In case you don’t already know, Japan has a set of holidays that put together are called Golden Week. May 3rd is Constitution Day, May 4th Greenery Day, and May 5th Children’s Day. Schools and offices close and it’s a super busy travel season as people take advantage of their days off. April 29th was also a holiday – Showa Day – which means that my work schedule was knocked completely off-kilter: Monday-Thursday work, Friday-Sunday off, Monday work, Tuesday-Thursday off, work Friday, then off for the weekend. Tomorrow is May 9th and back to normal! If I had wanted to, I could take taken off Monday and Friday and used those 10 days to go somewhere spectacular like Okinawa or Hong Kong or Taiwan or the Philippines, like a lot of my friends did. But my monetary resources are running on the low side and I need to be saving more, so I decided to take a more subdued approach to the holiday. I hosted a dinner party on Sunday night for my Japanese friends (and a scant few foreigners) and spent Tuesday-Thursday around Tokyo, not exactly a cheap city, but cheaper than a plane ticket.
I spent half of Friday shopping at Costco for my dinner party, and the other half in Saitama at a farm! It was a beautiful day, and I got to see mother and baby goats, wooly white sheep, all-black and black-and-white spotted cows, and huge expanses of fields nestled in the rolling mountains. Hayato and I even took a butter-making class, which really only involved shaking a glass jar of cream until it solidified (Laura Ingalls Wilder taught me that a long time ago). The farm was one of the singular most beautiful places I’ve been to in Japan: the countryside feel of it, the green grass, the farm animals, the barns. It all reminded me nostalgically of home and I felt very happy there.
Of course, that relaxed feeling was pretty much ruined at Costco; there were so many people and so much to buy that I felt stressed out! I had originally thought of inviting 12 people to dinner, since I had a 9-pound turkey left over from Thanksgiving to feed them. I wanted a Thanksgiving-y feel, to celebrate life being normal in Gunma again after the March catastrophe. But because I’m way too social and like big parties, I ended up with 20 invitees! In the end, though, I realize I shouldn't have been too worried; I asked some people to bring food to share, and we had more than enough!
We set up a table in the corner, and on it were:
A turkey, which got demolished quickly
KFC chicken (thanks, Garry)
Mashed potatoes
Herbed stuffing
Green beans (which I forgot to take the ends off of and which hardly anyone ate—oops)
Cranberry sauce
Meatballs
Cheese & crackers
Andy’s delicious chilaquiles
Saori’s rice balls
Amy’s chocolate cake
Nozomi’s pumpkin cake
Tamura’s chocolate chip scones
A ton of assorted cookies (literally, 2,000 pounds!)
A ton of fruit
Sangria and other assorted beverages
I feel like there was more but I can’t remember right now. In any case, it was a feast, and everyone filled up! There were 9 Japanese people (including three teachers from school!), 7 Americans, and 1 Scot. The other three couldn't come. Before we ate, I had everyone sit on the floor and go around in a circle saying what they’re thankful for, which was kind of silly but kind of fun. People answered either in English or Japanese, and it was mostly, “Friends and family,” “My job,” “Peace,” or “Cell phones.” It was so much fun hanging out with everyone that I was sad to kick them all out at 11:00 so we could go to work the next day.
Tuesday started my real vacation. I met my friend Liz at Harajuku Station in Tokyo at 11:00 to go to a Cirque du Soleil performance! Liz and I were friends when she lived in Gunma, but she has since transferred to Yokohama, which might be a little bit cooler than Haruna. We saw “Kooza,” which was fabulously amazing. I had never seen a real live Cirque du Soleil performance before, and I was astounded at everything I saw! The music is spectacular, the contortionists still make me inwardly cringe, the tightrope walkers/bicyclists made my mouth gape open. . . all in all they beat any other performance I’d ever seen. I also felt cool because I could understand some of the Japanese the artists said when they were telling jokes or wandering around making fun of the audience members. And anything I didn’t understand, Liz did because her Japanese is amazing!
After the show was over and we neglected to buy a $40.00 umbrella with “Kooza” stenciled on it, we went outside in the drizzle to meet my friend Stephen. After a short debate, we decided to go to T.G.I. Friday’s for dinner. Now I’m not much on Friday’s back in the States, but it was so nice to get a little taste of home there in Tokyo. Stephen and I ate huge cheeseburgers and fries, and paid about $20.00 for them, too! But they were so worth it -- !
We cut the night short and parted ways soon after: Stephen and I to Omiya, and Liz back to Yokohama.
Wednesday’s weather was much better than Tuesday’s: lots of sun and a fresh breeze. Stephen and I started the day at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, strolling around the gardens and looking at the gates that led to the Emperor’s residence (absolutely off-limits now). We toured a small textile museum as well before heading into Yokohama to meet Liz for lunch.
There was really no debate – Chinese food in Chinatown, of course! – but we couldn’t find a good restaurant without an hour-long wait. The streets were absolutely packed with people. Golden Week, huh. We ended up deciding on an a la carte place whose maitre d’ spoke flawless English. Lunch was served upstairs in a tatami room (Really? In China? Guess so.) at a low table. We ordered egg soup, chicken and cashews, sweet and sour pork, and something like fried chicken pieces. Oh yum!
After we ate we wandered around Chinatown, Yokohama Bay, and Cosmo World (a big amusement park). Liz wanted to go inside the “Ice House” at the park, so we paid our 500 yen for a two-minute race through a -30C (-22F) house full of Christmas decorations and penguins. It was cold.
Later that evening, we stopped for dinner at Bubby’s New York City Diner: Pie and Coffee, which was like another little piece of America right there in Japan. They didn't have either cherry pie or a glass of milk, but I did get a slice of apple pie and an incredibly sweet hot chocolate that I couldn’t finish (should have gotten the karai chocolate, huh). It was a lovely experience and made me nostalgic for diners back home.
We cut that night short as well, and went home to sleep.
Thursday was Museum Day. Stephen and I toured Ueno, the part of Tokyo with the Zoo and a bunch of national museums. We saw famous statues, a cool pond, the National Museum (Japanese history, art, and other famous things), which was really three buildings in one, and the National Museum of Nature and Science, which was two. I’m really happy I went to all of them; I learned a lot about Japan AND saw a lot of cool exhibits. The science museum was particularly awesome; I want to go back there again soon! It was really hands-on-y, and well laid-out.
I had to get back to Gunma, though, so I left Tokyo after lunch. I’m happy I had such a great little vacation there in the middle of the week! I still had one more party to go to, though!
After work on Friday, which I managed to get through somehow, the school had its beginning of the year enkai (drinking party). Most of the new teachers and the old teachers showed up, as well as those of us who just stayed. I got to see some friends I hadn’t seen in a while, which was lovely. The music teacher graced us with some piano music as we had our four-course dinner in the fancy Georgian House (the same venue as the October one) and even I played a song because they asked me to. It was also “Hook-Jaimie-Up-With-Mr.-M-Night,” apparently, because everyone kept encouraging us to talk to each other all night. There was a while there when the two of us sat alone at one table in the middle of the room while every other teacher was sitting somewhere else. If someone tried to sit down at the same table with us, they were immediately shooed away by Ms. O and Mr. S at the next table over, who were playing Cupid. Alas, it’s just not meant to be, but it’s a fun joke I suppose. Here’s to hoping Monday at school isn’t awkward! Around 9:30 a group of us old-and-regular teachers went to an izekaya (Mr. M not included, zannen) and stayed for a few more hours talking and drinking. I got home around 1:00 and started my weekend of doing absolutely nothing, which I accomplished with no problem whatsoever.
Fully recharged, refreshed, and relaxed, I am ready to tackle this next week coming up.
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