The Visitors-Batch 2!

Welcome to my latest visitors: my sister, Jane and her friend, Nancy! They arrived last week on Thursday.
Because I needed to ride the train to meet them at the airport in Narita, I decided I might as well go a little early and do something fun in the area before heading to the airport. I met my friend, Mondo, who picked me up at a train station between Ueno (Tokyo) and Narita terminal. We headed to lunch (Mos Burger, a Japanese fast food chain) and he told me that his friend would be joining us, but not to worry, because his friend spoke English. I put two and two together, and guessed that maybe we'd be meeting another one of my former students, because I knew that he's now working at the airport and living in the area. So, when Yosuke walked in the door, it wasn't too big of a surprise, but Yosuke, it was great to see you!!!
After lunch, Mondo (who works for Nike) took me to the Nike Factory store where I bought some new shoes. Not that exciting of a detail, except for something funny: the previous night when Mondo asked me what I wanted to do the next day, I said, "something cultural or historical; I don't want to go shopping!", but that's what we did... Next we headed to a small park right next to Narita airport where it looks like the planes are going to land on your head; many people were there just hanging out and watching the "show" overhead.
After we got to the airport, the arriving flight board announced that Jane's flight would be 15 minutes late, so we took a walk; someone made a mistake, because the flight was, in fact, on time (if not even a few minutes early). But amazingly, while I was waiting for Jane (who was actually already waiting for me in another part of the arrivals lobby) Joel Kaylor (from Portland Bible College where I was teaching English to international students before moving to Japan) walked out of the gate! Welcome to Japan!
Jane soon saw Mondo and I, and after meeting up with Nancy and getting organized (and seeing Yosuke working at the airport twice!) we left the airport. We made a quick stop at the park with the amazing view of the planes landing, and then went to dinner at a kaitenzushi restaurant (sushi bar or "sushi-go-round" as I call it sometimes). After dinner, Mondo dropped us off at the train station, and we got to my house, where two jet-lagged guests of course wanted to go to bed.
I'll upload some pictures, and continue in the next post . . .

Video links

Just a quick post with links to videos on YouTube. These are all from my cousin Paula's visit here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ljh_Njk47I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQUxYWP_ShY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOmdI6GtHIM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlYhieBE3So
The last link is me DDRing with Caitlin, Paula's daughter. It was fun to have somebody who can keep up with me-I challenge you to a rematch, Caitlin!

Aux environs d'Utsunomiya

The title of this blog is in French to remind me of a story: shortly after I arrived here, I was walking around in a store trying to find things on my shopping list. I was getting a little frustrated at not being able to read the packaging. I picked up a bag, looked at it, and in a very annoyed "tone of thought", prayed: "God, why did I study French?! Why didn't I study Japanese?! French is useless to me here!" Then I turned the package over; there was no English to be seen, but in addition to the Japanese, there was a complete listing of the product in French. It had apparently been manufactured in Vietnam (which has a long history of French influence, for those who didn't know that) as many other products here are. It almost made me laugh out loud in the store. Thanks, God! On to my post about the weekend . . .



On Saturday, my friend from church, Shouji, took me around the area just outside of Utsunomiya. We spent most of the time in Motegi and Mashiko. You don't have to go too far outside of town to see some beautiful countryside and it was wonderful just to drive around and see the scenery.

In Motegi, we went to Michi no Eki, which is translated as roadside station ("road's station", literally). It's kind of a combination rest stop, cafe and farmer's market. I bought some excellent fresh vegetables there. Near Mashiko, we visited an interesting art gallery on a hill, again with a beautiful view of the area.

We also stopped at the Utsunomiya Clan's ancestral cemetery and temple; it was very interesting to see the historical site and walk around on the grounds. Later, on the way back into town, we stopped at another historical site. It's a well-preserved, traditional, country house that was built by one of the early residents of the modern city.

I took several pictures on my cell phone, because I forgot to bring my regular camera. If I can find a convenient way to download the pictures, I'll post them later.

Shouji, thanks again for a fun day!

Paula's visit: Beach trip and Tokyo

Here's another post with extensive trip narration provided by Paula. Once again, my words are in black and hers are in blue:

Monday was our beach trip. Weird to have to take little country roads everywhere, but we saw them extending the expressway at one point. ...we couldn't swim anywhere, just where the little fenced off area was... when we sat down a little ways away where there were no pebbles, a lifeguard made a point of coming over & motioning to us "no swimming" by making swimming motions & then making an X with his hands. We got the idea...after walking around forever looking for a good place, I convinced the girls we didn't have all afternoon & had better get in the water. And that was lots of fun. I could see why it was roped off... the bottom dropped off VERY quickly & the undertow was very strong. But the fun part about the bottom going from knee-depth to waist-depth almost immediately is that the waves would surge in & get really big but break a lot later than we're used to, so most people had floaties & just went up & down with the waves. We enjoyed it even without floaties, like a giant wave pool but real. And the water temperature was perfect, not too cold & not too warm. We couldn't see California, though...

Stayed in the water for at least 45 minutes, then we got out & I told the girls if they wanted time to dry off, they'd better go back in now, but no, they were fine. Pretty soon we saw Shinya coming to find us & we all went back up to find the showers. So a lot of driving for not a whole lotta beach time, but at least we can say we saw the other side of the Pacific.

Tuesday we had wanted to get up early to get to Tokyo, but the girls were tired so we left a little later than we had intended & met Rob's friend Mondo at 9:15 in Ueno. I had met Mondo 2 years ago in Portland when he was Rob's roommate. He asked what we wanted to do, & we immediately said "Tower Records" in Shibuya, the trendy shopping area. Spent a very enjoyable hour there, although in hindsight we should've done that last so we weren't carrying shopping bags around all day... decided to go to TGI Friday's for lunch. Got a nice table in the corner & it was early but after a while people started trickling in including a couple of American businessmen with a Japanese businessman. I can only imagine the suffering of whoever has to do all the businessmen's laundry with the long-sleeves & ties in that humidity.

I think after that was when we found the Disney store, which Rob said we seemed to enjoy almost as much as Disney Sea. A cute little castle around the entrance, & the stairs up to the 2nd floor went through a couple little rooms like Mickey's house in Toontown & then up a spiral staircase, very original!

We had Haagen-Dazs... then we walked for a looong time up towards Harajuku, interesting stores but the girls & I were getting pretty hot. Stopped at a Uniqlo (short for Unique Clothing I guess) and found a t-shirt. Laura wanted to look at Levi's across street but since the jeans were close to $100 we passed... Mondo said they sold specialty stuff there. Then turned on a little alley that went toward another station that was cram-jammed with little shops, paper lanterns, and PEOPLE everywhere. I just can't imagine it being any more crowded in evenings or weekends. Lots of atmosphere, got great pictures!

Finally we found the station & took the subway to the emperor's garden; it was nice to step out near a big bare park with a moat (around the palace) & a swan... looked around there for a while & the kids were getting really tired of walking (as was I)... I think Rob had a hard time grasping that we didn't have the same level of energy that he did for walking around Tokyo. I'd wear different shoes next time... we walked back to the station, got out near Tokyo Tower (Eiffel Tower knockoff that is of course 13 meters higher than the Eiffel tower) Took the elevator to the top & enjoyed the tremendous view... we'd wanted to take another elevator up to the next observation deck, but the line didn't move for a long time so we gave up. I promised the girls we could take a taxi back to the train station, it was standing room only but finally in about 10 minutes we were at the main station where we could get on the shinkansen & sit down, wherein they promptly fell asleep.

I think a great time was had by all (including me!) The long picture I included is stitched together from two that I took from the Tokyo Tower. It should look good when you click on it and see it in a separate window. (Besides stitching two pictures together, I also "Photoshopped out" a window beam-all you perfectionists and graphic artists out there, see if you can find where (it's really not that hard to find, I didn't work at it that hard)). Thanks for letting me borrow your travel summaries, Paula.

Disney Sea

This next post will be mostly a quote from my cousin, since she did a fantastic job summarizing our DisneySea trip:
. . . we walked to the 100 yen store again & also the post office which was miraculously open so we mailed more postcards. Then we walked to McDonalds. I got a picture of Rob walking in the door so we have evidence of his voluntary entrance into the premises. The girls went upstairs to sit down (like S. America McD's) while Rob & I stood in line at least 20 minutes if not 30. It wasn't a terribly long line but we think there might only have been 4 or 5 employees. Anyways, the food was good! Came home & did laundry & got ready for Disney Sea the next day. I think it might have rained that day so it wasn't quite as warm. Rob had checked the bus sign & determined they did indeed run at 6 AM. He had also checked conflicting weather reports that said it would either be partly cloudy or possibly raining every hour. We decided to go anyways. We got up around 5:30 and got out the door by 6:10 to catch the 6:19 bus to the train station where Rob bought a ticket & we hopped on the 6:48 shinkansen. It did indeed go fast but maybe because you're on elevated tracks it didn't seem quite as fast as I expected, although Rob said a couple of the 3 stations before the Tokyo one were too close together for it to get to top speed. We got to the Tokyo station (that's the name of the station) and encountered a mass of humanity moving in every direction imaginable. I didn't let the girls more than 2 feet away or I might never know where they ended up. (A couple times later on when we had to look at signs or schedules we parked them at a location & said DON'T MOVE NO MATTER WHAT if we had to step across the concourse or around a corner or something). Found the line we needed & walked a lo-o-o-o-ng way (including 3 long automatic walkways) & hopped on the train in the direction of Disney Sea. Took about 13 minutes to that station & then it was just a couple of minutes to the train that circles the Disney Resort. The windows were all shaped like Mickey so we figured it was the right train. It was fun to finally see lots of little kids, I hadn't seen many up until now. Got off at Disney Sea, bought tickets & got in line unfortunately at the slowest turnstile. They opened precisely at 9 and since we were in the back I think it was 9:20 before we were in the park. By now it's 3 hours since we left home. We headed over to "American Harbor" & got in line for Tower of Terror (like Haunted Mansion but with a dropping elevator). The building is impressive & can be seen from the whole park. And the wait was still 35 minutes. Somewhat discouraging, but the detail on the inside queuing area was amazing. The ride itself was fantastic & very original. You go in a little spooky room where the hostess tells the story of Harrison Hightower (not in English unfortunately, but all the little signs & box labels were) who brought back a cursed tiki from all his archeology expeditions & then disappeared one night so people think the hotel is haunted. Then you go into a large elevator that seats 25 people & as it goes up it stops & opens for various scenes including one view of the park... then it drops you, pulls you back up, drops you, etc... lots of fun! We got fastpasses & headed for "Mysterious Island", a large mountain in center of park, to go on Journey to Center of the Earth. While Rob & Laura went on it, we walked over to Mermaid Lagoon to go on Flounder's Coaster. That was cute & fun. Just as we got on , it started to sprinkle. It was light rain by the time we got off & a solid downpour by the time we got in line to see Ariel. We left & raced to a stall to buy cheap raincoats & headed to "Journey to Ctr. of Earth" exit, where all the walkways were through the mountain & covered. Still too late to save our feet, which were as wet as if we'd dumped them in a bucket of water. Really wish I'd brought dry socks. We met up with Rob & Laura & got in line for "20000 leagues Under the Sea", & after 20 minutes just as we got to front of the line, there was a delay & none of the cars which we could finally see (little "submersive vehicles" suspended on a track) were moving. They directed us all to the exit but our frustration was alleviated when they gave us all super duper fastpasses that could be used on any ride at any time that day. By then it was close to 11:00 so we decided to have an early lunch at "Miguel's El Dorado Cantina" in the Lost Delta area (like Adventureland, w/ Indiana Jones) because the brochure we'd checked out the day before (home made tortillas) gave us wild hopes it might be Mexican food. And it was close enough for us. The place was dead, so I guess Japanese people aren't as excited about Mexican food as us. We saw another Westerner there. At that point I had to start using my other hand to count.
We headed back over to "Port Discovery" because the Storm Rider ride looked like something Caitlin would like... a simulator ride a la Star Tours except you fly through storms to diffuse them. There was no wait besides the indoor area where they do a brief demonstration that included a big bang lightening flash, so Caitlin almost didn't want to go on that, but I coaxed her on & thankfully she liked it. She even wanted to go again, so we did that while Rob & Laura looked around the area. Then we all went on Aquatopia, an interesting ride that involved little round boats on a magnetic track underneath about 2 inches of water that makes it look like the boats are in deep water. They're continuously loading & move along the little track, briskly along the straight part, then they stop & spin around & the track twirls a lot through a small area so we enjoyed that. It's right next to Tower of Terror, so Caitlin & I did Aquatopia again while Rob & Laura used their Tower of Terror fastpasses. Then we walked towards the shops & saw Minnie. We got close enough to get an individual picture with Caitlin, but other people always got in the way & Minnie was actually trying to get to a door but kept stopping & posing. Caitlin said I was pushing her into other people & we never did get a picture. Oh well. By the time we went into a shop & got a couple of things, we heard music & there was a huge show with fabulous floats & singing & dancing on top of the large bay of water right in front of Mysterious Island that was a waterfront for several "lands" like Mediterranean Harbor & Arabian Port. Caitlin loved it & I got lots of pictures & video, although at one point I almost had a heart attack when Caitlin said "there's room up there!" & raced off while I was adjusting my camera and then I couldn't find her for a couple of minutes. I did finally see her & she came back to find me & show me where she was. I guess at least Disney is the "Safest Place on Earth to Lose Your Children." About when the show was over was when Rob & Laura showed up. Also the rain had stopped way before & the sun was even trying to peek through.

Well, Paula covered most of the day, but I'll just add that for a big part of the evening, I went on repeated rides on "Tower of Terror", which was ABSOLUTELY my favorite ride in the park. By early evening, the lines were very short for a while. I think I ended up going on it six or seven times. I bought one of the on-ride pictures they sell as you leave the attraction. I thought I looked like I was having a blast, but the look on Paula's face is priceless-can't even exactly figure out if she's terrified, confused, or someone just goosed her! I'll hopefully get to one more post later today.

Finally-an update!

I realized that if I didn't get started blogging about my cousin's visit soon, my sister would arrive, and then I'd be so behind I'd never catch up, so my strategy is to use the e-mails that my cousin wrote as part of my blog to get started, and then add my comments and pix. SO . . . if you're in the "family loop" and have already read her e-mails, much of this will be rehash to you. I'm not going to try to make this chronological, but will at least hit the highlights. I'll put Paula's writing in blue, and leave mine in black. On with the blog:

First quote from my cousin, Paula:
The girls and I are visiting my cousin Rob who is teaching English at a private church school here in Utsunomiya, about 100 km north of Tokyo. About a 2 1/2 hour ride by car, or 50 minutes on the shinkansen, or bullet train. We've been here a week & go home next Wed. Aug. 8. The first few days we explored the area around his apartment on foot & by bus. Really enjoyed the narrow streets that pass for roads here that would barely be alleys back home, all the bicyclists everywhere & the tiny funny cars. They have tons of auto makes that we've never heard of, mostly Honda, Toyota & Nissan of course. Things like the Mazda Bongo, the Toyota Spado, & many more. Lanes are ridiculously narrow & the first day my cousin rented a tiny car, he was rather nervous navigating the wrong side of the road in the tiny car with drivers who think missing you by 3 inches is perfectly acceptable. But before long he was driving faster so he must've been more comfortable. The car was expensive so we only used it for a day & a half, driving to a local area with the oldest wall carvings in Japan... they found pottery & even a skeleton that date to the very earliest human settlements in Japan. The next day we drove to Nikko, a town with the most beautiful & lavish temple in Japan. One gorgeous building after another, I'll try to remember to send pics. We also drove up to Chuzenji-ko (Lake Chuzenji), gorgeous mountain lake with another charming little town. The "coffee shop" had small table low to the ground with low chairs.

Yeah, all of the above was great. It was pretty strange driving the rental car at first-Paula's daughters, Laura & Caitlin, were sitting in the back and right before we left the parking lot I said that I needed maximum concentration, so no fighting, shouting, or other distracting behavior was allowed. They did great, and we had a smooth driving experience. I asked Paula to be the navigator, using a combination of the road signs, local English language map, and in-car navigation system (which was, of course, in Japanese, but still useful for the graphics). We mostly did okay, but did get lost in town while looking for a park I wanted to show them, which just ended up being a scenic tour of the suburbs of Utsunomiya . . . Nikko is an amazing, beautiful place. We walked along the river above some famous waterfalls for a short hike, and took loads of pictures. While we were there, a traditional Japanese celebration was occurring, and costumed dancers and musicians were traveling around the area in a special truck. I'll stop here, upload some pictures, and continue next time.