Summer Adventures in Tokyo

So I've had a few adventures this spring/summer that I'm only now getting around to writing about. And since it has taken me so long to write about them, I'm afraid all you're going to get is a brief run down of what's been going on. Sorry about that! Part of the delay is because I had lots of pictures, and narrowing them down was a bear. Part of the delay is laziness. At any rate, like last time, this will be done in two parts! For today, it's adventures around Japan!


Back in May, I went to my very first rugby game with some Brazilian friends. The game was Japan vs. Hong Kong, and Japan won BIG. So that was fun. I started out rather confused - "It's like football! Wait! What was that? Why are they throwing the ball behind them? And why does the screen say "TRY!" when they get a touchdown? Didn't they already succeed? Why do they need to try? Do they mean "good try!"? Still, that doesn't make sense… And wow, that guy can jump REALLY high." But thanks to smartphones and the glory of wikipedia, we were able to learn the basic rules of the game and discover such wonderful little pieces of information like a "try" being the rugby name for a touchdown, and the guy who was jumping really high was actually being lifted up by a few other guys for whom that is part of their position descriptions. Cool! The other cool thing about that day was that it was the last event in the National Stadium before it was torn down so that Japan could build a new stadium in preparation for the 2020 Olympics. Which also meant that it was the last time that the 1964 Olympic cauldron was lit! And since it was a big deal, Ayaka - a famous, very good Japanese singer - sang the Japanese national anthem.

In June, I went to see the irises at Meiji Jingu Shrine. They were very pretty!

Not irises, but they were nearby! :)

A week later, I went with a friend and her sons to my very first Cirque do Soleil performance - Ovo. It was amazing! And it made me much more motivated to do my sit-ups and stretching! They were performing in Odaiba, where I also saw this giant robot.

A few days after that, I went to Malaysia for a week. But more about that in another post - in part, because I can't narrow down the pictures enough to incorporate it into this one. :)

A few days after I got back from Malaysia, we had our big July 4th reception at the Ambassador's residence, and I was in charge of coordinating photography. Eek! But it was a really nice event.

The following week, I went to see the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants play against their biggest rivals, the Hanshin Tigers (from Osaka), at the Tokyo Dome. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I love going to Japanese baseball games! More particularly, I love watching the fans at Japanese baseball games. They are so enthusiastic, with great group cheers/songs. That particular night was a good opportunity to see the stereotypical differences between Osaka and Tokyo in action. People from Osaka are supposed to be a lot louder and more willing to speak their mind than people from Tokyo. That certainly seemed to be the case that night. The Giants fans were loud, but more so later in the game when they were desperate to encourage their team to a come-back. The Tigers fans were LOUD from the very beginning. They were even practicing their cheers before the game started. Of course, being Japan, the two sides were still rather polite... The huge group cheering was for the team that was at bat, so each side got their turn. I was cheering for the Giants, but I still had a great time, even though they lost. (I hear that the Giants beat the Tigers soundly the following night.)

I finished off July with seeing Godzilla just up the street at Midtown. Not the movie. Godzilla.

Also just up the street, I went to a club called Abbey Road to see a very good Beatles cover band called The Parrots. That was a blast! You can see a youtube clip of them here. These guys are so good, Paul McCartney hired them to play for his wife's birthday last fall!