Sakura

Ben and I got one evening of our busy week to go enjoy the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Tokyo.

We went to a spot recommended to us by our friend. I am so glad she told us to go there because the garden was the most beautiful place for flower viewing. We had tried to go to this garden with Ben’s parents when they were here, but we failed, luckily this time we were armed with better directions and we easily found this remarkable garden.

Without further ado, I present you the pictures of our day at Chidorigafuchi.

The only one unhappy about all the flowers!

We Made It

We made it through our tough week.

We are bitterly exhausted, ready to collapse at any moment, but we are in the home of gracious hosts, so we are pushing ourselves till evening.

We got everything done, thanks to our friends in Japan. We would have been fine on our own in all regards other than trash. We did not plan for Japan’s intense system of separation, and missed our chance on several items to send them out with the trash. We could have been smarter about it, and in the end we would have been in big trouble if it hadn’t been for the kindness of our friends in town. We missed the day to throw out electronics, and missed the day to throw out the glass.

The bottom line is everything that needed to get done was finished because of our amazing friends, and now we get to go spend four days on the warm beaches of Phuket, Thailand.

Tokyo Fashion Week Disapointment

Last Wednesday, I went to the Tokyo fashion week hoping for a day to get wrapped up in an exciting world of people made of money, absurd clothing, that people classier than I would call fashionable, and the real live faces of the sallow skin beauties I see in fashion magazines. I was so excited, and my loving and supportive husband, dressed his very best, and listened to me babble on for hours about what I hoped to see, what I expected to see, and then, in the aftermath of it, what we did see.

I had done hours of research. I looked up which artists I wanted to check out. I mapped out the best way to get from one venue to the next so that I could see the ones that looked most interesting. I had muddled my way through impossibly confusing websites all in Japanese, with weird graphics that flew accross the page, to distract me from the fact that there weren't actually any clothes photographed on their site. It was all going to be worth it because I was going to get caught up in the frenzy for a couple of hours.

We saw nothing. I would have been OK with not seeing any of the shows, exhibitions, or whatever they do at fashion week, if there had been anyone at any of the shows for me to at least people watch. I had hoped to see a few eclectically dressed people, just so that I had something to share, or worse whisper about with Ben like the mean girls I see on TV do. The venues were completely empty, Ben and I waited for two shows to start, and saw almost no-one enter. We weren't allowed to enter because we didn't have a badge, which I didn't know I needed (but that's probably my fault). All we saw at fashion week were several very bored attendants, and even more bored looking attendees.

So we ditched the whole scene, with me mumbling how "the fashion world is destroying itself by making it impossibly inaccessible to even those people who are interested.. stupid poop heads...I just wanted to see pretty people..." We walked from Shibuya to Yoyogi park.

Tokyo is at about the peak of hanami (flower viewing) the sakura are bursting from every corner, and the parks are full of sake drinking picnickers. Yoyogi last weekend was exciting and alive, there were dancers, bands, drum circles, and drunk guys hanging out of trees like monkeys. I'm glad fashion week sucked, because I had a charming day in the park with my gorgeous husband, and I was introduced to the awesome combination of hip hop dance and hop scotch... Hip Hop Scotch?

Down Time

Ben and I have had so little down time lately the days are starting to blur into each other.
We've had several goodbye parties, for ourselves, other coworkers moving onto different jobs, and goodbyes to students, who were the cutest in their inability to convey their strong thoughts and feelings clearly, but still did their best to show me with gestures.
Tomorrow is our last day of work, my last round of goodbyes.
Tuesday we will be trying to pawn off the contents of our house.
Wednessday we will be giving back all the wonderful things that people have lent us, then we will take everything else to a recycle shop and hope they take it all.
Thursday we are going to go look at cherry trees, and then clean like madmen, and say goodbye to everyone at English club.
Friday we return our car, and pack.
Saturday we panic... and wonder how we still have too much to do.
Sunday we have our house  inspection, and then leave for our next adventure with 4 suitcases two backpacks, and our (p/m)urses.
There will be tears, and there will be stupid music, but hopefully everything will go as planned, and Ben and I will be sitting on beaches this time pleased with ourselves.
Gambate ne? (Fight hard huh?)

I'm Dreading Eating Out

I will be home in less than a month, and I am panicking about some things. One of which is American restaurants.
I go to restaurants, not because they will have better food (I'm actually a really good cook, due to a lifetime of being spoiled by my dad's cooking). I go to restaurants because, I don't have to do any work, which means I can just enjoy the evening. Unfortunatly American restaurants have destroyed the second part of that. When I go to a restaurant with Ben, I want to enjoy my dinner with Ben, make googly eyes at him, share tasty food, but when some gopher of a waiter keeps popping up saying "Is everything alright?" "Can I get you anything?" "Can I interest you in any of our..."... It detracts from my ability to enjoy my meal. In Japan (in fact most of the world) when you want something from the server, you call them over, it's not rude to wave them down.

I don't want to have to plan before eating at a restaurant. I've lost 60 lbs. and it was really hard work. I'm still working hard, but it is a slow, tedious, and unrewarding process. If I go out to Pei Wei , I have to look up how many calories the different dishes are so that I can order something that won't set me back a week of dieting (over half of their dishes are over 1000 calories), or I have to store half of it before I start eating, which will leave me hungry, and I know I'll never eat it because it wont reheat well, so I've wasted a ton of food. Restaurant food in America is so immensly unhealthy that you either have to accept weight gain, or sacrifice eating out, which is lame. In Japan, at restaurants, you can get unhealthy food, but it is usually on small dish of several all of which balance to leave you feeling healthy. Restaurants with notoriously unhealthy foods, declare the calories on the menu so that you can plan accordingly.
Tipping is stupid. In Japan waiters are paid reasonable wages, and fired if they are not polite and compitant, this seems perfectly reasonable to me. It feels like a constant guilt trip that you have to value to service you received at the end of the meal, compare it to the other people at your table, and then consider that your waiter does this for a living, and if you don't tip they get paid next to nothing.

When I am at a Japanese restaurant the only time I have to wait is for my food to be prepared. Their is no tipping, so nobody is out for themselves, when an order is up somebody takes it to the table, sometimes this means Ben gets his food before me, but it's always hot, and I don't mind him starting without me. Food always comes out when it's ready, which means it is hot. Their are often buttons on the table for you to press to get the server to come to your table, or you flag them down when you're ready to order, you never have to pressure yourself to decided on the spot for fear that if you don't you'll have to wait  forever for the server to come back. Water can be an issue, but it is perfecly reasonable to just ask for a water pitcher, and then serve yourself. At the end of the meal, if you didn't pay at a vending machine on the way in, you just get up and pay at the register. It is so annoying to finish your meal, wait for the check, wait for the server to run your card and return it, and then sit there calculating the tip, and leaving it on the table.

Fuji-Q Highland

Yesterday for John Mark's last day with us, we went to Fuji-Q Highland, a theme park at the base of Mt. Fuji. It has four world record holding roller coasters. We only went on two of the rides because it was very cold, and you paid per ride. John Mark and Ben enjoyed the Eejanaika, and I joined them on the Fujiyama.

Takashiba- Holds the world record for steepest roller coaster made from steel. The drop is 121 degrees. This one is frequently rated at one of the scariest in the world.

Dodonpa- Held the world record for fastest rollercoaster, holds the record for fastest acceleration. This one frankly did not look very fun, it shoots you out at speeds so fast that no one screams, and then you go over one very steep bump, it is rated in the top 5 scariest rollercoasters in the world, and advertises that it is imposible to breath for most of the ride.

Eejanaika-  Holds the world record for most inverstion, and 14 flips during the ride. It is a 4th dimension rollarcoaster, which means the seats can rotate independantly of track. This one is rated in the top ten scariest rollercoasters, and one most nauseating (which is half of why I skipped it).

Fujiyama-Held the record for tallest complete circuit roller coaster, held the record for tallest roller coaster, held the record for tallest roller coaster drop, and held the record for world fastest roller coaster. It is consistently rated amongst the best roller coasters in the world, and I have to say, it is the most fun roller coaster I have ever been on. There are no inversions, but it really flies. I held onto my bar for dear life every time I floated out of my seat. It was incredible seeing beautiful Mt. Fuji as I flew through the skies.

If you love roller coasters, Fuji-Q Highlands should be on your bucket list. The rides are fun, the location is increadible, and you can brag about going on record breaking rides. I would not recomend coming in March or April because they frequently have to close the park early due to high winds, but they are open all year. I would say the best times to come are May, September, October, or early Novevember.

Walking Tokyo

Our Friend John Mark is still here with us in Tokyo. It's great to have him here with us. He's been adventuring during the day, and then having amazing meals with us at night.

He's been walking a lot, more than I think I could, but he doesn't show any wear. Yesterday he walked from Shinjuku to Shibuya (4 km) and saw some amazing places.

View Larger Map
Today ate lunch in Shinjuku, and then went to Ueno Park. It was a perfect day, sunny and beautiful. The sakura are just starting to blossom, and the trees in Ueno Park were stunning.

We walked from Ueno park to Akihabara. We were planning on walking all the way to Tokyo Station but let ourselves get distracted by the many sights along the way. We checked out a few  shops, and an arcade.

Tokyo has to be one of the most enjoyable cities to just walk. The scenery constantly changes, the people are friendly, there aren't many hills, and the city is amazingly safe.

Hay Fever

It is allergy season here in Japan. Ben who has never had allergies before, is sneezing, and itchy, but compared to nearly everyone else he is doing great. I have had to give in and take allergy medications, 2-3 showers a day, and neti pots. Most locals wear surgical masks, and many people have allergy goggles.
The allergen in the air is from Cryptomeria, commonly refereed to as Japanese ceder. The air is dusty with the pollen where we are, and even those not suffering from allergies, are still sneezing and wheezing.

Spanish Verb Conjugation Cheat Sheet

		Yo	Tú	él/ella/usted	Nosotros	Vosotros	Ellos/ellas/ustedes
Present	-ar	-o	-as	-a	-amos	- áis	-an
	-er	-o	-es	-e	-emos	- éis	-en
	-ir	-o	-es	-e	-emos	- ís	-en
Future	Add After	-é	-ás	-á	-emos	-éis	-án
Imperfect	-ar	-aba	-abas	-aba	-ábamos	-abais	-aban
	-er/-ir	-ía	-ías	-ía	-íamos	-íais	-ían
Preterit	-ar	-é	-aste	-ó	-amos	-asteis	-aron
	-er / -ir	-í	-iste	-ió	-imos	-isteis	-ieron
Present Perfect	-ar	he ___- ado	has ___- ado	ha ___- ado	hemos ___- ado	habéis ___- ado	han ___- ado
	-er / -ir	he ___- ido	has ___- ido	ha ___- ido	hemos ___- ido	habéis ___- ido	han ___- ido
Past Perfect	-ar	Había ___- ado	habías ___- ado	había ___- ado	habíamos ___- ado	habréis ___- ado	habrán ___- ado
	-er / -ir	Había ___- ido	habías ___ - ido	había ___- ido	habíamos ___- ido	habréis ___- ido	habrán ___- ido
Future Perfect	-ar	habré ___- ado	habrás ___ - ado	habrá ___- ado	Habremos ___- ado	habíais ___- ado	habían ___- ado
	-er/-ir	habré ___- ido	Habrás  ___ - ido	habrá ___- ido	Habremos ___- ido	Habíais  ___- ido	habían ___- ido