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A Day in Yokohama, a Japanese Wedding

May 16, 2011 by Laurel

Last month, Dan’s friend Toru got married, and invited Dan to the wedding. Upon hearing that Dan had company in town visiting from the States, he invited me, Kelsey and Jim to his reception. So thoughtful! I’m going to attempt to break down how the wedding day went:
The day began with the actual wedding ceremony. A private ceremony, very small and just for family, I imagine.

Dan arrived at 12:30pm for a reception with many others. It was an 8-course meal and only a meal; everyone was seating and there was no dancing or mingling. Some people gave speeches, pictures were presented via Powerpoint and someone went around with a video camera capturing well wishes. Toru’s bride, Kanako, changed from her beautiful white wedding gown to another blue gown, and Toru changed into another tuxedo.

At this point it’s 4pm, and Kelsey, Jim and I show up. This is another reception, with finger foods, desserts, and drinks being served. There was no family or children present. We met up with Dan and began to enjoy the festivities. I’ll back up a little so I can show you where we were!

Since Dan had to be there before us, Kelsey, Jim and I had some time to kill in Yokohama.

Welcome to Yokohama! The curved building is where the wedding/receptions were held.
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Museum on a boat
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Funky looking steps on our way to lunch. Ready for a taste of home, we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe 🙂
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Landmark Tower
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I can’t even begin to tell you how windy it was. When getting dressed for the day, I forgot how close the the water we would be!
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Alas, late afternoon arrived and we made it!
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Dan and I by the waterfront
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Kelsey and I enjoying refreshments and the view. It was nice to appreciate Yokohama without the wind!
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Dan and I with the bride and groom
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Cutting the cake! One of many!
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I later learned that these people I was meeting, on the other side of the world of where I’m from, not only went to the same university as me, but in the same year they lived in the same dorm building as I did. Talk about a small world! Here we are, Buxton residents on 2005 from Oregon State!
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Thanking everyone for coming. Such a beautiful dress!
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Despite the entire reception being in Japanese I had a wonderful time. Everyone was dressed to the nines and looked great, we met new people and I finally got to meet Dan’s friend Toru. We enjoyed delicious desserts and had a lot of fun. After the party we were pretty tired, and a ways from home, so we decided to start heading back to the house. All in all a very fun day, and I’m hoping sometime we can go back and do more exploring in Yokohama!

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Food Adventure- Yakiniku!

May 10, 2011 by Laurel

While Kelsey and Jim were visiting, Dan and I took the opportunity to explore some new restaurants in the area. We decided to try some new yakiniku restaurants.

Yakiniku translates simply to grilled meat. Yakiniku restaurants sit you at a table or booth with a grill in the middle, and you order an assortment of raw meats. Some places have tabehoudai, meaning all you can eat meat. Pair that with nomihodai, all you can drink, and it’s a night of feasting and enjoying different drinks popular in Japan. We found a delicious restaurant near the house that had tabehoudai for $40/person, and nomihodai for $10/person. They gave us an hour and a half. Needless to say, we indulged!
Some places have tables where you sit on the floor instead of a chair, with your legs crossed and barefoot
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Our table grill currently grilling cow tongue. Delicious! Up next: beef!
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More yummy meats ready to be cooked up, and a pot of boiled scrambled egg
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Dan and I at a different yakiniku restaurant. My drink is a delicious cassis orange, cassis liquor (a red berry liquor from Europe) and orange juice. Possibly my new favorite cocktail!
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Chef Dan grilling up some dinner
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When it’s time to go and the bill has been paid, they line your shoes up for you 🙂
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A Day at Tokyo Disneyland!

May 8, 2011 by Laurel

While Dan and I had company in town, the 4 of us decided to spend Easter at Tokyo Disneyland!
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Dan, Kelsey, Jim and I were up and out the door at a decent hour. As an early birthday present, Dan got me an adorable Dooney & Bourke wristlet commemorating Florida Disney World’s 40th anniversary!
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It takes about 60-70 minutes to train from our apartment to the Disney parks (2 side by side parks, Disneyland and Disney Sea). Here’s Kelsey and Jim on the train, with the Tokyo Disneyland hotel behind them 🙂
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The park was adorably decorated for Easter. Scattered all throughout the park were character Easter eggs!
Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc
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Aliens from Toy Story
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Dan and I
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We took a quick meal break. Pizza slices for lunch! Our choices were sausage pizza or shrimp pizza. Here’s Jim’s shrimp pizza:
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Disneyland makes Kelsey and I jump for joy!
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We spent the day riding rides and eating snacks. The park was so empty! Tourism is a bit droopy these days, despite about 80% of the park’s attendance being Tokyo locals (as opposed to say, Disney World, where people travel all over from the US and other countries). We did everything we wanted to and then repeated some of our favorites.

Jim, Kelsey, me and Dan
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While watching people plummet down Splash Mountain, Dan made a quacky little friend 🙂
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The park had a spring roll stand, offering veggie spring rolls, chicken spring rolls and pizza spring rolls. Dan said his pizza spring roll tasted like a giant Pizza Roll!
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As the sun set and all the lights came on throughout the park, it seemed as though even more people left. We almost had Toon Town to ourselves!
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Once it was completely dark, we headed over to Main Street to enjoy the Electric Parade.
Nemo from Finding Nemo
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Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc
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As the park was nearing closing time, the boys decided they wanted to ride Splash Mountain one more time. Kelsey and I didn’t like the idea of potentially getting soaked so late at night without the sun to dry us, so we decided to take a spin in the teacups at Alice’s Mad Tea Party. We had the entire ride to ourselves!
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We looked at some little shops on Main Street, then headed home. I think the questions I get asked most is how different the park is from the American Disney parks. The biggest difference is that the 2 Tokyo Disney parks actually aren’t owned by the Walt Disney Company! Other differences include:

*Shorter queue lines- Tokyo Disney wants you walking around and spending money in shops/ on food rather than waiting in line.

*Fancier parades- the parades are a HUGE deal here, and many people begin staking out spots along the parade route 3-4 hours before the parades begin. The floats are much more elaborate than US Disney park floats.

*Less impressive Confections- In CA and FL, the confection and bakery shops have cookies, brownies, cakes, candies, anything you can imagine! In Japan, everything is portioned incredibly small, and individually wrapped. Also all baked goods at Tokyo Disney are prepackaged, whereas in the US they bake onsite.

*Less souvenir selection- In the US you can get ANYTHING from the gift shops- mugs, pajamas, slippers, coasters, bedsheets, coin banks, anything! Typically at the Tokyo Disney gift shops, you see a small selection of shirts, cell phone charms, small toys, stationery goods, tote bags, and not too much else.

*Pricier Annual Passes- An annual pass to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea= $800. An Annual pass to Disneyland California and Disney California Adventure= $450. An annual pass to both California theme parks and all Florida parks= $700.

Having been to Disneyland in Anaheim, DIsney World in Orlando, and now DIsneyland in Tokyo, I’d have to say my favorite park is still Anaheim’s. As the first Disney park, it has so much history and I have so many wonderful family memories there. I do still have a few more Disney parks in France and and China to experience though, so I suppose my ultimate favorite is still to be determined!
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It’s a Japan Thing: Duffy Bear

May 6, 2011 by Laurel

There is a phenomenon upon Japan I have never seen anywhere else. It’s captured the hearts of children, teens and adults, even grown men. The phenomenon is a stuffed bear.

Meet Duffy Bear!

Duffy the Disney Bear is a stuffed bear you can buy only at Tokyo Disney Sea, the theme park next to Tokyo Disneyland. The story of Duffy Bear is that Mickey Mouse was going out to sea near Cape Cod. Minnie was going to miss him terribly, so she made him a stuffed bear named Duffy, to take on adventures and keep him company. With the crazy success of Duffy Bear, Disney created a female counterpart, named Shellie Mae.

The Duffy bear Dan bought me, and the Shellie Mae Kelsey bought as a souvenir for a friend. Penny is a fan of Duffy too! 🙂
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I don’t even know how to begin to explain that Duffy Bear is EVERYWHERE. People bring their stuffed bears to the theme parks to ride the rides with them, enjoy meals and shows with them, and buy them new clothes. I snapped a few pictures of some Duffy lovers when Dan and I took Kelsey and Jim to Disneyland last week. Stuffed bears, coin purses, key chains, Duffy is everywhere!
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Some people enjoy bringing their Duffy collections to show off at the parks, and yes, carry them around all day!
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I like this guy, just chilling with his Duffy Bears 🙂
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And now, if you think it’s crazy that this bear is so popular, that his merchandise is flying off shelves, that people not only carry their stuffed bears but their whole Duffy collections, I present to you… Duffy Photo Stops! Disney is aware of the popularity of their bears, so they built Duffy “bear chairs” around the park at scenic points so Duffy can have his picture taken.
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I enjoy my cuddly Duffy Bear (he’s super soft!) but I leave him at home, cheerfully sitting atop my bed pillow. I don’t want him to get dirty or worn out! I took this photo from Kelsey, here we are with our lovely Duffy and Shellie Mae bears.
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When I was at Disneyland in Anaheim, California December 2010, they were trying to introduce Duffy to the American parks and hoping he’d be as successful as he is here. Sadly the shelves were fully stocked of the bear, and no one was in line to meet the Duffy bear greeter. Someone will have to let me know if he takes off in popularity in America!

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Food Adventure: Sushi Daidokoya

May 5, 2011 by Laurel

While Kelsey and Jim were in town visiting, they wanted to be sure to go to a true sushi restaurant. After all, it’s not often you’re on the other side of the world at the birthplace of sushi!

We went to a little sushi place in Shibuya.
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We waited maybe 20-25 minutes for some seats to open up. I’ve noticed most restaurants here have such limited seating when compared to restaurants in America!
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We took our seats and ordered some drinks. It was a “kaiten sushi” restaurant, or as most Americans know it, a “conveyor belt” style restaurant, where a conveyor belt passes every table and counter in the restaurant with a selection of fresh fish and sushi. You can also order hot dishes or sushi you don’t see on the belt. This style of restaurant is popular for foreigners, as there’s no menu to read. It’s also popular for people in a budget, as you are charged based on the color of your sushi plates. Simple sushi rolls, veggie sushi rolls may be on blue plates which are only a dollar or two, while fancier rolls may be on yellow plates that are $4-5 per plate.

Avocado tuna rolls
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Jim’s roe rolls (fishy eggs!)
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And let’s just say I wasn’t brave enough to try this one, so I left it on the belt!
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At the end of the night, I got to take this cute cup home!
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All in all it was a good meal. People ask me all the time if the sushi is just phenomenal here, and it’s similar to back home- some places are really good, and some are just ok. This place was good but didn’t blow me away, so I guess I’m back on the hunt for another great sushi place!

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Fun in Harajuku: Kiddyland!

April 26, 2011 by Laurel

This might seem silly, but I’d like to dedicate this blog post to my mommy. She made a Snoopy lover out of me 🙂

I come from a family of Snoopy lovers. I remember a grey Snoopy sweatshirt my mom dressed me in on chilly days when I was 3. My sister had a Belle doll; Belle was Snoopy’s sister from Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. And my mother has quite possibly the coolest Snoopy art I’ve ever seen in her current home.

Enter Kiddyworld. I happened upon this place in Harajuku with Kelsey during our girls shopping day.
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Kiddyworld is a 3-story shop that caters to all things cute. They sell all sorts of knickknacks- notebooks, plates, cups, blankies, pens, small toys, office supplies, kitchen goodies, shirts, socks, tote bags.

The first floor is mainly Japanese characters- characters from Miyazaki films, Rilakkuma, and some other characters I didn’t immediately recognize. The second floor is more mainstream toys- Barbie, toy cars and trucks, monster toys, Star Wars toys. The third floor is by far my favorite- It’s called SNOOPY TOWN.

The third floor begins with a good area dedicated to Hello Kitty and other Hello Kitty characters. But the rest of the floor- Snoopy. Words can’t describe how happy, excited, and youthful I felt here. So much Snoopy! Vintage Snoopy, comic Snoopy, novel Snoopy, Cartoon Snoopy. At the moment I missed my mother and sister so much and wished they were there with me!

Kelsey and I spent a good long while in the store marveling all the goodies. She hopes to go back before she leaves next week, so I will have to pick up some goodies for myself then. I’ll leave you with some photos of this neat place- you may notice even my photos are biased toward the Snoopy section 🙂

This is the Gigi the Cat section. Gigi is from Miyazaki’s film Kiki’s Delivery Service.
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I notice many large displays of small towels. I’m not sure what people need so many small towels for, but there’s a draw for it here. These towels feature Totoro and Catbus, from the Miyazaki film My Neighbor Totoro.
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And now I present to you, Snoopyland 🙂
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Fun in Tokyo with our Guests

April 26, 2011 by Laurel

Kelsey and Jim have been here about a week now, and we’ve been busy running all over the place checking out this and that. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but this is by far the most sight-seeing I’ve done since becoming a resident. I was here in Tokyo for 2 weeks in November, but was ill and didn’t want to leave the couch. Came back in March and was here for a week, then the earthquake hit and we went back to the northwest for 3 weeks. Came back for a week and then our guests arrived, so while Dan is busy at work I’m tagging along to finally see my new city. And I have to say, the greatest part is that I’m simply a train ride or two away from all these amazing places!

I suppose I should start at the beginning! Dan and I trained out to Narita Airport to get Kelsey and Jim, who flew in from Seattle!
Kelsey & Jim waiting for the train to our apartment
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Our first stop: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. AKA Tokyo City Hall, this building is a 3-structure building comprised of 3 city blocks. The main tower is 48 stories that splits into 2 towers at the 33rd level. The top floor? An observation deck!
The Tokyo metropolitan Government Building
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I can only describe the view as “city as far as the eye can see”
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We’re high up!
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I love this building! Formally known as Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, it’s composed of 3 schools- a fashion/ arts school, medical school and technology school.
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Kelsey and I saying hello- 48 stories up!
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We also visited the Kumano Shrine.
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Jim in front of the shrine
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Kelsey at the water basin. Before entering a shrine, one must wash their hands and mouth
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Another prayer shrine and koi pond
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Another day, while Dan and Jim were hanging out, I decided to show Kelsey what shopping in Tokyo was all about. We started by hitting the streets in Shibuya at a 9 floor mall called 109.
Across the intersection, 109 is the building on the left. I wasn’t able to get a great picture of it!
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Kelsey and I with Hachiko! He is the dog statue behind us. The legend is that Hachiko came to Shibuya train station daily to greet his owner after work. He continued to do so daily, even after his owner had passed. This branch of the train station is also known as Hachiko Station 🙂
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Once we finished shopping and had a quick lunch in Shibuya, we hopped a train for the next stop over- Harajuku! While many people think this is a crazy, “anything goes” kind of town, I liken it to Las Vegas- basically, a run of the mill town known for it’s one crazy street. That street in Harajuku is called Takeshita Street. Here you will see many people dressed in crazy styles, most popularly being cosplay (dressing like an anime/movie/manga character), punky (chains. zippers, dark plaids), and ganguro (the “western” look, typically girls dressed like Californians- bleached hair, tan skin, and fake lashes).
The entrance to Takeshita Street
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So many people
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A costume store we passed
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Because it’s so crowded, one walk down Takeshita Street is enough for us. We continue walking around Harajuku where there are plenty of shops and restaurants.
Taffy pullers!
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It starts out as such a massive log, only to get rolled out!
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The final product- a little Tiger candy! Kelsey and her candy
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As the sun began to set, Jim and Dan came to join us for dinner. Kelsey and I leaving Harajuku. The train station is on the left.
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A House is not a Home- Until Now!

April 19, 2011 by Laurel

While Dan has been working I spent the past week building our Ikea furniture, reorganizing, and cleaning. A big motivator for that was we were having our first out of town guests this week.

And now I’m excited to say that I am completely unpacked and organized in our place. Ta da!

A view of our entryway from the front hallway. Shoe cabinets and the front door
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A view from the entryway. The first doorway on the right leads to our kitchen, the next door is the hallway to the living room, the door on the left is the toilet (yes, separate from the rest of the bathroom!) and the room at the end of the hall is our bedroom. Penny wanted to be in the picture 🙂
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A peek into our kitchen
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A better shot of our kitchen. Oven cabinet and wire racks built by yours truly 🙂
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Bathroom/shower/washer/dryer area
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Our living room. I built the shelves under the counter. That’s our kitchen beyond the counter, and I am standing in the doorway of our final room, the office, but alas I forgot to take a picture of it!
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Kelsey and Jim arrived Monday with no problems. We spent today (Tuesday) exploring Shinjuku a bit. I took plenty of pictures, so hopefully I will post about that soon!

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Sunny Friday!

April 15, 2011 by Laurel

My apologies for the lack of updates this past week. I haven’t done much that’s noteworthy- just getting our apartment fixed up. On Sunday Dan and I rode out to Saitama again, and got quite the haul delivered from Ikea. I’ve spent this past week cleaning, building and reorganizing. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures once we get the boxes everything arrived in cleared out!

With the weather being so glorious, I couldn’t resist getting outside almost every day this week. Yesterday I brought my camera to show you all what a walk around my apartment is like. Enjoy!

Penny enjoying some sunshine
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Our local grocery store
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Local post office, a block from our apartment
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A view of our main street
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Work Out World! A nice gym 3 or 4 blocks away from us. We’re contemplating joining, but at $200/ month we might be better off with my Jillian Michaels dvd!
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We live near a nice looking golf course. Here’s the driving range
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I enjoy jogging along side the golf course, on a not-too-busy path with cherry blossoms and other flowers and trees. It leads out of our neighborhood to a busy street
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Gas station off the busy road
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Freeway sign
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Our local McDonalds and Don Quixote, a Wal Mart type store, but on a much smaller scale. We have yet to not find something we’re looking for there, from hangers to mirrors to Dan’s favorite Pringles
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Next week will be really exciting because Dan and I have company coming to visit for two weeks from Seattle! I should have some really great pictures, as we hope to pack our days with many activities and sights to see. Until then!

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Unexpected Earthquake Damage

April 10, 2011 by Laurel

Well, Dan and I thought we got off pretty lucky with just some papers knocked over after March 11th’s earthquake. The earthquake hit, we stayed in town for another few days, then headed back to Portland/ Seattle for three weeks. In those few days, neither of us opened our glass cabinet above the sink.

Now, Dan and I own a lot of glasses. We enjoy collecting pint glasses from breweries we tour or favored restaurants, and we’ve developed a habit of picking up a shot glass from places we’ve been. When we were packing to move to Japan, Dan instructed the movers to pack about a dozen glasses, and maybe a dozen shot glasses as well. Well, the movers didn’t really pay attention, and packed about 60 of them. So we kinda stacked them up in the cabinet above our sink.

The other day I was tidying up the house and I noticed a glass in our drying rack from weeks ago that was cleaned and never put away. I opened the cabinet (for the first time since the earthquake) and was caught in the downpour of broken glass, shot glasses, and a couple pint glasses. It was never ending! It scared Penny so much that she took to hiding under our bed for an hour. After a couple seconds I jumped out of the way and just watched as glass poured over my kitchen. When it ended there were shards of glass everywhere.
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Shot glasses precariously tipped over. Notice the left cabinet is held ajar by a Jack Skellington shot glass. By the time I finally got the nerve to move it about 7-8 more shot glasses fell out.

I should mention, I’m ok! I got some small cuts on my hands and arms, but I was able to rinse and Neosporin them. Then I sent to the neverending task of cleaning. Picking up, sweeping, vacuuming, some of the glasses shattered into simply glass dust! It was painstaking, but I wanted to make sure everything was cleaned up, especially with little Penny underfoot.

After about 2 hours I was satisfied for the most part. There’s some glass dust behind the oven I need Dan to move so I can clean up. But there you have it. That earthquake knocked over our papers, spilled some perfume, and wreaked havoc on our glass cabinet.

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