Happy 2009 everyone! :)

Gia came to Japan (Hence why I haven't blogged in a while).

We tried to stay (All three of us) in my apartment, but that became laughable very fast, So we stayed at Maia's apartment.

What did we do in those ten days? Everything... or at least it FEELS that way...

We started out going to Yokohama, where we rode the fastest elevator to the top of Landmark Tower, and visited Yokohama Chinatown. Of course, it is Gia, so we also visited the Foreigners' Cemetary.

Then New Years rolled around and we tried to go to a temple to ring the bell... but we went to a shrine first and spent some time eating squid with a whole bunch of drunk Japanese fellows who weren't sure where the temple was, but have some more squid! :D Ultimately we found a temple and rang the bell.

Then we went to Mt. Fuji.... I'm not kidding. By car (It's a national holiday and we were stuck in traffic at 11 in the morning passing through Tokyo on C2).. which was interesting. On the way home it took us 2 hours to go 10 kilometers when we got stuck in the rush to return to Tokyo.

Then we went to see Kabuki at the Ginza Kabuki-za (The Emperor's Kabuki theater). But that took two days since it sold out while we were waiting in line on Saturday. Instead we went to Asakusa on Saturday only to find that there were literally millions of people waiting to get in to Sensoji temple... which was astonishing! We had to wade through a sea of humanity just to get across the main thuroughfare. That night we went to Karaoke, Japanese style.

Then Sunday we actually went and saw the Kabuki play, which was pretty cool (They had a ship on stage! :D)

Monday and Tuesday we went to Nikko, which is in the mountains. We had a room at this little hotel on lake Chuzenji. I actually used the slate and painted a picture of the lake and the mountains from the window, but I didn't finish it.

Finally, it was time for Gia to go home, which was sad. I love my little sister and she was a lot of fun to be with. It's interesting how amazing this country is and how much I have forgotten that fact since I have been here for three years. I knew I would... but only intellectually... I guess in my heart I am starting to think of Japan as commonplace.

Which means that it's probably time for me to come home.

Thank you, G. You helped me remember just how awesome this country is!

-Me.