In two days I think I covered all realms of Japanese culture. Starting with DisneySea, a branch of Disneyland that is part Epcot part MGM studios. A bit less childlike than the MagicKingdom-heavy Disneyland. Some of the attractions are the Tower of Terror, various adult themed rides like Indiana Jones, etc. There was also a beer garden in the park, not your typical disneyworld. One thing, it was COLD, but still packed. I guess thats what happens when you put a small but incredibly famous amusement park in the most populated area of the world. (Tokyo and surrounding areas has 35 [View Full Entry]

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Video is of a tradition called setsubun. In Pre-meiji Japan setsubun (2/3) marked the beginning of the new year. Both large scale temples and households do mame-make; I got to do both. I went with the family to Zoujouji, a large temple in the middle of Tokyo, one of the most well known of the Tokyo temples. They did this mame-make 3 times, throwing bags of soybeans out to the gathered people. This had a religious connotation, once, but all that seems to have left. The people throwing the beans are famous Japanese actors, singers, as well as Elmo. In the [View Full Entry]

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Tokyo is a wonderful and diverse city created by quite possibly the most homogeneous people. Tokyo has Disneyland, the Effiel tower, food from around the world, American commercialism, and a beautiful european-style brewery complex called the Yebisu Garden Place. Tokyo took all the great things and put them in one city. It's a fun place, but the culture you get out of it is not very Japanese...or is this what Japanese culture is becoming. Sitting with a friend at the Yebisu beer garden over lots of beer, we talked about what is Tokyo culture becoming, or if there would be any [View Full Entry]

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Too good for just the travel blog. Had to go food blog with this one. [View Full Entry]

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Japan has a major declining population and low birthrate problem. There is actually a cabinet level position under the Japanese PM to address the issue. The close-mindedness of Japanese to foreigners, especially workers, and the inflexibility of the corporate system to maternity leave and gender equality, combined with a fertility rate way below 2 is stirring up fears of a contracting Japan. But no one wants to change to break any traditions. Except my family. I forget if I mentioned this before but my host family is/was a foster family. They have been fostering for at least 10 years a [View Full Entry]

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Great night last night, and I was able to wake up and see the am. Not bad work for a saturday. Went early clubbing in Shibuya last night with Shack and Alia and some Japanese DJs that they knew. Met the infamous DJ Aso who is drunk 24/7 but can get you into places for cheap and on guest lists. There were a few more DJs that Shack had me before. The club was 5-9, morning for most club goers. Worked out for me because there was another round at 10:30 that I had been invited to so when I left [View Full Entry]

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So...New Years New Years in Japan is one of the more traditional holidays. Most people go to an elder relative's house, back to the home town, eat toshikoshi soba on the 31st, go on a early morning visit to a temple, then eat osechiryouri (new years food) for the next few days. My family did none of this. Instead we went to a town called Shimoda on the Izu Penninsula. Large resort town and naturally, family found a large resort. I stayed in a separate hotel closer to the center of the city because as always, hotels were booked about 24 [View Full Entry]

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New Years was wonderful if not traditional. But there are more important things in the world than New Year's in Japanese...like pizza. Finally I crossed one of the Vera Pizza Napoletana places off my list. This one is number 239 in the world and located in the Yoga part of Setagaya. Went there with the family so got to try many things. I'll put a few pics up but most of the details are on the food blog Also January 2 and 3 a 10 leg 220km race occurs between Ginza, Tokyo and Hakone where all of the major schools [View Full Entry]

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Host father and my dad are pretty much the same...retired, love baseball, love golf. I've been to the range a few times with host father, and since its winter break, time to hit the course. It's warm enough in Tokyo to play 365 days a year. The course was about 1:20 away from the house in Tokyo in Yamanashi-ken. Set in a valley, the course was very hilly but in nice shape for december. Greens were well kept but the rough had died out. I was pretty rust but actually came away with second prize of a king crab and box [View Full Entry]

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Host family went to Okinawa and surrounding islands from December 22 to 25. Got back late on the 25 but in time to open presents and eat Christmas cake. We hit three different islands in our time there, Okinawa, Miyakojima, and Iwabujima. I think I found out that these were concrete plans on December 20th...family moves quick and its sometimes inconvenient but I can't say no because their plans have always been amazing. Going to Okinawa we took the Pikachu jet...every surface was covered in Pokemon. Seats, cabin, exterior. My little brother wanted to fly it so the family lined up [View Full Entry]

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