China Town, Chieko-san & Skiing

I've all but given up on clever "post titles" so I came up with this great idea to just call them what I'm going to talk about in that post. Feel free to use this titling tidbit in your everyday life. You're welcome.

China Town (chinatown?):
Whether it's one word or two, it was basically like a visit to Mulan's village...if she lived near a bunch of Hello Kitty stores. We made our way here with some friends we made on an MWR trip (seriously, these trips are our LIFE). Lindsey & Kevin are optometry students doing residency rotations here in Japan & Edgar was a friend coming to visit the Land of the Rising Sun for the first time. 

So, you're thinking, "Ok, cool. Chinatown. I've been to one of those. You eat some dumplings and see more asian people than normal..." NO. Well...I mean, YES. But there's MORE. It was Chinese New Year when we visited. The Year Of The Monkey (which you can see LOTS OF PICTURES of here.) And there was a massive celebration going on. Think "The Festival Scene In Mulan." So yes, there were dragon puppets and loud drums and fireworks. It was everything I wanted Chinatown to be. I almost don't want to go back until there's another reason for dragon puppets to be everywhere so that I can believe Chinatown is ALWAYS like that.

At each storefront, the dragon would stop if they had a paper charm hanging from the door way. 

The dragon would dance around & enter the store to bless it in the new year.

Then it would jump up and take the paper in its mouth (pretty impressive).

here's an example!

Chieko-san

She is one of my dearest new friends in Japan & she has taken me under her wing to show me her country. So far we've been to an antique market in Tokyo:

 This lady's face says it all as she leads the school band. 

#thatsideeyethough

 & the school band...

 & the school t-shirts...

WAIT A MINUTE.

That's a US school.

Yes, there was a whole booth dedicated to USA t-shirts which were really just piles of old drama program t-shirts.

 These incredible pieces of art are actually home-shrines.

Made of wood, they looked like doll houses to me!

& This is the back of Chieko-san's head as she shops for a tea tray. 

I know, I know.

We need a picture.

I'LL GET ONE, OK?

& these were my favourite things I saw there that day:

beautiful knobs for drawers, etc. 

#heartemoji

She recently took me & another friend, Ms. Judy, to a Hina Doll Exhibition in Tokyo.

It was fascinating to see the tradition passed down for three or four or seven HUNDRED years.

Hina dolls are bought or passed down as gifts for newborn baby girls.

They usually come in a set that includes an emperor, an empress, warriors, musicians, an old couple and occasionally some miniature household goods.

You can add any number of characters to this set if you have enough money...

They're literally little dolls, but unfortunately, they're not toys. 

They're like good luck charms with each doll representing something the family hopes will come true for their daughter:

warriors- safety

musicians- joy

old couple- long marriage

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the exhibition rooms, but the hotel it was housed in is quite famous in its own right because it has a "million dollar bathroom."

That's right. A bathroom renovation of $1,000,000.

So OF COURSE we visited it.

And I did snag one of this great display!

Those are all hand sewn dolls!

 That's Ms. Judy in the red above.

(I swear, I'll get a picture of all three of us)

& THERE WAS A BRIDGE OVER A CREEK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATHROOM.

 & #noshame I took a million dollar bathroom selfie...

 But then I found this one in my pictures from when we first moved here & I realised I can't totally blame the bathroom selfie on the million dollar draw...

Sometimes, you just coordinate so well that you HAVE TO...

& next Chieko-san is having me & Ms. Judy over for a traditional tea ceremony TODAY.

I promise I will have a picture of the three of us (& all the tea ceremony things).

Skiiing

Oakie & I are what you call, people-who-ski/snowboard. NOT skiiers/snowboarders. There IS a difference.

However, there's not a difference in how much fun you can have. We are PROFESSIONAL FUN-HAVERS.

I have an iMovie about it that I made myself...sooooooo...

To change it up, the pictures are in that! 

Enjoy!

An iMovie about us skiing at the Winter Olympic location in Japan!

I am exorbitantly proud of this video.

Hats off to all the people who do this for a living/a hobby that they think is fun.

whoa.

until next time,

love from japan