just past the shops was the entrance to the park and a spectacular view including a famous red bridge, Shinkyo.

We entered Nikko park, walking by the granite slab marking it as a World Heritage site. We bought tickets for all of the areas andd went in. The park itself was beautiful and the shrines and temples were incredibly ornate! The first temple, Sanbutsu-doh is enormous! Just as we got there, they started ringing a giant bell. I caught it on video, because it's super cool:

Bell
Video sent by JollyOleShannon

We bought a couple of good luck charms. You put in the money and then reach in the box and pull one out. Whichever one you get has a bit of a fortune and a certain kind of luck. I got Ebisu, a "notable blessing diety. . . the diety of bringing laughter, the source of good luck, and the wellspring of happiness. . . the patron diety of prosperous business and deep satisfaction." You are supposed to keep them with you all the time. I stuck mine in my camera bag and this is the first time I've pulled him out again. . . oops. Into the temple we went. We got stuck behind a bit of a tour group, so we looked at the 3 very large different images of Buddha, and other smaller sized, rare representations of Buddha.





Current Music :
For more Information: http://www.nikko-jp.org/english/nature/index.html

Third CSW Outing

Okay, I'm lazy again. Here is the write-up for the third outing. Pictures here.

On Sunday, June 4, I met Kana and Yukino in Odaiba at around 11 am. Both of them made plans with me, by cell phone, to meet me at the station. I learned when I arrived that the third member of the group, Midori, had caught a cold and was unable to join us that day. (The week before, I had met with all three girls to make a plan for Sunday.)

The first part of our plan was greatly encouraged by three grumbling stomachs, lunch! Odiaba has so many places to eat that it was difficult to decide. Eventually we settled on ramen as a way to satisfy both our appetites and our pocketbooks. We went to a famous shop that is actually 4 different ramen shops, each representing a different style or region. The girls suggested that I get miso ramen, since I had never tried it before. I was very glad for their suggestion, it was delicious. Because the shop was so crowded, we had to sit separately. Yukino and I sat together and Kana sat at a nearby counter. Yukino chatted with me during lunch about food and our families and hometowns, and Kana leaned over now and then to participate, when it wasn’t inconveniencing the people around us.

Just before we finished the meal, he had been given three coupons for a free game at a festival at the Odaiba shrine which was located on the roof of the shopping center. We decided it would be a great idea to stop by. The festival provided not only a few free superballs as a prize, but also a great view of the bay and area landmarks, as well as a number of cute kids to look at!

From the festival, we satisfied an ice cream craving with the futuristic Dippin Dots while continuing to chat. Then we took a bit of a walk into the past at an area of the shopping center that was set up to resemble a Japanese street market of 30 or 40 years ago. This was very fun. We did a lot of window shopping and did a bit of real shopping as well. We saw a lot of vintage pictures of famous Japanese singers and actors, stopped by an Okinawa wares store where I found two things I’d been craving: root beer and Juicy Fruit gum. There was a lot to see and do here. It was a great choice.

From the dark shopping area we moved into the bright sun on the beach. After a short walk, we went to see the Odaiba Statue of Liberty and then went to the Fuji Television building. That is some interesting and unique architecture. Despite Kana’s dislike of heights, we all went up to the observation room. We enjoyed the view and played a bit on the set of IQ before making our way back down. Dessert and coffee finished off the afternoon at a café in the Fuji Television building.

With these two students, I chatted the most freely that I think I have yet at a CSW get together. It may have been the number of people, the relaxed nature of the plan, or the students themselves. But it was a fun and easy afternoon.

Current Music : Take On Me A-ha (Actually this is just stuck in my head, but it counts.)
Current Mood: Hyper, happy, starting to miss Japan--totally excited to go home!

CSW outing #2

I'm really lazy, and have to write a report about my CSW trips anyway. So here's the report for plan number 2, exactly as I turned it in to the professor:

I met with Shiori, and Satomi on Saturday May 27, at 11:00 am in Omote-Sando. Marion joined us after the tea ceremony class, as she had gotten confused about the meeting time. To set up the plan, all three of the students sent me e-mails by keitai to introduce themselves. I discussed the specifics with Satomi by e-mail for a couple of weeks before the meeting.

After easily reaching the meeting place, Shiori, Satomi, and I walked to the tea ceremony club. It was a very nice place and all of the rooms were beautiful. It took about an hour to go through the tea ceremony, and we each got to learn how to make the Japanese tea. The teachers were very kind and patient, and even did part of the lesson in English for me. Also, Shiori and Satomi were good to make sure I was following the lesson and was okay. I really enjoyed learning more about the tea ceremony. It was a great choice for an activity and it was something that I could not have found/done on my own.

We met Marion and she apologized to me for being late. She and I chatted as we walked the train and then to our next destination, a famous chopstick store, Ginza Natsuno, in Harajuku. We all chatted about the cute tiny chopsticks, the funny looking chopsticks and chopstick rests, and the giant serving chopsticks. I really fell for a cute star-shaped chopstick rest, or hashi oki, as I learned. I got it and a matching pair of chopsticks.

Saturday was a rainy day, so we took some time to decide how to adjust our plan accordingly. During that time, we all heard our stomachs growling, so we headed to lunch. Online the girls had found a place where we could have okonomiaki. I’d never had it before, and was looking forward to making it right at our table. The restaurant was kind of a hole in the wall, but the atmosphere was nice. It was the kind of place I wouldn’t have found as a foreigner living in Japan. Also, the okonomiaki was delicious! We also got monja. Yum! At lunch we all chatted together almost entirely in English, with everyone contributing pretty much equally. I was impressed.

By the time we finished eating, the rain had let up a bit. So we walked along the famous streets in Harajuku to the Meji temple. I was not expecting the walk up to the temple to be so long; I didn’t know there could be so many trees hiding in Tokyo. But it was very beautiful. The temple was beautiful and simple. I really liked the design. We even managed to catch a wedding procession. The bride was very beautiful and her hair was amazing! On the walk there and back I spent a lot of time talking to Satomi and to Marion.

From there, we went to Harajuku station where we split up. I felt like it was a good plan and a good and busy day. I had a fun and easy time talking with the students. And I think they felt the same way with me. The most interesting thing I’ve noticed on these meetings has been the way the students work together to communicate with me, when something is difficult for them to express.

A Blog Reader's Key to Terms: keitai = cell phone; okonomiaki = a pan fried vegetable and sea-food "cake" similar to latkas, except replace potatoes with cabbage; Harajuku = fashionable young shopping area.

Edited June 2: Find photos of the day here!