Things I Love About Japan

Everything is cute, even the ice cream....

Yukatas are for Summer

A yukata is a type of kimono only worn in summer, as it's made of lighter fabric than a traditional kimono, and is usually only one layer as opposed to two or three. They are usually worn at festivals by young women, especially firework festivals. They are incredibly pretty, with lots of different colors and patterns available. As such, my sister could not resist their charm, and bought one at a traditional kimono store in a mall near here. The assistants help you put on the yukatas so you can see if it fits, and if you like it as much when it's on you as opposed to on the hanger. The picture above shows my sister trying on the yukata she eventually ended up buying, but without the obi, or sash belt, as this was when they were taking it off. It's a very nice one, and the dark color suits her, but don't ask me when she's going to wear it in America. Maybe she can start a new fashion trend...

!

Japan has many things that have gone the way of the mammoth (in other words, extinct) in other parts of the world. Mini-disc players, walkmans, holes in the ground for toilets..... the list goes on. These things that the rest of the world long since declared obsolete are still kicking, even popular, in this Land of the Rising Sun. Another one of these such things is arcades. Not only are video arcades still alive in Japan, they are almost a national past-time. These are not the arcades you grew up on, with a few coin slot machines in the back, and maybe a DDR machine or two populated by teenagers with too much time on their hands. These are literally 7 story temples to the sanctity of gaming in all its forms, from claw games, slot machines, music games, to shooting games. Any type of game you can imagine is within the borders of this holy place, and now they have added a new type of game to this mix.


When my sister came out for a couple months this last summer, we spent a few days in Tokyo before she headed back to the states. My husband heard word of an amazing new game being tested for only a few days at an arcade in the Shibuya district, so we all made the trip out there to see what the fuss was about. It was Metal Gear Arcade, which only happens to be one of Aaron's favorite game series. In 3D. Aaron had to get a ticket and wait for about 30 minutes to demo the game, so my sister and I just watched and took a couple pictures. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out that great, but suffice it to say that Aaron quite enjoyed playing the game, as well as the bragging rights that went along with it. I feel that it's safe to say that 3D gaming might be pretty cool after all.... providing they do something about the stupid glasses.

Things I Love About Japan

Kamepan! Turtle bread! I found this bread in the big mall we go to a lot, and they were so cute! All the turtles had different faces. Unfortunately, this one looks like it's sad I'm about to eat it. >.>

Towada Lake Fireworks!

First of all, I am not dead, thank you very much. However, my computer was. Thanks to sub-par parts in my laptop, the internal fan suddenly decided to stop doing its prime function, that of cooling. Therefore, my computer would become a million degrees hot and shut down after about 10 minutes of use, while uttering a horrible death shriek. This concerned me, so I decided to try and contact tech support about it. I won't bore you with all the horrible details, but suffice to say that after many attempts to talk to people in India, I ended up giving up, buying a new internal fan, and asking my supervisor's husband to fix it for me (he's the IT guy for the entire town). For doing this, he has my eternal gratitude, but the whole process took a good two months. During this time, obviously, I could not blog at all. So, I have a veritable mountain of a back-log of things to post now, which I will try and work my way through as quickly as I can. With all that being said, let us begin!


The picture above is of a boat on Lake Towada. When my sister was out here for two months during the summer, we all went together to see the yearly fireworks festival they hold out there. It was a lot of fun, because in addition to the fireworks in the sky, the boats were lit up and floating on the water beneath them. I tried to take more pictures of it, but it was so dark my poor little cell phone couldn't handle it. However, luckily for us, my sister brought her camera with her, which takes pretty decent video, even at night. So, without further ado, I present to you videos that I took with her camera. They're not perfect quality, but hopefully they will give you the impression that you were there with us. ^-^ Oh, and ignore the voices, we chattered the whole time we took the videos. Sorry! >.<