Goodbye 2010 Hello 2011

Well after our big Disney day, we needed a bit of a lie in to get some energy back with New Years Eve. We went to Dave and KTs place for our last dinner of 2010 - it was delicious and was really great to see them again! On the way round there we had stopped off at Crispy Creams to buy a big box of doughnuts as a little treat to take around there with us! They were completely gorgeous of course! Everyone loves doughnuts!

We said our Happy New Years to eachother (and the cat enjoying the heated floor) and got on our way to Asakusa!

We had a couple of options for new years but ended up meeting up with Rieko and Cedric and their friends to go to the Temple at midnight to see how Japan really celebrates New Years!

We got there at about half 9 and there was a queue for the temple! Most people like to go to temple at midnight or on New Years Day. Actually as it turned out there wasn't much celebration at the Temple we had gone to. We were hoping to see lots and lots of people crowded in each with a balloon (they write their wishes for the new year on their balloon) and then at midnight everyone lets go of their ballons!
We had a pretty cool night though - but completely random! We waited whilst a few people queued at the temple. Then we decided to have a go ... hm... I don't know what it's called... anyway you shake this metal box until a small wooden stick comes out (excuse the picture... but there's the wooden stick!!!) it has a number on it and you open the draw with the same number on it...

In the draw is a little fortune...

this is your fortune (I'm not sure if fortune is the politically correct way of saying what it is) well a predication of your next year! Mine read (written mainly in Japanese and then translated to English on the bottom half so please excuse the translation - it's not the best)

No. 89 The Best Fortune

Your gem has no flaw and it will glisten better when you polish.

Good character by nature becomes much better when you polish yourself.

You will become known better.

You become wealthy and you may have repeated stroke of good luck.

You hope will be come true.

The patient will be sure to recover.

The lost thing is later to be found.

Building a new house and removal are both good.

It is good for you making a trip

Both marriage and employment are good.

It sounds pretty vague if you ask me but I was totally happy with it! I have to keep it now til the end of the year for it to come true for 2011! Fran on the other hand got The Worst Fortune everything mine had said his said the opposite... as far as "Your house will burn down" hm... nice hey! Everyone said to Fran it only counted til the end of 2010 anyway because we did it around 10:30pm! I think they were trying to make him feel better -aw! Anyway... when you get bad luck you tie it to the frame then it gets burnt so that it doesn't come true! WOOP!

Matt got a good one and he kept his. Rieko and Masato didn't like theirs, so they tied it to the frame!

There were lots of food stalls selling traditional Japanese food and some Korean food and lots of food on sticks of course...

By this point there was a really big group of us... There were people from England, Japan, France, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines and America! We ended up outside Starbucks, where they were giving away free small cups of coffee! By this point the queue was winding around all the main roads in the area, it must have been over a couple of miles long! Crazy, hey!!!

Well there was no count down... no hugging... everyone just said "wahey" and then it was 2011 and that was it! Me and Matt made a little bit more noise and of course us English lot all hugged! We all headed to an Izakaya which is a cheap food and drinks place.

 Me, Matt and Fran stayed there til about half 2 (the trains and subways were running all night long because of everyone visiting the temples and shrines)! We had such a great time with everyone... the company 110% made up for the not so exciting change from 2010-2011! Really happy that I could spend New Years Eve with some great people, great friends and Matthew there too!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Asakusa, Hama Riku Gardens and Odaiba

Ok... before you start reading... please prepare yourself for what might possibly be the longest post I have ever done with LOTS of photos! We crammed a lot in!!!

Me and Matt headed to Asakusa to check out the Sensō-ji Temple and the surrounding sights. We weren't sure whether it was going to be crowded with it being the lead up to New Years, but it was really fine! There were decoration up for the New Year celebrations. This Temple is going to be completely FULL on New Years Eve!!!

Matt trying to cure himself by wafting the smoke on him - I wonder if he will feel better in a few days, hehe!

I wanted to take Matt on the River Boat from Asakusa to Odaiba... not really something you think of when you think TOKYO but you can travel right down the center of Tokyo from Asakusa to Tokyo Bay via the Sumida river. We were going to go straight to Odaiba, but when the boat stopped at Hama Riku Gardens, CHANGE OF PLAN we got off the boat there and went for a wander in the park!

It was so beautiful, the sun was bright and there was only a light breeze, there were red autumn leaves still and there was an odd stork here and there!!! It is a crazy feeling being in Tokyo where sometime you can't move for people and suddenly you pay ¥200 and you are surrounded by nature and peacefulness! The strangest thing I find, is that even though you have all these green trees and grass in the background, you can see lots of tall building! Amazing!

Look at those amazing red trees... at the end of December - crazy!!!

Matt wanted me to take a photo of this little tea room (which is standard within a special garden like this one), with the tatami mats covering the floor and the sliding translucent room separating doors with people sitting cross legged on the floor, drinking  cups of tea and enjoying the scenery.

We got to Odaiba in time for the sunset! WOOP! We took the special train line from the garden to Odaiba, which goes over the Rainbow Bridge which is a trip in its self, it really is an amazing site! We spoke about brass band stuff that was happening and he caught me up with everything that has been going on since I left England!!!! :-D It was sooooo windy there and sooo bitter cold, we had to find something to do.

We went to the Fuji TV building, which has an observation section on a globe shape where you can look out over Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo. It was a good thing to do with a spare 20mins but to be honest, I'm not going to go again, the view isn't really worth is compared to others, PLUS the FUJI TV building looks so cool and futurist from the outside... why would you wanna go in?!

Matt eating some Japanese fast food! It was really delicious! After this Fran came to meet us and we went to the Sega indoor theme park in Odiaba! Such a long and busy day... just checked my pedometer on my phone and we did nearly 20,000 steps!!!!

Asakusa's Sensoji Temple is now open!

 I was amazed to see how unbelievably crowed it was in Asakusa ... It was silly of me really because it was a Saturday! Everywhere was covered in Autumn decorations, it all looked beautiful with the fake red and yellow leaves and the lanterns up. The weather is getting colder now around 23° at the hightest temperature but there is a cool/cold wind so everyone has been wrapping up warm, wearing coats, hats and scarfs... I personally think it's a little too warm still to be wearing coats and hats because when the sun is out, it's so hot again, but at night there is a strong wind it's turning a little bitter! I should be a weather reporter haha, I waffle too much haha... sorry about that! :-)

I remember when me and Fran came here first, the main Temple area was being renovated, so we couldn't even see it! When I walked to the end of this shopping market isle I could see that the new temple was finished... it was pretty awesome much bigger than I had imagined it would be! I think maybe it had only just opened or something because there were lots of festival stalls and food stalls and a little Japanese play going on, it seemed like they were celebrating the re-opening of it!

The view from the Temple steps... that's right... I went inside!!!

The art on the Temple's ceiling.

30th Asakusa Samba Carnival 2010

Well, what can I say, I had a well and truly GREAT (and knackering) day, I was teaching in the morning which meant setting off pretty early to get there! Then from school I went to Asakusa. I was sat on the train and it was pretty empty so I was think ah... maybe it won't be too busy, maybe it isn't as big as everyone was making out, and I was getting pretty excited about being able to take some awesome photos. I stepped off the train and walked to the exit only to hit a GRID LOCK of people trying to get in and out of this small exit/entrance of the subway station. All I was thinking was... at what point am I going to get out of this ridiculous crowd? After 5 mins of being right in the middle of it, being pushed from every direction there was no way I was going to be able to turn around and find my way back to the exit.. I didn't mind it, and I didn't panic (which I would have definitely done a year ago, hell - 4 months ago even!!!) the only thing I didn't like was when there was a small child or a small elderly person around you, because I didn't want to crush them - and it was hard work pushing against the crowd of people pushing you in the opposite direction!!!!!!

Eventually (after a good half hour - 45mins) I managed to squash myself in with the crowd that were stood still watching the parade! I couldn't see anything - there were a good few rows of people in front of me... ALL taller than me too! I stood there for a bit standing on my tip toes to see if I could see anything! I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around and an elderly Japanese man said hello to me and grabbed my shoulder and pushed me infront of him pointing at the parade through a big gap between the peoples head - as he had a good view, and bless him for the next half an hour he kept moving me infront of him when he had a good view so I could see and take photos!!! I really appreciated it, I wished I could have had a conversation with him!!! Really longing to be able to speak Japanese at the moment!!!! I'm trying to soak up as much as I can and I am learning at quite a fast pace I think... though still I can listen and understand alot more than I can speak!!! A couple moved from the front of the crowd and the elderly gentlemen pushed me saying "sumi masen" (excuse me) and moving people out the way... I felt very awkward being pushed, but when I finally got to the front I couldn't of thanked him enough, I had the best spot.

 I didn't have to sit down on the floor with the other photographers (they would get photos from the people from underneath which... lets face it - isn't a good look for anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!) and also I was in the shade the WHOLE time - which is so lucky as it was 38degrees!!! I stood there for a good 3 hours watching each group dance, sing and perform infront of us!!! I thought it was truly fantastic and I couldn't stop smiling at some of the silly costumes people had on! So that's enough waffle... here are some of the photos - they speak for themselves!!!!