Tokyo Disney Resort "Ikspiari" shopping mall (12/6)

Last Saturday I got up at the unearthly time of 4:30 to begin my journey to Tokyo for two days. I had been planning this trip for months, and had found out just a few days before that Tokyo DisneySea, the only one of its kind in the world, was sold out for that day. So I was feeling really bummed that I wouldn't get to visit Disney.

At 6 'o' clock, I left my apartment and rode through the snow & dim light to the train station. It was freezing cold, so I bought some hot coffee at a vending machine just to warm my hands and throat. My train was set to arrive at 6:29. My friend & coworker, Ken, was coming with me on the trip, as well as his wife, Mizue. But as my watch read closer and closer to 6:29, I got really freaked out, because they weren't there! Then it WAS 6:29, and then 6:35, and the train was actually late!! A few minutes later, I saw them walking along the platform to me. I couldn't believe how lucky it was that they made it before the train came. Limited express trains are rarely ever late in Japan!

From there, the day got better and better. We dropped off our bags at our hotel and then took the train to the Disney resort area. Outside of the parks (Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea), there is a big Disney-themed shopping mall called Ikspiari. We got lunch there at a place called the Monsoon Cafe. I had Pad Thai and Thai shrimp toast. It was really good. :) Then we spent the rest of the day shopping. I mostly shopped at the Disney Store, where I got some Frozen and Tangled goods. I ALSO got a mocha at the Godiva store! I was going to try one of their frozen drinks, but it was cold, so I got a mocha. I think it was made with real Godiva chocolate syrup- it was expensive but soooo good!!

To end off the day, we visited a small yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant for dinner. The menu was mostly different kinds of meat on skewers, but they also had interesting things like potato balls mixed with cheese, and boiled scallops. Everything was really good. As we were eating, Ken and Mizue convinced me to take a slightly later train home the next day and go to DisneySea with them! They were very convincing and I really wanted to go, so I conceded. That's for another blog post, though. ;)

Scenery near my town on the way to Tokyo

My hotel room (it was really big for one person!)

Ikspiari shopping mall entrance

They didn't know I snuck this pic of them... hee hee

View from my hotel room at sunset

Fall sunrises as winter beckons

I feel bad that it's taken me this long to write, but at the same time, nothing has really been happening here in Shimosuwa. The last month has been pretty uneventful, although I've been very busy at work. I was determined to write a post, though, so here it is!

Fall already seems to be ending here. Trees are dropping their leaves more and more every day, and most of the time it's around 50 degrees during the day, 25-35 at night. It will only get colder from here, but I'm just happy it's cold again! The heat was really hard to deal with this summer, and I've always loved winter, so I'm determined not to let the cold bother me. (Sound like a line from a certain movie? :P)

Along with the cold weather has come amazing sunrises nearly every day (I've included pictures for proof, all taken from my apartment). Because the smog of summer is gone, I can see Mt. Fuji most of the time now. The mountain is especially beautiful with snow on it and in the mornings before the sun has made its way over the Japan alps. (Here's a webcam that has many great views of Mt. Fuji: http://live.fujigoko.tv/?e=1&n=13) One of these days, now that sunrise is about 6:30, I'm going to go to the lake and position myself so I can get some really good sunrise pictures. :)

The only other thing of interest is that Christmas is already beginning here, as fall dies down. There is a day dedicated to thanksgiving, but it's not like our Thanksgiving back home, so all the stores are decorated with Christmas trees and playing Christmas music. I took a trip to Matsumoto today to try out some new holiday drinks at Starbucks and Tully's. At Starbucks, I tried a gingerbread latte. It was really good and tasted just like something you would get back home. Tully's had a new drink called a "noel white mocha." Being a lover of all white mochas, I had to try it! It apparently has 8 kinds of spices as well as orange peel flavoring. It was quite good! Not as good as my favorite- the peppermint white chocolate mocha- but very flavorful and nice on a beautiful fall day.

Well, at least you know now that I'm still alive. :D I suspect I'll be writing a few blog posts in December as well as January. In early December, I'm going to Tokyo Disney Resort for a day. Then during winter break (Dec 27-Jan 7) I'm going to be traveling north with my mom to see the famous snow monkeys that sit in hot springs all day, and after that, we'll be hitting Seoul for a few days! So lots of exciting things to blog about soon. Until then, I hope you're enjoying fall as much as I am, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Matsumoto and Shimosuwa

   On Wednesday, Aug 9th, Traci had the day off, so we took the opportunity to go to Matsumoto.  After traveling by local train, we took the town "sneaker bus" to the castle. This is the oldest original castle in Japan, over 400 years old.  Originally surrounded by 3 moats, as part of it's defense, it never saw a battle.  The newer castle addition is known as the "moon viewing room" and is now used as a performance platform during festivals.
   We were very happy to have a volunteer tour guide (his name was actually Mr. Matsumoto!) who spoke lovely English.  He explained the architecture and history of the castle as we went to each floor.  There are 6 floors, but one is "hidden" and without windows, to trick the enemy.  Steep wooden stairs lead to each floor, and the top floor boasts a great 360-degree view.
   On Thursday we saw more of Shimosuwa.  There are 2 shrines - Akimiya "autumn" shrine, and Harumiya "spring shrine".  Akimiya boasts the largest rice straw ropes in Japan.  Now that I have seen what harvested rice fields look like, I understand where they get "rice straw".
   Shimosuwa is known for music boxes, and they have a museum.  It was so interesting to see music boxes (and listen to them) of all sizes from Switzerland, Germany, the US and Japan. There was a demonstration of some different styles of music boxes and a street organ, like an organ grinder would use.  We all got to try our hand at that one; it's a good thing I don't own a monkey, because I wouldn't make much money at it--it was difficult to make the music play smoothly!  They also demonstrated a large, 5 ft tall, disc-playing Japanese model, and the newest disc they have is "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.  We really enjoyed it - so beautiful!

Rice straw rope

American tourists always getting in the photo.

Cedar trees and ceremonial log at Harumiya.

  

 

"Typhoon in the Morning"

This is Kelly, and that is our forecast on Accuweather today - typhoon in the morning.  I have never seen that forecast at home!  Today is Mon, Oct 6, and it started raining yesterday morning.  The rain is supposed to continue until about noon today.  Traci received a call that school would start at 11:00 today for the students, as the center of the typhoon should be past us by then, but teachers needed to come at the normal time.  It is wet outside, but not very windy.

My mom and I arrived late on Saturday night, after an 11-hour flight, 2 trains, and a taxi.  After we flew past the Aleutian Islands and headed south towards Japan, the headwinds increased to 150 mph, and our speed decreased to 400 mph. I think this was the influence of the coming typhoon.

At the airport, we got onto the N'Ex Direct train bound for Shinjuku station at the west end of Tokyo. Shinjuku is known as the world's busiest train station, with 2 million a day moving through it.  From there, we had 15 minutes to get to the next platform (it took us 10 min) and catch the Super Azusa bound for Kamisuwa, which is just a few miles from Traci's town.  Not every Azusa train stops in her town, so that's the one we had to take.  The hardest part of the trip, was staying awake the last 45 minutes on the train!! We didn't want to miss our stop! My mom had been awake for 24 hours or more, and I had only a couple naps on the plane. We managed to be awake at our stop, and Traci met us there. YAY!  Outside was 1 taxi, and the driver spoke English!  A short drive around part of the lake, and we were deposited at Traci's apartment building.

We spent Sunday visiting, resting, and staying out of the rain.  Traci and Grandma went for a walk to the lake before it started raining heavily.

The apple orchards are full of big red apples, and they sell them directly from the orchard next to us.  We plan to go buy a few and try them, they look tasty!  Oishii!

Traci is at work today, so we plan to go shopping, and grocery shopping, and see what we might cook up using the fish oven. After work, we'll try to secure some rental bikes for our stay here.

The school festival, "Nagigama-sai"

Hello, everyone who is wondering if I'm still alive. I am, in fact, still alive. The first two weeks of September were incredibly busy, with various events and classes back into full swing after the summer. I was a bit worried about returning after such a long break, but it wasn't too hard to get back into the swing of things. I missed my students a lot so it was great to get back to teaching them again.

This last week was very busy for everyone besides me and my fellow ALT, Ken. The whole school was in motion, getting ready for the big school festival, Nagigama-sai. Here in Japan, all public schools have festivals. In elementary school, the festival is only one day (I believe) and consists mostly of sports (so it's really a "sports day"). But in junior high, the festival is two days and is comprised of (approx.): 1/3rd sports, 1/3rd singing, and 1/3rd presentations & crafts. At the end of the second day, they announced the winners of the sports and singing competitions. I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let me talk about what happened each day.

On the first day, we had presentations by the 1st and 2nd graders. There was also a hilarious skit during the opening ceremony about some bad guys trying to shut the festival down and the Power Rangers (aka five boys wearing colored plastic bags) saving the day. :)

Then in the afternoon, the sports competition went underway. There were three main events: jump-rope (which was broken down into a figure-eight pattern and the "everyone jump" where a whole class jumped with one rope), tug-of-war, and the relay. The relay was probably my favorite event once I figured out how it worked. The students were spread out on the field at different stations, and a few started at one spot. They had to make their way through the stations, kind of like an obstacle course, doing various things to progress to the next stage. At one point, three students had to carry one to a high piece of paper which had a teacher's name on it. I didn't realize my name was in there! Suddenly some students began screaming my name and ran over to get me. I just had to run a little ways for them to reach the next stage of the relay. Anyway, it was super fun! I later found out that that class won the relay for their grade (2nd), but they didn't win the overall sports trophy. Oh well, I got to help them win the relay at least. :)

Now for the second day. It began with a rousing mini concert by the brass band. They played a very famous big-band piece that is apparently played at DisneySea in Tokyo (the Disney expert Ken told me that), a famous AKB48 song "Fortune Cookie", and "Let it Go" which I wasn't surprised to hear since Frozen is ridiculously popular over here. <_< It was good, though. The band is really amazing! They won a gold medal in a regional contest this year, but I don't know the details. Anyway, after a short break, we all returned to the auditorium for two hours of singing. Every class sang a song, plus each grade, the PTA, and us teachers, for a total of 16 songs. It was a lot of fun to sing in Japanese with the other teachers. It made me feel more like a part of the school rather than just a foreigner who happens to teach there! :)

To wrap up the festival, the 3rd graders gave some presentations on places they visited this year (including the Japanese version of NASA). Then they announced the winners of the competitions and handed out certificates to students who were exceptional during the festival. Finally, for the ending ceremony, the Power Rangers came back to make us laugh one more time. :D

All in all, it was a really fun time, and I'm so happy I got to experience it. I took tons of pictures and a good amount of video, but I can't post anything with students online. So I'm posting just a couple pictures that I managed to take with no students in them. Anyway, until next time! Which hopefully will be soon. ^_^

The festival mascot, an adorable fox, on the festival banner.

Finally a picture of me and my coworker, Ken! In our matching festival t-shirts. :)

The stage

The trophies

Last Sunday in Miyada

So after my mom and Hayley left, I was feeling a bit homesick and kinda depressed that summer break was over. The first week of school was pretty easy because I didn't have many classes, but just getting back into the swing of things has been a bit challenging. Especially last week when I came down with the same kind of flu or illness that I had back in July.

Anyway, last Sunday (it's Sunday as I'm writing this) I decided to venture outside of my cozy little Lake Suwa area and go visit my friend and fellow teacher, Max, in his small town of Miyada. Actually, Miyada is so small, it's classified as a "village." The full name is Miyada-mura, mura meaning village. Conversely, my town is actually a town, Shimosuwa-machi (machi meaning, you guessed it, town). It seems that Japan has 3 distinctions for size, mura or village, machi or town, and shi which means city. I guess English is sort of the same, although "town" and "city" are often used in the same way. But I digress!

Miyada-mura is a very picturesque Japanese countryside village, situated neatly in a valley between two sets of the Japan Alps. I believe the North and South alps, but it's a bit confusing, so I won't get into that. Basically, I live in one valley stretching NW from Tokyo. There are two other main valleys that connect the southern coastline with central Japan, and Miyada lies in the middle of the three valleys.

Anyway, to get to Miyada, it was about an hour ride from my town. The train station is so small at Miyada that I had to literally pay a conductor after getting off and hold up the whole train. :P Well, it was only two cars, so not really a very big train. Haha. Anyway. I met Max outside the "station" and we began our trek to the golden statue. He had told me about it before, but basically, it's just a golden statue of Kannon (Buddhist Bodhisattva or person who helped others to enlightenment before gaining it themselves) situated on the hill so you can see it from most places in the village. We walked uphill alongside rice paddies, traditional buildings, and finally woods with signs warning of bears (and forest fires, don't smoke in the woods!!) before reaching the statue. It was about a 50 min walk. It was cool out, but so humid that I was drenched by the time we made it to the top. The views of the valley were amazing, though. It was worth it!

After making our way back into the village, we waited for the next train (tiny station = not very frequent trains) and took it to Ina, the closest city. Ina is kind of spread out so I don't really know where it begins or ends, but anyway, there's an arcade there that Max frequents, and I was interested to see if they had a game called Taiko Drum Master that I have been wanting to try. It was quite the happening place when we got there, but nobody seemed to be playing TDM, so I tried it out. I've played the game on PS2 back home, but the real thing is a lot harder! You have to hit the drum pretty hard... :P Well so I played that for a little while, then I watched Max do what he really comes there to do- Dance Dance Revolution. He was soooooo good. O_O I did a few songs with him, but I did normal mode while he did "super mega insane ridiculous challenge" mode. Yeah... so I went back to TDM. Unfortunately he does taiko in real life, so he kinda beat me at that too. <_< Oh well, it was fun.

By the time we made it back to Ina station, I was feeling really tired and it was about 7, so I hopped on the next train (which was actually a really new-looking, comfy train!) and was back in Shimosuwa in less than an hour. It was a good day, but we walked so much, and I didn't realize the shoes I wore would be so bad on my feet... I ended up with one cut-up ankle, blisters on both feet, and one purple toenail that I don't even know how that happened. :P But I survived!

Walking to the statue

View from on the hill

The golden Kannon

Random traditional housing

Close-up of rice

The DDR machine at the arcade

Hayley & Mom in Shimosuwa (8/15-16)

The 15th was really fun but very tiring. It started in the early afternoon when Amy and Momoko came over to my apartment to help us dress in yukata (summer kimono). Momoko is really good at dressing people, so we let her do most of the work. Haha. Once we were all ready, we joined the rest of our group (the guys who DIDN'T dress up) and walked to the train station. Everyone we passed, literally, whether they were walking or in a car, had to look at us. It was kinda funny. Well, there were five of us dressed in yukata, so we probably did look pretty cool. :)

Anyway, we took the train to Kamisuwa, where the fireworks would be set off from that evening. The place was completely packed with people. It felt like being in Tokyo again! We walked around, very slowly because it was so crowded, observing all the food stalls. It was really hot, unfortunately, so I wasn't feeling too great after walking for a long time. We came back to Shimosuwa around 6 and we decided to change into comfortable clothes for watching the fireworks.

The night before, some of my apartment friends had taped off an area for us to sit during the fireworks display, so after we changed we walked to the lake and found a whole picnic awaiting us at our spot! There was so much food, and I had just been expecting snacks. :) It was really nice. Then the fireworks themselves were, of course, spectacular. They were really amazing. The American fireworks that I've seen just don't compare. There were color-changing ones, ones that fell down like a waterfall, ones shaped like hearts, etc. They were supposed to go for two hours, but unfortunately it began raining a little over an hour in, so we had to quickly pack up the food and everything and walk back to the apartment in the rain.

On the 16th, we walked to Seiyu (a grocery store owned by Walmart) to get some souvenir crackers and things. It decided to pour on us on the way back, and I had been trying to get my bike fixed but the shop was closed, so things just didn't seem to be going our way. -_- For our last dinner, we went to Denny's and got fancy desserts afterward. Overall, it was a really fun time, and I'm glad that Hayley and my mom came! I'm looking forward to the next time I get visitors. :)

Momoko and I :)

Mom and I ready to go!

Lol at Junta and Neko-sensei in the background :P

The pre-tied obi (shhh, it's a secret) that I wore with my yukata. And Hayley snuck into this picture!

Denny's - Butter chicken curry

Denny's - Omelette rice ("omuraisu")

Denny's desserts - Mini chocolate sundae. It was soooo good!

Hayley's dessert at Denny's - some kind of pudding with brownies.

Hayley & Mom in Shimosuwa (8/13-14)

These three days we were more busy than our first few days in Shimosuwa. On the 13th, we took the train to Kamisuwa, the next town over. We wanted to ride the swan boat that goes around the lake. First we stopped at Tully's in the station for some coffee. Then we walked to the swan boat port. It's a bit spendy to ride the boats, but I think it's worth it. The ride was very peaceful and the views of the cities around the lake were very cool. After riding the swan boat, we went to a soft serve place beside the lake which offers about ten interesting flavors. I got vanilla & green tea, mom got melon, and Hayley got mixed berry. We visited a souvenir shop briefly before heading back home on the train.

The next day, we headed to Okaya in the late afternoon for the big taiko festival. 300 people play taiko drums, flutes, and dance on the stage. It was really amazing to see. They even had like pyrotechnics and smoke that would come out now and then. Some of my friends came to the festival too. Brendan and Justin from my town, as well as Max who also came to the Matsumoto taiko festival. Amy was there, too, but she was actually participating in the dancing, so we only got to chat for a minute. It rained some at the festival, which was kinda disappointing, but oh well.

Interior of the swan boat

View of the alps from the lake

An egret or heron stalking in the grass :P

The taiko festival stage was so big!

I really want to play that big drum, haha.

Hayley & Mom in Shimosuwa (8/9-12)

I'm really sorry I've gotten so behind on the blog, but before September begins, I want to get caught up. Anyway, in order to do that, I'm going to condense the week my mom and Hayley spent here in Shimosuwa (after Tokyo) into two or three posts.

We arrived back in Shimosuwa on the 9th, but we were all really tired, so we didn't really do much. The next day, the 10th, we stayed around the apartment mostly because a typhoon was passing nearby (the day before, as well).

Anyway, finally Monday the weather was better, so we rode the train to Matsumoto. It was really hot but we managed to do a lot. We walked to the castle, rested there for a while, then went back to the station to get lunch at MOS Burger. They have a really good coffee shake that I wanted to get. :) After lunch we did some more shopping before heading back to Shimosuwa. We were really tired by the time we got back to my apartment, and since we didn't really feel like going out, we decided to try ordering a pizza on the phone. I had heard that the company Pizza-La had English support, so we ordered a couple pizzas through them. I thought both were really good- one was a Japanese teriyaki chicken and the other was Hawaiian. :) It's a bit expensive to order through them, so I probably won't do it much, but it's nice to have the option!

On the 12th, the weather wasn't great again, so we just went to Aeon and did some shopping there for souvenirs and stuff. I got a new kitchen mat that is really cute. :) For dinner, we went to Cafe Gusto, which is one of my favorite restaurant chains here. They have a $2 drink bar that I really love. Okay, well, that's enough for this post. Onto the next one!

A wedding at Matsumoto Castle

Teriyaki chicken w/ corn and mayonnaise

Hawaiian- my fave!!

My dinner at Gusto. The hamburger has cheese inside. :)

Hayley's traditional Japanese meal at Gusto.

Mom's dinner was a cheesy shrimp gratin.

Tokyo Day 4: Japanese garden & Odaiba again (8/8)

Sorry I'm so behind on blog posts, we've been pretty busy every day and I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write. I'll try to get caught up in the next couple days.

Anyway, for our fourth & last full day in Tokyo, we went to a traditional Japanese garden called Kyu-Shiba Rikyu. It was only like a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel. It was really hot and humid that day, but the garden was very peaceful, and there was hardly anyone around.

After the garden, we cooled off at the hotel for a bit before heading back to Odaiba. There's so much to see and do on that island, and since we hadn't gone on the ferris wheel the last time, I really wanted to go on it this time. The ferris wheel is around 300 feet tall and was at one point the tallest in the world. It was a leisurely 15-min ride looking out at Tokyo Bay. We could also see the Tokyo Tower, the Sky Tree, and other famous buildings as we rode. Going up is always a little scary to me, but I really enjoy going down. Haha.

Then we headed to another part of Odaiba to a shopping complex called AquaCity. There we did some shopping, but the main event was a food court theme park of ramen from around Japan. It was basically a big room with 5 different ramen stands, very Japanese decor, and taiko music. I got miso ramen from Sapporo while my mom and Hayley chose a spicy ramen from Chiba prefecture (to the east of Tokyo). Instant ramen can't compare to the real thing- it's so good, and even on a hot summer day, a bowl of steaming ramen is amazing. Of course it helped that the place was air-conditioned. :P

I have to say that Odaiba might be my favorite area of Tokyo. Next time I go, I want to explore even more of what it has to offer!

The garden

He totally posed for me!

Lunch - bento from a convenience store

View from the ferris wheel

My miso ramen

Hayley's spicy ramen

The Statue of Liberty replica on Odaiba