In early June, Larry and I decided to head to Fuji-Kyu Highland Amusement Park. Some of our friends had recently gone there and we heard from them that it was a lot of fun... Not to mention, because of its location near Mt. Fuji, we also enjoyed beautiful scenic views while we were there. We finally arrived at Fuji-Kyu after a 2 hour bus ride from Shinjuku, and immediately wasted no time hitting up ALL the rides: the "free fall" rides, the roller coasters, even the kiddy rides and the scary, haunted rides....well, almost the scary, haunted rides. At one point [View Full Entry]

---

---

On this particular day off together, Larry and I decided to spend the majority of the day in Odaiba. Here, we revisited some of the things we've done before....only this time we had nice, sunny weather! Once again, we rode the famous Palette Town ferris wheel, had lunch overlooking Japan's Statue of Liberty, visited a cute cat store, and took a nice long walk along the beach. This time the skies were clear and we got a much better view of the Rainbow Bridge as well... On the way home, as you can see, we took full advantage of the fact [View Full Entry]

---

---

We went to Okinawa at the end of May - kind of a little vacation to relax and also to end Larry's week-long birthday celebration! When we first arrived at the Naha Airport in Okinawa City, we were REALLY disappointed to find that the weather was cloudy and pouring rain on the island...not exactly the tropical island getaway we were expecting. Still, we hopped on the bus that would take us to our beach resort, the Sun Marina, hoping that our luck would change by the time we reached our final destination. Well, miracloulasly it did!! About an hour later, by [View Full Entry]

---

---

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARRY! If any of you can remember, just like last year, Larry's birthday celebration this year ALSO lasted for about a week! The whole thing started out on May 19th - the actual day - when I cooked a large birthday dinner for Larry when he got home from work. We had steak, asparagus, shrimp, salad, edamame, fresh tuna, and for dessert, me....haha, just kidding....strawberry cheesecake! It was all delicious...even I was quite surprised at my new cooking abilities!! After dinner, Larry opened his presents from me...a ring (sorta like an engagement ring for men, but unfor [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our next weekend after "Golden Week," we decided to take a short, two-day trip to Hakone. Hakone is a scenic city near the base of Mt. Fuji, and we were told that on a clear day has sights that are absolutely gorgeous. Well, unfortunately the days we picked to go were not so clear...ok, so actually it was nothing but rain, clouds and fog...but that didn't stop us from having a good time. We arrived in Hakone by Shinkansen ("the bullet train"), and right away, we each bought a "Hakone Free Pass". This pass would allow us to do a variety [View Full Entry]

---

---

This next entry is from "Golden Week," a week-long holiday celebrated here in Japan around the first week of May. This period is a conglomeration of separate national holidays. Greenery Day (April 29th), Memorial Day (May 3rd), and Children's Day (May 5th) are the 3 holidays that are honored during this time. We're not really sure why the Japanese celebrate all of them so closely together, but it seems like everyone has the week off from work (well, except for Disney performers and Nova teachers) to relax and enjoy the nice weather - maybe it is comparable to Memorial Day weekend [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello everybody! On this day, we were invited to go strawberry-picking with some of our friends. The other people in the pictures are Elizabeth (a fellow Ariel), Missy (a friend that works behind the scenes for "Under the Sea"), and Daisuke (plays Flounder in the show!) Missy, who put the whole trip together, actually referred to the trip as "Strawberry-Hunting," which we thought was REALLY cute! After hopping into the rental car we had for the day, we drove about an hour and a half to the popular strawberry-picking grounds in Japan known as Naruto. Here, we each paid 1,000 JPY [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi everybody, This next blog features an array of pictures from many different occassions, although one thing remains the same...the location. As you all can see, we frequent "The Hub" quite often - for birthday parties, going-away parties, and just to go out and have a good time. It's a convenient little place, located in the basement of the nearby Oriental Hotel, and with Melanie's 10%-off Disney discount, we can't think of a better place to go sometimes. The first couple of pictures are of us along with Summer, a fellow Ariel, and her boyfriend Jason, who was visiting for a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello all, The day we decided to revisit Odaiba, the weather was rainy and not very pleasant. So, we headed to the opposite side of the island, where we heard there was a lot to do indoors. Here we were not disappointed at all! We spent the entire afternoon shopping, playing games and exploring Sega's Joypolis - an indoor amusement park/arcade complete with rides, virtual reality games and even a 3-D horror show called "Dark Chapel". I think by far though our favorite thing there was the snowboarding ride...we rode it at least 3 times each!!! While shopping at Decks, a [View Full Entry]

---

---

We then met up with our friend, Francie, who lives in Osaka. We met her at Nijo Castle, which is a beautiful fortress, and best known for its inornate interiors and nightingale floors. The floors of Nijo Castle were actually pretty cool because they were designed to make bird-like squeaking sounds when walked upon, a warning of possible intruders. Finally we decided to call it quits with the history part of our trip and go shopping with Francie. We went to a very popular area of downtown Kyoto for shopping and got lost in its maze of stores. Here we bought [View Full Entry]

---

---