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