Disneyland! (among other things)

Catch-up time!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Japanese test (which I got a 74 on... ugh, whatever), and then the performance of our skits. Which, by the way, let me tell you that NONE of us signed up for this or even really knew what it was going to be. At the end of every class we do skits with a partner, usually memorized since they're short, and for this it was just performing some of those skits for a larger audience. We did it before after our last test, but then it was just for the other classes and our teachers. THIS time... we walked over to the Meikai main campus and into a larger room, where we had an audience of Japanese students and had to use microphones! whaaaat!

I'm just a little annoyed because it was pretty much like we were a bunch of elementary school kids, forced to perform for others so our teachers can show us off and feel proud of themselves. Except for the part where we're all, like, adults. yeaaah. Not cool.

But I will also tell you that my skit ROCKED. Seriously. It was one of the best, if not THE best, which has been confirmed by many sources (which is good, cause I went into it not expecting much). I was a wife fighting with her husband who had come home late (played by Matt). Both of us just decided, whatever, we'll get totally into it, why not, so we did, and it paid off! :D

Then we had a little party afterwards.




Haha, Hyung-Hye


Party. Some of those people are actually Chinese exchange students!


Hyung-Hye and Ishikawa-san! Two of my favorite IES people :

Saturday, October 14, 2006

woohoo! Time to escape this crazy house and go hang out with my wonderful host family. They came and picked me up at noon, and we went straight to the Akimatsuri (fall festival) place. I actually didn't know we were going to a fall festival at all. I just knew we were going to listen to my host mom sing with her gospel choir she's joined recently. I had no idea they were just one of many other performanced lined up at a fall festival. But it was cool. I was wearing my fall outfit that I got here, with leaves along the bottom of the shirt, so that worked out well. And it was cool to go to a fall festival in Japan after going to the one at home last year~



There was of course lots of tasty food at the food stalls. Kanako-san gave both me and Na-chan 500 yen each in the little tickets, went to go rehearse, and I was left to look after Na-chan and, later, Ken-chan and Momo-chan, the kids of another woman in the gospel choir (who had also been there, with those kids, the night they had the party for me, so I already knew them). They were all "oh, a 20-year-old oneesan [lit. older sister, basically a term for calling someone older than you, like I am to young kids]! How good to have one to look after them" annnd yeah, a convenient babysitter too! It was fun though, we wandered, and got cotton candy, and watched some of the performances before the gospel choir, including this little kids' dance group which was VERY amusing.



First the elementary school kids danced to the DDR song "Blondie Girl," which was entertaining in and of itself.




Then the kindergarteners danced to a techno mix of "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas!! hahaha so amusing.



To give you your dose of cute Japanese kids for the day... Momo-chan and Na-chan


Ken-chan... hahaha


I tried to get all three of them, and that just happened... hahaha

Then the gospel choir came out, and they were very good for a group of Japanese women singing English gospel church songs! I know they had to have worked very hard on pronunciation, and even though it wasn't perfect, it worked. It was a very weird sensation to hear church/Christian songs sung by people who have probably little to no idea what they are really singing about. Very, very strange.





I also took a short sound recording, which you can hear here.

Then Kanako-san joined us again and we got some more food (crepes!) and she led me over to the line for one of the little games, shooting little corks with cork rifles at a bunch of Pokemon cardboard cutouts lined up against the wall and seeing if you could knock one over. I wasn't too jazzed about that, because I'm not really one for carnival games, but I didn't really have a way out of it, so I went ahead and did it, and to my surprise, I knocked over two Pokemon! All the little kids that had been going before me had been getting zero to 1 knocked over, so that was a big surprise. I got to go pick out a little prize, too.

At the festival I also encountered that particular type of Japanese person, the "has-studied-English-and-wants-to-practice it older lady." Joe had talked about running into a bunch at a party thrown by his host mom, and now I have experienced it too. The thing is, this kind of thing really annoys me. I don't like being spoken to in attempts at English just because I am a foreigner. Plus, at those times I am in my 'Japanese mode' and it's hard to get me to switch out of it. I think I dismayed some of them because I would respond in Japanese to their English questions (not deliberately trying to be rude, just more of an automatic response. I was still perfectly polite) and I think they weren't too thrilled with that. But, whatever, it's not my job to help you practice your English just because I can, and I'm not obligated to oblige them. :x

After playing with the kids some more while the gospel choir adults chatted (I made a new friend, a little girl [I still don't know her name] who had been hiding from me earlier but after I smiled at her she became my best friend and grabbed my hand and took me all over the little festival area) we left, maybe around 4 pm or so. We had parked in the parking lot of the Ito Yokada mall/grocery store building so I went to the grocery store there with Kanako-san and wound up sort of volunteering to cook dinner. We got broccoli, chicken, fettuccine, and cheese sauce, among some other things like breakfast bread (yumm).

On the way home, we swung by this apartment complex where Konomi-chan and her mom were! Konomi-chan from waay back in January, when she played miniature golf and went to Ikspiari with us! It was cool to see someone from that time. :) The adults had to trade papers or something, was the focus of the visit, so it was soon over and we went back to the house, where...

I made dinner! I wasn't sure about it at all, but fortunately I'd made almost the same thing last Sunday night with Aly, so it wasn't too bad. Kanako-san took care of the broccoli (we just boiled it) but I cooked the chicken in a frying pan, made the fettucine noodles, then mixed the sauce with the chicken and put it all together. It... was... DELICIOUS. The best thing I have ever made. I think it was mostly the cheese sauce, we picked a REALLY good one that I need to try and find again. It was seriously soooooo goooood. All of us tasted it and were just in AWE, and I ran to get my camera and Kanako-san took some video, and we were just in bliss over how good this meal tasted. I was told that I would be a good "oyome-san" ("bride") someday, hahaha. They were all "This is our first time eating something like this!" because, even though of course there's pasta here, it tends to get all jumbled up with weird stuff put on it, and I made it the way I like it without the weird stuff. I told them it was my first time to make it too, even though I always order it when we go to Italian restaurants. mmmm so gooooddd :D




I am pretty much the best cook ever, apparently :D


Koron! He wants our food. He spends every mealtime begging everyone for scraps, paws up on their laps. Sometimes I give in. He's too cute!

Then for dessert we had POKEMON YOGURT. Na-chan mixed it up while I was making dinner, and she did a good job, because it was delicious. I especially like the edible Pokemon stamp on top.


I ate the Meowth one. So tastyyyy.

Sunday, October 15, 2006



Disneyland!!!

We all got up bright and early (okay, 7:30), had breakfast (I made scrambled eggs and bacon, but the eggs weren't as much of a hit as the pasta, I dunno why) and were on the road by 9 or so. We drove over there and parked in the Disney parking lot and then walked over to the entrance. The Disneyland entrance is completely separate from the DisneySea entrance (whoa! Change #1) and looks really different from the outside too. It was all decorated for Halloween, so black and orange and pumpkins EVERYWHERE. We bought our tickets (5800 yen) and went in...


Na-chan and I outside the entrance


What's up with this mansion thing?


Mickey in Halloween flowers!




Kanako-san and Na-chan




What?! Where is Main Street??? There is no Main Street! There is the "World Bazaar," which has practically the same kind of shops as Main Street, just under a glass awning and given a different name.

Looking at the map, I discovered other frightening differences. Frontierland is "Westernland." There is no New Orleans Square, its rides absorbed by neighboring Fantasyland (Haunted Mansion) and Adventureland (Pirates of the Caribbean) instead. (Even though the restaurants and New Orleans backstreets still exist!) But those were pretty minor things. Tokyo Disneyland hovers between big discrepancies with the LA park and being almost a carbon copy of it. It's hard to decide which it is.

The other interesting thing I noticed is how English is still the default language. Not on the rides, most of those will have Japanese dialogue of course, but for names of things (restaurants, ride names), signs (English in larger font, Japanese translation underneath)... those are all still English. Plus, I realized how steeped in American culture Disneyland is, and how foreign some of that must seem to Japanese visitors. It's almost surprising that no typical Japanesifying went on, and they left many things alone. To the Japanese, Disneyland is almost like 'American Culture Park.' How strange.

There's also a lot of big, big open spaces, which are kind of unsettling. They're there to deal with the huge amounts of crowds, since Disney is of course insanely popular. There were a LOT of crowds there that day, and we Fastpassed just about every ride because otherwise it was a 70~120-minute wait.

The first thing we did when we got there was to get a Fastpass for Space Mountain, and then we wandered over to Toontown and I walked around with Nanase while Kanako-san saved our spot for the parade. Na-chan and I rode the little roller coaster they have there (that I remember riding at the LA park when I was 6; Bekah and I loved the frogs squirting water) and went through Chip and Dale's treehouse.


Gadget's Go Coaster, with the frogs in view!

Then we came back out for the parade... "Scream and Shout." It was a really good parade, as they almost always are. Before the parade they did a little crowd-rousing, dividing us into the 'Ghost Team' (gosuto chiimu--so still in English, just pronounced Japanese, naturally) and 'Pumpkin Team' and teaching us little dances, which was amusing. It was fun to see all the Disney characters dressed up in their Halloween costumes.


Oh yeah, I took a sound file of this parade too, available here!




oooh, scary smoke!


During the part where they stop the parade and everyone dances!


Stitch!!


Hahaha, I like the crows (Bekah will too)


Chip and Dale!


Pirates!






HAHAHA I like the cats on their heads!




Cruella de Vil! And... Hades' helpers from Hercules! Okay, whatever!









After the parade was over it was time to go on Space Mountain, so Nanase and I went to go ride on it (Kanako-san is afraid of roller coasters/scary rides!), and it was pretty fun, but NOT better than the LA one, especially after they redid it. It's actually pretty much an exact copy of Space Mountain, as it was in the 80s/90s. So it's a complete trip back in time to go on it, because it seems so familiar but yet not like the ride you just rode this summer. Crazy.

When we got out, we found out that Kanako-san had spent her time waiting in the nearby line for the lottery to win tickets to watch the night show from the 'central viewing area'--something with limited seating so they have to hold a lottery to see who gets tickets--and she'd won! Awesome! We were a little hungry so we got honey-lemon churros (....yes) from the stand nearby. After that we went over to Fantasyland and checked out the Halloween-decorated castle.


Me and Nanase outside the castle



While in Fantasyland, we looked at all the insane lines for rides like Peter Pan, and for some reason Nanase and I stood in line for the carousel. (It was actually so Kanako-san could go off and get us Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion--the way she kept doing that was actually pretty convenient! The Haunted Mansion time was really late, like in the evening, so she could get another one before the timeframe.)


Nanase on the carousel

Then we had lunch at Cafe Orleans (disgusting non-sweet crepes! Oh god, two hot dogs with cheddar cheese sauce wrapped up in a soggy crepe, so gross, but I ate it since I paid for it), wandered around the New-Orleans-Square-not-really area, rode Pirates (another ride that is trapped in time, having not suffered any of the changes made to the LA one recently), which was interesting. Nanase was really scared of the dark and during one part, she grabbed more and more onto my arm and it was so cute. I think I forced both of them to go on this ride, which they wouldn't have wanted to go on initially... hmmm. Oh well! And when the girl asked us how many in our party before we got on the ride, Nanase was in the front so it was her job to answer, and she sort of hesitantly held up two fingers even though there were 3 of us, and after we straightened that out Kanako-san and I were like "Why did you say two? There are three of us!!" and it was pretty funny.

We couldn't do much then until the night parade and our next two ride times started, so in the meantime we wandered around the shops and looked at everything. Oh, and we also went to the Tiki Room, which was WAY BETTER because it's actually been updated to have more modern songs along with the original ones. They need to bring that over to the US one, it would be a major improvement. The four main birds are also totally different and it's just so much better overall. Tiki in Japanese is pronounced "Chiki" and my host mom kept messing up and saying "Chikin" which is "chicken" and I was like "Chiki Room! Not chikin!" hahahaa. And the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse--another time warp, since it's been changed to Tarzan's Treehouse of course. That was cool. And the Country Bear Jamboree thing, and this new thing called "Mickey Mouse Revue" which just kind of sums up Disney's major works in this robot show onstage, but it's really good and they should bring that over to the US.


While wandering around the shops... Na-chan did the cat thing first, and I just imitated her. I really like this picture.

Finally we could go on Splash Mountain, so we rode that and it was pretty fun, although the three of us were told to sit in the first two rows of the boat! Kanako-san was all "Okay, you and Nanase can take the first row! :D" ...what?! All throughout the ride Na-chan was like "The front is bad! I told you! Mooomm!" During the plunge, Na-chan and I held onto each other and put our heads down, and the picture they took of that turned out really funny. Kanako-san, as a person who is not a fan of roller coasters/scary/thrill stuff, was anxious about the drop and she had tried to beg out of the ride earlier, but she was okay.

After that we put down our tarp to watch the parade, and waited about 45 minutes for it to start. Then it did! And it was amazing.


Yes! The Electrical Parade. One of Disney's best parades!


Alice!


Peter Pan float! And a ghost hand! hahaha


Snow White!




Toy Story! This parade just kept on going when you thought it was over! It is going to have a float for every Disney thing ever made!






Oooh, pretty Beauty and the Beast float


Even "A Bug's Life"!


Cinderella!






Chip and Dale!


Mary Poppins!





After that, we rushed to the Haunted Mansion (right by where we'd been sitting) to make the window for our Fastpass and rode that. It was, of course, all Halloween-ified with the 'Nightmare Before Christmas' decorations, which I'd been wanting to see for a long time. Those decorations COMPLETELY change the ride, which as far as I could tell was the same as the California one in layout and such (except for the updates they've recently made to it). It was really cool. After that, we ran over to Fantasyland to eat dinner at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, which I'd seen on the map and wanted to eat at, and Na-chan also wanted to eat there, and had been talking all day about eating at the "Arisu no tokoro [Alice place]." It was really good! One of those tray-sliding places, kind of pricey (but then again, it's Disney) and I got the rotisserie chicken dish the place is known for. The Alice theming was all really cool and I was glad we got to eat there... we almost didn't make it before it closed for the night. Too bad Na-chan was starting to tire out and didn't eat much, which was too bad considering how much she'd been looking forward to eating there.


At the restaurant



Then we realized we had to run for it to make the night show we had the special tickets for (Kooky Spooky Halloween), so we literally ran across the park and got there just in time. It was basically a bunch of benches set up in front of the castle, and the area in front of the castle they used as their stage. There was a vampire guy who warmed us up, then a bunch of floats came in, then they stopped and the show part happened. Maleficent had tried to take control of the castle; she appeared at a window in the middle of it. But then Mickey appeared at the top! And with our cheers, we vanquished Maleficent! hahah. It was really fun, though. Having the special tickets was very cool too.

That had completely exhausted Nanase, though, and she was half-asleep by the time it was over. Kanako-san put her on her back and we made our way out of the park (no fireworks! It's okay, though).

Overall, a very fun day, but I definitely think DisneySea is ten times better than Disneyland, which is a little boring if you've already been to the original Disneyland. DisneySea is just so much more fun as an original park, plus it is really well done in its own right and so pretty. Now I am dying to go to DisneySea again, this time with a group of friends, and I also really want to ride the new Tower of Terror. It has a completely different backstory (something about an angry African tribal god and an arrogant rich guy who owns the hotel) and I really want to see what it's about. I hope I can go before I leave!

Then we went home, and I went to sleeeep in the best futon bed ever.


Just look at it. It is the epitome of futon. Every other futon (including mine at home!!) wishes it could be this comfortable.