Time in Odaiba

After some traveling out of Tokyo, it was time to get back into one of the greatest cities in the world. JD, Colin and I decided to to to Odaiba for the afternoon/early evening to see what this section of town had to offer.

To get there we took the monorail. As the Simpsons have taught us, the monorail will solve all one's problems. Luckily this one did not have the same fate as the Simpson Monorail. This neat above ground subway, weaved through the buildings and town.

View from atop.

Once in the Odaiba mall I experienced my first conveyor belt food. The belt was better than the food, but still a grand ole time.Odaiba is along some body of water, perhaps a bay. Here's a nice shot a got.
A little mid afternoon relaxation time before continuing on our journey.
And BAM! Nothing like a car show to spruce up your day.
It sure was a Hybrid Wonderland!
End Scene.

This weekend I am going to some cool places. Read below if interested...

Onsen and hiking around this volcanic area.
Samuri

Kyoto

The last stop during last weekend was Kyoto. I spent two nights there and one full day.

Kyoto is the 2nd biggest city in Japan and it used to be a capital.

The first night there was pretty elaborate. The group walked around the city, ate dinner and then by 4am there were 4 of us still standing and we decided to call it a night.

Here is the beginning.. see a 7/11 car that was interesting.
Middle of the evening novelty: beer dispensing vending machine.This is at the end of the night... cucumber wrapped in salmon and quasi-absenth.
The next day started a little late, but nonetheless fun. JD and I set out to view the land of Kyoto.

Here we see an outdoor but covered market. Lots of food and things I could have but did not buy.
Then we set off for a castle. The castle was minimally impressive, but the landscape was breath taking.After walking in 100 f degree weather, JD and I took a little time to rest. This gave me a chance to catch him in the "Thinking Man" pose (more like tired, angry at god for the humidity and sun, and wishing he were in an air conditioned bed - I think Bill Gates has one of those).
After the excursion a nap was in order to rejuvenate. Then off to old Kyoto to search for Gaishas. I didn't see any, but this part of town looked nice.The next day, JD and I packed up for an excursion around Tokyo... (next post in 2 hours)

See more pics here.

Nara

Before going to Nara, as it is a Temple/Shrine sight, I was worried that I would get bored too quickly. After all, I have been to many Temple sights in China and Japan. Well, I was not disappointed.

The day started off with Alex and I feeding deer. We feed the rice wafers. Once those guys see/smell the wafers, they are all over you. To the point where they will nibble on ones shirt to get attention and subsequently a wafer.
This is one of the creepy disciples of Buddha.
Orange Shrine.
More Orange and loving it. I think I want to move here.
Japanese house in the area.
See more pictures here.

Overall, we walked around for 5 hours and saw a lot.

We had a fabulous lunch (linner/dunch) at 4:30pm. As with Paris, there will be a food post later.

Next post in 2 hours.

Sumo & Castle

Get ready for 4 posts in 24 hours. So come back often.

Last week I went to Sumo. It was quite an experience. Every month Sumo is in a different city. Each day, Sumo goes from 8:30am until about 6:30pm.

To the best of my knowledge, each wrestler fights once per day. The matches typically last from 2-15 seconds.

There are many pre-match rituals that take place and these actually take longer than the match.

To read more about it, click here.

Below you can see a 9am match.
And now for the freeze frame of a match later in the afternoon.
The other part of the day involved a castle. See below.
See more pictures here.

Stay tuned and come back during your Friday work day... there will be three more posts at random times.

Small Quake

So there was an earthquake in Japan last night. It registered as a 6.8 and was many many many miles from Tokyo. Northern Japan Earthquake. Nonetheless, I felt it rattle here.

It was fun and scary at the same time. It was fun because I experienced my first quake (and it was no more than 4 seconds of small trembling, and it was scary because I realized how ill prepared I was.

Time to educate.

Minakami

Due to international travel complications, we had off this past Tuesday. Because of this, I decided to go to Minakami.

Minakami is a winter/ski town about 3 hours from Tokyo. During the summer months, there are activities as well, such as rafting and canyoning. I never knew what canyoning was like until I was doing it. Basically, it is like rafting down a class 1 or 2 river without the raft. We also did some cliff jumping and rock climbing.

To get there we took a fast train on Monday afternoon. Check out that nose.

This is the town we were in. During off-peak months (when we were there), everything closes by 5. This might make for an awkward realization if you have no food at dinner time. We stayed at a hostel about a 10 minute ride from the center of "town".Luckily we got there early enough to stop at a Super Market. Always a good time. As you can see, my dinner consisted of Sushi, Sake, and noodles.
After enjoying some dinner, we found something pretty amazing... a mechanical bull! Below is Colin trying his best to stay on. Unfortunately there are no pictures of me on the beast. This was my first experience with a bull and it was certainly something everyone should try. There were a buch of British and Aussie gymnists there too riding the bull. See my Minakami pictures here.
The next morning at 9am we set out canyoning. Here you can see me, Colin, Rachel and Carey.Probably one of the best photos of the trip. All eyes are on Rachel (2nd from left), except for Carey... she's busy drinking (on right).Here am I about to go down a huge drop. I know it was over 10 feet, but that is all I know. I'm sure it was at least a 100 feet.After a full morning of getting beat up by the water, we tried an Onsen (hot spring). We were here. It was very beautiful and very relaxing. It was so relaxing that I fell asleep sitting upright on a wooden bench.

Minakami was a great place to go. It was vastly different from the hussle of Tokyo and I would recommend all to expereince this place.

Nikko

This past Sunday I went to Nikko. Even though I had seen enough Temple's in China, this area was different. While it looked similar to that in China. the architecture was slightly different.
The artwork below is just an example of how this place was different.
Look what I caught... what are they doing?
Oh! This here is the original see/speak/hear no evil.
Some little cool structure I walked by.
Overall, the day was good. It was a day trip, about a 3 hour trip from Tokyo.

The Past Week

The time spent here in Japan has been very packed with activities. Last Monday we had a bus tour of Tokyo and saw a few old temples.

Here is where you are supposed to wash your hands and mouth before entering the Temple area. There is water in the wooden tub and one is supposed to use the long spoon shaped item. (sorry, no picture for the temple attached to this cleansing area).
We then went to a tourist trap that leads to a Temple.
Voila, a Temple. Actually, this might be a picture from the steps of the temple.
Tuesday we had an orientation at school and then went to a Tokyo Swallows baseball game. It was a smashing time.
Alex, a fanatical Boston fan gave his Red Socks hat to a Japanese kid. The kid knew one word in English and it was "Yankees", so Alex felt the need to change just one young mind. This could get me started on who is worse, Boston on NY fans, but there is no need to raise blood pressure at this time of day.
At the games, beer people walk around with keg backpacks. I can't image a 100 lbs girl carrying 40 lbs of beer for 2 hours, but I guess it's what the people want.
On Friday night a bunch of us went out to dinner at a tradition Japanese restaurant. We were put in a private room with door (without our shoes).Speaking of leaving our shoes outside of the room... In the US, people might have been worried about the shoes being stolen. Not in Japan. People are too nice here and don't understand what stealing is.

More posts to come soon.

Voices of Teens: Writers Matter

Voices of Teens: Writers Matter - JUST RELEASED

For all the teachers out there (and anyone else), here is a book you should pick up.

Voices of Teens integrates innovative writing strategies for teachers and students that meet school and state standards. Most importantly, this book includes personal stories written by 105 middle school students. These powerful stories reflect the many challenges in their personal, school and family lives yet allows a wonderful burst of talent, caring and sensitivity to emerge. Through the wonder lens of writing, many of these students for the first time used critical thought and reflection to demonstrate many of their hidden dreams and talents.

Some more about the book (click me)

Read about the co-authors

Robert Vogel
Michael Galbraith

So I have been in Tokyo for almost a week. Unfortunately, this post will only be about my 1st full day here.

JD and I set out to scope Shinjuku in which he will be staying towards the end of the program. It's kinda like Times Square. Soon I will be there at night, and I am sure it will be seizure-licious. Do you see all the advertisements?
We then walked towards a shrine.
After some hours of walking, we found a great place for ramen noodle soup. It was in the basement of a building. In Tokyo, everything is built up. So it is typical to see a 6 floor building with 6 floors of commercial/entertainment/food inside. All run by different entities.

I think I have come to the conclusion that if a restaurant is in the basement it is good. Granted I have only been in one, but I hope I am right.
Funny story of this day: When JD and I awoke, JD went to get some breakfast drinks before our journey. He came back with grapefruit juice and green iced tea. We drank them and went on our way. Both drinks were good. Right before lunch, our stomach's were empty and we were thirsty as well. So we stopped to buy a cold drink. JD bought the same fruit drink he had in the morning. After a big thirsty gulp, he noticed his stomach quickly became warm. Upon further investigation of the can, we noticed an alcohol label (e.g. 6% alc). So, what does this mean? We were accidentaly drinking boos at 8:30 am. Right..... accidentaly.

All you reading this on Friday, enjoy the last day of the week.