Tokyo Disneyland & Sky Tree

Hi everyone,

I went to Tokyo Disneyland this past weekend.
The weather wasn't great, but we still had fun.
It was pretty crowded,  but using "Fastpass" we could ride on lots of rides without waiting that long.
Usually you need to wait for two hours or even more to ride on one of the popular rides in Tokyo Disneyland, but if you get this Fastpass,  you can come back on the time written on the Fastpass ticket and just have to wait for 5 or 10 mins to ride.

The Cinderella Castle, the symbol of Tokyo Disneyland.












Jungle Cruise , in Adventure Land section
 

Has anyone been to Tokyo Disneyland?

The other day,  I also went to see the Tokyo Sky Tree.
Unfortunately, it was another rainy day and I couldn't see up to the top of the tree.
The construction of Tokyo Sky Tree started in July 2008, now it reached a height of 634 meters and  became the world's tallest free-standing broadcasting tower. It will be opened on May 22, 2012.

A day in tokyo

Hi everyone,

It finally snowed this morning in Tokyo. 

Snow in Tokyo is a pretty rare event, usually only once or twice a year. 

People in Tokyo are not really used to snow so everyone seemed extra careful when walking. 

Also public transportation was delayed...

Anyway I went to an Izakaya (pub) in Akihabara the other day and found this English menu. 

Just thought I'd share it with you.

Travel volunteer

Did you know about this project called "Travel Volunteer" in progress at the moment in Japan?

This project, planned by a travel agency called Magellan Resorts in Kanazawa city Japan, is to find someone from overseas to actually travel around Japan and show to the world that Japan is safe, aiming to rebuild Japan tourism suffering from harmful rumor.

http://travelvolunteer.net/
　

1897 people from 85 countries applied, and a couple from England was selected. Those two have been traveling in Japan since Sep 15, in order to visit all of the 47 prefectures in 100 days.

Their blog is here.
This is written in English, but you'll find some articles written in Japanese as well.

http://travelvolunteerblog.net/author/kj/

Here is one of the posts I found interesting on their blog.

http://travelvolunteerblog.net/2011/11/03/50-things-weve-learned-in-50-days/

Another bizarre flavor of pepsi

As many of you already know,
Suntory produces some bizarre flavors for pepsi on a periodic basis.
I've seen Pepsi Cucumber, Pepsi Blue Hawaii, Pepsi Azuki etc so far.

Nanka ・なんか・何か

Nanka 　 なんか　何か　= Somehow, kind of

This is an useful phrase when you don't want to be too direct.

English is hard!

Although English is not my first language

I still thought that I knew well enough about basic English,

but it still confuses me sometimes ;(

I have two questions about English here.

If anyone can give me some advise, it will be a big help for me!

Fishes in a row

On my way home somewhere in my town,

I found some delicious-looking fishes in a row.....



























One of them came into my stomach.

Hope they will be there tomorrow too.

Hi again

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I posted my last post,
and I don't know what to write after the long silence,
but first of all I must say ...thank you for your kind comments!
I was so happy to read all of your comments.

Gari gari kun (Crunchy boy)

Hi everyone, it's been pretty hot here in Tokyo and I am half melted.
How’s the weather in your place?

Bearing with this annoying weather, I thought it wound be good to introduce this, one of my favorite popsicle sticks since it may save your life when you visit Japan during summer.

This is called Gari gari kun (Crunchy boy), a soda flavored popsicle stick produced by Akagi.
They produce some other flavors as well, such as lemon, green grape, pudding, chocolate and more. I've seen these flavors usually only during limited times. So when most people hear "Gari gari kun" they will think of the original soda flavor.

It is a square crunchy ice stick covered with ice candy.
This handy, yummy and refreshing shaved ice that costs only 60 yen per stick is the best item you can find during summer time.
It is sold a most places that carry ice cream which shows how popular this treat really is. Even during winter they still sell the Gari gari kun.

I remember a GNT episode the had Matsumoto talking about how much he loves it. It really is a long-time favorite of many in Japan.

How to use "you" in conversation

Getting some idea from everyone, especially thanks to Dave this time, I am going to write about how to use "you" in Japanese.

Japanese language has several choices for you to call a person you are talking to (you).
Let's take a look at what the GNT members use...

Omae(you) : Casual/impolite way of saying you (for man)
This is used from senior to junior or between friends. You won't hear it from junior to senior.

An example is in the Reaction Dice Game.
@6:30 From Matsumoto to Tanaka "Ja omae tanomu de!(So I'm counting on you!)
@7:30 From Matsutmoto to the staff "Omaera ! (Damn you guys !)"


Anata(you): Formal/polite way of saying you
As for anata, it is formal and polite, but somehow, we don't usually use this to seniors in verbal communications. You may sound kind of unnatural if you don't use it properly.
You may notice by watching the skits that they don't use anata so often. They usually just call their names instead. I think it is more natural. (But it does not mean its wrong to use anata. Just we don't use it so often.)

Not only omae and anata, we also have other ways of saying you, such as kimi, anta, kisama etc…but these are not very commonly used, and not recommended unless you exactly know what you are saying.

Kisama: You won't have a chance to use this, but some men use this to show their hate or disrespect to the other.
Anta: Almost same as omae, but usually used by woman. not recommended to use.
Kimi: Senior to junior. More polite than omae but not as common as omae

I'm sorry if I made you confused. And this is just my personal opinion, so other people may have different ideas about this.

Promotional gifts

Another unique item from Japan is these little promotional gifts that sometimes come with bottled drinks sold at supermarkets or convenience stores. I like to collect these little gifts. So far, I have seen key chains, mini towels, little vegetable farming kits, mint tablets, free coupons of MacDonald hamburger or drink etc..

The free gifts in the picture are the little vegetable farming kits. When I found these at a supermarket, I couldn't resist to buy 3. Now, I'm farming one of these, parsley, at work.

It includes a package of seeds and soil. You can use the bottle cap as a container. There are 5 different kinds of seeds along with parsley, which are butter lettuce, sweet basil, negi, trefoil and leaf lettuce.

Don't you think it's pretty cool for free items? I sometimes buy a bottled drink just to get its free gift. Please check it out when you ever get a chance!

Unique flavor of Kitkat from Japan

Here, I will introduce some unique chocolate from Japan.

It is Kitkat with zunda flavor.
Do you know what zunda is? It's like sweet eda-mame bean paste. Nestle Japan used to sell the flavor only in the Tohoku region as Zunda is one of their famous sweets. But to help the people in Tohoku, where the tsunami hit, they started selling it everywhere in Japan with a 10 yen donation included in the price. So now, I can get it at my neighborhood convenience store.

I have never tried the real zunda paste which is usually sold with mochi(pounded rice cake),also only in Tohoku, but I could taste a slight bean flavor in the light green colored chocolate bar. I liked it. It's less sweeter than the regular milk chocolate bar, so those who don't have a sweet tooth might also enjoy this chocolate bar.

Eda-mame is a kind of green beans, which is a must-have snack on Japanese pub menu. It's usually boiled, and served with salt on top. Speaking of mame (=bean), have you ever heard Endo being called Endo-mame? I don't exactly remember which skit it was in (Please ask Z if you want to know!), but someone was calling him Endo-mame. Endo-mame is also a kind of green beans. They seem to love giving each other stupid nicknames. But I love it.

The shortest escalator in the world

I just thought it might be interesting for everyone to know that the shortest escalator in the world is located in Japan.

What Japan will surprise you

I was watching a TV show a while ago, it was about what surprised you the most while you were traveling in Japan.

What made me surprised by watching it was, quite a lot of people mentioned about vending machines in Japan.I didn't really realize until now so many vending machines in Japan comparing with other countries. Seeing it everyday can make you blind.

Actually there are countless vending machines here. I feel there are more than needed.It must look kind of strange to people who have never seen.

For example, there might be over a few 100s vending machines or even more, within a 5 minutes walking distance from my apt. My apt is located pretty much in the middle of a city in Tokyo and there are a lot of shops that you can buy drinks from as well such as convenient stores or supermarkets.

Is it that good business to own a vending machine in Japan or something?



*ps* I'm sorry for not uploading pictures for you to see "vending machines at every corner", but a picture of a vending machine standing alone. I was going to talk about the variety of drinks for sale, but decided to talk from a different view. I'll upload when I have a chance m(_ _)m

To go to Downtown skits that I subbed, click here