Even Steven

I had read online that the Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) was going on at Meiji Jingu Shrine today. So I headed over there around noon hoping to see some cute little girls dressed up being paraded around the shrine with their parents. I arrived. No kids. No dolls. No festival.
Must be further into the shrine area, I thought. I walked. And I walked.

I walked all the way around the shrine. I saw some lanterns.
I saw a wedding march.... but no kids, no dolls, no festivals. Confused, I went back to the entrance of the shrine where a sign said that the festivities were TOMORROW. Alexis Travel Tip # 811: Do not trust the Japanese tourism websites.

I wandered around the area for a while and happened upon a market in Yoyogi Park.


And then just as I was about to leave the park, Jay-Z started blaring from the stage area and some crazily dressed people came out from the sides of the stage. An impromptu fashion show! Fantastic! This is not the first impromptu fashion show that I have been to in Tokyo.
The theme was "Peace Virus" but once the music switched to Marilyn Mansion, I decided that I had had enough.
Someone had told me that Ueno Park had lovely plum blossoms at this time of year so I hopped on the subway to take the 30 minute ride to the other side of Tokyo. I got off the train. No plum blossoms. I walked into the park. No plum blossoms. I walked AROUND the park and then off in the distance, a flash of pink caught my eye! PLUM BLOSSOMS! Fantastic, I thought. I headed over in their direction only to find FOUR lone plum trees with approximately 10 million Japanese people in front of these poor lone trees taking pictures of them with their cell phones. I am totally unimpressed. Any random neighborhood in Kanazawa has more plum blossoms than this, I think to myself.

Still the afternoon is not lost because even though plum blossoms are few and far between, the park has a nice bird sanctuary.

And while I generally prefer my ducks yellow and rubber, I still got a kick out of watching them. I mean, who doesn't like a few ducks to brighten an otherwise odd afternoon?
No festival but there was an impromptu fashion show. No plum blossoms but there were ducks. You win some, you lose some. Overall, even Steven.

SURPRISE!

Jenni turned 25 last week and we threw a surprise party for her at Vicki's.
Birthday girl, Jenni, and me
We got her 25 random gifts from the 100 yen store. This is a nose pincher of some sort.
For the next time she is ill.
25 gifts!
There is a lot that is funny going on this picture!

SURPRISE!!!

Yokohama

Panda Buns!
Today, I headed to Yokohama with Camie, Vicki, David, David and Khoa. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan and is only about 30 minutes from Tokyo! Yokohama is also home to the largest Chinatown in Japan so that was our first stop, for lunch.

Making bun making
Temple in Chinatown.... you know, because we haven't seen enough in Tokyo.
Me and Vicki

After lunch we headed over to the port area. The Osanbashi pier is a really interesting area. It was constructed in 1896 but rebuilt in 1987. There are many layers to the pier with gardens and places to sit and watch people. Most of it is uneven. It is really hard to describe but suffice it to say that it is really cool and a fun place to take pictures because of the long stretches of wood plank and uneasy surfaces.
Group shot (L to R): David F, Camie, Khoa, Me, Vicki and David R.
Yokohama Harbor
Khoa found this sticker that looks just like him!
We went on the ferris wheel. When it was built in 1983, it was the largest ferris wheel in the world. It is now the 11st tallest and is surpassed by the Skydream Fukuoka, which Fiona and I visited in August 2007. David is clearly either sick of the ferris wheel, sick of us or sick of pictures.....
Ferris Wheel
Khoa, Vicki, Camie and Me
Next to the ferris wheel was a small arcade with a "Get the balls in the Cup o Noodles" game. Vicki, David, David and Khoa played and it was a battle of the century. But in the end there could only be one winner...... KHOA! May he wear his Winnie the Pooh lap blanket proud!

Ferris Wheel at night

Alcatraz ER

On Saturday night, a bunch of us headed to an area of Shibuya famous for its clubs and love hotels to have dinner at one of Tokyo's many themed restaurants called "Alcatraz ER." Part hospital, part prison, part err- sex store (with the anatomically suggestive drinks) this restaurant was insanely decorated. Drinks were served in syringes and test tubes. French fries came in a bed pan. Nurses served us. But, it was all innocent enough......
To enter, choose your blood type.
Khoa and Me

Innocent enough...... until the turned off the lights and had deranged, psycho maniacs run through the halls of the restaurant crawling by and screaming!

This man crawled towards our tables.... sniffled around.... and then found his victim: MATT!
Matt was dragged nearly kicking and screaming over to a gurney where he was carried through the halls of the restaurant and then into a side room.
There, he is blind folded and prodded with a plastic syringe as they opened and closed his legs and sprayed him with water.
Meanwhile, this nurse directed us on the best places to watch the show....

ONLY IN JAPAN!

Tsukiji Fish Market

I have been to Tsukiji a number of times before but this trip was definitely memorable. A group of us arrived at the market at the obscene hour of 4 am to see the deliveries, watch the tuna auction and eat some delicious sushi.

Jenni is insane. As one of these big delivery scooters drove by us, she yelled out, "Hey! Can we get a ride?" Just as I started to scold her for being so bold and crazy, the guy slowed down and gestured for us to hop on. There was not time to think! Rational Alexis would say "Don't get on the back of some random man's scooter at 4AM to be driven into the middle of a random fish market." But tired 4AM Alexis is a sheep and, hey, perhaps if the craziest thing that you do all night to get a ride into a fish market then maybe you are doing ok.... So anyway, the six ladies hopped on and held on for dear life (and I do mean dear life) and were driven right straight into one of the loading docks of the fish market as all of the men dealing with their fish waved and laughed. The only problem was that we were driven straight INTO the MIDDLE of the market, no where near the tourist areas or signage for what to do. So we spent the next little bit wandering around trying to find the tuna auction. Word to the wise- if you plan to walk through Tsukiji, do not do so in purple suede ballet flats.

Finally we found the auction and saw the men poking the fish and bidding. Very cool!
Our ride

Auction
TUNA!

Note the buff looking man in the black polo (with rhinestone embellishment, I might add) on the right side of the photo, (hereinafter "Fish Man"). Jenni decided that she wanted to be his friend so she called him over and said, I kid you not, "What is your phone number?" Just like that. No conversation. No Japanese. Just one simple demand. And, Fish Man whipped out his cell phone (sparkly dangly things attached and all) and gave it to her. They chatted.... albeit in half English, half gesture... and he invited her, and perhaps the rest of us (although it was not entirely clear since the whole situation was so ridiculous that we mostly just stood there watching like bumbling idiots), to come to his sushi restaurant where he is a manager. Alas, that would have to wait for another day...... which did later come- Jenni visited the restaurant on Thursday and now has a happy nice Fish Man friend.
Me and some tuna
LOTS of tuna!
Ladies outside waiting for the auction to start. Jenni is sad because her ankle hurts because at this point we had just walked about an hour from the club that we hanging out in to the market and Jenni had sprained her ankle the weekend.
While we were wandering around we came across this enormous truck FULL of tuna. No one watching it. No one caring. Each one of these tuna are worth over 15K and no one really seemed to care....


Sushi for breakfast! MMMM!!

Boston on TV!

I turned on my television yesterday only to find Boston on the screen! It was a travel show showing Boston- the host wandered around the city with his dog named Matsuzaka and talked to random people about Boston terriers, sushi and Boston. They visited Fugakyu and had a Matsuzaka roll- see above.
In search of Boston's most popular sushi restaurant.
With the way that they portrayed it, you would think that Boston was overrun by Boston terriers!
On the T!