Illuminations - Part 1?

In Japan, Christmas is more of a holiday for couples than spending time with family.

It is also a time for lights. Lots of lights.

Tokyo has a lot of イルミネーション (illuminations) in different districts. It's basically like a giant Light Wars (get it, family? haha). Most stations have lights outside of them. This is what it has looked like outside of Musashisakai Station for about a month now:

(My camera is horrible in dark lighting, sorry!)

There are also bigger displays that can use as many as 300,000 LED lights in some areas. There are places that put on full-out light shows. A friend and I decided to go out last night and try to see some of these famous illuminations.

The one we mainly wanted to see was just outside of the newly-redone Tokyo Station. Some spectacular 3D show was supposed to happen. When we got to the station, though, it was crowded beyond belief. People were shoving each other and you had to fight from being pulled away in a tide of people. When we finally got out of the mess, we learned that the light show had been canceled because so many people showed up. I can sort of understand, now...if more people had come for the light show, the station could have been a really dangerous place.

Disappointed, but not defeated (why am I being so dramatic I don't know this is my blog), we journeyed to Shiodome, a short walk away from Tokyo Station. It was also crowded wherever we went, but not as bad as in the station. We found one of the main shows - a light show projected on the side of a building. I don't know what some of the video footage had to do with Christmas (Cinderella? A whale in the ocean?) but it was cute. We started out in the back of the crowd, but pushed our way to the front once the first show had ended, because we couldn't see any of the lights that were on the ground.

I tried to take a bit of video, too, just to give you an idea of it.

We went to a couple of other displays before deciding to call it a night - it was pretty exhausting trying to navigate through all the crowds.

When I went to hang out with other friends and eat cake in Tokyo Station, we heard an announcement saying tonight's show had been canceled as well. Who knew light shows could be so dangerous? Haha.

I'm heading out into Shinjuku with a friend tomorrow to see if we can hit some of the light displays there, so I'll try to take more pictures if my camera holds out! I'm sorry it's not the best quality. I hope you at least see how much Tokyo likes Christmas lights, lol

Absence

I didn't make any plans for Christmas Eve, so I decided I'd better go ahead and update my blog, haha. I keep telling myself it's because nothing has been going on, but I have been doing a lot.

I started new classes a while ago. Like I said, they're all in Japanese. I'm taking a Japanese language class (of course), Introduction to Japanese History, Media Translation, and Computer Music. Computer Music is basically about the history of music made using computers and how to create it. We haven't started creating anything yet, but I'm nervous/excited to start!

It's hard to keep up while I'm actually in class and I desperately need to buy a 電子辞書 (electronic dictionary), but since most of my classes are only once a week, it means I have a whole week to translate whatever notes are handed out in class. Professors are nice enough to allow me to do the final reports in English, too (except for my Japanese class, where I have an actual final exam).

As you probably guessed, I've been to a couple of concerts. I went to see DIR EN GREY on December 4th at Shinkiba STUDIO COAST. It took about an hour to get there and it was easy to find where the venue was by following the steady stream of fans. I went with a friend and we were both excited. I've only seen Diru once in the States, but my friend has seen them a few times, including once in Japan. STUDIO COAST had standing room for about 2000-ish people as well as seats on the 2nd floor. We got standing tickets.

We weren't expecting to get a very good view since our ticket number was so crappy, but I followed some people pushing through the crowd on impulse and ended up pretty close to the stage on Die's side - maybe about 7 or 8 rows back. I made it to around the 3rd or 4th row by the end of the show.

Overall, it was one of the funnest concerts I've been to this year. It was really close and cramped, but the band sounded fantastic, Kyo sang the first few songs hidden behind a round curtain that was in the center of the stage, I had a great view of the stage, the audience knew all the songs (and I didn't, whoops), and you could see the band enjoying themselves, too. I wasn't ready for it to be over when actually ended. Highlight of the night - I caught Die's pick!

 
This is the first time I've caught anything at a show, so I was super excited. Actually, my hair caught it for me, haha. I remember feeling it get stuck in my hair, but I didn't move to grab it until I made sure no one noticed I had it, because I didn't want anyone to pull out my hair or anything.

I also went to see ALL LIVE NIPPON, an event celebrating the 45th anniversary of the ALL NIGHT NIPPON broadcasting company. The lineup was MAN WITH A MISSION, miwa, Momoiro CloverZ, Golden Bomber, and (drumroll) GACKT. This was my first time seeing GACKT since I became his fan about 8 years ago, so I had a lot of built-up excitement for this show. If anyone wants me to write a longer report about the event, just leave me a comment or something...but the only thing I really want to say is that the event was really fun. Golden Bomber ended up being more of the headliner than GACKT was and G's setlist was way too short (yes, yes, I know it was an event and I know I expected only about 4 songs). It inspired me to try to get tickets for his oneman tour in May, though, so we'll see what that's like!

Here's some other stuff I've been doing:

Finding Engrish. Left: "SMOOTH TROOPER LOVERS YO MAMMAS FLAP-JACKS" Right: "Sticky Notes: These sticky notes look like your friends"

Making chocolate chip cookies (improvising on a Japanese recipe, since portions are different) for the dorm Christmas Party.

 Swung by Harajuku with my friend to hang out.

Went to TOWER RECORDS in Shinjuku on the release date of DIR EN GREY's new single, ｢輪郭」 (Rinkaku). They had a sketch of the album art on display next to the CDs.

Hanging out in Kichijoji. This is in a Starbucks near Inokashira Park. Can I just move to Kichi? :(

These are the bathroom doors at a McDonalds in Harajuku...I'm not really sure how they symbolize "male" and "female." I thought they were funny.

The view from the Tokyu Plaza building in Omotesando.

From today - I met up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while to go eat CAKE. We went to a place called HARBS (ハーブス) near Tokyo Station. Everything was delicious and I was SO FULL.

I also took another trip to Ibaraki to see my friend. It's always rainy when we meet up, and this was no exception. It was still fun! We went to a burger place she had been raving about for a while (and it lived up to its name - Delicious Burger), saw a New Years art exhibition, and hung out in Starbucks for a while. I've had a looot of Starbucks lately...

This has definitely been the most expensive Christmas to date, but I'm trying not to worry about the money. Maybe it's because I'm away from home and realizing how important it is to spend time with people you care about, but I don't mind spending all the money on going out or getting gifts or eating. It's all a part of the holidays and I don't want to skimp on it.

I've got another, more focused entry planned, so stay tuned! ;D

Mt. Takao

One of the bigger things I did over break was climb Mt. Takao, which is just a bit west of Tokyo. My friend wanted to go, so I just tagged along with her. I made my first bento box ever for this occasion (OMG SO JAPANESE) and we planned on eating them once we got to the top or a rest area.

Mt. Takao has a bunch of different paths you can follow, but we picked the one that would lead us straight to the summit. We planned on taking a different pathway down. A popular option when hiking Mt. Takao is to just take the cable cars that are provided. A little ways up the mountain, there's a temple and a monkey park. Yes, a monkey park. There is some species of monkey that is native to the area. The path we took led us by that, so I was excited to go.

I think the time we went at was best, because there was still a lot of foliage left.

(I hope you're not tired of my foliage pictures left, because I have MORE.)

Hiking was a bit harder than we thought it would be, so we took frequent breaks. There were far less people climbing than coming down, so most people were using the cable cars that day, I figured. At some of the resting points, there were awesome views of Tokyo.

Eventually, we got up to the monkey park! (I really like animals)

The temple was the most crowded part of the hike. I didn't take any pictures; at that point, we just wanted to get to the top.

At the top! It was kind of foggy that day, so it's hard to see, but if you look closely at the fourth picture, you can see Mt. Fuji in the background. Even looking at it in person, it was hard to spot it unless you were really looking for it.

Our plan was to take a different trail to the bottom and see a waterfall that was on the way, but for some reason, we weren't allowed to hike down the path we wanted to. We decided to go back the way we came instead.

It was almost dark by the time we got to the bottom, so we decided to head home. This ended up taking a lot longer than we thought because I screwed up on the train directions whoops. But it was still a fun day! I'd like to hike the different trails again when it's warmer.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving? In Japan? In case you're wondering, no, Japan does not celebrate Thanksgiving. Why would they? It's an American holiday (yes, I'm aware that other countries have their own Thanksgiving).

My friend got a few Thanksgiving supplies shipped to her from home a while ago; things like cranberry sauce and stuffing. We had been sort of planning to have a dinner, but plans weren't finalized until the week before. At first, it was supposed to be only about 5 people, but more people kept getting pulled in until it ended up around 11 or 12 people (I can't remember). We decided to do a potluck-style dinner, so everyone brought their own dish. We all pitched in money to get the actual turkey (which my friend got from a nearby airbase) as well as the "roasting pan." It technically wasn't a roasting pan, but we couldn't find anything equivalent to one, so we just bought a cooking pan that looked like one.

My friends in another dorm volunteered to make the turkey, so the rest of us just prepared the side dishes in our own dorms. I made donut holes, using this recipe from Cooking With Dog. They were DELICIOUS. I made a test batch the day before and couldn't stop eating them whoops.

We hosted the whole Thanksgiving dinner in my dorm, since it has enough room for guests and has the longest/least strict visiting hours of the womens' dorms. We have a tatami room in our dorm that you can use to host guests, so we decided to have it there in order to avoid getting in anyone's way. My dorm mates thought it was funny we were using a Japanese-style room for an American holiday, haha.

So, without further ado, this is how you do Thanksgiving in Japan!

After the first round...look how much food is still left, haha.

I didn't really know everyone there, but by the end of the night, I would say we became friends. We even did that cheesy thing where we go around in a circle and say what we're thankful for. A couple of people played the piano that's in the tatami room. We started the dinner around 7:30 and it lasted until 10:30-11-ish, when visiting hours ended. Everyone took home some leftovers. Whatever people didn't take, we gave to our dorm mates (and saved some turkey for the cats because cats).

So, if you ever wondered if Thanksgiving was possible in Japan, it is! Apparently there are even some restaurants that serve turkey dinner, but we didn't know that beforehand and we probably wouldn't have opted for it. You do have to get creative and be willing to spend a bit of cash to make all of this happen, though.

It was a really fun night and I'm glad we all found a way to celebrate. :)

Ghibli Museum

It's been a while! Even though I've been on autumn break for over two weeks, I didn't notice that I've been sorely neglecting this blog until now It's not because I've been doing nothing, though. I have a lot to get through, so I'm just going to make a massive blog update with my remaining days of vacation.

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November 21st, 2013

One of the perks of living in Mitaka is that the Ghibli Museum is right in town. It's about a 30-minute bike ride away from campus, but it's worth it. You have to buy tickets in advance to go, I think, so we actually had this trip planned since around the end of September. I actually almost forgot about it until my friend reminded me, haha.

We went in a group of six, and my Japanese friend (who I met at UMass last year) was the one who organized the trip. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we could take pictures of the outside.

The museum was a bit different from what I expected. I thought there would be a bunch of exhibits for each Ghibli movie, but it was more about the exhibition of the art and animation process itself (which was still interesting). My favorite exhibition was a room that had a bunch of sketches of characters on the wall and a replica of Miyazaki's animation desk. I liked seeing the different character design possibilities, especially for Kiki's Delivery Service. It's not really the most interesting or famous Ghibli movie, but I used to watch it a lot when I was feeling down, so I have a bit of an emotional attachment to it, lol.

What a lot of people go there for is to see an original Ghibli short film that is shown about every 20 minutes (I think?). The film differs depending on the day. I forget the name of the one we saw, but it was about a little old man and woman who are farmers on a mountain and lead a life without anything exciting happening. One day, the old man hears a noise from the woods nearby at night, so he goes to investigate and finds a bunch of mice having a sumo tournament. The mice that lose are the ones that live in the old man's house. He gets a bit angry at this, so the next day, the man and his wife spend all day making food for the mice that will make them stronger. They even make little mouse-sized sumo outfits. The next time the mice have a match, they win! It was a super cute film.

I didn't buy any souvenirs. I was really indecisive. Maybe I'll have to go back another day!

Afterwards, we went to eat lunch in Kichijoji. The fastest way to get there was through Inokashira Park. I had never been there before, but I want to go back there a lot now.

 (I've been on a kick of taking pictures of foliage...be prepared.)

When you get your admission ticket at the entrance, you also get a little strip of film that shows a scene from a Studio Ghibli movie when held up to the light. I'm still not 100% sure which movie mine is from, but I think it's from Kiki's Delivery Service (when she's up in her room and sneaks out the morning after she's sick to go use the bathroom). Anyone want to confirm? Haha.

So, if you've wondered where the Ghibli Museum is or wanted to go, go! It's worth the ￥1000.