Takai, Takai.

こんいちわ！

I know that it has been one week from my last blog entry, but it's been for all good reasons. The days have been exceedingly packed full of sightseeing, interesting activites and exciting things and interactions. Fortunately, as I settle down into my favorite internet cafe in Suidobashi and a cup of coffee, I'm ready for some serious updating.

The good news is that I have been well, for those of you wondering - especially as Anna pointed out in her comment the recent earthquake last week. Skipping to that evening for a moment, it was certainly an unusual moment. Living in New England for my whole life, I have (fortunately) never experienced the sensation of an earthquake. Japan, however, sits above three different tectonic plates, making it one of the most earthquake prone areas in the world. On the evening of July 24th, I remember that I was having a little trouble falling asleep. Normally here, I have been getting into bed and asleep by 11:00pm, but that night I wasn't in bed until 11:40 and still tossing and turning. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I felt what I can only describe as the bed mildly vibrating at first. In my head, I was convinced that I was in the plane between dreaming and consciousness, but when the shaking became very pronounced, I realized that this was no dream. The earthquake in the Tokyo area was mild, only registering somewhere in the 3.0 range. Nevertheless, having never experienced the sensation of an earthquake before, I have to say that it was unusually disconcerting. About two minutes after the earthquake could be felt, I sat up to the sounds of various sirens and Japanese being spoken over some type of PA system. A little surreal, but it is an all too common occurence in this country - so much so that everything, buildings, traffic light posts, etc. are very earthquake resistant.

On lighter notes, my days have been filled with various activities seated with the goal of soaking up as much of the culture as possible. Last week, our class took a field trip to Shin-Kiba on the eastern area of Tokyo to a glass artisan's workshop. There, we had the opportunity to make our own glass beads, which was a very cool experience. Although all the instructions were in Japanese (like, well, everything else here) the artisans were more than helpful in showing us all how to bend the glass and add color and dimension. The beads will be ready on Wednesday, which is exciting as I hope that mine didn't end up as some misshapen blob. If it did, I'll just call it "artistic expression" right? That sounds nicer than "accident."

After class, a few of us set off to the Shibuya and Harajuku areas of town for some clothes shopping. As I had joked with some people before, it's unusual for me to be having to choose size medium and large sized clothing being a smaller guy. However, the clothes here are certainly much different in some aspects than American clothing. For example, you could say that much of the younger clothing preferences and styles in American tend to lean toward a hip-hop influenced style of baggier clothing and baseball caps. In Tokyo, the trendy look seems to be somewhere in the vicinity of surfer-turned-salaryman / club host, termed onii-kei . It's admittedly very different from American ideas of what's trendy, but it is Japan, after all. After that was done, I opted to sit in the very famous Starbucks that sits right above Shibuya crossing for a cappuccino and people watching that was unparalled to anything than I've ever seen. For your entertainment, I captured a minute of a started crossing at Shibuya from the Starbucks so you can see the sheer volume of people that cross here every minute and a half:



Later in that same day, I took a trip on the Tokyo Metro to Roppongi Hills. Roppongi, many years ago, was disreputably known as being some type of expat red light district where you really only went to Roppongi for all the wrong reasons. Today, Roppongi is home to some very upscale areas, the crown jewel of which is Roppongi Hills - a massive shopping, entertainment and restaurant area. Roppongi is very close to Tokyo Tower, and the view from the area is quite nice as you overlook the city. However, what particularly caught my eye was the ability to get to the top of Roppongi Hills at the SkyWalk: an open air observatory and helipad that sat on top of the 60-story building. Naturally, it was worth the ￥1,500 to get to the top. There, I waited as the sun went down as I had an unrivaled 360 degree view of Tokyo. The views were particularly impressive as I stood there enjoying the wonderment that is this amazing city. Truly, it was not to be missed.

As a small side note, everytime I ride on the Tokyo Metro, walk down Omotesando-dori or even use the washlet, I can finally answer one question: I know where Cameron Diaz has been hiding. She's practically everywhere here. Strange? Yes, I think so.

On Thursday, Ide-Sensei took our class on a small field trip to the famous Budokan that is a 10 minute walk from our class in Kudanshita. The Nippon Budokan is an extraordinarily famous rock concert venue (as mostly known by westerners). You may be familiar with it when the Beatles played here or from many other bands and their respective "live from the Budokan" albums. Originally, the Budokan was designed for the 1964 Olympic games in Tokyo, hence why 部土管 in English translates to "martial arts hall." Later that day, we had the opportunity for some one on one Japanese language exchange with some local students who came in to speak with us. It was fun as Ayako and I talked about our hometowns, what we like to do for fun and hobbies as well as share funny stories. It was pretty nice to have the opportunity to use my Japanese in conversations aspects, although I am lucky that I do get to use a lot of it back at the guesthouse when I talk to my friends like Yuta-san, Fumi-san and Yuu-san. 楽しかった! (it's very enjoyable)

One of my classmates, Stanley, was also lucky enough to celebrate his birthday while in Japan. However, we we asked him what he was doing for his birthday, he muttered "oh, well, nothing really." To that, we decided it would be good to take him out for his birthday on Friday night - which turned out to be a lot of fun! We met up and set off for an Izakaya for plenty of food and fun. Afterward, however, came the real treat: kareoke. As we walked along the streets of Shibuya at night, we came across what I can only describe as the most opulent kareoke bar that I've ever seen. Inside, we had a private room for our party, touch screen panels to order food, drinks and other panels to cue up songs. We sang plenty of Japanese songs but didn't pass up the opportunity to belt out American classics from Journey to Michael Jackson. Although not one person could solidly carry a tune, it is that very point that made it so much fun!

On Saturday, our class took a most unusual and highly enjoyable trip to Disneyland. We each had the choice of going to either Disneyland (which is more or less exactly like the one in Anaheim) or to the Japan-exclusive Disney Sea. Having been to Disneyworld many times with my mom and brother, I opted to try the new experience and go to Disney Sea. Although uniquely Disney, it was certainly very Japanese right down to hearing Chip and Dale or Mickey Mouse sing along in the native language. The attractions were larger than life for certain!

My friends and I first set out for the center of the park at the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" ride based on the H.G. Wells novel. It was highly enjoyable and the attention to detail was excellent! Afterward, we set out for Ariel's castle, based on "The Little Mermaid" film. The inside here was like stepping into the movie, full of rides, music and the kind of branded fun that only Disney can deliver. Moving around the park, we stopped into Agrabah from "Aladdin" for some curry and then moved on to the "American Waterfront." Like many Disney things, interpretations of ideas for attractions can be often over the top - such as when we wound our way into a distinctly and highly-stereotypical colonial Cape Cod type town, complete with a (yes, you're reading this right) a Japanese Irish-immigrant style band playing on top of a boat. Actually, they sounded great!

Afterward, the heat was really beating down heavy on everyone and we decided to wait in the 45 minute line for a very enticing water ride. However, after waiting over a half an hour in line, the ride broke down! Our feelings of being slightly heartbroken were quickly remedied, however, when they handed out fastpasses to any ride in the park, allowing the bearer to completely skip the line for any given ride. With such a gift in hand, three of us made a quick dash to the 110-minute lined Tower of Terror. Unlike the Tower of Terror in Disneyworld, which is themed around old Hollywood and The Twilight Zone, the Japanese Tower of Terror's mythology centered around "Harrison Hightower-san," a purveyor of tribal artifacts who stole a cursed figurine. Ridegoers were cast into a detective-like role to try and uncover the mystery of Hightower-san's death and to put the idol to rest. Incidentially, I like the American version a little better.

One of the funnier moments at Disney Sea was the aptly named "Yes Water! More Please." Here, crowds would gather around the lagoon as a boat came around with singing and dancing characters and people. Then, in a flourish of music, they literally unleashed fire hoses to the delight of the crowd as they jumped in time with the music:



Lastly, I was surprised to come across the last major ride in the park: The Indiana Jones and the Kindgom of the Crystal Skull attraction! Although impressive considering the movie is still in theatres here, we just couldn't stand to wait in the 130 minute waiting line. Alas, Dr. Jones, another time.

Finally, after a full day at Disney Sea, we arrived back to Suidobashi in time to make our way to this very famous Sumida-gawa Hanabi 墨田ー側　花火 (Sumida river fireworks festival). The Hanabi takes place in the last Saturday of July and it one of the most famous and most popular events in all of Japan as it is the largest fireworks display of the year in the entire country. The Hanabi lasts from 7:00pm until 8:30pm with an almost continual stream of fireworks. As we disembarked the train at Asakusabashi to get to the Sumida river, the people and vendors that flooded the streets was overwhelming to say the least. We wound our way through the crowd for 45 minutes and found a spot where we could see enough of the fireworks (keep in mind to gain an unobstructed view of the fireworks, it's not uncommon for people to begin setting up their ideal spot five or six hours in advance). Nevertheless, the experience of being among all the people watching the Hanabi was a tremendously rewarding and fun experience as we ran through the streets and enjoyed the festival.

Lastly, I'll leave you with an interesting story: on my way back to Narimasu on the Yurakucho line, I felt my throat start to become a little irritated from all the yelling and exhaustion of the day. Although I wasn't coughing or anything, I could feel that I was quite worn down and needed to sit. After a few stops, I noticed a woman start to reach into her husband's suitcase for something, not realizing that I was occupying the seat right next to him. Although I was tired, I got up and offered her the seat with the limited Japanese that I could speak and understand:

"どぞ、どぞ。 (please do, please do)"
"大丈夫、大丈夫。ありがとう (It's ok, it's ok, thank you anyway)"
"すみ舞えん、著音。大丈夫。(Don't worry, it's ok. Please.)"
"あの、ありがとうございます！(ahh, thank you very much!)"

As I moved to go stand on against on of the rails, she approached me two stops later offering me some type of candy to say thank you. Strangely, it was a cough drop. Although I am sure that I didn't show any signs of needing one, it was oddly enough exactly what I needed. I smiled and thanked her for the gift. I suppose that was I'm really trying to say here is that I find it more than coincidental that, despite a heavy language barrier, that some type of cycle was completed and that, in that moment, I somehow ended up with more than what I started with. Somethings, truly, are universal.

On Wednesday, I depart for Mount Fuji in an attempto to climb to the very top! I will probably not be able to write again until after the trip, so until then I'll take lots of pictures and enjoy it to the fullest.

Ja ne!