Blowing Glass ...

Between Amanda and I, we work at a total of eight schools. About once a month or so a group of teachers from one of those eight schools usually asks us if we want to get together and do something on the weekend. It's a really great offer that we usually take them up on. Last month they asked if we wanted to go blow glass. Obviously we do.

Three teachers pick us up one Saturday morning and we drive to a town close by called Kurashiki. We arrive at what looks like some sort of unmarked shed and I can instantly feel the intense heat coming from the small doorway. Great. Not only is it incredibly hot outside, here it's also incredibly hot inside.

We met the man in charge (who only speaks Japanese) and filled out some paperwork. Amanda was convinced we were signing some sort of waiver, although neither of us could understand what we were signing exactly (and the translation was poor). We were asked to draw a picture of what we wanted our glass to look like and, fully aware that I didn't get the artistic gene, I am instantly convinced I will be leaving with a misshapen glob of multicolored glass, but still excited nonetheless.

We have a few minutes to look around the 'shed' and there are a couple shelves with his handmade glass that are quite amazing, as was the price. I was definitely intrigued by this whole process.

I'll let the videos speak for the experience. You can see how difficult it is to understand each other's spoken words but at the same time you can see the power in nonverbal communication. I didn't understand one word that man said all day, but I could still follow his directions.

They come in a series, so watch them in order.

(or not ... some technical difficulty with the videos ... I'll keep work on it. Sorry!)

The pictures will have to do for now!

The source of the incredible heat ... & the double door apparatus on the left is a freezer. Once the glass is finished it is immediately transferred to the extreme cold to set.

Amanda demonstrating how it's done.

There was a lot of 'slow blow'ing, some confusion, and tons of dripping sweat (gross, I know, but it was literally 120 degrees in there!), but it was amazing. I love the outings that the teachers plan for us.

I'll keep working on the videos.

much love
-tara-
xoxo

Himeji Castle ...

A few weeks ago Ashley, Teresa & I took the shink (the shinkansen) to a city called Himeji. This are of Japan is home to the gracious Himeji Castle. Known as one of the "Three Famous Castles", it is also the most visited castle in Japan. The structure, inside and out, was amazing. The tall stone foundations, whitewash walls, and organization of the buildings within the complex are standard elements of any Japanese castle, and the site also features many other examples of typical castle design, including gun emplacements and stone-dropping holes. The walkway to the main castle is a complex spiral maze of dead ends used as a defense mechanism against intruders.

Himeji was bombed twice in 1945, at the end of World War II. Although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed.

The castle is surrounded by a moat, duh. :)


After learning that the walls of the castle are all intricately stacked stones of various sizes, Ashley decided to see if she could take down the castle.


Beginning our trek ... at the very bottom.

The story of our lives here, NO SHOES!!

We're heading up to the top .. in slippers. One size fits all slippers. Did I mention that they have small feet here?

I had to duck while climbing the stairs ... I'm only five feet two inches tall!!

The stairs were so steep!! The kind where you have to turn your foot sideways to get it to fit ... my foot in a slipper three sizes to small while carrying my shoes in a plastic bag in one hand and my overstuffed backpack in the other hand.

Wondering if this trap door will help us escape the 100 degree heat.

Hot, tired, thirsty & slightly in pain ... we made it to the top!

Of course we said a prayer.

The view of Himeji was beautiful.

And after about three minutes of the unbearable heat, we began our descent.

Although C3 said I was going to find a prince to marry while I'm here, I didn't find him at Himeji. Not yet anyway ... The are is so beautiful I know I will be back.

much love,
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part juichi) ...

Here it is. Finally, after about three weeks worth of blogging about a three day trip - this is it.
Monday, three long days (and eleven blogs) and we are preparing to leave. We decided to make one last stop at a government building to get a view of the massive city.

We took a bus (that is now the fifth form of public transportation we have used since leaving Okayama) to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The building stands 799 feet tall and has a two deck observatory open to the public free of charge. At this point in the trip all we could afford was free.


The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is also referred to as "Tax Tower". Want to guess why? :)

Tokyo is trying very hard to get the bid for the 2016 Olympics. That's in 9 years!! There are posters up everywhere ... it's like the bid for presidency in the United States - the early the better apparently.

This is literally one half of like thirty of these panoramic maps showing you where everything is around the city. This one shows Mt. Fuji way in the back. You are supposed to be able to see it on a clear day ... I couldn't find it. Then again, I didn't have my nerdy glasses.

The city goes on forever ... and ever.

Tokyo Tower! The world's highest self-supporting steel structure. It stands 8.6 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower.

More of the enormous city ...

It was unbelievable. As hard as I looked to find some sort of end, it never appeared.

There you have it folks. My Tokyo trip. All eleven parts. Finally, I can move on to what else I've been doing in the last month. :)

much love
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (park ju) ...

Almost finished . ..
After seeing all there was to see in Harajuku, we took a train to Shibuya station. Shibuya is overpopulated - there are people on top of people on top of people. It's wild. There's an estimated population of 195,877 and a density of 12,960 persons per km. The total area is 15.11 km². (I suppose I should site Wikipedia) :). One of the first things you see as you exit the train station is the infamous Shibuya Crosswalk.

Shibuya is famous for its scrambled crossing which is reportedly the world's busiest. It is located in front of the station's Hachiko exit and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to inundate the entire intersection. Three large TV screens mounted on nearby buildings overlook the crossing. The Starbucks store overlooking the crossing is also one of the busiest in the world. The 2003 American movie Lost in Translation featured a scene at the crossing.

It's no joke either. Here's the proof:

An overhead view:

I was almost convinced I was going to get lost in the crowd & never make it to the other side.

After successfully crossing the street we decided to find dinner. We stumbled upon a random restaurant, as we often do, and were happy to finally sit. So happy we ended up sitting for over two hours.
We ordered chicken and fish - sounds safe, right? Need I remind you that I'm in Japan - no order is a safe order.
The chicken is a typical order for many restaurants. You get six chicken skewers with various chicken parts on each. You get a chicken wing, chicken livers, chicken skin, chicken balls (they're a mystery), chicken cartilage, chicken hearts, and chicken eggs. I don't know what kind of chickens produce eggs that small, but we ate nonetheless.

We also ordered fish. I just get slightly creeped out when you have to eat around the eye.

Maybe we should have ate at the 24h McDonalds. We could have got some McPorks for 100 yen.

I stumbled upon a Coach store as we were wondering around looking for a place to sleep. Subliminally I think it was calling my name. It wasn't accidental.

We wandered around an area called Love Hotel Hill - only for the scenery, not to stay. Finally we decided to splurge on a hotel that was right around the corner. We were so tired and after one night in a capsule hotel & one night in a chair at an internet cafe a bed sounded amazing. We checked in, made our way to the sixth floor & were asleep before we could take our shoes off. As tired as I was I did manage to find time to pay the tv 500 yen to see if there were any American sports or any American news on - of course it was a no go, but worth the try.

We woke up refreshed & ready to spend our last day in Tokyo!!
We headed to Starbucks to people watch. I got some much needed caffeine ... despite the great night of sleep I was still slightly dragging. I must be getting old.

The crosswalk during the day:
We crossed the massive crosswalk and went back to the station to visit Hachiko, Shibuya's famous dog.

One of the most well-known stories concerning Shibuya is the story of Hachik0, a dog who waited on his late master at Shibuya Station every day from 1923 to 1935, eventually becoming a national celebrity for his loyalty. A statue of Hachikō was built adjacent to the station, and the surrounding Hachikō Square is now the most popular meeting point in the area (again, my thanks to Wikipedia).

I took this picture for my dad & to see if anyone could tell me exactly where the fire hydrant is? I see these everywhere & up top in the red it says 'fire hydrant' (yes it's in English, so I can't blame it on my poor translating). Where is the hydrant? Maybe they're so high tech they're invisible.

Can anyone spot the tourists in the train station?

I left the navigating up to the others ... between the subway line, the JR train line, & the shinkansen I was confused as to how we were getting from point A to point B 99% of the time. I just followed the crowd.

stay tuned for the finale ...
much love
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part kyu) ...

A couple of hilarious videos I took while we were cruising the area around the park. The one on the top (of the group of men in leather with obnoxious hair) is hilarious, but they are so serious about it you can't laugh until you're out of earshot.

The other video (on the bottom) is this j-pop (Japanese pop) group with a substantial fan base. There were at least twenty people cheering them on. They sang all Japanese songs & when they started in English I had to hit record. It was a riot. There were like 15 people in the band, but my lack of expertise in the field of videography prohibited me from getting all of them on camera.

Allow me to apologize in advance for all of the shakiness & bad commentary - I never claimed to be good at this.



much love,
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part hachi) ....

After we left Meiji Shrine we walked right around the corner to Yoyogi Park. This is one of the largest parks in Tokyo. According to Wikipedia:

What is now Yoyogi Park was the site of the first successful powered aircraft flight in Japan, on December 19, 1910, by Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa, following which it became an army parade ground. During the postwar occupation, it was the site of the Washington Heights residence for U.S. officers. It later was selected as the site for the 1964 Summer Olympics, and the distinctive Olympic buildings designed by Kenzo Tange are still nearby. In 1967, it was made into a city park.

Today, the park is a popular hangout, especially on Sundays, when it is used as a gathering place for people to play music, practice martial arts, etc. The park has a bike path, and bicycle rentals are available. As a consequence of Japan's long recession, there are several large, but surprisingly quiet and orderly, homeless camps around the park's periphery. These are somewhat like the Hoovervilles during the Great Depression in the USA.

Recently Tokyo Governor has announced his plans to build a 100,000-capacity stadium in Yoyogi Park in order to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The park was beautiful. There were so many things going on everywhere you looked. Although I have never been, I can imagine it is like Central Park in New York.

These people were practicing some soft of hip hop dance routine. Or maybe they were just working out.

People were napping, dog walking, playing frisbee, reading, people watching, everything and anything.

We decided this would be a good place to get some rest. It wasn't ideal, as the ground was hard and there was a large crow in the tree directly above us, but we were so tired it didn't matter.
There's a little piece of all five of us in this picture -

After a couple hours of sleep we woke up rejuvenated. Somewhat anyway. We decided to venture along the sidewalk outside the park. On Sunday's everybody who wants to be somebody sets up their stuff and plays or sings or dances for whoever is watching. We saw some pretty interesting things.

I was half taking a picture of the band, half taking a picture of this beautiful pink outfit. :)

A hip hop band who wasn't half bad.

CDs were available for purchase, although I didn't indulge.
And of course there was dancing!! These people were reenacting some Grease I think.
So after walking down the 'boardwalk' (minus the water) we ended up at the bridge in front of Yoyogi park. Here are the infamous gothic lolitas.
Gothic Lolita: (sometimes alternatively (though incorrectly) "Loli-Goth") has two definitions. The term "Gothic and Lolita" is used by the Japanese to describe a sub-culture of teenagers who wear a wide range of fashions. A wide range of fashion is an understatement. See for yourself:
Xiao & a lolita:

Also on the bridge were three guys carrying on the 'Free Hugs' movement. I love it. For those who don't know about Free Hugs, click here:
Free Hugs Origination

Free Hugs in Tokyo

Of course I got one.



almost finished ...
much love,
-tara-
xoxo