Testing the new camera!

Here's a short video from the window of the Shinkansen train (that goes 60-65mph) to give you an idea of the area outside Hamamatsu. The very last image is of the Yamaha car company factory! Yosh!!

Home is where your Heart is

Hey all!

Today is Sunday and I've had a whirlwind couple of weeks! How about you?

Golden Week in Japan is a term used to cover a whole bunch of holidays that come rapid fire in the spring, including Greenery Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Children's Day, and Showa Day (which honors the WWII Emperor). Why are these holidays the best ever? Because we get the entire week off, that's why!! =D

I took some holidays on top of it and managed to get 8 days at Home that were absolutely spectacular!! I was able to visit with my family and friends, and there was puppy cuddling aplenty!! I thought you all may enjoy some pictures from the trip, which does seem a little funny for a blog about Japan, but ey, it's my blog! =D

There was lots of visiting, eating, and shopping! (I brought back a bunch of "necessities" that I can't get in Japan thanks to Mom lending me one of her suitcases!) There were games, and movies, and talking, and sharing! I had such a wonderful time with everyone and I was just so sad that I couldn't spend more time with you all! (I'm selfish like that!) But I am very grateful for the memories I was able to create with all my loved ones and I feel very lucky to have been able to get home to be with them! I don't worry too much about being back because I know time will fly again and I'll be in the States again before you know it! =D

Let's get started with the slide show! I'm sorry the pictures seem to skip around a lot. My camera was being stupid!

I didn't sleep the night before, thinking I'd sleep through most of the 13 hour flight. Nope!

The crew were waving at the passengers on that plane. I thought it was adorable but couldn't get my camera out quickly enough! P.S. Narita's airport is MASSIVE and extremely easy to lose your way in!

The second plane was the size of a private jet! It was pretty cool being able to see into the cock pit! And I had the same pilot on the return flight a week later!

My cell phone takes normal pictures and gives them a new look! Here's the first picture of Drew!

And Mom!

And Steph V made a guest appearance thanks to a photo I had of us from Disney!
HEY FOZZ!!!!

Wendell Sensei

Dad sporting some pretty big hair!

And me, playing a dude.
I know, I know.
I make this look good.

I remember being *really* surprised at how huge this "medium" sized soda was!!
This size would never exist in Japan!

Mom's flowers were bloomin' and beautiful!!

Lydia and I love this picture! Mom shows no remorse as she finishes my dinner (of which
she probably ate half, leaving her meal all but untouched!)! LOL! I love the little smile Mama!

Posing with Dad (and trying to keep my chin down).

My Mom completely redid my room, including painting and cleaning! She said it took two months
to do everything but I think it turned out absolutely gorgeous and I'm very grateful!

Hello Kitty in a kimono adorns my new bed set! So beautiful!

Lydia and I went shopping in Natick, probably the most expensive mall outside of Beverly Hills LOL!
This was the ladies' room!! There was a huge room WITH A CHANDELIER to refresh in!
Lydia and I were going to get some chinese food and magazines and come back in to freak people out!
Notice her stretched across the couch? LOL!

She really liked this couch! Very cushy!!

Did I mention that the wall was all mirrors?? Wave 'Hello' Lyddie!

Is this the most ridiculous bathroom light you've ever seen? I know, right?

Lydia outside a store in said mall. So... when you're really rich you have stores that look like New York streets... inside the mall...

...and make your custodial engineers wear TUXEDO shirts and BOW TIES???
Whomp.

Inside the mall, at the inside outside store... weird, huh?

KOALA!!!!

In honor of Marci's birthday, her sister Beth and I met her in NYC and we went to see Chicago!
It was wonderful!! The girls and I suspect that the actress playing Roxie was adlibbing her lines a bit!
She even got the piano player to crack up when she quipped that his hair looked "soft and fluffly!"

Grand Central Station!

Rockefeller Station! I'm not sure what our motivation was in our faces... but it's pretty great!
I had to borrow these pictures off the girls because my camera was being dumb all week. I didn't get to take nearly as many pictures as I wanted but luckily when I got home I could use my cell phone's camera a little!

Ahhh, the trip home. Most of you have heard the story so I won't bother retelling it here. But I thought you may enjoy this shot from inside the airplane, where we were told to stay in our seats for an entire hour after we landed (with no AC) while we waited to be screened by these five guys trussed up like they were going into surgery! Their face masks had special filters on them which I found entertaining and the red camera thing this guy is holding is searching for any spikes in body heat. Interesting, huh?

Back to Japan already? If only my stupid camera didn't keep shutting down while home, professing an "overheated" state. Stupid, lying piece of metal! I've had bad luck with electronics lately! Good thing I have great friends to borrow their pictures from! (*v*)b
In case you're wondering what the train signs look like, here's a picture! They're in Romanji and Japanese, thank goodness!!

This is the entrance to Nakano Broadway, a mecca for anime fans! I go there for Re-Ment whenever I'm bouncing around Tokyo. There's a lot of old pieces there and antiques! Anything that came from America is usually ridonkulously expensive!

An overview shot of the expensive side of Harajuku's shopping district!

Hello Kitty world at Kiddy Land! GOOD TIMES!!

I have no idea what these were, but they looked DELICIOUS!!

This is to point out that the expensive stores have trees that line the streets! All other parts of the city look like a real city, meaning no greenery, LOL! Look for the green, find the money?? That's sad.
(The Gap isn't on the tree'd street, it's facing the other way. This street has Chanel, Bulgari, etc.)

Six months ago, H&M in Harajuku was brand new! People queued outside it for hours to get in and there were tons of security guards! Now H&M is old news, but Forever 21 is the brand new thing! There's another security guard off camera to the right and all the men in black suits are preparing for the greets and queues!
(I got there as they were opening so no one was queuing yet.) I went into H&M last time I was there and it was insane! Dresses that cost $40 back home were $140 here, and shirts that should cost $20 were $60!
The point of H&M is cheap clothes, but everyone in Japan considers cheap things to be bad quality. Notice how they're offering the same products but charging triple? Unbelievable!)

Finally back to Hamamatsu! It's been raining for two days straight but I thought the fog around Act Tower looked pretty cool!