Art is Hard

Oh. My. Gosh. Art Festa!

Whitney and I went to Tokyo Big Sight; which is the largest convention center in Japan to the biannual International Art festival that they put on. It was sheer madness, and we had a blast. They had just about every art media that I could think of and then some that I did not think of. We saw all sorts of characters as well.

They had live painting, live music (indoor and outdoor stages), live theatre (indoor and outdoor stages), food trucks/stands, and 3,000 spread over 2 stories. The booths were free-style exhibitions, so the artists were either presenting and/or selling. Some media examples include painting, illustration, photography, craftwork, flower/plant arrangement, dolls/figurines, jewelry, clothing, accessories, etc.

I did get a pretty neat view of Tokyo Bay on my way there, and I was too slow with the camera on the way back, but on the way home, there were what looked like about 20 colorfully lit gondolas floating in the water. I still really like it here, so that’s good :). The big upside-down pyramids are what Tokyo Big Sight is known for, and up close, it was quite impressive.

Japanese people are the most courteous people you will ever meet. So, I don’t know why I was surprised to see a map for the bathroom, but it made me laugh. Note it is even complete with a ‘You are here’ marker.

I did not get pictures of everything I saw since it is people’s art and they are making their living selling it, not having people take pictures of it. Some artists/vendors did not mind, and even encouraged it though. So, in some of these pictures I will try to explain… The body suit one: They were having people draw on them… That’s all the explaining I can do…

Throughout the day, on the bottom level, they had a main stage that they rotated acts though. They had interpretive dance (which was our favorite… maybe because we had beer at that point though), these drummers, belly dancers, samurai fighters, and various other acts, but those were the only ones we caught snippets of.

Once again, they sure do love cats. I cannot tell you how many cat

things I saw. Two whole booths of cat butts too! Haha. The picture of the cat I saw from clear across the room. Took the picture with the zoom on the camera. It was like Cat-zilla peeking over 5 rows of booths. Mrow!

Around lunchtime, one artist was sitting by her booth cutting an intricate design in an apple with a scalpel. Not much of a story behind that one, but she let me take a picture because I thought it was cool. Arigato gozaimasu!

We spent 7 hrs and still didn’t see everything but we decided it was just the right amount of time. It is a lot to take in and a LOT of people to be around.

Also, I know some of the pictures are small... Not sure if you guys have figured this trick out or not, but if you click on the picture, it should pop-up full size.

Happy Halloween!

I had a pretty chill Halloween because I had to work… I did wear my BCG’s to work though.

The weekend before my friend Jacqueline and I dressed up and went out for a bit. She got all zombie’d up and I was a zombie killer. The leaves are starting to turn here and it is looking pretty but it really only feels like early September for Nebraska. Anyway, Happy Halloween!!!

Animals

27 Oct 2013

Lions, Tigers, Bears… Lemurs, Tapirs, and Beetles… Oh my!

I went to the Tama Zoo with Tyler and Whitney. We took the train to Tachikawa station then took the lightrail to the zoo. I was absolutely amazed by how active the animals were.

Oh, and I had another awkward moment!

For the train, we use a Suica card. When my friend left, she gave me her Suica card because there was some money left on it. When I got on the train, I used her card… when I got off at the other station, I accidently grabbed mine and it wouldn’t let me through the gate at the other side. I knew immediately the issue, but security had already pegged me, so I had to go through and try to explain what happened any why I had two Suica cards. After about two minutes of pointing, slow hand gestures, head nods, and broken Japanese/station names, we got things figured out. Phew!

Back to the zoo…

They had a large bird area, a big bug display where I saw some bugs I never knew even existed. For example, an Orchid Mantis. A Praying Mantis that looks exactly like the bloom of an orchid. It was actually a very neat display. There was also a butterfly house. I couldn’t find the picture to upload it to the blog here but I will get it to Dropbox later, but there was a small tree with yellow chrysalises on it and it looked like Christmas ornaments. It was really pretty.

There were different continent areas in the zoo with different exhibits. It was interesting to see the size difference between the Asian elephants and the African elephants. Many of the exhibits had indoor and outdoor aspects to them so that the animals could hang out either place.

There really were some animals that I have never seen before, and even of the animals that I had seen before, I got closer than I had ever been, and I have to emphasize again that I have never seen animals so active in a zoo ever before. Some of the videos I got will definitely show you that.

For the lion tour, I think they put meat on the side of the bus because almost every bus that came by, a female lion would run over and start licking the windows. With the cheetah, it was right by feeding time… that may explain most of that activity… The snow leopards were hilarious to watch. They must have been siblings or at least grown up together. They would be on two different sides of the enclosure, mean-mugging the heck out of each other (staring each other down), and then run/pounce. It was like watching two oversized house cats playing. It was almost more fun to watch the Japanese people react to them :)

At one point we felt like an exhibit. It was quite comical… There was a little Japanese kiddo in a stroller who must have been two or so heading in the opposite direction. He pointed, went “Ooooooo” and started waving. We may have been the first white people he’s ever seen! Haha.

My favorite part of the zoo was the red panda. We didn’t make it to the actual pandas… the zoo was closing. We spent all day there but didn’t quite make it all the way around. Missed Australia and all of Asia. Still, it is a very impressive zoo.

Back in Fussa later that night, we went to the Truck Stop for dinner. Us Americans on base affectionately refer to it as the Truck Stop because we have no idea what the actual name of it is, and there are usually a lot of trucks parked outside of it. I had crab fried rice and dumplings. It was delicious.

Also, I must say, these pictures were an absolute pain to place... This is not a user friendly template at all... so what you see is what you get. :p

Joyful Honda!

14 OCT 2013

I have to take a moment to explain the wonders of Joyful Honda. This Japanese superstore is like combining a Michaels, Office Max, Home Depot, Pet Smart, Costco, Barnes and Noble, and a grocery store. Also with a full florist shop of flowers I have never seen, and a huge food court.

Whitney and I went to look for a bike for me and also just to check everything out. We ended up spending about four hours there. In Japan, they love cats. Looooove cats. However, there is also a market for very small dogs. As far as puppies go, the smaller the better, and the smaller they get, the more expensive they get. You would think with so much stuff in a store, they would only have a few animals for sale. Not the case. They had dogs, cats, fish, snakes, lizards, BEETLES, all sorts of birds, chickens/roosters, mice/rats, rabbits, ferrets, etc. all for sale.

They really just had everything you would ever imagine there. In the grocery section, they had (as expected) all sorts of foods that are completely foreign to American grocery stores. Sushi is a third if not a fourth of the price it is in the states, and 80x more available. The fruit is more expensive, especially certain fruits due to the desired perfection. We found a cantaloupe that was about $30.00. This particular cantaloupe is known for its perfect size and symmetry. Also, note how all the stems are cut just so. We also saw purple grapes that were the size of a grown man’s big toe.

One alcoholic beverage that is widely enjoyed here is Chu-hi. It is really like a wine cooler, but it comes in a lot of different flavors that were all available at Joyful Honda. I got grapefruit; I heard it was one of the best. I hear Chu-hi’s also have seasonal flavors that come out and are a real treat. If I try them, I’ll keep you all informed.

I ended up getting a bike, and if you were ever wondering, a bike will actually fit in the back of a Honda Accord without taking off a wheel! I was just looking for a bike, but the price was right, and Whitney was kind enough to oblige my irrational personal determination to fit a city bike in a Honda. :) (Also because we couldn’t figure out how to ask to take the front wheel off…) We had fun. The picture of the bike is in my room because we had a typhoon… It turned at the last minute and we really only got rain and 40 MPH winds so it was not too bad. I was amazed at how many bikes were sold in the time that we were looking at bikes. In the 20 minutes that we were looking at bikes, three were sold. Then we walked around awhile and came back and two more people were in line at the counter with tickets to buy bikes. Needless to say, bikes are big for transportation here. I almost bought a foldable bike, but it really wasn’t as compact as you would think, so I went with this beautiful red city bike. I was also going to get a bike with a belt instead of a chain, but there was only one left in the store… and it was green and a lot more expensive… so once again, I went with this beautiful red city bike.

The difference between the belt and the chain: I have started seeing a thick rubber belt instead of a chain on bikes, and when I first got to Yokota, I rented a bike from outdoor recreation that had a belt. It fits the Japanese culture in the fact that it is a lot quieter and cleaner. Instead of oil, it just needs some water to stay lubricated (and as much as it rains here, that shouldn’t be a problem). The belts are fairly new and I am sure they will be showing up more readily in the next few years. I like them though.

To address why people ride bikes vs. cars: To get your license here, to even go to driving class, it costs $3,000 and takes over a month of classes. Once you obtain your license, you are on probation for 6 months, and have a ‘new driver’ sticker for the first year. Drivers are considered experts at driving, which is considered a big deal. Yes, the roadways are very small, and cars cut close to each other. There is definitely an understanding that you mess up while driving; someone could die, so it is not taken lightly.

Interestingly enough, we learned why the streets are so narrow. Forgive the rough re-telling… During WWII, it was noticed that tanks for obvious reasons could only go through certain pathways. After WWII when they were rebuilding, the Japanese decided to keep the roadways narrow so that if there was ever a future attack, there would be less areas that tanks, large vehicles, and mass troops could go. As the population/civilization expanded, so did the narrow roadways.

And that, my friends, is your random history for the day.

Enjoy.

Finally in Japan

2 October 2013

When I arrived in Japan, I was very sleepy but we followed the sun around the Earth as we flew, so I hadn’t seen any darkness to trigger my brain to sleep, and my new time was only 11 AM. So, after getting my things dropped off into my new dorm on the second floor, my sponsor helped me go get a phone. The company that is prevalent here is called Softbank. Keep in mind that when all the contract info and stipulations were being explained I was so very tired… I thought woman was explaining to me that I can text and call anyone else from South Bank for free, so in confusion, I asked her, “Where is South Bank?” She looked at me probably just as confused as I looked, said, “No, Softbank. This is Softbank. You’re really tired, huh?” and then gave me a free towel!

So, the best way to contact me if you have a smartphone with apps and would like to text would be to get an app called Viber. My viber number is 818044426311. Or, Skype has messenger as well, I just like that I can send pictures through Viber, but really, either one works. I do not Skype video chat a lot because I do not have internet and am just going off of mobile internet. It is called unlimited but I get 7MB of data usage a month and then it just slows down a lot. My Skype name is e.addison. I check my email everyday and although I have been staying quite busy, I am usually good about emailing back. As always, my email is e.addison89@gmail.com. Or mail is always welcome too! Address below…

What a block of the mailboxes look like.

TLDR;

Viber – 818044426311

Skype – e.addison

Email – e.addison89@gmail.com

Mailing Address –

Elly Addison

PSC 78 Box 4236

APO, AP 96326

The dorms here aren’t too bad, smaller quarters and a shared kitchen, but the walls are made of cinderblocks so there is really no noise that gets through. I can hear the person above me running around, but nothing on either side. There are vending machines all over this country (or at least the places I have visited) and randomly placed on sidewalks. Something really cool about them is that they dispense cold and hot drinks. Cold is blue tags, hot is red tags. Some things I see from this vending machine picture that I have tried are Aquarius; which is like grapefruit vitamin water. It is slightly flavored, and filled with electrolytes. Pop tastes different over here. It is less carbonated and made with real sugar so it isn’t hard on your teeth, but can be more syrupy if that makes any sense. Anyway, I tried a mini grape Fanta one time and it blew my mind. They also have a melon Fanta (not pictured) and work people like it but I thought it was too sweet. All the Georgia coffees are great. I mean, come on… coffee is great in general. When I still didn’t have my coffee pot, I bought a case of these from the Commissary and they saved my life. My other favorite is Royal Milk Tea. It is the one on the bottom row in the blue container. It is an acquired taste and I didn’t like it at first but now it makes me really happy and is a treat. I hear that seasonally, they will have Chocolate and Chocolate Banana Royal Milk Tea… I can’t wait to try that.

Once again, I got busy and didn’t write right away… so I have been here for a month and have gone to quite a few restaurants and so on. But here is a picture of the first place I went. It is Yakiniku which is the Japanese take on Korean BBQ.  As you can see, there is a grill right in the middle of the table that you cook your own meat on. No way that would be in the states… it was great! I got here at a good time because there was one girl in my duty section who was just leaving so as she was outprocessing, I was inprocessing. We had the same schedule so she gave me rides to work and showed me some great places to eat. Another place that I went was a ramen shop that we ordered from a machine that gave us a ticket that when we were seated was taken. Overall, on menus, politely pointing to what you want when prompted works really well.

5 Oct 2013

A co-worker and his wife (Tyler and Whitney) have been really great about taking me out and about. They took and introduced me to the train system and we headed towards the bigger city. First, we went to Tachikawa. That is the big train station that connects two lines that I travel and at my newcomers class, they taught us just to remember ‘milkshake, French fries’. Why you ask? Because the Kanji (Japanese writing) for Tachikawa looks like a milkshake and French fries. This train station has a lot of food, shops, and a mini grocery store in it. What it seemed like to me was walking off of the train, up the stairs, there were some shops like in an airport, then out into the busy center of a mall, then passing through the Dillards counters but they were all filled with food. Something like that… Anyway, after walking around there for awhile, we went back on the train and headed closer to Tokyo.

Next stop was Shinjuku. We walked down Takeshita Street which is just full of little shops and crepe carts. They have an odd fascination with crepes I have noticed. There was a shop completely dedicated to Hello Kitty, and a candy shop that the girls behind the counter were dressed as candy stripers. It was a very busy street to say the least. The next street we were walking down, we saw some Lolitas. The look of a Lolita is to dress in lacy Victorian-ish style dresses. A cross-culture reference would be Steampunk for Americans. I have a picture of a street filled with people and I just wanted to point out that this is an active two-way road. Whenever a car came through, it would just slowly move along and people would move out of the way. We found a shop that was all chopsticks and it reminded Whitney (who I was with) of the wand shop from Harry Potter. Just a shop filled with chopsticks. People coming to find just the right chopsticks… you get it… There was even a man making chopsticks outside. Also while wandering the streets, in the middle of the busy city, we found a random temple. Across the street from that, was a circle of food (and drink) trucks and a few merchandise vendors. It was the first time that I was reminded of the states. It reminded me of back in Seattle when we went to the farmers market. It was a great find, and they had some great homemade white sangria.

After we found our way back to the train station the sun was already starting to set, as we set of towards Shibuya. Right outside of Shibuya station is a statue of a dog. It is there in memorial of a dog who would come and meet its owner at the train station every day after he was done with work. One day, its owner died at work and never came home. So the dog stayed there (or came back everyday) for years until it died.

Then, a little farther up the sidewalk from that statue is the famous Shibuya Crossing. We walked around for quite awhile. Checked out an Irish Pub and found out that they do some weird stuff to beer here. Yes, they put tomato juice in beer to make a red beer (which was not the red ale Tyler thought he was ordering –oops) but they also put carrot juice in beer and straight up sugar! Quite odd. On our way back to the train station, we saw some girls painting on the side of a building. It reminded me of the Big Picture project; which reminded me of Joe, so I took a picture of it.

Back in Fussa (where base is) we stopped at Seiyo and Mister Donut. Seiyo is a 4 story department store with a grocery store in the bottom, and Mister Donut is… well, donuts. It actually has a pretty cool back story though… and great donuts :).

Two brother-in-laws broke a partnership and started their own donut shops. One started Mister Donut, and the other started Duncan Donuts. Mister Donut started in Boston in the 1950’s. Long story short… franchised/sold to Japan in late 1980’s and is now the largest donut chain in Japan.

Well, that about sums up my first trip into Tachikawa and Tokyo (Shinjuku and Shibuya).

Also, for those of you who have Dropbox (and those of you who would like to get Dropbox), I got a great video walking across Shibuya crossing that I’ll share :) Check it out!

Seattle

September 27-October 1 2013

Port call time!!! I flew from Seattle straight into Yokota AB, Japan. I had never been to Washington before, and to mark another state off the map, my Mom mentioned we should spend a few days in Seattle before it was time to leave the states. I must say; I am very fortunate to have parents that are able and willing to spend a long weekend in Seattle with me.

We went to a farmer’s market, Pike Place Market, walked around the local area, had some great meals at some wonderful neighborhood eateries, and found a weekend market. Thanks to their public transit, we were able to make it to many different parts of Seattle and really explore quite a bit of what it had to offer. I really liked Seattle and could definitely see myself going back there.

On October 1^st, at 2 AM, I said good-bye to my parents, and headed to the airport. It was a civilian plane with military (active duty and retirees) on board. Then check-in process lasted about an hour and a half, and then I went to the terminal to hang out for a few hours until the flight. The government shut down started that morning, and there was about 2 hrs where we thought the flight was delayed 8 hrs… and I was wondering if it was due to the shutdown… turns out it wasn’t… but had me going for awhile! Ten hours or so on a plane was broken up by postcards and notes from my friends and family. Thank you all!!

Also, I would like to take a moment to mention Dropbox. Dropbox is a free file sharing service that will allow me to organize and share my photos and videos with whoever wants to see the full collection. I will be posting quite a few of the pictures, but if anyone would like to see all the pictures and any video I took, they can email me and I will send them a link to my Dropbox. One thing about Dropbox is that one only gets so much free share space. The more people I refer, the more space I get. So, if you email me, I can send you a referral request and you can sign up for Dropbox and I will get more space to share more photos later on. It’s all free and you would have to sign up to view my photos and videos anyway (basically, it’s a necessary step).  Any other questions, just email and I will try to answer, or email my mom and she can probably answer as well. My email is e.addison89@gmail.com.