Tokyo: temples and towers

After what felt like a million days of scorching heat where the little weather eyes app said it felt like 46 degrees, a trip to Tokyo for a cool weekend was amazing! But first, on Friday night I had my first outing with my teachers. The ladies that teach the youngest grades at one of my favourite schools invited me to dinner at this adorable Italian restaurant where we had course after course of varying dishes (pizza, salad, pasta, more pizza, more pasta and dessert!) and cocktails! It was lovely! And we managed to break the language barrier down enough that conversation was pleasant and free flowing. I had such a nice time!

Then the next morning it was off to Tokyo under an initially blue sky, but it got clouded and thankfully cooler. It turns out that Otsuki is the hottest city in the prefecture, so it was really nice not to just sweat from thinking too hard. But anyways it was off to Tokyo by train for the weekend.

First up was the Imperial Palace where the emperor resides. You can't go in the grounds but there are a couple views from beyond the moat that are quite nice (although admittedly would have been prettier with a blue sky and not a white sky) and then we walked around the garden a bit an had ice cream!

Next we went to Akihabara, the electronics district and shopped around for some modern Japanese stuff and saw things like little portable fans that light up and say 'I love you' somehow where the blades were spinning. And then we went to Tokyo tower. For all the times I've been to Tokyo I have seen the tower very few times and never once made it there until Saturday! I'm so glad I did. There was a temple right at the base that we explored first. It was really cool to have the landmark towering over a peaceful Buddhist temple in the way that everything is in Japan: the modern living side by side with the traditional culture that is everywhere. Tokyo may be considered a concrete jungle but little patches of greenery and shrines manage to climb through the cracks and are just as prevalent  as high fashion and technology! The temple was really nice and in preparation for the Star festival on July 7th (where the Japanese believe that if it's a clear night two star crossed lovers in the sky will be reunited but if it's cloudy they must wait another year) visitors could write their wishes on a slip of paper and hang them from the trees which we of course did!

After we went to the tower and rode the coolest elevator to the top! It lit up and made futuristic noises like we were ascending into space! It was a cloudy day so there wasn't a whole lot to see but it was enjoyable none-the-less and then we had a brilliant idea! With no more plans for the day, we decided to have a coffee and talk and wait for the sun to go down so we could see Tokyo from the sky at night! It was really worth it and there are way worse places to sit and have coffee! It was also cool to see all the places I've been too from a bird's eye view and put the city into perspective.

After a lovely evening at Tokyo tower we went for Coco Curry for dinner and then looked for our hostel which turned out to be really dodgy and ridiculous. Because apparently the website undercharged me he decided to make me pay more but he gave us our own 'private room,' which I thought I'd booked in the first place, but anyways... so the private room was the size of a single bed but it had bunk beds making the actual sleeping mattress only about three feet wide. I was terrified of falling off in the middle of the night but I ended up sleeping really well but we got up and left as soon as we awoke!

Then it was to Shibuya and Harajuku for some awesome shopping and the Meiji shrine. Had a totally awesome time and got to see a traditional Japanese wedding at the shrine!

And then back home. It was a nice trip to the city but I love my little town. So happy with where I live. Where to next? Ja ne!

Against the rain

This weekend we decided to persist against rainy season and go hiking rain or shine! Saturday was fairly uneventful. Tommy san invited us to a meeting he hosts for some of the local women. It's an International club and the members speak quite good English so the three of us (Kevin, Tony and me) gave presentations about our countries and then we learned some Chinese and then had tea! It was a lovely afternoon and later Tommy san took us out for dinner to this really nice restaurant that has almost every Japanese food! I had tempura and this really awesome meat dish that came with it's own burner so you have to cook it yourself! It had beef (mmm red meat!) potatoes, delicious onions, leeks and butter all fried up it was so good! And then a chocolate parfait for dessert! (I can give up losing weight now XD)

So the plan was to hit up the Nishizawa ravine in the Chichibu-Tama National Park in northern Yamanashi. Just when I thought we couldn't outdo our last hike this one took my breath away. The ravine is famous for its five tiered water fall where the emerald-blue waters fall into gorgeous pools. It's about a three hour hike along a ten kilometer trail. The trail itself was just as enjoyable as the destination. It followed right along the river and several other beautiful pools. The river was more of a continuous waterfall dropping down the green junglesque hills. The trail was a bit hard going as it literally followed the path of the river so if there was a drop in the river we had to climb up slippery rocks to continue on. It was amazing though! It was such a vibrant green, it felt like we were explorers in the rain forest. And it only drizzled. Really the cloud cover made the hike even more magical. We were in this little pocket of forest untouchable by traffic and civilization under a blanket of temperamental clouds and the sound of water and chiming birds. It was magnificent! But enough of colourful language.

After an awesome hike we went back to the Erinji temple one of the most important temples for Lord Shingen Takeda, the feudal lord that once ruled the area I live in! The garden was beautiful and I found a little akita dog to play with. He was really friendly. They are so cute and look like foxes! I really want one! And I saw a really cool inari (fox deity) shrine. Good day!

 
Next weekend, back to Tokyo for some sightseeing! Ja ne!

In search of fireflies

So I definitely had the most amazing weekend! I got invited to an event on Saturday with one of my favourite schools to spend time with my sixth years and experience (1336-1573) Muromachi era culture. I was so lucky. I had the most wonderful time and could hardly express my gratitude with my limited vocabulary. We began the morning with flower arranging. I almost a pro! It`s going to be my back up career! And then went into a tatami room to learn how to play the Koto. The koto is Japan`s national instument and is sort of like a harp but it rests on the grround and makes the most beautiful noise. I even learned how to play a song thanks to my adorable teacher who practices the koto every week. It was so cool! Afterwards, we had a tea ceremony with these beautiful sweet candies. They tasted like powdered maple syrup! And the real matcha tea was delicious! The tea lady would twist the bowel and then place it before us and then we were expected to pick it up and twist it to show appreciation. Drink it all and then repeat that process backwards. It was very cool although we had to sit seiza (on our knees) the whole time and my knees went pretty numb. We finished the time with a lunch that all the mother`s had prepared of nigiri (rice balls), iced green tea, dango (rice dumplings), houtou noddles (delicious noodles in a thick squash broth) and these tiny little whole fish with eyeballs (which I did NOT eat...) It was such a wonderful time! Tanoshikatta desu!

So apparently I didn't think the day was awesome enough so I met up with Rhee in Yamanashi city and we went to a firefly festival. The clouds cleared and we actually had some blue sky! While we waited for night to fall we wandered about the festival and listened to music and ate melon waffles and yakitori (chicken on a stick) and went and saw this little zoo and walked along the river and found a little shrine up on a hill and when we night still hadn't fallen we flaked out in the grass and looked for four leaf clovers. I found one! Then when dusk came we went to this little secluded meadow in the park along a creek where the leafy trees overhang the banks and waited for the magic. In the pictures they don't look like much but the fireflies were amazing. There were so many and the did little dances and played tag and landed on leaves making the whole leaf glow green. They were so beautiful I could have watched them all night!

All and all it was a wonderful Saturday! Sunday we took the day off from being so busy and just went and checked out a local shrine and temple in the area, had some waffles and stayed in for dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread!

Japan is still wonderful. My students are wonderful! I love teaching so much! Last Thursday I had a break-through and explained how to count to 100 in a pattern and I actually saw light bulbs go off! It was so rewarding! I guess they thought the numbers just seemed to come a random. They are clever kids and eat up everything I say plus we have fun! Ja ne!