I love Golden Week!

I just got back from a glorious 5-day vacation in Tokyo. Every year in Japan there are 4 national holidays at the beginning of the May. This year three of the four holidays were on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so I went up to Tokyo for five days. Here is a chronicle of my Golden Week!

Tuesday: I caught the train up to Tokyo after school. I stayed with my friend Nancy in her dorm at Tsuda women's college. We had a delicious Nabe party with some of her dormmates at 11:00pm. I'm getting so used to eating late, in true Japanese style. After eating, we moved the party into the shower. The dorm has a communal shower so you can chat and hang out while showering, another truly Japanese custom!

Wednesday: I met my old roommate, Chihiro, in Ginza to watch kabuki, traditional Japanese theater. It was so cool! It was really crowded because of Golden Week and the recent return of a famous kabuki actor who had been battling luekemia for the past two years. Kabuki is really expensive, but there are some cheap, nose-bleed seats that you can get a half-hour before the show. Since it was so crowded we had to stand, but it was definately worth it. Chihiro brought binoculars, so we could see the details of the actors make-up and costumes, but the theater wasn't too big, so we could see everything well. The make-up was incredible! Kabuki was unlike any theater I had ever seen. Some highlights were the men's voices when they were acting as women, and the personal monologue that some actors delivered in the middle of a scene. It was like there was a time-out of the play, and the actors stopped to thank the audience for coming, and talked about their personal lives. Very interesting... After kabuki Chihiro and I walked around Ginza and later met some friends for Indian food (a new favorite culinary delight!)

Thursday: I met a group of guys that studied English at Western two years ago. We went to Odaiba, a kind-of amusement area (but there isn't much to do there except eat and shop!) We spent the day walking around and chatting/eating at 4 different restaurants! We had lunch at an all-you-can-eat Italian restaurant, coffee at a family restaurant, coffee at Starbucks, and then a late-night dinner at a Japanese restaurant. There really isn't much to do except walk around or go to restaurants, so we spent lots of time at restaurants!

Friday: I went to the famous shopping district of Harajuku. I was determined to dabble in Japanese fashion, but after many failed attempts, I gave up and shopped at The GAP. How boring! But I am just not the size of Japanese women! Even if something fit me, it just didn't look good...once a GAP girl, always a GAP girl...even in Harajuku! There were SO many people in Harajuku, it was kind of stressful! Everywhere was crowded because of Golden Week, but Harajuku was especially crowded! I did see some pretty interesting fashion...sometimes you wonder what people are thinking. Kana, my Harajuku partner-in-crime, escaped the frenzy with a great lunch at a Chinese restaurant. That night I met my friend Masako for a Mexican dinner. It was my first time to eat Mexican food in Japan. I was kind of nervous, but it turned out to be pretty good. I think it is a chain in America, El Torito. There were so many foreigners there! We love our Mexican food! Although it was really good, it still just wasn't the same as Mexican food in America- I think a big reason is the cheese. There wasn't any cheddar cheese in any of the dishes we ordered. I can't wait to get home and eat some good Mexican food!

Saturday: Kana and I went to Mt. Takao, a hiking area in Tokyo. It was great to get out of the city, although there were still so many people there! At the top of the "mountain" were many temples and shops...souvenirs and snacks. We had a nice o-bento lunch at the top where we were seranaded by an English-speaking, harmonica-playing older man. He really wanted to play some American songs that I would know, but all the songs he played were so old and I didn't know any of them! I was so exhausted when we got back to Kana's apartment after hiking (and Golden Week!) We took a long nap and then cooked soba for dinner (Kana is an awesome cook!) and hung out with her older brother (and roommate).

Sunday: We slept in late until I had to meet another friend and then head back to Tateyama. I met a friend who studied English in America last year. I hadn't seen her since we were both in the states, so it was really good to meet her. Then I had a three and a half hour ride back to Tateyama. Monday is going to be a hard day at work after all this vacation!