Disney Sea photos

Since I took many pictures and I don't want to waste your time loading too many pictures, I loaded them into Picassa. Click here to see them.

DisneySea - the newest addition to the Japanese Disneyland

Yesterday, I went with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law to DisneySea to listen my brother-in-law play his saxaphone. He is part of a walking band that plays Latin American songs about 6 times a day in the Lost River Delta area of the park.

The Japanese Disneyland is too small to hold everyone that wants to go there and the Japanese like new experiences so, they made DisneySea. Its Disneyland with water. Think of all the different Disney movies you've seen that involve water or occur in an interesting location and you have DisneySea. It is laid out like the other Disneylands. There is an American waterfront (Cape Cod theme), Mediterranean harbour, the Arabian coast (Aladdin), Port Discovery, Mysterious Island (1000 Leagues Under the Sea), the Lost River Delta (South American theme) and the Mermaid Lagoon (the Little Mermaid movie).

Instead of a parade, they have a big boat show. Since this is a whole new disney area and the Japanese crave a "new" experience (as opposed to Americans who tend to crave nostalgic experiences, in other words, we don't want our Disneyland to change too much. This is also evident in Japanese grocery stores. I have gone to our stores and seen the same brand names and labels since I was a child. But, in Japan there is more choice and the labels change contantly to keep them interested.), their parade is more mythical and involves story lines I don't recognize.

Here is a picture of my brother-in-law (to the left)

Since this is my last day in Japan and I took many disney pictures, I will load them into Picassa back at home and put the link in my next posting. See ya!

Oranges in the Snow

I'm not sure what latitude that Tokyo is on but I always thought it was close to Seattle's. But I'm rather unsure since I don't have a globe handy. Oranges ripen in the winter! People grow them and kumquats all over the place. It's too cold to do this in Seattle!




The bamboo forests are common sights here but look very exotic to me-

Bigger Earthquake

We had a much bigger earthquake at 1:45 this morning. The last one was sharp and quick. This one was more normal; starting slow, building up, and slowly going away. Nothing and nobody was hurt.

It is healthy for Japan to have lots of little quakes. It relieves the pressure in the faults and helps prevent the "big one." Although, the Kobe quake about 10 years ago was huge.

Driving while under the influence of a camera

I pass this huge Buddha at a monument business every time I go to Unidy. I keep trying to get a shot but I also keep trying to not kill anyone on this side of the road. Today's attempt-

A Word about Food

I love Japanese food but let's be honest, they eat some weird stuff sometimes! Like Natto, (fermented, slimy beans that smell bad but taste good) and raw fish. I wonder who thought that up?

My rule about food in Japan is this: In order to not be rude, I will eat anything they set in front of me (With the exception of fugu. I have already warned them I won't risk my life eating fugu. There is no way that raw fish can taste so good its worth dying over).

One other thing you need to know about Japanese food- they love, no adore soft textures. Think runny egg whites on a sunny-side up egg or runny jello. Ugggh! Most Americans and Europeans like a more crisp texture or even crunchy. I know I vastly prefer teeth breaking crunchy than soft.

Another thing you need to know is that my mother-in-law is a great cook. She cooks every meal fresh. Look at this fried shrimp and asparagus with miso soup and rice she made-
And this yummy pork katsudon on rice and miso soup- Teriyaki Eel, which is yummy.
Look at her beautiful salad-

But even she can come up with some odd stuff. Any guesses? It's chicken breastbone cartilage with spicy pepper sprinkled on it. It seems to be the cool new snack because I've now encountered it in several restaurants. And yes, I ate one.

A small shrine at Akihabara

The Akihabara area of Tokyo is well known for its cheap electronics and gadgets. I went there yesterday and came across this tiny shrine to a raccoon-like creature (the Japanese have several mythological creatures they often tell tales of like our bigfoote, yeti and lockness monster). I have a sake bottle at home of this little guy.

The washing area

A small nook with a prayer figure
The Raccoon shrine


Close-up of the guardian figures, just like the sake bottle at home- A close-up of the seramic figures inside the shrine (thats a money grate in front. You can donate towards the upkeep of the shrine)-


I wonder if the creator of the animation "Ren and Stimpy" was sitting at this very shrine, smoking a cigarette (Like a lot of businessmen at the shrine today. It seems that the cigarette is contemplated more often than this poor raccoon!), when he looked up and saw proto Ren-

Parking Sitiuation

There is little room for parking in Japan. This has not stopped Japanese creativity though. They have pay parking lots like we have but they want to make sure you pay (you know how we do it...pay the smaller amount and hope the parking lot attendant is late or fails to notice). Here's how they make sure you pay- When your time runs out, the red X appears and the back part of that little parking bump goes up and traps your car. They also have these for bikes and if your time runs out, a little spoke pops between your wheels trapping your bike.

They even have them for scooters, but I could only find an old fashion one.

So, no cheating on your parking fees in Japan!

The Jomon (rope) People

There is a huge park near my house. It has miles (kilometers) of walking trails but it also has an outdoor museum as well. It features the loomed cloth, pottery, and houses of the Jomon or Rope People of Japan.

The Jomon make up part of the ancestry of the Japanese people
(see this article). They are mainly known for their loomed cloth and their pottery with rope patterns. The exhibit is very nice and you can try your hand at looming the same way they did 10,000 years ago and you can tour a hut built in their style. The hut comes complete with guide and fire in the fire pit. They look like thatched teepees or funny little mushrooms.
They are built into the ground and are well made. The circular ledge holds firewood. All the beams are held together with rope. Here is Mrs. T, Sayaka San and my Mother-in-Law patiently sitting in the smoke while I take pictures!

Earthquake!

We had a few little earthquakes. Japan has them all the time, so I was surprised that it took three weeks to have one.

On Sunday, I was reading and there was a quick but sharp earthquake. About a block away they are wrecking an old apartment building and it jiggles this house. So, when we had the earthquake I thought another wall fell down at the construction site. Then I remembered it was Sunday and they weren't working!

Harajuku

The Harajuku area of Tokyo is very famous right now because of Gwen Stephanie and Madonna. I went to Togo Shrine to a flea market for antiques. It was interesting but too expensive because of the gaijins like me looking for deals.

Here is a pic of the street and all the people-
Out of the hustle and bustle is Yoyogi Park. You enter through these massive gates-


All the paths are lined with these wonderful lanterns-

They have a display of sake barrels that are quite colorful


One with a wave
The chrysanthemum-


They also had a display of wine barrels from France. They were sent as a consecration gift to the Meiji Jingo temple nearby. It doesn't make much sense to have them just sitting there and not drinking them!

I found this statue of Elvis back in Harajuku. I noted the date he died and remembered that I was in Yokahama, Japan when I heard he died. I was about 16 and on an exchange trip.

Candy

I loved candy as a child and even though I don't eat much of it now, I'm still facinated by it in all its glory. I love the weird labels too. Here is a few-


Why they are feeding children cat's colons is beyond me.

and this new find-
They have beer soda now too.

Cars in Japan

I am fascinated by cars in Japan. They have even more choices that are unavailable to us. Every since the gas shock of 1973, we have been giving lip service to better gas mileage in cars. However the Japanese have been really making cars with better gas mileage. We don't have access to these because they are so tiny and our big vehicles would just mow them over!

Unfortunately, when you get close enough to photograph a tiny car, they look bigger (the camera adds 10 pounds?) Even so, I thought I'd show you a few. Some of these I took pictures of and some come from Suzuki Japan web site. Note the cool Easter egg colors.

This little car must belong to a girl with that pink boa in the window. It has a yellow license plate meaning that it uses so little gas it qualifies for a very reduced tax.

Another cute little car

This tiny, tiny van looks normal in this ad but in real life it looks like a giant picked it up and gave it a little squeeze that caused it to be a lot thinner and taller, and then set it back down. It is so small that I've seen it parked comfortably in the biking strip on the side of the road!Every Wagon

The Lapin is small, slightly European looking and is very Easter-eggy in colors. Cute! There are many more tiny cute cars, vans and trucks by all the car makers (Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan to name a few) but I can't drive and take their pics without killing somebody.

Another Cat nap

Here is a cute resident of Matsudo I met today-

Japan and the Disabled

It seemed that Japan used to ignore the disabled. You hardly ever saw a developmentally delayed person in public, let alone the mobility challenged. They always supported the sight challenged though by giving them input through their feet, which is pretty ingenious. Nearly everywhere you go in Japan, a visually impaired person can easily go as well.

Here are some pictures of the train station. This is the edge of the platform. It has grey raised rubber nearest the edge to warn you to stay away. Before that is a yellow band with raised dots letting you know there is danger ahead and you should not go closer than this (also helpful for silly high school boys showing off and drunk salarymen).

As you travel, they line the path with long raised yellow bars. These often appear along sidewalks as well. The new block of dots, both to the left and right in this picture indicate that stairs are coming up.
Now days, you see many disabled people in public. What brought on this change in my opinion? Was it more insight to the plight of the disabled? No, it was the aging of Japan. You see there are many, many more elderly people than young people in Japan. The young people are not reproducing as fast as they should. They have careers now.

The elderly are economically powerful and cannot be ignored. So, since I last was here four years ago, nearly all train stations, even small outliers, have put in escalators (common in downtown Toyko but not elsewhere) and/or elevators (unheard of in a train station!). Now, it is easy for everyone to get around, work, and travel.