The rest of our week with my parents!

Well, we ended our week with my parents with a TON of excitement.  Mike took Thursday off, and we headed to the financial district.  We looked at the currency museum, which was actually more interesting than it sounds.  Then we headed to the Bank of Japan, but found out that you had to have a reservation to tour it, and the tours weren't in English...so we just looked around the outside of the building (it was designed by the same guy who designed Tokyo Station).  Then we stopped at an Indian restaurant and had lunch, and followed that up with a trip to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.  Their website and BOTH of my books said that they had free English tours at 1:30, so we got there at 1.  We found out that the tour was not in English, and that it was completely full.  Bummer, but we walked around anyways.  It was so quiet it was funny.  Everything is done via computers, so theres no need for the shouting and crazy hand signals that come with the NYSE.

 Then we headed to Tokyo Dome City, where we had tickets for a Tokyo Giants game.  We heard that the dome was modeled after the metrodome, which is kind of funny for you Twins fans, right?  It ended up being smaller, but still pretty similar in design.  That was the only similarity though, everything else about Japanese baseball is different!

 For starters, you can bring in your own food and beer!

This made Mike really happy!

 Then, the game started, and so did the cheering! There were bands (like pep bands) for each side, and every time their team was up to plate, the corresponding band (and fans) would cheer and sing the ENTIRE inning.  It was crazy! They seriously never stopped singing!

 Then, there were girls with kegs strapped to their backs running up and down the stands, selling beer.  Can you believe that?? I have never seen anything like it! We must have had 15 girls assigned to our section alone, so they were everywhere! Mike thought this was a better idea than a sweaty fat guy yelling at you...what do you think?

Dad was trying to photobomb my pictures:

This girl was my favorite, she was just so cheery!!

Then me and mom got some dome-shaped ice cream sandwiches...you know what they say, "when in Dome"...

 We left during the 7th inning to beat the crowds, and were rewarded with these parting shots of the dome:

Plus the entire amusement park that surrounds it (complete with a theater, mall, bowling alley, rollerskating rink, spa, and restaurants):

The next day, Mike headed to work and I took my parents to the Imperial Palace.  It was the hottest it has ever been, and the air was SO THICK it was unbelievable!!! But, we are tough, and we made it through! The lotus moat was filled with beautiful lotus flowers and lily pads:




Then we headed towards Ikebukuro to check out the Toyota Showroom and Tokyu Hands. We all bought some souvenirs, and then we headed home early to spend some quality time in the air conditioning with some beer.  It was delightful.  Then, Mike got home, and mentioned that there was some kind of street fair happening on our street.  We checked it out, and found that all of the restaurants  on our street had set up stands with food and drink specials...it was fantastic!
After sampling everything, we walked down the street and eventually stumbled across the reason for the festival, which was WWE style wresting, right there in a parking lot!!! It was crazy, and so fake, it was hilarious!


We watched the match until it was over, and then kept walking towards the end of the festival, where we came across all of these cute little kids in their yukata (summer kimonos).  They were so precious, and in this picture, they were using nets to scoop up goldfish to take home:

Then, on the way back home, we walked past a group of teenagers in their Yukatas (they seemed to still be at the age where they were nice to other people, and not angsty...yet), so I asked them if they would take a picture with me.  After I told them how pretty they were, they finally agreed! Woo hoo!  Here's me and my new friends:


After all was said and done, we headed to bed, and woke up the next morning to have breakfast with mom and dad before they had to get on the train for the airport.  Saying goodbye wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, because two days ago, we found out that we are coming home NEXT WEEK!!! That's right, America, get ready! We leave here on Monday, August 6th.  Woo hoo! I'm so excited to head home and work on planning the wedding!
Many people were worried about me after my previous post about being homesick, but let me just clarify that I think I have a love/hate relationship with Japan.  Sometimes, I do want to run away screaming. Other times, however, I'm completely amazed at how beautiful the scenery is, how polite the people are, and how well thought out some of their customs are.  So it's a mixed bag for me I suppose!
Having my parents here was one of my favorite weeks in Japan.  I loved being able to share the highlights of Japan with them, and, as they repeatedly said, they loved having a knowledgable tour guide to show them around...so it was a win-win situation!  Also, we got an e-mail from them saying that they made it home safely, so all is well.
Well, now we're just watching the Olympics and planning out the rest of our week in Japan.  Mike has tomorrow off.  We were going to go to DisneyLand originally, but when Mike found out that it was all rides (which he hates), we decided against it.  I'm not sure what he thought it was...but I'm fine with not going.  We might finally head to an onsen (public bath) tomorrow, so I'll of course keep you posted!
Have a great rest of your weekend!

Yes, I'm still Here!

First off, a huge "THANK YOU!" to everyone who posted a comment, e-mailed me, facebook messaged me, or called me to get me through my bout of homesickness.  It really meant a lot to me!
Some more great news: my parents have arrived in Japan! So far, we have been having an amazing time with them. I picked them up at the train station in Shinjuku and then got them checked into the same apartments that we are staying in. Then we went to dinner at new favorite restaurant of ours which is a French-Japanese restaurant near our building.  They were really tired, so we let them head to sleep after we kept them up until 9.  It only seemed fair!
The next day, Mike headed to work and I took my parents towards Shinjuku to see the sights.  We walked 20 minutes to Shinjuku, then took a trip to the observatory at the top of the Metropolitan building.  After a walk through Shinjuku Central Park and the main shrine in the park, spirits were high. At this point it was only 10 in the morning, so I took them through the department stores in Shinjuku and eventually to a tempura restaurant that I liked.  Finally we took a train to Tokyo and we walked around the Imperial Palace gardens.  We tried to go to the National Crafts Museum, but it was closed...kind of a bummer and a waste of a walk there! We eventually made it to the Hama Rikyu Gardens, which is the same tidal garden that I went to on my birthday for you avid readers out thereQ  At the end of our long day, we went to the Hawaiian burger joint I have been telling you so much about, and met Mike!  We had a fun day, and I was so happy that my parents made it through, jet lag and all!
On Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Kyoto for the weekend. Let me just say that it was awesome, and I am so glad that we went! We took a bullet train, or Shinkansen, which was really cool and travels 300 kilometers per hour...so I think something like 200 mph?  Kyoto is completely different from Tokyo, and it was nice to get out of the big capital city.  One reason it looks so different is that it was not bombed beyond recognition during WWII, so I would count that as a plus.  There are over 1,000 shrines and temples there, so we did our best to get a good mix of shrines and temples in, while also experiencing everything else Kyoto had to offer.
After checking into our hotel, which was centrally located and right next to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto (thank you, Lonely Planet!), we headed towards downtown Kyoto to check out some markets.  We went through one market that had every kind of food you've never seen before.  The market had everything from squid to pickled something-or-others, to crazy spices, to wooden sandals.  An extra bonus? There were lots of free samples.  We tasted our way through the market, stopped for an obligatory beer and sweet potato fries (by the way, have I mentioned that I love sweet potatoes?), and then we wandered through another shopping mall.  Finally we wandered towards downtown.
Here's a view of the main river running through town:

 Mike... Isn't he so cute? :-)

 STARBUCKS!  Yes, I got Lindsey a mug!

 Papa bear striking a pose on the bridge....he's so Vogue:

  We discovered that most of the places we wanted to go for dinner didn't open until later, so we headed back to the hotel, and then decided to go to an Indian restaurant near the hotel.  The food was fantastic, and the restaurant was filled with fish tanks.  There were three piranhas next to my head, which made for an interesting experience.

The next morning we headed out to our first shrine, which was south of town and is known for having hundreds of Tori's (shrine gates) lined up one after another:

 It went on forever! It was really cool:

 Then we got to our next shrine, which had the third biggest bridge in Japan.  It had some great views of the city:

 The fam:

 Then we got to see the head priest's residence, and Mike loved this room.  You can't quite see it, but in the background there's a really peaceful waterfall and garden:

 Then, after a stop at a udon noodle place where we took our shoes off and sat on the floor, we hailed a cab (a smart move since it was really hot) and headed to our next shrine.  This one was built into the side of a mountain, and had this perfectly raked sand cone....crazy, right????  It's like the ultimate sand castle.  It's supposed to represent a mountain with peaceful waters next to it:

The main building, with a rooster weather vein on top:

 Perfectly raked sand:

 Gorgeous views:

The main temple building:

 Mike, rocking his transition lenses and imitating the Japanese girls who were making peace signs in all of their pictures:

 Another view of the sand garden:

Some more views of the mountain gardens:

 Mike using his umbrella for shade:

 A wishing pond:

 You can see how hazy the air was the farther you got up the mountain!:

After a long and sweaty journey through the shrines and temples, we got back to downtown Kyoto and headed to an Irish pub that was owned by a Canadian guy.  It was really fun! They were having "yukata night", and a yukata is a traditional japanese kimono that's made out of cotton for the summer.  It was so fun to see everyone dressed in their traditional Japanese clothes!  

Then we headed to a restaurant that was recommended to us by our book, called the "Merry Island Cafe".  The food was fantastic, but while we were waiting for our dessert, the power went out.  Everyone else on the street had power, and dad kept asking if they paid their electric bill...so funny, right?  After about 20 minutes of sitting in the dark (kind of cool for the first 5 minutes...pretty lame after that), we got up to leave.  It all worked out in the end, but no dessert for us!  We headed back to the hotel and worked on our plans for our final day in Kyoto, which was the next day, Monday.  We decided to go to the Bamboo grove in Arushiyama, and we were NOT disappointed  I tried to get some pictures, but it was so humid and hazy that some are a little blurry...but it just adds to the ambience, right?

 Dad took a lot of self portraits:

 A mushroom!

 At the top of the bamboo forest, we got to a huge estate that was built by a famous silent film samurai actor.  For a fee, you can roam around and have tea and a cake at the end.  It was amazing.  The gardens and tea were spectacular, but the views were the best yet:

Then we headed back to Tokyo on the bullet train, and got back in time to get gussied up and head to Shibuya for dinner and a drink.  We had an amazing meal at a Shabu-Shabu restaurant, which is where you get a pot of hot broth in the middle of the table and you dip raw meat and vegetables into it...it was DELICIOUS.  Sort of like a fondue place...but healthier.  I would say it was definitely one of the best meals I have had in Japan so far.  Also beers were 250 yen because it was a Monday night, so we were in a sort of paradise for weary travelers such as ourselves :-).  After we were completely stuffed, we headed into Shibuya and ended up at the top of the Cerulean Tower (where Mike took me on my birthday), for some expensive drinks but a fantastic view, complete with a piano player.  We finished up by strolling through Shibuya crossing, which is the busiest intersection in the world (and apparently featured on the pilot episode of "Touch", the new Kiefer Sutherland series, according to my mom).  Then we headed back home on an absolutely packed train...at 10:30 at night!! All in all, it was a fantastic day.  You can't beat a morning in a bamboo grove in Kyoto, a bullet train past mount Fuji and the ocean, and dinner and drinks in Shibuya.

  The next day we decided to get a late start and headed to Yokohama around lunch time.  After an udon soup lunch, a stop at the Nissan Gallery, and a walk around queens square, we headed to the Oshambashi Passenger Terminal (I didn't take pictures because I've already been here...but you dedicated readers know that already, right??).  Here we found a giant cruise ship that was boarding for departure.  We sat on the benches on the terminal to watch the boat take off, and it was amazing! As they were taking off, a band started playing, and a ton of people showed up to wave off their family members and friends.  

 The crew handed out rolled-up paper streamers, that the passengers then threw onto shore. 

It was totally beautiful, and every time a streamer landed on the dock, the whole crowd cheered.  We were able to catch one, and the person that threw it from the boat was super happy.  We stood there for about 20 minutes, waving the streamers and waving at the people leaving.  It was really fun, and we didn't even know anyone on the boat!

 After seeing the cruise ship off, we headed towards the Red Brick Warehouses, where there are some cool shops, but we were distracted by the sound of music (minus Julie Andrews)...turns out there was a huge ballroom dancing competition happening!

 It was so much fun to watch them all twirl around the outdoors dance floor! Every 90 seconds or so, the music would change and the dancers would have to change to a different dance.

After the dancing bonanza, we headed to Chinatown, where we met Mike (!) and had dinner.  After a long day of walking around in the heat and humidity we were all crabby (ok, by "we", I mean me, but I feel better if I make it sound like we all were).  So we (see previous note) headed home and went straight to bed.

The next day, Wednesday (TODAY!), we called my little brother, affectionally called "Onsty Bear", because it was his birthday back home! After we all talked to him (besides Mike, since he was already at work), we headed to Tokyo Opera City and waited in line for the free concert.  Remember when I went there last month? Anyways, we scored awesome seats in the second row, middle, and there was a male opera singer accompanied by a female piano player.  Both were phenomenal, and we didn't even understand what they were saying or singing!  We had a Doutor lunch followed by an obligatory sweet potato, and then headed into the NTT Intercommunication Center, which is a sort of technology art museum.  After that, we headed to Ginza and walked through the Sony building, where dad fell in love with a pair of noise-canceling headphones, and ended up purchasing them at the duty-free store.  Then we headed to UNI QLO and bought some clothes, and then stopped for a beer at the Lion Beer Hall before heading home to meet Mike for dinner.  I've already blogged about all of the places aforementioned, so hopefully you aren't feeling like I'm skipping over lots of fascinating details. We had an awesome day, and I (along with everyone else, I'm sure) am happy to report that my end-of-the-day crabbiness that had been experienced the day before was non-existant today.  The secret to my success seemed to be staying in air conditioning as much as possible.  Imagine that, right??
Well, we have a fun day planned tomorrow...so fun that Mike took the day off! I promise to blog about it...we're going to the currency museum, Bank of Japan, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.  Can you tell who planned our day???
We're wrapping up our whirlwind day of finance with a Tokyo Giants baseball game at Tokyo Dome City...which was modeled after the Metrodome! Ha!
Thanks for sticking with me through this LONG blog and even longer hiatus.  Turns out all I need to chase away the homesick blues is a little dose of home courtesy of my parents, and some awesome messages of encouragement from friends and family. Who knew?
:-)