There were masses of crowds however, and I'd say about 70% were foreigners. Most had on green and the silly hats and such that we are accustomed to in the states. But, after the parade, everything just died out. It was kind of weird.
So, we decided to pack up a few beers and head to Yoyogi Park. It's a great park in the center of Tokyo. Sunday afternoons are great here because there is live music, heaps of people, and little ones running around. Being at this park sorta makes you forget that you are in the hustle bustle of Tokyo.
Rie, John, Lisa and I found a little chunk of grass to drink our cans of beer on. The sun was out but it was still a bit chilly.
We got to see a beautiful sunset between the tree's.
Next up for March, was bellydancing night at our local gaijin bar, Ocean Deep. Every Thursday, they have the event, where from like 7 - 8:30 you can take a bellydance lesson with a group of japanese women, for something like 1,000 yen (which includes a drink). Then, after the class, from about 9pm, they have a bellydance show. I LOVE it!
I asked my Japan family to come with me. They are a family that I teach on Monday nights and occasionally do other things with. When I first came to Japan, I taught their daughter, Aoi, at Little Garden Preschool. After I left the school, they asked me to come to their home and teach. Since then, they have become my family away from home. I love them!
Bellydancing here is a bit different from the dancing I have seen back home. However, the teacher is from a country (Morocco maybe), where the dance is probably more authentic that that I have seen in America.
After Bellydancing, we went out for a night of karaoke. It was so fun. I think it may have been my best Karaoke yet in Japan. We had a blast!
Above is Yoko (Aoi and Ai's Mommy) and Kikuko (Yoko's sister). I teach Kikuko and Yoko's husband, Satoru. They were so much fun at Karaoke!
Kyoko also came along. She is always fun to have at Karaoke. And, she always busts out the tamborine! She is my longest term student. I met her in February, about a month after I arrived in Japan and we have been good friends since.
After a few hours of Nomihodai (all you can drink), it was about time to go home :)
Satoru is the one on the left (Yoko's husband) and Masahiro is on the right (Kikuko's husband). We had SOOO much fun!
The next day, we went to Oasis. Oasis is Jeremy's favorite (one of the top 5 I guess) The concert was in Kaihin Makuhari at the Messe hall. It was a fun concert, but kind of a shitty venue. The only reason I say that is because it was standing room only (two sections of general admission) and the floor was all level, so if you were in the back, like we were, you couldn't see anything unless you got on your toes, and that was only because we were like 6-8 inches taller than most of the others there. Jeremy loved the concert. He knew all the songs. I knew like 5, so I wasn't equally impressed. But, I had a good time busting out Champagne Supernova when they sang it.
The next Friday night, we had Josh and Lisa come over for dinner. We made Sushi!!! it was a lot of fun. I hadn't tried making sushi since we first got here. It's quite expensive to buy all the goodies that you need to make a good piece of sushi (nigiri or roll style). Though, we had a lot of fun, trying out different things.
Since our kitchen is the size of a ritz cracker, we brought the assembly line out to the living room. It is here, where we made our artsy rolls and such.
Lisa came a little later, but she still got to help out a bit.
One of our 3 plates of finished products. We made WAYYY too much and had quite a bit leftover. Who would have guessed I would overdo something of the sorts??? ha ha!
Lisa had organized a Birthday party for Josh at an Izakaya in Funabashi that same weekend. It was an all out drinking extravaganza! Unfortunately, I decided it would be a good idea to have some hot sake AFTER all the beer and cocktails. I was not happy the next morning for sure!
However, I had a great time while we were there. You know I've had a bit to drink when I start busting out the self portraits. I'll only torture you with one or two :o).
Josh wore a sash that said "special guest" in Japanese. He wore it proudly.
Meghan and Josh's friend Aaron.
Towards the end of the night, we got all mushy, thinking about Josh and Lisa leaving soon. It happens.
Thank goodness for my little daily planner, which I have learned to record everything I do in. Because of it, I can still write these blogs, months after the events have happened. I'm trying to get up to date with my trip home (April ish).
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