Party all day and all night.

About a week ago my some of my friends and had a night out in Tokyo. It was a really fun experience unlike anything I've ever done before. So I wanted to share it with you guys.

Alex, Veronica, and I had decided awhile ago that we wanted to go out to dinner at this really interesting sounding bar/restaurant. We decided this was a perfect way to begin our Tokyo night. The restaurant we went to is called The Lock Up. It's a chain and has several locations throughout Japan's major cities. Tokyo has two locations. One in Shibuya and one in Ikebukuro. We went to the one in Shibuya since it's a really lively part of Tokyo (Ikebukuro is also a lively spot, but we're also more familiar with Shibuya). We had understood that the concept behind The Lock Up is kind of like a prison themed restaurant. Turned out it was much much more! The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of the basement in one of the buildings in Shibuya. BUT while you are trying to get from the entrance to the actual restaurant you have to walk through a haunted passage. With wrong turns, spooks, dim lighting, and creepy noises. None of us were expecting this so we were freaking out while walking through it and ended up screaming from fright when we came across our hostess (a hot police officer). After getting over our initial shock our hostess handcuffed us and took us to our jail cell.
The drink menu was really cool! (I will post pictures below) The food itself was pretty much normal food, but the price was also normal so it was fine. After ordering our food the lights (or at least the few lights that were on to begin with) in the entire restaurant went out and death metal mixed in with chain saw music began playing on the speakers. Next thing I know, our jail cell is being attacked by crazy monsters. This happens about every hour and lasts for about 3 minutes. It is really fun and adds to the crazy dining experience.
Photos:

Veronica, Alex, and I about to enter the creepy passage way.


A few of the crazzy drinks they sell. That is a jelly eye ball in the bottom right drink.




Being in jail for so long turned us into mad scientist!



Before I write about my experience at the club in Shibuya I have to give you a little bit of background about clubbing in Japan. Ok, well the last train of the night usually leaves Tokyo around 12am and the next trains dont start up until 5a.m. So if you are planning on staying out in Tokyo, it means you are literally staying out all night. So here we go!
We decided to go to Club Atom, which turns out is a fairly famous club in Shibuya. We chose this one mostly because of the price. Entrance fee before 12a.m. is about $10 and if you're a girl this fee also includes 2 drink tickets. This is a really good price because most clubs are around $20 for girls with no drink tickets and $30 for guys (no drink tickets). The club has 3 floors. The main floor (located on the 5th floor of the building) is the middle floor with a bar, dj booth, dance area, and small area for lounging. This floor played a mix of hip-hop,pop,dance,and techno. The floor below looked kind of like an underground cave and played trance music. The top floor was a bar and lounge that played hip-hop and r&b music.
At first when we got there around 11:30p.m. and the club was pretty empty so we ordered some drinks, and sat around chatting and checking out the place. Something really cool that this club offered was a mini hair salon. It was located adjacent to the bar on a raised platform slightly sectioned off from the main club area. There were 3 hair stylist that were curling girls hair for them. I don't know how it worked but the girls had gotten a ticket from somewhere either for free or by paying that would allow them to get their hair done. This wasn't offered all night, it stopped a little after 12 so maybe it was somehow a part of the happy hour, I'm not sure. After 12:30 the club had started to fill up and we decided to get out on the dance floor. Dancing in a club in Japan is so different from at home. Everyone in the club faces the dj while dancing. And it seems like the favorite move is the fist pump. Might be because there isn't much room for anything else. Another strange thing was that there were a lot of Japanese business men at the club, you could tell they were Japanese business men because they were wearing their business attire. Really different.
The club had mostly Japanese, but there were a few Koreans and also some caucasians. The music was a really interesting mix because they would play popular American songs that you would expect in a club, popular techno music, popular Japanese pop and techno music, but they would also play really strange music for a club, such as Justin Beiber, Avril Lavigne, and the YMCA song. It was really strange but fun to rock out to anyway. Staying up had been a bit of a challenge, around 2:30 I had gotten really tired and just wanted to fall asleep. There are seats reserved for ladies throughout the club, but my friend Veronica found out the hard way that you are not allowed to nap in these seats (club workers will wake you up). After about 30 minutes of resting and chatting with Veronica and some friendly Japanese I was able to get back on the dance floor. Our friend Alex didn't seem to need as many breaks as we did, but that is probably because he wasn't wearing heels and he had some help from whiskey to keep him awake and going. After our 30minute rest Veronica and I were ready to keep partying it up. The club stayed packed until the time we left around 4:45~5:00am. We ended up going to McDonald's to get some water and some breakfast before heading home on the very first train at around 5:30.
I got home at 7 had a quick breakfast with my host family before my host brother and sister went to school and then I crashed. I literally crashed all day. I went to bed at 7am woke up at 4 to get a glass of water and then went back to sleep until right before dinner at 6:45p.m. It was really fun experiencing Tokyo's night life, but I don't plan on doing this again. I really did enjoy the club but I enjoy spending my afternoons exploring Tokyo more than spending my whole day sleeping.

Here are some photos of the club from their websites. Photos weren't allowed in the club.


Club entrance


The main dance floor. The view point is from the DJ, so you are looking across the dance floor, see the lounge area with the bar in the very back.


The 4th floor that looks like a cave. It only opens after 12:30am


The bar/lounge on the 6th floor.

Final Okinawa Post

Day 3
On our third day in Okinawa we went to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park and Museum as well as Okinawa World.
The Peace Memorial Park was really awe inspiring. It is a similar concept to the Vietnam Memorial in DC. Throughout the park there are hundreds of granite/marble? (not sure) slabs with the names of those who died during the battle of Okinawa (during ww2). However what makes this memorial park unique is that it doesn't only list the names of those who served in the military that died, but instead it lists the names of military and civilians from every country involved that died during the battle. Currently there are about 250,000 names, but this number expands as more people submit names of deceased family members who had been involved. Both the Museum and Park where really moving, I think all of us had been pretty affected by visiting these sites.

After that we all climbed back onto the bus and drove for 30minutes to get to Okinawa world. Okinawa World is basically the same idea as Hawaii's Polynesian Cultural Center. It's kind of like a museum like park that recreates traditional Okinawan culture. While there we got to see an Eisa dance performance (Okinawan drum dance) as well as learn how to perform one. We also got to walk through a recreation of an Okinawan village which was selling a variety of novelty goods. There was also a garden area filled with various fruit trees and vegetation you can see throughout Okinawa. And one of my favorite highlights was the underground cave we got to walk through.

After all of this we were lucky to get back to the hotel early enough to be able to go swimming before the beach closed! It was really nice! The water was almost the perfect temperature, just a little cold when you first get in, but otherwise nice.

Day 4
We spent the morning wandering around Kokusai St.
After spending an hour and a half window shopping the whole IES group met up for lunch. We got to eat at a hibachi grill that was in a restaurant shaped like a ship. It was very nice, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the building and I think I only took a few pictures while at lunch. After that we went to Naha airport and flew back to Tokyo.


Photos and additional commentaries.
click any photo to enlarge.


The peace memorial park. Names of Japanese/Okinawan citizens/military who died during the battle of Okinawa.


This fountain is a symbol of peace for all and is dedicated for those who died in the battle of Okinawa.


Veronica and I standing outside the Peace Memorial Museum


Jodie and I getting our Hawaii on before going to Okinawa world. (Jodie is also from Hawaii)


Okinawan Eisa performers.


IES students performing the Eisa dance we had been taught.


Underground cave.


Me with Hello Kitty dressed as a Shisha (famous Okinawan decoration which resembles a mixture of a lion and a dog) on Kokusai St.


Hubu sake. One of the more interesting/popular omiyage you can find on Kokusai St.
Very expensive.


Cook preparing our lunch.


Outfit the waitresses/hostess were wearing.


Stephyn, Veronica, and I wearing our "serious" bibs preparing to nom on some yummy food.

Okinawa pt. 2

So i realize now that I had failed to post the second day in Okinawa in my last blog even though I said I would cover the 1st and 2nd day. In this post I'm only going to cover the 2nd day because there are so many photos I want to share that there wont be room to write about the 3rd day.
So here we go.
Day 2
We woke up really early in the morning to have breakfast. The breakfast food wasn't so great, but really can't complain since the whole trip was so cheap. After we climbed on the bus and drove for about 30 mins (I took a nap since I was still tired) and arrived at where we would be doing glass making. The glass making was really cool! We didn't actually get to do the glass blowing/shaping because we used a mold but we did get to blow it and eventually shape the rim. So it was still a really fun experience.

Afterward we went to Okinawa Ocean Expo, which I guess is similar to Sea World in America. It has the second largest aquarium in the world. Also went to a sea turtle exhibit manatee house and a small dolphin show. This was also the first day I got to go to the beach! There was a public beach at the Expo park where me and a bunch of IES friends went to relax after wandering through the park. The weather was really nice and the water was also pretty nice (but can't compare to Hawaii of course). The aquarium was really cool, but it definitely did not feel like it was the second largest aquarium in the world. I think my favorite part (other than enjoy the sun on the beach) was spending time in the manatee house. The Manatees just seemed so calm and happy so it was really relaxing to watch them just floating around.
We ended up eating lunch at the Expo park since we were spending about 5 hours there to enjoy all the park had to offer. I ended up ordering Tsukemen noodles that came with vegetable tempura. And here is where I had my first run in with the Okinawan cucumber which is called goya. This thing is super bitter and...not very oishii. Since it is really famous in Okinawa it was present at other meals such as our Dinner barbeque later that night, buuuut after my first experience I learned to avoid it.

Here are some photos (click on any photo to enlarge)




Me blowing/shaping my glass cup which I got to keep!


A giant puffer fish at the aquarium


Me with one of the turtles


Dory and Nemo hanging out!







This is the giant part of the aquarium which held 3 whale sharks and tons of giant manta rays! Super cool!






At the dolphin show.


The girls enjoying the beach


Ice cream! I got Okinawan sweet potato flavor.



At the manatee house


Dinner barbeque (you can spot the weird cucumber near the sausages on the platter)

Here is a close up image of the weird Okinawan cucumber

Although they taste really horrible it turns out they are really healthy for you. They have 50 times more vitamin C than a regular cucumber. Maybe that is how Okinawans live so long, eating these things all the time.

I will try to post about the rest of my Okinawa trip as soon as possible!

Oyasumi!

Okinawa! pt. 1

Last week all the IES students (well almost all the IES students) went to Okinawa for a 4 day fieldtrip. I had to wake up really early because we were meeting at Haneda airport at 9a.m. which is about an hour, maybe hour and a half train ride away from where I'm living. Once at Haneda we took a 2 hour plane ride and left gray raining Tokyo behind and arrived in Beautiful sunny and humid Naha, Okinawa! Many Japanese people had told me that Okinawa would be like Hawaii, and I guess I could say I agree, but of course I think Hawaii is much nicer. The Okinawan people came across as a lot friendlier than the Japanese we have met in Tokyo area. They were much more eager to come up and start a conversation with us and they seemed to know a lot more English. In fact I heard mostly English while I was in Okinawa and very little Japanese. So here is what I did while in Okinawa. I will probably spilt my trip into two blog entries, so this entry will cover the first 2 days.
Day 1
After arriving at the airport we meet our tourguide and got onto a bus that took us to Shuri-Jo (shuri castle). Shuri castle is on of the most famous sites in Okinawa. Shuri Castle had originally been the capitol and palace of the Ryukyu emperor until Okinawa became a part of the Japanese empire in 1879.






The Shuri castle which I saw was a restoration of the original which had been reduced to rubble during the Battle of Okinawa back in 1945.
While at Shuri Castle I did the shrine scavenger hunt. There are certain landmarks all over the shrine and if you collect a stamp from them you are able to turn it in and get a prize. Turns out it was only for Junior high schoolers, buuut I did it anyway for the fun of it and decided to try to turn it in anyway. And Success! I ended up getting a set of stickers!!!!! The ladies working the information desk where I presented my finished scavenger hunt map had told me I was too old to get a prize, but since I was a very nice girl they decided to give me one anyway!

After Shuri Castle we went to the Onna community center where we got to learn how to play the Sanshin (Okinawan) or Shamisen (Japanese). The sanshin is a traditional Okinawan instrument. It looks kind of like a guitar/banjo combination.






Here are some photos at the hotel we stayed at, which was located right on the beach!!!


View from our balcony


Roommates on the balcony


Wearing our yukata and drinking some traditional Okinawan sake.

The Happiest Place on Earth...or something like that.

OK, so I've just gotten through with a crazy buzy (yes so busy that it deserves a z instead of an s)past couple of days and will have a little more free time to update my blog a little more often.
It's the downhill slope of my stay here. I have just over 1 month left before I leave Japan, and even though I want to go home and see everyone I really am not ready to leave.
So I've decided to set some small goals for myself (which I will proceed to share with you.)

Goals (and I'm sure there are more):
-Stay out all night in Tokyo at least once
-Visit Tsukiji Fish Market (ultra famous awesome fish market in Tokyo)
-Use the blasted Oshiri button on the toilet (at least once!)
-Spend more time with my E-pals
-Explore Tokyo more!

Anyway on to my original post.
Okay so last post I had been talking about my experience living a regular Japanese life. What I hadn't gotten around to was sharing about one aspect of the regular Tokyo Japanese lifestyle I've partaken in that most people wouldn't really think of.
What is this mystery Japanese activity you ask???
well...*trumpet noises/drumroll*
a trip to Disney!!!!
yes, as ultra american as it may sound a trip to Disney is something that most Japanese do regularly. (My host sister has gone to Disney 3 times in the past month, that's practically every weekend)
The disney park I went to however was a bit more of a foreign experience however because I went to Disney Sea. You might be wondering what the heck is Disney Sea? This is not at all an unreasonable question. I myself had no clue what a Disney Sea was until I'd been living here for almost 3 weeks (and I live only 20 mins away so clearly it's a well founded question). So let me tell you what Disney Sea is. Essentially it is a Disney park, one of two in Tokyo Japan. The other park obviously being Tokyo Disneyland. Disney Sea is also the only Disney Sea in the world, which would explain why you probably haven't heard of it.
The general set up of Disney Sea is the same as Disneyland except it is modeled after 7 "ports of call" as they call, or sea ports as I like to call it (since I dont know what a port of call is [maybe it's a seaport, I dont know]). This follows the same basic set up of Disneyland's 7 lands. SO Disney Sea as its name suggests is nautically theme, but NOT a water park. Anyway I'm not going to go on forever about what is DIsney sea, instead I'll share a little about my experience there (pics included!)
Okay so, my host sister and I decided to go to Disney Sea together because she loves Disney and I have never been to Disney Sea and I really wanted to spend time with her. We got on the 7:00am train so we could be at the park and wait in the long queue for the park to open (at 9:00). Since it was a rainy day that meant that there were shorter lines aka less wait time and since it was just drizzling it was a fine trade off. We ended up staying almost all day at the park, from 9am until 7:30 pm.


Julie and I on the Disney train


Iconic Image of Disney Sea


Julie and I waiting in line for Indiana Jones Crystal Skull ride (only 5 min wait!!!)


Crazy genie on the "sinbad's seven seas story" ride (kind of like It's a small world but cooler and with a catchier song)


Arabian Coast (themed after the movie Aladdin, but you will not find Aladdin or Jasmine here, they live at Tokyo Disney)


Mermaid lagoon (modeled after The little Mermaid you will find Ariel here, but only during specific hours-when she's not at Tokyo Disneyland)


This is what is inside the mermaid castle (blurry pic, but to give you an idea)