My hopes of rising at 5:30AM were both ridiculous and unattainable as I slept thru the alarm but fortunately woke around 6:30AM to begin my journey to Tokyo Disneyland. After a bus ride, JR train from Kasugai to Nagoya, Shinkansen from Nagoya to Tokyo and then a 2nd JR train from Tokyo out to Disneyland I arrived at the park on what had turned out to be a rather gorgeous December day with the sun shining and temps in the near low 50’s. After stowing my large bag I met up with my former training group in Tommorowland at around noon. It was great seeing everyone again as I had said in earlier posts it was difficult leaving out little group when we all arrived in Japan. The stressful week of training in a foreign country formed some close bonds in only a week so it was great to see everyone after Amity had scattered us to schools all over Japan once training was completed. Right away I was the fortunate recipient of Shaan’s Fast Pass ticket for Space Mountain, as she was feeling a little ill after the previous night, so my first Disney ride in some time was probably the best, Space Mountain. From there we were able to ride Star Tours (Star Wars themed ride) as well as take in a 3D movie called “Micro Adventures” which we came to find out was actually “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” which I had seen years ago at Epcot Center in Disney World Orlando. From there we picked up a late straggler, Joel who had also overslept due to his late night at a friend’s birthday party and waited in line for my favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride, which has been updated in all the Disney parks, has all the old characters but now includes an animatronic Geoffrey Rush reprising his Barbossa character as well as at least 3 or 4 of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character from the popular Pirates movie series. The new Jack Sparrow’s were actually creepy in their realism and we swore they were a real person for a second or two. The park was gorgeously decorated for Christmas and even though it was mid December the crowds were there to prove it. I am not sure but one of the people in our group said that entrance to the park was actually suspended later in the afternoon as the crowd reached over 500,000 for the day. For the remainder of the day I was able to get one more ride on Space Mountain prior to closing, as well as Space Jets and Thunder Mountain Railroad with Ted and I taking advantage of the shorter lines during the Electrical Light Parade. The only two main differences were the Japanese affinity for waiting in line and the food. Early on all of us jumped in a relatively short 15-20 minute line assuming it was for some ride we could check off our list only to find out after waiting near 25 minutes that it was a line to gain special seating during the closing character show. Ultimately we did not win upgraded tickets but I can’t imagine people in the States waiting this long for the hope of better seating at a Disney show. Also on several occasions we noticed huge lines of nearly 100 people snaking around the park only to find it was people waiting in line for a particular style of popcorn. I love popcorn as much as the next person but I can’t imagine waiting in line upwards of what seemed to be 30-40 minutes just for chocolate popcorn. Also lines of near the same amount waited patiently to have their picture taken in front of a Buzz Lightyear plastic life size figurine. Again the park was similar to what you might find in the States other than the food, which was quite different to say the least. After spotting a sign for “churros” Shaun and myself hopped in the short line only to determine when ordering that these were not the more typical cinnamon churros but actually “honey-lemon” flavor. The group who all tried it agreed with my assumption that it tasted like a old foot sprayed with Lemon Pledge. In fact the taste was so horrific we kept taking bites of the thing just to see if it was actually as bad as we believed it to be (it was). Also it seems interesting to me that the Japanese never submit a simpler alternative when it comes to theme park food. After finding a pizza place in Tommorowland we came to find that the two types of pizza where either Chicken and Mushroom or Snow Crab. It seems like just giving a “plain pizza” option makes more sense as it might be difficult to have the masses determine which they like less on a pizza, mushrooms or crab. Either way I opted for the crab pizza and have to say it was pretty good. All in all seeing the foods you would not find on the States just showed how good Disney is at marketing to a global audience, in Orlando its burgers and fries before a ride on a roller coaster in Japan you find omelet rice and Japanese curry. Upon leaving the park at 10PM we headed back on the JR train and then the Tokyo subway to our capsule hotel in the suburbs that Shaan had booked us all in. Although it was a great place for the money (about $24.00) the hotel was not near as nice at the capsule I have stayed at twice here in Nagoya in fact my bottom capsule felt like I was trying to enter a dog house as I scrambled on my hands and knees to enter. To close out the night the entire group headed to karaoke (what else) for a few drinks before calling it a night. I crawled on my stomach into my “room” and fell asleep quickly after the long day.
For Day 2 most of the group headed back to the park to tackle the second theme park, DisneySea with myself Krysta and Garnett heading to Shibuya in Tokyo to hang out on what was a not so great cold and drizzly day unlike the previous days weather. Tokyo is such a large and daunting city to see in a day we decided to stay put and just chill out and really we did little more than hit up the large Tower Records where I happily plunked down about 8 dollars for an English Time Magazine with Barrack Obama as it’s Man of the Year. From there we exhibited more behavior of Americans (and Canadians) starved for a taste of home as we hit up the TGI Friday’s where we tore into a 3 for All Appetizer which should be called “Three Things You Will Never See in Japan”, mozzarella sticks, hot wings and potato skins. I swear I had tears in my eyes when I saw real Bleu Cheese being served with the wings, amazing. After our late lunch we checked out the famous Shibuya Crossing where I am told (need to fact check this) over 1 million people cross thru each and every day before saying goodbye and catching the Shinkansen home to Nagoya.
Tuesday while not only being the Emperor of Japan’s birthday also happens to be my birthday I stayed close to home and enjoyed the day off before returning to work on Christmas Eve. I know many of you have asked but the holidays passed for me with little fanfare since without the family and the friends, the plans and the parties you sort of forget its Christmas. I did however thanks to my great family have many presents to open and did so for a while in front of my webcam on Christmas day as I checked in on the celebrations at home. On Christmas night Sam and I took the train to Nagoya to meet up with some friends and had a few drinks at the Aussie bar, Red Rock to celebrate the holiday.
On Friday Ryan, Sam, Sayaka, Gwenn and I headed to the Backbeat as happily the group keeps getting larger in support of my two friends and owners, Kazuhiko and Mikka. I was surprised and touched when around 11PM Kazuhiko started to clear the spot in front of me with the assumption that he was either preparing to close or to kick me out only to see him carrying a small cake affixed with 7 candles in celebration of my birthday. After cutting into the cake the entire group including some of the bar regulars enjoyed the very typical and exotic delicacy of cold draft beer and birthday cake. An interesting question has been asked of me recently as to what is the best or my favorite part of Japan thus far. Stumped both times it was posed to me I now may have a good answer. Perhaps all the castles, shrines and kimonos are great but what is best about being here is two new friends who speak little English consulting an English dictionary so they can properly and precisely write “Happy Birthday Brian” on a cake they made special for you. I think that thus far has been the best part
It’s Him! One of the nice things about being in a smaller Japanese town is the possibility of running into your students outside of school. And from the reaction most children find it akin to running into Barney the Purple Dinosaur outside of school. While eating at Denny’s (yes, that Denny’s) I was seated at a booth directly next to two young girls and their mother who take several classes at school. As they watched intently as I ordered and began eating my lunch the older girl presented me with her placemat as they left in which she had drawn a likeness of me. In it my head is grotesquely large and my face bears a resemblance to some type of half man, half ape being only know to be me by the lack of hair on my head replaced with some dots where hair would normally be.
Happy New Year You Idiot It seems that New Year’s cards are both popular to send and receive during the holiday so I was quite happy to receive one from a girl at school who I had taught in a private lesson. As I thanked her for the kind gift I realized it was written completely in Kata Kana and therefore I was unable to read the sentiments. Later in the day I handed it to one of the Japanese teachers and watched as she read it and then began laughing, to translate it said:
Happy New Year Brian (Boo-ryan, how they kids say my name)
Do you even understand Japanese?
Anna
Even though I do not understand Japanese I appreciate the sentiments just the same.
By the way I apologize for the very long post this week as I have gotten feedback it seems some of you would prefer I had a better editor but as happy I am that people are reading and hopefully enjoying the blog it serves me as well so I do not forget all the great, funny or embarrassing things that are happening here.
Catch up with me next week to see what the New Year has in store for me in Japan.
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