Tokyo Trip (part shi) ...

Tokyo Train Station:
As I'm blogging about my Tokyo trip I am realizing that we accomplished a lot in a short time. This is part four and so far I've only been in Tokyo for about a day! Where did I leave off ....

After sumo wrestling we took the subway back to Asakusa to head back to Sensoji Temple. We wanted to see it during the day and to go shopping in some of the shops considering that none of them were open at 1:00am the night before. Although the temple was more peaceful in the middle of the night, it was nice to see it in full effect - tourists, shopping, and of course the heat. I can't forget the heat. It's like another member of our group - always with us everywhere we go. An unwelcome member of our group.
Teresa modeling how you are supposed to breathe in the smoke to achieve long lasting health. Doesn't that seem like an oxymoron? We did it anyway.

Yet another place where you could make a wish and/or pray.
Two ladies in traditional kimonos. You can tell they are not married because they are wearing bows. Married women have a flat back piece, not a bow.


You can't possibly leave Tokyo without visiting Akihabara, the electronic shopping district. Anything and everything you could imagine was for sale. The electronic stores had 8, 9, 10 stories full of anything that plugs in or takes batteries. I priced some video cameras, which I did not purchase, and we just wandered around. It's so easy to do. You can just walk & walk & walk. And watch the people. I could sit & watch for hours, but we did not have hours to spare.
The ads go on forever!

A famous electronic shop:

We headed to a ramen shop for dinner before going to get cleaned up.
Melissa, Teresa & myself waiting for three open seats together.
Mastering my chopsticks.
The ramen I had for dinner:



We then back to Asakusa to Ashley & Teresa's hotel room to shower & get ready to head out.
Their hotel room was about the size of my bathroom back home, but we were all able to shower & put clean clothes on, which was nice.

Melissa, Xiao & I headed for yet another area of the city called Roppongi.
This area of Tokyo is known for it's active night club scene and here you can also find a relatively large presence of Western tourists. First we headed to a Tequila bar, advertising more than 400 different types of tequila and then we found a shot bar called Geronimo's.
This place reminded me a little of Suds back in Cedar Falls. It was mostly filled with tourists and played American 80's rock music. Many men tourists hang up their ties on the bar with personalized notes saying where they are from or where they are going. They were interesting to read.

Finally we ventured on and found Club Flower. We paid 3,000 yen to get in (roughly $30) but that also included two drink tickets. The club had two rooms, loud American hip hop music, a lot of Japanese people, and a large bar. We danced the night away, used up our drink tickets, met some local people, and left the club around 4:00am (no gasps please - it was a holiday weekend & I'm in Tokyo! Give me a break). We were all so tired we could barely stand, but somehow we managed to find a place to go shopping! There is a famous store called Don Quixote that is open 24/7 and sold anything and everything imaginable. We didn't buy anything, I think we were all too tired, but we did start thinking about finding a place to sleep. We had heard about internet cafes and started looking for one before it became impossible for us to move our legs anymore.

American Internet cafe: a place like Starbucks. You plug in your laptop during normal business hours, get some coffee, maybe a bagel, and do some work while enjoying a snack.

Japanese Internet cafe: you rent a small cubical that comes with a computer & telephone and you can rent by the hour, or pay for a 3 hour stay to take a nap. Most people utilize internet cafes as a place to sleep if they have missed last train or are having trouble getting anywhere else. :)

Here are the options: High back seat, Reclining seat, Massage seat, or Pair/Quad seat (which translated to a tiny sofa)

We decided to stay at an internet cafe because we were tired, it was close by, and it was very cheap (about $10 for the 3 hour stay). We 'checked in' and found our cubicles and got comfy (we TRIED to get comfortable, but it was impossible) in our leather recliners. I managed to sleep straight through until 7:00am when the alarm went off & we had to leave. With the exception of it being cold (which I didn't notice until I woke up) and not having a pillow, the internet cafe did it's job: gave us a place to take a 'nap'.
This is honestly where I slept:
After two nights of little sleep we were walking to the train station rather slow on Sunday morning at 7:00am.

stay tuned - almost half way finished ...
much love,
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part san) ...

Still Saturday. Still the morning.

Melissa, Ashley & Teresa getting pumped for sumo.

Xiao, myself & Melissa ... looking pretty good.
We walked to Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena and purchased our tickets for the day long event. The tickets were 2,000 yen, which is about $20. We went in and, since hardly anyone was there at 9:30am, were able to sit very close to the ring to get some up close action. We watched the Jonokuchi-Makushita division bouts (the lowest rank) for about an hour.

Up close & almost too personal:

In case you were wondering - no, their belts do not 'slip' or 'shift' in any way. Just wanted to clear that up.
Everything stereotypical of sumo wrestling is true!
Teresa, Ashley & I enjoyed betting on the bouts. Ashley was going broke.
I almost felt bad for these beginners ... There were only a handful of people cheering them on at 10:00am.
Click here to watch a recorded sumo bout:
(keep in mind I'm not good at staying still & Ashley was making me laugh the entire time!)
Sumo Video

After watching up close we then decided that since the arena wasn't crowded & there was ample space in the top tier, this might be an ok place to take a nap! We ventured all the way to the top of the arena (where our seats were) and got comfortable.

A view of the ring:
Just testing out the zoom:


Some of us decided to approach a day full of sumo similarly to an Iowa Hawkeye football game, with tailgating. Well, our version of tailgating. Drinking tall boys of Asahi (Japanese beer) and making bets on the bouts.
Everything was going great (Xiao & Melissa were napping, Teresa, Ashley & I were enjoying the bouts & I was winning the bets) until ... (dun, dun, DUN) Ashley went down to get another beer and some ice cream and came back on the verge of hysteric laughter & extreme crying. She was limping. It took her a second before she was able to say, "The craziest thing in the world just happened to me! (long pause, high anticipation) I was in line for ice cream and I was behind a sumo wrestler & when he turned around to leave he didn't see me (she's only like 5 foot tall) and he stepped on my big toe!!" HAHAHAHA!! We all started laughing. I was laughing so hard my face hurt. I love laughing like that. Ashley's toe, on the other hand, was not looking so humorous (the nail was cracked all the way down the center & there was blood & it was gross looking) & as the pain set in Ashley wasn't laughing so much either. Although when we all stopped laughing and tried to be serious it wasn't long before someone wasn't able to keep a straight face & we all started laughing hysterically again, including Ashley. How many people can say they have been stepped on by a sumo wrestler?
She used the ice cream to ice her toe & everything was fine. I still laugh out loud when I think about it.

Ashley, icing her toe with her ice cream:
Deciding that she didn't want to waste the ice cream, Ashley ate it instead. She did keep her foot elevated for the rest of the afternoon.
We watched sumo for most of the afternoon, between napping, drinking, and betting we were all content. At noon we went to this hall to eat lunch. We ate 'chanko' which they called 'boiled potpourri for sumo wrestlers'. At $2.00 a bowl we got our money's worth. It wasn't good & it smelled far from potpourri. We returned to our seats and the arena began to fill up. at 2:35 the Juryo wrestlers had their ceremonial entrance and at 3:50 the Makuuchi (the senior division) wrestlers had their entrance and bouts.

The senior and highest division wrestlers took place in this introduction ceremony before wrestling. The arena looked a lot different than at 9:00am. Apparently the seats were sold out & good, up close seats sell for hundreds of dollars.
We left in the early afternoon to continue on with our adventure, but this was definitely one of the highlights. What's more Japanese than sumo wresting?

Stay tuned ...

much love
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part ni) ...

Ok ... Naoko was kind enough to lend me her computer while mine is being fixed (in America) and, now that I have figured out how to use it, I can start blogging again. My only gripe is that I only have some of my pictures on disk and this keyboard is different than the one I am used to, so please forgive spelling and grammatical errors. My apologies ahead of time. :)

Tokyo - Day 2

After going to be roughly around 3am (did I mention that before?), the alarm went off at 6:30am. Usually I would hit the snooze and sleep for 5 more minutes but this time I was afraid my alarm would wake up the whole floor of the capsule hotel so I got right up. I was excited for the day so I didn't dwell of the fact that after only 3 hours of sleep I was incredibly tired. Plus Melissa appeared to be up & chipper & ready to go for the day. I followed suit.
We got ready at the capsule hotel. We brushed out teeth with the provided toothbrushes, quickly got ready (no time for showers, which were communal and on the 9th floor), cleaned out our lockers & checked out. Night number one - finished.

Around 7:00 we ventured out. Although tired, we were rather lively. Maybe it was the idea of drinking beer for breakfast. We headed down to meet Ashley and Teresa at the subway station and when we came up we were in a completely different area of the city. (This happened quite often on our trip).

We walked to Tsukiji (sue-kee-jee) Fish Market, a popular tourist destination, for some fresh sushi for breakfast. The smell was overwhelming, the area was cramped and there were men driving these forklift/tractor/scooter like things and shouting - especially if you got in their way. Most of the fish were still alive, which was crazy, and you could watch people filleting the fish right on the street. You could buy anything and everything and the market seemed to go on forever. We had to have walked at least 10 blocks & we were still in the market.
For more information on the market, click here:
http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/youkoso/about_e.htm
or for some graphic pictures, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market
One of the many streets in the market:

Some tanks of some live somethings or anothers:
Don't forget the squid. I'm sure my dad would enjoy the squid.
Some of the fished was cooked & available for purchase. Most was uncooked, including what we ate.

We decided to stop at one of the many small restaurants to eat sushi and drink beers for breakfast. What a way to start the day!


Teresa, Melissa, Me, Ashley & Xiao in front of the restaurant:
Sushi, eel, & beers:

We sat at the counter so we were able to watch the chefs prepare the fish for every order.


My breakfast. Tuna & some 'fixings':

Teresa's breakfast. A bowl of raw everything. I tried the fish eggs (bottom right). Gross, huh?

As we were leaving we realized that it was only 9:00! On any normal Saturday I wouldn't even be awake yet ... One tourist site down, next stop: Sumo Wrestling!

Stay tuned...
much love,
tara
xoxo

My Computer Drama ...

ok .. My computer is having major issues. After chatting with Dell (repeatedly) they have figured that my computer screen is not properly functioning and needs to be replaced. Basically every time I start my computer the screen only stays lit for about 30 seconds and then the screen goes almost black. Almost. Dell was not helpful in the least (despite the fact that my computer is only 3 months old) and told me there was nothing I can do since I life outside the United States. It appears as though I am going to have to send my computer back to the states and have it repaired and then have it shipped back to Japan. It's going to be expensive, but I can't go without my computer! I'm slightly irritated, but there's nothing I can do so I'm getting over it.

What does this mean for you? It means that I won't be posting any blogs, unless I can do it from school and my phone calls will be limited because my phone is on my computer. Ugh. Keep checking, but I don't know when you're going to get part ni (part two) of my Tokyo trip.

Sorry!!

much love,
-tara-
xoxo

Tokyo Trip (part ichi) ...

This past weekend I was in Tokyo. It was absolutely amazing. I loved every part of it (except for the lack of sleep, my heavy-for-packing-light backpack & the 34 degree Celsius weather we walked 30 miles in) and I hope to go back very soon. I have so many pictures and so many stories that this blog is most likely going to come in parts. This is part ichi, or part one.

The trip came about because two of my new friends were leaving to go back to the states (New York to be exact). Their flight left Tokyo Monday afternoon so we decided to head up on Friday and spend the weekend in the massive city. I went with my friends Melissa, Xiao, Teresa and Ashley. Melissa used to live close to Tokyo & Xiao speaks great Japanese, so I felt like I was in very good hands.

We left Friday night after we all got off work. Xiao, Melissa & I met at Okayama station to board the Shinkansen (the bullet train) at 8:30. The Shinkansen is a super fast train (traveling up to 300 km/hr or close to 200 mph) that can get me from Okayama to Tokyo in a little under three hours. Here's more information about the Shinkansen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen

We arrived in Tokyo around midnight, hailed a cab, and ventured to the area where we were staying. It was dark & relatively quiet in Asakusa (the area of the city we were staying in) and I was caught slightly off guard. I couldn't figure out why it was so quiet, but it was nice. I later found out that this part of Japan is an older, more traditional area famous for the many temples in the area. Here's more information about Asakusa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asakusa

This pictures is of Asahi Beer Tower. A modern landmark, which is the headquarter of Asahi Breweries. The 22 storied golden building is designed in a shape of a mug of beer, and the hall next to it, has a giant 'golden flame' on top. The company runs its own bar 'Asahi Annex', where you can taste the original Asakusa beer, although we were unable to go. It looked interesting - & the building is shaped like a mug of beer!

Despite the fact that it was late, we decided to head to Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple not far from our hotel. The temple was almost deserted at 1:00am, which was really peaceful. We walked through the area, took pictures, admired the architecture, and got our fortunes (a popular thing to do at temples).

To get your fortune you shake the metal can and then tip it upside down. One stick falls out with a number on it. You find the corresponding drawer, open it & remove your fortune. If you have a good fortune you keep it. If you have a unlucky fortune you are supposed to fold it & tie it to a rack to escape the bad luck. I got a good fortune. Actually I got fortune #1: Best Fortune. It says:

"The tower of cloisonne with seven treasures is standing in a stately manner upon the high summit. People look at it and praise it. Your fortune is just like this tower. When you look at it more carefully, your fortune will be more excellent.

*Your wishes will be realized. *A sick person will recover. *The person you are waiting for will come soon. *The lost article will be found but it will take a little while. *Building a new house, moving marriage, taking a trip, employment are all good. *Be careful for everything that you want to do. If you are careless, you will get hurt injured."

Xiao is demonstrating how you shake the can:

& then check your stick to find your drawer. The rack behind her is where you tie your bad fortunes.
Melissa got a bad fortune. She was not happy about it.
After spending time at the temple we stopped for noodles at a noodle shop. Here you pay for your ticket at a machine and then walk up to the counter and hand it to the cook. They call for you when it's ready. It's actually convenient & fast. Before we knew it, it was about 3:00am. We decided it was time to retire, considering we had to be up at 6:00am to head to the fish market.

Purchasing tickets for late night dinner:

It would be more helpful if the machines had picture!s!


We went back to our hotel. Our capsule hotel. I know what you're thinking, "Excuse me?" Allow me to explain. Or allow Wikipedia to explain:

"A capsule hotel (カプセルホテル, kapuseru hoteru) is a hotel system of extremely dense occupancy. Guest space is reduced in size to a modular plastic or fibreglass block roughly 2 m by 1 m by 1.25 m, providing room to sleep and little more, although facilities usually include a television and other electronic entertainment. These capsules are then grouped and stacked, two units high. Luggage is usually stored in a locker away from the capsule. Privacy is maintained by a curtain at the open end of the capsule but noise pollution can be high. Washing facilities are communal and there are often restaurants, or at least vending machines, and other entertainment facilities."

The line of capsules on our floor. The ones with the shades down were occupied.

I slept in 8002, on the bottom.

Inside there was a TV, an alarm clock, a fan & a light. None of which I could figure out how to use. I tried to turn on the fan & then a loud static came over the radio. I was convinced I woke up the whole floor, so I just went to sleep.

Xiao demonstrating exactly how much room is in a capsule. It doesn't really count though because she is super tiny.

That's about it. We slept on the 8th floor (reserved for women only). The showers were on the 9th floor, although we didn't use them. We were provided with a locker, a towel, washcloth, toothbrush, & pajamas. The capsule was tiny, but we were tired & it was cheap, plus we only needed it for about 3 hours. It was definitely an experience.

Brushing our teeth in our matching pajamas. It kind of made me feel like we were inpatients at some sort of facility.

One day down, three to go. Stay tuned.

much love,

-tara-

xoxo

A Three Day Weekend ...

Since Monday is a holiday (Old People's Day as it was translated to me), this weekend (tomorrow!) I am heading to Tokyo with some friends. We all have to work on Friday so we are going to board the Shinkansen (the bullet train) at 8:30 Friday night & it should drop us off safely in Tokyo around midnight.

We have a general idea of the weekend - the fish market Saturday morning, Sumo wrestling Saturday, shopping Sunday - but we do not have definite plans. I'm excited!! This will be my first time visiting Tokyo.

I'm sure I'll take a thousand pictures & I will blog all about it next week. Until then ... let's pray I don't get lost among the 12.4 million people that live in Tokyo! (Isn't that insane?)

much love,
-tara-
xoxo

I almost forgot - I might have jumped the gun on my request for mail from the states - My mom has been on top of my weekly mailings, my sister, my aunt Rainy, my grandparents, Grandma Barb & the condo have all sent some love. I greatly appreciate it!
& My fabulous friend Dad & my beautiful friend Michell both sent packages and I accidentally got word :) that my Freeburg family is sending stuff over.

I love my friends & family :) You're all the best!
(This doesn't mean stop sending mail either!!)

My Job ...

After three months, I finally feel as though I finally have a handle on what exactly my job is. My first few weeks were very confusing with a lot of schedule changes, inconsistent days, flip flopped lesson, and meeting literally hundreds ｏｆ Japanese people that I could not keep straight. The first month I didn't usually know where I was going until I ｗａｓ already there and once I finally figured out where I was going I was attempting to memorize names and recall familiar faces. Finally, I feel as though I know what I'm doing, what I want to do, and what is expected of me.

Basically I work at five nursery schools (ages birth through five) and once a week I go to the local university to give lessons.　I give English lessons to groups of children that are four or five years old and private English lessons to children of various ages (6-19. I also work with groups of classroom teachers, head teachers, principals, and professors.

My weekly schedule looks like so:

Monday:
Futuba Nursery School
2 Children Lessons (4 year old children)
2 Private Lessons (Children ages 6-17)

Tuesday:
Tomiyama Nursery School

2 Children Lessons (4 year old children)
Chogukuen University
1 Professor Lesson

Wednesday:
Kanada Nursery School
2 Children Lessons (5 year old children)
3 Teacher Lessons
Chitose Nursery School
2 Children Lessons (first and second grade children)

Thursday:
Chitose Nursery School
2 Children Lessons (5 year old children)
1 Teacher Lesson
Joto Nursery School
1 Teacher Lesson
1 Principal Lesson
1 Private Lesson (9 year old child)

Firday:
Chitose Nursery School
2 Children Lesson (5 year old children)
3 Teacher Lessons
1 Children Lesson (third grade children)

For a grand total of 26 lessons a week.

Got all of that? Can you understand as to why I was confused for the first month? I still get confused when there are schedule changes or lesson times switch, but I'm getting better.

I only see the children once a week, which can be frustrating. I feel like the old art or music teacher in elementary school that worked off of a cart and came in once a week to do a thirty minute activity. Only I work out of a bag. It's definitely a big change from having my own model classroom and my own office.

There are still things that I struggle with from time to time but now I know who to address my questions to, what concerns are safe to discuss, who's up for a good joke, and how to work the copy machine. :) Things are good.

much love
-tara-
xoxo