東京ディズニーランド！！！

So now it's time for some Tokyo Disneyland! I was super excited on this, but wearing thin in the wallet and getting tired of traveling by this point. It was the big one before I went to Kyoto and Osaka at the end of the month.

I went back to Nagoya because classes started back up (I'm the only American in my class of Britts! >< ) and then had to go back the following weekend I went right back to Tokyo. Oh man... But this time I had a friend come with me because she was joining me at Disneyland. Again, I met up with my friends from the previous visit and after a good night's rest, we headed off to Disneyland. In the morning, from my friend's apartment, I saw Mt. Fuji! It was so cool, but enough of that. (Haha)

We had to travel quite a ways before we got there and once we got off the train, we knew we were in the right area. EVERYTHING was Disney. Even this awesome vending machine was Disney! (Sorry, it's on my phone because I forgot my camera... The pictures on here are from my friend who went with me.)

After the train, we had to pay to get onto the Disney monorail (Disney's private train line) and pass by the actual Tokyo Disneyland. We were actually going to a separate Disney park, not the actual Disneyland (kind of like at the original Disneyland, there's now the California theme park across the way). This was called Disney Sea and it was more for couples and friends than family (which was kind of nice, let me tell you). When you walk into Disney Sea, there's a giant globe that spins on water and shows the countries. We took pictures and I said, "wait...let's see Japan first. I bet it's bigger than California." SURE ENOUGH IT WAS BIGGER THAN TEXAS! We all died of laughter going, "JAPAN'S NOT THAT BIG!" and took a picture of it.

That's when the characters popped up. I rushed to see Donald, but the Japanese who are usually so polite in public and make lines to get into lines suddenly turned into the rude people I see all the time at theme parks back home. I couldn't get in there and just gave up after 10 mins. of chasing him and constantly getting shoved aside. It was ridiculous and I was pissed. The line to see Mickey (there was an actual live) looked WAY too horrendous, so I gave up.

So we FINALLY headed inside the actual park and ended up in Italy. It was great! But surprisingly quiet as hell. You'd never know you were at a theme park... You could actually hear the music! I was impressed. Thep lace was gorgeous and was made to look like downtown Venice. Sadly, Italy held no rides, so we quickly moved away from the shops and all that wonderful pasta into New York in the 20s. They did an amazing job on how it felt. I really felt like we were back in the States in Disneyland. A lot of Japanese people watched us because we were skipping and dancing and that's just what you do at Disneyland. For once, I didn't mind because they weren't staring and thinking, "oh God, foreigners..." and instead it was like, "OH LOOK! FOREIGNERS! AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?! *camera*". (not joking about the camera)

We found the Tower of Terror and after an hour and a half wait (all Fastpasses were gone), we got into the ride. At first, I was amazed that there weren't that many people at the park, but I realized it was because they were all in the America section (gee, I wonder why...). The Tower of Terror back in the States is one of my favorite rides as it was the first ride to ever ACTUALLY scare me (rides don't scare me one bit), so I was excited to see how they changed this one. It was no longer a Twilight Zone, but was now a cute little demon thing that attacked this ubber rich white dude and cursed him. That irked me a bit...but what REALLY got me was the ride dropped us 3 stories. THAT'S IT?! JUST 3 STORIES?! The one in California drops you 7 stories. It wasn't even close to being scary. My friends loved it, but I was NOT impressed.

We left and started heading for the other rides. There was a huge Titanic-like cruise ship where a play was taking place. These hot Japanese called out to us in English saying, "HELLO! HOW ARE YOU?!" and we shouted back, "WE'RE GOOD! THANKS!" and realized, "shit, we should've gone back. There were enough guys for all of us to practice our Japanese on..." But the play was so hysterical, I cried. They were trying so hard to make Japanese men and women into American flappers and such from the 20s. Then Mickey showed up and his voice alone in Japanese just sent me over the edge in hysterics. My friends didn't understand why I was laughing so hard, but I dunno. I just find it so funny when I see Japanese trying to be American or visa versa (actually, it's funnier when Americans try to be Japanese... and really humiliating in certain situations). It was just one of those things.

Once we left the little play, we didn't know where we had ended up until we saw an old colonial-style house and found ourselves back in colonial America! It was exciting, but really small. I honestly have no idea why it was there in the first place... But we ate lunch there and saw this great little play taking place where they re-enacted old black and white episodes of Disney episodes, mainly focusing on Donald. It was adorable, but you CAN NOT understand Donald in Japanese (Now I understand why they had subtitles for him in Kingdom Hearts...).

Once done we ventured into some area with mainly water attractions. There was this fun little hovercraft ride we went on and then we went on this other ride. I wasn't impressed by the theme park so far and didn't have high hopes for this hurricane ride. I didn't think anything was going to happen on it, despite it seeming like a Star Tours-esque ride. Once on, I laughed because they showed these American guys and I just KNEW we would get the goofy one who was going to cause the entire thing to go haywire. I was right, but I'm so glad I was wrong about nothing happening. This ride was AMAZING! I was so scared when the missile suddenly came through the roof and almost killed us all and we got sprayed by water (that was a surprise!).

Once done, we made our way into Mexico and tried to find churros, but couldn't. We found a rollercoaster and went on that. It was pretty fun, but so quiet. So we, being foreigners and totally getting away with it, were loud and screamed even though it wasn't scary. It made the other Japanese on the ride CRACK UP and even join us in screaming. It was great! We got off laughing out heads off and said in Japanese, "WE'RE HOME!" and the Japanese people were just in so much shock like, "THESE GUYS ARE GREAT!" We then found the churros, but they were....sesame flavored ones.... They were gross and I did not like them.

We walked through Arabia (Aladdin) and then ended up in China (Mysterious Island) and we passed Atlantica. It was cool. We found the back way into Italy and found Maple Syrup churros. Um...okay? Are we in Canada? We ate them....WOW THEY WERE GOOD! We had to get more. It was great. We headed back to China and went on the best ride of the night, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Granted...we had to wait FOREVER and our tempers were kind of getting to the high point.

Now...usually the Japanese are REALLY good with crowd control, but this was ridiculous. They let 50 people in the Fast Pass line go and about 10 in the regular line go. Even the Japanese were getting fed up. We were NOT happy and it was getting very cold and I didn't bring a jacket (we were right on the ocean too...). It was getting late... But then we went on the ride and it was GREAT! This ride made me gasp in surprise and a little shock. That's because I didn't know when we reached the top of this rise up into the air, we'd come outside and for the briefest second I thought there would be no track under us to catch us.

Then once done, I wanted to see the water performance called BravSEAmo (horrible pun), but half of my friends wanted to go back to Tower of Terror, so we split up. The performance was so GREAT! It was a love story between a water goddess and a fire god. It was sweet and it reminded me of when I went to Vegas and they had the water fountains (man, I loved those those) at the Bellagio. But by that point, the theme park had closed. Yeah, and we had gone on like four rides... >>

But then we headed home and rested up. Man, that was a crazy weekend. Now my trips are done until Kyoto and Osaka for which I leave for on Monday. I'll update when I can, but as soon as I leave Osaka, I'll be turning 22 and the following day I leave for the States. Here are pictures from my time! MT FUJI! 富士山 The hand holding things on the monorail! :D The globe thing. I wish I could show you how big Japan was. That's how close I got to Donald. The volcano where the fire god came out of. The building was the back part of Italy. That volcano area is the China part. Look how pretty Italy is! (and those balloons were like 20 bucks!) Broadway in the 20sLook at the Tower of Terror glistening in the sun :D
The inside of the Tower of Terror. And there's that rich guy.
Those outfits those girls wear can ONLY be found in Tokyo Disneyland. There were SOOOOO MANY CUTE THINGS found ONLY in Tokyo Disneyland. It made me so sad we don't have back in the States.
That water/hover craft ride that was kind of fun. IN THE BACK IS THAT HURRICANE RIDE!The rollercoaster that no one screamed on!
RANDOMLY in the Arabia section we found plaster on this wall of AMERICA! We freaked out and alerted Japanese about it and they didn't see why it was so amazing.
Arabia section
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH!

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

~星子☆

Comiket

So today's blog is going to be a little bit different. For one, it's about an Anime convention I attended here in Japan. So that means a lot of you don't want to (and don't have to) read this blog. For two, I'm not going to have pictures in this one. That's because the people who I took pictures of never said I could put their photos up online. I told them they could of me, but I forgot to ask. >>

That being the case, I'll start off this blog by saying, "HOLY SHIT COMIKET WAS AMAZING!"
You'd NEVER know there were hundreds of thousands of people at this convention by how quiet and well organized it was! Like seriously, it was just so amazing...

First things first. Comiket is not your regular Anime convention that some of you are familiar with. Comiket is mainly fan-made artwork in the form of doujinshis (fan-made comics) and are usually pairings or romance stories. Some are amazing side stories that people made with canon features and an actual story and some are just little posters and pictures to sell. But this place is so huge I honestly didn't get to see the entire thing. There are three halls, the East 123 hall, the East 456 hall, and the West hall. The West hall is near where you cosplay.
Speaking of cosplaying! You cannot cosplay outside; only in certain areas inside or ropped off areas outside. Also, you CANNOT take pictures of people without permission. If someone thinks you're taking their picture and you didn't ask permission, you can get kicked out. It's crazy.
Also, there's a map that shows where the artists sit. You need to know the artists beforehand and the majority of people do. It's NEVER a good idea to bring the entire book that you buy to get the map (that tells you what artists are going and where they are) and it's put into sections.

In the East hall 123, those in the A sections are the REALLY good artists, the hard sellin' ones that are most popular. They usually sell out by noon and this con starts at 10. Then there are those on the side that USED to be A's, but are now B's or are just under A-ranking. They're still good, but don't get the lines As do. (I'll explain later) Then there's the rest of the tables which in are lined up A-S. On the East hall 456 it's lined up in the hiragana of あ through ち I think, but I think it went a little further...
Then there's the West hall that's organized quite the same, but differently. I didn't see much of the West hall. Although, there's another part to the West hall where there are actual vendors from companies will sell their stuff. We wanted to go there, but we never found it on the day I went.

The first day we got there, we somehow skipped through the line that was about another 2 hours long, thank GOD. I don't know how we did this, but we did. We get into a line and think, "okay, we're in line". Nope, we're in line to get to the line. This is a trend we see keep happening. Thank God it went so smoothly you never really noticed. We were in the main line just to get in for about 45 minutes. During that time, we took out our map to make sure we knew where we were going (this place was so huge, you HAD to have a map) and the majority of this convention was Hetalia. Half of the main building was Hetalia. I was excited beyond all reason. As I looked around at our fellow con-goers, I noticed that not only were they mainly girls, but...they all had the same areas mapped out on their maps; almost the same locations and everything. They then noticed us and how we had little Hetalia keychains and what-not with us. I was blasting my Hetalia music on my headphones and dancing to it so they knew. My friend said, "this girl behind you, she looks ready to steal your England keychain!" It was great!

We got inside in a relatively quick amount of time and rushed to the East hall 123 where all our stuff was that we wanted. We split into two groups. I headed straight for the two I wanted the most (Hoshitamago and Hakkapink) and saw that there was a line. I started to get into the line when I was stopped and told to get into the line to get INTO the line. Everyone was SO nice and smiled at us and tried to talk in English, but when we showed we talked Japanese they were like, ":D :D :D" and talked Japanese. The lines weren't all that fast and I got to hit a lot of the tables in two hours. By that time, it was noon and the A tables were closing up shop. It was time to cosplay!

So you don't pay to actually get into Comiket. You pay to cosplay. But even then, it's only 8 bucks; so wonderful... So once we paid, I thought we went to our own little dressing rooms and all to change. No, it was a gym sized room of girls just stripping and changing and you had to plot down on the floor like a picnic and dress there. Wow....talk about awkward because the minute we walked in, almost all eyes were on us. Yeah...

So once we were done dressing, I was blind because I had colored contacts in and my outfit called for no glasses, so here I was clinging on to people on where to go, but we had NO IDEA where to go. We went outside and were almost in trouble for doing so, but these nice guys told us where to go and weren't mad at us. We talked Japanese to them and they were relieved to know we weren't dumb first-timers, but just lost first-timers. It happens. This place is frickin' huge.

So we finally got to the cosplay section out in the West hall area. At first we were starving and ate as fast as we could, but then people saw us and were, at first, afraid to approach us because they didn't know English and thought we didn't know Japanese, but our Japanese friend (who actually is from America, but hey) found us and once people saw him, they thought he was our spokesman and asked him if they could take our pictures. He repeatedly told people, "they speak Japanese" and eventually word got around that the foreigners in the area can speak Japanese. That's when we became the hit of Comiket. We had lines to see us, girls crying, people asking to be in pictures with us. We even started this entire thing where this large group of Hetalia cosplayers begged us to join them in pictures and then, once in, this HUGE crowd appeared. The cosplayers with us said they'd never seen it like this and they said it was because, "we have the REAL THINGS here! THEY'RE SO CUTE!"

That w as when I met the two that made my con. These two were so adorable and so amazing. They made me SO INCREDIBLY happy, you just can't believe... I had been with my friends when my Japanese friend told me there was a US and UK dressed up as Santa's near the exit. I rush over and see them and almost die. They're just sitting there together texting and look SO cute! I nervously go up and ask if I can take their picture. They JUMP up in surprise and scramble to get ready and, once done with the picture, come flying at me. They're amazed that, not only do I speak Japanese, but that I came all the way from the US to come to Comiket. I explained that I was studying in Japan and they got even MORE excited. I thought the America was going to have a kitten, she was so excited. She started jabbering on how she wants to go the States and learn English like no other while the England tried to hide herself. She was so shy, it was too cute!

We were soon pulled apart and were lead into another large group and people took our pictures after we took theirs and visa versa. It was chaos. I eventually made my way back to the two Santa's and went up to the England and asked for a picture with her. Since I was colonial America and she was England, she FREAKED and almost cried she was so happy. We posed together as big brother with little brother and people flocked to us. Some fangirls cried they were so happy to see "the real thing" there and such. I was in heaven. That England, she was so adorable. And the America kept apologizing saying she made my country "look horrible". Trust me, she was adorable as hell.

Once done with cosplay, we headed home since the con really was over by that point. Once home, we collapsed, but headed to a friend's later and ate at his apartment. It was great fun, but I could feel my throat getting sore and my insides starting to hurt. My skin, too, felt a little sick-ish. I got worried and told my friends I wanted to head home early. But it didn't matter because by morning, I was very sick.

I ended up not going to the second day of Comiket, sadly, but my friends did. They texted me during the day and got me soup before they left to help me feel better. It was nice and by night time, I was a little better. I was still relatively sick the rest of my time in Tokyo, but all in all, it was a GREAT con. Best anime convention EVER. I want to go back... *starts to save money*

Next update will be about Tokyo Disneyland. I'll have that up soon because come Monday, I'll be in Kyoto and by Wednesday, I'll be in Osaka and then I'll be back home for two weeks, so I need to get on that. Next update will have pictures. Sorry for none this time.

~星子☆

東京と正月！

Hi everyone! Sorry my posts have been so quiet as of late. I've been extremely busy running all around Japan, mainly around Tokyo. That's why I've started this post, to tell you about my first trip to Tokyo.

Two of my friends from the States were visiting and I was very excited to see them. Christmas had ended and I was going to Tokyo on my own on a bus during the late evening. I left Nagoya at 5 and go in to Tokyo at 10. I was at Shinjuku Station and had no idea where to go, but I had directions of which trains to get onto to find the hotel I needed to get to. So I walked with my suitcase and two bags to the trains I needed.

I finally got off the train and walked outside and was met with the sight of Tokyo Tower all lit up and beautiful in the night sky. I got to the hotel and was so happy to see my friends I hadn't seen in four months. Then I looked out the window and saw this:
That was my view from the room. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!

So after I passed out in bed, I woke up the next morning and looked at the Tower again. Now it looked like this:

I was going to be meeting two of my other friends from the States who now go to school in Tokyo as well, so me and my friends crossed the street to the Tower and I realized just how majestic it looked from the bottom. I don't know why, but it just did. That's what I said when I first looked up and the clouds were passing by it and the fog was just starting to fade away. I just said, "....MAJESTIC!" and took a picture

MAJESTIC
From the base!

Once we met up with everyone, it was time to hit Tokyo. First we went to Shinjuku and walked around. Man was I not ready for the crowds. It was insane. Not much to say about Shinjuku. It was beautiful and crazy, but it was, you know...a place for shopping. We also hit up Akihabara, which is a very well known anime place. Yeah...I kind of went a little crazy, but I didn't go overboard because Comiket was the following day (see the Comiket post)

That day was a real blur because I didn't know Tokyo too well yet. The following two days were devoted to Comiket which I'll update in another post. Then it was NEW YEARS EVE! I was so excited, I didn't know what to do with myself.

In Japan, New Years is more popular than Christmas. New Years is the big day, but New Years eve still holds some merit of big things. Specifically at Tokyo Tower. Across the street from the tower (next door to my hotel) is a rather large and famous temple. There were shops open that sold so many good food, candy, and merchandise to bring in the new year. I was thinking of buying the wood print where you write your wish for the new year, so I did, but once bought, you're meant to write on it and hang it at the temple and you never get it back. HELL NO! I'm keeping that shit. (It's hanging up in my room now, haha!)

At first, we showed up about three hours early and there wasn't ANYONE there; just the vendors. I was really disappointed and worried that a New Years party would be out of the question. We went back to the hotel to get the balloons they were handing out. At the tower, you write your wish for the new year and at midnight, let them fly up into the sky. They go to Kami-sama (God). By the time we went to the temple IT WAS PACKED! I WAS SO EXCITED! We had an hour left, so we all stood around. It was amazing how many foreigners were there. Around us were Americans, Aussies, Russians, Germans, and other Europeans. I even ran into a lady that lives down the street from where I live. How amazing is that!?

So here are the pictures of my time from New Years


The temple before everyone showed up

Everyone two hours later! All the balloons are wishes
All the wishes going up God
After midnight! Right when it struck midnight, the entire tower went off in blue and sparkled. It stayed that way for the next few days I was there.

So as for the rest of my time in Tokyo, I went to Shibuya, the most famous part of Tokyo. Whenever they show Tokyo, they show Shibuya. That was fun, but I was so cold and we got very lost and tempers kind of flared and SO MANY PEOPLE SMOKE! I'm not used to going into public places were people smoke...

In any case, I'll wrap this post up with pictures of my time in the areas I talked about above. The next post will be about Comiket.

Shinjuku
Akihabara
いっぱい！(crowded!)
I dunno why Mt. Fuji is in the ocean or why Hawaii is so close! XD
I WENT TO AN AQUARIUM! Actually, I didn't. I went to the planetarium next door
I'm sure a lot of you have seen this image of Shibuya. Sadly, the day I go IT BREAKS! *cry*
A popular and easily accessible meeting place in Tokyo. It's Hachiko. A long time ago, a professor would go to work and his dog, Hachiko, would wait for him at the train station (around the area this statue is now). One day, the professor died on his way home and he never came back. Hachiko, though, waited and waited for him to come back until he died. This statue is there to show the loyalty of the dog. <3> Another very famous building in Shibuya
Shibuya 109! It was closed ):
Walking across a very crowded walkway. I was excited because I thought of my dad and it was like from Lost in Translation!
THE BEST DISNEY STORE EVER!
TGIF?! HOLY! :)
Hee hee...Condomania store! <3
SEGA!

Now that school is out for the next two months, I can post sooner. I promise the next one won't take as long. As always, all the photos are up on my Facebook.

To those back at my hometown I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU IN FEBRUARY! Until next post!

~星子☆

Still alive

Hey, this is going to be short and to the point. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a little while. I survived Christmas and New Years in Tokyo and it was amazing. I put up my pictures on Facebook, but have yet to update it here. I'm leaving for Tokyo in an hour to go to Disneyland. I'm over run with things to do, but next week I'll be free.

For those who don't know, I bought my plane tickets back to the States for 2 weeks in February right after my birthday. I hope I can see you guys! I'll have many stories to tell that didn't make it up here or I didn't tell you online.

Will update by next week every day until I'm caught up. Expect long entries soon. I will break up my Tokyo visit into multiple entries to not kill you all with reading for longer than ten minutes (unless you read slow).

See you next week!

Of lights and mochi

Hi everyone. I wanted to share a video with you from the Nagoya Train Station, but it doesn't seem like it'll work. If you have my Facebook or know someone who does, please watch it there under my account. I'm really sorry.

Anyways! Onto my real post.

Christmas here is more about Christmas Eve and the sales. It's all about the couples and the cake and the ridiculous amount of American and British influence. Most of Japan is enveloped in western culture and everything changes to reflect American culture so much so, that I feel back home when out shopping; on Black Friday that is. I was worried that there was no part of Japan left in the holiday season, despite the fact that I knew there was in the past.

That's when I got the text message from my family a little while back asking me to go out with them to pound mochi. Mochi is basically rice pounded so much and so hard that it turns into goo. It's really squishy and stretchy and tastes horrible alone, which is why they put stuff on it or in it and then it tastes great! I was extremely excited as I knew the pounding of mochi was still a very treasured tradition in Japan, despite the changing times.

So Tuesday morning I rolled out of bed at 7 to be with my host family at 9. I wasn't in a great mood because some of my friends had left for good, having only stayed for a semester. But I didn't let that get to me. I was wrapped up in my very heavy 50s style jacket, had a scarf, gloves, and a beanie on, but I was STILL freezing! We were at a small park near my host family's house. I knew some of the people, like the grandmother, because I had met them previously, so it wasn't long before most of the people present knew my name and knew where I hailed from. I was surprised by how many older people were there at first, but it eventually leveled out to new families with young children, though I never saw any teenagers. I was the old "child" there, if you want to put me in that category.

We did the "Japanese morning stretches" which were really cute and (of course) had a song to go along with it (every thing in Japan has a song associated with it... It works! Everyone remembers everything because of it). I was lost and laughed, but my host mom told me what to do and made sure I was okay. My host dad was taking a bajillion photos of me. He thought it was adorable to see me doing the stretch.

That was when the men brought out this giant wooden bowl, who's name I've forgotten, and the wooden mallets. There were three sizes: kid size, woman's size, man's size. First the men lightly kneaded the rice with the mallets and moved around the bowl to get all sides. A lady on the side was there with constant wet hands to move the rice so that it was always moving, 'lest it got stuck on the sides. Then it was time for the men to swing the mallets to get it nice and mixed. My host dad is a rather large man, so he REALLY nailed that mochi. Then it was time for the kids, but first...they spotted the only American and pulled me into the fray. I was given the woman's mallet and I swung 10 times.

That was when...I became the bee's knees. EVERYONE and their mother (literally) ran up to me and constantly talked to me about America (where I was from, how long I had known Japanese, what America was like, etc.). They were AMAZED when I told them I had only known Japanese for two years and had only been in the country 4 months (my God...it's been 4 months...). My host mom kept telling everyone, "pera pera" which means fluent and I had to violently deny this. I'm nowhere near that level, but then my host mom said, "You're good enough after only two years and 4 months, so stop that". She then dragged me around to ever jii-san (granpa) and baa-chan (granma) in the area and showed me off. It was great. My host dad thought it was hysterical. My host brother and sister were running around with their friends, but my host sister fell and hurt her wrist, so she stuck by my side after that. It was sweet and I ran around and played with her and some of her friends to keep her spirits up. She wanted to pound mochi, but her wrist...

The first batch was eventually ready to eat and all the Japanese people ran up to me with a plate and green tea. They were anxious for me to eat it. The plate had 5 variations of mochi on it. The first three were GREAT, but I hated the last two (almost choked on one) and my host dad laughed seeing my reaction to the last one. He told me most foreigners hate it, but that it was okay because most Japanese hate it too. Right as he said that, my host brother nearly chocked on that same version. Haha!

Then the second batch came around. By this time, everyone knew my name and there were far more people there than before. It was starting to get cold from me sitting too long, so my host parents pulled me over to the new mochi batch. My host mom was now the one with wet hands who moved the mochi. It was cute to see her husband swinging the mallet to pound the mochi and then see her move in to move the mochi. I wish I had taken a picture of that.

That was when the jii-san's moved in on me. They handed me the man mallet saying, "YOU HAVE AMERICAN STRENGTH! DO IT!!!" Almost everyone gathered around and started doing a chant to help me along saying, "GANBATTE AMERICA!" or "YOSH! YOSH! YOSH!" which are both ways of saying, "GOOD LUCK!" and "YOU CAN DO IT!". It was really sweet of them and I was overcome, but I started laughing so hard because they kept calling me America and I just thought that was so great. I did it, like, 20 times before my time was finished. Man my arms hurt today from it...

After all the mochi batches had been made and I had eaten them all, it was time for three students from a university near me to perform some Christmas music. They had bassoons! It was cool because they even explained what a bassoon was. Hell...I had no idea it was from Italy... In any case, it was sweet, but I was FREEZING! So we went home.

After I warmed up under their kotatsu back home, my host family then took me to a hip hop dance show going on. It had their friends in it. It was...eerie to see how much they were like American hip hop dancers... I was really amazed because for awhile, I couldn't even tell they were Japanese and felt right back at home. Then the lights came back on and I remembered where I was. After that, it was off to dinner.

We went to SUSHI! Oh man...I love sushi. I tried some new stuff and found SCALLOPS! And there was a special on crap, so I had some. That and TONS of eel. Love that stuff. My host family was amazed I adored eel. Unfortunately, this dug me my grave as they ordered me tons of eel. I thought I was going to die.

My host parents asked if I see what they call "illumination" back home in America and I told them I used to when I was young. So they drove me around to look at all the lights on the houses. That's when I told them "illumination" isn't something we call this in America, it's something from England. I also told them that the Christmas cakes they adore isn't from America either, it's also from England. My host dad then said, "well if it's from an English speaking country, IT'S FROM AMERICA! No one cares that much about England, except for its flag design. That's fashionable." I thought I was going to die of laughter so I told him, "it's like that in America. If you're Asian, you're Chinese or Japanese, though in California and my area, if you're Asian, you're Japanese." My host dad was having such a fit of laughter.

We went home and I gave them their Christmas gifts to which they gave me theirs. We started watching t.v. and I was glad to know annoying commercials that I see so often in America are VERY common in Japan, though they put forth a lot more effort in making it look pretty and cool. But the anime my little host brother watched was amazingly stupid, so I chatted with my host mother. She told me my Japanese had improved ten fold in the past two months she had known me. I was extremely grateful to her words...

It was then time to go home. I was very sad, but also excited. I had just had one of the best days since getting to Japan. On Sunday I leave for Tokyo, so once my adventure there is over, I'll post about it, but it might come in sections. I won't be back until after New Years, so until then! The mallets. The biggest is the man's, smallest is the kid's The giant bowl the mochi sits and we pound into it Some of the people coming in. It would get very crowded later My host dad swingin' that mallet away This little wooden container is where the mochi is then put to make it all nice and squishy BASSOONS! TIME TO EAT! The chopsticks. My little host brother remembered how I have a black cat and love cats in general and searched for these. I was so touched! CHRISTMAS CAKE! My host mom also made me cocoa And finally, the illumination I liked the most. A lot of them looked just like from home in the States, so I was always surprised to see them so similar.

Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, and I hope everyone has a GREAT New Years! For everyone on my Facebook, keep in touch with me there. I'll be posting more pictures of my time in Tokyo there (especially COMIKET!), so if anyone wants to know how I'm doing until I return, I'll be there. Stay warm everyone!

~星子☆

水族館

it's time for ANOTHER late update! this one's also a week old and i really am sorry, but it was finals week. i passed all my tests, though my big test i didn't do terribly well. i'll be studying my butt off whenever i'm resting from all my upcoming adventures this vacation. these are some of the upcoming entries i'll have up:

my x-mas here at the dorms
MOCHI MAKING WITH MY HOST FAMILY (so excited)
TOKYO
COMIKET
TOKYO
new years
TOKYO
and last but not least, TOKYO DISNEYLAND!

but that last one will come in january. once january starts, i'll be back in school for three weeks and then i'm off for three months! i'm REALLY excited!

anyways! on to my post here. the title says "aquarium" in japanese and that's exactly where me and my friends went. one of my friends had NEVER been to the ocean OR an aquarium so she was VERY excited and i was spazzing for her sake, getting her very pumped up talking about my times with friends back home at our amazing aquarium.

so we get to the place around 2 and have lunch and get all excited to see the ocean. it was so beautiful. and the port we were at was all decked out in holiday stuff. it was exciting! it was sweet because i didn't know we got a discount for something, but my friend did and told me to come back. the lady realized i was with my friend and gave me my money back as well as give us all discounts. it was really nice :)

once inside, we walk right into the dolphin area. there was a show getting ready to start and we were under it. it looked like there were a lot of people upstairs, so we stayed downstairs to watch the show on the t.v. and see the dolphins splash back down into the water. i was all giddy to see dolphins, but to see my friend look like a little kid on x-mas morning. it was so funny and i poked fun with her for it the rest of the day. it was great!

we then moved and saw a baluga whale and switched buildings to walk into the GIANT tank section where there were tropical fish, sting rays, sharks, tuna, and TURTLES! the best part was, at EVERY single section, i kid you not, every japanese person was saying (in japanese) "IT LOOKS SO GOOD!" or "I WANT TO EAT IT!" and certain displays actually showed what that fish looked like when turned into sushi or what not. it was HYSTERICAL! my friends and i laughed about it the entire time.

we then stumbled upon the fish of the past section and the section of "protect our environment". it was cool because the fish of the past part had HOLOGRAMS! and most everything was in japanese and english, so it was easy to understand. we found another section of turtles and right above was a food court where they sold turtle soup. my friends laughed, but i was sad. it just wasn't right...

the next section was a GREAT part of australia with the UGLIEST looking turtles ever. like, oh my god...pig snouts and long necks and just, ugh! so gross. we laughed until the aquarium said it was closing. we moved to the last part which was the penguin part. my friend, AGAIN, freaked out because she had never seen penguins. it was great and we named them for her enjoyment. we called the big tall one russia and the fat loud one america. those two were constantly trying to be the center of attention. then one of them, we named after a guy we don't like here at the dorm, and said it was funny because all the other penguins picked on him, including america, so we laughed and said, "THAT'S RIGHT! TAKE THAT! FEEL THE WRATH OF AMERICAAAA!!!!" so many japanese moved away, haha! that's ok, front row to the penguin exhibit. haha!

once we bought souvenirs, we headed outside to see the entire port COVERED in lights. it was beautiful. and there was a ferris wheel nearby (japan is OBSESSED with ferris wheels....it's the big date "thing" as well as the perfect thing to light up the night with) that just covered the area in these really pretty lights. it was so wonderful and we even went around the port area to look at the x-mas lights on some of the buildings and houses. (just for you dad, i said, "oh der's one")

in any case, here are some photos. all are on facebook.

PIG SNOUTED AUSSIE TURTLE! so weird...

it snowed today and i kind of got a white x-mas, but by 9 am (when i woke up) it was already all melted. i was REALLY sad...but hopefully it'll snow again.

either way, stay warm everyone!

~星子☆