夏２０１３ - Summer 2013

Summer in Japan is hot. And humid.  And has a lot of bugs.  And this guy:

We decided to do fireworks for the 4th this year.  I bought some cheap fireworks from the dollar store and we went to town.  They were pretty much just sparklers... but whatever.  We had fun.

Long exposure photography + fireworks = fun!

Our neighborhood has a softball/kickball tournament every year.  This year, our girls' team got second.  Our guys' team... didn't do as well.  Let's just leave it at that.

 I've always wanted to go to this place called "Sweets Paradise."  It's a cake buffet.  I decided to go for my birthday.  I was not disappointed.  SO GOOD!

I made a dress from a t-shirt to wear to my "party."  Attack on Titan is the hottest anime out right now.  I won the T-shirt from a UFO catcher.

Another thing I've always wanted to do is go to Kamakura.  It's not too far from here, so Rhett decided it'd be best if we rode our bikes.  By "not too far from here" I mean about 35 miles.  But, he talked me into it.  It took 5 hours one way (because we took the scenic mountain and seaside route).  It was fun, but tiring.

Kamakura is famous for purple sweet potato ice cream.  It was really good.  The purple sweet potato croquette was also very good.

We went to the most important Shinto shrine in the area to be greeted by this.  Before entering a shrine, you are supposed to wash your hands and mouth with this water.  The birds obviously take their shrine visits very seriously.

My favorite part of the trip was the bamboo temple.  It's off the beaten path, so most people don't end up seeing it.  It was the most beautiful place I've ever been to.

Matcha in the bamboo temple.  Can't get more Japanese than that.  (Matcha is a type of high end Japanese green tea.  It's really bitter, but if you eat sweets right before drinking it, it tastes delicious.)

Daibutsu is pretty much the mascot of Kamakura.  It's a giant Buddha statue that was built in the 1200's.  It used to be inside of a temple, but a tsunami wiped the temple away.  The Buddha was fine apparently.

We got to go inside the statue.  It was weird to be inside of a statue.

Riding along the beach was beautiful, but exhausting.

We had dinner at Denny's.  This is the kind of food Denny's serves in Japan.  Eat your hearts out.  It was really REALLY good.  I would never in a million years have expected it to be that good.

 All in all we rode about 70 miles that day. Then passed out for a day.

We went to the Nakano festival, like we do every year.  My students still remember me!  Most of them said "Hi."  A couple of them tried teasing me like old times.  I suppose that means they liked me?

One of the most interesting, and unique, things that I did this summer was enter the Yukata Queen Contest.  It's like a beauty pageant, but instead of swimsuits or gowns, you wear a yukata.  It was really fun.  I borrowed a yukata from a friend of a friend, because I couldn't afford to buy my own (and I'm too tall for the cheap ones).  I made my hair accessories and earrings.  I even did my nails for the first time in, like, ten years!

I made a friend at the event!  She used to live in Florida.  Small world, huh?

 

This is my friend Setsuko.  She's a kimono instructor.  She's the reason I got involved in this in the first place.  She's really sweet.  She dressed me for the event (cause, while I can put a yukata on, I'm not the best at it).

 

Potato ice cream!  Also, note the nail.  IT TOOK FOREVER.

And then, there was Comiket.  This year was crazy hot.  People were passing out left and right from heat exhaustion.  I even started feeling it myself.  Several people died as a result of the heat.  I think it was 104 degrees, but the humidity was also really high.  And, there were about 200,000 people or something like that.

I cosplayed Touko from Pokemon.

And the "bathing armor" from Monster Hunter.  My friends talked me into this one...

BEST COSPLAY OF COMIKET.  He's cosplaying Hayao Miyazaki!  So... awesome...

A friend of a friend was visiting Japan for the first time.  He's a huge Gundam fan, so we went to the Gundam in Odaiba, since we were already there.  I'd always wanted to go, but hadn't gotten the chance before.  It was so awesomely huge. Just wish it would have moved...

There was a Shounen Jump store in the mall there with a Goku statue.  Had to do the Kamahameha.  Wouldn't have been right otherwise...

 I was originally planning to go to Comiket for all three days, but by this point, I was exhausted.  I passed out pretty much as soon as I got home.  I didn't wake up until 7pm the next night.  A record 18 hours of sleep!

My birthday present from Rhett this year was some fabric to make a yukata.  The yukata I owned was waaaaay too small for me, and it showed.  I wanted to try making my own, because I couldn't afford to buy one that fit me.   The end product didn't turn out too bad if you ask me!  I'm really pleased with it.  I messed up on a few things, but the average person probably can't even tell, so I won't stress about them too much.

 

We also went to the Mikage festival again.  We didn't play taiko drums this year because we were too busy.  Oh well, there's always next year.  Everyone kept saying how they missed us in the taiko group, so we'll have to try a little harder to fit it in next year.

Our students danced at the festival.  They eventually dragged people from the crowd on stage with them.  Of course, we ended up there too.

Oh!  And Angela gave me some birthday money on the condition that I bought something fun with it.  I decided to get some make up in some fun colors.  I feel like if I'm gonna wear makeup, I might as well go bright or go home.

Next week is the Shinjuku festival, and then back to school as usual!  It's been a busy summer.