Last day and Last thoughts...

Tuesday we spent a good portion of the day getting ready. Kathleen and Calidghe were getting ready for their trip to the east coast, while I was getting ready to go home. I mailed off my souvenirs and packed everything. That evening we went back to the beach and their old nieghborhood. It was so pretty. The sun was setting, and we ate ice cream at a beach bar. It's sad that my trip is over now. Who knows how long it'll be before I can travel again or see my aunt and uncle again. Right now I am at the airport waiting for my flight. I am exhausted, tired but very happy to be going home. I'll miss the politeness of the Japanese, the quietness of the Japanese, and the moral code of the Japanese. But it will be nice to be able to be loud, to not be seen as a gaijin all the time, and to blend in a little more. I can't wait to get home and I'll have tons of great things to share when I do!Love you all!!

~Laura

Chu Hai, Mochi and YAKUZA!

Sunday was a realitively boring day. I spent most of it watching T.V. , which I didn't mind for the first part of the day, since Calidghe and I were both so sore. But later that evening, I got so bored that I had to get up and out of the house. So John and I went and took a stroll around town. We walked around and John said I should get a Chu Hai. So I did. A Chu Hai according to John are like a Japanese Margarita. They come in all different flavours and I got mine in pineapple. That was fun and delicious. After that we went in search of mochi, which is one of John's favourite snacks. We ended up finding some delicious street food, these little meat on a stick thingys and the only normal things they had were pork and chicken meat. They also had pork heart, liver, tongue and chicken gizzards on a stick. I stuck with pork. We finally found some mochi at a Lawson's which is like a seven eleven. I'm sorry John, but mochi is highly unusual. I think it is more of a texutral thing, because eating something with a sweet teriyaki sauce that was the texture of melted marshmallow isn't my thing. mochi is basically mashed up rice balls with teriyaki sauce on them. Not my bag. While nibbling on mochi we came across a street where there were a bunch of guys wearing suits standing out in the middle of the street. It seemed strange, seeing all these dapper men in suits with those little earphone cords behind the ear... it seemed strange. John said they were the Yakuza, the notorious Japanese mafia. I've heard of the Yakuza and they are a scary bunch of dudes. It was still exciting to get to see them though.

Sumo and Fuji-San

yikes.


pretty.

This part sucked.

Also, don't Throw a Rock

Going up

To Station 7

This is my Nat Geo Shot.

In the Clouds.

The Crater.

Almost there!!



miso ramen= best meal ever . Had it at the top.

This is what's on top of the mountain

The crater.

Mt. Fuji from the base.

Desending into the clouds


The day before our climb was a lazy one. John and I spent it betting on the sumo matches on T.V. He claims that the smaller guys always win, which they don't. I always betted on the fat guys, this because they just have way more mass to push with. All in all, I won the bets and am now up by three. Sumo is actually quite entertaining to watch. We watched it for a good while.

Then the climb. We woke at an early 1:45 to drive over to Fuji. When we got there at 5:30 we went and used the Facilities, which cost us 100 yen to use and smelled worse than a honey bucket. As soon as we got there, we were given these wooden hiking poles that you get stamped along the way with branding irons. It came with a flag on it and some bells, but Calidghe and I immediately took them off, because we didn't want to hear the jingling of bells all the way up and down. We started climbing, and it started off easy, but only got harder and harder. There were times when you were literally climbing the hill, grabbing rocks and such. When we got a little over half way up, the air was getting so thin that I started to experience some light altitude sickness. You couldn't go as far as 10 yards before stopping to catch your breath. At one point while we were slowly working our way up, a Japanese guy gave me a look that said "we're crazy. why are we doing this?" and I remembered one Japanese phrase that I read about and it's gambate, which means don't give up, or something like that. I said "Gambate!' and then responded in Japanese which I took as," thanks, you too." When we got to the next station he nodded in my direction and gestured what I read as "yes! we did it!" Then he said something to me as I headed up after a break, which I took as "good Luck." You know I couldn't understand him but then again I did.

You know somethings up when the people branding our poles had you use a machine to keep the fire going. That's how thin the air was. All the way up the mountain are these small stations, where you can get your pole branded, get a cup of noodles, water. At the top when we finally got there, there were all sorts of trinkets for sale, and even a restaurant. All their supplies were shipped up by bulldozer. Eating noodles at the top of a mountain, I felt like I was in tibet, at the foothill of Everest. There were even some tibetan prayer flags. The Top was nice and was busy! There were many people getting beers and such and I was tempted to get one myself but bought a 500 yen bottle of water for the way down. I didn't have enought yen for both. The way down sucked. It was all just gravel and rocks and was steep enough that all you were doing was sliding down. I had gaiters, which I wore, but one of them was broken so rocks kept on getting into my shoe which was so annoying. Also, the way down sucked because it never ended. even when we got off of the mountain, we still have to hike back to the buses which were further away because the descending trails were on the another side of the Mountain. Going down was way worse. And the dust! Goodness. My Japanese Gambate buddy waved to me as he pasted me on the way down. That was the only nice thing about going down. When I finally got to freshen up in the bathroom, I looked quite freaky, all the dust on my face made my eyes look shallow and ghostly. I bet I scared off a ton of Japanese people who were heading up the hill when we were heading down. They being all clean, and eager, snapping photos, running with their clean clothes and cheery disposition. I was an image of death. I was covered in red dust, one of my gaiters was being held up with a shredded piece of twine, I was sunburned, dirty, and zombie-like. After I cleaned up and changed my clothes I felt right as rain. Got sunburned badly on the ears, got a good blister and my butt hurts a tad, but all in all I'm good. I've spent all day today doing nothing but lay around, watching desperate housewives. It's wierd to think that I will be leaving Japan soon. I'll have to make the most of these next days.

Bowling, Shabu Shabu and Tennis

Today we met some Japanese friends of my aunt and uncle for lunch and bowling. I forget what their names but I think they were Sachiko and Junke. I don't think either one of those names is spelled right though. anyways, We went to a place at the Daiei Mall called Shabu Shabu, Which is probably one of the most unique dining experiences ever. If you recall in the movie Lost in Translation, when Johannson and Murray get in their fight and they order plates of meat that all look the same- well that is Shabu Sabuu. What you do is you get thinly sliced raw meat on a plate, then you have a pot of bowling water in the middle of the table. You twirl the meat in the hot water and it cooks it. It is quite delicious. You get a variety of different sauces to dip the meat in and also have the option of all kinds of vegetables and whatnot to put into the pot. I favored the mushrooms, which is unusual for me. They were these long skinny ones though, not the fat kind. You cook the food yourself which is also highly unusual. I kept thinking to myself as I gazed into the bowling hot pot of water inches away from my bowl, This would never fly in the states.
After wonderfully stuffing ourselves, we went to the bowling alley on base. This was fun, and the Japanese, especially Sachiko love to bowl. In town is is super expensive to go bowling, but on base it's a dollar so we went. Sachiko is super good, and I am really bad. I can't bowl. all my balls had a curve on them that I couldn't get rid of, and all ended up in the gutter. Oh well. This evening John and I went and attempted to play tennis. We ran all over that court but instead of hitting tennis balls, we were just retrieving them. Either way it was a good workout.tomorrow I'll be getting ready for Mt. Fuji, Which is this Saturday. Can't wait.

Getting Ready for Mt. Fuji

It's been kind of nice that this last week has been a bit slower because we are going to be busy and tired this Saturday. Apparently the bus leaves at 2 in the morning and won't get back until like 10 o clock. I won't be seeing the sunrise, but thank goodness because that means that I won't be spending the night on the mountain. The mountain isn't anything pretty except from far away, and we will be so high up that altitude sickness is common. I'm not looking forward to that too much. One nice thing is that you get a souvenir official climbing stick and it has a little flag on it and at every interval on the way up you can pay a 100 yen or so to have it branded and stamped. I sure hope everything goes well. Uncle John, Aunt Kathleen and Michael refuse to go again, seeing that they had a bad experience the first time around. But Caeli is going with me. Her and John were the only two to make it up the hill the last time they went. I've climbed Mt. St. Helens but I believe that this mountain is a bit taller. I bet I can do it.

Japanese Television

When I get bored, it's often fun to check out the local television. Although I don't understand anything, it's often fun just to try and figure out what on earth is going on. One thing that is nice is that commercials here are super short, often seconds long.
Here's some sampling of Japanese game shows.




Human Tetris.



I not exactly sure, but I think this one is a tongue twister game where if you screw up you get whacked.

Sunday here was John's Birthday. We celebrated by over eating, and watching Arrested Development. Fun times. Tomorrow I'll be putting together some packages to send home to everyone! That'll be lots of fun.

Fukiware Waterfall, Blueberry Picking and a Kokeshi Doll Factory

Today was a nice but long day. Calidghe and I went on this trip and we had to wake up at 4 in the morning to go on a 4 hour bus ride to the country side somewhere up above Tokyo. I don't even know exactly what region we were in but let's just say it was rural. All the signs were completely in Japanese and there was farm country, rice fields, orchards; it was really beautiful. It was a nice change from the asphalt Jungle of the city. We went to a waterfall that our tour guide called "the Niagara of the East" but it wasn't so magnificent. it was pretty though and the area was really pretty. There was even a temple that was hidden away on an island that was very picturesque. I was also fasinated by all the crazy bugs we saw. We saw the biggest spider ever, and Calidghe said that this green bug almost attacked me, but I missed that. Also, on another note, I used my first Japanese-style toilet today. That was fun. Yes that is how rural we were. After that we went to this orchard area where they sold all kinds of different fruits. You name it, they were growing it. when we got there, we expected something a little bigger, like lots of berry plants, buckets full of berries, blueberries in the wild or something. When we got there there were a lot of blueberry bushes, but the 90% of the blueberries weren't ripe yet and also we got a tiny little container for them. So that was a bummer. Then after that we drove to a Kokeshi doll factory. The dolls are famous and you see them all over Japan. They are wooden figures rather than dolls but are brightly painted and made up. We got to see people make them and paint them up. All in all it was a long, hot but rather enjoyable day. next weekend is mt. Fuji Which I am not exactly looking forward to, but it's one of those things I know I should do. All I know is that it will be a hot, long and tiring weekend.

Hancock, More Sushi and Japanese Goodwill stores

Yesterday after a wonderfully lazy morning, Uncle John, aunt Kathleen and I went out for lunch at our favorite sushi joint. What is nice about this place is that locals go there when they are hungry and they are not polite or dainty about it. When it comes to sushi, the Japanese are like southerners at a crawfish bake, grabbing everything, eating everything, being loud.Talking with food rolling around in their mouths. I love it. It makes the Japanese all the more human. All three of us got all the sushi we could ever want at 5 bucks for each of us. It was kind of like a Japanese Old Country Buffet, except the food is all good for you. I have found that it is impossible to keep more than 5000 yen in my pocket for more than a few days which is bothersome, but everything is so exspensive. Fruit is the worst. Their prices and worth here are comparable to those in Soilent Green. After that, we went to a wonderful little place called Hard Off, which is a Japanese equivilent to Value Village. So in other words, everything is fairly nice, and doesn't smell the way the village smells back home. One thing that was fun to do was look at CDs and check out all of the "Engrish" that was written on all of the cool Fashion Tees. All the shirts say random things on them like "Lets forever happy be, Hope for Dreams" and some just replace the L's with R's. But I guess the same is true on the flip side. We all know someone or have heard of someone who got a Kanji Japanese or chinese character tattoo and found out that it mean something stupid. Instead of saying "Love" it says "I'm Stupid" or something or the sort.
We went to see Hancock today which wasn't a bad movie, except for the last half of it. I wouldn't recommend it.

DisneySea!!

DisneySea was the best. Basically it's just another park right next to Tokyo Disney but it's way better. I must say that the Tower of Terror ride there was the best. Basically your in a haunted hotel elevator and it's cursed or something; I couldn't really get the story straight since everything was in Japanese. Anyways, It drops you from high up and is fun. We even went to a an Alladin 3d Show and that was wierd to see the Genie sing "You Never had a friend like Me" in Japanese. There were also some pretty lame rides as well as a cool updated Indiana Jones and the crystal Skull ride. DisneySea was almost better just because you couldn't understand what everyone was saying and so we did our best to talk about everything, laugh at everything and loudly. Twas a fun day.





You Can't Help but laugh.

Summary of the past few days...

Chinatown, Yokohama Hippo!!

Ninja Warrior!!!

Electronics District

They made him look Japanese

Luke I wish you were here

I was going to get this for you luke

Oh yess. Sake Barrels. Meiji Shrine



Bless your hands

pray.

Harajuku. Punk Store. Favorite of many

It's like this everywhere. Another Shrine.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've been super busy doing things, and this weekend Aunt Kathleen, Michael, and I went up to Tokyo but before I get to that Here's a summary of my 4th of July...
4TH OFJULY So I had the wierdest 4th of July ever. That morning, we had a super downpour of rain which was actually a good thing, seeing that Uncle John wanted me to run a 5k with him that was being put on by the base. The rain cleared up so unfortunately I had to run. And I did it! But I must say, it was so humid outside! Today we also went to the Chinatown in Yokohama City which was interesting because everything had a Japanese twist on Chinese classics. Dumplings had seafood and stuff in them and there were roasted chestnut stands everywhere!!We also went to a thing that my relative's ex-nieghbors wife puts on called THE HIPPO FAMILY CLUB. What it was, I couldn't exactly say or put into words. Michael hates it but still insisted that I needed to go to it.But what it seemed like to me, was a mixture of childhood sing songs, combined with foreign languages, combined with loud little kids running around EVERYWHERE. I'm glad I went because it was interesting to be able to see the Japanese in a more casual and crazy environment. That night we got home late from Hippo and missed the fireworks. It was wierd that I had such an un-American 4th of July but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Saturday we went up to Tokyo. What a crazy busy and hot city that is! We hung out in a mall that was like the Forum Shops in Las Vegas and then headed back to the hotel for the night. On Sunday we went to the Meiji Shrine and then went to Harajuku, which is notorious for it's crazy street fashion (and I mean crazy). It was a super hot day that day and I think that I was allergic to something there because I had a sore throat that whole day. I also want to applaud aunt Kathleen on her patience and her knowledge of the subway and train systems in and around Tokyo. If I were in charge of navigating, we wouldn't get anywhere and we would all be crying. Monday was spent at another Shrine and in a marketplace. It was interesting to say the least. There were many little shops selling everything from rice crackers to sweets to fake Valentino purses. On a random note I saw the fattest Japanese guy walking a tiny English bulldog at the shrine's market place. It was really funny seeing the both of them together and so I just walked by them and flashed the biggest smile. The man returned the favor. I think we were both laughing inside.

Tuesday We were all tired and wanted to go home, but when Aunt Kathleen mentioned an Art Museum we (or at least I) had to go. It was really nice to get to see such a great body of work featuring many Japanese and other artists. It was also interesting to get to see artwork from pre-war, during war and post-war Japan and how things changed and what didn't and what not.

Tomorrow we are going to DisneySea which is according to Michael, better than Tokyo Disney, and I hope that that is true. I can't wait to go!