Tokyo!!

Hey everyone :) I just wanted to apologize now for the length of this blog entry I have. But most of it is pictures and videos!!!! So don't be too worried that it will take too long to read ;)

Saturday was a pretty big day! We were going to go see the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor lives, as well as some of downtown Tokyo! One of the things I noticed on our way there and back, was that honestly, Japan is like 1 endless huge city. You know how sometimes, when you're on the highway or even when your driving through a city, it comes and goes right? There is eventually an end and then you see well, something different? It's not like that here!!! Haha it's like an endless city, at least for the hour we were on the train! I've never seen so many continuous big buildings in my life!

Ok well anyway, so we took a train to Tokyo, and walked around the enormous Imperial Gardens that surround the Palace. Unfortunately, we weren't able to actually go inside the palace, but I guess there are a couple days out of the year that they open the gates and allow people in! It would be absolutely INSANEEEE to go on one of those days, but it would be such a cool experience to see what's inside!

This pic really isn't great, but from afar this is what the palace looked like:

Later we got to go see a little of downtown. It wasn't quite as crowded as I imagined, but then again I wasn't on the most popular street, plus it wasn't one of their packed times of the day haha. But anyway, we went inside a Sony museum, and it was kinda cool cuz we got to see some crazy stuff they don't really sell in stores. One thing me and Trev tried out were these um individual 3D movie headsets, which were really really cool!!! Hahaha it definitely reminded me of the Sims, where like, the only video game options to buy for your house are these individual headsets. But these are actually real!!! So that was pretty fun. :)
These are a couple pictures of what downtown looked like :)

We got to go into other stores, but we were with boys who don't like to shop so we're gonna have to save that bit for another day. I can't wait!!! :)

Sunday was also a pretty big day! Today was the day of the Mikoshi Parade (I probably spelled that wrong, sorry), where the parade starts outside of the Navy Base and ends inside, and we open the doors to Japanese and people without military I.D. It was a lot of fun! And finally, I got to experience the crowds of Japan. It was absolutely PACKED in that little street! Many Japanese people were coming just to order like 5 American pizza's to take back to their homes, cuz as you may know, the food here is quite a bit different than it is back home and the Japanese people love it. Anyways, there were pretty much 2 different types of "floats", if you wanna call it that, and tons of them! So one was sort of like, perhaps an introduction to the shrine, so people from that town or part of town would have instruments and idk it looked and sounded pretty cool haha.

 The second type was much more entertaining most times. A ton of people all worked together to hold a big shrine. And let me just warn you now!!! Many of the native Japanese people, for some reason that I cannot seem to grasp, think that wearing pants is very unimportant! Like half of the men in the parade decided to wear a "long shirt" with no pants, only by long I mean doesn't really cover the butt so isn't long at all, and I saw many bottoms that day!! In this particular video, you can see how short some of the shirts were!

 And idk if you've seen it yet on facebook, but one of the Japanese people from that um float (idk what to call it haha) came up to me, and my brother and dad, and asked us to hold it! It was pretty cool cuz I didn't see ANY other American's getting to do that! And then we got a little prize for holding it too ;) I was a little sad cuz I was a little too short to put the bar thing on my shoulder, but I pretended and at least held it up with my hand :}

After we were told to go back to the audience, we were given these cute little gifts for participating! This is what they were:

There were a few other things that we saw, like someone dressed as a dragon thing haha. And with a few of the floats, there were people wearing masks that looked a little bit freaky haha.

After the parade was over, we went to go eat lunch, and this really sweet Japanese lady came up to me, not speaking much English, and gave me 4 tickets to some movie!! She was trying to explain to me what they were, but I really didn't understand and I had to ask people for translations later on. But it turns out each ticket was worth 1300 yen, which is idk maybe $16 per ticket?? So it was a pretty pricey gift! But very very nice of her :)

Lastly, the next day on Monday, me and my mom decided to go exploring outside of the base in town on our own for the first time!!! There is something else that I realized about living here- if you find a nice store you like, inside there will always be like, at least 4 stories of more stores! In other words, wherever you go is almost like a mall or something haha cuz so far, I have not once seen a store on its own! But like I said before, Japan is like an endless big city. So many of those big buildings are like stories and stories of like, shopping! So going out in town was really fun :) We found a French store that had reallyyyy good baked goods! AND there's a little Hawaiian bakery called Leonard's with those um cream puff things, I think called Malasadas,  that were all over in Hawaii! We found lots of cool stuff just at this one place by one of the train stations, and I know we will definitely be going back ;)

This was a little shopping plaza that we walked through to get to the other shopping place called "More's", which is the one by the train station. This place is really cute, and ranges from having of little grocery types of stores, to hair salons, to places to buy phones! It's also on a street called Blue Street, and I wish I would have taken a picture, but it is named because in the past it was referred to "Blues Street" because there were many jazz artists that played everywhere on the street. So on the ground there are trumpets and on benches there are molded guys playing saxophones! But now it is called "Blue Street" because the ground on the road is speckled blue!! So I will have to get pictures of that eventually ;)

Oh I guess there is one more thing that happened, I GOT MY LICENSE!!!! So now I can drive here, and on the left side of the road...... Only, I'm scared and I think I will just stick to riding the train :} Well, until next time! Talk to you soon!!!

Rhianna

PS. I guess I forgot one more thing. Here they have these coffee drinks that are called "Mt. Rainier Coffee", a product of Seattle. Idk I just thought it was cool because I've never even seen this kind of coffee in Seattle, and out of all places to have coffee, (even though we are the makers of Starbucks ;) they have more coffee from Seattle!

Ok, now that's really all I have to say ;) I'll write soon! Bye! :)

Kamakura and um lots more!

Ok, so it's been quite a few days since my last post, so I decided that I'm not gonna keep posting day 1, day 2 etc. cuz all the days are starting to blend together! :( But I'll try my best to get it all straight!

Monday we started our A.O.B training, which, if you don't know, is pretty much like a culture class of Japan as well as rules and regulations on the base. Oh, and you do training to get your driver's license here as well. Anyway, the first few days of class were pretty boring, just rules mostly, so after one of the classes and once Trevor was done with school, we decided to go check out the Daiei Mall off base. Inside was a huge, 4 or maybe even 5 story building full of Japanese clothes, shoes and stuff, and restaurants and grocery stores. It was really neat but we didn't do much shopping cuz of course, I was with my bro and dad as well ;P So I definitely plan on going back!

Btw, if any of you were still wondering about the Starbucks flavors I mentioned earlier, some of the weird flavors are Matcha, and Coffee Jelly. I decided to go and try the Matcha flavor in a frappe, cuz it was pretty foreign and green, and supposedly green tea flavored. But when I tried it, it was horrible!!!!!!!!! At first when I took my first sip, I thought it tasted sort of like some kind of mushy and cold Japanese soup. Then I realized that's cuz it tasted like seaweed!!!! I kept trying to finish it, telling myself that I ate squid and raw things earlier so this shouldn't be that bad, but it was. So instead of throwing it away and going to waste, my dad made me give it to him and he had to muscle it down instead, gagging the whole way. The other flavor, coffee jelly, I havn't tried yet, but it doesn't look to bad. It's just a frappe with coffee flavored jelly filled at the bottom. So maybe I will try that next!

Another one of the days we spent kinda wandering around the base and got to know the area a bit more. We checked out the gym, which was pretty cool cuz it had tons of classes you could take like martial arts (taught by Japanese ppl though!) and Zumba and all those things. It also had a pool, basketball courts, and the usual machines and whatnot. We also went to the post office and now have our mail box transferred (as far as I know!). Then I went and checked out the colleges, which were superrrr far away from where we've been hanging out every day! And that's also where the rec center is and uhmm more of the navy stuff.

I also got a call I think Monday to tell me I got the job at the NEX! I know I said Commissary before for those that remember but I meant the nex haha. But I'm getting paid above minimum wage here by like $1.10 and I'm getting $8.44 which is cool And I start on the 29th! A couple days later, I met up with the directors who did the auditions for the play, and they told me I got a part, which is also cool (as long as it doesn't take up too much of my time-- I'm way too busy!!).

Thursday, we got to go on a field trip with our A.O.B class to Kamakura, which is a really historical site in Japan that contains many shrines and temples and the big Buddha! Unfortunately its was pouringggg rain and we we're drenched so we didn't get to go see the Buddha. But we will sometime in these next couple years at least! Anyways, remember in my first blog when I talked about the weird squatting toilets? Well we got to experience those yesterday! My mom had to go when we first got to the train, and this is what we saw:

Sorry it's a little blurry lol.. But anyway, it was tiny!!! Wayyyy smaller than either of us expected! I squatted in front of it to get an impression of the size and how its way too small. Sorry for the creepiness of this

picture lol...

It might be hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure when I ever have to use this, which, I havn't so far, but I'm pretty sure I am going to miss.

But to continue on, we hopped on a train and it took us to Kamakura. We tried an authentic Chinese Cuisine for lunch, which was alright, but not quite as good as the Japanese stuff we've had ;) but oh yea I bought this really yummy cherry flavored drink called Calpis! (haha) It was super tasty!!! And looked a little somethin like this: ;)

Ok, so after lunch, we hiked up to the Hachimangu Shrine, who was the last "Shogun", or Samurai, (like the movie), and it was really neat! 

(it was hard to get a good picture cuz it was pouring rain and there were a ton of people)

Before reaching the temple though, you had to cleanse yourself. There was a sort of fountain thing at the base of the shrine, where you would pour water into the little cup thing, pour a bit into each hand and cleanse your mouth, and then wash the handle that you were holding. Here's me doin all that! 

So, as we were wandering through all these shrines and temples, a small group of Japanese kids came up to us and asked for our picture. It was really cute haha. As we went a little further on, I noticed a news anchor and camera man walking around, and came up to us and actually wanted am interview!! They totally couldnt speak English, so this process of asking like 1 question took maybe 15 minutes, but it was cool cuz maybe we'll be on TV ;)

When we got back, we went to the bowling alley with some friends and had a pretty good time :) But yea that's pretty much what's happened the past few days! I don't wanna overwhelm you with another couple more exciting days that have gone by since the last big day, so I will just write another one in the morning ;) But before this ends, I'll post another couple pics of our trip to Kamakura:

This was an entrance to shrines in that area, and...

...this is another BIG entrance to the Shogun shrine, the shrine for the last samurai. 

And ummmm I don't really remember this one haha it was maybe another entrance to another shrine..? Or maybe this one was a little temple? I'll just say it was a cool building ;)

Ok well that's pretty much it for pics. Until next time! :D

Rhianna

Day 3

Day 3. Modeling Fair! And other things haha
This morning I woke up pretty early again around 6:30 to start my day. Me and my mom left the house around 12 and it only took about 15 minutes to walk all the way from our Navy Lodge where we are staying, to that central place with all the stores and food. We were early...so guess what we decided to find? The Starbucks!!!!! It had some different flavors, like the one that I tried which was a dark chocolate java chip frapp which was pretty good ;) There were other different flavors but I can't remember!! Once we go again I will write them all down so I won't forget ;) Anyway, then we headed down to the Community Readiness center where the Modeling Fair was being held. It was really cool cuz the base puts this fair on only twice a year, and we just barely got here in time for this! Around 12-16 agencies would show up, and you would give them your information and a few pictures, and then you'd get to stand in front of the camera and they'd take pictures of you. If they liked you, they would give you their card and you would send them more pictures and they would give you the information to get a job with them.
So when I went, it was kind of cool because I felt like I had a better shot at getting a job, only because majority of the "models" there were children and some agencies were interested in older people. So I had less competitors! ;) I got about 5 cards from different agencies and a few of them said they would email me first, so I guess we'll find out how this goes if I hear back from any of them!! :)

Tonight was the first night we ate at home, and my dad made some authentic Japanese dinner. It was just chicken, rice and seaweed, and probably more than that haha but it wasn't too crazy! It tasted pretty good though ;)

So today wasn't quite as jam packed as yesterday, but it was nice to do a little more relaxing, write in my diary and my blog, and well catch up on my homework... Anyways, until next time! :)

Rhianna

My new life in Japan- Day 1 and 2

Hey guys, Rhianna here. So this blogger thing is definitely new to me, so bear with me as I totally butcher all my stories cuz I don't really know how a blog works I guess haha. Well, so far I am technically ending my 3rd day in Japan, but the first day really didn't count cuz I just slept... But anyway! You probably wanna hear all the great and new things I've encountered as I've embarked on my journey in Japan! So here goes nothing- don't make fun of all the mistakes I'll make while I'm here but I'll try to make it all entertaining for you ;)

Day 1. The Flight.
Boring stuff really. Me and my bro Trev hopped on the plane and immediately forgot our worries and sadness and started watching "Wrath of the Titans". It's a pretty good movie if I do say so myself! Then I spent the next 8 hours watching "Superbad", "The Color Purple", and that Abe Lincoln movie about vampire hunting, as well as Solitaire  the greatest card game ever. Then when we landed and got in the car, my eyes turned into glue and I missed the 2 hour tour of Japan as we drove to Yokosuka and I slept. And that was it.

Day 2. Yokosuka Navy Base!

So! Now we can get into the good stuff ;) We all woke up at 5 am, cuz back home it was 1 pm and we had slept at like 7 the night before. So it was a really long day! We drove to the Yokosuka Middle school to sign Trevor up for school. It's nice, but its kinda weird cuz the walls in every building are mostly just plain white. For a school it seems funny tho cuz I'm so used to crazyy decorations and posters everywhere. And, for those of you that went to South Kitsap High School and know that we don't have a turf field, I just wanted you to know that not only does the high school here have a track and turf field, so does the Middle and Elementary school. I'm only a little jealous lol.... ;P Anyway! After that, we walked up to the central-ish area of the base where the Commissary, the NEX, movie theater, bowling ally, and all the eating areas are (and where a Starbucks is!), and signed up in the Community Readiness center for the Modeling Fair that was gonna be happening the next day. I was super excited for that! Once we left that building, we noticed a job fair that was happening today. I promise, I'm definitely not trying to be all outgoing and try to get into anything that comes my way.......but yea that's what I did. I just wanted to check it out and maybe fill out a form, cuz I do need a job while I'm here eventually, but it turns out I got my interview and I will know if I get the job to work at the Commissary on Monday. But that's ok! Haha I will just um...wait for a few weeks till I work at least ;)
Later, a couple hours later, Trevor had a youth orientation to go to so he could kind of get to know some of the culture of Japan, in a kids perspective or something. So I went to that with Mom and Dad as well, and whadayaknow, I manage to get myself into something else. We were playing a little game of "Let's get to know each other" or something, and the instructor heard that I played the trumpet and piano and sang and all that. So she told me that in this building they were going to be putting on a Christmas play and that there were auditions today. I told her we were gonna be pretty busy after the class but that I'd peek my head in to see what was going on in there. But I'm getting ahead of myself! There were quite a few VERY interesting things I found out about Japan ;D

So apparently, Japanese people are reallyyyyy into having a good um, toilet experience. The toilets are quite special and advanced here.....
Here's your typical Japanese toilet:

As you can see, you got a nice little control panel on the side. So once you sit down, you immediately feel the nice warmth of a seat heater, which honestly makes you feel like the person just before you has been sitting here an awful long time. But anyways, say you really needed some inspiration to go. This toilet will solve your problem! There's a button for sound, which lets you play "running water" so that it will make it easier to pee. But lets say you had to take a dump and it was gonna be a reallll big, noisy one. There's a solution to that as well! There's ANOTHER sound button which lets you listen to music to cover up your own noises! How great is that, right?? .................. um anyway. But that's not all! Before your done, of course, this toilet also has a bidet that can clean you all up. With control panels that allow you to move the bidet up or down, you're practically all set! Just make sure you don't experiment with these controls AFTER your experience with the toilet. I guess it's been heard that some people walk out of the McDonald's bathroom drenched in water..... So make sure to experience the bidet WHILE you're on the toilet, not once you're finished and fully clothed and wondering what that button does.

There's also another kind of toilet here, but I have yet to see it!

I don't quite know how to explain this one as well, so here's another picture to help you guys out.

Alright so back to my trip. After this class, we stopped by the auditorium and we were happily greeted by quite a few people that were holding this Christmas play audition. I asked them you know, what this all was, and what the time commitment was too (which, they must have been really desperate cuz they said, "Oh, it's all up to you! We can definitely work around your schedule!"). I thought it seemed kind of fun, but I knew we had to meet up with some our friends for dinner in 15 minutes so I asked if I could just audition later or something, especially cuz I had absolutely nothing prepared. And they said, "Oh it'll be real quick! We just need to ask you a couple questions and you guys can head out of here!" So I decided it'd be alright, but I kinda felt bad (sorry mom and dad :( ). But yea anyway I went on the stage, and they asked me to tell them a little about myself, so I told them all my hobbies and what I had done all in High School and whatnot. I told them I liked to sing and they wanted me to perform a little of something, so my mom pulled up the video of me and my sis when we sang last Sunday as a good bye. It sounded really nice though I think! Haha but yea then that was pretty much it and they said they'd let me know by next week if I made a part. So we'll see about that one ;)

So once we met up with my dad's work friend at the train station, we got to travel up and see the house that, in a month or so, we will be staying in! It was so cool! It's 3 stories high, with the top story being like, the roof haha. We have a really pretty view of the water and the city, and its really amazing. I didn't get any pictures yet but I will next time I go there.

From here, we hopped on the train again to visit some other friends who invited us to dinner. And the food was great!! This was scary though- I experienced my first time ever batch of raw meat. The first thing was raw smoked salmon sushi, which, sorry if you don't think its that amazing that I tried raw sushi, but I was super proud of myself! It actually tasted pretty good, it was just a little slimy. :} The next thing I tried was simply raw tuna sushi. This one was a little harder to eat..... The flavor was good, but because it was so slimy and too big of a piece, I tried sooooo hard not to gag because it would just not go down my throat! I had to keep spooning more rice in my mouth cuz I need a little more something to chew on.. :( The scariest thing though, was the squid that I tried. It was like a really big, green, breaded-kinda straw. Just looking at it make me feel a little sick, but once I closed my eyes and tried it, It tasted really good!! I just had to stop thinking about what I was actually eating.. Haha but anyway, the rest of the meal including the dessert was delicious and not scary, like I think there was shrimp and vegetable stuff but it was all really good :)

So there you have it! Day 1 and 2 and I survived! Like I said earlier, I'm finishing day 3 right now but I'll put that in another post so this one doesn't seem too intimidating ;) Speak soon!

Rhianna