The first half of the trip-seeing Tokyo

Now, I pretty much planned Mom and Rae's trip and I am not the most organized person so I realize I probably could have done better and then have them see more but I did my best.

At the airport while waiting for mom and Rae I managed to strike up a conversation with a lady waiting for her daughter. She was impressed with my japanese and I was equally impressed with her english. It was nice talking to someone while waiting.

The night mom and Rae got in they were both exhausted so we pretty much hit the hotel and stayed in. I tried to get them to stay up as late as possible but my family had always been one of the early to bed early to rise mentality so it was early to bed and VERY early to rise. We did play around with yukata's before hitting the sack.

The following morning we went to Tsukiji Fish Market. I'd been waiting to go to this place for a long time...it was always my top priority, must see attraction in Tokyo. We got there extremely early (around 5:30) and yet people were already bustling around. Tsukiji is very much a danger zone; if you're not on your toes your going to get hurt. But it was cool. We saw the Tuna auctions which weren't quite as exciting as guide books make them out to be. We saw sea creatures of all shapes and sizes, some still alive, some frozen, and some just so odd looking I'm wondering if I already ate some and kind of hoping I havn't. We jumped over puddles of blood and water and dodged the crazy fast little trucks that all the guys drive around..as well as dodging some not-so-wholesome looks from some of the fisherman (this is the ONLY place in tokyo where I have witnessed Japanese men so openly stare and hit on myself or anyone else...for me it was really entertaining).

After tsukiji we found our way back to the hotel and ate breakfast there. Then we all took a quick break before heading out for Asakusa. Andrew met us for this part of the trek though trying to find the red gate, Kaminarimon, we got a little lost, which I still can't beleive. We spent time in the shops lining the street, Nakamise Dori, which leads to Sensoji temple. We managed to find souveniers for almost everyone, which is great. Near the pagoda there's a gorgeous garden which we could only look at throught the gate since it was closed. Mom passed up rubbing herself with smoke since she feels a bit odd participating in relgious things that she doesn't believe in. Andrew spotted a wonderful bread shop right near the temple which had fresh Melon Pan. So mom and Rae got to taste my favorite treat. It was so good all warm and soft and fresh!

After that we took the ferry ride to Hama Rikyu Garden. It was super beautiful with plum blossoms bloooming and everything (apparently they bloom earlier than Cherry blossoms...maybe this is why cherry blossoms are now the symbol of spring as opposed to Heian times when plum blossoms were the major image of spring). While there an old lady came up to talk with us in english. She was very enthusiastic about my mom and rae's visit to Japan and had a list of suggestions for us. She was really sweet.

After the garden we sad goodbye to Andrew and went to the hotel to get ready to visit my host family. For gifts, Mom had brought bagels and syrup (specific requests by Okaasan) and also a popcorn maker (since okaasan likes makers) and a cookbook with lots of pictures. Rae and I wrapped them up and then we were on our way. Otoosan wasn't there but the dinner was fun and it was classic when my family first saw Rachel. Apparently we look just alike. We ate tacos and afterwards tried out the popcorn machine. We didn't stay too late since mom and rae were pretty tired but it was a great night.

As a side note, Okaasan had set up the dolls for the Hina Matsuri on march 3rd. You can read about it on her blog, so please do!

The following day we laid fairly low. I had planned to go to kamakura but being tired we decided to take it easy for the day. We hit a Yakinikku restaurant for all you can eat lunch which turned out to be a great hit! After that Rae and I visited my neighborhood again to pick up some forgotten items as well as walk around a bit.

That night we all met Andrew and went out to Shibuya. First we hit a little bar called Flair...I think. It was really nice and they had really gorgeous drinks, a part of some craze where bartenders work to create art out of their drinks. Apparently this place had won lots of prizes. Afterwards we decided to karaoke which was interesting. Andrew sang better than all of us but we all had fun. Mom and Rae tried Calpis Sour, one of my favorite drinks, and we all even sang some Japanese songs. After that we went to an arcade to do Puri Kura. I still hardly understand those machines but it was a funny detour. We also ran into someone from Sophia.

That pretty much concluded our night.

The next day We went to harajuku after hitting Shinjuku for Shakey's pizza and our Rail passes...Rae had money so it was basically a massive shopping spree for her. She bought tons of clothes, all cute! We spent almost the whole day there, managed to check out kiddy land and the oriental bazaar but missed out on yoyogi koen and tghe Meiji shrine, which I feel a bit bad about. Mom really enjoyed people watching there, which is good.

The next day was for Ueno, the imperial garden, and checking out my school. We saw the permanent exhibit at the Tokyo National museum and I figured out that I really need to do there just to sketch and relax. The imperial garden was great...I love the east garden, particularly the Japanese section, and so did mom and Rae. They both liked Sophia which I guess still has classes during the break? Mom bought some school paraphenlia, a sweater and shirt.

Ummm..I think that the next day we left for kyoto...

So I'll leave Kyoto and all it's fun for the next post!

Pictures will be up in my photobucket soon.