Ueno and Mac's Moving Day

Photos:

• Top left: a woman feeding birds at Shinobazu-no-ike yesterday in Ueno
• Top right: part of Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple
• Middle left: the first pagoda I've seen in Japan! Photo taken of the "Five Storied Pagoda" near Toshogu Shrine, Ueno Park.
• Middle right: many people buy cards and write their wishes on them and hang them up at shrines. Most are wishing luck for loved ones or for peace. This one was my favorite. It says (in Italian): "So that we may soon realize our dream of having children." -Emilia and Vittorio.
• Bottom left: today a few of us helped a friend move to a new apartment. If you couldn't already tell from the picture, Ash and I took our jobs VERY seriously.
• Bottom right: the boys...
  

Kamakura

This morning I made my way to the Yodobashi electronics store in Yokohama and finally bought myself a new digital camera! Just in time for my trip to Kamakura. (Thank goodness...because I was getting tired of having to tape the broken piece back onto the old one everytime I wanted to take a picture.) We didn't have enough time to do all that we originally intended, so another trip is planned for the future. But I hope until then you can enjoy these pictures from our first visit.




























Photos:

• Top left: Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha)
  
• Top right: it was REALLY windy when this picture was taken.
  
• Middle left: one of my favorites
• Middle right: Laura and I also went to the Hokokuji Temple which included a fantastic bamboo garden
• Bottom left: part of the garden behind the temple
• Bottom right: a look inside the temple from the front steps

Christmas dinner with coworkers

Photos:

• Top left: a portion of the six-course dinner at Bobby's Cafe in Shibuya.
• Top right: Yes, I know how to eat with chopsticks. No, I don't eat fish. (That's a tomato I'm about to eat.)
• Bottom left: once again, I HAD to make the scary face with Ash. Now we're including Jake in our ridiculous-ness. I think he's pretty good at it, don't you?
• Bottom right: this picture isn't from dinner tonight, but I felt the need to include it anyway. Laura and I saw this sign in a little "Italian" cafe we went to in Ginza on Tuesday.

"Faffing About"

Photos:

• Top left: Ash and I got bored in a department store in Shibuya. Luckily, there was a very obliging Japanese man who volunteered to take a picture of both of us together, otherwise you'd only be looking at one of us right now. As the man handed the camera back to Ash he said, "Oooooh, iss gooood." Just as a side note: the hats we're wearing in this picture are based on the tarako dolls that are the mascot for, yes, mayonnaise in Japan. Check out this website if you want to see more.
  
• Top right: Another one of the many "hats" I tried on that night.
• Middle left: Later the same evening, Ash and I decided to do our "crazy walk" across the Shibuya-Ekimae intersection--a.k.a. the busiest intersection in the world--which you may also recognize from the movie Lost in Translation. Everytime the signal turns green there are literally hundreds of people (or a couple thousand if it's really busy) waiting to cross here. We pushed our way to the front of the crowd and got Ash's girlfriend to take our picture as we took off running as soon as the light changed. I think some of the people on the other side of the street may have been confused as they saw us approaching. We fully intend to do it again another time, and hopefully get more pics. :)
• Middle right: Ash and me making the "scary face" after a dinner party at his apartment. The "scary face" can also be interpreted as the biggest possible fake smile you are capable of making.
• Bottom left: We had so much fun making the scary face the night before that we had to do it again at work the next day. Also pictured with us are Yuu (one of the staff members) and Salina (another instructor, and the only other American, at our branch). I think Ash an I are the only ones who took the "scary face" thing seriously, though.
• Bottom right: I took this picture at Ebisu Station in Tokyo, and though it doesn't really have anything to do with the other photos, I couldn't resist posting it. The only question I can think to ask is, "What on earth happened to the EAST exit?" (Click on the photo to enlarge.)
  

More Shibuya, plus my Christmas tree

Photos:

• Left: okay, so you're probably going to see just as many pictures of Shibuya in Tokyo as you saw of the Opera House in Sydney. What can I say? I love this place. The only thing I found surprising about this picture was how empty the streets look compared to most nights.
• Right: Sad as it may seem, this is probably as Christmasy as my holiday will be. A plastic tree in the school where I work. My favorite part is the Yoda figurine we used as the tree-topper. (Walter, I thought you'd especially appreciate that one.)

A Thanksgiving dinner in Tokyo

Here are a few pics of last week's festivities:
































Photos:

• Top left: the dinner table. Actually this was the first formal sit-down dinner to take place in our apartment since I moved in. My family very thoughtfully sent some Thanksgiving food to me by mail, so I was able to serve some of the more traditional foods.
  
• Top right: the dinner guests. No Thanksgiving dinner in Japan would be complete without people from at least four different countries. L-R: Kiara from NM, Brendan from NY, Kim (the loveliest Canadian flatmate in the world), Mac (Japanese, to be sure), and Ash from London (one of my coworkers).
• Middle left: this is Laura, another one of my coworkers. She's from Scotland. And she's also fantastic.
  
• Middle right: Pumpkin Pie!!!!! I am honestly so glad that Costco exists here in Tokyo. Earlier that day I had gone there to pick up a few things for dinner. I was able to get an entire rotisserie chicken for 990 yen (about $8.50 USD) as well as the pumpkin pie. For Mac and Laura, it was their first pumkin pie-eating experience ever. Needless to say, it was highly successful.
• Bottom: Kim and I doing the dishes after a wonderful dinner.

So to sum it up, it was nothing like the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at home. But that's not necessarily a bad thing afterall. I for one had many things to be thankful for this year, including all of the wonderful people who were willing to come celebrate a holiday that they don't even have in their home countries. It also didn't hurt to have some other Americans around who could help me explain it all to the others. :) I don't think I could have asked for a better way to spend a holiday so far away from home.

The last three weeks in a nutshell...

Sorry folks for the delay in posting. If all goes as planned, we're getting DSL intstalled at the apartment in two days. (Finally!) In the mean time, here's a smattering of pics I've taken over the last couple of weeks:



















Photos:

• Top left: this is a pretty typical dinner at an izakaya, which is a common style of Japanese bar or restaurant. At this izakaya, we all sat on the floor on tatami mats and the food was served on really low tables. The blue bowl contains a green salad, which also had potato salad mixed in with it. Tasty. The black bowl with the big tomato in the middle is a ramen dish, which was also very good in spite of the fact that it had shrimp in it (I think you all know how I feel about eating seafood...). I can't remember what all the rest of it is, but it's mostly a lot of raw meats or fried chicken skin. The garlic fries were also among my favorite of the many things consumed that evening. I think the stuff in the woven bowl to the left of the fries/salad is raw tuna.
• Top right: my very first visit to a Japanese shrine. This was taken at Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park.
• Middle left: also taken at Meiji Shrine. This is part of a wall where people write their prayers on small cards and hang them up.
• Middle right: *gorgeous* turning leaves. It's finally starting to feel like fall in Japan. This picture was taken in a park, though I'm not exactly sure which one. It may be part of Zojoji Temple. Needless to say, Kim, Laura and I are becoming rather accustomed to getting lost on some of our excursions...
• Bottom left: Today I made my first trip to Tokyo Tower. We went inside and had lunch/did some souvenir shopping but we didn't go very far up the tower. As you can tell from the sky, it wasn't a particularly clear day. We're going to go back some other time when the weather's better. I've been told by some of my students that on a good day you can see Mt. Fuji from the observation deck, which is something else I still have yet to see. And since you have to pay to get to the observation deck, we figured we'd better wait and come another time when we can get more bang for our buck, so to speak.
• Bottom right: took this pic at my train station a week or so ago, then decided to play around with it a little on the photo editor. Guess I just thought it looked kind of interesting. A little piece of "Azamino in Black and White."

Anyways, I guess I'd better call it a night. Hopefully once the internet's up and running here, I'll get a chance to post some of my Thanksgiving pictures and a few others for you all.

My "Welcome to Here" Party

Just thought I'd post a few pics of my "Welcome to Here" party from the other week. It was basically a bunch of coworkers (including all three of the new instructors) going out for dinner and karaoke. Felt a little brave that night and tried some new foods at a restaurant that was, incidentally, not Japanese but Korean-style. I may never try some of that stuff ever again but it was quite an experience, to be sure.











Photos:

• Left: (L-R) We grilled our own food.
• Right: Here's a picture of the raw (yes, RAW) beef that I ate that night. Really, you're supposed to eat it that way. I also had pork tongue and beef tongue.

A ferris wheel ride

Photos:

• Top left: Tokyo Bay from Minato Mirai
• Top right: looking back towards Minato Mirai from the waterfront
• Bottom left: remaining foundations of a building that was destroyed in the 1914 earthquake
• Bottom right: Minato Mirai at night
  

So technically I live in Yokohama, Japan, but yesterday I actually went to the city center for the first time in the nearly 5 weeks that I've lived here. I'm in Tokyo everyday and going to Yokohama actually made me realize just how big Tokyo really is. It was the first time in over a month that I was in a public area that wasn't swarming with people. Kind of peaceful at times.

Laura and I started out at Yokohama station and went to Yodobashi, a HUGE electronics store; I've already picked out the first purchase I'm going to make after I get my paycheck in two weeks. The amount of stuff you can get there is overwhelming.

After Yodobashi, we got back on the train and went two stops to a place called Minato Mirai. Very nice. Lots more open spaces, interesting shops to look at, and an incredible view of the bay. We finished up our trip there by taking a ride on the ferris wheel you see in the pictures. It's supposed to be possible to see Mt. Fuji from there, which is something I still have yet to see because we were on the ferris wheel at night. The ferris wheel itself is made to represent a clock (you can probably even read the time on the clock in the pic on the top right), so there are 60 cars to ride in that each represent one second on the clock. The whole structure is so big that it takes 15 minutes to get all the way around.

Sorry folks

Just a quick little note to let you all know that my internet's down, so communication will be a little unpredictable for a while. Can't complain too much, though. We were stealing wireless from the neighbors instead of actually paying for it. We're signed up to get DSL but they can't come set us up for 3 or 4 weeks, so I can't say how often I'll be online for the next while. I do miss you all and will be checking e-mail and Skype voicemail as often as possible, so I'd still love to hear from you.

No uber-exciting photos to add yet, either, but trust me; some really good ones are on the way. The above photo is one that I took from the train not long after I arrived. As you may have guessed, it's a little farther away from Tokyo than where I live. I like seeing the green, though. Something I haven't seen a whole lot of since I left Oregon. I saw some evergreen trees the other day and it almost made me a bit teary eyed...

Hope everyone is well!

P.S. Also a reminder that Japan does not have daylight savings time, so for those of you who live on the west coast of the US, we now have a 17 hour time difference instead of 16. (i.e. 6am Tuesday in Oregon is 11pm Tuesday in Tokyo.)

Gakugei-daigaku Autumn Festival

One of the wonderful aspects of Japan: people are crazy about having festivals. In the area where my school is, everyone is preparing for some kind of festival or another it seems. This week, there was an Autumn Festival right outside my school. Here are a few pics:





















Photos:

• Top left: Processional that came up the street near my school. There was also drumming which everyone was chanting with.
• Top right: the processional stopped at a stage area right outside the Gakugei-daigaku train station. You can see some of the musicians with flutes in this pic.
• Bottom left: many people set up tarps with household items for sale. Lots of super cheap dishes, etc. I bought tea cups for 50 yen apiece. This picture was taken right outside the stairs which lead up to my school.
• Bottom right: another pic of the neighborhood near my school. This is pretty much what it looks like every day.

Attack of the (fake) panda

Photos:

• Top left: Shibuya at night. I took the picture from almost exactly the same place as the photo from Sept. 28. There are so many lights here that the place is lit up even at 10pm.
• Top right: I only have one question. What exactly is that panda doing to that poor man? I watched them walk down the street, the man in the panda costume hanging on to the other man's back the whole way...
• Bottom left: big intersection at Ueno. Actually, this is what a pretty typical intersection looks like in busy parts of Tokyo.
  
• Bottom right: more Ueno. Thought the pic looked cool in B&W.