another texan in 日本

I was lucky enough to have not only one but two amazing friends visit me in the same month. Stephanie came the week after Claire, and we had a really great time. She, too, endured the 17+(maybe plus a lot more) hour indirect flight to Tokyo along with all the bonus swine flu checks. She even showed up in Tsuchiura without any assistance because I had to work on the night she came. She's a smart cookie. A Master's degree will make you brilliant and resourceful, and she is now an experienced world traveler. Impressive. The 土浦 Health Center kept calling me to inquire about her health status, and I assured them in very broken Japanese that she did not have influenza of any sort.

Above is Steph pretending to be Buddha. And behind her is Buddha, the Ushiku Daibutsu 牛久大仏. It's the biggest statue in the world according to the Guiness Book sign posted on the inside of the Buddha, which we were fortunate enough to ride an elevator up to the top of (inside).

This was a really nice park near Tokyo Station.

At Asakusa Temple. We bonded with this guy, and he gave us some unsolicited information about all that is Japan. He got a chance to practice his English. He really enjoyed the phrase "On the other hand..." and used it appropriately in conversation at least 10 times during our 10 minute conversation, which might not be appropriate.One of the most popular Kaiten Sushi restaurants in Asakusa, according to the rickshaw driver. It was delicious, and Stephanie bravely tried a surprising amount of raw fish and other strange and wonderful foods. We even went to a friend's birthday party at a cute little bar near Tsuchiura station. Good times. I am a lucky person to have such great friends. Thanks for coming, Steph!!!

claire

This is at least a month overdue, but I will post anyway. During the second half of Golden week, my favorite person on Planet Earth, Claire, flew millions of miles to visit me. I still cannot believe she came all the way to Japan. She was only here 3 days, but we had such a good time, and it was so so good to see her after many months of not. She arrived around the beginning of the swine flu craziness but managed to make it through the 17+ hour flight and quarantine process with impressive amounts of energy. I learned at the airport that it is quite difficult for some Japanese people to announce foreign names over the loudspeaker. Syllables were added, "l"s and "r"s confused. Luckily, we were able to reunite, despite the painful (and slightly comedic) attempts. Thank God for her. I do.

The first picture at the top is of Claire with a piece of paper from a temple with her fortune on it. She had a good one and was pretty pumped. The future is looking bright for Meadezies! The second pic is on good old RingRing Road.

We visited Kamakura with friends and got to see Buddha, the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and some pretty temples.

There were a LOT of people in Tokyo and in Kamakura that week. It was scary. At one point, we were jammed into the train and couldn't breathe (or stop laughing for that matter).  This was the first night when Claire got to Tsuchiura, and I made her eat at an いざかや and try various types of Japanese food, which she may or may not have been in the mood for but happily accepted anyway. I love her so much.

golden week

During Golden Week (a national holiday from the end of April to the beginning of May), some friends and I went to the Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe) for three short but very fun days. It was hard to choose just a few pictures from all the ones I took to post on here. They're all out of order and really poorly laid out, but I have taken way longer than intended trying to make them look acceptable so now I'm going to post them with the knowledge that they're not. Also, I didn't really take many good pictures in Osaka since we weren't there for very long so all of these pictures are from Kyoto and Kobe.

The picture above is きんかくじ Kinkakuji, The Golden Temple in Kyoto.

To the left is Nao and me in Kobe's China Town.

Below/to the left is Shaun, Mike and me on a boat ride around the harbor in Kobe.

Somehow, this is one of the only pictures I took in Osaka. It is not so impressive. The city was really brightly lit and really crowded.

Kyoto is famous for Matcha (Green Tea). We tried green tea and a Japanese dessert at The Golden Temple. おいしかたですね。We also ate lots of other Matcha desserts. We ate big Matcha parfaits at a parfait shop in Gion. Mmm.

This is Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. 伏見稲荷 <--This may or may not be correct. It is more likely incorrect. There are long "tori" archways up the mountain so we took a little hike and saw lots of these and temples/shrines along the way up.

My former Manager, Yuriko, and her friend were also in Kyoto the same time we were so we met them for dinner in Gion. We ate at a small restaurant at a really small shelf-like table against the wall. It was interesting and of course delicious. 

This picture and the next two are of a really pretty river in Kyoto. I forget the name, but we stopped there and ate at a tiny restaurant along the river. The tempura was really good, and the view was awesome. 

These are my friends: Shaun, Mike, and Nao. They were good travel buddies.

Kyoto

Kobe - There was a big earthquake there about ten? years ago that did a great deal of damage, but the it's a really beautiful place now. We went on a boat ride and a ropeway ride up a mountain, where we saw a pretty garden and greenhouse. We also tried Kobe beef, which I'm sure I would have been extremely impressed by if I was a big steak fan. :D It was good.