Hello all! Did you miss us? I know it's been about a week since I last posted. Wondering what we've been up to these past seven days? Well I'm here to tell you! Again, it's going to get split up into two posts, but there will be lots of pictures, so you'll enjoy it.
First up, have you been at all curious about what I've been drinking here in Japan? No? Well you're in luck, because I'm going to tell you!
First up: Lipton's "Tea au Lait Chocolat." What is it? Basically chocolate milk tea. It sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a shot. What does it taste like? Well, it's kind of similar to chocolate milk, but with a hint of tea. It's not bad, but not something I'd drink all the time. I'd buy it again, though.
Next up: Nestle's "Maple Milk Tea." What is it? ...Exactly what it sounds like--milk tea with maple syrup. It also sounded pretty crazy, and yet I bought a carton of it anyway. What does it taste like? Sweet. Very sweet. Like maple and milk, with that hint of tea. I think it's too sweet for me, and I probably wouldn't buy it again.
Not pictured: Calpis Water. What is it? It comes in a regular sized plastic bottle and the contents are white. I've had peach Calpis before, which was good, so I figured it was high time I try the regular kind. What does it taste like? Orange soda, but without the fizz. There is a "Calpis Soda," so I'm assuming that's pretty much exactly like orange soda. Why is it white? I have no idea.
Last Friday evening, we decided to head to Ikebukuro to do a little shopping. Courtney came with us because she wanted to go to Tokyu Hands and buy a bag. But she had to leave early to go clean her apartment for a guest who was coming later. We ended up not buying anything... except food. So we went to El Torito, which was obviously the most Japanese place we could find.
Cinnamon got a quesadilla! You could tell that from the picture, right? Looks very quesadilla-ish.
Japan has no idea what a quesadilla is.
Case in point, my (blurry) "clubhouse quesadilla."
Again, looks like a quesadilla, right? That was the first thing that came to mind, yes? Grilled chicken, tomato, bacon, lettuce and avocado all rolled up and served with guacamole and about two teaspoons of sour cream? Correct or not, they were still tasty. (Please ignore the weird face I'm making).
Saturday and Sunday, we spent our weekend at Harajuku LaForet Museum, seeing...
*pnish* Room Vol. 7! Yes, despite its name, the "museum" is actually a small theater space on the 6th floor of the LaForet building (which is basically like a mall). Friday, we met up with Courtney and her friend Meg and went to see the show together. Afterward, we went to T.G.I. Friday's for dinner before heading home.
Saturday, we were up early-ish to see the show three more times. Meg had to leave after the noon show to get back to Shiga, where she lives, so after a quick lunch at Lotteria, we parted ways with her. ...And fully enjoyed the 3:00 show. After that, we went to Starbucks and Courtney and I both got the new, seasonal "sakura" frappuccino. It was pretty tasty~ Then, it was back for the final show at 6pm. What do we have to show for it (aside various goods that none of you would care about), you ask?
Chocolates from each of the members, of course! After each show, there was a little handshake event, where before leaving the lobby, you got to shake the guys' hands, and one member (a different one each show) would hand you a piece of chocolate. Lots of fun~
Once the show was over for good, we decided to go back to El Torito, because that's what Courtney was in the mood for, and we didn't have any objections to going again. ...So we went off to Ikebukuro. ...And the waitress clearly did not like Cinnamon, seeing as she apparently chose not to hear Cinnamon's order and didn't bring her the chicken tacos she had been hoping for. She also didn't bring Courtney her extra tortillas, so we think she just had it out for all of us. Nevertheless, we have decided not to eat there anymore. Crappy service.
Monday, we decided to go to Korakuen, as there was a running store there that Cinnamon wanted to go to. We went there last time (to the garden we took about 5,000,000 pictures at) and it was a pretty interesting place. So off we went. We got a late start, so it was probably close to 5, 5:30 when we got there. Compared to last time, when there was a baseball game going on at the Tokyo Dome, there weren't many people around.
However, there was this--the worst named amusement park ride aimed at kids ever. It looked pretty similar to a Tilt-a-Whirl, so I really don't know where they came up with the name "Kids Hacker." Better ask marketing about that.
We walked around for a bit and passed some sort of event that was going on downstairs. However, we couldn't see much of it without stopping, so we just walked on, headed to the running store.
With that out of the way, we came back and walked around LaQua (surprisingly pronounced "la koo-wa") for a while. But we knew something was going to be happening soon at the event area, so we went back over there to check it out.
And it turned out to be a red carpet event for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie. We got to see the movie's title character actor, Logan Lerman, and the director, Chris Columbus, walk down the red carpet. It literally lasted all of maybe 10 seconds, but it was kind of neat to stumble across something so seemingly random at a place like that.
We were going to go get something to eat afterward, but literally as soon as we started walking away from the event, I started getting a migraine, so we just went home, where I proceeded to feel like death warmed over for about the next four hours. Luckily, that terror finally ended, and I was okay to go the next day. But that's a story for another time...
February 3rd - March 17th, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Success and Reminiscing
Before I begin this post, please--at your earliest convenience--be sure to ask Cinnamon about the "peanut cream" she bought at the store the other day. I think she's just slightly obsessed with it.
Moving on.
Today, which for us was Tuesday (it's currently 2am on Wednesday, which should show you just how dedicated I am to making sure you all know what we're doing here; you should check in once in a while if you're reading it!), we decided to go somewhere we hadn't been yet on this trip--Ueno!
Ueno is at the northeast end of Tokyo, and is one of the older areas, so there's really not a whole lot to see (at least that we've found). But there is the park, so we figured we'd go check that out again.
We found two sakura (cherry) trees that were already in bloom! Normally, they don't start opening until the end of March/early April, so we considered ourselves lucky. We're crossing our fingers and hoping they'll bloom a little early this year so we can see them before we leave. I've always wanted to see the sakura in full blossom!
Another thing we found was...
...this supposedly delicious tea (in the middle of the picture). Last time we came to the park, I bought a bottle of this and it was easily the worst tea I have ever had the displeasure of tasting. I gave it two thumbs way down and ended up dumping over half the bottle. Never again!
Now here's something fun! I took the liberty of setting up shots we took today next to similar shots we took in the summer of 2008 so you can see just how different things look this time around. Clever, aren't I? (Be sure to click on the pictures to see them full size. Click on "all sizes" above the picture, and it should give you the option to see it "large").
Look at how depressing this park is in winter! It's a far cry from the lush greenery and lavender-shaded hydrangeas we saw last time!
There's a whole new dress code this time around. Gone are the sandals, tank tops and skirts. They've been replaced by jeans, scarves, coats and hats. (You can see my fluffy pom poms now! Kind of. Cinnamon took this picture, and instead of getting the pictures off her camera, I just used the ones she posted on facebook, so they're not very big).
Bye bye sunglasses, hello face masks and cold-induced red noses!
It's almost unbelievable to think these bare stick-like bushes will be loaded with beautiful, vibrant flowers in just four more months. Living in Florida my whole life, I guess I never realized so many plants lose all their leaves in winter. It's been an educational trip!
We decided to exit the park a different way from where we came in, since we didn't want to pass by the drunk-sounding guy who was peddling something and calling out to us as he passed by the first time. Something along the lines of "hey baby" or "hey lady" and "matteru yo" (which means "I'll be waiting for you"). It was more funny than creepy, and we had a good laugh at it, so don't worry; we weren't worried he was out to stalk us or something.
Across the street from Keisei Ueno station, we saw several rows of gachapon machines. The picture is pretty self-explanatory. You put some money in, turn the knob, and out pops one of several possible goodies. Most of them are phone straps or keychains, but some are little action figures or other toys.
But what's this?
No, seriously, what is this?!
You can win a phone strap/keychain with a little plastic toilet on it! (Western or squat style, even!) Who would want such a thing? We certainly didn't, so we snapped a picture and kept on walking.
We were still on an umbrella hunt, so we meandered through the streets of Ameyoko looking for a suitable place, when lo and behold, it started raining! It was just a few sprinkles, but we knew it wasn't going to let up (the forecast was for rain and possible snow flurries in the evening). We pressed onward, searching for that perfect umbrella. I found a cute and girly one at Claire's for 500 yen (roughly $5.50). It's black with purple plaid and a purple ruffled trim. And compared to the cheap conbini (convenience store) umbrellas I had gotten used to using, it's huge! That turned out to be a good thing, as Cinnamon hadn't found anything to her liking yet. We could share mine for the time being.
Eventually, we gave up on the hunt in pursuit of food. Then it was off to Gotanda for more Coco's curry! However, Cinnamon found a cute yellow umbrella at a little drugstore inside the station, so with that, our mission was complete! The curry was delicious and warmed us right up, but then it was back into the cold, wet night air.
Since we were in the area, we thought it'd be fun to walk by the place we stayed last time we came to Japan. Much of Gotanda and Shirokanedai looked the same, but there were some differences. The house that was under construction at the corner of our old street was now finished. A few shops had changed hands and there was now a dog grooming/pet hotel shop, and a place called Panda Inn (which seemed to be a restaurant). The mysterious New York City Donut Plant was now open and selling donuts and coffee! Previously, it was always had its metal shutters rolled down, and the few times we got a peek inside, all you could see were things like ladders and other random junk. We were impressed with the new look!
In Meguro, there was a new drug/cosmetic store, and a Baskin Robbins! Where was that when we were here in the summer, hm? However, the old Wendy's (yes, the hamburger joint) was gone. The company that owned Wendy's in Japan decided to close all of its Japanese locations in December to focus on some of its other restaurants. Sad, but we'll always have the memories...
By the time we made it to Meguro station, it was already close to 7:45pm, and since most all of the shops in Tokyo close at 8, we decided to simply hop on the Yamanote and head back to Shinjuku. On our 20 minute walk back from the station, the rain was starting to change over to snow again! We saw quite a few flakes, which was still kind of exciting. It was never just snow, though. Always snow and rain.
After a quick stop at the AMPM to pick up some snacks and milk tea (which I have recently discovered I quite like), it was back to our place to dry off and warm up. Tomorrow, I think we're going to check out the Ginza and Tokyo areas (for the first time this trip, anyway). There's a huge Sanrio/Hello Kitty store in Ginza that's calling my name~
Moving on.
Today, which for us was Tuesday (it's currently 2am on Wednesday, which should show you just how dedicated I am to making sure you all know what we're doing here; you should check in once in a while if you're reading it!), we decided to go somewhere we hadn't been yet on this trip--Ueno!
Ueno is at the northeast end of Tokyo, and is one of the older areas, so there's really not a whole lot to see (at least that we've found). But there is the park, so we figured we'd go check that out again.
We found two sakura (cherry) trees that were already in bloom! Normally, they don't start opening until the end of March/early April, so we considered ourselves lucky. We're crossing our fingers and hoping they'll bloom a little early this year so we can see them before we leave. I've always wanted to see the sakura in full blossom!
Another thing we found was...
...this supposedly delicious tea (in the middle of the picture). Last time we came to the park, I bought a bottle of this and it was easily the worst tea I have ever had the displeasure of tasting. I gave it two thumbs way down and ended up dumping over half the bottle. Never again!
Now here's something fun! I took the liberty of setting up shots we took today next to similar shots we took in the summer of 2008 so you can see just how different things look this time around. Clever, aren't I? (Be sure to click on the pictures to see them full size. Click on "all sizes" above the picture, and it should give you the option to see it "large").
Look at how depressing this park is in winter! It's a far cry from the lush greenery and lavender-shaded hydrangeas we saw last time!
There's a whole new dress code this time around. Gone are the sandals, tank tops and skirts. They've been replaced by jeans, scarves, coats and hats. (You can see my fluffy pom poms now! Kind of. Cinnamon took this picture, and instead of getting the pictures off her camera, I just used the ones she posted on facebook, so they're not very big).
Bye bye sunglasses, hello face masks and cold-induced red noses!
It's almost unbelievable to think these bare stick-like bushes will be loaded with beautiful, vibrant flowers in just four more months. Living in Florida my whole life, I guess I never realized so many plants lose all their leaves in winter. It's been an educational trip!
We decided to exit the park a different way from where we came in, since we didn't want to pass by the drunk-sounding guy who was peddling something and calling out to us as he passed by the first time. Something along the lines of "hey baby" or "hey lady" and "matteru yo" (which means "I'll be waiting for you"). It was more funny than creepy, and we had a good laugh at it, so don't worry; we weren't worried he was out to stalk us or something.
Across the street from Keisei Ueno station, we saw several rows of gachapon machines. The picture is pretty self-explanatory. You put some money in, turn the knob, and out pops one of several possible goodies. Most of them are phone straps or keychains, but some are little action figures or other toys.
But what's this?
No, seriously, what is this?!
You can win a phone strap/keychain with a little plastic toilet on it! (Western or squat style, even!) Who would want such a thing? We certainly didn't, so we snapped a picture and kept on walking.
We were still on an umbrella hunt, so we meandered through the streets of Ameyoko looking for a suitable place, when lo and behold, it started raining! It was just a few sprinkles, but we knew it wasn't going to let up (the forecast was for rain and possible snow flurries in the evening). We pressed onward, searching for that perfect umbrella. I found a cute and girly one at Claire's for 500 yen (roughly $5.50). It's black with purple plaid and a purple ruffled trim. And compared to the cheap conbini (convenience store) umbrellas I had gotten used to using, it's huge! That turned out to be a good thing, as Cinnamon hadn't found anything to her liking yet. We could share mine for the time being.
Eventually, we gave up on the hunt in pursuit of food. Then it was off to Gotanda for more Coco's curry! However, Cinnamon found a cute yellow umbrella at a little drugstore inside the station, so with that, our mission was complete! The curry was delicious and warmed us right up, but then it was back into the cold, wet night air.
Since we were in the area, we thought it'd be fun to walk by the place we stayed last time we came to Japan. Much of Gotanda and Shirokanedai looked the same, but there were some differences. The house that was under construction at the corner of our old street was now finished. A few shops had changed hands and there was now a dog grooming/pet hotel shop, and a place called Panda Inn (which seemed to be a restaurant). The mysterious New York City Donut Plant was now open and selling donuts and coffee! Previously, it was always had its metal shutters rolled down, and the few times we got a peek inside, all you could see were things like ladders and other random junk. We were impressed with the new look!
In Meguro, there was a new drug/cosmetic store, and a Baskin Robbins! Where was that when we were here in the summer, hm? However, the old Wendy's (yes, the hamburger joint) was gone. The company that owned Wendy's in Japan decided to close all of its Japanese locations in December to focus on some of its other restaurants. Sad, but we'll always have the memories...
By the time we made it to Meguro station, it was already close to 7:45pm, and since most all of the shops in Tokyo close at 8, we decided to simply hop on the Yamanote and head back to Shinjuku. On our 20 minute walk back from the station, the rain was starting to change over to snow again! We saw quite a few flakes, which was still kind of exciting. It was never just snow, though. Always snow and rain.
After a quick stop at the AMPM to pick up some snacks and milk tea (which I have recently discovered I quite like), it was back to our place to dry off and warm up. Tomorrow, I think we're going to check out the Ginza and Tokyo areas (for the first time this trip, anyway). There's a huge Sanrio/Hello Kitty store in Ginza that's calling my name~
The Booze Cruise
I actually have two posts for you today. The second one is pretty long, so I decided to split the two up.
Lately, we've been alternating between doing a lot and not doing much of anything at all. The weather's been cold and rainy and miserable, which is more conducive to staying in and curling up under the covers than going out to see the city--especially when the latter requires a lot of walking in the cold.
In any case, let's start with what I did Saturday! I'll keep it relatively short, since you probably won't understand the appeal of it anyway. Apparently I like things most people would find downright weird and confusing.
Saturday morning, I left our place at 10:30am to meet Courtney at Higashi Shinjuku station (which is near her apartment and about a 20 minute walk from where we're staying). We were headed to Kachidoki station to board a yagatabune, or covered boat for a pretty mysterious actor event. (That actor would be Tsuchiya Yuuichi--or Tuti--who is one of the members of *pnish*). Up until we got on the boat, this is all we knew about the event:
A few steps out our door, I noticed it was kind of drizzling, so I headed back upstairs to grab an umbrella. And halfway to the station, I realized that not only was it raining, there were also snowflakes falling from the sky! That was the first time I had seen snow, in person, since I was 5! But it was cold, and melting as soon as it hit the ground, so I didn't really get to appreciate it.
We ended up being the 2nd and 3rd people to arrive at the dock, and we had to wait out in the cold and the rain-snow for nearly half an hour before we finally got to board the boat. It was much smaller than either of us had expected, with tatami (woven bamboo mat) floors, so you had to take your shoes off before getting on. This website has pictures of basically the exact type of boat we were on. Down at the bottom of that page, just above the picture of the bus, you can see what the inside of our boat looked like. Except there were long rows of tables on both sides (enough to accommodate about 100 people), and beneath the tables was a sunken area where you could put your feet down without being cramped.
As you can see here in this picture of Courtney, there were a lot of tables in what seemed like not a lot of space. And as for this mysterious "whitish" food, well...
There was plenty of it! On the left, in the little paper "pot" was tounyuu nabe which is basically a bunch of meat, seafood and vegetables boiled in a little pot with a soymilk broth (there's a closeup next). In the middle is a salad--complete with kidney beans. Oh how I love salads with kidney beans (this is sarcasm, by the way). To the right of that is a little green bowl with a cube of very soft, very creamy cheese. At first, I thought it was tofu. In fact, I had eaten half of it and still thought it was tofu until the girl next to me corrected me. It was topped with two little shrimp pieces, but I pushed those to the side. Yuck. Above the salad in the plastic wrap-covered bowl were two different kinds of sashimi (raw fish slices). Behind that was a dish of pickled foods. I didn't eat them, though. And lastly, that empty rectangular tray on the right held tempura (batter-dipped and fried fish and vegetables) later on.
Here's what was inside the nabe pot -- a mix of mushrooms, meat, shrimp, tofu, and several things I don't recognize. I ate some of it, but not a lot. I actually ate quite a bit of things I had never tried before or wouldn't usually eat. I was proud of myself. I ate half the sashimi, tried some tempura, and even drank a glass of beer! This was a belated birthday party event, after all!
Lastly, here's a two-shot of me and Courtney on the boat. This was before the event really started, when everyone was still getting on the boat. We were close to the doors and it was cold, so I hadn't taken off my jacket or scarf yet. But you can see some of my cute new hat (and this is important)! Unfortunately, you can't see the cutest parts.
Taking pictures during the event was a definite no-no, so those are the only pictures I have, but both Courtney and I had a great time and were glad we braved the crappy weather to take part in the event.
The next day, Cinnamon and I went out in search of an umbrella. Since the weather has been almost entirely cloudy or rainy since we got here, we figured we'd need one sooner or later. But last time we were here, we just bought cheap 100 yen umbrellas, which didn't exactly hold up for very long. We had seen a little place near the McDonald's we had eaten at in Aoyama a few days before that had some cute umbrellas. However, by the time we finished eating, it had closed. So we decided to go back there to try again!
Back to Harajuku we went, and walked through Omotesando and down to Aoyama, and...
The place was closed again!
So we decided to give up on it for now and started walking in the direction of Shibuya, as we didn't really have any other plans, and Shibuya is a good place for whiling away the hours.
Here's Cinnamon looking around Aoyama. She's wearing the face mask because she's still sick and doesn't want to spread her germs. Also, it serves a dual purpose of keeping her face warm in the cold air.
And it was Valentine's Day, so I snapped this shot in the window of the swanky Pierre Herme store, which was understandably busy. Upstairs, they have a chocolate bar! I assume that means a cafe-type place where you can order all manner of chocolate confections. Here's a sample of some macaroons and chocolates. Don't they look tasty?
On our way to Shibuya, we stopped by a little jewelry store that I think we'll have to visit again before we leave, got some more cash, and killed some time in an H&M (which we were very unimpressed by). We invited Courtney out to dinner with us, which was T.G.I.Friday's! (Don't worry, we're slowly branching out from the American fare this time around). But on the way there, we discovered something very sad!
Remember this place from our last trip? It was just a few doors down from Friday's, and now it's gone! And we never got to eat there! This is a very sad thing indeed. Their ice cream looked so cute and tasty, too. At least I took a picture of it. Despite that, the night was a lot of fun!
Up next--Ueno Park, then and now!
Lately, we've been alternating between doing a lot and not doing much of anything at all. The weather's been cold and rainy and miserable, which is more conducive to staying in and curling up under the covers than going out to see the city--especially when the latter requires a lot of walking in the cold.
In any case, let's start with what I did Saturday! I'll keep it relatively short, since you probably won't understand the appeal of it anyway. Apparently I like things most people would find downright weird and confusing.
Saturday morning, I left our place at 10:30am to meet Courtney at Higashi Shinjuku station (which is near her apartment and about a 20 minute walk from where we're staying). We were headed to Kachidoki station to board a yagatabune, or covered boat for a pretty mysterious actor event. (That actor would be Tsuchiya Yuuichi--or Tuti--who is one of the members of *pnish*). Up until we got on the boat, this is all we knew about the event:
- It was on a boat
- Lunch would be "whitish food"
- Tuti was in charge once the boat left the dock
- Be prepared
A few steps out our door, I noticed it was kind of drizzling, so I headed back upstairs to grab an umbrella. And halfway to the station, I realized that not only was it raining, there were also snowflakes falling from the sky! That was the first time I had seen snow, in person, since I was 5! But it was cold, and melting as soon as it hit the ground, so I didn't really get to appreciate it.
We ended up being the 2nd and 3rd people to arrive at the dock, and we had to wait out in the cold and the rain-snow for nearly half an hour before we finally got to board the boat. It was much smaller than either of us had expected, with tatami (woven bamboo mat) floors, so you had to take your shoes off before getting on. This website has pictures of basically the exact type of boat we were on. Down at the bottom of that page, just above the picture of the bus, you can see what the inside of our boat looked like. Except there were long rows of tables on both sides (enough to accommodate about 100 people), and beneath the tables was a sunken area where you could put your feet down without being cramped.
As you can see here in this picture of Courtney, there were a lot of tables in what seemed like not a lot of space. And as for this mysterious "whitish" food, well...
There was plenty of it! On the left, in the little paper "pot" was tounyuu nabe which is basically a bunch of meat, seafood and vegetables boiled in a little pot with a soymilk broth (there's a closeup next). In the middle is a salad--complete with kidney beans. Oh how I love salads with kidney beans (this is sarcasm, by the way). To the right of that is a little green bowl with a cube of very soft, very creamy cheese. At first, I thought it was tofu. In fact, I had eaten half of it and still thought it was tofu until the girl next to me corrected me. It was topped with two little shrimp pieces, but I pushed those to the side. Yuck. Above the salad in the plastic wrap-covered bowl were two different kinds of sashimi (raw fish slices). Behind that was a dish of pickled foods. I didn't eat them, though. And lastly, that empty rectangular tray on the right held tempura (batter-dipped and fried fish and vegetables) later on.
Here's what was inside the nabe pot -- a mix of mushrooms, meat, shrimp, tofu, and several things I don't recognize. I ate some of it, but not a lot. I actually ate quite a bit of things I had never tried before or wouldn't usually eat. I was proud of myself. I ate half the sashimi, tried some tempura, and even drank a glass of beer! This was a belated birthday party event, after all!
Lastly, here's a two-shot of me and Courtney on the boat. This was before the event really started, when everyone was still getting on the boat. We were close to the doors and it was cold, so I hadn't taken off my jacket or scarf yet. But you can see some of my cute new hat (and this is important)! Unfortunately, you can't see the cutest parts.
Taking pictures during the event was a definite no-no, so those are the only pictures I have, but both Courtney and I had a great time and were glad we braved the crappy weather to take part in the event.
The next day, Cinnamon and I went out in search of an umbrella. Since the weather has been almost entirely cloudy or rainy since we got here, we figured we'd need one sooner or later. But last time we were here, we just bought cheap 100 yen umbrellas, which didn't exactly hold up for very long. We had seen a little place near the McDonald's we had eaten at in Aoyama a few days before that had some cute umbrellas. However, by the time we finished eating, it had closed. So we decided to go back there to try again!
Back to Harajuku we went, and walked through Omotesando and down to Aoyama, and...
The place was closed again!
So we decided to give up on it for now and started walking in the direction of Shibuya, as we didn't really have any other plans, and Shibuya is a good place for whiling away the hours.
Here's Cinnamon looking around Aoyama. She's wearing the face mask because she's still sick and doesn't want to spread her germs. Also, it serves a dual purpose of keeping her face warm in the cold air.
And it was Valentine's Day, so I snapped this shot in the window of the swanky Pierre Herme store, which was understandably busy. Upstairs, they have a chocolate bar! I assume that means a cafe-type place where you can order all manner of chocolate confections. Here's a sample of some macaroons and chocolates. Don't they look tasty?
On our way to Shibuya, we stopped by a little jewelry store that I think we'll have to visit again before we leave, got some more cash, and killed some time in an H&M (which we were very unimpressed by). We invited Courtney out to dinner with us, which was T.G.I.Friday's! (Don't worry, we're slowly branching out from the American fare this time around). But on the way there, we discovered something very sad!
Remember this place from our last trip? It was just a few doors down from Friday's, and now it's gone! And we never got to eat there! This is a very sad thing indeed. Their ice cream looked so cute and tasty, too. At least I took a picture of it. Despite that, the night was a lot of fun!
Up next--Ueno Park, then and now!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
What Does Falling Snow Sound Like?
Good afternoon, western hemisphere!
I'm afraid I don't have many fascinating tales or pictures for you today. Tuesday, Cinnamon and I decided to go to Ikebukuro and do a little window shopping. The day was surprisingly warm--almost 70 degrees! It was very nice to not have to go out in a big heavy coat or scarf or hat. We went to Lotteria for dinner, and it was extremely busy, but I got my first melon soda of this trip, so I was pretty pleased. We then made our way over to Sunshine City, where I unsuccessfully looked for a new hat. Afterward, we headed over to K-books to check for new *pnish* goods, but didn't find anything in our price range. Then it was back home!
Wednesday, we thought we'd head to Harajuku and check things out there. The day was cloudy and pretty chilly--barely 50 degrees. Yet still, it was very busy! I bought a cute new hat... but I'm keeping you in suspense as to what it looks like, because I'm sure you'll see it in pictures soon enough. It's a very "Persimmon" hat.
As we walked down Takeshita Doori, it started drizzling, and we hadn't brought any umbrellas with us. But it wasn't too bad, so we pressed on, looking for somewhere to eat. I thought we should try this tiny burger place that was near To the Herbs, so we walked toward Aoyama, in the drizzle all the way. Apparently we went the wrong way, because we never came across it. By that time, we were very cold and getting damp, so we ducked into McDonald's, as it was the closest eating establishment. After filling our tummies, we decided to simply duck into the nearest subway station and headed home. The weather wasn't conducive to shopping outside.
And then yesterday, Cinnamon had caught a cold. Maybe not a full-fledged cold, but her nose was running nonstop and she was sneezing up a storm. The weather was still cold and rainy (I think the high was about 43), so we stayed in most of the day. Thanks to a recommendation from Courtney, we even learned how to order delivery food on the internet! This website is a very valuable resource! You find the city/town in which you live, and it lists a ton of different places that will deliver food right to your door! You can browse their menus, choose what you want, and all you have to do is pay for it when it arrives at your home!
Ordering dinner~ (My laptop looks enormous!) We eventually decided on a place called Napoli's Oven. Cinnamon said we should try a place we don't have back home--so that meant no Domino's or Pizza Hut (both of which do exist in Japan!).
And this is what we ordered--a little box of goodness, complete with two free garlic chicken sticks (which were... interesting, but not in a bad way), and oshibori (which are like moist towelettes you use before eating)
Inside is... basil mozzarella pizza! It was pretty tasty and the crust was nice and chewy. They also give you little tiny pouches of red pepper flakes. You'd be floored by how much it cost, though. We got the 30cm (12 inch) size, which is the largest they carry, and it was 2100... which is roughly $23. Yes, $23 for a 12" pizza with no meat. But we ate every last bite!
Then I decided to be a nice sister and brave the cold and the rain and go to the store to buy Cinnamon some medicine (again, lots of fun in a foreign country), a face mask, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, green tea ice cream, and french fries. Hey, don't look at me. That was her exact request! It took three stores, but I finally got everything and trucked it all back to our place. (I picked up a few things for myself, too).
The medicine (which is technically for allergies, but says it helps with sneezing and a stuffy/runny nose) seems to have helped, because she's been sleeping relatively soundly for the past few hours. And hopefully she'll be feeling better when she wakes up. It's definitely no fun to be sick on your vacation, and she's had nothing but bad luck in that department thus far.
In more fun news, we've been given about a 30% chance of snow today! I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, since the high is supposed to be about 43, but you can bet we'll report on that if we see any! In any case, it won't be anything like that blizzard you guys had over there in the US recently! Stay warm and healthy (we're working on that, too), and we'll check in again in another day or two.
I'm afraid I don't have many fascinating tales or pictures for you today. Tuesday, Cinnamon and I decided to go to Ikebukuro and do a little window shopping. The day was surprisingly warm--almost 70 degrees! It was very nice to not have to go out in a big heavy coat or scarf or hat. We went to Lotteria for dinner, and it was extremely busy, but I got my first melon soda of this trip, so I was pretty pleased. We then made our way over to Sunshine City, where I unsuccessfully looked for a new hat. Afterward, we headed over to K-books to check for new *pnish* goods, but didn't find anything in our price range. Then it was back home!
Wednesday, we thought we'd head to Harajuku and check things out there. The day was cloudy and pretty chilly--barely 50 degrees. Yet still, it was very busy! I bought a cute new hat... but I'm keeping you in suspense as to what it looks like, because I'm sure you'll see it in pictures soon enough. It's a very "Persimmon" hat.
As we walked down Takeshita Doori, it started drizzling, and we hadn't brought any umbrellas with us. But it wasn't too bad, so we pressed on, looking for somewhere to eat. I thought we should try this tiny burger place that was near To the Herbs, so we walked toward Aoyama, in the drizzle all the way. Apparently we went the wrong way, because we never came across it. By that time, we were very cold and getting damp, so we ducked into McDonald's, as it was the closest eating establishment. After filling our tummies, we decided to simply duck into the nearest subway station and headed home. The weather wasn't conducive to shopping outside.
And then yesterday, Cinnamon had caught a cold. Maybe not a full-fledged cold, but her nose was running nonstop and she was sneezing up a storm. The weather was still cold and rainy (I think the high was about 43), so we stayed in most of the day. Thanks to a recommendation from Courtney, we even learned how to order delivery food on the internet! This website is a very valuable resource! You find the city/town in which you live, and it lists a ton of different places that will deliver food right to your door! You can browse their menus, choose what you want, and all you have to do is pay for it when it arrives at your home!
Ordering dinner~ (My laptop looks enormous!) We eventually decided on a place called Napoli's Oven. Cinnamon said we should try a place we don't have back home--so that meant no Domino's or Pizza Hut (both of which do exist in Japan!).
And this is what we ordered--a little box of goodness, complete with two free garlic chicken sticks (which were... interesting, but not in a bad way), and oshibori (which are like moist towelettes you use before eating)
Inside is... basil mozzarella pizza! It was pretty tasty and the crust was nice and chewy. They also give you little tiny pouches of red pepper flakes. You'd be floored by how much it cost, though. We got the 30cm (12 inch) size, which is the largest they carry, and it was 2100... which is roughly $23. Yes, $23 for a 12" pizza with no meat. But we ate every last bite!
Then I decided to be a nice sister and brave the cold and the rain and go to the store to buy Cinnamon some medicine (again, lots of fun in a foreign country), a face mask, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, green tea ice cream, and french fries. Hey, don't look at me. That was her exact request! It took three stores, but I finally got everything and trucked it all back to our place. (I picked up a few things for myself, too).
The medicine (which is technically for allergies, but says it helps with sneezing and a stuffy/runny nose) seems to have helped, because she's been sleeping relatively soundly for the past few hours. And hopefully she'll be feeling better when she wakes up. It's definitely no fun to be sick on your vacation, and she's had nothing but bad luck in that department thus far.
In more fun news, we've been given about a 30% chance of snow today! I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, since the high is supposed to be about 43, but you can bet we'll report on that if we see any! In any case, it won't be anything like that blizzard you guys had over there in the US recently! Stay warm and healthy (we're working on that, too), and we'll check in again in another day or two.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The End of an Era
I'm back again and I can already tell you're excited. Getting sick of the constant updates? Well don't worry; they'll likely slack off now that we're done with our busy stretch of shows and events. Now I get to tell you how they went! Let's start with yesterday's.
We hung out at our place until about 3:30, when we decided to get something to eat. See, we had somewhere to be at 7:00pm, so we wanted to have full bellies before we got there. Of course, we didn't really have any particular place or food in mind, so we ended up in Shibuya for the first time this trip! That was the place we frequented most often on our last trip. Eventually, we decided on curry, so we made our way to Coco's (remember, Cinnamon hadn't come with me the first time I went there). This time instead of chicken katsu or hirekatsu, I had mushroom curry, and it was pretty good!
Apparently we ate pretty fast, as we still had about half an hour to kill, so we walked up Dougenzaka, then back down, and made our way to the station. We were heading to a place called Morph Tokyo in Roppongi for Washio Noboru's birthday live/event to celebrate his 10th year in the entertainment industry. We arrived around 6:10, and supposedly the place was supposed to open at 6:15. So we got in line and waited.
That (obviously) would be me waiting with our tickets. Do I look cold? It was pretty chilly then--probably about 40 degrees. And we had been standing out there for about 15 minutes by that point.
Cinnamon was taking these pictures. I stole them from her camera
Finally, we got to go inside, and the place was really tiny! You walk downstairs to get in, then hand your ticket off to an attendant, then go down another flight of stairs. On the right is a tiny bar area where you can go to get a drink (we both got water), and on the left there's a plexiglass wall with a door that leads to the stage area. The area from the glass to the stage is probably no more than 20ft or so. We made our way inside and found a place to stand (as there are no seats except for a few along the wall) pretty much in the very middle of the floor.
No more than 7 or 8 minutes later, the show started, and it involved a lot of clapping and cheering! It was a ton of fun, but we had expected it to last about an hour and a half. It ended up running two hours. And I don't know if you've ever spent 2 solid hours clapping and standing in one spot where you can't even move your feet, but it's hell on your lower back. As fun as it was, we were both glad when the show ended and we were able to move again.
Back up the stairs we went, and the star of the show, Washio Noboru (who is a member of *pnish*, if I haven't mentioned it before), was waiting for us! He shook everyone's hand, thanked them for coming, and handed them an autographed card. Cinnamon and I were the only two foreigners in the small audience, so that was kind of cool. When it was my turn to go, he asked me if I had fun, and I told him I had lots of fun, so it was neat to be able to let him know that even foreigners support him.
After that, we headed home, and were very glad to be able to sit down again! And thus ended our Sunday.
Today, as you may remember, we were going to see the Bleach musical's final performance. But before that, we had to go to Harajuku to pick up some flyers for *pnish* room vol. 7. And that's just what we did. Then it was back to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall.
This time, we made it in plenty of time for the 5:00 show. We bought some goods (penlights, which are different colored lights you can switch on and off (the audience waves these during songs), pamphlets and photosets), made a quick bathroom break, then headed to our seats.
As you can see from this picture, we were in row E this time. And if you know your alphabet, you'll know this is the 5th row! They were very good seats for this show, especially since this was the very last show of the run and the very last show with this cast--and quite possibly the very last show ever.
You can see here just how close we were to the stage (and yes, that's the curtain you see there). Close enough to see the sweat dripping from the actors, smell the wood of the set, and hear the scuffing of the actors' shoes on the stage.
And this is what you see when looking back. (Granted, I took this picture after the show was over, but pretty much all these 970 seats were filled tonight).
The show itself was a blast, with a lot of laughs, a lot of cheering, a lot of clapping, and a lot of tears. By the end, as the cast was thanking everyone for coming and supporting the show, the majority of them were in tears, as was the audience. These Bleach musicals have been going on for 5 years now, so it was a pretty emotional end for a cast who had been performing together for so long.
While they sang one last song, a flurry of star and heart shaped papers dropped from the ceiling, on each one a handwritten message from one of the actors. I was lucky enough to catch one, so I'm pretty glad about that. But after the song ended, it was finally over. The group gave their final farewell and left the stage.
We had a great time at this show, and it was both a happy and sad occasion. (Yes, I was part of the audience that was crying. If you were there, you'd understand. ...Maybe. You may just think I'm crazy.)
Once the show was over, we met up with Courtney and a few of her friends and headed out to dinner at a place in Omotesando called "To the Herbs."
I had something called "porcini and 3 mushroom pasta." It was pretty tasty! What I like about Japan is the portions are small enough that I can finish them in one sitting. Had I ordered this at an American restaurant, I would've gotten twice as much and ended up taking half of it home. The only downside is that here, while you get less food, it costs the same amount as a full portion. This pasta was the equivalent of about $15. (And yes, I had eaten about a third of it already when I took this picture).
Courtney got a 4 cheese pizza, served with rosemary honey. ...And she also got french fries. They were the shoestring variety, and came with both marinara sauce and pesto for dipping. I tried them with the pesto and they were actually very tasty! I wouldn't have thought of that.
Cinnamon got a margherita pizza. She's blurry in this picture because I was taking too long taking this picture (the camera wasn't focusing because I had zoomed in too far), and she wants to take another bite. In any case, all the food was very good, and we ate every last bite. Then we headed home (making a pit stop for ice cream first, though we haven't found anywhere that sells cheap green tea ice cream yet).
Tomorrow, we don't have any shows to go to or any specific plans, so we're just going to play it by ear. Hope you all are having just as much fun as we are. If not, then you'll just have to live vicariously through us. And please don't be afraid to leave us a comment or two. It's why we changed blog services after all. We'd like to hear your thoughts on our travels or questions you may have!
We hung out at our place until about 3:30, when we decided to get something to eat. See, we had somewhere to be at 7:00pm, so we wanted to have full bellies before we got there. Of course, we didn't really have any particular place or food in mind, so we ended up in Shibuya for the first time this trip! That was the place we frequented most often on our last trip. Eventually, we decided on curry, so we made our way to Coco's (remember, Cinnamon hadn't come with me the first time I went there). This time instead of chicken katsu or hirekatsu, I had mushroom curry, and it was pretty good!
Apparently we ate pretty fast, as we still had about half an hour to kill, so we walked up Dougenzaka, then back down, and made our way to the station. We were heading to a place called Morph Tokyo in Roppongi for Washio Noboru's birthday live/event to celebrate his 10th year in the entertainment industry. We arrived around 6:10, and supposedly the place was supposed to open at 6:15. So we got in line and waited.
That (obviously) would be me waiting with our tickets. Do I look cold? It was pretty chilly then--probably about 40 degrees. And we had been standing out there for about 15 minutes by that point.
Cinnamon was taking these pictures. I stole them from her camera
Finally, we got to go inside, and the place was really tiny! You walk downstairs to get in, then hand your ticket off to an attendant, then go down another flight of stairs. On the right is a tiny bar area where you can go to get a drink (we both got water), and on the left there's a plexiglass wall with a door that leads to the stage area. The area from the glass to the stage is probably no more than 20ft or so. We made our way inside and found a place to stand (as there are no seats except for a few along the wall) pretty much in the very middle of the floor.
No more than 7 or 8 minutes later, the show started, and it involved a lot of clapping and cheering! It was a ton of fun, but we had expected it to last about an hour and a half. It ended up running two hours. And I don't know if you've ever spent 2 solid hours clapping and standing in one spot where you can't even move your feet, but it's hell on your lower back. As fun as it was, we were both glad when the show ended and we were able to move again.
Back up the stairs we went, and the star of the show, Washio Noboru (who is a member of *pnish*, if I haven't mentioned it before), was waiting for us! He shook everyone's hand, thanked them for coming, and handed them an autographed card. Cinnamon and I were the only two foreigners in the small audience, so that was kind of cool. When it was my turn to go, he asked me if I had fun, and I told him I had lots of fun, so it was neat to be able to let him know that even foreigners support him.
After that, we headed home, and were very glad to be able to sit down again! And thus ended our Sunday.
Today, as you may remember, we were going to see the Bleach musical's final performance. But before that, we had to go to Harajuku to pick up some flyers for *pnish* room vol. 7. And that's just what we did. Then it was back to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall.
This time, we made it in plenty of time for the 5:00 show. We bought some goods (penlights, which are different colored lights you can switch on and off (the audience waves these during songs), pamphlets and photosets), made a quick bathroom break, then headed to our seats.
As you can see from this picture, we were in row E this time. And if you know your alphabet, you'll know this is the 5th row! They were very good seats for this show, especially since this was the very last show of the run and the very last show with this cast--and quite possibly the very last show ever.
You can see here just how close we were to the stage (and yes, that's the curtain you see there). Close enough to see the sweat dripping from the actors, smell the wood of the set, and hear the scuffing of the actors' shoes on the stage.
And this is what you see when looking back. (Granted, I took this picture after the show was over, but pretty much all these 970 seats were filled tonight).
The show itself was a blast, with a lot of laughs, a lot of cheering, a lot of clapping, and a lot of tears. By the end, as the cast was thanking everyone for coming and supporting the show, the majority of them were in tears, as was the audience. These Bleach musicals have been going on for 5 years now, so it was a pretty emotional end for a cast who had been performing together for so long.
While they sang one last song, a flurry of star and heart shaped papers dropped from the ceiling, on each one a handwritten message from one of the actors. I was lucky enough to catch one, so I'm pretty glad about that. But after the song ended, it was finally over. The group gave their final farewell and left the stage.
We had a great time at this show, and it was both a happy and sad occasion. (Yes, I was part of the audience that was crying. If you were there, you'd understand. ...Maybe. You may just think I'm crazy.)
Once the show was over, we met up with Courtney and a few of her friends and headed out to dinner at a place in Omotesando called "To the Herbs."
I had something called "porcini and 3 mushroom pasta." It was pretty tasty! What I like about Japan is the portions are small enough that I can finish them in one sitting. Had I ordered this at an American restaurant, I would've gotten twice as much and ended up taking half of it home. The only downside is that here, while you get less food, it costs the same amount as a full portion. This pasta was the equivalent of about $15. (And yes, I had eaten about a third of it already when I took this picture).
Courtney got a 4 cheese pizza, served with rosemary honey. ...And she also got french fries. They were the shoestring variety, and came with both marinara sauce and pesto for dipping. I tried them with the pesto and they were actually very tasty! I wouldn't have thought of that.
Cinnamon got a margherita pizza. She's blurry in this picture because I was taking too long taking this picture (the camera wasn't focusing because I had zoomed in too far), and she wants to take another bite. In any case, all the food was very good, and we ate every last bite. Then we headed home (making a pit stop for ice cream first, though we haven't found anywhere that sells cheap green tea ice cream yet).
Tomorrow, we don't have any shows to go to or any specific plans, so we're just going to play it by ear. Hope you all are having just as much fun as we are. If not, then you'll just have to live vicariously through us. And please don't be afraid to leave us a comment or two. It's why we changed blog services after all. We'd like to hear your thoughts on our travels or questions you may have!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Round Two
I'm back again to tell you all about what we did yesterday (Saturday). That's probably more interesting than the place we're staying, right?
We went out earlier in the day to pick up some medicine for Cinnamon, since her stomach was still bothering her. Nothing is quite as frustrating as trying to find medicine in a different country where you're not very proficient in the language. She ended up buying some pills whose box had a picture of someone with their hand over their stomach, so we figured it's as good a shot as any. (I could only read enough to see that it said something about stomach pain).
After that, we came home and had a small meal. I ate my nikuman, which wasn't too bad. The filling tasted similar to gyoza, and the outer "bun" part was kind of springy and chewy. It wasn't quite what I had been expecting, but I'd probably eat it again.
We spent a few more hours bumming around our place, waiting for Cinnamon's medicine to hopefully take effect, because we were going out to see "Rock Musical Bleach the Live, Bankai Show Code: 003" later on. (Those of you reading this who work at Barnes and Noble, yes, it is a musical based on the Bleach manga).
No, I'm not making this up. If you're curious, you can check out the promo video on their website here. It's very entertaining!
This just shows where our seats are. We were on floor 1, row O (or 15), seats 14 and 15. Not too bad, really!
My friends had gone to see it the previous night at 7pm, so I just assumed that's when the show started. We had planned on leaving around 5:30 to get to the theater by 6:00 so we could buy goods and find our seats well in advance.
Well around 5:30, as we were just gearing up to go, Cinnamon says to me, "Why do the tickets say 17:00 and 18:00?" It always takes me a minute to convert things from 24-hour time, but I quickly realized 18:00 (the time the show starts) wasn't 7pm, but 6pm. Uh oh.
Now it was time to panic. It would take us at least 20 minutes to get to the theater. So we hurried to Akebonobashi station and hopped the Toei Shinjuku line to Shinjuku staiton. From there, we just had to take the Oedo line to Kokuritsu-kyogijo station and walk another 10 minutes to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall. We were breathless and cold, but we made it just as they were making the "please put your cell phones in manner [vibrate] mode" announcement.
I won't bore you with details from the show, because you definitely wouldn't be able to appreciate it if you didn't know the story, the characters, or the actors. (Fun fact: last time we were in Japan, we saw a lot of shows and events by the theater group *pnish*. Two of the members of that group are in the Bleach Musical, and at least 3 other cast members have been guests in one of *pnish*'s shows.) Needless to say, the show was a ton of fun, and I'm glad we're going to see it again on Monday for the very last performance.
Once the show had ended, my friends whom we had met up with were going to go out for yakiniku! If you don't remember this from our last trip, it's meat you grill yourself at your table. Cinnamon decided to take a pass this time and go home and rest, but the four remaining members of our party continued on to Den Yakiniku in Musashi Sakai.
That's Jamie (from Michigan) on the left, and Courtney (who lives and works in Tokyo) on the right.
Here we have a plate off delicious (if still raw) meat, a bowl of rice, and a dish of sauce.
Courtney's in charge of putting the meat on the grill and turning it when necessary. At one point, I was accused of being a "backseat chef" because I told her when to turn a few of the pieces over.
We're cooking rosu and karubi. Rikaichan, my handy in-browser Japanese translator, tells me rosu is sirloin, and karubi is beef ribs. I don't know how accurate that is, but either way, it was still very tasty.
Lindsay (who's from Nova Scotia), is anxiously waiting for the meat to finish cooking. We were all pretty hungry! It's a good thing this restaurant offers tabehoudai, which basically means "all you can eat." Of course, there's a limit of 90 minutes so you can't take advantage of it.
Courtney is goofing off and pretending to eat the raw meat. Sometimes it's okay to play with your food.
After that, we headed home, our bellies full, but our bodies awfully cold in the night air. I finally got back home around midnight, and my computer said it was 34 degrees with a windchill of 27. At least the insane 30mph wind from earlier had died down considerably.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about the first live we went to. (A live is like a small concert). We've been keeping busy! Tomorrow we have to go to Laforet (a store in Shibuya) and pick up some flyers for the *pnish* show/event (called *pnish* room vol. 7) coming up in two weeks, and then we'll be back at Nippon Seinen-kan Hall for the Bleach musical finale. After that, we get a little break in our activities for about a week. What will we spend them doing? Stay tuned to find out!
[I found a crude fix for my blog layout problem. I'm not very good with html code, so you'll just have to bear with a few oddly placed blue lines running through the middle of the posts. Sorry about that. If I knew how to fix it, I'd have done it already.]
We went out earlier in the day to pick up some medicine for Cinnamon, since her stomach was still bothering her. Nothing is quite as frustrating as trying to find medicine in a different country where you're not very proficient in the language. She ended up buying some pills whose box had a picture of someone with their hand over their stomach, so we figured it's as good a shot as any. (I could only read enough to see that it said something about stomach pain).
After that, we came home and had a small meal. I ate my nikuman, which wasn't too bad. The filling tasted similar to gyoza, and the outer "bun" part was kind of springy and chewy. It wasn't quite what I had been expecting, but I'd probably eat it again.
We spent a few more hours bumming around our place, waiting for Cinnamon's medicine to hopefully take effect, because we were going out to see "Rock Musical Bleach the Live, Bankai Show Code: 003" later on. (Those of you reading this who work at Barnes and Noble, yes, it is a musical based on the Bleach manga).
No, I'm not making this up. If you're curious, you can check out the promo video on their website here. It's very entertaining!
This just shows where our seats are. We were on floor 1, row O (or 15), seats 14 and 15. Not too bad, really!
My friends had gone to see it the previous night at 7pm, so I just assumed that's when the show started. We had planned on leaving around 5:30 to get to the theater by 6:00 so we could buy goods and find our seats well in advance.
Well around 5:30, as we were just gearing up to go, Cinnamon says to me, "Why do the tickets say 17:00 and 18:00?" It always takes me a minute to convert things from 24-hour time, but I quickly realized 18:00 (the time the show starts) wasn't 7pm, but 6pm. Uh oh.
Now it was time to panic. It would take us at least 20 minutes to get to the theater. So we hurried to Akebonobashi station and hopped the Toei Shinjuku line to Shinjuku staiton. From there, we just had to take the Oedo line to Kokuritsu-kyogijo station and walk another 10 minutes to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall. We were breathless and cold, but we made it just as they were making the "please put your cell phones in manner [vibrate] mode" announcement.
I won't bore you with details from the show, because you definitely wouldn't be able to appreciate it if you didn't know the story, the characters, or the actors. (Fun fact: last time we were in Japan, we saw a lot of shows and events by the theater group *pnish*. Two of the members of that group are in the Bleach Musical, and at least 3 other cast members have been guests in one of *pnish*'s shows.) Needless to say, the show was a ton of fun, and I'm glad we're going to see it again on Monday for the very last performance.
Once the show had ended, my friends whom we had met up with were going to go out for yakiniku! If you don't remember this from our last trip, it's meat you grill yourself at your table. Cinnamon decided to take a pass this time and go home and rest, but the four remaining members of our party continued on to Den Yakiniku in Musashi Sakai.
That's Jamie (from Michigan) on the left, and Courtney (who lives and works in Tokyo) on the right.
Here we have a plate off delicious (if still raw) meat, a bowl of rice, and a dish of sauce.
Courtney's in charge of putting the meat on the grill and turning it when necessary. At one point, I was accused of being a "backseat chef" because I told her when to turn a few of the pieces over.
We're cooking rosu and karubi. Rikaichan, my handy in-browser Japanese translator, tells me rosu is sirloin, and karubi is beef ribs. I don't know how accurate that is, but either way, it was still very tasty.
Lindsay (who's from Nova Scotia), is anxiously waiting for the meat to finish cooking. We were all pretty hungry! It's a good thing this restaurant offers tabehoudai, which basically means "all you can eat." Of course, there's a limit of 90 minutes so you can't take advantage of it.
Courtney is goofing off and pretending to eat the raw meat. Sometimes it's okay to play with your food.
After that, we headed home, our bellies full, but our bodies awfully cold in the night air. I finally got back home around midnight, and my computer said it was 34 degrees with a windchill of 27. At least the insane 30mph wind from earlier had died down considerably.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about the first live we went to. (A live is like a small concert). We've been keeping busy! Tomorrow we have to go to Laforet (a store in Shibuya) and pick up some flyers for the *pnish* show/event (called *pnish* room vol. 7) coming up in two weeks, and then we'll be back at Nippon Seinen-kan Hall for the Bleach musical finale. After that, we get a little break in our activities for about a week. What will we spend them doing? Stay tuned to find out!
[I found a crude fix for my blog layout problem. I'm not very good with html code, so you'll just have to bear with a few oddly placed blue lines running through the middle of the posts. Sorry about that. If I knew how to fix it, I'd have done it already.]
Our Swanky Digs
Since the last time we were in Japan we didn't post--or even take--any pictures of where we were staying, we decided to make up for it this time. So this post is devoted to showing off our guest house. It'll be informative and interesting, I promise.
Here's the doorway when you first walk in. The area with the shoes is called the genkan, and since, in Japan, you don't wear your shoes indoors (so you don't drag in all the dirt from outside), you take your shoes off there before walking inside.
If you're standing in the genkan, this is what you can see. On the left is the door to our room. In the middle is the bathroom, and the door on the right leads to the toilet.
Obviously, on the right is the sink/vanity area. To the left of that is the washing machine. (In between them, you can see the hose of our little vacuum cleaner). And to the left of that, you can see the corner of our shower curtain. We'll check that out in a minute. First, we'll take a closer look at the washing machine. Fascinating.
When you step into the shower, this is what you see. It looks pretty complicated, but it's not. That long, metal bar toward the bottom has a dial on the left to control the temperature, and the dial on the right controls which spigot the water comes out of. Turn it down, and the water comes out of the bottom. Turn it up and the water comes out of the shower head (which you can't see in the picture, but is at the end of the long cord). That little thing on the wall tells you the water temperature or something. I like to think of it as the shower's own thermostat. I honestly have no idea, but it looks to me like it'd be dangerous to have an electronic gadget so close to water. In the bottom right corner of the picture, you can see the other shower curtain.
This is what's behind it. You have a little cart (on the raised portion of the floor... the shower part is lowered so the whole floor doesn't get wet) where you can put your towel and clothes for after your shower. The curtain is there so they don't get wet while you bathe. Pretty clever.
Obviously, this is the toilet. That's all that's in here. On the back of the toilet is a sink (which doesn't work here). Normally, when you flush, the water that goes to refill the tank will come out of the faucet and you use it to wash your hands. Yes, obviously it's clean water. I don't know why this one doesn't work.
Here we have the common area (with a small TV) and kitchen. Pretty self-explanatory.
Here's the doorway when you first walk in. The area with the shoes is called the genkan, and since, in Japan, you don't wear your shoes indoors (so you don't drag in all the dirt from outside), you take your shoes off there before walking inside.
If you're standing in the genkan, this is what you can see. On the left is the door to our room. In the middle is the bathroom, and the door on the right leads to the toilet.
In this picture, I'm standing in the doorway of our room, looking straight across. You can see the genkan on the right, the door to the toilet on the left, and the kitchen/common area and the other two rooms there in the middle. Both our roommates, Thomas and Frederick, are from France. They're pretty much always in the common area.
You've already seen our room, so let's start with the bathroom.
Obviously, on the right is the sink/vanity area. To the left of that is the washing machine. (In between them, you can see the hose of our little vacuum cleaner). And to the left of that, you can see the corner of our shower curtain. We'll check that out in a minute. First, we'll take a closer look at the washing machine. Fascinating.
Look at all those buttons! They tell you (from left to right) the water level, which cycle it's on, and how long of a cycle it is--90 or 30 minutes. Then there's the start button, and which course it's on. The last button is some sort of "auto off" thing. I'm not sure.
See that word right below the arrow? The one that says ドライ? That means this washing machine is equipped with a drying cycle! So you can wash and dry all in one! I definitely prefer that to hanging laundry to dry, which we had to do last time.
To the left of the washing machine, this is the entrance to the shower. You've got a shower curtain outside, and a door with frosted glass inside so no one can see you while you're bathing.
When you step into the shower, this is what you see. It looks pretty complicated, but it's not. That long, metal bar toward the bottom has a dial on the left to control the temperature, and the dial on the right controls which spigot the water comes out of. Turn it down, and the water comes out of the bottom. Turn it up and the water comes out of the shower head (which you can't see in the picture, but is at the end of the long cord). That little thing on the wall tells you the water temperature or something. I like to think of it as the shower's own thermostat. I honestly have no idea, but it looks to me like it'd be dangerous to have an electronic gadget so close to water. In the bottom right corner of the picture, you can see the other shower curtain.
This is what's behind it. You have a little cart (on the raised portion of the floor... the shower part is lowered so the whole floor doesn't get wet) where you can put your towel and clothes for after your shower. The curtain is there so they don't get wet while you bathe. Pretty clever.
Obviously, this is the toilet. That's all that's in here. On the back of the toilet is a sink (which doesn't work here). Normally, when you flush, the water that goes to refill the tank will come out of the faucet and you use it to wash your hands. Yes, obviously it's clean water. I don't know why this one doesn't work.
Here we have the common area (with a small TV) and kitchen. Pretty self-explanatory.
This is the fridge, and a little cart with the microwave and toaster oven. Next to the cart are four trash cans. This is because you have to separate your trash when you throw it out. Burnables (paper products, mostly) go in one can, non-burnables (plastic and such) go in another. Recyclable PET bottles (anything with a number 1 or 2, basically) go in one, and cans and glass bottles go in the fourth. And they all have different trash days. Burnables go out twice a week.
And lastly, here's the rest of the kitchen. As you can see, we have a set-top 2 burner stove, but no oven. Those are hard to come by around here, as most Japanese people (at least in Tokyo) don't do a whole lot of baking.
I hope you enjoyed the tour of our place. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures, like our harrowing trip to Nippon Seinen-kan Hall! (And if anyone can tell me why the white background of our layout keeps messing up--and how to fix it--please let me know!)
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