Update to the update.

Oooh, I forgot about Monday. I went to Tobu Dobutsu Koen with Manami. This was a water park, amusement park, and zoo all in one. Yes, i've gone to three amusement parks this week. Here's some pictures.

Actually this first one is from Tsukiji again. In case you didn't understand the sheer size of a fresh tuna fish, here are some decapitated ones.


Manami welcomes you to Tobu Dobutsu Koen-


Saw some big ol' camels.



And some big ol' camel poop.


Here's a sign for one of the park restaurants. It features my favorite food. ITARIAN!


Then we left and walked around a city called Kasukabe for a while. We found a teppanyaki place where you can make your own takoyaki (doughy balls with octopus inside). We stepped up to the challenge, and here you can see I look pretty happy about it. Also modeling the new haircut.


Here's what takoyaki should look like.


Here's what ours looked like-


I think I'll stick with the itarian food.

Back for the attack!

So, just got back from a month home. It was a great month home. Saw the friends, the family, the Leo dog, did a road trip to Kansas/Denver/Chicago, saw Daft Punk and Crowded House, celebrated mom's 60th, did the things that I can't do in Japan (namely marijuana and eating bread, butter, and potatos). All in all a great time, but as I've said before, this is a Japan blog, not an American one. Thus, my trip home will be limited to the following pictures.

Gerry and Daisy- (congrats on making the blog G brah. Your commenting, both quality and quantity, has paid off)



Daft Punk tearing it up-


Manami and the nieces-


The night I got back, I ate kaitenzushi (conveyor-belt sushi), one of the things I missed most while I was home. It was delicious. Then I went to bed, and Manami and I took advantage of our jetlag and did something I wanted to do since I started reading about things to do in Japan. I went to Tsukiji Fish Market. This is the seafood wholesaler for Japan as well as much as the world. The thing is, if you get there after like 7 AM, you miss anything worth seeing. So I naturally woke up at 4AM and we went. Here's some shots.

Manami posing in front of the warehouse area-


Here's a tuna "factory" doing the deed- slicing, dicing, wrapping, shipping.


Talking Heads? More like tuna heads!


Some kind of shellfish that was still squirming-



Next comes the best part of going to Tsukiji....eating the sushi that was just brought in for breakfast!!! Here's the line to daiedo sushi. I think that's what the place was called. Manami? Am I right?


And here it is- quite possibly the freshest, most delicious sushi in the entire world. It does come with a fairly hefty price of around $30, but it's worth the experience.


That evening, we fell asleep at 6 in the freaking evening. I thought it would just be a nap, but I woke up at 6 the following morning. Never done that before. I am now getting over jetlag though, as it's 9:30 PM and i'm still awake.

Anyways, the next day (sunday) we hit up Omotesando/Harajuku, my favorite shopping area in Tokyo, because, well...i'm addicted to that shit. I didn't buy anything, but I did find this unbeliveable creation at the nearby McDonald's.

What's that you say? Yeah that's a strawberry fucking shortcake McFlurry. Why oh WHY doesn't america get this kind of good stuff that the Mcdonald's here get? They also just released a 100 yen McPork and a tandori Chicken sandwich.

Monday, I went drinking with Swedish friend Johan. No pictures or good stories from that.

Tuesday, I went with fellow Saitama english teachers Dave and Blair to a wonderful world called Tokyo Summerland. This amazing adventure featured a huge indoor water park, a water park outside, a terrible rollercoaster, and an awesome ride called the free fall. Here are some pictures.








We also went to a kind of amusement park yesterday. An indoor place in Odaiba called "Sega Joypolis." Pretty cool place, probably the best movie-screen cart-ride things i've ever been on. No pictures though. Solly.

Today, I relaxed and worked a new part-time job teaching people at a company English. I was nervous, but everyone was nice and it was pretty easy. And I picked up 5000 yen for an hour and a half. B-B-B-BOOYAH!!!

I'll try and get into some crazy antics this weekend to have posted on here ASAP. Welcome back to my blog. Keep commenting.

-ryan