Japan in blogs: Tokyo & Fuji-san!

Can you see Fuji-san in the distance!? Apparently it is very rare and therefore very lucky to see it...

Yesterday (Saturday) Tomoko (my mom’s first cousin) treated me, my mom and Kay to a day tour of Tokyo. For all the times we’ve been and all the time my mom lived here, neither of us had really seen many of the sites in Tokyo, or at least not in a way that we had any clue as to what we were looking at. Excited but daunted by the eight our schedule that took us from one side of the city to the other and everywhere in between, we arrived at the designated train station and boarded the bus promptly at 9 a.m. It was immediately apparent that our guide’s English was less than stellar, but after learning (after much ear straining and guessing here and there) that he taught himself English using the English Japanese Public Radio shows, I just gave up and got out of it what I could for the remainder of the day.

Our first stop was Tokyo Tower which is shaped somewhat like the Eiffel Tower. We were ushered straight off the bus and into an elevator where we were whisked up to some very high place to enjoy the view. It was a beautiful day and to our surprise we could see Mt. Fuji (which the Japanese all lovingly call Fuji-san, like it’s their first born child or something) way off in the distance. For being almost 100 kilometers away from where we were, our photos aren’t half bad either. It was rather interesting to walk around and check everything out, especially because they had screens set up all around the observation deck where you could see what was where in any number of languages. We were able to find Aoyama cemetary where we had been, the U.S. Embassy where Kay used to work etc. which was fun.

Our next stop was a beautiful Japanese garden where we attended a traditional (although very casual

I would love to witness a real, very thorough tea ceremony one day...It was a little hard to really enjoy and appreciate this one with 20 other people crammed in the room.

according to Tomoko) tea ceremony and had a chance to stroll the garden grounds. There were several weddings going on that day and all of the couples were beautifully dressed in their kimono. The guests were flooding in as we went to leave dressed to impress in everything from opulent cocktail dresses and fur coats to traditional kimono…so much fun to watch! While there we came across a particularly funny parking sign adorned with some rather interesting Japanese-English translations.

Third on the agenda was lunch at a Japanese BBQ restaurant located at the Four Seasons hotel in Tokyo. We walked through a beautiful garden from the hotel’s lobby to get there, and sat around tempenyaki grills with fellow members of our group to enjoy a delicious lunch. The restaurant itself was in a very traditional style building and surrounded by the most beautiful grounds, making for a lovely lunch atmosphere. Talk about a small world, the two women sitting with us were from the American Consulate in D.C. and struck up quite the conversation with Kay about mutual friends they had through work. When we had sat down we were talking with Tomoko about weddings and a bit later when we first struck up conversation withthe two ladies at our table, one began by saying to me “so you mentioned you were getting married,” and when I shook my head in surprise she said “hmm well I see

We saw several brides that day, but this one was the most beautiful of them all. Her hair was particularly gorgeous with the flowers, not to mention her gorgeous kimono. Makes you wonder why Japanese girls opt for a western style wedding/dress instead.

you getting married before the end of the year…sometimes I see into the future and usually when I make a blunder like that and just blurt something out I am pretty right on about it.” Shocked to say the least, I told my mom later I was attending a few weddings this year and had every intention of leaving it at that. Yeah, don’t worry Daddy, no wedding to pay for in 2010 I promise!

After lunch we drove for about 35 minutes before we reached the very center of Tokyo where the Emperor and Empress live. On the way there I learned a few things: 1) There are about 127 million people living in Japan of which 30 million live in Tokyo which is so small that there are something like

Me, Mom & Tomoko in front of one of the main entrances to the Imperial compound. Apparently this is a very famous spot that they call "two bridges"

14,000 people to each square kilometer in the city. 2) The Emperor and Empress live on some 200+ acres with a moat and everything which no one is ever allowed to go in save for two days out of the year. 3) Despite having all of this pomp and circumstance, the Emperor doesn’t actually have any political power but instead is merely a symbol of Japan, thought to be the descendent of the gods and in his day to day life, an ambassador of his country. 4) Daily, over 1,000 people enter into the royal compound to service just those two people living there. A beautiful area, it was a bit crazy to think of the juxtaposition of the whole thing. Our guide seemed peeved by the fact that HIS tax dollars paid for such lavish living and noted more than once that “they (the Emperor and Empress) don’t even ever come out to say thank you.” Talking with Tomoko about it later she said that this irritation was not shared by the majority of the people of Japan who think that it is completely normal and wonderful that they live the way they do. So there. Personally I think living in the middle of such an amazing city with only one other person and no where to go would get real boring real fast. To each his own I guess.

Our next activity was a river cruise under some 17 bridges or so, ending at Asakusa temple. As we were getting off the boat Kay was scolding me

The ceilings on this boat were sooo low that save for Kay (who we are convinced is shrinking by the moment), we all had to duck just to get in and out!

(playfully of course) for wandering off (which I really wasn’t doing, but can easily seem like the case when there are millions of people standing right where you are and she says to me “if you get lost what are you going to do? You know what? We should just leave you somewhere and see what happens, see where you end up!” after which she laughed heartily and whacked me a good one on the butt. Do you see what I put up with?!?

Kay, Me, Tomoko and the madness of Asakusa temple

It’s a good thing both my mom and I had been to Asakusa temple before seeing as though we only briefly saw it this time around (as we were rushing to get to the bus in time) due to the excessive eating and shopping we were instead taking part in. SO crowded but such a good place for omiyage buying we went to town and by the time we hit the bus we were all dead tired. A short drive and very uplifting talk (or not) about the suicide rate in Japan by our tour guide later, we were finally on our way home. Stuffed from lunch we opted out of a sit-down dinner with Kay and instead raided the convenience store next to our hotel for soba, salad, fruit, last minute omiyage and of course dessert. What a day I tell you. We both slept in until 8 a.m. this morning which, if you know my mom who wakes up habitually at 5 a.m. every

This is as close to the temple as we actually got lol

day, was quite a feat and a direct correlation to our complete and total exhaustion.

After packing our bags (all of which weigh about 8 tons each) we walked around Chinatown for a bit before meeting about 12 members of our family for a very lavish Chinese lunch. It was so fun to see everyone, especially the little ones that we had never met before (I swear when kids are little everything they do is adorable!). Afterward we sent my mom off to the airport with Koichi and I headed home with Tomoko where I will be staying until I leave to go home Thursday. On the agenda for the next few days is the following: shopping, eating, shopping, overnight at an onsen somewhere in the countryside, lunch with Kay at some fancy European place she loves and I’m sure more eating and shopping.

Goodnight for now! xoxo, erin

Mom, Kay and me beneath Tokyo Tower

Ocha!

One of the wedding parties at the garden....traditional I guess, she looks like she's being inducted into the KKK to me...

Much better in my opinion All of the weddings going on made for a very happy atmosphere.

All of the trees in the background are cherry trees...can you even imagine how beautiful this place must be in the spring when they bloom???

Red plum blossoms...the first of the season

What to buy, what to buy...I'm going to start cruising around in a kimono I think...they all look so elegant in theirs

On the street in Chinatown - These are the largest manapua I've ever seen in my entire life...soo yum I bet!

Lunch with the fam in Chinatown...the restaurant was like 4 stories high and very, very beautiful

Koichi's son Hiro is two and was very excited about the trucks my mom brought him...so excited in fact that he opened and played with all 12 of them at once!