Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Photos and Blog

Hey everybody,

So we have had a pretty awesome week so far. We were surprised on Tuesday night when Keiko-san told us that we were going to make a trip into Tokyo on Wednesday to see the very famous Kabuki-za Theater in Tokyo. I was incredibly pumped. (That was one of the remaining places left on my list to visit.) Plus, we got Hump-Day off from work!!! If that's not enough, the kindergarten paid for it... Boo-ya.

Anyways, we hopped on the train @ 8:00 a.m. and headed for Tokyo. We made it to the theatre just fine and waited in line for tickets. It's a serious deal! We planned to meet Keiko-san's niece Satoko and her friend Mai at the theatre.

After the hour long act, the five of us headed to Asakusa, the oldest region of Tokyo. Very famous, very historical, very cool. We ate some lunch at this ridiculously cool restaurant and then strolled in Asakusa, shopped, and snapped a few photos:

Five-Storied Pagoda.

We had a wonderful time with the girls. They were super fun and want to teach us how to make some Japanese dishes later on this summer. In exchange, I vowed to teach them how to make some Hot N' Ready style pizzas. Well, maybe not HNRs, but pizza nonetheless...
.
me, krista, sarah, mai, satoko.

Satoko and Mai headed back to Chiba New Town and we spent the afternoon/evening in Tokyo's Odaiba area. It is one of the "newest" parts of Tokyo as it is literally constructed on some reclaimed land right on Tokyo Bay. We got there and visited a Toyota Showroom, rode a big Ferris wheel, and then headed for the waterfront. I knew a replica of Lady Liberty was somewhere along beach and we found her.

I touched my heart for her...

We really liked the beach in front of Rainbow Bridge. On the way over to Odaiba, our train (see vids) came over beside and then under the cars! It was cool. Here is me rockin with Rainbow Bridge in the background:

Loving life at Rainbow Bridge.

Then, I thought that it would probably be an awesome idea to have an "Awkward Senior Picture" photo shoot along the water. We made up some fresh, new poses and also abused the classics...


Fresh New Pose. Name is still in the works. Maybe you have one?


Classic Awkward Rock Pose.

We worked our way to "The Best Burger Place in Tokyo" called Kua' Aina. Most of the tour books I have concur on the issue... It's a Hawaiian restaurant with only four in the World; 2 in Hawaii, 1 in Santa Montica, 1 in Tokyo! I coaxed the girls into going and we definitely didn't regret it.

The view was awesome. (See night pics below)
Burgers, tasty as can be.
Hawaiian radio station playing through the speakers.
Obama's been there. (Pic of him paying on the wall)


Avocado burger, rings, fries, Coke. Delectable won't even work to describe...


I read about this area and mentioned that it would probably a nice place to see the night view...Thanks Small Planet Tour Book...

Lady Lib and Rainbow Bridge at night...


Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, and party boats at night.


Yeah, so we had a pretty complete day. Very very fun. This weekend, I am hoping to visit a sento somewhere around Inzai Shi or Makinohara. I'll fill you in on that later on...

bye bye. see ya.

mike

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Vlogs

Lunch. okonomiyaki. So good!


Train into Odaiba.


Ferris Wheel.


Kua' Aina Burger Place. Whitney Houston was on the radio. Couldn't have been better.

Rainy Blogs.

To the faithful readers:

Hello!
I want to start this blog out by saying that I apologize for not writing in a week and a half. Dang. I’m sorry.
Well, Japan continues to be a challenge and a blessing. The challenges ebb and the blessings flow.
Let me catch you all up to speed.
The work at the Kindergarten is busy. By the time 6:00 p.m. rolls around, I am drained and ready for a little alone and rest time. So how do I spend my evenings here? Good question.

Last week consisted of: reading, Yahtzee and Catch Phrase with the girls, a jigsaw puz of Mt. Fuji (how appropriate), music, and 1984 by Orwell audiobook. Oh yeah, then there is the Skype action that I need. I love hearing the weather/farming updates, softball scores, Keim kids, Brighton highlights, etc… Also, last night I watched about 1hour of Simon and Garfunkel videos on YouTubes. They are going to be in Tokyo for a reunion tour at the end of the summer. I would like to get to that…probably won’t happen.

Last weekend, we decided to make a trip to see the Chiba Lotte Marines play baseball. They were scheduled to play the Hanshin Tigers, the equivalent to our NYYanks. The marines are actually managed by Bobby Valentine, former MLB manager and player. We boarded the train and crossed our fingers, as we were hoping to get tickets at the stadium. Didn’t happen. It was sold out and then some. I was optimistic. I really wanted to watch some baseball but I am always down for some adventure. On the way to the stadium, I noticed some signs for a beach…
Plan B. We eventually left the stadium and made our way to the beach. The beach is part of Tokyo Bay and wasn’t particularly pristine. However, I really enjoyed it. I waded out into the shallows and watched these crazy jumping fish. They usually jumped three times in a row, like they were trying to fly. It was rad and made me LOL and ROFL. haha.
After the beach, I saw a Japanese garden and really wanted to walk through. We saw that it cost 100 yen, which is about $1, well worth it.

We grabbed some decent noodles on the way back to the train station. We stumbled upon some street musicians who turned out to be pretty sweet. The were jamming some American acoustic songs. I like that. Then, a lady came up to us and mentioned that they were all missionaries. We stayed and talked with them in the park for about 30 mins and eventually missed our train…No biggie.

We made it back to Inzaimakinohara station. The girls were tuckered out. They grabbed their bikes and headed back to the kindergarten. I stayed out, explored, and jammed to some music…Mostly Regina Spektor, oddly enough… I guess it worked out.

Anyways, here are a few recent pictures. I’ll try to be better and update more.
Thanks for reading.

mike.

Frequenting the Big Boy. Nothing like U.S. Big Boy. They do have stellar waffle fries though.

C.Nan. + M.Yo = Okay!

Lions are super-cool too.

Gospel choir with the ladies...Overjoyed. obviously.

Swipes and Blows.

Greetings and salutations.

It’s Thursday night here at Inzai Shion Kindergarten and all is quiet. I am currently digesting my dinner of eggs, ham, and potatoes but still chewing on some thoughts…
I think I’ll get some of them on here. I have no complaints. I just want to talk about excessiveness.

In Excess:

1. Fish. Fish cakes. Fish patty. Fish ball. Fish cream.
2. Rice. Rice cakes. Rice patty. Rice ball. Rice cream.
3. Behinds. (Forgetting to pull pants to waist before hitting the playground or classroom.)
4. “Below the belt” blows to Mike-sensei.
5. “Credit card” swipes on Mike-sensei. (Reply comments if definition of "credit card" is needed.)

Haha. Ok. But seriously. Too much of those things. Especially #s 4 and 5.

This week was again fantastic. We got things started off completely right on Sunday with that crazy-good BBQ. I’ll let the picture speak, just multiply it by 10 and then you’ll have a pretty good idea…

Corn on Cob. Horse-radish salad. Beef steak. Yakisoba. Potato.

On Sunday evening, we went into town with Minako-san and purchased some groceries for the week. We get a 3000 yen (about $30) budget per week which is plenty for me. I buy things like spaghetti, Coca Cola, lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, lunch meat, bread, ham, sushi, ramen, bananas, yogurt, eggs, potatoes, pastries, etc…It’s nice to be in control of what you eat for dinner. It’s also nice to have an inkling of what exactly it is that you are eating. Let me rabbit trail… I think I took that for granted before this. I really like trying new foods but I don’t like the unexpectedness that comes with so many of the foods here. It’s like this: Have you ever drank water from a glass that you thought was going to be Sprite? Or, have you ever put salt in your coffee, thinking it was sugar? Well I HATE those few moments of realization just after consumption. Almost everyday at lunch, I eat something that gives me this same hated feeling. Understand, it’s not actually the taste of the morsel, it’s not knowing what it is beforehand! I have a process for solving these mysteries but it regularly fails.

Recent examples:
Fishy paste disguised as a prune.
Custard filled pastry that was really a pastry laced with butter.
Chicken that’s fish. Fish that’s chicken.

The work at the kindergarten is a blast. It is actually boosting my confidence. It seems like if I am able to work with and teach kids who speak a completely different language, than I will excel in the States. Maybe I’ll use that for some leverage in the job hunt…

What else. I’ve been representing the Red Wings over here. I wear my shirt too much and had a really gnarley/pubescent playoff beard for a week or two. I am actually downloading the games from iTunes at the moment…


That's all I've got.

mike.

P.S. A few pics...


My people doing BBQ their way.

Yui-chan, me, Naomi-chan. They define "sweetheart."
Also, my two new girlfriends...haha.

Hiroto and me. He's a good man. At age 5.

Quick Vlog

Park and Go.

Saturday in the park…
I think it was the 30th of May…

Free day today. Wow. So much to write about! I have pics, vids, and a really amazing story to tell…Better get down to business. Here are some photos and vids from Ueno Zoo:


vlog+seals and sea lions



Seal is a singer too. Kiss from a rose.

Amazing Story:

Okay, you might want to make yourself comfortable. Perhaps dim you screens to prevent eye damage…this could be many words. I really think it will be worth it for you.

Every Saturday, we get a day off from the kindergarten. We are able to choose whatever activity we want to do. Obviously, in and around Tokyo, there are many different choices. On Thursday evening, I was looking through a travel book of Tokyo and found a page about Ueno Zoo. I mentioned my random idea to the girls and they were up for it.

So…
This morning, we got on our bikes, headed to Inzai Makinohara train station, and hopped on the train bound for Tokyo. We made it to the zoo. As you saw from the videos, I really enjoyed the seals…We spent about 3 hours at the zoo and then decided to explore the park and area that surrounded the zoo. I had a map of the Ueno area and so we started off with no destination. We saw people everywhere and a pretty nice park/fountain area. I suggested that we sit by the fountain and rest for a bit (my dogs were barkin.) We sat for a while and discussed what we should do in the area with the rest of our day.

Then…
I heard music from across the pond. A bit A.D.D. perhaps, I just started walking towards the sound. The music became louder as I was walking and I thought that it really sounded like a Christian hymn (in Japanese of course.) As I neared the massive group of seated people, 2 senses were triggered: First, I saw a box with a cross. Simultaneously, I smelled a truly putrid scent in the air. I realized that it was a Christian outreach/ministry to the homeless. We observed from the back of the seated “congregation.” I thought that it was so amazing how we seemingly stumbled upon a Christian outreach, in the heart of a park, literally surrounded with Buddhist shrines, in a city with 30 million people, in a country with 1% of its people proclaiming Christianity as their religion.

Homeless


His hat says "keep spirit." I don't know if I could.

It’s getting good…
I took a few pictures and just witnessed the poor, downtrodden, hopeless people on the pavement and the wealthy, successful, and busy pass by them on the sidewalks. Then, I looked to my right saw a familiar face 20 feet away from me! I realized instantly that it was the Japanese Pastor Ryosaku Inoue that preached to and prayed over our group in Ann Arbor, Mi back in March. (Because this is part of my college undergrad, we had to take an orientation class that included a trip to a Japanese church and other cultural experiences to “get out feet wet.”) We locked eyes and he immediately recognized us. We walked towards him with shared looks of unbelief. How could we run into someone we know in this place??? We talked to him and exchanged email information. (He wants to take us to a baseball game.) He introduced us to his friend Andy, who is a Japanese language professor at Hope College. I asked them if they were helping out with the ministry and he said that they had 5 students who were serving with a food giveaway across the park. We chatted for a bit and then went over to talk to some of the Hope students. It is absolutely incredible that we would run into someone who knows us and prayed for us before our departure.

Sarah, me, Pastor Inoue, Krista

Latest realization…
I knew that my friend, Rachel Hashimoto, whom I met @ Bay Shore camp years ago, was going to be in Japan this summer as well. I Facebooked her a week ago and touched base to see how long she was going to be here. Then, tonight I went to write on her wall and it clicked that she is here with the professors and students from Hope! (Incredible x10.) We will hopefully meet up with these people sometime in the not too distant future. What a day!?

I know that coincidences happen.-->you know, like 2 girls buy the same prom dress or something. Today was beyond coincidence. I literally can’t put it into words. Big God? Yeah, you could say that.

Once again, thanks for reading.→Especially this lengthy chronicle.

peace.
mike.

Raccoon Dog

Hey all,

The first week of work at the kindergarten is done. The first two days were a bit overwhelming. We were shown so many different things:
storage places, how to run the copier, English teaching schedule, cleaning schedule, after school program rotations, etc…the list literally goes on. As if that’s not enough in itself, all of these directions are either written or spoken in broken English. Top that with the cherry of 350 kindergartners screaming Japanese, grabbing any of my extremities, probing crevices, and dangling from my mandatory “teaching apron.” I guess I was pretty tired the first few days, but Fridaaaaaaay was a comin.

Everyday I find something that really makes me laugh. I guess it doesn’t really matter if things are funny to anyone else, so long as I get amusement/joy from them. Here are a few of the funnier moments:

1. Finding Daisuke. This little guy will repeat pretty much anything I say, in English obviously. How about some dialogue?

Mike- “Good morning”
Daisuke- “Good morning”
M- “How are you?”
D- “How are you?”
M- “I’m fine, thanks.”
D- “I’m fine, thanks.”
M- “Mike’s really cool.”
D- “Mike’s really cool.”
M- “Mike’s pretty funny.”
D- “Mike’s pretty funny.”
M- “Haha.”
D- “hahahaha.”
You get the drift… That’s really good and cheap entertainment here.

Daisuke playing in Dino.

2. While studying my Japanese lessons today, I learned how to write and say many different animal names. Like, snake = he bi; dog = i nu; horse = u ma; and…………………………………......drum roll……………………………………….
ta nu ki= raccoon dog. I laughed for a long while at that. Maybe my laughter came from my intense studying or from the thought of an actual raccoon dog. Funny for you too? In any case, please re-read the aforementioned, bold sentence.


3. Reading t-shirts here. Absolutely priceless. My top 2 so far:

“Don’t swallow around the chaos.”
“North Dakota Justifies”
“Their are so much bring.”


After a very experiential, yet not too delectable dinner prepared by the girls, we all grabbed our one speeds and biked through the misty rain to the Big Hop mall in Inzai Shi.
Big Hop----------------------------------------------me @ Big Hop.

I brought my laptop so I could chill and catch up on some blogging while the girls shopped. I was hoping to snag some f. fries from one of the restaurants in the food court but they apparently closed sometime before 8:40. Bummer! I guess we will just have to hit up the Mini-Mart on the way home to settle this hunger battle once-and-for-all.

Tomorrow, we are going to the Ueno Zoo. Apparently it’s supposed to be rad. Peace be upon you.

Bye everybody, bye.

mike.