日本での一年間 = One Year In Japan: Saturday, December 5-Sunday, December 6, 2009-

A dandy jaunt with the folks into Tokyo and Yokohama. My host parents took me down to their son’s apartment in Yokohama City. We spent Saturday in Tokyo itself, visiting the Edo Tokyo Museum, the Shibuya streets, and a rainy walk in Yebisu gardens. We then caught a train to Maki’s “mansion” (my 43 year old host brother). Quick cultural note: Mansion is just the Japanese term for a larger apartment!

Anyway, we spent the evening in their guest room and today toured Yokohama with Maki and his 3- or 4-year-old twin daughters, Yuka and Kana. Yokohama City follows Tokyo and Osaka as Japan’s third largest city, yet is located just outside of the Tokyo limits. It is a major seaport, and home to Japan’s tallest building: The Landmark Tower. We climbed to the top floor from where we were able to see the entire urban area spread out beneath our feet. It was impressive! And to top it all off, to the Southwest was a fantastic view of Mount Fuji rising over the jungle of buildings, smog, and foothills.

After the tower we saw the Yokohama China town, where we ate a tasty little lunch (definitely not little!) and walked the crowded streets. My host dad bought the largest size bag of roasted chestnuts they sold and didn’t stop eating them all day! Yuko and Kana enjoyed the challenge of opening the nuts as much as the actual snack. Lastly we watched a street performance on the Yokohama Harbor: a man juggling fire, balancing on two upside-down stools on top of a rolling tube. The crowd loved him.

Now I’m back at home and I am happily enjoying the Christmas cookies Grandma Beske sent my way. I know I have to savor them, but I couldn’t help but treat myself tonight!

The Edo Tokyo Museum. The building itself is impressive

This one's for you Dad. The tiny sign on the bottom reads: First National Bank. It looks like Northfields...kinda

Interesting (and a little strange) my host mom got real excited when she saw the wooden skates at the bottom of this picture. She told me, "Oh I had a pair just like these when I was a child!"

The Ryougaku Sumo Arena. It's where Tokyo's greatest Sumo wrestlers battle it out!

Shibuya on a rainy Saturday afternoon

The view from a dessert shop where my host parents' friend took us out to eat. Sorry it's a bit blurry = \

Yebisu's christmas lights

This is the reading area in Maki's apartment building. I came out here to read and found it hard to finally tear myself away...

As I sat and thought. I simply watched the city lights, the trains, the cars, the people, and their thousands of different lives...

This is the view from the balcony this morning. The area I zoom in on is Yokohama harbor, where we visited this afternoon, and then you'll see Fuji-San in the end.

The city from floor 41! If you look REALLY REALLY closely, you'll see mount Fuji in the center behind that first row of mountains

Yokohama in the Morning

Yuka and Kana are geniuses! They named practically all the flags and nations of the world in under 5 minutes! It was awesome

The Yokohama Mall

The view from the bottom of Yokohama Landmark Tower (the tallest in Japan)

Yuka (left) and Kana as they brave the view from the top, which looked like...

THIS!! The counterpart to the previous view. I was standing in that tiny plaza only 10 minutes earlier!

The harbor

And we stayed so long it turned dark out!

Not! I took a picture of a picture, don't get too excited

Another view. That's a hotel on the left, the building that looks like a sail. Then an amusement park in the center, with a giant Ferris Wheel. And finally the Yokohama "Rainbow" Bridge in the top center. It lights up in the evening with different illuminations

How romantic! That's Mount Fuji behind the third flame...

Mount Fuji viewed from afar...

This was so random (and kind of bizarre) my host dad was determined to get one of those caricature drawings of himself. So he paid 2000 yen to have this done. Just look at the boy to the left! So funny...