Jenn Goes To Japan

Shinjuku

2008-10-12T22:08:00.006-05:00

Yokohama

2008-10-12T21:55:00.004-05:00

Yokohama - Tin Toy Museum

2008-10-12T21:31:00.010-05:00

Yokohama - Chinatown

2008-10-12T21:08:00.008-05:00

Yokohama - Foreign Cemetery

2008-10-12T20:40:00.007-05:00

Conveyor Sushi

2008-10-03T08:26:00.006-05:00

Sake Bar

2008-10-03T08:17:00.006-05:00

Senso-ji

2008-10-03T08:13:00.005-05:00

Asakusa

2008-10-03T07:39:00.010-05:00

Sengaku-ji

2008-10-02T18:32:00.007-05:00

This shrine is home to the graves of the 47 ronin. This was definitely one of the top three places I wanted to see in Tokyo. Bonus - the sun came out today!

Takanawa

2008-10-02T18:19:00.005-05:00

Harajuku

2008-10-02T07:22:00.006-05:00

Harajuku is where the cool and stylish youth of Tokyo hang out. It's full of trendy stores, idol shops (boy bands - not religious icons), beautiful people, and these crepe places where they wrap cheesecake and fruit in a warm crepe full of REAL whipped cream. I may have had one. Or two. But hey - my clothes are too big already, so it was for the best. Really.

Yes, they really wear this stuff, and somehow they look good.

High school girl looking at posters of a boy band's new single. It's called "Happy Birthday" and released yesterday. How cool is that? Of course I bought one! It's NEWS! (My second-favorite Johnny's group. ..... Don't ask me how much I spent in those idol stores.)

Yep, they make a plastic version of every single flavor.

Rainy Day in Ueno

2008-09-30T06:45:00.012-05:00

This is just the train system. There's the subway, too, but so far I haven't needed it.

The men on the right are lined up waiting for the pachinko parlor to open. Some girls inside the door were preparing some potted plants - I guess for the first few customers.

You really can't take 50 steps without finding another bank of vending machines. Drinks only, though - no snacks.

Plastic food. Most restaurants have windows like this, and list all their prices.

All the shops on the right are built directly under the railway.

Hello Kitty shop. This isn't just for tourists - Kitty-chan is popular with everyone.

Health and beauty store, I think. There's a lot of pink, but that could mean anything.

Ema.

Torii.

Beautiful shrine where I tried to do everything correctly, but it's difficult while juggling a purse, bag and umbrella. Remembered the Japanese words for incense and charm, though, so all that time with the monk wasn't completely wasted.

Umbrella locker at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Hatagaya in the Rain

2008-09-29T05:57:00.003-05:00

A wonderful little neighborhood just a couple stops from Shinjuku. This was around 6 pm when people were just getting home from work and school. I wandered around looking for an elusive bookstore and took a few pictures before it got dark. Today was pretty rainy so not a lot of photos, but my credit card can attest that I have enough used cds and books to last me for a while.

Maid Cafe

2008-09-28T07:28:00.005-05:00

We went to a maid cafe today for dinner - something we had said we could never do by ourselves but really wanted to experience. Photographs of the maids aren't allowed, but we could take pictures of the food. We ordered "omurice" which we'd both wanted to try. The maid brought it to our table, kneeled down, held up her squirt-bottle of ketchup and asked us, in English, "What painting?" - asking what did we want on our omelette. We chose a cat and a bunny (the bunny for me) and she created the pictures for us. It was so cute. She and the rest of the maids were adorable in their black and white uniforms. The patrons were mostly men but there were some girls, too. It was a tiny place on the 3rd floor, seating twenty or so customers. When we left another maid opened the door, pressed the button for the elevator, and then bowed deeply until the elevator doors closed. I'm so glad we got to try this, because it's something you'd only find in Japan.

Akihabara Electric Town

2008-09-28T06:17:00.004-05:00

Yoyogi Park on Sunday Afternoon

2008-09-28T06:10:00.004-05:00

Sumo

2008-09-27T19:43:00.005-05:00

Sumo was amazing. Took 963 photos and videos, so it will take some time to sort them all out. These were some of the better ones. Will update this post with more pics later. Off to Harajuku with this morning.

For Chris - request of "big buddha"

2008-09-26T08:12:00.002-05:00

Tennō-ji temple. This buddha dates back to 1690.

Yanaka Cemetery

2008-09-26T08:06:00.006-05:00

Yanaka is one of the few sections of Tokyo that survived both the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and the fire-bombing of WWII.

Yanaka Cemetery has about 7,000 graves, including that of the last Tokugawa Shogun. It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful in the midst of the city. They say that the cherry blossoms are absolutely amazing in the spring.

The cats were cool. (There were two, actually, that I saw. This one let me pet it.) Many famous people are buried here, including Soseki Natsume (1867-1916) who wrote a famous Japanese novel "I am a Cat." Natsume's picture was on the 1,000 yen note (equivalent to a $10) until a few years ago.

This area was beautiful and I'll go back again with the "good" camera.

Spent most of the day shopping. Had lots of fun with Rachele in the textile district. Sumo tomorrow!

Here

2008-09-25T16:27:00.009-05:00

How strange the difference of one "T" - the difference between the "here" of being here and the "there" of the last however-many years I've been planning this.

Flights were easy and uneventful - even the proximity of two infants on the long-haul flight wasn't too bad. Still can't sleep sitting up on planes, though. My first international moment wasn't associated with Japan at all. The older couple sitting next to me were from India, and when they sat down I gave them a palms-pressed "Namaste" which they responded to with broad smiles. (Thank you, yoga class!) They were traveling on to Singapore and then to India, so when I left the plane I wished them a safe journey and the woman did that upper-arm rub thing on me that Mom does when she knows I can take care of myself but wishes me well anyway. ;)

Singpore airlines is awesome, by the way. Hot towels in ecomony class! Woo-hoo! Seriously, though, it was very pleasant. The only frustrating thing was that when they were going around handing out forms, they only gave them to the Japanese people. Turns out I needed to fill out a couple forms, too. You know how I am, right? Everything filled out and organized in advance? Well, to wait in a long snakey line and be told I didn't have a form I needed - darn you Singapore Air. And then it happened again. Oh, well - my name and address are pretty easy to remember, even without any sleep for 40+ hours.

Everyone at the hotel speaks English or a close enough proximity that I can just nod because I know what they want to say. No tipping rocks. Here's my room:

Yes, this is a Crowne Plaza economy single room. It's perfect, really - the bed is big, the room is cheap. The bathroom is really cool, though. I'll show that to you another day. The view? Not even thrilling enough to show you - plus the picture is blurry because I was pretty tired last night. I had room service, watched television without subtitles, and went to bed. Here was dinner:

"Onigiri"are rice balls with something savory inside, wrapped in a sheet of dry seaweed. Sooooo incredibly good. One had "umeboshi" which is a small, sour pickled plum. The other two had something different and I wish I knew what it was. Dana - the miso soup was amazing! And that's what they call a "small" beer. I think I'm gonna like it here.

Meg - the first thing I got out of a Japanese vending machine was a Pocari Sweat - just for you! Tastes the same as at home. Would have taken a picture but the cameras were locked in the suitcase and the bus was coming any moment.

Fangirls - the Japanese language magazine on the plane had Yamapi's Toshiba ad, but the anime-looking one that I'm not a fan of. No other Johnnys sightings, yet.

Knitting girls - heading to Tokyu Hands today to look at yarn and fabrics. I did bring knitting with me (Rachel - that Malabrigo lace-weight that I'm doing the long garter scarf with) but don't know when I'll touch it. It just felt weird to travel without a project, even though I hardly do it anymore. Laceweight doesn't weigh much, fortunately.

Parents - my suitcase weighed 58 pounds so I had to split it. If you consider that the outer case probably weighed 5 pounds and L's gummy bears weighed two pounds, I was really only one pound over. ;)