Dynamic Tokyo Bus Tour

If you're ever in Tokyo with a free day, I highly recommend the "Dynamic Tokyo" Bus Tour in English.  This was such an awesome tour, and Jess & I learned so much cool stuff about Japan and its capital city! 

First, we started off at the Tokyo Tower.  You can see our yellow bus and many of the 333 koi carp banners in celebration of Boy's Day.

Here is our helpful tour guide, Mina, and her assistant on the end of the stick, Picichu (from Pokemon).

Kerri inside Tokyo Tower.

Here is Roppongi Hills shopping on the right and condominiums on the left.  Thank goodness the weather is much clearer today!!

View of the city

View from the bottom of the tower.  Total height is 333 meters.  We did not go all of the way up.  We went to the observatory in the middle of the tower.  It is the large square deck protruding from the tower.

Just another reason why Tokyo Tower is so cool... they were playing non-stop Michael Jackson inside and out.  It is a special MJ Lifetime Collection radio station!!

I learned what the Japanese flag means!  The red circle represents the "Land of the Rising Sun".  Japan got its nickname because it is the eastern most Asian country, so everyone else says the sun rises from Japan!!

Second, we went to Happo-en Garden and participated in a tea ceremony.  Here is our kimono-clad tea master serving sugar treats.  We should eat the sugar treat first in order to get your mouth prepared for the bitter taste of the green powder tea.

Our tea master is preparing one cup of tea.  Each step is very precise, and it takes decades of training to become a tea master.  Generally no photos are permitted at tea ceremonies, but it was allowed this time since we were special guests.

The freshly made cup of tea went to one special guest which turned out to be... Jess!  She was sitting in the guest of honor spot!! 

Then our tea master brought out additional cups of tea from the back, so we could all enjoy a cup.

Kerri shows off a miniature bonsai tree.  The sign says this tiny tree is over 500 years old!

As we walked around the Happo-en Garden, we looked for the five elements that are present in every Japanese Garden:

1. Pond

2. Bridge

3. Stone Lantern

4. Stones

5. Waterfall

This awesome structure is a Christian cathedral (I would have never guessed that!) and from the aerial view it is the shape of a cross!

We passed through another garden (Chisanzo) on the way to lunch, and this one had all 5 required features of a Japanese garden and a beautiful pagoda. 

Kerri and Jess enjoy their ishi-yaki lunch.  Ishi-yaki literally means "lava stone".  Our lunch was cooked on the lava stone in front of us, and the lava came from Mt. Fuji!

Fourth stop on the tour was the Imperial Palace, and I learned that the streets of Tokyo were all designed in a spiderweb pattern toward the palace in order to confuse any attackers and slow down enemies coming in to ambush.  That makes complete sense now!  And it's a totally effective technique!  I get turned around, lost, and confused all of the time in Tokyo, and at least I know I'm not a moron.  It's supposed to do that!  Now I really appreciate NYC, with its numbered blocks and straight streets!!

The fifth item on the bus tour was the Sumida River Boat Cruise. 

Here is a picture of the man-made entertainment island, Odaiba.

Rainbow Bridge which connects Odaiba to Tokyo mainland.

One of many cool bridges we went under on the way to Asakusa.

Jess enjoys her "Ice Cream Burger" while shopping on Nakamise Street. 

I knew it was a totally safe snack... it's ice cream smashed between 2 thin rice cakes... yummy!  I even got sakura (cherry blossom) flavored ice cream!

Also on Nakamise Street, people were picking out their new pets: goldfish or mini turtles.

Many types of masks and paper lanterns for sale.

Kerri demonstrates how to easily use an Asian toilet! 

After the bus tour we had a cool time at the IceBar Tokyo... details to come tomorrow :)

Day in Tokyo with Jess

Jess and I started our Tokyo adventure out at the shopping mecca of Roppongi Hills. 

Here is the "Top Hat Building"

Sure Roppongi Hills is a tall building, but this was a hazy, rainy day!

A pretty cool spider sculpture called "Maman".

The Roppongi Garden is beautiful even in the rain.

The view from the top of Mori Tower was completely blocked from the fog, rain, and haze!!  Such a bummer...

You can barely make out the massive Roppongi Hills condominiums. 

So we moved on the Mori Art Museum instead, where the weather didn't matter!

Here's a cool exhibit of delicate, intricate trees made totally out of fast food and/or retail shopping bags!

It's supposed to remind us that bags really do come from trees.

This looks like a pretty cool skateboard ramp :)

The Toy Story room at the Tokyo Disney Store.

Jess says this is a Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga billboard, but I was clueless...

A funny little store in Shibuya: Condomania, with a motto of "Give Safe Sex A Chance".

Shibuya Crossing in the rain... all of the umbrellas are kind of cool!

The busiest crosswalk in the world!

View from our hotel room.  I did a good job finding this awesome hotel on the web, but finding the entrance in person was another story...  Always tricky since the streets don't have names and hotels don't have addresses...

And my quote of the day: 

You can't say Shibuya without the "Boo Ya"!

View in the morning... Tokyo likes to sleep in!

Thank goodness it's a sunny day.  We are ready for our bus tour of the city!

Check out this neat double-decker train!  I have no idea where it takes you from Tokyo, but I certainly want to go for a ride!

Jess is a true Japanese in this pic.  She's riding the shinkansen (bullet train) and eating a mochi treat (pressed rice with a surprise inside--hopefully not the dreadful red bean paste!)

Video of Shibuya Crossing

To view a quick video of Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersection in the world, you must go directly to my blog.

My apologies because it wasn't so busy that day since it was kind of rainy and still early evening, but you get the idea!

Around Nagoya with Jess

My old roommate from college, Jessica, visited Japan this week, and I took some vacation time to show her around.  Between my vacation and the Golden Week holidays, I have 9 glorious days off of work!!

We started our sightseeing at Nagoya Castle, which is beautiful even without the cherry blossoms in bloom.

Close up of the "golden dolphins" on the roof of the castle and are symbols of Nagoya. 

We learned that the way the rocks are formed at the based are designed to withstand earthquakes.  The small gaps in between the foundation will shift and move during an earthquake, but they are flexible and will not crumble like a normal brick wall.

Jess and Kerri in the garden on the castle grounds.

We also made a stop at the zoo, and I was surprised to see that Nagoya's flamingos are more orangish than pink.  Apparently flamingos coloring is related to what they eat, so I truly wonder what the heck the Nagoya zookeepers are feeding them?!

We saw another cute koala taking a snooze and relaxing in a tree.

Here's my favorite animal of the day: the Somali Wild Ass!!  I love his name, and he's quite rare.  He is an ancestor of the African donkey found in a remote area between Somalia and Kenya, and there are fewer than 2,000 of these guys left!  They are sure to be extinct soon...

A view of Nagoya TV tower and Oasis 21 at night.

(I'm thinking my next job may be postcard photographer.)

Kerri and Jess enjoy Central Park.

Kerri and Jess show off their rock-hopping skills!

I think I've gotten Jess addicted to the "peace sign", too! 

Here she is with her apron (bib) on and ready to eat her tantan-men (spicy ramen). 

She actually asked "Do I have to wear this?" regarding the apron, and then promptly dripped her spicy ramen soup all down the front of her... Yes, sometimes Kerri does know best!

KG sports her apron and shows off her chopstick skills once again!! 

This food is one of my favorites, and I will surely miss it when I move back to the States.

We also went on an English speaking tour of a Toyota manufacturing plant in Toyota City.  As it turns out, many of the other tour participants prefered to stand next to me and hear my extra commentary regarding Toyota and TPS.  I give the full-fledged version based on my work experience, not just the rosy basic facts provided by Toyota HR personnel.

Jessica's favorite activity (similar to Mom and Dad's) turned out to be people watching!!  She loved the crazy outfits they wore, was fascinated by the silly things they did, and was truly astounded by the sheer number of people every where.  (It takes way more than a week to get used to the total lack of personal space, but now I think nothing of sitting at the same lunch table as a stranger, being smashed into a train car, or being bumped regularly on the street.)

Stay tuned for our trip to Tokyo...

Japan's Golden Week

I'm starting the month of May off in style... with a big holiday! 

Japan is currently celebrating "Golden Week", which is the longest time off for most businesses outside of Year End festivities.  They don't celebrate one thing in particular, but rather it's a bunch of rather random holidays in rapid succession. 

April 29 ~ Showa Day

In honor of the former Emperor's Birthday.  Showa reigned as emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989.   

This is a day to reflect on his 63 years of tumultuous reign.

May 3 ~ Constitution Day

The current Japanese constitution was implemented in 1947, so this day is to reflect on democracy and government.

May 4 ~ Greenery Day

A relatively new holiday to the line-up.  It was formerly celebrated on April 29 in order to recognize nature and to honor the love that Emperor Showa had for plants.  In 2007, April 29 was renamed Showa Day, and this holiday was moved to May 4. 

(Some Japanese critics say it was moved just to extend the Golden Week holiday!  Whatever the reason, I'm not going to complain!)

May 5 ~ Children's Day

This is also refered to as "Double Fifth" in other Asian countries because it is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month.  It began in 1948 with the name of Boy's Day but has been modified to include both genders.  (You may recall that Girl's Day "Hina Matsuri" is celebrated on Double Third, the third day of the third month.) 

The purpose is to celebrate the happiness of children and the express gratitude to mothers. 

I've been seeing these beautiful fish windsocks all over Japan this month and just found out they are related to former Boy's Day.  The koi carp banners symbolize strength and courage for boys.  Chinese legend says that carp which were strong enough to swim upstream and to a waterfall would turn into a dragon.  The banners blowing in the wind look like swimming carp.

Families generally fly a koi carp banner at their homes for each of their sons.  At the Tokyo Tower last week, they had 333 carp banners flying since the tower is 333 meters tall. 

Since families often do something special for their children on this day, I hear that Tokyo DisneyLand will be a crazy mob scene. Somehow that's hard for me to imagine because Tokyo always appears to be a crazy mob scene for me regardless of the day!!

One last factoid:  The name "Golden Week" actually came from the film industry since they saw an uptick in sales during this holiday period.  Back in the 1950's they started calling it the "golden time" for movies to be released, and the name eventually stuck.

Pictures of a public bath

I realize it might be a bit tough for people to get a visual of the onsen I went to this weekend in Gero.  Since taking pictures in public baths with naked people roaming around is kind of discouraged, I found some similar photos on the internet instead.

Here is an onsen similar to the one we went to.  It's bascially like a giant infinity tub.  There is hot springs water flowing constantly and it's totally okay if water splashes over the edge.  If they are indoors (which ours was), they are always right next to a giant window with a view of a garden.  See the tiny stool in front of the tub?  That's where you sit and give yourself a good scrub down before entering the soak tub. 

This picture has better lighting.  The tubs are generally just deep enough to sit on the floor and have the water come to your neck.  They are not so wide that you feel like you could take a swim!!

Finally, a nice visual of some ladies enjoying the onsen.  As you can see, the water is clear and there are no bubbles.  It doesn't matter if you are fully submerged or half out of the water, there isn't a lot of room for modesty!