7 Years of separation

Hey everyone,
You know the saying 6 degrees of separation? Well, change the 6 to a 7 and degrees to years; 7 Years of separation. That's how long it's been since I lived in Japan and it's also how long I haven't seen my friends Wakana (wa-ka-na) and Hana (ha-na) for too. On Sunday the 5th of Decemeber My family and I went to Moriya (mo-ri-ya), just outside of Tokyo, to visit our friends who we hadn't seen for a little over 7 years. We were picked up at Moriya station by Takashi (ta-ka-she) who then drove us to his family's home. When we got out of the car one of mum's friends Yukari (you-car-ree)  ran out of the house and hug her and then mum's other friend, Yasuko (ya-sue-ko)  ran out out of the house and hugged her aswell. We walked into the house and had all our re-introductions. My brother ran off with his friends Alan and Taiga (tiger). They were just babies (about 2) when we were here last time. They went to the park to play soccer. The .Takashi took us on a tour of the house. After the tour we (except the three boys) sat down to have lunch. My two favourite parts of lunch we the takoyaki (ta-ko-ya-ki), deep-fried octopus in batter, and the chocolate mousse. Then everyone went to the park to play soccer. The girls (including me) went back to the house and caught up. Everyone else came home and the kids went upstairs to play and the adults talked downstairs. When it came time to go I didn't want to. I can't wait to do it again.


That's all for now,
Chloe.

Us making Takoyaki

More takoyaki

The finished takoyaki



From the left: Standing: Takahashi, Kazu, Yasuko (in front of Yasuko, Natsuki), Yukari, my Mum, Gillian and my Dad, James.
Sitting on the couch: My brother, Kieran, Taiga, Alan, Me, Hana and Wakana.



Mt. Mitake

Hey everybody,

On Saturday the 20th of November me and my family went to Mt. Mitake (mi-ta-ke) with some of our Japanese friends. The train ride to Mt. Mitake took 1 hour and 40 minutes from Yostuya (yot-soo-ya). One of the trains that we caught was separated into two. The two parts of the train that were separated were joined by a strong magnet. When we got to the station we had to catch a bus to the mountain and then catch a funicular (a cable-car on a track) up the mountain. As we were going up in the funicular it was getting really steep. It took 6 minute for the funicular to reach the other station near the summit of the mountain. When we got off at the station we had a look at the view and had morning tea. We went for a short walk which was really pretty. We finished up and took the funicular back down the mountain. After we went hiking we went to a Sake (sa-ke) brewery. Sake is a sweet rice wine. The building that is the brewery has stood there for 300 years. Inside the cellar it was a cool 9 degrees. The constant cool temperature is to help preserve the Sake. They use top grade rice to make the Sake. The refine the rice until it's really small and they use that to make the Sake. They also used water from a spring that they made in to a well. The well was dug out a long time ago by hand. After visiting the brewery we went to an original Tofu Resturant (I have pictures of that below). It was a really nice day.

Signing Out,
Chloe.




Look at the Leaves



This was my 'Kids' Meal

Look at the set up



My Dad's Sake



Tsurumaki Elementary School

Hi everyone,
On Tuesday the 16 of November Me and my brother attended Tsurumaki (Tsoo-roo-ma-key) Elementary school. We were invited there every Tuesday until the end of their school year. It took us a little under an hour by train to get to the school. We got there just before the bell rang and were literally whisked away by our teachers. I was put in a Yr 5 class. At the school you have to wear special white slippers indoors and our normal shoes outside. They don't have a set uniform which is good. The first thing my class did was read. The teacher gave me two picture books and I tried to read it but I gave up and looked at the pictures. After that they did some stuff and I did Hiragana (Hi-ra-ga-na) which is one of the three different Japanese alphabets. Then the class had English and we played a game were we have to go shopping. After English, Wait... OMG there was just an earthquake as I was writing this. Anyways back to after English they had Recess, but unlike us they don't eat at Recess (Too bad, because I had some recess that we bought at the 7Eleven on the way to school). By the time it got to lunch I was sooooooo hungry. Lunch was Udon (oo-don) Noodles in a spicy-ish broth, a deep-fried potato which I thought before I ate it that it was chicken and the largest piece of apple I've ever seen. We played again after eating lunch. While we were playing one of the teachers spoke to me in English which caught me totally off-guard because everyone had been speaking to me in Japanese all day. When school finished at 3:30pm I was tireder (is that even a word) than I usually am.

That's all for now,
Chloe.

Yoyogi Koen

Hi everyone,
On the weekend (13th and 14th of November) me, my mum and my brother, Kieran went to Yoyogi Koen (yo-yo-gee ko-en) for the day. At Yoyogi Koen we hired bikes and rode around the bike track they have there. It was really fun. We had to stop a lot because there were lots of people crossing the path. On the Sunday we went riding again but it was really busy and there were way to many people on the path. I fell off my bike a few times. One time I fell was when Kieran, my little bro, came up beside me and said "Hi Chloe" and scared me. I rode off the path and fell. All the leaves in Yoyogi Koen are changing colours. There are reds, oranges and yellows. I'll take a picture to show everyone when I go back. There were also a lot of dogs. All shapes and sizes. We even saw a poodle that looked like 2 pom poms stuck together.

Okay, Well that's all for now,
Chloe

DisneySea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Peoples,
Okay, on Tuesday the 9th of November we (me, my mum and my little brother) went to DisneySea. DisneySea is pretty much a water based DisneyLand, although it is separate from DisneyLand. We got up really early to get ready to go. My Dad was going to Tsukuba (Tsoo-koo-ba) that day so we all got up about the same time and had brekky together. We left the house at about 7:30am (which I think is a ridiculous time to wake when you don't have to go to school). The first ride we went on at DisneySea was called the Tower of Terror. It was super scary and of course me being me screamed the whole time. Tokyo DisneySea is the only DisneySea in the world at the moment. The best ride and my favourite ride was called Raging Spirits. Raging Spirits was in the Lost River Delta section at DisneySea. The Lost River Delta section houses pretty much all the Indiana Jones Theme ride. The Raging Spirit ride had a 360 degree loop. That, I think, was the only reason Kieran (my little brother, for those of you who don't already know that) wanted to go on the ride. We watched some shows while we were at DisneySea. My two favourite shows were the Mystical Rhythms and the Big Band Beat (it was in English). We stayed there sooooooooooo late. We had dinner at a restaurant (in DisneySea) called Sullivan's Tavern. We though that was pretty funny. Over all we stayed there for almost 12 and a half hours. We were soooooooooooooo super tired. The next morning I think I woke up at 10am.

That's all for now,
Chloe.

By the way, I have no idea if who's actually reading my blog so if you could comment on it after you read it I'd Really appreciate that. Thanks!!

Saturday (didn't do much), Sunday at Kichijoji and Monday (didn't do much)

Hiya everyone,
On Saturday we didn't do that much. After Lunch my brother and my Dad went to the park to kick around the rugby ball but they were kicked out by the so called 'Fun Police'. They weren't allowed to kick the ball in the park because only kids under 6 can do that which doesn't seem fair. Instead they went to the Imperial Palace East gardens. When they got there the guards said they couldn't kick the ball in there, well DUH! They already knew that. Sheesh. Meanwhile Mum and I sat down at a coffee shop and had coffee and hot chocolate. I had the hot chocolate. It was really nice. You know the foam on the top of the drinks? Well mine had a picture of a neko (ne-ko) on it (neko is Japanese for cat). After that we went to a shop and bought Tim Tams (yes we can buy Tim Tams here). On Sunday we went  back to Kichijoji (ki-chee-joe-gee) to show my dad. We walked around the small lake and showed him the shrine. After that me, my dad and my brother went paddle-boating. They tried to run over a duckie (Note to Self: NEVER EVER let Kieran OR Dad at the controls of a paddle-boat). After we went paddle-boating we went to one of the oldest Yakitori (ya-ki-tory) places in Tokyo. Yakitori is pretty much grilled chicken skewers. I tried one of my mum's but instead I had corn. After we had ice-cream. On Monday we did work. Not so exciting.

That's all for now,
Chloe.

Wednesday-Kappabashi Dori with dad, Thursday-Morning tea and Friday at the library

Hey everyone,
On Wednesday we had another day off and we decided to take my dad to Kappabashi Dori (ka-pa-ba-she door-ee). My dad really enjoyed it there because there was a lot of different cooking things to look at. We walked into soooooooooooooooo many different stores with knives, bowls, pots, pans and every other cooking implement under the sun. We bought a bamboo steamer (no it doesn't steam bamboo, mmmmm steamed bamboo) and a ceramic knife. A ceramic knife is a lot better than the ordinary steel knife because they never go blunt and it doesn't cross contaminate food (basically if you cut up a fish and wash it then cut up a potato the potato doesn't taste like the fish). Ceramic knives are also super sharp. They also add a metal thing in the knife when the make them so you can't sneak one past the metal detectors at airports. On Thursday we went out for morning tea with my mum's friend Sanae (San-eye). We went to the Yostuya (Yot-soo-ya) Atre (part of the train station) to a cafe/bakery called PAUL. I had a massive chocolate tartlet (I decided after that I'd never have a whole one by myself again). It was really yummy (and hard to cut into with a plastic fork). After we had morning tea we went upstairs in the Atre to get hair cut for my brother. That took for-ever. I had my iPod with me but it ran out of battery after a bit (which was super annoying cause I had nothing to do). After my brother got his hair cut we walked down to Yotsuya San-chome (san-cho-may).We walked in and out of shops. We found a video rental store but the selection was limited. On Friday we walked to a library. They had an English section. Mum got some cook books and some other books, my brother got the 3rd part of Lord of the Rings and I got a book that I thought was cool but it turned out to be BORING!! On Friday night there was a small earthquake. It was a bit scary cause the whole building started shaking. Up the top on the 6th floor (the floor we're on) had a lot of swing, that kind of made it worse.

Bye for now,
Chloe

Tuesday

Hi everyone,
On Tuesday we went  to Kichijoji (ki-chi-joe-gee). We were being shown around by one of my mum's friends Akiko (a-key-ko). Akiko grew up around that area and she showed us around. She took us to a really nice Thai restruant. I had fresh Thai spring rolls because I hate spicy food. They were really nice. After lunch me, my mum and my brother went paddle boating. It was really fun. We passed a little boy and his mum and he yelled hello to us (in japanese of course). I got to steer a couple times. The response was slow and I ran us into a tree. I guess I'm not a very good driver. After we finished with the paddle boats we had some ice-cream and we went shopping. I managed to spend 5 weeks allowence on a pair of boots. We walked around the back streets for a while. It was really cool.

That's the end of that post,
Chloe.

Monday, A day off for everyone

Hey everyone who bothers to read my blog,

On Monday my Dad had the day off so we went for a family walk around the Imperial Palace. The walk is 7km and takes as long as a walk 7km takes. The reason my dad had the day off was because there was a Sophia festival (Sophia is the name of the university we are staying at). We decided to get lunch there. I had Yaki Soba (ya-key So-ba) which is fried noodles. It was really delicious. I also had a banana coated in chocolate. that was super yum.

Sorry that's all I really had to say,
Byes,
Chloe.

Saturday and Sunday

Hey,
On Saturday we couldn't go out because there was a Typhoon (tie-foon). Well sort of a typhoon it wasn't a big one it just rained and rained and rained. I thought it would never end. Did you know that in the eye of the typhoon (the centre) there is virutally no wind, the rain is really light and the light is green? Hmm. Don't ask me why, I'll have to look it up and get back to you on that one. Dad was really desperate to watch the rugby match between the Wallabies and the All Blacks so he went out to find a pub that showed it. He came home disappointed because the closest pubs weren't showing the match. Mum started flicking though the channels (I wasn't happy I was trying to watch an episode if NCIS that I hadn't seen) and she found the rugby. Dad was sooooooo annoyed because he walked for one hour in the pouring rain and got soaked (poor Dad). On Sunday the skies cleared up which was good because we were going out for lunch with some of our old friends Mari and Nao (ma-ree and na-oh). They used to babysit me and my brother when we lived in Tsukuba (tsoo-koo-ba). They took us to a Katsu (cut-soo) place. Katsu is basically deep-fried pork. The name of the restruant we went to was called Kimukatsu. After we went to the Katsu place we went out for Japanese ice-cream. I had Nashi (na-she) sorbet and Macha (ma-cha). Nashi is a type of Japanese pear and Macha is green tea. The ice-cream was really nice. My mum had Kabocha (ka-bo-cha) flavored ice-cream. Kabocha is Japanese for... Pumkin. I tried a little bit of it, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite type of ice-cream.

Well, that's all for now,
Chloe.



This is similar to what we ate.



Kappabashi Dori and Friday at a party

Hi everyone,
On Thursday me, my little brother and my mum went to Kappabashi dori (kap-a-ba-she dory) which is a street where you can buy all your kitchen and cooking needs. I saw some super expensive knives, like, really,really expensive almost 1000 dollarinoes (my HORRIBLE Ned Flanders inpersonation). On Friday we went to on of mum's friend's friend's house (an actual house, not an apartment) to a Halloween (they celebrate it over here) party. It was lucky that she and the other mum's spoke english. The kids at the party were all 8 years old and under so I didn't really interact with them. Most of the kids were girls. My poor brother though, at least later on in the party another boy came to play. At least my bro Ki made a new friend. His new friend Keishu (k-shoo) speaks perfect english which is also good. All the other mum's made lolly bags but we made sugar cookies with icing. Yum.

Well there's nothing else to report,
Chloe.

Wednesday night with a big drum

Hi everyone,
One Wednesday we had a stay at home and do school work day.We have a lot of those especially when it rains. On Wednesday night me and my family went to Tiako (thai-ko) drumming lessons. It was a beginners class and a free trail to see if we liked it or not. We caught the train there and I think I got a few odd looks (I don't think you usually see a 12-year-old girl riding a train in trackies and a hoodie). We got there half an hour early. We were escorted into a cafeteria type room and we had to sit there until the lesson. In the boring ol' room there was a vending machine that gave out hot dogs, burgers and other things like that. My mum said that must be a salmonella breeding ground (salmonella is what you get if you have some types of food poisoning). The lesson started at 7:30pm and we walked into one of the studios. Because we were the new ones in the class my dad had to write our names on the name tags in Nihongo (knee-ho-n-go, It's Japanese for, um, Japanese). After the instructor made sure that everyone was there he took us into another room where another on of the instructors conducted a stretching session. After that we went back to the studio and the instructor taught us some basic drum patterns then we put them all together. Everyone took turns on the drums and we did this rotation. After a while he introduced another pattern that they had to play on the other side of the drum. It was really fun. At about a quarter to 9 we went into the advanced class and watched them. They were doing the same rhythms as us but a gazillion (yes I know it's not a real number) times better than us. Our instructor joined in and he was hitting so hard that he broke 3 taiko drum sticks and that's hard to do. It was really loud, so loud in fact that it was shaking the room.

sayonara yon ima (sigh-yo-na-ra  yo-n  ee-ma)
(Goodbye 4 now)

Chloe

Monday and Tuesday

Hi everyone,
Monday was stay at home and do homework day. Tuesday was more exciting because we went to Ueno (wayne-o) Zoo. When we were walking to the Zoo from Ueno station it really stunk  because the ginko (gin-ko) fruit falling on the ground and if there not picked up of the ground they rot and stink. We were about 100 metres from the entrance of the zoo when we saw a street performer. He was doing diarblo (don't know how to spell it) tricks. It was really cool. He had MASSIVE shoes on, you like the ones that Sideshow Bob (from the Simpsons) wears except they were black. It was pretty cool. My brother said he wants to learn how to do it. We finally got into the zoo. The first animals we saw were birds that you can see around Japan. We saw a Japanese crane, it was so beautiful and graceful. After we saw the Japanese birds we had lunch. We walked around the zoo for a bit. We saw some kangaroos. Mum called out 'Skipy' and they all looked. It was really funny. My favourite part of the zoo was when we walked to 'Monkey Mountain'. They were all soooooo funny. It was really cute when we saw a baby monkey (don't know what it's called) hanging on to it's mother, then the mother got chased by another monkey. Once we saw all the animals we went home because it was really cold and it looked like it was going to rain.

Got to go,
Chloe

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Hey everyone,
On Friday we went to pick up my mum and dad's alien registration cards. We walked to the the Chiyoda (chee-odor) city offices. After we picked up the cards we caught the train to Harajuku (ha-ra-joo-koo).We got on the train and it took 10 minutes to leave the station because there was a problem with the line. When we were almost near the station that we had to get off at the train stopped suddenly in the tunnel. Then we had to catch another train to Harajuku.. We went to the Diaso (die-so) which is a 100 yen shop to by bento boxes and bento stuff. Bento is a homemade takeout lunch. On Friday night we went to an Italian restaurant for a welcome dinner for us. The welcome dinner was hosted by my dad's host Professor Yoshiro (yo-shi-ro) and Tanaka (ta-na-ka) and some of dad's students. One of his student 'Chilli, Chilli' (he's called that because he has red tips in his hair) made a paper crane with on hand (he made it with his left hand and he's right handed). On Saturday we went to Meiji (may-gee) Shrine. Dad was the person who had the map in his head of where to go and we ended up going the long way, and by long why I mean we kinda got lost. We got there in the end. There was a special festival on that day so there were lots of kids dressed in kimonos (Kim-own-os) and I felt waaaaaaaaaay under dressed. On Saturday night on of dad's friend's took us out to a Chinese restaurant. It was really nice. For the starter we had a platter with chicken, pork and ( the suspense is building) JELLYFISH!!!!! My dad told me and my brother to try the JELLYFISH. I did, and well it was really different. I don't think I'll try it again. It was sort of like a noodle but a bit chewy and rubber bandy (is bandy even a word). On Sunday my mum went out to do some shopping. About 15 minutes after she left there was a small Earthquake. It was really small because nothing even moved out of place. Earthquakes happen all the time here every couple days so there nothing new.

That's all for now,
Chloe.

The Tokyo Sea Life Park

Hey everybody,
On Wednesday we didn't do anything so I have nothing to tell. But... On Thursday we went to Tokyo Sea Life Park. Toyko Sea Life Park is a big aquarium one stop away from Tokyo Disneyland. It was raining really hard when we went so we had to run the entrance because we were already soaking wet. Most if the aquarium was under ground, sort of. There was a huge tank when we got into the main part which was full of tuna. We looked around at the different exibits but it was really difficult to see because there were soooooo many Yochien (yo-chee-en). Yochien is basically Pre-school/kindergarten aged kids and typically they were all very loud. We saw a touching pool so we joined in. I touched a stingray (without the stinging thing) and a baby shark. I think I also might have woken a stingray when I slipped. We saw the tuna getting fed which was really cool. There was this big one and all the others waited until he had some food before they got some. We also saw the penguins getting fed and that was really funny. They were jumping around and doing flips. We had to leave because we were wet and cold.

Hope you enjoy reading,
Chloe.

The Edo-Tokyo Museum

Hey everybody,
On Tuesday we went to the Tokyo-Edo (ed-o) Museum. The Tokyo-Edo Museum is dedicated to the Edo era. Did you know the Tokyo was called Edo before it was called Tokyo? Tongue twister much. We also found out that where we are living (Yotsuya) has a lot of historical site from the Edo era. The Edo Museum is located in Ryogoku (yo-ga-koo). The Edo period ran for 250 years from 1603 to 1868. Tokugawa (to-koo-gah-wah) Ieyasu (ee-ya-sue) was the founder of the Edo period and he was the Shogun from 1603-1605 but remained in power until his death in 1616. Back in the Edo period the commoners (townspeople) didn't have their own bathrooms so they went to a place called and Onsen (on-se-n) which is a communal bath. We walked around the museum with a tour guide that spoke English which was really helpful. One of the things she told us was the Fuji San (mount Fuji) is a symbol of a war ship. I didn't really get that but then I imagined how big a war ship is and how big Mt. Fuji is so there are some similarities. During the Edo period Japan was sealed off for the world with the exception of the Dutch and the Korean.

I have some pictures from the museum down below.

Chloe

This is a scale model of a gate at Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu's Grandson's
castle.

Same gate, different perspective.

Sushi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone,
On Monday we stayed at home for most of the day and made sushi and did a lot of home/school work and cleaning so I think this post will be mostly pics. So enjoy. ;p

Chloe.

My first go at making sushi

I'm no sushi master

This is my little brother's sushi

Yasakuni Shrine

Hey,


On Sunday we went to Yasakuni (Ya-sa-koo-knee) Shrine. Yasakuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine near the Imperial Palace. When we went to the shrine there was an Autumn Festival (Matsuri- Ma-sue-ree). From the entrance gate, also known as the Torii (Tor-ree) we followed a procession to the shrine (there are pictures below). We also saw a Bonsai (Bon-z-eye) and Chrysanthemum exhibition. We saw a traditional dance performed by two young-ish kids (about 8/9) wearing beautiful kimonos (kim-o-nos). The shrine is dedicated to the Kami (car-me), spirits, of soldiers and others,some considered war criminals, who fought and died on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Because of this reason it is a controversial shrine to visit. It also has one of the only Japanese war museums dedicated to World War II. This adds to the reasons why it is a controversial shrine to visit.

Hope you've enjoyed reading,

Chloe.

The Parade

Me and my Mum thought they were
crazy

Some people in front of the shrine
doing a traditional dance

 

The Bonsai

Tsukuba

Hey,
On Saturday my family and I went to Tsukuba (tsoo-koo-ba) which is where we used to live when we lived in Japan the first time. It was really different!! We caught a train to Akihabara (a-key-ha-bar-a) and then caught the Tsukuba Express to, well, Tsukuba (Duh). When we got off the train we walked to our old apartment block. It was covered in mesh and scaffolding. My dad thought it was because they were retiling the outside. We walked into the reception but no one was there so we walked out. After we visited an old park called Takezono (ta-ke-zo-no) park. It looked completely different. There used to be a running creek but it looked like it had been paved over. That was a bit disappointing. We decided to walk to my old school, Takezono Yochien (Ta-ke-zo-no Yo-chi-en). It looked almost exactly the same. When we had finished looking at my old school we went to the centre of town to have lunch. When we were finished at the Italian Restrunt we went to a park we used to go to. There was a huge pond full of carp (a type of fish). We bought some food to feed them. After we'd finished with the fish we played at the playground. We decide to get an ice-cream and we walked back to the station and we went home.

Hope you've enjoyed reading,
Chloe

I've got pictures of the carp below

Me and my Bro feeding fish

They're lined up waiting for food

They make this ridiculous noise,
 like someone sluping the last of their milkshake

In some cases, like this one, the fish would swim over each
other to get a tiny piece of food.

Toyko Metropolitan Children's Hall

Hey everyone,
On Thurday we went to the Toyko Metropolitan Children's hall in Shibuya (sher-boo-ya). This is a building with different activities for children of all ages. It was a 15 minute train ride and a 5 minute walk to the hall from the train station. First we had a look at all the floors to see which activities we wanted to do. We first went through the human body maze. The maze was designed for little kids. I kinda figured that out when I had to crawl though a tunnel and there we little kids walking through. My mistake!! When we had enough the maze we went into a replica of and old Japanese home. After that we went on the computers that were set up and played games. We walked downstairs and Kieran (my little brother) and I played table tennis. After an epic game of table tennis (okay it wasn't that epic) we had lunch. For lunch me and my brother shared some inari (in-are-ee) sushi. Inari sushi is deep-fried tofu soaked in a sweet mirin (rice wine) then filled with sushi rice. After we had lunch we had to wait to do wood work so we sat down and coloured in (we had to fill in time okay) . When it finally came time we walk to the wood work room and started our little projects. I made a dancing cat thing. I almost had a heart attack when I was made to work with a mini (compared to the one at school) ban saw. When we finished at the Children's Hall we went home and did some school work.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Chloe.

Senso-ji Temple

Hey everyone,

On Tuesday I went to Senso-ji (sen-so-gee) temple in Asakusa (a-sa-ku-sa). Senso-ji temple is a Buddhist temple and it is Tokyo's oldest temple. It was very interesting to go there. The temple is dedicated to Bodhisattva (I don't know how to say it) Kannon also know as Guan Yin (don't know how to say that either) or the Goddess of Mercy. According to legend, the statue of Kannon in the temple today was found in the river Sumida (soo-mee-da) by two fishermen who then took it to their village chief. The village chief recognised it and remodeled his home into a small shrine so that the villagers could worship there. During World War II the temple was bombed and most of it was destroyed. There is a tree in the courtyard that got hit by one of the bombs that has grown back. The temple (after it was bombed) was rebuilt as a symbol of rebirth and peace. To enter the temple you have to walk through a gate called the Thunder gate. The Thunder gate has massive lanterns painted in red-and-black tones to portray thunder and lightening. Then you walk through this pedestrian street thing lined with little stalls that sell food, kimonos (kim-own-os), souvenirs even doggy clothes. These are commonly referred to as the temple markets. It was truly amazing going to the temple. We also ate some really interesting food.

Hope you enjoyed reading,
Chloe.

The entance to Senso-ji Temple

He's Making rice crackers

The Coolest Lantern

The Start of Homeschooling

Hey,


On Monday we walked to Shinjuku (Shin-ju-ku) so we could buy some new pillows. We walked to Shinjuku in the afternoon though.  In the morning we did our study.  I practised my Hiragana (hi-ra-ga-na) and updated my blog.  For lunch Mum made curry risu (Japanese style curry and rice).  It was really delicious.  After lunch we set out for Shinjuku and we passed a lot of shops and a Library on the way.  Nothing else is really happening here apart from the fact tha it's really hot!!!!!!  Well not so much hot as humid.


That's all folks,
Chloe


(Yes I know, LAME the "That's All folks")

The weekend!!!!!

Hey,

On Saturday we were ment to go to Tsukuba (tsoo-koo-ba) on the train but it was raining so we had to postpone (Tsukuba is where we used to live when we came here the first time). Instead we went to Ginza (gin-za). Ginza is a suburb that has lots of shops, malls and department stores. We went to one of the food halls to buy some lunch to have at home. My brother had a chicken thing which was in a batter, my dad had sushi, my mum had okonomiyaki (o-ko-noh-me-ya-key) which is a Japanese pancake with noodles and vegies and I got some dumplings. We went home on the train and relaxed the rest of the day. On Sunday it was nice and sunny so we went and explored our new neighbourhood. We walked around for a while and found this really good supermarket and it had a whole level full of fresh produce. On top of the supermarket there was a Japanese bookstore. By the time we turned around to walk home we were at Shinjuku (shin-joo-koo) station.

That's all for now,

Chloe.


Cool Car by Nissan



Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

Hey Guys,
On Wednesday we had a lazy day at home. We did a bit of shopping but that was the extent of our exploration. We played a game of Killer Bunnies, which is a card game. We played it in record time, 2 hours (it usually takes 5 of 6 hours to play). On Thursday we went to Shinjuku (shin-gee-koo or shin-ju-ku). Shinjuku Station is the busiest (train) station in Japan and one of the busiest in the world. Nearly 3.6 million people pass through it a day. That's a lot of people!!!! We went to a book store at the Shopping Mall there (Times Square). The book store was called Books Kinokuniya (Kin-o-kun-ee-ya). And they had a whole floor of English language books. We found a manga novel on Japanese Cuisine. We (me and my mum) love it. We had lunch down at the food hall and it was amazing. There were soooooo many different types of food here. On Friday we went for a walk and we walked passed Akasaka (a-ka-sa-ka, it sounds really cool when you say it fast). On Friday night we went out to dinner with on of mum's work mates you happened to be in Tokyo. We went to a Soba noodle place and it was delicious.

More coming soon,

Chloe





 Akasaka Palace (Above)



DisneyLand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey,
On Tuseday I went to Toyko DisneyLand (If you haven't already noticed from the title). It was soooooooooo much fun. The first ride we went on was a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride. It was like a cruse thingo. I kinda freaked out because there was this creepy talking skull thing. I closed my eyes hoping not to see it then I opened them and I swear it was looking straight at me. Then we went though this fog thing and the there was a whole bunch of werid pirates singing ' A Pirates life for me' and Jack Sparrow was popping up in random places. It was kinda LA-AME. We walked around for a bit after that. My 3 favourite rides were Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain (a lot of mountains, maybe that has something to do with it). Space Mountain was a ride in the dark. It was really, really fast. I screamed pretty much the whole time. I think I almost made my mum and brother deaf. Big Thunder Mountain was pretty much an average roller-coaster. I didn't scream too much on that one. Splash Mountain was fun as. There was a lot of boring cruse-y stuff and I thought it was a bit of a disappointment then there was a big drop. I didn't get to wet (thankfully). We also had a Picture with Goofy (Below). I've even got the photo to prove it. We were going to meet Mickey Mouse but the waiting period was 55 minutes so we gave it a miss. We didn't end up getting home until late (9:30pm, 11:30 for you guys in Australia). On Wednesday we had a day at home. Not very exciting. Today we went to Shinjiku (shin-gee-koo). We went to a bookshop there that had a whole floor full of english language books and magazines. It was okay, I suppose.

Bye for now,

Chloe.

Monday-Almost a full week in Japan

Hey,
Today we went swimming (That wasn't the inital plan we were going to go somewhere else but the forecast said it was going to thunder storm so we had to postpone). The swimming pool we went to was really cool; it was part of a sport and recreation centre (all indoors).To enter the pool you had to take a lift up to the third floor, buy a ticket (that told you what time to get out), give the ticket to the lady at the desk, take off your shoes and enter the changerooms so you can get changed. After you get changed you head out a different door from the one you came into the changerooms and walk up a spiraling staircase. When you get to the top you have to have a quick shower then walk through this thing that sprays water at you from all directions (it's a bit complicated if you just want to swim a few laps). When we'd finished with that mess we walked over to another desk and rented a boshi (bo-she), which is a Japanese swimming cap (in Japan you have to wear a boshi if you want to swim, even if you want to just muck around). After we finished swimming we went back to the changerooms and got dressed. We walked out of the pool reception area and near the lift we saw a vending machine (they are every where!!!!!) that sold ice cream, yes you read right, ice cream! We decided to try it out. After we left the sport place we went on the monarail and rode for a while (it has a cretain amount of stops it can go to). We rode back to the stop we got off at and had lunch. We had Takoyaki (Ta-ko-ya-kee)!!!!! We finished lunch and went home.

Enjoy the rest of you holidays,
Chloe.

The weekend

Hi guys,

How's your holiday been. I had an awesomely fun (and busy) weekend. On Friday afternoon we had to go to Chiyoda government offices for registration. We had to go register as aliens. Basically we have to do this by law here in Japan saying that we can live here. This pretty much entitles us to use the city's facilities. On the way there and back we passed the Imperial Palace. There's a moat around the palace as well as a gigantic wall. While we were walking across the bridge we saw some huge carp (a type of fish) swimming in the water. On Saturday we went to 'Paddy Foley's Irish pub' in Roppongi (Ro-pong-ee) to watch the AFL grand final. I didn't know there were so many Aussies in Toyko! We ended up leaving half way through the 3rd quarter because there were so many loud, angry, swearing, possibly drunk Collingwood supporters (we go for the Saints even though they got smashed). We went home and relaxed. Me, my dad and my brother Kieran sat down and watched TV (it was mostly in English). On Sunday we went to Akihabara (a-ki-ha-ba-ra). Akihabara is where you can buy everything electronic. It was pretty cool. We took the train back to Yotsuya (our suburb) and had lunch at a Ramen place (Ramen is noodles in a broth). Mum accidentally ordered liver. We were sharing it (I was waiting for mine to come) when dad read out the menu (the menu was in Japanese). I almost screamed. Liver, Gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After lunch we walked home and relaxed. Mum and I went out for a walk at around 5pm. When we were out walking we saw soooo many dogs. (Great for me, I love dogs) It mush of been the best time to walk dogs.

Hope your enjoying your holidays,
Chloe

St. Kilda VS Collingwood

Navigating the Tokyo subway 30/9/2010

Hey,
How's everything in Australia? Today it rained. It's a nice change from the dryness. Today I had my first ride on the Tokyo subway. It was really confusing trying to figure out how to find the Sobu line. On top of that it was pouring. We only had the one umbrella and it wasn't big enough for all of us. We ended up asking the ticket person where the platform for the Sobu line was. It turned out that we had passed it about five times. We were pretty much running around for 15 minutes in the rain. We went to the biggest Hyuku (100) Yen (en) store in Tokyo. It had FIVE storeys!! It was soooooo much fun. We were running up and down the stairs looking at everything. then we realised there was a lift. All that running around for nothing. When we had finished at the Hyuku Yen store we decided we should stop and have lunch at a takoyaki (Deep fried octopus) place we passed earlier on. We walk back up Takeshite (Ta-ke-shi-te) street and we couldn't find it. We decide to go home on the train. We went downstairs to the cafeteria and had lunch there. We sat down and started eating when we saw my dad and his host Professor, Yoshiro (Yo-shee-ro). They sat down to eat with us. After lunch we went back to our apartment and relaxed and watched YouTube videos (considering we can't understand the TV here so we watch YouTube) We're going to go back to Takeshite street again when it's not raining now that we know how to get there.

See you later,
Chloe

DAY 1 29/9/2010

Hey everyone,

Don't worry I made it to Japan in one piece. I'm still pretty tired though. I had to get up at 5am so I could catch the plane. When we got to the terminal and through customs and security we bumped (not literally) into my old teacher librarian. It was cool seeing her. Our first plane boarded at 8am. It was a 10 hour flight to Incheon airport, near Seoul in Korea. On the plane to Koera  I watched "Dairy of a Wimpy kid". Big mistake! What ever you do don't see it. I ended up playing on my DS. I know it's kind of lame but the movies were horrible and the TV shows were worse. The food was okay though. We had to transfer to another flight at Incheon. The flight to Japan was about an hour and a half. We got to Narita Airport at about 10pm (11pm you time). We cleared Customs and Immagration in record time. By the time we got to the hotel we were all exasted. That was last night. Today we moved into our new apartment. The apartment block we're staying at is on the Sophia University Campus which is across the road from the New Otani Hotel. The apartment has 3 bedrooms (Thank God I don't have to share with my brother). The aparment we're staying in is small, but bigger than I expected. Toyko is HUGE. There are soooooo many tall buildings. It is really warm here and really humid, but they are just coming  out of summer. My dad has to start work tommorrow so we're going out to explore the city.

Have fun at school.