Travels

Since I last had time to post, we have visited several places.  In Tokyo we went to an indoor theme place (located inside Sunshine City) called Namjaland.

Namjaland is famous primarily for its Gyoza City--a food court where numerous establishments offer gyoza or dumplings as a specialty.  There is also a clown who teaches you how to make balloons. (See Sam above)

At Namjaland, Sam and Graham played the game of catching the eels and lobsters. Again, Japan not noted for its animal rights activism.

 

We went to Kyoritsu University's festival (all the colleges hold fundraising festivals).  There were different booths with things to eat, make, or do. We went to a fashion show (Kyoritsu has a fashion school), ate yakisoba (noodles with soy sauce and vegetables), visited with the international youth hostels group, and met up with Sid's student (my Japanese sensei/teacher) Nami.

Nami-san is 21 years old and wants to work in international business. She is so sweet and nice. This is Nami at the flower arranging room.

Sam and his teacher at the flower arranging room.

We also went to Rappongi Hills briefly. Rappongi Hills is a big, very pricey mall thing with a film place attached. We did not eat or buy anything. But, we saw the big spider statue!

We also took the train up to Nikko to go to a place called Edo Wonderland. Edo Wonderland is a theme park that shows what life was like during the Edo Period in Japan.  There was too much there to see in one day. But here is some of what we saw:

 

Nikko is located in the mountains. They have the coloration of the Smokies but are much more pointy.

 

Scene from the train/bus station.

 

Scene upon entering Edo Wonderland. Notice Graham's face. He did not yet know that soon, very soon he would become a Ninja!

 

Sam and a Ninja warrior. :)

 

Sam throws stars with an Edo townsperson.

 

Ninja Graham

 

Ninja Sam

Lastly, I took Sam to the Van Gogh exhibit at the Tokyo Museum of Art. He was fascinated with the story of Van Gogh's ear and with the snack bar, but less impressed with the paintings. 

 

Inside the art museum.

One last thing of note, however. We did not visit this place, but did mark the date of its opening about a week ago. Ah, the imports from home:

 

Notice the crowd--this is a week into Hooter's run here in Tokyo!  The people waiting? All men!

More Hooters.  But then, Hooters isn't something you see everyday in Japan. :)