Tokyo Marathon

The Tokyo Marathon was this past Sunday morning and while most people enjoyed it from the comforts of their homes I went out and watched it live! I met with my old teacher to go cheer on her co-worker and my student (Did I mention that I am teaching English in my spare time?), Nakadoi-san. The Tokyo Marathon is run all around Tokyo and despite the cold, it was very entertaining!

I watched with Suda Sensei near Tamachi Station. I think because of the weather was so cold and windy that there weren't too many people out watching. Or they were just watching at a different section of the race.

This guy was running in a french maid costume. The costumes were great! There were so many people running in costumes it almost seemed normal.

So many people !

Not only was he running half naked with a cross on his back, but he was also barefoot! 

After the marathon, Suda Sensei and I met up with an old classmate of mine for lunch. It had been about 10 plus years since the last time we saw each other, but the memories came flooding right back. He is in his junior year at Keio University, studying economics, and getting ready to start 就職活動(shuushoku katsudou - Job hunting). He had an interview with a bank after our lunch which is why he was in a suit. 

It was really nice to be able to see him again after so long.. although I did feel a bit like a bum when being compared with him. He's at a prestigious university in Tokyo studying economics, while I'm just studying Japanese language. And by that I mean having fun in a big city, while occasionally speaking Japanese.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my grandfather's birthday! (Well, in Japan at least)  He's 80! Hope you have a wonderful Birthday Poppop!

Shall We Dance?

I'm on Spring Break right now, which means lots and lots of free time. We've been trying to make the most of all of this free time but living in Tokyo is super expensive so there have been days when we don't leave the dorm. This was not one of those days! We searched around on the internet for basically anything free... and the search ended when we discovered a dance studio in Roppongi that offered free trial lessons! The lesson was for the Argentine Tango and it was taught at 1:30pm on a Tuesday. Needless to say, there weren't too many people in that lesson. It was really fun though! We were all pretty terrible at it (I really wish we took pictures) but it was definitely worth it. 

Skiing in Nagano

Only in Japan can you snorkel and ski all in the same week! Well, that might not be entirely true but it's what I did! We got back from Okinawa on a Tuesday and then left for a day of skiing in Nagano that Thursday. Since we only went for the day we had to wake up early to catch the Shinkansen to Nagano... We caught the first train at 5:10am and then made our way to Tokyo Station to catch the Shinkansen... which was delayed when we got there. We had to wait around until about 8am before we could take the train.. wasn't the most fun I'd had. But luckily that was the only problem that we'd encountered that day.  By Shinkansen it took about an hour to get to Nagano and then we took a bus to the mountain. 

We rented everything! Japan is so convenient.

Keep in mind I've never been skiing in my life. I tried snowboarding once but that's an entirely different story. Out of our group only about three people had skied before.

There was a lot of trial and error before I figured out how to actually stop and turn and all that basic skiing stuff.

In the morning it was very overcast but eventually the sun came out!

I fell down a lot. Luckily my friends were ready with the camera for those moments. 

Last of Okinawa

Alex has a little scooter that he let us borrow for our daily trips to the grocery store. It's techincally a one-seater but we're tiny enough so we were able to make it a two-seater. Since there was only one helmet, Alex gave Emelie the choice of borrowing his Lacrosse helmet or his uniform helmet...

She went for the uniform helmet.

She really liked the helmet.

We mostly scootered to the grocery store just down the road since we were afraid to venture out too far in case we got stopped.. Alex lives about 30 minutes walk from a place called American Village. It reminded me of a beach town area - like something you would find in the Florida panhandle.

Since Alex was letting us stay with him we did the dishes and cleaned up. We also managed to make lasagna, cookies, cheesecake, fajitas, greek nachos, and homemade ice cream! In most Japanese houses (at least in Tokyo) there are no ovens. So naturally we had to make the most of Alex's oven.

Alex also had a nice couch (another thing you rarely see in Tokyo/Japanese houses). Here he is studying his little heart out.

Chef Alex would look up recipes on his iphone or kindle and then the sous chefs (worker bees) would make whatever it was he wanted. 

It was so nice to be able to wear shorts! The weather in Tokyo has been awfully cold this winter - record lows!

This is a 'look both ways before you cross the street' sign but it just looks like a siamese twin panda.

This area of somewhat shady looking, run-down apartments had some animals painted on each building. I guess they thought that the cute animals on the buildings would distract from how run-down it looked. Kind of worked.

Found some more crazy kitkat flavors! There was Strawberry Cake flavored

And Beni Imo (a kind of purple sweet potato) flavored. Beni imo is famous in Okinawa, literally everything is beni-imo flavored.

I had never seen Strawberry flavored Chocolate pie oreos... 

Or so many different kinds of Spam! 

Umi Budou (sea grape) is not quite what it sounds like. I'm personally not a fan but they are also famous to Okinawa. I think they taste like a combination of seaweed and just super salty ocean, but some people love it!

This giant statue was outside a Beni imo shop on Kokusai Dori.

There is an Okinawan brand of ice cream - Blue Seal. It's everywhere! They had all sorts of random flavors - beni imo, sugar cane, salty vanilla, and the regular flavors too.

国際通り Kokusai Dori

We went on an adventure into Naha city (we took a bus. yay public transportation!) The most famous street is Kokusai Dori. It's incredibly touristy, with every other shop selling tshirts and shisa dogs. There were some neat side streets and markets to explore though!

There were so many crazy statues and figurines all along the street!

You can even buy tshirts for your dog!

These were a little bit creepy.. I don't know too many people who want or would use a skinned frog as a purse but.. you know where to find them!

Famous Okinawan instruments! It's called a Sanshin (san means three/shin means strings). 

Fresh catch of the day!

Get your Original Woo Nade Tag's made here! 

I love these little rubber chickens! They are weird toys that make a squawking noise when you squeeze them. You can find them in Tokyo but I've only seen the woman version in Okinawa!

Original Clothing and Funny Serect sold here!

Year round giant nutcracker in a shop in Okinawa (a place where it doesn't even snow!)