Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Tokyo Days-Tokyo Nights

ndsJanuary 4th was our day in the city. Jen and I took a bus tour called Cityrama. Our guide was fun, said the oddest things at time and enjoyed giving commentaries on everything from woman in leadership to the similarities between Buddhism and the Catholic Church. We visited Meiji Shinto Shrine and the Imperial Palace East Garden (the only part of the palace open to visitors), Asakuza Kannon Temple, and the Nakamise market before being dropped off in the shopping district.

On our own in Tokyo was exciting. After lunch we looked about at over priced shops. Had a mix up at Starbucks, we paid for two drinks and some how managed to get three. Got to love language barriers. We were able to negotiate our way through the Tokyo metro, all because Kayoko is amazing and gave me very detailed instructions on how to get back to the hotel, deepest gratitude Kayoko. We got to ride a monorail. Our bus didn’t leave the hotel till 11 pm so we did some exploring on the way back. Rode a Ferris Wheel that was 115 meters high, it was the worlds largest until the London Eye was built. Saw some neat cars at the Toyota showroom. Found a Toys’R’Us and a few other neat stores in Aqua City. And that was Tokyo!

Meiji Shinto Shrine Posted by Picasa

Gardens in the winter Posted by Picasa

Worshippers entering from the front gate of Asakuza Kannon Temple Posted by Picasa

Tokyo skyline from 115m  Posted by Picasa

 Posted by Picasa

Any one know why there is a mini Statue of Liberty in Japan? Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 23, 2006

Not Forgotten

So its election time. Steve, Tiffany and I sent in our absentee ballots a few weeks back. It is nice to know that we have not been forgotten by our country. We received the following invitation:


Please drop by the Embassy in Tokyo or the Consulate General in Osaka to watch the real time broadcast of the Election Night coverage. Coffee and tea will be served. Feel free to bring your own lunch.
Sad to say we’ll be missing out on all the fun, the big bash is in the middle classes.

Word Up: Ku –ten. The great thing about counting in Japanese is if you can count to 10 you can count to 99. For 20 you say 2-10 or for thirty-four you say 3-10-4

Sunday, January 22, 2006

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E


Did you know Mickey Mouse is fluent in Japanese? I didn’t until this year. Yet that is what I have taken from my day at the Japan Disney Resort. After the adventure to make the bus, the ride to Tokyo was uneventful. We arrived at the gates of Disney Resort an hour before the park opened. There was time to change, brush our teeth, and get very confused about what line to stand in. Being an English speaker made a lot of things confusing through out the day.

As we stood in line it was funny to walk these two girls do their hair with a portable curling iron. First on our agenda was food, felt weird eating Mickey pancakes. The only park map we could find was in Japanese, which made exploring and finding rides very hard…we never found Adventureland, and totally missed out on Thunder Mountain. The Haunted Mansion was closed but we did make in on "It’s a Small World" and we didn’t have to listen to the song the whole time. They had changed the ride to be a festive International caroling-thing. I loved the Teacups. Jen was very kind to let me drag her on them!

Best ride of the day was Pooh’s Honey Hunt. You seat in these large honey pots and are taken through a Pooh story. We loved it, even though the narration was in Japanese. There is one room where Tigger sings the "Wonderful thing about Tiggers" and the floor moves so you feel like you are jumping. And there is the dream with the Hefelumps…very well done.

Word Up: Kyu –nine

Yeah for friends!!! Posted by Picasa

Sweet as Honey Posted by Picasa

Is that one lump or two? Posted by Picasa

Cinderella's Castle Posted by Picasa

Breakfast Posted by Picasa

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Every time you hear the phone it’s ringing

I have a cell phone, but it’s not used very often. Calls are normally just to pass on information like change in plans or when I need help ordering at Macdonald’s. So I am always a little surprised when the phone rings, especially when I don’t recognize the number.

This was very true the evening of January 2nd. It was 8:50, Jen and I were waiting for Hideki and Kayoko to pick us up. They were taking us to the bus station to catch our over-night bus to Tokyo, which left at 10:00pm. The man on the other line was speaking very fast Japanese. I said "Hello", there was a pause and the Japanese continued. I tried again "Hello", there was another pause and then more Japanese. So I tried something new, "Ego desu ka?" (English?) There was a really long pause and then the Japanese continued. This time I managed "Watashi wa Canada-jin desu, ego desu ka?" (I am Canadain, English?). I look helplessly over at Jen who is laughing so hard I thought she was going to wet her self. The poor guy on the other side said something in Japanese then there was a very long pause…so long I thought the line had died, so I hung up.

A few minutes later the phone rings again. This time it’s a new voice who asks in very broken English if I was "Elle-is-abeto Stew-ee-art-u San". It was the travel company calling to tell us that we were ten minutes late for our bus (the one that left at 10 pm and it was just 9 pm). There was some great episodes of miscommunication. The hardest thing about using the phone is the other person can’t see my gestures. Thankfully Hideki and Kayoko arrived and I passed the phone to them to work out what was wrong.

We were indeed late, and had to rush to make the bus (or the bus’ next stop, that detail was never clarified). The station was about 30-minute drive away. Only when we got close Hideki got lost. We got directions from a taxi driver, who couldn’t take us because he was waiting for a customer. We continued to drive around searching, when Hideki suddenly stopped at an intersection and told us to get out –quickly! Then we noticed next to us was an empty taxi. Kayoko was helping get our luggage into the car while Hideki explained where to take us to the driver. They gave us money for the cab fare shut the door and our driver took off. Minutes later we arrived at the bus station. We were led to our bus. (The trip was my first time on a double-decker bus which I thought was pretty cool.) Found our seats and were on our way to Tokyo.

Word Up: Moshi-moshi –The greeting used when answering the phone, may or may not be spelt that way (I can hardly spell English right getting Japanese would be asking too much)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Down By the Bay

We kicked off the New Year with a wild night of sermon preparation, reading, doing a jigsaw puzzle, and filling out online quizzes. Jen spoke the next morning at our Grace Fellowship service. The rest of the day we played Dutch blitz at Steve and Tiffany’s.

On the 2nd Hideki and Kayoko took us Canadians down to Kobe. The city is about an hour drive north-west (but to be very sure you might want to look that fact up) and is a sea port. The little we were able to explore was beautiful! It was nice to be near the sea, I miss the ocean. We spent the morning on a boardwalk with many cute little shops that was close to the waterfront. Then we went to Chinatown for lunch and a walk down a very crowded street.

Word Up: hachi -eight

Saturday, January 14, 2006

The Continued Chronicles of Ochej

Jen returned to Canada on January 7th and preschool resumed on the 10th. This week has been devoted to settling into the routine again, and now I am back with a blogging vengeance ready to recount the travels and adventures from the New Years break (it will take more then one post).

On, December 31st Jen and I set out on an epic quest to Namba, yes an epic quest. We were in search of the Body Shop, which I was sure I had seen on my previsions visit but no clue where or how to get back to it. The trip was an amusing experience; Namba is the heart of crazy Japanese fashion for the Osaka area. This time was my first real chance to window shop. I enjoyed reading the engrish t-shirts, stopping at Starbucks, and these loose-socks that are 150 cm long –crazy! There were a few purchases, the picture is of us sporting our new very japanese dresses. There was a also very competitive game of Spot-the-foreigner". Our combined total was 56, much better than my last score of 11. Proving once again this is a game for two or more people (or to earn a high score it’s best to play when the foreigners are out in droves). We eventually did find the Body Shop, yet sadly they no longer carry satsuma hand lotion. I had to settle for the lip-gloss.

Word Up: Akemashite omedetou gozimasu -Happy New Year. It's a little late but you can save it for next year.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Home Sweet Home

Early morning on January 5th Jen and I arrived back in Sayama after two exciting days in Tokyo. As we walked home from the train station, I looked around at the familiar sights took a deep breath in and thought “it’s good to be home!” This feeling surprised me because it’s the first time I truly felt that I belonged in Japan. Before this moment of “home-ness” Grace was just the place I lived and worked. My heart and hopes were focused on Canada and what I would do when I got back. I only thought of this time as a temporary situation. I still miss friends and crave certain foods but this is my home and will be for the next seven months. I am excited by my change in attitude and am even looking forward to trying hard at language, trying more new foods, and building deeper relations. My love for Japan and it’s people is growing. I guess it’s true what they say home is where the heart is. (Mom, if you read this I still long to sit with you in the backyard on the swing! See you in seven months.)

Word Up: nana or shichi -seven

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Tokyo Desu Ka?

Jen and have been on a Tokyo adventure the past two days, now we are waiting in an internet cafe for the overnight bus that will return us to Osaka. There have been many interesting moments that will be shared in the near future. For now quotes from our tour guide this morning:

"I put my shoes on the other side." Used when explaining he likes to take tours when visiting other countries.

"My big boss is a woman. She's not very good looking, but she's alright."

Word Up: Kawaii -cute