A Beach BBQ Party

Not long ago I headed out to a town named Chigasaki, located about 40 minutes by train from my place. My friends Lisa and Mabo live out there and, throughout the summer, very often have BBQ parties in their garden. They are blessed to live about a 5 minute walk from the beach. If you get down there for sunset, you can watch the sun set right behind Mt. Fuji! It’s really quite amazing:) I’m not sure why it turned-out this way, but I only ended-up taking a few photos of Hiro on the beach in the dark.

Anyway, I will definitely continue to add photos (in the daylight!) as the BBQ parties continue throughout the summer. They always bring together a great bunch of people and only once has their cat, Rocky, been put off enough to hide up in a tree:)

International Food Day!

This is a day that I seriously love. St. Moores, an international school located in Yokohama, holds an international food fair every year to raise money for things like computers for the school. Because it is an international school, there are kids with parents from everywhere imaginable and that means we get to sample hot plates from all those countries we’ve always wanted to visit but haven’t had the chance. This year I had some yummy lamb chops barbied-up by my mate Jennifer.  International mates.Another friend of mine, Ray, also had his hands on the chops, and they garnered rave reviews all around. Jennifer is from New Zealand and Ray is from Australia.

After the food fair, we headed to an outdoor beer garden which has a beautiful view of the sunset over Yokohama. Sadly, it didn’t stay open long after we arrived, but it was great while it lasted!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARI!!!!!

Last Friday belonged to my most excellent friend Shari.Shari and I. It was her birthday, and so I planned a little to-do for her at a fabulous lounge called UNICE in Daikenyama. We invited all of the good folks that we work with (and Hiro:)) GO BUNNY GO! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the all-you-can-drink deal for fifteen bucks, despite some poor folks having to get to work at ten in the morning the next day!

A little background on Shari is definitely necessary…….She and I met when she moved to Tokyo from Florida and joined the crew that I spend my days wondering about weird, weird students with. She’s been a fixture in my life since then, and has never failed to make me feel GREAT about my colour choices……for some reason we always end-up with matching outfits in the office:) We made a mad attempt to join a Salsa dance class together, but never actually managed to swing it because the teacher called-in sick TWO WEEKS IN A ROW! We’ve now given-up on THAT and have decided to join a cooking class:) Looks like we’ll be learning a little of the French cooking. I’ll keep you updated on that one.

OH! Hanami!

As some of you already know, this last week has been the week when the cherry blossom trees blossom in Japan. cherry blossoms This is a mad-house national event, in Japan, and EVERYONE makes a point of getting out to view the flowers. As it happens, I ended-up heading out to various places 5 or 6 times this year, and got to REALLY appreciate the festivities:) Most people go with friends or coworkers and spend the day/evening drinking, relaxing and generally enjoying the first hints of Spring. If EVER a man needed more time in his schedule book, this would be it!

The tour guide…..

This weekend has been absolutely WONDERFUL! I got to act as a guide for my friend Hiro. Hiro

Hiro is from Hokkaido, which is the big island at the top of Japan. He moved to Tokyo a few months ago and had never had a chance to visit my lovely town of Yokohama. He is now living in a place called Mukogakoyuen, which is in Tokyo. He tells me that there used to be a theme park there and that’s how the place got it’s name.

So, after a bit of a late start (no worries, Hiro:)) we headed off to see the sites. Yokohama is quite famous for a lot of things, not the least of which is Aka Renga. Yokohama Port area Aka Renga used to be a storage depot back in the day, but has been converted to a shopping area. It has kept all of the original building structure, however, so it’s like shopping in an old barn:)

In the photo, you can also see some of the more famous buildings in Yokohama. This make-up the most popular of the shopping areas in the city and it’s FULL of couples strolling and enjoying themselves on the weekend.

We started-off there and made a bit of a circle tour. Our plan was to get to Motomachi Chukagai, which is Yokohama’s China Town. China Town
Here we hoped to have a lovely dinner of proper Chinese food. So, we got there and started looking at the restaurant windows on the main street. EVERY restaurant was charging about $20 for a plate of whatever!!! Anyway, we headed-off down a side-street and found a FAB little restaurant that was packed with people and managed to get a dinner for two for the same price as a single dish at the other places! Word to the wise here…….side-streets ROCK!

Once dinner was all done (it was SUPER delicious!) we started walking back toward where we had started. By now it was dark out and all of the skyline was lit-up. Yokohama Skyline

It was an absolutely WONDERFUL day! I hope you all like the photos…..I’ll be sure to add more from our next adventure……wherever that may be!

Sunday, Lovely Sunday.

Ya know, one of the best things about living in (or near, in MY case) Tokyo is that you really never know what your day is going to hold.

I woke-up this morning feeling as though death were merely inches from my soul (I am being A LITTLE dramatic here, forgive me…..I’ve had a cold for a couple of days) and so I cancelled on Jo, Ruthy, Anya and Giles and didn’t go to my pottery class. I thought a little rest would do me good. As it turned out, I started going a little stir-crazy staying in my room. I decided that what this little fella REALLY needed was a little sunshine on his winter-white face.
Meiji Temple

With that in mind, I grabbed my camera and headed for the train station. I had Meiji-Jingumae Temple (check the link above) in mind as a destination. It’s an ENORMOUS compound of a temple located in central Tokyo, and is always crammed with people so I thought I would be able to get some good shots. I was not to be disappointed today.

When I entered I just kind of stood there for a few minutes and looked around from the top of the steps. It’s crazy busy, but there is a very special kind of calm in that place. Anyway, I took a little stroll around and looked at some of the other buildings before deciding to move on and go to the iris garden. That plan changed in a hurry, though, because when I turned to head off I found myself smack in front of a wedding procession! The wedding….It was being recorded by television stations and the whole nine yards! I have no idea if they were anyone special or not, but they certainly come from good families when you consider the price attached to getting married in that temple!

So, with that bit of excitement over with, I actually did move on and walked through some of the myriad pathways that litter the grounds. I was feeling quite well after a little of this, and opted to head back home for a little dinner.

As I was heading back to the station, my day had one more bit of entertainment to give me before I got home. Ah, yes…..Harajuku fashion. I have been to a lot of countries in this world of ours, but nowhere have kids been as creative with their clothing. Take a look at these two. Harajuku girls in full form.All you parents out there who worry about how your girls look on a Friday night should be thanking your lucky stars! So, that pretty much sums-up my Sunday afternoon. Hope you all used your day well and had some fun!

Saru

Boys, Girls, and Garter Belts.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Well now. THIS is an outing that I will NEVER forget! It’s a bit like those sparkly-but-not-offensive-comfortable-but-not-Rosie-O’Donnell-comfortable -wish-I-had-worn-THESE-to-the-party pair of shoes that everyone has in their collection!

Two of my very best friends (Dan and Crystal) got married (to one another) this past Fall, and I got to join in the wedding parrrrrrrrrrrtaaaaaaay! It was FAB, so I think I really ought to include a little bit about it in here.

Just us lads.

As I mentioned, I am from the city of Thunder Bay, which is located in Northwestern Ontario, in Central Canada. Check it out! It’s lovely, if a little local. ( www.thunderbay.ca ) Anyway, the wedding was held at an historical park that we all used to work at (Old Fort William: www.fwhp.ca/homepage.html ) and that’s why the photo above looks like it was taken in a theatre.

I can’t mention this place without expanding just a little since this is where Dan, Crystal and I first met. Old Fort William is a fantastic historical park which tries, very hard at times, to recreate the year 1815. I worked there during the summers for a few years when I was a university student, and the summer that I returned from spending a year and a half in Thailand and Europe. While we were working, Crystal busied herself baking bread in the old stone oven, and Dan and I walked around the place dressed in coat-tails and stockings. I bet that conjures-up some pretty classy images for all you readers! Anyway, working at this place really lends itself to making GREAT friends and I made a bunch.

So, I left the big city and headed back to the homeland. A 24 hour journey later, I arrived back in Thunder Bay and the festivities began! It was pretty non-stop for a while because so many people had come back from various parts of the world……some even got snowed-in along the way, thanks to Canada’s all-to-fabulous-ice-queens-would-love-it-global-WHATing? type winters! We ended the week of festivities with a party at Dan’s parent’s place and said so-long to everyone.

So, this would lead to Saru’s third life lesson……..no matter HOW far away you are, how OLD you get or how RARELY you actually touch base, great friends are great friends forever! Love it!

Saru

My ladybugs

I don’t think that a blog about my personal experiences in Japan would be quite complete without including a few bits and snips about my three favourite ladybugs! These girls do a lot to keep me sane on a daily basis and I appreciate it more than they will ever know! They are, from left to right, Jordana, Ruthy/Ruthster (depending on my mood), and Janelle. That would be me (looking a little tipsy…….quiet girls, I was JUST A LITTLE tipsy:)) laying all over the front of them. See. What did I say? These girls ROCK! Anywho, I thought I had better introduce them as I am sure you all will be seeing a lot more of them as the blogs plods along.

So, this leads us to Saru’s second thought on life. Having cool people around you is a must. Whatever you’re into, whenever you’re into it, surround yourself with people who support it.

Saru