Malls, Castles, and Extended Family

Me and Asuka at the Ladaport Mall

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Me in front of Matsumoto-jo-It looks like I am in front of a green screen!

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Matsumoto-Jo

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Photo From on top of the castle. See the snowy mountains?

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Me and Papa at the castle. I am a giant!

Hello Everyone!

Last weekend was really busy and really fun!!!

First, on Friday, I went to a fancy mall with Asuka and Su. It was called the Ladaport, and it basically had a cruise ship theme- the pavement outside was rolled up and down like real waves! Basically, everything in the mall was super nice and super fun to look at. I especially enjoyed the various accessory shops! We ate lunch at a really cool European styled restaurant! I did not realize how much I missed silverware! (Using chopsticks is difficult!)

After the mall, we went down the street and did some good old Karaoke. Su and Asuka are such good singers! I am lucky if I can even hit the note...not that that stops me! After Karaoke, we then ate some dinner, and headed home.

When I got home, my Host-Mom (who I had not really seen in awhile.....She was gone overnight on Wednesday, I was gone late on Thursday because of Thanksgiving) and she asked if I would like to go to Nagano to visit my Host Dad's family for the weekend! (She could not go though, she had school).

I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but I had already made plans with another friend who I kept cancelling on....but I decided of course to go to Nagano. Nagano is about 3 hours north in the "country" and really reminded me a bit of anchorage because of all the mountains. It was very beautiful!

When we arrived at my H-Dad's family's home, I was struck by how traditional it was (compared to my H-mom's family home, which is more modern). Because we were a little more up north, it was kinda cold, and these old houses only have little in terms of heating. Basically, they have one room in the house that is warm because it has a heater and a Kotatsu (table that heats up and has a blanket over it). The other rooms have no heat, and are basically colder than the outside! Why central heating has not caught on yet I will never know....everything else here is very high tech!

My H-Dad's family is also very different than H-mom's- first of all, the spoke next to no English (except for my host-cousin, but I think he was too embarrassed to use it). This meant that if I did not understand something, I had no one to translate it for me! I got confused a lot, but it was nice to practice my Japanese a bit.
In the beginning, the we also very formal. There was a lot of bowing and gift giving-but after that they seemed like a big family. Basically, H-Dad's brother lives in the house with the grandparents, his wife, and 3 children. They seem to get along very well.

If everyone in America has a hard time telling Japanese apart, I think it really goes both ways. Host-Uncle said I looked Like Princess Diana...lol. Yeah right! Very funny though.
Also, Tsuki-chan's cousin is so much calmer than him. He was very interested in me, and loved all my photos and fireworks videos I had on my cell phone. Tsuki-chan got a bit jealous, but it was refreshing to see a calmer kindergartner for once.

We had dinner, and then we went to sleep. The next day, Papa took me around his town, and we went to this awesome castle called Mastumoto-jo. It is the oldest castle of this type still standing, and it was basically amazing! We climbed all the way to the top, and it was an awesome view of the surrounding area. We then went to the adjacent museum for it....which cost like $6 to get in (which is expensive for museums here!) and it was a let down. As many of you know, one of my biggest pet peeves is when historical objects are not displayed or preserved correctly. They had some Jomon vessels (8000-3000 BC) literally out in the open for any child to touch! I was horrified!

After the museum, we explored a little and had lunch at a Soba shop which was pretty Delicious. We then returned home, where we decided to go to an Onsen (hot spring). I had not been to one here yet, so I was eager to go. They were surprised I wanted to go, because the exchange students in the past did not like the fact that you would be taking baths naked with strangers. But I wanted to try at least once. So off we went!

It was nice, but it really felt like a glorified bathtub. And it was indoors...but I have heard of nicer ones which I will try to get to in time. Host Aunt helped me out a lot with the procedure, which was very nice. :)

On our way back we went out to dinner, which was delicious. But I had eaten a lot that day already, so I was kind of full...as usual. After dinner, we loaded up the car and headed back. We got home at around midnight, but I still had Homework to do....so I really got to bed around 1:00 am. It was worth it though!

On another note, I have finalized my plans for going to Kyoto this winter break! I am very excited and am going to plan a long list of things I must see. Roxy from AK is coming as well, as well as 5 other people on my exchange should be fun!

It was my Host Dad's birthday yesterday, and I printed out and framed a picture of my Alaskan backyard than he liked so much. He seemed to like it! I was very happy. :)

Right O! We are actually going out to birthday dinner tonight! Very fun! See you guys later!

Susan, Cake, and ESPN2

Me and Susan at her hotel

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Some of the Sweets at the Cake Shop

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Some of us outside the shop

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Me playing pool

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Bowling screen, I am the one in the middle

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Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you all ate a lot of turkey!

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Well, last week was busy busy busy for me in Japan!

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An Alaskan family friend came to Japan for a conference and I was able to hang out with her on Friday! We had a tough time finding a good meeting time and played a lot of phone tag, but it all worked out in the end! I met her at her conference center in Odaiba and from there we made our way to Asasuka to meet the rest of her group. It was funny because you could tottally tell they were all Alaskan just but the way they all dressed! First of all, they were sweltering hot on a day that was kind of cold for most Japanese people. They also all had little hiking day packs that you dont usually see here (most people use shoulder bags). It was nice to see them all!

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It was also cool because Susan was able to bring stuff from america that I cannot get here....like a whole box of fruit leather from my Dad! Delicious.....

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I was only able to see Susan that one day because they were all moving on to Kyoto, but it was a really fun day!

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The next day I went to a Cake Tabehodai with some Oregon kids and some Japanese students. (Tabehodai=all you can eat!) The shop we went to in Shibuya was packed and we had to wait about an hour to get in, but it was worth it. For about 15 dollars, you could eat as much cake and snacks you wanted for 90 minutes. This may sound expensive, but it is very cheap, considering it was the only meal I required the whole day and I at way more than 15 dollars worth. It was very fun! The shops theme was really funky and modern as well, which made it extra fun!

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After cake, a few of us went to this entertainment center by our school and played pool and went bowling. Pool was a pretty good deal (9 bucks for 2 hours) but bowling was a bit expensive (9 bucks for one game!) But we had a good time!

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The next day I tried to make a Grandma Apple pie for my host family. I had a couple of problems, however....First of all, the container I had to cook the pie in was metal, and I usually use a glass one. This made me not sure what temperature to cook it at....not that I could really understand the temperature, since everything was in celcius! Also, the "oven" we have in our house is not an ordinary oven....maybe a glorified easy bake oven. (and also a microwave!) So, the heat comes from the top of the oven and not the bottom....causing the top part to be way more cooked than the bottom part!

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All in all it was OK....My host mom seemed pretty excited about it, and even taped the whole pie making process! Tsuki-chan and the little girl next door helped out a bit, but they mostly just ate apples as I peeled them. They really enjoyed the little biscuit snacks you make with the extra dough.

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On Monday after class, I hung out with Asuka a bit, which was really fun! We ate at a cafe, and them did Karaoke! It was a blast, I just wish I could sing a bit better! We are going to hang out again tomorrow as well, which should be fun!!!!

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Yesterday, I went as finally saw Resident Evil 3! For those of you who dont know, it is basically a zombie movie, and I love zombies! Overall I thought it was good! Movie theatres here are so serious though! When you buy your ticket, you can choose you seats! Also, they had little pampering areas like a "powder room" and a posh little cafe. very strange! Today I go out with my group for thanksgiving dinner at an American Restaurant called "The Pink Cow." I am super excited, for I really crave good old american food!!!!

Museums, Sharks, and Ping Pong

The Museum I went to with Host Mom

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The Sealion balancing a tennis racket

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Me is the "Shark Tunnel." See the Shark above me?

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Me Practiceing Ping Pong with Su

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Su and Asuka

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Flower picture I took for Tammy! It is the imerial flower of Japan.

Hello all!!!
This post is concerning last weekend and week! Yep....a little late....

On Friday, Instead of going to my Donald Trump class, I went with my host mom, Tsuki Chan, and Mama's friend to a museum in Roppongi. We went to the particular museum because I kept taking pictures of random buildings I thought were cool, and it turned out they were all by the same architect, as Mama pointed out. So, she took me to the museum with this same architecture, and it was really beautiful! They also had a Vermeer exhibit going on, which made it extra awesome!

Tsuki-chan, being five, is not really on for museums, but we had a good time anyways. After the museum, we went to Roppongi Hills, which is a really big posh mall that dwarfs any other mall I have ever seen! As Mama seems to like expensive things, we went into a fancy jewelry/accessory shop. It was very cool seeing all the fancy jewelry!

Also, because I love commercialized Christmas, I was happy to see that all the stores now have cool Christmas decorations!!! (Yes, I know, even before thanksgiving! crazy, huh?) Very pretty!!!

The Next day, I went to an Aquarium in Shinagawa with some of my classmates. This aquarium is famous because it has a "Shark Tunnel," which is basically a glass passage way the gives the illusion you are hanging out with a bunch of sharks, manta rays, and giant fish. In addition, they had a really cool dolphin show! We sat in the front where you are likely to get wet (luckily I had my raincoat!!! ) and enjoyed various types of dolphins doing impossible things. This was fun, but there were also a lot of creepy clowns in the audience for no good reason. I did not like that very much, as the dolphins really don't need any support!

After the show, there was a couple who got married right next to the dolphin pool! So, the dolphins did another cool encore performance. It was very cool! (except that the stupid clowns stuck around! :(

The next performance we saw was a sea lion who could do really cool tricks. If anyone needs a Christmas hint for me, I would like a sea lion, please!!! They are so cool, really just a big kitty!

In addition to all the fish, there were also penguins. My camera had died by this point, so I have no pictures! But they were very cute. (how could a penguin not be?)

After the Aquarium, we had some time to kill, so we tried to find a road that used to be a part of the Tokaido road, and remains the same width. Little did I know, but it was quite the expedition to get there, and when we did get there, it was nothing like the picture made it out to be! I was the only one who really thought it was cool...

I had to return home early, because my host family was going out to a big family sushi dinner! I think it was kinda in celebration for my host uncle's birthday, but it was really just an excuse for us all to get together. (My host family and my host mom's family: Mom, Dad, and 2 brothers). It was in a really fancy sushi restaurant where we were in a special room with our own cook right in front of us making the sushi fresh! It was very cool and very fancy!!! I ate sooooo many different raw fish, and have developed a liking to it. I think they (including the cook) were very surprised that ate everything served! It is a good thing I am not picky with what I eat! The chef we really nice too, and very interested in Alaska and the fish there. :)

The previous week I had signed up me and Su for a ping pong tournament, because I thought it would be fun. We tried to practice over the weekend, but we could not find a place to practice. So on Monday, the day of the tournament, we located the ping pong room on campus (yes, it has its own special room.....ping pong, as I have found, is VERY serious here!) and practiced for 3 hours prior to the tournament.

When the tournament began, we were ready to go. However, as we had been just practicing singles together, we found it difficult to transfer our skills to doubles! Every player has to switch on and off, and we kept getting confused about whose turn it was. In the end, out of the 3 games we played, we lost them all!

We were a bit demoralized at losing our games after we had practiced so hard....
However, as they were giving out prizes to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, they called us up for the MVP award! I guess someone had seen us practicing for so long, and decided to give us prizes too. We were very happy!!! We one a cool mirror, a pen, a folder, and a key chain with the date and school name on them. !!!

This week, I was also able to have lunch with Asuka! She took me and Su to a cool Spaghetti restaurant which was delicious! We have made plans for Karaoke next week! I cant wait!!!

Righto, that's about it! Stay tuned for this weekend's fun!!!

Nikko

Nikko landscape from the bus
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Me and a sheep on the farm! I love sheep!
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Me and friends at Toshogu Shrine
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Me and Tokugawa Ieyasu! Yes, he is in there!
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A bunch of us at Kegon Falls. Isn't it beautiful?
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Me and "Jiji" at Tsuki-chan's Shichi-go-san
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Me and Family at Shichi-go-san. I look huge compared to them.....
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Is it just me or am I wearing the same thing in every picture? hmm....

日光行こう！！ Hello all! Sorry this update is so late, I have been really sick! I caught my usually bronchial fall cough/cold....but I am taking medicine ad should be better soon! Although, I did get my family sick...

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Anways, we had last Friday off, so everyone on our program plus our Japanese buddies all went to Nikko! Nikko is about 2 hours from Tokyo by bus, and it is very pretty! There is a saying that goes something like "you haven`t seen beauty until you have been to Nikko." They think a lot of themselves...

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The bus ride itself was long, but we amused ourselves along the way. It was on of those really fancy buses that are usually reserved for rich vacationers in the states, but are pretty standard here. It was cool being on a Japanese highway, and to see scenery that did not consist of skyscrapers!

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When we arrived in Nikko, our first stop was lunch at a Japanese farmhouse. It was cool, we even saw cows and sheep just hanging out on the countryside! The lunch consisted off beef, rice, vegetables, milk, and soup that we fried ourselves on a grill on the table. I am guessing the beef and milk were quite fresh....

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After the meal, some of us went outside to explore. To our surprise and delight, we found a playground! It was the type of playground that is probably allready outlawed in the states as too dangerous, which made it extra fun. For those of you who have seen "ninja warrior, " the playground wasn`t unlike some of the obstacle in the show. We got a little out of control we had so much fun!

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Next, we piled on the bus again to go and visit Toshogu shrine. Toshogu shrine is basically where Tokugawa Ieyasu`s ashes are....in a huge highly ornate complex his grandson Iemitsu built for him. It was pretty amazing! Other famous things there include the 3 monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil), the "sleeping cat," and a room with a dragon painted on the ceiling.

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I really like a kid in a candy store! I probably too 100 pictures....Ieyasu is my favorite.....Also, all the shrines have little charms that you can buy (basically souvenirs...) and I bought many from Toshogu. I was so excited, me and the people I was with were late getting back to the bus....oops. It was tons of fun though!

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Next, we headed to Kegon Falls, which is a famous suicide spot in Japan. I would say it was amazing....but there was way too much fog to even see the waterfall! We were really close too...it was strange being able to hear it, but not see it.....Regardless, there was a cool gift shop there and I bought a bag of apples (sounds weird, but they are expensive in the city! I miss fruit!) and some strawberry candies for my family.

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Then, we began the long drive back. I know when I described it it does not sound like we did much, but everything above lasted until dark. Everyone took a nap on the way back. The trip in total was very fun, but I could have used less time on the bus...this is why Kamakura was more fun for me. (the other group trip we went on).

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The next day, I went to Tsuki-chan`s Shichi-go-san, which is a festival for those turning 7, 5, and 3 years old. I didn't realize how formal it was supposed to be....so I only wore jeans, shirt, and my coat. However, my host family was decked out in kimono, a suit, and a hakama....which they didn`t change into until we arrived at my host grandparents house. oops! While they were changing, I hung out with host grandpa, or "Jiji." I met him once at the sports festival I mentioned in an earlier post, but he is really a pretty cool guy. He had an American atlas, and I pointed my home town, and we discussed American politics. We then went out around the corner to this quaint bento shop and brought home lunch before going to the shrine.

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At the shrine, tons of dressed up kids and family were waiting their turn to go in the shrine and do the shinto thing. I am pretty sure there was some kind of fee involved (there always is when it comes to shrines) and we entered the shrine with other families and watched a shinto dance and bowed our heads a lot. I really couldn`t understand what the shinto guys were saying very well....so I cannot go much deeper into it. When it was over, Tsuki-chan received a balloon, an arrow, and a medal. I have no idea what that is about.

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On Sunday, Mama, Tsuki-chan, 5 people from my group, and myself all went to the Zoo. (yes, again! it was cool, ok?) We got a bit separated because Tsuki-chan had a one track mind when it came to the Hippos, and one of the guys in my group had never been to a zoo before, and was taking his time. But it was a really fun time! I got to see more of Ling Ling the panda this time, which was cool.

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On Monday, we went on a field trip with my Japanese class to a natural disaster safety museum. It was REALLY cool....First, the decor was kind of "futuristic"....but what "futuristic" meant in the 1950s. We watched a cool 4D movie depicting an earthquake with a bunch of other groups. The other groups (mostly middle aged ladies ) seemed to be amused by us all...and the tour guide was impressed we could understand when he told us to take off our 4D classes....hmmmm....

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First, our group went and learned CPR techniques. I am pretty sure I am not qualified.....Next, we went to a "fire room" which was supposed to be practice if you are in a fire and there is a lot of smoke. Basically, in groups of about 4, we were sent into a smoky maze where we had to find our was out. However, we had to stay close to the floor, and if you stood up to much, a loud buzzer goes off and you would "die". It was cool because you could watch the other groups on a screen when they went into the maze. Luckily, my group made it out alive!

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Next, we went to the "earthquake" room. Basically, it is a room that shakes at the degree of a 7.0 earthquake, and you have to get under a table and protect yourself. I was surprised a 7.0 was that intense, it was very scary! (and kind of painful...)

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Last, we went to a room that displayed a simulated fire, and we used fire exstinguishers to put it our. As I have never used one before it was really fun! And yes, I prevented the building from burning down! yay!

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At the end of the tour, we took a test on what was learned on these weird 5os futuristic computers. After the quiz, you get a cool certificate!

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Well, that has been the week so far! This weekend is going to be busy as well! I promise I will try and post sooner this next time!