Disney Sea (again!), Dragons, and Ume Blossoms

Hello again! It is now the 7th week of being here in Japan, and we only have 5 weeks left! For the next three weeks, I will continue with my schedule of going to the gym, taking many Zumba/exercise classes, and traveling somewhere nearby with my adventure buddy. For the last two weeks, I will be going on a trip with my mom to Hiroshima, Fukuoka to visit and meet my relatives on my grandma's side, Kyoto, Jigokudani, Mt. Fuji, and Tokyo! I will have so many pictures and adventures to share with you then. With only a little over a month left, I am both sad that there is so little time left to explore Japan, but I am also excited to settle into the routine of being a post-graduate in the States.

Anyway, here are the highlights from the past two weeks!

Tokyo & Disney Sea (again!)

February 14, 2015 - February 15, 2015

For Valentine's Day weekend, Noah and I decided to take a little vacation from our (well, mainly just my vacation) vacation and go to Tokyo, and from there, go to Disney Sea. When we arrived to Asakusa, just a small section of Tokyo, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed! Tokyo is immense, and it has so many nooks and crannies that I felt it would be difficult to choose where to begin exploring Tokyo. Unfortunately, we were only in Tokyo for a bit, and we didn't have much time to explore, as our main goal for the weekend was to get to Disney Sea. I guess we just cannot get enough of Tokyo Disney, and despite the crazy crowds and crazy lines, it probably won't stop us from going again. 

 Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, Japan 

There were of a few of these funny little "face-in-hole" wooden stands on some of the corners in Tokyo. This one is my favorite!

We were trying to decide whether or not to eat a nice meal for Valentine's day in Tokyo at a fancy restaurant, and well, as you can see we decided against it! Instead, we decided to have two fancy meals at Disney Sea :) the day after. It was so worth it.

This time at Disney Sea, we decided to conquer the rides that we didn't get to do last time and experience Disney's fine dining! All the times we have gone to Disneyland/Tokyo Disney, getting food and actually sitting down to eat have been a major problem! So this time, we made sure to get to the park right when it opens and made sure to get reservations (it is called priority seating, and it is like a fast pass for eating) for the restaurants. Instead of rushing to get a fastpass for a favorite ride, we rushed to get that priority seating, and it was well worth the effort! We had such a wonderful experience eating at Magellan's for lunch and at Ristorante di Canaletto for dinner in Mediterranean Harbor, and I would highly recommend eating at one of the priority seating restaurants if you ever get the chance to visit.

Noah in front of the waterfront. Unfortunately, the south end of the waterfront is under construction, but when it is finished, you will be able to see the whole harbor. I imagine that it is going to be beautiful once it is completed. 

Noah in front of Fortress Explorations, which is similar to Tom Sawyer's island.

We thought this would be a cool shot!

And again, we thought this would be a cool shot to take. 

Noah and I atop a look-out point in the Fortress Explorations. 

Exploring Fortress Explorations. Noah is trying to fly this old-school flying machine! When he moved the pedals with his feet, the wings flapped accordingly. 

Taken in Fortress Explorations.

Photo of the volcano, which is part of Mysterious Island. Every once in a while, the volcano erupted and spit out fiiiiire and smoke.

Tulips, with the volcano in the background. Photo credit goes to Noah.

Magellan's on Mediterranean Harbor. We went to this restaurant for lunch, and it was the nicest place that I have ever eaten at, and it was at a Disney park! We enjoyed a nice 4-course meal for lunch, which came with unlimited bread (obviously the best part). ;)

This is what Noah would look like if he bought Mickey Mouse ears.

And this is me, as if Pooh ate my head. 

We had these little green martian mochi dumplings last time we were here and they were so good that we had to get them again!

The Venetian-like canal at night.

Ristorante di Canaletto in Mediterranean Harbor. We came here for dinner and were ever so glad to get a break to sit down and eat in a warm, romantic restaurant! It was freezing outside, so we were glad to get out of the cold for a bit. This restaurant also has seating outside, with view of the canal (as seen above), and that view would have been absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, they probably only seat people out there for lunch or when it gets way warmer outside. Regardless, the atmosphere was still very magical. 

Chinatown, Yokohama

February 19, 2015

Last thursday was the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and to celebrate, Kyli and I went up to spend the day in the Chinatown of Yokohama. That afternoon, we got the chance to witness the Cǎi Qīng Lion Dance, where a lion prays for prosperity and good harvest, dances, and bites on red envelopes (with money) in front of select businesses. The streets were busy with people, cars, and lots of street vendors selling delicious looking and smelling food! To bring the Chinese New Year celebration to Noah, I brought home some moon cake, freshly roasted chestnuts, and American-Chinese takeout :) 

 One of the entrances into Chinatown of Yokohama.

 Chinese lanterns hanging from a shrine in Chinatown.

 Cǎi Qīng Lion Dance

Cǎi Qīng Lion Dance

Taura Bairin, Yokosuka
February 25, 2015

The best days are when you can go out on an adventure outside, smell the fresh air, get your boots dirty, and envelop yourself in the beauty around you. I had one of those days on this past Tuesday with Kyli when we went to Taura Bairin park in Yokosuka to take pictures of the blossoming plum trees. Plum tree blossoms are winter flowers, and they have just begun to blossom! For the next couple of weeks until spring, the many plum trees in the park will come alive and beautify the land around it. Once the plum tree season is over, the cherry trees will begin to blossom, signifying the onset of spring! I am looking forward to that time very much :)

Yokohama, Enoshima, and Godzilla

It has already been 4 1/2 weeks since Noah and I have been in Japan, and the time has flown by so quickly! My apologies for not updating every week! I will try harder to keep this thing updated with our activities.

For the most part, Noah has been working, working, working! He has been working very hard, and we have mostly been enjoying the rest of the day eating dinner and watching a nightly movie or show. We recently started watching Smallville from the very beginning, and I also picked up Friends. For the past couple of weeks while Noah is at work, I have been keeping quite busy! I met one of Noah's coworker's wife, Kyli, and we have been keeping each other company by going on some adventures, as well as going to workout at the gym! It's been a while since the both of us have exercised, hah, so it's nice to get back into gear, as well as have a buddy to keep ourselves accountable. We have been trying to work out at least 3x a week and go one at least one adventure away from the city once a week, and its been wonderful so far! Tomorrow, Kyli and I are looking forward to go to a Camera and Photo Exhibition in Yokohama, so I will be sure to talk about that in the next blog post.

Highlights from Noah and my, as well as Kyli and my adventures are below :). I'll try to put everything in chronological order.

Yokohama

January 24, 2015

We went with a bunch of Noah's coworkers on our first trip to Yokohama, about a 45 minute train ride away. We spent most of our time browsing one of the malls, as well as playing around Cosmo World. It was interesting because the mall had a "Hawaii Town", where all the shops and restaurants were Hawaii themed! We also got some Leonard's malasadas, which were of course, delicious, but maybe not so nutritious. 

Cosmo World was like a permanent county fair, with little roller coasters, lots of games, and a carnival feel. Apparently the ferris wheel that is located there is one of the largest in the world. We have yet to go on this ferris wheel, however everyone (except me) did go on one of the roller coasters called the "Vanishing Coaster". The ride actually goes into the ground, and poof, everyone on the ride vanishes underground. CosmoWorld also has one of Japan's typical game arcades, with a bunch of UFO claw machines. At first, we weren't so lucky, but Noah won a ton of little stuffed toys from the machines. He also played one of the Skee Ball machines, and if you get 300 points, you get a big stuffed animals. Of course, Noah won and we got to take home a big stuffed Pluto! I would say Noah felt pretty darn accomplished with his UFO and gaming skills. I, on the other hand, do not have very good luck with the UFO claw machines, but I did manage to score my very first two wins and got two little cute stuffed toys. So when the night was over, we had a little Buzz, Woody, Minnie Mouse, a Monster's Inc alien guy, Sulley, and a big fuzzy Pluto. Anyway, when it was night, the whole city was completely transformed. The city lights, although not so environmentally friendly, are beautiful and it certainly feels like you're in a whole different place at night. On this Yokohama trip, we only saw a little part of the city, so we will definitely have more adventures in this city later on.

No big deal. We just had malasadas.. In Japan. 

This is Cosmo World!

Just one of the many decorations that many places have up to prepare for Valentine's Day. We call this the love bench. Hah.

This is the Vanishing Coaster that I was talking about earlier. Noah said it was a lot of fun!

Reggie and Noah playing on the little kiddy stationary rides. It looks fitting.

Yokohama at night.

Yokohama at night. You can see the ferris wheel in the background.

Part of Cosmo World.

Enoshima

February 6, 2015

Enoshima is a cute little town, and the main attraction is Enoshima island, which is connected via a bridge from the mainland. The island reminds me of Catalina, CA, with its own unique, cutesy, and coastal feel to it. I went with Kyli, and we got the Enoshima Pass, which allowed us access to the escalators (much needed due to the fact that everything is uphill), the Cooking Garden Observatory, the SeaCandle (much like the Space Needle, which allows you to see panoramic views of the city/ocean), and 2 caves that have been gradually carved out from the cliffside by the tide of the ocean. There were also a number of shrines dispersed throughout the island.

At the shrines, there are little boxes where you may pull out a paper that has your good luck fortune on it. After reading our fortunes, we placed them on these walls of good fortune :) Mine is the big white one on the right.

Tulips (my favorite!!) at the Cooking Garden Observatory.

I'm not sure what flower this is, but it is gorgeous. It looks like some kind of a tulip/rose hybrid.

This is just outside the caves. It was beautiful out!

This was quite tasty. I'm not sure what it is, but I am going to call it the grilled miso mochi flavored lollipop from a street vendor.

Kyli and I stopped at one of the little shops on the island and saw Dr. Fish! These little fish are part of the catfish family, and they love to eat your dead skin. We got 5 minutes in these tubs, and oh boy, that is pretty much all I could handle. It was as ticklish as you think it would be.

This is the first shrine that you come across on the island.

Ooooh, we are in a cave! This is in the first cave, where there are statues of buddhas and other gods.

This is in the second cave on the island, and at the end is this dragon! Scary! Apparently, once you make a wish, you tap the drums twice, and if the dragon flashes a light, then your wish will come true. I sure hope mine does!

Kurihama Flower Park

February 7, 2015

Kurihama Flower Park is a neat little park tucked away in the hillside. It is about a 20 minute walk from the Kurihama train station, and it was definitely worth the walk. The park is sort of like a mini amusement park to celebrate flowers, except instead of walking, you are hiking up a hill. We mainly wanted to go to the park to find Godzilla, because of course, it's Godzilla. I was surprised to find out how big the park is!! The flowers aren't in bloom yet (it's winter), but they will be in about a month or two. I would definitely love to come back during Spring time. Anyway, once you get to the entrance to the park, you have to walk up about 1 or 1 1/2 miles up a gradual incline (pretty tough hill) to get to what is called "Adventure Land", which is a giant playground, where Godzilla is hanging out. This park is at the top, and if you go down the other side of the hill (not the side you came up), we found a lover's bell, and there are also more flowers, an archery course, a mini-golf course, and other things. We didn't get too far, but we did go to the lover's bell. For the little ones, and for people like Noah and I who love rides and also whose feet were hurting, there is a small choo-choo train that runs throughout the whole park. We got to ride it on the way back down to the entrance. 

This is what will be giant patches of flowers. This is what you see on the left as you go up the hill to Adventure Land.

Godzilla! This is actually a kiddy slide.

Rwar.

Picture of Adventure Land.

This a picture of the lover's bell. Apparently, it brings good luck to the couple who rings the bell together.

That's all for now! I will post more next week!