Domo arigato mas

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo, domo. Domo domo.

I went to Japan!!! And yeah, we sang all those songs...at least I did :)

My school had a 5 day weekend from August 11 - 15 for the Korean Independence Day (from Japan), and to celebrate... I went to Japan. Actually, four other teachers from my school were planning on going then so I just tagged along, I actually didn't even realize that fact until I was in Japan. Anyways, we arrived early on Saturday afternoon in Tokyo and we finally found our way to our hostel after a lot of gesturing, trains, and some wrong turns.

Ben, me, Tom, and Jojo in front of Ace Inn Shinjuku, a quality hostel. I realized in Japan that even knowing a small amount of the language is a big advantage if you're in an unfamiliar place. My Korean is not so good, but it's a million times better than my Japanese, which consists of about 2 or 3 phrases. Now I know how most of my co-workers feel in Korea. We were pretty much semi-lost whenever we were trying to go to a new place, and it didn't help that the Tokyo subway system is complicated to say the least. Different kinds of lines, separate transfers, and not too many signs in English. Transportation is also exPENsive - it was probably my biggest expense there. But! when we got to our destinations, it was good times.


The busy streets of Harajuku - lots of girls dressed whatever way they want to, and lots of blonde Japanese girls and guys.

We saw this guy right after we got off the subway, walking around in a tutu, tights, leotard, and white face paint. About an hour later, we saw him sitting on the ground, semi passed out with a cop standing over him. I think he was passed out from the heat, but the other kind of passed out is possible as well. It was seriously unbearably hot the whole time we were in Japan, the kind of heat that sucks all your energy out and completely drains you. I think I sweated a couple of gallons while I was there.

Me and JoJo. Hello Kitty was everywhere!! This one was outside a convenience store in Harajuku.

The Meiji Jingu Shrine in Harajuku

An awesome tree they had in the courtyard of the shrine. It was so big and awesome, and people hung their wishes and prayers under the tree.

We took a day trip to the Mt. Fuji area, which is about 2 hours away from Tokyo. We went to the Kawaguchi-go lake, one of five lakes around Mt. Fuji, where we took a cable car up to a viewing platform.


Me and the random bell, Mt. Fuji in the background!

Fuji-san, and some clouds. It was really nice to experience more of Japan besides Tokyo, the lake and mountain were so pretty. Oh yeah, and we found some batting cages and an arcade in town which, of course, we had to do. I gotta say, I'm pretty rusty with the bat - but I rock at the taiko drumming video game!

Tom, JoJo, Katherine, and Me on a hiking trail. Sequence of events: 1 - drop camera while passing it to Ben, 2 - Ben takes this picture, 3 - camera lens is meeeessed up, 4 - camera no worky :( And I've had it a total of a month and a half. Hopefully its fixable...the rest of these pictures aren't mine :(


We were hanging out outside a Family Mart in Shinjuku drinking beer (I know, classy) when two drunk, short Japanese guys stopped to talk to us and take a picture. They were pretty funny, and they described us in broken English as "very pretty and handsome." hahaha


Such pretty, manicured and styled...men. We couldn't decipher whether this huge, huge sign on the side of a building in Shinjuku was for a Ladies' club or a gay night club.


For some reason on this trip, I became the navigator for the group...which I know makes absolutely no sense to any of you who know me and my amazing sense of direction. I had a Lonely Planet Japan book, and it was like our bible during the whole trip. This is me and Katherine pouring over it next to a huge lotus pond.


We went to Ueno Park, which has lots of Museums and shrines, and we finally found the best thing by far: The Saigo Takamori Statue. A statue of a samurai walking his dog. Awesome.


There was a crazy 7-story store called Loft that had an entire floor dedicated to weird gag gifts and just a bunch of raaandom stuff. We probably could have spent half a day there - I especially enjoyed the crab hat I found. Me and Tom are having a fish fight.


Food in Tokyo: Our main problem was menus not in English, and a lack of pictures on menus. We did find some revolving sushi bar restaurants that were delicious. The sushi was mainly sashimi, and not a lot of rolls - and it was so good it melted in your mouth, yummmm. This picture is in one of the sushi restaurants, I just think its funny. What's going on?


Ben, Me, and Katherine about the cross the busiest/biggest crosswalk in the world (at least we think this was the one). Possibly the one in LostInTranslation as well? It's in the Shibuya neighborhood, which had Ocean's13 posters plastered all over the area and sooo many people.


Tom, Ben, me, Katherine, and JoJo at the Imperial Palace...which you can't go into, but you can look at from afar. I can't really remember too much about this...I think I was part delirious from the heat.

Overall, Japan was fun - I want to go back another time NOT in the summer. I think it would be a totally different experience and I think I'd be in much more of a mood to do some serious shopping, which there's definitely lots of in Tokyo. But now I'm back in Seoul, grading some serious papers (its finals time!) and feeling positively cool in the Seoul heat.

Oh man, I sleep too late. Gotta go to bed!