Haha, an appropriate title for how long I take to blog isn't it?....
Anyways, let me tell you what I've been up to!
バーベキュー : The Japanese word for BBQ. And actually, it is pretty accurate. No, there aren't bbq'd ribs or hamburgers and hotdogs there, but it is a gathering of friends to grill a bunch of food and hang out! My host mom from my first trip to Tokyo invited me to one with her sons' classmates, and of course I said yes.
The biggest difference at a BBQ is the food, so let me see if I can list it all. We started with American Dogs (corn dogs, but don't call them that here), corn-on-the-cob cut into 2-3 inch pieces and speared with a chopstick (easier to eat than I expected), sato-imo (the japanese sweet potato that isn't a yam), yellow onions (tama-negi, aka round onion) sliced into rounds and put on a toothpick, kabocha (japanese pumpkin), and probably a few veggies I missed. While these were cooking, a two yellow onions were being carmelized nearer to the fire. Then came the meat (pork I believe, followed by a little bit of beef) dipped in tare sauce, shitake mushrooms, green peppers (pee-mahn here), and there are probably more veggies that I am forgetting. Then came the bread: bread dough was made and the twisted in small bits around chopsticks and roasted over a small portable BBQ fire. Also, we had marshmallows that weren't the "bite-size" but also not full sized campfire marshmallows. This of course has caused me to want s'mores which pretty much aren't a thing in Japan. :( I am sure I missed a few things, but just when I thought we were done and there couldn't possibly be any more food to eat, we made the biggest batch of yakisoba I've ever seen with prepackaged veggies, corn beef hash, and of course noodles and sauce.
Wow. Let's just say, I left the barbeque full, happy, and almost as tired as Thanksgiving. In between the copious amounts of eating, we played sports with the kids including tossing a ball, soccer, badminton, jump-rope, bubbles, chalk, frisbee, and more. And of course, all the adults chatting around the BBQ.
All in all, it was a great day and I wish I could go again!! We will see if I can fit it into my plans. ^.^
Anyways, let me tell you what I've been up to!
バーベキュー : The Japanese word for BBQ. And actually, it is pretty accurate. No, there aren't bbq'd ribs or hamburgers and hotdogs there, but it is a gathering of friends to grill a bunch of food and hang out! My host mom from my first trip to Tokyo invited me to one with her sons' classmates, and of course I said yes.
The biggest difference at a BBQ is the food, so let me see if I can list it all. We started with American Dogs (corn dogs, but don't call them that here), corn-on-the-cob cut into 2-3 inch pieces and speared with a chopstick (easier to eat than I expected), sato-imo (the japanese sweet potato that isn't a yam), yellow onions (tama-negi, aka round onion) sliced into rounds and put on a toothpick, kabocha (japanese pumpkin), and probably a few veggies I missed. While these were cooking, a two yellow onions were being carmelized nearer to the fire. Then came the meat (pork I believe, followed by a little bit of beef) dipped in tare sauce, shitake mushrooms, green peppers (pee-mahn here), and there are probably more veggies that I am forgetting. Then came the bread: bread dough was made and the twisted in small bits around chopsticks and roasted over a small portable BBQ fire. Also, we had marshmallows that weren't the "bite-size" but also not full sized campfire marshmallows. This of course has caused me to want s'mores which pretty much aren't a thing in Japan. :( I am sure I missed a few things, but just when I thought we were done and there couldn't possibly be any more food to eat, we made the biggest batch of yakisoba I've ever seen with prepackaged veggies, corn beef hash, and of course noodles and sauce.
Wow. Let's just say, I left the barbeque full, happy, and almost as tired as Thanksgiving. In between the copious amounts of eating, we played sports with the kids including tossing a ball, soccer, badminton, jump-rope, bubbles, chalk, frisbee, and more. And of course, all the adults chatting around the BBQ.
All in all, it was a great day and I wish I could go again!! We will see if I can fit it into my plans. ^.^
The weekend after the barbeque, my friend from Singapore was in town so we went on an adventure on Saturday. It started with visiting Tsukiji Honganji where we spotted a Japanese wedding party getting photos taken, then the kachidori suspension bridge where there is a free museum about the bridge's history, which was really cool but I couldn't read most of the plaques. After that we walked to Ginza, saw Kabukiza, got some delicious sushi, played around in a toy store, and then headed to Hama-Rikyu. We got to the garden too close to closing time for my liking so I would definitely recommend anyone visiting to give yourself at least a few hours to enjoy the beautiful garden, ponds, views of the bay, etc. It's a very relaxing place and I could probably spend a whole day there, but maybe that's just me...
When the garden closed, we walked from there to the Rainbow bridge that adjoins Odaiba (a man-made island) to the Minato ward. The coolest part about this is we actually were able to walk across the bridge, providing beautiful views of the city and the ocean. At the other side of the bridge we managed to get a 1 to MAYBE 2 minute peek at the sunset before heading to a mall (so I could scope out a concert location, more on that later) and then to Oedo Onsen Monogatari.
Oedo Onsen is an "Onsen Theme Park" according to their website and any Japanese you talk to. I'm not sure what to call it, but it's not just an Onsen and in my opinion it is also not a Theme Park. The onsen includes: a supposedly actual onsen (hot spring water from thousands of meters under the island) and many other baths that are obviously separated by gender, relaxation rooms with "comfy" chairs and individual TVs (many people sleep here), a tatami room (I didn't visit, so no review), an outdoor footbath where you can hang out with your opposite gendered friends, salt beds (closed before I realized they were there, sadly), and many things you can pay for in addition such as massages, food and drink, and Japanese carnival games. In my opinion it is too much and a little bit overpriced, but getting to wear a Yukata and hang out for a while is always fun. I probably won't go back to this onsen, it's not my cup of tea.
When the garden closed, we walked from there to the Rainbow bridge that adjoins Odaiba (a man-made island) to the Minato ward. The coolest part about this is we actually were able to walk across the bridge, providing beautiful views of the city and the ocean. At the other side of the bridge we managed to get a 1 to MAYBE 2 minute peek at the sunset before heading to a mall (so I could scope out a concert location, more on that later) and then to Oedo Onsen Monogatari.
Oedo Onsen is an "Onsen Theme Park" according to their website and any Japanese you talk to. I'm not sure what to call it, but it's not just an Onsen and in my opinion it is also not a Theme Park. The onsen includes: a supposedly actual onsen (hot spring water from thousands of meters under the island) and many other baths that are obviously separated by gender, relaxation rooms with "comfy" chairs and individual TVs (many people sleep here), a tatami room (I didn't visit, so no review), an outdoor footbath where you can hang out with your opposite gendered friends, salt beds (closed before I realized they were there, sadly), and many things you can pay for in addition such as massages, food and drink, and Japanese carnival games. In my opinion it is too much and a little bit overpriced, but getting to wear a Yukata and hang out for a while is always fun. I probably won't go back to this onsen, it's not my cup of tea.
Another week of work passed and then it was time to meet my Japanese friend again to join his friends at Ikusa Samurai Wow! Woah! War! This was an event for the Japanese and gaijin alike to pay a small fee to pretend to be a samurai for a few hours! For the event, we wore a strap on our left arm that a plastic (ball pit-type) ball with a magnet in it stuck. This ball is your inochi, your life. In your right arm you hold a sword and make it your goal to knock off your enemy's life before losing your own!
Lucky for me, I was chosen to be the taisho (commander) for one of the matches and actually got to dress up like a real samurai!! I'm really becoming Japanese! Haha!!
After the event, the group of friends I just met all went out for dinner at GYG, the closest thing Japan has to chipotle (look them up in Harajuku if you need a Mexican food fix while in Tokyo) followed by shopping somewhere between Takeshita and Omotesando (the two famous shopping districts of Harajuku. And lastly we went to Cinnabon for dessert. OMG, so delicious. And it was actual American sized Cinnabon, not the "we made our food smaller for the Japanese to eat it" size. Woot!
Lucky for me, I was chosen to be the taisho (commander) for one of the matches and actually got to dress up like a real samurai!! I'm really becoming Japanese! Haha!!
After the event, the group of friends I just met all went out for dinner at GYG, the closest thing Japan has to chipotle (look them up in Harajuku if you need a Mexican food fix while in Tokyo) followed by shopping somewhere between Takeshita and Omotesando (the two famous shopping districts of Harajuku. And lastly we went to Cinnabon for dessert. OMG, so delicious. And it was actual American sized Cinnabon, not the "we made our food smaller for the Japanese to eat it" size. Woot!
The next day was Torikoe-Jinja Matsuri (a festival at Torikoe Shrine) which is where my friend Josh's host-mom lives. She invited us back to the neighborhood to experience the festival with Tokyo's heaviest mikoshi (do you remember what mikoshi is from my Sanja Matsuri blog? If not, it is a portable shrine for a Shinto God). At the festival, we met Reiko-san, prayed at the shrine, traveled through the many food and game stands, ate some delicious potatoes (better than either of us expected), found a kimono shop where I bought a pair of Geta (wooden sandals to wear with kimono), and played games (the boys played shooting games and I played a turtle catching game with the girls and may or may not have brought a turtle home...).
After that we traveled to the road where the parade started to see the parade including all sorts of people including the host-mom's oldest boy carrying one of the flags, people with lanterns, girls dressed with maiko make-up and hair, but not in kimono, and of course the REALLY heavy mikoshi carried on the shoulders of any and all members of the community that wanted to join. This event was very cool because it allowed us to see the way this community works together and draws together for this festival. After the parade, we rushed to Reiko-san's "mansion" where we went up to her apartment to see the night-time parade from above. Wow, it was sugoi! And then it was time to head home for bed before starting another Monday :(
Did I mention that I got a turtle at the festival? Please look at how cute he his! His name is Squirtle and I love him.
Not long after, on Tuesday night, I had my next adventure. About a week before I saw on Facebook that Pentatonix was touring through Tokyo!! So I went to get tickets and they were all sold out, or so I thought. When researching further I found out there was a Tuesday night show and I decided that I had to go! So I went to Family Mart as soon as I could to pick up my ticket and thank goodness, they still had some!
For those of you that go to a lot of concerts, this may not seem like a big deal, but I haven't been to many concerts in my life... And let's just say that PTX is like my number one go-to Pandora playlist, and I love everything that they do.
The concert was great! From Kirstie's super kawaii outfit (including the tights with cats on the thighs (if you've seen them, you know what I mean)) to Avi's bass and Kevin's cello-boxing. Not to mention how high Mitch can sing and Scott's strong vocal presence. It was definitely a treat. All 5 of them kept say "minna daisuki!" which means we love you all and when Scott said it the first time he verbally said afterwards "wow, I did it!!" It seems like Avi knew the most Japanese and OMG his voice :D
Okay, well if you like PTX at all, I would highly suggest seeing them in concert (like maybe when they come to Cincinnati because they are amazing and I will end my gushing here!
For those of you that go to a lot of concerts, this may not seem like a big deal, but I haven't been to many concerts in my life... And let's just say that PTX is like my number one go-to Pandora playlist, and I love everything that they do.
The concert was great! From Kirstie's super kawaii outfit (including the tights with cats on the thighs (if you've seen them, you know what I mean)) to Avi's bass and Kevin's cello-boxing. Not to mention how high Mitch can sing and Scott's strong vocal presence. It was definitely a treat. All 5 of them kept say "minna daisuki!" which means we love you all and when Scott said it the first time he verbally said afterwards "wow, I did it!!" It seems like Avi knew the most Japanese and OMG his voice :D
Okay, well if you like PTX at all, I would highly suggest seeing them in concert (like maybe when they come to Cincinnati because they are amazing and I will end my gushing here!
Then on Friday I took another holiday (yay, taking days off work!!). For my holiday, I bought a "Misaki Maguro" ticket and headed to the Miura Peninsula (which is very near to Tokyo). The ticket is awesome, for approximately 3,000 yen (depending on which station you buy the ticket at) you get: round-trip train ticket in the Miura Peninsula, free use of the (Keikyu) buses for the day, a ticket for lunch at any of the designated restaurants that take it (maguro, tuna, for most of them because that is what the area is famous for), and a ticket valid for various "experiences" in the area including making your own glass art, taking a glass-bottom boat cruise, going to an onsen, and more.
The only issue I ran into is that I left in time to visit the morning market, but once the market is over there isn't much to do for the hour or two before all the shops open up. So my suggestion is to show up after 11am to not run into that problem.
Misaki Donuts is a great place for gourmet donuts and good coffee with a great café atmosphere! Honestly, I might have had more fun with a friend but being alone I felt a little out of place in the port town of Misaki. I left earlier than expected to head to Kurihama, which in my opinion was a little bit cooler because they had actual shopping (not the mom-and-pop shops I was hoping for but better than nothing), a beach, and really pretty scenery. There I boarded a ferry and headed to Kanaya in Chiba prefecture.
The only issue I ran into is that I left in time to visit the morning market, but once the market is over there isn't much to do for the hour or two before all the shops open up. So my suggestion is to show up after 11am to not run into that problem.
Misaki Donuts is a great place for gourmet donuts and good coffee with a great café atmosphere! Honestly, I might have had more fun with a friend but being alone I felt a little out of place in the port town of Misaki. I left earlier than expected to head to Kurihama, which in my opinion was a little bit cooler because they had actual shopping (not the mom-and-pop shops I was hoping for but better than nothing), a beach, and really pretty scenery. There I boarded a ferry and headed to Kanaya in Chiba prefecture.