Kristen and Shawn Visit: Part 5: Tokyo aka THE END! :-(

After Korea, we hopped on a plane to Osaka, where we then hopped on a Shinkansen to Tokyo for the last part of our trip together (SOB!! They should just move here, I think, and I should never leave).

When we got to Tokyo, we immediately brought Kristen and Shawn to the capsule hotel in which they would be staying. I was staying with Martin in Shinagawa, so I had booked them a place close to there, and it turned out to be a host district
(if you don't know what a host is, use the picture for reference. It's like the Japanese dude version of a hostess, and they have awesome host hair and are super suave) - the place was literally crawling with hosts. I thought it was a great introduction to Tokyo for Kristen and Shawn! :-)

The next day, while Kristen and I slept, Shawn woke up super early and went to the fish market (apparently, he got kicked out about 5 times for being a foreigner there so early). When we finally all met up, we headed over to Akihabara for some doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant (and, of course, for them to check out the electronics distric).


I of course had to bring them to Super Potato to see all the old school games and to sit in the chair made of famcom games (which, unfortunately, was way smaller than it used to be - I guess it went through some trouble).

So, then we headed over to the Meiji shrine by Yoyogi Koen, and there just so happened to be two weddings going on. Guess we were lucky!

Martin and I of course had to make goofy poses outtside of the shrine. I feel certain that Kristen and Shawn also made goofy poses, but I don't seem to have those pictures.

After the shrine, we headed into Harajuku, where there were unfortunately no cosplayers. We really didn't get lucky on the cosplay/lolita front.
We did, however, get very lucky on the Takeshita street front. Sure, there were tons of people there, but SO MANY LESS than there ever have been before.
We were actually able to walk down the street and breathe at the same time. I even felt comfortable enough spending the time necessary to pop into a couple idol shops to look for hot visual kei boys (I found none. Sadness).

We then headed over to the Shinjuku/Shibuya area for a delicious (at least to me, maybe not so much to Krist and Shawn) vegan lunch at Pure Cafe, the Aveda cafe.
And then delicious chocolate soy shakes from Mr. Bean.

Since we were in the area, we of course had to go check out 109 - I feel like it's a total waste to go to Tokyo and not at least check out the insane awesomeness of it.

We made some new friends in front of the store who posed in our picture with us!

Kristen and I had been wanting to buy matching somethings, and we found some adorable t-shirts, so I officially made my very first 109 purchase (and not even from JSG, my favorite store there).

Us having fun in 109. Please note that I almost killed myself on the escalator trying to get this picture.

Making Mary-Kate and Ashley lips in the train.

That night, Martin and Shawn went to kaiten sushi for dinner while Kristen and I ate spaghetti chez Martin. It was so nice to eat in a house again, oddly enough, instead of hopping around from restaurant to restaurant.

Kristen and Shawn wanted to see the sky tree, so the next morning we woke up and headed over to Asakusa. We walked around a bit looking at the shrine and the fun other Japanesey stuff, and then we headed over to the bridge to check out the sky tree.

Kristen and Shawn think it's going to be a tourist success, but I'm just not so sure. I mean, it's ugly. And it's whole purpose is to be a tourist attraction. I don't get it. Maybe I'll have to walk up to the top and see the view if I ever want to eventually get it.

And there it is, right to the left of the really cool building that's supposed to look like beer.

Then Krist and I headed over to Loving Hut for (what I thought was) a DELICIOUS lunch! Shawn and Martin walked around Shinjuku and ate something else. Then we met up and got doughnuts (!!!! I'm seriously doughnut obsessed) and headed back to Martin's for a few minutes of down-time before getting back on the shinkansen to head back to Nagoya.
We ate delicious (once again, to me) Indian food, then Kristen and Shawn headed to their hotel by the airport, and I headed back to Okazaki for my first night sleeping with my home stay family.

Our stay in Tokyo was super short but super fun. Their stay in Japan was super short but super fun. I'm so sad they are gone!

I'm actually headed back to Tokyo this weekend again, though, to hang out with another friend coming into town. And then, Guillaume comes, and we're headed to Kyushu then Okinawa. So much traveling, so little money!

And thus, THE END of my adventures with Kristen and Shawn!

以上です。

Kristen and Shawn Visit: Part 4: 韓国スタイル Seoul, South Korea

After Kyoto, we hopped on a plane and flew over to South Korea. I had to leave country to change my visa status to a tourist visa, since my student visa was about to expire, and Kristen and Shawn were all "We want to go, too!"

I don't know why, but even when I'm thinking in English now, I've started thinking of South Korea as Kankoku. Maybe it's because I never really thought about Kankoku before coming to Japan.
Conversations often go like:

American Friend: Ah, you went to South Korea! How was it?

Me: Huh?!? Oh, you mean Kankoku?

That said, it was fabulous!
When we first arrived, we went directly to Loving Hut to eat. There are actually about 5 in Seoul (yay for vegans), and the one we picked was very good, if a little expensive. We met my friend Uri and her boyfriend Patric there.


Uri making me look somewhat like a giant
I hadn't seen Uri in over a year, so it was super awesome to get to hang out! And plus, we have both gotten MUCH better at Japanese since when we met, so we were actually able to talk a bit.
Luckily, though, her boyfriend, Patric, lives in America, so he was able to talk lots to Kristen and Shawn.

After eating and a brief rest, they showed us around a bit.



That thing was really cool, though I don't remember at all what it was. Maybe the dude that founded South Korea.
Apparently we were there at, like, the South Korean independence day or something, so we were happy to stumble upon a little concert (and you KNOW how much I love concerts).

They were all playing these light up drums and dancing around. It was really cool. Afterwards, they invited us on stage to take a picture with them, but I don't have it anywhere.
Of course, it would have been better if we had stumbled upon a punk show, but this was still cool.

Then this big thing was also really cool, so we of course had to take a picture with it. I wanted to get in the water, but I suppose that would have been a bad idea.


We actually got to see the presidential procession pass in front of this building, which was super cool.

And then this little dude is called Haechi, or something like that (do not take my word on that spelling), and apparently he's in front of all the temples in South Korea. He was a mega cutey face.

After exploring, we spent some time in the night market and woke up super early the next morning to go on a tour of Panmunjon and the DMV.

We got really lucky because, even though we weren't on the defactor tour, there was a North Korean defector on the bus with us. We got to ask her lots of questions, and it was really super eye-opening and enlightening.

We learned all about how life was for her in North Korea, why she decided to run away, how she ran away, what she misses. . . it was pretty amazing!

We also got to look through binoculars at a fake North Korean city. It was SO weird because there were all these buildings and absolutely NO ONE there.
Apparently, there used to be fake people made to be looking like they were having fun. But now, I guess, North Korea no longer cares what we think about them.



This train is apparently an old remnant of the war. I don't know more about it than that.


Me and our new friend, Geil, with a guard in front of the train that goes from South Korea to North Korea.

I really thought that North Korea and South Korea had very minimal relations, but apparently there's actually a South Korean factory in North Korea, and every day South Koreans get on a train to go to work (and be paid in American dollars). I was actually really surprised!


Me and Geil trying to reach North Korea

We also went to the DMZ, but no pictures allowed there.
We went to the night market again that night and then, the next morning, after taking a somewhat leisurely morning break (during which Shawn, who does not sleep, walked around), we hopped back on an airplane to head towards Tokyo.
In other news, we were actually WEIGHED to get on the airplane and then given a pen for our troubles. That was a first to me.

Check back soon for the last installment of my travels with Kristen and Shawn!

Kristen and Shawn Visit: Part 3: Temple Stay and Nara aka a deer bit my butt

So our last morning in Kyoto, we woke up super early for a meditation class at the temple where we would be spending our last night.

The room in which we meditated

It was a really good class, and I felt like I might have actually properly meditated for the first time in my life. He talked about how forcing yourself to clear your head is actually associated with ego, because it's forcing. Thoughts just come normally, and you just have to let them come and go naturally - it's normal, he said, to have thoughts pass through your head while meditating - that's just how the brain is.

After, we got a little tour of the temple, and it was super beautiful (though I had totally been before with Rachel and Josh and just forgotten all about it).





The top picture is the view from the meditation room and the bottom picture is the temple rock garden.

When we were done meditating and temple touring, we had green tea with Manju which, because we were at a Buddhist temple, was vegan, so I could eat it. So I forced myself to drink the tea with it, and it actually wasn't that bad.

And then we hopped on a train for what was probably my 8th time in Nara (I've really stopped keeping count.
We wanted to eat at the delicious falafel restaurant I ate at last time I was there, but unfortunately - it closed down in the interim. :-( Sadness! In the end, we got Indian food.
Kristen and Shawn had some naan left over in a bag, so when we first walked into a section with deers, they were seriously all over us. They kept chasing Kristen around to try to get her naan while she was trying to feed them deer biscuits.
So then I took the bag, and they were chasing me around, and one definitely bit my butt. Apparently, Kristen's butt also got bitten.


Welcome to Nara!
Later, I decided to get deliciously yummy mitarashi dango, and the deer were super into that, too. I don't understand how some of the other people seemed to be eating in peace. One of the deer literally bowed at me trying to get some. In the end, I had to hold it in the air to eat it.


After numerous attacks by deer, we managed to make it to the 大仏間　(daibutsukan), with the HUGE Buddha in it. Kristen and Shawn were duly impressed.
Shawn was wearing his samurai shirt, and people kept commenting on it all day. Finally, a Japanese high school boy asked if they could take a picture together. It was so cute - they pretended to be samurai.

This is apparently the biggest wooden building in the world.

On the train ride on the way back, there were some junior high school boys sitting by us all trying to show off with their English. Shawn was thinking about the Kyari Pamyu Pamyu video that I had showed him for Ponponpon.



At 1:29, a rainbow comes out of her but, so Shawn wanted me to teach him how to say "I made a rainbow fart." What was amazing was that the junior high school boys actually got it and spent the rest of the train right singing Kyari Pamyu Pamyu and dancing. SO CUTE!

That night we spent in the temple, and it was lovely. 以上です。 (For a less wordy version of our time in Japan, check out Kristen's blog that she makes for her kindergartners! She wrote all about it!)

Kristen and Shawn Visit: Part 2: Kyoto and Arashiyama, aka a monkey peed on my head

To continue the hanging out with Krist and Shawn story, after Okazaki, we headed to Kyoto!!

After getting settled in the place where we would stay (which was a SUPER nice Japanese style ryokan with an AMAZING garden view), we headed over to eat at Cafe Proverbs, which is possibly the most delicious vegan (well, almost entirely vegan) restaurant in all of Japan. I got soy milk ramen and a chocolate sundae, and my happiness was extreme. Even Kristen loved her curry rice!

Then we headed over to (銀閣寺）　Ginkakuji, the silver temple.

As usual, the grounds were gorgeous. And somehow, perhaps because I hadn't been in a real Japanese style garden (or really a real any garden) in an extremely long time, I felt like the grounds were even more gorgeous than normal.



When finished, we took a little walk down the "Philosopher's Road." It wasn't really the season for it, but it was still quite pretty.



Then, we headed over to 金閣寺　(kinkakuji), the golden temple.



I'm sure I'll eventually get tired of seeing it, but at this point, I'm still amazed by its' beauty every time I see it.

After that, Gion for a little bit of shopping and geisha searching. And we actually saw a geisha! I was shocked! Even though I've now been in Japan for two years, it was my first real geisha. And I got to see her with Krist and Shawn. Super psyched-ness.

The next day, we woke up fairly early, and after a morning at the bank (it took WAY LONGER than it should have), we met up with Alexis for lunch (at Cafe Matsuontoko - decent food, awesomely placed, somewhat expensive, entirely vegan, good times!) and then headed to Arashiyama to see some monkeys and some bamboo.

(I just realized I got distracted blogging and listened to the same song, a song I don't really even like, a good 10 times in a row)



Us pretending to be monkeys on a bench on the way up. Unfortunately, all of the fun monkey pictures are Kristen and Shawn's cameras.
The highlight of this event was, of course, that as we were walking down about to leave, something wet fell out of the air onto my head and shoulders. Everyone else was dry and fine. I looked up, and it turned out a monkey had just peed on my head. I somehow feel like something like this could ONLY happen to me. Everyone there was in agreement. Only me.



Then we walked through Arashiyama looking at pretty old buildings, heading towards bamboo.
Once again, Kristen and Shawn have all of the fun pictures. This is literally the only picture I took of bamboo (note: that is the correct usage of literally, but I am a huge fan of misusing literally).
It was beautiful. There's something really mysterious and wonderful about walking through bamboo forests. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's sort-of the perfect feeling.

For dinner, we went to a place called Mikouan. I'd been there before, and the food was good. And it's true that the food was good this time as well, but I really don't think I'll go again. When we got there, the owner was super moody and rude to us and probably wouldn't have let us in (because we were 4) if there hadn't been a nice man sitting there that practically made her let us in.
Combine that with the fact that there were roaches crawling on the walls (I'm convinced there was a dead one in the curry) and ants crawling all over the dry ingredients, and all in all, it was just a bad experience.
So, even though the food is yum, I can't recommend it.

Just a lovely day in Kyoto!!

More Kristen and Shawn Visit to come soon!

Crazy NonStop-pedness

So it feels like things have been really for serious crazy non-stop since I last wrote.

This is something like I was.

I couldn't talk for a very very long time, which had my energy level feeling somewhat less than it should be. So in what minimal free time I had (between going to school, analyzing my survey for my final presentation, studying for my final tests, working every day, practicing the guitar, and packing to move out of my apartment, this was basically none), I did a lot of forcing myself to rest and not talk. Very difficult for me.


I also hit up a little shamisen concert that my friend put on.

I learned that the body part of the shamisen tends to be made from either dog skin or cat skin, as other animals don't make quite the same sound. But because dogs are considered somewhat sacred in most parts of the world, they have to import the leather from China.
His was made from dog, because he said that cat is often too small, and also you can see the nipples. Which, though he didn't say it, is weird.

Look how lady-like I look while trying to play myself!
I of course immediately thought that I needed to learn to play the shamisen myself, and Hikaru was kind enough to oblige in showing me a little bit.
However, when I asked about using synthetic fibers in the place of the dog/cat skin, he said it was impossible and the sound would just be wrong. If this is true, my shamisen learning dreams were very short-lived.

Thursday was my LAST DAY OF YAMASA! It was sort of sad, but not quite as sad as when I left the last time. This time I had to give a speech, though, and mine went something like this: "お腹もすいたし、涙もろいし、その上スピーチも苦手です。ですので、みんな、ありがとう" Which means something like "I'm hungry, I cry a lot, and I'm bad at speeches. So, everyone, thanks!"
I'm basically really awful at talking in front of people, and I certainly didn't want to make everyone wait through my inevitable tears, so that was that.

Then I went to lunch with my classmates and teachers, then I went and had a lesson with Koushi, and Michie made me delicious vegan curry rice for dinner.
THEN KRISTEN AND SHAWN ARRIVED!!

We had an AWESOME time, and now they have left me. Be prepared over the next few days for a bombardment of blogging about their visit.

以上です。