Oh, what a fun and wonderful week it has been! Funderful even!
So momma, aunt, and uncle are visiting, and we are having the best time walking, sight-seeing, and laughing a whole lot at what baca gaijin they are! It's fantastic!
From the moment they arrived, we've just had a ball. From shopping for the next day's breakfast the night they flew in completely jet-lagged to tramping through Kamakura, we've just had a great time.
The first day I scrapped the fish market plan after learning from the exhaustion of Cathy and Meg, so they spent the morning at the Imperial Palace whilst I visited my favorite voice doctor in Tokyo Station. Good news, it all checks out, I've just had a nasty case of pharyngitis, so he put me on some great drugs. Bad news, the medication doesn't always agree with my stomach, but I've survived.
Then we adventured further south to the park near Roppongi to see the beautiful temple there and take a trip up Tokyo Tower. It was awesome (for me) to see the layout from the city from 400 feet up after traipsing across the whole city. It made me realize how many places I've been and what an enormous amount of the city I've seen.
That afternoon we stopped at a noodle house for lunch, but it wasn't particularly great, which was disappointing. But then we stopped at the International Forum building and wandered all the upper suspended walkways and the view was incredible! Topped off with some delicious gelato, the day couldn't have been much better. I met Evan briefly to continue planning our Thailand vacation. And of course, we were early to bed for our early wake up call for the fish market!
The next morning we were up bright and early to visit Tsukiji. 4 AM Wake-up call, and 4 people out of the house by 4:45 AM! I was so proud we actually caught the first train at 5:10 AM. Vending machine coffee has never tasted so good...
We ran into my friend Heidi and her boyfriend on the train, which was really fun because then we all got to experience the madness of the fish market together. I kept comparing it to Narnia, because the early AM tuna auctions are at the very back of the market, and you just gotta keep going "further up, and further in".
Not following? Do yourself a favor... re-read that amazing 7 book series and promise me you don't get a little emotional when you get to the final pages of The Last Battle...
Anyway, the reason I say that, is because you first stumble upon rows of Alleys and little shops selling restaurant goods and fresh fruit and vegetables and many other things... And you have to walk through that until you're in this crazy loading dock area that feels like you're in Port Authority and/or the West Side Cruise Ship port, except all you smell is fish. And this is one time you gotta follow that nose.
Further down you're surrounded by the vendors selling all kinds of fresh seafood, freshly caught, some still alive, and little carts screaming down these teeny shop alleys trying not to kill you. And still you gotta go further in. You have to cross several big streets of transport, and THEN you arrive at the one warehouse where they allow a roped-off, no-flash-photos, out by 6:15 AM visitors area. Of course, the really big tuna auctions are still further up and further in, but they have plenty of "Keep Out you Baca Gai-jin" signs preventing you from going any further.
Side story: I'm not sure why I thought the best phrase I should teach to my family in Japan was baca gaijin... aka stupid foreigner. Because now they shout it all over Japan, which is hysterical. But even moreso was watching my mother try to remember the correct phrase, and with full commitment call herself a "Danke Schon!" HA!
Anyways, this, this is where the real show takes place. Despite the fact that you are herded like cattle into an "itty, bitty living space", you have the chance to see GIANT 300 lb tuna being auctioned off. And there are like 5 auctions going on at once in this giant warehouse. So cool. It's interesting because it's run like a fancy schmancy Sotheby's auction. Where the caller is shouting out in Japanese and the bidders only bid by hand signs. And they auction those fish FAST. It's a flurry of activity, but it's by far one of the coolest places I've visited in Japan.
Once we were kicked out of the auction, we wandered around and saw a bucket of live eels, live crabs in sand, those fish that swim on the bottom of the ocean and therefore look like they've been peeled on one-side, giant tuna just roaming around on those forklifts, octopus, squid, you name it...
And then it was time for an onigiri sushi breakfast with Uncle Greg while the ladies ate Pan Jewel pastries and we all sat down in McDonald's to drink coffee and warm up. D-E-licious!
The rest of the day we wandered around Ginza, saw the incredible opening of Matsuya Department Store where everyone just stands and bows to you and says "Shaimasen" over and over for 5 minutes. You kinda feel like a rockstar. We eventually had a delicious lunch at the Shiodome, and toured the Hama Detached Palace Gardens.
We opted to try out these handheld iPhone-type audio/visual tour guide things, which ended up making for a fun experience where we were constantly saying, "Did you ding yet?" "No, I didn't ding!" "Ahhh I don't wanna hear the thing about the bridge a fourth time." Surprisingly fun.
And we spent the evening chowing down on delicious Chinese food and soaking in wonderful bliss at the onsen. Even Aunt Jan enjoyed the baths despite her trepidation, and the night ended with a wonderful conversation about Phillip and all our other family members we've lost too soon. It might have been the best onsen night ever.
Over the weekend, the family headed down to Hiroshima and Himeji, and I spent most of the time sleeping off our early mornings and hoping I was starting to get better. I finally made some decisions about Thailand and Taiwan, and by Tuesday night, Evan and I had booked our flights and our hotel! YATTA! Vacation is only weeks away!
Sunday night the family returned, and we took off to Disneyland on Monday since it was supposed to be cold and rainy Tuesday and Wednesday. Though the park was INSANELY busy and I lost the lottery for both the castle show and Evan's show yet AGAIN, we had a pretty marvelous day. I was surprised that everyone loved Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain so much, and even more surprised at how much I disliked the castle show. I thought everyone was great, I just don't really enjoy the concept of hearing WACK arrangements of Disney songs in front of Cindy's Castle. Out of place, much? A rap version of Chim Chim Cheree? No thank you.
We had a great day together, and the lines went by quickly since we had so much to talk about. I think my family was shocked at how many times I started talking to some of the Japanese in line and ended up with friends and photo shoots!
That exhausting day segued into our grossest day yet on Tuesday that ended in snow. YUCK! Isn't spring supposed to be here yet? So we spent the day sleeping in and milling around Shin-Urayasu, which turned out to be an absolute BLAST! The ladies loved shopping in Shopper's Plaza, we laughed ourselves silly taking sticky pics, and everyone's absolute favorite was drinking at karaoke! Who knew my family would enjoy that so thoroughly? We ended the day with a long overdue game of pinochle (Aunt Jan and I won!), and a trip to Yakiniku across the street. Everyone loved the food and it was a successful end to our day!
Wednesday dawned less rainy than expected, so we took off for Kamakura for the day. We visited the Hachimangu shrine, which sadly lost their 1000-year-old towering Gingko tree in the storm the night before. News cameras and people milling around everywhere made us feel like we witnessed history, and in a way we had. I only wish I had seen it the first time I visited Kamakura.
Then we walked over to the other side of town, visited the inside of a Japanese Catholic Church, and visited my favorite shrine, Hasedera. The view from the top of the hill was amazing, seeing the whitecaps out on the ocean and all the windsurfers not far from the beach. Everyone enjoyed the temple, and of course we stopped at the Daibutsu (Great Buddha)! It was so much easier to walk around town then the first time I went in August when I couldn't get money, was dehydrated, and it was 100 degrees outside! Thank goodness!
We took the scenic Enoden streetcar over to Enoshima, and then the suspended monorail rollercoaster subway back to Ofuna. The detour was well-worth the experience of interesting transportation, a view of Fuji, and the gorgeous seaside train. We had hoped to stop in Yokohama for dinner, but we needed to get to the travel agent by 8, so we stopped into Monsoon for a TASTY dinner that night. I got to eat all of my favorites, so I was more than satisfied!
Thursday the family came to DisneySea, and despite the crowds, they made the most of fast passes and my planning, and rode just about everything except the Tower of Terror. They adored BBB, and after work, I joined them in the park to finally see BraviSEAmo!, see the Mermaid show, ride the rollercoaster, and spin around Aquatopia! They had a great and exhausting day, and I know they were impressed at the sheer amazingness of that park. Heck, I work here everyday, have visited 4 times now, and I was amazed!
Now the family has shipped off to the Ise Peninsula for the weekend, and I have spent the days working and resting up. I have tomorrow (Sunday) off with them for their final Japanese day. Who knows what we'll end up doing, but I hope they enjoy it thoroughly!
Finally, I just finished our fourth show, and there was a special needs child in the front, challenged with Down's Syndrome, I believe. I couldn't believe how well-behaved he was, and how wonderful his mother was with him. It always makes me a little sad inside to see children like that, but it really got to me at the end of the show, and I walked offstage with tears in my eyes. But it wasn't a sad cry. When Mickey came over and waved at the kid, I've never seen so much joy in my life. And as Blair said, it just makes it worth it. All the 5 show days, all the scheduling BS, that dang lottery, all the B-shifts back to back (like today so the other boys could go to rehearsal), seeing that little boy in the front row makes it all disappear.
Simply for his smile. And my family singing karaoke.
I'm so blessed!
