Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - 02:21 p.m.
I went to Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture (a place famous for hot springs, about 90 minutes from Tokyo) with a couple of friends! Pictures and stories...
DAY ONE: Rode on the Touhoku highway for about an hour and a half and arrived in Nikko, where we had to get chains on the tires because of all the snow! I'd never seen so much snow in my life. It was also powder snow and not that mushy icky snow. Cool. Then we went to Toushouguu, where the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu was buried. After that we drove to the Chuzenji Lake area and saw the Kegon Falls and the Ryuzu Falls and the Yutaki Falls, which were all beautiful. After pushing each other into the snow until we were so cold our toes were almost frostbitten, we drove to our hotel and relaxed in the hot springs. Ahh.
DAY TWO: Tried to leave Nikko, but had a hard time removing the chains from the tires. Struggled for about a half an hour until one of my friends managed to pull them off. Then drove to Utsunomia which is famous for gyoza and had lunch, then drove to Mashiko (famous for pottery) and made plates! It was quite fun. And if you remember my April 2003 blog, I mentioned that I thought I was cursed because "Whenever I go on a vacation somewhere in Japan, I encounter penile images." Well, I am still cursed. This time the phallic image was attached to a huge Tanuki (raccoon dog) which I think was made from Mashiko pottery....
Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 04:29 a.m.
Things I've been interested in the past month:
--The Last Samurai : Katsumoto was cool. He reminded me of Kiba in Gensui II.
--Finding Nemo : I like Bruce...
--Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: Bought the DVD set. Naughty!
--MarioKart Double Dash!! : I like Waluigi...
--Mario & Luigi RPG : Great game. More spotlight on Luigi!
--Tales of Symphonia : It made me want to play TOP again.
--Due South Season 1 : Favorite episode so far: The Blue Line.
I went to Tokyo Disneyland last week... It was quite fun. I went with my cousin who is a frequent visitor to TDL so she knew which rides were not popular and uncrowded (Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion). I was surprised that the Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't too popular, with the movie released and everything. On the other hand, Pooh's Hunny Hunt had a two-hour waiting period... This country has a major obsession with Winnie the Pooh. At the entrance of TDL, there was a queue a mile long composed of people waiting to take a picture with Pooh. I mean, I don't dislike Disney, but I was rather concerned about the mental state of the grown-up women in line...
This month, I bought many Christmas presents, sent many Christmas cards, and taught many Christmas lessons at work. Overheard during one of my kids classes:
Kid A (about 8): Is Santa boy or a girl?
Kid B (about 6): What are you talking about!? Santa's an old MAN!
Kid A: Oh. That explains the beard.....
It's so cold in Tokyo now.... I just looked out the window and there was snow accumulating on the bushes! ....Well, mock-snow. Rain-snow. Sleet?
