Tokyo - Day 2 - November 1st

Waking up at the crack of 8 AM, we began our day eating cinnamon rolls (well Chris ate candy and leftover steak from the previous night) and playing Wii. After much digression, my friend drove us to our train station around 11 AM. We booked back toward the hotel, freshened up, then set out for our destination of the day: Odaiba.

Odaiba started as a number of island cannon batteries constructed in the 1800s to protect Tokyo (then Edo) from sea assault. The current island of Odaiba consists of one of those batteries (#3) plus some islands built out of trash and then relabled 'reclaimed land' and covered in business and entertainment.

A suspension bridge called the 'Rainbow Bridge' connects Odaiba to the mainland and
has a pedestrian walkway. So we took a train to the base of the bridge, and then walked across. When dressing for the day I didn't expect the crosswinds we encountered on the bridge. I spent much time on the bridge clutching my skirt to my legs and shuffling along.

After we snapped some awesome pictures of Tokyo, we arrived on the island of Odaiba and checked out the parks. Walking through the parks, something like 70% of the people had their dogs with them. We found the old battery #3 and due to the lack of English signage and my total failure at reading the Japanese, thought it dated from WW2 rather than the 1850s. After that, we headed towards the 'Statue of Liberty', the second piece of fake-America we ended up finding in Tokyo.

Our stomachs growing weary and starving, we searched for some food and landed on a festival in progress in front of 'Aqua City', a huge high-class shopping mall. There was fun dancing to watch, and cheap food to eat. We ate lunch for under 500 yen a person and also got entertainment for free. Sitting down and watching the dancers was a nice change from walking kilometer after kilometer.

Following our brief rest, we headed back into Aqua City and neighboring mall Decks Tokyo Beach and looked around at all the cool things to buy. We searched in vain for the 'Comme Ca Ism' branded candy, finding only Comme Ca Ism clothing, and Comme Ca Ism lunchboxes.

From there we wandered through the malls, figuring out where to head next. After we had decided to go to Palette Town, a conceptual mall/entertainment district nearby, we had one more stop - this cat store/amusement park. We passed on the 'attraction' (over $20 a person to pet adorable cats and watch them) but the store was hilariously overstocked in all things ridiculous for your cat.

At Palette Town, we wandered through Venus Fort, stumbled in on the Car Museum, and took a ride high above the skyline on a giant ferris wheel. The views from the top were terrific, even if my camera largely failed me.

After that, we hoofed back to Asakusa. Once in our hotel, I was lulled to sleep by the warmth and comfort of the bed, and promptly crashed, sleeping through dinner entirely.

See also: Day 1, Day 3, Day 4

Nifty new online archive

Google, in its ever pressing desire to take over the world, has introduced a new archive of photos from Life dating from the beginning of photographs to the 1970s. Some of the photos have never been published before. Linky.

There's a lot of cool stuff, like a bunch of old-timey pictures of airbases like Barksdale. Or pictures of the Ruins of Persepolis, one of the 10 coolest places in the world American's really can't go. Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Kittens. Basically, anything you want.

Fighting through the cold

Winter is starting to get here. I mean, it's still warmer than NY was, and it always will be, but in NY it was a trip in a parka from overheated room to overheated room, and here it's more like sitting in a 15 degree offices rubbing my hands together in a shirt and sweater. Then walking through 5 degree corridors to 10 degree classrooms to teach 50 minute lessons and am I losing you with the celsius yet?

(5 degree - 41 degree, 10 - 50, 15 - 59)

Solution is obviously to buy more sweaters. and turtlenecks. and start wearing a parka at ALL TIMES EVERYWHERE.

I fear for my electric bill...but I did up the efficiency of my apartment by plasticking my windows with bubble wrap.

Honestly I wouldn't mind so much if there weren't these ominous dark clouds. I can't see Daisen out my office window today...sigh.

Taiyou WHALES and such

I spent basically the last hour speaking to the school's industrial arts teacher about how many seasons each part of the US has, followed by why I went to collegei n New York instead of Louisiana, followed by Japanese and American differences in school systems and testing for college, followed by testing to become a US foreign service officer, followed by kanji for different kinds of fish, and I'm sure a number of things in between.

Also, he spend much of it waving a knife around.

Tokyo - Day 1 - October 31

Early in the morning of October 31, braving the darkness and the morning chill, Jessica and Chris set out from Nanbu-cho with their heavy luggage burdens toward Yonago station. Boarding a 5:30 train to Okayama, they slept fitfully in their seats as the sun began to brighten the world. In Okayama, they transferred to the Shinkansen train bound for Tokyo. And finally, at 11:30 in the morning, they arrived...and so begins their tale of triumph and the human spirit.


So once we had arrived at Tokyo station, we wandered around and I proceeded to get us terrifically lost. Our destination was the Imperial Palace, but it took us about an hour to find the location, only a kilometer or so away from the station. But the palace was awesome...if only we could enter. We wanted to go to the East Garden, but it was closed to the public (closed on Mondays and Fridays, of course!) so we only walked around. There were copious cool things to look at though, and nice pictures to take.

After that, we boarded a few trains bound for Asakusa, the district where our hotel was located. From there, our backs and legs aching under the weight of our overpacked duffels and backpacks, we took the long, long (10 minute) trudge to the hostel. The staff was friendly and we checked in with no problem. However they didn't provide towels there so we would end up having to purchase one at a convenience store.

This is the famous "flaming poo" Asahi beer building
in Asakusa, a short 3 minute walk from our lodgings.

From there, I hopped on a computer to see if I could resolve a 'I forgot my passport, can I still get on Yokosuka naval base?' problem. Problem resolved, we headed out for Yokosuka to stand in line for like 3 hours to get onto base and attend a REALLY FUN Halloween party with my old college friend.

There was carving of pumpkins, and wearing of super lame costumes, and fun was had by all. Also, we shouldn't have purchased that first night at the hotel. But since it was so cheap, it wasn't a huge loss.

See also: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4