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.