Dave & Jen Visit Japan! Day 9

Their last full day in Japan and their first day to see Glenn! We got up super super early to check out the Tsukiji fish market during our last day in Tokyo.
What time was it?

This is the time we caught the train, not what time we were up!


I'm so glad we got up early though because we were able to see the famous tuna auction that only takes place at 5:30 am. A couple years ago, the auction was closed to tourists due to some obnoxious people, but it has reopened now and has more restrictions. We somehow found our way to the auction, mostly by following the other touristy people and attempting to not get run over by the trucks, carts and busy commotion. The tuna were cleaned, frozen, numbered and laying on pallets for inspection by the licensed bidders.

After some poking, prodding, smelling, feeling and tasting of the fish (there was a section or flap of the fish that they could examine) the bidding began. A man stood on a small stool and began shouting things I didn't understand. The only thing I did understand was the numbers. They went through all the fish shown above in just a few minutes. Then the auctioneer would come by and paint some kanji on the fish and someone else would come by with a giant fish hook and drag the fish away. Crazy!

After the auction, we headed back to the hotel for some breakfast (fish anyone?) and then a nap. We headed back to base before lunch so we could see Glenn, but of course the traffic took forever so we had to wait til after his meeting.

Glenn gave them a tour of the squadron and let them see the inside of the mighty E-2C Hawkeye. :) I'm glad they got to see and understand a little more about what Glenn does.

We brought Glenn home from work and then went to one of my student's restaurants for dinner. They got to meet my student, Keiko. I'm glad they actually got to see Glenn even if it was for just a short time. Only one day left in Japan for Dave and Jen...

Dave & Jen Visit Japan! Day 8

Back to Dave and Jen's trip! We drove from Disney to Tokyo which is only about 30 minutes when the traffic gods are with you (they were NOT with on the way back home from Tokyo). We checked in to the New Sanno military hotel which is fantastic. We were pretty beat from our long day at Disney so we didn't do anything crazy exciting. Mostly, we watched the Olympics til we fell asleep - exciting I know.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Odaiba which I visited with Laura last August. The main purpose of our visit was to see Sasuke, a recreation of the course on an American-shown Japanese game show. Dave and Jen watch the show so they wanted to check it out. It was located in Muscle Park which Laura and I also walked through. Muscle Park is pretty much an upscale carnival park except the "games" cost $5-$10 to play EACH! What?! So we mostly watched people waste their money which was equally as entertaining as trying ourselves.

 

The Sasuke course consisted of an arm bike, this 1" ledge you had to cross holding on by pretty much your finger tips, this bar that you had to raise up floor ledge (while your feet can't touch the ground) and these rings you had to hang from and slide across a series of pipes. I'll save you the attempt of figuring out what I just wrote and tell you that it was impossible. Oh yeah and you only have 3 minutes and once you fall, you are finished. The only winners of the actual TV show are two guys who recreated the obstacles in their backyard and practiced like crazy. That's Japanese dedication for you. The 3 guys we watched only made it past the arm bike. They attempted the rest, but never came close.

After watching others fail, Dave and Jen attempted one game. They had to build a tower of 30 blocks without derailing the train that was going around. Seems easy enough- it wasn't though! That train goes fast!

We checked out the rest of the shopping area around Muscle Park and discovered a "nickle" arcade. That's more our price! Jen also fell in love with this guy. I'm sure if he wasn't $3,000 and in Japan he would have gone home with her! Yes, that is correct: three thousand dollars. BTW, not the most expensive dog at the dog. That would be a teacup chihuahua for almost $4500.

After Odaiba, we headed to Asakusa where we checked out some shopping, some temples, more weird J food and the Asahi brewery.

I think it looks like a golden turd, apparently the building is suppose to represent a glass of beer with some foam on top. Ok...

We headed back to our hotel room after a stop at a convenience store for some beverages and a walk through Shinjuku (where our hotel this night was located- thank you again Hilton Honors points!). I love Japan at night when it is all lit up and abuzz.

It's kinda beautiful in it's own way...

If I had $359,000....

My friend Ali has been living in Minnesota while her husband works 4 days a week in California. From someone who has a long distance relationship most of year, I understand how much this stinks! They have decided to sell their house and move to San Francisco where Dan will be working.

I'm sad to know that they won't be in Minnesota when I come home this year to visit, but I know that being together is so important. Good luck and I hope the house sells soon! If you're interested in a super cute house in Highland Park, click on the link above!

In case you were wondering...

They DO sing "It's a Small World..." in Japanese. Followed by the verse in English. Here's a video I took during the Electrical Parade:

Vacation!

I'm heading down south today for a mini vacation in America! Well...Guam that is, but I get to use U.S. dollars and perhaps purchase size 9 1/2 shoes at the world's largest K-mart. Yippee! It's not Target, but I'll take it.

 

I'm ready for some scuba diving, beach laying, sun tanning and fruity drink drinking! Be back later!

Dave & Jen Visit Japan! Day 7

We spent the night near the Disney property at the Hilton Tokyo Bay hotel. Yay for Hilton Honors points! Since Dave and Jen are gold members we only had to pay for 1 breakfast- free parking, free third bed (when you complain) and free room!

We did much better this day with the crowds and fast passes because we got to the park about 30 minutes before it opened. We even got to ride my favorite ride, Journey to the Center of the Earth, twice!

Since it was a weekday, the park also started to empty out towards the end of the evening which was nice. We were able to ride a few rides that were busy during the day.

My favorite part of DisneySea is King Tritan's underwater world area. Last time I went, we ran out of time and didn't get to see this, but since the Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie of all times, I had to make it there this time! They had a Cirque du Soleil type show that was awesome! Ariel could "swim" and flip on cables from the ceiling. Unfortunately no photos allowed.

 

I also got my first ever character photo (that I can remember). Too bad it is from the stupid cat from Aristocats. The lines for Mickey were crazy long!

                                        

 We stopped for a beer mid-day when our feet were getting tired. Who knew Disney had fancy restaurants? We were the only people there for the most part!

We stayed through the evening light/water show that was the same as the show in October, but we had much better seats that Annie,Laura and I had.

It was fun to see Disney with the "experts". They knew every ride and what to do first. Thanks for being my tour guides for a couple days!

Tuesday 10: Eating their way through Japan

Jen documented pretty much everything she ate while in Japan. Here are just a few!

1. Okinomiyaki mix. Raw egg, hamburger, cabbage, tomato, batter, bacon.

2. Lunch at the Zip Cafe near Ginkakuji. Fried chicken pita sandwich.

3. Crepes!

4. Shrimp tempura sushi roll in Kyoto.

5. Purple sweet potato ice cream. Horrible pic of me, btw. :)

6. Dessert at lunch in Gion.

7. Gyoza House gyoza.

8. Spicy black pepper french fries at Kyoto station.

9. Disney Mickey-shaped Chinese bun. Delicious but a let down according to Jen.

10. Fish shaped custard sandwich thing. A.m.a.z.i.n.g.

What's for Dinner? Dinner for One

Glenn is gone again. This time only for a month. It makes me a little sad knowing that I think a month is a short time, but honestly that is a short time. Plus, I get to go visit him for a little tropical vacation soon. Can't wait for that.

When the guys are gone though, I really revert to being a bachelor. Why cook a big meal when it's going to just be me? Sometimes I'll make a fun new meal and invite friends over, but more often than not, it's a bowl of cereal or pancakes and some DVR.

Sundays are the worst because they are typically a loung-y kind of day for Glenn and I or a running errands kind of day together. So when he's gone, they particularly drag on. I decided to fill my time yesterday by premaking some meals for my busy days this week.

I made a lasagna in an 8x8 dish to freeze for later this month, but had the couple extra inches of noodles left over (since the noodles are made for a 9x13" pan) from where I had cut them. I made a mini lasagna for myself in a small round ceramic dish with the left over pieces. The perfect size for a dinner for one.

 

Perfect for catching up on Grey's Anatomy on abc.com. :)

Dave & Jen Visit Japan! Day 6

Monday was Disneyland Day! We got up early and started the drive back towards the airport to go to Disneyland. For my birthday last year, I went to DisneySea, but this would be my first trip to Disneyland!

I was hoping that Disney would be less crowded than I had heard. It wasn't a weekend or a Japanese holiday, but it didn't matter, it was still crowded! For example, we got to the park at 10:15 (it opens at 9) and our first Fast Pass for the new-ish Monster, Inc. ride was for 8:30 pm!

Our first ride was the Winnie the Pooh Honey Hunt ride mostly because it is unique to Tokyo Disney and since Dave & Jen are Florida Disney veterans, we wanted to go on the rides new for them. I've only been to Florida Disney once so I was up for whatever! The gouge Jen had received said that this ride was excellent and the particular woman she talked to went on it 5 times! After Winnie the Pooh, we stopped listening to that lady! It was fun, but not waiting-in-line-for-75-minutes fun.

We went on several more rides and of course checked out the parades. The night parade was my favorite! The Japanese are crazy at Disney. If you are a girl and not wearing Minnie ears, bow or headband, you are the minority! They also like to wait in crazy long lines, like this one which was probably an hour long, for caramel corn! There was an equally long line for giant chicken legs! I was confused!

Since there are often so many crowds at Disney, they have developed a few techniques for dealing with it that Florida does not have to. Like the shows. Since there are only so many shows a day, you have to take your park tickets, put them in to a machine and then there is a raffle to determine if you get to go to the show or not! We were successful for the Princess show, but no luck for the Musical show in front of the castle. Here is Jen with our show tickets!

A few pictures from the show and parade:

I also enjoyed showing Dave and Jen the crazy food they have in Japan. A few of the things we tried were-

• Honey and lemon churro
• Soy sauce popcorn
• Mickey-shaped chinese steamed buns
• Strawberry popcorn

We also saw black pepper popcorn and curry popcorn. I don't know what their obsession is with the flavored popcorn at Disney!

We stayed through the fireworks show, which I must say was a let down. It lasted only 5 minutes, but then we took the monorail back to our hotel!