Tokyo Disney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I want a japanese child!)

heeeeeaaadache!!!! The tiredness has so kicked in, I apologise for any rubbish I might be writing. Today we went to.......drum roll......Disneyland!!!!!!! It was fantastic! Arriving at the gates we were bombarded with happy music and saw Donald Duck, Daisy, and Eeyore (I don't even know if that's spelt right...)! Unfortunately I was too much of a wimp to push my way to Donald...I touched him though!! (yay!) We then went on to the first ride - the thunder mountain one...One thing about the rides we noticed, was that they were longer than normal rides we have in the UK and also not quite as wild and adrenaline pumping. But that was kind of good...because you could enjoy it more. The queues took aaaages though! It was mental! We thought "HA! go on a school day and we'll have the park to ourselves!" but nooooo, all the flipping school kids came that day (in their uniforms!), creating a massive wait for every ride. Another thing we noticed was that japanese children are sooo cute! (Well I knew that one actually..but going to a place where they are literally crawling all over the place...it just emphasises it more). There were quite a few examples where I just wanted to take one and run off with it. Obviously I did not...I shall have to think of a cunning plan to get myself one of those...but I want to give it back when it loses cute status...teenagers are NOT cute whatever nationality.

I loved the fact that everybody dressed up. It was as if before entering the actual disney part, everyone did a detour through the shops and bought all the attire they would require throughout the day. Men and women of all ages were walking around wearing these amazing mickey hats, hair bands, 'ear' hair clips (men too), or even "tails". Some actually dressed up from top to bottom. several hunky Japanese fellows dressed up like jack sparrow....hmmmmmm. Of course the kids were all dressed as princesses, pinocchio etc. One little boy wore a Donald duck outfit which was amazing!!!

During the electric parade it was great to hear some of the characters speak Japanese. There was a lot of stuff in American and all the characters that were people, were Americans, which was odd for us, but probably more appealing for the Japanese person.

The experience was certainly very magical, and I recommend anyone coming to Tokyo to go to Disneyland, its a great day out!

WOHOOOOOOOOOOO!

THEY FOUND HIM!!!!! (Herbert)

just to let you all know! :p

They took him AGAIN!

I had my first japanese lesson today! Our training session was damn scary today! We had to do practice lesson stuff in front of the group. It went alright actually, I made an idiot of myself being all over enthusiastic and shouting "good morning!!!" a lot. Two new girls joined us as well and one of them studied neuroscience!!!!! As you can imagine I was very excited and kind of drowned her in minimai babble. She didn't seem to mind though, we've exchanged contact details and all. After training we went back to the main office where I was told I will be doing ANA testing on Friday (I am going to be the english examiner to stewardesses, and giving them grades!!!! check me out!)

After that we met some other teachers in the teacher room and found out that there will be a free Japanese lesson in half an hour for staff. Obviously I was like "jaaaaaaa I wanna do it!" So we made friends and went to the lesson. It was all basic stuff I could do, which is still comforting, as I kinda know where I am at now. So that was pretty cool!

Now I am back at the hotel and to my horror, discovered that Herbert is gone AGAIN!!!!!!! What the fudge?????? So I walked to the reception and sheepishly told the receptionist. I guess now its just wait and see...He has set the staff on the mission to search for him again. Poor Herbert must be so fed up by now! So I'll keep you posted on that - I am sure you're all dying to know if he is safe! :-p

Interesting fact of the day: If you decide to go and chat up a woman wearing a beautiful kimono; check whether the arms of the kimono are long or short. Long arms mean she is unmarried. short ones means she is married. Even the wedding dress kimono (the white blanket one called a shiromuku) still has long arms! Oh and that weird covering on her head is supposed to "cover the horns". I have no idea what that means...I shall go and research it!

vietnamese buns are so much better

So yesterday ended with a little bit of a laugh! After I had decided to ignore Amelia's advice on not watching the film " london to brighton", I was a little down. That movie is sad!!!! I just sat there in disbelief and shock. (Watch it- but with someone there...its brilliant;paedophilia, prostitution,shooting and the beautiful brighton sea front...what a mix). But then I got a knock on the door from Amelia, and all of us decided to put on our Yukata (summer kimono which you get freshly everyday from the hotel). So dressed up japanese style we marched to the front desk and got the clerk to take photos. He seemed a little bemused (and possibly confused). We took it a little further and decided to go up to the main hotel part. It was quite a sight - 4 gaijin shuffling their way to the lift, we even stopped a load of japanese people dead in their tracks, they were so confused by the sight. They must think we were such weird foreigners.

Today we went to the Asakusa temple again and happened upon a ceremony of sorts. I am not sure what it was really, but the wooden pillars that were normally covered in white material were naked and sporting chinese writing, and possibly sanscrit. The monks (?) were chanting and there were several rituals. It was mesmerizing to watch. What was interesting was that when they had all finished and left, the floor was covered in these colourful pieces of paper, which must have been there all along. The minute the last monk left, the crowd (mainly the elder people) swooped in like a pack of wolves to grab one of these pieces of paper. Not quite the dignified behaviour I'd expect...but hey. The paper must have borne some religious significance.

After that we went to get food and I wanted to try a white pork bun. We have them in Vietnam too and I loooove them! The guy was being very sweet and complimenting my japanese even though I was clearly rubbish! The bun was alright...vietnamese ones are better!!! HA!

It was raining a lot today so everyone was carrying an umbrella. I now understand why some guys hate umbrellas, and how dangerous I am around taller people. My eyes were in constant danger of being gorged by some transparent umbrella belonging to a japanese person (BECAUSE YES! there are people SHORTER than ME!!!!).

A tip for people who want to work in Japan/Tokyo: every train stop has its own tune (they all sound a little bit like something out of super mario), which means that when your stuck between lots of sweaty business men during rush hour and can't quite see the sign for your stop, all you have to do is listen to the tune and you'll know where you are! Believe me the getting stuck between lots of people happens during rush hour...I don't know if its worse than London, but oh my goodness does it get cramped! The worst is when people then want to get out; they literally transform in to little "made in Japan" bulldozers that will run you down to get out. Its a little scary.

meeting with jonathan-kun

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! I met up with Jonathan today! It was ace finally getting a proper hug from someone! (my goodness I am gonna be awful once I get to the "real" Japan). We went off to Ueno first, but this time in to the madness of the stalls. There were loads of stalls selling all sorts of stuff (lots of shooooeeees!) at good prices. So that needs to be noted! We went for Ramen, the best I have had yet! It was a massive bowl too. Though it was a little surreal sitting in this traditional looking Ramen place listening to Christina Aguilera and Evanescence...that's Japan I guess. We then made a quick trip to Akihabara where we went to another maid cafe. this one was a little less weird than the other one. They had a whole rack of costumes that the girl customers could try on (for 600 yen) and have pictures taken. Depending on the day of the week there's different themes too, like "nurse", "school girl" or just "cute frilly maid". You just can't quite point your finger at the reason why its a bit wrong....Jonathan took me to a store selling cosplay costumes and general outfits...Its disturbing what you can buy. But at least I am sorted for the next cosplay party. We happened upon a band performing too, who were pretty good!

So after some strawberry milk, we then went off to Shinjuku (well actually the stop before that) and walked to the Meiji park. That is the emperors park. It was so serene, and green. Strangely enough it was noisy too with the sounds of many different species of birds. We went in to this Temple and actually happened upon a wedding (That's 2 in 2 days!). This time it was up close and so I could observe and take some good pictures. It was beautiful, and such a quiet and solemn affair! Not like the western wedding, which is loud and full of laughter! I noticed that the brides dress was quite thick actually, like she was wearing a big duvet...why is that? Anyone?

After that we walked to the next park, near Harajuku. That was quite a contrast, as it was full of young people all hanging around playing music, singing, playing badminton, or sitting in pairs on benches holding hands. It was a really nice atmosphere to be in. I guess that's where the kids go to have some privacy away from prying eyes and the rules of society. Both parks are absolutely beautiful - oh and picnics are allowed and done too! So eating in public apparently can be done in those situations!

Harajuku

After a slow morning start, we set off in search of Harajuku! Lured by the idea of all the kids dressing up crazily, we walked from Shibuka. Once we got there we couldn't really find the park where those kids hang out, but instead found a funky road filled with trendy shops selling all the crazy clothes. It was a little like Afflex palace in Manchester or the north lanes in Brighton, just waaaay cooler and waaaay busier! I found a pair of converse that I can wear as my "inside school" shoes for only £14!!! (All the boys at this point nod off...YOU CAN WAKE UP AGAIN!). We stumbles upon this modern art house gallery type thingy which had drawings all over it and inside there were weird exhibitions. We got chatting to this guy who was wearing very little frankly, and observed a load of artists dress up this mannequin in newspaper. I got talking to this nice Japanese guy called Daisuke, who I guess wanted to practice his English. Its great how that will get people talking to you!

After this we went in search of the Tokyo government tower, as apparently one has an amazing view from up there and its free. So after several attempts at finding this place (and a shameful-but-good-pit stop in Starbucks), we had this lovely woman help us. Her name was Naomi-san, and I managed to have a broken Japanese-English-sign language conversation with her. People here are so friendly and open its amazing! On our way to find this place we went through a park and happened to observe a Japanese wedding! It looked so intriguing! There was so much ritual involved..at least it looked like it. The bride reminded me a little of the opera singer from "The fifth element", when she comes on to the ship covered in that head cover. I so wish I could have observed the whole thing! Note to self "get invited to a wedding". Although apparently as the guest you have to pay like £150 as a gift to the Bride and groom. Weddings are REALLY expensive here...more so than England if you can believe that!

The tower was ace, we got to the 45th floor! You couldn't go out on to platforms, but the view was breath taking! The millions of tiny lights, were awesome!
I felt a little dizzy for whatever reason so the girls suggested eating something...and so...we ended up (of all places) at Mc Donalds. Yes its shameful. But I can tell you that they had a few things you can't get in England! Like prawn burger! I know....no excuse.

karaoke

Sleep was definitely needed today. But the day picked up nicely after that. I went off to explore the Asakusa temple and the surrounding area with Pixie. There seemed to be some festival on today, so the area surrounding the temple was packed with people and stalls selling beautiful kimonos, strange food, and all sorts of stuff. We went inside the temple and observed people washing (or drinking and spitting out?) water from a fountain, then covering themselves in incense smoke (it is supposed to cleanse you? I think). At the temple we then threw some coins in to the box. It was fascinating watching the massive crowd throw money at the box to make a prayer. Young and old, all with the same amount of respect.
We walked past a place with geishas dancing! It was a little odd, I wasn't entirely sure what that place was.
I tell you what, when I came to England I thought the £1 shop was an amazing idea! the Japanese have taken it that one step further with their version; The 100yen shop. They are AMAZING! They literally have everything, but its not rubbish quality, its actually good! You could so furnish your entire house from stores like that (not the furniture mind). They also fulfil my cuteness fetish, by having plenty of Disney stuff (A LOT of lilo and stitch) and hello kitty stuff. I finally found some shower gel, or at least I hope it is. This lovely little assistant tried to help me in her broken English, she was the cutest thing ever! I so wanted to take her home and stick her in a box! Luckily I did not know how to say that in Japanese. So yeah if you are ever in Japan - the 100yen shop is the place to go for anything (even food)!!!

We also found this amazing ice cream place which had a massive amount of flavours, amongst the more unusual ones were "sweet potato","brown rice", "sesame", and if anyone could tell me what "marron" is? I had "green tea with milk" - nice!

Then in the evening the girls and me went for our first taste of karaoke in Japan! It was pretty ace, what with the fancy touch screen machinery, and the glow in the dark universe in our cabin! They also had a massive collection of English songs! Not just old ones either! They had all the ones that are currently in the english charts (I got the impression they loved coldplay)! I've just realised I've used a lot of exclamation marks there.