Nikko

I went to Nikko on Christmas Eve. It was quite interesting. There is a big shrine that has the body of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The area is very mountainous and there are lots of decorated buildings at the shrine. Rather than write a bunch about it, I'll just post a lot of pictures. One picture I would like to point out is the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys in the picture at the bottom. I guess this is the place that phrase might have originated from. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the tour guide.

Incoming Holiday Blogs!

I have a lot planned for the holidays.
*Sunday (24th) I am going to Nikko to see a lot of temples and shrines.
*Monday (Christmas) I might go to a Russian Orthodox Church and possibly Yokohama.
*December 28th - 30th I'm going snowboarding in Hakuba.
*New Years plans are still undecided.
*Sometime after new years I might go to Kamakura and see the giant Budha.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Hisashiburidesune お久しぶりですね

Hello everyone. It's been almost a month since my last blog. I've been keeping busy but I haven't been going to spots that are good for photos.

I went to Roppongi which is like foreigner central. I went to a bar that had ALL foreigners. I don't think I saw any Japanese people inside. Well, maybe a couple. But the bartenders were all foreigners. After that I went to a club called Vanilla and found out just how small the world is. I ran into a Japanese guy I knew from Chico...ya...how weird is that. It was a fun night.

Last weekend I went to a zoo! Tama Zoo. But we got there rather late. We got there at about 3:00pm and found out it closes at 5:00pm. So we only spent a couple hours in there.

And yes, of course some karaoke the night before. I had left my camera on some weird auto-mode that was making my pictures blurry. I changed it of course, but I thought this one looked cool.

I also just found out for sure what I will be doing for my winter break. I paid for it already and am confirmed. http://www.tokyogaijins.com/outdoor/upcoming/dec28.html
Check it out. The whole trip is about $300 US. It would be less than that, but I have to rent most (all) the equipment. I went skiing a long time ago so I figured I'll try snowboarding. I'm going to look like an amateur anyway, I might as well try something new. I think for the price, it's worth it just to visit the places and hang out.

Yoyogi and Shibuya!

Big post today. Please feel free to comment. I realized I had accidently left it so you had to register to post comments, but now you can post without registering.
Last Sunday (November 5th) was a loooong day for me. I woke up around 9 and met some friends in Yoyogi and went to Meiji Jingu shrine. It was a nice day and the walk to it was pretty scenic. After that I went to minamiosawa where there was a University Festival. They had lots of food that they tried very hard to get us to buy. We did buy some, but they were very enthusiastic about having us go to their booths to buy their food. Some even shouted out some funny English phrases like "You can do it!" We then saw a couple local bands play and some hip hop dancers.

These were at certain points on the walkway as we headed to the Meiji Jingu shrine.







Quite a few people were dressed up that day in Kimonos. This poor kid got stuck posing for a lot of people. Someone had the guts to ask for a photograph and lots of people took the opportunity to get a photo as well. (including me obviously)








Actually I don't know what was going on. I assume it was a wedding or some other kind of ritual. These people came out of a building and had a few people following them.






If you are a greaser and were worried that you wouldn't have any friends if you came to Japan....worry no more! These guys seem to hang out outside of Yoyogi park. Complete with dance routines (of which I have video of). But I also found a video of them on Youtube.com. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCff2J9xG5s
There were even some Cosplayers nearby dressed in strange outfits. I didn't recognize any of the characters, maybe they weren't going for any specific anime character though.

Now, off to Shibuya. It was a big day for British people or something. (Guy Fawkes day) I went to an English pub in Shibuya and had sunday roast for the first time. It was good, but the beer was really expensive. About $10 a pint...ya. So we found a place after that that was about $2 a pint. But this photo was taken at a small dance club called Gas Panic. Since it was a sunday, hardly anyone was there, so we pretty much took over the place.


What night in Japan wouldn't be complete without a little bit of Karaoke. We all piled into a Karaoke box and sang a few songs.







Well, time to catch our first train...but look at Shibuya crossing...This is supposedly one of the most crowded crossings in Tokyo. You can see this crossing in the movie "Lost in Translation" and it's packed. But of course this was at about 5:45am.

Halloween catch up

On October 30th I went to Tokyo Disneyland! It was a lot of fun. It was decorated for Halloween so I really enjoyed seeing all the cool decorations. This picture was taken just as you enter the park.





This picture was taken from the Main street area where all the random shops are just after you enter. Tokyo Disneyland has a rectractable roof here I think. It seemed nice because it was a fairly warm day for it being the end of October.





There was a Halloween parade that started just after we got some food. There were huge lines for everything that day. I couldn't believe that there were long lines even for the individual food stands like popcorn and churrros. I had just waited about 15 or so minutes to get a turkey leg. Then realized they didn't sell drinks there... But the Halloween parade was entertaining.



Now this was cool. They decorated the Haunted Mansion with characters from "A Nightmare Before Christmas" and even changed the elevator part before you get on the ride. I have no idea what he was saying but it was still cool.





This picture was taken the day before I went to Disneyland. We had a Halloween party for the students. Here I am dressed as a wizard or something. The kid in the purple hood is one of my students. The guy next to me is my coworker Roger and the girl might be my students younger sister. I can't remember.

Some random pictures

Yay, I got my cellphone this weekend. It has a lot of cool features. Maybe I'll make another post about it, but as a side note, all these photos were taken using my new cellphone.

In case anyone was concerned about my vitamin C intake.
I bought this today because I felt I had to. It says "50 lemons worth of Vitamin C in every can."










And.... in case you were wondering if I am eating, I decided to pick up some tonkatsu on my way home from the station. It was about 500yen (about $5). It was good.








This is the lobby of the school I work in. We started to decorate for Halloween. Most of my students aren't too familiar with Halloween.





My view from my classroom. I can see a million bicycles parked neatly along the road. Japanese people are hardcore when it comes to cycling. Most of the bikes don't have gears. Sometimes there is some kind of big sale going on across the street. They put stuff on the sidewalk and some guy is talking into a microphone for hours. I have no idea what he's saying.

And yes, me in my suit that I have to wear everyday. Oh, and part of my classroom.

By popular demand

Here are some photos of my apartment.
First photo is taken from my doorway. You can just barely see the corner of my washing machine on the left. Then the kitchen sink and stove. On the right what you can't see is the shower, and then the door to the toilet.






Second and third photo are of my sleeping/living room. As you can see I have a futon, table, dresser, TV, legless chair, a mini-fridge (which is actually pretty nice).