Pictures in retrospect

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Life Size Gundam

So I signed up to Youtube expressively so I could post the video I took of the life size Gundam in Odaiba.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZPNd1vsTFs

Going Home!!!

Alright! It's time to go home! This trip has been one awesome adventure for both me and Liz. But I am tired and can't wait to get home to a normal life again, where everyone speaks American and I can sleep in my own bed! Also, both Liz and I agree, we can't wait to bite into a Supreme Steak Chalupa at Taco Bell! If you guys are fans of mexican food, I would not recommend Japan, because I've only seen 2 places on the whole vacation that serve mexican! And it's super expensive, like $20 a plate. I guess Mexican food in Japan is like Japanese food in California! I find that funny. And Japanese food was less expensive here, I got some octopus sashimi for like $3! And it was good!
But I will be happy to be home, like I said. And I got plenty of gifts for everyone. If I didn't get you a gift, it's probably because I don't know you.

Nerding out

Yesterday we went to Akihabara. Wow. It....was not all I expected. Maybe I'm just in a negative mood about it because I was looking for four series and didn't find much on them (Saiyuki, ROOKIES,Kyo Kara Maoh and One Piece, all still on going, all pretty popular, I believe, by the amount of stuff I've seen for those in OTHER parts of Tokyo) so I'm kind of, blah. But it was pretty intense. Although every anime store all had the same kind of stuff, and nothing different from one shop to the next so maybe that's another reason I didn't care for it? I mean, if they're going to advertise Akiba as the 'Destination for Anime Geeks', the least they could do is have different merchandise in the stores. But I digress. Jenna seemed to love it plenty, so maybe it's just my frustration coming out. Anyways. We did the Maid Cafe, like Jenna wanted. I'll let her talk about it. We wandered around, went to some famous shops. I liked those shops enough, and if I was interested in Hetalia and D. Gray Man, I suppose I'd have loved the floors of doujinshi they had devoted to please the woman. But I was looking for my favorite series. And I'm past the stage of spending money on every cute thing I see. But, this part is pretty weird. I told Jenna, "that's it. I give up! I can't find my stuff, I'm done!" when, for the 100th time, we couldn't find any One Piece stuff ( I do love me some Nico Robin and Zoro Ronoroa..) or Kyo Kara Maoh, and the very next store I went into, I found a Gwendal figurine. Of course I snatched it up!
So yeah. I bought some stuff there, but not as much as I had at Nakano, where we went on Tuesday. It's a used goods section of a mall devoted to anime and japanese media and I spent quite a bit there. We're actually planning to go back there some time before we leave Japan since they HAD the series' I liked. But yeah. Akihabara wasn't as great as I'd been led to believe but maybe I had gone there with too strict of expectations. If I hadn't been determined to find specific things, I probably would have enjoyed myself more. It was still fun, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't AS fun as I was told.

Gundam go go!

On Odaiba, they have a life size Gundam (and by that I mean life size if a Gundam were real.) It was so cool! We went there after going to Muscle Park and it was this huge event. We got in line so we could go between its legs and touch its feet and I took pictures of it from all angles and it was so amazing! I loved it! It even lit up and spoke and turned its head and had the thrusters on the back and it was just SO COOL! And I wasn't the only one who thought so, all these other Gundam affectionados were gawking at it and taking pictures and screaming about how awesome it was. A real life Gundam!! It doesn't get any cooler than that!

NINJA WARRIOR!!

Go to this link to see me at muscle park doing the ninja warrior course!!!
Click here for the video!

The Past Couple Days!

So we made it back to Tokyo and have just been so BUSY! So on Saturday we did laundry cause we only brought enough clothes for half a trip. And then we went to Shibuya and ate whale! Unfortunately they didnt have any whale penis, I was excited at first when there was something on the menu called "5 different kinds of dainty bits" and I thought they might be referring to those dainty bits. But alas, it was just a combo of different delicacies! (like tongue, heart, intestines...) So we stuck with the cheaper stuff, whale sashimi and bacon of whale. The bacon was pretty good... but the sashimi... not so much. Tasted like a mix of fish, beef, and blood. Maybe it woulda been better cooked! Then we wandered around Shibuya, and man, it was crowded! So many people that it was like waiting in line just to walk down the street! But we did win some free vitamin water, and a guy dressed like Jack Sparrow helped us win it!
Then there was Sunday, we finally met up with Mallory. She and Jerusha showed us around Roppongi and the Tokyo Tower. (Roppongi is HELLA boring, but the tower was badass!) And there were some extreme right wing Japanese in black vans yelling at different embasseys for the foreigners to go home. Mallory told us that they yell at her school all the time, but mostly just hate the Koreans. Then we went to a Matsuri (festival) and ate lots of food, sno-cones, and I won prizes!
Monday we went to Odaiba with Mallory and Jerusha, which is like one giant amusement park/mall. (mostly mall, really) But that's where Muscle Park is, where I tried the Ninja Warrior obstacle course!! It was just a mini version of the real thing, but it was loads of fun! We ate crepes, shopped around, and saw a 59-foot gundam! And man, was it huge! Some people would call it giant, but I would just call it normal-sized, since that's the size they are supposed to be. And it talked in Japanese and its head moved, and we got to walk between its legs! mallory and Jerusha had to leave early, but then me and Liz headed over to Venus Fort, which is like a big mall decorated like 17th century Europe. And the roof was painted like the sky and it changed from day to night, with a sunset and everything! But the stores themselves were not that exciting, so we ate more crepes and left. By then it was around 6pm so we went to Oedo Onsen Monogatari! An onsen is like a public bath, and this onsen was the Amusement Parks of onsens! We got to pick out our yukatas (robes) and then went into the outdoor foot bath, which was kinda like a stream of still water. It looked all natural and had rocks at the bottom that made it uncomfortable to walk around. But you were supposed to walk on the rocks so that it massaged your feet. Then we went into the women's bath and bathed in every tub and bath they had! We were naked! Everyone was! And there were hot baths, mineral baths, cold baths, a sauna and steam room... and there was an outdoor bath that looked like a natural pool with plants and rocks. So it was pretty awesome! There was even an area in the center for eatting and playing games! (clothed of course!)

Pictures!

A real-life Maiko in Kyoto that we ran into!
She is using a cell phone!

Liz rubbing the belly of a strange bear-raccoon in Kyoto.
He had huge balls.

Me and some Obama school girls.
They were excited to hear I was from California.

The whole story

So Liz just posted, and now i am going to post my version of the story. So...august 4th we took the train out to Obama. Insane! First off, some old guy who called himself Morita-san sat down next to us on the train, and talked to us for...2 hours! Just talked and talked about shoguns, and showed us where Mt fuji was, and blabbed on about his home in Osaka... but he was a cute old man. It was a bit funny because I couldnt understand everything he was saying, and Liz couldn't understand ANYTHING he was saying, so we mostly just nodded. Finally we got to Obama and it was in the middle of nowhere. Our hotel was the only thing around, along with some houses and the dinky little train station. I noticed right away that everyone was... looking at us. But everyone was very friendly and smiled and was helpful. Some dad was with his kids catching bugs, and they even showed the bugs to us! So we checked into the hotel and then went swimming. The ocean water was so warm. After that we had dinner that came with our hotel room, and man, there was so much food it was unbelievable! The next morning was more of the same. And then we went to downtown Obama, were forced by an old lady to rent some bikes, and then were on our way to the chopstick museum! We really didn't make the chopsticks, but rather got to sand them down. It was awesome though because it was free, and so was some tea and cookies! I love free things! On the train to Kyoto, there were some local Obama schoolgirls who giggled and waved at me. There were no other seats, so i decided to sit next to them. And OH MY GOD they were so damn excited to talk to me. It was like I was famous or something. It was just like in those anime shows. They oohhed and awwed cause I was from California. And when they had to get off the train, they waved to us from the station platform. That was weird. So kyoto was so awesome. I recommend that everyone go there. There are temples and shrines galore! And the Motonago Ryoken was amazing. When we first walked in they had us take off our shoes and put on slippers. They were all bowing at us and welcoming us like we were celebrities. Our room was cool too! We had to sleep on mats on the floor. When we used the restroom we had to change into toilet shoes. There was a public bath. And best of all... on the last morning we were in kyoto....we saw a Maiko! (apprentice geisha) Infact we saw two! The first one was at a shrine getting her photo taken, and she let us photograph her too. And the second was in Gion and she was down an alleyway also getting her picture taken. The second Maiko we could not photograph. But it was very special to walk right next to one. They are so magical and pretty and kind of scary, all at the same time! And I also stubbed my toe. At a shrine there was a rocky path and I stubbed my toe and blood was everywhere. I have never seen a stubbed-toe as bad as the one I have right now. I just wanted everyone to know that. I will also post some pictures.

Blog Entry!

So we're back in Tokyo. Whew. What a long, weird, amazing trip it's been. We went to Obama, and it was pretty gosh-darn amazing! It was practically out in the boondocks and it reminded me so so much of the Big Island from Hawaii (ok, what IS the proper word to use when referring to an island out of a bunch of islands? Big Island of Hawaii, Big Island in Hawaii? Big Island on Hawaii?) with the way it was set up and the humidity and the rural-ness and the friendlyness of the people. We went to two different parts of Obama, the first part was at a stop called kato and it was so small the town barber was also the train manager! And the second part was in a more populated part of Obama and the first person we saw when we got there took us to a bike rental place and bascially left us no choice but to rent bikes. But I'm glad she did that, it was fun!
So we were in Obama about one day, one night, we went swimming in the water at Obama and we went wandering through the town when we had time to kill before our train and when we got to the bigger part of Obama (I'm not sure if Obama is one town with different areas of population or if Obama is actually a county like our Contra Costa County so...) we went riding around and went to the Chopstick Museum which was more fun than it sounded, I mean, we got to make our own chopsticks, after all. And we rode through a high school. Jenna and I were a bit worried we'd get in trouble, for trespassing or something, but it was after school and when would we ever get the chance, ya know? But I stopped being worried when a man in a blue jumpsuit stopped what he was doing and waved at us from a hallway in the school. I think we got a way with a lot cuz we were obviously non-Japanese. Everyone in Obama smiled at us and waved at us, it was so nice.
We then went from Obama to Kyoto. I don't really remember the train ride, I was really tired. I'm still tired, to be honest. I think today we're just going to lay around and gather our energy up for the next week. Or maybe not. I don't know.
As for Kyoto. It was pretty dang sweet! Our first night in Kyoto, we got lost looking for our ryokan( a japanese style hotel) and kept asking people and going up and down the streets and after a while we finally asked a random couple and they walked us right to the door of the ryokan..that we had been right in front of all along..Haha. The place was soo nice! It was all traditional and we had to take our shoes off and there was tatami flooring and stuff. I loved the air conditioning in the room, after being out in Obama humidity and Kyoto's heat, I loved the air conditioning. Also? Kyoto is hot.Hot hot hot! Its hotter than Tokyo!
After we got our stuff to the ryokan and sat for a bit, we decided to go get something to eat so we went out into Kyoto. We passed this place, Whooppee's (Or Whoopee's) and I liked the way it was decorated, and Jenna liked the music coming from it so we decided to investigate. We had a blast there! We ended up making friends with these two guys, Yuuji and...I think he said his name was Ita? And as Jenna said in her post, I did fall in love with one of them. I loved them both but Ita was just so sweet! And they took us out to dinner, and it was pretty funny, considering they didn't speak much english and we didn't speak japanese at all. Hah! I'll let Jenna write about the next day in Kyoto if she wants.

Quick update

Hey! Just a quick update to say that the keyboard on this computer in Kyoto is crazy! We keep hitting the wrong keys and it doesnt let us delete without highlighting the words also, if we are not careful we hit a wrong key and EVERY WORD then turns into kanji and it is a trip! Chat ya up in Tokyo later yall

Obama/Kyoto

Right before we set off to Obama, I lost my train pass!! So I had to shell out like a hundred bucks for a ticket to Obama. Luckily we had tickets that reserved a seat on the train to Kyoto, so I didnt have to buy any more expensive tickets! Obamas ocean is so warm and everything is awesome! We are in Kyoto now, and we went to a local band thingy... and Liz fell in love with some local dude whos name we dont even know. We went to eat chinese food with 2 dudes who barely spoke english! It was hilarious, or as they would say, "hirarious!" It was fun. I will post more later, when we get back to Tokyo, but the internet doesnt work right here! Love everyone! I miss you guys!

Nikogaku!

Probably no one will get that reference except my father. But anyways! There's this awesome Japanese show, ROOKIES, that I adore and love and oh my god! There's advertisement for the movie everywhere! I saw an advertisement for a restaurant with Ruuto Saitoh (The teacher in the show) and I saw the poster for the movie and when Jenna and I went to the games last night, I saw a claw machine with the ROOKIES uniforms,but it was closed, otherwise I'd have spent quite a bit of money trying to get one of those! I even got a water bottle JUST because it had the advertising for ROOKIES on it! Heck yeah! I'm being such a fangirl spazz here. But I love that show so much! I'm almost tempted to go to the movie, but I'm not spending 1500 yen to watch something I won't understand. And we went to the 'red light district' and I saw a batting cage place just like in the show, so I made Jenna go with me, and when I went inside to hit the balls, I pretended I was Shinjo, since he's my favorite, but when I kept missing the balls, I started pretending I was Hiyama since he can't hit balls very well either. We're going to go to Harajuku today,to see the Harajuku girls and to go to the D-Boys store, and to meet up with Naoki and Mihoko for dinner(I'm so excited to meet them!) and I hope I can get some more ROOKIES merchandise!
Also, when we went to the 'red light' area last night, I saw so many hosts outside taking a break from their duties and they. are. CUTE. I smiled at them and I think one smiled back- or at least acknowledged us-which was nice. No wonder women pay them to hang out with them.

Hanging out in Shinjuku

That's what we did yesterday. Liz and I wanted to meet up with Mallory, but have yet to hear from her. I don't know what to do about that! But we can have fun without her, and we are! So we ate breakfast at this funny little place about the size of my kitchen, and only like 8 people could even fit in there. We ate yakitori which is pretty much shish-kabobs. It was great, and there were a bunch of other cute places in the area, all down this narrow alleyway. We went to Tokyu Hands, which is a giant store filled with so many things! But the toy floor was the most fun, and we tried on fish hats and were entertained by all the useless crap there was. And a man even showed us a magic trick! Liz and I went to a store called "Closet Child" that had a bunch of "Lolita" clothing, also known as dresses that look like they are for 5 year olds, but are for adults. And we went to try on Kimonos!! That was really fun, but then the kimonos were a bit too small for Liz and the sales lady was leading us all over looking for one, and it was crazy cause they spoke so little english, but wanted us to try on a fitting Kimono and finally we just left. At night we went to the "Red light district" and were thinking about clubbing or something, but all these clubs were strip clubs or host clubs, host clubs being where men flirt with women for money. We also ran into a street full of love hotels! We ended up playing some claw game machines, and I won some stuffed animals and a pillow! But...I blew like $20!

Made it to Japan!

I still can't believe it, but Liz and I made it to Japan last night! After the plane landed, I asked if Liz and I could see the cockpit, and guess what?! We did get to see it! Better yet, we got to sit in the pilot seats! Awesome! After that long plane flight, I had to go to the bathroom, and guess what?! The toilet was a japanese style one, which means it resembles a urinal lying on the ground, and so I used it! You have to squat over the toilet to pee in it. It was bizarre! And then we got on the bus to our hotel, both Liz and so pumped up the entire time, and we got to our hotel and it was tiny! I mean, smaller than my room kinda tiny. But they managed to fit a desk, double sized bed, TV, mini fridge, and a mirror in the room. Also, our bathroom, also tiny, the toilet has a bidet.
Man, I was worried that Japan would be just like America, but with Asians instead. There is nothing to worry about here. There are so many damn lights in our area at night, it's like Vegas! And in one hour of walking around we saw so many Japanese salarymen, all of them looking Exactly the same! Not because they are Asian (though that helps) but because they all wore the same Black pants and the same white shirt! Loads of them were just walking down the streets, like hundreds!
Anyway, I should wrap this up. Liz and I ate at McDonalds, went back to the hotel, and went to sleep. And I just woke up an hour ago. It's Saturday, Aug. 1st!

Kamakura Buddha

This is a copy of a photo my grandfather has, from when he went to the Kamakura Great Buddha in 1949.

It's still standing!

The Itinerary!

So we have got the Itinerary all planned now. Me and Liz just took all day planning and looking stuff up. Never thought I could get so exhausted just by thinking. But we now know how to get to Kyoto and Obama by train, and we now know when we are going to each section of Tokyo! I don't want to tell you everything, want to keep it a suprise, but just to give you a taste:
July 31 - Land in Narita
Aug. 2 - Chill in Harajuku
Aug. 6 - Hunt down Geishas in Kyoto
Aug. 8 - Do Laundry and eat Whale
Aug. 11 - See a Shrine
Aug. 12 - Go to a Maid Cafe
Aug. 16 - Time Travel Home

We also discussed what we need to pack and what else needs to be done, not to mention what to do if we get seperated in Tokyo! It's now 7pm which means we have been researching for a ridiculous 8 hours! Liz and I did stop for a half hour lunch though! haha!
I will leave my beloved fans with this to interesting link to think about:
Gun O Clock

The day we bought the tickets!

Closer than I thought

Oh God! Last night I got back from a trip to Huntington Beach, where my aunt, uncle, and new cousin live. And Now I've realized that I only have 16 more days until Liz and I leave for Japan. I feel like I am about to have a heart attack. So nervous. What if I forget something? What if we get lost, or kidnapped, or run out of money!? Anything and everything could go wrong. They could lose our reservations, we could be late for our plane, what if I can't figure out how to phone home? The plane could crash, and instead of dying instantly I could be the only survivor... drifting in the sea for hours until I starve or a shark eats me. What happens if Liz and I get seperated and can't find eachother again? What if one of us has to go to the hospital and our insurance doesn't work overseas, so we have to pay a huge bill? Do you see how much risk there is in traveling?!
And I am not even ready yet. I still have to pack... and finish my history final.

Cute countdown!

counting down widget

© hotelscombined.com

Change of Plans!

So originally our friends, Mallory and Jerusha, were going to go with us to Obama and Kyoto, but not anymore! Unfortunately, because of financial reasons, neither can afford to go! But we will all still hang out in Kyoto. More bad news, we won't be making it to the top of Mt. Fuji. We waited to long to reserve a mountain hut, and all the ones we called were full. So Liz and I are going to just climb as high as we can get in one day! But I think that's ok, because we went hiking last week, and we are both so out of shape! I don't think either of us would've made it to the top anyhow! That's alright, there is much more fun to be had!

Update

It's been a while, a lot has happened.I'm not going to get into some of the details, I'll leave something for Jenna to write about.

We got hotels in Obama and Kyoto, but unfortunately we had bad timing with the hut on Mt Fuji but we're going to go on it anyways!

So the countdown starts now.We leave the 30th of this month, so 24 days to go!

I got a new video camera for the trip but I'm considering taking my mom's camera too, just as a precaution.

But then again, I overthink things.

I got in touch with a friend from when I lived in Hawaii and she got me in touch with her friend who lives in Japan and the friend gave me alot of advice and tips about Mt. Fuji as well as encouragement and kindness, and I look forward to meeting her and seeing her face to face.But I'm also nervous. I'm thinking, what if I offend her? What if I can't understand her? What if things are awkward and we have nothing to talk about? But then I think..'I'm visiting Japan for the first(hopefully not the last) time, I can ask her questions about her city and about Japan and about herself.So..hopefully we can be friends.

I'm looking forward to this and I'm overwhelmed at this point by everything. Jenna and I got together last friday to plan things, our schedule for the trip and got so overwhelmed and sidelined by the sheer volume of things to know:the maps,the directions, the names,the places,where things are and which is better to access on a certain day and it was alot!

But I'm sure it'll all work out and we'll have fun and we'll have tons to post about and share when we get back.

I seem to be doing more of the blogging than Jenna, don't I?

Edit: I've been mapping our various destinations on this neat site, diddlefingers, but for some reason I can't print out the whole map of all the places, only town by town, which makes sense now that I think about it. But anyways, in case people want to see what/where we're going to go, go here: MAP

Obama is Beautiful World

Hello all,

Liz here.

After seeing this video, I decided it'd be fun to make a side trip to the town in the video for a variety of reasons.

1. the name,seeing as how Obama is our president, as an American I thought it'd be a trip to go to a town with the same name as our leader.

2. the band in the video rocked my socks so hard I want to see if I can find those small town celebrities and take a picture with them.Oh Dolphin helmetted man, I hope to make your acquaintance.

3. the town reminds me of where I used to live in Hawaii and it'd be nice to be able to enjoy some tropical climates and sea in the middle of my city vacation.

 

So I asked Jenna and Mallory if they were willing to go there for a bit. They were,thank goodness. We were even more lucky to see Obama is 2 hours about,from Mt. Fuji so we planned to go climb Mt. Fuji and then go to Obama and relax there, and then head back to Tokyo. 

Here and there plans changed, so now we're also going to Kyoto, which I'll let Jenna write about since she's the one who came up with the idea and booked the room.

I recently booked a hotel in Obama for us to spend the night.I'm pretty excited about it.It's on the beach, overlooking all of Obama's beach, includes dinner which will have fish pulled from the sea,pet friendly,and is right in Obama, all for a good price so yay for us. I'm looking forward to our stay in the town. As well as our stay in Kyoto, I wonder how big those two places are?

Oh and the hotel's site(I think it is.The pictures look right but I can't read the characters.) is here.

Cheers!

Step by Step

Yo, Liz here.

I spent the day with Jenna yesterday,as she already wrote in her post,and we were researching hotels and ryokans(old fashioned japanese hotels-more like a bed n' breakfast actually-like you can see in Japanese tv shows and animes)in Obama and Kyoto.

It just reminded me of the day we bought the tickets to Japan.

I still remember how it felt that day.It was April 17th of this year and we were at my house. We went through all these sites, expedia.com and travelocity and such  and had a conversation going on with a woman from a travel agency(Which reminds me,I never emailed her to tell her we got tickets else where. Oops.Guilt much?) and we found a deal for 16 days at a hotel in Shibuya and a flight for a good deal we could afford so we went to get it but there was all these forms to fill out and all this verification and emailing and checking and re-checking and I was fidgeting and just about sick to my stomach with excitement and worry:what if,in the process of verifying our purchase and signing up for the services of travelocity,the deal went away and was replaced with something more expensive-I thought travelocity was like ebay,you wait too long,you lose.Am I wrong?-I was practically holding my breath!

So when the page came up saying congratualtions we'd bought our tickets,I just about cried! We even took pictures of the computer with the page,as soon as I find my camera,it'll be posted so you can marvel in our dorkiness :)

We printed out three pages, one for Jenna,one for me, and one for Mom since she's so awesome,she sat with us that day and helped us look up deals and offered without us asking,to take us to the airport and to pick us up again at the end.

Even now,when I look at the print out of the iterinary-which is another word I cannot spell-my hands shake a little and my heart beats a little harder. I just can't believe I was able to get this far with something I'd been wanting for so long.

Getting ready for Japan!

I am hanging out with Liz right now, at her house! We are going to Japan at the end of this July. Our friend, Mallory, lives over there right now, so we thought it would be a prefect idea to visit her and explore Tokyo! So the plane tickets are bought and the hotel is booked. It's a nice place right in the center of the action in super sexy Shibuya! We also have plans to climb Mt. Fuji, visit Kyoto, and spend the night in a city named Obama! Me and Liz are gonna stay a night at a traditional Ryokan and take hot spring baths. We also want to hunt down some Geisha for a photo, but that might not happen since Geisha are a rare site nowadays, even in Japan. I hope Japan is as crazy and unique as I have heard! Liz and I will keep you updated on the trip-trastic happenings! See ya!