The family had to head off to the airport at 2 pm so we didn’t have a lot of time left. Lars and I left the parents to pack and left for Ikebukuro at 9:30 am. Lars really wanted to visit the main, biggest Pokemon Center. I was surprised to see they were selling more Japan exclusive anniversary goods. I ended up getting earrings! We returned to the airbnb to check out by noon, and departed with all the luggage over to Ueno. We grabbed some food at a cafe and ate in Ueno park while listening to a fantastic street cellist. I brought them to the Keisei station and we said our goodbyes. I’m really happy I got to show them around a bit!

Yesterday, my friend, A, contacted me because she was going back to Tochigi to visit her family. That’s so much closer in Osaka, but I already had the Tokyo plans. We managed to figure out we could meet halfway in Omiya, Saitama for dinner today. I had the rest of the day to spend in Tokyo, but I didn’t want to travel around too much or spend a lot of money. I was exhausted from doing so many things ha. I decided to relax at Starbucks and read first, before to the huge toy store, Yamashiroya. There were so many floors! But the basement offered character goods which is what I was after. Need to stock up on cute writing supplies. I also got a present for A. Afterward, I went and hung out in Ueno park. I staked out a grassy spot and read some more. The weather was gorgeous. It took about a half hour to get from Ueno to Omiya where I hung out at the Starbucks at the station there to kill more time.


A managed to catch an earlier train and we met outside the west entrance to go get shabu shabu! My first time eating this kind of hot pot. We had to wait a little before getting a seat, but it gave us time to discuss the menu - which kinds of sauces, meat, vegetables. We got so many little dishes and the food was amazing! My favorite add in was the really sweet potatoes in the tomato sauce. Yum! Although it was pricey, it was so worth it. We parted after a great time chatting at dinner and I managed to get back home at 11:30 pm. Getting up tomorrow will be hard!

We had plans to met our friend, K, at Tokyo station at 9:30 am. She was going to spend the day with us and show my family around Tokyo. My family was excited to see her again because when she studied in the US, she spent a weekend at my house. Lars didn’t have time to eat breakfast because he was so slow in getting up, so while waiting for K, we decided to stop at a bakery. K joined us and stopped at a yummy bakery on the way to the Imperial Palace where I ate a cranberry muffin. After the quick snack, Papa wandered around taking photos of a fountain and we moved on to the outer moat and walls of the palace. We walked over to the East Imperial Gardens entrance. It was hot out so we tried to stick to shade. The hydrangeas were blooming wonderfully.

We exited the gardens and took the subway over to Tsukiji fish market to get some lunch. The tiny alleys were jampacked with people. I think my family found it pretty interesting to see all the different kinds of fresh seafood and the prices. We ate at a sushi bowl place, sushi donburi, as they had enough space to seat us five. It was my first time eating prawns, the large shrimp, raw and I wasn’t a big fan. Too slimy. Sea urchin was good though! Lars freaked out while deshelling them because of the brain juice haha. Right outside the restaurant, something was going on. They had two of the transportable shrines, one filled with three guys playing the flute and drums. It was great that my family got to experience something so Japanese.

We walked along the main road over to the Hama-rikyu gardens. It’s located along the water and has salt water ponds! It smelled like the ocean and you could see the effects of the tide. It was a large and beautiful garden. The tea house located in the middle of one of the ponds was stunning, and a popular building to sketch. There were like twenty different people painting and sketching it! We caught a water bus, aka boat, from the gardens to head upstream to Asakusa. The ride took about 45 minutes and we passed under so many different color bridges. It was the closest I’ve been to the Sky Tree as well. After disembarking, we went to Starbucks for an afternoon wake up call, before stopping by the atm, and entering Asakusa temple area.

Sadly, the entrance gate was under construction and covered up. The old style shopping street that lead to the temple was filled with food stalls and souvenirs. Very tempting to buy many things. We passed through the main gate into the temple grounds. It was quite impressive and beautiful. We got there after 5 pm so I couldn’t get the seal stamp in my book, but wandering around the grounds was very satisfying. We saw lots of koi, some really funny ones sticking up through a waterfall, trying to eat algae off the rocks.

We decided to get dinner by Shinjuku station. My one request was something very Japanese and K fulfilled it with yakitori! We ended up a tiny winding alley near Shinjuku station. I later found this is called Piss Alley… I did see a rat run across a sign overhead. It was chock full of tiny restaurants, all selling yakitori. The smell of barbecued meat and smoke was everywhere. K asked in a couple places if they had room. Most of the downstairs areas were tiny, stool seating, but some had larger seating upstairs. We managed to get a spot in one. They even had an English menu! The food was amazing and delicious. The best yakitori I’ve had yet. My fav was the grilled leek with bacon wrapped. Yum! After dinner, we went to the government building and up to the free observatory. The line was intense! But we managed to see sprawling Tokyo at night. We said goodbye to K at the station and took our weary selves back to the airbnb.

I drove my car to school and back today as we had a very narrow window of time to catch our train to Tokyo. Lars and Mama were waiting outside when I pulled up outside my apartment. I dropped them off near Takasaki station while I went to park the car in the cheaper lots further away. We had like 4 minutes to spare, phew. Lars needed a ticket as well, because he had misplaced his IC card in his luggage and couldn’t find it. We managed to get all settle on the train for the next two hours to Shinjuku station. I got really hungry though since you aren’t supposed to eat on the local trains and I had no food with me.

We transferred at Shinjuku station to the subway to head to our airbnb. We decided to wait at the final station’s entrance as Papa was not far behind us. He had taken the shinkansen up from Osaka. We got to the airbnb at 8 pm and ran into all sorts of trouble getting into the building. The worst experience I’ve had yet. Mostly it was due to the language barrier in her instructions in how to get the key and my assumption that there would be two keys. We finally got in the apartment over an hour later. The family proceeded to complain about how small it was, but I thought it was rather big for an inner city, Tokyo, apartment, ha. We all decided it was too late to get proper dinner, so we went to the conbini instead. It was my first full conbini dinner meal. I made it almost 11 months! We ended up going to bed around midnight, eep!

K’s mom had made French toast and strawberries for breakfast, but she had already left for work before we got up. We headed off to our first hanami stop in Tokyo. We met a huge herd of people as we headed towards the Imperial Palace. Unbeknownst to us, the palace was open to visitors for the sakura without having a reservation today! Everything was set up and organized very neatly for the incoming visitors. Japan is so good at making lines! After passing through security checks - both checking bags, and a pat down or metal wand check - we entered the gates amongst heavy security personnel. The blossoms weren’t that impressive, but it was cool to see the grounds and buildings.

Outside the palace, all along the water, there were blossoms. Absolutely breathtaking. We walked alone the moat through Chidorigafuchi Park. So many people were out walking, rowing boats or waiting in line. Wonderful tunnels of sakura. We walked through a neighboring shrine, Yasukuni, with more blossoms as well. This shrine holds the official sakura tree that determines the start of the season. We made our way towards an outer moat where more sakura waited. We stopped for lunch at a cafe at a nearby station for some Italian food. Then more walking and more trees! I took so many photos but it was all so beautiful and different from every angle.

We tried to stop at a cafe to take a break, but they were all full with lines! We even returned to Tokyo station and wandered all around that area trying to find a place. Finally we managed to get into one for some cake and matcha drinks. We hung out for a bit, waiting for sunset to approach so that we could get into Rikugien Garden when it was darker. A short train ride later, we joined the line of people waiting to get into Rikugien. K got in line to buy us some dango while I went over to the huge weeping sakura to get some photos in while it was still light out. This tree was already past its prime, but still beautiful! The dango were yummy! The sky slowly grew darker as the hordes of people increased. Eventually, we felt it was dark enough for good photos and ventured into the crowd.

There was an unmoving mass of people encircling the tree. It was only fifty years old, but looked really impressive. I shuffled my way to the front to get some close up shots. Moving was near impossible, but luckily the crowd thinned out as we headed further into the garden. There was another towering sakura tree and some more illuminations. Next, we returned to Chidorigafuchi Park to get night time photos. The nearest station had a bunch of staff directing traffic - we were only allowed to use one exit. The guy even switched to speaking English with his megaphone when he saw me! That’s a first. The prime photos areas were jammed as well and required some maneuvering to get through the crowd. The lighting was fantastic though and the trees still looked gorgeous.

Back at Tokyo station, we stopped by a bakery to get some small things for dinner. K’s family is so kind. They treated me to everything today and bought me shinkansen ticket back to Takasaki station so I could travel back in one hour instead of two. I was so lucky to have K show me around today! We had a lot of fun! I managed to get home at 11:15 pm, after a bit of a sleepy drive. Parking cost more than I expected - supposed to be 500 yen a day and I parked for 27 hours and had to pay 1100 yen. Still cheaper than taking the train to Tomioka though!

My friend and her husband were supposed to come visit me for three days yesterday, but they got trapped in Okinawa due to high waves. They couldn’t use the ferry to get back to the main island and had to postpone their flight. I had already taken PTO yesterday so I got to have an extra day off. As their flight was coming in late today, after the last bus and with a small chance to catch the last train, I offered to pick them up at the airport. So I spontaneously ended up in Tokyo for today. This weekend was AnimeJapan, the world’s largest anime convention, at Tokyo Big Sight. Last year about 120,000 people attended. What a jump from my previous cons - Anime Midwest, 3000; MTAC, 9000; Ohayocon, 13,000.

I left at 7 am. Normally it takes a little under two hours to get to Tokyo, but there was a 50 minute delay on the way. All the traffic. I decided to get off the expressway and circumvent it. I parked a bit further away from Big Sight along the same train line so I didn’t have to wait in long lines to park. The station was right next to the parking garage, but it was a bit weird because the building accompanying it was closed so I couldn’t get back outside except by walking up the ramp although there was a no walking sign. Whoops. The trains was super crowded! I just followed the flood of people pouring out of the station and towards the convention center. I walked and walked and walked. They had some staff members manning signs that directed us to basically wind around the whole convention center to the back and then into the East hall. I got off the train at 9:40 am and made it in the convention center at 11:15 am. It wasn’t that bad because we kept moving the whole time, but had I gotten there earlier… Eeek. Definitely the longest line I’ve seen. Even beat Disney at NYE. There was a separate smaller line to buy tickets before the big line up started. I was glad I managed to figure out how to get mine at FamilyMart!

When inside, it felt like less people because everyone spread out. There were only spots where it was difficult to move. It was completely different from the American cons I’ve been too. Huge stands for all the anime companies that often had displays or shows. There was one open stage with events, and three private stages that you had to win lottery tickets to enter as they could only fit about 500-1500 people. The stages were all talk panels with famous creators or voice actors.

Each booth was selling things, but it was mostly shows I wasn’t interested in. Lots of free flyers, goodies, and bags were being handed out. There were two huge food areas as well. I think I missed out a bit on the signs and atmosphere because I can’t understand Japanese. Some things would have been more impressive. Like I think I could have gotten this really cool Kuroshitsuji movie ticket thing, but google translate failed me. I really enjoyed seeing the huge Nyanko-sensei though! It was also cool to see the creator booths where you could watch them draw manga with photoshop and put together animations.

The cosplay stuff was way different too. There was a small indoor cosplayers area that featured a dressing room. The cosplayers came in normal clothes with suitcases and changed there, dropping their suitcases at a “coatroom.” Then most of them were outside staking out a spot with signs with their pro names and twitter handles. Photographers/people would line up to take a picture of the cosplayer posing. The cameras were super intense! People even brought the light reflector boards. The cosplayers didn’t roam free throughout the con. There were some impressive cosplays, but it wasn’t that much better than those in the US. It was exclusively anime characters (and some video games?). I didn’t see the mix of comic, tv, and movie characters that we have. I felt bad though because it was cold! They were standing out where we originally came in, by the windy ocean.

It was a different type of crowd. It’s like one big nerdy party for us and it just seemed like a commercial event here with standard group of people going, although people did end up sitting everywhere on the floors too. I got lunch at a cafe that was okay and not too severely overpriced. At about 4 pm before it closed, I staked out a spot at Starbucks and relaxed. I later got dinner at McD’s but I couldn’t hang out there too long. You were only allowed to stay for 30 minutes and were given a piece of paper with your exit time.

I had some extra time before I could leave for the airport, so I walked over the bridges to the other part of Odaiba to see the giant Gundam statue. Along the way I ran into people doing nighttime cosplay shots, by the big Ferris wheel. I even spotted a Project K shoot between Mikoto and Munakata that suited the atmosphere perfectly! By the statue, tulips were already blooming and two sakura trees! I was pretty cold at this point so I took shelter in the shopping mall. I only wore a fleece jacket because I didn’t want to carry my coat around all day inside the center - although it was actually only semi-warm inside. I got to go shopping at H&M and Forever 21, cries. Big city life with clothes with real sizes. There were a bunch of sales going on for spring. I got three things at F21 for about $15!

I made it back to my car and headed off for the extra hour driving to the airport. It all worked out and I managed to park at the right garage. Following some very confusing signage, I made it to Terminal 3 which is much further from Terminal 2 than I had thought. I managed to get there right before my friends came out at 10:15 pm. Needless to say, we took the bus back to the Terminal 2 ha. After a long drive home with mostly empty roads, I managed to get in my bed at 1:30 am. It was really great talking with E and her husband K though. We made plans to get up early the next day for a drive to Nagano so they could get their JR Rail passes exchanged because there’s no station in Gunma that will do it. The original plan was to do it in Tokyo, but the office closed before their arrival.

I popped by a conbini for breakfast and then went to the Starbucks by the station. It was time to try the infamous sakura frappuccino! I ate my breakfast there while sipping on the deliciousness. It was a mix of sakura and strawberry. SO yummy! I definitely want to try the hot version next. I dropped off my backpack at Ikebukuro after a little hunt for an open locker. Then I accidently put the wrong destination in google maps so I ended up taking a longer route to the park I wanted to go to. I realized this while on a train so I got off at Ginza station to correct my route. There were a lot of people, uniformed officials handing out maps, and police around. The station was another underground warren with like twenty different exits. I was a bit confused as to what was going on, but I emerged into a crowd watching the Tokyo Marathon. I didn’t realize where it was happening. I stopped by to watch a bit. Running always amazes me because I hate it so. All the roads were blocked off, no crossing allowed, but my transfer station was on the same side. Although transportation is good, I certainly racked up the bill traveling back and forth across Tokyo.

I finally made it to Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden. It was stunning. One of the best Japanese gardens I’ve visited. The landscaping was fantastic. Apparently it used to be an Imperial Garden. There was also a grove of plum trees that were in bloom. I believe a couple was getting wedding photos done there. I had a picnic lunch on a hill with a view of the Tokyo Tower. I had wanted to go to another garden nearby, but lingered too long here. I headed back to Ikebukuro to buy S something from the Pokemon store. Much less people today. I know Sunshine City so well now I easily stopped by Babies R Us to get a baby shower present for T this weekend. Afterward, I went to visit the biggest Animate in the world, 8 floors tall. It was rather disappointing though. Crazy crowded and didn’t carry anything really from things I like. Even my tastes are too rare in Japan, ha. It was cool to see the Stride themed food truck though. Already so popular even though it’s in the middle of airing.


I passed by some cosplayers in a park doing pretty pro looking photos. My first ones I’ve seen here. They were portraying characters from World Trigger. I wanted to go to the largest anime convention in the end of March, but I’ll have friends from Germany visiting instead. It would be nice to go to a con here at least once. After picking up my backpack, I grabbed some dinner/late lunch from a bakery and boarded my bus back to Tomioka.

 After grabbing a conbini breakfast, I met up with K, a friend I knew from college who has been in Tokyo for over two years now, by Harajuku station at 10:30 am. There was an insanely long line of people waiting for something. K said that often people wait in huge lines to get into the famous restaurants in this area. We walked around Harajuku. It was early enough that the crowds hadn’t started yet. Lots of clothing shops (such cute socks!), and crepe stands! There were some themed cafes as well. After getting her phone checked out at the apple store, we stopped in a giant theme store that sold all the character goods you could possibly imagine. They even had the mole character from Czech Republic. We wandered through some back alleys that had some interesting architecture and fancy restaurants. We got lunch at a crepe truck and both tried an avocado salmon salad crepe. It was huge and delicious. Much bigger than the dessert ones.

We caught the train over to Ueno Park and stopped by a place that had tons of gachapon (vending machines that give capsule toys), before walking over to the park. Some early sakura were already blooming. We visited a shrine, passed by the zoo, and the National Museum. We headed around the pond to visit another shrine near the park, Yushima Tenjin. The plum blossoms there had just started to bloom and they were having a festival with performances and food. We got to listen to some taiko drumming.

We hit the road again and walked to catch the next train over to Ikebukuro to visit the Pokemon Center as today was the 20th anniversary of the Pokemon games! It was my first time in Sunshine City, a large mall that we access from the basement level. The Pokemon Center was hopping! An unbelieveable amount of people were shopping and waiting in the checkout line. I picked out some of the exclusive Japan anniversary goods: a folder, keychain, t-shirt, the Japanese Pokemon Blue game (although I can’t play it on my US 3DS, it came with a magnet and a map). I also got a free plastic poster for spending over 4000 yen. The checkout line moved really quickly and the guy at the register even double checked that I knew the game was region locked. I thought about getting the green version because it’s only available in Japan, but Pokemon Blue was the first video game I ever played.


On the way, we stopped by the bus depot area so that I could buy my return ticket for tomorrow. K really helped out with her great Japanese. No missing my bus back this time! We got some pastries at the cafe next door that K recommended for its chocolate croissants. It was yummy, but a little too sweet for me. The melon bread that K got was much better.

Inside Sunshine City, they had a Pikachu hunt going on. We picked up a copy of the map and puzzle and set off to find all 60 little Pikachu posters hidden around the mall. The map only had a rough estimate of their locations. The second floor took us awhile but we got to be pros after learning where they were hidden. We even started writing location numbers on a map of the mall. Nothing like some logic to figure this out! Two of them were really tricky though! One was on the backside of a potted plant facing the wall, and the other was almost outside the mall in a construction zone. It took us a bit over an hour to find them all and we really learned a lot about the mall. Our three prizes were a sticker, a postcard, and a shiny certificate.

After the hot and sweaty hunt, our feet were really killing us, and we made the walk to Ichiran ramen, a chain, that served delicious ramen. It’s the best one I’ve had yet. They served one type of ramen and you could customize the ingredients like how much oil, flavor, spiciness, and how soft or hard the noodles were. It was interesting because each booth didn’t allow you to see the server’s faces. It’s supposed to make you appreciate the flavor of the ramen more. We headed over to Tokyu Hands to surprise her girlfriend who was shopping there. It was great meeting her. She was super nice and even spoke some German! After checking out some arcades, we said our goodbyes as I headed off to my capsule hotel. I’m so lucky she showed me around. According to our phones, we walked about 20 km today! No wonder our feet were dead.

I really wanted to try a capsule hotel once and I waited too long to book so that this one, Capsule Inn Kinshicho, was the only one available with women capsules. It was a bit older and a little further out, but that suited me fine as it was cheap! I was on the top floor, a women’s only floor, that held three sets of eight capsules. Basically a hostel room as you could easily hear people. I managed to just barely fit lengthwise, but it wasn't claustrophobic at all. There was even a tv built in and an outlet to charge your phone. The only problem was that the heaters were turned on much too high and it was super hot. I was sweating in my tank top and flannel pj bottoms. I didn’t even need to use the blanket they provided until later in the night when I woke up chilled after the heat had been turned off.

After school, I biked over to catch the bus to Tokyo for a weekend trip. After arriving in Ikebukuro, I wandered through the station for 20 minutes before I was able to find the cafe where the German conversation group was taking place. I followed the signs properly, but they disappeared shortly before the actual mall started. I never knew that Japan had so many underground warrens and malls attached to train stations. You can cover a lot of distance and find anything you need without going outside.

Anyway, the German conversation hour was cool. There were three other German native speakers and the rest were Japanese who had learned German. It was a lot of fun, but my German has gotten really bad. Many pauses and blanks where there should be vocabulary. Afterward, I headed to D’s place to crash again. She had another thing going on, so she left me her spare key. She’s always so welcoming. She actually ended up missing her last train so I didn’t get to see her.

My two friends, N and A, that I met during my TEFL course in Prague, were in Japan for their honeymoon so we met up in Tokyo! They’re originally from the UK and teach in Vietnam now. I took the bus to Tokyo which sadly required an early morning. It was amazing to see them again. It’d been about two years since I last saw them. We went to hang out in a cafe and catch up a bit. They were very impressed by Japan and I can’t blame them! I didn’t have any plans so we decided to check out the city together. It was a bit easier for me to direct them around since I had internet access. We first went to the Imperial Palace Gardens. My first Japanese sakura were already blooming! (only a little bit) Walking through the plum tree alley was gorgeous. It’s plum blossom time and both pink and white trees had bloomed.

Both N and A seemed interested in checking out an owl cafe so I tried to track one down that was open and relatively close. We changed our minds though because it was $20 for an hour! Just too expensive. I will try again another time. Tsukiji fish market area was nearby so we headed there for a fresh sushi lunch. It was fantastic. The area was pretty cool to see, a bunch of huge chopped fish heads. Post lunch we stopped at the Meiji Shrine that was located on beautiful wooded grounds. I finally remembered my seal book so I got another stamp there. There was even a traditional Shinto wedding going on while we were there. It was interesting to see her headdress and their outfits.

We headed back to Shinjuku to try and stop by a cat cafe. This also failed as they were fully booked and didn’t have an open slot till three hours later when I’d already be gone. Instead we got drinks and donuts by Mister Donut, finally my first time going there. It was also crowded and we had to wait to get a spot. Tokyo is a pretty quiet and calm city in many areas. It’s always surprising to me because it’s so populated. I led N and A to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building so they could enjoy a free night view of the city, before saying goodbye to catch my bus.

Then the mess began. I easily got to Ikebukuro station with 20 minutes to spare, but I only knew where the bus had dropped me off. I read through the signs, checked maps, used google translate, but couldn’t figure out where the pick up stop was. I even crossed the street and checked around the corner where a bus stop was marked on the map, but there were just local buses. A sweet Japanese couple came up to me and offered help. I guess they had noticed me walking in circles. At this point, it was already 7 minutes past the departure time so I knew my bus was gone. They helped me out though and brought me to the stop - which was around the corner and some meters past the local bus stop, grr. They even came with me to the train station so that I could get on the right line to Takasaki, although that much I knew how to do, ha. The problem with the train was the Takasaki line was having delays due to some weird track noise. It ended up being a 20 minute delay by the time I got to the station, so I missed the next train back to Tomioka and had to wait again. Finally made it to my bed at 11 pm, wah.

We had a small breakfast this morning as I was still recovering from all the food the day before. Y’s mom packed me some omiyage and then we were off to Tokyo Tower! It’s about the same size as the Eiffel Tower, 33 m taller, but the base of each leg felt narrower. It’s also 3000 tons lighter! After getting our tickets, we rode an elevator up to the first observation area. It was a clear day so you could even see Fuji-san! There was a cafe and a shrine, as well as a mailbox where you could get a special stamp on the letters you mailed there. The special observatory at 250 m had a bit of a line before we made it to the top. Such good views! Tokyo is huge.

We walked over to Zojo-ji, the nearby temple, for some good views of the tower, before they drove me to Ikebukuro Station. Y’s family were all so kind! They kept treating me to things and really included me in their family. I’m lucky to have met Y. Despite some traffic and panic, we made it to the station with 15 min to spare. I said my goodbyes and Y walked me to the gate. It was really crowded. The rush of people returning back to normal life from their families. On my platform, all the vending machines were sold out! I managed to get something from a vendor though. Didn’t want to be trapped on the train for 1.5 hours without food or drink. People in Japan don’t really eat or drink on trains, so I just tried to be clean about it. I still had leftover bread from a couple days ago and all the things Y’s mom gave me before I left to snack on.

Suddenly at one point, they had an announcement that the train was splitting. From 15 cars, 5 were being removed. This always happened to me in Europe. I had headphones in so I missed most of the message, but managed to figure out that I was in car 7 (I’ve never looked for the car numbers before!) so no matter what, I was safe. After the hour and a half, I was back at Takasaki station - also super full - and got back on my little train. Felt good to finally be home and in my bed.

I woke up still feeling tired, uhhh. I think this overnight jaunt will take several days to recover from. Y’s mom had prepared a grand spread for breakfast with some of the leftover food from yesterday. Y and I went out so she could show me the shrines around her home and so that I could do hatsumode - the first shrine visit of the new year. At one of the larger temples, there were so many stands selling food and trinkets. I bought two charms, one with a monkey for the new year and one with a wooden horse, the year I was born in. Many people were out and about. A couple of the vendors commented on my height and figure, ha. I think I may have been the only foreigner around too. We also got omikuji - fortunes - based on our birthdays.

We walked around her neighborhood, and saw part of the Waseda University campus. Such gorgeous weather, warm too! The winters here are sunny. We went to a smaller fox shrine on the way back. One of the shrine maidens told me Happy New Year in English! It’s always cute to watch people gather their courage to speak with me. There was a lovely, small park next door.

For lunch, K’s mom’s side of the family came over, four of them including her cousin, an adorable little girl. Absolutely amazing food again. We had ozoni - traditional new year’s soup. I overate as per usual. My stomach was feeling much better today so I wanted to try everything! Shortly after we had dessert and tea. I got to try baumkuchen for the first time! It’s really popular in Japan although I’ve almost never seen it in Germany.

After the relatives left, we headed out to complete a stamp rally with the Seven Gods of Fortunes. We got a poster board to place our stamps on and then had to use a map to find all the shrines and temples. We split into two teams, Y’s parents, and Y, her brother, and I. I took over navigating and thoroughly impressed them. Only had difficulty finding one because it was outside the cemetery we were walking through, not inside like we thought. Her parents won, but they knew where all the stamps were since they’d done it last year!

Nabe - hot pot - was for dinner with some kind of seafood I’ve never had before. Abalone, maybe. I could only eat a tiny bit because I was too full! We watched tv as well, a comedy show where I comedian plays sports with pros. It was a tennis match with Nishikori Kei and two other pro players. They threw in giant rackets and had 6 players versus Nishikori and his coach. Very funny. When bathtime rolled around, they offered me the first bath (just like everything I’ve read and seen!), but I declined since I was going home tomorrow. K’s parents also worked on New Year’s cards. She told me they get about 300 cards!

And the night continued till 7 am. We went shopping next. All the stores and at exoborant prices. We stopped by the car to drop off the bags and took an hour nap between 1-2 am. At around 4 am, we headed over to Disneyland. I finally got to see the castle! I only saw Disneyland briefly, but Disney Sea seemed more intricate so I rather liked it better. Ride-wise I sat out on one, and went to a 4D and 3D movie. A Star Wars themed one and one about music. My first time to hear all the big Disney numbers in Japanese, haha. When we left the park, the sun was rising and people were already camping out in front of the gates with blankets for the next opening time at 9 am. So hardcore! I think experiencing it in Japan was a positive. Everyone is uber-polite, the service amazing. I’m curious to see how the atmosphere would differ in the US. I’m so glad I got to go. It was magical.

I left via the train station to go to my friend Y’s house in Shinjuku. She invited me to celebrate New Year’s Day with her family! I was going to meet her around lunchtime. The line to get into the station through the ticketing gates was insane. Such a flood of people from the resort park. E told me how to get to Shinjuku station since my phone died earlier in the night. I really need to get a portable battery charger. I had to switch trains at Tokyo station so I wandered around unsuccessfully looking for an outlet. I bought some bread for breakfast and a drink, but no outlets anywhere. I searched for a Starbucks outside the station, but exited via the back entrance and had to circle around to the front. Everything was closed for New Year’s. I found a McD’s by the station with an outlet and had some hash browns before a worker told me I couldn’t charge there. Seriously, Japan?? Even the McD’s in Kyoto had outlets built in and was a fav study spot.

I gave up and continued on to the Yamanote line which goes in a circle. I was told by locals that it’s great for sleeping on. I promptly fell asleep for the 30 minutes it took to get to Shinjuku and then missed getting off and had to return. I was planning to sleep at a manga/internet cafe, Manboo, because I thought it’d be more restful than the train. Wrongggg. The five minutes I charged at McD’s got me to 10% and enough directions to find Manboo. It’s 9:30 am at this point. I descend into the basement and approach a lady at a counter to check in. I borrowed a membership card so I show that and ask for a flat, 3 hours booth. Only smoking is available, but I take it. It costs me 1100 yen. You could also pay extra for a shower.

I was counting on being super tired and easily falling asleep, but no. All the walking this morning woke me up and I only started drifting off an hour later at 10:45 when I have to wake up at 11:15 am. At least I could properly charge my phone! It was quite interesting to experience. Rows of booths, shoes outside them, with a small sliding door and about 1 x 2 m space. I had a computer and guest slippers. I managed to fit my backpack in, and used my coat on top of the small pillow they provided. I couldn’t completely stretch out, a little too short for me, but the mat was comfortable and it was warm. The coughing, shuffling sounds were a bit distracting, but I felt there was barely any light. I draped my scarf over my head to block out some of the smoke, but I’ve definitely been in smokier situations (coughGermanycough). There were shelves of manga - so many of my favorites!

After checking out, I head off to meet Y at Shinjuku station, the southeast entrance since the place is huge. At this point, I’ve had 2 hours of sleep and my body feels like it’s swimming through air. This is why I’ve never pulled an all-nighter. Y finds me easily enough despite being wrapped up with my hair tucked under a hat. We are both surprised by the number of tourists and people around. Tokyo is quite empty because most Japanese people return home to their families for New Year. It was actually the most pleasant time I’ve had in Tokyo, haha. Her father picks us up at the station nearest to her house.

Both of her parents are elementary school teachers and speak a couple words of English, but Y has to do a bit of translating with her basic English. She warned me that her house was small, but I didn’t really think so. A narrow building with three stories. We put my luggage in the room I was staying in - it also had a loft. The second floor was the main living area. I now understand why Japanese people hang the entryway curtains - to trap heat in a certain area when you don’t have doors. I met her mother who’s the same age as my parents and her older brother who’s the same age as me. She was busy cooking, preparing so many amazing foods for lunch. I also met her dad’s side of the family who was visiting - two cousins, great aunt, grandpa, aunt, and uncle. The one cousin spent a month in Alabama so he introduced himself nicely in English.

I got my basic intro out of the way and quickly picked up the new year’s greeting. So much active listening to all the Japanese. I can still pick up words here and there with the help of context clues. Her uncle even gave me otoshidama - new year’s money that’s supposed to be for kids. So sweet. Y explained some of the traditional new year’s food to me, osechi: fish cakes, mashed sweet potato with chestnut that’s supposed to bring wealth, black soybeans - health, and anchovies - abundant harvest. I didn’t eat too much, still worried about my stomach issues, but it was all delicious. Post-lunch, the younger folks played jenga and some card games. They taught me a Japanese game and I taught them spoons.

We all went outside to send them off in the afternoon. It was about 3 pm and I headed upstairs for a 2 hour nap. I crashed hard on the warm and comfy futon. Woke up groggy, but in better condition than before. After my nap, we planned to go to a sentou - a really nice modern one. Y and her parents came with. They treated me to the bath and to dinner afterward. I felt so included. Unbelievably kind. It’s the first sentou I’ve been that had a big, mixed gender pool where you wore swimsuits. Y and I rented them. I had to guess my size, 3L! It actually fit decently well length wise, if a bit big width wise. They were the traditional school bathing suits that I’ve seen in manga/anime. Once in our swimsuits, you still rinsed off in showers - like in the US - before getting in the pool. There were different spots with massagers - neck, back, leg - and an area to walk in, practicing water aerobics. There were two outdoor baths and a sauna as well. By far the largest sentou I’ve been to. One of the outdoor baths was mineral based and had a brown, yellow color to it.

Afterward, we stripped off the bathing suits and spun the water out in a machine before placing them in a plastic bag. We then did the traditional sentou stuff and baths. These ones were much hotter. Again, we went outside and even sat in the individual old style bathtub ones. My skin felt amazing and I was all warm and cozy. I love this part of Japanese culture. We got dressed in the outfits they provided and went up a floor to get dinner. I didn’t eat much, just some fries and salad, but also got to try nabe - hot pot - for the first time! It was kimichi nabe so a bit spicy. Then we got soft ice cream for dessert, matcha and vanilla flavor. The matcha was okay, but the vanilla really good. Much better flavor than US soft ice cream. Then back to her place and bed!

They served breakfast on the plane at an ungodly hour. I was fast asleep and wham lights on. I think it was around 2 am Indonesian time. I was hungry, but with an unhappy stomach so I didn’t eat too much. Upon exiting the plane, it was freezing! Only 2C/33F. All the passengers were shivering. You could see your breath. At immigration I first went in the wrong line as the re-entry permit line only had one small sign and was separate from the special permanent residents and Japanese citizens area (unlike what I had read). The flight attendant onboard actually asked me which forms I need as well so it was easy to only get the customs form. My bag was one of the last ones out. I immediately pulled out my wonderfully warm jacket. Customs asked me more questions than my first entry where they basically waved me through. Nothing weird or complicated though.

I saw the bus ticket sign right away like my JTE said. Super easy, but more expensive than I had been expecting, 4650 yen to Takasaki station while my bus from Tomioka to Shinjuku only cost around 2000 yen. The airport is so much further out from Tokyo, in Chiba. The first bus left at 8:30 am and it was only 7:15 so I hunkered down in some chairs near an outlet to charge my phone. I made a few excursions to the atm, the toilet (my poor, poor stomach), and to buy Pocari Sweat. Need to keep those electrolytes up.

Nothing like leaving a country to really make you appreciate it. The cleanliness, the safety. Actually understand more of a language ha.

It took us a little over 2 hours to get to Takasaki where I then caught my train back to Tomioka. My next train left in 4 minutes so good timing! Got home about 12:15 and immediately started packing for the trip back to Tokyo. I biked over to the post office to mail my cards to the US and pick up my package. It was very busy with the new year’s cards rush. People were dropping off gigantic packs of them. Ravenous but only dared to eat four pieces of bread. No time to nap, but I read a bit in bed, until I went to meet my teacher and her friends at 3:30 pm so we could drive to Tokyo Disney Sea. There was an unbelieveable amount of people waiting in line. We were cordoned off in sections. Some people were sitting and had been waiting since the morning. When we arrived all the day guests were leaving and the restroom lines were also insane. This even beat the Eiffel Tower lines. We got there at 6:30 pm. The park was supposed to open at 8:00 pm and it took us about 30 minutes to get through the gates and security. I got rather cold just standing there for that whole time. I wore an insane amount of layers including my wool long underwear because it’s right on the ocean. Thank goodness for the 2 hour jet lag, because I was much less hungry than the others at this point. As the herd spread throughout the park, it wasn’t as bad of a crowd. Actually less people than I had expected.

This was my first time ever going to a Disney park and I was blown away. My jaw kept dropping. Every area was something different and intricate. I felt transported into all these different worlds. Honestly, the design and architecture interested me more than the rides. We split into two groups, E and I went to get in line for food and her friends to get us some fastpass ride tickets. The place they had wanted to eat had a four hour wait! And still, people kept getting in line. We backtracked a bit to a restaurant that was just serving one dish, seafood chowder. No wait here. I got some hot tea to warm me up as well. It was super delicious. The first ride we rode was the Indiana Jones Temple of the Crystal Skull. With Fastpass, we didn’t have to wait in line at all. Again, the details were astonishing. The ride had no ups and downs just sideway movements so it was okay with my motion sickness. Not too scary either ha. We also did an interactive 4D video about storms that I did not look at since I knew I’d get sick and I didn’t join them when they later rode a roller coaster ride.

For the countdown and fireworks, we found a spot up top a huge boat with a great view of the water and the fake volcano. Surrounded by people counting down in Japanese, I stuck with English. I’m pretty sure I was the only foreigner in the park (didn’t spot or hear any others) as you have to win an advance lottery to get tickets. This was the earliest I’ve celebrated, only my Aussie and Kiwi friends beat me.