Days 13 and 14

Here you go:

Day 12

Today we went cosplay hunting in Harujuku. I was dissapointed during the day, but once it got to evening...OMG THERE THEY ARE!!!!

                                                           AND THE FINALE:

I'll post more about the actual day later on.

Day 11

We went to Shuni's parent's house in Chichibu, a couple hours outside of Tokyo. After a breakfsast of salmon, squid, corchorus, pickles, and rice, Jen and the kids and I headed in search of this river 'close by' the house. After much meandering, we found the spot we were looking for...only to find the previously beach-like river bank to be demolished by a previous flood. It started raining, anyhow, so we stopped at Shunji's company for a little while. After heading back to the house, Shunji's father gave us a lift to a good part of the river where we had fun skipping stones and catching tadpoles. Alas, the river water was too churned up by last night's rain for any swimming.

Video:

day 10

Successful shopping day at my ol' favorite forever 21.

Day 9

I can not believe that my trip is at the halfway point already! Boy, time flies!

Today, I watched the kids in the morning because it was Cole's first day of school (poor thing). After getting some my little pony playing out of my system, I headed out to the Institute for Nature Study. Yay, nice weather :) no 'promise of rain' shall change my plans today. Despite the million mosquito bites I got there, the park was very pleasant. I liked all the different plants and flowers that they have here, and I found it amusing to find a few variations of ones we have back home (tiny hosta, hydrenga with only an outer ring of flowers) I kept hoping to find a japanese rhino beetle, but alas there were none to be seen :( I did find a good number of spiders though. Tomorrow night we're staying over at Shunji's parents house. Should be interesting...

Okay, here's a video of the spiders I saw...

.And here's a spider-free video of my day (for those arachnophobes out there):

Day 8

Today, for some reason, I've found myself to be tired and somewhat apathetic. I don't know why, I just woke up this way. Oh well. Anyways, I've finished my video early today, so now I am oficially caught up with my blogging (lets see how long that'll last :P):

Day 7

Today I went off by myself, like yesterday. In order to contrast the bustling city mall experience of yesterday, today I decided to go to a nearby nature study and enjoy the calm park atmosphere. That is until I saw the forecast- thunderstorms, thunderstorms, thunderstorms with a 60% chance of rain. Through a quick google search, I found an alternative 'calm activity' that was english-friendly as an added bonus: the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno park. I grabbed an umbrella, left my camera (not worth the risk- it was rather gusty out and sprinkling when I left, so the umbrella did nothing), and headed off to a stop almost as far away from Takanawa as the Yamanote line could take me. Unlike my relatively easy experience with the trains yesterday, the stations I used today were rather more difficult. Because of the rain, I used the nearby Shinjuku station and transferred from the subway at Mita station to the adjacent Tamachi station to get on the (good 'ole) yamanote line. This station was yet another one of those separate building for one station type thing... ugh. The station in Ueno was no easier. Confusingly enough, the exit shown on the map that Jen gave me was nonexistant in the actual station. Also, for such a huge station, there was NO MAP IN ENGLISH. None! After heading towards the 'center gate' there finally came a sign for 'park gate.' Since I was headed to none other than Ueno Park, I correctly chose that one to go to. After that, getting inside the park and to the museum was no problem. There were a plethora of maps all nicely drawn out with english (halelujah) descriptions, and several free english pamphlets of the park as well. After quickly locating the Tokyo National Museum, I hovered around the entrance nervously before taking a deep breath and asking them for 'ichi kodomo onegaishimasu' (one child please) In english, she said show the men your passport (because children are free with proof) Luckily, I had looked  up pricing, so I showed the guy my passport and entered the museum grounds. This museum has several different buildings each showing different museums. Unfortunately, two were closed due to earthquake renovations, but this didn't affect my museum viewing- I only went to one of the buildings. The first building in the museum was for Japanese art- just what I came to see. Ditching my umbrellain the convenient (and free) umbrella racks, I waltzed into the museum, ready to experience it fully as I never have been able to before. See, I am one of those people who actually wants to look at and appreciate each piece in the museum, as well as read its description to gain a full understanding of its significance. Unfortunatley, none of the kids in my family have this same sentiment, and I am always either left behind or rushed through exhibit to exhibit feeling wholly unsatisfied. I have to say in this museum I did indeed look at each piece of art (except the calligraphy-the konji didn't do much for english-speaking me), read each description, and noticed many an interesting and acute detail. It was awesome...and time consuming, but still, very refreshing. Halfway through the museum experience, I got lunch at this busy cafe near the entrance of the park. OMG my food was sooo cute! I got two steamed buns- one a pig (that was filled with meat-delicious!), and one a panda (fillded with 'bean jam'- not so delicious). Aww, japanes foods :3. Once I was done with the museum, I was greatly peeved to find out that despite all this promise of rain rain rain, it was SUNNY. How dare this weather! Pffnthm. Never ever trust a weatherman, even (especially?) if they are on the internet.Well, that allowed me to use an easier route home (with more walking, but whatever) So there you have it. That was my day.

Ps. now I've spent a week in japan

Day 6

Alright, today's the day, the day I went on the train to a different place all by myself. And it wasn't even that hard :) Yes, I just walked down to the train station and got on the train, like I'd been shown. The train I'm using is the Yamanote line, which is a JR train (above ground) that goes in a circle around the center of Tokyo. Not only is the line convenient (all the good places to go are around the center of Tokyo) but it is also english-friendly. Inside the train, there is a moving 'map' of which stop we're at and where it is going. If this wasn't enough, it also says it aloud in both english and Japanese  each time the train stops. While the station near Takanawa (the Shinagawa station) is easy enough to navigate, the Shibuya station that I got off at was...not so much. It's separated into multiple floors and buildings that are not all connected (or if they are, I sure couldn't find it). I ended up following some vague signs and walking along the outside of the station in the general direction of where I wanted to go... and poof, there I was. Easy peasy. Today I went to Shibuya in hope to find one particularly famous mall that was recomended to me by this girl I met at the fireworks. It is the 109 building, strategically located right outside the station. After crossing the 'scramble,' a huge crosswalk that has large crowds of people crossing it at a time. The crowds are on account to the fact that all the lights for the cars at the crossing stop at once and that it's surrounded by popular shopping malls/stores/etc. When I got into the 109 building, there were a few things that shocked me. First of all, it is extremely loud in there. From each store's own music being blasted, to sales clerks calling out to potential buyers, to all the people everywhere talking in foregin languages...yeah, it got pretty loud. Also, everthing inside is small and crowded. And, with the exception of a couple scottish girls, there was a surprising lack of english in this popular tourist spot. And everything worth buying was over $40. And last but not least, the sales clerks all. looked. like. manequins!! Seriously, they were all just as tall and thin, and thier hair looked like the wigs they put on the suprisingly realistic manequins(also, they were wearing the same clothes). When the manequin I was standing by in one store started to move, I decided I needed to escape. Like a wimp, I went out to the starbucks (with a great view of the scramble, I might add) and sat out side for a while until I felt like going back in. (alright, you've got to give me some credit. I'm a fifteen year old, from a wee little town by the beach, all alone in a foreign city. I'm allowed to get a little overwhelmed. Once. Many people wouldn't have even gotten on the plane.) Once back inside, I did some browsing, tried on many a pair of shoes that I couldn't bring myself to buy, and made a purchase (it came with two shirts for the price of 'one', it is thus justified.) I even used some japanese phrases from this phrasebook I brought (Can I try this on?, It doesn't fit, and I'll take it) It's exciting to recite some seemingly meaningless syllables and have someone understand them as words! So anyways, all in all it was fun to see the strange clothes people sold (and wore), exciting to be on my own in the city, and interesting to learn the different ways to behave in a shopping mall (take off your shoes in the dressing room, sales clerks take your clothes to try on and direct you to the changing rooms -even though you only have one thing, and also, you get new clothes after purchasing instead of the old 'try-on' clothes) Today was different than any day I've ever experienced. And I like that.

BTW, today marks one week away from home.

Day 5

Lazy lazy lazy, I am soo lazy.

Day 4

I am too lazy to write anything at the moment.

Pictures:

Independence and Odaiba

On Friday, I went for a walk in the neighborhood all by myself. I walked to a large train station nearby, Shinagawa station, and went inside a little mall-like-thing next to it (just as a side note: you know how king sized hersheys bars used to be? Thicker and longer instead of wider? Well, that's the way they are here.). On the way back, I decided to go to Happo-en park to eat lunch (some tempura from the grocery store). Unfortunately, once I got there, there was a sign inside saying 'please refrain from eating or drinking.' Fortunately, that sign was in english- don't want to be yelled at in japanese :|! So anyways, I was all proud about finding my way to the station, park, and back again without getting lost :)  I am soo ready for going around on my own now, right  ;D  After getting back, we went to Odaiba, which is famous for its weird architecture, joypolis (a virtual reality theme park), and this huge ferris wheel that they have. I got my first japanese ramen at a restaurant with a great view of the bay (that I got to see change from sunset to night with all the lights). Alright, here are the photos I took:

Harujuku and Getting Around

Today really felt like I was in a different country. In the morning, Jen took me to see some of the neighborhood, pointing out important train stations and showing me a couple shrines. Then, we took the train to Harujuku, where I got to go shopping and see some strange Japanese fashion. Afterwards we went to a large famous shrine. Enough talk, here's my pictures for the day:

Day One

Yesterday,  I had my first taste of japanese food -- in Japan! :) So, we got out around noon and walked around the neighborhood and went to a couple parks. At the exit (or enterance, depending on which way you are going) to one of the parks was this little shinto temple with statues of foxes inside of it. You could give them money or food as an offering, I'm guessing for good luck? Okay, so for food I had salmon onigiri (the triangle) and then the five vegetable and chicken rice ball (the circle) For the onigiri, the seaweed was wrapped with wax paper between it and the rice. When you open the package, you slide the paper out and it stays wrapped in that triangle shape. This way, the seaweed is crispy, unlike the other food where the seaweed 'was one with the rice.' Later on that day, I walked around this little shopping area on my own and went into a flower shop, some trinket shops, and a large stationary store (Anna would have loved it :P) We ended the day with the movie 'My Neighbor Totoro,' a Hayao Miyazaki film. I was first introduced to his work with the move Howl's Moving Castle (the movie that caused Anna to gain her eyebrow scar) Last year, though, I rediscovered him during digital animation class. For our final project we had to research a famous animator and do a project on them. Me being the only freshman in the class got stuck with Miyazaki, a name I neither knew nor knew how to pronounce. I have since watched 5 of his films and I have to say they are great! He puts so much detail into everything and has all the scenes hand drawn. It's really incredible. So, yeah, I finally watched the most well-known of his films. It was pretty good. So, the end :) (I've never been good at conclusions)
~sayonara, Cecilia

Flight #2 (go to the comments for the rest of the post)

Yay! I got it! Alright. So, I get on the plane and walk to the back, looking as the numbers go down from 1 to 67. And then the nubers stopped. And my seat number was 75. Um...flightattendanthelpmemyseatismissing!!! Well guess what??? I was on- wait for it- the SECOND FLOOR!!! Woah, right! There was a little confusion in the beginning because apparently my ticket didn't say I was unaccompanied *ahem daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd...* but its okay. The flight attendants were nice and didn't kick me off. Okay, so about the flight.... COMPLETE LUXURY! I'm sure I will never experience such luxury on a plane again, so I shall document it nicely: First of all, you get your own pod sectioned off seat. This seat is large and has many adjustments (as you can see in the picture above) The top can tilt back or forwards, the seat can move forward or back, down, up, and there are leg rests that you can adjust too. The tv screen is large and a touch screen (!) with movies, tv shows, games, a virtual moving map, and more! Oh, and the food, the FOOD... I dont think I've ever had good tasting airplane food but this was great! For dinner there were three courses: first was tomato basil soup with raw salmon with this cole slaw like stuff, next was a salad, then the main course of tender juicy beef, spiced carrots, and parsnip pastey stuff (<- surprisingly not bad). Then dessert you could choose from a cheese platter, chocolate covered cream puffs, or sundaes (my choice) with different sauces and nuts and whipped cream for toppings. Thanks to the chair (and the squishy pillows and the quilted blanket --oh such luxury), which could lie down flat making a bed, I got three 1/2 hours of sleep. Doesnt sound like much, but its more than I ever get on trips. Before sleeping, I watched a movie and some tv. After awakening the first time, I took a walk downstairs (through all the non-luxury people :P) and read some of my

Flight #1

Hi everybody! This is Cecilia reporting from Atlanta international airport. Two hours of plane ride down, 14 left to go! Wooh....not. Oh well, at least I like planes. So, this first ride was pretty easy, only two hours long, minimal turbulence, and interesting clouds. Actually, it was pretty cool because for a long time, there was a circle rainbow on the clouds if I looked at them from the right angle and in the middle was a shadow of our plane! Super cool, but I didn't think it would come out right on camera. My seatmate was nice (he let me put my extra purse on top of his bags..yes, there's a reason you only have ONE purse..., and let me go in front of him to exit the plane), I got the window seat, the flight was pretty good by my standards (which will certainly be raised after flying BUSINESS ELITE OH YEAH WOOH!!!). My only complaint was that there was this guy behind me who kept making these snorting noises that released a puff of bad breath every half minute. I don't know if it was snoring, yawning, or what...and I don't want to. Extra plus of **business elite**(<- the * means the word should be sparkling in your mind. Your mind should also sing the word in a revered manner)is no stinky breathed people near me, because i get my own 'walled in' pod! There will be pictures later, I promise. Gotta love cancelled flights! So, just sitting here at gate F04, waiting for the flight at 1:40. My mood is fluctuating from elatedexcited to nervoustired, but overall I'm pretty happy. Blog you next from japan! ~sayonara, Cecilia