Golden week is when there are three Japanese national holidays in a row, so its three days off of work/school bumped right next to a week. Also, Japan having an emperor, his birthday is also a national holiday. The current emperor's birthday happens to be the Thursday before Golden Week. So This is how I celebrated...
Thursday - Emperor's Birthday
Kaitrin came over to DKH for lunch. We went out to LaLa Garden, the local mall, for sushi. When we got there, there were guys outside running a booth for children where you could shoot at a target while balancing on a bucking "horse". The prize was candy! So Kaitrin tried it and hilarity ensued. They also had a taiko drum up there for show, but of course I wanted to play it. So I did, and they were really surprised that I knew what I was doing.... that was fun! We had sushi and shopped for a bit, then left to meet up with Bryce in Ueno.
In Ueno we went to the national park there, and hit up the zoo. Animals in Japan know how to put on a show! They all came right up to the bars and looked at you and acted out... it was fantastic! I took a million pictures... most are on facebook, but I will make a picture post here later (after I finally do that homework that I am currently trying to ignore).
After the Zoo closed, we went out for dinner. While at dinner, the girls (not me, I was sitting with the boys somewhere different, most Japanese places can't handle large groups) starting chatting with some college boys sitting near them. They ended up inviting us all to go drinking. We agreed, but then they found out that the party they were going to was invitation only, and we weren't invited. Oh well, easy come, easy go. When just wandering around Shibuya, Mary runs into a friend of hers, and at the same time I run into two of mine from SAfro (choir). We end up forming two little conversation groups across the street from the station and talking for about an hour and a half. It was fun! That was it for Thursday...
Friday - not a holiday, but I made it one
Woke up and went on a bike ride with Mary and Meghann to pick up our alien registration cards. We got lost and went in a big circle, but it was a nice day, so we really didn't mind. We then went out for lunch. The rest of the day was just spent laying about and relaxing. It was much needed, and much appreciated.
Saturday
Woke up early and took the train with Bryce, Yong, and Pricilla to Yokohama. Yokohama is the 2nd largest city in Japan, is right next to the ocean, and was about an hour away to the main station. Once we got there we met up with Haga and some others from the social circle I joined at school. Then we rode the seaside train to Sea Paradise. That was quite an amazing aquarium! We walked through the aquarium, then saw a sea world esq sea mammal show, then went to the petting zoo (yes, at an aquarium), and finished it off by chilling out at dolphin fantasy. All in all it was a great day. We headed back to the main part of yokohama and got ramen and just hung out. Then it was back home.
Sunday
Kerry, Yong, and I went exploring Kawaguchi, the next city over from where we live. It was really pretty. We wandered aimlessly until we found these two cute guys performing on the street. We stopped to listen and they were REALLY good! All three of us bought an album, had them sign them, and took a picture with them. It was pretty great. They made their first American fans! That was pretty much it for that day, another lazy one...
Monday - Constitution Day
Monday we went to Ome and met up with Moeko in her home town for a Matsuri (festival). It was a celebration of the twelve villages of the city that are protected by this one Shinto Shrine. So there were vendors everywhere selling food and what not, but then there were these twelve floats that each had its own oni (demon) and taiko band. They were being pulled up and down the street doing a sort of battle of the band against one another. It was fantastic. But dangerous, I had to save an old lady half my size who got wrapped up in the giant roped used to pull the floats.
The strangest thing about the matsuri was the fact that clearly Ome is not used to foreigners. I was there with a lot of gaijin (foreigners) and we got a lot of double takes. But Meghann and I were getting blatant stares, pointing, people sneaking pictures of us when they thought we weren't looking, and even people coming up to the two of us asking to take our picture! We were more of a spectacle than the actual Matsuri for these people... it was surreal. I still don't know if I liked it or not....
After the matsuri we went to Moeko's house where her mom had created a Japanese feast for us. We all sat around the dinner table (it was a bit cramped) and talked about the cultural differences between us gaijin and the Japanese. It was really fun, and very interesting! We taught them american slang and they told us about Japanese stereotypes for americans. Apparently we eat hamburgers all day every day.
After dinner we went home together on the train. They were close to empty for a better part of the way, so there was a lot of dancing and climbing up onto luggage racks and what not. It was hilarious. That was definitely my 2nd favorite night of the week!
Tuesday - Greenery Day
Kerry and I met up with Bryce and Yong and we hit up the Tokyo Dome City amusement park. Roller coasters baby! Every ride was lots of fun. Waiting in line was also really fun. We played hand jive games and cards and were generally really giggly the entire time. We ended the night with a ride on a huge ferris wheel... priceless.
Then we met up with Pricilla and went for nomihodai (all you can drink). We ate and drank and played drinking games and sang Karaoke and danced. Our waiter (who was super cute) was drinking with us and the two other groups of two in the bar, so by the end of the night we were all just a giggling mass of bad singers belting out lady gaga and random Japanese songs at the top of our lungs.... Good times.
Then it was time to try and rush to catch last train home! Kerry, Yong and I didn't make it. So we took a taxi to Katrin's place and crashed there until the trains were running in the morning. Of course I don't sleep well (snoring keeps me up) and by the time we get home, I am on my 2nd wind and can't sleep anyways. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap or so today... so I am good to go for now.
Wednesday (today) - Children's day
Grocery shopping and homework.... I got school tomorrow!
